Proverbs 22 commentary

We should be more careful to do that by which we may get and keep a good name, than to raise or add unto a great estate.

Divine Providence has so ordered it, that some are rich, and others poor, but all are guilty before God; and at the throne of God's grace the poor are as welcome as the rich.

Faith foresees the evil coming upon sinners, and looks to Jesus Christ as the sure refuge from the storm.

Where the fear of God is, there will be humility. And much is to be enjoyed by it; spiritual riches, and eternal life at last.

The way of sin is vexatious and dangerous. But the way of duty is safe and easy.

Train children, not in the way they would go, that of their corrupt hearts, but in the way they should go; in which, if you love them, you would have them go. As soon as possible every child should be led to the knowledge of the Saviour.

This shows how important it is for every man to keep out of debt. As to the things of this life, there is a difference between the rich and the poor; but let the poor remember, it is the Lord that made the difference.

The power which many abuse, will soon fail them.

He that seeks to relieve the wants and miseries of others shall be blessed.

Profane scoffers and revilers disturb the peace.

God will be the Friend of a man in whose spirit there is no guile; this honour have all the saints.

God turns the counsels and designs of treacherous men to their own confusion.

The slothful man talks of a lion without, but considers not his real danger from the devil, that roaring lion within, and from his own slothfulness, which kills him.

The vile sin of licentiousness commonly besots the mind beyond recovery.

Sin is foolishness, it is in the heart, there is an inward inclination to sin: children bring it into the world with them; and it cleaves close to the soul. We all need to be corrected by our heavenly Father.

We are but stewards, and must distribute what God intrusts to our care, according to his will.

To these words, to this knowledge, the ear must be bowed down, and the heart applied by faith and love. To live a life of delight in God and dependence on him, is the foundation of all practical religion. The way to know the certainty of the word of truth, is to make conscience of our duty.

He that robs and oppresses the poor, does so at his peril. And if men will not appear for them, God will.

Our corrupt hearts have so much tinder in them, that it is dangerous to have to do with those that throw about the sparks of their passion.

Every man ought to be just to himself, and his family; those are not so, who, by folly or other carelessness, waste what they have.

We are taught not to trespass on another man's right. And it is hard to find a truly industrious man. Such a man will rise. Seest thou a man diligent in the business of religion? He is likely to excel. Let us then be diligent in God's work.

CHAPTER 22

Pr 22:1-29.

1. A good name--(Job 30:8, Hebrew); "good" is supplied here from Ec 7:1.

loving favour--kind regard, that is, of the wise and good.

2. Before God all are on the same footing (Pr 14:31; 17:5).

3. are punished--that is, for their temerity; for the evil is not necessarily punitive, as the prudent might otherwise be its objects.

4. humility and the fear of the Lord--are in apposition; one produces the other. On the results, compare Pr 3:16; 8:18.

5. he that ... them--Those who properly watch over their own souls are thus preserved from the dangers which attend the way of perverse men (Pr 16:17).

6. Train--initiate, or early instruct.

the way--literally, "his way," that selected for him in which he should go; for early training secures habitual walking in it.

7. The influence of wealth sets aside moral distinctions is implied, and, of course, disapproved (compare Pr 19:6; 21:14, &c.).

8. (Compare Pr 11:18; Psa 109:16-20; Ga 6:7, 8).

the rod ... fail--His power to do evil will be destroyed.

9. a bountiful eye--that is, a beneficent disposition.

for he giveth ... poor--His acts prove it.

10. Cast out--or drive away. Scorners foster strife by taunts and revilings.

11. (Compare Margin).

pureness of heart--and gentle, kind words win favor, even from kings.

12. preserve--or guard.

knowledge--its principles and possessors.

overthroweth--utterly confounds and destroys the wicked.

13. Frivolous excuses satisfy the indolent man's conscience.

14. The mouth--or flattering speeches (Pr 5:3; 7:5) ensnare man, as pits, beasts. God makes their own sin their punishment.

15. is bound--or firmly fixed. Chastisement deters from crime and so leads to reformation of principle.

16. These two vices pertain to the same selfish feeling. Both are deservedly odious to God and incur punishment.

17. Here begins another division of the book, marked by those encouragements to the pursuit of wisdom, which are found in the earlier chapters. It will be observed that at Pr 22:22-24:12, the proverbs are generally expressed in two verses instead of one (see Introduction).

18. These lessons must be laid up in the mind, and

fitted--or better, "fixed" in the lips so as to be ever ready.

19. That ... Lord--This is the design of the instruction.

20. excellent things--or probably of former times.

counsels and knowledge--both advice and instruction.

21. Specially he desires to secure accuracy, so that his pupil may teach others.

22-23. Here follow ten precepts of two verses each. Though men fail to defend the poor, God will (Pr 17:5; Psa 12:5).

in the gate--place of public gathering (Job 5:4; Psa 69:12).

24-25. (Compare Pr 2:12-15; 4:14).

26-27. (Compare Pr 6:1; 17:18).

28. (Compare Pr 23:10). Do not entrench on others (De 19:14; 27:17).

29. Success rewards diligence (Pr 10:4; 21:5).

A good name - שם shem, a name, put for reputation, credit, fame. Used nearly in the same way that we use it: "He has got a name;" "his name stands high;" for "He is a man of credit and reputation." טבא toba, καλον, hamood, and bonum, are added by the Chaldee, Septuagint, Arabiac, and Vulgate, all signifying good or excellent.

Is rather to be chosen than great riches - Because character will support a man in many circumstances; and there are many rich men that have no name: but the word of the man of character will go farther than all their riches.

The rich and poor meet together - עשיר ashir the opulent, whether in money, land, or property; רש rash, the man that is destitute of these, and lives by his labor, whether a handicraftsman, or one that tills the ground. In the order of God, the rich and the poor live together, and are mutually helpful to each other. Without the poor, the rich could not be supplied with the articles which they consume; for the poor include all the laboring classes of society: and without the rich, the poor could get no vent for the produce of their laborer, nor, in many cases, labor itself. The poor have more time to labor than the mere necessaries of life require; their extra time is employed in providing a multitude of things which are called the superfluities of life, and which the rich especially consume. All the poor man's time is thus employed; and he is paid for his extra labor by the rich. The rich should not despise the poor, without whom he can neither have his comforts, nor maintain his state. The poor should not envy the rich, without whom he could neither get employment, nor the necessaries of life.

The Lord is the Maker of them all - Both the states are in the order of God's providence and both are equally important in his sight. Merely considered as men, God loves the simple artificer or laborer as much as he does the king; though the office of the latter, because of its entering into the plan of his government of the world, is of infinitely greatly consequence than the trade of the poor artificer. Neither should despise the other; neither should envy the other. Both are useful; both important; both absolutely necessary to each other's welfare and support; and both are accountable to God for the manner in which they acquit themselves in those duties of life which God has respectively assigned them. The abject poor - those who are destitute of health and the means of life - God in effect lays at the rich man's door, that by his superfluities they may be supported. How wise is that ordinance which has made the rich and the poor! Pity it were not better understood!

A prudent man foreseeth the evil - God in mercy has denied man the knowledge of futurity; but in its place he has given him hope and prudence. By hope he is continually expecting and anticipating good; by prudence he derives and employs means to secure it. His experience shows him that there are many natural evils in a current state, the course of which he can neither stem nor divert: prudence shows him beforehand the means he may use to step out of their way, and hide himself. The simple - the inexperienced, headstrong, giddy, and foolish - rush on in the career of hope, without prudence to regulate, chastise, and guide it; thus they commit many faults, make many miscarriages, and suffer often in consequence; and the commission of crimes leads to punishment.

Thorns and snares - Various difficulties, trials, and sufferings.

Train up a child in the way he should go - The Hebrew of this clause is curious: חנך לנער על פי דרכו chanoch lannaar al pi darco, "Initiate the child at the opening (the mouth) of his path." When he comes to the opening of the way of life, being able to walk alone, and to choose; stop at this entrance, and begin a series of instructions, how he is to conduct himself in every step he takes. Show him the duties, the dangers, and the blessings of the path; give him directions how to perform the duties, how to escape the dangers, and how to secure the blessings, which all lie before him. Fix these on his mind by daily inculcation, till their impression is become indelible; then lead him to practice by slow and almost imperceptible degrees, till each indelible impression becomes a strongly radicated habit. Beg incessantly the blessing of God on all this teaching and discipline; and then you have obeyed the injunction of the wisest of men. Nor is there any likelihood that such impressions shall ever be effaced, or that such habits shall ever be destroyed. חנך chanac, which we translate train up or initiate, signifies also dedicate; and is often used for the consecrating any thing, house, or person, to the service of God. Dedicate, therefore, in the first instance, your child to God; and nurse, teach, and discipline him as God's child, whom he has intrusted to your care. These things observed, and illustrated by your own conduct, the child (you have God's word for it) will never depart from the path of life. Coverdale translates the passage thus: "Yf thou teachest a childe what waye he shoulde go, he shall not leave it when he is olde." Coverdale's Bible, for generally giving the true sense of a passage, and in elegant language for the time, has no equal in any of the translations which have followed since. Horace's maxim is nearly like that of Solomon: -

Fingit equum tenera docilem cervice magister

Ire viam, quam monstrat eques; venaticus, ex quo

Tempore cervinam pellem latravit in aula,

Militat in sylvis catulus. Nunc adbibe puro

Pectore verba, puer; nunc te melioribus ofter.

Quo semel est imbuta recens, servabit odorem

Testa diu.

Hor. Ep. lib. i., ep. 2, ver. 64. "The docile colt is form'd with gentle skill

To move obedient to his rider's will.

In the loud hall the hound is taught to bay

The buckskin trail'd, then challenges his prey

Through the wild woods. Thus, in your hour of youth

From pure instruction quaff the words of truth:

The odours of the wine that first shall stain

The virgin vessel, it shall long retain."

Francis.

The rich ruieth over the poor - So it is in the order of God, and may be a blessing to both.

He that soweth iniquity - The crop must be according to the seed. If a man sow thistle seed, is it likely he shall reap wheat? If he sow to the flesh, shall he not of the flesh reap destruction?

A bountiful eye - One that disposes him to help all that he sees to be in want; the bountiful eye means the bountiful heart; for the heart looks through the eye. The merciful heart, even when the hand has little or nothing to give, shall be blessed of the Lord.

He that loveth pureness of heart - Who aims to be what God would have him to be - the King of kings shall be his Friend. There is no class of men that value uprightness more than kings; as none stand so much in need of it in their servants.

The eyes of the Lord - (the Divine providence) preserve knowledge - This providence has been wonderfully manifested in preserving the sacred oracles, and in preserving many ancient authors, which have been of great use to the civil interests of man.

The slothful man saith, There is a lion without - But why does he say so? Because he is a slothful man. Remove his slothfulness, and these imaginary difficulties and dangers will be no more. He will not go abroad to work in the fields, because he thinks there is a lion in the way, he will not go out into the town for employment, as he fears to be assassinated in the streets! From both these circumstances he seeks total cessation from activity.

The mouth of strange women is a deep pit - In Pro 23:27, he says, A whore is a Deep Ditch:, oud a strange woman is a Narrow Pit.

The allusions in these three places are too plain to be misunderstood.

Virgil's hell has been adduced in illustration: - - Sate sanguine Divum,

Tros Anchisiade, facilis decensus Averni;

Noctes atque dies patet atri janua Ditis:

Sed revocare gradum, superasque evadere ad auras,

Hoc Opus, hic Labor est.

Pauci quos aequus amavit

Jupiter, aut ardens evexit ad aethera virtus,

Dis geniti potuere.

Virg. Aen, lib. vi., ver. 125. "O glorious prince of brave Anchises' line!

Great godlike hero! sprung from seed divine,

Smooth lies the road to Pluto's gloomy shade;

And hell's black gates for ever stand display'd:

But 'tis a long unconquerable pain,

To climb to these ethereal realms again.

The choice-selected few, whom favoring Jove,

Or their own virtue, rais'd to heaven above,

From these dark realms emerged again to day;

The mighty sons of gods, and only they.

Pitt.

He that oppresseth the poor - He who, in order to obtain the favor of the rich and great, either robs or cheats the poor, to make those men presents; or gives in presents to them, for the sake of honor and reputation, what he should have given to the poor, shall surely come to want.

Bow down thine ear - From this to the end of Pro 22:21 are contained, not proverbs, but directions how to profit by that which wisdom has already delivered; the nature of the instruction, and the end for which it was given.

I shall give a paraphrase of this very important passage: -

I. Solomon addresses his pupils on the use of his past teachings. See on Pro 22:6 (note).

1. The wise man speaks; and all his words, not merely his sentiments, are to be carefully heard.

2. He speaks knowledge - gives doctrines true in themselves, and confirmed by observation and experience.

3. These are to be heard with humility and deep attention: "Bow down thine ear."

4. They must not only be heard, but meditated and pondered: "Apply thine heart to my knowledge."

For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee -

II. The pleasure and profit which may be derived from an attentive hearing.

1. They should be laid up in the heart-stored, treasured up within thee.

2. This will yield high satisfaction and happiness to the soul: "For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee."

3. The man who thus attends to the teachings of wisdom shall gain an experimental knowledge of them, so as to be able to speak of them suitably, pertinently and persuasively. "They shall withal be fitted in thy lips."

That thy trust may be in the Lord, I have made known, etc. -

III. The End for which the wise man gives these instructions: -

1. "That thy trust may be in the Lord." That thou mayest acknowledge Him as the Fountain of all good; and refer every thing to him.

2. That this end may be accomplished, the instructions are specific and particular: "I have made known to thee, even to thee."

3. And this has not only been done in times past, "I have made known:" but even in the present, "I have made known this day!"

IV. An appeal is made to the person himself relative to the matter and importance of the teaching.

1. "Have I not written to thee excellent things;" שלשים shalishim, literally threefold, thrice, in three different ways; which some think refers to his three books: -

1. Song of Solomon.

2. Koheleth, or Ecclesiastes.

3. Proverbs.

Others, understanding it of the voice of Divine wisdom, suppose the three grand divisions of the sacred oracles are intended; viz.,

1. The Law;

2. The Prophets;

3. The Hagiographa.

And others interpret it of the three grand intellectual sciences: -

1. Morality, or Ethics.

2. Natural Philosophy, or Physics.

3. Theology, or the science of Divine things as reported in the Scriptures. But Solomon's books of Natural Philosophy are lost.

And lastly, some of the rabbins and some Christians find in these shalishim the three senses of Scripture:

1. Literal;

2. Figurative;

3. Allegorical.

After all, as we know the term thrice was used as the term seven, a certain number for an uncertain, (see Amo 1:11; 2Cor 12:8), it may mean no more here than, I have written to thee often. But perhaps it is safer to apply it to the Scriptures, and the excellent doctrines they contain: for שלשים shalishim signifies also excellent, princely things; things which become a king to speak. Indeed, it would not be difficult to prove that there is not one important art or science which is not alluded to in the Holy Scriptures, and used to illustrate and inculcate heavenly truths.

2. These excellent, princely, or threefold teachings, consist of two grand parts:

1. Counsels, מעצות moetsoth, from יוץ yaats, to give advice, counsel, or information. These (1) show thee what thou shouldst know; and (2) advise thee what thou shouldst do.

2. Knowledge, דעת daath, from ידע yada, to perceive, or feel by means of the senses and internal perception; viz., what should be felt, experienced, known to be true by mental perception, and by their influence on the heart and affections.

V. All this is done to give the pupil the fullest satisfaction, and most plenary evidence concerning the truths of God.

That I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth -

1. These are words or doctrines of truth:

1. They are true in themselves.

2. Come from the God of truth.

3. Are truly fulfilled to all that believe.

2. These words of truth are certain, קשט koshet, they are not of dubious or difficult interpretation; they point directly to the great end for which God gave them; they promise, and they are fulfilled. He who pleads them by faith, receives their accomplishment in the spirit and power of Divine love. The Scriptures, as far as they concern the salvation of the soul, are to be experimentally understood; and, by this experimental knowledge, every believer has the witness in himself, and knows the certainty of the words of truth.

VI. What we know ourselves to be true, and of infinite importance to the welfare of men in general, we should carefully proclaim and witness, that they also may believe.

That thou mightest answer the words of truth -

1. When the doctrine of salvation is preached, there will be many inquirers. What is this doctrine? Have any persons received these blessings - the remission of sins, witness of the Holy Spirit, purification of the heart, etc., etc.? Who are they? What are the collateral arguments that prove these things, and show us that you have not misapprehended the meaning of these Scriptures?

2. Inquiries of this kind should meet with the speediest and most distinct answers; and the doctrines of truth should be supported and illustrated with the words of truth. "That thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee."

