Proverbs 26 commentary

Honour is out of season to those unworthy and unfit for it.

He that is cursed without cause, the curse shall do him no more harm than the bird that flies over his head.

Every creature must be dealt with according to its nature, but careless and profligate sinners never will be ruled by reason and persuasion. Man indeed is born like the wild ass's colt; but some, by the grace of God, are changed.

We are to fit our remarks to the man, and address them to his conscience, so as may best end the debate.

Fools are not fit to be trusted, nor to have any honour. Wise sayings, as a foolish man delivers and applies them, lose their usefulness.

This verse may either declare how the Lord, the Creator of all men, will deal with sinners according to their guilt, or, how the powerful among men should disgrace and punish the wicked.

The dog is a loathsome emblem of those sinners who return to their vices, 2Pe 2:22.

We see many a one who has some little sense, but is proud of it. This describes those who think their spiritual state to be good, when really it is very bad.

The slothful man hates every thing that requires care and labour. But it is foolish to frighten ourselves from real duties by fancied difficulties. This may be applied to a man slothful in the duties of religion.

Having seen the slothful man in fear of his work, here we find him in love with his ease. Bodily ease is the sad occasion of many spiritual diseases. He does not care to get forward with his business. Slothful professors turn thus. The world and the flesh are hinges on which they are hung; and though they move in a course of outward services, yet they are not the nearer to heaven.

The sluggard is now out of his bed, but he might have lain there, for any thing he is likely to bring to pass in his work. It is common for men who will not do their duty, to pretend they cannot. Those that are slothful in religion, will not be at the pains to feed their souls with the bread of life, nor to fetch in promised blessings by prayer.

He that takes pains in religion, knows he is working for a good Master, and that his labour shall not be in vain.

To make ourselves busy in other men's matters, is to thrust ourselves into temptation.

He that sins in jest, must repent in earnest, or his sin will be his ruin.

Contention heats the spirit, and puts families and societies into a flame. And that fire is commonly kindled and kept burning by whisperers and backbiters.

A wicked heart disguising itself, is like a potsherd covered with the dross of silver.

Always distrust when a man speaks fair unless you know him well. Satan, in his temptations, speaks fair, as he did to Eve; but it is madness to give credit to him.

What pains men take to do mischief to others! but it is digging a pit, it is rolling a stone, hard work; and they prepare mischief to themselves.

There are two sorts of lies equally detestable. A slandering lie, the mischief of this every body sees. A flattering lie, which secretly works ruin. A wise man will be more afraid of a flatterer than of a slanderer.

CHAPTER 26

Pr 26:1-28.

1. The incongruities of nature illustrate also those of the moral world. The fool's unworthiness is also implied (Pr 17:7; 19:10).

2. Though not obvious to us,

the bird--literally, "sparrow"--and

swallow--have an object in their motions, so penal evil falls on none without a reason.

3. The rod is as much needed by fools and as well suited to them, as whips and bridles are for beasts.

4-5. Answer not--that is, approvingly by like folly.

6. A fool fails by folly as surely as if he were maimed.

drinketh damage--that is, gets it abundantly (Job 15:16; 34:7).

7. legs ... equal--or, "take away the legs," or "the legs ... are weak." In any case the idea is that they are the occasion of an awkwardness, such as the fool shows in using a parable or proverb (see Introduction; Pr 17:7).

8. A stone, bound in a sling, is useless; so honor, conferred on a fool, is thrown away.

9. As vexatious and unmanageable as a thorn in a drunkard's hand is a parable to a fool. He will be as apt to misuse is as to use it rightly.

10. Various versions of this are proposed (compare Margin). Better perhaps--"Much He injures (or literally, "wounds") all who reward," &c., that is, society is injured by encouraging evil men.

transgressors--may be rendered "vagrants." The word "God" is improperly supplied.

11. returneth ... folly--Though disgusting to others, the fool delights in his folly.

12. The self-conceited are taught with more difficulty than the stupid.

13. (Compare Pr 22:13).

14. (Compare Pr 6:10; 24:33).

15. (Compare Pr 19:24).

16. The thoughtless being ignorant of their ignorance are conceited.

17. meddleth--as in Pr 20:19; 24:21; as either holding a dog by the ears or letting him go involves danger, so success in another man's strife or failure involves a useless risk of reputation, does no good, and may do us harm.

18-19. Such are reckless of results.

20-21. The talebearers foster (Pr 16:28), and the contentious excite, strife.

22. (Compare Pr 18:8).

23. Warm professions can no more give value to insincerity than silver coating to rude earthenware.

24. dissembleth--though an unusual sense of the word (compare Margin), is allowable, and better suits the context, which sets forth hypocrisy.

25. Sentiment of Pr 26:24 carried out.

seven abominations in his heart--that is, very many (compare Pr 24:16).

26-27. Deceit will at last be exposed, and the wicked by their own arts often bring on retribution (compare Pr 12:13; Psa 7:16; 9:17, &c.).

28. Men hate those they injure.

A lying tongue--"lips" for the persons (compare Pr 4:24; Psa 12:3).

As snow in summer - None of these is suitable to the time; and at this unsuitable time, both are unwelcome: so a fool to be in honor is unbecoming.

As the bird - צפור tsippor is taken often for the sparrow; but means generally any small bird. As the sparrow flies about the house, and the swallow emigrates to strange countries; so an undeserved malediction may flutter about the neighborhood for a season: but in a short time it will disappear as the bird of passage; and never take effect on the innocent person against whom it was pronounced.

A whip for the horse - Correction is as suitable to a fool, as a whip is for a horse, or a bridle for an ass.

Answer not a fool - On this and the following verse Bishop Warburton, who has written well on many things, and very indifferently on the doctrine of grace, has written with force and perspicuity: "Had this advice been given simply, and without circumstance, to answer the fool, and not to answer him, one who had reverence for the text would satisfy himself in supposing that the different directions referred to the doing a thing in and out of season;

1. The reasons given why a fool should not be answered according to his folly, is, "lest he (the answerer) should be like unto him."

2. The reason given why the fool should be answered according to his folly, is, "lest he (the fool) should be wise in his own conceit."

1. "The cause assigned for forbidding to answer, therefore, plainly insinuates that the defender of religion should not imitate the insulter of it in his modes of disputation, which may be comprised in sophistry, buffoonery, and scurrility.

2. "The cause assigned for directing to answer, as plainly intimates that the sage should address himself to confute the fool upon his own false principles, by showing that they lead to conclusions very wide from, very opposite to, those impieties he would deduce from them. If any thing can allay the fool's vanity, and prevent his being wise in his own conceit, it must be the dishonor of having his own principles turned against himself, and shown to be destructive of his own conclusions." - Treatise on Grace. Preface.

Cutteth off the feet - Sending by such a person is utterly useless. My old MS. Bible translates well: Halt in feet and drinking wickednesse that sendith wordis bi a foole messager. Nothing but lameness in himself can vindicate his sending it by such hands; and, after all, the expedient will be worse than the total omission, for he is likely to drink wickedness, i.e., the mischief occasioned by the fool's misconduct. Coverdale nearly hits the sense as usual: "He is lame of his fete, yee dronken is he in vanite, that committeth eny thinge to a foole."

As he that bindeth a stone in a sling, so is he that giveth honor to a fool - It is entirely thrown away. This, however, is a difficult proverb; and the versions give but little light on the subject. The Hebrew may be translated, "As a piece of precious stone among a heap of stones, so is he that giveth honor to a fool." Or, As he that putteth a precious stone in a heap of stones. See Parkhurst: but on this interpretation the meaning would rather be, "It is as useless to throw a jewel among a heap of stones to increase its bulk, as to give honor to a fool."

As he that sendith a stoon into a hepe of monee; so he that geveth to an unwiisman wirschip - Old MS. Bible. "He that setteth a foole in hye dignite, that is even as yf a man dyd caste a precious stone upon the galous." - Coverdale. This translator refers to the custom of throwing a stone to the heap under which a criminal lay buried. The Vulgate gives some countenance to this translation: "He who gives honor to a fool is like one who throws a stone to Mercury's heap." Mercury was considered the deity who presided over the highways; and stones were erected in different places to guide the traveler. Hence those lines of Dr. Young: - "Death stands like Mercuries in every way;

And kindly points us to our journey's end."

The great God that formed all things - Or, A great man grieveth all, and he hireth the fool, he hireth also transgressors, where this verse is very differently translated. I shall add that of Coverdale: "A man of experience discerneth all thinges well: but whoso hyreth a foole, hyreth soch one as wyl take no hede." The רב rab may mean either the great God, or a great man: hence the two renderings, in the text and in the margin.

As a dog returneth to his vomit - See note on 2Pet 2:22.

The slothful man saith - See the note on Pro 22:13 (note).

Than seven men that can render a reason - Seven here only means perfection, abundance, or multitude. He is wiser in his own eyes than a multitude of the wisest men. "Than seven men that sytt and teach." - Coverdale; i.e., than seven doctors of the law, or heads of the schools of the prophets, who always sat while they taught.

He that passeth by - This proverb stands true ninety-nine times out of a hundred, where people meddle with domestic broils, or differences between men and their wives.

Am not I in sport? - How many hearts have been made sad, and how many reputations have been slain, by this kind of sport! "I designed no harm by what I said;" "It was only in jest," etc. Sportive as such persons may think their conduct to be, it is as ruinous as that of the mad man who shoots arrows, throws firebrands, and projects in all directions instruments of death, so that some are wounded, some burnt, and some slain.

Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out - The tale-receiver and the tale-bearer are the agents of discord. If none received the slander in the first instance, it could not be propagated. Hence our proverb, "The receiver is as bad as the thief." And our laws treat them equally; for the receiver of stolen goods, knowing them to be stolen, is hanged, as well as he who stole them.

The words of a tale-bearer - The same with Pro 18:8 (note), where see the note.

Burning lips and a wicked heart - Splendid, shining, smooth lips; that is, lips which make great professions of friendship are like a vessel plated over with base metal to make it resemble silver; but it is only a vile pot, and even the outside is not pure.

When he speaketh fair - For there are such hypocrites and false friends in the world.

Believe him not - Let all his professions go for nothing.

For there are seven abominations in his heart - That is, he is full of abominations.

Whoso diggeth a pit - See note on Psa 7:15. There is a Latin proverb like this: Malum consilium consultori pessimum, "A bad counsel, but worst to the giver." Harm watch; harm catch.

A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it - He that injures another hates him in proportion to the injury he has done him; and, strange to tell, in proportion to the innocence of the oppressed. The debtor cannot bear the sight of his creditor; nor the knave, of him whom he has injured.

By flying - Secures itself from the fowler. Not come - Upon the innocent person, but he shall escape from it like a bird.

According - So as to imitate his folly, by passionate or reproachful speeches.

According - So as his folly needs and requires, convincing him strongly, reproving him sharply, and exposing him to just shame.

Cutteth off the feet - Of his messenger; bids one go that wants legs. Drinketh - Drinking, in scripture, frequently denotes the plentiful doing or receiving of any thing.

The legs - Heb. the legs of the lame are lifted up, in going, or in dancing, which is done with great inequality and uncomeliness. So - No less incident are wise and pious speeches from a foolish and ungodly man.

Bindeth - Whereby he hinders his own design of throwing the stone out of it. So - No less absurd is he that giveth to a fool that honour which he is not capable of using aright.

A thorn - As a thorn is in a drunkard's hand, which he cannot manage cautiously, but employs to his own and others hurt. So - As unprofitable, and, by accident, hurtful to himself and others.

Rewardeth - Will certainly give that recompence which is deserved by fools and transgressors, by such as sin either thro' ignorance, or wilfully.

Turneth - Moving hither and thither upon it, but not removing from its place.

A reason - A satisfactory reason of ail their actions.

He - Who is going upon the way. With strife - In which he is not concerned, nor any way obliged to meddle. That taketh - Exposes himself to needless hazard.

And death - Any instruments of death.

Burning - With malice or hatred: A slanderous or evil tongue. Dross - Such a tongue and heart are of no real worth, although sometimes they make a shew of it, as dross does of silver.

Deceit - With false professions of love.

Rolleth - Up the hill with design to do mischief to some person.

1 AS snow in summer, and as rain in harvest , so honour is not seemly for a fool .

Unbecoming and unseasonable.

Because he neither deserves it, nor knows how to use it, but his folly is both increased and publickly manifested by it.

2 As the bird by wandring , as the swallow by flying, so the curse causless shall not come d.

From place to place, by its perpetual restlesness, it secures it self from the Fowler that he cannot shoot at it, nor spread his Net over it.

f To wit, upon the innocent Person, but he shall escape from it like a Bird, &c.

3 A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fools back.

Which was very proper and usual for an Ass, when they rode upon it, (as the Iews most commonly did) though not to restrain him from running away, which is the principal use of it in Horses, yet that the Rider might rule and guide him, which was very necessary for that stupid Creature. Although the ancient Interpreters render it a Goad, or Spur, or somthing of the like Nature and use.

Which is most proper and necessary for him. Not words, but blows, must make him better.

Marginal references: Ps. 32. 9. Ch. 10. 13▪

4 Answer not a fool according to his folly , lest thou also be like unto him .

How can these contrary rules be reconciled, answer him not, and answer him? Ans. Easily, by considering the difference of Persons, and Times, and Places, and other circumstances, and of the manner of answering. And such seemingly contradictory Precepts are not onely used by, but are esteemed Elegant in, other Authors, Answer him not, when he is incorrigible, or when he is enflamed with Passion or Wine, &c. or when it is not necessary, nor likely to do him good. Answer him, when he is capable of receiving good by it, or when it is necessary for the glory of God, or for the discharge of a Man's duty, or for the good of others.

So as to imitate his folly, by such passionate, or reproachful, or foolish speeches as he useth to thee.

Shew thy self to be as great a fool as he.

5 Answer a fool according to his folly , lest he be wise in his own conceit .

So as his folly needs and requires, convincing him strongly, reproving him sharply, exposing him to just shame, and correcting him with a Rod, when he deserves it, and thou hast a just power to use it.

Lest thy silence make him arrogant and presumptuous, as if his words were unanswerable.

Marginal references: Heb. his own eyes.

6 He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool , cutteth off the feet , and drinketh damage .

He that employeth a Fool upon any important Errant or Business which is too hard for him.

To wit, of his Messenger, he bids one go that wants Legs, he sends one who wants that discretion, which is as necessary for that employment as Legs are for going.

He bringeth upon himself abundance of loss and mischief, not onely spoiling that business about which he sends him, but making himself contemptible to the Person to whom he sends him, and to others with him, as if he had not common prudence to chuse a fit Messenger, and giving occasion by the folly of his Messenger to further misunderstandings, and jealousies, and inconveniences. For the Phrase, we may observe that drinking in Scripture frequently notes the plentiful doing or receiving of any thing, as they who multiply sins are said to drink Iniquity like Water, Iob 15. 16. & 34. 7. and they who are greatly afflicted are commonly said to drink the Cup.

Marginal references: Or, violen[illegible: 1+ letters].

7 The legs of the lame are not equal , so is a parable in the mouth of fools .

Heb. As (which note of similitude is plainly understood from the particle, so, in the following clause) the legs of the lame are lifted up, to wit, in going, or rather in dancing, which is done with great inequality and uncomeliness.

