Proverbs 23 commentary

God's restraints of the appetite only say, Do thyself no harm.

Be not of those that will be rich. The things of this world are not happiness and a portion for a soul; those that hold them ever so fast, cannot hold them always, cannot hold them long.

Do not make thyself burdensome to any, especially those not sincere. When we are called by God to his feast, and to let our souls delight themselves, Isa 25:6; 55:2, we may safely partake of the Bread of life.

It is our duty to take all fit occasions to speak of Divine things; but if what a wise man says will not be heard, let him hold his peace.

The fatherless are taken under God's special protection. He is their Redeemer, who will take their part; and he is mighty, almighty.

Here is a parent instructing his child to give his mind to the Scriptures. Here is a parent correcting his child: accompanied with prayer, and blessed of God, it may prove a means of preventing his destruction. Here is a parent encouraging his child, telling him what would be for his good. And what a comfort it would be, if herein he answered his expectation!

The believer's expectation shall not be disappointed; the end of his trials, and of the sinner's prosperity, is at hand.

The gracious Saviour who purchased pardon and peace for his people, with all the affection of a tender parent, counsels us to hear and be wise, and is ready to guide our hearts in his way. Here we have an earnest call to young people, to attend to the advice of their godly parents. If the heart be guided, the steps will be guided. Buy the truth, and sell it not; be willing to part with any thing for it. Do not part with it for pleasures, honours, riches, or any thing in this world. The heart is what the great God requires. We must not think to divide the heart between God and the world; he will have all or none. Look to the rule of God's word, the conduct of his providence, and the good examples of his people. Particular cautions are given against sins most destructive to wisdom and grace in the soul. It is really a shame to make a god of the belly. Drunkenness stupifies men, and then all goes to ruin. Licentiousness takes away the heart that should be given to God. Take heed of any approaches toward this sin, it is very hard to retreat from it. It bewitches men to their ruin.

Solomon warns against drunkenness. Those that would be kept from sin, must keep from all the beginnings of it, and fear coming within reach of its allurements. Foresee the punishment, what it will at last end in, if repentance prevent not. It makes men quarrel. Drunkards wilfully make woe and sorrow for themselves. It makes men impure and insolent. The tongue grows unruly; the heart utters things contrary to reason, religion, and common civility. It stupifies and besots men. They are in danger of death, of damnation; as much exposed as if they slept upon the top of a mast, yet feel secure. They fear no peril when the terrors of the Lord are before them; they feel no pain when the judgments of God are actually upon them. So lost is a drunkard to virtue and honour, so wretchedly is his conscience seared, that he is not ashamed to say, I will seek it again. With good reason we were bid to stop before the beginning. Who that has common sense would contract a habit, or sell himself to a sin, which tends to such guilt and misery, and exposes a man every day to the danger of dying insensible, and awaking in hell? Wisdom seems in these chapters to take up the discourse as at the beginning of the book. They must be considered as the words of Christ to the sinner.

CHAPTER 23

Pr 23:1-35.

1. Avoid the dangers of gluttony.

2. put a knife--an Eastern figure for putting restraint on the appetite.

3. are deceitful meat--though well tasted, injurious.

4-5. (Compare 1Ti 6:9, 10).

thine own wisdom--which regards riches intrinsically as a blessing.

6-8. Beware of deceitful men, whose courtesies even you will repent of having accepted.

evil eye--or purpose (Pr 22:9; De 15:9; Mt 6:23).

9. (Compare Pr 9:8). "Cast not your pearls before swine" (Mt 7:6).

10-11. (Compare Pr 22:22, 23).

12. Here begins another series of precepts.

13-14. While there is little danger that the use of the "divine ordinance of the rod" will produce bodily harm, there is great hope of spiritual good.

15-16. The pleasure afforded the teacher by the pupil's progress is a motive to diligence.

17-18. (Compare Margin). The prosperity of the wicked is short.

19-21. guide ... way--or direct thy thoughts to a right course of conduct (compare Pr 4:4; 9:6).

22. Hearken--that is, obey (Pr 1:8; Ep 6:1).

despise ... old--Adults revere the parents whom, as children, they once obeyed.

23. Buy--literally, "get" (Pr 4:5).

truth--generally and specially as opposed to errors of all kinds.

24-25. (Compare Pr 10:1; 17:21, 25).

26-35. A solemn warning against whoredom and drunkenness (Ho 4:11).

give me--This is the address of that divine wisdom so often presented (Pr 8:1; 9:3, &c.).

heart--confidence.

observe--keep.

my ways--such as I teach you (Pr 3:17; 9:6).

When thou sittest to eat with a ruler - When invited to the table of thy betters, eat moderately. Do not appear as if half starved at home. Eat not of delicacies to which thou art not accustomed; they are deceitful meat; they please, but they do not profit. They are pleasant to the sight, the taste, and the smell; but they are injurious to health. These are prudential cautions; and should be carefully observed by all who would avoid the conduct of a clown, and desire to pass for a well-bred man.

Put a knife to thy throat - Repress thy appetite, and do not be incontinent of speech. Eat, drink, and converse, under a check.

Labour not to be rich - Let not this be thy object. Labour to provide things honest in the sight of God and all men; and if thou get wealth, do not forget the poor, else God's curse will be a canker even in thy gold.

Cease from thine own wisdom - בינתך binathecha, thy own understanding or prudence. The world says, "Get rich if thou canst, and how thou canst." Rem, si possis, recte; si non, quocunque modo rem; "Get a fortune honestly if thou canst; but if not, get one at all events." This is the devil's counsel, and well it is followed; but Solomon says, and God says, "Cease from thine own counsel." Thou hast an immortal soul, and shalt shortly appear before God. Lay up treasure for heaven, and be rich towards God.

Of him that hath an evil eye - Never eat with a covetous or stingy man; if he entertains you at his own expense, he grudges every morsel you put in your mouth. This is well marked by the wise man in the next verse: "Eat and drink, saith he: but his heart is not with thee."

The morsel which thou hast eaten - On reflection thou wilt even blame thyself for having accepted his invitation.

Remove not the old landmark - See Pro 22:28 (note).

Enter not into the fields of the fatherless - Take nothing that belongs to an orphan. The heaviest curse of God will fall upon them that do so.

For their redeemer is mighty - גאלם goalam, their kinsman. The word means the person who has a right, being next in blood, to redeem a field or estate, alienated from the family, to avenge the blood of a murdered relative, by slaying the murderer; and to take to wife a brother's widow, who had died childless, in order to preserve the family. The strength here mentioned refers to the justness of his claim, the extent of his influence, and the powerful abettors of such a cause. But in reference to the orphans here mentioned, they having no kinsman, God takes up, vindicates, and avenges their cause.

Thou shalt beat him with the rod - A proper correction of children was a favourite point of discipline with Solomon. We have already seen how forcibly he speaks on this subject. See the notes on the places referred to in 1Cor 5:5 (note).

Surely there is an end - יש אחרית yesh acharith, there is another life; "and thy expectation" of the enjoyment of a blessed immortality "shall not be cut off." The Old MS. Bible reads thus: For thou schalt hab hop in the last: and thin abiiding schal not ben taken awei. "For the ende is not yet come; and thy patient abydinge shal not be in vayne." - Coverdale.

Be not among winebibbers - There is much of this chapter spent in giving directions concerning eating, drinking, and entertainments in general.

1. he pupil is directed relative to the manner in which he is to conduct himself in his visits to the tables of the rich and great.

2. Relative to the covetous and his intercourse with them. And

3. To public entertainnlents, where there were generally riot and debauch.

The reasons, says Calmet, which induced the wise man to give these directions were,

1. The useless expense.

2. The loss of time.

3. The danger from bad company. And

4. The danger of contracting irregular habits, and of being induced to lead a voluptuous and effeminate life.

Despise not thy mother when she is old - A very necessary caution, as very old women are generally helpless, useless, and burdensome: yet these circumstances do not at all lessen the child's duty. And this duty is strengthened by the Divine command here given.

Buy the truth - Acquire the knowledge of God at all events; and in order to do this, too much pains, industry, and labor cannot be expended.

And sell it not - When once acquired, let no consideration deprive thee of it. Cleave to and guard it, even at the risk of thy life. Coverdale translates: "Labour for to get the treuth; sell not awaye wissdome."

My son, give me thine heart - This is the speech of God to every human soul; give thy affections to God, so as to love him with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength.

And let thine eyes observe my ways - Be obedient to me in all things. My son, thou believest that I Am, and that I Am the Fountain of all good. Give me thy heart; it is I alone who can make thee happy. Observe my ways - follow me; do what is right in my sight. This exhortation contains three words: Believe, Love, Obey! This is the sum of God's counsels to every child of man.

For a whore is a deep ditch - See on Pro 22:14 (note).

Increaseth the transgressors among men - More iniquity springs from this one source of evil, than from any other cause in the whole system of sin. Women and strong drink cause many millions to transgress.

Who hath wo? - I believe Solomon refers here to the natural effects of drunkenness. And perhaps אוי oi, which we translate wo, and אבוי aboi, which we translate sorrow, are mere natural sounds or vociferations that take place among drunken men, either from illness, or the nauseating effects of too much liquor. As to contentions among such, babblings on a variety of subjects, which they neither understand nor are fit to discuss; wounds, got by falling out about nothing; and red eyes, bloodshotten with excess of drink, or black and blue eyes with fighting; - these are such common and general effects of these compotations, as naturally to follow from them. So that they who tarry long at wine, and use mixed wine to make it more inebriating, (see Pro 9:2), are the very persons who are most distinguished by the circumstances enumerated above. I need scarcely add, that by wine and mixed wine all inebriating liquors are to be understood.

Look not thou upon the wine - Let neither the color, the odour, the sparkling, etc., of the wine, when poured out, induce thee to drink of it. However good and pure it may be, it will to thee be a snare, because thou art addicted to it, and hast no self-command.

Thine eyes shall behold strange women - Evil concupiscence is inseparable from drunkenness. Mr. Herbert shows these effects well: -

He that is drunken may his mother kill,Big with his sister: he hath lost the reins;

Is outlawed by himself. All kinds of illDid, with his liquor, slide into his veins.

The drunkard forfeits man; and doth divestAll worldly right, save what he hath by beast.

Herbert's Poems - The Church Porch.

Lieth down in the midst of the sea - He is utterly regardless of life; which is expressed very forcibly by one in a state of intoxication ascending the shrouds, clasping the mast-head, and there falling asleep; whence, in a few moments, he must either fall down upon the deck and be dashed to pieces, or fall into the sea and be drowned. Reader, if thou be a man given to this appetite, put a knife to thy throat.

They have stricken me - Though beat and abused, full of pain, and exhibiting a frightful figure; yet so drunk was he, as to be insensible who had struck him: still, after all this abuse and disgrace, he purposes to embrace the next opportunity of repeating his excesses! Sin makes a man contemptible in life, miserable in death, and wretched to all eternity. Is it not strange, then, that men should Love it?

Ruler - With a great man.

Put a knife - Restrain thine appetite, as if a man stood with a knife at thy throat.

Deceitful - They do not yield thee that satisfaction which thou didst expect from them.

Thine own wisdom - From worldly wisdom, which persuades men to use all possible means to get riches.

Set thine eyes - Look upon it with earnestness and desire. Is not - Which has no solid and settled being. Eagle - Swiftly, strongly, and irrecoverably.

Evil eye - Of the envious or covetous man.

So is he - You are not to judge of him by his words, but by the constant temper of his mind.

Vomit up - When thou perceivest his churlish disposition, his meat will be loathsome to thee. Sweet words - Thy pleasant discourse wherewith thou didst design to delight and profit him.

Of a fool - Cast not away good counsels upon incorrigible sinners.

Enter not - To possess their lands.

Redeemer - Heb. their near kinsman, to whom it belongs to avenge their wrongs, and to recover and maintain their rights.

Shall not die - It is a likely way to prevent his destruction.

My reins - I shall rejoice with all my soul.

An end - An expected and happy end for such as fear God.

Guide - Order the whole course of thine affections and actions. In the way - In God's way.

Buy - Purchase it upon any terms, spare no pains or cost. Truth - The true and saving knowledge of God's will. Sell it not - Do not forsake it for any worldly advantage.

Give me - Solomon here speaks in God's name.

Mixt wine - Either mixed with water, or with other ingredients to make it strong and delicious.

Red - Which was the colour of the best wines in that country. Aright - When it sparkles, and seems to smile upon a man.

Lieth down - To sleep. Sea - In a ship in the midst of the sea.

Sick - I was not sensible of it. Again - At present my condition requires sleep to settle myself, and when I am composed, I purpose to return to my former course.

1 WHen thou sittest to eat with a ruler , consider diligently what is before thee .

When thou art invited to a Feast with a great man.

Either 1. What person or persons. Or rather 2. What things, what plenty and variety of meats and drinks, by which thou maist easily be tempted to excess, and by that means induced to use such speeches or carriages, as may be unfit for thee, or many ways hurtful to thee.

2 And put a knife to thy throat , if thou be a man given to appetite .

Restrain and moderate thine appetite, as if a knife, or some other thing stuck in thy throat, and hindred thee from swallowing what thou didst desire; or, as if a man stood with a knife at thy Throat ready to kill thee, if thou didst transgress; or, though it be as irksom to thee to do so, as if thou hadst a knife put to thy Throat. So this is to be understood metaphorically, as that Phrase of cutting off the right hand, &c. Mat. 5. 29, 30. Or, For thou dost (or, left thou shouldst, as the Syriack Interpreter renders it; or, otherwise thou wiltst or shouldst) put a knife to thy throat. So the sense is, when thou goest to their Feasts, thou dost expose thy self to great and manifest hazards, to thy own intemperance, and to all its dangerous consequences, and to the ill effects of other mens intemperance.

Prone to excess in eating and drinking.

3 Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are▪ deceitful meat .

Either because they do not yield thee that satisfaction which thou didst expect from them, but rather load thee with ill humors & the seeds of divers diseases; or because they are not provided for thee with sincerity and good Will, but with some evil design upon thee, either to discover and betray thee, or to enslave thee▪ See below v. 6, 7.

4 Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom .

Heb. Do not weary thy self with immoderate cares and labors, as many covetous men do.

From that carnal Wisdom which is natural to man in his corrupt estate, which persuades men to believe that it is their interest to use all possible means to get Riches, and that the happiness of their Lives consists in the abundance of their Possessions, directly contrary to the assertion of our blessed▪ Lord, Luke 12▪ 15.

Marginal references: Ch. 28. 20▪ 1 Tim. 6. 9▪ 10.

5 Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not ? for riches certainly make themselves wings, they fly away as [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1+ letters]agle towards heaven.

i. e. Look upon it▪ [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] and greedy desire, employing the Eyes of thy [illegible: 1 word] and Body about it.

Which hath no solid and setled being, which is ours to have, but not to hold, which is always upon the wing, and oft times gone in the twinkling of an Eye, so that the owner is frequently at a loss, and cannot tell whether he hath his Estate, or whether he hath lost it.

Swiftly, strongly, and irrevocably. We quickly lose the sight and possession of them. Their flying away from us is elegantly opposed to our Eyes, being set, or, as it is in the Hebrew, flying upon them in the beginning of the verse.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 word] thou cause [illegible: 1 word] eyes to fly [illegible: 1 word]

6 Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye , neither desire thou his dainty meats.

