Proverbs 31 commentary

When children are under the mother's eye, she has an opportunity of fashioning their minds aright. Those who are grown up, should often call to mind the good teaching they received when children. The many awful instances of promising characters who have been ruined by vile women, and love of wine, should warn every one to avoid these evils. Wine is to be used for want or medicine. Every creature of God is good, and wine, though abused, has its use. By the same rule, due praise and consolation should be used as cordials to the dejected and tempted, not administered to the confident and self-sufficient. All in authority should be more carefully temperate even than other men; and should be protectors of those who are unable or afraid to plead their own cause. Our blessed Lord did not decline the bitterest dregs of the cup of sorrow put into his hands; but he puts the cup of consolation into the hands of his people, and causes those to rejoice who are in the deepest distress.

This is the description of a virtuous woman of those days, but the general outlines equally suit every age and nation. She is very careful to recommend herself to her husband's esteem and affection, to know his mind, and is willing that he rule over her. 1. She can be trusted, and he will leave such a wife to manage for him. He is happy in her. And she makes it her constant business to do him good. 2. She is one that takes pains in her duties, and takes pleasure in them. She is careful to fill up time, that none be lost. She rises early. She applies herself to the business proper for her, to women's business. She does what she does, with all her power, and trifles not. 3. She makes what she does turn to good account by prudent management. Many undo themselves by buying, without considering whether they can afford it. She provides well for her house. She lays up for hereafter. 4. She looks well to the ways of her household, that she may oblige all to do their duty to God and one another, as well as to her. 5. She is intent upon giving as upon getting, and does it freely and cheerfully. 6. She is discreet and obliging; every word she says, shows she governs herself by the rules of wisdom. She not only takes prudent measures herself, but gives prudent advice to others. The law of love and kindness is written in the heart, and shows itself in the tongue. Her heart is full of another world, even when her hands are most busy about this world. 7. Above all, she fears the Lord. Beauty recommends none to God, nor is it any proof of wisdom and goodness, but it has deceived many a man who made his choice of a wife by it. But the fear of God reigning in the heart, is the beauty of the soul; it lasts for ever. 8. She has firmness to bear up under crosses and disappointments. She shall reflect with comfort when she comes to be old, that she was not idle or useless when young. She shall rejoice in a world to come. She is a great blessing to her relations. If the fruit be good, the tree must have our good word. But she leaves it to her own works to praise her. Every one ought to desire this honour that cometh from God; and according to this standard we all ought to regulate our judgments. This description let all women daily study, who desire to be truly beloved and respected, useful and honourable. This passage is to be applied to individuals, but may it not also be applied to the church of God, which is described as a virtuous spouse? God by his grace has formed from among sinful men a church of true believers, to possess all the excellences here described.

CHAPTER 31

Pr 31:1-31.

1. On the title of this, the sixth part of the book, see Introduction.

prophecy--(See on Pr 30:1).

2. What, my son?--that is, What shall I say? Repetitions denote earnestness.

son of my womb--as our phrase, "my own son," a term of special affection.

son of my vows--as one dedicated to God; so the word "Lemuel" may mean.

3-9. Succinct but solemn warnings against vices to which kings are peculiarly tempted, as carnal pleasures and oppressive and unrighteous government are used to sustain sensual indulgence.

strength--mental and bodily resources for health and comfort.

thy ways--or course of life.

to that ... kings--literally, "to the destroying of kings," avoid destructive pleasures (compare Pr 5:9; 7:22, 27; Ho 4:11).

10-31. This exquisite picture of a truly lovely wife is conceived and drawn in accordance with the customs of Eastern nations, but its moral teachings suit all climes. In Hebrew the verses begin with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet in order (compare Introduction to Poetical Books).

Who ... woman--The question implies that such are rare, though not entirely wanting (compare Pr 18:22; 19:14).

virtuous--literally, "of strength," that is, moral courage (compare Pr 12:4; Ru 3:11).

her price, &c.--(compare Pr 3:15).

The words of King Lemuel - דברי למואל מכך dibrey lemuel melech, "The words to Muel the king." So the Syriac; and so I think it should be read, the ל lamed being the article or preposition.

But who is Muel or Lemuel? Solomon, according to general opinion; and the mother here mentioned, Bath-sheba. I cannot receive these sayings; for

1. Whoever this was, he appears to have been the first-born of his mother: called here emphatically בר בטני bar bitni, the son of my womb; which is not likely to be true of Solomon, as his mother had been the wife of Uriah, and possibly had borne that rough and faithful soldier some children.

2. It is intimated here that this son had come by a lawful marriage: hence בר נדרי bar nedarai, the son of my vow, her matrimonial covenant; for so it is most natural to understand the words. But is there any proper sense in which we can say that this was correct in reference to David, Bath-sheba and Solomon? For although the son born in adultery died, it is by no means likely that Bath-sheba made any particular vows relative to Solomon; for of her piety, so much vaunted of by some writers, we yet want the proofs.

But, however this may be, there is no evidence whatever that Muel or Lemuel means Solomon; the chapter seems, to be much later than his time, and the several Chaldaisms which occur in the very opening of it are no mean proof of this. If Agur was not the author of it, it may be considered as another supplement to the book of Proverbs. Most certainly Solomon did not write it.

The prophecy that his mother taught him - משא massa may here signify the oracle; the subject that came by Divine inspiration; see on Pro 30:1 (note). From this and some other circumstances it is probable that both these chapters were written by the same author. Houbigant thinks that Massa here is the name of a place; and, therefore, translates, "The words of Lemuel, king of Massa, with which his mother instructed him."

What, my son? - The Chaldee בר bar is used twice in this verse, instead of the Hebrew בן ben, son. This verse is very elliptical; and commentators, according to their different tastes, have inserted words, indeed some of them a whole sentence, to make up the sense. Perhaps Coverdale has hit the sense as nearly as any other: "These are the wordes of Kynge Lemuel; and the lesson that his mother taughte him. My sonne, thou son of my body, O my deare beloved sonne!"

The son of my vows? - A child born after vows made for offsprings is called the child of a person's vows.

Give not thy strength - Do not waste thy substance on women.

In such intercourse the strength of body, soul and substance is destroyed.

Such connections are those which destroy kings, מלכין melachin, the Chaldee termination instead of the Hebrew.

It is not for kings - to drink wine - An intemperate man is ill fit to hold the reins of government.

Lest they drink, and forget the law - When they should be administering justice, they are found incapable of it; or, if they go into the judgment-seat, may pervert justice.

Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish - We have already seen, that inebriating drinks were mercifully given to condemned criminals, to render them less sensible of the torture they endured in dying. This is what was offered to our Lord; but he refused it. See note on Psa 104:15.

Open thy mouth for the dumb - For such accused persons as have no counsellors, and cannot plead for themselves.

Are appointed to destruction - בני חלוף beney chaloph, variously translated, children of passage - indigent travelers; children of desolation - those who have no possessions, or orphans. I believe it either signifies those who are strangers, and are travelling from place to place, or those who are ready to perish in consequence of want or oppression.

Who can find a virtuous woman? - This and the following verses are acrostic, each beginning with a consecutive letter of the Hebrew alphabet: Pro 31:10, א aleph; Pro 31:11, ב beth; Pro 31:12, ג gimel; and so on to the end of the chapter, the last verse of which has the letter ת tau. From this to the end of the chapter we have the character of a woman of genuine worth laid down; first, in general, Pro 31:10-12; secondly, in its particular or component parts, verses 13-29; and, thirdly, the summing up of the character, Pro 31:30, Pro 31:31.

I. Her general character.

1. She is a virtuous wo man - a woman of power and strength. אשת חיל esheth chayil, a strong or virtuous wife, full of mental energy.

2. She is invaluable; her price is far above rubies - no quantity of precious stones can be equal to her worth.

The heart of her husband -

3. She is an unspotted wife. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her - he knows she will take care that a proper provision is made for his household, and will not waste any thing. He has no need for spoil - he is not obliged to go out on predatory excursions, to provide for his family, at the expense of the neighboring tribes.

She will do him good -

4. She has her husband's happiness in view constantly. She recompenses all his kindness to her in beneficent acts. For kind words she returns kind deeds.

1. Her good is unmixed; she will do him good. and not evil. 2 Her good is not capricious; it is constant and permanent, while she and her husband live. His heart safely trusts in her, for she will do him good all the days of her life. This is her general character.

She seeketh wood and flax, and worketh willingly, etc. -

II. This is the second part of her character, giving the particulars of which it is composed.

1. She did not buy ready woven cloth: she procured the raw material, if wool, most probably from her own flocks; if flax, most probably from her own fields.

2. Here she manufactured; for she worketh willingly with her hands. And all her labor is a cheerful service; her will, her heart, is in it.

It needs no arguments to prove that women, even of the highest ranks, among the Greeks, Romans, and Israelites, worked with their hands at every kind of occupation necessary for the support of the family. This kind of employment was not peculiar to the virtuous woman in the text.

She is like the merchants' ships -

3. She acts like merchants. If she buy any thing for her household, she sells sufficient of her own manufactures to pay for it; if she imports, she exports: and she sends articles of her own manufacturing or produce to distant countries; she traffics with the neighboring tribes.

She riseth also while it is yet night -

4. She is an economist of time; and when the nights are long, and the days short, her family not only spend a part of the evening after sunset in domestic labor, but they all arise before daylight, and prepare the day's food, that they may not have their labor interrupted. To those who are going to the fields, and to the flocks, she gives the food necessary for the day: טרף teref, prey, a term taken from hunting, the object of which was, the supplying their natural wants: hence applied to daily food. See notes on Pro 30:8. And to the women who are to be employed within she gives חק chok, the task - the kind of work they are to do, the materials out of which they are to form it, and the quantity she expects from each. Thus all the servants are settled: their food, work, and tasks appointed. Every thing is done orderly.

She considereth a field and buyeth it -

5. She provides for the growing wants of her family. More land will shortly be needed, for the family is growing up; and having seen a field contiguous to her own, which was on sale, she estimates its worth, and purchases it a good bargain; and she pays for it by the fruit of her own industry.

6. She does not restrict herself to the bare necessaries of life; she is able to procure some of its comforts. She plants a vineyard, that she may have wine for a beverage, for medicine, and for sacrifice. This also is procured of her own labor. Whatever goes out brings its worth in; and barter, not buying, is her chief mode of traffic.

She girdeth her loins with strength -

7. She takes care of her own health and strength, not only by means of useful labor, but by healthy exercise. She avoids what might enervate her body, or soften her mind - she is ever active, and girt ready for every necessary exercise. Her loins are firm, and her arms strong.

She perceiveth that her merchandise is good -

8. She takes care to manufacture the best articles of the kind, and to lay on a reasonable price that she may secure a ready sale. Her goods are in high repute, and she knows she can sell as much as she can make. And she finds that while she pleases her customers, she increases her own profits.

9. She is watchful and careful. Her candle - her lamp, burns all night, which is of great advantage in case of sudden alarms; and in the times and places where there were so many banditti, this was a very necessary family regulation. Perhaps some works were carried on during the night, those employed sleeping in the daytime. Thus labor never stood still; whilst some slept, others worked. This was no unusual thing in ancient times; and it prevails now; but alas! little children are often thus employed to help to support their indigent parents, and to fill the coffers of their unfeeling taskmasters.

She layeth her hands to the spindle -

10. She gives an example of skill and industry to her household. She takes the distaff, that on which the wool or flax was rolled; and the spindle, that by twisting of which she twisted the thread with the right hand, while she held the distaff in the guard of the left arm, and drew down the thread with the fingers of the left hand. Allowing that spindle and distaff are proper translations of כישור kishor, and פלך pelech, this was their use, and the way in which they were used. The spindle and distaff are the most ancient of all the instruments used for spinning, or making thread. The spinning-wheel superseded them in these countries; but still they were in considerable use till spinning machinery superseded both them and the spinning-wheels in general.

She stretcheth out her hand to the poor -

11. She is truly charitable. She knows that in every portion of a man's gain God requires a lot for the poor; and if this is not given, God's blessing is not in the rest. And she is not contented to give common alms. While with one hand (יד yad) she relieves the general poor, with both hands (ידיה yadeyha) she gives to the needy, לעני leaney, to the afflicted poor.

She is not afraid of the snow -

12. She is not anxious relative to the health and comfort of her family in the winter season, having provided clothes sufficient for each in the cold weather, in addition to those which they wore in the warm season.

For all her household are clothed with scarlet - Not scarlet, for the color can avail nothing in keeping off the cold; nor would it be a proper color for the bogs and dirt of winter. But שנים shanim, from שנה shanah, to iterate, to double, signifies not only scarlet, so called from being twice or doubly dyed, but also double garments, not only the ordinary coat but the surtout or great-coat also, or a cloak to cover all. But most probably double garments, or twofold to what they were accustomed to wear, are here intended. If the general clothing be intended, scarlet cannot be the meaning, nor did our translators entirely rely on it; and therefore put double garments, the true meaning, in the margin, from which it cannot be too speedily transferred to the text. The Vulgate has "duplicibus." And my old MS. very properly, Alle forsoth hir hoomli men, ben clothid with double. And Coverdale, with equal propriety, "For all hir householde folkes are duble clothed." But if her husband and children alone are referred to, scarlet, which in the general meaning of the term, may be proper enough; as even in these countries of ours, scarlet, as being a lively bright color, is used in the winter dresses.

She maketh herself coverings of tapestry -

13. She is not regardless either of her own person, or of the decent, proper appearance of her presses and wardrobe. She has coverings or carpeting for her guests to sit upon; she has also tapestry, מרבדים marbaddim, either tapestry, carpeting, or quilted work for her beds; and her own clothing is שש shesh, fine flax, or linen cloth, and purple; probably for a cloak or mantle. The fine linen or cotton cloth of Egypt is probably intended. I have often seen it wrapping the bodies of mummies; it is something like our coarse calico. The purple was supposed to have been dyed by a precious liquor obtained from the pinna magna, a large shellfish, of the muscle kind, found on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. I have seen some of them nearly two feet in length. But it is a doubt whether any such liquor was ever obtained from this or any other fish; and the story itself is invented merely to hide the secret, the proper method of dying purple; which was kept so well that it certainly died with the ancients.

Her husband is known in the gates -

14. She is a loving wife, and feels for the respectability and honor of her husband. He is an elder among his people, and he sits as a magistrate in the gate. He is respected not only on account of the neatness and cleanliness of his person and dress, but because he is the husband of a woman who is justly held in universal esteem. And her complete management of household affairs gives him full leisure to devote himself to the civil interests of the community.

