Proverbs 21 commentary

The believer, perceiving that the Lord rules every heart as he sees fit, like the husbandman who turns the water through his grounds as he pleases, seeks to have his own heart, and the hearts of others, directed in his faith, fear, and love.

We are partial in judging ourselves and our actions.

Many deceive themselves with a conceit that outward devotions will excuse unrighteousness.

Sin is the pride, the ambition, the glory, the joy, and the business of wicked men.

The really diligent employ foresight as well as labour.

While men seek wealth by unlawful practices, they seek death.

Injustice will return upon the sinner, and will destroy him here and for ever.

The way of mankind by nature is froward and strange.

It is best to shun bitter contention by pouring out the heart before God. For by prudence and patience, with constant prayer, the cross may be removed.

The evil desires of a wicked man's heart, lead to baseness in his conduct.

The simple may be made wise by punishments on the wicked, and by instructions to those who are willing to be taught.

Good men envy not the prosperity of evil-doers; they see there is a curse on them.

Such as oppress the poor by beating down wages, such as will not relieve according to their ability those in distress, and those in authority who neglect to do justice, stop their ears at the cry of the poor. But doubtless care is to be used in the exercise of charity.

If money can conquer the fury of the passions, shall reason, the fear of God, and the command of Christ, be too weak to bridle them?

There is true pleasure only in the practice of religion.

Of all wanderers in the ways of sin, those are in the most dangerous condition who turn aside into the ways of darkness. Yet there is hope even for them in the all-sufficient Saviour; but let them flee to him without delay.

A life of worldly pleasure brings ruin on men.

The righteous is often delivered out of trouble, and the wicked comes in his stead, and so seems as a ransom for him.

Unbridled passions spoil the comfort of all relations.

The plenty obtained by prudence, industry, and frugality, is desirable. But the foolish misspend what they have upon their lusts.

True repentance and faith will lead him that relies on the mercy of God in Christ, to follow after righteousness and mercy in his own conduct.

Those that have wisdom, often do great things, even against those confident of their strength.

It is our great concern to keep our souls from being entangled and disquieted.

Pride and haughtiness make men passionate; such continually deal in wrath, as if it were their trade to be angry.

Here is the misery of the slothful; their hands refuse to labour in an honest calling, by which they might get an honest livelihood; yet their hearts cease not to covet riches, pleasures, and honours, which cannot be obtained without labour. But the righteous and industrious have their desires satisfied.

When holiness is pretended, but wickedness intended, that especially is an abomination.

The doom of a false witness is certain.

A wicked man bids defiance to the terrors of the law and the rebukes of Providence. But a good man asks, What does God require of me?

Means are to be used, but, after all, our safety and salvation are only of the Lord. In our spiritual warfare we must arm ourselves with the whole armour of God; but our strength must be in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

CHAPTER 21

Pr 21:1-31.

1. rivers--irrigating channels (Psa 1:3), whose course was easily turned (compare De 11:10). God disposes even kings as He pleases (Pr 16:9; Psa 33:15).

2. (Compare Pr 14:2; 16:2-25).

3. (Compare Psa 50:7-15; Is 1:11, 17).

4. high look--(Compare Margin; Psa 131:1).

proud heart--or, "heart of breadth," one that is swollen (compare Psa 101:5).

ploughing--better "lamp," a frequent figure for prosperity (Pr 20:20); hence joy or delight.

5. The contrast is between steady industry and rashness (compare Pr 19:2).

6. The getting--or, "what is obtained" (compare Job 7:2; Jr 22:13, Hebrew).

vanity ... to and fro--as fleeting as chaff or stubble in the wind (compare Pr 20:17-21; Psa 62:10). Such gettings are unsatisfactory.

them ... death--act as if they did (Pr 8:36; 17:19).

7. robbery--or, "destruction," especially oppression, of which they are authors.

shall destroy--literally, "cut with a saw" (1Ki 7:9), that is, utterly ruin them. Their sins shall be visited on them in kind.

to do judgment--what is just and right.

8. of man--any one; his way is opposed to truth, and also estranged from it. The pure proves himself such by his right conduct.

9. corner--a turret or arbor on the roof.

brawling--or contentious.

wide house--literally, "house of fellowship," large enough for several families.

10. So strongly does he desire to do evil (Psa 10:3; Ec 8:11), that he will not even spare his friend if in his way.

11. (Compare Pr 19:25). That which the simple learn by the terrors of punishment, the wise learn by teaching.

12. (Compare Psa 37:35-38; 73:17, 20).

house--family or interests.

overthroweth--either supply "God" (compare Pr 10:24), or the word is used impersonally.

13. The principles of retribution, often taught (compare Psa 18:26; Mt 7:1-12).

14. The effect of bribery (Pr 17:23) is enhanced by secrecy, as the bribed person does not wish his motives made known.

15. But the just love right and need no bribes. The wicked at last meet destruction, though for a time happy in concealing corruption.

16. the way of understanding--(Compare Pr 12:26; 14:22).

remain--that is, rest as at a journey's end; death will be his unchanging home.

17. Costly luxuries impoverish.

18. (Compare Pr 11:8). By suffering what they had devised for the righteous, or brought on them, the wicked became their ransom, in the usual sense of substitutes (compare Jos 7:26; Es 7:9).

19. (Compare Pr 21:9).

wilderness--pasture, though uninhabitable ground (Psa 65:12).

20. The wise, by diligence and care, lay up and increase wealth, while fools

spend--literally, "swallow it up," greedily.

21. He who tries to act justly and kindly (Psa 34:14) will prosper and obtain justice and honor.

22. "Wisdom is better than strength" (Ec 7:19; 9:15).

strength ... thereof--that in which they confide.

23. (Compare Pr 13:2, 3; Jas 3:6-10).

24. The reproachful name is deserved by those who treat others with anger and contempt.

25. desire--that is, of ease and idleness brings him to starvation.

26. The sin of covetousness marks the sluggard, as the virtue of benevolence the righteous.

27. God regards the heart, and hypocrisy is more odious than open inconsistency.

wicked mind--or, "design" (Pr 1:4).

28. (Compare Pr 19:5).

that heareth--or heeds instruction, and so grows wise.

speaketh constantly--or sincerely (compare Ha 1:5), and hence is believed (Pr 12:19; Jas 1:19).

29. hardeneth his face--is obstinate.

directeth ... way--considers it, and acts advisedly.

30-31. Men's best devices and reliances are vain compared with God's, or without His aid (Pr 19:21; Psa 20:7; 33:17).

The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord - The Lord is the only ruler of princes. He alone can govern and direct their counsels. But there is an allusion here to the Eastern method of watering their lands. Several canals are dug from one stream; and by opening a particular sluice, the husbandman can direct a stream to whatever part he please: so the king's heart, wherever it turns; i.e., to whomsoever he is disposed to show favor. As the land is enriched with the streams employed in irrigation; so is the favourite of the king, by the royal bounty: and God can induce the king to give that bounty to whomsoever he will. See Harmer.

The Lord pondereth the hearts - Every man feels strongly attached to his own opinions, modes of acting, etc.; and though he will not easily give up any thing to the judgment of a neighbor, whom he will naturally consider at least as fallible as himself, yet he should consider that the unerring eye of God is upon him; and he should endeavor to see that what he does is acceptable in the eye of his Maker and Judge.

To do justice and judgment - The words of Samuel to Saul. See note on 1Sam 15:23.

A high look - The evidence of pride, self-conceit, and vanity. A proud heart, from which the high look, etc., come.

And the ploughing - נר ner, lucerna, the lamp, the prosperity and posterity of the wicked; is sin - it is evil in the seed, and evil in the root evil in the branch, and evil in the fruit. They are full of sin themselves, and what they do is sinful.

Of them that seek death - Instead of מבקשי mebakshey, "them that seek," several MSS., some ancient editions, with Symmachus, the Septuagint, Vulgate, and Arabic, have מקשי mokeshey, the snares. He who gets treasures by a lying tongue, pursues vanity into the snares of death. Our common translation may be as good. But he who, by the snares of his tongue, endeavors to buy and sell to the best advantage, is pursuing what is empty in itself; and he is ensnared by death, while he is attempting to ensnare others.

The robbery of the wicked - The wicked shall be terrified and ruined by the means they use to aggrandize themselves. And as they refuse to do judgment, they shall have judgment without mercy.

In a corner of the housetop - A shed raised on the flat roof - a wide house; בית חבר beith chaber, "a house of fellowship;" what we should call a lodging-house, or a house occupied by several families. This was usual in the East, as well as in the West. Some think a house of festivity is meant: hence my old MS. Bible has, the hous and feste.

When the scorner is punished - When those who mock at religion, blaspheme against its Author, and endeavor to poison society, and disturb the peace of the community by their false doctrine, meet with that degree of punishment which their crimes, as far as they affect the public peace, deserve; then the simple, who were either led away, or in danger of being led away, by their pernicious doctrines, are made wise. And when those thus made wise are instructed in the important truths which have been decried by those unprincipled men, then they receive knowledge; and one such public example is made a blessing to thousands. But only blasphemy against God and the Bible should be thus punished. Private opinion the state should not meddle with.

The righteous man wisely considereth - This verse is understood as implying the pious concern of a righteous man, for a wicked family, whom he endeavors by his instructions to bring into the way of knowledge and peace.

Whoso stoppeth his ears - See the conduct of the priest and Levite to the man who fell among thieves; and let every man learn from this, that he who shuts his ear against the cry of the poor, shall have the ear of God shut against his cry. The words are quite plain; there is no difficulty here.

The man once enlightened, that wandereth out of the way of understanding, in which he had walked, shall remain - have a permanent residence - in the congregation of the dead; רפאים rephaim, the lost; either separate spirits in general, or rather the assembly of separate spirits, which had fallen from primitive rectitude; and shall not be restored to the Divine favor; particularly those sinners who were destroyed by the deluge. This passage intimates that those called rephaim are in a state of conscious existence. It is difficult to assign the true meaning of the word in several places where it occurs: but it seems to mean the state of separate spirits, i.e., of those separated from their bodies, and awaiting the judgment of the great day: but the congregation may also include the fallen angels. My old MS. Bible translates, The man that errith fro the wei of doctrine, in the felowschip of geantis schal wonnen.

He that loveth pleasure - That follows gaming, fowling, hunting, coursing, etc., when he should be attending to the culture of the fields, shall be a poor man; and, I may safely add, shall be so deservedly poor, as to have none to pity him.

The wicked shall be a ransom for the righteous - God often in his judgments cuts off the wicked, in order to prevent them from destroying the righteous. And in general, we find that the wicked fall into the traps and pits they have digged for the righteous.

A wise man scaleth the city of the mighty - Wisdom is in many respects preferable to strength, even in the case of defense. See what skill does in the fortification and reduction of strong places.

The desire of the slothful killeth him - He desires to eat, drink, and be clothed: but as he does not labor, hence he dies with this desire in his heart, envying those who possess plenty through their labor and industry. Hence he is said to covet greedily all the day long, Pro 21:26, while the righteous, who has been laborious and diligent, has enough to eat, and some to spare.

When he bringeth it with a wicked mind? - If such a person even bring the sacrifices and offerings which God requires, they are an abomination to him, because the man is wicked; and if such offerings be imperfect in themselves, or of goods ill-gotten, or offered by constraint of custom, etc., they are doubly abominable.

He directeth his way - Instead of יכין yachin, he directeth, upwards of fifty of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS., several ancient editions with some of the versions, read יבין yabin, he understands; and because he understands his way, he is able to direct himself in walking in it.

The horse is prepared against the day of battle - Horses were not used among the Jews before the time of Solomon. There was a Divine command against them, Deu 17:16; but Solomon transgressed it; see 1Kgs 10:29. But he here allows that a horse is a vain thing for safety; and that however strong and well appointed cavalry may be, still safety, escape, and victory, are of the Lord. Among the ancient Asiatics, the horse was used only for war; oxen labored in the plough and cart, the ass and the camel carried backloads; and mules and asses served for riding. We often give the credit of a victory to man, when they who consider the circumstances see that it came from God.

The kings - He names kings not to exclude other men, but because they are more arbitrary and uncontrollable than others. As rivers - Which husband - men draw by little channels into the adjacent grounds as they please.

The plowing - Even their civil or natural actions, which in themselves are lawful, are made sinful as they are managed by ungodly men, without any regard to the glory of God, which ought to be the end of all our actions.

Hasty - Who manages his affairs rashly.

Lying tongue - By any false or deceitful words or actions. Is tossed - Is like the chaff or smoak driven away by the wind. Of them - That take those courses which will bring destruction upon them.

The way - Of every man by nature. Strange - Estranged from God. Right - But he whose heart is pure, his conversation is agreeable to it.

Desireth - To do mischief. No favour - He spares neither friend nor foe.

The wise - The simple learn wisdom, both from the punishment of wicked men, and from the prosperity of good men.

Considereth - He looks through its present glory to that ruin for which it is designed.

In secret - Which makes it more acceptable. In the bosom - Secretly conveyed into the bosom.

Shall remain - Shall, without repentance, be condemned to eternal death.

Wine and oil - Delicious fare and luxurious feasting. Wine and oil were much used in feasts in those parts.

A ransom - The wicked shall be brought into those troubles, which were designed by wicked men for the righteous: thus Haman was a ransom for Mordecai.

The wise - Wise men lay up desirable treasures for their own use, and for their families. Oil is particularly mentioned, because that was a considerable part of their wealth and treasures in those countries.

The strength - The strongest sorts to which the citizens trust.

Killeth - Torments him to death, while he passionately desires what he sees, he shall not enjoy, and will not take pains to procure.

Coveteth - Spends his whole time in vain and lazy desires. Giveth - By God's blessing upon his industry he procures enough, not only for his own support, but for the relief of others.

The sacrifice - All the most costly services which they offer to God. Because - As all the ancient translators render it, the Hebrew particle, aph, being expletive: or, even because; so the following clause gives the reason. A wicked mind - Not in obedience to God's command, but either to cover, or countenance, or promote some wicked design.

Heareth - He witnesses nothing but what he has heard or seen. Constantly - Always affirms the same thing.

Hardeneth - Continues in evil with obstinacy and impudence. Directs - He orders his steps aright.

The horse - Under which all war - like provisions are comprehended.

1 THe kings heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water , he turneth it whithersoever he will .

His very inward purposes and inclinations, which seem to be most in a Man's own power, and out of the reach of all others, and much more his Tongue and Hand, and all his outward actions. He names Kings hot to exclude other men, but because they are more arbitrary and uncontrollable than other men.

Which Husbandmen or Gardiners can draw by little Channels into the adjacent grounds as they please, and as their occasions require.

Directeth and boweth partly by suggesting those things to their Minds which have a commanding influence upon their wills, and partly by a direct and immediate motion of their wills and affections, which being God's Creatures must needs be as subject to his power and pleasure as either mens Minds or Bodies are, and which he moves sweetly and suitably to their own Nature, though strongly and effectually.

So as they shall fulfil his counsels and designs, either of Mercy or of Correction to themselves, or to their People.

2 Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD pondereth the hearts .

This was said, Ch. 16. 2. where it is explained, and is here repeated, either for the great importance and usefulness of it, or because he perceived that the Israelites were very prone to selfdeceit.

3 To do justice and judgment , is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice .

The conscientious performance of all our duties to men.

Than the most costly, outward services offered to God, joyned with the neglect of our Moral duties to God or men. The same thing is affirmed, 1 Sam. 15. 22. Hos. 6. 6. Mic. 6. 7, 8, &c.

Marginal references: 1 Sam. 15. 22. Ch. 15. 8. Isa. 1. 11, &c. Hos. 6. 6. Mic. 6. 7, 8.

4 An high look , and a proud heart , and the plowing of the wicked, is sin .

One gesture or sign of Pride put for all the rest. Prov. 6. 17.

Pride lurking and reigning in the Heart, though it do not discover it self to men by outward actions, but be disguised with a shew▪ of humility, as it is frequently.