Neither oppress the afflicted in the gate - In judgment let the poor have a fair hearing; and let him not be borne down because he is poor. The reader has often seen that courts of justice were held at the gates of cities in the East.

For the Lord will plead their cause - Wo therefore to them that oppress them, for they will have God, not the poor, to deal with.

Make no friendship with an angry man - Spirit has a wonderful and unaccountable influence upon spirit. From those with whom we associate we acquire habits, and learn their ways, imbibe their spirit, show their tempers and walk in their steps. We cannot be too choice of our company, for we may soon learn ways that will be a snare to our soul.

That strike hands - See on Pro 6:1 (note); Pro 11:15 (note).

If thou hast nothing to pay - Should any man give security for more than he is worth? If he does, is it not a fraud on the very face of the transaction?

Why should he take away thy bed from under thee? - The creditor will not pursue the debtor whom he knows to be worth nothing; but he will sue the bail or bondsman. And why shouldst thou put thyself in such circumstances as to expose thyself to the loss even of thy bed?

Remove not the ancient landmark - Do not take the advantage, in ploughing or breaking up a field contiguous to that of thy neighbor, to set the dividing stones farther into his field that thou mayest enlarge thy own. Take not what is not thy own in any case. Let all ancient divisions, and the usages connected with them, be held sacred. Bring in no new dogmas, nor rites, nor ceremonies, into religion, or the worship of God, that are not clearly laid down in the sacred writings. "Stand in the way; and see, and ask for the old paths, which is the good way, and walk therein; and ye shall find rest for your souls;" Jer 6:16. But if any Church have lost sight of the genuine doctrines of the Gospel, calling them back to these is not removing the ancient landmarks, as some have falsely asserted. God gave a law against removing the ancient landmarks, by which the inheritances of tribes and families were distinguished. See Deu 19:14, from which these words of Solomon appear to be taken.

Even among the heathens the landmark was sacred; so sacred that they made a deity of it. Terminus signifies the stone or post that served as a landmark. And Terminus was reputed a god, and had offerings made to him. Hence Ovid: -

Tu quoque sacrorum, Termine, finis eras.

Fast. lib. i., ver. 50.

Nox ubi transierit, solito celebratur honore,Separat indicio qui Deus arva suo.

Termine, sive lapis, sive es defossus in agroStipes, ab antiquis sic quoque Numen habes.

Te duo diversa domini pro parte coronant;Binaque serta tibi, binaque liba ferunt -

Conveniunt, celebrantque dapes vicinia simplex;Et cantant laudes, Termine sancte, tuas.

Tu populos, urbesque, et regna ingentia finis:Omnis erit, sine te, litigiosus ager.

Fast. lib. ii., ver. 639.

Here we find the owners of both fields bringing each his garland and libation to the honor of this god. They sung its praises, put on its top a chaplet of flowers, poured out the libation before it; and the inhabitants of the country held a festival in its honor. It was, in short, celebrated as the preserver of the bounds and territorial rights of tribes, cities, and whole kingdoms; and without its testimony and evidence, every field would have been a subject of litigation.

He shalt not stand before mean men - חשכים chashukkim, dark or obscure persons; men of no repute. Na he schal ben before un-noble men - Old MS. Bible. "Not amonge the symple people." - Coverdale.

The general meaning of the proverb is, "Every diligent, active man, shall be at once independent and respectable."

Favour - A good report among men, especially good men, and that hearty kindness which attends it.

Meet - They live together, and need one another. The maker - Not only as they are men, but as they are poor or rich, which difference comes from God's providence. They have one common creator, and Lord, and judge, and the one cannot despise nor grudge at the other without reflecting upon God.

The evil - The judgment of God threatened, and approaching. Hideth - Retires to his strong tower, by prayer and repentance, puts himself under the protection of the almighty. Pass on - Carefully and securely.

Depart - Not easily and ordinarily.

Is servant - Is at his mercy, and forced to comply with his pleasure.

The rod - That power which he used with fury shall be taken from him.

He - Who looks upon the wants and miseries of others with compassion.

Preserve - God by the watchful eye of his providence maintains and defends. Knowledge - Men of knowledge, knowing and good men. The matters - All his hopes, enterprizes, and concerns.

The mouth - Her fair and flattering speeches.

Bound - Is fixed and settled there, as being born with him, and rooted in his very nature.

That giveth - That prodigally casts away his estate upon those who do not need it.

My knowledge - The knowledge of God, which I am here delivering.

Fitted - Fitly expressed: thou wilt be able to discourse profitably of them.

In counsels and knowledge - In counsels which proceed from found knowledge.

Answer - That thou mayst be able to give solid, and satisfactory answers.

In the gate - Under pretence of justice.

Spoil the soul - Take away not only their goods but their lives too.

Before kings - He is fit to be employed in the affairs of princes.

1 A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold.

Heb. name put for good name, as Eccl. 7. 2. the word good being easily understood out of the next clause, in which it is expressed in the Hebrew text. A good reputation amongst wise and good men.

Partly because it is a most special blessing from God being appropriated to worthy persons, whereas God commonly throws away Riches upon the basest of men: partly because it gives a man that tranquillity and satisfaction of mind, and that content and comfort in his condition, which no Riches can purchase: and partly because as it is commonly an evidence of a mans Virtue and Piety, so it is accompanied with Gods Love and Favour, whereas Riches are oft given by God in wrath, and to the hurt of the owner.

Or, good Grace or Favour, a good Report among men, especially among good men, and that hearty Love and Kindness which attends upon it.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]. 7. 1.; [illegible: 1 word] ▪ [illegible: 1 word] is [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word], &c.

2 The rich and poor meet together: the LORD is the maker of them all.

Either 1. In a way of hostility or opposition, as this word is somtimes used, the rich contemning and oppressing the poor, and the poor envying and purloining from the rich; and so the following words are a reason why that hostility should cease. Or 2. In the way of mutual converse, they live together, and need one another.

Not only as they are men, but also as they are poor or rich, which difference comes wholly from Gods Providence. They have one common Creator, and Lord, and Judg, and the one cannot despise nor grudge at the other without a reflection upon God.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word] ▪ 29. 13.

3 A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself : but the simple pass on, and are punished.

The Calamity or Judgment of God threatned, and approaching.

Retireth to his strong Tower, mentioned Prov. 18. 10. by Prayer and Repentance, putteth himself under the Protection of the Almighty. Compare Isa. 26. 20.

In their former road and course of sin, carelesly and securely, as Travellers do in a road where they apprehend no danger.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word] ▪ 14. 16. [illegible: 1+ letters] [illegible: 1 word]. 12.

4 By humility, and the fear of the LORD , are riches, and honour, and life.

Or, because of humility: or, as many others render it, the reward of humility, that reward which God hath graciously promised, and will give to Humility; which is a grace of great price in Gods Eyes. See Isa. 57. 15. Iam. 4. 6.

By which he distinguisheth true and Christian Humility from counterfeit and moral humility, because that ariseth from a deep sense of Gods greatness, and purity, and perfection, compared with our own meanness, and filthiness, and manifold imperfections, whereas this is quit[illegible: 1+ letters] of another nature, and from other grounds.

The comforts of this life, and the happiness of the next, both which are promised to Godliness, 1 Tim. 4. 8.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]. 112. 3.; Or, the re [illegible: 1+ letters] of humi [illegible: 1+ letters], &c.

5 Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward: he that doth keep his soul shall be far from them.

The wicked by their evil courses expose themselves to many dangers and occasions both of sin and mischief.

That taketh heed to himself, and to his actions, and to the saving of his Life and Soul.

Either 1. Will avoid the society of such froward persons. Or 2. Shall by that circumspection preserve himself from those thorns, &c. with which the Pronoun, them, agrees in number.

6. Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it .

Or, initiate or instruct.

Heb. [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] to his way, i. e. either 1. according to his capacity. [illegible: 1 word] 2. In that course or manner of life which thou would [illegible: 1 word] him chuse and follow. Or, as one learned man renders it, in the beginning of his way, i. e. in his tender years, as soon as he is capable of instruction. Heb. in the mouth, &c. The mouth is oft put for the beginning or entrance of any place, as Gen. 29. 2. Ios. 10. 18. Prov. 8. 3. Dan. 6. 17.

To wit, not easily and ordinarily. The impressions made in childish years will remain, as hath been observed by all sorts of learned Writers. But this, as other Proverbs of like nature, are not to be understood as if this were universally and necessarily true, which Experience confutes, but because it is so for the most part, except some extraordinary cause hinder it.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word], ca[illegible: 1+ letters]chise.; [illegible: 1 word]. i[illegible: 1+ letters] his [illegible: 1 word].

7 The rich ruleth over the poor , and the borrower is servant to the lender .

To wit, with rigor and Tyranny, taking advantage of his necessities.

Is at his mercy, and therefore forced to comply with his pleasure. The design of the Proverb is partly to correct this miscarriage of the rich, and partly to oblige all men to diligence, whereby they may deliver themselves from this servitude.

Marginal references: Jam. 2. 6.; Heb. to the man that lendeth.

8 He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity : and the rod of his anger shall fail.

Or, unrighteousness, whose common practice it is to wrong or oppress others.

Or trouble or misery, as this word is commonly used, and as divers here render it. The mischief which he hath done to others shall be returned to him by Gods righteous sentence.

That power which he used with fury and cruelty shall be taken away from him.

Marginal references: Job. 4. 8. Hos. 10. 13.; Or, and with the red of his [illegible: 1 word] anger he shall be consumed.

9 He that hath a bountiful eye, shall be blessed: for he giveth of his bread to the poor.

Heb. A good eye. He who looks upon the wants and miseries of others with compassion and kindness, as this Phrase is used, Mat. 20. 15. as an evil eye is put for one that beholds others with envy and unmercifulness, Deut. 15. 9. Prov. 23. 6. & 28. 22.

Both by God and Men.

Marginal references: 2 Cor. 9. 6.; Heb. good of eye.

10 Cast out the scorner , and contention shall go out; yea, strife and reproach shall cease.

Out of your society, avoid conversation with him.

Who neither fears God, nor reverenceth Man, but scorns all admonitions, and minds only the pleasing of himself, and the gratifying of his own Lusts, which is the chief cause of most contentions.

Wherewith he loads those that either oppose or admonish him.

Marginal references: Psa. 101. 5.

11 He that loveth pureness of heart , for the grace of his lips, the king shall be his friend.

Who is plain hearted or sincere, and abhors dissimulation.

From those gracious speeches which naturally and commonly flow from a pure heart. Or, and (understand, loveth, out of the former clause) grace of his lips. Whose discourse is gracious and sincere.

The greatest men will, or should, desire, and highly prize the acquaintance and advice of such persons, rather than of Dissemblers and Flatterers, wherewith they are most commonly pestered.

Marginal references: Psa. 101. 6. Chap. 16. 13.; Or, and hath grace in his lips.

12 The eyes of the LORD preserve knowledg, and he overthroweth the words of the transgressor.

God by the watchful Eye of his Providence maintains and defends.

To wit, men of knowledge, the abstract being put for the concrete, as Pride is put for a proud man, Psal. 36. 11. Deceit for the deceitful, as Prov. 12▪ 17. So here Knowledge for knowing and good men, such as the last verse spoke of, whose hearts are pure, and speeches gracious, not only the King shall be their friend, as he said there, but God also, which he adds here.

Their false and flattering speeches, whereby they designed and expected to gain the favour and friendship of great men, which are opposed to the sincere and gracious speeches of good men, implied in the first clause of this verse, and expressed in the foregoing verse, Or, as others render it, and the word is very commonly used, the matters, all his Counsels, Hopes, Enterprizes, and Concerns.

Marginal references: Or, the matters.

13 The slothful man saith, There is a lion without: I shall be slain in the streets.

Alledgeth as his excuse to them who upbraid him with idleness, or persuade him to diligence.

There are extream dangers and invincible difficulties in my way.

By that Lion, or some other way.

Which is added to shew the ridiculousness of his excuse; for Lions abide in the woods or fields, nor in the streets of Towns or Cities.

Marginal references: Ch. 26. 13.

14 The mouth of strange women is a deep pit: he that is abhorred of the LORD shall fall therein.

Her fair and flattering speeches wherewith she enticeth him to gross filthiness, as it is noted, Prov. 7. 21.

Into which it is easie to fall, but hard, if not impossible, to get out of it. It is a rare thing for any person, once entred into the course of Whoredom, sincerely to repent of it, and turn from it. See Prov. 2. 19.

To wit, in an high and singular manner, who by his former impieties, and contempt of God and of his Grace, hath provoked God to leave and loth him, and to punish one sin with another: for otherwise all sinners, as such, are abhorred by God.

Marginal references: Ch. 2. 16. & 5. 3. & 7. 5[illegible: 1+ letters] & 23. 27.

15 Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him .

Is fixed and setled there, as being born with him, and rooted in his very nature, and not plucked up without great difficulty and diligence.

The smart of punishment makes him weary of his sin, and watchful against it.

Marginal references: Ch. 13. 24. & 19. 18. & 23. 13. & 29. 15, 17.

16 He that oppresseth the poor to encrease his riches, and he that giveth to the rich , shall surely come to want.

That vainly and prodigally casts away his estate upon those who do not need it, or gives it to them with evil design, as that they may assist him in oppressing the poor, or at least not hinder him in it.

17 Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise , and apply thine heart unto my knowledg .

Of wise and holy men of God.

Thirst after it, and give up thy self to the diligent study of it.

The knowledge of God, and of thy several duties, which I am here delivering to thee.

18 For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee ▪ they shall withal be fitted in thy lips.

The words of the wise.

Heb. in thy belly, i. e. in thine heart, which implies receiving them in Love, and retaining them in mind and memory.

Be fitly expressed: or, be disposed or ordered. The sense is, when thou hast got them into thine heart▪ thou wilt be able and ready to discourse pertinently and profitably of them.

Marginal references: Heb. in thy belly. Job 15. 35. & 32. 18.

19 That thy trust may be in the LORD , I have made known to thee this day, even to thee.

That knowing God, and his word, and Promises, thou maist chearfully and confidently trust in him, which is the only way to thy safety and happiness.

Marginal references: Them.; Or, trust thou also.

20 Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledg :

Or, princely things, as they are called, Prov. 8. 6. the great things of Gods law, as Hos. 8▪ 12.

Consisting of Counsels to direct thy practice, and Knowledg to inform and enrich thy mind. Or, by that known Figure Hendiadis, in counsels of knowledg, i. e. in good counsels which proceed from sound knowledge, and make a man knowing and wise, which are opposed to the counsels of the wicked, Prov. 12. 5. which are without knowledg.

Marginal references: Heb. things of command or authority.

21 That I may make thee know the certainty of the words of truth ; that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee ?

That I may teach thee, not false, or vain, or uncertain things, as the Teachers of the Heathen Nations do, but the true and infallible Oracles of God.

That being instructed by me, thou maist be able to give true, and solid, and satisfactory answers.

To wit, for thine advice in great and difficult matters. Or, to those that send thee, i. e. that employ thee in any business of moment, whereof they expect an account from thee.

Marginal references: Or, to those that send thee.

22 Rob not the poor, because he is poor ▪ neither oppress the afflicted in the gate .

This may be mentioned, either 1. As a motive to this Robbery, because he was unable to resist him, or to revenge himself upon him: Do not take advantage of his Poverty. Or 2. As an Argument against it, because he is a fitter object for thy pity and Charity, than for thy Injustice or Cruelty. It is base and inhumane to crush such a person.

In the place▪ of Judgment, or under pretence of Justice, and much less in other ways where there is no colour of Justice.

Marginal references: Zech. 7. 10.

23 For the LORD will plead their cause , and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them.

Which he hath in a peculiar manner undertaken to do.

Take away not only their goods but their Lives too▪ So fully will he recompence their wickedness to them.

Marginal references: Ch. 23. 1[illegible: 1+ letters].

24 Make no friendship with an angry man, and with a furious man thou shalt not go ▪

Into his company: not converse frequently and familiarly with him, as friends use to do.

25 Lest thou learn his ways , and get a snare to thy soul.

Lest thou be instructed or provoked by his passion to return the like to him.

Either 1. A mischief, which is oft the effect of unbridled rage. Or 2. An occasion of sin, either by drawing thee to an imitation or requital of his rage; or by tempting thee to unfaithfulness in performing the great office of a Friend, to wit, Admonition or reproof, which, by reason of his furious temper, thou either canst not, or wiltst not do.

26 Be not thou one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts .

To wit, rashly, or unnecessarily.

Marginal references: Chap. 6. & 11. 15.

27 If thou hast nothing to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under thee ?

Why wiltst thou put thy self into the hands of such a man, who will exact the debt from thee without any compassion? For though God did not allow this practice, covetous Creditors would frequently do it.