Of the envious or covetous man, who secretly grudgeth thee the meat which he sets before thee, as this Phrase is used, Prov. 28. 22. Mat. 20. 15. as on the contrary a liberal man is said to have a good Eye, Prov. 22. 9.

7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he : Eat and drink, saith he to thee, but his heart is not with thee .

You are not to judge of him by his words, for so he prosesseth kindness, as it follows, but by the constant temper of his mind, which he hath fully discovered to all that know him by the course of his Life.

He hath no sincere kindness to thee, but inwardly grudgeth thee that which he outwardly offers to thee.

8 The morsel which thou hast eaten, shalt thou vomit up , and lose thy sweet words .

When thou perceivest his churlish disposition and carriage, his meat will be loathsom to thee, and thou wiltst wish either that thou hadst never eaten it, or that thou couldst vomit it up again.

Thy pleasant discourse wherewith thou didst adorn his Table, and design both to delight and profit him, is lost, and of no effect to him, and thou wiltst be ready to repent of it.

9 Speak not in the ears of a fool : for he will despise the wisdom of thy words .

Cast not away good Counsels upon obstinate and incorrigible sinners. We have the same advice given Mat. 7. 6.

He will scornfully reject thy wise and good admonitions.

Marginal references: Chap. 9. 8.

10 Remove not the old land-mark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless .

Either to take away their goods; or rather to possess their Lands, as this Phrase is used, 2 Sam. 5. 6.

Marginal references: Deut. 19. 14. [illegible: 1+ letters] 27. 17.; [illegible: 1 word]. 22. 28. [illegible: 1 word], bound.

11 For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with thee.

Heb. their near kinsman, to whom it belongs to avenge their wrongs, and to recover and maintain their rights, of which see Lev. 25. 25. Numb. 35. 12. Thus God is pleased to call himself, to shew how much he concerns himself for the relief of oppressed and helpless persons.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word] 31. 21. [illegible: 1 word]. 22. 23.

12 Apply thine heart unto instruction , and thine ears unto the words of knowledg.

Content not thy self with outward hearing or reading of it, but affectionately receive it into thine heart, and lay it up there as choice Treasure.

13 With-hold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with a rod, he shall not die .

It is a likely mean to prevent their corruption, and the destruction which commonly follows it, as the next verse explains this.

Marginal references: Ch. 13. 24. [illegible: 1 word] 19. 18. [illegible: 1 word] 22. 15. [illegible: 1 word] 29. 15, 17.

15 My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall [illegible: 1+ letters]rejoice , even mine.

In the good success of my Counsels, and in thy Piety and Happiness, which is as truly desirable and pleasant to me, as my own.

Marginal references: Or, [illegible: 1 word] I [illegible: 1 word] rejoice.

16 Yea, my reins shall rejoice , when thy lips speak right things.

I shall rejoice not onely in shew and profession, but inwardly, and with all my soul.

17 Let not thine heart envy sinners : but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long .

Let not the consideration of their present impunity and prosperity stir thee up, either to envy them, or to approve and imitate their evil courses.

Reverence the presence of the Divine Majesty, and dread his power and justice, and those judgments which he hath prepared for sinners, and thou wil[illegible: 1+ letters]t see no cause to envy, but rather to [illegible: 1 word] them.

Not only when thou art in trouble, but in all times and conditions.

Marginal references: Psal. 37. 1. [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word]. 3. [illegible: 1 word]. 3. 31. [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1+ letters]4. 1.

18 For surely there is an end , and thine expectation shall not be cut off .

An expected and happy end for such as fear God, which was required v. 17. Or, a reward, as this Hebrew word is rendred, Prov. 24. 20.

Thou shalt certainly enjoy that good which thou expectest, as the wicked shall lose that Happiness which they enjoy.

Marginal references: Ch. 24. 14.; Or, reward.

19 Hear thou, my son, and be wise , and guide thine heart in the way .

Rest not in hearing, but see that thou growest wiser and ▪ better by it.

Order the whole course of thine affections and actions.

In Gods way, oft called the way, as hath been observed before.

20 Be not amongst wine-bibbers ; amongst riotous eaters of flesh.

Avoid their conversation and company, lest thou be either insected or injured by them.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]. 5 22. Luke 21. 34. Rom. 13. 13. Eph. 5. 18.; Heb. of their flesh.

21 For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall cloth a man with rags.

Immoderate sleep, and idleness, which is as ready a way to Poverty, as Gluttony or Drunkenness is.

22 Hearken unto thy father that begat thee , and despise not thy mother when she is old .

And therefore desires and seeks thy good in all his counsels.

When the infirmity of age is added to that of her sex, which is apt to breed contempt.

Marginal references: Chap. 1. 8.

23 Buy the truth , and sell it not ; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding .

Purchase it upon any terms, spare no pains nor cost to get it.

The true and saving knowledg of Gods Mind and Will concerning your Salvation, and the way that leads to it.

Do not forget it, nor forsake it for any worldly advantages, as ungodly men frequently do.

Whereby you may love and practise the truth known and received.

Marginal references: Ch. 4. 5, 7.

25 Thy Father and thy mother shall be glad , and she that bare thee shall rejoice.

He repeateth this again as a powerful Argument to prevail with all Children, that are not void of natural affection to labour to be wise and good, that so they may glad the hearts of their Parents to whom they have such high and indelible obligations.

With so great pain and hazard, and brought thee up with such tender care, whom thou canst not better require.

26 My son, give me thine heart , and let thine eyes observe my ways .

Receive my Counsels with thy whole heart. Selomon speaking in Gods Name, and cause, requires the heart to be given to him.

Let thy mind seriously and practically consider.

Either 1. The ways in which I have walked, my evil practices: take warning by my sad example. Or 2. The ways which I prescribe to you, as the Apostles called the Gospel which they preached, their Gospel, 1 Thes. 1. 5. 2 Tim. 2. 8.

27 For a whore is a deep ditch ; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.

In which a man is in evident danger of perdition, and out of which it is exceeding difficult to escape.

Marginal references: Ch. 22. 14.

28 She also lieth in wait as for a prey , and increaseth the transgressors among men .

Watching all opportunities of ensnaring young men to their destruction.

She is the cause of innumerable sins against God, and against the Marriage▪Bed, against the Soul and Body too, and by her wicked Example and Arts, involveth many persons in the guilt of her sins.

Marginal references: Chap. 7. 12.; Or, as a robber.

29 Who hath woe ? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babling ? who hath wounds without cause ? who hath redness of eyes?

From the [illegible: 1 word] of Lust he proceeds to that of drunkenness, which doth frequently accompany it.

The sin of much and impertinent talking: or, [illegible: 1 word] noise or clamour, which is usual among Drunkards. See [illegible: 1 word]. 20. 1.

Upon every sleight occasion, which men enflamed with Wine are very apt to take.

Marginal references: Isa. 5. 11, 22.

30 They that tarry long at the wine, they that go to seek mixt wine .

Either mixed with Water, or with other ingredients to make it strong and delicious. Heb. mixture, mixed drinks of several sorts suited to their Palats.

31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red , when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth it self aright .

Earnestly, so as to inflame thine Appetite towards it, in which sense men are forbidden to look upon a Woman, Job 31. 1. Mat. 5. 28.

Which was the colour of the best Wines in that Countrey, which therefore are called Blood, Gen. 49. 11. Deut. 32. 14. and such were used by them in the Passover.

When it sparkleth and frisketh, and seems to smile upon a Man.

Marginal references: Cant. 7. 9.

32 At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder .

It hurts the Body in many respects, impairs the vigor of the Mind, wastes the Estate and Reputation, wounds the Conscience, and without Repentance, will destroy the Soul.

Marginal references: Or, a Cockatrice.

33 Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things .

With evil intent, or lustfully, which is the effect of drinking much Wine, as is noted in Scripture, Gen. 19. 31, 35. Hos. 4. 18. and other Authors.

Thine Heart, which when thou hadst the use of thy wit, concealed, will then discover its wickedness, by filthy and perverse speeches.

34 Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea , or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast .

To sleep, of which that word is frequently used.

In a Ship in the midst of the Sea, This Phrase notes the temper and condition of the Drunkard, the giddiness of his Brain, the unquietness of his Mind, and especially his extream danger joyned with great security.

The worst part of the Ship, both for its perpetual tossings, and for the hazard of him that sleeps in it.

Marginal references: Heb. in the heart of the Sea.

35 They have stricken me ; shalt thou say; and I was not sick ; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when I shall awake, I will seek it yet again .

I cannot deny that I exposed my self by my Drunkenness to manifold abuses and injuries.

I was not then sensible of it, neither do I now find any great hurt by it; it was but the effect of a present frolick, at which I have no cause to be much troubled.

At present I find some inconvenience, and my condition requires sleep to settle my self, and when I am composed and refreshed, I purpose to return to my former course. But that which Solomon here expresseth, seems rather to be the Language of their Hearts or Lives, than of their actions. Compare Prov. 1. 11.

Marginal references: Heb. I knew it not.

Pro 23:1-3

Pro 22:29, which speaks of a high position near the king, is appropriately followed by a hexastich referring to the slipperiness of the smooth ground of the king’s court. 1 When thou sittest to eat with a ruler,    Consider well whom thou hast before thee. 2 And put thy knife to thy throat    If thou art a man of good appetite. 3 Be not lustful after his dainties,    Because it is deceitful food.

The ל of ללחום is that of end: ad cibum capiendum, thus as one invited by him to his table; in prose the expression would be לאכל לחם; לחם, to eat, is poet., Pro 4:17; Pro 9:5. The fut. תּבין clothes the admonition in the form of a wish or counsel; the infin. intens. בּין makes it urgent: consider well him whom thou hast before thee, viz., that he is not thine equal, but one higher, who can destroy thee as well as be useful to thee. With ושׂמתּ the jussive construction begun by תבין is continued. Zöckler and Dächsel, after Ewald and Hitzig, translate incorrectly: thou puttest..., the perf. consec. after an imperf., or, which is the same thing, a fut. meant optatively (e.g., Lev 19:18 with לא, and also Lev 19:34 without לא) continues the exhortation; to be thus understood, the author ought to have used the expression שׂכּין שׂמתּ and not ושׂמת שׂכין. Rightly Luther: “and put a knife to thy throat,” but continuing: “wilt thou preserve thy life,” herein caught in the same mistake of the idea with Jerome, the Syr., and Targ., to which נפשׁ here separates itself. שׂכּין (סכּין) (Arab. with the assimilated a sikkı̂n, plur. sekâkı̂n, whence sekâkı̂ni, cutler) designates a knife (R. סך שך, to stick, vid., at Isa 9:10). לוע, from לוּע, to devour, is the throat; the word in Aram. signifies only the cheek, while Lagarde seeks to interpret בּלעך infinitively in the sense of (Arab.) bwlw'ak, if thou longest for (from wl'a); but that would make 2b a tautology. The verb לוּע (cf. Arab. l'al', to pant for) shows for the substantive the same primary meaning as glutus from glutire, which was then transferred from the inner organ of swallowing (Kimchi, בית הבליעה, Parchon; הוּשׂט, aesophagus) to the external. “Put a knife to thy throat, is a proverbial expression, like our: the knife stands at his throat; the poet means to say: restrain thy too eager desire by means of the strongest threatening of danger - threaten as it were death to it” (Fleischer). In בּעל נפשׁ, נפשׁ means, as at Pro 13:2, desire, and that desire of eating, as at Pro 6:30. Rightly Rashi: if thou art greedy with hunger, if thou art a glutton; cf. Sir. 34:12 (31:12), “If thou sittest at a great table, then open not widely thy throat (φάρυγγα), and say not: There is certainly much on it!” The knife thus denotes the restraining and moderating of too good an appetite.

In 3a the punctuation fluctuates between תתאו (Michlol 131a) and תתאו; the latter is found in Cod. 1294, the Erfurt 2 and 3, the Cod. Jaman., and thus it is also to be written at Pro 23:6 and Pro 24:1; ויתאו, 1Ch 11:17 and Psa 45:12, Codd. and older Edd. (e.g., Complut. 1517, Ven. 1515, 1521) write with Pathach. מטעמּות, from טעם, signifies savoury dishes, dainties, like (Arab.) dhwâkt, from dhâk (to taste, to relish); cf. sapores, from sapere, in the proverb: the tit-bits of the king burn the lips (vid., Fleischer, Ali’s Hundred Proverbs, etc., pp. 71, 104). With והוּא begins, as at Pro 3:29, a conditioning clause: since it is, indeed, the bread of deceit (the connection like עד־כּחבים, Pro 21:28), food which, as it were, deceives him who eats it, i.e., appears to secure for him the lasting favour of princes, and often enough herein deceives him; cf. the proverb by Burckhardt and Meidani: whoever eats of the sultan’s soup burns his lips, even though it may be after a length of time (Fleischer). One must come near to a king, says Calovius, hitting the meaning of the proverb, as to a fire: not too near, lest he be burned; nor too remote, so that he may be warmed therewith.

Pro 23:4-5

All the forms of proverbs run through these appended proverbs. There now follows a pentastich: 4 Do not trouble thyself to become rich;    Cease from such thine own wisdom. 5 Wilt thou let thine eyes fly after it, and it is gone?    For it maketh itself, assuredly it maketh itself wings,    Like an eagle which fleeth toward the heavens.

The middle state, according to Pro 30:8, is the best: he who troubleth himself (cf. Pro 28:20, hasteth) to become rich, placeth before himself a false, deceitful aim. יגע is essentially one with (Arab.) waji'a, to experience sorrow, dolere, and then signifies, like πονεῖν and κάμνειν, to become or to be wearied, to weary or trouble oneself, to toil and moil (Fleischer). The בּינה (cf. Pro 3:5) is just wisdom, prudence directed towards becoming rich; for striving of itself alone does not accomplish it, unless wisdom is connected with it, which is not very particular in finding out means in their moral relations; but is so much the more crafty, and, as we say, speculative. Rightly Aquila, the Venet., Jerome, and Luther: take not pains to become rich. On the contrary, the lxx reads אל תיגע להעשׁיר, stretch not thyself (if thou art poor) after a rich man; and the Syr. and Targ. אל תּגּע להעשׁיר, draw not near to the rich man; but, apart from the uncertainty of the expression and the construction in both cases, poetry, and proverbial poetry too, does not prefer the article; it never uses it without emphasis, especially as here must be the case with it not elided. These translators thought that 'בּו וגו, Pro 23:5, presupposed a subject expressed in Pro 23:4; but the subject is not העשׁיר, but the עשׁר [riches] contained in להעשׁיר. The self-intelligible it in “it maketh wings,” etc. is that about which trouble has been taken, about which there has been speculation. That is a deceitful possession; for what has been gained by many years of labour and search, often passes away suddenly, is lost in a moment. To let the eyes fly after anything, is equivalent to, to direct a (flying) look toward it: wilt thou let thine eyes rove toward the same, and it is gone? i.e., wilt thou expose thyself to the fate of seeing that which was gained with trouble and craft torn suddenly away from thee? Otherwise Luther, after Jerome: Let not thine eyes fly after that which thou cast not have; but apart from the circumstance that בּו ואיננּוּ cannot possibly be understood in the sense of ad opes quas non potes habere (that would have required באשׁר איננו), in this sense after the analogy of (ל) נשׂא נפשׁ אל, the end aimed at would have been denoted by לו and not by בו. Better Immanuel, after Rashi: if thou doublest, i.e., shuttest (by means of the two eyelids) thine eyes upon it, it is gone, i.e., has vanished during the night; but עוף, duplicare, is Aram. and not Heb. Rather the explanation is with Chajûg, after Isa 8:22.: if thou veilest (darkenest) thine eyes, i.e., yieldest thyself over to carelessness; but the noun עפעפּה shows that עוף, spoken of the eyes, is intended to signify to fly (to rove, flutter). Hitzig too artificially (altering the expression to להעשׁיר): if thou faintest, art weary with the eyes toward him (the rich patron), he is gone - which cannot be adopted, because the form of a question does not accord with it. Nor would it accord if ואיננו were thought of as a conclusion: “dost thou let thy look fly toward it? It is gone;” for what can this question imply? The ו of ואיננו shows that this word is a component part of the question; it is a question lla nakar, i.e., in rejection of the subject of the question: wilt thou cast thy look upon it, and it is gone? i.e., wilt thou experience instant loss of that which is gained by labour and acquired by artifice? On בו, cf. Job 7:8. 'עיניך וגו, “thou directest thine eyes to me: I am no more.” We had in Pro 12:19 another mode of designating viz. till I wink again an instant. The Chethı̂b 'התעוּף וגו is syntactically correct (cf. Pro 15:22; Pro 20:30), and might remain. The Kerı̂ is mostly falsely accentuated התּעיף, doubly incorrectly; for (1) the tone never retreats from a shut syllable terminating in î, e.g., להכין, Isa 40:20; בהכין, 1Ch 1:4; אבין, Job 23:8; and (2) there is, moreover, wanting here any legitimate occasion for the retrogression of the tone; thus much rather the form התּעיף (with Mehuppach of the last, and Zinnorith of the preceding open syllable) is to be adopted, as it is given by Opitz, Jablonsky, Michaelis, and Reineccius.