She maketh fine linen, and selleth it -

15. She is here remarkable for carrying on a traffic of splendid and ornamental dresses, or habits, as she is, Pro 31:13, for "a coarser manufacture," The סדון sidon is supposed to come from the Arabic; and to signify a kind of loose inner garment, shirt, chemise, or fine muslin covering. Some of these are so exceedingly fine, like the abrooam, that when spread on the grass, they are scarcely discernible. Some such garments as these are still worn by ladies in India and in China, and are so thin and transparent, that every part of the body may be seen through them. I have many representations of persons clothed in this way before me both of the Chinese, the Hindoo, and the Malabar ladies. Probably this eminent Jewish matron had such articles manufactured in her own house. She dealt also in girdles. These are still a very general and very expensive article of dress. I have seen them made of silk, and highly ornamented with gold and silver thread, worked into flowers and various curious devices. The loose Eastern robe is confined by these; and the word may also take in the shawl of the turban, which is often superb and costly. It is properly the girdle for the head. As these were generally woven, the consumption was great; and an able artist must have had a good trade.

The Arabic gives a remarkable translation of this verse: "She maketh towels, (or tablecloths), and sells them to the inhabitants of Basra, (a city in Mesopotamia), and fine linens, and sells them to the Canaanites." My old MS. Bible has, Sandel sche made and sold, and a litil girdil sche toke to Chanane. Perhaps לכנעני lakkenaani, for the merchant, may stand here for לכנענים lakkenaanim, the Canaanites.

Strength and honor are her clothing -

16. All the articles manufactured by herself or under her care have a double perfection:

1. They are strong.

2. They are elegant;

Strength and honor are her clothing; and on account of this she shall rejoice in time to come; she shall never have occasion to blush for any thing she has made, for any thing she or hers have worn, or for any thing she has sold. Besides, she has so conducted herself that she has reason to expect that the hand of the Lord shall be still with her, and shall keep her from evil that it may not grieve her.

She openeth her mouth with wisdom -

17. He comes now to the moral management of her family.

1. She is wise and intelligent; she has not neglected the cultivation of her mind.

2. She is amiable in her carriage, full of good nature, well tempered, and conciliating in her manners and address.

In her tongue is the law of kindness - This is the most distinguishing excellence of this woman. There are very few of those who are called managing women who are not lords over their husbands, tyrants over their servants, and insolent among their neighbors. But this woman, with all her eminence and excellence, was of a meek and quiet spirit. Blessed woman!

She looketh well to the ways of her household -

18. She is a moral manager: she takes care that all shall behave themselves well; that none of them shall keep bad company or contract vicious habits. A religious industry, or an industrious religion, is the law of her house. She can instruct them in religion, as well as she can teach them in their labor. In her house, diligence in business, and fervency of spirit, serving the Lord, go hand in hand.

And eateth not the bread of idleness -

19. She knows that idleness leads to vice; and therefore every one has his work, and every one has his proper food. That they may work well, they are fed well; and every one, at least, earns the bread that he eats - eateth not the bread of idleness.

Her children arise up, and call her blessed -

20. She considers a good education next to Divine influence; and she knows also that if she train up a child in the way he should go, when he is old he will not depart from it.

1. Her children are well bred; they rise up and pay due respect.

2. They are taught the fear of the lord, and obedience to his testimonies; therefore they call her blessed. So they are of a decent, orderly, respectable, religious behavior.

3. Her husband is so satisfied with her conduct towards himself, his household, his business, and their children, that he praiseth her. He shows himself sensible of her excellence, and encourages her, in her work, by the commendations he bestows.

Many daughters have done virtuously - This is undoubtedly the speech of the husband, giving testimony to the excellence of his wife: "Her husband also, and he praiseth her, saying, 'many daughters,' women, 'have done virtuously,' with due propriety as wives, mistresses, and mothers; 'but Thou,' my incomparable wife, 'excellent them all;' ואת עלית על כלנה veath alith al cullanah, but Thou hast ascended above the whole of them - thou hast carried every duty, every virtue, and every qualification and excellency, to a higher perfection, than any of whom we have ever read or heard." And let the reader seriously consider the above particulars, as specified under the different heads and subdivisions; and he will be probably of the same mind. But high as the character of this Jewish matron stands in the preceding description, I can say that I have met at least her equal, in a daughter of the Rev. Dr. Samuel Annesly, the wife of Samuel Wesley, sen., rector of Epworth in Lincolnshire, and mother of the late extraordinary brothers, John and Charles Wesley. I am constrained to add this testimony, after having traced her from her birth to her death, through all the relations that a woman can bear upon earth. Her Christianity gave to her virtues and excellences a heightening, which the Jewish matron could not possess. Besides, she was a woman of great learning and information, and of a depth of mind, and reach of thought, seldom to be found among the daughters of Eve, and not often among the sons of Adam.

Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain, etc. -

III. Here is the summing up of the character.

1. Favour, חן chen, grace of manner may be deceitful, many a fair appearance of this kind is put on, assumed for certain secular or more unworthy purposes; it is learned by painful drilling in polished seminaries, and, being the effect of mere physical discipline, it continues while the restraint lasts; but it is שקר sheker, a lie, a mere semblance, an outward varnish. It is not the effect of internal moral regulation; it is an outside, at which the inside murmurs; and which, because not ingenuous, is a burden to itself.

2. Beauty, היפי haiyophi, elegance of shape, symmetry of features, dignity of mien, and beauty of countenance, are all הבל hebel, vanity; sickness impairs them, suffering deranges them, and death destroys them.

3. "But a woman that feareth the Lord," that possesses true religion, has that grace that harmonizes the soul, that purifies and refines all the tempers and passions, and that ornament of beauty, a meek and quiet mind, which in the sight of God is of great price: -

She shall be praised - This is the lasting grace, the unfading beauty.

Give her of the fruit of her hands - This may be a prayer. May she long enjoy the fruit of her labors! May she see her children's children, and peace upon Israel!

And let her own works praise her in the gates - Let what she has done be spoken of for a memorial of her; let her bright example be held forth in the most public places. Let it be set before the eyes of every female, particularly of every wife, and especially of every mother; and let them learn from this exemplar, what men have a right to expect in their wives, the mistresses of their families, and the mothers of their children. Amen.

Lemuel - Of Solomon, by the general consent both of Jewish and Christian writers; this name signifies one from God, or belonging to God, and such an one was Solomon eminently, being given by God to David and Bathsheba, as a pledge of his reconciliation to them after their repentance. Possibly his mother gave him this name to mind him of his great obligations to God, and of the justice of his devoting himself to God's service.

What - A short speech, arguing her great passion for him; what words shall I take? What counsels shall I give thee? My heart is full, but where shall I begin? Of my womb - My son, not by adoption, but whom I bare in the womb, and therefore it is my duty to give thee admonitions, and thine to receive them. My vows - On whose behalf I have made many prayers and sacrifices, and solemn vows to God; whom I have, as far as in me lay, devoted to the work, and service, and glory of God.

Strength - The vigour of thy mind and body. Ways - Thy conversation, repeated in other words.

To drink - To excess.

To perish - To faint; for such need a cordial.

The dumb - For such as cannot speak in their own cause, either through ignorance, or because of the dread of their more potent adversaries. Destruction - Who, without such succour from the judges, are like to be utterly ruined.

A virtuous woman - Here he lays down several qualifications of an excellent wife, which are delivered in alphabetical order, each verse beginning with a several letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

No need - He shall have no need to use indirect courses to get wealth.

Flax - That she may find employment for her servants. Worketh - She encourages them to work by her example; which was a common practice among princesses in those first ages. Not that it is the duty of kings and queens to use manual operations, but it is the duty of all persons, the greatest not excepted, to improve all their talents, and particularly their time, which is one of the noblest of them, to the service of that God to whom they must give an account, and to the good of that community to which they are related.

From afar - By the sale of her home - spun commodities she purchases the choicest goods which come from far countries.

Giveth - Distributes all necessary provisions.

Considereth - Whether it be fit for her use. The fruit - With the effects of her diligence. Planteth - She improves the land to the best advantage.

Girdeth - She uses great diligence and expedition in her employment; for which end, men in those times used to gird up their long and loose garments about their loins. Strengtheneth - Puts forth her utmost strength in her business.

Perceiveth - She finds great comfort in her labours. Her candle - Which is not to be taken strictly, but only signifies her unwearied care and industry.

She layeth - By her own example she provokes her servants to labour. And although in these latter and more delicate times, such mean employments are grown out of fashion among great persons, yet they were not so in former ages, neither in other countries, nor in this land; whence all women unmarried unto this day are called in the language of our law, Spinsters.

Not afraid - Of any injuries of the weather. Are clothed - She hath provided enough, not only for their necessity, but also for their delight and ornament.

Tapestry - For the furniture of her house. Silk - Which was agreeable to her high quality.

It known - Observed and respected, not only for his own worth, but for his wife's sake. Sitteth - In counsel or judgment.

Girdles - Curiously wrought of linen, and gold, or other precious materials.

Strength - Strength of mind, magnanimity, courage, activity. Her clothing - Her ornament and glory. Rejoice - She lives in constant tranquillity of mind, from a just confidence in God's gracious providence.

Openeth her mouth - She is neither sullenly silent, nor full of impertinent talk, but speaks discreetly and piously, as occasion offers. In her tongue - Her speeches are guided by wisdom and grace, and not by inordinate passions. And this practice is called a law in her tongue, because it is constant and customary, and proceeds from an inward and powerful principle of true wisdom.

Looketh well - She diligently observes the management of her domestick business, and the whole carriage of her children and servants.

Favour - Comeliness, which commonly gives women favour with those who behold them. Deceitful - It gives a false representation of the person, being often a cover to a deformed soul; it does not give a man that satisfaction, which at first he promised to himself from it; and it is soon lost, not only by death, but by many diseases and contingencies.

Give her - It is but just, that she should enjoy those praises which her labours deserve. Let her works - If men be silent, the lasting effects of her prudence and diligence will trumpet forth her praises. In the gates - In the most publick and solemn assemblies.

1 THe words of king Lemuel , the prophecy that his mother taught him.

i. e. Of Solomon, by the general consent both of Jewish and Christian Writers; to whom this name doth very fitly agree, for it signifies one of, or from God, or belonging to God, and such an one was Solomon eminently, being given by God to David and Bathsheba, as a pledge of his Reconciliation to them after their Repentance, of whom it is expresly said, that the Lord loved him, 2 Sam. 12. 24. and who was by God himself appointed to succeed David in the Kingdom. Possibly his Mother gave this name to mind him of his great obligations to God, and of the justice and necessity of his devoting himself unto Gods Service and Glory.

So called, either 1. More specially, because she did either by natural sagacity, or by divine inspiration foresee Solomon's danger, and what sins he was most likely to be either inclined or tempted to commit, and therefore thought fit to give him these precautions. Or 2. More generally, as all godly discourses or Counsels are called Prophecies, of which see on Prov. 30. 1. and elsewhere.

Bathsheba, who having truly repented of her Adultery did not only avoid it in her self for the future, but seriously endeavoured to prevent that and such like sins in others, and especially in Solomon, whom the remembrance of her sin might possibly provoke to an imitation of her example. But when she gave him these Instructions, is but matter of conjecture. Probably it was, either 1. When she first discerned his inclinations to those sins of which she here warns him, to which she saw he was like to have many and strong Provocations. Or 2. After he was made King, and had more plainly discovered his proneness to these excesses, although he had not yet broken forth into those scandalous enormities into which he afterwards fell.

2 What , my son! and what, the son of my womb ! and what the son of my vows !

A short speech, arguing her great passion for him; What dost thou do? or, What words shall I take? What Counsels shall I give thee? My heart is full, I must give it vent: but where shall I begin?

My Son, not by Adoption, but whom I bare in my Womb, and brought [illegible: 1+ letters]orth with great pain, and brought up with tender care; and therefore it is my duty to give thee Admonitions, and thine to receive them; and what I speak is from sincere and servent affection to thee, which I trust thou wilt not despise.

On whose behalf I have made many Prayers, and Sacrifices, and solemn Vows to God; whom I have, as far as in me lay, devoted to the Work, and Service, and Glory of God.

3 Give not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings .

The vigour of thy Mind and Body, which is greatly impaired by inordinate Lusts, as all Physicians agree, and frequent experience sheweth.

Thy Conversation or course of Life.

The same thing repeated in other words, as is very usual in these Books: To the immoderate Love of Women, which is most destructive to Kings and Kingdoms, as was well known to Solomon by the example of his father David, and by many other sad instances left upon record in all Histories.

Marginal references: Ch. 5. [illegible: 1+ letters].; Or, [illegible: 1 word] 10 Gr.; [illegible: 1 span]

4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine , nor for princes strong drink.

To wit, to Drunkenness or excess, as the next verse explains it.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]. 10. 17.

5 Lest they drink and forget the law , and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted .

The Laws of God, by which they are to govern themselves and their Kingdoms.

Which may easily be done by a drunken Judge, because Drunkenness deprives a man of the use of Reason, by which alone men can distinguish between right and wrong, and withal stirs up those passions which encline him both to precipitation and partiality.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word] alter.; [illegible: 1 word]. of all [illegible: 1 word] of affli [illegible: 1+ letters].

6 Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish , and wine to th[illegible: 1+ letters]se that be of heavy hearts.

Which is to be understood comparatively, to him rather than to Kings, partly because he needs a liberal draught of it, more than Kings do; and principally because if it proceed to excess, in him it is only a private inconvenience, but in Kings it is a publick mischief and grievance.

Sorely afflicted and overwhelmed with sorrow, as it is explained in the following words; for such need a cordial.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word] 104. 15.; [illegible: 1 word] bitter [illegible: 1 word].

7 Let him drink, and forget his poverty , and remember his misery no more.

For Wine moderately used, allayeth mens Cares and Fears, and cheareth their Spirits, Psal. 104. 15.

8 Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction .

Speak freely and impartially, as becomes a King and Judg to do.

For such as cannot speak in their own Cause, either through Ignorance and Infirmity: or because of the dread of their more potent Adversaries, or of the Majesty of the King sitting in judgment.

Who without such succour from the Judge, are like to be utterly ruined, whom therefore both Justice and Charity oblige thee to preserve.

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

10 Who can find a virtuous woman ? for her price is far above rubies.

Whom he may take to Wife. Such a person is hardly to be found. Compare Eccles. 7. 28. And here he lays down several Characters or Qualifications of an excellent Wife, which are here delivered in Alphabetical order, each verse beginning with a several and the succeeding Letter of the Hebrew Alphabet: which method is used in some, and but in a few places of Scripture, to oblige us to the more diligent consideation and careful remembrance of them, as things of more than ordinary importance. And such this matter is, partly because the good or bad Education even of private Families, which depends much upon the Mothers qualifications, hath a mighty influence upon the welfare or misery of Common-wealths; and partly because the right Education of Royal Families is in itself a very publick Blessing, and therefore it is the interest and happiness of whole Kingdoms, that their Kings should have virtuous and pious Wives.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]. 12. 4. [illegible: 1 word] 18. 22. [illegible: 1 word] 19. 14.; Heb. a wo [illegible: 1+ letters] of strength, [illegible: 1 word] of activity, [illegible: 1 word] 47. 6. [illegible: 1 word] ▪ 1. 42.