No less absurd and indecent are wise and pious speeches from a foolish and ungodly man, whose actions grosly contradict them, whereby he makes them contemptible, and himself ridiculous.

Marginal references: Heb. are lifted up.

8 As he that bindeth a stone in a sling , so is he that giveth honour to a fool .

Whereby he hinders his own design of throwing the stone out of it. Or, who fastens it there only for a season, that he may speedily and violently throw it away. Or, as it is rendred in our margent, and by many others, As he that putteth a precious stone (Heb. a stone, which is oft emphatically used for a precious stone, both in Scripture, as Exod. 39. 10. 1 Chron. 29. 8. and elsewhere, and also in other Authors) in an heap of stones, where it is obscured and lost.

No less absurd is he that giveth to a Fool that Honour and Praise which he is not capable either of receiving, or retaining, or using aright, but it is quite wasted upon him, and doth him more hurt than good.

Marginal references: Or, As he that [illegible: 1 word] a precious stone in an heap of [illegible: 1 word].

9 As a thorn goeth up into the hand of a drunkard , so is a parable in the mouth of fools.

As a thorn is in a Drunkards hand, which he cannot hold and manage cautiously, but employeth to his own and others hurt.

As improper and unprofitable, and, by accident, hurtful to himself and others. See on v. 7.

10 The great God that formed all things, both rewardeth the fool, and rewardeth transgressors .

God, who is oft called great, as Psal. 86. 10. & 135. 5. &c. and is described by the name of the most high, as Ps. 9. 2. & 21. 7. &c. who created all things, and therefore observeth and governeth all men and things, will certainly give that recompence which is meet for, and deserved by Fools and Transgressors, i. e. by such as sin either through ignorance and heedlesness, or wilfully and wickedly. Or, as it is in the margent, A great man (A Prince or Potentate, who are called by this title, Esth. 1. 8. Dan. 1. 3. &c.) grieveth (as this word is used, Isa. 51. 9. & 53. 5. and elsewhere) all (to wit, all that are subject to him, or all that stand in his way) he hireth (as this word most commonly signifies) the fools, he hireth also transgressors. So the sense is It is the manner of many Princes to vex and oppress their Subjects, which because they cannot do by themselves alone, they hire others, both fools, who do not know or consider what they do, and transgressors, who are ready to execute all their commands, right or wrong, that they may be their instruments in that work.

Marginal references: Or, a great man grieveth all, he hireth the fool, he hireth also transgressors.

11 As a dog returneth to his vomit , so a fool returneth to his folly .

To lick up that which he had lately vomited, forgetting how burdensom and vexatious it was to him.

Such like is the impudence and madness of sinners, who having smarted for their sins, and been forced to forsake them for a time, do afterwards return to the commission of them.

Marginal references: 2 Pet. 2. 22.; Heb. iterateth his folly.

12 Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit ? there is more hope of a fool than of him.

Who, being a fool, thinks himself wise, and therefore scorneth the counsels of others.

Of doing good to one who is a fool, and sensible of his folly, and ready to receive instruction.

Marginal references: Ch. 29. 20.

13 The slothful man saith , there is a lion in the way, a lion is in the streets.

To excuse his idleness and keeping himself at home. See on Ch. 22. 13.

14 As the door turneth upon his hinges , so doth the slothful upon his bed.

Moving hither and thither upon it, but not removing one jot from its place.

15 The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom, it grieveth him to bring it again to his mouth .

He will not take the least pains for the most necessary things.

Marginal references: Ch. 19. 24.; Or, he is weary.

16 The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit , than seven men that can render a reason .

Because by his idleness he avoids those troubles and dangers to which other men by their activity expose themselves, forgetting in the mean time what reproach and loss, and how much greater mischiefs, both here, and hereafter, are brought upon him by his slothfulness.

To wit, a satisfactory reason of all their actions, i. e. who are truly wise men.

17 He that passeth by , and meddleth with strife belonging not to him , is like one that taketh a dog by the ears .

Who is going upon the way, and about his business: But this word is by some referred to the last clause, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears as he is passing by him, without any thought of doing him harm; which agrees very well both with the order of the words in the Hebrew Text, and with the matter of the other clause to which this similitude is referred.

In which he is not concerned, nor any way obliged to meddle.

Exposeth himself to great and needless hazards, as a man that causelesly provoketh a Mastiff dog against himself.

Marginal references: Or, is [illegible: 1 word].

18 As a mad man who casteth fire-brands , arrows, and death :

As one feigneth himself mad, that under that pretence he may do mischief with impunity.

To hurt his Neighbours person, or to consume his House or Goods.

Any instruments of death.

Marginal references: Heb. one that maketh himself mad.; Heb. [illegible: 1 word] or sp[illegible: 1+ letters]ks.

19 So is the man that deceiveth his neighbour, and saith, Am not I in sport ?

That wrongs him under a false pretence of kindness and familiarity.

20 Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out; so where there is no tale-bearer , the strife ceaseth.

To carry such reports from one to another, as may provoke them to mutual rage and strife.

Marginal references: Heb. without wood.; Ch. 22. 10.; Or, [illegible: 1 word].; Heb. is [illegible: 1 word].

21 As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife.

Heb. a man of contentions, that loveth and giveth himself up to contentions.

Marginal references: Ch. 1[illegible: 1+ letters]. 18. & 29, 22.

22 The words of a tale-bearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly .

This was delivered before, Ch. 18. 8. and is here repeated as being a point of great concernment to the Peace and Welfare of all societies, and fit to be oft and earnestly pressed upon the consciences of men, because of their great and general proneness to this sin.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 word].

23 Burning lips, and a wicked heart, are like a potsherd covered with silver dross .

Either 1. With Love. Words delivered with shew of true and fervent affection. Or rather 2. With Malice or hatred. A slanderous or evil Tongue: For this word is constantly used in a bad sense, and notes the heat of Rage and Persecution.

Such a Tongue and Heart are of no real worth, although somtimes they make a shew of it, as Dross doth of Silver.

24 He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him.

Or, carrieth himself like another man, pretends Love and Kindness; which sense seems to agree best both with the next clause of this verse, and with the two following verses.

Marginal references: Or, is [illegible: 1 word]

26 Whose hatred is covered by deceit , his wickedness shall be shewed before the whole congregation .

With false professions of Love.

Instead of that secrecy and impunity which by this art he designed and promised to himself, he shall be brought to publick shame and punishment.

Marginal references: Or, hatred [illegible: 1 word] covered in secret.

27 Whoso diggeth a pjt shall fall therein, and he that rolleth a stone it will return upon him.

That another may fall into it. It is a metaphor from Hunters who used to dig deep pits, and then to cover them sleightly with earth, that wild Beasts passing that way, might fall into them, and somtimes in the heat of pursuit fell into them themselves.

To wit, up the hill with design to do mischief to some person or thing with it.

Marginal references: Ps. 7. 15, 16 & 9. 15. & 57. 6. Eccles. 10. [illegible: 1+ letters]

28 A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it , and a flattering mouth worketh ruine.

Because by his calumnies he hath made them his enemies.

Which though it be more smooth and plausible than a slandering mouth yet is in truth no less pernicious, betraying others either to sin, or to danger and mischief.

Pro 26:1

There now follows a group of eleven proverbs of the fool; only the first of the group has after it a proverb of different contents, but of similar form:

As snow in summer, and rain in harvest;

So honour befitteth not a fool.

If there is snow in high summer (קיץ, to be glowing hot), it is contrary to nature; and if there is rain in harvest, it is (according to the alternations of the weather in Palestine) contrary to what is usually the case, and is a hindrance to the ingathering of the fruits of the field. Even so a fool and respect, or a place of honour, are incongruous things; honour will only injure him (as according to Pro 19:10, luxury); he will make unjust use of it, and draw false conclusions from it; it will strengthen him in his folly, and only increase it. נאוה (= נאוי) is the adj. to the Pil. נאוה, Psa 93:5 (plur. נאווּ); נאוה, Pro 19:10, and נאוה, Pro 17:7, are also masc. and fem. of the adj., according to which, that which is said under Pro 19:10 is to be corrected. Symmachus and Theodotion have translated οὐκ ἔπρεψεν, and have therefore read נאוה. The root word is נאה (as שׁחה to שׁחוה) = נוה, to aim at something (vid., Hupfeld under Psa 23:2).

Pro 26:2

This verse is formed quite in the same way as the preceding:

As the sparrow in its fluttering, as the swallow in its flying,

So the curse that is groundless: it cometh not.

This passage is one of those fifteen (vid., under Psa 100:3) in which the לא of the text is changed by the Kerı̂ into לו; the Talm., Midrash, and Sohar refer this לּו partly to him who utters the curse himself, against whom also, if he is a judge, such inconsiderate cursing becomes an accusation by God; partly to him who is cursed, for they read from the proverb that the curse of a private person also (הדיוט, ἰδιώτης) is not wont to fall to the ground, and that therefore one ought to be on his guard against giving any occasion for it (vid., Norzi). But Aben Ezra supposes that לא and לו interchange, as much as to say that the undeserved curse falls on him (לו) who curses, and does not fall (לא) on him who is cursed. The figures in 2a harmonize only with לא, according to which the lxx, the Syr., Targ., Venet., and Luther (against Jerome) translate, for the principal matter, that the sparrow and the swallow, although flying out (Pro 27:8), return home again to their nest (Ralbag), would be left out of view in the comparison by לו. This emphasizes the fluttering and flying, and is intended to affirm that a groundless curse is a פּרח בּאוּיר, aimless, i.e., a thing hovering in the air, that it fails and does not take effect. Most interpreters explain the two Lameds as declaring the destination: ut passer (sc. natus est) ad vagandum, as the sparrow, through necessity of nature, roves about... (Fleischer). But from Pro 25:3 it is evident that the Lamed in both cases declares the reference or the point of comparison: as the sparrow in respect to its fluttering about, etc. The names of the two birds are, according to Aben Ezra, like dreams without a meaning; but the Romanic exposition explains rightly צפּור by passereau, and דּרור by hirondelle, for צפור (Arab. 'uṣfuwr), twitterer, designates at least preferably the sparrow, and דרור the swallow, from its flight shooting straight out, as it were radiating (vid., under Psa 84:4); the name of the sparrow, dûrı̂ (found in courtyards), which Wetstein, after Saadia, compares to דרור, is etymologically different.It is true that the Gemara to Negaïm, Pro 14:1, explains the Mishnic צפרים דרור, “house-birds,” for it derives דרור from דור, to dwell.

Regarding חנּם, vid., under Pro 24:28. Rightly the accentuation separates the words rendered, “so the curse undeserved” (קללת, after Kimchi, Michlol 79b, קללת), from those which follow; לא תבא is the explication of כן: thus hovering in the air is a groundless curse - it does not come (בוא, like e.g., Jos 21:43). After this proverb, which is formed like Pro 26:1, the series now returns to the “fool.”

Pro 26:3 3 A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass,    And a rod for the back of fools.

J. D. Michaelis supposes that the order should be reversed: a bridle for the horse, a whip for the ass; but Arnoldi has here discovered the figure of speech merismus (cf. Pro 10:1); and Hitzig, in the manner of the division, the rhythmical reason of the combination (cf. שׁם חם ויפת for שׁם יפת וחם): whip and bridle belong to both, for one whips a horse (Neh 3:2) and also bridles him; one bridles an ass (Psa 32:9) and also whips him (Num 22:28.). As whip and bridle are both serviceable and necessary, so also serviceable and necessary is a rod, לגו כּסילים, Pro 10:13; Pro 19:29.

Pro 26:4 4 Answer not the fool according to his folly,    Lest thou thyself also become like unto him.

After, or according to his folly, is here equivalent to recognising the foolish supposition and the foolish object of his question, and thereupon considering it, as if, e.g., he asked why the ignorant man was happier than the man who had much knowledge, or how one may acquire the art of making gold; for “a fool can ask more than ten wise men can answer.” He who recognises such questions as justifiable, and thus sanctions them, places himself on an equality with the fool, and easily himself becomes one. The proverb that follows affirms apparently the direct contrary:

Pro 26:5 5 Answer the fool according to his folly,    Lest he regard himself as wise. ענה־כסיל (with Makkeph, and Gaja, and Chatef)Thus after Ben Asher; while, on the contrary, Ben Naphtali writes ענה כסיל with Munach, vid., Thorath Emeth, p. 41. here stands opposed to אל־תען כסיל. The Gospel of John, e.g., Joh 5:31, cf. Pro 8:31,Vid., my dissertation on three little-observed passages in the Gospel of John, and their practical lessons, in the Evang. luth. Kirchenzeitung, 1869, Nos. 37, 38. is rich in such apparently contradictory sayings. The sic et non here lying before us is easily explained; after, or according to his folly, is this second time equivalent to, as is due to his folly: decidedly and firmly rejecting it, making short work with it (returning a sharp answer), and promptly replying in a way fitted, if possible, to make him ashamed. Thus one helps him, perhaps, to self-knowledge; while, in the contrary case, one gives assistance to his self-importance. The Talmud, Schabbath 30b, solves the contradiction by referring Pro 26:4 to worldly things, and Pro 26:5 to religious things; and it is true that, especially in the latter case, the answer is itself a duty toward the fool, and towards the truth. Otherwise the Midrash: one ought not to answer when one knows the fool as such, and to answer when he does not so know him; for in the first instance the wise man would dishonour himself by the answer, in the latter case he would give to him who asks the importance appertaining to a superior.

Pro 26:6 6 He cutteth off the feet, he drinketh injury,    Who transacteth business by a fool.

He cutteth off, i.e., his own feet, as we say: he breaks his neck, il se casse le cou; Lat. frangere brachium, crus, coxam; frangere navem (Fleischer). He thinks to supplement his own two legs by those of the messenger, but in reality he cuts them off; for not only is the commission not carried out, but it is even badly carried out, so that instead of being refreshed (Pro 13:17; Pro 25:13) by the quick, faithful execution of it, he has to swallow nothing but damage; cf. Job 34:7, where, however, drinking scorn is meant of another (lxx), not his own; on the contrary, חמס here refers to injury suffered (as if it were חמדו, for the suff. of חמס is for the most part objective); cf. the similar figures Pro 10:26. So שׁלח בּיד, to accomplish anything by the mediation of another, cf. Exo 4:13; with דבר (דברים), 2Sa 15:36. The reading מקצּה (Jerome, Luther, claudus) is unnecessary; since, as we saw, מקצּה ,was ew includes it in the sibi. The Syr. reads, after the lxx (the original text of which was ἐκ τῶν ποδῶν ἑαυτοῦ), מקצה, for he errs, as also does the Targumist, in thinking that מקצה can be used for מקצץ; but Hitzig adopts this reading, and renders: “from the end of the legs he swallows injury who sends messages by a fool.” The end of the legs are the feet, and the feet are those of the foolish messenger. The proverb in this form does not want in boldness, but the wisdom which Hitzig finds in its is certainly not mother-wit.The Venet. translates שׁתה by ἄνους, so שׁטה (the post-bibl. designation of a fool) - one of the many indications that this translator is a Jew, and as such is not confined in his knowledge of language only to the bibl. Hebrew.

Böttcher, on his part, also with מקצה, renders: “from the end of his feet he drinks in that which is bitter...” - that also is too artificial, and is unintelligible without the explanation of its discoverer. But that he who makes a fool his messenger becomes himself like unto one who cuts off his own legs, is a figure altogether excellent.