The subject of 5b is, as of 5a, riches. That riches take wings and flee away, is a more natural expression than that the rich patron flees away - a quaint figure, appropriate however at Nah 3:16, where the multitude of craftsmen flee out of Nineveh like a swarm of locusts. עשׂה has frequently the sense of acquirere, Gen 12:5, with לו, sibi acquirere, 1Sa 15:1; 1Ki 1:15; Hitzig compares Silius Ital. xvi. 351: sed tum sibi fecerat alas. The inf. intensivus strengthens the assertion: it will certainly thus happen.

In 5c all unnecessary discussion regarding the Chethı̂b ועיף is to be avoided, for this Chethı̂b does not exist; the Masora here knows only of a simple Chethı̂b and Kerı̂, viz., ועוּף (read יעוּף), not of a double one (ועיּף), and the word is not among those which have in the middle a י, which is to be read like ו. The manuscripts (e.g., also the Bragadin. 1615) have ועוּף, and the Kerı̂ יעוּף; it is one of the ten words registered in the Masora, at the beginning of which a י is to be read instead of the written ו. Most of the ancients translate with the amalgamation of the Kerı̂ and the Chethı̂b: and he (the rich man, or better: the riches) flees heavenwards (Syr., Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, Jerome, and Luther). After the Kerı̂ the Venet. renders: ὡς ἀετὸς πτήσεται τοῖς οὐρανοῖς (viz., ὁ πλοῦτος). Rightly the Targ.: like an eagle which flies to heaven (according to which also it is accentuated), only it is not to be translated “am Himmel” [to heaven], but “gen Himmel” [towards heaven]: השּׁמים is the accusative of direction - the eagle flies heavenward. Bochart, in the Hierozoïcon, has collected many parallels to this comparison, among which is the figure in Lucian’s Timon, where Pluto, the god of wealth, comes to one limping and with difficulty; but going away, outstrips in speed the flight of all birds. The lxx translates ὥσπερ ἀετοῦ καὶ ὑποστρέφει εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ προεστηκότος αὐτοῦ. Hitzig accordingly reads שׁבו לבית משׂגּבּו, and he (the rich patron) withdraws from thee to his own steep residence. But ought not οἶκος τοῦ προεστηκότος αὐτοῦ to be heaven, as the residence of Him who administers wealth, i.e., who gives and again takes it away according to His free-will?

Pro 23:6-8

There now follows a proverb with unequally measured lines, perhaps a heptastich: 6 Eat not the bread of the jealous,    And let not thyself lust after his dainties; 7 For as one who calculates with himself, so is he:    “Eat and drink,” saith he to thee;    But his heart is not with thee. 8 Thy morsel which thou hast enjoyed wilt thou cast up,    And hast lost thy pleasant words.

As טוב עין, Pro 22:9, benignus oculo, denotes the pleasantness and joy of social friendship; so here (cf. Deu 15:9; Mat 15:15) רע עין, malignus oculo, the envy and selfishness of egoism seeking to have and retain all for itself. The lxx ἀνδρὶ βασκάνῳ, for the look of the evil eye, עין רע, עינא בישׁא (cattivo occhio), refers to enchantment; cf. βασκαίνειν, fascinare, to bewitch, to enchant, in modern Greek, to envy, Arab. 'an, to eye, as it were, whence ma‛jûn, ma‛ı̂n, hit by the piercing look of the envious eye, invidiae, as Apuleius says, letali plaga percussus (Fleischer). Regarding תּתאו with Pathach, vid., the parallel line 3a. 7a is difficult. The lxx and Syr. read שׂער [hair]. The Targ. renders תּרעא רמא, and thus reads שׁער [fool], and thus brings together the soul of the envious person and a high portal, which promises much, but conceals only deception behind (Ralbag). Joseph ha-Nakdan readsIn an appendix to Ochla We-Ochla, in the University Library at Halle, he reads שׂער, but with פליגא [doubtful] added. שׂער with sîn; and Rashi, retaining the schîn, compares the “sour figs,” Jer 29:17. According to this, Luther translates: like a ghost (a monster of lovelessness) is he inwardly; for, as it appears in שׂער, the goat-like spectre שׂעיר hovered before him. Schultens better, because more in conformity with the text: quemadmodum suam ipsius animam abhorret (i.e., as he does nothing to the benefit of his own appetite) sic ille (erga alios multo magis). The thought is appropriate, but forced. Hitzig for once here follows Ewald; he does not, however, translate: “like as if his soul were divided, so is it;” but: “as one who is divided in his soul, so is he;” but the verb שׁער, to divide, is inferred from שׁער, gate = division, and is as foreign to the extra-bibl. usus loq. as it is to the bibl. The verb שׁער signifies to weigh or consider, to value, to estimate. These meanings Hitzig unites together: in similitudinem arioli et conjectoris aestimat quod ignorat, perhaps meaning thereby that he conjecturally supposes that as it is with him, so it is with others: he dissembles, and thinks that others dissemble also. Thus also Jansen explains. The thought is far-fetched, and does not cover itself by the text. The translation of the Venet. also: ὡς γὰρ ἐμέτρησεν ἐν ψυχῇ οἱ οὕτως ἐστίν (perhaps: he measures to others as penuriously as to himself), does not elucidate the text, but obscures it. Most moderns (Bertheau, Zöckler, Dächsel, etc.): as he reckons in his soul, so is he (not as he seeks to appear for a moment before thee). Thus also Fleischer: quemadmodum reputat apud se, ita est (sc. non ut loquitur), with the remark that שׁער (whence שׁער, measure, market value, Arab. si'r), to measure, to tax to as to determine the price, to reckon; and then like חשׁב, in general, to think, and thus also Meîri with the neut. rendering of ita est. But why this circumlocution in the expression? The poet ought in that case just to have written כי לא למו דבּר בשׂפתיו כן הוא, for he is not as he speaks with his mouth. If one read שׁער (Symmachus, εἰκάζων), then we have the thought adapted to the portrait that is drawn; for like one calculating by himself, so is he, i.e., he is like one who estimates with himself the value of an object; for which we use the expression: he reckons the value of every piece in thy mouth. However, with this understanding the punctuation also of שׁער as finite may be retained and explained after Isa 26:18 : for as if he reckoned in his soul, so is he; but in this the perf. is inappropriate; by the particip. one reaches the same endWe may write כּן הוּא: the Mehuppach (Jethîb) sign of the Olewejored standing between the two words represents also the place of the Makkeph; vid., Thorath Emeth, p. 20. by a smoother way. True, he says to thee: eat and drink (Sol 5:1), he invites thee with courtly words; but his heart is not with thee (בּל, like Pro 24:23): he only puts on the appearance of joy if thou partakest abundantly, but there lurks behind the mask of liberal hospitality the grudging niggardly calculator, who poisons thy every bite, every draught, by his calculating, grudging look. Such a feast cannot possibly do good to the guest: thy meal (פּת, from פּתת; cf. κλᾶν τὸν ἄρτον, Aram. פּרס לחמא, to divide and distribute bread, whence פּרנס, to receive aliment, is derived) which thou hast eaten thou wilt spue out, i.e., wilt vomit from disgust that thou hast eaten such food, so that that which has been partaken of does thee no good. פּתּך is also derived from פּתּה:Immanuel makes so much of having recognised the verb in this פּתּך (and has he persuaded thee), that in the concluding part of his Divan (entitled Machberoth Immanuel), which is an imitation of Dante’s Divina Commedia, he praises himself on this account in the paradise of King Solomon, who is enraptured by this explanation, and swears that he never meant that word otherwise. has he deceived thee (with his courtly words), but with this אכלתּ, which, as the Makkeph rightly denotes, stands in an attributive relation to פתך, does not agree. תקיאנּה is Hiph. of קוא, as transitive: to make vomiting; in Arab. the fut. Kal of ka terminates in î. The fair words which the guest, as the perf. consec. expresses, has lavished, are the words of praise and thanks in which he recognises the liberality of the host appearing so hospitable. Regarding the penult. accenting of the perf. consec. by Mugrasch, as Pro 30:9, vid., under Psa 27:1. Pinsker (Babyl.-Hebr. Punktationssystem, p. 134) conjectures that the line 8b originally formed the concluding line of the following proverb. But at the time of the lxx (which erroneously expresses ושׁחת) it certainly stood as in our text.

Pro 23:9

Another case in which good words are lost:

Speak not to the ears of a fool,

For he will despise the wisdom of thy words.

To speak in the ears of any one, does not mean to whisper to him, to so to speak that it is distinctly perceived. כּסיל, as we have no often explained, is the intellectually heavy and dull, like pinguis and tardus; Arab. balyd, clumsy, intellectually immoveable (cf. bld, the place where one places himself firmly down, which one makes his point of gravity). The heart of such an one is covered over (Psa 119:70), as with grease, against all impressions of better knowledge; he has for the knowledge which the words spoken design to impart to him, no susceptibility, no mind, but only contempt. The construction בּוּז ל has been frequently met with from Pro 6:30.

Pro 23:10-11

The following proverb forms a new whole from component parts of Pro 22:28 and Pro 22:22.: 10 Remove not ancient landmarks;      And into the fields of orphans enter thou not. 11 For their Saviour is a mighty one;      He will conduct their cause against thee. בּוא ב separates itself here to the meaning of injuste invadere et occupare; French, empiéter sur son voisin, advance not into the ground belonging to thy neighbour (Fleischer). If orphans have also no goel among their kindred (Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, ἀγχιστεύς) to redeem by purchase (Lev 25:25) their inheritance that has passed over into the possession of another, they have another, and that a mighty Saviour, Redemptor, who will restore to them that which they have lost - viz. God (Jer 50:34) - who will adopt their cause against any one who has unjustly taken from them.

Pro 23:12

The following proverb warrants us to pause here, for it opens up, as a compendious echo of Pro 22:17-21, a new series of proverbs of wisdom: 12 Apply thine heart to instruction,      And thine ear to the utterances of knowledge.

We may, according as we accent in למּוּסר the divine origin or the human medium, translate, offer disciplinae (Schultens), or adhibe ad disciplinam cor tuum (Fleischer). This general admonition is directed to old and young, to those who are to be educated as well as to those who are educated. First to the educator:

Pro 23:13-14 13 Withhold not correction from the child;      For thou will beat him with the rod, and he will not die. 14 Thou beatest him with the rod,      And with it deliverest his soul from hell.

The exhortation, 13a, presupposes that education by word and deed is a duty devolving on the father and the teacher with regard to the child. In 13b, כּי is in any case the relative conjunction. The conclusion does not mean: so will he not fall under death (destruction), as Luther also would have it, after Deu 19:21, for this thought certainly follows Pro 23:14; nor after Pro 19:18 : so may the stroke not be one whereof he dies, for then the author ought to have written אל־תּמיתנּוּ; but: he will not die of it, i.e., only strike if he has deserved it, thou needest not fear; the bitter medicine will be beneficial to him, not deadly. The אתּה standing before the double clause, Pro 23:14, means that he who administers corporal chastisement to the child, saves him spiritually; for שׁאול does not refer to death in general, but to death falling upon a man before his time, and in his sins, vid., Pro 15:24, cf. Pro 8:26.

Pro 23:15-16

The following proverb passes from the educator to the pupil: 15 My son, if thine heart becometh wise,      My heart also in return will rejoice; 16 And my reins will exult      If thy lips speak right things.

Wisdom is inborn in no one. A true Arab. proverb says, “The wise knows how the fool feels, for he himself was also once a fool;”The second part of the saying is, “But a fool knows not how a wise man feels, for he has never been a wise man.” I heard this many years ago, from the mouth of the American missionary Schaufler, in Constantinople. and folly is bound up in the heart of a child, according to Pro 22:15, which must be driven out by severe discipline. 15b, as many others, cf. Pro 22:19, shows that these “words of the wise” are penetrated by the subjectivity of an author; the author means: if thy heart becomes wise, so will mine in return, i.e., corresponding to it (cf. גּם, Gen 20:6), rejoice. The thought of the heart in Pro 23:15 repeats itself in Pro 23:16, with reference to the utterance of the mouth. Regarding מישׁרים, vid., Pro 1:5. Regarding the “reins,” כּליות (perhaps from כּלה, to languish, Job 19:21), with which the tender and inmost affections are connected, vid., Psychologie, p. 268f.

Pro 23:17-18

The poet now shows how one attains unto wisdom - the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God: 17 Let not thine heart strive after sinners,      But after the fear of Jahve all the day. 18 Truly there is a future,      And thy hope shall not come to naught.

The lxx, Jerome, the Venet., and Luther, and the Arab. interpreters, render 17b as an independent clause: “but be daily in the fear of the Lord.” That is not a substantival clause (cf. Pro 22:7), nor can it be an interjectional clause, but it may be an elliptical clause (Fleischer: from the prohibitive אל־תקנא is to be taken for the second parallel member the v. subst. lying at the foundation of all verbs); but why had the author omitted היה dettim? Besides, one uses the expressions, to act (עשׂה), and to walk (הלך) in the fear of God, but not the expression to be (היה) in the fear of God. Thus בּיראת, like בחטּאים, is dependent on אל־תּקנּא; and Jerome, who translates: Non aemuletur cor tuum peccatores, sed in timore Domini esto tota die, ought to have continued: sed timorem Domini tota die; for, as one may say in Latin: aemulari virtutes, as well as aemulari aliquem, so also in Heb. קנּא ב, of the envying of those persons whose fortune excites to dissatisfaction, because one has not the same, and might yet have it, Pro 3:31; Pro 24:1, Pro 24:19, as well as of emulation for a thing in which one might not stand behind others: envy not sinners, envy much rather the fear of God, i.e., let thyself be moved with eager desire after it when its appearance is presented to thee. There is no O.T. parallel for this, but the Syr. tan and the Greek ζηλοτυποῦν are used in this double sense. Thus Hitzig rightly, and, among the moderns, Malbim; with Aben Ezra, it is necessary to take ביראת for באישׁ יראת, this proverb itself declares the fear of God to be of all things the most worthy of being coveted.