Either 1. strictly and properly so called: even their civil or natural actions, which in themselves are lawful and good, are made sinful as they are managed by ungodly men, without any regard to the service and glory of God, which ought to be the great end of all our actions, 1 Cor. 10. 31. and with a design of serving their own wicked lusts by it. Or 2. Metaphorically, their designs and endeavours, which are said to be sin, because they are wholly and fully set upon sin, and they make sin their trade or business, which is called Plowing wickedness, Job 4. 8. But all the ancient Interpreters, and divers others render the word the Lamp or Light, as this Hebrew word, even thus pointed, is rendred, 1 Kings 11. 36. & 15. 4. 2 Kings 8. 19. 2 Chron. 21. 7. and the Lamp of the wicked is a Phrase used in this Book, Ch. 13. 9. & 24. 20. as also, Iob 21. 17. whereas the Plowing of the wicked is a Phrase not elsewhere used. And this seems best to agree with the Context, for by their Lamp he seems to understand all their pomp and glory, that worldly greatness and Prosperity, which is the Fewel of their Pride, and therefore is most fitly joyned with it.

It is by them turned into sin, and made the occasion of much wickedness. The whole Verse may be thus rendred, An high look, and a proud Heart, which is the light or glory of the wicked (i. e. wherein they glory, esteeming it magnanimity or gallantry of spirit) is sin, i. e. is a great and grievous sin. And in this manner the learned Mercer renders the Verse, save onely that he translates the Hebrew word Nir, the Plowing.

Marginal references: Ch. 6. 17.; Heb. haughtiness of eyes.; Or, the light of the wicked.

5 The thoughts of the diligent tend onely to plenteousness, but of every one that is hasty , onely to want .

Who carefully and industriously prosecutes what he hath wisely contrived and resolved,

Who manageth his affairs rashly, without due consideration.

Is likely to bring himself to po verty.

Marginal references: Chap. 10. 4▪

6 The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death .

By false-witness-bearing, or by any other false or deceitful words or actions, whereby many men get riches.

Is like the Chaff or Smoak driven away by the Wind, it is neither satisfactory nor durable, but quickly vanisheth away, as hath been frequently observed of Estates ill-gotten.

Not designedly but eventually, that take those courses which will bring Death or Destruction upon them or theirs.

Marginal references: Ch. 10. 2. & 13. 11.

7 The robbery of the wicked shall destroy them , because they refuse to do judgment .

The injury which they do to others shall either by God or men be returned upon their own heads.

They wilfully and obstinatly give up themselves to unrighteous practices.

Marginal references: Heb. saw them, or, dwell with them.

8 The way of man is froward and strange ▪ but as for the pure, his work is right .

The course of his life.

Of every Man, of Man by Nature and in his corrupt estate, of a wicked or, impure man, to whom the pure is opposed in the next Clause.

Estranged from God and from Man's primitive Integrity, and from the rule of his actions, Reason and Scripture: in which respects wicked men are called strangers, Psal. 54. 3. Ezek. 44. 7. and elsewhere.

But he whose Heart is pure and upright, his conversation is agreeable to it.

9 It is better to dwell in a corner of the house, top , than with a brawling woman in a wide house .

To wit, alone in quietness, as appears from the opposite clause.

Of the roof of the House, which in those Countries was flat and plain and habitable, but was exposed to all the injuries of the Weather.

Or, in a common House, or, an House of Society, where Husband and Wise live together, or which is capable of many Friends or Companies.

Marginal references: Vers. 19. Ch. 19. 13. & 25. 24. & 27. 15.; Heb. a woman of contentions.; Heb. an house of Society.

10 The soul of the wicked desireth evil : his neighbour findeth no favour in his eyes .

His Heart is fully and earnestly set in him, as it is expressed, Eccles. 8. 11. to do evil, to work wickedness, to do mischief to others, to satisfie his own lusts, though it be with injury of others.

If he either dissuade him from his wickedness, or stand in the way of his Lusts. He spares neither friend nor foe.

Marginal references: Jam. 4. 5.; Heb. is not favoured.

11 * When the scorner is punished, the simple is made wise: and when the wise is instructed , he receiveth knowledg.

The honest or plainhearted man, as Chap. 19. 25. where this whole verse for the substance of it is contained and explained.

Or, prospers, as this word is used, Prov. 17. 8. and elsewhere. So the sense of the verse is, The simple learn Wisdom, both from the punishment of wicked men, and from the prosperity▪of good men.

12 The righteous man wisely considereth the house of the wicked , but God overthroweth the wicked for their wickedness.

He looketh through its present Power and Glory (which dazleth the Eyes of others) unto that ruine to which it is designed.

Or, now, or that, this being the thing which he wisely considereth.

Or, will overthrow in his due time, though for a season he bear with them.

13 Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor , he also shall cry himself , but shall not be heard.

When they cry out by reason of Oppression or want, and beg relief from him.

Unto God or Men, in his straits which God will bring upon him.

Marginal references: Mat. 18. 30, &c.

14 A gift in secret pacifieth anger, and a reward in the bosom, strong wrath.

To a person loffended and angry with us, as the following words shew.

Which makes it more acceptable; for gifts openly given savour of ostentation in the giver, and cause some shame or contempt to the receiver.

Secretly conveyed into his bosom. See on Prov. 17. 8. & 18. 16.

Marginal references: Ch. 17. 8. & 18. 16.

15 It is joy to the just to do judgment, but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity.

The sense is either 1. He is highly pleased and delighted with it. Or 2. He reapeth much comfort and benefit by it, which is opposed to the following destruction: joy is put for matter or cause of joy

To do what is just or good, for this is opposed to working of iniquity.

Or, as others render it, terror or horror, opposite to joy.

16 The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead .

That forsaketh the rule of Gods word, and walketh after his own Lusts.

Shall, without Repentance, be condemned to eternal Death or Damnation.

Marginal references: Heb. rest.

17 He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man , he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich.

That gives up himself to the pursuit and enjoyment of sensual and immoderate pleasures.

Takes the ready course to Poverty.

Which are put for all delicious fare and luxurious feasting; for Wine and Oil were much used in Feasts in those parts.

Marginal references: Or, sport.

18 The wicked shall be a ransom for the righteous, and the transgressor for the upright.

The wicked shall be brought into those troubles which were either threatned by God, or designed by wicked men against the righteous, and by that means, as by a ransom, the righteous shall be delivered. Thus Achan was a ransom for Israel, Ios. 7. 26. and Haman for Mordecai.

Marginal references: Ch. 11. 8.

19 It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and angry woman.

Understand, in a wide house, as it is expressed above, v. 9. and as the opposition here requires.

Marginal references: Ver. 9.; Heb. in the land of the desert.

20 There is a treasure to be desired, and oil in the dwelling of the wise: but a foolish man spendeth it up.

Wise-men lay up all necessary and desirable treasures for their own use, and for their Children, and Families. Oil is particularly mentioned, partly because that was a considerable part of their Wealth and Treasures in those Countries, of which see Deut. 7. 13. & 28. 40, 51. Iudg. 9. 9. Mic. 6. 15. &c. and partly to shew that his Providence reached not only to necessaries, but even to matters of just and lawful delight.

Marginal references: Psal. 112. 3.

21 He that followeth after righteousness and mercy, findeth life, righteousness, and honour.

That fervently desires, and diligently and constantly endeavours to attain to them, for such shall and will certainly obtain them.

Living in the constant exercise of these virtues.

Shall obtain from God, what is right and due to him, either from God by vertue of his gracious promise, or from men, whose hearts God will dispose to deal justly and kindly with him.

22 A wise man scaleth the city of the mighty, and casteth down the strength of the confidence thereof.

Wisdom and policy is oft times more considerable and powerful than strength.

The strongest forts to which the Citizens trust most for their defence.

Marginal references: Eccl. [illegible: 1+ letters]. 14. &c.

23 Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue , keepeth his soul from troubles .

From offensive and provoking speeches.

His person.

Which a licentious and abusive Tongue frequently brings upon a man.

Marginal references: Ch. 12. 13. & 18. 21.

24. Proud and haughty scorner is his name, who dealeth in proud wrath .

Instead of that respect and glory which he seeks by such courses, he shall be branded with the Title and Imputation of an arrogant and scornful person, which is most contemptible and hateful to Mankind.

Who in the conduct of his affairs and dealings in the world, is not governed by Reason and Justice, but by his own Pride and Passions.

Marginal references: Heb. in the wrath of pride.

25 The desire of the slothful killeth him: for his hands refuse to labour.

Either 1. Tormenteth him almost to death, whilst he passionately desires that which he sees he shall not enjoy, and will not take pains to procure. Or 2. Exposeth him to extream want, and so to death, or so such wicked courses for the supply of his wants, as bring him to an untimely death.

Marginal references: Ch. 13. 4.

26 He coveteth greedily all the day long: but the righteous giveth and spareth not.

The slothful man mentioned in the last verse. But because the Verses in this Book are for the most part independent one upon another, this clause is and may be otherwise rendred, There is that coveteth, &c. Or, the wicked (which may be understood from the opposition of the righteous in the next clause) coveteth, &c.

Spends his whole time in vain and lazy desires, but will not labour to get any thing, either to [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word], or to give to others.

By Gods Blessing upon his [illegible: 1 word] he procures enough, not onely for his own support, but also for the liberal relief of others.

Marginal references: Psal. 1129.

27 The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination: how much more when he bringeth it with a wicked mind!

All the most glorious and costly services which they offer to God.

God rejects and abhors them, because they are offered by such men, and in such manner as God justly abhors.

Or, because, as all the antient Translators render it, the Hebrew particle, aph, being expletive: Or, even because; so the following clause gives the reason of the former Proposition.

With an hypocritical and impenitent Heart, or with a bad design, not in obedience to Gods Command, and with respect to his honour and service, but either to cover, or countenance, or promote some wicked intention or course, which, notwithstanding all his professions of Religion, he is resolved to prosecute.

Marginal references: Psal. 50. 9. Ch. 15. 8. Isa. 66. 3. Jer. 6. 20. Amos 5. 22.; Heb. in wickedness.

28 A false witness shall perish: but the man that heareth, speaketh constantly.

Heb. A witness of lies▪ one who is forward to swear or speak false things, or such things as he hath not heard nor learned from others, nor seen, but devised in his own heart.

Shall be severely punished either by God or Men, and shall be confounded and silenced, because none will for the future regard or credit his testimony.

He who hears before he speaks, and witnesseth nothing but what he hath heard or seen, and knows to be true.

Doth not contradict himself, but always affirmeth the same thing. Or, as most other Interpreters render the words, speaketh (or, may speak, dare speak freely and boldly) for ever, when lyars are cut off, he lives, and is in a capacity of speaking and bearing witness again and again, as occasion requires, as long as he lives, and his Testimony will be received.

Marginal references: Ch. 19. 5, [illegible: 1+ letters].; Heb. [illegible: 1 word] of lies.

29 A wicked man hardeneth his face: but as for the upright, he directeth his way ▪

Continueth in evil courses with obstinacy and impudence, in spight of all the Commands of God, or Counsels of Men.

He ordereth his steps aright, and if at any time he goeth away, he doth not add Rebellion to his sin, nor persist in his errour, but considereth his ways, and turneth his feet to Gods testimonies, as David did, Psal. 119. 59. Or, considereth his way, remembring with grief and shame what he hath done, and taking better heed to himself for the future.

Marginal references: Or, considereth.

30 There is no wisdom, nor understanding nor counsel against the LORD.

Which can prevail against the Counsel and Will of God.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word] ▪ 9. 23.

31 The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD.

Under which particular all warlike provisions are comprehended.

The success of the battle depends not upon any humane strength or art, but meerly upon Gods Providence, who gives the victory when and to whom he pleaseth,▪ and oft times to those that have least reason to expect it. Compare Eccl. 9. 11.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]. 20. 7. [illegible: 1 word] 17.; [illegible: 1 word] ▪ 3. 8.; [illegible: 1 word] ▪ [illegible: 1+ letters]ictory.

Pro 21:1

The group, like the preceding one, now closes with a proverb of the king.

A king's heart in Jahve's hand is like brooks of water;

He turneth it whithersoever He will.

Brook and canal (the Quinta: ὑδραγωγοί) are both called פּלג, or פּלג, Job 20:17, Arab. falaj (from פּלג, to divide, according to which Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion, διαρέσεις; Venet. διανομαί; Jerome, divisiones); Jâkût has the explanation of the word: “falaj is the name given to flowing water, particularly the brook from a spring, and every canal which is led from a spring out over flat ground.” Such brooks of water are the heart of a king, i.e., it is compared to such, in Jahve's hand. The second line contains the point of comparison: He inclines it, gives to it the direction (הטּה, causat. of נטה, Num 21:15) toward whatever He will (חפץ denotes willing, as a bending and inclining, viz., of the will; vid., at Pro 18:2). Rightly Hitzig finds it not accidental that just the expression “brooks of water” is chosen as the figure for tractableness and subjection to government. In Isa 32:2, the princes of Judah are compared to “rivers of water in a dry place” with reference to the exhaustion of the land during the oppression of the Assyrian invasion; the proverb has specially in view evidences of kindness proceeding from the heart, as at Pro 16:15 the favour of the king is compared to clouds of latter rain emptying themselves in beneficent showers, and at Pro 19:12 to the dew refreshing the plants. But the speciality of the comparison here is, that the heart of the king, however highly exalted above his subjects, and so removed from their knowledge he may be, has yet One above it by whom it is moved by hidden influences, e.g., the prayer of the oppressed; for man is indeed free, yet he acts under the influence of divinely-directed circumstances and divine operations; and though he reject the guidance of God, yet from his conduct nothing results which the Omniscient, who is surprised by nothing, does not make subservient to His will in the world-plan of redemption. Rightly the Midrash: God gives to the world good or bad kings, according as He seeks to bless it or to visit it with punishment; all decisions that go forth from the king's mouth come לכתחלה, i.e., in their first commencement and their last reason they come from the Holy One.

Pro 21:2

The next group extends from Pro 21:2 to Pro 21:8, where it closes as it began. 2 Every way of a man is right in his own eyes;    But a weigher of hearts is Jahve.

A proverb similar to Pro 16:2 (where דּרכי, for דּרך, זך for ישׁר, רוּחות for לבּות). God is also, Pro 17:3, called a trier, בּחן, of hearts, as He is here called a weigher, תּכן. The proverb indirectly admonishes us of the duty of constant self-examination, according to the objective norm of the revealed will of God, and warns us against the self-complacency of the fool, of whom Pro 12:15 says (as Trimberg in “Renner”): “all fools live in the pleasant feeling that their life is the best,” and against the self-deception which walks in the way of death and dreams of walking in the way of life, Pro 14:12 (Pro 16:25).

Pro 21:3 3 To practice justice and right    Hath with Jahve the pre-eminence above sacrifice.

We have already (vol. i. p. 42) shown how greatly this depreciation of the works of the ceremonial cultus, as compared with the duties of moral obedience, is in the spirit of the Chokma; cf. also at Pro 15:8. Prophecy also gives its testimony, e.g., Hos 6:7, according to which also here (cf. Pro 20:8 with Isa 9:8) the practising of צדקה וּמשׁפּט (sequence of words as at Gen 18:19; Psa 33:5, elsewhere צדק ומשׁפט, and yet more commonly משׁפט וצדקה) does not denote legal rigour, but the practising of the justum et aequum, or much rather the aequum et bonum, thus in its foundation conduct proceeding from the principle of love. The inf. עשׂה (like קנה, Pro 16:16) occurs three times (here and at Gen 50:20; Psa 101:3); once עשׂו is written (Gen 31:18), as also in the infin. absol. the form עשׂה mro and עשׂו interchange (vid., Norzi at Jer 22:4); once עשׂהוּ for עשׂותו (Exo 18:18) occurs in the status conjunctus.

Pro 21:4 4 Loftiness of eyes and swelling of heart -    The husbandry of the godless is sin.