11 The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her , so that he shall have no need of spoil .

For the prudent and faithful management of all his domestick affairs, which are committed to her care.

The sense is either 1. He shall want no necessary Provisions for his family, which are somtimes called spoil, or prey, as below, v. 15. Psal. 111. 5. Luk. 11. 22. Or, 2. He shall not need to use indirect and unlawful courses to get Wealth, by cheating or oppressing his Subjects or others, as Princes have oft done to maintain the Luxury of their Wives, and as Solomon himself afterwards did, of which see on 1 King. 12. 4, 10, 11. because all shall be abundantly supplied to him by her Providence.

12 She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.

She will improve and not waste his Estate.

13 She seeketh wool, and flax , and worketh willingly with her hands .

That she may find employment for her servants, and not suffer them to spend all their time unprofitably in ease and idleness.

She encourageth them to work by her example; which was a common practice among Princesses in those first and purest ages of the world. Not that it is the duty of Kings & Queens to use manual or mechanical operations, but that it is the duty of all persons, the greatest not excepted, to improve all their Talents, and particularly their time, which is one of the noblest of them, one way or other to the service of that God to whom they must give an account, and to the good of that community to which they are related and obliged.

14 She is like the merchants ships, she bringeth her food from afar .

By the sale of her home-spun commodities she purchaseth the choicest goods which come from far Countries.

15 She riseth also while it is yet night , and giveth meat to her houshold, and a portion to her maidens.

Early in the morning, to redeem time.

Distributeth all her necessary provisions.

Either 1. Of Work, which she allots to them. Or rather 2. Of Provisions for them; for so this word is used, Gen. 47. 22. Lev. 10. 13, 14. Prov. 30. 8. and no where, to my remembrance, of an allotment of work. And so this clause agrees best with the former, expressing the same thing in other words, according to the manner.

16 She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard .

Whether it be fit for her use, and of a reasonable price, and how she may purchase it. This excludes the rashness, as her proceeding to buy it excludes the inconstancy, which is oft incident to that sex.

With the effects of her diligence.

She improveth the Land to the best advantage.

Marginal references: Heb. taketh it.

17 She girdeth her loins with strength , and strengtheneth her arms .

She useth great diligence and expedition in her employment; for which end men in those times use to gird up their long and loose garments about their loins.

Putteth forth her utmost strength in her business.

18 She perceiveth that her merchandise is good : her candle goeth not out by night .

She finds great comfort and good success in her labours.

Which is not to be taken strictly, but only signifies her unwearied Care and Industry, which is oft expressed by labouring day and night, or continually.

Marginal references: Heb. she tasteth.

19 She layeth her hands to the spindle , and her hands hold the distaff.

By her own example she provoketh her servants to labour. And although in these later and more delicate and luxurious times, such mean employments are grown out of fashion among great persons, yet they were not so in former ages, neither in other Countries, nor in this Land; whence all Women are to this day called in the language of our Law, Spinsters.

20 She stretcheth out her hand to the poor ; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.

To relieve their necessities. Her designs are generous and noble; for she labours not only to supply her own and her Houshold necessities, or to support her own state, much less to feed her Pride and Luxury, but that she may have wherewith to supply the wants of others who crave or need her assistance. Which also procures Gods blessing upon her Husband, and Children, and whole Family, to whom by this means she brings both Honour and advantage.

Marginal references: Heb. she spreadeth.

21 She is not afraid of the snow for her houshold: for all her houshold are cloathed with scarlet .

Or of any injuries of the weather.

She hath provided enough, not only for their necessity and defence against cold and other inconveniences, which is here supposed, but also for their delight and ornament; so that not only her self, and Husband, and Children, but some of the better rank of her servants wear scarlet, which was more cheap and familiar in those times and Countries than now it is with us. Or, as it is rendred in our margent, and by divers others, are cloathed with double garments, which is necessary and customary in cold seasons.

Marginal references: Or, double garments.

22 She maketh her self coverings of tapestry , her cloathing is silk and purple .

For the furniture of her house.

Which was very agreeable to her high quality; though it doth not justifie that Luxury in attire which is now usual among persons of far lower ranks both for Wealth and Dignity.

23 Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the Elders of the land.

Observed and respected, not only for his own worth, but for his Wife's sake, not only for those rich Ornaments which by her care and diligence she provides for him, which others of his Brethren, by reason of their Wives sloth or luxury, are not able to procure, but also for his Wisdom in chusing, and his Happiness in enjoying so excellent a Wife, by whose prudent care, in the management of his domestick concerns he hath perfect freedom wholly to attend upon publick affairs.

t In counsel or judgment.

24 She maketh fine linnen, and selleth it, and delivereth girdles unto the merchants.

Curiously wrought of Linnen, and Gold, or other precious materials, Ier. 13. 1. Dan. 10. 5. which in those parts were used both by Men, 2 Sam. 20. 8. and by Women, Isa. 3. 24. Cant. 7. 1.

25 Strength and honour are her cloathing , and she shall rejoice in time to come .

Not strength of Body, which is no ornament of that sex, save only as she preserves her health and strength by Sobriety and Exercise, which other Women waste by Intemperance and Idleness, but strength of Mind, Magnanimity, Courage, Resolution, Activity.

Either 1. Her prudent, and pious, and amiable behaviour, in which true Honour principally consists. Or 2. That good Name and honourable Esteem which she hath gained amongst all that know her by her virtuous disposition and carriage.

These, and not her rich Garments mentioned before, are her great ornament and glory.

The sense is, either 1. In her old Age she reaps the comfort and benefit of her youthful Labours. Or rather 2. She lives in constant tranquillity of mind, and a confident and chearful expectation of all future events, how calamitous soever; partly because she hath laid in provisions for a rainy day, and chiefly, because she hath the comfortable remembrance of a wellspent Life, and which follows thereupon, a just confidence in Gods gracious Providence and promises made to such persons.

Marginal references: Heb. in the latter day. Gr. in the last days. 2 Tim. 3. 1.

26 She openeth her mouth with wisdom , and in her tongue is the law of kindness .

She is neither [illegible: 1+ letters]ullenly silent, nor full of vain and impertinent talk, as many Women are, but speaks discreetly and piously, as occasion offereth itself.

Her Speeches are not froward and provoking, as those of foolish Women frequently are, but most obliging and amiable, as being guided by Wisdom and Grace, and not by inordinate Lusts and Passions. And this practice is called a law in her tongue, because it is constant and customary, and proceeds from an inward and powerful Principle of true Wisdom, which in a manner necessitates and constrains her to discourse like her self, so that in a moral sense she cannot speak otherwise, unless she offer violence to her self, or the nature of the thing require sharp and severe Expressions.

27 She looketh well to the ways of her houshold , and eateth not the bread of idleness .

She diligently observeth the management and progress of her domestick business, and the whole carriage and conversation of her Children and Servants. Whereby also he intimates that she spends not her time in gadding abroad to other Houses, and idle Discourses about the concerns of other persons, as the manner of many Women is, but is wholly intent upon her own house and proper business.

That which is got by idleness, or without labour.

28 Her children arise up , and call her blessed , her husband also, and he praiseth her .

Whose testimony is the more considerable, because they have been constant eye-witnesses of her whole carriage, and therefore must have seen her misdemeanors, if there had been any, as well as her Virtues.

Either 1. In token of Reverence to her, which agrees not to the following clause, wherein the same Phrase is understood concerning her Husband. Or rather 2. That they may seriously and industriously apply themselves to the work of setting forth her praises, as this Phrase is used, Gen. 37. 25. Exod. 2. 17. and oft elsewhere. For sitting being commonly the posture of idleness, men that set about any work, are said to rise in order thereunto.

Both for her own excellency, and for many happy fruits which they have gathered from her wise and godly education.

In the following words.

29 Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all .

Daughters of Men, i. e. Women, so called also, Gen. 34. 1. Ezek. 30. 18.

He esteems it but just that his praises should bear proportion to her real and manifold perfections.

Marginal references: Or, have g[illegible: 1+ letters]tten riches.

30 Favour is deceitful , and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD , she shall be praised.

Comeliness, or, as the next clause explains it Beauty, which commonly gives Women favour or acceptation with those who behold them. These are the words either 1. Of her Husband continuing to praise her. Or 2. Of Bathsheba, giving the summ of what she had said in few words.

Partly because it gives a false representation of the person, being oft times a cover to a most deformed soul, and to many evil and hateful qualities; partly because it doth not give a man that content and satisfaction, which at first view he promised to himself from it; and partly because it is soon lost, not only by death, but by many Diseases and contingencies.

Which character is here mentioned either as the Crown of all her perfections. Or 2. As a key to understand the foregoing passage of that Wisdom, and Fidelity, and Diligence, which proceeded from, or is accompanied with the fear of God.

31 Give her of the fruit of her hands , and let her own works praise her in the gates .

It is but just and fit that she should enjoy those benefits and praises which her excellent labours deserve.

Give her the praises which her own works may challenge. If men be silent, the lasting effects of her Prudence and diligence will loudly trumpet forth her praises.

In the most publick and solemn assemblies.

Pro 31:1

Superscription: 1 Words of Lemuel the king,    The utterance wherewith his mother warned him.

Such would be the superscription if the interpunction of the text as it lies before us were correct. But it is not possibly right. For, notwithstanding the assurance of Ewald, §277b, למואל מלך, nevertheless, as it would be here used, remains an impossibility. Certainly under circumstances an indeterminate apposition can follow a proper name. That on coins we read מתתיה כהן גדול or נרון קיסר is nothing strange; in this case we also use the words “Nero, emperor,” and that we altogether omit the article shows that the case is singular: the apposition wavers between the force of a generic and of a proper name. A similar case is the naming of the proper name with the general specification of the class to which this or that one bearing the name belongs in lists of persons, as e.g., 1Ki 4:2-6, or in such expressions as, e.g., “Damascus, a town,” or “Tel Hum, a castle,” and the like; here we have the indefinite article, because the apposition is a simple declaration of the class.Thus it is also with the examples of indeterminate gentilicia, which Riehm makes valid for למואל מלך (for he translates למואל symbolically, which, however, syntactically makes no difference): “As analogous to 'Lemuel, a king,' one may adduce 'Jeroboam, son of Nebat, an Ephrathite,' 1Ki 11:26, instead of the usual form 'the Ephrathite;'” and בן־ימיני, Psa 7:1, for בן הימיני; on the contrary, כהן, 1Ki 4:5, does not belong to the subject, but is the pred.

But would the expression, “The poem of Oscar, a king,” be proper as the title of a book? Proportionally more so than “Oscar, king;” but also that form of indeterminate apposition is contrary to the usus loq., especially with a king with whom the apposition is not a generic name, but a name of honour. We assume that “Lemuel” is a symbolical name, like “Jareb” in “King Jareb,” Hos 5:13; Hos 10:6; so we would expect the phrase to be מלך למואל(ה) rather than למואל מלך. The phrase “Lemuel, king,” here in the title of this section of the book, sounds like a double name, after the manner of עבר מלך in the book of Jeremiah. In the Greek version also the phrase Λεμουέλου βασιλέως (Venet.) is not used as syntactically correct without having joined to the βασιλέως a dependent genitive such as τῶν Αράβων, while none of the old translators, except Jerome, take the words למואל מלך together in the sense of Lamuelis regis. Thus מלך משּׂא are to be taken together, with Hitzig, Bertheau, Zöckler, Mühlau, and Dächsel, against Ewald and Kamphausen; משׂא, whether it be a name of a tribe or a country, or of both at the same time, is the region ruled over by Lemuel, and since this proper name throws back the determination which it has in itself on מלך, the phrase is to be translated: “Words of Lemuel the king of Massa” (vid., under Pro 30:1). If Aquila renders this proper name by Λεμμοῦν, Symmachus by Ἰαμουήλ, Theodotion by Ρεβουήλ, the same arbitrariness prevails with reference to the initial and terminal sound of the word, as in the case of the words Ἀμβακούμ, Βεελζεβούλ, Βελίαρ. The name למוּאל sounds like the name of Simeon’s first-born, ימוּאל, Gen 46:10, written in Num 26:12 and 1Ch 4:24 as נמוּאל; יואל also appears, 1Ch 4:35, as a Simeonite name, which Hitzig adduces in favour of his view that משׂא was a North Arab. Simeonite colony. The interchange of the names ימואל and נמואל is intelligible if it is supposed that ימואל (from ימה = ימא) designates the sworn (sworn to) of God, and נמואל (from נם Mishnic = נאם)In the Midrash Koheleth to Pro 1:1, the name Lemuel (as a name of Solomon) is explained: he who has spoken to God in his heart. the expressed (addressed) of God; here the reference of ימו and נמו to verbal stems is at least possible, but a verb למּה is found only in the Arab., and with significations inus. But there are two other derivations of the name: (1) The verb (Arab.) waâla signifies to hasten (with the infin. of the onomatop. verbs waniyal, like raḥyal, walking, because motion, especially that which is tumultuous, proceeds with a noise), whence mawnil, the place to which one flees, retreat. Hence למוּאל or למואל, which is in this case to be assumed as the ground-form, might be formed from אל מואל, God is a refuge, with the rejection of the א. This is the opinion of Fleischer, which Mühlau adopts and has established, p. 38-41; for he shows that the initial א is not only often rejected where it is without the support of a full vocal, e.g., נחנוּ = אנחנוּ, lalah = ilalah (Deus), but that this aphaeresis not seldom also occurs where the initial has a full vocal, e.g., לעזר = אלעזר, laḥmaru = âllahmaru (ruber), laḥsâ = âl-laḥsâ (the name of a town); cf. also Blau in Deutsch. Morgenl. Zeitschr. xxv. 580. But this view is thus acceptable and tenable; a derivation which spares us by a like certainty the supposition of such an abbreviation established only by the late Palestinian לעזר, Λάζαρος, might well desire the preference. (2) Fleischer himself suggests another derivation: “The signification of the name is Deo consecratus, למו, poetic for ל, as also in Pro 31:4 it is to be vocalized למואל after the Masora.” The form למואל is certainly not less favourable to that first derivation than to this second; the û is in both cases an obscuration of the original. But that “Lemuel” may be explained in this second way is shown by “Lael,” Num 3:24 (Olshausen, §277d).Simonis has also compared Aethiopic proper names, such as Zakrestos, Zaiasus. Zamikaël, Zamariam.

It is a beautiful sign for King Lemuel, and a verification of his name, that it is he himself by whom we receive the admonition with which his mother in her care counselled him when he attained to independent government. אשׁר connects itself with דברי, after we have connected משׂא with מלך; it is accus. of the manner to יסּרתּוּ = יסּרתהוּ; cf. הטּתּוּ, Pro 7:21, with גּמלתהוּ, Pro 31:12 : wherewith (with which words) she earnestly and impressively admonished him. The Syr. translates: words of Muel, as if ל were that of the author. “Others as inconsistently: words to Lemuel - they are words which is himself ought to carry in his mouth as received from his mother” (Fleischer).