In Pro 23:18, Umbreit, Elster, Zöckler, and others interpret the כּי as assigning a reason, and the אם as conditioning: for when the end (the hour of the righteous judgment) has come; Bertheau better, because more suitable to the ישׁ and the אחרית: when an end (an end adjusting the contradictions of the present time) comes, as no doubt it will come, then thy hope will not be destroyed; but, on the other hand, the succession of words in the conclusion (vid., at Pro 3:34) opposes this; also one does not see why the author does not say directly כי ישׁ אחרית, but expresses himself thus conditionally.The form כּי אם־ does not contradict the connection of the two particles. This use of the Makkeph is general, except in these three instances: Gen 15:4; Num 35:33; Neh 2:2.

If אם is meant hypothetically, then, with the lxx ἐὰν γὰρ τηρήσῃς αὐτὰ ἔκγονα, we should supply after it תּשׁמרנּה, that had fallen out. Ewald's: much rather there is yet a future (Dächsel: much rather be happy there is...), is also impossible; for the preceding clause is positive, not negative. The particles כּי אם, connected thus, mean: for if (e.g., Lam 3:32); or also relatively: that if (e.g., Jer 26:15). After a negative clause they have the meaning of “unless,” which is acquired by means of an ellipsis; e.g., Isa 55:10, it turns not back thither, unless it has watered the earth (it returns back not before then, not unless this is done). This “unless” is, however, used like the Lat. nisi, also without the conditioning clause following, e.g., Gen 28:17, hic locus non est nisi domus Dei. And hence the expression כי אם, after the negation going before, acquires the meaning of “but,” e.g., 17b: let not thy heart be covetous after sinners, for thou canst always be zealous for the fear of God, i.e., much rather for this, but for this. This pleonasm of אם sometimes occurs where כי is not used confirmatively, but affirmatively: the “certainly if” forms the transition, e.g., 1Ki 20:6 (vid., Keil’s Comm. l.c.), whose “if” is not seldom omitted, so that כי אם has only the meaning of an affirmative “certainly,” not “truly no,” which it may also have, 1Sa 25:34, but “truly yes.” Thus כי אם is used Jdg 15:7; 2Sa 15:21 (where אם is omitted by the Kerı̂); 2Ki 5:20; Jer 51:14; and thus it is also meant here, 18a, notwithstanding that כי אם, in its more usual signification, “besides only, but, nisi,” precedes, as at 1Sa 21:6, cf. 5. The objection by Hitzig, that with this explanation: “certainly there is a future,” Pro 23:18 and Pro 23:17 are at variance, falls to the ground, if one reflects on the Heb. idiom, in which the affirmative signification of כי is interpenetrated by the confirmative. אחרית used thus pregnantly, as here (Pro 24:14), is the glorious final issue; the word in itself designates the end into which human life issues (cf. Psa 37:37.); here, the end crowning the preceding course. Jeremiah (Jer 29:11) in this sense connects אחרית ותקוה [end and expectation]. And what is here denied of the תּקיה, the hope (not as certain Jewish interpreters dream, the thread of life) of him who zealously strives after the fear of God, is affirmed, at Psa 37:38, of the godless: the latter have no continuance, but the former have such as is the fulfilling of his hope.

Pro 23:19-21

Among the virtues which flow from the fear of God, temperance is made prominent, and the warning against excess is introduced by the general exhortation to wisdom: 19 Hear thou, my son, and become wise,      And direct thy heart straight forward on the way. 20 And be not among wine-drinkers,      And among those who devour flesh; 21 For the drunkard and glutton become poor,      And sleepiness clotheth in rags.

The אתּה, connected with שׁמע, imports that the speaker has to do with the hearer altogether by himself, and that the latter may make an exception to the many who do not hear (cf. Job 33:33; Jer 2:31). Regarding אשּׁר, to make to go straight out, vid., at Pro 4:14; the Kal, Pro 9:6, and also the Piel, Pro 4:14, mean to go straight on, and, generally, to go. The way merely, is the one that is right in contrast to the many byways. Fleischer: “the way sensu eximio, as the Oriental mystics called the way to perfection merely (Arab.) âlaṭryḳ; and him who walked therein, âlsâlak, the walker or wanderer.”Rashi reads בדרך לבך (walk), in the way of thy heart (which has become wise), and so Heidenheim found it in an old MS; but בדרך is equivalent to בדרך בינה, Pro 9:6. אל־תּתי ב, as at Pro 22:26, the “Words of the Wise,” are to be compared in point of style. The degenerate and perverse son is more clearly described, Deu 21:20, as זולל וסבא. These two characteristics the poet distributes between 20a and 20b. סבא means to drink (whence סבא, drink = wine, Isa 1:22) wine or other intoxicating drinks; Arab. sabâ, vinum potandi causa emere. To the יין here added, בּשׂר in the parallel member corresponds, which consequently is not the fleshly body of the gluttons themselves, but the prepared flesh which they consume at their luxurious banquets. The lxx incorrectly as to the word, but not contrary to the sense, “be no wine-bibber, and stretch not thyself after picknicks (συμβολαῖς), and buying in of flesh (κρεῶν τε ἀγορασμοῖς),” whereby זללי is translated in the sense of the Aram. זבני (Lagarde). זלל denotes, intransitively, to be little valued (whence זולל, opp. יקר, Jer 15:19), transitively to value little, and as such to squander, to lavish prodigally; thus: qui prodigi sunt carnis sibi; למו is dat. commodi. Otherwise Gesenius, Fleischer, Umbreit, and Ewald: qui prodigi sunt carnis suae, who destroy their own body; but the parallelism shows that flesh is meant wherewith they feed themselves, not their own flesh (בּשׂר למו, like חמת־למו, Psa 58:5), which, i.e., its health, they squander. זולל also, in phrase used in Deu 21:20 (cf. with Hitzig the formula φάγος καὶ οἰνοπότης, Mat 11:19), denotes not the dissolute person, as the sensualist, πορνοκόπος (lxx), but the συμβολοκόπος (Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion), κρεωβόρος (Venet.), זלל בּסר (Onkelos), i.e., flesh-eater, ravenous person, glutton, in which sense it is rendered here, by the Syr. and Targ., by אסוט (אסיט), i.e., ἄσωτος. Regarding the metaplastic fut. Niph. יוּרשׁ (lxx πτωχεύσει), vid., at Pro 20:13, cf. Pro 11:25. נוּמה (after the form of בּוּשׁה, דּוּגה, צוּרה) is drowsiness, lethargy, long sleeping, which necessarily follows a life of riot and revelry. Such a slothful person comes to a bit of bread (Pro 21:17); and the disinclination and unfitness for work, resulting from night revelry, brings it about that at last he must clothe himself in miserable rags. The rags are called קרע and ῥάκος, from the rending (tearing), Arab. ruk'at, from the patching, mending. Lagarde, more at large, treats of this word here used for rags.

Pro 23:22-25

The parainesis begins anew, and the division is open to question. Pro 23:22-24 can of themselves be independent distichs; but this is not the case with Pro 23:25, which, in the resumption of the address and in expression, leans back on Pro 23:22. The author of this appendix may have met with Pro 23:23 and Pro 23:24 (although here also his style, as conformed to that of Pro 1:9, is noticeable, cf. 23b with Pro 1:2), but Pro 23:22 and Pro 23:25 are the form which he has given to them.

Thus Pro 23:22-25 are a whole: - 22 Hearken to thy father, to him who hath begotten thee,      And despise not thy mother when she has grown old. 23 Buy the truth, and sell it not,      Wisdom and discipline and understanding. 24 The father of a righteous man rejoiceth greatly;      (And) he that is the father of a wise man - he will rejoice. 25 Let thy father and thy mother be glad;      And her that bare thee exult.

The octastich begins with a call to childlike obedience, for שׁמע ל, to listen to any one, is equivalent to, to obey him, e.g., Psa 81:9, Psa 81:14 (cf. “hearken to his voice,” Psa 95:7). זה ילדך is a relative clause (cf. Deu 32:18, without זה or אשׁר), according to which it is rightly accentuated (cf. on the contrary, Psa 78:54). 22b, strictly taken, is not to be translated neve contemne cum senuerit matrem tuam (Fleischer), but cum senuerit mater tua, for the logical object to אל־תּבוּז is attracted as subj. of זקנה (Hitzig). There now follows the exhortation comprehending all, and formed after Pro 4:7, to buy wisdom, i.e., to shun no expense, no effort, no privation, in order to attain to the possession of wisdom; and not to sell it, i.e., not to place it over against any earthly possession, worldly gain, sensual enjoyment; not to let it be taken away by any intimidation, argued away by false reasoning, or prevailed against by enticements into the way of vice, and not to become unfaithful to it by swimming with the great stream (Exo 23:2); for truth, אמת, is that which endures and proves itself in all spheres, the moral as well as the intellectual. In 23b, in like manner as Pro 1:3; Pro 22:4, a threefold object is given to קנה instead of אמת: there are three properties which are peculiar to truth, the three powers which handle it: חכמה is knowledge solid, pressing into the essence of things; מוּסר is moral culture; and בּינה the central faculty of proving and distinguishing (vid., Pro 1:3-5). Now Pro 23:24 says what consequences are for the parents when the son, according to the exhortation of Pro 23:23, makes truth his aim, to which all is subordinated. Because in אמת the ideas of practical and theoretical truth are inter-connected. צדּיק and חכם are also here parallel to one another. The Chethı̂b of 24a is גּול יגוּל, which Schultens finds tenable in view of (Arab.) jal, fut jajûlu (to turn round; Heb. to turn oneself for joy) but the Heb. usus loq. knows elsewhere only גּיל יגיל, as the Kerı̂ corrects. The lxx, misled by the Chethı̂b, translates καλῶς ἐκτρέφει (incorrect ἐκτρυφήσει), i.e., גּדּל יגדּל. In 24b, וישׂמח is of the nature of a pred. of the conclusion (cf. Gen 22:24; Psa 115:7), as if the sentence were: has one begotten a wise man, then (cf. Pro 17:21) he has joy of him; but the Kerı̂ effaces this Vav apodosis, and assigns it to יולד as Vav copul. - an unnecessary mingling of the syntactically possible, more emphatic expression. This proverbial whole now rounds itself off in Pro 23:25 by a reference to Pro 23:22 - the Optative here corresponding to the Impr. and Prohib. there: let thy father and thy mother rejoice (lxx εὐφρανέσθω), and let her that bare thee exult (here where it is possible the Optat. form ותגל).

Pro 23:26-28

This hexastich warns against unchastity. What, in chap. 1-9, extended discourses and representations exhibited to the youth is here repeated in miniature pictures. It is the teacher of wisdom, but by him Wisdom herself, who speaks: 26 Give me, my son, thine heart;      And let thine eyes delight in my ways. 27 For the harlot is a deep ditch,      And the strange woman a narrow pit. 28 Yea, she lieth in wait like a robber,      And multiplieth the faithless among men

We have retained Luther’s beautiful rendering of Pro 23:26,The right punctuation of 26a is תּנה־בני לבּך, as it is found in the editions: Ven. 1615; Basel 1619; and in those of Norzi and Michaelis. in which this proverb, as a warning word of heavenly wisdom and of divine love, has become dear to us. It follows, as Symmachus and the Venet., the Chethı̂b תּרצנה (for תרצינה, like Exo 2:16; Job 5:12), the stylistic appropriateness of which proceeds from Pro 16:7, as on the other hand the Kerı̂ תּצּרנה (cf. 1Sa 14:27) is supported by Pro 22:12, cf. Pro 5:2. But the correction is unnecessary, and the Chethı̂b sounds more affectionate, hence it is with right defended by Hitzig. The ways of wisdom are ways of correction, and particularly of chastity, thus placed over against “the ways of the harlot,” Pro 7:24. Accordingly the exhortation, Pro 23:26, verifies itself; warning, by Pro 23:27, cf. Pro 22:14, where עמקּה was written, here as at Job 12:22, with the long vowel עמוּקה (עמקה). בּאר צרה interchanges with שׁוּחה עמוקה, and means, not the fountain of sorrow (Löwenstein), but the narrow pit. בּאר is fem. gen., Pro 26:21., and צר means narrow, like étroit (old French, estreit), from strictus. The figure has, after Pro 22:14, the mouth of the harlot in view. Whoever is enticed by her syren voice falls into a deep ditch, into a pit with a narrow mouth, into which one can more easily enter than escape from. Pro 23:28 says that it is the artifice of the harlot which draws a man into such depth of wickedness and guilt. With אף, which, as at Jdg 5:29, belongs not to היא but to the whole sentence, the picture of terror is completed. The verb חתף (whence Arab. ḥataf, death, natural death) means to snatch away. If we take חתף as abstr.: a snatching away, then it would here stand elliptically for חתף (בּעל) אישׁ, which in itself is improbable (vid., Pro 7:22, עכס) and also unnecessary, since, as מלך, עבד, הלך, etc. show, such abstracta can pass immediately into concreta, so that חתף thus means the person who snatches away, i.e., the street robber, latro (cf. חטף .fc(, Arab. khaṭaf, Psa 10:9, rightly explained by Kimchi as cogn.). In 28b, תוסיף cannot mean abripit (as lxx, Theodotion, and Jerome suppose), for which the word תּספּה (תּאסף) would have been used.The Targ. translates 28b (here free from the influence of the Peshito) in the Syro-Palestinian idiom by וצאד אבניּא שׁברי, i.e., she seizes thoughtless sons.

But this verbal idea does not harmonize with the connection; תוסיף means, as always, addit (auget), and that here in the sense of multiplicat. The same thing may be said of בּוגדים as is said (Pro 11:15) of תּוקעים. Hitzig’s objection, “הוסיף, to multiply, with the accusative of the person, is not at all used,” is set aside by Pro 19:4. But we may translate: the faithless, or: the breach of faith she increases. Yet it always remains a question whether בּאדם is dependent on בוגדים, as Ecc 8:9, cf. 2Sa 23:3, on the verb of ruling (Hitzig), or whether, as frequently בּאדם, e.g., Psa 78:60, it means inter homines (thus most interpreters). Uncleanness leads to faithlessness of manifold kinds: it makes not only the husband unfaithful to his wife, but also the son to his parents, the scholar to his teacher and pastor, the servant (cf. the case of Potiphar’s wife) to his master. The adulteress, inasmuch as she entices now one and now another into her net, increases the number of those who are faithless towards men. But are they not, above all, faithless towards God? We are of opinion that not בוגדים, but תוסיף, has its complement in באדם, and needs it: the adulteress increases the faithless among men, she makes faithlessness of manifold kinds common in human society. According to this, also, it is accentuated; ובוגדים is placed as object by Mugrasch, and באדם is connected by Mercha with תוסיף.