Pro 26:7 7 The hanging down of the legs of a lame man;    And a proverb in a fool’s mouth.

With reference to the obscure דּליוּ, the following views have been maintained: - (1) The form as punctuated appears directly as an imperative. Thus the lxx translate, the original text of which is here: ἀφελοῦ πορείαν κυλλῶν (conj. Lagarde’s) καὶ παροιμίαν ἐκ στόματος ἀφρόνων, which the Syr. (with its imitator, the Targ.) has rendered positively: “If thou canst give the power of (sound) going to the lame, then wilt thou also receive (prudent) words from the mouth of a fool.” Since Kimchi, דּליוּ has been regarded by many as the softening of the Imp. Piel דּדּוּ, according to which the Venet. translates: ἐπάρατε κνήμας χωλοῦ; and Bertheau and Zöckler explain: always take away his legs from the lame, since they are in reality useless to him, just as a proverb in the mouth of the fool is useless - something that without loss might be never there.” But why did not the poet write הרימוּ, or הסירוּ, or קחוּ, or the like? דּלּי, to carry away, to dispense with, is Syriac (Targ. Jer. I, under Deu 32:50), but not Hebrew. And how meaningless is this expression! A lame man would withstand a surgeon (as he would a murderer) who would amputate his legs; for lame legs are certainly better than none, especially since there is a great distinction between a lame man (פּדּח, from פּסח, luxare; cf. (Arab.) fasaḥ, laxare, vid., Schultens) who halts or goes on crutches (2Sa 3:29), and one who is maimed (paralytic), who needs to be carried. It comes to this, that by this rendering of 7a one must, as a consequence, with the lxx, regard וּמשׁל [and a proverb] as object. accus. parallel to שׁקים [legs]; but “to draw a proverb from one’s mouth” is, after Pro 20:5, something quite different from to tear a proverb away from him, besides which, one cannot see how it is to be caught. Rather one would prefer: attollite crura claudi (ut incedat, et nihil promovebitis); but the מן of מפּסּח does not accord with this, and 7b does not connect itself with it. But the explanation: “take away the legs from a lame man who has none, at least none to use, and a proverb in the mouth of fools, when there is none,” is shattered against the “leg-taking-away,” which can only be used perhaps of frogs’ legs. (2) Symmachus translates: ἐξέλιπον κνῆμαι ἀπὸ χωλοῦ; and Chajûg explains דּליוּ as 3 pret. Kal, to which Kimchi adds the remark, that he appears to have found דּליוּ, which indeed is noted by Norzi and J. H. Michaelis as a variant. But the Masoretic reading is דּליוּ, and this, after Gesenius and Böttcher (who in this, without any reason, sees an Ephraimitic form of uttering the word), is a softened variation from דּדּוּ. Only it is a pity that this softening, while it is supported by alius = ἄλλος, folium = φύλλον, faillir = fallere, and the like, has yet not a single Hebrew or Semitic example in its favour. (3) Therefore Ewald finds, “all things considered,” that it is best to read דּליוּ, “the legs are too loose for the lame man to use them.” But, with Dietrich, we cannot concur in this, nor in the more appropriate translation: “the legs of the lame hang down loose,” to say nothing of the clearly impossible: “high are the legs of the lame (one higher than the other),” and that because this form גּליוּ for גּליוּ also occurs without pause, Psa 57:2; Psa 73:2; Psa 122:6; Isa 21:12; but although thus, as at Psa 36:9; Psa 68:32, at the beginning of a clause, yet always only in connection, never at the beginning of an address. (4) It has also been attempted to interpret דּליוּ as abstr., e.g., Euchel: “he learns from a cripple to dance, who seeks to learn proverbs from the mouth of a fool.” דּליוּ שׁקים must mean the lifting up of the legs = springing and dancing. Accordingly Luther translates: “As dancing to a cripple,

So does it become a fool to speak of wisdom.”

The thought is agreeable, and according to fact; but these words to not mean dancing, but much rather, as the Arabic shows (vid., Schultens at Pro 20:5, and on the passage before us), a limping, waddling walk, like that of ducks, after the manner of a well-bucket dangling to and fro. And דּליוּ, after the form מלכוּ, would be an unheard-of Aramaism. For forms such as שׂחוּ, swimming, and שׁלוּ, security, Psa 30:7, on which C. B. Michaelis and others rest, cannot be compared, since they are modified from sachw, ṣalw, while in דּליוּ the û ending must be, and besides the Aramaic דּליוּ must in st. constr. be דּליוּוּת. Since none of these explanations are grammatically satisfactory, and besides דּליוּ = דּללוּ = דּדּוּ gives a parallel member which is heterogeneous and not conformable to the nature of an emblematical proverb, we read דּלּוּי after the forms צפּוּי, שׁקּוּי (cf. חבּוּק, Pro 6:10; Pro 24:33), and this signifies loose, hanging down, from דּלה, to hang at length and loosely down, or transitively: to hang, particularly of the hanging down at length of the bucket-rope, and of the bucket itself, to draw water from the well. The מן is similar to that of Job 28:4, only that here the connecting of the hanging down, and of that from which it hangs down, is clear. Were we to express the purely nominally expressed emblematical proverb in the form of a comparative one, it would thus stand as Fleischer translates it: ut laxa et flaccida dependent (torpent) crura a claudo, sic sententia in ore stultorum (sc. torpet h. e. inutilis est). The fool can as little make use of an intelligent proverb, or moral maxim (dictum sententiosum), as a lame man can of his feet; the word, which in itself is full of thought, and excellent, becomes halting, lame, and loose in his mouth (Schultens: deformiter claudicat); it has, as spoken and applied by him, neither hand nor foot. Strangely, yet without missing the point, Jerome: quomodo pulcras frustra habet claudus tibias, sic indecens est in ore stultorum parabola. The lame man possibly has limbs that appear sound; but when he seeks to walk, they fail to do him service - so a bon-mot comes forth awkwardly when the fool seeks to make use of it. Hitzig’s conjecture: as leaping of the legs on the part of a lame man..., Böttcher has already shown sufficient reasons for rejecting; leaping on the part of any one, for the leaping of any one, were a court style familiar to no poet.

Pro 26:8

This proverb presents to us a new difficulty.

As one binds a stone in a sling,

So is he who giveth honour to a fool.

This translation is warranted by tradition, and is in accordance with the actual facts. A sling is elsewhere called קלע; but that מרגּמה also in the passage before us signifies a sling (from רגם, to throw with stones = to stone or to throw stones = to sling, cf. Targ. Est 5:14 רגּם, of David’s slinging stones against Goliath), is supported by the lxx, Syr., and Targ. on the one side, and the Jewish Glossists on the other (Rashi: fronde, Ital. frombola). Rightly the lxx renders כּצרור as a verb: ὡς ἀποδεσμεύει; on the contrary, the Syr. and Targ. regard it as a substantive: as a piece of stone; but צרור as a substantive does not mean a piece, as one would put into a sling to use as a weapon, but a grain, and thus a little piece, 2Sa 17:13; cf. Amo 9:9. Erroneously Ewald: “if one binds to the sling the stone which he yet seeks to throw, then all this throwing and aiming are in vain; so it is in vain to give to a fool honour which does not reach him.” If one seeks to sling a stone, he must lay the lapis missilis so in the sling that it remains firm there, and goes forth only by the strong force of the slinging; this fitting in (of the stone), so that it does not of itself fall out, is expressed by צרר בּ (cf. Pro 30:4; Job 26:8). The giving is compared to the binding, the stones to the honour, and the sling to the fool: the fool is related to the honour which one confers on him, as the stone to the sling in which one lays it - the giving of honour is a slinging of honour. Otherwise (after Kimchi) the Venet. ὡς συνδεσμὸς λίθου ἐν λιθάδι, i.e., as Fleischer translates: ut qui crumenam gemmarum plenam in acervum lapidum conjicit. Thus also Ralbag, Ahron b. Josef, and others, and lastly Zöckler. The figure is in the form of an address, and מרגּמה (from רגם, accumulare, congerere, vid., under Psa 67:1-7 :28) might certainly mean the heaping of stones. But אבן is not used in the sense of אבן יקרה (precious stone); also one does not see why one precious stone is not enough as the figure of honour, and a whole heap is named; but in the third place, כּן נותן requires for כצרור a verbal signification. Therefore Jerome translates: sicut qui mittit lapidem in acervum Mercurii; in this the echo of his Jewish teacher, for the Midrash thus explains literally: every one who gives honour to a fool is like one who throws a stone on a heap of stones consecrated to Mercury. Around the Hermes (ἑρμαὶ), i.e., pillars with the head of Mercury (statuae mercuriales or viales), were heaps of stones (ἕρμακες), to which the passer-by was wont to throw a stone; it was a mark of honour, and served at the same time to improve the way, whose patron was Mercurious (מרקולים). It is self-evident that this Graeco-Roman custom to which the Talm. makes frequent reference, cannot be supposed to have existed in the times of Solomon. Luther translates independently, and apparently rendering into German that in acervum Mercurii: that is as if one threw a precious stone on the “Rabenstein,” i.e., the heap of stones raised at the foot of the gallows. This heap of stones is more natural and suitable to the times of Solomon than the heap of stones dedicated to Mercury, if, like Gussetius, one understands מרגמה of a heap of stones, supra corpus lapidatum. But against this and similar interpretations it is enough to remark that כצרור cannot signify sicut qui mittit. Had such a meaning been intended, the word would have been כּהשׁליך or כּמשׁליך. Still different is the rendering of Joseph Kimchi, Aben Ezra, and finally Löwenstein: as when one wraps up a stone in a piece of purple stuff. But ארגּמן, purple, has nothing to do with the verb רגם; it is, as the Aramaic ארגּון shows, a compound word; the supposition of a denom. מרגּמה thus proceeds from a false etymological supposition. And Hitzig’s combination of מרגמה with (Arab.) munjam, handle and beam of a balance (he translates: as a stone on the beam of a balance, i.e., lies on it), is nothing but refined ingenuity, since we have no need at all of such an Arab. word for a satisfactory clearing up of מרגמה. We abide by the rendering of the sling. Böttcher translates: a sling that scatters; perhaps מרגמה in reality denotes such a sling as throws many stones at once. Let that, however, be as it may: that he who confers a title of honour, a place of honour, and the like, on a fool, is like one who lays a stone in a sling, is a true and intelligibly formed thought: the fool makes the honour no honour; he is not capable of maintaining it; that which is conferred on him is uselessly wasted.

Pro 26:9 9 A thorn goeth into the hand of a drunkard,    And a proverb in a fool’s mouth;i.e., if a proverb falls into a fool’s mouth, it is as if a thorn entered into the hand of a drunken man; the one is as dangerous as the other, for fools misuse such a proverb, which, rightly used, instructs and improves, only to the wounding and grieving of another, as a drunken man makes use of the pointed instrument which he has possession of for coarse raillery, and as a welcome weapon of his strife. The lxx, Syr. (Targ.?), and Jerome interpret עלה in the sense of shooting up, i.e., of growing; Böttcher also, after Pro 24:31 and other passages, insists that the thorn which has shot up may be one that has not grown to perfection, and therefore not dangerous. But thorns grow not in the hand of any one; and one also does not perceive why the poet should speak of it as growing in the hand of a drunken man, which the use of the hand with it would only make worse. We have here עלה בידי, i.e., it has come into my hand, commonly used in the Mishna, which is used where anything, according to intention, falls into one’s hands, as well as where it comes accidentally and unsought for, e.g., Nazir 23a, מי שׁנתכוון לעלות בידו בשׂר חזיר ועלה בידו בשׂר טלה, he who designs to obtain swine’s flesh and (accidentally) obtains lamb’s flesh. Thus rightly Heidenheim, Löwenstein, and the Venet.: ἄκανθα ἀνέβη εἰς χεῖρα μεθύοντος. חוח signifies a thorn bush, 2Ki 14:9,The plur. חוחים, 1Sa 13:6, signifies not thorn bushes, but rock-splitting; in Damascus, chôcha means a little gate in the wing of a large door; vid., Wetstein’s Nordarabien, p. 23. as well as a thorn, Sol 2:2, but where not the thorns of the rose, and indeed no rose at all, is meant. Luther thinks of the rose with the thorn when he explains: “When a drunkard carries and brandishes in his hand a thorn bush, he scratches more with it than allows the roses to be smelled - so a fool with the Scriptures, or a right saying, often does more harm than good.” This paraphrase of Luther’s interprets עלה ביד more correctly than his translation does; on the other hand, the latter more correctly is satisfied with a thorn twig (as a thorn twig which pierces into the hand of a drunken man); the roses are, however, assumed contrary to the text. This holds good also against Wessely’s explanation: “the Mashal is like a rose not without thorns, but in the mouth of a fool is like a thorn without a rose, as when a drunken man seeks to pluck roses and gains by his effort nothing but being pierced by thorns.” The idea of roses is to be rejected, because at the time when this proverb was formed there were no roses in Palestine. The proverb certainly means that a right Mashal, i.e., an ingenious excellent maxim, is something more and better than a חוח (the prick as of the Jewish thorn, Zizyphus vulgaris, or the Christus-thorn, the Ziz spina Christi); but in the mouth of a fool such a maxim becomes only a useless and a hurtful thing; for the fool so makes use of it, that he only embarrasses others and recklessly does injury to them. The lxx translates משׁל by δουλεία, and the Aram. by שׁטיוּתא; how the latter reached this “folly” is not apparent; but the lxx vocalized משׁל, according to which Hitzig, at the same time changing שׁכּור into שׂכוּר, translates: “thorns shoot up by the hand of the hireling, and tyranny by the mouth of fools.” Although a hired labourer, yet, on this account, he is not devoid of conscience; thus 9a so corrected has something in its favour: one ought, as far as possible, to do all with his own hand; but the thought in 9b is far-fetched, and if Hitzig explains that want of judgment in the state councils creates despotism, so, on the other hand, Pro 24:7 says that the fool cannot give counsel in the gate, and therefore he holds his mouth.

Pro 26:10

All that we have hitherto read is surpassed in obscurity by this proverb, which is here connected because of the resemblance of ושכר to שכור. We translate it thus, vocalizing differently only one word:

Much bringeth forth from itself all;

But the reward and the hirer of the fool pass away.