If נר, in the sense of light, gives a satisfactory meaning, then one might appeal to 1Ki 11:36 (cf. 2Sa 21:17), where ניר appears to signify lamp, in which meaning it is once (2Sa 22:29) written ניר (like חיק); or since ניר = נר (ground-form, nawir, lightening) is as yet certainly established neither in the Heb. nor Syr., one might punctuate נר instead of נר, according to which the Greeks, Aram., and Luther, with Jerome, translate. But of the lamp of the godless we read at Pro 13:9 and elsewhere, that it goeth out. We must here understand by נר the brilliant prosperity (Bertheau and others) of the wicked, or their “proud spirit flaming and flaring like a bright light” (Zöckler), which is contrary to the use of the metaphor as found elsewhere, which does not extend to a prosperous condition. We must then try another meaning for נר; but not that of yoke, for this is not Heb., but Aram.-Arab., and the interpretation thence derived by Lagarde: “Haughtiness and pride; but the godless for all that bear their yoke, viz., sin,” seeks in vain to hide behind the “for all that” the breaking asunder of the two lines of the verse. In Heb. נר means that which lightens (burning) = lamp, נוּר, the shining (that which burns) = fire, and ניר, Pro 13:23, from ניר, to plough up (Targ. 1Sa 8:12, למנר = לחרשׁ) the fresh land, i.e., the breaking up of the fallow land; according to which the Venet. as Kimchi: νέωμα ἀσεβῶν ἁμαρτία, which as Ewald and Elster explain: “where a disposition of wicked haughtiness, of unbridled pride, prevails, there will also sin be the first-fruit on the field of action; נר, novale, the field turned up for the first time, denotes here the first-fruits of sin.” But why just the first-fruits, and not the fruit in general? We are better to abide by the field itself, which is here styled נר, not שׂדה (or as once in Jer 39:10, יגב); because with this word, more even than with שׂדה, is connected the idea of agricultural work, of arable land gained by the digging up or the breaking up of one or more years' fallow ground (cf. Pea ii. 1, ניר, Arab. siḳâḳ, opp. בור, Arab. bûr, Menachoth 85a, שׂדות מניּרות, a fresh broken-up field, Erachin 29b, נר ,, opp. הביר, to let lie fallow), so that נר רשׁעים may mean the cultivation of the fields, and generally the husbandry, i.e., the whole conduct and life of the godless. נר is here ethically metaph., but not like Hos 10:12; Jer 4:3, where it means a new moral commencement of life; but like חרשׁ, arare, Job 4:8; Hos 10:13; cf. Pro 3:29. רחב is not adj. like Pro 28:25, Psa 101:5, but infin. like חסר, Pro 10:21; and accordingly also רוּם is not adj. like חוּם, or past like סוּג, but infin. like Isa 10:12. And חטּאת is the pred. of the complex subject, which consists of רוּם עינים, a haughty looking down with the eyes, רחב־לב, breadth of heart, i.e., excess of self-consciousness, and נר רשׁעים taken as an asyndeton summativum: pride of look, and making oneself large of heart, in short, the whole husbandry of the godless, or the whole of the field cultivated by them, with all that grows thereon, is sin.

Pro 21:5 5 The striving of the diligent is only to advantage.    And hastening all [excessive haste] only to loss; or in other words, and agreeably to the Heb. construction:

The thoughts of the industrious are (reach) only to gain,

And every one who hastens - it (this his hastening) is only to loss. Vid., at Pro 17:21. At Pro 10:4, Luther translates “the hand of the diligent,” here “the plans of an expert [endelichen],” i.e., of one actively striving (Pro 22:29, endelich = מהיר) to the end. The אץ, hastening overmuch, is contrasted with the diligent: Luther well: but he who is altogether too precipitant. Everywhere else in the Proverbs אץ has a closer definition with it, wherefore Hitzig reads אצר, which must mean: he who collects together; but אץ along with חרוץ is perfectly distinct. The thought is the same as our “eile mit Weile” [= festina lente], and Goethe's

Wie das Gestirn ohne Hast,

Aber ohne Rast

Drehe sich jeder

Um die eigne Last. “Like the stars, without haste but without rest, let every one carry about his own burden,” viz., of his calling that lies upon him. The fundamental meaning of אוץ is to throng, to urge (Exo 5:13), here of impatient and inconsiderate rashness. While on the side of the diligent there is nothing but gain, such haste brings only loss; over-exertion does injury, and the work will want care, circumspection, and thoroughness. In the Book of Proverbs, the contrasts “gain” and “loss” frequently occur, Pro 11:24; Pro 14:23; Pro 22:16 : profit (the increase of capital by interest), opp. loss (of capital, or of part thereof), as commercial terms.

Pro 21:6 6 The gaining of treasures by a lying tongue    Is a fleeting breath of such as seek death.

One may, at any rate, after the free manner of gnomic resemblances and comparisons, regard “fleeting breath” and “such as seek death” as two separated predicates: such gain is fleeting breath, so those who gain are seeking death (Caspari's Beiträge zu Jes. p. 53). But it is also syntactically admissible to interpret the words rendered “seekers of death” as gen.; for such interruptions of the st. constr., as here by נדּף [fleeting], frequently occur, e.g., Isa 28:1; Isa 32:13; 1Ch 9:13; and that an idea, in spite of such interruption, may be thought of as gen., is seen from the Arab.Note: Vid., Friedr. Philippi's Status constructus, p. 17, Anm. 3; and cf. therewith such constructions as (Arab.) mân'u faḍlah âlmanhtâji, i.e., a refuser of the needy, his beneficence = one who denies to the needy his beneficence.

But the text is unsettled. Symmachus, Syr., Targ., the Venet., and Luther render the phrase מבקשׁי [seekers]; but the lxx and Jerome read מוקשׁי [snares] (cf. 1Ti 6:9); this word Rashi also had before him (vid., Norzi), and Kennicott found it in several Codd. Bertheau prefers it, for he translates: ...is fleeting breath, snares of death; Ewald and Hitzig go further, for, after the lxx, they change the whole proverb into: מות (בּמוקשׁי) הבל רדף אל־מוקשׁי, with פּעל in the first line. But διώκει of the lxx is an incorrect rendering of נדף, which the smuggling in of the ἐπὶ (παγίδας θανάτου) drew after it, without our concluding therefrom that אל־מוקשׁי, or למוקשׁי (Lagarde), lay before the translators; on the contrary, the word which (Cappellus) lay before them, מוקשׁי, certainly deserves to be preferred to מבקשׁי: the possession is first, in view of him who has gotten it, compared to a fleeting (נדּף, as Isa 42:2) breath (cf. e.g., smoke, Psa 68:3), and then, in view of the inheritance itself and its consequences, is compared to the snares of death (Pro 13:14; Pro 14:27); for in פּעל (here equivalent to עשׂות, acquisitio, Gen 31:1; Deu 8:17) lie together the ideas of him who procures and of the thing that is procured or effected (vid., at Pro 20:11).

Pro 21:7 7 The violence of the godless teareth them away,    For they have refused to do what is right.

The destruction which they prepare for others teareth or draggeth them away to destruction, by which wicked conduct brings punishment on itself; their own conduct is its own executioner (cf. Pro 1:19); for refusing to practise what is right, they have pronounced judgment against themselves, and fallen under condemnation. Rightly Jerome, detrahent, with Aquila, κατασπάσει = j'gurrem (as Hab 1:15), from גּרר; on the contrary, the lxx incorrectly, ἐπιξενωθήσεται, from גוּר, to dwell, to live as a guest; and the Venet., as Luther, in opposition to the usus loq.: δεδίξεται (fut. of δεδίσσεσθαι, to terrify), from גוּר, to dread, fear, which also remains intrans., with the accus. following, Deu 32:27. The Syr. and the Targ. freely: robbery (Targ. רבּוּנא, perhaps in the sense of usury) will seize them, viz., in the way of punishment. In Arab. jarr (jariyratn) means directly to commit a crime; not, as Schultens explains, admittere crimen paenam trahens, but attrahere (arripere), like (Arab.) jany (jinâytn), contrahere crimen; for there the crime is thought of as violent usurpation, here as wicked accumulation.

Pro 21:8 8 Winding is the way of a man laden with guilt;    But the pure - his conduct is right.

Rightly the accentuation places together “the way of a man” as subject, and “winding” as predicate: if the poet had wished to say (Schultens, Bertheau) “one crooked in his way” (quoad viam), he would have contented himself with the phrase נחפּך דּרך. But, on the other hand, the accentuation is scarcely correct (the second Munach is a transformed Mugrash), for it interprets וזר as a second pred.; but וזר is adj. to אישׁ. As הפכפּך (synon. פּתלתּל, עקלקל) is a hapax leg., so also vazar, which is equivalent to (Arab.) mawzwr, crimine onustus, from wazria, crimen committere, properly to charge oneself with a crime. The ancient interpreters have, indeed, no apprehension of this meaning before them; the lxx obtain from the proverb a thought reminding us of Psa 18:27, in which vazar does not at all appear; the Syr. and Targ. translate as if the vav of vazar introduces the conclusion: he is a barbarian (nuchrojo); Luther: he is crooked; Jerome also sets aside the syntax: perversa via viri aliena est; but, syntactically admissible, the Venet. and Kimchi, as the Jewish interpreters generally, διαστροφωτάτη ὁδὸς ἀνδρὸς καὶ ἀλλόκοτος. Fleischer here even renounces the help of the Arab., for he translates: Tortuosa est via viri criminibus onusti, qui autem sancte vivit, is recte facit; but he adds thereto the remark that “vazar thus explained, with Cappellus, Schultens, and Gesenius, would, it is true, corresponding to the Arab. wazar, have first the abstract meaning of a verbal noun from wazira;Note: The n. act formed from wazara is wazr, wizr, wizat. These three forms would correspond to the Heb. vězěr, vēzěr, and zěrěth (z'rāh, cf. rěděth, r'dah, Gen 46:3). the old explanation is therefore perhaps better: tortuosa est via viri et deflectens (scil. a recta linea, thus devia est), when the 'viri' is to be taken in the general sense of 'many, this and that one;' the closer definition is reflected from the זך of the second clause.” But (1) זר as an adj. signifies peregrinus; one ought thus rather to expect סר, degenerated, corrupt, although that also does not rightly accord; (2) the verbal noun also, e.g., 'all, passes over into a subst. and adj. signification (the latter without distinction of number and gender); (3) וזר, after its adj. signification, is related to (Arab.) wazyr, as חכם is to ḥakym, רזב to rahyb; it is of the same form as ענו, with which it has in common its derivation from a root of similar meaning, and its ethical signification. In 8b, וזך is rightly accented as subj. of the complex pred. זך is the pure in heart and of a good conscience. The laden with guilt (guilty) strikes out all kinds of crooked ways; but the pure needs not stealthy ways, he does not stand under the pressure of the bondage of sin, the ban of the guilt of sin; his conduct is straightforward, directed by the will of God, and not by cunning policy. Schultens: Integer vitae scelerisque purus non habet cur vacillet, cur titubet, cur sese contorqueat. The choice of the designation וזך [and the pure] may be occasioned by וזר (Hitzig); the expression 8b reminds us of Pro 20:11.

Pro 21:9

The group now following extends to Pro 21:18, where a new one begins with a variation of its initial verse. 9 Better to sit on the pinnacle of a house-roof,    Than a contentious wife and a house in common.

We have neither to supplement the second line: than with a contentious wife... (Symmachus, Theodotion, Jerome, Luther), nor: than that one have a contentious...; but the meaning is, that sitting on the roof-top better befits one, does better than a quarrelsome wife and a common house (rightly the Targ. and Venet.), i.e., in a common house; for the connecting together of the wife and the house by vav is a Semitic hendiadys, a juxtaposition of two ideas which our language would place in a relation of subordination (Fleischer). This hendiadys would, indeed, be scarcely possible if the idea of the married wife were attached to אושׁת; for that such an one has with her husband a “house of companionship, i.e., a common house,” is self-evident. But may it not with equal right be understood of the imperious positive mother-in-law of a widower, a splenetic shrewish aunt, a sickly female neighbour disputing with all the world, and the like? A man must live together with his wife in so far as he does not divorce her; he must then escape from her; but a man may also be constrained by circumstances to live in a house with a quarrelsome mother-in-law, and such an one may, even during the life of his wife, and in spite of her affection, make his life so bitter that he would rather, in order that he might have rest, sit on the pinnacle or ridge of a house-roof. פּנּהּ is the battlement (Zep 1:16) of the roof, the edge of the roof, or its summit; he who sits there does so not without danger, and is exposed to the storm, but that in contrast with the alternative is even to be preferred; he sits alone. Regarding the Chethı̂b מדינים, Kerı̂ מדינים, vid., at Pro 6:14; and cf. the figures of the “continual dropping” for the continual scolding of such a wife, embittering the life of her husband, Pro 19:13.

Pro 21:10 10 The soul of the godless hath its desire after evil;      His neighbour findeth no mercy in his eyes.

The interchange of perf. and fut. cannot be without intention. Löwenstein renders the former as perf. hypotheticum: if the soul of the wicked desires anything evil...; but the רשׁע wishes evil not merely now and then, but that is in general his nature and tendency. The perf. expresses that which is actually the case: the soul of the wicked has its desire directed (write אוּתה with Munach, after Codd. and old Ed., not with Makkeph) toward evil, and the fut. expresses that which proceeds from this: he who stands near him is not spared. יחן is, as at Isa 26:10, Hoph. of חנן, to incline, viz., oneself, compassionately toward any one, or to bend to him. But in what sense is בּעיניו added? It does not mean, as frequently, e.g., Pro 21:2, according to his judgment, nor, as at Pro 20:8; Pro 6:13 : with his eyes, but is to be understood after the phrase מצא חן בּעיני: his neighbour finds no mercy in his eyes, so that in these words the sympathy ruling within him expresses itself: “his eyes will not spare his friends,” vid., Isa 13:18.

Pro 21:11 11 When the scorner is punished, the simple is made wise;      And when insight is imparted to a wise man, he receives knowledge.

The thought is the same as at Pro 19:25. The mocker at religion and virtue is incorrigible, punishment avails him nothing, but yet it is not lost; for as a warning example it teaches the simple, who might otherwise be easily drawn into the same frivolity. On the other hand, the wise man needs no punishment, but only strengthening and furtherance: if “instruction” is imparted to him, he embraces it, makes it his own דּעת; for, being accessible to better insight, he gains more and more knowledge. De Dieu, Bertheau, and Zöckler make “the simple” the subject also in 11b: and if a wise man prospers, he (the simple) gains knowledge. But השׂכּיל ל, used thus impersonally, is unheard of; wherefore Hitzig erases the ל before חכם erofeb ל eh: if a wise man has prosperity. But השׂכיל does not properly mean to have prosperity, but only mediately: to act with insight, and on that account with success. The thought that the simple, on the one side, by the merited punishment of the mocker; on the other, by the intelligent prosperous conduct of the wise, comes to reflection, to reason, may indeed be entertained, but the traditional form of the proverb does not need any correction. השׂכּיל may be used not only transitively: to gain insight, Gen 3:6; Psa 2:10, and elsewhere, but also causatively: to make intelligent, with the accus. following, Pro 16:23; Psa 32:8, or: to offer, present insight, as here with the dat.-obj. following (cf. Pro 17:26). Instead of בּענשׁ־, the Kametz of which is false, Codd. and good Edd. have, rightly, בּענשׁ־. Hitzig, making “the wise” the subject to בהשׂכיל (and accordingly “the scorner” would be the subject in 11a), as a correct consequence reads בּענשׁ = בּהענשׁ. For us, with that first correction, this second one also fails. “Both infinitivi constr.,” Fleischer remarks, “are to be taken passively; for the Semitic infin., even of transitive form, as it has no designation of gender, time, and person, is an indeterminate modus, even in regard to the generis verbi (Act. and Pass.).”Note: The Arab. National Grammarians, it is true, view the matter otherwise. When ḳatlu zydn, the putting to death of Zeid, is used in the sense of Zeid's becoming dead, according to their view the fâ'l (the gen. subjecti) is omitted; the full expression would be ḳatlu 'amrn zaydnâ. Since now 'amrn is omitted, zaydn has in the gen. form taken the place of the fâ'l, but this gen. is the representative of the acc. objecti. Without thus going round about, we say: it is the gen. objecti.

To this proverb with u-behaskil there is connected the one that follows, beginning with maskil.

Pro 21:12 12 A righteous One marketh the house of the godless;      He hurleth the godless to destruction.