The name “Massa,” is it here means effatum, would be proportionally more appropriate for these “Words” of Lemuel than for the “Words” of Agur, for the maternal counsels form an inwardly connected compact whole. They begin with a question which maternal love puts to itself with regard to the beloved son whom she would advise:

Pro 31:2 2 What, my son? and what the son of my womb?    And what, O son of my vows?!

The thrice repeated מה is completed by תּעשׂה (cf. Köhler under Mal 2:15), and that so that the question is put for the purpose of exciting attention: Consider well, my son, what thou wilt do as ruler, and listen attentively to my counsel (Fleischer). But the passionate repetition of מה would be only affectation if thus interpreted; the underlying thought must be of a subjective nature: what shall I say, אדבּר (vid., under Isa 38:15), what advise thee to do? The question, which is at the same time a call, is like a deep sigh from the heart of the mother concerned for the welfare of her son, who would say to him what is beneficial, and say it in words which strike and remain fixed. He is indeed her dear son, the son whom she carries in her heart, the son for whom with vows of thanksgiving she prayed to God; and as he was given her by God, so to His care she commits him. The name “Lemuel” is, as we interpret it, like the anagram of the fulfilment of the vows of his mother. בּרי bears the Aramaic shade in the Arameo-Arab. colouring of these proverbs from Massa; בּריהּ is common in the Aram., and particularly in the Talmudic, but it can scarcely be adduced in support of ברי. וּמה belongs to the 24, מה, with ח or ע not following; vid., the Masora to Exo 32:1, and its correction by Norzi at Deu 29:23. We do not write וּמה־בּר; מה, with Makkeph and with Metheg, exclude one another.

Pro 31:3

The first admonition is a warning against effeminating sensuality:

Give not thy strength to women,

Nor thy ways to them that destroy kings.

The punctuation למחות sees in this form a syncopated inf. Hiph. = להמחות (vid., at Pro 24:17), according to which we are to translate: viasque tuas ad perdendos reges (ne dirige), by which, as Fleischer formulates the twofold possibility, it may either be said: direct not thy effort to this result, to destroy neighbouring kings - viz. by wars of invasion (properly, to wipe them away from the table of existence, as the Arabs say) - or: do not that by which kings are overthrown; i.e., with special reference to Lemuel, act not so that thou thyself must thereby be brought to ruin. But the warning against vengeful, rapacious, and covetous propensity to war (thus Jerome, so that Venet. after Kimchi: ἀπομάττειν βασιλέας, C. B. Michaelis, and earlier, Gesenius) does not stand well as parallel with the warning against giving his bodily and mental strength to women, i.e., expending it on them. But another explanation: direct not thy ways to the destruction of kings, i.e., toward that which destroys kings (Elster); or, as Luther translates: go not in the way wherein kings destroy themselves - puts into the words a sense which the author cannot have had in view; for the individualizing expression would then be generalized in the most ambiguous way. Thus למחות מלכין will be a name for women, parallel to לנּשׁים. So far the translation of the Targum: לבנת מלכין, filiabus (לאמהת?) regum, lies under a right supposition. But the designation is not thus general. Schultens explains catapultis regum after Eze 26:9; but, inasmuch as he takes this as a figure of those who lay siege to the hearts of men, he translates: expugnatricibus regum, for he regards מחות as the plur. of מחה, a particip. noun, which he translates by deletor. The connecting form of the fem. plur. of this מחה might certainly be מחות (cf. מזי, from מזה), but למחות מלכין ought to be changed into 'וגו 'לם; for one will not appeal to anomalies, such as 'לם, Pro 16:4; 'כּג, Isa 24:2; 'לם, Lam 1:19; or 'וגו 'הת, 1Ki 14:24, to save the Pathach of למחות, which, as we saw, proceeds from an altogether different understanding of the word. But if 'לם is to be changed into 'לם, then one must go further, since for מחה not an active but a conditional meaning is to be assumed, and we must write למחות, in favour of which Fleischer as well as Gesenius decides: et ne committe consilia factaque tua iis quae reges perdunt, regum pestibus. Ewald also favours the change למחות, for he renders מחה as a denom. of מח, marrow: those who enfeeble kings, in which Kamphausen follows him. Mühlau goes further; he gives the privative signification, to enfeeble, to the Piel מחה = makhakha (cf. Herzog’s Real-Wörterb. xiv. 712), which is much more probable, and proposes לממחות: iis quae vires enervant regum. But we can appropriately, with Nöldeke, adhere to למחות, deletricibus (perditricibus), for by this change the parallelism is satisfied; and that מחה may be used, with immediate reference to men, of entire and total destruction, is sufficiently established by such passages as Gen 6:7; Jdg 21:17, if any proof is at all needed for it. Regarding the lxx and those misled by it, who, by מלכין and מלכים, 4a, think on the Aram. מלכּין, βουλαί, vid., Mühlau, p. 53.Also Hitzig’s Blinzlerinnen [women who ogle or leer = seductive courtesans] and Böttcher’s Streichlerinnen [caressers, viz., of kings] are there rejected, as they deserve to be.

But the Syr. has an idea worthy of the discourse, who translates epulis regum without our needing, with Mühlau, to charge him with dreaming of לחם in למחות. Perhaps that is true; but perhaps by למחות he thought of למחות (from מה, the particip. adj. of מחח): do not direct thy ways to rich food (morsels), such as kings love and can have. By this reading, 3b would mediate the transition to Pro 31:4; and that the mother refers to the immorality, the unseemliness, and the dangers of a large harem, only in one brief word (3a), cannot seem strange, much rather it may be regarded as a sign of delicacy. But so much the more badly does וּדרכיך accord with למחות. Certainly one goes to a banquet, for one finds leisure for it; but of one who himself is a king, it is not said that he should not direct his ways to a king’s dainties. But if למחות refers to the whole conduct of the king, the warning is, that he should not regulate his conduct in dependence on the love and the government of women. But whoever will place himself amid the revelry of lust, is wont to intoxicate himself with ardent spirits; and he who is thus intoxicated, is in danger of giving reins to the beast within him.

Pro 31:4-5

Hence there now follows a warning against drunkenness, not unmediated by the reading למחות: 4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel,    Not for kings to drink wine,    Not for rulers to ask for intoxicating drink; 5 Lest he drink, and forget what is prescribed,    And pervert the right of all the children of want.

The usual translation of 4a is: non decet reges... (as e.g., also Mühlau); but in this אל is not rightly rendered, which indeed is at times only an οὐ, spoken with close interest, but yet first of all, especially in such paraenetic connection as here, it is a dissuasive μή. But now לא למלכים שׁתות or לא למלכים לשׁתּות, after 2Ch 26:18; Mic 3:1, signifies: it is not the part of kings, it does not become them to drink, which may also be turned into a dissuasive form: let it not be the part of kings to drink, let them not have any business therewith, as if it belonged to their calling; according to which Fleischer renders: Absit a regibus, Lemuel, absit a regibus potare vinum. The clearer expression למואל, instead of למוּאל, is, after Böttcher, occasioned by this, that the name is here in the vocative; perhaps rather by this, that the meaning of the name: consecrated to God, belonging to God, must be placed in contrast to the descending to low, sensual lust. Both times we write אל לּמלכים with the orthophonic DageshVid., Luth. Zeitschrift, 1863, p. 413. It is the rule, according to which, with Ben-Asher, it is to be written בּן־נּוּן. in the ל following ל, and without the recompensative Dagesh, the want of which is in a certain measure covered by the Metheg (vid., Norzi). Regarding the inf. constr. שׁתו (cf. קנה, Pro 16:16), vid., Gesen. §75, Anm. 2; and regarding the sequence of accents here necessary, אל לּמלכים שׁתו־יין (not Mercha, Dechi, Athnach, for Dechi would be here contrary to rule), vid., Thorath Emeth, p. 22 §6, p. 43 §7.

In 4b nothing is to be gained from the Chethı̂b או. There is not a substantive או, desire, the constr. of which would here have to be read, not או (Umbreit, Gesenius), but או, after the form קו (Maurer); and why did the author not write תּאות שׁכר? But the particle או does not here also fall in with the connection; for if או שׁכר connect itself with יין (Hitzig, Ewald, and others), then it would drag disagreeably, and we would have here a spiritless classification of things unadvisable for kings. Böttcher therefore sees in this או the remains of the obliterated סבוא; a corrector must then have transformed the וא which remained into או. But before one ventures on such conjectures, the Kerı̂ אי [where?] must be tried. Is it the abbreviated אין (Herzog’s Real-Wörterbuch, xiv. 712)? Certainly not, because וּלרוזנים אין שׁכר would mean: and the princes, or rulers (vid., regarding רוזנים at Pro 8:15), have no mead, which is inconsistent. But אין does not abbreviate itself into אי, but into אי. Not אי, but אי, is in Heb., as well as in Ethiop., the word with which negative adjectives such as אי נקי, not innocent, Job 22:30, and in later Heb. also, negative sentences, such as אי אפשׁר: it is not possible, are formed.The author of the Comm. עטרת זקנים to the ארח חיים, c. 6, Geiger and others would read אי, because אי is abbreviated from אין. But why not from אין, 1Sa 21:9? The traditional expression is אי; and Elias Levita in the Tishbi, as also Baer in the Siddur Abodath Jisrael, are right in defending it against that innovation.

Therefore Mühlau vocalizes אי, and thinks that the author used this word for אל, so as not to repeat this word for the third time. But how is that possible? אי שׁכר signifies either: not mead, or: there is not mead; and both afford, for the passage before us, no meaning. Is, then, the Kerı̂ אי truly so unsuitable? Indeed, to explain: how came intoxicating drink to rulers! is inadmissible, since אי always means only ubi (e.g., Gen 4:9); not, like the Ethiop. aitê, also quomodo. But the question ubi temetum, as a question of desire, fits the connection, whether the sentence means: non decet principibus dicere (Ahron b. Josef supplies שׁיאמרו) ubi temetum, or: absit a principibus quaerere ubi temetum (Fleischer), which, from our view of 4a, we prefer. There is in reality nothing to be supplied; but as 4a says that the drinking of wine ought not to characterize kings, so 4b, that “Where is mead?” (i.e., this eager inquiry after mead) ought not to characterize rulers.The translation of Jerome, quia nullum secretum est ubi regnat ebrietas (as if the words were לית רזא אי שׁכר), corresponds to the proverb: נכנס יין יצא סוד :b, when the wine goes in the secret comes out; or, which is the same thing: if one adds יין (= 70), סוד (= 70) comes out.

Why not? Pro 31:5 says. That the prince, being a slave to drink, may not forget the מחקּק, i.e., that which has been made and has become חק, thus that which is lawfully right, and may not alter the righteous cause of the miserable, who cry against their oppressors, i.e., may not handle falsely the facts of the case, and give judgment contrary to them. שׁנּה דין (Aquila, Theodotion, Quinta, ἀλλοιοῦν κρίσιν) is elsewhere equivalent to הטּה משׁפּט (עוּת). בּני־עני are those who are, as it were, born to oppression and suffering. This mode of expression is a Semitism (Fleischer), but it here heightens the impression of the Arab. colouring. In כל (Venet. ὡντινοῦν) it is indicated that, not merely with reference to individual poor men, but in general to the whole class of the poorer people, suffering humanity, sympathy and a regard for truth on the part of a prince given to sensuality are easily thrown aside. Wine is better suited for those who are in a condition to be timeously helped over which, is a refreshment to them.

Pro 31:6-7 6 Give strong drink to him that is perishing,    And wine to those whose soul is in bitter woe; 7 Let him drink and forget his poverty,    And let him think of his misery no more.

The preparation of a potion for malefactors who were condemned to death was, on the ground of these words of the proverb, cared for by noble women in Jerusalem (נשׁים יקרות שׁבירושׁלים), Sanhedrin 43a; Jesus rejected it, because He wished, without becoming insensible to His sorrow, to pass away from the earthly life freely and in full consciousness, Mar 15:23. The transition from the plur. to the sing. of the subject is in Pro 31:7 less violent than in Pro 31:5, since in Pro 31:6 singular and plur. already interchange. We write תּנוּ־שׁכר with the counter-tone Metheg and Mercha. אובד designates, as at Job 29:13; Job 31:19, one who goes to meet destruction: it combines the present signification interiens, the fut. signif. interiturus, and the perf. perditus (hopelessly lost). מרי נפשׁ (those whose minds are filled with sorrow) is also supported from the Book of Job; Job 3:20, cf. Pro 21:25, the language and thought and mode of writing of which notably rests on the Proverbs of Agur and Lemuel (vid., Mühlau, pp. 64-66). The Venet. τοῖς πικροῖς (not ψυξροῖς) τὴν ψυχήν. רישׁ (poverty) is not, however, found there, but only in the Book of Proverbs, in which this word-stem is more at home than elsewhere. Wine rejoices the heart of man, Psa 104:15, and at the same time raises it for the time above oppression and want, and out of anxious sorrow, wherefore it is soonest granted to them, and in sympathizing love ought to be presented to them by whom this its beneficent influence is to be wished for. The ruined man forgets his poverty, the deeply perplexed his burden of sorrow; the king, on the contrary, is in danger from this cause of forgetting what the law required at his hands, viz., in relation to those who need help, to whom especially his duty as a ruler refers.

Pro 31:8-9 8 Open thy mouth for the dumb,    For the right of all the children of leaving; 9 Open thy mouth, judge righteously,    And do right to the poor and needy.