The lxx translates πολλὰ χειμάζεται πᾶσα σὰρξ ἀφρόνων (all the flesh of fools suffers much), συντριβήσεται γὰρ ἧ ἔκστασις αὐτῶν, which is in Hebrew: רב מחולל כל בּשׂר כסיל ישּׁבר עברתם

An unfortunate attempt so to rectify the words that some meaning might be extracted from them. The first line of this translation has been adopted by the Syr. and Targ., omitting only the כל, in which the self-condemnation of this deciphering lies (for כל בשׂר means elsewhere, humanity, not the whole body of each individual); but they translate the second line as if the words were: ישׁכּר עבר יםi.e., and the drunken man sails over the sea (עברים is separated into עבר ים, as בבקרים, Amo 6:12, is to be separated into בּבּקר ים); but what does that mean? Does it mean that to a drunkard (but שׁכּור, the drunken man, and not סבא, the drunkard, is used) nothing remains but to wander over the sea? or that the drunken man lets his imagination wander away over the sea, while he neglects the obligation that lies upon him? Symmachus and Theodotion, with the Midrash (Rashi) and Saadia (Kimchi), take שׂכר in 10b = סגר (like Isa 19:10, שׂכר = embankment, cf. סכּרין, Kelim, Pro 23:5); the former translates by καὶ ὁ φράσσων ἄφρονα ἐμφράσσει τὰς ὀργὰς αὐτοῦ, the latter by καὶ φιμῶν ἄφρονα φιμοῖ χόλους, yielding to the imagination that עברים, like עברות, may be the plur. of עברה, anger. Jerome punctuates רב as, Pro 25:8, רב, and interprets, as Symmachus and Theodotion, שׂכר both times = סגר, translating: Judicium determinat causas, et qui imponit stulto silentium iras mitigat; but רב does not mean judicium, nor מחולל determinat, nor כל causas. As Gussetius, so also Ralbag (in the first of his three explanations), Meîri, Elia Wilna interpret the proverb as a declaration regarding quarrelsome persons: he causeth woe to all, and hireth fools, hireth transgressors, for his companions; but in that case we must read רב for רב; מחולל, bringing woe, would be either the Po. of חלל, to bore through, or Pilel of חיל (חוּל), to put into distress (as with pangs); but עברים, transgressors = sinners, is contrary to the O.T. usus loq., Pro 22:3 (Pro 27:12) is falsely cited in its favour; besides, for רב there should have been at least אישׁ רב and why שׂכרו is repeated remains inexplicable. Others take מחולל־כל as the name of God, the creator of all men and things; and truly this is the nearest impression of these two words, for חולל is the usual designation for divine production, e.g., Psa 90:2. Accordingly Kimchi explains: The Lord is the creator of all, and He gives to fools and to transgressors their maintenance; but עברים, transgressors, is Mishnic, not bibl.; and שׂכר means to hire, but not to supply with food. The proverb is thus incapable of presenting a thought like Mat 5:45 (He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good). Others translate: “The Lord is creator of all, and takes fools, takes idlers, into His service.” Thus rendered, the proverb is offensive; wherefore Rashi, Moses Kimchi, Arama, and others regard the Mashal as in the mouth of fools, and thus they take Pro 26:9 and Pro 26:10 together as a tetrastich. Certainly this second collection of proverbs contains also tetrastiches; but Pro 26:9 and Pro 26:10 cannot be regarded as together forming a tetrastich, because רב (which is valid against Kimchi also) cannot mean God the Lord: רב, Lord, is unheard of in bibl. Heb., and at least the word הרב must be used for God. The Venet. on this account does not follow Kimchi, but translates, Ἄρχων πλάττει πάντα, καὶ μισθοῦται μωρὸν καὶ μισθοῦται ὡς παραβάτης (ought to have been παραβάτας); but who could this cunning man be? Perhaps the Venet. is to be understood, after Gecatilia (in Rashi): a great (rich) man performs all manner of things; but if he hires a fool, it is as if he hired the first best who pass along the way. But that חולל is used in the general sense of to execute, to perform, is without example, and improbable. Also the explanation: a ruler brings grief, i.e., severe oppression, upon all (Abulwalîd, Immanuel, Aben Ezra, who, in his smaller grammar, explains רב = רב after Isa 49:9; C. B. Michaelis: dolore afficit omnes), does not recommend itself; for חולל, whether it be from חלל, Isa 51:9 (to bore through), or from חיל, Psa 29:9 (to bring on the pangs of birth), is too strong a word for hurting; also the clause, thus generally understood, is fortunately untrue. Translated as by Euchel: “the prominent persons destroy all; they keep fools in pay, and favour vagabonds,” - it sounds as if it had been picked up in an assembly of democrats. On the other hand, the proverb, as translated by Luther:

A good master maketh a thing right;

But he who hireth a bungler, by him it is spoiled, is worthy of the Book of Proverbs. The second line is here freely rendered, but it is also appropriate, if we abide closer by the words of the text, in this connection. Fleischer: Magister (artifex peritus) effingit omnia (i.e., bene perficit quaecunque ei committuntur); qui autem stultum conducit, conducit transeuntes (i.e., idem facit ac si homines ignotos et forte transeuntes ad opus gravius et difficilius conduceret). Thus also Gesenius, Böttcher, and others, who all, as Gecatilia above, explain עברים, τοὺς τυχόντας, the first best. But we are reluctantly constrained to object to this thought, because רב nowhere in bibl. Hebrew signifies a master; and the ו of the second ושׂכר dno cannot bear that rendering, ac si. And if we leave it out, we nevertheless encounter a difficulty in חולל, which cannot be used of human production. Many Christian interpreters (Cocceius, Schultens, Schelling, Ewald, Bertheau, Stier, Zöckler) give to רב a meaning which is found in no Jewish interpreter, viz., sagittarius, from רבב (רבב), Gen 49:23 (and perhaps Psa 18:15), after the forms צר, שׂר, the plur. of which, רבּים, is found at Job 16:13; Jer 50:29, but in a connection which removes all doubt from the meaning of the word. Here also רב may be more closely defined by מחולל; but how then does the proverb stand? “an archer who wounds everything, and he who hires a fool, and hires passers-by” (Ewald: street-runners), i.e., they are alike. But if the archer piercing everything is a comic Hercules furens, then, in order to discover the resemblance between the three, there is need of a portion of ingenuity, such as is only particularly assigned to the favoured. But it is also against the form and the usage of the word to interpret עברים simply of rogues and vagabonds. Several interpreters have supposed that רב and כל must stand in a certain interchangeable relation to each other. Thus, e.g., Ahron b. Josef: “Much makes amazement to all, but especially one who hires a fool....” But this “especially” (Before all) is an expression smuggled in. Agreeing with Umbreit and Hitzig, we translate line first; but in translating line second, we follow our own method:

Much bringeth all out of it;i.e., where there is much, then one has it in his power, if he begins right, to undertake everything. רב has by כּל the definition of a neuter, so as to designate not only many men, Exo 19:21, but also much ability in a pecuniary and facultative sense (cf. the subst. רב, Isa 63:7; Psa 145:7); and of the much which bringeth forth all out of itself, effects all by itself, חולל with equal right might be used, as Pro 25:23, of the north wind. The antithesis 10b takes this form:

But the reward (read וּשׂכר) and the master (who hires him for wages) of the fool pass away,i.e., perish; עברים, as if עבר, is used of chaff, Isa 29:5; of stubble, Jer 13:24; of shadow, Psa 144:4. That which the fool gains passes away, for he squanders it; and he who took him into his service for wages is ruined along with him, for his work is only pernicious, not useful. Although he who possesses much, and has great ability, may be able to effect everything of himself, yet that is not the case when he makes use of the assistance therein of foolish men, who not only do not accomplish anything, but, on the contrary, destroy everything, and are only ruinous to him who, with good intention, associates them with himself in his work. That the word must be more accurately ושׂכר, instead of ושׂכרוו, one may not object, since ושׂכר is perfectly unambiguous, and is manifestly the object.

Pro 26:11

The series of proverbs regarding fools is continued:

Like a dog which returneth to his vomit,

Is a fool who cometh again with his folly. שׁב is like שׁונה, particip.; only if the punctuation were כּכּלב, ought “which returneth to his vomit” to be taken as a relative clause (vid., under Psa 38:14). Regarding על as designating the terminus quo with verbs of motions, vid., Köhler under Mal. 3:24. On קא = קיא, cf. Pro 23:8. Luther rightly; as a dog devours again his vomit. The lxx translate: ὥσπερ κύων ὅταν ἐπέλθῃ ἐπὶ τὸν ἑαυτοῦ ἔμετον; the reference in 2Pe 2:22 : κύων ἐπιστρέψας ἐπὶ τὸ ἴδιον ἐξέραμα, is thus not from the lxx; the Venet. is not connected with this N.T. citation, but with the lxx, if its accordance with it is not merely accidental. To devour again its vomit is common with the dog.Vid., Schulze’s Die bibl. Sprichwörter der deutschen Sprache, p. 71f.

Even so, it is the manner of fools to return again in word and in deed to their past folly (vid., regarding שׁנה with ב of the object. Pro 17:9); as an Aram. popular saying has it: the fool always falls back upon his foolish conduct.Vid., Wahl’s Das Sprichwort der heb.-aram. Literatur, p. 147; Duke’s Rabbin. Blumenlese, p. 9.

He must needs do so, for folly has become to him a second nature; but this “must” ceases when once a divine light shines forth upon him. The lxx has after Pro 26:11 a distich which is literally the same as Sir. 4:21.

Pro 26:12 12 Seest thou a man who is wise in his own eyes?      The fool hath more hope than he.

Regarding the perf. hypotheticum ראית, vid., at Pro 22:29. Line second is repeated, Pro 29:20, unchanged. ממּנּוּ, prae eo, is equivalent to the Mishnic יותר ממּנּוּ, plus quam ei. As the conversion of a sinner, who does not regard himself as righteous, is more to be expected than that of a self-righteous man (Mat 9:12.), so the putting right of a fool, who is conscious that he is not wise (cf. Pro 24:7), is more likely to be effected than that of one deeming himself wise; for the greatest hindrance to any turning toward that which is better lies in the delusion that he does not need it.The Targum has 12b after Codd. פּקח סכלא טב מגּיהּ (= Syr. pekach, expedit, convenit, melius est), it is far better circumstanced regarding the fool than regarding him. Vid., Geiger’s Zeitschr. vi. (1868), p. 154.

Thus far the group of proverbs regarding fools.

Pro 26:13

There follows now a group of proverbs regarding the slothful: 13 The slothful saith there is a lion without,      A lion in the midst of the streets; cf. the original of this proverb, Pro 22:13. שׁוּעל, to say nothing of שׁחל, is not the jackal; שׁחל is the bibl. name for the lion. בּין is the more general expression for בּקרב, Isa 5:25; by the streets he thinks of the rows of houses that form them.

Pro 26:14 14 The door turneth on its hinges,      And the sluggard on his bed.

The comparison is clear. The door turns itself on its hinges, on which it hangs, in and out, without passing beyond the narrow space of its motion; so is the fool on his bed, where he turns himself from the one side to the other. He is called עצל, because he is fast glued to the place where he is (Arab. 'azila), and cannot be free (contrast of the active, cf. Arab. ḥafyf, moving nimbly, agilis). But the door offers itself as a comparison, because the diligent goes out by it to begin his work without (Pro 24:27; Psa 104:23), while the sluggard rolls himself about on his bed. The hook, the hinge, on which the door is moved, called ציר, from צוּר, to turn,The Arab. verb signifies radically: to turn, like the Persian verbs kashatn and kardydan, and like our “werden” to grow, turn, accords with vertere (Fleischer). has thus the name of הסּוב.

Pro 26:15 15 The slothful has thrust his hand into the dish,      It is hard for him to bring it back to his mouth again.

A variation of Pro 19:24; the fut. ישׁיבנּה there, is here explained by נלאה להשׁיבהּ.

Pro 26:16 16 The sluggard is wise in his own eyes,      More than seven men who give an excellent answer.

Between slothfulness and conceit there exists no inward necessary mutual relation. The proverb means that the sluggard as such regards himself as wiser than seven, who all together answer well at any examination: much labour - he thinks with himself - only injures the health, blunts men for life and its joys, leads only to over-exertion; for the most prudent is, as a general rule, crack-brained. Böttcher’s “maulfaule” [slow to speak] belongs to the German style of thinking; עטל לשׁנא in Syr. is not he who is slow to speak, but he who has a faltering tongue.The Aram. עטל is the Hebr. עצל, as עטא = עצה; but in Arab. corresponds not to 'atal, but to 'azal.

Seven is the number of manifoldness in completed unfolding (Pro 9:1). Meîri thinks, after Ezr 7:14, on the council of seven of the Asiatic ruler. But seven is a round number of plurality, Pro 26:25, Pro 24:16; Pro 6:31. Regarding טעם, vid., at Pro 11:22.

Pro 26:17

A series of proverbs which recommend the love of peace, for they present caricatures of the opposite: 17 He seizeth by the ears of a dog passing by,      Who is excited by a strife which concerns him not.

According to the accentuation in the text, the proverb is to be translated with Fleischer: Qualis est qui prehendit aures canis, talis est qui forte transiens ira abripitur propter rixam alienam (eique temere se immiscent). Since he is cautioned against unwarranted interference, the expression מתערב בּדין might have been used (Pro 14:10), according to which the Syr. translates; but על־ריב substantiates the originality of מתעבּר (vid., Pro 14:16; Pro 20:2). On the other hand, the placing together, without any connection of the two participles, is perplexing; why not עבר וּמתעבּר? For it is certainly not meant, that falling into a passion he passes by; but that passing by, he falls into a passion; for he stands to this object. The Targumist, feeling this also, renders עבר in the sense of being angry, but contrary to the usus loq. Wherefore the conjecture of Euchel and Abramsohn commends itself, that עבר belongs to כלב - the figure thereby becomes more distinct. To seize one’s own dog by the ear is not dangerous, but it is not advisable to do this with a strange dog. Therefore עבר belongs as a necessary attribute to the dog. The dog accidentally passing by corresponds to the strife to which one stands in no relation (ריב לא־ול, vid., regarding the Makkeph, Baer’s Genesis, p. 85, not. 9). Whoever is excited to passion about a strife that does not belong to him, is like one who lays hold by the ears (the lxx arbitrarily: by the tail) of a dog that is passing by - to the one or to the other it happens right when he brings evil upon himself thereby.

Pro 26:18-19

These verses form a tetrastich: 18 As a man who casteth brands,      And arrows, and death; 19 So is the man who deceiveth his neighbour,      And saith: I only make sport.

The old translations of מתלהלה are very diverse. Aquila has rendered it by κακοηθιζόμενος; Symmachus: πειρώμενοι; the Syr.: the vainglorious; the Targ.: מתּחת (from נחת), a successor (spiritually); Jerome: noxius (injurious; for which Luther: secret). There is thus no traditional translation. Kimchi explains the word by השׁתגע (Venet. ἐξεστώς); Aben Ezra by השׁתטה (from שׂטה), to behave thoughtlessly, foolishly; but both erroneously, confounding with it ותּלהּ, Gen 47:13, which is formed from להה and not from לההּ, and is related to לאה, according to which מתלהלה would designate him who exerts himself (Rashi, המתיגע), or who is worn out (Saadia: who does not know what to do, and in weariness passes his time). The root לההּ (להּ), whence the reflex form התלהלהּ, like התמהמהּ, from מההּ, מהּ) leads to another primary idea. The root להּ presents in (Arab.) âliha (vid., Fleischer in the Comm. zur Genesis, p. 57), waliha, and taliha, formed from the 8th form of this verb (aittalah), the fundamental meaning of internal and external unrest; these verbs are used of the effect of fear (shrinking back from fear), and, generally, the want of self-command; the Syr. otlahlah, to be terrified, obstupescere, confirms this primary conception, connecting itself with the R. להּ. Accordingly, he who shoots every possible death-bringing arrow, is thought of as one who is beside himself, one who is of confused mind, in which sense the passive forms of (Arab.) âlah and talah are actually used. Schultens’ reference to (Arab.) lâh micare, according to which כמתלהלה must mean sicut ludicram micationem exercens (Böttcher: one who exerts himself; Malbim: one who scoffs, from התל), is to be rejected, because מתלהלה must be the direct opposite of משׂחק; and Ewald’s comparison of (Arab.) wâh and akhkh, to be entangled, distorted, lâh, to be veiled, confounds together heterogeneous words. Regarding זקּים (from זנק), burning arrows, vid., under Isa 50:11. Death stands third, not as comprehensive (that which is deadly of every kind), but as a climax (yea, even death itself). The כּן of the principal sentence, correlate to כּ of the contiguous clause, has the Makkeph in our editions; but the laws of the metrical Makkeph require כּן אישׁ (with Munach), as it occurs e.g., in Cod. 1294. A man who gives vent to his malice against his neighbour, and then says: seest thou not that... (הלא, like Arab. âlâ), i.e., I am only jesting, I have only a joke with thee: he exhibits himself as being mad, who in blind rage scatters about him deadly arrows.