If we understand by the word צדּיק a righteous man, then 12a would introduce the warning which he gives, and the unexpressed subject of 12b must be God (Umbreit). But after such an introitus, יהוה ought not to be wanting. If in 12a “the righteous man” is the subject, then it presents itself as such also for the second parallel part. But the thought that the righteous, when he takes notice of the house of the godless, shows attention which of itself hurls the godless into destruction (Löwenstein), would require the sing. רשׁע in the conclusion; also, instead of מסלּף the fut. יסלּף would have been found; and besides, the judicial סלּף (vid., regarding this word at Pro 11:3; Pro 19:3) would not be a suitable word for this confirmation in evil. Thus by צדיק the proverb means God, and מסלף has, as at Pro 22:12, Job 12:19, this word as its subject. “A righteous One” refers to the All-righteous, who is called, Job 34:17, “the All-just One,” and by Rashi, under the passage before us, צדּיקו שׁל־עולם. Only do not translate with Bertheau and Zöckler: the Righteous One (All-righteous), for (1) this would require הצּדּיק, and (2) הצדיק is never by itself used as an attributive designation of God. Rightly, Fleischer and Ewald: a Righteous One, viz., God. It is the indetermination which seeks to present the idea of the great and dreadful: a Righteous One, and such a Righteous One!Note: The Arabs call this indetermination âlnkrt lalt'ẓym wallthwyl. Vid., under Psa 2:12. השׂכיל with על, Pro 16:20, or אל, Psa 41:2; Neh 8:13, here with ל, signifies to give attention to anything, to look attentively on it. The two participles stand in the same line: animum advertit ... evertit. Hitzig changes לבּית רשׁע into לבּיתו, and makes רשׁע the subject of 12b; but the proverb as it lies before us is far more intelligible.

Pro 21:13 13 He that stoppeth his ear at the cry of the poor      he also calls and is not heard.

Only the merciful find mercy, Mat 5:7; the unmerciful rich man, who has no ear for the cry of the דל, i.e., of him who is without support and means of subsistence, thus of one who is needing support, will also remain unheard when he himself, in the time of need, calls upon God for help. Cf. the parable of the unmerciful servant of the merciful king, Mat 18:23. מן in מזּעקת, as Isa 23:15; Gen 4:13; Gen 27:1; no preposition of our [German] language [nor English] expresses, as Fleischer here remarks, such a fulness of meaning as this מן does, to which, after a verb of shutting up such as אטם (cf. Pro 17:28), the Arab. 'n would correspond, e.g., â'my 'n âltryḳ: blind, so that he does not see the way.

Pro 21:14 14 A gift in secret turneth away anger;      And a bribe into the bosom violent wrath.

Hitzig reads with Symmachus, the Targ., and Jerome, יכבּה, and translates: “extinguishes anger;” but it does not follow that they did read יכבה; for the Talm. Heb. כּפה signifies to cover by turning over, e.g., of a vessel, Sanhedrin 77a, which, when it is done to a candle or a fire, may mean its extinction. But כפה of the post-bibl. Heb. also means to bend, and thence to force out (Aram. כּפא, כּפי), according to which Kimchi hesitates whether to explain: overturns = smothers, or: bends = forces down anger. The Venet. follows the latter signification: κάμψει (for Villoison's καλύψει rests on a false reading of the MS). But there is yet possible another derivation from the primary signification, curvare, flectere, vertere, according to which the lxx translates ἀνατρέπει, for which ἀποτρέπει would be yet better: כפה, to bend away, to turn off, ἀρκεῖν, arcere, altogether like the Arab. (compared by Schultens) kfâ, and kfy, ἀρκεῖν, to prevent, whence, e.g., ikfı̂ni hada: hold that away from me, or: spare me that (Fleischer); with the words hafı̂ka sharran (Lat. defendaris semper a malo) princes were anciently saluted; kfy signifies “to suffice,” because enough is there, where there is a keeping off of want. Accordingly we translate: Donum clam acceptum avertit iram, which also the Syr. meant by mephadka (מפרק). This verb is naturally to be supplied to 14b, which the lxx has recognised (it translates: but he who spares gifts, excites violent anger). Regarding שׂחד, vid., at Pro 17:8; and regarding בּחק, at Pro 17:23. Also here חק (חיק = חיק), like Arab. jayb, 'ubb, חב, denotes the bosom of the garment; on the contrary (Arab.) hijr, hiḍn, חצן, is more used of that of the body, or that formed by the drawing together of the body (e.g., of the arm in carrying a child). A present is meant which one brings with him concealed in his bosom; perhaps 13b called to mind the judge that took gifts, Exo 23:8 (Hitzig).

Pro 21:15 15 It is a joy to the just to do justice,      And a terror for them that work iniquity.

To act according to the law of rectitude is to these as unto death; injustice has become to them a second nature, so that their heart strives against rectitude of conduct; it also enters to little into their plan of life, and their economy, that they are afraid of ruining themselves thereby. So we believe, with Hitzig, Elster, Zöckler, and Luther, this must be explained in accordance with our interpretation of Pro 10:29. Fleischer and others supplement the second parallel member from the first: וּפעל און מחתּה לפעלי אין; others render 15b as an independent sentence: ruin falls on those who act wickedly. But that ellipsis is hard and scarcely possible; but in general מחתה, as contrasted correlate to שׂמחה, can scarcely have the pure objective sense of ruin or destruction. It must mean a revolution in the heart. Right-doing is to the righteous a pleasure (cf. Pro 10:23); and for those who have און, and are devoid of moral worth, and thus simply immoral as to the aim and sphere of their conduct, right-doing is something which alarms them: when they act in conformity with what is right, they do so after an external impulse only against their will, as if it were death to them.

Pro 21:16 16 A man who wanders from the way of understanding,      Shall dwell in the assembly of the dead.

Regarding השׂכּל, vid., Pro 1:3; and regarding רפאים, Pro 2:18. The verb נוּח means to repose, to take rest, Job 3:13, and to dwell anywhere, Pro 14:33; but originally like (Arab.) nâkh and hadd, to lay oneself down anywhere, and there to come to rest; and that is the idea which is here connected with ינוּח, for the figurative description of יאבד or ימוּת is formed after the designation of the subject, 16a: he who, forsaking the way of understanding, walks in the way of error, at length comes to the assembly of the dead; for every motion has an end, and every journey a goal, whether it be one that is self-appointed or which is appointed for him. Here also it is intimated that the way of the soul which loves wisdom and follows her goes in another direction than earthwards down into hades; hades and death, its background appear here as punishments, and it is true that as such one may escape them.

Pro 21:17 17 He who loveth pleasure becometh a man of want;      He who loveth wine and oil doth not become rich.

In Arab. samh denotes the joyful action of the “cheerful giver,” 2Co 9:7; in Heb. the joyful affection; here, like farah, pleasure, delight, festival of joy. Jerome: qui diligit epulas. For feasting is specially thought of, where wine was drunk, and oil and other fragrant essences were poured (cf. Pro 27:9; Amo 6:6) on the head and the clothes. He who loves such festivals, and is commonly found there, becomes a man of want, or suffers want (cf. Jdg 12:2, אישׁ ריב, a man of strife); such an one does not become rich (העשׁיר, like Pro 10:4, = עשׂה עשׁר, Jer 17:11); he does not advance, and thus goes backwards.

Pro 21:18 18 The godless becometh a ransom for the righteous;      And the faithless cometh into the place of the upright.

The thought is the same as at Pro 11:8. An example of this is, that the same world-commotion which brought the nations round Babylon for its destruction, put an end to Israel's exile: Cyrus, the instrument in God's hands for inflicting punishment on many heathen nations, was Israel's liberator, Isa 43:3. Another example is in the exchange of places by Haman and Mordecai, to which Rashi refers. כּפר is equivalent to λύτρον, ransom; but it properly signifies price of atonement, and generally, means of reconciliation, which covers or atones for the guilt of any one; the poll-tax and “oblations” also, Exo 30:15., Num 31:50, are placed under this point of view, as blotting out guilt: if the righteousness of God obtains satisfaction, it makes its demand against the godless, and lets the righteous go free; or, as the substantival clause 18b expresses, the faithless steps into the place of the upright, for the wrath passes by the latter and falls upon the former. Regarding בּוגד, vid., Pro 2:22. Thus, in contrast to the ישׁר, he is designated, who keeps faith neither with God nor man, and with evil intention enters on deceitful ways - the faithless, the malicious, the assassin.

Pro 21:19

With this verse, a doublet to Pro 21:9 (Pro 25:24), the collector makes a new addition; in Pro 21:29 he reaches a proverb which resembles the closing proverb of the preceding group, in its placing in contrast the רשׁע and ישׁר; -

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 מאשׁת as an abbreviation for משּׁבת עם אשׁת. Hitzig supplies שׁכן, by which אשׁת, 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 שׁבת בּארץ־מדבּר, with Codd. and correct Ed.) and a contentious wife (Chethı̂b, מדונים, Kerı̂, מדינים) and vexation, and says the former is better than the latter. For וכעס [and vexation] is not, as translated by the ancients, and generally received, a second governed genitive to אשׁת, but dependent on מן, follows “contentious woman” (cf. 9b): better that than a quarrelsome wife, and at the same time vexation.

Pro 21:20 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 אוצר נחמד ושׁמן [desirable treasure and oil] has something inconcinnate, wherefore the accentuation places אוצר 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 אוצר, and not אוצר; and besides, in that case מחמדּים would have been used instead of נחמד. Thus by אוצר נחמד, a desirable and splendid capital in gold and things of value (Isa 23:18; Psa 19:11); and by שׁמן, 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 (כּסיל אדם, as at Pro 15:20), who finds this, devours it, i.e., quickly goes through it, makes, in short, a tabula rasa of it; cf. בּלע, Isa 28:4, with בּלּע, 2Sa 20:26, and Pro 19:28. The suffix of יבלּענּוּ refers back to אוצר as the main idea, or distributively also both to the treasure and the oil. The lxx (θησαυρὸς ἐπιθυμητὸς) ἀναπαύσεται ἐπὶ στόματος σοφοῦ, i.e., ישׁכן בפה חכם, according to which Hitzig corrects; but the fool, he who swallows down “the precious treasure with a wise mouth,” is a 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 lxx is corrected by 20b.

Pro 21:21 21 He that followeth after righteousness and kindness      Will obtain life, righteousness, and honour.

How we are to render צדקה וחסד is seen from the connection of Pro 21:3 and Hos 6:7 : tsedakah is conduct proceeding from the principle of self-denying and compassionate love, which is the essence of the law, Mic 6:8; and hesed 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 6:14 : to him who is inwardly melted disheartened חסד is due from his neighbour). The reward which one who strives thus to act obtains, is designated 21b by חיּים and כּבוד. Honour and life stand together, Pro 22:4, when עשׁר precedes, and here צדקה stands between, which, Pro 8:18, Psa 24:5, is thought of as that which is distributed as a gift of heaven, Isa 45:8, which has glory in its train, Isa 58:8; 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 (Psa 29:3) as it is given (Psa 84:12) by the God of glory. Cf. with חיים צדקה, Pro 10:2, and with צדקה, especially Jam 2:13, κατακαυχᾶται ἔλεος κρίσεως.

Pro 21:22 22 A wise man scaleth a city of the mighty;      And casteth down the fortress in which they trusted.

Ecc 9:14. 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. עלה, seq. acc., means to climb up, Joe 2:7; here, of the scaling of a fortified town, viz., its fortress. עז is that which makes it עיר עז, Isa 26:1 : its armour of protection, which is designated by the genit. מבטחה, as the object and ground of their confidence. The vocalization מבטחה, for mibtachcha (cf. Jer 48:13 with Job 18:14), follows the rule Gesen. §27, Anm. 2b. The suff., as in לאתננּה, Isa 23:17, is lightened, because if its mappik, Michlol 30b; vid., regarding the various grounds of these formae raphatae pro mappicatis, Böttcher, §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 ויּרד, he brings to ruin, cf. עד רדתּהּ, Deu 20:20.

Pro 21:23 23 He that guardeth his mouth and his tongue,      Keepeth his soul from troubles.

Pro 13:3 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 (נפשׁ) צרות לבב, Psa 25:17; Psa 31:8, i.e., distress of conscience, self-accusation, sorrow on account of the irreparable evil which one occasions.

Pro 21:24 24 A proud and arrogant man is called mocker (free-spirit);      One who acteth in superfluity of haughtiness.

We have thus translated (vol. i. p. 39): the proverb defines almost in a formal way an idea current from the time of Solomon: לץ (properly, the distorter, vid., Pro 1:7) is an old word; but as with us in the west since the last century, the names of free-thinkers and esprits forts (cf. Isa 46:12) have become current for such as subject the faith of the Church to destructive criticism, so then they were called לצים, who mockingly, as men of full age, set themselves above revealed religion and prophecy (Isa 28:9); and the above proverb gives the meaning of this name, for it describes in his moral character such a man. Thus we call one זד, haughty, and זד יהיר dna ,, i.e., destroying himself, and thus thoughtlessly haughty, who בּעברת זדון acts in superfluity or arrogance (vid., at Pro 11:23) 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. Abulwalîd (vid., Gesen. Thes.) takes יהיר in the sense of obstinate; for he compares the Arab. jahr (jahar), which is equivalent to lijâj, constancy, stubbornness. But in the Targ. and Talm. (vid., at Hab 2:5, Levy's Chald. Wörterb. under יהיר) יהר in all its offshoots and derivations has the sense of pride; we have then rather to compare the Arab. istaihara, to be insane (= dhahb 'aḳlh, mens ejus alienata est), perhaps also to hajjir, mutahawwir, being overthrown, praeceps, so that יהיר denotes one who by his ὑπερφρονεῖν is carried beyond all σωφρονεῖν (vid., Rom 12:3), one who is altogether mad from pride. The Syr. madocho (Targ. מריחא), by which יהיר (Targ. יהיר) is rendered here and at Hab 2:5, 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 in it. The Venet.: ἀκρατὴς θρασὺς βωμολόχος τοὔνομά οἱ, which may be translated: an untractable reckless person we call a fool [homo ineptus], is not bad.

Pro 21:25 25 The desire of the slothful killeth him;      For his hands refuse to be active.

The desire of the עצל, 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. תּאוה means here, as in Kibroth ha-tava, Num 11:34, inordinate longing after enjoyments. The proverb is connected by almost all interpreters (also Ewald, Bertheau, Hitzig, Elster, Zöckler) as a tetrastich with Pro 21:25 : he (the slothful) always eagerly desires, but the righteous giveth and spareth not. But (1) although צדּיק, since it designates one who is faithful to duty, might be used particularly of the industrious (cf. Pro 15:19), yet would there be wanting in 26a ואין, Pro 13:4, cf. Pro 20:4, necessary for the formation of the contrast; (2) this older Book of Proverbs consists of pure distichs; the only tristich, Pro 19:7, appears as the consequence of a mutilation from the lxx. Thus the pretended tetrastich before us is only apparently such.

Pro 21:26 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 התאוּה תּאוה the verb is connected with its inner obj. is manifest from Num 11:4; 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. Herc. fur. 706), the Arab. mârâhu miryatn: he had a strife with him. Euchel impossibly: necessities will continually be appeased, which would have required תּתאוּה or מתאוּה. The explanation also cannot be: each day presents its special demand, for כּל־היּום does not mean each day, but the whole day, i.e., continually. Thus we render התאוה with the most general subject (in which case the national grammarians supply המּתאוּה): continually one longs longing, i.e., there are demands, solicitations, wishes, importunate petitions; but still the righteous is not embarrassed in his generosity, he gives as unceasingly (cf. Isa 14:6; Isa 58:1) as one asks. Thus the perf. is explained, which is related hypothetically to the fut. following: though one, etc.

Pro 21:27 27 The sacrifice of the godless is an abomination;      How much more if it is brought for evil!