He is called dumb who suffers the infirmity of dumbness, as עוּר and פּסּח, Job 29:15, is he who suffers the infirmity of blindness or lameness, not here figuratively; at the same time, he who, on account of his youth, or on account of his ignorance, or from fear, cannot speak before the tribunal for himself (Fleischer). With ל the dat. commodi (lxx after Lagarde, μογιλάλῳ; Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, ἀλάλῳ; the Venet. after Gebhardt, βωβῷ) אל, of the object aimed at, interchanges, as e.g., 1Ki 19:3; 2Ki 7:7, אל־נפשׁם, for the preservation of their life, or for the sake of their life, for it is seldom that it introduces the object so purely as here. And that an infin. such as חלוף should stand as a subst. occurs proportionally seldomer in Heb. (Isa 4:4; Psa 22:7; cf. with ה of the artic., Num 4:12; Psa 66:9) than it does in Arab. בּני חלוף in the same way as בּני־עני, 5b, belongs to the Arab. complexion of this proverb, but without its being necessary to refer to the Arab. in order to fix the meaning of these two words. Hitzig explains after khalf, to come after, which further means “to have the disadvantage,” in which Zöckler follows him; but this verb in Arab. does not mean ὑστερεῖν (ὑστερεῖσθαι), we must explain “sons of him that remains behind,” i.e., such as come not forward, but remain behind ('an) others. Mühlau goes further, and explains, with Schultens and Vaihinger: those destitute of defence, after (Arab.) khalafahu he is ranked next to him, and has become his representative - a use of the word foreign to the Heb. Still less is the rendering of Gesenius justified, “children of inheritance” = children left behind, after khallafa, to leave behind; and Luther, “for the cause of all who are left behind,” by the phrase (Arab.) khallfany'an 'awnih, he has placed me behind his help, denied it to me, for the Kal of the verb cannot mean to abandon, to leave. And that בני חלוף means the opposers of the truth, or of the poor, or the litigious person, the quarrelsome, is perfectly inadmissible, since the Kal חלוף cannot be equivalent to (Arab.) khilaf, the inf. of the 3rd conj., and besides, the gen. after דּין always denotes those in whose favour, not those against whom it is passed; the latter is also valid against Ralbag’s “sons of change,” i.e., who say things different from what they think; and Ahron b. Josef’s “sons of changing,” viz., the truth into lies. We must abide by the meaning of the Heb. חלף, “to follow after, to change places, pass away.” Accordingly, Fleischer understands by חלוף, the going away, the dying, viz., of parents, and translates: eorum qui parentibus orbati sunt. In another way Rashi reaches the same sense: orphans deprived of their helper. But the connection בני חלף requires that we make those who are intended themselves the subject of חלוף. Rightly Ewald, Bertheau, Kamphausen, compare Isa 2:18 (and Psa 90:5., this with questionable right), and understand by the sons of disappearance those whose inherited lot, whose proper fate, is to disappear, to die, to perish (Symmachus: πάντων υἱῶν ἀποιχομένων; Jerome: omnium filiorum qui pertranseunt). It is not men in general as children of frailty that are meant (Kimchi, Meîri, Immanuel, Euchel, and others), after which the Venet. τῶν υἱῶν τοῦ μεταβάλλειν (i.e., those who must exchange this life for another), but such as are on the brink of the abyss. צדק in שׁפט־צדק is not equivalent to בּצדק, but is the accus. of the object, as at Zec 8:16, decide justice, i.e., so that justice is the result of thy judicial act; cf. Knobel on Deu 1:16. ודּין is imper., do right to the miserable and the poor; cf. Psa 54:3 with Jer 22:16; Jer 5:28. That is a king of a right sort, who directs his high function as a judge, so as to be an advocate [procurator] for the helpless of his people.

Pro 31:10

A wife, such as she ought to be, is a rare treasure, a good excelling all earthly possession: 10 א A virtuous woman, who findeth her!         She stands far above pearls in worth.

In the connection אושׁת חיל and the like, the idea of bodily vigour is spiritualized to that of capacity, ability, and is generalized; in virtus the corresponding transition from manliness, and in the originally Romanic “Bravheit,” valour to ability, is completed; we have translated as at Pro 12:4, but also Luther, “a virtuous woman,” is suitable, since Tugend (virtue) has with Tüchtigkeit [ability] the same root-word, and according to our linguistic [German] usage designates the property of moral goodness and propriety, while for those of former times, when they spoke of the tugend (tugent) of a woman, the word combined with it the idea of fine manners (cf. חן, Pro 11:16) and culture (cf. שׂכל טוב, Pro 13:15). The question מי ימצא, quis inveniat, which, Ecc 7:24, proceeds from the supposition of the impossibility of finding, conveys here only the idea of the difficulty of finding. In ancient Jerusalem, when one was married, they were wont to ask: מצא אומוצא, i.e., has he found? thus as is said at Pro 18:22, or at Ecc 7:26. A virtuous woman [braves Weib] is not found by every one, she is found by comparatively few. In 10b there is given to the thought which underlies the question a synonymous expression. Ewald, Elster, and Zöckler incorrectly render the ו by “although” or “and yet.” Fleischer rightly: the second clause, if not in form yet in sense, runs parallel to the first. מכר designates the price for which such a woman is sold, and thus is purchasable, not without reference to this, that in the Orient a wife is obtained by means of מהר. מכר, synon. מחיר, for which a wife of the right kind is gained, is רחוק, placed further, i.e., is more difficult to be obtained, than pearls (vid., regarding “pearls” at Pro 3:15), i.e., than the price for such precious things. The poet thereby means to say that such a wife is a more precious possession than all earthly things which are precious, and that he who finds such an one has to speak of his rare fortune.

Pro 31:11

The reason for this is now given: 11 ב The heart of her husband doth trust her,         And he shall not fail of grain.

If we interpret שׁלל, after Ecc 9:8, as subject, then we miss לּו; it will thus be object., and the husband subj. to לא יחסּר: nec lucro carebit, as e.g., Fleischer translates it, with the remark that שׁלל denotes properly the spoil which one takes from an enemy, but then also, like the Arab. ḍanymat, can mean profit and gain of all kinds (cf. Rödiger in Gesenius’ Thes.). Thus also in our “kriegen” = to come into possession, the reference to war disappears. Hitzig understands by שׁלל, the continual prosperity of the man on account of his fortunate possession of such a wife; but in that case the poet should have said שׂמחת שׁלל; for שׁלל is gain, not the feeling that is therewith connected. There is here meant the gain, profit, which the housewife is the means of bringing in (cf. Psa 78:13). The heart of her husband (בּעלּהּ) can be at rest, it can rest on her whom it loves - he goes after his calling, perhaps a calling which, though weighty and honourable, brings in little or nothing; but the wife keeps the family possessions scrupulously together, and increases them by her laborious and prudent management, so that there is not wanting to him gain, which he properly did not acquire, but which the confidence he is justified in reposing in his wife alone brings to him. She is to him a perpetual spring of nothing but good.

Pro 31:12 12 ג She doeth good to him, and not evil,        All the days of her life; or, as Luther translates:

“Sie thut jm liebs und kein leids.” [She does him good, and no harm.]

She is far from ever doing him evil, she does him only good all her life long; her love is not dependent on freaks, it rests on deep moral grounds, and hence derives its power and purity, which remain ever the same. גּמל signifies to accomplish, to perform. To the not assimilated form גּמלתהוּ, cf. יסּרתּוּ, 1b.

Pro 31:13

The poet now describes how she disposes of things: 13 ד She careth for wool and flax,         And worketh these with her hands’ pleasure.

The verb דּרשׁ proceeds, as the Arab. shows,The inquirer is there called (Arab.) daras, as libros terens. from the primary meaning terere; but to translate with reference thereto: tractat lanam et linum (lxx, Schultens, Dathe, Rosemüller, Fleischer), is inadmissible. The Heb. דרשׁ does not mean the external working at or manufacturing of a thing; but it means, even when it refers to this, the intention of the mind purposely directed thereto. Thus wool and flax come into view as the material of work which she cares to bring in; and ותּעשׂ signifies the work itself, following the creation of the need of work. Hitzig translates the second line: she works at the business of her hands. Certainly ב after עשׂה may denote the sphere of activity, Exo 31:4; 1 Kings 5:30, etc.; but if חפץ had here the weakened signification business, πρᾶγμα, - which it gains in the same way as we say business, affair, of any object of care - the scarcely established meaning presents itself, that she shows herself active in that which she has made the business of her hands. How much more beautiful, on the contrary, is the thought: she is active with her hands’ pleasure! חפץ is, as Schultens rightly explains, inclinatio flexa et propensa in aliquid, and pulchre manibus diligentissimis attribuitur lubentia cum oblectatione et per oblectationem sese animans. עשׂה, without obj. accus., signifies often: to accomplish, e.g., Ps. 22:32; here it stands, in a sense, complete in itself, and without object. accus., as when it means “handeln” [agere], Pro 13:16, and particularly to act in the service of God = to offer sacrifice, Exo 10:25; it means here, and at Rth 2:19; Hab 2:4, to be active, as at Isa 19:15, to be effective; ותּעשׂ is equivalent to ותעשׂ בּמּלאכה or ותעשׂ מלאכתּהּ (cf. under Pro 10:4). And pleasure and love for the work, חפץ, can be attributed to the hands with the same right as at Psa 78:72, discretion. The disposition which animates a man, especially his inner relation to the work devolving upon him, communicates itself to his hands, which, according as he has joy or aversion in regard to his work, will be nimble or clumsy. The Syr. translates: “and her hands are active after the pleasure of her heart;” but בחפץ is not equivalent to כּחפצהּ; also בּחפץ, in the sense of con amore (Böttcher), is not used.

Pro 31:14

The following proverb praises the extent of her housewifely transactions: 14 ה She is like the ships of the merchant -         Bringeth her food from afar.

She is (lxx ἐγένετο) like merchant ships (כּאניות, indeterminate, and thus to be read kōǒnı̂joth), i.e., she has the art of such ships as sail away and bring wares from a distance, are equipped, sent out, and managed by an enterprising spirit; so the prudent, calculating look of the brave wife, directed towards the care and the advancement of her house, goes out beyond the nearest circle; she descries also distant opportunities of advantageous purchase and profitable exchange, and brings in from a distance what is necessary for the supply of her house, or, mediately, what yields this supply (ממּרחק, Cod. Jaman. ממרחק, cf. under Isa 10:6), for she finds that source of gain she has espied.

Pro 31:15

With this diligence in her duties she is not a long sleeper, who is not awakened till the sun is up; but 15 ו She riseth up while it is yet night,        And giveth food to her house,        And the fixed portion to her maidens.

The fut. consec. express, if not a logical sequence of connection, yet a close inner binding together of the separate features of the character here described. Early, ere the morning dawns, such a housewife rises up, because she places care for her house above her own comfort; or rather, because this care is to her a satisfaction and a joy. Since now the poet means without doubt to say that she is up before the other inmates of the house, especially before the children, though not before the maids: we have not, in ותּתּן, to think that the inmates of the house, all in the morning night-watch, stand round about her, and that each receives from her a portion for the approaching day; but that she herself, early, whilst yet the most are asleep, gives out or prepares the necessary portions of food for the day (cf. ויּתּן, Isa 53:9). Regarding טרף, food, from טרף (to tear in pieces, viz., with the teeth), and regarding חק, a portion decreed, vid., at Pro 30:8. It is true that חק also means the appointed labour (pensum), and thus the day’s work (דּבר יום); but the parallelism brings it nearer to explain after Pro 30:8, as is done by Gesenius and Hitzig after Exo 5:14.

Pro 31:16

This industry - a pattern for the whole house - this punctuality in the management of household matters, secures to her success in the extension of her household wealth: 16 ז She seeketh a field and getteth possession of it;        Of the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.

The field which she considereth, towards which her wish and her effort are directed, is perhaps not one beyond those which she already possesses, but one which has hitherto been wanting to her family; for the poet has, after Pro 31:23, an inhabitant of a town in his eye, - a woman whose husband is not a landlord, but has a business in the city. The perf. זממה precedes and gives circumstantiality to the chief factum expressed by ותּקּחה. Regarding זמם, vid., Pro 21:27. “לקח is the general expression for purchasing, as נתן, 24b, for selling. Thus the Aram. and Arab. אחד, while, (Arab.) akhadh w'ṭa, Turk. alisch werisch (from elmeḳ, to take, and wirmek, to give - viz. ṣâtun, in the way of selling; Lat. venum), post-bibl. משּׂא וּמתּן or מקּח וּממכּר, denotes giving and taking = business in general” (Fleischer). In 16b the Chethı̂b is, with Ewald and Bertheau, to be read נטע, and, with Hitzig, to be made dependent on ותקחה, as parallel obj.: “of her hands’ fruit (she gaineth) a planting of vines.” But a planting of vines would be expressed by מטּע כרם (Mic 1:6); and the Kerı̂ נטעה is more acceptable. The perf., as a fundamental verbal form, is here the expression of the abstract present: she plants a vineyard, for she purchases vines from the profit of her industry (Isa 7:23, cf. Pro 5:2).

Pro 31:17

The poet has this augmented household wealth in his eye, for he continues: 17 ח She girdeth her loins with strength,         And moveth vigorously her arms.

Strength is as the girdle which she wraps around her body (Psa 93:1). We write חגרה בעוז; both words have Munach, and the ב of בעוז is aspirated. Thus girded with strength, out of this fulness of strength she makes firm or steels her arms (cf. Psa 89:22). The produce of the field and vineyard extend far beyond the necessity of her house; thus a great portion is brought to sale, and the gain thence arising stimulates the industry and the diligence of the unwearied woman.

Pro 31:18 18 ט She perceiveth that her gain is good;         And her light goeth not out at night.

The perf. and fut. are related to each other as antecedent and consequent, so that 18a can also be rendered as an hypothetical antecedent. She comes to find (taste) how profitable her industry is by the experience resulting from the sale of its product: the corn, the grapes, and the wine are found to be good, and thus her gain (cf. Pro 3:14) is better, this opened new source of nourishment productive.

This spurs on her active industry to redoubled effort, and at times, when she is not fully occupied by the oversight of her fields and vineyard, she has another employment over which her light goes not out till far in the night. בּלּילה is, as at Lam 2:19, a needless Kerı̂ for the poetic בּלּיל (Isa 16:3). What other business it is to which she gives attention till in the night, is mentioned in the next verse.

Pro 31:19 19 י She putteth her hand to the rock Spinnrocken;        And her fingers lay hold on the spindle.

She applies herself to the work of spinning, and performs it with skill. The phrase שׁלּח יד בּ (שׁלח, Job 28:9) signifies to take up an object of work, and תּמך, with obj. accus. (cf. Amo 1:5), the handling of the instrument of work necessary thereto. כּפּים denotes the hands when the subject is skilful, successful work; we accordingly say יגיע כפים, not יגיע ידים; cf. Pro 31:13 and Pro 31:16, Psa 78:72. What פּלך means is shown by the Arab. falakat, which, as distinguished from mighzal, i.e., fuseau (Lat. fusus), is explained by bout arrondi et conique au bas du fuseau, thus: the whorl, i.e., the ring or knob fastened on the spindle below, which gives it its necessary weight and regulates its movement, Lat. verticellus, post-bibl. פּיקה (which Bartenora glosses by the Ital. fusajuolo) or צנּורה, e.g., Kelim ix. 6, כושׁ שׁבלע את הצנורה, a spindle which holds the whorl hidden (vid., Aruch under כש, iii.). But the word then also signifies per synecdochen partis pro toto, the spindle, i.e., the cylindrical wood on which the thread winds itself when spinning (cf. 2Sa 3:29, where it means the staff on which the infirm leans); Homer gives to Helen and the goddesses golden spindles (χρυσηλάκατοι). Accordingly it is not probable that כּישׁור also denotes the whorl, as Kimchi explains the word: “כישור is that which one calls by the name verteil, viz., that which one fixes on the spindle (פלך) above to regulate the spinning (מטוה),” according to which the Venet. renders כישׁור by σφόνδυλος, whorl, and פלך by ἄτρακτος, spindle. The old interpreters have not recognised that כישׁור denotes a thing belonging to the spinning apparatus; the lxx, Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, Syr., and Jerome see therein an ethical idea (from כּשׁר, to be capable, able); but Luther, not misled thereby, translates with unusual excellence:

She stretches her hand to the rock,

And her fingers grasp the spindle.