Pro 26:20

There now follow proverbs regarding the nirgân, the slanderer (vid., regarding the formation and import of this word at Pro 26:28): 20 Where the wood faileth, the fire goeth out;      And where no tale-bearer, discord cometh to silence.

Wood, as material for building or for burning, is called, with the plur. of its product, עצים. Since אפס is the absolute end of a thing, and thus expresses its no longer existing, so it was more appropriate to wood (Fleischer: consumtis lignis) than to the tale-bearer, of whom the proverb says the same thing as Pro 22:10 says of the mocker.

Pro 26:21 21 Black coal to burning coal, and wood to fire;      And a contentious man to stir up strife.

The Venet. translates פּחם by καρβών, and גּחלת by ἄνθραξ; the former (from פּחם, Arab. faḥuma, to be deep black) is coal in itself; the latter (from גּחל, jaham, to set on fire, and intrans. to burn), coal in a glowing state (e.g., Pro 25:22; Eze 1:13). Black coal is suited to glowing coal, to nourish it; and wood to the fire, to sustain it; and a contentious man is suited for and serves this purpose, to kindle up strife. חרר signifies to be hot, and the Pilpel חרחר, to heat, i.e., to make hot or hotter. The three - coal, wood, and the contentious man - are alike, in that they are a means to an end.

Pro 26:22 22 The words of the tale-bearer are like dainty morsels;      And they glide down into the innermost parts.

A repetition of Pro 18:8.

Pro 26:23

The proverbs next following treat of a cognate theme, hypocrisy (the art of dissembling), which, under a shining [gleissen] exterior,Vid., regarding gleisen (to give a deceitful appearance) and gleissen (to throw a dazzling appearance), Schmitthenner-Weigand’s Deutsches Wörterbuch. conceals hatred and destruction: 23 Dross of silver spread over an earthen vessel -      Lips glowing with love and a base heart.

Dross of silver is the so-called glätte (French, litharge), a combination of lead and oxygen, which, in the old process of producing silver, was separated (Luther: silberschaum, i.e., the silver litharge; Lat. spuma argenti, having the appearance of foam). It is still used to glaze over potter’s ware, which here (Greek, κέραμος) is briefly called חרשׂ for כּלי חרשׂ; for the vessel is better in appearance than the mere potsherd. The glossing of the earthenware is called צפּה על־חרשׂ, which is applicable to any kind of covering (צפּה, R. צף, to spread or lay out broad) of a less costly material with that which is more precious. 23a contains the figure, and 23b its subscription: שׂפתים דּלקים ולב רע. Thus, with the taking away of the Makkeph after Codd., to be punctuated: burning lips, and therewith a base heart; burning, that is, with the fire of love (Meîri, אשׁ החשׁק), while yet the assurances of friendship, sealed by ardent kisses, serve only to mask a far different heart. The lxx translate דלקים [burning] by λεῖα, and thus have read חלקים [smooth], which Hitzig without reason prefers; burning lips (Jerome, incorrectly: tumentia; Luther, after Deu 32:33, חמת: Gifftiger mund = a poisonous mouth) are just flattering, and at the same time hypocriticalSchultens explains the labia flagrantia by volubiliter prompta et diserta. But one sees from the Arab. dhaluḳa, to be loose, lightly and easily moved (vid., in Fleischer’s Beiträgen zur arab. Sprachkunde the explanation of the designation of the liquid expressed with the point of the tongue by dhalḳiytt, at Pro 1:26-27; cf. de Sacy’s Grammar), and dalḳ, to draw out (of the sword from its scabbard), to rinse (of water), that the meaning of the Heb. דלק, to burn, from R. דל, refers to the idea of the flickering, tongue-like movement of the flame. lips. Regarding שׂפתים as masc., vid., p. 85; לב רע means, at Pro 25:20, animus maestus; here, inimicus. The figure is excellent: one may regard a vessel with the silver gloss as silver, and it is still earthen; and that also which gives forth the silver glance is not silver, but only the refuse of silver. Both are suitable to the comparison: the lips only glitter, the heart is false (Heidenheim).

Pro 26:24-25

Pro 26:24 and Pro 26:25 form a tetrastich. 24 With his lips the hater dissembleth,      And in his heart he museth deceit. 25 If he maketh his voice agreeable, believe him not,      For seven abominations are in his heart.

All the old translators (also the Venet. and Luther) give to יגּכר the meaning, to become known; but the Niph. as well as the Hithpa. (vid., at Pro 20:11; Gen 47:17) unites with this meaning also the meaning to make oneself known: to make oneself unknown, unrecognisable = (Arab.) tanakkr, e.g., by means of clothing, or by a changed expression of countenance.Vid., de Goeje’s Fragmenta Hist. Arab. ii. (1871), p. 94. The verb נכר, primarily to fix one’s attention, sharply to contemplate anything, whence is derived the meanings of knowing and of not knowing, disowning. The account of the origin of these contrasted meanings, in Gesenius-Dietrich’s Lexicon, is essentially correct; but the Arab. nakar there referred to means, not sharpness of mind, from nakar = הכּיר, but from the negative signification prevailing in the Arab. alone, a property by which one makes himself worthy of being disowned: craftiness, cunning, and then also in bonam partem: sagacity.

The contrast demands here this latter signification: labiis suis alium se simulat osor, intus in pectore autem reconditum habet dolum (Fleischer). This rendering of ישׁית מרמה is more correct than Hitzig’s (“in his breast) he prepares treachery;” for שׁית מרמה is to be rendered after שׁית עצות, Psa 13:3 (vid., Hupfeld’s and also our comm. on this passage), not after Jer 9:7; for one says שׁית מוקשׁים, to place snares, שׁית ארב, to lay an ambush, and the like, but not to place or to lay deceit. If such a dissembler makes his voice agreeable (Piel of חנן only here, for the form Psa 9:14 is, as it is punctuated, Kal), trust not thyself to him (האמין, with ב: to put firm trust in anything, vid., Genesis, p. 312)The fundamental idea of firmness in האמין is always in the subject, not the object. The Arabic interpreters remark that âman with ב expresses recognition, and with ל submission (vid., Lane’s Lexicon under âman); but in Hebr. האמין with ב fiducia fidei, with ל assensus fidei; the relation is thus not altogether the same. for seven abominations, i.e., a whole host of abominable thoughts and designs, are in his heart; he is, if one may express it, after Mat 12:45, possessed inwardly of seven devils. The lxx makes a history of 24a: an enemy who, under complaints, makes all possible allowances, but in his heart τεκταίνεται δόλους. The history is only too true, but it has no place in the text.

Pro 26:26 26 Hatred may conceal itself behind deceit:      Its wickedness shall be exposed in the assembly.

Proverbs which begin with the fut. are rarely to be found, it is true; yet, as we have seen, Pro 12:26, they are sometimes to be met with in the collection. This is one of the few that are of such a character; for that the lxx and others translate ὁ κρύπτων, which gives for רעתו a more appropriate reference, does not require us to agree with Hitzig in reading הכּסה (Pro 12:16, Pro 12:23) - the two clauses rendered fut. stand in the same syntactical relation, as e.g., Job 20:24. Still less can the rendering of במשׁאון by συνίστησι δόλον, by the lxx, induce us to read with Hitzig חרשׁ און, especially since it is doubtful whether the Heb. words which floated before those translators (the lxx) have been fallen upon. משּׁאון (beginning and ending with a formative syllable) is certainly a word of rare formation, to be compared only to מסדּרון, Jdg 3:23; but since the nearest-lying formation משּׁא signifies usury (from נשׁא, to credit) (according to which Symmachus, διὰ λήμματα, to desire gain), it is obvious that the language preferred this double formation for the meaning deceiving, illusion, or, exactly: fraud. It may also be possible to refer it, like משּׁוּאות (vid., under Psa 23:1-6 :18), to שׁוא = שׁאה, to be confused, waste, as this is done by Parchon, Kimchi (Venet. ἐν ἐρημίᾳ), Ralbag, and others; משׁאון, in this sense of deepest concealment, certainly says not a little as the contrast of קהל [an assembly], but ישׁימום [a desert] stood ready for the poet to be used in this sense; he might also have expressed himself as Job 30:3; Job 38:27. The selection of this rare word is better explained if it denotes the superlative of deceit - a course of conduct maliciously directed toward the deception of a neighbour. That is also the impression which the word has made on Jerome (fraudulenter), the Targ. (בּמוּרסתא, in grinding), Luther (to do injury), and according to which it has already been explained, e.g., by C. B. Michaelis and Oetinger (“with dissembled, deceitful nature”). The punctuation of תכסה, Codd. and editions present in three different forms. Buxtorf in his Concordance (also Fürst), and the Basel Biblia Rabbinica, have the form תּכסּה; but this is a mistake. Either תּכּסה (Niph.) תּכּסּה (Hithpa., with the same assimilation of the preformative ת as in הכּבּס, Lev 13:55; נכּפּר, Deu 21:8) is to be read; Kimchi, in his Wörterbuch, gives תּכּסּה, which is certainly better supported. A surer contrast of במשׁאון and בקהל remains in our interpretation; only we translate not as Ewald: “hatred seeks to conceal itself by hypocrisy,” but: in deceitful work. Also we refer רעתו, not to במשׁאון, but to שׂנאה, for hatred is thought of in connection with its personal representative. We see from 26b that hatred is meant which not only broods over evil, but also carries it into execution. Such hatred may conceal itself in cunningly-contrived deception, yet the wickedness of the hater in the end comes out from behind the mask with the light of publicity.

Pro 26:27 27 He who diggeth a pit falleth therein;      And he that rolleth up a stone, upon himself it rolleth back.

The thought that destruction prepared for others recoils upon its contriver, has found its expression everywhere among men in divers forms of proverbial sayings; in the form which it here receives, 27a has its oldest original in Psa 7:16, whence it is repeated here and in Ecc 10:8, and Sir. 27:26. Regarding כּרה, vid., at Pro 16:27. בּהּ here has the sense of in eam ipsam; expressed in French, the proverb is: celui qui creuse la fosse, y tombera; in Italian: chi cava la fossa, caderà in essa. The second line of this proverb accords with Psa 7:17 (vid., Hupfeld and Riehm on this passage). It is natural to think of the rolling as a rolling upwards; cf. Sir. 27:25, ὁ βάλλων λίθον εἰς ὕψος ἐπὶ κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ βάλλει, i.e., throws it on his own head. וגלל אבן is to be syntactically judged of like Pro 18:13.

Pro 26:28 28 The lying tongue hateth those whom it bruiseth;      And a flattering mouth causeth ruin.

The lxx, Jerome, the Targ., and Syr. render ישׂנא דכיו in the sense of non amat veritatem; they appear by דכיו to have thought of the Aram. דכיא, that which is pure; and thus they gain nothing else but an undeniable plain thought. Many Jewish interpreters gloss: מוכיחיו, also after the Aram.: דּכּיו = מדכּיו; but the Aram. דּכּי does not mean pure in the sense of being right, therefore Elia Wilna understands him who desires to justify himself, and this violent derivation from the Aram. thus does not lead to the end. Luther, translating: “a false tongue hates those who punish it,” explains, as also Gesenius, conterentes = castigantes ipsam; but דּך signifies, according to the usage of the language before us, “bruised” (vid., Psa 9:10), not: bruising; and the thought that the liar hates him who listens to him, leads ad absurdum; but that he does not love him who bruises (punishes) him, is self-evident. Kimchi sees in דּכּיו another form of דּכּא; and Meîri, Jona Gerundi in his ethical work (שׁערי תשׁובה = The gates of Repentance), and others, accordingly render דכיו in the sense of ענו (עניו): the lying tongue hates - as Löwenstein translates - the humble [pious]; also that for דכּיו, by the omission of ו, דכּי = זכּי may be read, is supposable; but this does not harmonize with the second half of the proverb, according to which לשׁון שׁקר must be the subject, and ישׂנא דכיו must express some kind of evil which proceeds from such a tongue. Ewald: “the lying tongue hates its master (אדניו),” but that is not in accordance with the Heb. style; the word in that case should have been בּעליו. Hitzig countenances this אדניו, with the remark that the tongue is here personified; but personified, the tongue certainly means him who has it (Psa 120:3). Böttcher’s conjecture ישׁנּא דכיו, “confounds their talk,” is certainly a curiosity. Spoken of the sea, those words would mean, “it changes its surge.” But is it then at all necessary to uncover first the meaning of 28a? Rashi, Arama, and others refer דכּיו to דּכּים = נדכּאים (מדכּים). Thus also perhaps the Venet., which translates τοὺς ἐπιτριμμοὺς (not: ἐπιτετριμμένους) αὐτῆς. C. B. Michaelis: Lingua falsitatis odio habet contritos suos, h. e. eos quos falsitate ac mendacio laedit contritosque facit. Hitzig objects that it is more correct to say: conterit perosos sibi. And certainly this lay nearer, on which account Fleischer remarks: in 28a there is to be supposed a poetic transposition of the ideas (Hypallage): homo qui lingua ad calumnias abutitur conterit eos quos odit. The poet makes ישׂנא the main conception, because it does not come to him so readily to say that the lying tongue bruises those against whom it is directed, as that it is hatred, which is active in this. To say this was by no means superfluous. There are men who find pleasure in repeating and magnifying scandalously that which is depreciatory and disadvantageous to their neighbour unsubstantiated, without being at all conscious of any particular ill-will or personal enmity against him; but this proverb says that such untruthful tongue-thrashing proceeds always from a transgression of the commandment, “Thou shalt not hate thy brother,” Lev 19:17, and not merely from the want of love, but from a state of mind which is the direct opposite of love (vid., Pro 10:18). Ewald finds it incongruous that 28a speaks of that which others have to suffer from the lying tongue, whereas the whole connection of this proverb requires that the tongue should here be regarded as bringing ruin upon its owner himself. But of the destruction which the wicked tongue prepares for others many proverbs also speak, e.g., Pro 12:13, cf. Pro 17:4, לשׁון הוּת; and 28b does not mention that the smooth tongue (written וּפה־חלק with Makkeph) brings injury upon itself (an idea which must be otherwise expressed; cf. Pro 14:32), but that it brings injury and ruin on those who have pleasure in its flatteries (חלקות, Psa 12:3; Isa 30:10), and are befooled thereby: os blandiloquum (blanditiis dolum tegens) ad casum impellit, sc. alios (Fleischer).