Line first = Pro 15:8. Regarding the syllogistic אף כּי, vid., 12:31; Pro 15:11; regarding זמּה, crime, particularly the sin of lewdness (from זמם, to press together, to collect the thoughts upon something, to contrive, cf. raffinement de la volupté), at Pro 10:23. בּזמּה is too vaguely rendered in the lxx by παρονόμως, falsely by Jerome, ex scelere (cf. ἐξ ἀδίκου, Sir. 31:18, with Mal 1:13). The ב is not meant, as at Eze 22:11, of the way and manner; for that the condition of life of the רשׁע is not a pure one, is not to be supposed. It is as Hitzig, rightly, that of price: for a transgression, i.e., 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 19:20-22. But frequently enough would it occur 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.

Pro 21:28 28 A false witness shall perish;      But he who heareth shall always speak truth.

The lxx translate 28b by ἀνὴρ δὲ φυλασσόμενος λαλήσει. Cappellus supposes that they read לנצר for לנצה, which, however, cannot mean “taking care.” Hitzig further imagines שׂמח for שׁמע, and brings out the meaning: “the man that rejoiceth to deliver shall speak.” But where in all the world does נצר mean “to deliver”? It means, “to guard, preserve;” and to reach the meaning of “to deliver,” a clause must be added with מן, as מרע. When one who speaks lies (עד כּזבים), and a man who hears (אישׁ שּׁומע, 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 לב שׁמע, 1Ki 3:9, means an obedient heart, so here אישׁ שּׁומע means a man who attentively hears, carefully proves. Such an one will speak לנצח, i.e., not: according to the truth, and not: for victory (Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, εἰς νῖκος), i.e., so that accomplishes it (Oetinger); for the Heb. נצח 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. 96-97), thus: he will speak for continuance, i.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 = Pro 19:9, cf. 5): he himself comes to nothing, since his testimonies are referred to their groundlessness and falsity; for שׁקר אין לו רגלים, the lie has no feet on which it can stand, it comes to nothing sooner or later.

Pro 21:29

Another proverb with אישׁ: -

A godless man showeth boldness in his mien;

But one that is upright-he proveth his way.

The Chethı̂b has יכין; but that the upright directeth, dirigit, his way, i.e., gives to it the right direction (cf. 2Ch 27:6), is not a good contrast to the boldness of the godless; the Kerı̂, הבין דּרכּו, deserves the preference. Aquila, Symmachus, the Syr., Targ., and Venet. adhere to the Chethı̂b, which would be suitable if it could be translated, with Jerome, by corrigit; Luther also reads the verb with כ, but as if it were יכּון (whoever is pious, his way will stand) - only the lxx render the Kerı̂ (συνιεῖ); as for the rest, the ancients waver between the Chethı̂b דּרכיו and the Kerı̂ דּרכּו: the former refers to manner of life in general; the latter (as at Pro 3:31 and elsewhere) to the conduct in separate cases; thus the one is just as appropriate as the other. In the circumstantial designation אישׁ רשׁע (cf. Pro 11:7) we have the stamp of the distinction of different classes of men peculiar to the Book of Proverbs. העז (to make firm, defiant) had, Pro 7:13, פנים as accus.; the בּ here is not that used in metaphoristic expressions instead of the accus. obj., which we have spoken of at Pro 15:4; Pro 20:30, but that of the means; for the face is thought of, not as the object of the action, but, after Gesen. §138, 1, as the means of its accomplishment: the godless makes (shows) firmness, i.e., defiance, accessibility to no admonition, which is countenance; but the upright considers, i.e., proves (Pro 14:8), his way. בּין (הבין) 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 השׂכּיל, 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, Pro 22:2, Pro 22:7, Pro 22:16, present themselves as such, and this the more surely as Pro 22:16 is without contradiction the terminus. Thus we take first together 21:30-22:2.

Pro 21:30 30 No wisdom and no understanding,      And no counsel is there against Jahve.

The expression might also be 'לפני ה; but the predominating sense would then be, that no wisdom appears to God as such, that He values none as such. With לנגד the proverb is more objective: there is no wisdom which, compared with His, can be regarded as such (cf. 1Co 3:19), none which can boast itself against Him, or can at all avail against Him (לנגד, as Dan 10:12; Neh. 3:37); whence it follows (as Job 28:28) 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 חכמה of theology, תּבוּנה of worldly science, עצה of politics; but חכמה is used of the knowledge of truth, i.e., of that which truly is and continues; תבונה of criticism, and עצה of system and method; vid., at Pro 1:2; Pro 8:14, from which latter passage the lxx has substituted here גבורה instead of תבונה. Instead of 'לנגד ה it translates πρὸς τὸν ἀσεβῆ, i.e., for that which is 'נגד ה against Jahve.

Pro 21:31 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 33:17; the battle is the Lord's, 1Sa 17:47, i.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 (סוּס, horses, including their riders), and generally in their preparations for the battle, but in the Lord (cf. Psa 20:8, and, on the contrary, Isa 31:1). The lxx translates התּשׁוּעה by ἡ βοήθεια, as if the Arab. name of victory, naṣr, proceeding from this fundamental meaning, stood in the text; תשׁועה (from ישׁע, Arab. ws', to be wide, to have free space for motion) signifies properly prosperity, as the contrast of distress, oppression, slavery, and victory (cf. e.g., Psa 144:10, and ישׁוּעה, 1Sa 14:45). The post-bibl. Heb. uses נצח (נצּחון) for victory; but the O.T. Heb. has no word more fully covering this idea than תשׁועה (ישׁועה).Note: In the old High German, the word for war is urlag (urlac), fate, because the issue is the divine determination, and nôt (as in “der Nibelunge Not”), as binding, confining, restraint; this nôt is the correlate to תשׁועה, victory; מלחמה corresponds most to the French guerre, which is not of Romanic, but of German origin: the Werre, i.e., the Gewirre [complication, confusion], for נלחם signifies to press against one another, to be engaged in close conflict; cf. the Homeric κλόνος of the turmoil of battle.

Miscellaneous Maxims.

1 The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord , as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.

Note, 1. Even the hearts of men are in God's hand, and not only their goings, as he had said, ch. xx. 24. God can change men's minds, can, by a powerful insensible operation under their spirits, turn them from that which they seemed most intent upon, and incline them to that which they seemed most averse to, as the husbandman, by canals and gutters, turns the water through his grounds as he pleases, which does not alter the nature of the water, nor put any force upon it, any more than God's providence does upon the native freedom of man's will, but directs the course of it to serve his own purpose. 2. Even kings' hearts are so, notwithstanding their powers and prerogatives, as much as the hearts of common persons. The hearts of kings are unsearchable to us, much more unmanageable by us; as they have their arcana imperii—state secrets, so that they have great prerogatives of their crown; but the great God has them not only under his eye, but in his hand. Kings are what he makes them. Those that are most absolute are under God's government; he puts things into their hearts, Rev. xvii. 17; Ezra vii. 27.

2 Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the Lord pondereth the hearts.

Note, 1. We are all apt to be partial in judging of ourselves and our own actions, and to think too favourably of our own character, as if there was nothing amiss in it: Every way of a man, even his by-way, is right in his own eyes. The proud heart is very ingenious in putting a fair face upon a foul matter, and in making that appear right to itself which is far from being so, to stop the mouth of conscience. 2. We are sure that the judgment of God concerning us is according to truth. Whatever our judgment is concerning ourselves, the Lord ponders the heart. God looks at the heart, and judges of men according to that, of their actions according to their principles and intentions; and his judgment of that is as exact as ours is of that which we ponder most, and more so; he weighs it in an unerring balance, ch. xvi. 2.

3 To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.

Here, 1. It is implied that many deceive themselves with a conceit that, if they offer sacrifice, that will excuse them from doing justice, and procure them a dispensation for their unrighteousness; and this makes their way seem right, v. 2. We have fasted, Isa. lviii. 3. I have peace-offerings with me, Prov. vii. 14. 2. It is plainly declared that living a good life (doing justly and loving mercy) is more pleasing to God than the most pompous and expensive instances of devotion. Sacrifices were of divine institution, and were acceptable to God if they were offered in faith and with repentance, otherwise not, Isa. i. 11, &c. But even then moral duties were preferred before them (1 Sam. xv. 22), which intimates that their excellency was not innate nor the obligation to them perpetual, Mic. vi. 6-8. Much of religion lies in doing judgment and justice from a principle of duty to God, contempt of the world, and love to our neighbour; and this is more pleasing to God than all burnt-offerings and sacrifices, Mark xii. 33.

4 An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin.

This may be taken as showing us, 1. The marks of a wicked man. He that has a high look and a proud heart, that carries himself insolently and scornfully towards both God and man, and that is always ploughing and plotting, designing and devising some mischief or other, is indeed a wicked man. The light of the wicked is sin. Sin is the pride, the ambition, the glory and joy, and the business of wicked men. 2. The miseries of wicked man. His raised expectations, his high designs, and most elaborate contrivances and projects, are sin to him; he contracts guilt in them and so prepares trouble for himself. The very business of all wicked men, as well as their pleasure, is nothing but sin; so Bishop Patrick. They do all to serve their lusts, and have no regard to the glory of God in it, and therefore their ploughing is sin, and no marvel when their sacrificing is so, ch. xv. 8.

5 The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but of every one that is hasty only to want.

Here is, 1. The way to be rich. If we would live plentifully and comfortably in the world, we must be diligent in our business, and not shrink from the toil and trouble of it, but prosecute it closely, improving all advantages and opportunities for it, and doing what we do with all our might; yet we must not be hasty in it, nor hurry ourselves and others with it, but keep doing fair and softly, which, we say, goes far in a day. With diligence there must be contrivance. The thoughts of the diligent are as necessary as the hand of the diligent. Forecast is as good as work. Seest thou a man thus prudent and diligent? He will have enough to live on. 2. The way to be poor. Those that are hasty, that are rash and inconsiderate in their affairs, and will not take time to think, that are greedy of gain, by right or wrong, and make haste to be rich by unjust practices or unwise projects, are in the ready road to poverty. Their thoughts and contrivances, by which they hope to raise themselves, will ruin them.

6 The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death.

This shows the folly of those that hope to enrich themselves by dishonest practices, by oppressing and over-reaching those with whom they deal, by false-witness-bearing, or by fraudulent contracts, of those that make no scruples of lying when there is any thing to be got by it. They may perhaps heap up treasures by these means, that which they make their treasure; but, 1. They will not meet with the satisfaction they expect. It is a vanity tossed to and fro; it will be disappointment and vexation of spirit to them; they will not have the comfort of it, nor can they put any confidence in it, but will be perpetually uneasy. It will be tossed to and fro by their own consciences, and by the censures of men; let them expect to be in a constant hurry. 2. They will meet with destruction they do not expect. While they are seeking wealth by such unlawful practices they are really seeking death; they lay themselves open to the envy and ill-will of men by the treasures they get, and to the wrath and curse of God, by the lying tongue wherewith they get them, which he will make to fall upon themselves and sink them to hell.

7 The robbery of the wicked shall destroy them; because they refuse to do judgment.

See here, 1. The nature of injustice. Getting money by lying (v. 6) is no better than downright robbery. Cheating is stealing; you might as well pick a man's pocket as impose upon him by a lie in making a bargain, which he had no fence against but by not believing you; and it will be no excuse from the guilt of robbery to say that he might choose whether he would believe you, for that is a debt we should owe to all men. 2. The cause of injustice. Men refuse to do judgment; they will not render to all their due, but withhold it, and omissions make way for commissions; they come at length to robbery itself. Those that refuse to do justice will choose to do wrong. 3. The effects of injustice; it will return upon the sinner's own head. The robbery of the wicked will terrify them (so some); their consciences will be filled with horror and amazement, will cut them, will saw them asunder (so others); it will destroy them here and for ever, therefore he had said (v. 6), They seek death.

8 The way of man is froward and strange: but as for the pure, his work is right.

This shows that as men are so is their way. 1. Evil men have evil ways. If the man be froward, his way also is strange; and this is the way of most men, such is the general corruption of mankind. They have all gone aside (Ps. xiv. 2, 3); all flesh have perverted their way. But the froward man, the man of deceit, that acts by craft and trick in all he does, his way is strange, contrary to all the rules of honour and honesty. It is strange, for you know not where to find him nor when you have him; it is strange, for it is alienated from all good and estranges men from God and his favour. It is what he behold afar off, and so do all honest men. 2. Men that are pure are proved to be such by their work, for it is right, it is just and regular; and they are accepted of God and approved of men. The way of mankind in their apostasy is froward and strange; but as for the pure, those that by the grace of God are recovered out of that state, of which there is here and there one, their work is right, as Noah's was in the old world, Gen. vii. 1.

9 It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house.

See here, 1. What a great affliction it is to a man to have a brawling scolding woman for his wife, who upon every occasion, and often upon no occasion, breaks out into a passion, and chides either him or those about her, is fretful to herself and furious to her children and servants, and, in both, vexatious to her husband. If a man has a wide house, spacious and pompous, this will embitter the comfort of it to him—a house of society (so the word is), in which a man may be sociable, and entertain his friends; this will make both him and his house unsociable, and unfit for enjoyments of true friendship. It makes a man ashamed of his choice and his management, and disturbs his company. 2. What many a man is forced to do under such an affliction. He cannot keep up his authority. He finds it to no purpose to contradict the most unreasonable passion, for it is unruly and rages so much the more; and his wisdom and grace will not suffer him to render railing for railing, nor his conjugal affection to use any severity, and therefore he finds it his best way to retire into a corner of the house-top, and sit alone there, out of the hearing of her clamour; and if he employ himself well there, as he may do, it is the wisest course he can take. Better do so than quit the house, and go into bad company, for diversion, as many, who, like Adam, make their wife's sin the excuse of their own.

10 The soul of the wicked desireth evil: his neighbour findeth no favour in his eyes.

See here the character of a very wicked man. 1. The strong inclination he has to do mischief. His very soul desires evil, desires that evil may be done and that he may have the pleasure, not only of seeing it, but of having a hand in it. The root of wickedness lies in the soul; the desire that men have to do evil, that is the lust which conceives and brings forth sin. 2. The strong aversion he has to do good: His neighbour, his friend, his nearest relation, finds no favour in his eyes, cannot gain from him the least kindness, though he be in the greatest need of it. And, when he is in the pursuit of the evil his heart is so much upon, he will spare no man that stands in his way; his next neighbour shall be used no better than a stranger, than an enemy.

11 When the scorner is punished, the simple is made wise: and when the wise is instructed, he receiveth knowledge.

This we had before (ch. xix. 25), and it shows that there are two ways by which the simple may be made wise:—1. By the punishments that are inflicted on those that are incorrigibly wicked. Let the law be executed upon a scorner, and even he that is simple will be awakened and alarmed by it, and will discern, more than he did, the evil of sin, and will take warning by it and take heed. 2. By the instructions that are given to those that are wise and willing to be taught: When the wise is instructed by the preaching of the word he (not only the wise himself, but the simple that stands by) receives knowledge. It is no injustice at all to take a good lesson to ourselves which was designed for another.

12 The righteous man wisely considereth the house of the wicked: but God overthroweth the wicked for their wickedness.

1. As we read this verse, it shows why good men, when they come to understand things aright, will not envy the prosperity of evil-doers. When they see the house of the wicked, how full it is perhaps of all the good things of this life, they are tempted to envy; but when they wisely consider it, when they look upon it with an eye of faith, when they see God overthrowing the wicked for their wickedness, that there is a curse upon their habitation which will certainly be the ruin of it ere long, they see more reason to despise them, or pity them, than to fear or envy them. 2. Some give another sense of it: The righteous man (the judge or magistrate, that is entrusted with the execution of justice, and the preservation of public peace) examines the house of the wicked, searches it for arms or for stolen goods, makes a diligent enquiry concerning his family and the characters of those about him, that he may by his power overthrow the wicked for their wickedness and prevent their doing any further mischief, that he may fire the nests where the birds of prey are harboured or the unclean birds.

13 Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.