Pro 23:29-35

The author passes from the sin of uncleanness to that of drunkenness; they are nearly related, for drunkenness excites fleshly lust; and to wallow with delight in the mire of sensuality, a man, created in the image of God, must first brutalize himself by intoxication. The Mashal in the number of its lines passes beyond the limits of the distich, and becomes a Mashal ode. 29 Whose is woe? Whose is grief?      Whose are contentions, whose trouble, whose wounds without cause?      Whose dimness of eyes? 30 Theirs, who sit late at the wine,      Who turn in to taste mixed wine. 31 Look not on the wine as it sparkleth red,      As it showeth its gleam in the cup,      Glideth down with ease. 32 The end of it is that it biteth like a serpent,      And stingeth like a basilisk. 33 Thine eyes shall see strange things,      And thine heart shall speak perverse things; 34 And thou art as one lying in the heart of the sea,      And as one lying on the top of a mast. 35 “They have scourged me-it pained me not;      They have beaten me - I perceived it not.      When shall I have wakened from sleep?      Thus on I go, I return to it again.”

The repeated למיWe punctuate למי אוי, for that is Ben Asher’s punctuation, while that of his opponent Ben Naphtali is למי־אוי. Vid., Thorath Emeth, p. 33. asks who then has to experience all that; the answer follows in Pro 23:30. With אוי, the אבוי occurring only here accords; it is not a substantive from אבה (whence אבון) after the form of צחק, in the sense of egestas; but, like the former [אוי], an interjection of sorrow (Venet. τίνι αἲ, τίνι φεῦ). Regarding מדינים (Chethı̂b מדונים), vid., at Pro 6:14. שׂיח signifies (vid., at Pro 6:22) meditation and speech, here sorrowful thought and sorrowful complaint (1Sa 1:16; Psa 55:18; cf. הגה, הגיג), e.g., over the exhausted purse, the neglected work, the anticipated reproaches, the diminishing strength. In the connection פּצעים חנּם (cf. Psa 35:19) the accus. adv. חנם (French gratuitement) represents the place of an adjective: strokes which one receives without being in the situation from necessity, or duty to expect them, strokes for nothing and in return for nothing (Fleischer), wounds for a long while (Oetinger). חכללוּת עינים is the darkening (clouding) of the eyes, from חצל, to be dim, closed, and transferred to the sensation of light: to be dark (vid., at Gen 49:12; Psa 10:8); the copper-nose of the drunkard is not under consideration; the word does not refer to the reddening, but the dimming of the eyes, and of the power of vision. The answer, Pro 23:30, begins, in conformity with the form of the question, with ל (write למאחרים, with Gaja to ל, according to Metheg-Setzung, §20, Michlol 46b): pain, and woe, and contention they have who tarry late at the wine (cf. Isa 5:11), who enter (viz., into the wine-house, Ecc 2:4, the house of revelry) “to search” mingled drink (vid., at Pro 9:2; Isa 5:22). Hitzig: “they test the mixing, as to the relation of the wine to the water, whether it is correct.” But לחקור is like גּבּרים, Isa 5:22, meant in mockery: they are heroes, viz., heroes in drinking; they are searchers, such, namely, as seek to examine into the mixed wine, or also: thoroughly and carefully taste it (Fleischer).

The evil consequences of drunkenness are now registered. That one may not fall under this common sin, the poet, Pro 23:31, warns against the attraction which the wine presents to the sight and to the sense of taste: one must not permit himself to be caught as a prisoner by this enticement, but must maintain his freedom against it. התאדּם, to make, i.e., to show oneself red, is almost equivalent to האדים; and more than this, it presents the wine as itself co-operating and active by its red play of colours (Fleischer). Regarding the antiptosis (antiphonesis): Look not on the wine that is..., vid., at Gen 1:3; yet here, where ראה means not merely “to see,” but “to look at,” the case is somewhat different. In 31b, one for the most part assumes that עינו signifies the eye of the wine, i.e., the pearls which play on the surface of the wine (Fleischer). And, indeed, Hitzig’s translation, after Num 11:7 : when it presents its appearance in the cup, does not commend itself, because it expresses too little. On the other hand, it is saying too much when Böttcher maintains that עין never denotes the mere appearance, but always the shining aspect of the object. But used of wine, עין appears to denote not merely aspect as such, but its gleam, glance; not its pearls, for which עיני would be the word used, but shining glance, by which particularly the bright glance, as out of deep darkness, of the Syro-Palestinian wine is thought of, which is for the most part prepared from red (blue) grapes, and because very rich in sugar, is thick almost like syrup. Jerome translates עינו well: (cum splenduerit in vitro) color ejus. But one need not think of a glass; Böttcher has rightly said that one might perceive the glittering appearance also in a metal or earthen vessel if one looked into it. The Chethı̂b בכיס is an error of transcription; the Midrash makes the remark on this, that בּכּיס fits the wine merchant, and בּכּוס the wine drinker. From the pleasure of the eye, 31c passes over to the pleasures of the taste: (that, or, as it) goeth down smoothly (Luther); the expression is like Ecc 7:10. Instead of הלך (like jâry, of fluidity) there stands here התהלך, commonly used of pleasant going; and instead of למישׁרים with ל, the norm בּמישׁרים with ב of the manner; directness is here easiness, facility (Arab. jusr); it goes as on a straight, even way unhindered and easily down the throat.The English version is, “when it moveth itself aright,” which one has perceived in the phenomenon of the tears of the wine, or of the movement in the glass. Vid., Ausland, 1869, p. 72.

Pro 23:32 shows how it issues with the wine, viz., with those who immoderately enjoy it. Is אחריתו [its end] here the subject, as at Pro 5:4? We must in that case interpret ישּׁך and יפרשׁ as attributives, as the Syr. and Targ. translate the latter, and Ewald both. The issue which it brings with it is like the serpent which bites, etc., and there is nothing syntactically opposed to this (cf. e.g., Psa 17:12); the future, in contradistinction to the participle, would not express properties, but intimations of facts. But the end of the wine is not like a serpent, but like the bite of a serpent. The wine itself, and independent of its consequences, is in and of itself like a serpent. In accordance with the matter, אחריתו may be interpreted, with Hitzig (after Jerome, in novissimo), as acc. adverb. = באחריתו, Jer 17:11. But why did not the author more distinctly write this word 'בא? The syntactic relation is like Pro 29:21 : אחריתו is after the manner of a substantival clause, the subject to that which follows as its virtual predicate: “its end is: like a serpent it biteth = this, that it biteth like a serpent.” Regarding צפעני, serpens regulus (after Schultens, from צפע = (Arab.) saf', to breathe out glowing, scorching), vid., at Isa 7:8. The Hiph. הפרישׁ Schultens here understands of the division of the liver, and Hitzig, after the lxx, Vulgate, and Venet., of squirting the poison; both after the Arab. farth. But הפרישׁ, Syr. afrês, also signifies, from the root-idea of dividing and splitting, to sting, poindre, pointer, as Rashi and Kimchi gloss, whence the Aram. פּרשׁ, an ox-goad, with which the ancients connect פרשׁ (of the spur), the name for a rider, eques, and also a horse (cf. on the contrary, Fleischer in Levy, W.B. ii. 574); a serpent’s bite and a serpent’s sting (Lat. morsus, ictus, Varro: cum pepugerit colubra) are connected together by the ancients.However, we will not conceal it, that the post-bibl. Heb. does not know הפרישׁ in the sense of to prick, sting (the Midrash explains the passage by יפרישׁ בין לחיים, i.e., it cuts off life); and the Nestorian Knanishu of Superghan, whom I asked regarding aphrish, knew only of the meanings “to separate” and “to point out,” but not ”to sting.”

The excited condition of the drunkard is now described. First, Pro 23:33 describes the activity of his imagination as excited to madness. It is untenable to interpret זרות here with Rashi, Aben Ezra, and others, and to translate with Luther: “so shall thine eyes look after other women” (circumspicient mulieres impudicas, Fleischer, for the meaning to perceive, to look about for something, to seek something with the eyes, referring to Gen 41:33). For זרות acquires the meaning of mulieres impudicae only from its surrounding, but here the parallel תּהפּכות (perverse things) directs to the neut. aliena (cf. Pro 15:28, רעות), but not merely in the sense of unreal things (Ralbag, Meîri), but: strange, i.e., abnormal, thus bizarre, mad, dreadful things. An old Heb. parable compares the changing circumstances which wine produces with the manner of the lamb, the lion, the swine, the monkey; here juggles and phantoms of the imagination are meant, which in the view and fancy of the drunken man hunt one another like monkey capers. Moreover, the state of the drunken man is one that is separated from the reality of a life of sobriety and the safety of a life of moderation, 34a: thou act like one who lies in the heart of the sea. Thus to lie in the heart, i.e., the midst, of the sea as a ship goes therein, Pro 30:19, is impossible; there one must swim but swimming is not lying, and to thing on a situation like that of Jonah; Jon 1:5, one must think also of the ship; but שׁכב does not necessarily mean “to sleep,” and, besides, the sleep of a passenger in the cabin on the high sea is of itself no dangerous matter. Rightly Hitzig: on the depth of the sea (cf. Jon 2:4) - the drunken man, or the man overcome by wine (Isa 28:7), is like one who has sunk down into the midst of the sea; and thus drowned, or in danger of being drowned, he is in a condition of intellectual confusion, which finally passes over into perfect unconsciousness, cut off from the true life which passes over him like one dead, and in this condition he has made a bed for himself, as שׁכב denotes. With בלב, בּראשׁ stands in complete contrast: he is like one who lies on the top of the mast. חבּל, after the forms דּבּר, שׁלּם, is the sail-yard fastened by ropes, חבלים ,sepo (Isa 33:23). To lay oneself down on the sail-yard happens thus to no one, and it is no place for such a purpose; but as little as one can quarter him who is on the ridge of the roof, in the 'Alîja, because no one is able to lie down there, so little can he in the bower [Mastkorb] him who is here spoken of (Böttcher). The poet says, but only by way of comparison, how critical the situation of the drunkard is; he compares him to one who lies on the highest sail-yard, and is exposed to the danger of being every moment thrown into the sea; for the rocking of the ship is the greater in proportion to the height of the sail-yard. The drunkard is, indeed, thus often exposed to the peril of his life; for an accident of itself not great, or a stroke, may suddenly put an end to his life.

The poet represents the drunken man as now speaking to himself. He has been well cudgelled; but because insensible, he has not felt it, and he places himself now where he will sleep out his intoxication. Far from being made temperate by the strokes inflicted on him, he rejoices in the prospect, when he has awaked out of his sleep, of beginning again the life of drunkenness and revelry which has become a pleasant custom to him. חלה means not only to be sick, but generally to be, or to become, affected painfully; cf. Jer 5:3, where חלוּ is not the 3rd pl. mas. of חיל, but of חלה. The words מתי אקיץ are, it is true, a cry of longing of a different kind from Job 7:4. The sleeping man cannot forbear from yielding to the constraint of nature: he is no longer master of himself, he becomes giddy, everything goes round about with him, but he thinks with himself: Oh that I were again awake! and so little has his appetite been appeased by his sufferings, that when he is again awakened, he will begin where he left off yesterday, when he could drink no more. מתי is here, after Nolde, Fleischer, and Hitzig, the relative quando (quum); but the bibl. usus loq. gives no authority for this. In that case we would have expected הקיצותי instead of אקיץ. As the interrog. מתי is more animated than the relat., so also אוסיף אבקשׁנּוּ is more animated (1Sa 2:3) than אוסיף לבקּשׁ. The suffix of אבקשׁנו refers to the wine: raised up, he will seek that which has become so dear and so necessary to him.

Cautions against Luxury and Covetousness.

1 When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee: 2 And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite. 3 Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat.

The sin we are here warned against is luxury and sensuality, and the indulgence of the appetite in eating and drinking, a sin that most easily besets us. 1. We are here told when we enter into temptation, and are in most danger of falling into this sin: "When thou sittest to eat with a ruler thou has great plenty before thee, varieties and dainties, such a table spread as thou has seldom seen; thou are ready to think, as Haman did, of nothing but the honour hereby done thee (Esth. v. 12), and the opportunity thou hast of pleasing thy palate, and forgettest that there is a snare laid for thee." Perhaps the temptation may be stronger, and more dangerous, to one that is not used to such entertainments, than to one that always sits down to a good table. 2. We are here directed to double our guard at such a time. We must, (1.) Apprehend ourselves to be in danger: "Consider diligently what is before thee, what meat and drink are before thee, that thou mayest choose that which is safest for thee and which thou art least likely to eat and drink of to excess. Consider what company is before thee, the ruler himself, who, if he be wise and good, will take it as an affront for any of his guests to disorder themselves at his table." And, if when we sit to eat with a ruler, much more when we sit to eat with the ruler of rulers at the Lord's table, must we consider diligently what is before us, that we may not in any respect eat and drink unworthily, unbecomingly, lest that table become a snare. (2.) We must alarm ourselves into temperance and moderation: "Put a knife to thy throat, that is, restrain thyself, as it were with a sword hanging over thy head, from all excess. Let these words, Take heed lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and so that day come upon you unawares—or those, For all these things, God shall bring thee into judgment—or those, Drunkards, shall not inherit the kingdom of God, be a knife to the throat." The Latins call luxury gula—the throat. "Take up arms against that sin. Rather be so abstemious that thy craving appetite will begin to think thy throat cut than indulge thyself in voluptuousness." We must never feed ourselves without fear (Jude 12), but we must in a special manner fear when temptation is before us. (3.) We must reason ourselves into a holy contempt of the gratifications of sense: "If thou be a man given to appetite, thou must, by a present solution, and an application of the terrors of the Lord, restrain thyself. When thou art in danger of falling into any excess put a knife to thy throat; that may serve for once. But that is not enough: lay the axe to the root; mortify that appetite which has such a power over thee: Be not desirous of dainties." Note, We ought to observe what is our own iniquity, and, if we find ourselves addicted to flesh-pleasing, we must not only stand upon our guard against temptations from without, but subdue the corruption within. Nature is desirous of food, and we are taught to pray for it, but it is lust that is desirous of dainties, and we cannot in faith pray for them, for frequently they are not food convenient for mind, body, or estate. They are deceitful meat, and therefore David, instead of praying for them, prays against them, Ps. cxli. 4. They are pleasant to the palate, but perhaps rise in the stomach, turn sour there, upbraid a man, and make him sick. They do not yield men the satisfaction they promised themselves from them; for those that are given to appetite, when they have that which is very dainty, are not pleased; they are soon weary of it; they must have something else more dainty. The more a luxurious appetite is humoured and indulged the more humour some and troublesome it grows, and the more hard to please; dainties will surfeit, but never satisfy. But especially they are upon this account deceitful meat, that, while they please the body, they prejudice the soul, they overcharge the heart, and unfit it for the service of God, nay, they take away the heart, and alienate the mind from spiritual delights, and spoil its relish of them. Why then should we covet that which will certainly cheat us?

4 Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom. 5 Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.