Marginal references: Ch. 20. 1▪

28 Remove not the ancient land-mark which thy fathers have set.

Whereby the Lands of several possessors were distinguished and divided. Do not enrich thy self with the injury of other men: Do not invade the rights of others.

Marginal references: Deut. 19. 1▪ & 27. 17. Chap. 23. 1[illegible: 1+ letters]; Or, bound.

29 Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings , he shall not stand before mean men.

Or, expeditious, as the word properly signifies, one of quick dispatch, vigorous and speedy in executing what hath been well and wisely contrived.

He is fit to be employed in the affairs of the greatest Princes.

Marginal references: Heb. obsc[illegible: 1+ letters] men.

Pro 22:1 1 A good name has the preference above great riches;    For more than silver and gold is grace.

The proverb is constructed chiastically; the commencing word נבחר (cf. Pro 21:3), and the concluding word טוב, are the parallel predicates; rightly, none of the old translators have been misled to take together חן טוב, after the analogy of שׂכל טוב, Pro 3:14; Pro 13:15. שׁם also does not need טוב for nearer determination; the more modern idiom uses שׁם טוב,e.g., Aboth iv. 17: there are three crowns: the crown of the Tôra, the crown of the priesthood, and the crown of royalty; but כתר שׁם טוב, the crown of a good name, excels them all. the more ancient uses שׁם alone (e.g., Ecc 7:1), in the sense of ὄνομα καλόν (thus here lxx); for being well known (renowned) is equivalent to a name, and the contrary to being nameless (Job 30:8); to make oneself a name, is equivalent to build a monument in honour of oneself; possibly the derivation of the word from שׁמה, to be high, prominent, known, may have contributed to this meaning of the word sensu eximio, for שׁם has the same root word as שׁמים. Luther translates שׁם by Das Gerücht [rumour, fame], in the same pregnant sense; even to the present day, renom, recommée, riputazione, and the like, are thus used. The parallel חן signifies grace and favour (being beloved); grace, which brings favour (Pro 11:16); and favour, which is the consequence of a graceful appearance, courtesy, and demeanour (e.g., Est 2:15).

Pro 22:2 2 The rich and the poor meet together;    The creator of them all is Jahve.

From this, that God made them all, i.e., rich and poor in the totality of their individuals, it follows that the meeting together is His will and His ordinance; they shall in life push one against another, and for what other purpose than that this relationship of mutual intercourse should be a school of virtue: the poor shall not envy the rich (Pro 3:31), and the rich shall not despise the poor, who has the same God and Father as himself (Pro 14:31; Pro 17:5; Pro 31:15); they shall remain conscious of this, that the intermingling of the diversities of station is for this end, that the lowly should serve the exalted, and the exalted should serve the lowly. Pro 29:13 is a variation; there also for both, but particularly for the rich, lies in the proverb a solemn warning.

Pro 22:3

The group of proverbs beginning here terminates at Pro 22:7, where, like the preceding, it closes with a proverb of the rich and the poor. 3 The prudent seeth the evil, and hideth himself;    But the simple go forward, and suffer injury.

This proverb repeats itself with insignificant variations, Pro 27:12. The Kerı̂ ונסתּר makes it more conformable to the words there used. The Chethı̂b is not to be read ויסתּר, for this Kal is inusit., but ויסּתר, or much rather ויּסּתר, since it is intended to be said what immediate consequence on the part of a prudent man arises from his perceiving an evil standing before him; he sees, e.g., the approaching overthrow of a decaying house, or in a sudden storm the fearful flood, and betimes betakes himself to a place of safety; the simple, on the contrary, go blindly forward into the threatening danger, and must bear the punishment of their carelessness. The fut. consec. 3a denotes the hiding of oneself as that which immediately follows from the being observant; the two perf. 3b, on the other hand, with or without ו, denote the going forward and meeting with punishment as occurring contemporaneously (cf. Psa 48:6, and regarding these diverse forms of construction, at Hab 3:10). “The interchange of the sing. and plur. gives us to understand that several or many simple ones are found for one prudent man” (Hitzig). The Niph. of ענשׁ signifies properly to be punished by pecuniary fine (Exo 21:22) (cf. the post-bibl. קנס, קנס, to threaten punishment, which appears to have arisen from censere, to estimate, to lay on taxes); here it has the general meaning of being punished, viz., of the self-punishment of want of foresight.

Pro 22:4 4 The reward of humility is the fear of Jahve,    Is riches, and honour, and life.

As ענוה־צדק, Psa 45:5, is understood of the two virtues, meekness and righteousness, so here the three Göttingen divines (Ewald, Bertheau, and Elster), as also Dunasch, see in 'ענוה יראת ה an asyndeton; the poet would then have omitted vav, because instead of the copulative connection he preferred the appositional (Schultens: praemium mansuetudinis quae est reverentia Jehovae) or the permutative (the reward of humility; more accurately expressed: the fear of God). It is in favour of this interpretation that the verse following (Pro 22:5) also shows an asyndeton. Luther otherwise: where one abides in the fear of the Lord; and Oetinger: the reward of humility, endurance, calmness in the fear of the Lord, is...; Fleischer also interprets 'יראת ה as Pro 21:4, חטאת (lucerna impiroum vitiosa), as the accus. of the nearer definition. But then is the nearest-lying construction: the reward of humility is the fear of God, as all old interpreters understand 4a (e.g., Symmachus, ὕστερον πραΰ́τητος φόβος κυρίου), a thought so incomprehensible, that one must adopt one or other of these expedients? On the one side, we may indeed say that the fear of God brings humility with it; but, on the other hand, it is just as conformable to experience that the fear of God is a consequence of humility; for actually to subordinate oneself to God, and to give honour to Him alone, one must have broken his self-will, and come to the knowledge of himself in his dependence, nothingness, and sin; and one consequence by which humility is rewarded, may be called the fear of God, because it is the root of all wisdom, or as is here said (cf. Pro 3:16; Pro 8:18), because riches, and honour, and life are in its train. Thus 4a is a concluded sentence, which in 4b is so continued, that from 4a the predicate is to be continued: the reward of humility is the fear of God; it is at the same time riches... Hitzig conjectures 'ראוּת ה, the beholding Jahve; but the visio Dei (beatifica) is not a dogmatic idea thus expressed in the O.T. עקב denotes what follows a thing, from עקב, to tread on the heels (Fleischer); for עקב (Arab. 'aḳib) is the heels, as the incurvation of the foot; and עקב, the consequence (cf. Arab. 'aḳb, 'ukb, posteritas), is mediated through the v. denom. עקב, to tread on the heels, to follow on the heels (cf. denominatives, such as Arab. batn, zahr, 'ân, עין, to strike the body, the back, the eye).

Pro 22:5 5 Thorns, snares, are on the way of the crooked;    He that guardeth his soul, let him keep far from them.

Rightly the Venet. ἄκανθαι παγίδες ἐν ὁδῷ στρεβλοῦ. The meaning of צנּים (plur. of צן, or צנּה, the same as צנינים) and פּחים (from פּח, Arab. faḥ), stands fast, though it be not etymologically verified; the placing together of these two words (the lxx obliterating the asyndeton: τρίβολος καὶ παγίδες) follows the scheme שׁמשׁ ירח, Hab 3:11. The עקּשׁ־לב (perverse of heart, crooked, Pro 17:20; Pro 11:20) drives his crooked winding way, corresponding to his habit of mind, which is the contrast and the perversion of that which is just, a way in which there are thorns which entangle and wound those who enter thereon, snares which unexpectedly bring them down and hold them fast as prisoners; the hedge of thorns, Pro 15:19, was a figure of the hindrances in the way of the wicked themselves. The thorn and snares here are a figure of the hindrances and dangers which go forth from the deceitful and the false in the way of others, of those who keep their souls, i.e., who outwardly and morally take heed to their life (Pro 16:17; Pro 13:3, pred. here subj.), who will keep, or are disposed to keep, themselves from these thorns, these snares into which the deceitful and perverse-hearted seek to entice them.

Pro 22:6 6 Give to the child instruction conformably to His way;    So he will not, when he becomes old, depart from it.

The first instruction is meant which, communicated to the child, should be על־פּי, after the measure (Gen 43:7 = post-bibl. לפי and כּפי) of his way, i.e., not: of his calling, which he must by and by enter upon (Bertheau, Zöckler), which דּרכּו of itself cannot mean; also not: of the way which he must keep in during life (Kidduschin 30a); nor: of his individual nature (Elster); but: of the nature of the child as such, for דּרך נער is the child’s way, as e.g., derek col-haarets, Gen 19:31, the general custom of the land; derek Mitsrâyim, Isa 10:24, the way (the manner of acting) of the Egyptians. The instruction of youth, the education of youth, ought to be conformed to the nature of youth; the matter of instruction, the manner of instruction, ought to regulate itself according to the stage of life, and its peculiarities; the method ought to be arranged according to the degree of development which the mental and bodily life of the youth has arrived at. The verb חנך is a denominative like עקב, Pro 22:4; it signifies to affect the taste, חך (= חנך), in the Arab. to put date syrup into the mouth of the suckling; so that we may compare with it the saying of Horace, Ep. i. 2, 69: Quo semel est imbuta recens servabit odorem Testa diu. In the post-bibl. Heb. חנּוּך denotes that which in the language of the Church is called catechizatio; חנוך (לנער) ספר is the usual title of the catechisms. It is the fundamental and first requisite of all educational instruction which the proverb formulates, a suitable motto for the lesson-books of pedagogues and catechists. ממּנּה [from it] refers to that training of youth, in conformity with his nature, which becomes a second nature, that which is imprinted, inbred, becomes accustomed. Pro 22:6 is wanting in the lxx; where it exists in MSS of the lxx, it is supplied from Theodotion; the Complut. translates independently from the Heb. text.

Pro 22:7 7 A rich man will rule over the poor,    And the borrower is subject to the man who lends. “This is the course of the world. As regards the sing. and plur. in 7a, there are many poor for one rich; and in the Orient the rule is generally in the hands of one” (Hitzig). The fut. denotes how it will and must happen, and the substantival clause 7b, which as such is an expression of continuance (Arab. thabât, i.e., of the remaining and continuing), denotes that contracting of debt brings naturally with it a slavish relation of dependence. לוה, properly he who binds himself to one se ei obligat, and מלוה, as Pro 19:17 (vid., l.c.), qui alterum (mutui datione) obligat, from לוה, Arab. lwy, to wind, turn, twist round (cog. root laff), whence with Fleischer is also to be derived the Aram. לות, “into connection;” so אל, properly “pushing against,” refers to the radically related אלה (= ולה), contiguum esse. אישׁ מלוה is one who puts himself in the way of lending, although not directly in a professional manner. The pred. precedes its subject according to rule. Luther rightly translates: and he who borrows is the lender’s servant, whence the pun on the proper names: “Borghart [= the borrower] is Lehnhart’s [= lender's] servant.”

Pro 22:8

The group now following extends to the end of this first collection of Solomon’s proverbs; it closes also with a proverb of the poor and the rich. 8 He that soweth iniquity shall reap calamity;    And the rod of his fury shall vanish away. “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Gal 6:7); he that soweth good reapeth good, Pro 11:18; he that soweth evil reapeth evil, Job 4:8; cf. Hos 10:12. עולה is the direct contrast of צדקה or ישׁר (e.g., Psa 125:3; Psa 107:42), proceeding from the idea that the good is right, i.e., straight, rectum; the evil, that which departs from the straight line, and is crooked. Regarding און, which means both perversity of mind and conduct, as well as destiny, calamity, vid., Pro 12:21. That which the poet particularly means by עולה is shown in 8b, viz., unsympathizing tyranny, cruel misconduct toward a neighbour. שׁבט עברתו is the rod which he who soweth iniquity makes another to feel in his anger. The saying, that an end will be to this rod of his fury, agrees with that which is said of the despot’s sceptre, Isa 14:5.; Psa 125:3. Rightly Fleischer: baculus insolentiae ejus consumetur h. e. facultas qua pollet alios insolenter tractandi evanescet. Hitzig’s objection, that a rod does not vanish away, but is broken, is answered by this, that the rod is thought of as brandished; besides, one uses כּלה of anything which has an end, e.g., Isa 16:4. Other interpreters understand “the rod of his fury” of the rod of God’s anger, which will strike the עוּל and יכלה, as at Eze 5:13; Dan 12:7 : “and the rod of His punishment will surely come” (Ewald, and similarly Schultens, Euchel, Umbreit). This though also hovers before the lxx: πληγὴν δὲ ἔργων αὐτοῦ (עבדתו) συντελέσει (יכלּה). But if the rod of punishment which is appointed for the unrighteous be meant, then we would have expected כּלהו. Taken in the future, the כּלות of the שׁבט is not its confectio in the sense of completion, but its termination or annihilation; and besides, it lies nearer after 8a to take the suffix of עברתו subjectively (Isa 14:6; Isa 16:6) than objectively. The lxx has, after Pro 22:8, a distich: - ἄνδρα ἱλαρὸν καὶ δότην εὐλογεῖ ὁ θεὸς ματαιότητα δὲ ἔργων αὐτοῦ συντελέσει.

The first line (2Co 9:7) is a variant translation of 9a (cf. Pro 21:17), the second (ושׁוא עבדתו) is a similar rendering of 8b.

Pro 22:9 9 He who is friendly is blessed;    Because he giveth of his bread to the poor.

The thought is the same as at Pro 11:25. טוב עין (thus to be written without Makkeph, with Munach of the first word, with correct Codd., also 1294 and Jaman), the contrast of רע עין, Pro 23:6; Pro 22:22, i.e., the envious, evil-eyed, ungracious (post-bibl. also צר עין), is one who looks kindly, is good-hearted, and as ἱλαρὸς δότης, shows himself benevolent. Such gentleness and kindness is called in the Mishna עין טובה (Aboth ii. 13), or עין יפה. Such a friend is blessed, for he has also himself scattered blessings (cf. גּם־הוּא, Pro 11:25; Pro 21:13); he has, as is said, looking back from the blessing that has happened to him, given of his bread (Luther, as the lxx, with partitive genitive: seines brots = of his bread) to the poor; cf. the unfolding of this blessing of self-denying love, Isa 8. The lxx has also here another distich: Νίκην καὶ τιμὴν περιποιεῖται ὁ δῶρα δοὺς, Τὴν μέντοι ψυχὴν ἀφαιρεῖται τῶν κεκτημένων.

The first line appears a variant translation of Pro 19:6, and the second of Pro 1:19, according to which selfishness, in contrast to liberality, is the subject to be thought of. Ewald translates the second line: And he (who distributes gifts) conquers the soul of the recipients. But κεκτημένος = בּעל (בּעלים) signifies the possessor, not the recipient of anything as a gift, who cannot also be here meant because of the μέντοι.

Pro 22:10 10 Chase away the scorner, and contention goeth out,      And strife and reproach rest.

If in a company, a circle of friends, a society (lxx ἔκβαλε ἐκ συνεδρίου), a wicked man is found who (vid., the definition of לץ, Pro 21:24) treats religious questions without respect, moral questions in a frivolous way, serious things jestingly, and in his scornful spirit, his passion for witticism, his love of anecdote, places himself above the duty of showing reverence, veneration, and respect, there will arise ceaseless contentions and conflicts. Such a man one ought to chase away; then there will immediately go forth along with him dispeace (מדון), there will then be rest from strife and disgrace, viz., of the strife which such a one draws forth, and the disgrace which it brings on the society, and continually prepares for it. קלון is commonly understood of the injury, abuse, which others have to suffer from the scoffer, or also (thus Fleischer, Hitzig) of the opprobria of the contentious against one another. But קלון is not so used; it means always disgrace, as something that happens, an experience, vid., at Pro 18:3. The praise of one who is the direct contrast of a לץ is celebrated in the next verse.

Pro 22:11 11 He that loveth heart-purity,      Whose is grace of lips, the king is his friend.