Here we have the description and doom of an uncharitable man. 1. His description: He stops his ears at the cry of the poor, at the cry of their wants and miseries (he resolves to take no cognizance of them), at the cry of their requests and supplications—he resolves he will not so much as give them the hearing, turns them away from his door, and forbids them to come near him, or, if he cannot avoid hearing them, he will not need them, nor be moved by their complaints, no be prevailed with by their importunities; he shuts up the bowels of his compassion, and that is equivalent to the stopping of his ears, Acts vii. 57. 2. His doom. He shall himself be reduced to straits, which will make him cry, and then he shall not be heard. Men will not hear him, but reward him as he has rewarded others. God will not hear him; for he that showed no mercy shall have judgment without mercy (Jam. ii. 13), and he that on earth denied a crumb of bread in hell was denied a drop of water. God will be deaf to the prayers of those who are deaf to the cries of the poor, which, if they be not heard by us, will be heard against us, Exod. xxii. 23.

14 A gift in secret pacifieth anger: and a reward in the bosom strong wrath.

Here is, 1. The power that is commonly found to be in gifts. Nothing is more violent than anger. O the force of strong wrath! And yet a handsome present, prudently managed, will turn away some men's wrath when it seemed implacable, and disarm the keenest and most passionate resentments. Covetousness is commonly a master-sin and has the command of other lusts. Pecuniæ obediunt omnia—Money commands all things. Thus Jacob pacified Esau and Abigail David. 2. The policy that is commonly used in giving and receiving bribes. It must be a gift in secret and a reward in the bosom, for he that takes it would not be thought to covet it, nor known to receive it, nor would he willingly be beholden to him whom he has been offended with; but, if it be done privately, all is well. No man should be too open in giving any gift, nor boast of the presents he sends; but, if it be a bribe to pervert justice, that is so scandalous that those who are fond of it are ashamed of it.

15 It is joy to the just to do judgment: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity.

Note, 1. It is a pleasure and satisfaction to good men both to see justice administered by the government they live under, right taking place and iniquity suppressed, and also to practise it themselves, according as their sphere is. They not only do justice, but do it with pleasure, not only for fear of shame, but for love of virtue. 2. It is a terror to wicked men to see the laws put in execution against vice and profaneness. It is destruction to them; as it is also a vexation to them to be forced, either for the support of their credit or for fear of punishment, to do judgment themselves. Or, if we take it as we read it, the meaning is, There is true pleasure in the practice of religion, but certain destruction at the end of all vicious courses.

16 The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead.

Here is, 1. The sinner upon his ramble: He wanders out of the way of understanding, and when once he has left that good way he wanders endlessly. The way of religion is the way of understanding; those that are not truly pious are not truly intelligent; those that wander out of this way break the hedge which God has set, and follow the conduct of the world and the flesh; and they go astray like lost sheep. 2. The sinner at his rest, or rather his ruin: He shall remain (quiescet—he shall rest, but not in pace—in peace) in the congregation of the giants, the sinners of the old world, that were swept away by the deluge; to that destruction the damnation of sinners is compared, as sometimes to the destruction of Sodom, when they are said to have their portion in fire and brimstone. Or in the congregation of the damned, that are under the power of the second death. There is a vast congregation of damned sinners, bound in bundles for the fire, and in that those shall remain, remain for ever, who are shut out from the congregation of the righteous. He that forsakes the way to heaven, if he return not to it, will certainly sink into the depths of hell.

17 He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man: he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich.

Here is an argument against a voluptuous luxurious life, taken from the ruin it brings upon men's temporal interests. Here is 1. The description of an epicure: He loves pleasure. God allows us to use the delights of sense soberly and temperately, wine to make glad the heart and put vigour into the spirits, and oil to make the face to shine and beautify the countenance; but he that loves these, that sets his heart upon them, covets them earnestly, is solicitous to have all the delights of sense wound up to the height of pleasurableness, is impatient of every thing that crosses him in his pleasures, relishes these as the best pleasures, and has his mouth by them put out of taste for spiritual delights, he is an epicure, 2 Tim. iii. 4. 2. The punishment of an epicure in this world: He shall be a poor man; for the lusts of sensuality are not maintained but at great expense, and there are instances of those who want necessaries, and live upon alms, who once could not live without dainties and varieties. Many a beau becomes a beggar.

18 The wicked shall be a ransom for the righteous, and the transgressor for the upright.

This intimates, 1. What should be done by the justice of men: The wicked, that are the troublers of a land, ought to be punished, for the preventing and turning away of those national judgments which otherwise will be inflicted and in which even the righteous are many times involved. Thus when Achan was stoned he was a ransom for the camp of righteous Israel; and the seven sons of Saul, when they were hanged, were a ransom for the kingdom of righteous David. 2. What is often done by the providence of God: The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked comes in his stead, and so seems as if he were a ransom for him, ch. xi. 8. God will rather leave many wicked people to be cut off than abandon his own people. I will give men for thee, Isa. xliii. 3, 4.

19 It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and an angry woman.

Note, 1. Unbridled passions embitter and spoil the comfort of all relations. A peevish angry wife makes her husband's life uneasy, to whom she should be a comfort and a meet help. Those cannot dwell in peace and happiness that cannot dwell in peace and love. Even those that are one flesh, if they be not withal one spirit, have no joy of their union. 2. It is better to have no company than bad company. The wife of thy covenant is thy companion, and yet, if she be peevish and provoking, it is better to dwell in a solitary wilderness, exposed to wind and weather, than in company with her. A man may better enjoy God and himself in a wilderness than among quarrelsome relations and neighbours. See v. 9.

20 There is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise; but a foolish man spendeth it up.

Note, 1. Those that are wise will increase what they have and live plentifully; their wisdom will teach them to proportion their expenses to their income and to lay up for hereafter; so that there is a treasure of things to be desired, and as much as needs be desired, a good stock of all things convenient, laid up in season, and particularly of oil, one of the staple commodities of Canaan, Deut. viii. 8. This is in the habitation, or cottage, of the wise; and it is better to have an old-fashioned house, and have it well furnished, than a fine modern one, with sorry housekeeping. God blesses the endeavors of the wise and then their houses are replenished. 2. Those that are foolish will misspend what they have upon their lusts, and so bring the stock they have to nothing. Those manage wretchedly that are in haste to spend what they had, but not in care which way to get more. Foolish children spend what their wise parents have laid up. One sinner destroys much good, as the prodigal son.

21 He that followeth after righteousness and mercy findeth life, righteousness, and honour.

See here, 1. What it is to make religion our business; it is to follow after righteousness and mercy, not to content ourselves with easy performances, but to do our duty with the utmost care and pains, as those that are pressing forward and in fear of coming short. We must both do justly and love mercy, and must proceed and persevere therein; and, though we cannot attain to perfection, yet it will be a comfort to us if we aim at it and follow after it. 2. What will be the advantage of doing so: Those that do follow after righteousness shall find righteousness; God will give them grace to do good, and they shall have the pleasure and comfort of doing it; those that make conscience of being just to others shall have the pleasure and comfort of doing it; those that make conscience of being just to others shall be justly dealt with by others and others shall be kind to them. The Jews followed after righteousness, and did not find it, because they sought amiss, Rom. ix. 31. Otherwise, Seek and you shall find, and with it shall find both life and honour, everlasting life and honour, the crown of righteousness.

22 A wise man scaleth the city of the mighty, and casteth down the strength of the confidence thereof.

Note, 1. Those that have power are apt to promise themselves great things from their power. The city of the mighty thinks itself impregnable, and therefore its strength is the confidence thereof, what it boasts of and trust in, bidding defiance to danger. 2. Those that have wisdom, though they are so modest as not to promise much, often perform great things, even against those that are so confident of their strength, by their wisdom. Good conduct will go far even against great force; and a stratagem, well managed, may effectually scale the city of the mighty and cast down the strength it had such a confidence in. A wise man will gain upon the affections of people and conquer them by strength of reason, which is a more noble conquest than that obtained by strength of arms. Those that understand their interest will willingly submit themselves to a wise and good man, and the strongest walls shall not hold out against him.

23 Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles.

Note, 1. It is our great concern to keep our souls from straits, being entangled in snares and perplexities, and disquieted with troubles, that we may preserve the possession and enjoyment of ourselves and that our souls may be in frame for the service of God. 2. Those that would keep their souls must keep a watch before the door of their lips, must keep the mouth by temperance, that no forbidden fruit go into it, no stolen waters, that nothing be eaten or drunk to excess; they must keep the tongue also, that no forbidden word go out of the door of the lips, no corrupt communication. By a constant watchfulness over our words we shall prevent abundance of mischiefs which an ungoverned tongue runs men into. Keep thy heart, and that will keep thy tongue from sin; keep thy tongue, and that will keep thy heart from trouble.

24 Proud and haughty scorner is his name, who dealeth in proud wrath.

See here the mischief of pride and haughtiness. 1. It exposes men to sin; it makes them passionate, and kindles in them the fire of proud wrath. They are continually dealing in it, as if it were their trade to be angry, and they had nothing so much to do as to barter passions and exchange bitter words. Most of the wrath that inflames the spirits and societies of men is proud wrath. Men cannot bear the least slight, nor in any thing to be crossed or contradicted, but they are out of humour, nay, in a heat, immediately. It likewise makes them scornful when they are angry, very abusive with their tongues, insolent towards those above them and imperious towards all about them. Only by pride comes all this. 2. It exposes men to shame. They get a bad name by it, and every one calls them proud and haughty scorners, and therefore nobody cares for having any thing to do with them. If men would but consult their reputation a little and the credit of their profession, which suffers with it, they would not indulge their pride and passion as they do.

25 The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labour. 26 He coveteth greedily all the day long: but the righteous giveth and spareth not.

Here we have, 1. The miseries of the slothful, whose hands refuse to labour in an honest calling, by which they might get an honest livelihood. They are as fit for labour as other men, and business offers itself, to which they might lay their hands and apply their minds, but they will not; herein they fondly think they do well for themselves, see ch. xxvi. 16. Soul, take thy ease. But really they are enemies to themselves; for, besides that their slothfulness starves them, depriving them of their necessary supports, their desires at the same time stab them. Though their hands refuse to labour, their hearts cease not to covet riches, and pleasures, and honours, which yet cannot be obtained without labour. Their desires are impetuous and insatiable; they covet greedily all the day long, and cry, Give, give; they expect every body should do for them, though they will do nothing for themselves, much less for any body else. Now these desires kill them; they are a perpetual vexation to them, fret them to death, and perhaps put them upon such dangerous courses for the satisfying of their craving lusts as hasten them to an untimely end. Many that must have money with which to make provision for the flesh, and would not be at the pains to get it honestly, have turned highwaymen, and that has killed them. Those that are slothful in the affairs of their souls, and yet have desires towards that which would be the happiness of their souls, those desires kill them, will aggravate their condemnation and be witnesses against them that were convinced of the worth of spiritual blessings, but refused to be at the pains that were necessary to the obtaining of them. 2. The honours of the honest and diligent. The righteous and industrious have their desires satisfied, and enjoy not only that satisfaction, but the further satisfaction of doing good to others. The slothful are always craving and gaping to receive, but the righteous are always full and contriving to give; and it is more blessed to give than to receive. They give and spare not, give liberally and upbraid not; they give a portion to seven and also to eight, and do not spare for fear of wanting.

27 The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination: how much more, when he bringeth it with a wicked mind?

Sacrifices were of divine institution; and when they were offered in faith, and with repentance and reformation, God was greatly honoured by them and well-pleased in them. But they were often not only unacceptable, but an abomination, to God, and he declared so, which was an indication both that they were not required for their own sakes and that there were better things, and for effectual, in reserve, when sacrifice and offering should be done away. They were an abomination, 1. When they were brought by wicked men, who did not, according to the true intent and meaning of sacrificing, repent of their sins, mortify their lusts, and amend their lives. Cain brought his offering. Even wicked men may be found in the external performances of religious worship. Many can freely give God their beasts, their lips, their knees, who would not give him their hearts; the Pharisees gave alms. But when the person is an abomination, as every wicked man is to God, the performance cannot but be so; even when he brings it diligently; so some read the latter part of the verse. Though their offerings are continually before God (Ps. l. 8), yet they are an abomination to him. 2. Much more when they were brought with wicked minds, when their sacrifices were made, not only consistent with, but serviceable to, their wickedness, as Absalom's vow, Jezebel's fast, and the Pharisees' long prayers. When men make a show of devotion, that they may the more easily and effectually compass some covetous or malicious design, when holiness is pretended, but some wickedness intended, then especially the performance is an abomination, Isa. lxvi. 5.

28 A false witness shall perish: but the man that heareth speaketh constantly.

Here is, 1. The doom of a false witness. He who, for favour to one side or malice to the other, gives in a false evidence, or makes an affidavit of that which he knows to be false, or at least does not know to be true, if it be discovered, his reputation will be ruined. A man may tell a lie perhaps in his haste; but he that gives a false testimony does it with deliberation and solemnity, and it cannot but be a presumptuous sin, and a forfeiture of man's credit. But, though he should not be discovered, he himself shall be ruined; the vengeance he imprecated upon himself, when he took the false oath, will come upon him. 2. The praise of him that is conscientious: He who hears (that is, obeys) the command of God, which is to speak every man truth with his neighbour, he who testifies nothing but what he has heard and knows to be true, speaks constantly (that is, consistently with himself); he is always in the same story; he speaks in finem—to the end; people will give credit to him and hear him out; he speaks unto victory; he carries the cause, which the false witness shall lose; he shall speak to eternity. What is true is true eternally. The lip of truth is established for ever.

29 A wicked man hardeneth his face: but as for the upright, he directeth his way.

Here is, 1. The presumption and impudence of a wicked man: He hardens his face—brazens it, that he may not blush—steels it, that he may not tremble when he commits the greatest crimes; he bids defiance to the terrors of the law and the checks of his own conscience, the reproofs of the word and the rebukes of Providence; he will have his way and nothing shall hinder him, Isa. lvii. 17. 2. The caution and circumspection of a good man: As for the upright, he does not say, What would I do? What have I a mind to? and that will I have; but, What should I do? What does God require of me? What is duty? What is prudence? What is for edification? And so he does not force his way, but direct his way by a safe and certain rule.

30 There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord . 31 The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the Lord .

The designing busy part of mankind are directed, in all their counsels and undertakings, to have their eye to God, and to believe, 1. That there can be no success against God, and therefore they must never act in opposition to him, in contempt of his commands, or in contradiction to his counsels. Though they think they have wisdom, and understanding, and counsel, the best politics and politicians, on their side, yet, if it be against the Lord, it cannot prosper long; it shall not prevail at last. He that sits in heaven laughs at men's projects against him and his anointed, and will carry his point in spite of them, Ps. ii. 1-6. Those that fight against God are preparing shame and ruin for themselves; whoever make war with the Lamb, he will certainly overcome them, Rev. xvii. 14. 2. That there can be no success without God, and therefore they must never act but in dependence on him. Be the cause ever so good, and the patrons of it ever so strong, and wise, and faithful, and the means of carrying it on, and gaining the point, ever so probable, still they must acknowledge God and take him along with them. Means indeed are to be used; the horse must be prepared against the day of battle, and the foot too; they must be armed and disciplined. In Solomon's time even Israel's kings used horses in war, though they were forbidden to multiply them. But, after all, safety and salvation are of the Lord; he can save without armies, but armies cannot save without him; and therefore he must be sought to and trusted in for success, and when success is obtained he must have all the glory. When we are preparing for the day of battle our great concern must be to make God our friend and secure his favour.

CHAP. XXI. Verſ 1. The Kings heart is in the hand of the Lord]

BEE Kings never ſo abſolute, and unaccountable to any, yet are they ruled and over-ruled by Him that is higher than the higheſt, Eccleſ. 5.8. Gods heart is not in the Kings hand, as that fooliſh Prince in Mexico pretends, when at his Coronation he ſwears that it ſhall not rain unſeaſonably, neither ſhall there be Famine or Peſtilence during his Reign in his Dominions: but the Kings heart, that is, his will, deſires, devices, reſolutions, are Gods to diſpoſe of; he turneth them this way or that way, with as much eaſe as the Plowman doth the water-courſe with his paddle, or the Gardiner with his hand. Thus he turned the heart of Pharaoh to Joſeph, of Saul to David, of Nebuchadnezzar to Jeremy, of Darius to Daniel, of Cyrus (and afterwards of Alexander the great) to the Jewes, of ſome of the Roman Perſecutors to the Primitive Chriſtians, and of Charls the fifth (who ruled over twenty eight flouriſhing Kingdoms) to the late Reformers, Melanchthon, Pomeran, and other famous men of God: whom when he had in his power (after hee had conquered the Proteſtant Princes) he not only determined not any thing extreamly againſt them,Act. & Mon. fol. 1784. but alſo intreating them gently, he ſent them away, not ſo much as once forbidding them to publiſh openly the Doctrine that they profeſſed: albeit all Chriſtendome had not a more prudent Prince than he was (ſaith Mr. Fox) nor the Church of Chriſt almoſt a ſorer enemy.