As some are given to appetite (v. 2) so others to covetousness, and those Solomon here takes to task. Men cheat themselves as much by setting their hearts on money (though it seems most substantial) as by setting them on dainties. Observe,

I. How he dissuades the covetous man from toiling and tormenting himself (v. 4). "Do not aim to be rich, to raise an estate, and to make what thou hast in abundance more than it is." We must endeavor to live comfortably, and provide for our children and families, according as our rank and condition are, but we must not seek great things. Be not of those that will be rich, that desire it as their chief good and design it as their highest end, 1 Tim. vi. 9. Covetous men think it is their wisdom, imagining that if they be rich to such a degree they shall be completely happy. Cease from that wisdom, for it is a mistake; a man's life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possesses, Luke xii. 15. 1. Those that aim at great things fill their hands with business more than they can grasp, so that their life is both a perfect drudgery and a perpetual hurry; but be not thou such a fool; labour not to be rich. What thou hast, or doest, be master of it, and not a slave to it as those that rise up early, sit up late, and eat the bread of carefulness, and all to be rich. Moderate labour, that we may have to give, is our wisdom and duty, Eph. iv. 28. Immoderate labour, that we may have to hoard, is our sin and folly. 2. They fill their heads with projects more than they understand, so that their life is a constant toss of care and fear; but do not thou thus vex thyself: Cease from thy own wisdom; go on quietly in the way of thy business, not contriving new ways and setting thy wits to work to find out new inventions. Acquiesce in God's wisdom, and cease from thy own, ch. iii. 5, 6.

II. How he dissuades the covetous man from cheating and deceiving himself by an inordinate love and pursuit of that which is vanity and vexation of spirit; for,

1. It is not substantial and satisfying: "Wilt thou be such a fool as to set thy eyes, to cause thy eyes to fly with eagerness and violence, upon that which is not?" Note, (1.) The things of this world are things that are not. They have a real existence in nature and are the real gifts of Providence, but in the kingdom of grace they are things that are not; they are not a happiness and portion for a soul, are not what they promise to be nor what we expect them to be; they are a show, a shadow, a sham upon the soul that trusts to them. They are not, for in a little while they will not be, they will not be ours; they perish in the using; the fashion of them passes away. (2.) It is therefore folly for us to set our eyes upon them, to admire them as the best things, to appropriate them to ourselves as our good things, and to aim at them as our mark at which all our actions are levelled, to fly upon them as the eagle upon her prey. "Wilt thou do a thing so absurd in itself? What thou, a reasonable creature, wilt thou dote upon shadows? The eyes are put for rational and intellectual powers; wilt thou throw those away upon such undeserving objects? To set the hands and feet upon the world is well enough, but not the eyes, the eyes of the mind; those were made to contemplate better things. Wilt thou, my son, that professest religion, put such an affront upon God (towards whom the eyes should ever be) and such an abuse upon thy soul?"

2. It is not durable and abiding. Riches are very uncertain things; certainly they are so: They make themselves wings, and fly away. The more we cause our eyes to fly upon them the more likely they are to fly away from us. (1.) Riches will leave us. Those that hold them ever so fast cannot hold them long; either they must be taken from us or we must be taken from them. The goods are said to flow away as a stream (Job xx. 28), here to flee as a bird. (2.) Perhaps they may leave us suddenly, when we have taken a great deal of pains for them and begin to take a great deal of pride and pleasure in them. The covetous man sits hatching upon his wealth, and brooding over it, till it is fledged, as the young ones under the hen, and then it is gone. Or, as if a man should be fond of a flight of wild-fowl that light in his field, and call them his own because they are upon his ground, whereas, if he offers to come near them, they take wing immediately and are gone to another man's field. (3.) The wings they fly away upon are of their own making. They have in themselves the principles of their own corruption, their own moth and rust. They are wasting in their own nature, and like a handful of dust, which, if it be grasped, slips through the fingers. Snow will last awhile, and look pretty, if it be left to lie on the ground where it fell, but, if gathered up and laid in the bosom, it is dissolved and gone immediately. (4.) They go irresistibly and irrecoverably, as an eagle toward heaven, that flies strongly (there is no stopping her), and flies out of sight and out of call (there is no bringing her back); thus do riches leave men, and leave them in grief and vexation if they set their hearts upon them.

6 Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats: 7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee. 8 The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.

Those that are voluptuous and given to appetite (v. 2) are glad to be where there is good cheer stirring, and those that are covetous and saving, that they may spare at home, will be glad to get a dinner at another man's table; and therefore both are here advised not to be forward to accept of every man's invitation, but especially not to thrust themselves in uninvited. Observe, 1. There are those that pretend to bid their friends welcome that are not hearty and sincere in it. They have a fair tongue, and know what they should say: Eat and drink, saith he, because it is expected that the master of the feast should so compliment his guests; but they have an evil eye, and grudge their guests every bit they eat, especially if the eat freely. They would seem to be liberal in making the entertainment, and would have the credit of it, but they have so great a love to their money, and so little to their friends, that they cannot have the comfort of it, nor any enjoyment of themselves or their friends. The miser's feast is his penance. If a man be so very selfish, and sordid, and mean that he cannot find in his heart to bid his friends welcome to what he has, he ought not to add to that the guilt of dissimulation by inviting them, but let him own himself to be what he is, that the vile person may not be called liberal nor the churl bountiful, Isa. xxxii. 5. 2. One can have no comfort in accepting the entertainments that are given grudgingly: "Eat not thou the bread of such a man; let him keep it to himself. Do not sponge upon those that are bountiful, nor make thyself burdensome to any; but especially scorn to be beholden to those that are paltry and not sincere. Better have a dinner of herbs, and true welcome, than dainty meats without it. Therefore," (1.) "Judge of the man as his mind is. Thou thinkest to pay thy respect to him as a friend, so thou takest him to be, because he compliments thee, but as he thinks in his heart so is he, not as he speaks with his tongue." We are that really, both to God and man, which we are inwardly; and neither religion nor friendship is worth any thing further than as it is sincere. (2.) "Judge of the meat as the digestion is and as it agrees with thee. He bids thee eat freely, but, first or last, he will discover his sordid covetous humour, and as he thinks in his heart so will he look, and give thee to understand that thou art not welcome, and then the morsel thou hast eaten thou shalt vomit up; the very thought of that will make thee even to vomit the meat thou hast eaten, and eat the words thou has spoken in returning his compliments and giving him thanks for his civilities. Thou shalt lose thy sweet words, which he has given thee and thou has given him."

9 Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.

We are here directed not to cast pearls before swine (Matt. vii. 6) and not to expose things sacred to the contempt and ridicule of profane scoffers. It is our duty to take all fit occasions to speak of divine things; but, 1. There are some that will make a jest of every thing, though it be ever so prudently and pertinently spoken, that will not only despise a wise man's words, but despise even the wisdom of them, that in them which is most improvable for their own edification; they will particularly reproach that, as if it had an ill design upon them, which they must guard against. 2. Those that do so forfeit the benefit of good advice and instruction, and a wise man is not only allowed, but advised, not to speak in the ears of such fools; let them be foolish still, and let not precious breath be thrown away upon them. If what a wise man says in his wisdom will not be heard, let him hold his peace, and try whether the wisdom of that will be regarded.

10 Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless: 11 For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with thee.

Note, 1. The fatherless are taken under God's special protection; with him they not only find mercy shown to them (Hos. xiv. 3) but justice done for them. He is their Redeemer, their Goël, their near kinsman, that will take their part and stand up for them with jealousy, as taking himself affronted in the injuries done to them. As their Redeemer he will plead their cause against those that do them any injury, and, one way or other, will not only defend their right, and recover it for them, but avenge the wrongs done to them. And he is mighty, almighty; his omnipotence is engaged and employed for their protection, and their proudest and most powerful oppressors will not only find themselves an unequal match for this, but will find that it is at their peril to contend with it. 2. Every man therefore must be careful not to injure them in any thing, or to invade their rights, either by a clandestine removal of the old land-marks or by a forcible entry into their fields. Being fatherless, they have none to redress their wrongs, and, being in their childhood, they do not so much as apprehend the wrong that is done them. Sense of honour, and much more the fear of God, would restrain men from offering injury to children, especially fatherless children.

Parental Duties.

12 Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge. 13 Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. 14 Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell. 15 My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine. 16 Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.

Here is, 1. A parent instructing his child. He is here brought in persuading him to give his mind to his book, and especially to the scriptures and his catechism, to attend to the words of knowledge, by which he might come to know his duty, and danger, and interest, and not to think it enough to give them the hearing, but to apply his heart to them, to delight in them, and bow his will to the authority of them. The heart is then applied to the instruction when the instruction is applied to the heart. 2. A parent correcting his child. A tender parent can scarcely find in his heart to do this; it goes much against the grain. But he finds it is necessary; it is his duty, and therefore he dares not withhold correction when there is occasion for it (spare the rod and spoil the child); he beats him with the rod, gives him a gentle correction, the stripes of the sons of men, not such as we give to beasts. Beat him with the rod and he shall not die. The rod will not kill him; nay, it will prevent his killing himself by those vicious courses which the rod will be necessary to restrain him from. For the present it is not joyous, but grievous, both to the parent and to the child; but when it is given with wisdom, designed for good, accompanied with prayer, and blessed of God, it may prove a happy means of preventing his utter destruction and delivering his soul from hell. Our great care must be about our children's souls; we must not see them in danger of hell without using all possible means, with the utmost care and concern, to snatch them as brands out of everlasting burnings. Let the body smart, so that the spirit be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. 3. A parent encouraging his child, telling him, (1.) What was all he expected, nothing but what would be for his own good, that his heart be wise and that his lips speak right things, that he be under the government of good principles, and that by those principles he particularly maintain a good environment of his tongue. It is to be hoped that those will do right things when they grow up who learn to speak right things when they are young, and dare not speak any bad words. (2.) What a comfort it would be to him if herein he answered his expectation: "If thy heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, shall rejoice in thee, even mine, who have taken so much care and pains about thee, my heart, that has many a time ached for thee, for which thou shouldst study thus to make a grateful requital." Note, The wisdom of children will be the joy of their parents and teachers, who have no greater joy than to see them walk in the truth, 3 John 4. "Children, if you be wise and good, devout and conscientious, God will be pleased with you, and that will be our joy: we shall think our labour in instructing you well bestowed; it will be a comfortable answer for the many prayers we have put up for you; we shall be eased of a great deal of care, shall not need to be so strict and severe in watching over you, and shall consequently be the easier both to you and to ourselves. We shall rejoice in hope that you will be a credit and comfort to us, if we should live to be old, that you will bear up the name of Christ in your generation, that you will live comfortably in this world and happily in another."

Parental Advice.

17 Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long. 18 For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.

Here is, 1. A necessary caution against entertaining any favourable thoughts of prospering profaneness: "Let not thy heart envy sinners; do not grudge them either the liberty they take to sin or the success they are to be pitied rather than envied. Their prosperity is their portion (Ps. xii. 14), nay, it is their poison," Prov. i. 32. We must not harbour in our hearts any secret discontent at the providence of God, though it seem to smile upon them, nor wish ourselves in their condition. "Let not thy heart imitate sinners" (so some read it); do not as they do; walk not in the way with them; use not the methods they take to enrich themselves, though they thrive by them. 2. An excellent direction to maintain high thoughts of God in our minds at all times: Be thou in the fear of the Lord every day and all the day long. We must be in the fear of the Lord as in our employment, exercising ourselves in holy adorings of God, in subjection to his precepts, submission to his providences, and a constant care to please him; we must be in it as in our element, taking a pleasure in contemplating God's glory and complying with his will. We must be devoted to his fear (Ps. cxix. 38); and governed by it as our commanding principle in all we say and do. All the days of our life we must constantly keep up an awe of God upon our spirits, must pay a deference to his authority, and have a dread of his wrath. We must be always so in his fear as never to be out of it. 3. A good reason for both of these (v. 18): Surely there is an end, an end and expectation, as Jer. xxix. 11. There will be an end of the prosperity of the wicked, therefore do not envy them (Ps. lxxiii. 17); there will be an end of thy afflictions, therefore be not weary of them, an end of thy services, thy work and warfare will be accomplished, perfect love will shortly cast out fear, and thy expectation of the reward not only will be not cut off, or disappointed, but it will be infinitely outdone. The consideration of the end will help to reconcile us to all the difficulties and discouragements of the way.

19 Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way. 20 Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh: 21 For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags. 22 Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old. 23 Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding. 24 The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him. 25 Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice. 26 My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways. 27 For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit. 28 She also lieth in wait as for a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men.

Here is good advice for parents to give to their children; words are put into their mouths, that they may train them up in the way they should go. Here we have,

I. An earnest call to young people to attend to the advice of their godly parents, not only to this that is here given, but to all other profitable instructions: "Here, my son, and be wise, v. 19. This will be an evidence that thou art wise and a means to make thee wiser." Wisdom, as faith, comes by hearing. And again (v. 22): "Hearken unto thy father who begot thee, and who therefore has an authority over thee and an affection for thee, and, thou mayest be sure, can have no other design than thy own good." We ought to give reverence to the fathers of our flesh, who begot us, and were the instruments of our being; much more ought we to obey and be in subjection to the Father of our spirits, who made us and is the author of our being. And since the mother also, from a sense of duty to God and from love to her child, gives him good instructions, let him not despise her, nor her advice, when she is old. When the mother was grown old we may suppose the children to be grown up; but let them not think themselves past being taught, even by her, but rather respect her the more for the multitude of her years and the wisdom which they teach. Scornful and insolent young men will make a jest, it may be, of the good advice of an aged mother, and think themselves not concerned to heed what an old woman says; but such will have a great deal to answer for another day, not only as having set at nought good counsel, but as having slighted and grieved a good mother, ch. xxx. 17.

II. An argument to enforce this call, taken from the great comfort which this will be to their parents, v. 24, 25. Note, 1. It is the duty of children to study how they may gladden the hearts of their good parents, and do it yet more and more, so that they may greatly rejoice in them, even when the evil days come and the years of which they say they have no pleasure in them but this, to see their children do well, as Barzillai to see Chimham preferred. 2. Children will be a joy to their parents if they be righteous and wise. Righteousness is true wisdom; those who do good so well for themselves. Those are completely such as they should be who are not only wise (that is, knowing and learned), but righteous (that is, honest and good), and not only righteous (that is, conscientious and well-meaning), but wise (that is, prudent and discreet) in the management of themselves. If such the children be, especially all the children, the father and mother will be glad, and think nothing too much that they have done, or do, for them; they will please themselves in them, and give God thanks for them; particularly she that bore them with pain, and nursed them with pains, will rejoice in them, and reckon herself well requited, and the sorrow more than forgotten, because a wise and good man is the product of it, who is a blessing to the world he was born into.

III. Some general precepts of wisdom and virtue.

1. Guide thy heart in the way, v. 19. It is the heart that must be taken care of and directed aright; the motions and affections of the soul must be towards right objects and under a steady guidance. If the heart be guided in the way, the steps will be guided and the conversation well ordered.

2. Buy the truth and sell it not, v. 23. Truth is that by which the heart must be guided and governed, for without truth there is no goodness; no regular practices without right principles. It is by the power of truth, known and believed, that we must be kept back from sin and constrained to duty. The understanding must be well-informed with wisdom and instruction, and therefore, (1.) We must buy it, that is, be willing to part with any thing for it. He does not say at what rate we must buy it, because we cannot buy it too dear, but must have it at any rate; whatever it costs us, we shall not repent the bargain. When we are at expense for the means of knowledge, and resolved not to starve so good a cause, then we buy the truth. Riches should be employed for the getting of knowledge, rather than knowledge for the getting of riches. When we are at pains in searching after truth, that we may come to the knowledge of it and may distinguish between it and error, then we buy it. Dii laboribus omnia vendunt—Heaven concedes every thing to the laborious. When we choose rather to suffer loss in our temporal interest than to deny or neglect the truth they we buy it; and it is a pearl of such great price that we must be willing to part with all to purchase it, must make shipwreck of estate, trade, preferment, rather than of faith and a good conscience. (2.) We must not sell it. Do not part with it for pleasures, honours, riches, any things in this world. Do not neglect the study of it, nor throw off the profession of it, nor revolt from under the dominion of it, for the getting or saving of any secular interest whatsoever. Hold fast the form of sound words, and never let it go upon any terms.