Thus with Hitzig, it is to be translated not: he who loveth with a pure heart - we may interpret טהור־לב syntactically in the sense of puritate cordis or purus corde (Ralbag, Ewald, after Pro 20:7), for that which follows אהב and is its supplement has to stand where possible as the accus. of the object; thus not: qui amat puritatem cordis, gratiosa erunt labia ejus (de Dieu, Geier, Schultens, C. B. Michaelis, Fleischer), for between heart-purity and graciousness of speech there exists a moral relation, but yet no necessary connection of sequence; also not: he who loves purity of heart, and grace on his lips (Aben Ezra, Schelling, Bertheau), for “to love the grace of one’s own lips” is an awkward expression, which sounds more like reprehensible self-complacency than a praiseworthy endeavour after gracious speech. Excellently Luther: “He who has a true heart and amiable speech,

The king is his friend.” טהור־לב is not adjectival, but substantival; טהר־ is thus not the constr. of the mas. טהור, as Job 17:10, but of the segolate טהר, or (since the ground-form of גּבהּ, 1Sa 16:7, may be גּבהּ as well as גּבהּ) of the neut. טהור, like קדשׁ, Psa 46:5; Psa 65:5 : that which is pure, the being pure = purity (Schultens). הן שׂפתיו (gracefulness of his lips) is the second subject with the force of a relative clause, although not exactly thus thought of, but: one loving heart-purity, gracefulness on his lips - the king is his friend. Ewald otherwise: “he will be the king’s friend,” after the scheme Pro 13:4; but here unnecessarily refined. A counsellor and associate who is governed by a pure intention, and connects therewith a gentle and amiable manner of speech and conversation, attaches the king to himself; the king is the רעה (רע), the friend of such an one, and he also is “the friend of the king,” 1Ki 4:5. It is a Solomonic proverb, the same in idea as Pro 16:13. The lxx, Syr., and Targ. introduce after אהב the name of God; but 11b does not syntactically admit of this addition. But it is worth while to take notice of an interpretation which is proposed by Jewish interpreters: the friend of such an one is a king, i.e., he can royally rejoice in him and boast of him. The thought is beautiful; but, as the comparison of other proverbs speaking of the king shows, is not intended.

Pro 22:12 12 The eyes of Jahve preserve knowledge;      So he frustrateth the words of the false.

The phrase “to preserve knowledge” is found at Pro 5:2; there, in the sense of to keep, retain; here, of protecting, guarding; for it cannot possibly be said that the eyes of God keep themselves by the rule of knowledge, and thus preserve knowledge; this predicate is not in accord with the eyes, and is, as used of God, even inappropriate. On the other hand, after “to preserve,” in the sense of watching, guarding a concrete object is to be expected, cf. Isa 26:3. We need not thus with Ewald supply יודע; the ancients are right that דעת, knowledge, stands metonymically for אישׁ (Meîri), or אנשׁי (Aben Ezra), or יודעי דעת (Arama); Schultens rightly: Cognitio veritatis ac virtutis practica fertur ad homines eam colentes ac praestantes. Where knowledge of the true and the good exists, there does it stand under the protection of God. 12b shows how that is meant, for there the perf. is continued in the second consec. modus (fut. consec.): there is thus protection against the assaults of enemies who oppose the knowledge which they hate, and seek to triumph over it, and to suppress it by their crooked policy. But God stands on the side of knowledge and protects it, and consequently makes vain the words (the outspoken resolutions) of the deceitful. Regarding סלף (סלף), vid., Pro 11:3 and Pro 19:3. The meaning of סלּף דּברי is here essentially different from that in Exo 23:8; Deu 16:19 : he perverteth their words, for he giveth them a bearing that is false, i.e., not leading to the end. Hitzig reads רעות [wickedness] for דעת, which Zöckler is inclined to favour: God keeps the evil which is done in His eyes, and hinders its success; but “to observe wickedness” is an ambiguous, untenable expression; the only passage that can be quoted in favour of this “to observe” is Job 7:20. The word דעת, handed down without variation, is much rather justified.

Pro 22:13 13 The sluggard saith, “A lion is without,      I shall be slain in the midst of the streets.”

Otherwise rendered, Pro 26:13. There, as here, the perf. אמר has the meaning of an abstract present, Gesen. §126. 3. The activity of the industrious has its nearest sphere at home; but here a work is supposed which requires him to go forth (Psa 104:3) into the field (Pro 24:27). Therefore חוּץ stands first, a word of wide signification, which here denotes the open country outside the city, where the sluggard fears to meet a lion, as in the streets, i.e., the rows of houses forming them, to meet a רצח (מרצּח), i.e., a murder from motives of robbery of revenge. This strong word, properly to destroy, crush, Arab. raḍkh, is intentionally chosen: there is designed to be set forth the ridiculous hyperbolical pretence which the sluggard seeks for his slothfulness (Fleischer). Luther right well: “I might be murdered on the streets.” But there is intentionally the absence of אוּלי [perhaps] and of פּן [lest]. Meîri here quotes a passage of the moralists: ממופתי העצל הנבואה (prophesying) belongs to the evidences of the sluggard; and Euchel, the proverb העצלים מתנבאים (the sluggard’s prophecy), i.e., the sluggard acts like a prophet, that he may palliate his slothfulness.

Pro 22:14 14 A deep pit is the mouth of a strange woman;      He that is cursed of God falleth therein.

The first line appears in a different form as a synonymous distich, Pro 23:27. The lxx translate στόμα παρανόμου without certainly indicating which word they here read, whether רע (Pro 4:14), or רשׁע (Pro 29:12), or נלוז (Pro 3:32). Pro 23:27 is adduced in support of זרות (vid., Pro 2:16); זנות (harlots) are meant, and it is not necessary thus to read with Ewald. The mouth of this strange woman or depraved Israelitess is a deep ditch (שׁוּחה עמקּה, otherwise עמקה, as Pro 23:27, where also occurs עמוּקהThe text to Immanuel’s Comment. (Naples 1487) has in both instances עמוּקה. namely, a snare-pit into which he is enticed by her wanton words; the man who stands in fellowship with God is armed against this syren voice; but the 'זעוּם ה, i.e., he who is an object of the divine זעם (Venet. κεχολωμένος τῷ ὀντωτῇ), indignation, punishing evil with evil, falls into the pit, yielding to the seduction and the ruin. Schultens explains 'זעום ה by, is in quem despumat indignabundus; but the meaning despumat is not substantiated; זעם, cf. Arab. zaghm, is probably a word which by its sound denoted anger as a hollow roaring, and like pealing thunder. The lxx has, after Pro 22:14, three tedious moralizing lines.

Pro 22:15 15 Folly is bound to the heart of a child;      The rod of correction driveth it forth.

Folly, i.e., pleasure in stupid tricks, silly sport, and foolish behaviour, is the portion of children as such; their heart is as yet childish, and folly is bound up in it. Education first driveth forth this childish, foolish nature (for, as Menander says: Ὁ μὴ δαρεὶς ἄνθρωπος οὐ παιδεύεται), and if effects this when it is unindulgently severe: the שׁבט מוּסר (vid., Pro 23:13) removeth אוּלת from the heart, for it imparts intelligence and makes wise (Pro 29:15). The lxx is right in rendering 16a: ἄνοια ἐξῆπται (from ἐξάπτειν) καρδίας νέου; but the Syr. has “here mangled the lxx, and in haste has read ἀνοίᾳ ἐξίπταται: folly makes the understanding of the child fly away” (Lagarde).

Pro 22:16 16 Whosoever oppresseth the lowly, it is gain to him;      Whosoever giveth to the rich, it is only loss.

It is before all clear that להרבּות and למחסור, as at Pro 21:5, למותר and למחסור, are contrasted words, and form the conclusions to the participles used, with the force of hypothetical antecedents. Jerome recognises this: qui calumniatur pauperem, ut augeat divitias suas, dabit ipse ditiori et egebit. So Rashi, who by עשׁיר thinks on heathen potentates. Proportionally better Euchel, referring עשׁק and נתן, not to one person, but to two classes of men: he who oppresses the poor to enrich himself, and is liberal toward the rich, falls under want. The antithetic distich thus becomes an integral one - the antithesis manifestly intended is not brought out. This may be said also against Bertheau, who too ingeniously explains: He who oppresses the poor to enrich himself gives to a rich man, i.e., to himself, the enriched, only to want, i.e., only to lose again that which he gained unrighteously. Ralbag is on the right track, for he suggests the explanation: he who oppresses the poor, does it to his gain, for he thereby impels him to a more energetic exercise of his strength; he who gives to the rich man does it to his own loss, because the rich man does not thank him for it, and still continues to look down on him. But if one refers לּו to the poor, then it lies nearer to interpret אך למחסור of the rich: he who gives presents to the rich only thereby promotes his sleepy indolence, and so much the more robs him of activity (Elster); for that which one gives to him is only swallowed up in the whirlpool of his extravagance (Zöckler). Thus Hitzig also explains, who remarks, under 17a: “Oppression produces reaction, awakens energy, and thus God on the whole overrules events” (Exo 1:12). Similarly also Ewald, who thinks on a mercenary, unrighteous rich man: God finally lifts up the oppressed poor man; the rich man always becoming richer, on the contrary, is “punished for all his wickedness only more and more.” But with all these explanations there is too much read between the lines. Since אך למחדור (Pro 11:24; Pro 21:5) refers back to the subject: himself to mere loss, so also will it be here; and the lxx, Symmachus, Jerome (cf. also the Syr. auget malum suum) are right when they also refer לו, not to the poor man, but to the oppressor of the poor. We explain: he who extorts from the poor enriches himself thereby; but he who gives to the rich has nothing, and less than nothing, thereby - he robs himself, has no thanks, only brings himself by many gifts lower and lower down. In the first case at least, 17a, the result corresponds to the intention; but in this latter case, 17b, one gains only bitter disappointment.

Pro 22:17-21, forming the introduction to this appendix, are these Words of the Wise: 17 Incline thine ear and hear the words of the wise,      And direct thine heart to my knowledge! 18 For it is pleasant if thou keep them in thine heart;      Let them abide together on thy lips. 19 That thy trust may be placed in Jahve,      I have taught thee to-day, even thee! 20 Have not I written unto thee choice proverbs,      Containing counsels and knowledge, 21 To make thee to know the rule of the words of truth,      That thou mightest bring back words which are truth to them that send thee?

From Pro 10:1 to Pro 22:16 are the “Proverbs of Solomon,” and not “The Words of the Wise;” thus the above παραίνεσις is not an epilogue, but a prologue to the following proverbs. The perfects הודעתּיך and כתבתּי refer, not to the Solomonic proverbial discourses, but to the appendix following them; the preface commends the worth and intention of this appendix, and uses perfects because it was written after the forming of the collection. The author of this preface (vid., pp. 23, 36, vol. i.) is no other than the author of chap. 1-9. The הט (with Mehuppach, after Thorath Emeth, p. 27) reminds us of Pro 4:20; Pro 5:1. The phrase שׁית לב, animum advertere, occurs again in the second appendix, Pro 24:32. נעים is repeated at Pro 23:8; Pro 24:4; but נעם with נעם is common in the preface, chap. 1-9. כּי־נעים contains, as at Psa 135:3; Psa 147:1, its subject in itself. כּי־תּשׁמרם is not this subject: this that thou preservest them, which would have required rather the infin. שׁמרם (Psa 133:1) or לשׁמרם; but it supposes the case in which appears that which is amiable and praiseworthy: if thou preservest them in thy heart, i.e., makest them thoughtfully become thy mental possession. The suffix ēm refers to the Words of the Wise, and mediately also to לדעתּי, for the author designates his practical wisdom דעתי, which is laid down in the following proverbs, which, although not composed by him, are yet penetrated by his subjectivity. Regarding בּטן, which, from meaning the inner parts of the body, is transferred to the inner parts of the mind, vid., under Pro 20:27. The clause 18b, if not dependent on כי, would begin with ויכּנוּ. The absence of the copula and the antecedence of the verb bring the optative rendering nearer. Different is the syntactical relation of Pro 5:2, where the infin. is continued in the fin. The fut. Niph. יכּנוּ, which, Pro 4:27, meant to be rightly placed, rightly directed, here means: to stand erect, to have continuance, stabilem esse. In Pro 22:19, the fact of instruction precedes the statement of its object, which is, that the disciple may place his confidence in Jahve, for he does that which is according to His will, and is subject to His rule. מבטחך, in Codd. and correct editions with Pathach (vid., Michlol 184b); the ח is as virtually doubled; vid., under Pro 21:22. In 19b the accentuation הודעתיך היום is contrary to the syntax; Codd. and old editions have rightly הודעתיך היום, for אף־אתּה is, after Gesen. §121. 3, an emphatic repetition of “thee;” אף, like גּם, Pro 23:15; 1Ki 21:19. Hitzig knows of no contrast which justifies the emphasis. But the prominence thus effected is not always of the nature of contrast (cf. Zec 7:5, have ye truly fasted to me, i.e., to serve me thereby), here it is strong individualizing; the te etiam te is equivalent to, thee as others, and thee in particular. Also that, as Hitzig remarks, there does not appear any reason for the emphasizing of “to-day,” is incorrect: היּום is of the same signification as at Psa 95:7; the reader of the following proverbs shall remember later, not merely in general, that he once on a time read them, but that he to-day, that he on this definite day, received the lessons of wisdom contained therein, and then, from that time forth, became responsible for his obedience or his disobedience.

In 20a the Chethı̂b שלשום denotes no definite date; besides, this word occurs only always along with תּמול (עתמול). Umbreit, Ewald, Bertheau, however, accept this “formerly (lately),” and suppose that the author here refers to a “Book for Youths,” composed at an earlier period, without one seeing what this reference, which had a meaning only for his contemporaries, here denotes. The lxx reads כתבתּ, and finds in 20a, contrary to the syntax and the usus loq., the exhortation that he who is addressed ought to write these good doctrines thrice (τρισσῶς) on the tablet of his heart; the Syr. and Targ. suppose the author to say that he wrote them three times; Jerome, that he wrote them threefold - both without any visible meaning, since threefold cannot be equivalent to manchfeltiglich (Luther) [= several times, in various ways]. Also the Kerı̂ שׁלשׁים, which without doubt is the authentic word, is interpreted in many unacceptable ways; Rashi and Elia Wilna, following a Midrash explanation, think on the lessons of the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa; Arama, on those which are referable to three classes of youth; Malbim (as if here the author of the whole Book of Proverbs, from 1 to 31, spake), on the supposed three chief parts of the Mishle; Dächsel better, on chap. 1-9, as the product of the same author as this appendix. Schultens compares Ecc 4:12, and translates triplici filo nexa. Kimchi, Meîri, and others, are right, who gloss שׁלישׁים by דברים נכבדים, and compare נגידים, Pro 8:6; accordingly the Veneta, with the happy quid pro quo, by τρισμέγιστα. The lxx translates the military שׁלישׁ by τριστάτης; but this Greek word is itself obscure, and is explained by Hesychius (as well as by Suidas, and in the Etymologicum) by Regii satellites qui ternas hastas manu tenebant, which is certainly false. Another Greek, whom Angellius quotes, says, under Exo 15:4, that τριστάτης was the name given to the warriors who fought from a chariot, every three of whom had one war-chariot among them; and this appears, according to Exo 14:7; Exo 15:4, to be really the primary meaning. In the period of David we meet with the word שׁלישׁים as the name of the heroes (the Gibbôrı̂m) who stood nearest the king. The shalish-men form the élite troops that stood highest in rank, at whose head stood two triads of heroes - Jashobeam at the head of the first trias, and thus of the shalish-men generally; Abishai at the head of the second trias, who held an honourable place among the shalish-men, but yet reached not to that first trias, 2Sa 23:8. (= 1Ch 11:11.). The name השּׁלישׁים (Apoc. 2Sa 23:8, השּׁלשׁי, and 2Sa 23:13, 1Ch 27:6, incorrectly השּׁלשׁים) occurs here with reference to the threefold division of this principal host; and in regard to the use of the word in the time of Pharaoh, as well as in the time of the kings, it may be granted that shalish denotes the Three-man (triumvir), and then generally a high military officer; so that שׁלשׁים here has the same relation to נגידים, Pro 8:6, as ducalia to principalia. The name of the chief men (members of the chief troop) is transferred to the chief proverbs, as, Jam 2:8, that law which stands as a king at the head of all the others is called the “royal law;” or, as Plato names the chief powers of the soul, μέρη ἡγεμόνες. As in this Platonic word-form, so shalishim here, like negidim there, is understood neut. cf. under Pro 8:6, and ריקים, Pro 12:11; ישׁרים, Pro 16:13. The ב of בּמעצות (occurring at Pro 1:31 also) Fleischer rightly explains as the ב of uniting or accompanying: chief proverbs which contain good counsels and solid knowledge.