Verſ. 2. Every way of a man is right in his own eyes] See the Note on chap. 16.2. Such is our ſinful Self-love, that Suffenus-like wee eaſily admire that little Nothing of any good that is in us: we ſo claſp and hugg the barn of our own brain, with the Ape, that we ſtrangle it: we ſet up a Counter for a thouſand pounds; and boaſt of thoſe graces whereunto wee are perfect ſtrangers. We turn the perſpective, and gladly ſee our ſelves bigger, others leſſer than they are: we flatter out own ſouls, as Micah did his, Judg. 17.13. Wherein it falls out oft as it did with the riflers of Semiramis her tomb, who where they expected to finde the richeſt Treaſure, met with a deadly Poyſon. Seem wee never ſo juſt, becauſe firſt in our own cauſe, God (as Salomon ſaith of a mans Neighbour) comes and ſearches us, and then things appears otherwiſe. Luke 16.15.

Verſ. 3. Is more acceptable to the Lord] Qui non vult ex rapina holocauſtum, as Heathens could ſee and ſay, by the light of Nature. The Jewes thought to expiate their miſcarriages toward men, and to ſet off with God, by their Ceremonies and Sacrifices, Iſa. 1. Jer. 7. Mich. 6. Some Heathens alſo (as that Roman Emperour) could ſay, Non ſic Deos coluimus ut ille nos vinceret, Wee have not been at ſo much charge with the gods, that they ſhould give us up into the enemies hands. But the Scripture gave the Jewes to underſtand, that to obey was better than ſacrifice, that God would have mercy and not ſacrifice, and that for a man to love God above all, and his Neighbour as himſelf, is more than all whole Burnt-offerings and ſacrifices, Mar. 12.33. The Heathens alſo were told as much by their Sages, as Plato in his book intituled, [non-Latin text not transcribed]: where Socrates reprehending the gilt-horned Bulls of the Grecians, and the ſumptuous ſacrifices of the Trojans, at length infers: [non-Latin text not transcribed], &c. It were a grievous thing if the gods ſhould more reſpect mens offerings and Sacrifices than the holineſs of their hearts, and the righteouſneſs of their lives, &c. Ariſtotle in his Rhetoricks, [non-Latin text not transcribed], &c. ſaith he: It is not likely that God takes pleaſure in the coſtlineſs of ſacrifices, but rather in the good converſation of the ſacrificers.

Verſ. 4. An high look, and proud heart] See the Note on Prov. 6.17.

And the plowing of the wicked is ſin] As they plot and plow miſchief (being the Devils hindes and drudges) ſo all their actions natural, moral, ſpiritual, are turned into ſin; whether they plow, or play, or pray, or eat, or ſleep, to the impure and unbeleeving all things are impure, Tit. 1.15. Their proud or bigſwoln heart is full of filthy corrupt matter, that woozeth out ſtill and offendeth the eyes of Gods glory. Every thing they do is as an evil vapour reaking from that loathſome dunghil, worſe than thoſe that came up from the five Cities of the plain. Pride is like Copreſs, which will turn wine or milk into Ink; or leaven, which turns a very Paſſeover into pollution; or as the Sanies of a plagueſor, which will render the richeſt Robe infectious.

Verſ. 5. The thoughts of the diligent tend onely, &c.] The word rendred diligent, ſignifies one that is ſedulous and ſollicitous in his buſineſs, that weighs circumſtances, and waits opportunities, that ſits down firſt,Qui res omnes ſuas ordina facit loco & tempore, &c. Cujus limitatae & velut judicio deciſae actiones omnes. Mercer. and counts his coſts. Luke 12.28. that conſiders ſeriouſly, and then executes ſpeedily: Such an one was Abrahams ſervant, Gen. 24. Joſeph, Boaz, Daniel. And how ſhould ſuch a man chuſe but thrive? See the Note on Chapter 10.4. A ſufficiency hee is ſure of, though not of a ſuperfluity.

But of every one that is haſty] And head-long; that reſolving to bee rich, graſpeth greedily all hee can come at, accounting all good fiſh that comes to hand, and not ſticking at any injuſtice or cruelty that may make for his advantage. The beggar will catch this man ere long, the uſurer will get him into his clutches, and leave him never a feather to flye with. There is a curſe upon ſuch precipitate practices, though men bee never ſo induſtrious, as in Jehoiachim, Jer. 22. and Saul, 1 Sam. 14. Thoſe that making more haſte than good ſpeed to bee rich, reach at things too high for them (which David would not do, Pſal. 131.1.) may bee likened to the Panther, which loves the dung of man ſo much, as if it bee hanged a height from it, it will skip and leap up, and never leave, till it have burſt it ſelf in peeces to get it.

Verſ. 6. The getting of treaſures by a lying tongue] As do Seducers, Sycophants, Flatterers, corrupt Judges (that ſay with ſhame Give yee) mercenary pleaders (that ſell both their tongues and ſilence, and help their Clients cauſes as the Wolf did the ſheep of his cough, by ſucking his blood) witneſſes of the poſt (that can lend an oath, as Jezabels hired Rake-hels did, and will not ſtick to ſwear (if they may bee well paid for it) that their friend or ſoe was at Rome and at Interamna both at once) falſe Chapmen, that ſay the beſt of their worſt commodities, and cheat the unwary buyer. Theſe and the like, though for a while they may thrive and ruffle, yet in the end they proſper not, but periſh with their wealth, as the Toad doth with his mouth full of earth. God blows upon their curſed hoards of evil-gotten goods, ſcatterinrg them as chaff before the wind: Deſtruction alſo dogs them at the heels, both temporal and eternal. This they are ſaid to ſeek, ſc. eventually, though not intentionally; they ſeek it, becauſe they not onely walk in the way to it, but run and flye with poſthaſte, as if they were afraid that they ſhould come too late, or that hell ſhould bee full before they got thither. Thus Balaams Aſs never carries him faſt enough after the wages of wickedneſs. Set but a wedge of gold before Achan, and Joſhuah, that could ſtop the Sun in his courſe, cannot ſtay him from fingering of it. Judas in ſelling his Maſter, what hee doth, doth quickly. But with what iſſue? What got Balaam but a ſword in his ribs? Achan, but the ſtones about his ears? Judas, but the halter about his neck? beſides a worſe thing in another world. Thus many a wretched worldling ſpins a fair thred to ſtrangle himſelf both temporally and eternally; by covetouſneſs they not onely kill others, Prov. 1.19. but deſperately drown themſelves in perdition and deſtruction, 1 Tim. 6.9. Fuge ergo, dives, ejufmodi exitum (as St. Ambroſe concludes the ſtory of Ahabs and Jezabels fearful end) ſed fugies ejuſmodi exitum ſi fugeris hujuſmodi flagitium. Fly, O rich miſer, ſuch an end. Such an end you ſhall avoid, if you carefully flye from ſuch ſinful courſes.

Verſ. 7. The robbery of the wicked ſhall deſtroy them] Heb. Shall ſaw them, that is, ſhall bring upon them exquiſite and extream torments, ſuch as the Prophet Iſaiah, and thoſe Martyrs, Heb. 11.37. were put unto unjuſtly; ſuch as Agag ſuffered juſtly, and thoſe barbarous Ammorites, 2 Sam. 12.31. Some render it, diſſecabit eos, ſhall cut them in twain, as that evil ſervant, Luke 12.46. and thoſe blaſphemers of Daniels God, Dan. 3.29. Others render it, ſhall abide upon them, or dwell with them. Their ill-gotten goods vaniſh, but their puniſhment remains: Their ſtollen veniſon is ſoon eaten up, but the ſhot is not yet paid, there is a ſad reckoning behinde; God will rake out of their bellies thoſe tid bits, thoſe murdering morſels. Beſides that, for their laſt diſh is ſerved up aſtoniſhment and fearful expectation of juſt revenge. The Hebrew word here tranſlated deſtroy, ſignifies alſo to terrifie and fear; They ſhall bee a Magormiſſabib to themſelves,Dio in Sever. as Paſhur was, Jer. 20.3, 4. running from chamber to chamber to hide from the hand of Juſtice (as that notable theef Bulas in the dayes of Severus the Emperour) but they ſhall not eſcape, their ſin will finde them out; God will pour upon them, and not ſpare, whether they bee private theeves,Gell. lib. 11. cap. 16. or thoſe publike robbers, qui in auro & purpura viſuntur (as Cato once ſaid) that are clad with purple, and have gold chains about their necks; corrupt Judges, who judge for reward, and take away the righteouſneſs of the righteous from him. Such were Empſon and Dudley in their generation. Such was Judge Belknap in Richard the ſeconds dayes, who being about to ſubſcribe the Articles againſt proceedings of Parliament, ſaid, there wanted but a Hurdle, Speed▪ 747. a Horſe, and a Halter to carry him where hee might ſuffer for aſſenting to them. And that of theſe publick Theeves Solomon chiefly ſpeaks here, wee may well think by the following clauſe, ſhewing the cauſe of their ſore and ſharp puniſhment, becauſe they refuſe to do judgement.

Verſ. 8. The way of man is froward and ſtrange] And therefore ſtrange, becauſe froward, various and voluble; ſo that you know not where to have him, hee is ſo unconſtant, nor what to make of him, hee is ſo uncertain, and unſetled; double-minded, Jam. 1.8. double-tongued, 1 Tim. 3.8. verſut ulus & verſatilis, Qui tantum conſtans in levitate ſua.

Folieta Galeazo reports of Sfortia Duke of Millain, that hee was a very Monſter, made up and compact of Vertue and Vice. Such of old were Alcibiades, and likewiſe Julian the Apoſtate, of whom Marcellinus ſaith, that by his vicious errours Obnubilabat gloriae multiplices curſus, hee ſtained his many praiſe-worthy parts and practices▪ Galba, and our Richard the third, are ſaid to have been bad men, good Princes. And of King Henry the eighth, ſaith Mr. Camden, Fuerunt quidem in eo rege magnae virtutes, nec minora vitia, confuſo quodam temperamento mixtae, that is, there was a ſtrange mixture of great Vertues, and no leſs Vices found in this King.

But as for the pure, his work is right] For why? Hee works by rule; and therefore all his actions are uniform; Hee is alſo one and the ſame in all eſtates of life,2 Cor. 1.17, 18 as gold is purged in the fire, ſhines in the water. Did I uſe lightneſs? (ſaith St. Paul) or is therewith mee, Yea, Yea, and Nay, Nay? No, But as God is true, ſo our word toward you was not Yea and Nay. I did not ſay, and unſay; do, and undo, &c.

Verſ. 9. It is better to dwell in a corner of the houſe-top] Their houſe-tops were made flat by order of the Law. The ſenſe is then, A man had better abide abroad, ſub dio, expoſed to wind and weather, yea to croud into a corner, and to live in a Little-eaſe, than to cohabit in a convenient houſe with a contentious woman, that is ever brawling and brangling, that turns conjugium into conjurgium by inſerting the Dogs letter (r) and leading her husband a Dogs life. Such a one was Zillah, Peninnah, Xantippe, the wife of Phoroneus the Law giver,Bruſon. lib. 7. cap. 22. who upon his death-bed told his brother, Hee had been a man happy if hee had never married. Ariſtotle affirms, that hee that hath miſcarried in a wife,Ariſt. in Rhet. hath loſt more than half the happineſs of his life. Rubius Celer, and Albutius Tertius were held happy among the Romans, becauſe the former had lived with a wife three and forty years, and eight months, the latter five and twenty years, ſine querela, without quarrelling or contending. And this they gave order ſhould bee engraven upon their Grave-ſtones. See the Note on Prov. 19.13.

Verſ. 10. The ſoul of the wicked deſireth evil] Sinful ſelf-love (the choakweed of all true love) prompteth the wicked man to envy the good, and wiſh the evil of all but himſelf. Hard-hearted hee is, and inhumane, unleſs it bee in a qualm of kindneſs (as Saul to David, the Aegyptians to the Iſraelites) or meerly in diſſimulation, as John Oneale father to the Earl of Tyrone, Camd. Eliſ. that Rebel, 1598. inſcribed himſelf in all places, I am great John Oneale, friend to the Queen of England, and foe to all the world. [non-Latin text not transcribed], ſaid one wicked Emperour, [non-Latin text not transcribed], ſaid another, ſtriving to out-vie him,Dio. When I dye, let the world bee confounded. Nay, whileſt I live let it bee ſo, ſaid the other Monſter.

His neighbour findes no favour in his eyes] Whether hee ſink or ſwim, it is no part of his care. What cares that churl Nabal, though worthy David dye at his door, ſo long as himſelf ſits warm within, feeding on the fat, and drinking of the ſweet? The Prieſts and the Levites ſaw the wounded man that lay half dead, and lent him no help; It was well they fell not upon him and diſpatched him, as dogs fall upon a man that is down; or as when a Deer is ſhot, the reſt of the Herd puſh him out of their company. Such cruel beaſts David complains of, Pſal. 69.26. And ſuch fierce ſalvages St. Paul foretels ſhall bee in theſe laſt and worſt dayes. Hard hearts ſhall make hard times, 2 Tim. 3.3.

Verſ. 11. When the ſcorner is puniſhed, &c.] See the Note on Prov. 19.25.

And when the wiſe is inſtructed] Or, when hee accurately conſiders the wiſe, and obſerves both their integrity and their proſperity by Gods bleſſing thereupon (for the word imports both) hee reſolves to play the wiſe-man.

Verſ. 12. The righteous man wiſely conſidereth, &c.] Hee fore-ſeeth its fearful fall, and is not offended at their preſent proſperity▪ For God, hee knows, will ſhortly overturn it. This conſideration cures hi[illegible: 1 letter] of the fret, as it did David, Pſal. 37. It doth alſo inſtruct him in many points of heavenly wiſdome, as it did the Church, Iſa. 26.11. 1 Cor. 10, 11. The deſtruction of others ſhould bee an inſtruction to us, that wee may waſh our feet in the blood of the wicked, Pſal. 52.6.

Verſ. 13. Who ſo ſtoppeth his ear at the cry, &c.] This was fulfilled in Pharaoh, Haman, the rich glutton, Hatto Archbiſhop of Mentz, Mauricius the Emperour, and many others, who might have better provided for their own comfort in ſickneſs, and other exigences, had they been more pitiful to poor people. Whereas now, when they ſhall lye toſſing and tumbling upon their ſick beds, roaring as Bulls, and tabring upon their breaſts &c. Nah. 2.7. God will not hear them, Men will ſay, It is good enough for them: All hearts, by a Divine hand, will bee ſtrangely ſet off from the mercileſs, as it befell Scianus.

Verſ. 14. A gift in ſecret pacifieth anger] That is, ſay ſome, alms rightly performed, as Matth. 6.1. pacifieth Gods diſpleaſure (confer Dan. 4.27.) And the Jews at this day write this ſentence of Solomon (in an abbreviature) upon their Alms-box. This ſenſe ſuits well with the verſe afore-going.Buxtorf. Synag. Jud. But I conceive the Wiſe-mans drift here, is to ſhew how prevalent gifts are (if cloſely conveyed) eſpecially (which takes away the ſhame of open receiving) and what a pave they have to an amicable reconciliation. Thus Jacob pacified Eſau, Abigail David, Hezekiah the Aſſyrian that came up againſt him, 2 King. 18.24, 25. Howbeit this doth not alwaies do the deed. Our Chronicler tells us, that the Lady de Bruſe had by her virulent and railing tongue more exaſperated the fury of King John (whom ſhee reviled as a Tyrant, and a murtherer of her husband) than could bee pacified by her ſtrange preſent (viz. four hundred Kine, Speed. 572. and one Bull, all Milk-white, except onely the ears which were red) ſent unto the Queen. See the Note on Chap. 17.8.