Proper Treatment of Fools.

1 As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so honour is not seemly for a fool.

Note, 1. It is too common a thing for honour to be given to fools, who are utterly unworthy of it and unfit for it. Bad men, who have neither wit nor grace, are sometimes preferred by princes, and applauded and cried up by the people. Folly is set in great dignity, as Solomon observed, Eccl. x. 6. 2. It is very absurd and unbecoming when it is so. It is an incongruous as snow in summer, and as great a disorder in the commonwealth as that is in the course of nature and in the seasons of the year; nay, it is as injurious as rain in harvest, which hinders the labourers and spoils the fruits of the earth when they are ready to be gathered. When bad men are in power they commonly abuse their power, in discouraging virtue, and giving countenance to wickedness, for want of wisdom to discern it and grace to detest it.

2 As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come.

Here is, 1. The folly of passion. It makes men scatter causeless curses, wishing ill to others upon presumption that they are bad and have done ill, when either they mistake the person or misunderstand the fact, or they call evil good and good evil. Give honour to a fool, and he thunders out his anathemas against all that he is disgusted with, right or wrong. Great men, when wicked, think they have a privilege to keep those about them in awe, by cursing them, and swearing at them, which yet is an expression of the most impotent malice and shows their weakness as much as their wickedness. 2. The safety of innocency. He that is cursed without cause, whether by furious imprecations or solemn anathemas, the curse shall do him no more harm than the bird that flies over his head, than Goliath's curses did to David, 1 Sam. xvii. 43. It will fly away like the sparrow or the wild dove, which go nobody knows where, till they return to their proper place, as the curse will at length return upon the head of him that uttered it.

3 A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool's back.

Here, 1. Wicked men are compared to the horse and the ass, so brutish are they, so unreasonable, so unruly, and not to be governed but by force or fear, so low has sin sunk men, so much below themselves. Man indeed is born like the wild ass's colt, but as some by the grace of God are changed, and become rational, so others by custom in sin are hardened, and become more and more sottish, as the horse and the mule, Ps. xxxii. 9. 2. Direction is given to use them accordingly. Princes, instead of giving honour to a fool (v. 1), must put disgrace upon him—instead of putting power into his hand, must exercise power over him. A horse unbroken needs a whip for correction, and an ass a bridle for direction and to check him when he would turn out of the way; so a vicious man, who will not be under the guidance and restraint of religion and reason, ought to be whipped and bridled, to be rebuked severely, and made to smart for what he has done amiss, and to be restrained from offending any more.

4 Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him. 5 Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.

See here the noble security of the scripture-style, which seems to contradict itself, but really does not. Wise men have need to be directed how to deal with fools; and they have never more need of wisdom than in dealing with such, to know when to keep silence and when to speak, for there may be a time for both. 1. In some cases a wise man will not set his wit to that of a fool so far as to answer him according to his folly "If he boast of himself, do not answer him by boasting of thyself. If he rail and talk passionately, do not thou rail and talk passionately too. If he tell one great lie, do not thou tell another to match it. If he calumniate thy friends, do not thou calumniate his. If he banter, do not answer him in his own language, lest thou be like him, even thou, who knowest better things, who hast more sense, and hast been better taught." 2. Yet, in other cases, a wise man will use his wisdom for the conviction of a fool, when, by taking notice of what he says, there may be hopes of doing good, or at least preventing further, mischief, either to himself or others. "If thou have reason to think that thy silence will be deemed an evidence of the weakness of thy cause, or of thy own weakness, in such a case answer him, and let it be an answer ad hominem—to the man, beat him at his own weapons, and that will be an answer ad rem—to the point, or as good as one. If he offer any thing that looks like an argument, an answer that, and suit thy answer to his case. If he think, because thou dost not answer him, that what he says is unanswerable, then give him an answer, lest he be wise in his own conceit and boast of a victory." For (Luke vii. 35) Wisdom's children must justify her.

6 He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool cutteth off the feet, and drinketh damage. 7 The legs of the lame are not equal: so is a parable in the mouth of fools. 8 As he that bindeth a stone in a sling, so is he that giveth honour to a fool. 9 As a thorn goeth up into the hand of a drunkard, so is a parable in the mouth of fools.

To recommend wisdom to us, and to quicken us to the diligent use of all the means for the getting of wisdom, Solomon here shows that fools are fit for nothing; they are either sottish men, who will never think and design at all, or vicious men, who will never think and design well. 1. They are not fit to be entrusted with any business, not fit to go on an errand (v. 6): He that does but send a message by the hand of a fool, of a careless heedless person, one who is so full of his jests and so given to his pleasures that he cannot apply his mind to any thing that is serious, will find his message misunderstood, the one half of it forgotten, the rest awkwardly delivered, and so many blunders made about it that he might as well have cut off his legs, that is, never have sent him. Nay, he will drink damage; it will be very much to his prejudice to have employed such a one, who, instead of bringing him a good account of his affairs, will abuse him and put a trick upon him; for, in Solomon's language, a knave and a fool are of the same signification. It will turn much to a man's disgrace to make use of the service of a fool, for people will be apt to judge of the master by his messenger. 2. They are not fit to have any honour put upon them. He had said (v. 1), Honour is not seemly for a fool; here he shows that it is lost and thrown away upon him, as if a man should throw a precious stone, or a stone fit to be used in weighing, into a heap of common stones, where it would be buried and of no use; it is as absurd as if a man should dress up a stone in purple (so others); nay, it is dangerous, it is like a stone bound in a sling, with which a man will be likely to do hurt. To give honour to a fool is to put a sword in a madman's hand, with which we know not what mischief he may do, even to those that put it into his hand. 3. They are not fit to deliver wise sayings, nor should they undertake to handle any matter of weight, though they should be instructed concerning it, and be able to say something to it. Wise sayings, as a foolish man delivers them and applies them (in such a manner that one may know he does not rightly understand them), lose their excellency and usefulness: A parable in the mouth of fools ceases to be a parable, and becomes a jest. If a man who lives a wicked life, yet speaks religiously and takes God's covenant into his mouth, (1.) He does but shame himself and his profession: As the legs of the lame are not equal, by reason of which their going is unseemly, so unseemly is it for a fool to pretend to speak apophthegms, and give advice, and for a man to talk devoutly whose conversation is a constant contradiction to his talk and gives him the lie. His good words raise him up, but then his bad life takes him down, and so his legs are not equal. "A wise saying," (says bishop Patrick) "doth as ill become a fool as dancing doth a cripple; for, as his lameness never so much appears as when he would seem nimble, so the other's folly is never so ridiculous as when he would seem wise." As therefore it is best for a lame man to keep his seat, so it is best for a silly man, or a bad man, to hold his tongue. (2.) He does but do mischief with it to himself and others, as a drunkard does with a thorn, or any other sharp thing which he takes in his hand, with which he tears himself and those about him, because he knows not how to manage it. Those that talk well and do not live well, their good words will aggravate their own condemnation and others will be hardened by their inconsistency with themselves. Some give this sense of it: The sharpest saying, by which a sinner, one would think, should be pricked to the heart, makes no more impression upon a fool, no, though it come out of his own mouth, than the scratch of a thorn does upon the hand of a man when he is drunk, who then feels it not nor complains of it, ch. xxiii. 35.

The Conduct of Fools.

10 The great God that formed all things both rewardeth the fool, and rewardeth transgressors.

Our translation gives this verse a different reading in the text and in the margin; and accordingly it expresses either, 1. The equity of a good God. The Master, or Lord (so Rab signifies), or, as we read it, The great God that formed all things at first, and still governs them in infinite wisdom, renders to every man according to his work. He rewards the fool, who sinned through ignorance, who knew not his Lord's will, with few stripes; and he rewards the transgressor, who sinned presumptuously and with a high hand, who knew his Lord's will and would not do it, with many stripes. Some understand it of the goodness of God's common providence even to fools and transgressors, on whom he causes his sun to shine and his rain to fall. Or, 2. The iniquity of a bad prince (so the margin reads it): A great man grieves all, and he hires the fool; he hires also the transgressors. When a wicked man gets power in his hand, by himself, and by the fools and knaves whom he employs under him, whom he hires and chooses to make use of, he grieves all who are under him and is vexatious to them. We should therefore pray for kings and all in authority, that, under them, our lives may be quiet and peaceable.

11 As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.

See here, 1. What an abominable thing sin is, and how hateful sometimes it is made to appear, even to the sinner himself. When his conscience is convinced, or he feels smart from his sin, he is sick of it, and vomits it up; he seems then to detest it and to be willing to part with it. It is in itself, and, first or last, will be to the sinner, more loathsome than the vomit of a dog, Ps. xxxvi. 2. 2. How apt sinners are to relapse into it notwithstanding. As the dog, after he has gained ease by vomiting that which burdened his stomach, yet goes and licks it up again, so sinners, who have been convinced only and not converted, return to sin again, forgetting how sick it made them. The apostle (2 Pet. ii. 22) applies this proverb to those that have known the way of righteousness but are turned from it; but God will spue them out of his mouth, Rev. iii. 16.

12 Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him.

Here is, 1. A spiritual disease supposed, and that is self-conceit: Seest thou a man? Yes, we see many a one, wise in his own conceit, who has some little sense, but is proud of it, thinks it much more than it is, more than any of his neighbours, have, and enough, so that he needs no more, has such a conceit of his own abilities as makes him opinionative, dogmatical, and censorious; and all the use he makes of his knowledge is that it puffs him up. Or, if by a wise man we understand a religious man, it describes the character of those who, making some show of religion, conclude their spiritual state to be good when really it is very bad, like Laodicea, Rev. iii. 17. 2. The danger of this disease. It is in a manner desperate: There is more hope of a fool, that knows and owns himself to be such, than of such a one. Solomon was not only a wise man himself, but a teacher of wisdom; and this observation he made upon his pupils, that he found his work most difficult and least successful with those that had a good opinion of themselves and were not sensible that they needed instruction. Therefore he that seems to himself to be wise must become a fool, that he may be wise, 1 Cor. iii. 18. There is more hope of a publican than of a proud Pharisee, Matt. xxi. 32. Many are hindered from being truly wise and religious by a false and groundless conceit that they are so, John ix. 40, 41.

The Disgrace of Slothfulness.

13 The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets.

When a man talks foolishly we say, He talks idly; for none betray their folly more than those who are idle and go about to excuse themselves in their idleness. As men's folly makes them slothful, so their slothfulness makes them foolish. Observe, 1. What the slothful man really dreads. He dreads the way, the streets, the place where work is to be done and a journey to be gone; he hates business, hates every thing that requires care and labour. 2. What he dreams of, and pretends to dread—a lion in the way. When he is pressed to be diligent, either in his worldly affairs or in the business of religion, this is his excuse (and a sorry excuse it is, as bad as none), There is a lion in the way, some insuperable difficulty or danger which he cannot pretend to grapple with. Lions frequent woods and deserts; and, in the day-time, when man has business to do, they are in their dens, Ps. civ. 22, 23. But the sluggard fancies, or rather pretends to fancy, a lion in the streets, whereas the lion is only in his own fancy, nor is he so fierce as he is painted. Note, It is a foolish thing to frighten ourselves from real duties by fancied difficulties, Eccl. xi. 4.

14 As the door turneth upon his hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed.

Having seen the slothful man in fear of his work, here we find him in love with his ease; he lies in his bed on one side till he is weary of that, and then turns to the other, but still in his bed, when it is far in the day and work is to be done, as the door is moved, but not removed; and so his business is neglected and his opportunities are let slip. See the sluggard's character. 1. He is one that does not care to get out of his bed, but seems to be hung upon it, as the door upon the hinges. Bodily ease, too much consulted, is the sad occasion of many a spiritual disease. Those that love sleep will prove in the end to have loved death. 2. He does not care to get forward with his business; in that he stirs to and fro a little, but to no purpose; he is where he was. Slothful professors turn, in profession, like the door upon the hinges. The world and the flesh are the two hinges on which they are hung, and though they move in a course of external services, have got into road of duties, and tread around in them like the horse in the mill, yet they get no good, they get no ground, they are never the nearer heaven—sinners unchanged, saints unimproved.

15 The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom; it grieveth him to bring it again to his mouth.

The sluggard has now, with much ado, got out of his bed, but he might as well have lain there still for any thing he is likely to bring to pass in his work, so awkwardly does he go about it. Observe, 1. The pretence he makes for his slothfulness: He hides his hand in his bosom for fear of cold; next to his warm bed in his warm bosom. Or he pretends that he is lame, as some do that make a trade of begging; something ails his hand; he would have it thought that it is blistered with yesterday's hard work. Or it intimates, in general, his aversion to business; he has tried, and his hands are not used to labour, and therefore he hugs himself in his own ease and cares for nobody. Note, It is common for those that will not do their duty to pretend they cannot. I cannot dig, Luke xvi. 3. 2. The prejudice he sustains by his slothfulness. He himself is the loser by it, for he starves himself: It grieves him to bring his hand to his mouth, that is, he cannot find in his heart to feed himself, but dreads, as if it were a mighty toil, to lift his hand to his head. It is an elegant hyperbole, aggravating his sin, that he cannot endure to take the least pains, no, not for the greatest profit, and showing how his sin is his punishment. Those that are slothful in the business of religion will not be at the pains to feed their own souls with the word of God, the bread of life, nor to fetch in promised blessings by prayer, though they might have them for the fetching.

16 The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason.

Observe, 1. The high opinion which the sluggard has of himself, notwithstanding the gross absurdity and folly of his slothfulness: He thinks himself wiser than seven men, than seven wise men, for they are such as can render a reason. It is the wisdom of a man to be able to render a reason, of a good man to be able to give a reason of the hope that is in him, 1 Pet. iii. 15. What we do we should be able to render a reason for, though perhaps we may not have wit enough to show the fallacy of every objection against it. He that takes pains in religion can render a good reason for it; he knows that he is working for a good Master and that his labour shall not be in vain. But the sluggard thinks himself wiser than seven such; for let seven such persuade him to be diligent, with all the reasons they can render for it, it is to no purpose; his own determination, he thinks, answer enough to them and all their reasons. 2. The reference that this has to his slothfulness. It is the sluggard, above all men, that is thus self-conceited; for, (1.) His good opinion of himself is the cause of his slothfulness; he will not take pains to get wisdom because he thinks he is wise enough already. A conceit of the sufficiency of our attainments is a great enemy to our improvement. (2.) His slothfulness is the cause of his good opinion of himself. If he would but take pains to examine himself, and compare himself with the laws of wisdom, he would have other thoughts of himself. Indulged slothfulness is at the bottom of prevailing self-conceitedness. Nay, (3.) So wretchedly besotted is he that he takes his slothfulness to be his wisdom; he thinks it is his wisdom to make much of himself, and take all the ease he can get, and do no more in religion than he needs must, to avoid suffering, to sit still and see what other people do, that he may have the pleasure of finding fault with them. Of such sluggards, who are proud of that which is their shame, their is little hope, v. 12.

Hatred and Strife.

17 He that passeth by, and meddleth with strife belonging not to him, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears.