In the statement of the object in Pro 22:21, we interpret that which follows להודיעך not permutat.: ut te docerem recta, verba vera (Fleischer); but קשׁט (ground-form to קשׁט, Psa 60:6) is the bearer of the threefold idea: rectitudinem, or, better, regulam verborum veritatis. The (Arab.) verb ḳasiṭa means to be straight, stiff, inflexible (synon. צדק, to be hard, tight, proportionately direct); and the name ḳisṭ denotes not only the right conduct, the right measure (quantitas justa), but also the balance, and thus the rule or the norm. In 21b, אמרים אמת (as e.g., Zec 1:13; vid., Philippi, Status Constr. p. 86f.) is equivalent to אמרי אמת; the author has this second time intentionally chosen the appositional relation of connection: words which are truth; the idea of truth presents itself in this form of expression more prominently. Impossible, because contrary to the usus loq., is the translation: ut respondeas verba vera iis qui ad te mittunt (Schultens, Fleischer), because שׁלח, with the accus. following, never means “to send any one.” Without doubt השׁיב and שׁלח stand in correlation to each other: he who lets himself be instructed must be supposed to be in circumstances to bring home, to those that sent him out to learn, doctrines which are truth, and thus to approve himself. The subject spoken of here is not a right answer or a true report brought back to one giving a commission; and it lies beyond the purpose and power of the following proverbs to afford a universal means whereby persons sent out are made skilful. The שׁלחים [senders] are here the parents or guardians who send him who is to be instructed to the school of the teacher of wisdom (Hitzig). Yet it appears strange that he who is the learner is just here not addressed as “my son,” which would go to the support of the expression, “to send to school,” which is elsewhere unused in Old Hebrew, and the שׁלחי of another are elsewhere called those who make him their mandatar, Pro 10:26; Pro 25:13; 2Sa 24:13. The reference to the parents would also be excluded if, with Norzi and other editors, לשׁלחך were to be read instead of לשׁלחיך (the Venet. 1521, and most editions). Therefore the phrase לשׁעליך, which is preferred by Ewald, recommends itself, according to which the lxx translates, τοῖς προβαλλομένοις σοι, which the Syro-Hexap. rendersThe Syr. n. fem. awchda (אוּחדא, Psa 49:5, Targ.) is equivalent to Heb. חידה, from (Syr.) achd, אחד = אחז, Neh 7:3, to shut up, properly, to lay hold on and retain; the Arab. akhdhat means magic, incantation; as seizing and making fast. by להנון דאחדין לך אוחדתא yb, i.e., to those who lay problems before thee (vid., Lagarde). The teacher of wisdom seeks to qualify him who reads the following proverbs, and permits himself to be influenced by them, to give the right answer to those who question him and go to him for counsel, and thus to become himself a teacher of wisdom.

Pro 22:22-23

After these ten lines of preliminary exhortation, there now begins the collection of the “Words of the Wise” thus introduced. A tetrastich which, in its contents, connects itself with the last proverb of the Solomonic collection, Pro 22:16, forms the commencement of this collection: 22 Rob not the lowly because he is lowly;      And oppress not the humble in the gate. 23 For Jahve will conduct their cause,      And rob their spoilers of life.

Though it may bring gain, as said Pro 22:16, to oppress the דּל, the lowly or humble, yet at last the oppressor comes to ruin. The poet here warns against robbing the lowly because he is lowly, and thus without power of defence, and not to be feared; and against doing injustice to the עני, the bowed down, and therefore incapable of resisting in the gate, i.e., in the court of justice. These poor men have not indeed high human patrons, but One in heaven to undertake their cause: Jahve will conduct their cause (יריב ריבם, as at Pro 23:10), i.e., will undertake their vindication, and be their avenger. דּכּא (דּכּה), Aram. and Arab. daḳḳ (cf. דּקק, Arab. daḳḳ), signifies to crush anything so that it becomes broad and flat, figuratively to oppress, synon. עשׁק (Fleischer). The verb קבע has, in Chald. and Syr., the signification to stick, to fix (according to which Aquila here translates καθηλοῦν, to nail; Jerome, configere); and as root-word to קבּעת, the signification to be arched, like (Arab.) ḳab', to be humpbacked; both significations are here unsuitable. The connection here requires the meaning to rob; and for Mal 3:8 also, this same meaning is to be adopted, robbery and taking from one by force (Parchon, Kimchi), not: to deceive (Köhler, Keil), although it might have the sense of robbing by withholding or refraining from doing that which is due, thus of a sacrilege committed by omission or deception. The Talm. does not know the verb קבע in this meaning; but it is variously found as a dialectic word for גזל.Thus Rosch ha-schana 26b: Levi came once to N.N. There a man came to meet him, and cried out קבען פלניא. Levi knew not what he would say, and went into the Madrash-house to ask. One answered him: He is a robber (גזלן) said that one to thee; for it is said in the Scriptures (Mal 3:8), “Will a man rob God?” etc. (vid., Wissenschaft Kunst Judenthum, p. 243). In the Midrash, שׁוחר טוב, to Psa 57:1-11, R. Levi says that אתה קיבע לי is used in the sense of אתה גוזל לי. And in the Midrash Tanchuma, P. תרומה, R. Levi answers the question, “What is the meaning of קבע, Mal 3:8?” - It is an Arabic expression. An Arabian, when he wishes to say to another מה אתה גוזלני, says instead of it, מה אתה קובעני. Perhaps קבע is cogn. to קבץ; the R. קב coincides in several groups of languages (also the Turkish ḳb) with the Lat. capere.

Schultens’ etymological explanation, capitium injicere (after Arab. ḳab', to draw back and conceal the head), is not satisfactory. The construction, with the double accus., follows the analogy of הכּהוּ נפשׁ and the like, Gesen. §139. 2. Regarding the sing. נפשׁ, even where several are spoken of, vid., under Pro 1:19.

Pro 22:24-25

Another tetrastich follows: 24 Have no intercourse with an angry man,      And with a furious man go thou not; 25 Lest thou adopt his ways,      And bring destruction upon thy soul.

The Piel רעה, Jdg 14:20, signifies to make or choose any one as a friend or companion (רעה, רע); the Hithpa. התרעה (cf. at Pro 18:24), to take to oneself (for oneself) any one as a friend, or to converse with one; אל־תּתרע sounds like אל־תּשׁתּע, Isa 41:10, with Pathach of the closed syllable from the apocope. The angry man is called בּעל אף, as the covetous man בּעל נפשׁ, Pro 23:2, and the mischievous man בּעל מזמּות, Pro 24:8; vid., regarding בּעל at Pro 1:19 and Pro 18:9. אישׁ חמות is related superlat. to אישׁ חמה, Pro 15:18 (cf. Pro 29:22), and signifies a hot-head of the highest degree. לא תבוא is meant as warning (cf. Pro 16:10). בּוא את, or בוא עם, Psa 26:4, to come along with one, is equivalent to go into fellowship or companionship with one, which is expressed by הלך את, Pro 13:20, as בוא ב means, Jos 23:7, Jos 23:12, to enter into communion with one, venire in consuetudinem. This בוא את is not a trace of a more recent period of the language. Also תּאלף, discas, cannot be an equivalent for it: Heb. poetry has at all times made use of Aramaisms as elegancies. אלף, Arab. אלף, ילף, Arab. âlifa, signifies to be entrusted with anything = to learn (Piel אלּף, to teach, Job 15:15, and in Elihu’s speeches), or also to become confidential with one (whence אלּוּף, companion, confidant, Pro 2:17); this אלף is never a Heb. prose word; the bibl. אלּוּף is only used at a later period in the sense of teacher. ארחות .reh are the ways, the conduct (Pro 2:20, etc.), or manner of life (Pro 1:19) which any one enters upon and follows out, thus manners as well as lot, condition. In the phrase “to bring destruction,” לקח is used as in our phrase Schaden nehmen [to suffer injury]; the ancient language also represented the forced entrance of one into a state as a being laid hold on, e.g., Job 18:20, cf. Isa 13:8; here מוקשׁ is not merely equivalent to danger (Ewald, falsely: that thou takest not danger for thy soul), but is equivalent to destruction, sin itself is a snare (Pro 29:6); to bring a snare for oneself is equivalent to suffer from being ensnared. Whosoever comes into a near relation with a passionate, furious, man, easily accommodates himself to his manners, and, hurried forward by him and like him to outbreaks of anger, which does that which is not right before God, falls into ruinous complications.

Pro 22:26-27

A third distich follows: 26 Be not among those who strike hands,      Among those who become surety for loans. 27 If thou hast nothing to pay,      Why shall he take away thy bed from under thee?

To strike hands is equivalent to, to be responsible to any one for another, to stake one’s goods and honour for him, Pro 6:1; Pro 11:15; Pro 17:18 - in a word, ערב, seq. acc., to pledge oneself for him (Gen 43:9), or for the loan received by him, משּׁאה, Deu 24:10 (from השּׁה, with ב, of the person and accus. of the thing: to lend something to one on interest). The proverb warns against being one of such sureties (write בּערבים with Cod. 1294, and old impressions such as the Venice, 1521), against acting as they do; for why wouldest thou come to this, that when thou cast not pay (שׁלּם, to render a full equivalent reckoning, and, generally, to pay, Pro 6:31),After Ben-Asher, the pointing is אם־אין־לך; while, on the contrary, Ben-Naphtali prefers אם־אין לך; vid., my Genesis (1869), pp. 74 (under Gen 1:3) and 81. So, without any bearing on the sense, Ben-Asher points למּה with Tarcha, Ben-Naphtali with Mercha. he (the creditor) take away thy bed from under thee? - for, as Pro 20:16 says, thus improvident suretyships are wont to be punished.

Pro 22:28

A fourth proverb - a distich - beginning with the warning אל: 28 Remove not the perpetual landmark      Which thy ancestors have set up. 28a = Pro 23:10. Regarding the inviolability of boundaries established by the law, vid., at Pro 15:25. גּבוּל עולם denotes “the boundary mark set up from ancient times, the removal of which were a double transgression, because it is rendered sacred by its antiquity” (Orelli, p. 76). נסג = סוּג signifies to remove back, Hiph. to shove back, to move away. אשׁר has the meaning of (ὅριον) ὅ, τι, quippe quod. Instead of עולם, the Mishna reads, Pea v. 6, עולים, which in the Jerusalem Gemara one Rabbi understands of those brought up out of Egypt, another of the poor; for “to rise” (in the world) is a euphemism (לשׁון כבוד) for “to come down” (be reduced in circumstances).As an analogical example, סגּי נהור, seeing clearly = blind.

Pro 22:29

After these four proverbs beginning with אל, a new series begins with the following tristich: 29 Seest thou a man who is expert in his calling -      Before kings may he stand;      Not stand before obscure men;i.e., he can enter into the service of kings, and needs not to enter into the service of mean men = he is entitled to claim the highest official post. חזית, in Pro 26:12 = Pro 29:20, interchanging with ראית, is perf. hypotheticum (cf. Pro 24:10; Pro 25:16): si videris; the conclusion which might begin with דּע כּי expresses further what he who sees will have occasion to observe. Rightly Luther: Sihestu einen Man endelich (vid., at Pro 21:5) in seinem geschefft, u.s.w. = seest thou a man expert in his business, etc.. מהיר denotes in all the three chief dialects one who is skilful in a manner not merely by virtue of external artistic ability, but also by means of intellectual mastery of it. התיצּב לפני, to enter on the situation of a servant before any one; cf. Job 1:6; Job 2:1. עמד לפני, 1Sa 16:21; 1Ki 10:8. Along with the pausal form יתיצּב, there is also found in Codd. the form יתיצּב (the ground-form to יתיצּב, whence that pausal form is lengthened), which Ben-Bileam defends, for he reckons this word among “the pathachized pausal forms.” חשׁכּים, in contrast to מלכים, are the obscuri = ignobiles. The Targ. translate the Heb. דּל and אביון by חשׁיך and חשׁוך. Kimchi compares Jer 39:10, where העם הדּלּים is translated by חשׁיכיּא (cf. 2Ki 24:14; 2Ki 25:12). חלכּה (חלכּה) is the old Heb. synonym in Ps 10. The poet seems here to transfer the Aram. usus loq. into the Heb.

Miscellaneous Maxims.

1 A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold.

Here are two things which are more valuable and which we should covet more than great riches:—1. To be well spoken of: A name (that is, a good name, a name for good things with God and good people) is rather to be chosen than great riches; that is, we should be more careful to do that by which we may get and keep a good name than that by which we may raise and increase a great estate. Great riches bring great cares with them, expose men to danger, and add no real value to a man. A fool and a knave may have great riches, but a good name makes a man easy and safe, supposes a man wise and honest, redounds to the glory of God, and gives a man a greater opportunity of doing good. By great riches we may relieve the bodily wants of others, but by a good name we may recommend religion to them. 2. To be well beloved, to have an interest in the esteem and affections of all about us; this is better than silver and gold. Christ has neither silver nor gold, but he grew in favour with God and man, Luke ii. 52. This should teach us to look with a holy contempt upon the wealth of this world, not to set our hearts upon that, but with all possible care to think of those things that are lovely and of good report, Phil. iv. 8.

2 The rich and poor meet together: the Lord is the maker of them all.

Note, 1. Among the children of men divine Providence has so ordered it that some are rich and others poor, and these are intermixed in societies: The Lord is the Maker of both, both the author of their being and the disposer of their lot. The greatest man in the world must acknowledge God to be his Maker, and is under the same obligations to be subject to him that the meanest is; and the poorest has the honour to be the work of God's hands as much as the greatest. Have they not all one Father? Mal. ii. 10; Job xxxi. 15. God makes some rich, that they may be charitable to the poor, and others poor, that they may be serviceable to the rich; and they have need of one another, 1 Cor. xii. 21. He make some poor, to exercise their patience, and contentment, and dependence upon God, and others rich, to exercise their thankfulness and beneficence. Even the poor we have always with us; they shall never cease out of the land, nor the rich neither. 2. Notwithstanding the distance that is in many respects between rich and poor, yet in most things they meet together, especially before the Lord, who is the Maker of them all, and regards not the rich more than the poor, Job xxxiv. 19. Rich and poor meet together at the bar of God's justice, all guilty before God, concluded under sin, and shapen in iniquity, the rich as much as the poor; and they meet at the throne of God's grace; the poor are as welcome there as the rich. There is the same Christ, the same scripture, the same Spirit, the same covenant of promises, for them both. There is the same heaven for poor saints that there is for rich: Lazarus is in the bosom of Abraham. And there is the same hell for rich sinners that there is for poor. All stand upon the same level before God, as they do also in the grave. The small and great are there.

3 A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.

See here, 1. The benefit of wisdom and consideration: A prudent man, by the help of his prudence, will foresee an evil, before it comes, and hide himself; he will be aware when he is entering into a temptation and will put on his armour and stand on his guard. When the clouds are gathering for a storm he takes the warning, and flies to the name of the Lord as his strong tower. Noah foresaw the deluge, Joseph the years of famine, and provided accordingly. 2. The mischief of rashness and inconsideration. The simple, who believe every word that flatters them, will believe none that warns them, and so they pass on and are punished. They venture upon sin, though they are told what will be in the end thereof; they throw themselves into trouble, notwithstanding the fair warning given them, and they repent their presumption when it is too late. See an instance of both these, Exod. ix. 20, 21. Nothing is so fatal to precious souls as this, they will not take warning.

4 By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honour, and life.

See here, 1. Wherein religion does very much consist—in humility and the fear of the Lord; that is, walking humbly with God. We must so reverence God's majesty and authority as to submit with all humility to the commands of his word and the disposals of his providence. We must have such low thoughts of ourselves as to behave humbly towards God and man. Where the fear of God is there will be humility. 2. What is to be gotten by it—riches, and honour, and comfort, and long life, in this world, as far as God sees good, at least spiritual riches and honour in the favour of God, and the promises and privileges of the covenant of grace, and eternal life at last.

5 Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward: he that doth keep his soul shall be far from them.

Note 1. The way of sin is vexatious and dangerous: In the way of the froward, that crooked way, which is contrary to the will and word of God, thorns and snares are found, thorns of grief for past sins and snares entangling them in further sin. He that makes no conscience of what he says and does will find himself hampered by that imaginary liberty, and tormented by his pleasures. Froward people, who are soon angry, expose themselves to trouble at every step. Every thing will fret and vex him that will fret and vex at every thing. 2. The way of duty is safe and easy: He that keeps his soul, that watches carefully over his own heart and ways, is far from those thorns and snares, for his way is both plain and pleasant.

6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Here is, 1. A great duty enjoined, particularly to those that are the parents and instructors of children, in order to the propagating of wisdom, that it may not die with them: Train up children in that age of vanity, to keep them from the sins and snares of it, in that learning age, to prepare them for what they are designed for. Catechise them; initiate them; keep them under discipline. Train them as soldiers, who are taught to handle their arms, keep rank, and observe the word of command. Train them up, not in the way they would go (the bias of their corrupt hearts would draw them aside), but in the way they should go, the way in which, if you love them, you would have them go. Train up a child according as he is capable (as some take it), with a gentle hand, as nurses feed children, little and often, Deut. vi. 7. 2. A good reason for it, taken from the great advantage of this care and pains with children: When they grow up, when they grow old, it is to be hoped, they will not depart from it. Good impressions made upon them then will abide upon them all their days. Ordinarily the vessel retains the savour with which it was first seasoned. Many indeed have departed from the good way in which they were trained up; Solomon himself did so. But early training may be a means of their recovering themselves, as it is supposed Solomon did. At least the parents will have the comfort of having done their duty and used the means.