He has in this no predecessors, except only the Targumists, whose כוּנשׁרא (vid., Levy) appears also to denote the spinning-rock. The Syriac and Talmudic כּוּשׁ, which is compared by Gesenius-Dietrich, is another word, and denotes, not the rock, but the spindle. Immanuel also, who explains פלך as the מעזל, i.e., the spindle, understands (as perhaps also Parchon) by כישׁור the rock. And why should not the rock (wocken = distaff), i.e., the stock to which the tuft of flax, hemp, or wool is fixed for the purpose of being spun, Lat. colus, not be named כּישׁור, from כשׁר, to be upright as a stick, upright in height, or perhaps more correctly as מכשׁיר, i.e., as that which prepares or makes fit the flax for spinning? Also in צינק, Jer 29:26, there are united the meanings of the close and the confining dungeon, and שׁלה = שׁילון signifiesOtherwise, but improbably, Schultens: colus a כשׁר = katr kathr, necti in orbem, circumnecti in globum. In פּלך, whence פּלך, he rightly finds the primary meaning of circumvolutio sive gyratio. the place which yields rest. The spinning-wheel is a German invention of the 16th century, but the rock standing on the ground, or held also in the hands, the spindle and the whorl, are more ancient.A view of the ancient art of spinning is afforded by the figures of the 12th Dynasty (according to Lepsius, 2380-2167 b.c.) in the burial chamber of Beni Hassan (270 kilometres above Bulak, on the right bank of the Nile). M. J. Henry, in his work L'Egypte Pharaonique (Paris 1846), Bd. 2, p. 431, mentions that there are figures there which represent “toutes les opérations de la fabrication des tissus depuis le filage jusqu au tissage.” Then he continues: Lex fuseaux dont se servent les fileuses sont excatement semblables aux nôtres, et on voit même ces fileuses imprimer le mouvement de rotation à ces fuseaux, en en froissant le bout inferieur entre leur main et leur cuisse.

With the spindle תמך stands in fit relation, for it is twirled between the fingers, as Catullus says of Fate:Libratum tereti versabat pollice fusum.In the “marriage of Peleus and Thetis,” Catullus describes the work of the Fates: “Their hands are ceaselessly active at their never-ending work; while the left holds the rock, surrounded with a soft fleece, the right assiduously draws the thread and forms it with raised fingers; then it swiftly turns the spindle, with the thumb stretched down, and swings it away in whirling circles.” Then follows the refrain of the song of the Fates: Currite ducentes subtegmina, currite, fusi. - (After Hertzberg’s Translation.)

Pro 31:20

That which impels the housewife to this labour is not selfishness, not a narrow-hearted limitation of her care to the circle of what is her own, but love, which reaches out far beyond this circle: 20 כ She holdeth out her hand to the unfortunate,         And stretcheth forth her hands to the needy.

With כּפּיה, 19b, is connected the idea of artistic skilfulness; with כּפּהּ, here that of offering for counsel (vid., at Isa 2:6); with sympathy and readiness to help, she presents herself to those who are oppressed by the misfortunes of life as if for an alliance, as if saying: place confidence in me, I shall do whatever I can - there thou hast my hand! Hitzig erroneously thinks of the open hand with a gift lying in it: this ought to be named, for כף in itself is nothing else than the half-opened hand. Also in 20b we are not to think of alms. Here Hitzig rightly: she stretches out to him both of her hands, that he might grasp them, both of them, or whichever he may. She does not throw to him merely a gift from a distance, but above all she gives to him to experience her warm sympathy (cf. Eze 16:49). Here, as at 19a, שׁלחה is punctuated (with Dagesh) as Piel. The punctuation supposes that the author both times not unintentionally made use of the intensive form. This one verse (20) is complete in itself as a description of character; and the author has done well in choosing such strong expressions, for, without this sympathy with misery and poverty, she, so good and trustworthy and industrious, might indeed be pleasing to her husband, but not to God. One could almost wish that greater expansion had been given to this one feature in the picture.

Pro 31:21

But the poet goes on to describe her fruitful activity in the nearest sphere of her calling: 21 ל She is not afraid of the snow for her house;         For her whole house is clothed in scarlet.

A fall of snow in the rainy season of winter is not rare in Palestine, the Hauran, and neighbouring countries, and is sometimes accompanied with freezing cold.Vid., regarding a fall of snow in Jerusalem, the journal Saat auf Hoffnung Jahrg. 3, Heft 3; and in the Hauran Comm. to Job 38:22.

She sees approaching the cold time of the year without any fear for her house, even though the season bring intense cold; for her whole house, i.e., the whole of the members of her family, are לבשׁ שׁנים. The connection is accusatival (Venet. ἐνδεδυμένος ἐρυθρά), as at 2Sa 15:32; Eze 9:2-3. שׁני, from שׁנה, to shine, glance clear, or high red, and is with or without תולעת the name of the colour of the Kermes worm, crimson or scarlet, perhaps to be distinguished from ארגּמן, the red-purple shell colour, and תּכלת, the blue. שׁנים are clothing or material coloured with such שׁני (bright red) (vid., at Isa 1:18). The explanation of the word by dibapha is inadmissible, because the doubled colouring, wherever it is mentioned, always refers to the purple, particularly that of Tyre (dibapha Tyria), not to the scarlet.Vid., Blümner’s Die gewerbliche Thâtigkeit der Völder des klassischen Alterthums (1869), p. 21f.

But why does the poet name scarlet-coloured clothing? On account of the contrast to the white snow, says Hitzig, he clothes the family in crimson. But this contrast would be a meaningless freak. Rather it is to be supposed that there is ascribed to the red material a power of retaining the heat, as there is to the white that of keeping off the heat; but evidence for this are wanting. Therefore Rosenmüller, Vaihinger, and Böttcher approve of the translation duplicibus (Jerome, Luther) [= with double clothing], because they read, with the lxx, שׁנים.The lxx reads together שנים מרבדים, δισσὰς χλαίνας, and brings into Pro 31:21 (her husband remains without care for the members of the family if it does not snow χιονίζη, as it is to be read for χρονίζη) and 22 the husband, who appears to the translator too much kept in the background.

But, with right, the Syr., Targ. abide by זהוריתא, scarlet. The scarlet clothing is of wool, which as such preserves warmth, and, as high-coloured, appears at the same time dignified (2Sa 1:24).

Pro 31:22

From the protecting, and at the same time ornamental clothing of the family, the poet proceeds to speak of the bed-places, and of the attire of the housewife: 22 מ She prepareth for herself pillows;         Linen and purple is her raiment.

Regarding מרבדּים (with ב raphatum), vid., at Pro 7:16. Thus, pillows or mattresses (Aquila, Theodotion, περιστρώματα; Jerome, stragulatam vestem; Luther, Decke = coverlets) to make the bed soft and to adorn it (Kimchi: ליפּות על המטות, according to which Venet. κόσμια); Symmachus designates it as ἀμφιτάπους, i.e., τάπητες (tapetae, tapetia, carpets), which are hairy (shaggy) on both sides.Vid., Lumbroso, Recherches sur l'Economie politique de l'Egypte sous les Lagides (Turin, 1870), p. 111; des tapis de laine de premeère qualité, pourpres, laineux des deux côtés (ἀμφίταποι).

Only the lxx makes out of it δισσὰς χλαίνας, lined overcoats, for it brings over שׁנים. By עשׂתה־לּהּ it is not meant that she prepares such pillows for her own bed, but that she herself (i.e., for the wants of her house) prepares them. But she also clothes herself in costly attire. שׁשׁ (an Egyptian word, not, as Heb., derived from שׁוּשׁ, cogn. ישׁשׁ, to be white) is the old name for linen, according to which the Aram. translates it by בּוּץ, the Greek by βύσσος, vid., Genesis, pp. 470, 557, to which the remark is to be added, that the linen [Byssus], according to a prevailing probability, was not a fine cotton cloth, but linen cloth. Luther translates שׁשׁ, here and elsewhere, by weisse Seide [white silk] (σηρικόν, i.e., from the land of the Σῆρες, Rev 18:12); but the silk, is first mentioned by Ezekiel under the name of משׁי; and the ancients call the country where silk-stuff (bombycina) was woven, uniformly Assyria. ארגּמן (Aram. ארגּון, derived by Benfey, with great improbability, from the rare Sanscrit word râgavant, red-coloured; much rather from רגם = רקם, as stuff of variegated colour) is red purple; the most valuable purple garments were brought from Tyre and Sidon.

Pro 31:23

Now, first, the description turns back to the husband, of the woman who is commended, mentioned in the introduction: 23 נ 32 Well known in the gates is her husband,        Where he sitteth among the elders of the land.

Such a wife is, according to Pro 12:4, עטרת בּעלּהּ, - she advances the estimation and the respect in which her husband is held. He has, in the gates where the affairs of the city are deliberated upon, a well-known, reputable name; for there he sits, along with the elders of the land, who are chosen into the council of the city as the chief place of the land, and has a weighty voice among them. The phrase wavers between נודע (lxx περίβλεπτος γίνεται; Venet. ἔλνωσται) and נודע. The old Venetian edd. have in this place (like the Cod. Jaman.), and at Psa 9:17, נודע; on the contrary, Psa 76:2; Ecc 6:10, נודע, and that is correct; for the Masora, at this place and at Psa 76:2 (in the Biblia rabb), is disfigured.

Pro 31:24

The description, following the order of the letters, now directs attention to the profitable labour of the housewife: 24 ס She prepareth body-linen and selleth it,         And girdles doth she give to the Phoenicians.

It is a question whether סדין signifies σινδών, cloth from Sindhu, the land of India (vid., at Isa 3:23); the Arab. sadn (sadl), to cause to hang down, to descend (for the purpose of covering or veiling), offers an appropriate verbal root. In the Talmud, סדין is the sleeping linen, the curtain, the embroidered cloth, but particularly a light smock-frock, as summer costume, which was worn on the bare body (cf. Mar 14:51.). Kimchi explains the word by night-shirt; the Edictum Diocletiani, xviii. 16, names σινδόνες κοιταρίαι, as the Papyrus Louvre, ὀθόνια ἐγκοιμήτρια; and the connection in the Edict shows that linen attire (ἐκ λίνου) is meant, although - as with שׁשׁ, so also with סדין - with the ancients and the moderns, sometimes linen and sometimes cotton is spoken of without any distinction. Aethicus speaks of costly girdles, Cosmogr. 84, as fabricated at Jerusalem: baltea regalia ... ex Hierosolyma allata; Jerusalem and Scythopolis were in later times the chief places in Palestine for the art of weaving. In Galilee also, where excellent flax grew, the art of weaving was carried on; and the ὀθόναι, which, according to Clemens Alex. Paedag. ii. 10, p. 239, were exported ἐκ γῆς Ἑβραίων, are at least in their material certainly synon. with σινδόνες. Regarding נתן, syn. מכר, opp. לקח, syn. נשׂא = קנה, vid., at 16a. There is no reason to interpret כּנעני here, with the obliteration of the ethnographical meaning, in the general sense of סחר, trader, merchant; for purple, 22b, is a Phoenician manufacture, and thus, as an article of exchange, can be transferred to the possession of the industrious wife.

Pro 31:25

The description is now more inward: 25 ע Strength and honour is her clothing;         Thus she laugheth at the future day.

She is clothed with עז, strength, i.e., power over the changes of temporal circumstances, which easily shatter and bring to ruin a household resting on less solid foundations; clothed with הדר, glory, i.e., elevation above that which is low, little, common, a state in which they remain who propose to themselves no high aim after which they strive with all their might: in other words, her raiment is just pride, true dignity, with which she looks confidently into the future, and is armed against all sorrow and care. The connection of ideas, עז והדר (defectively written, on the contrary, at Psa 84:6, Masora, and only there written plene, and with Munach), instead of the frequent הוד והדר, occurs only here. The expression 25b is like Job 39:7, wherefore Hitzig rightly compares Job 24:14 to 25a. יום אחרון, distinguished from אחרית, and incorrectly interpreted (Rashi) of the day of death, is, as at Isa 30:8, the future, here that which one at a later period may enter upon.

Pro 31:26

The next verse presents one of the most beautiful features in the portrait: 26 פ She openeth her mouth with wisdom,         And amiable instruction is on her tongue.

The ב of בּחכמה is, as also at Psa 49:5; Psa 78:2, that of means: when she speaks, then it is wisdom pressing itself from her heart outward, by means of which she breaks the silence of her mouth. With על, in the expression 26b, elsewhere תּהת interchanges: under the tongue, Psa 10:7, one has that which is ready to be spoken out, and on the tongue, Psa 15:3, that which is in the act of being spoken out. תּורת־חסד is a genitive connection after the manner of tôrath אמת, Mal 2:6. The gen. is not, as at Lev 6:2, in tôrath העלה, the gen. of the object (thus e.g., Fleischer’s institutio ad humanitatem), but the gen. of property, but not so that חסד denotes grace (Symmachus, νόμος ἐπίχαρις; Theodotion, νόμος χάριτος), because for this meaning there is no example except Isa 40:6; and since חסד in the O.T. is the very same as in the N.T., love, which is the fulfilling of the law, Hos 6:6, cf. 1Ki 20:31,Immanuel remarks that Tôrath חסד probably refers to the Tôra, and שׁכוהל חסד, i.e., which is wholly love, which goes forth in love, to the Gesetz = statute. it is supposed that the poet, since he writes תורת חסד, and not תורת חן, means to designate by חסד this property without which her love for her husband, her industry, her high sentiment, would be no virtues, viz., unselfish, sympathizing, gentle love. Instruction which bears on itself the stamp of such amiability, and is also gracious, i.e., awakening love, because going forth from love (according to which Luther, translating holdselige Lere = pleasing instructions, thus understands it) - such instruction she carries, as house-mother (Pro 1:8), in her mouth. Accordingly the lxx translate (vid., Lagarde regarding the mistakes of this text before us) θεσμοὶ ἐλεημοσύνης, and Jerome lex clementiae. חסד is related to אהבה as grace to love; it denotes love showing itself in kindness and gracefulness, particularly condescending love, proceeding from a compassionate sympathy with the sufferings and wants of men. Such graceful instruction she communicates now to this and now to that member of her household, for nothing that goes on in her house escapes her observation.

Pro 31:27 27 צ She looketh well to the ways of her house,         And eateth not the bread of idleness.