1. That which is here condemned is meddling with strife that belongs not to us. If we must not be hasty to strive in our own cause (ch. xxv. 8), much less in other people's, especially theirs that we are no way related to or concerned in, but light on accidentally as we pass by. If we can be instrumental to make peace between those that are at variance we must do it, though we should thereby get the ill-will of both sides, at least while they are in their heat; but to make ourselves busy in other men's matters, and parties in other men's quarrels, is not only to court our own trouble, but to thrust ourselves into temptation. Who made me a judge? Let them end it, as they began it, between themselves. 2. We are cautioned against it because of the danger it exposes us to; it is like taking a snarling cur by the ears, that will snap at you and bite you; you had better have let him alone, for you cannot get clear of him when you would, and must thank yourselves if you come off with a wound and dishonour. He that has got a dog by the ears, if he lets him go he flies at him, if he keeps his hold, he has his hands full, and can do nothing else. Let every one with quietness work and mind his own business, and not with unquietness quarrel and meddle with other people's business.

18 As a mad man who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death, 19 So is the man that deceiveth his neighbour, and saith, Am not I in sport?

See here, 1. How mischievous those are that make no scruple of deceiving their neighbours; they are as madmen that cast firebrands, arrows, and death, so much hurt may they do by their deceits. They value themselves upon it as polite cunning men, but really they are as madmen. There is not a greater madness in the world than a wilful sin. It is not only the passionate furious man, but the malicious deceitful man, that is a madman; he does in effect cast fire-brands, arrows, and death; he does more mischief than he can imagine. Fraud and falsehood burn like fire-brands, kill, even at a distance, like arrows. 2. See how frivolous the excuse is which men commonly make for the mischief they do, that they did it in a jest; with this they think to turn it off when they are reproved for it, Am not I in sport? But it will prove dangerous playing with fire and jesting with edge-tools. Not that those are to be commended who are captious, and can take no jest (those that themselves are wise must suffer fools, 2 Cor. xi. 19, 20), but those are certainly to be condemned who are any way abusive to their neighbours, impose upon their credulity, cheat them in their bargains with them, tell lies to them or tell lies of them, give them ill language, or sully their reputation, and then think to excuse it by saying that they did but jest. Am not I in sport? He that sins in just must repent in earnest, or his sin will be his ruin. Truth is too valuable a thing to be sold for a jest, and so is the reputation of our neighbour. By lying and slandering in jest men learn themselves, and teach others, to lie and slander in earnest; and a false report, raised in mirth, may be spread in malice; besides, if a man may tell a lie to make himself merry, why not to make himself rich, and so truth quite perishes, and men teach their tongues to tell lies, Jer. ix. 5. If men would consider that a lie comes from the devil, and brings to hell-fire, surely that would spoil the sport of it; it is casting arrows and death to themselves.

20 Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth. 21 As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire; so is a contentious man to kindle strife. 22 The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.

Contention is as a fire; it heats the spirit, burns up all that is good, and puts families and societies into a flame. Now here we are told how that fire is commonly kindled and kept burning, that we may avoid the occasions of strife and so prevent the mischievous consequences of it. If then we would keep the peace, 1. We must not give ear to talebearers, for they feed the fire of contention with fuel; nay, they spread it with combustible matter; the tales they carry are fireballs. Those who by insinuating base characters, revealing secrets, and misrepresenting words and actions, do what they can to make relations, friends, and neighbours, jealous one of another, to alienate them one from another, and sow discord among them, are to be banished out of families and all societies, and then strife will as surely cease as the fire will go out when it has no fuel; the contenders will better understand one another and come to a better temper; old stories will soon be forgotten when there are no new ones told to keep up the remembrance of them, and both sides will see how they have been imposed upon by a common enemy. Whisperers and backbiters are incendiaries not to be suffered. To illustrate this, he repeats (v. 22) what he had said before (ch. xviii. 8), that the words of a tale-bearer are as wounds, deep and dangerous wounds, wounds in the vitals. They wound the reputation of him who is belied, and perhaps the wound proves incurable, and even the plaster of a recantation (which yet can seldom be obtained) may not prove wide enough for it. They wound the love and charity which he to whom they are spoken ought to have for his neighbour and give a fatal stab to friendship and Christian fellowship. We must therefore not only not be tale-bearers ourselves at any time, nor ever do any ill offices, but we should not give the least countenance to those that are. 2. We must not associate with peevish passionate people, that are exceptions, and apt to put the worst constructions upon everything, that pick quarrels upon the least occasion, and are quick, and high, and hot, in resenting affronts. These are contentious men, that kindle strife, v. 21. The less we have to do with such the better, for it will be very difficult to avoid quarrelling with those that are quarrelsome.

23 Burning lips and a wicked heart are like a potsherd covered with silver dross.

This may be meant either, 1. Of a wicked heart showing itself in burning lips, furious, passionate, outrageous words, burning in malice, and persecuting those to whom, or of whom, they are spoken; ill words and ill-will agree as well together as a potsherd and the dross of silver, which, now that the pot is broken and the dross separated from the silver, are fit to be thrown together to the dunghill. 2. Or of a wicked heart disguising itself with burning lips, burning with the professions of love and friendship, and even persecuting a man with flatteries; this is like a potsherd covered with the scum or dross of silver, with which one that is weak may be imposed upon, as if it were of some value, but a wise man is soon aware of the cheat. This sense agrees with the following verses.

24 He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him; 25 When he speaketh fair, believe him not: for there are seven abominations in his heart. 26 Whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be shewed before the whole congregation.

There is cause to complain, not only of the want of sincerity in men's profession of friendship, and that they do not love so well as they pretend nor will serve their friends so much as they promise, but, which is much worse, of wicked designs in the profession of friendship, and the making of it subservient to the most malicious intentions. This is here spoken of as a common thing (v. 24): He that hates his neighbour, and is contriving to do him a mischief, yet dissembles with his lips, professes to have a respect for him and to be ready to serve him, talks kindly with him, as Cain with Abel, asks, Art thou in health, my brother? as Joab to Amasa, that his malice may not be suspected and guarded against, and so he may have the fairer opportunity to execute the purposes of it, this man lays up deceit within him, that is, he keeps in his mind the mischief he intends to do his neighbour till he catches him at an advantage. This is malice which has no less of the subtlety than it has of the venom of the old serpent in it. Now, as to this matter, we are here cautioned, 1. Not to be so foolish as to suffer ourselves to be imposed upon by the pretensions of friendship. Remember to distrust when a man speaks fair; be not too forward to believe him unless you know him well, for it is possible there may be seven abominations in his heart, a great many projects of mischief against you, which he is labouring so industriously to conceal with his fair speech. Satan is an enemy that hates us, and yet in his temptations speaks fair, as he did to Eve, but it is madness to give credit to him, for there are seven abominations in his heart; seven other spirits does one unclean spirit bring more wicked than himself. 2. Not to be so wicked as to impose upon any with a profession of friendship; for, though the fraud may be carried on plausibly awhile, it will be brought to light, v. 26. He whose hatred is covered by deceit will one time or other be discovered, and his wickedness shown, to his shame and confusion, before the whole congregation; and nothing will do more to make a man odious to all companies. Love (says one) is the best armour, but the worst cloak, and will serve dissemblers as the disguise which Ahab put on and perished in.

27 Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him.

See here, 1. What pains men take to do mischief to others. As they put a force upon themselves by concealing their design with a profession of friendship, so they put themselves to a great deal of labour to bring it about; it is digging a pit, it is rolling a stone, hard work, and yet men will not stick at it to gratify their passion and revenge. 2. What preparation they hereby make of mischief to themselves. Their violent dealing will return upon their own heads; they shall themselves fall into the pit they digged, and the stone they rolled will return upon them, Ps. vii. 15, 16; ix. 15, 16. The righteous God will take the wise, not only in their own craftiness, but in their own cruelty. It is the plotter's doom. Haman is hanged on a gallows of his own preparing. —————nec lex est justior ulla Quam necis artifices arte perire sua— Nor is there any law more just than that the contrivers of destruction should perish by their own arts.

28 A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it; and a flattering mouth worketh ruin.

There are two sorts of lies equally detestable:—1. A slandering lie, which avowedly hates those it is spoken of: A lying tongue hates those that are afflicted by it; it afflicts them by calumnies and reproaches because it hates them, and can thus smite them secretly where they are without defence; and it hates them because it has afflicted them and made them its enemies. The mischief of this is open and obvious; it afflicts, it hates, and owns it, and every body sees it. 2. A flattering lie, which secretly works the ruin of those it is spoken to. In the former the mischief is plain, and men guard against it as well as they can, but in this it is little suspected, and men betray themselves by being credulous of their own praises and the compliments that are passed upon them. A wise man therefore will be more afraid of a flatterer that kisses and kills than of a slanderer that proclaims war.

CHAP. XXVI. Verſ. 1. So honour is not ſeemly for a fool.

HOnour is the reward of vertue, dignity ſhould wait upon deſert. Sed dignitas in indigno eſt ornamentum in luto, as Salvian. Honour is as fit for a fool, as a Gold-ring for a Swines ſnout. Sedes prima & vita ima, will never ſuit. The order of nature is inverted when the vileſt men are exalted, Pſal. 12.8. it is a foul incongruity, and of very evil conſequence.Cicer. de divina[illegible: 1 letter] lib. 2. For thereby themſelves will be hardened, and others heartened to the like proſperous folly (Felix enim ſcelus virtus vocatur, ſaith Tully) The ſtudy of vertue alſo will be neglected when fools are preferred, and Gods heavie Wrath poured out in full meaſure upon theſe uncircumciſed Vice-gods (as I may in the worſt ſenſe beſt term them) who miſ-repreſent him to the world by their ungodly practices, as a wicked, crooked, unrighteous Judge.

Verſ. 2. As the Bird by wandring, and the Swallow] i. e. As theſe may fly where they will, and no body cares or is the worſe. So here. And as Birds tired with much wandring, and not finding where to reſt, return again to their Neſt, after that they have beat the air with weary wing: ſo the cauſeleſſe curſe returns to the author. Curſing men are curſed men.

So the curſe cauſleſſe ſhall not come] What was David the worſe for Shimei's raſh raylings? or Jeremy for all the Peoples curſings of him? chap. 15.10. Or the Chriſtian Churches for the Jewes curſing them in their daily Prayers, with a Maledic Domine Nazaraeis? or the reformed Churches for the Popes Excommunications, and Execrations, with Bell, Book and Candle? The Pope is like a Waſp, no ſooner angry but out comes a ſting: which being out is like a fools dagger, ratling and ſnapping without an edge. Sit ergo Gallus in nomine Diabolorum, The Devil take the French, ſaid Pope Julius the ſecond,Annal. Gallie. (as he was ſitting by the fire and ſaying his Prayers) upon news of his Forces defeated by the French at the battel of Ravenna. Was not this that very mouth that ſpeaketh great things and blaſphemies? Revel. 13.5. And (as qualis herus talis ſervus, like maſter, like man) a certain Cardinal entring with a great deal of pomp into Paris, when the people were more than ordinarily earneſt with him for his fatherly benediction; Quandoquidem, ſaid he, hic populus vult decipi, decipiatur in nomine diaboli. Foraſmuch as this people will be fooled, let them bee fooled in the Devils name. And another Cardinal, when at a Diet held at Ausborough, the Prince Electors Ambaſſadour was (in his Maſters name) preſent at Maſſe, but would not as the reſt did, kiſſe the conſecrated Charger; the Cardinal, I ſay, that ſung Maſſe, being diſpleaſed thereat, cried out, Si non vis benedicticum, Anno Dom. 1559. Bucholcer. habeas tibi maledictionem in aeternum. If thou wilt not have the bleſſing, thou ſhalt have Gods curſe and mine for ever. Let them curſe, but bleſſe thou: when they ariſe, let them be aſhamed, but let thy ſervants rejoyce, Pſal. 109.28.

Verſ. 3. A whip for the horſe] Viz. To quicken his ſlow pace. A bridle for the aſſe, wherewith to lead him in the right way: for he goes willingly but a foot-pace, and would be oft out, but for the bit, and beſides, he is very refractory, and muſt be held in with bit and bridle, Pſal. 32.9.

And a rod for the back of fools] [non-Latin text not transcribed]. A fool will be the better for beating. Vexatio dat intellectum. Due puniſhment may well be to theſe horſes and aſſes (ſo the Scripture terms unreaſonable and wicked men) both for a whip to incite them to good, and for a bridle to reign them in from evil. God hath rods ſticking in every corner of his houſe for theſe froward fools, and if a rod ſerve not turn, he hath a terrible ſword, Eſay 27.1. So muſt Magiſtrates. Cuncta prius tentanda. If a rod will do, they need not brandiſh the ſword of Juſtice; nor do as Draco did, who puniſhed with death every light offence. This was to kill a fly upon a mans forehead with a beetle, to the knocking out of his brains.

Verſ. 4. Anſwer not a fool according to his folly] When either he curſeth thee, as verſe 2, or cryeth out upon thee for giving him due correction (verſe 3.) for every publike perſon had need to carry a ſpare handkerchief, to wipe off the dirt of diſgrace and obloquy caſt upon him for doing his duty. Paſs ſuch an one by in ſilence,Chryſoſt. as not worthy the anſwering. Sile, et funeſtam dediſti plagam, ſay nothing, and you pay him to purpoſe. Hezekiah would not anſwer Rabſhakeh, nor Jeremy Hananiah, chap. 28.11. nor our Saviour his adverſaries, Mat. 26.26. John 19.9. he reviled not his revilers, hee threatned not his open oppoſites, 1 Pet. 2.23.

Leſt thou alſo be like unto him] As hot and as head-long as he; for a little thing kindles us, and we are apt to think that we have reaſon to be mad, if evil-intreated: to talk as faſt for our ſelves, as he doth againſt us, and to give him as good as he brings: ſo that at length there will be never a wiſer of the two, and people will ſay ſo.

Verſ. 5. Anſwer a fool according to his folly] Caſt in ſomewhat that may ſting him, and ſtop his mouth. Stone him with ſoft words, but hard arguments, as Chriſt dealt with Pilat: leſt he lift up his creſt, and look upon himſelf as a conquerour, and be held ſo by the hearers. In fine, when a fool is among ſuch as himſelf, anſwer him, leſt he ſeem wiſe. If he be among wiſe men anſwer him not, and they will regard rather quid tu taceas, quam quod ille dicat, thy ſeaſonable ſilence, than his paſſionate prattle.

Verſ. 6. He that ſendeth a meſſage by the hand of a fool] The worth of a faithfull meſſenger he had ſet forth, Chap. 15.13. here, the diſcommodity of a fooliſh one: Such as were the Spies Moſes ſent, Num. 13. and 14. So when the Prophet proves a fool, the ſpiritual man is mad (Hoſ. 9.7.) things go on as heavily, as if feet were wanting to a traveller, or as if a meſſenger had loſt his legges.