3. Give me thy heart, v. 26. God in this exhortation, speaks to us as unto children: "Son, Daughter, Give my thy heart." The heart is that which the great God requires and calls for from every one of us; whatever we give, if we do not give him our hearts, it will not be accepted. We must set our love upon him. Our thoughts must converse much with him, and on him, as our highest end. The intents of our hearts must be fastened. We must make it our own act and deed to devote ourselves to the Lord, and we must be free and cheerful in it. We must not think to divide the heart between God and the world; he will have all or none. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart. To this call we must readily answer, "My father, take my heart, such as it is, and make it such as it should be; take possession of it, and set up thy throne in it."

4. Let thy eyes observe my ways; have an eye to the rule of God's word, the conduct of his providence, and the good examples of his people. Our eyes must observe these, as he that writes observes his copy, that we may keep in the right paths and may proceed and persevere in them.

IV. Some particular cautions against those sins which are, of all sins, the most destructive to the seeds of wisdom and grace in the soul, which impoverish and ruin it. 1. Gluttony and drunkenness, v. 20, 21. The world is full of examples of this sin and temptations to it, which all young people are concerned to stand upon their guard against and keep at a distance from Be not a wine-bibber; we are allowed to drink a little wine (1 Tim. v. 23), but not much, not to make a trade of it, never to drink to excess. Be not a riotous eater of flesh, as the Israelites were, who lusted exceedingly after it, saying, Who will give us flesh to eat? Whereas Paul, though he is free to eat flesh, yet resolves that he will eat no flesh while the world stands rather than make his brother to offend; so indifferent is he to it, 1 Cor. viii. 13. Be not an excessive eater of flesh. Intemperance must be avoided in meat as well as drink. Be not a luxurious eater of flesh, not pleased with any thing but what is very nice and delicate, savoury dishes, and forced meat. Some take not only a pleasure, but a pride, in being curious about their diet, and, as they call it, eating well; as if that were the ornament of a gentleman, which is really the shame of a Christian, making a God of the belly. "Be not a wine bibber, and be not a riotous eater; and therefore, be not among wine-bibbers nor among riotous eaters; do not give them countenance, lest thou learn their ways and insensibly fall into those sins, or at least lose the dread and detestation of them. They covet to have thee among them; for those that are debauched themselves are very desirous to debauch others; therefore do not gratify them, lest thou endanger thyself." He fetches an argument against this sin from the expensiveness of it and its tendency to impoverish men: and if men will not be deterred from it by the ruin it brings on their secular interests, which lie nearest their hearts, no marvel that they are not frightened from it by what they are told out of the word of God of the mischief it does them in their spiritual and eternal concerns. The drunkard and the glutton hate to be reformed, though they are told they shall come to poverty, nay, though they are told they shall come to hell. Drunkenness is the cause of drowsiness; it stupefies men, and makes them inattentive to business, and then all goes to wreck and ruin: thus men that have lived creditably come to be clothed with rags. 2. Whoredom. This is another sin which takes away the heart that should be given to God, Hos. iv. 11. He shows the danger which attends that sin, v. 27, 28, (1.) It is a sin from which few recover themselves when once they are entangled in it. It is like a deep ditch and a narrow pit, which it is almost impossible to get out of; and therefore it is wisdom to keep far enough from the brink of it. Take heed of making any approaches towards this sin, because it is so hard to make a retreat from it, conscience, which should head the retreat, being debauched by it, and divine grace forfeited. (2.) It is a sin which bewitches men to their ruin: The adulteress lies in wait as a robber, pretending friendship, but designing the greatest mischief, to rob them of all they have that is valuable, to strip them both of their armour and of their ornaments. Even those who, being virtuously educated, endeavour to shun the adulteress, she will lie in wait for, that she may assault them when they are off their guard and she has them at an advantage. Let none therefore be at any time secure. (3.) It is a sin that contributes more than any other to the spreading of vice and immorality in a kingdom: It increases the transgressors among men. One adulteress may be the ruin of many a precious soul and may help to debauch a whole town. It increases the treacherous or perfidious ones; it not only occasions husbands to be false to their wives and servants to their masters, but many that have professed religion to throw off their profession and break their covenants with God. Houses of uncleanness are therefore such pest-houses as ought to be suppressed by those whose office it is to take care of the public welfare.

Cautions against Intemperance.

29 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? 30 They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. 31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. 32 At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. 33 Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. 34 Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. 35 They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.

Solomon here gives fair warning against the sin of drunkenness, to confirm what he had said, v. 20.

I. He cautions all people to keep out of the way of temptations to this sin (v. 31): Look not thou upon the wine when it is red. Red wine was in Canaan looked upon as the best wine, it is therefore called the blood of the grape. Critics judge of wine, among other indications, by the colour of it; some wine, they say, looks charmingly, looks so well that it even says, "Come and drink me;" it moves itself aright, goes down very smoothly, or perhaps the roughness of it is grateful. It is said of generous strong-bodied wine that it even causes the lips of those that are asleep to speak, Cant. vii. 9. But look not thou upon it. 1. "Be not ruled by sense, but by reason and religion. Covet not that which pleases the eye, in hopes that it will please the taste; but let thy serious thoughts correct the errors of thy senses and convince thee that that which seems delightful is really hurtful, and resolve against it accordingly. Let not the heart walk after the eye, for it is a deceitful guide." 2. "Be not too bold with the charms of this or any other sin; look not, lest thou lust, lest thou take the forbidden fruit." Note Those that would be kept from any sin must keep themselves from all the occasions and beginnings of it, and be afraid of coming within the reach of its allurements, lest they be overcome by them.

II. He shows the many pernicious consequences of the sin of drunkenness, for the enforcement of this caution. Take heed of the bait, for fear of the hook: At the last it bites, v. 32. All sin will be bitterness in the end, and this sin particularly. It bites like a serpent, when the drunkard is made sick by his surfeit, thrown by it into a dropsy or some fatal disease, beggared and ruined in his estate, especially when his conscience is awakened and he cannot reflect upon it without horror and indignation at himself, but worst of all, at last, when the cup of drunkenness shall be turned into a cup of trembling, the cup of the Lord's wrath, the dregs of which he must be for ever drinking, and shall not have a drop of water to cool his inflamed tongue. To take off the force of the temptation that there is in the pleasure of the sin, foresee the punishment of it, and what it will at last end in if repentance prevent not. In its latter end it bites (so the word is); think therefore what will be in the end thereof. But the inspired writer chooses to specify those pernicious consequences of this sin which are present and sensible.

1. It embroils men in quarrels, makes them quarrel with others, and say and do that which gives others occasion to quarrel with them, v. 29. He asks, Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who has not, in this world? Many have woe and sorrow, and cannot help it; but drunkards wilfully create woe and sorrow to themselves. Those that have contentions have woe and sorrow; and drunkards are the fools whose lips enter into contention. When the wine is in the wit is out and the passions are up; and thence come drunken scuffles, and drunken frays, and drunken disputes over the cups; many a vexatious ruining law-suit has begun thus. There is babbling, quarrels in word and the exchanging of scurrilous language; yet it rests not there: you shall have wounds without cause, for causes are things which drunkards are in no capacity to judge of, and therefore they deal blows about without the least consideration why or wherefore, and must expect to be in like manner treated themselves. The wounds which men receive in defence of their country and its just rights are their honour; but wounds without cause, received in the service of their lusts, are marks of their infamy. Nay, drunkards wound themselves in a tender part, for they have redness of eyes, symptoms of an inward inflammation; their sight is weakened by it, and their looks are deformed. This comes, (1.) Of drinking long, tarrying long at the wine, and spending that time in drunken company which should be spent in useful business, or in sleep, which should fit for business, v. 30. O the precious hours which thousands throw away thus, every one of which will be brought into the account at the great day! (2.) Of drinking that which is strong and intoxicating. They go up and down to seek wine that will please them; their great enquiry is, "Where is the best liquor?" They seek mixed wine, which is most palatable, but most heady, so willingly do they sacrifice their reason to please their palate!

2. It makes men impure and insolent, v. 33. (1.) The eyes grow unruly and behold strange women to lust after them, and so let in adultery into the heart. Est Venus in vinis—Wine is oil to the fire of lust. Thy eyes shall behold strange things (so some read it); when men are drunk the house turns round with them, and every thing looks strange to them, so that them they cannot trust their own eyes. (2.) The tongue also grows unruly and talks extravagantly; by it the heart utters perverse things, things contrary to reason, religion, and common civility, which they would be ashamed to speak if they were sober. What ridiculous incoherent nonsense men will talk when they are drunk who at another time will speak admirably well and to the purpose!

3. It stupefies and besots men, v. 34. When men are drunk they know not where they are nor what they say and do. (1.) Their heads are giddy, and when they lie down to sleep they are as if they were tossed by the rolling waves of the sea, or upon the top of a mast; hence they complain that their heads swim; their sleep is commonly unquiet and not refreshing, and their dreams are tumultuous. (2.) Their judgments are clouded, and they have no more steadiness and consistency than he that sleeps upon the top of a mast: they drink and forget the law (ch. xxxi. 5): they err through wine (Isa. xxviii. 7), and think as extravagantly as they talk. (3.) They are heedless and fearless of danger, and senseless of the rebukes they are under either from God or man. They are in imminent danger of death, of damnation, lie as much exposed as if they slept upon the top of a mast, and yet are secure and sleep on. They fear no peril when the terrors of the Lord are laid before them; nay, they feel no pain when the judgments of God are actually upon them; they cry not when he binds them. Set a drunkard in the stocks, and he is not sensible of the punishment. "They have stricken me, and I was not sick; I felt it not: it made no impression at all upon me." Drunkenness turns me into stocks and stones; they are scarcely to be reckoned animals; they are dead while they live.

4. Worst of all, the heart is hardened in the sin, and the sinner, notwithstanding all these present mischiefs that attend it, obstinately persist in it, and hates to be reformed: When shall I awake? Much ado he has to shake off the chains of his drunken sleep; he can hardly get clear of the fumes of the wine, though he strives with them, that (being thirsty in the morning) he may return to it again. So perfectly lost is he to all sense of virtue and honour, and so wretchedly is his conscience seared, that he is not ashamed to say, I will seek it yet again. There is no hope; no, they have loved drunkards, and after them they will go, Jer. ii. 25. This is adding drunkenness to thirst, and following strong drink; those that do so may read their doom Deut. xxix. 19, 20, their woe Isa. v. 11, and, if this be the end of the sin, with good reason were we directed to stop at the beginning of it: Look not upon the wine when it is red.

CHAP. XXIII. Verſ. 1. When thou ſitteſt to eat]

SEe my common place of Abſtinence.

Conſider diligently what is before thee] And feed with fear, Iude 12. Leſt thou loſe by thy luxury that praiſe and preferment, that thou hadſt gotten by thine induſtry, chap. 22.9.

Non minor eſt virtus quàm quaerere parta tueri:

Verſ. 2. And put a knife to thy throat] Put into thy throat, (as Aben-ezra reads it) rather than offend by inordinate appetite. Some read it thus, For thou putteſt a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite. Thou ſhortneſt thy life, and diggeſt as it were thine own grave with thine own teeth. Meat kills as many as the Musket; the board as the ſword.Chryſoſt. Tennis menſa ſanitatis mater: but much meat, much malady.

Verſ. 3. Be not deſirous of his dainties] It is a ſhame for a Saint to be a ſlave to his Palat. Iſaac loved veniſon too too well, the Diſciples are cautioned by Chriſt, Luk. 21.34. who well enough knew where they were weakeſt.

For they are deceitful meat] There is a hook under that bait: it may prove as dangerous as Ionathans hony, of which he had no ſooner taſted, but his head was forfeited. There is a deceitfulneſs in ſin, Heb. 3.13. a lie in vanity, Jon. 2.8. tranſit voluptas, manet dolor.—dolor eſt etiam ipſa voluptas.

Verſ. 4. Labour not to be rich] The Courtier is ſtill at his leſſon. Many gotten into Princes Palaces, into places of profit, fat offices, mind nothing more than the feathering of their own neſts, raiſing of their own houſes, filling of their own coffers. Such were Shebna, Haman, Sejanus, of whom Tacitus makes this report. Palam compoſitus pudor, intus ſumma adipiſcendi libido, Quicquid non acquiritur damnum eſt. Sen. that he made ſhew of modeſty, but was extream covetous; inſomuch ſaith Seneca, that he thought all to be loſt that he got not for himſelf. How much better Joſeph, Nehemiah, Daniel, &c. who being wholly for the publike, as they had nothing to loſe, ſo they had as little to get, but were above all price or ſale.

Ceaſe from thine own wiſdome] Caſt away that carnal policy that would prompt thee to get rem, rem, quocunque modo rem, wealth of any faſhion. This wiſdome is by Saint James fitly ſtiled, earthly, ſenſual, deviliſh. Earthly, managing the luſts of the eye to the ends of gain: Senſual, managing the luſts of the eye to ends of pleaſure: and Deviliſh, managing the pride of life unto ends of power, James 3.15. with 1 John. 2.14.15.

Verſ 5. Wilt thou ſet thine eyes, &c.] Hebr. Wilt thou cause thine eyes to fly after, &c.? Wilt thou fly a fools pitch, and go hawking after that that cannot be had? or if had, will not pay for the pains, countervail the coſt? Wilt thou caſt a leering look after ſuch vanities?

Upon that which is not] That hath no ſolid ſubſiſtence, though the fooliſh world call it ſubstance. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. The faſhion of this world paſſeth away, 1 Cor. 7.31. The Greek word there uſed, intimateth, that there is nothing of any firmneſſe or ſolid conſiſtence in the Creature. Heaven onely hath a foundation. Heb. 11.10. Earth hath none, but is hanged upon nothing, as Job ſpeaketh. Ye rejoyce in a thing of nought, ſaith the Prophet to them that drank wine in bowls &c. Amos. 6.6, 13.

For riches certainly make themſelves wings] As the Heathens feigned of their God Plutus. Under theſe wings let the Maſter hide himſelf, as Eſay 28.15. yet with thoſe wings will they fly away, without once taking leave, leaving nothing but the print of talons in his heart to torment him. Riches (ſaith one) were never true to thoſe that truſted them: To fly from us, they make themſelves great Eagles wings: to fly to us, or after us, Ne paſſerinas quidem, Auguſtin. not ſo much as old ſparrows wings. Temporals (ſaith another) are as tranſitory, as a haſty head-long torrent, a ſhadow, a ſhip, a bird,Mr Bolton. an arrow, a poſt that paſſeth by, or if you can name any thing of ſwifter wing, or ſooner gone.

Verſ. 6. Eate thou not the bread of him that hath an evill eye] That is, of a miſerly muckworm, that wiſheth thee choaked for ſo doing, even then when he maketh greateſt ſhew of hoſpitality and humanity.