Although there exists an inner relation between 27a and Pro 31:26, yet 27a is scarcely to be thought of (Hitzig) as appos. to the suffix in לשׁונהּ. Participles with or without determination occur in descriptions frequently as predicates of the subject standing in the discourse of the same force as abstr. present declarations, e.g., Isa 40:22., Psa 104:13. צופיּה is connected with the accus. of the object of the intended warning, like Pro 15:3, and is compared according to the form with המיּה, Pro 7:11. הליבה signifies elsewhere things necessary for a journey, Job 6:19, and in the plur. magnificus it denotes show (pompa), Hab 3:6 : but originally the walk, conduct, Nah 2:6; and here in the plur. walks = comings and goings, but not these separately, but in general, the modi procedendi (lxx διατριβαι). The Chethı̂b has הילכות, probably an error in writing, but possibly also the plur. of הלכה, thus found in the post-bibl. Heb. (after the form צדקות), custom, viz., appointed traditional law, but also like the Aram. הלכא (emph. הלכתא), usage, manner, common practice. Hitzig estimates this Chethı̂b, understood Talmudically, as removing the section into a late period; but this Talmudical signification is not at all appropriate (Hitzig translates, with an incorrect rendering of צופיה, “for she sees after the ordering of the house”), and besides the Aram. הלכא, e.g., Targ. Pro 16:9, in the first line, signifies only the walk or the manner and way of going, and this gives with the Kerı̂ essentially the same signification. Luther well: Sie schawet wie es in jrem Hause zugeht [= she looks how it goes in her house]. Her eyes are turned everywhere; she is at one time here, at another there, to look after all with her own eyes; she does not suffer the day’s work, according to the instructions given, to be left undone, while she folds her own hands on her bosom; but she works, keeping an oversight on all sides, and does not eat the bread of idleness (עצלוּת = עצלה, Pro 19:15), but bread well deserved, for εἴ τις οὐ θέλει ἐργάζεσθαι, μηδὲ ἐσθιέτω, 2Th 3:10.

Pro 31:28

Now begins the finale of this song in praise of the virtuous woman: 28 ק Her sons rise up and bless her,         Her husband (riseth up) and praiseth her.

The Piel אשּׁר in such a connection is denom. of אשׁר (אשׁרי). Her children rise up (קוּם, like e.g., Jer 26:17, but here, perhaps, with the associated idea of reverential honour) and bless her, that she has on her part brought the house and them to such prosperity, such a position of respect, and to a state where love (חסד) reigns, and her husband rises up and sings her praise.

Pro 31:29 29 ר “Many are the daughters who have done bravely,         But thou hast surpassed them all together.”

We have already often remarked, last time under Pro 29:6, that רב, not indeed in its sing., but in its plur. רבּים and רבּות, can precede, after the manner of a numeral, as attribute; but this syntactical licence, Pro 28:12, by no means appears, and needs to be assumed as little here as at Pro 8:26, although there is no reason that can be adduced against it. עשׂה חיל signifies here not the gaining of riches (the lxx, Syr., Targ., Jerome, Luther, Gesenius, Böttcher, and others), which here, where the encomium comes to its height, would give to it a mercenary mammon-worship note - it indeed has this signification only when connected with ל of the person: Sibi opes acquirere, Deu 6:17; Eze 28:4 - but: bravery, energy, and, as the reference to אשׁת חיל demands, moral activity, capacity for activity, in accordance with one’s calling, ποιεῖν ἀρετήν, by which the Venet. translates it. בּנות is, as in the primary passages, Gen 30:13; Sol 6:9, a more delicate, finer name of women than נשׁים: many daughters there have always been who have unfolded ability, but thou my spouse hast raised thyself above them all, i.e., thou art excellent and incomparable. Instead of עלית, there is to be written, after Chajug, Aben Ezra (Zachoth 7a), and Jekuthiel under Gen 16:11, עלית; the Spanish Nakdanim thus distinguish the forms מצאת, thou hast found, and מצאת, she has found. כּלּנה, for כּלּן, Gen 42:36.

Pro 31:30

What now follows is not a continuation of the husband’s words of praise (Ewald, Elster, Löwenstein), but an epiphonema auctoris (Schultens); the poet confirms the praise of the husband by referring it to the general ground of its reason: 30 ש Grace is deceit; and beauty, vanity -         A wife that feareth Jahve, she shall be praised.

Grace is deceit, because he who estimates the works of a wife merely by the loveliness of her external appearance, is deceived by it; and beauty is vanity, vanitas, because it is nothing that remains, nothing that is real, but is subject to the law of all material things - transitoriness. The true value of a wife is measured only by that which is enduring, according to the moral background of its external appearance; according to the piety which makes itself manifest when the beauty of bodily form has faded away, in a beauty which is attractive.Vid., the application of Pro 31:30 in Taanith 26b: “Young man,” say the maidens, “lift up thine eyes and behold that which thou choosest for thyself! Direct thine eyes not to beauty (נוי), direct thine eyes to the family (משׁפחה); pleasantness is a deception, etc.” יראת (with Makkeph following),The writing יראת־ is that of Ben Asher, יראת that of Ben Naphtali; Norzi, from a misunderstanding, claims יראת־ (with Gaja) as Ben Asher’s manner of writing. is here the connective form of יראה (fem. of ירא). The Hithpa. תתהלּל is here manifestly (Pro 27:2) not reflexive, but representative of the passive (cf. Pro 12:8, and the frequently occurring מהלּל, laudatus = laudandus), nowhere occurring except in the passage before us. In itself the fut. may also mean: she will be praised = is worthy of praise, but the jussive rendering (Luther: Let her be praised) is recommended by the verse which follows:

Pro 31:31 31 ת Give to her of the fruit of her hands;         And let her works praise her in the gates!

The fruit of her hands is the good which, by her conduct, she has brought to maturity - the blessing which she has secured for others, but, according to the promise (Isa 3:10), has also secured for her own enjoyment. The first line proceeds on the idea that, on account of this blessing, she herself shall rejoice. תּנוּ־להּ (with Gaja, after Metheg-Setzung, §37) is not equivalent to give to her honour because of...; for in that case, instead of the ambiguous מן, another preposition - such e.g., as על - would have been used; and so תּנוּ, of itself, cannot be equivalent to תּנּוּ (sing the praise of), as Ziegler would read, after Jdg 11:40. It must stand with כבוד, or instead of מפּרי an accus. obj. is to be thought of, as at Psa 68:35; Deu 32:3, which the necessity of the case brings with it - the giving, as a return in the echo of the song of praise. Immanuel is right in explaining תנו־לה by תגמלו לה חסד or עשׂו עתה חסד וכבוד, cf. Psa 28:4. The מן, as is not otherwise to be expected, after תנו is partitive: give to her something of the fruit of her hands, i.e., recompense it to her, render it thankfully, by which not exclusively a requital in the form of honourable recognition, but yet this specially, is to be thought of. Her best praise is her works themselves. In the gates, i.e., in the place where the representatives of the people come together, and where the people are assembled, her works praise her; and the poet desires that this may be right worthily done, full of certainty that she merits it, and that they honour themselves who seek to praise the works of such a woman, which carry in themselves their own commendation.

Maternal Counsels to King Lemuel.

1 The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him. 2 What, my son? and what, the son of my womb? and what, the son of my vows? 3 Give not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings. 4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink: 5 Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted. 6 Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. 7 Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more. 8 Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction. 9 Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.

Most interpreters are of opinion that Lemuel is Solomon; the name signifies one that is for God, or devoted to God; and so it agrees well enough with that honourable name which, by divine appointment, was given to Solomon ( 2 Sam. xii. 25), Jedediah—beloved of the Lord. Lemuel is supposed to be a pretty, fond, endearing name, by which his mother used to call him; and so much did he value himself upon the interest he had in his mother's affections that he was not ashamed to call himself by it. One would the rather incline to think it is Solomon that here tells us what his mother taught him because he tells us (ch. iv. 4) what his father taught him. But some think (and the conjecture is not improbable) that Lemuel was a prince of some neighbouring country, whose mother was a daughter of Israel, perhaps of the house of David, and taught him these good lessons. Note, 1. It is the duty of mothers, as well as fathers, to teach their children what is good, that they may do it, and what is evil, that they may avoid it; when they are young and tender they are most under the mother's eye, and she has then an opportunity of moulding and fashioning their minds well, which she ought not to let slip. 2. Even kings must be catechised; the greatest of men is less than the least of the ordinances of God. 3. Those that have grown up to maturity should often call to mind, and make mention of, the good instructions they received when they were children, for their own admonition, the edification of others, and the honour of those who were the guides of their youth.

Now, in this mother's (this queen mother's) catechism, observe,

I. Her expostulation with the young prince, by which she lays hold of him, claims an interest in him, and awakens his attention to what she is about to say (v. 2): "What! my son? What shall I say to thee?" She speaks as one considering what advice to give him, and choosing out words to reason with him; so full of concern is she for his welfare! Or, What is it that thou doest? It seems to be a chiding question. She observed, when he was young, that he was too much inclined to women and wine, and therefore she found it necessary to take him to task and deal roundly with him. "What! my son? Is this the course of life thou intendest to lead? Have I taught thee no better than thus? I must reprove thee, and reprove thee sharply, and thou must take it well, for," 1. "Thou art descended from me; thou art the son of my womb, and therefore what I say comes from the authority and affection of a parent and cannot be suspected to come from any ill-will. Thou art a piece of myself. I bore thee with sorrow, and I expect no other return for all the pains I have taken with thee, and undergone for thee, than this, Be wise and good, and then I am well paid." 2. "Thou art devoted to my God; thou art the son of my vows, the son I prayed to God to give me and promised to give back to God, and did so" (thus Samuel was the son of Hannah's vows); "Thou art the son I have often prayed to God to give his grace to (Ps. lxxii. 1), and shall a child of so many prayers miscarry? And shall all my hopes concerning thee be disappointed?" Our children that by baptism are dedicated to God, for whom and in whose name we covenanted with God, may well be called the children of our vows; and, as this may be made a good plea with God in our prayers for them, so it may be made a good plea with them in the instructions we give them; we may tell them they are baptized, are the children of our vows, and it is at their peril if they break those bonds in sunder which in their infancy they were solemnly brought under.

II. The caution she gives him against those two destroying sins of uncleanness and drunkenness, which, if he allowed himself in them, would certainly be his ruin. 1. Against uncleanness (v. 3): Give not thy strength unto women, unto strange women. He must not be soft and effeminate, nor spend that time in a vain conversation with the ladies which should be spent in getting knowledge and despatching business, nor employ that wit (which is the strength of the soul) in courting and complimenting them which he should employ about the affairs of his government. "Especially shun all adultery, fornication, and lasciviousness, which waste the strength of the body, and bring into it dangerous diseases. Give not thy ways, thy affections, thy conversation, to that which destroys kings, which has destroyed many, which gave such a shock to the kingdom even of David himself, in the matter of Uriah. Let the sufferings of others be thy warnings." It lessens the honour of kings and makes them mean. Are those fit to govern others that are themselves slaves to their own lusts? It makes them unfit for business, and fills their court with the basest and worst of animals. Kings lie exposed to temptations of this kind, having wherewith both to please the humours and to bear the charges of the sin, and therefore they ought to double their guard; and, if they would preserve their people from the unclean spirit, they must themselves be patterns of purity. Meaner people may also apply it to themselves. Let none give their strength to that which destroys souls. 2. Against drunkenness, v. 4, 5. He must not drink wine or strong drink to excess; he must never sit to drink, as they used to do in the day of their king, when the princes made him sick with bottles of wine, Hos. vii. 7. Whatever temptation he might be in from the excellency of the wine, or the charms of the company, he must deny himself, and be strictly sober, considering, (1.) The indecency of drunkenness in a king. However some may call it a fashionable accomplishment and entertainment, it is not for kings, O Lemuel! it is not for kings, to allow themselves that liberty; it is a disparagement to their dignity, and profanes their crown, by confusing the head that wears it; that which for the time unmans them does for the time unking them. Shall we say, They are gods? No, they are worse than the beasts that perish. All Christians are made to our God kings and priests, and must apply this to themselves. It is not for Christians, it is not for Christians, to drink to excess; they debase themselves if they do; it ill becomes the heirs of the kingdom and the spiritual priests, Lev. x. 9. (2.) The ill consequences of it (v. 5): Lest they drink away their understandings and memories, drink and forget the law by which they are to govern; and so, instead of doing good with their power, do hurt with it, and pervert or alter the judgment of all the sons of affliction, and, when they should right them, wrong them, and add to their affliction. It is a sad complaint which is made of the priests and prophets (Isa. xxviii. 7), that they have erred through wine, and through strong drink they are out of the way; and the effect is as bad in kings, who when they are drunk, or intoxicated with the love of wine, cannot but stumble in judgment. Judges must have clear heads, which those cannot have who so often make themselves giddy, and incapacitate themselves to judge of the most common things.

III. The counsel she gives him to do good. 1. He must do good with his wealth. Great men must not think that they have their abundance only that out of it they may made provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts of it, and may the more freely indulge their own genius; no, but that with it they may relieve such as are in distress, v. 6, 7. "Thou hast wine or strong drink at command; instead of doing thyself hurt with it, do others good with it; let those have it that need it." Those that have wherewithal must not only give bread to the hungry and water to the thirsty, but they must give strong drink to him that is ready to perish through sickness or pain and wine to those that are melancholy and of heavy heart; for it was appointed to cheer and revive the spirits, and make glad the heart (as it does where there is need of it), not to burden and oppress the spirits, as it does where there is no need of it. We must deny ourselves in the gratifications of sense, that we may have to spare for the relief of the miseries of others, and be glad to see our superfluities and dainties better bestowed upon those whom they will be a real kindness to than upon ourselves whom they will be a real injury to. Let those that are ready to perish drink soberly, and it will be a means so to revive their drooping spirits that they will forget their poverty for the time and remember their misery no more, and so they will be the better able to bear it. The Jews say that upon this was grounded the practice of giving a stupifying drink to condemned prisoners when they were going to execution, as they did to our Saviour. But the scope of the place is to show that wine is a cordial, and therefore to be used for want and not for wantonness, by those only that need cordials, as Timothy, who is advised to drink a little wine, only for his stomach's sake and his often infirmities, 1 Tim. v. 23. 2. He must do good with his power, his knowledge, and interest, must administer justice with care, courage, and compassion, v. 8, 9. (1.) He must himself take cognizance of the causes his subjects have depending in his courts, and inspect what his judges and officers do, that he may support those that do their duty, and lay those aside that neglect it or are partial. (2.) He must, in all matters that come before him, judge righteously, and, without fear of the face of man, boldly pass sentence according to equity: Open thy mouth, which denotes the liberty of speech that princes and judges ought to use in passing sentence. Some observe that only wise men open their mouths, for fools have their mouths always open, are full of words. (3.) He must especially look upon himself as obliged to be the patron of oppressed innocency. The inferior magistrates perhaps had not zeal and tenderness enough to plead the cause of the poor and needy; therefore the king himself must interpose, and appear as an advocate, [1.] For those that were unjustly charged with capital crimes, as Naboth was, that were appointed to destruction, to gratify the malice either of a particular person or of a party. It is a case which it well befits a king to appear in, for the preserving of innocent blood. [2.] For those that had actions unjustly brought against them, to defraud them of their right, because they were poor and needy, and unable to defend it, not having wherewithal to fee counsel; in such a case also kings must be advocates for the poor. Especially, [3.] For those that were dumb, and knew not how to speak for themselves, either through weakness or fear, or being over-talked by the prosecutor or over-awed by the court. It is generous to speak for those that cannot speak for themselves, that are absent, or have not words at command, or are timorous. Our law appoints the judge to be of counsel for the prisoner.