7 The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.

He had said (v. 2.), Rich and poor meet together; but here he finds, here he shows, that, as to the things of this life, there is a great difference; for, 1. Those that have little will be in subjection to those that have much, because they have dependence upon them, they have received, and expect to receive, support from them: The rich rule over the poor, and too often more than becomes them, with pride and rigour, unlike to God, who, though he be great, yet despises not any. It is part of the affliction of the poor that they must expect to be trampled upon, and part of their duty to be serviceable, as far as they can, to those that are kind to them, and study to be grateful. 2. Those that are but going behindhand find themselves to lie much at the mercy of those that are before hand: The borrower is servant to the lender, is obliged to him, and must sometimes beg, Have patience with me. Therefore it is part of Israel's promised happiness that they should lend and borrow, Deut. xxviii. 12. And it should be our endeavour to keep as much as may be out of debt. Some sell their liberty to gratify their luxury.

8 He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity: and the rod of his anger shall fail.

Note, 1. Ill-gotten gains will not prosper: He that sows iniquity, that does an unjust thing in hopes to get by it, shall reap vanity; what he gets will never do him any good nor give him any satisfaction. He will meet nothing but disappointment. Those that create trouble to others do but prepare trouble for themselves. Men shall reap as they sow. 2. Abused power will not last. If the rod of authority turn into a rod of anger, if men rule by passion instead of prudence, and, instead of the public welfare, aim at nothing so much as the gratifying of their own resentments, it shall fail and be broken, and their power shall not bear them out in their exorbitances, Isa. x. 24, 25.

9 He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor.

Here is, 1. The description of a charitable man; he has a bountiful eye, opposed to the evil eye (ch. xxiii. 6) and the same with the single eye (Matt. vi. 22),—an eye that seeks out objects of charity, besides those that offer themselves,—an eye that, upon the sight of one in want and misery, affects the heart with compassion,—an eye that with the alms gives a pleasant look, which makes the alms doubly acceptable. He has also a liberal hand: He gives of his bread to those that need—his bread, the bread appointed for his own eating. He will rather abridge himself than see the poor perish for want; yet he does not give all his bread, but of his bread; the poor shall have their share with his own family. 2. The blessedness of such a man. The loins of the poor will bless them, all about him will speak well of him, and God himself will bless him, in answer to many a good prayer put up for him, and he shall be blessed.

10 Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out; yea, strife and reproach shall cease.

See here, 1. What the scorner does. It is implied that he sows discord and makes mischief wherever he comes. Much of the strife and contention which disturb the peace of all societies is owing to the evil interpreter (as some read it), that construes every thing into the worst, to those that despise and deride every one that comes in their way and take a pride in bantering and abusing all mankind. 2. What is to be done with the scorner that will not be reclaimed: Cast him out of your society, as Ishmael, when he mocked Isaac, was thrust out of Abraham's family. Those that would secure the peace must exclude the scorner.

11 He that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend.

Here is, 1. The qualification of an accomplished, a complete gentleman, that is fit to be employed in public business. He must be an honest man, a man that loves pureness of heart and hates all impurity, not only pure from all fleshly lusts, but from all deceit and dissimulation, from all selfishness and sinister designs, that takes care to approve himself a man of sincerity, is just and fair from principle, and delights in nothing more than in keeping his own conscience clean and void of offence. He must also be able to speak with a good grace, not to daub and flatter, but to deliver his sentiments decently and ingeniously, in language clean and smooth as his spirit. 2. The preferment such a man stands fair for: The king, if he be wise and good, and understand his own and his people's interest, will be his friend, will make him of his cabinet-council, as there was one in David's court, and another in Solomon's, that was called the king's friend; or, in any business that he has, the king will befriend him. Some understand it of the King of kings. A man in whose spirit there is no guile, and whose speech is always with grace, God will be his friend, Messiah, the Prince, will be his friend. This honour have all the saints.

12 The eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge, and he overthroweth the words of the transgressor.

Here is, 1. The special care God takes to preserve knowledge, that is, to keep up religion in the world by keeping up among men the knowledge of himself and of good and evil, notwithstanding the corruption of mankind, and the artifices of Satan to blind men's minds and keep them in ignorance. It is a wonderful instance of the power and goodness of the eyes of the Lord, that is, his watchful providence. He preserves men of knowledge, wise and good men (2 Chron. xvi. 9), particularly faithful witnesses, who speak what they know; God protects such, and prospers their counsels. He does by his grace preserve knowledge in such, secures his own work and interest in them. See Prov. ii. 7, 8. 2. The just vengeance God takes on those that speak and act against knowledge and against the interests of knowledge and religion in the world: He overthrows the words of the transgressor, and preserves knowledge in spite of him. He defeats all the counsels and designs of false and treacherous men, and turns them to their own confusion.

13 The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets.

Note, 1. Those that have no love for their business will never want excuses to shake it off. Multitudes are ruined, both for soul and body, by their slothfulness, and yet still they have something or other to say for themselves, so ingenious are men in putting a cheat upon their own souls. And who, I pray, will be the gainer at last, when the pretences will be all rejected as vain and frivolous? 2. Many frighten themselves from real duties by imaginary difficulties: The slothful man has work to do without in the fields, but he fancies there is a lion there; nay, he pretends he dares not go along the streets for fear somebody or other should meet him and kill him. He does not himself think so; he only says so to those that call him up. He talks of a lion without, but considers not his real danger from the devil, that roaring lion, which is in bed with him, and from his own slothfulness, which kills him.

14 The mouth of strange women is a deep pit: he that is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein.

This is designed to warn all young men against the lusts of uncleanness. As they regard the welfare of their souls, let them take heed of strange women, lewd women, whom they ought to be strange to, of the mouth of strange women, of the kisses of their lips (ch. vii. 13), of the words of their lips, their charms and enticements. Dread them; have nothing to do with them; for, 1. Those who abandon themselves to that sin give proof that they are abandoned of God: it is a deep pit, which those fall into that are abhorred of the Lord, who leaves them to themselves to enter into that temptation, and takes off the bridle of his restraining grace, to punish them for other sins. Value not thyself upon thy being in favour with such women, when it proclaims thee under the wrath of God. 2. It is seldom that they recover themselves, for it is a deep pit; it will be hard getting out of it, it so besots the mind and debauches the conscience, by pleasing the flesh.

15 Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.

We have here two very sad considerations:— 1. That corruption is woven into our nature. Sin is foolishness; it is contrary both to our right reason and to our true interest. It is in the heart; there is an inward inclination to sin, to speak and act foolishly. It is in the heart of children; they bring it into the world with them; it is what they were shapen and conceived in. It is not only found there, but it is bound there; it is annexed to the heart (so some); vicious dispositions cleave closely to the soul, are bound to it as the cion to the stock into which it is grafted, which quite alters the property. There is a knot tied between the soul and sin, a true lover's knot; they two became one flesh. It is true of ourselves, it is true of our children, whom we have begotten in our own likeness. O God! thou knowest this foolishness. 2. That correction is necessary to the cure of it. It will not be got out by fair means and gentle methods; there must be strictness and severity, and that which will cause grief. Children need to be corrected, and kept under discipline, by their parents; and we all need to be corrected by our heavenly Father (Heb. xii. 6, 7), and under the correction we must stroke down folly and kiss the rod.

16 He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want.

This shows what evil courses rich men sometimes take, by which, in the end, they will impoverish themselves and provoke God, notwithstanding their abundance, to bring them to want; they oppress the poor and give to the rich. 1. They will not in charity relieve the poor, but withhold from them, that by saving that which is really the best, but which they think the most needless part of their expenses, they may increase their riches; but they will make presents to the rich, and give them great entertainments, either in pride and vain-glory, that they may look great, or in policy, that they may receive it again with advantage. Such shall surely come to want. Many have been beggared by a foolish generosity, but never any by a prudent charity. Christ bids us to invite the poor, Luke xiv. 12, 13. 2. They not only will not relieve the poor, but they oppress them, rob the spital, extort from their poor tenants and neighbours, invade the rights of those who have not wherewithal to defend themselves, and then give bribes to the rich, to protect and countenance them in it. But it is all in vain; they shall come to want. Those that rob God, and so make him the enemy, cannot secure themselves by giving to the rich, to make them their friends.

Serious Attention Inculcated.

17 Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge. 18 For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips. 19 That thy trust may be in the Lord , I have made known to thee this day, even to thee. 20 Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge, 21 That I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth; that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee?

Solomon here changes his style and manner of speaking. Hitherto, for the most part, since the beginning of ch. x., he had laid down doctrinal truths, and but now and then dropped a word of exhortation, leaving us to make the application as we went along; but here, to the end of ch. xxiv., he directs his speech to his son, his pupil, his reader, his hearer, speaking as to a particular person. Hitherto, for the most part, his sense was comprised in one verse, but here usually it is drawn out further. See how Wisdom tries variety of methods with us, lest we should be cloyed with any one. To awaken attention and to assist our application the method of direct address is here adopted. Ministers must not think it enough to preach before their hearers, but must preach to them, nor enough to preach to them all in general, but should address themselves to particular persons, as here: Do thou do so and so. Here is,

I. An earnest exhortation to get wisdom and grace, by attending to the words of the wise men, both written and preached, the words of the prophets and priests, and particularly to that knowledge which Solomon in this book gives men of good and evil, sin and duty, rewards and punishments. To these words, to this knowledge, the ear must be bowed down in humility and serious attention and the heart applied by faith, and love, and close consideration. The ear will not serve without the heart.

II. Arguments to enforce this exhortation. Consider,

1. The worth and weight of the things themselves which Solomon in this book gives us the knowledge of. They are not trivial things, for amusements and diversion, not jocular proverbs, to be repeated in sport and in order to pass away time. No; they are excellent things, which concern the glory of God, the holiness and happiness of our souls, the welfare of mankind and all communities; they are princely things (so the word is), fit for kings to speak and senates to hear; they are things that concern counsels and knowledge, that is, wise counsels, relating to the most important concerns; things which will not only make us knowing ourselves, but enable us to advise others.

2. The clearness of the discovery of these things and the directing of them to us in particular. "They are made known, publicly known, that all may read,—plainly known, that he that runs may read,—made known this day more fully than ever before, in this day of light and knowledge,—made known in this thy day. But it is only a little while that this light is with thee; perhaps the things that are this day made known to thee, if thou improve not the day of thy visitation, may, before to-morrow, be hidden from thy eyes. They are written, for the greater certainty, and that they may be received and the more safely transmitted pure and entire to posterity. But that which the emphasis is here most laid upon is that they are made known to thee, even to thee, and written to thee, as if it were a letter directed to thee by name. It is suited to thee and to thy case; thou mayest in this glass see thy own face; it is intended for thee, to be a rule to thee, and by it thou must be judged." We cannot say of these things, "They are good things, but they are nothing to us;" no, they are of the greatest concern imaginable to us.

3. The agreeableness of these things to us, in respect both of comfort and credit. (1.) If we hide them in our hearts, they will be very pleasing and yield us an abundant satisfaction (v. 18): "It is a pleasant thing, and will be thy constant entertainment, if thou keep them within thee; if thou digest them, and be actuated and governed by them, and delivered into them as into a mould." The form of godliness, when that is rested in, is but a force put upon a man, and he does but do penance in that white clothing; those only that submit to the power of godliness, and make heart-work of it, find the pleasure of it, ch. ii. 10. (2.) If we make use of them in our discourse, they will be very becoming, and gain us a good reputation. They shall be fitted in thy lips. "Speak of these things, and thou speakest like thyself, and as is fit for thee to speak considering thy character; thou wilt also have pleasure in speaking of these things as well as in thinking of them."

4. The advantage designed us by them. The excellent things which God has written to us are not like the commands which the master gives his servant, which are all intended for the benefit of the master, but like those which the master gives his scholar, which are all intended for the benefit of the scholar. These things must be kept by us, for they are written to us, (1.) That we may have a confidence in him and communion with him. That thy trust may be in the Lord, v. 19. We cannot trust in God except in the way of duty; we are therefore taught our duty, that we may have reason to trust in God. Nay, this is itself one great duty we are to learn, and a duty that is the foundation of all practical religion, to live a life of delight in God and dependence on him. (2.) That we may have a satisfaction in our own judgment: "That I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth; that thou mayest know what is truth, mayest plainly distinguish between it and falsehood, and mayest know upon what grounds thou receivest and believest the truths of God." Note, [1.] It is a desirable thing to know, not only the words of truth, but the certainty of them, that our faith may be intelligent and rational, and may grow up to a full assurance. [2.] The way to know the certainty of the words of truth is to make conscience of our duty; for, if any man do his will, he shall know for certain that the doctrine is of God, John vii. 17. (3.) That we may be useful and serviceable to others for their instruction: "That thou mayest give a good account of the words of truth to those that send to thee to consult thee as an oracle," or (as the margin reads it) "to those that send thee, that employ thee as an agent or ambassador in any business." Knowledge is given us to do good with, that others may light their candle at our lamp, and that we may in our place serve our generation according to the will of God; and those who make conscience of keeping God's commandments will be best able to give a reason of the hope that is in them.

Caution against Oppressing the Poor.

22 Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted in the gate: 23 For the Lord will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them.

After this solemn preface, one would have expected something new and surprising; but no; here is a plain and common, but very needful caution against the barbarous and inhuman practices of oppressing poor people. Observe,

I. The sin itself, and that is robbing the poor and making them poorer, taking from those that have but little to lose and so leaving them nothing. It is bad to rob any man, but most absurd to rob the poor, whom we should relieve,—to squeeze those with our power whom we should water with our bounty,—to oppress the afflicted, and so to add affliction to them,—to give judgment against them, and so to patronise those that do rob them, which is as bad as if we robbed them ourselves. Rich men will not suffer themselves to be wronged; poor men cannot help themselves, and therefore we ought to be the more careful not to wrong them.

II. The aggravations of the sin. 1. If their inability, by reason of their poverty, to right themselves, embolden us to rob them, it is so much the worse; this is robbing the poor because he is poor; this is not only a base and cowardly thing, to take advantage against a man because he is helpless, but it is unnatural, and proves men worse than beasts. 2. Or, if it be done under the colour of law and justice, that is oppressing the afflicted in the gate, where they ought to be protected from wrong and to have justice done them against those that oppress them.

III. The danger that attends this sin. He that robs and oppresses the poor does it at his peril; for, 1. The oppressed will find God their powerful patron. He will plead their cause, and not suffer them to be run down and trampled upon. If men will not appear for them, God will. 2. The oppressors will find him a just avenger. He will make reprisals upon them, will spoil the souls of those that spoil them; he will repay them in spiritual judgments, in curses to their souls. He that robs the poor will be found in the end a murderer of himself.

Prudential Maxims.

24 Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go: 25 Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.

Here is, 1. A good caution against being intimate with a passionate man. It is the law of friendship that we accommodate ourselves to our friends and be ready to serve them, and therefore we ought to be wise and wary in the choice of a friend, that we come not under the sacred tie to any one whom it would be our folly to accommodate ourselves to. Thought we must be civil to all, yet we must be careful whom we lay in our bosoms and contract a familiarity with. And, among others, a man who is easily provoked, touchy, and apt to resent affronts, who, when he is in a passion, cares not what he says or does, but grows outrageous, such a one is not fit to be made a friend or companion, for he will be ever and anon angry with us and that will be our trouble, and he will expect that we should, like him, be angry with others, and that will be our sin. 2. Good cause given for this caution: Lest thou learn his way. Those we go with we are apt to grow like. Our corrupt hearts have so much tinder in them that it is dangerous conversing with those that throw about the sparks of their passion. We shall thereby get a snare to our souls, for a disposition to anger is a great snare to any man, and an occasion of much sin. He does not say, "Lest thou have ill language given thee or get a broken head," but, which is must worse, "Lest thou imitate him, to humour him, and so contract an ill habit."

26 Be not thou one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts. 27 If thou hast nothing to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under thee?

We have here, as often before, a caution against suretiship, as a thing both imprudent and unjust. 1. We must not associate ourselves, nor contract an intimacy, with men of broken fortunes, and reputations, who need and will urge their friends to be bound for them, that they may cheat their neighbours to feed their lusts, and by keeping up a little longer may do the more damage at last to those that give them credit. Have nothing to do with such; be not thou among them. 2. We must not cheat people of their money, by striking hands ourselves, or becoming surety for others, when we have not to pay. If a man by the divine providence is disabled to pay his debts, he ought to be pitied and helped; but he that takes up money or goods himself, or is bound for another, when he knows that he has not wherewithal to pay, or that what he has is so settled that the creditors cannot come at it, does in effect pick his neighbour's pocket, and though, in all cases, compassion is to be used, yet he may thank himself if the law have its course and his bed be taken from under him, which might be taken for a pledge to secure a debt, Exod. xxii. 26, 27. For, if a man appeared to be so poor that he had nothing else to give for security, he ought to be relieved, and it was honestly done to own it; but, for the recovery of a debt, it seems it might be taken by the summum jus—the strict operation of law. 3. We must not ruin our own estates and families. Every man ought to be just to himself and to his wife and children; those are not so who live above what they have, who by the mismanagement of their own affairs, or by encumbering themselves with debts of others, waste what they have and bring themselves to poverty. We may take joyfully the spoiling of our goods if it be for the testimony of a good conscience; but, if be for our own rashness and folly, we cannot but take it heavily.