Verſ. 15. It is joy to the juſt to do judgment] They love it dearly; and therefore cannot but rejoyce in it exceedingly. I rejoyce at thy word, as one that findeth great ſpoyl, Pſal. 119.162. wherein the pleaſure is uſually as much as the profit. Beſides, as every flower hath its ſweet ſavour: ſo every good duty carries meat in the mouth, comfort in the performance. Hence the Saints alacrity in Gods ſervice, ſo far as they are ſpiritual. I delight in the Law of God, Rom. 7. after the inward man, ſaith Saint Paul, who yet but a little before complained of a clog.

But deſtruction ſhall bee to the workers of iniquity] Wicked men are great workmen; they put themſelves to no ſmall pains in catering for the fleſh to fulfil the luſts thereof, yea and this they do with ſingular delight (as the oppoſition implies) they weary themſelves to commit iniquity, Jer. 9.5. and yet they give not over, but lye grinding day and night in the Mill of ſome or other baſe luſt. Now what can come of this better than utter deſtruction: which indeed is the juſt hire of the leaſt ſin, and will befall the workers of iniquity, as ſure as the coat is on their back, or the heart in their body?

Verſ. 16. The man that wandreth out of the way] Let him wander while hee will, that deviateth from the truth according to godlineſs, hee cannot poſſibly wander ſo far as to miſs of Hell. God hath ſworn in his wrath, that no ſuch vagrants ſhall enter into his reſt,Iſa: 50.11. Pſal. 95. Nay, This ſhall they have of my hand, Prov. 2.18. See the Note. they ſhall lye down in ſorrow, they ſhall reſt with Rephaims: if at leaſt they can reſt in that reſtleſs reſting-place of hell-fire, in that Congregation-houſe of gehermal-giants; where is puniſhment withour pitty, miſery without mercy, ſorrow without ſuccour, crying without comfort, miſchief without meaſure torments without end, and paſt imagination.

Verſ. 17. Hee that loveth pleaſure, &c.] Luxury is attended by beggery. Pleaſure may bee had, but not loved. Iſaac loved Veniſon (a little better haply than hee ſhould;) Eſau loved hunting, hence hee grew prophane, and though not a begger,Seneca. yet worſe. The Prodigal in the Goſpel ſpent his ſubſtance with riotous living Luk. 16.13. So did Apicius the Romane, who hearing that there were ſeven hundred Crowns onely remaining of a vaſt eſtate that his Father had left him,Valer. feared want, and hanged him. M. Livius another waſte-good boaſted when hee died, that hee had left nothing for his heir, praeter coelum & coenum, more than air and mire. Roger Aſcham, School-Maſter to Queen Elizabeth, Camb. Eliſab. and her Secretary for the Latine tongue, being too much addicted to dicing and cock-fighting, lived and died a poor man.

Verſ. 18. The wicked ſhall bee a ranſome] Heb. Copher, a cover, or an expiation: as Achan was for Iſrael; and as thoſe condemned perſons among the Heathens,Budaeu[illegible: 1 letter]. that in time of peſtilence or contagious infection, were offered up by way or publick expiation, with theſe words, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Bee thou a reconciliation for us. To this cuſtome Saint Paul ſeems to allude, 1 Cor. 4.13. Thus, when Sauls ſons were hanged, Gods wrath was appeaſed, 2 Sam. 21. and when guilty Jonah was caſt into the Sea, all was calm. Thus God gave Egypt for Iſraels ranſome: yea Seba and Ethiopia, Iſa. 43.3. And although hee may ſeem ſometimes to ſell his people for nought, and not to encreaſe his wealth by their price, Pſal. 44.12. yet when it comes to a critical point, I will give men for thee, and people for thy price, Iſa. 43.4. See Prov. 11.8. with the Note there.

Verſ. 19. It is better to dwell in the wilderneſs] Among ravenous beaſts, and venemous ſerpents, in greateſt danger, and want of all neceſſary accommodation. This is ſo much worſe than the houſe-top, as an angry and vexatious woman (which like a mad dog, bites all about her, and makes them as mad as her ſelf) is worſe than her that is not ſo much angry as unquiet, brawling (as Dogs bark ſometimes in the night) of cuſtome or fancy, and not provoked by any. See ſupra verſ. 9.

Verſ. 20. There is a treaſure to bee deſired] Hee had ſaid before, Hee that loveth Wine and Oyl ſhall not bee rich. Here hee ſhews, that though theſe things may not bee loved or laviſhed, yet they may, and muſt bee had and heaped up in a way of good husbrandry for neceſſity, yea for honeſt affluence; that wee may not onely live, but live comfortably; that wee may not onely have priſoners pittance, ſo much as will keep us alive, but that wee may have plenty of things deſirable, both for profit, as treaſure, and for delight, as oyl. And theſe things muſt not bee fooliſhly waſted (as they are uſually by unthrifts) leſt that make the wife that wants, angry and unquiet, as in the former verſe.

Verſ. 21. Hee that followeth after righteouſneſs] Though (for ſuch a meaſure of it as hee deſires) hee cannot overtake or compaſs it. If hee bee but doing at it, Si faciat praecepta, etiamſi non perficiat, if hee think upon Gods Commandements to do them, Pſal. 103.18. If, though hee cannot open the door, yet hee is lifting at the latch, hee ſhall bee accepted, yea rewarded. Hee that follows after righteouſneſs and mercy, as an Apprentice follows his Trade, though hee bee not his Craftſmaſter, ſhall ſurely finde righteouſneſs, with life and honour to boot. And is not that a good thing, a treaſure to bee deſired?

Verſ. 22. A wiſe man ſcaleth the City of the mighty] Wiſdome is that [non-Latin text not transcribed], that is profitable for all things; of ſingular and ſovereign uſe, as in domeſtick and politick, ſo in Military affairs and buſineſſes. Here Prudence is made out to bee better than Puiſſance, and one wiſe man to bee too hard for many mighty, though got into the ſtrongeſt Garriſons. In War wiſdome is better than ſtrength, ſaith Solomon more than once, Eccleſ. 9.16. and Chap. 7.19. How did Archimedes hold out Syracuſe againſt the Roman General, by his ſingular skill and induſtry? And how many ſtrong Cities have been ſcaled and ſurpized by warlike wiles and ſtratagems? as Babylon by Cyrus firſt,Dio. and afterwards by Zopyrus; Jeruſalem by Pompey, taking the opportunity of the ſeventh day Sabbath, wherein hee knew the ſuperſtitious Jews would not ſtir to defend themſelves, and many others that might out of Hiſtories bee inſtanced.

Verſ. 23. Who ſo keepeth his mouth, and his tongue] As hee that keepeth his doors faſt locked, preſerveth himſelf from danger: See the Note on Chap. 13.3. The large and looſe uſe of the tongue brings a man oft to divers ſtraights and miſeries.

Verſ. 24. Proud and haughty ſcorner is his name] An ill name hee gets him, and lyes under the common reproach of a proud peeviſh perſon. Hee ſeeks renown by his rage and revenge, as Lamech that vaunted of his valour this way to his wives; Alexander Pheraeus, who conſecrated the javelin wherewith hee had ſlain Polyphron; Caelius the Lawyer, that gloried to bee held the moſt froward and frample Roman alive, &c. But God loadeth ſuch a man with diſgrace, as here, and gives him his due character. Men alſo will hate him, and deſpiſe him for a ſon of Belial, as Nabals ſervants ſaid of him; for a mad frantick fellow, being once inraged, cares not what hee ſayes, as Jonas; what hee doth, as Saul, who dealing in proud wrath, was ſo kindled by the Devil, that hee could not bee quenched till hee fell into the unquenchable lake: Beſides the infamy that will never bee waſhed off, the brand of reproach, like that of Dathan and Abiram, who roſe up in proud wrath againſt Moſes and Aaron, and are therefore worthily ſtigmatized with a This is that Dathan, Numb. 26.9. like that other, This is that King Ahaz, 2 Chron. 28.22. and as wee commonly ſay of ſuch an one, that hee is a proud fool.

Verſ. 25. The deſire of the ſloathful killeth him] Hee onely wiſheth well to himſelf; but refuſing to labour, pineth away in his iniquity, Lev. 26.39. Neither grace nor wealth is had with wiſhing, Nemo caſu fit Sapiens, Epiſt. 77. ſaith Seneca. Some have a kinde of willingneſs and velleity, a kinde of wambling after the beſt things, but it doth not boyl up to the full height of reſolution for God.

Perſ.Virtutem exeptant, contabeſcuntque relictâ,

Carnal men care not to ſeek after him whom yet they would fain finde, ſaith Bernard, Cupientes conſequi ſed non & ſequi; have heaven they would, but ſtick at the hard conditions; like faint Chapmen, they bid money for heaven, but are loath to come up to the full price of it. Balaam wiſhed well to heaven, ſo did the young Phariſee in the Goſpel, that came to Chriſt haſtily, but went away heavily. Herod of a long time deſired to ſee Chriſt, but never ſtirred out of doors to ſee him. Pilate asked Chriſt, What is truth? but never ſtayed his anſwer. The ſluggard puts out his arm to riſe, and pulls it in again, hee turns upon his bed, as the door doth upon the hinges, which yet comes not off for all the turnings, but hangs ſtill: and this is his utter undoing. Men muſt not think that good things (whether ſpiritual or temporal) will drop out of the clouds to them,Aemuli ipſius dormientem pinxeram. Plut. in Sylla. as Towns were ſaid to come into Timotheus his toyl while hee ſlept. Now perform the doing of it, ſaith Saint Paul to thoſe lazie Corinthians, 2 Cor. 8.12. A thirſty man will not only long for drink, but labour after it. A covetous man will not only wiſh for wealth, but ſtrive to compaſs it. Yet not every covetous man, I confeſs; For in the next verſe it is ſaid of the ſluggard,

Verſ. 26. Hee coveteth greedily all day long] But theſe greedy conſtant covetings come to nothing, hee makes nothing of them. Meteors have matter enough in the vapours themſelves to carry them above the earth, but not enough to unite them to the element of fire, therefore they fall and return to their firſt principles. So is it with our wiſhers and woulders. Many came out of Egypt, that never came into Canaan; And why? the Land they liked well, but complained with thoſe Spies, of the ſtrength of the Anakims, and the impoſſibility of the Conqueſt, therefore their Carcaſes fell in the wilderneſs, their ſluggiſhneſs ſlew them. They luſted and had not, they killed (themſelves with coveting, as in the former verſe) and deſired to have (as here) but could not obtain. Jam. 4.2.

But the righteous giveth and ſpareth not] Neither neceſſity nor niggardiſe hindreth him; hee hath it, and hee holds that hee hath no more than hee giveth. Hee is both painful and pittiful; and what hee cannot do for the poor himſelf, hee ſtirs up others to do, ſo far is hee from forbidding or hindring any from ſhewing mercy. Some render the words thus, The righteous giveth, and forbiddeth not. Give a portion (ſaith hee to his richer friend) to ſeven, and alſo to eight, for thou knoweſt not what evil ſhall bee up on the earth, Eccleſ. 11.2. See the Note there.

Verſ. 27. The ſacrifice of the wicked, &c.] See the Note on Chap. 15.8.

How much more when hee bringeth it, &c?] As Balaac and Balaam did, Num. 23.1, 2. As thoſe that preſent ex rapina holocauſtum, a ſacrifice of what they have got by rapine and robbery: And as thoſe likewiſe that ask good things at Gods hand, that they may conſume them upon their luſts, Jam. 4.3. Let the wicked bring his ſacrifice with never ſo good an intention, hee is an abomination; but if with an evil minde, his diſſembled ſanctity is double iniquity: As if a man think by obſerving the Sabbath to take out a licenſe to walk licentiouſly all the week long; or by praying in a morning, to get a diſpenſation to do evil all day after.Mr. Shepherds Sincere convert. p. 232. Breerwood, Enquire. I have read of one, that would haunt the Taverns, Theaters, and Whore-houſes at London all day; but hee durſt not go forth without private prayer in the morning, and then would ſay at his departure, Now Devil do thy worſt. The Circaſsians are ſaid to divide their life betwixt rapine and repentance. The Papiſts (many of them) make account of confeſſing, as Drunkards do of vomiting. Sands his relat. of Weſt. Religion When wee have ſinned, ſay they, wee muſt confeſs, and when wee have confeſſed, wee muſt ſin again, that wee may alſo confeſs again, and make work for new indulgences and jubilees.

Verſ. 28. A falſe witneſs ſhall periſh] See the Note on Chap. 19.5. The Scythians had a Law, that if any man did duo peccata contorquere, binde two ſins together, a Lye and an Oath, hee was to loſe his head, becauſe this was the way to take away all faith and truth amongſt men.

But the man that heareth, speaketh conſtantly] Hee teſtifieth confidently what hee knoweth aſſuredly; hee is alwayes alſo in the ſame tale, as Paul was in the plea to the chief Captain, to Felix, to Feſtus, and to Agrippa. Not ſo Bellarmine. How oft doth that loud Lyer forget himſelf, and write contradictions? As for inſtance, In one place hee affirmeth, that it can by no means bee proved by Scripture, that any part of Scripture is the very word of God. Par. in Apoc. 22.16. Bel. de verb. Dei, l. 1. c 2. Sed mendax redarguit ſeipſum, ſaith Pareus. But the Lyer confutes himſelf, by ſaying elſewhere, Beſides other arguments to evince the divinity of the Canonical Scripture, it giveth ſufficient teſtimony to it ſelf.

Verſ. 29. A wicked man hardeneth his face] Procacitèr obfirmat vultum ſuum, ſo the Vulgar renders it. The falſe witneſs, verſ. 28. impudently defends, or at leaſt extenuates and excuſes his falſities. Frontem perfricat, aſſuens mendacium mendacio, as the Hebrew hath it, Pſal. 119.69. Hee thinks to make good one lye by another, to outface the truth, [non-Latin text not transcribed] Act. 27. to overbear it with a bold countenance. It ſeems to bee a metaphor from a Traveller that ſets his face againſt the wind and weather, and holds on his journey, though hee bee taking long ſtrides toward deſtruction.

But as for the upright hee directeth his way] Hee proceeds warily, weighs his words before hee utters them, and delivers nothing but the naked truth: And truth is like our firſt Parents, moſt beautiful when naked. Some Interpreters take this verſe, as ſetting forth the difference between the wicked and the godly, without any relation to the falſe and true witneſs, verſ. 28. And then it is Sententia ſapiente digna, ſaith one, Tam paucis verbis tam profundum ſenſum cumulans, a ſentence worthy of Solomon, as having ſo much in a little.

Verſ. 30. There is wiſdome againſt the Lord] That is, they are all to no purpoſe. If God deny concourſe and influence, the arm of humane power and policy (as Jeroboams) ſhrinks up preſently. See Pſal. 2.1, 2, 3. & 33.10, 11. & 62.3. See the Note on Chap. 19.21. Excellently Gregory, Divinum conſilium dum devitatur, impletur: humana ſapientia dum reluctatur, comprehenditur. Gods decree is fulfilled, by thoſe that have leaſt minde to it: Humane wiſdome, whiles it ſtrives for maſteries, is over-maſtered.

Verſ. 31. The horſe is prepared againſt the day, &c.] A very ſerviceable creature, and in battel full of terrour; ſo ſwift in ſervice, that the Perſians dedicated him to their god, the Sun, [non-Latin text not transcribed], as Pauſanias hath it. But as the Sun in heaven can neither bee out-run, nor ſtopt in his race; ſo neither by men (though wiſe) nor by means (though likely) can Gods purpoſes bee diſappointed. An horſe is a vain thing for ſafety; Neither ſhall hee deliver any by his great ſtrength. Pſal. 33.17.

But ſafety (or victory) is of the Lord] Hee gives it to which ſide hee pleaſeth; as hee did to the Iſraelites in the conqueſt of Canaan, though they had no horſes to help them, as their adverſaries had, and Charets too, both Aegyptians and Canaanites.