Rodulph. Bain.Verſ. 7. The legs of the lame are not equal] Locum habet proverbium cum is qui male vivit, bene loquitur, ſaith an Interpreter. This Proverb hits ſuch as ſpeak well, but live otherwiſe. Uniformity and Ubiquity of obedience are ſure ſigns of ſincerity; but as unequal pulſe argues a diſtempered body, ſo doth uneaven walking ſhew a diſeaſed ſoul. A wiſe mans life is all of one colour like it ſelf: and godlineſs runs thorow it, as the woof runs thorow the warp. But if all the parts of the line of thy life be not ſtraight before God, it is a crooked life. If thy tongue ſpeak by the talent, but thine hands ſcarce work by the ounce, thou ſhalt paſs for a Phariſee, Mat. 23.3. They ſpake like Angels, lived like Devils; had heaven commonly at their tongues end, but the earth continually at their fingers end. Odi homines ignavâ operà, Philoſophâ ſententiâ, ſaid the Heathen, that is, I hate ſuch Hypocrites, as have mouths full of holineſs, hearts full of hollowneſs. A certain ſtranger coming on Embaſſage to the Senate of Rome, and colouring his hoary hair and pale cheeks with vermillion hiew, a grave Senatour eſpying the deceit, ſtood up and ſaid, What ſincerity are we to expect at this mans hand, whoſe locks, and looks, and lips do lye?

Verſ. 8. As he that bindeth a ſtone in a ſling] A precious ſtone is not fit for a ſling (where it will ſoon be caſt away and loſt) no more is honour for a fool. See verſ. 1. Aben-Ezra ſaith, that Margemah here rendered a Sling, ſignifies Purple, and ſenſeth it thus; As it is an abſurd thing to wrap a Pibble in purple, ſo is it to prefer a fool, as Saul did Doeg, as Ahaſueroſh, Human.

Verſ. 9. As a thorn goeth up into the hand, &c.] He handleth it hard, as if it were another kind of wood, and it runs into his hand. So do prophane perſons pervert and pollute the holy Scriptures, to their own and other mens deſtruction. By a Parable here the Hebrews underſtand either theſe Parables of Salomon, or the whole Book of God. At this day no people under Heaven doe ſo abuſe Scripture as the Jewes doe. For commending (in their familiar Epiſtles) ſome Letter they have received, they ſay, Eloquia Domini, eloquia pura: The words of my Lord are pure words. When they flatter their friends, Pateat, ſay they, acceſſus ad aditum ſanctitatis tuae. Weemſe. Let me have acceſſe to the ſanctuary of thy holineſſe. When they would teſtifie themſelves thankful, Nomini tuo pſallam, I will ſing praiſe to thy Name. When they complain, friends forſake them, Lord, ſay they, thou goeſt not forth with our armies. When they invite their friends to a Banquet or a Wedding, In thee have I truſted, let me not be put to confuſion. Loe thus doe theſe witleſſe wicked wretches abuſe Gods Parables, and take his Name in vain. Whereas the very Heathen could ſay, Non loquendum de Deo ſine lumine, God is not to be talked of lightly, looſely, diſreſpectively. Thou ſhalt fear that glorious and fearful Name, Jehovah thy God, ſaith Moſes their own Law-giver, Deut. 28.58.

Verſ. 10. The great God that formed all things] As he made all, ſo hee maintains all; even the evil, and the unthankful. God deals not as that cruel Duke of Alva did in the Netherlands, Grimſton. ſome he roſted to death (ſaith the Hiſtorian) ſtarved others, and that even after quarter, ſaying, Though hee promiſed to give them their lives, he did not promiſe to find them meat. But as hee hath given them their lives (forfeited in Adam) ſo hee allows them a livelihood, gives them their portion in this life, fills their bellies with his good treaſure, but withall ſends leanneſſe into their ſouls: or if he fat them, it is to fit them for deſtruction, as fated ware is fitted for the ſhambles.

Verſ. 11. As a dogge returneth to his vomit] A homely compariſon (able to make a true Chriſtian ready to lay up all) but good enough for the odious Apoſtate, to whom it is applied. Such an one was Judas, Julian, Ecebolius, Baldvinus, Iſlebius, Agricola that firſt Antinomian, who did many times promiſe amendment, and yet afterwards fell to his errour again. After that, he condemned his errour, and recanted it in a publike Auditory, and printed his revocation; yet when Luther was dead, he relapſed into that errour; ſo hard a thing is it to get poyſon out, when once ſwallowed down. Harding (Biſhop Jewels Antagoniſt) was in King Edwards dayes, a thundering Preacher againſt Popery, wiſhing he could cry out againſt it as loud as the Bells of Oſeney: ſo that by his preaching many were confirmed in the truth. All which to be ſo, they can teſtifie that heard him, and be yet alive, ſaith Mr. Fox. See an excellent Letter of the Lady Jane Grays to him, whiles ſhe was Priſoner in the Tower, Act. & Mon. fol. 1291. wherein ſhe wills him to remember the horrible Hiſtory of Julian of old, and the lamentable caſe of Spira alate, &c.

Verſ. 12. Seeſt thou a man wiſe in his own conceit?] This fooliſh wiſe-man, or wiſe fooliſh-man (for whether of the two to call him I know not, as the Chronicler ſaith of Sir Thomas Moore) is that Dog ſpoken of in the former verſe; that fore-thinks not the evil that followeth upon his returning to his filthy vomit; which being made much worſe by the heat of the Sun and open air, maketh him much more ſick than before he had been. Semblably, the witleſſe wicked man, inſenſible of the evil of his way, and highly conceited thereof, goes boldly on till there be neither hope of better, nor place of worſe. See the Note on chap. 3.7. and my common-place of Arrogance.

Verſ. 13. The ſlothful man ſayeth, There is a Lion] See the Note on cha. 22. verſ. 13.

Verſ. 14. As the door turneth upon his hinges] But comes not off, unleſſe lifted or knocked off: So neither comes the ſluggard out of his feathered neſt, (where he lyes ſoaking and ſtretching) unleſſe hard hunger or other neceſſity rouſe and raiſe him. As abroad there is a Lion, ſo at home there is a Lurk, a Lurdain, and a Loſel, that lives in the world to no purpoſe, yea to bad purpoſe; and being wiſe in his own conceit, will not accept of better counſel. Thoſe whoſe heads are laid upon down-pillows, are not apt to hear noyſes; no more are thoſe that live at eaſe in Zi[illegible: 1 letter]n, to hearken to wholſome advice. Or if ſometimes they have a kind of willingneſſe and velleity to doe better; yet it is but as the door that turns on the hinges, but yet hangs ſtill upon them.

Verſ. 15. The ſlothful hideth his hand in his boſome] See the Note on ch. 19.24.

Verſ. 16. Than ſeven men that can render a reaſon] Yea though they were the ſeven Wiſe-men of Greece, they were all fools to him. The proud Phariſees rejected the counſel of God, and would not be baptized of John, Luke 7.30. Belly-policy teaches the Sluggard a great many excuſes, which hee thinks will goe for wiſdom: becauſe by them he thinks to ſleep in a whole skin.

Verſ. 17. He that paſſeth by and medleth, &c.] Two kind of ſtudies have I alwayes hated (ſaith one) ſtudium partium, & ſtudius novarum rerum. They that enter ſtrife without calling (ſaith another) doe commonly hazzard themſelves into trouble without comfort. This was Jehoſaphats folly at Jabeſh Gilead, and (as ſome think) Joſiah's when he went up againſt Pharah Necho: thinking thereby to ingratiate with the Aſſyrian, Pharaohs profeſt enemy. It is from idleneſs uſually, that men are thus buſie in other mens matters, without thank, or other benefit. 1 Tim. 5.13. and 1 Theſſ. 4.11. and therefore this Proverb fitly follows the former. Howbeit this is not alwayes true: for charity may move men to interpoſe for a right underſtanding, and a good accord betwixt diſagreeing parties. Neither in this caſe muſt a man affect to be held no medler, ſith bleſſed are the peace-makers. And though it bee for moſt part a thankleſs office (for if a man have two friends, he oft loſeth one of them) yet our reward is with God: and if by ſeeking to part the ſcuffle, we derive ſome blows upon our ſelves, yet the Euge of a good conſcience will ſalve that well enough. That which is here forbidden, is, for a man to make himſelf a party and maintain one ſide againſt another. And yet where it is for God and his truth, this may be done too: as when Queen Elizabeth not only ſate as Umpire betwixt the Spaniard, French, and Hollanders (ſo as ſhe might well have taken up that ſaying of her Father,Camdens Eliz. 196. Cuiadhaereo, praeeſt, He whom I ſide with, carries it) but afterwards, when ſhe ſaw her time, undertook the protection of the Netherlanders againſt the Spaniard: wherein all Princes admired her fortitude; and the King of Sweden ſaid, that ſhe had now taken the Diadem from her head, and ſet it upon the doubtful chance of war.Ibid. This was done, Anno 1585.

Is like one that taketh a Dog by the ears] Where he loves not to bee handled, but about the neck rather. The Dutch have a like Proverb, To take a dogge by the tayl. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. The Greeks, To take a Lion by the beard, or a Bear by the tooth, to thruſt ones hand into a Waſpes-neſt, to ſtir up a Scorpion, &c.

Verſ. 19. Am not I in jeſt?] The wicked mans mirth is uſually mixed with miſchief; it is no ſport, unleſs he may have the Devil his Play-fellow: no good fellowſhip without Horſe-play. Salt-jeſts, and dry flouts, to the juſt grief or diſgrace of another, is counted facetious and fine. But St. Paul calls it fooliſh, Epheſ. 5.4. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. and further ſaith, that for ſuch things ſake the wrath of God commeth upon the children of diſobedience. Quid mihi cum fabulis, cum jocis? ſaith Bernard, what hath a Chriſtian to doe with jeſting and jearing? Wee allow an Horſe to praunce and skip in a paſture; which if he doth when backt by the Rider, we count him an unruly and unbroken Jade. So, howſoever in Heathens and Atheiſts, God may wink at jocularity and dicacity, yet he looks for better things from his own people. Crede mihi, res ſevera eſt verum gaudium, ſaith Seneca. True mirth is a ſevere buſineſs. But what a mad man Robert de Beliaſme Earl of Shrewsbury, Anno Dom. 1111. delighting to doe miſchief, and exerciſe his cruelty, and then to ſay, Am not I in jeſt? An example hereof he ſhewed upon his own Son; who being but a child and playing with him, the father for a paſtime,Speeds Chron. 473. put his thumb in the boys eyes, and thruſt out the balls thereof.

Verſ. 20. Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out] Lignis ignis conſervatur: ſo is ſtrife by evil tongues, theſe are the Devils bellows and boutefeaus. Ye ſhall conceive chaff, yee ſhall bring forth ſtubble, your breath as fire ſhall devour you, Iſa. 33.11. Such is the breath of Tale-bearers. A cover-feu bell would doe well for theſe Incendiaries, that elſe may ſet on fire the whole courſe of Nature, Jam. 3.6. See the Note on Chap. 16.28.

Verſ. 21. So is a contentious man] Hebr. A man of contentions, Vir bilioſus & bellicoſus, a man made up of diſcords (as Democritus ſaid the world was) that loves to live in the fire, as the Salamander doth: the dog-dayes continue with ſuch all the year long, and like mad doggs, they bite and ſet a madding all they can faſten on, as did Sheba, Korah, and Judas, who ſet all the Diſciples a murmuring at the oyl poured on Chriſts head. So Arrius ſet all the Chriſtian world on a light fire, and Pope Hildebrand caſt abroad his firebrands.

Verſ. 22. The words of a tale-bearer, &c.] See chap. 18.8.

Verſ. 23. Burning lips and a wicked heart, &c.] The tongue of the righteous is as fined ſilver, but gloſing lips upon a falſe heart is no better than droſſe upon dirt: counterfeit friends are naught on both ſides, having os maledictum & cor malum, as Luther renders this Text; a bad mouth, and a worſe heart. Wicked men are ſaid to ſpeak with an heart and a heart, Pſal. 12. as ſpeaking one thing, and thinking another, drawing a fair glove on a foul hand. Theſe are dangerous to be dealt withall: for like Serpents, they can ſting without hiſſing; like curre doggs, ſuck your bloud only with licking, and in the end kill you and cut your throats without biting: ſo cunning and cloſe are they in the conveyance of their colluſion. Squire ſent out of Spain to poyſon Queen Elizabeth, annoynted the pummel of her ſaddle with poyſon covertly,Camd. Eliz. [illegible: 1 letter]7. and as it were doing ſomewhat elſe, praying with a loud voyce, God ſave the Queen. When thoſe Romiſh Incendiaries, Gifford, Hodgeſon, and others, had ſet Savage a work to kill the ſaid Queen, they firſt ſet forth a Book to perſwade the Engliſh Catholicks to attempt nothing againſt her. So, Parſons, when hee had hatched that nameleſs villany the Powder-plot, ſet forth his book of Reſolution, as if hee had been wholly made up of devotion. Caveatur oſculum Iſcarioticum. It is the property of a godly man to ſpeak the truth from his heart, Pſal. 15.

Verſ. 24. He that hateth, diſſembleth with his lips] And ſo heaps ſin upon ſin, till he be transformed into a breathing devil. This is meant not ſo much of the paſſion of hatred, as of the habit of it; when it hath wholly leavened the heart, and lies watching its opportunity of doing miſchief. The Devil is at Inne with ſuch (as Mr. Bradford phraſeth it) and was as great a Maſter,Serm. of Repent. long before the Florentine Secretary was born, as ſince.

Verſ. 25. When he ſpeaketh fair, beleeve him not] [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Take heed whom you truſt, beware of men, Matth. 10.17. bleſſe your ſelves from your pretended friends, and pray with David to be delivered from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue. Admit they not only ſpeak us fair,Pſal. 120.1. but doe us many kindneſſes, yet beleeve them, as little as David did Saul. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Soph. Virgil. Martial Enemies gifts are giftleſſe gifts, ſaid one Heathen. And — timeo Danaos & dena ferentes, ſaith another.

Munera magna quidem miſit, ſed miſit in hamo: Et piſcatorem piſcis amare poteſt?

Verſ. 26. Whoſe hatred is covered by deceit, &c.] He ſhall be detected and deteſted of all, ſooner or later. God will waſh off his varniſh with rivers of brimſtome. Love, as it is the beſt armour, ſo it is the worſt cloak, and will ſerve diſſemblers, as the diſguiſe Ahab put on, and periſhed 1 King. 22.

Verſ. 27. Whoſo diggeth a pit, ſhall fall thereinto] This is the ſame with Pſal. 7.15. Where-hence it ſeems to be taken. See the Note there. Heathen writers have many Proverbs to like purpoſe. See Eraſm. Chiliad.

And he that rolleth a ſtone, it will return upon him] Cardinal Benno relates a memorable ſtory of Pope Hildebrand, or Greg. 7. that he hired a baſe fellow to lay a great ſtone upon a beam in the Church, where Henry 4. the Emperour uſed to pray, and ſo to lay it, that it might fall (as from the top of the Church) upon the Emperours head, and kill him. But whilſt this Caytiff was attempting to doe it, the ſtone with its weight drew him down, and falling upon him, daſhed him in peeces upon the pavement. The Thracians in Herodotus being offended with Jupiter for raining unſeaſonably upon them, ſhot up their arrows at him, which ſoon after returned upon their own pates.

Verſ. 28. A lying tongue hateth thoſe that are afflicted by it] Falſe love proves to be true hatred, by the evil conſequent of its ruine and deſtruction to the party flattered, and betrayed by a ſmooth ſupparaſitation. There are that thus read the Text, The falſe tongue hateth thoſe that ſmite it, &c. Truth breeds hatred: as the fair Nymphs did the ill-favoured Fauns and Satyrs.