28 Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.

1. We are here taught not to invade another man's right, though we can find ways of doing it ever so secretly and plausibly, clandestinely and by fraud, without any open force. Let not property in general be entrenched upon, by robbing men of their liberties and privileges, or of any just ways of maintaining them. Let not the property of particular persons be encroached upon. The land-marks, or meer-stones, are standing witnesses to every man's right; let not those be removed quite away, for thence come wars, and fightings, and endless disputes; let them not be removed so as to take from thy neighbour's lot to thy own, for that is downright robbing him and entailing the fraud upon posterity. 2. We may infer hence that a deference is to be paid, in all civil matters, to usages that have prevailed time out of mind and the settled constitutions of government, in which it becomes us to acquiesce, lest an attempt to change it, under pretence of changing it for the better, prove of dangerous consequence.

29 Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.

Here is, 1. A plain intimation what a hard thing it is to find a truly ingenious industrious man: "Seest thou a man diligent in his business? Thou wilt not see many such, so epidemical are dulness and slothfulness." He is here commended who lays out himself to get business, though it be but in a very low and narrow sphere, and is not easy when he is out of business, who loves business, is quick and active in it, and goes through it, not only with constancy and resolution, but with dexterity and expedition, a man of despatch, who knows how to bring a deal of business into a little compass. 2. A moral prognostication of the preferment of such a man; though now he stands before mean men, is employed by them and attends upon them, yet he will rise, and is likely enough to stand before kings, as an ambassador to foreign kings or prime-minister of state to his own. Seest thou a man diligent in the business of religion? He is likely to excel in virtue, and shall stand before the King of kings.

CHAP. XXII. Verſ. 1. A good name is rather to bee choſen]

HEb. A name, as Chap. 18.22. a wife, for a good wife (better no wife than an ill wife, ſo better no name than an ill name.) This good name proceeding from a good conſcience, this honour from vertue, Iſa. 43.4. this perfume of faith and obedience, this ſplendor and ſparkle of the white ſtone, which onely ſhines upon heavenly hearts, is far more deſirable than great riches. For firſt, Theſe oft take away the life of the owners thereof, Prov. 1.19. the greater wealth, the greater ſpoil awaits a man; As a tree with thick and large boughes, every man deſires to lop him. Whereas a good name ſaves a man oft from that danger, as it did Jonathan whom the people reſcued. Secondly, Riches breed and bring their cares and cumbers with them. Qui habet terras, habet guerras, ſaith the Proverb: Many Law-ſutes and other vexations, &c. when a good name, as a precious oyntment powred out, gets loving favour, with which it is therefore fitly coupled in this Text. Thirdly, Riches are enjoyed but till death at utmoſt; but a good name out-lives the man, and is left behinde him for a bleſſing, Iſa. 65.15. See Prov. 10.7. with the Note there. Other people went beyond Gods Iſrael in wealth and riches, but none in fame and renown, 2 Sam. 7.23. Deut. 4.6. Fourthly, Riches are oft gotten by fame; let a mans name bee up, and there will bee great recourſe to him; But let him once crack his credit, and riches cannot repair him: Infamy will not bee bought oft with money. Laſtly, Riches are common to good men with bad men; but a good name (truly ſo called) is proper to Gods peculiar, confined to the Communion of Saints. Hee was therefore a better husband than Divine that firſt called Riches Bona, Goods: And that Heathen was nearer the truth than many profligate profeſſors of it, who ſaid, Ego ſi bonam famam ſervaſſo, Plaut. ſat dives ero. That is, If I may but keep a good name, I have wealth enough.

And loving favour rather than ſilver and gold] Which what is it elſe but white and red earth? And therefore no way fit to come in competition with good repute and report among the beſt, ſuch as Chriſt had, Luke 2.52. and Joſeph, and Daniel, and David, and Demetrius, Joh. 3.12. and they had it as a ſpecial favour from God, who faſhions mens opinions, and hides his people from the ſtrife of tongues, Job 5.

Verſ. 2. The rich and the poor meet together] They have mutual need one of another, and meet many times, as it were, in the mid-way, by an alteration of their condition. They that were full were hired forth for bread, and the hungry are no more hired, 1 Sam. 2.5. The mighty are put down from their ſeats, and thoſe of low degree are exalted, Luk. 1.53.

The Lord is the maker of them all] The maker of the men, the maker of their eſtates, and the maker of that change and alteration which often happeneth; that the one might become grateful, the other humble. See Job 31.15.

Verſ. 3. A prudent man foreſeeth an evil, &c.] Previſion is the beſt means of prevention. A wiſe mans eyes are in his head, Eccleſ. 2.14. his heart is alſo at his right hand, Eccleſ. 10.2. The Chineſes ſay of themſelves, that all other Nations of the world ſee but with one eye, they only with two. The Italians give out, that they only do ſapere ante factum, look before they leap, fore-caſt an evil before it befall them. But theſe are praiſes proper to them that have learned holy and heavenly wiſdome, that by certain ſights and ſigns diſcern a tempeſt in the clouds, and ſeek ſeaſonable ſhelter under the hollow of Gods hand, under the ſhadow of his wings. Such prudent perſons were Noah, Joſeph, Jonadab, Joſiah, the Chriſtians at Pella, &c.

But the fool paſſeth on] Puſheth on without fear or wit, as being reſolved to have his will, what ever it ſtand him in.

And is puniſhed] As a juſt reward of his raſhneſs. Sin ever ends tragically. Flagitium & flagellum, ut acus & filum. Who ever waxed fierce againſt God and proſpered?Job 9.4. With the froward thou wilt wreſtle, ſaith David, Pſal. 18.16. Upon the wicked God ſhall rain ſnares, &c. Pſal. 11.6. And then, ut leo caſſibus irretitus dixit, ſipraeſciviſſem, as the Lion when hee was caught in the Hunters toyl, ſaid, If I had fore-known this miſchief, I would have ſhunned it. So theſe after-wits, theſe poſt-maſters, theſe Epimetheuſſes ſhall come in (but all too late) with their Fools Had-I-wiſt, which they ſhould have timouſly foreſeen and prevented.

Verſ. 4. By humility and the fear of the Lord] Heb. The heel of humility, &c. The humble heart that lyes low, and hearkens what God the Lord will ſay unto it, that follows him trembling, as the people followed Saul, 1 Sam. 13.7. ſhall have hard at the heels of it riches, a ſufficiency, if not a ſuperfluity, and honour, which is to bee choſen before riches v. 1. (See the Note there) and life above the danger of thoſe thorns and ſnares mentioned in the next verſe; not life preſent onely, but length of dayes for ever and ever. Pſal. 21.4. O the [non-Latin text not transcribed], the heaped up happineſs of a man that humbles and trembles before the Lord! Hee that doth the former, cannot but do the latter; Hence that cloſe connexion of theſe two graces in this Text, By humility the fear of the Lord ſo the original runs without the grammatical copulative And, to ſhew, that they go alwayes together, yea, the one is as it were predicated of the other; neither want they their reward. Riches, honour, life; What things bee theſe? Who would not turn ſpiritual purchaſer?

Verſ. 5. Thorns and ſnares are in the way of the froward] In oppoſition to the reward of righteouſneſs, verſ. 4. which is to ſay, The ungodly are not ſo: Or if they have riches, they prove thorns to them to prick and choak their ſouls; If honour, and long life to enjoy it, theſe prove ſnares to them. Of carnal hearts it may bee ſaid as Pharoah ſaid, of the Iſraelites, They are intangled in the Land, the wilderneſs hath ſhut them in, Exod. 14.3. They have treaſures in the field, of Wheat, Barley, and Oyl, as thoſe ten men had, Jer. 41.8. and are therefore loath to dye: And yet before they dye (live they never ſo long in all abundance of riches and honours) God can bring them to that paſs, that Charles the fifth was at, whom of all men the world judged moſt happy; Philip of Mornay reports of him, that he curſed his honours in his old age, his victories, trophies, riches, ſaying, Abite hinc, abite long è. Away, away, get you far away.

He that doth keep his ſoul, ſhall be far from them] As well from the wicked mans miſeries, as his miſdemeanours; hee keeps aloof from both, hee dares not meddle with the hole of the Aſp, leſt hee meet with a ſting. Cuſtos animae elongabit ſe, &c. Moneo te iterumque monebo (ſaith Lactantius to his Demetrian) ne oblectamenta iſta terrae pro magnis aut veris bonis habere te credas: Lactant. de opifici[illegible: 1 letter] Dei. quae ſunt non tantum fallacia quia dubia, verum etiam inſidioſa quia dulcia. Set not thine heart upon the Aſſes, ſith thou art in election for a Kingdome, and the hearts of all Iſrael are upon thee.

Verſ. 6. Train up a childe in the way hee ſhould go] Or, according to his meaſure and capacity, dropping good things by degrees into his narrow-mouthed veſſel, and whetting the ſame upon his memory by often repeating, Deut. 6.6. Shanan & Shanah, repetere ſicut in acuendo. as the knife by oft going over the whetſtone (it is Moſes his compariſon) becomes keen and uſeful; This is the way to make them expert and exact, and to ſecure them from Satan, for wee are not ignorant of his wiles. It is reported of the Harts of Scythia, that they teach their young ones to leap from bank to bank from rock to rock, from one turf to another, by leaping before them, which otherwiſe they would never practiſe; by which means when they are hunted, no beaſt can ever take them. So if men exerciſe their children unto godlineſs whiles they are young, Satan that mighty hunter ſhall never have them for his prey: They will not be young Saints, old Devils (as the prophane Proverb hath it) but young Saints, old Angels. Now as all children ſhould bee carefully catechiſed, and well principled; ſo thoſe Timothies eſpecially, that are deſigned to the work of the Miniſtry. Quintilians Oratour muſt from two or three years old bee inured and accuſtomed to the beſt and pureſt words, very well pronounced unto him, by his Nurſes, Parents, Hand-maids, as ſoon as ever hee begins to babble. Quanto id in Theologo futuro expetendum, curandumque magis? Amama in [illegible: 2 letters] [illegible: 1 letter]ib. How much more (ſaith a learned man) ſhould this bee done by one that is to bee a Divine?

Verſ. 7. The rich ruleth over the poor] And that with rigour, as Pharaoh did over Iſrael; as thoſe imperious Mammoniſts in St. James his time that oppreſſed and ſubjugated their pooreſt brethren, trampling upon them with the feet of intolerable inſolency and cruelty, Jam. 2.6. Yet now our fleſh is as the fleſh of our brethren, our children as their children, ſaid thoſe poor Jews in Nehemiah, who pleads their cauſe moſt effectually, Chap. 5.7, 8, 9. &c. Ubi quot verba, tot tela, quae nimirum animam divitum percellant, fodicent & lancinent, as one ſaith in another caſe; hee ſets upon them with irreſiſtible Rhetorick, and makes them reſtore (which yet rich oppreſſors are very hardly drawn to do.) Every grain of riches hath a vermin of pride and ambition in it, 1 Tim. 6.17. See the Note there. Mens blood riſeth together with their good, and they think that every thing muſt bee as they would have it. But eſpecially if they have drawn the poor into their nets, Pſal. 10.9. that is, into their bonds, debts, morgages, as Chryſoſtome expounds it, then they not onely rob, but raviſh them; to their cruelty they joyn diſhoneſty, there is neither equity or mercy to bee had at their hands.

Verſ. 8. Hee that ſoweth iniquity, ſhall reap vanity] The Uſurer and cruel Creditor ſoweth his money, his mammon of iniquity (that ungain grain) upon his poor debtors; and whether it bee a barren year, or a fruitful, a good ſoil, or a bad, Luna affert menſtruos ſenſus, hee hath his conſtant pay, yea, his uſe upon uſe, according to that Greek verſe, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Now can ſuch increaſe bee bleſt? Shall not thoſe that thus ſow the wind, bee ſure to reap the whirlewind?

And the rod of his anger ſhall fail] That is, that tyrannical power which hee exerciſeth upon others as his underlings, ſhall bee broken. God will take out of his hand the rod wherewith hee hath beaten his fellow ſervants, and waſte it upon his own back to the very ſtump.

Verſ. 9. Hee that hath a bountiful eye ſhall bee bleſſed] How Amalec the licking people (as the name imports) I mean the Nation of Uſurers and proud lenders ſhall ſpeed, hath been ſpoken already. Now on the other ſide, the bountiful eye, the cheerful giver (as the Septuagint, and after them St. Paul, render, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Sept. or rather expound this Text) ſhall bee abundantly bleſſed; for hee gives with all his heart, hee draws out, not his ſheaf onely, but his ſoul to the hungry, Iſa. 58. Dat bene, dat multum, quia dat cum munere vultum, hee ſpares it out of his own belly to give to the hungry, as ſome have here gathered from the word, his bread, that which was appointed for his own eating; hee voluntarily faſteth from a meal now and then, that hee may beſtow it upon the needy, and hee ſhall not loſe his reward.

Verſ. 10. Caſt out the ſcorner] Or the evil Interpreter, that conſtrues every thing to the worſt, and ſo ſows diſſention. This is an evil inſtrument, and muſt bee caſhiered good company; the place where ſuch a Trouble-town lives, longs for a vomit to ſpue him out. There is nothing that may not bee taken with either hand: It is a ſpiritual unmannerlineſs to take it with the leſt (as that proud Phariſee did, Luke 7.34.) and to caſt it as an apple of contention amongſt others. They that do thus, are the peſts of Families, and other ſocieties, and muſt therefore bee carefully caſt out with ſcoffing Iſhmael, as ever wee deſire to avoid ſtrife, ſutes at Law, reproach, and many more miſchiefs.

Verſ. 11. Hee that loveth pureneſs of heart] That is vexed at his inward pollutions, and affecteth (what hee can never fully effect) to be pure as God is pure, 1 Joh. 3.3. Hee that hath gotten that pure lip, Zeph. 3.9. called here the grace of his lips, Prov. 31.26. and elſewhere the Law of grace; Hee that can skill of thoſe good words that do ingratiate with God and man, Gen. 49.21. compared with Deut. 33.23. Hee is fit to make a Courtier, a Favourite; ſuch as was Joſeph, Mordecai, Daniel, who though hee uſed not alwayes verbis byſſinis, ſoft and ſilken words, but delivered heavy meſſages from God to Nebuchadnezzar and Belſhazzar, yet God ſo wrought their hearts (though Tyrants) that they greatly honoured him, and highly preferred him. And when, out of his love to pureneſs of heart, hee choſe rather affliction than ſin, to bee caſt to the Lions, than to bear a Lion in his own boſome by offending his conſcience: God made the Kings heart yearn towards him, &c. So that this plain-dealing Daniel proſpered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Perſian, Dan. 6.28.

Verſ. 12. The eyes of the Lord preſerve knowledge] That is, knowing perſons: Thoſe in the former verſe that love truth in the inward parts, and hold this a rule, Truth muſt bee ſpoken, however it bee taken; theſe, howſoever they may ſuffer for a ſeaſon, as Daniel in the den, Micaiah in the ſtock-houſe, yet the watchful providence of God will preſerve them, and provide for them. Hee will clear their innocency, and ſo plead for them in the hearts of greateſt Princes, that they ſhall find the truth of this divine Proverb, and the falſity of that other ſo common amongſt men, Obſequium amicos, veritas odium parit; Flattery gets friends, but truth hatred.

And hee overthroweth the words (or matters) of the tranſgreſſors] That is, of the Court-paraſites, who ſpeak onely pleaſing things, & ſaepe leonum laudibus murem obruunt, flatter abominably, as thoſe Acts 12. did Herod, as the falſe Prophets did Ahab. God will confute and convince their ſoothing words,2 King. 21.13. of ſingular vanity; he will alſo overthrow their matters, attempts, practices, as a man wipeth a diſh, turning it upſide down. See in that claw-back Amalekite, 2 Sam. 1.4, 5, 6. &c. in Ahitophel, Haman, Scianus, &c.