Verſ. 7. For as he thinketh in his heart, ſo is he] Mens cujuſque is eſt quiſque. The man is as his mind is, or as he thinketh in his heart, ſo he ſpeaketh; he cannot ſo diſſemble, but that eftſoons he blurteth out ſome word, or ſheweth ſome ſign of his ſordid diſpoſition. Some read it thus: For as he grudgeth his own ſoul, ſo he will ſay unto thee, eat, drink, &c. As he ſtarves his own Genius, and cannot afford himſelf a good meals-meat, ſo he grudgeth at his gueſts whom yet he bids welcome. Chriſt doth not ſo, Cant. 5.1.

Verſ. 8. The morſel which thou haſt eaten] That is, That which thou haſt eaten, ſhall be ſo ill-ſauced, that thou ſhalt wiſh it up again, and thou ſhalt repent thee of thy complements, or of whatſoever other good ſpeech thou haſt uſed at table: which was the ſalt wherewith our Saviour uſed to beſprinkle the diſhes wherever he dined.

Daniels hiſt.Verſ. 9. Speak not in the ears of a fool] That is, Of a wilfull fool, that ſeldome asketh Counſel, but never followeth any, as it is ſaid of James King of Scotland. See the notes on Prov. 9.7, 8. and on Mat. 7.6.

Verſ. 10. Remove not the ancient land-mark] See the Note on chap. 22.28.

Verſ. 11. For their Redeemer is mighty] The thunder of his power who can underſtand? Iob 26.14. And who knoweth the power of his wrath? Pſal. 90.11. Oh contend not with him that is mightier than thou. Eccleſ. 6.10. God Almighty is in a ſpecial manner the Guardian of his Orphans, and the great Maſter of the Wards.

Verſ. 12. Apply thy heart unto inſtruction] Make thine heart to come to it, though never ſo averſe. Call in thy ſcattered thoughts, and buſie them about the beſt things, Anima diſperſa fit minor. This is the wiſe mans Counſel to the younger ſort. But becauſe ſurdis plerunque fabulam, few youths will be better adviſed, therefore he beſpeaks their Parents and Tutors in the next words.

Verſ. 13. With-hold not correction from the Childe] See the Note on chap. 13.24.

He ſhall not dye] Or if he do, yet not by thy default: Thou haſt delivered thine own ſoul howſoever. If a Blackmore enter into the Bath, though he become not white by it, Yet the Bath-maſter hath his pay, ſaith Keyſerſpergius. The Phyſician hath his ſee whether the Patient recover or dye.

Verſ. 14. And ſhalt deliver his ſoul from hell] Fond and fooliſh Parents are peremptores potiùs quam parentes, rather Paricides than Parents: [illegible: 1 letter]ern. Epiſt. 12[illegible: 1 letter] ſith Qui non, cum poteſt, ſervat, occidit, by not ſaving their Children, they ſlay them; by cockting them in their ſin, they pitch them headlong into Hell.

Verſ. 15. My ſon, if thine heart be wiſe] Si vexatio det intellectum, if either by inſtruction or correction I may make thee wiſe or well-ſpoken, Bonum birum, dicendi peritum (as Quintilians Oratour) cotus laetitia diſsiliam, I ſhall be a joyful man indeed. Saint John had no greater joy than to hear that his children walked in the truth. 3 Joh. [illegible: 1 letter]. And St. Paul could never bee thankful enough for ſuch a mercy, 1 Theſſ. 3.9.

Even mine] Or, even as I; viz. was a comfort to my Parents.

Verſ. 17. Let not thine heart envie ſinners] Who have they never ſo much here, they have but a penſion, an annuity, a ſtate of life granted them in the utmoſt and moſt remote part of our Inheritance.

But be thou in the fear of the Lord all day long] An excellent means to cure one of the fret: Probatum eſt. Only it muſt be uſed conſtantly. Men muſt wake with God, walk with him, and lye down with him, be in continual communion with him, and conformity unto him. This is to bee in Heaven aforehand.

Verſ. 18. For ſurely there is an end] Viz. Of their pomp and proſperity, dum fanea quadam felicitate temporaliter floreant, as Auguſtine hath it,Aug. Ep 120. whiles as graſſe they flouriſh, and then de-flouriſh.

And thine expectation ſhall not be cut off] As the wickeds ſhall, Pſal. 37.38. Chear up therefore, and doe not deſpond: Flebile principium melior fortuna ſequatur, as Queen Elizabeth was wont to ſay, whiles ſhe was yet a priſoner. Then ſhe envied the Milk-maid that ſang ſo merrily: But if ſhe had known what a glorious reign ſhe ſhould have had for four and forty years, ſhe would not have envied her.

Verſ. 19. Hear thou my ſon, and be wiſe] Hearing is one of the learned ſenſes, as Ariſtotle calls it. Wiſedome entreth into the ſoul by this door, as folly did at firſt, when the woman liſtned to the old Serpents illuſions. This ſenſe is firſt up in a morning: and this preface the Wiſe-man purpoſely premiſeth to his following diſcourſe; as well knowing how hardly young men are drawn off from drinking matches, and Good-fellow-meetings.

And guide thine heart in the way] That is to ſay, let knowledge and affection be as twins, and run parallel: let them mutually transfuſe life and vigour, the one into the other. Practiſe Gods Will as faſt as thou underſtandeſt it. The Tigurine tranſlation reads it, Ʋt beatum fit in via cor tuum, that thine heart may be bleſſed in the way.

Verſ. 20. Be not amongſt Wine-bibbers] Follow not the cuſtom, nor company of ſuch; thou knoweſt not what thou maiſt be drawn to doe, though of thy ſelf averſe to ſuch evil courſes. Noah got no good by the luxurious old world (Matth. 24.38.) with whom he lived: Nor Lot by the intemperate Sodomites, Ezek. 16.49. Ʋriah (a good man) was at length over-perſwaded to over-drink himſelf, 2 Sam. 11.13. Let him that ſtands take heed laſt he fall. That evil ſervant that preſumes to eat and drink with the drunken, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. ſhall be cut off in the middle, Matth. 24.49.

Among [illegible: 1 letter]i[illegible: 1 letter]tous caters of fleſh] Amongſt fleſh-mongers, qui crapula indulgent, that pamper their panches, In cute curanda plus aequo operaci. See my Common-place of abſtinence. Theſe be all for themſelves, as Nabal was, Helluanturſibi carnem (ſo the Hebrew runs) they ravin up fleſh for themſelves.

Verſ. 21. For the drunkard—ſhall come to poverty] Nay, to eternal miſery in Hell, 1 Cor. 6.10. but few men fear that: beggery they hold worſe than any hell. Per mare pauperiem fuginal, per ſaxa, per ignes. Herat. But poverty to ſuch is but a prelude to a worſe matter.

Verſ. 22. Hearken to thy father, &c.] See the Note on chap. 1.8.

And deſpiſe not thy mother when ſhe is old] Dr. Taylour Martyr ſaid to his Son among other things, when he was to ſuffer; When thy mother is waxed old, forſake her not, Act. & M on. 138. but provide for her to thy power, and ſee that ſhee lack nothing: for ſo will God bleſſe thee, and give thee long life upon Earth, and proſperity.

Verſ. 23. Buy the truth and ſell it not] Every parcell of truth is precious, as the filings of gold, as the Bezar-ſtone, when beaten, are carefully lookt to, and preſerved. Hold laſt the faithfull word, as with both hands, Tit. 1.9. Strive together for the faith of the Goſpel, Phil. 1.27. Be zealous for it, Jude 3. [non-Latin text not transcribed], Either live with it, or dye for it. As we have received it as a legacy from our fore-fathers (who ſealed it with their bloud, and paid dear for it) ſo we muſt tranſmit it to our Poſterity pure and entire,Arrii [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Neſtorii [non-Latin text not transcribed]. whatever it ſtands us in. They were ſo religious that they would not exchange a letter or ſyllable of the faith, wherewith Chriſt had betruſted them. So zealous in buying the truth, that they would give five marks and more for a good book (and that was more mony than ten pound is now) Some gave a load of hay for a few Chapters of Saint James, or of Saint Paul in Engliſh, ſitting up all night in reading and hearing, &c. What a deal of charge was the Queen of Sheba at for Salomons wiſdome? The wiſe Merchant for the pearl of price?Act. & Mon. fol. 756. Hieron and Reuchlin for their Hebrew-learning? Pro ſingulis horis ſingulos aureos numerabant. Reuchlin gave a crown an hour to the Jew that read to him.Mat. 13.44. Hieron ventured his life to repair by night to a Jew-doctor.

Verſ. 24. The Father of the righteous, &c.] See the Note on chap. 10.1.

Verſ. 26. My ſon give me thy heart] There is a ſtrange ſtrife, not of earthly but of ſpiritual powers after the poſſeſſion of mans heart: and through mans tranſgreſſion Satan hath gotten ſtrong hold thereon, Act. 5.3. Luke 22.3. Once he ſtrove about a dead mans body, Jude 9. but doubtleſſe his purpoſe was therein to have ſet up an Idol for himſelf in the hearts of the living. If Satan can get the heart, he is ſafe: and ſo is Satans Vicar. It was a watch-word in Pope Gregory the thirteenths time; in Queen Elizabeths days, My ſon give me thy heart; Be in heart a Papiſt, and then go to Church, diſſemble, do what ye will. Among the Heathens, when the beaſt was cut up for ſacrifice, the firſt thing the Prieſt lookt upon was the heart: and if the heart were naught, the ſacrifice was rejected. As among the Jews Philo obſerveth, that the heart, and the horns, or brains were never offered with the ſacrifices: for they are the fountains and ſecret cels, wherein lurks, and out of which flows all impiety. But whatever was in the type, this is in the truth: As the heart is by nature, the Lord will have none of it: yet till the heart be renewed and given to the Lord, he will accept nothing can come from man, Eſay 29.13. and 66.3. Jer. 42.20. Of the heart God ſeems to ſay to us, as Joſeph did to his brethren concerning Benjamin, Gen. 43.3. Ye ſhall not ſee my face without it. The heart is Chriſts bed of ſpices, Cant. 6.2. wherein the delights, Pſal. 50.17. and for which he wiſheth, Deut. 5.29. O that there were ſuch an heart, &c.

And let thine eyes obſerve my ways] Look well to thy pattern ſo fairly penſild out unto thee: take true ſtitches out of this perfect ſampler; take right ſtrokes after this incomparable Copy. The Hebr. here hath it, Let thine eyes run through my ways: Get a full proſpect of them, and diligently peruſe them: Fix and feed thine eyes upon the beſt objects; and reſtrain them from gazing up on forbidden beauties, leſt they prove to be windows of wickedneſs, and loopholes of luſt.

Verſ. 27. For an whore is a deep ditch] Fitly ſo called, quod nullus neque modus neque finis ſit in amore meritricio, becauſe luſt is boundleſs, bottomleſs. Hee is a perfect ſlave that ſerves a whore. See the Note on Prov. 22.14.

Verſ. 28. She alſo lyeth in wait] Terence calls harlots Cruces crumeninculgas, ſordida poſcinummia, &c. baſe beg-pennies, pickpurſes, &c. See the Notes upon chap. 7.

And increaſeth the tranſgreſſours amongſt men] Nothing hath ever ſo enriched helas the whoriſh woman. Vide ubi ſupra.

Verſ. 29. Who hath woe? who hath ſorrow?] Whoredome is uſually uſhered in by drunkenneſſe. Eſt Venus in vinis. Hence, Rev. 17.4. the Whore cometh forth with a cup, as with an inſtrument fit for the fulfilling of her luſt; even as of old every one did openly bear in his hand at Rome the badge of that Art that he profeſſed. Salomon therefore having warned his yonker of Whoredome, fitly ſhews him next the miſchief of drunkenneſſe; and this he doth by way of admiration or interrogation, that the Drunkard may (will he, nill he) ſee, as in a glaſſe, and ſo abhor his own abſurdities, miſeries, and miſchiefs. The beſt that can come of drunkenneſſe is repentance (that faireſt daughter of ſo foul a mother) and that's not without its woe and alas, its ſorrow and redneſſe of eyes with weeping for ſin? But few drunkards are taken in that fault.

Who hath babling] A great deal of ſmall, talk, telling all that's within.

Condita cum verax aperit praecordia Liber.Herat.

When the Wine is in, the Wit is out.

Who hath redneſſe of eyes] Oculorum ſuffuſio, the Vulgar reads ſuffoſſio. Drunkards have uſually red and rich faces, Naſos inſtar coctilis cancri, Laveter. Noſes like a boyld Lobſter; plenty of Puſtulaes or Quots, as they call them. Briefly, Drunkenneſſe, like another Africa, is never without ſome new monſter of miſchief.

Verſ. 30. They that tarry long at the Wine] Theſe men doe not want time, but waſte it. Pliny, if he were alive, would ſurely ſay to ſuch, as once he did to his Nephew, Poteras has horas non per didiſſe, Thou mighteſt have ſpent thy time much better. How may thoſe Wine-bibbers more juſtly lament their loſſe, than good Bernard did, and ſay each man for himſelf, Totum vitae meae tempus perdidi, quia perditè vixi?

Verſ. 31. Look not thou upon the Wine] Many men dye of the wound in the eye. It is not unlawful to look; but becauſe of looking comes luſting, therefore Laws are to be laid upon our looks. Vitiis nobis in animum per oculos eſt via, ſaith Quintilian. If we doe not let in ſin at the window of the eye, or by the door of the ear, it cannot enter into our hearrs.

When it moveth it ſelf aright] When it ſparkles, and is Vinum Cos (as they call the beſt Wine at Paris and Lovain) that is, Vinum Coloris, Odoris, Saporis, Bee-hive of Rome, prefac. optimi, Wine of the beſt colour, ſmell, and ſavour.

Verſ. 32. At the laſt it biteth like a Serpent] Loe ſuch is the guilt of ſin, ſuch the end and effect of drunkenneſs, torments here, and tortures in hell.

Verſ. 34. Thine eyes ſhall behold ſtranger women] See the Note on verſ. 29. Venter aeſtuans mero, ſpumat in libidinem, ſaith Hierom. A belly filled with wine, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Ariſtop. Vina parant animos Veneri. Ovid. foameth out filthineſſe. Wine is the milk of Venus, ſaith another. Drunkenneſs is the gallery that lechery walketh through, ſaith a third.

Thine heart ſhall utter perverſe things] Prepoſtorous, diſtorted, diſlocated matters: ſolliciting thy Neighbours Wife to wickedneſs, or otherwiſe vomiting out that which God hateth, and godly men abhor.

Verſ. 35. Yea, thou ſhalt be as he, &c.] Thy brains ſhall crow, and thou ſhalt be of Copernicus his opinion, that the earth turns round. Thou ſhalt alſo be fearleſſe of the greateſt danger, and not refuſe to ſleep upon a Maſt-pole, dance upon a Weather-cock, &c.

Verſ. 36. They have ſtricken me] A drunken man, we ſay, takes no hurt, feels no ſmart, is turned into a very ſtock. Dionyſius the Heracleot felt not needles thruſt into his fat belly. Pliny mentioneth certain Bears, that being ſound aſleep, cannot be wakened with the ſharpeſt prickles.Mathiol. in Dioſcorid. Mathiolus reports of the Aſſes of Hetruria, that feeding upon Hen-bane, they fall into ſuch a dead ſleep, that being taken for dead, they are half hideled, ere they can bee arowſed. Loe ſuch is the Drunkards lethargy: neither is he more inſenſible than ſenſual, and irrecoverable.