Verſ. 13. The ſloathful man ſaith, There is a Lion, &c.] The Lion is not ſo fiere as is painted, ſaith the Spaniſh Proverb; much leſs this ſluggards Lion, a meer fiction of his own brain to cover and colour over his idleneſs. Hee pretends two Lions for failing; firſt, Leo eſt Foris, There is a Lion abroad, or in the field (where his work lyes, Pſal. 104.23.) and another in the ſtreets: A likely matter, Lions haunt not in ſtreets, but in Woods and Wilderneſſes. Here is no talk of Satan that roaring Lion, that lyes couchant in the ſluggards bed with him, and prompts him to theſe ſenſeleſs excuſes. Not yet of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, who will one day ſend out ſummons for ſleepers, and tearing the very caul of their hearts in ſunder, ſend them packing to their place in hell, Matth. 10. But to hell never came any yet that had not ſome pretence for their coming thither. The fleſh never wants excuſes. Corrupt nature needs not bee taught to tell her own tale. Sin and ſhifting came into the world together; and as there is no wool ſo coarſe, but will take ſome colour: ſo no ſin ſo groſs, but admits of a defence. Sin and Satan are alike in this, they cannot abide to appear in their own likeneſs. Some deal with their ſouls as others deal with their bodies; when their beauty is decayed, they deſire to hide it from themſelves by falſe glaſſes, and from others by painting; ſo their ſins from themſelves by falſe gloſſes, and from others by idle excuſes.

Verſ. 14. The mouth of a ſtrange woman] Diabolus capite blanditur, venire oblectat, caudâ ligat, ſaith Rupertus. Theſe ſhee-ſinners (as their ſtallions call them) are moſt dangerous. See the Notes on Chap. 2.16. and 5.3. Solomon had the woful experience of it, Eccleſ. 7.26. and Sampſon, Judg. 16. who Lenam non potuit, potuit ſuperare leaenam, Quem fera non potuit vincere, vicit hera.

How did David moyl himſelf in this deep pit,Pſal. 57. and there might have ſtuck in the mire, had not God drawn him out by a merciful violenc and pureged him with hyſſop from that abhorred filth?

Hee that in abhorred of the Lord ſhall fall therein] As the Jeſuits (thoſe odious Connubiſanchfugae Commeretricitegae) too often do; though they boaſt that they can talk and dally with the faireſt women without danger, and the people muſt beleeve no otherwiſe, but that when they are kiſſing a woman, they are giving her good counſel. David George, that execrable Heretick, was ſo far from accounting Adulteries, Fornications, Inceſts, &c. for being any ſins,Hiſt. David. Georgii, that hee did recommend them to his moſt perfect Scholars as acts of grace and mortification; and was confident that the whole world would ſubmit to his doctrine. Peccatum peccatum trabit, as the Hebrew Proverb hath it. One ſin draws on another, and the latter is oft a puniſhment of the former; God, by a peculiar kinde of revenge, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. delivering up ſuch to a reprobate ſenſe, or a minde diſallowed, or abhorred of God, as the Apoſtles word (Rom. 1.28.) ſignifies.

Verſ. 15. Fooliſhneſs is bound in the heart, &c.] As a pack or fardle is bound to an horſes back. Errour and folly bee the knots of Satan, wherewith hee tyes children to the ſtake to bee burnt in hell. Better ſee their brains daſhed out againſt the ſtones (ſaith one) than ſuffer the ignorance of God to abide in their heads. Therefore that wee may looſe the bands of death, and works of the Devil, Parents muſt bring their ſons in their arms, and their daughters upon their ſhoulders to the houſe of God, that they may learn to know him, Iſa. 49.22. They muſt alſo ſee to their profiting, and exact of them a daily growth, nurturing, as well as nouriſhing them, Eph. 6.4. (the one being as needful as the other) and uſing the rod where words will not do; ſo to chaſe away that evil by chaſtiſement (ſeaſoned with admonition, and ſeconded with prayer) that elſe will prove pernicious to their ſouls. Eli brought up his ſons to bring down his houſe. Davids ſons were undone by their Fathers fondneſs. A fair hand, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. wee ſay, makes a foul wound. Correction is a kinde of cure, ſaith Ariſtotle; and God uſually bleſſeth it to that purpoſe. Corrections of inſtructions are the way of life, Prov. 6.23.

Verſ. 16. Hee that oppreſſeth the poor, &c.] By fraud or force, or any indirect means. This man layes his foundation in fire-work, Job 20. hee walks upon a Mine of Gun-powder; brimſtone is ſcattered upon his habitation, Job 18.15. if but a flaſh of Gods lightning light upon it, all will bee on fire, all blown up and brought to nothing.

And hee that giveth to the rich] Either to ingratiate and curry favour for countenancing their oppreſſive practices; or with a mind to get more than they give (for ſo ſaith one, that clauſe, To increaſe their riches, muſt here bee repeated) which is a more artificial kinde of ſelling their gifts, than if they had profeſſedly ſet them to ſale, as the Greek Orator obſerveth. Both theſe take a wrong courſe to bee rich.Iſocr. ad Demon. The way were to give to the poor, and not to oppreſs them,Pſal. 76.11. 1 Tim. 6.17. and to bring preſents to him that ought to bee feared, ſith it is hee alone that giveth us all things richly to injoy.

Verſ. 17. Bow down thine ear and hear] Here begins, ſay ſome Interpreters, the third book of Solomons Proverbs (as the ſecond began at Chap. 10.) And indeed hee here ſeems to aſſume a new kinde of beſpeaking his ſon, different from his diſcourſe in the twelve preceding Chapters; and much like that in the nine firſt.

And apply thy heart, &c.] q. d. Call up the ears of thy minde to the ears of thy body, that one ſound may pierce both at once; otherwiſe thou wilt bee like the Wolf in the fables thou wilt never attain to any more divine learning, than to ſpell Pater, and when thou ſhouldeſt come to put together, and to put thy heart to it (as Solomons phraſe here is) inſtead of Pater thou wilt ſay Agum, thy minde running a madding after profit and pleaſures of the world, as hath been once before noted.

Verſ. 18. For it is a pleaſant thing if thou keep them within thee] Heb. In thy belly, that is, in thine inwards. Truth it is, that St. John found the little book hee ate (whether wee underſtand it of the Revelation only, or of the whole Bible, which Biſhop Bonners Chaplain called in ſcorn his little pretty Gods-book, it much matters not) bitter in his belly, though ſweet in his mouth, Rev. 10.10. becauſe Miniſters finde it grievous, to bee kept from making known the whole counſel of God to their people. But the Word of God attentively heard, and by an after meditation well digeſted and incorporated into the ſoul, is ſweeter than hony, as David felt it; and yeelds more pleaſure than all the taſteleſs fooleries of this preſent world.

They ſhall withall bee fitted in thy lips] Thou ſhalt need no other help to diſcourſe: thou ſhalt get a ſingular dexterity and volubility of holy language, being able to utter thy minde in pure Scripture (Loquamar verba Scripturae, ſaith that incomparable Peter Ramus, Utamur ſermone Spiritus ſancti, &c.) thou ſhalt ſo ſpeak and ſo do, as one that muſt bee judged by that law of liberty, Jam. 2.12.

Verſ. 19. That thy truſt may bee in the Lord] Onely a divine word can beget a divine faith, and herein the Scripture excells all humane writings, none of which can bring our hearts to the obedience of faith. I can ſpeak it by experience ſaith Eraſmus, that there is little good to bee got by the Scripture,Eraſm. Praef. in Lucam. if a man read it curſorily and careleſly: But if hee exerciſe himſelf therein conſtantly and conſcionably, hee ſhall feel ſuch a force in it,Pet. Mart. Praf. in com. in Ep. ad Rom. as is not to bee found again in any other book whatſoever. I know, ſaith Peter Martyr, that there are many that will never beleeve what wee ſay of the power of Gods word hidden in the heart; and not a few that will jear us, and think wee are mad for ſaying ſo. But O that they would but bee pleaſed to make trial, Malèe mihi ſit (ita enim in tanta cauſa jurare auſim) niſi tandem capiantur. Let it never go well with mee (for ſo I am bold to ſwear in ſo weighty a buſineſs) if they finde not themſelves ſtrangely taken and transformed into the ſame image, if they paſs not into the likeneſs of this heavenly pattern. The Epheſians truſted in God ſo ſoon as they heard the word of truth, they beleeved and were ſealed, Epheſ. 1.13. And the Theſſalonians faith was famous all the Churches over, when once the Goſpel came to them in power, 1 Theſſ. 1.5, 8.

To thee, even to thee] Men muſt read the Scriptures as they do the Statute-books, holding themſelves as much concerned therein as any other, threatning themſelves in every Threat, binding themſelves in every Precept, bleſſing themſelves in every Promiſe, reſolving to obey God in all things: as convinced of this, that theſe are verba vivenda, non legenda, words to bee lived; and not read only.

Verſ. 20. Have not I written to thee excellent things?] Heb. Princely things, Principles for Princes; Rare and Royal ſentences. The word ſignifies (ſay ſome) the third man in the Kingdome for Authority and Dignity. Others read the words thus, Have not I three times written for thee concerning Counſels and Knowledge, meaning his three books, Proverbial, Penitential, Nuptial. Key of the Bible by Mr. Roberts. The Canticles were penned perhaps in his younger years (ſaith one) when his affections were more warm, active and lively in ſpirituals. The Proverbs in his manly ripe age, when his Prudence and parts were at higheſt, moſt grave, ſolid, ſetled. Eccleſiaſtes in his old age, &c.

Verſ. 21. That I might make thee know the certainty] And ſo finde firm footing for thy faith, Luke 1.3, 5. Theſe words of God are true, ſaith the Angel, Rev. 21.9. Theſe words are faithful and true, Rev. 22.24. void of all inſincerity and falſhood. How can it bee otherwiſe, when as they are, as Gregory ſpeaks, Cor & animae, the very heart and ſoul of the God of truth?Greg. in Reg. 3. there muſt needs bee a certainty in theſe words of truth, neither need wee hang in ſuſpence. When ſome took Chriſt for John Baptiſt, ſome for Elias, Mat. 16. ſome for Jeremias; But whom ſay yee that I am? to teach that Chriſt would not have men ſtand doubtful, halt between two, bee in Religion as beggers are in their way, ready to go which way ſoever the ſtaff falleth; but to ſearch the Scriptures, and grounding thereon, to get a certainty, a full aſſurance of underderſtanding, Col. 2.2. ſo as to bee able to ſay, Wee have beleeved, therefore have wee ſpoken, 2 Cor. 4.13.

Verſ. 22. Rob not the poor, &c.] Here ſome Caviller will bee apt to cry out,Object. Quid dignum tanto feret hic promiſſor hidlu? After ſo promiſing a Preface, and ſuch wooing of attention, wee looked for ſome new matter, and that of beſt note too. But behold here is nothing, but what wee had before. Sol. Phil. 3 1. It is truth, ſaith the Wiſe man; and yet I muſt tell you, that to write the ſame things, to mee indeed is not grievous, but for you it is ſafe. See the like, Pſal. 49.1, 2, 3, &c. The ſcope of the Pſalm is to ſhew the happy and ſecure eſtate of the Saints in trouble,Object: Sol. and the ſlippery condition of the wicked when at their height. Now whereas ſome might object and ſay, this is an ordinary argument, we have heard of it an hundred times. The Pſalmiſt anſwers, that yet this is the great wiſdome that hee will ſpeak of, and the dark ſaying that hee will open. And hereunto hee makes a ſolemn Oyez. Hear this all yee people, and give ear all yee Inhabitants of the World, &c.

Becauſe hee is poor] As the greater fiſh devour the leſſer, and as the Maſtiff falls upon the Cur, and worries him, only becauſe hee is bigger than the other. This is a brutiſh ferity. See Pſal. 10. And if thoſe that relieve not the poor ſhall bee damned, ſurely they that rob them ſhall bee double-damned.

Neither oppreſs the afflicted] The poor man muſt needs bee an afflicted man, obnoxious to all manner of injuries and hard uſages. But God who is the poor mans King (more truly ſo called, then James the fourth of Scotland was) takes order here, that no man oppreſs or wrong him, either at the gate of his houſe, whither hee comes a begging, or at the gate of the City, where hee ſues for redreſs of injury;Gel. l. 11. c. 18. let not might ſuppreſs right, leſt ſome Cato complain (as once) and not without cauſe, that poor Theeves ſit in the ſtocks, when greater Theeves ſit on the ſeats of Judicature.

Verſ. 23. For the Lord will plead their cauſe] Without fee, for thoſe that come to him formâ pauperis, and without fear of their oppreſſours, againſt whom hee will plead with peſtilence and with blood, Ezek. 38.22. as hee did againſt the houſe of Saul for the poor Gibeonites, and againſt Ahab for Naboth.

And ſpoil the ſoul (or life) of thoſe that ſpoiled them] A poor mans livelihood is his life, Mark. 12. ult. Luke 8.43. Hee is in his houſe as a Snail in his ſhell, cruſh that, and you kill him quite. God therefore who loves par pari referre, to pay oppreſſors home in their own coyn, will have life for life, if they may eſcape ſo, and not bee caſt to hell among thoſe cruel ones, Prov. 5.9. See the Note. O that theſe Cannibals would think of this, before the cold grave hold their bodies, and hot hell hold their ſouls.

Verſ. 24. Make no friendſhip with an angry man] Anger is a ſhort madneſs, it is a leproſie breaking out of a burning, Lev. 13.5. and renders a man unfit for civil ſociety: for his unruly paſſions cauſe the climate where hee lives to bee like the torrid Zone, too hot for any to live near him. The Dog-dayes continue with him all the year long, hee rageth, and eateth fire-brands, ſo that every man that will provide for his own ſafety, muſt flye from him, as from a netling, dangerous, and unſociable creature, fit to live alone as Dragons and wilde Beaſts, or to bee looked on only through a grate, as they; where, if they will do miſchief,Turk hiſt. they may do it to themſelves only: As Bajazet the great Turk, who being taken by Tamberlain and carried up and down in an iron Cage, beat out his own brains againſt the bars thereof.

Verſ. 25. Leſt thou learn his wayes] As a man is an imitating creature, and eaſily conformed to the company hee keepeth. Sin is alſo very ſpreading, and more infectious than the plague: This of raſh anger eſpecially, whereunto being naturally inclined, wee ſhall eaſily get an habit of frowardneſs. Intireneſs with wicked conſorts is one of the ſtrongeſt chains of hell, and bindes us to a participation both of ſin and puniſhment.

And get a ſnare to thy ſoul] This is all thou art like to get by ſuch mens company. An angry man (a maſter of anger (as the Hebrew here hath it) or rather one that is maſtered by his anger, and enſlaved thereunto) is fitly compared by one to a Cock of the game, that quarrelſome creature, that is ſtill bloody with the blood either of others or of himſelf; he flyes upon his beſt friends ſometimes, as Alexander did, and ſlayes thoſe whom hee would revive again with his own heart blood. Dogs in a chaſe bark oft at their beſt friends.

Verſ. 26. Bee not thou of them] See the Notes on Chap. 6.1, 2, 3.

Verſ. 27. If thou haſt nothing to pay] And yet art gotten into the Uſurers furnace, hee will leave thee at laſt neither metal nor matter.

Verſ. 28. Remove not the ancient land-mark] Unleſs yee covet a curſe, Deut. 27.17. [non-Latin text not transcribed] Eccleſ. 10.8. Let Levellers look to it, and know that property is Gods Ordinance, Act. 5.4. Pſal. 17.14. That Magiſtracy is the hedge of a Nation; and that hee that breaks an hedge, a Serpent ſhall bite him: That the Miniſtry is Chriſts own Inſtitution, Eph. 4.11. And that Lay-preachers may look to ſpeed as Nadab and Abihu, as Uzzah and Uzziah, or as other Uſurpers. See the Note on Deut. 1[illegible: 1 letter] 14.

Verſ. 29. Seeſt thou a man diligent] God loves nimbleneſs: what thou doſt, do quickly ſaid Chriſt to Judas, though it were ſo ill a buſineſſe that he was about. Princes love ſuch and imploy them, as Pharoah did Joſeph, and thoſe that were men of activity among his brethren. Salomon alſo made uſe of Jeroboam for the ſame reaſon; though that was not the wiſeſt act that ever he did, 1 Kings 11.28. How dear was Daniel to Darius, becauſe though ſick, yet he diſpatched the Kings buſineſs? What Favourites to our Henry 8, were Wolſey, Cromwell, Cranmer, for like reaſon? A diligent man ſhall not fit long in a low place. Or if he do all the days of his life, yet if his diligence proceed out of conſcience, he ſhall ſtand before the King of Kings when he dies. And ſurely if Salomons ſervants were held happy for this: and the greateſt reward Salomon could promiſe the diligent, is this in the text, what an unconceivable honour muſt it needs be to look for ever upon the face of God, and (Angel-like) ſtand in his preſence?