The Virtuous Woman.

10 Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. 11 The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. 12 She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. 13 She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. 14 She is like the merchants' ships; she bringeth her food from afar. 15 She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens. 16 She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard. 17 She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms. 18 She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night. 19 She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff. 20 She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy. 21 She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet. 22 She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple. 23 Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land. 24 She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant. 25 Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come. 26 She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness. 27 She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. 28 Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. 29 Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. 30 Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord , she shall be praised. 31 Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.

This description of the virtuous woman is designed to show what wives the women should make and what wives the men should choose; it consists of twenty-two verses, each beginning with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet in order, as some of the Psalms, which makes some think it was no part of the lesson which Lemuel's mother taught him, but a poem by itself, written by some other hand, and perhaps had been commonly repeated among the pious Jews, for the ease of which it was made alphabetical. We have the abridgment of it in the New Testament (1 Tim. ii. 9, 10; 1 Pet. iii. 1-6), where the duty prescribed to wives agrees with this description of a good wife; and with good reason is so much stress laid upon it, since it contributes as much as any one thing to the keeping up of religion in families, and the entail of it upon posterity, that the mothers be wise and good; and of what consequence it is to the wealth and outward prosperity of a house every one is sensible. He that will thrive must ask his wife leave. Here is,

I. A general enquiry after such a one (v. 10), where observe, 1. The person enquired after, and that is a virtuous woman—a woman of strength (so the word is), though the weaker vessel, yet made strong by wisdom and grace, and the fear of God: it is the same word that is used in the character of good judges (Exod. xviii. 21), that they are able men, men qualified for the business to which they are called, men of truth, fearing God. So it follows, A virtuous woman is a woman of spirit, who has the command of her own spirit and knows how to manage other people's, one that is pious and industrious, and a help meet for a man. In opposition to this strength, we read of the weakness of the heart of an imperious whorish woman, Ezek. xvi. 30. A virtuous woman is a woman of resolution, who, having espoused good principles, is firm and steady to them, and will not be frightened with winds and clouds from any part of her duty. 2. The difficulty of meeting with such a one: Who can find her? This intimates that good women are very scarce, and many that seem to be so do not prove so; he that thought he had found a virtuous woman was deceived; Behold, it was Leah, and not the Rachel he expected. But he that designs to marry ought to seek diligently for such a one, to have this principally in his eye, in all his enquiries, and to take heed that he be not biassed by beauty or gaiety, wealth or parentage, dressing well or dancing well; for all these may be and yet the woman not be virtuous, and there is many a woman truly virtuous who yet is not recommended by these advantages. 3. The unspeakable worth of such a one, and the value which he that has such a wife ought to put upon her, showing it by his thankfulness to God and his kindness and respect to her, whom he must never think he can do too much for. Her price is far above rubies, and all the rich ornaments with which vain women adorn themselves. The more rare such good wives are the more they are to be valued.

II. A particular description of her and of her excellent qualifications.

1. She is very industrious to recommend herself to her husband's esteem and affection. Those that are good really will be good relatively. A good woman, if she be brought into the marriage state, will be a good wife, and make it her business to please her husband, 1 Cor. vii. 34. Though she is a woman of spirit herself, yet her desire is to her husband, to know his mind, that she may accommodate herself to it, and she is willing that he should rule over her. (1.) She conducts herself so that he may repose an entire confidence in her. He trusts in her chastity, which she never gave him the least occasion to suspect or to entertain any jealousy of; she is not morose and reserved, but modest and grave, and has all the marks of virtue in her countenance and behaviour; her husband knows it, and therefore his heart doth safely trust in her; he is easy, and makes her so. He trusts in her conduct, that she will speak in all companies, and act in all affairs, with prudence and discretion, so as not to occasion him either damage or reproach. He trusts in her fidelity to his interests, and that she will never betray his counsels nor have any interest separate from that of his family. When he goes abroad, to attend the concerns of the public, he can confide in her to order all his affairs at home, as well as if he himself were there. She is a good wife that is fit to be trusted, and he is a good husband that will leave it to such a wife to manage for him. (2.) She contributes so much to his content and satisfaction that he shall have no need of spoil; he needs not be griping and scraping abroad, as those must be whose wives are proud and wasteful at home. She manages his affairs so that he is always before-hand, has such plenty of his own that he is in no temptation to prey upon his neighbours. He thinks himself so happy in her that he envies not those who have most of the wealth of this world; he needs it not, he has enough, having such a wife. Happy the couple that have such a satisfaction as this in each other! (3.) She makes it her constant business to do him good, and is afraid of doing any thing, even through inadvertency, that may turn to his prejudice, v. 12. She shows her love to him, not by a foolish fondness, but by prudent endearments, accommodating herself to his temper, and not crossing him, giving him good words, and not bad ones, no, not when he is out of humour, studying to make him easy, to provide what is fit for him both in health and sickness, and attending him with diligence and tenderness when any thing ails him; nor would she, no, not for the world, wilfully do any thing that might be a damage to his person, family, estate, or reputation. And this is her care all the days of her life; not at first only, or now and then, when she is in a good humour, but perpetually; and she is not weary of the good offices she does him: She does him good, not only all the days of his life, but of her own too; if she survive him, still she is doing him good in her care of his children, his estate, and good name, and all the concerns he left behind him. We read of kindness shown, not only to the living, but to the dead, Ruth ii. 20. (4.) She adds to his reputation in the world (v. 23): Her husband is known in the gates, known to have a good wife. By his wise counsels, and prudent management of affairs, it appears that he has a discreet companion in his bosom, by conversation with whom he improves himself. By his cheerful countenance and pleasant humour it appears that he has an agreeable wife at home; for many that have not have their tempers strangely soured by it. Nay, by his appearing clean and neat in his dress, every thing about him decent and handsome, yet not gaudy, one may know he has a good wife at home, that takes care of his clothes.

2. She is one that takes pains in the duty of her place and takes pleasure in it. This part of her character is much enlarged upon here. (1.) She hates to sit still and do nothing: She eats not the bread of idleness, v. 27. Though she needs not work for her bread (she has an estate to live upon), yet she will not eat it in idleness, because she knows that we were none of us sent into this world to be idle, that when we have nothing to do the devil will soon find us something to do, and that it is not fit that those who will not labour should eat. Some eat and drink because they can find themselves nothing else to do, and needless visits must be received with fashionable entertainments; these are eating the bread of idleness, which she has no relish for, for she neither gives nor receives idle visits nor idle talk. (2.) She is careful to fill up time, that none of that be lost. When day-light is done, she does not then think it time to lay by her work, as those are forced to do whose business lies abroad in the fields (Ps. civ. 23), but her business lying within-doors, and her work worth candle-light, with that she lengthens out the day; and her candle goes not out by night, v. 18. It is a mercy to have candle-light to supply the want of day-light, and a duty, having that advantage, to improve it. We say of an elaborate piece, It smells of the lamp. (3.) She rises early, while it is yet night (v. 15), to give her servants their breakfast, that they may be ready to go cheerfully about their work as soon as the day breaks. She is none of those who sit up playing at cards, or dancing, till midnight, till morning, and then lie in bed till noon. No; the virtuous woman loves her business better than her ease or her pleasure, is in care to be found in the way of her duty every hour of the day, and has more true satisfaction in having given meat to her household betimes in the morning than those can have in the money they have won, much more in what they have lost, who sat up all night at play. Those that have a family to take care of should not love their bed too well in a morning. (4.) She applies herself to the business that is proper for her. It is not in a scholar's business, or statesman's business, or husbandman's business, that she employs herself, but in women's business: She seeks wool and flax, where she may have the best of each at the best hand, and cheapest; she has a stock of both by her, and every thing that is necessary to the carrying on both of the woollen and the linen manufacture (v. 13), and with this she does not only set the poor on work, which is a very good office, but does herself work, and work willingly, with her hands; she works with the counsel or delight of her hands (so the word is); she goes about it cheerfully and dexterously, lays not only her hand, but her mind to it, and goes on in it without weariness in well-doing. She lays her own hands to the spindle, or spinning-wheel, and her hands hold the distaff (v. 19), and she does not reckon it either an abridgment of her liberty or a disparagement to her dignity, or at all inconsistent with her repose. The spindle and the distaff are here mentioned as her honour, while the ornaments of the daughters of Zion are reckoned up to their reproach, Isa. ii. 18, &c. (5.) She does what she does with all her might, and does not trifle in it (v. 17); She girds her loins with strength and strengthens her arms; she does not employ herself in sitting work only, or in that which is only the nice performance of the fingers (there are works that are scarcely one remove from doing nothing); but, if there be occasion, she will go through with work that requires all the strength she has, which she will use as one that knows it is the way to have more.

3. She is one that makes what she does to turn to a good account, by her prudent management of it. She does not toil all night and catch nothing; no, she herself perceives that her merchandise is good (v. 18); she is sensible that in all her labour there is profit, and that encourages her to go on in it. She perceives that she can make things herself better and cheaper than she can buy them; she finds by observation what branch of her employment brings in the best returns, and to that she applies herself most closely. (1.) She brings in provisions of all things necessary and convenient for her family, v. 14. No merchants' ships, no, not Solomon's navy, ever made a more advantageous return than her employments do. Do they bring in foreign commodities with the effects they export? So does she with the fruit of her labours. What her own ground does not produce she can furnish herself with, if she have occasion for it, by exchanging her own goods for it; and so she brings her food from afar. Not that she values things the more for their being far-fetched, but, if they be ever so far off, if she must have them she knows how to come by them. (2.) She purchases lands, and enlarges the demesne of the family (v. 16): She considers a field, and buys it. She considers what an advantage it will be to the family and what a good account it will turn to, and therefore she buys it; or, rather, though she have ever so much mind to it she will not buy it till she has first considered it, whether it be worth her money, whether she can afford to take so much money out of her stock as must go to purchase it, whether the title be good, whether the ground will answer the character given of it, and whether she has money at command to pay for it. Many have undone themselves by buying without considering; but those who would make advantageous purchases must consider, and then buy. She also plants a vineyard, but it is with the fruit of her hands; she does not take up money, or run into debt, to do it, but she does it with what she can spare out of the gains of her own housewifery. Men should not lay out any thing upon superfluities, till, by the blessing of God upon their industry, they have got before-hand, and can afford it; and then the fruit of the vineyard is likely to be doubly sweet, when it is the fruit of honest industry. (3.) She furnishes her house well and has good clothing for herself and her family (v. 22): She makes herself coverings of tapestry to hang her rooms, and she may be allowed to use them when they are of her own making. Her own clothing is rich and fine: it is silk and purple, according to her place and rank. Though she is not so vain as to spend much time in dressing herself, nor makes the putting on of apparel her adorning, nor values herself upon it, yet she has rich clothes and puts them on well. The senator's robes which her husband wears are of her own spinning, and they look better and wear better than any that are bought. She also gets good warm clothing for her children, and her servants' liveries. She needs not fear the cold of the most pinching winter, for she and her family are well provided with clothes, sufficient to keep out cold, which is the end chiefly to be aimed at in clothing: All her household are clothed in scarlet, strong cloth and fit for winter, and yet rich and making a good appearance. They are all double clothed (so some read it), have change of raiment, a winter suit and a summer suit. (4.) She trades abroad. She makes more than she and her household have occasion for; and therefore, when she has sufficiently stocked her family, she sells fine linen and girdles to the merchants (v. 24), who carry them to Tyre, the mart of the nations, or some other trading city. Those families are likely to thrive that sell more than they buy; as it is well with the kingdom when abundance of its home manufactures are exported. It is no disgrace to those of the best quality to sell what they can spare, nor to deal in trade and send ventures by sea. (5.) She lays up for hereafter: She shall rejoice in time to come, having laid in a good stock for her family, and having good portions for her children. Those that take pains when they are in their prime will have the pleasure and joy of it when they are old, both in reflecting upon it and in reaping the benefit of it.

4. She takes care of her family and all the affairs of it, gives meat to her household (v. 15), to every one his portion of meat in due season, so that none of her servants have reason to complain of being kept short or faring hard. She gives also a portion (an allotment of work, as well as meat) to her maidens; they shall all of them know their business and have their task. She looks well to the ways of her household (v. 27); she inspects the manners of all her servants, that she may check what is amiss among them, and oblige them all to behave properly and do their duty to God and one another, as well as to her; as Job, who put away iniquity far from his tabernacle, and David, who would suffer no wicked thing in his house. She does not intermeddle in the concerns of other people's houses; she thinks it enough for her to look well to her own.

5. She is charitable to the poor, v. 20. She is as intent upon giving as she is upon getting; she often serves the poor with her own hand, and she does if freely, cheerfully, and very liberally, with an out-stretched hand. Nor does she relieve her poor neighbours only, and those that are nigh at hand, but she reaches forth her hands to the needy that are at a distance, seeking opportunities to do good and to communicate, which is as good housewifery as any thing she does.

6. She is discreet and obliging in all her discourse, not talkative, censorious, nor peevish, as some are, that know how to take pains; no, she opens her mouth with wisdom; when she does speak, it is with a great deal of prudence and very much to the purpose; you may perceive by every word she says how much she governs herself by the rules of wisdom. She not only takes prudent measures herself, but gives prudent advice to others; and this not as assuming the authority of a dictator, but with the affection of a friend and an obliging air: In her tongue is the law of kindness; all she says is under the government of that law. The law of love and kindness is written in the heart, but it shows itself in the tongue; if we are kindly affectioned one to another, it will appear by affectionate expression. It is called a law of kindness, because it gives law to others, to all she converses with. Her wisdom and kindness together put a commanding power into all she says; they command respect, they command compliance. How forcible are right words! In her tongue is the law of grace, or mercy (so some read it), understanding it of the word and law of God, which she delights to talk of among her children and servants. She is full of pious religious discourse, and manages it prudently, which shows how full her heart is of another world even when her hands are most busy about this world.

7. That which completes and crowns her character is that she fears the Lord, v. 30. With all those good qualities she lacks not that one thing needful; she is truly pious, and, in all she does, is guided and governed by principles of conscience and a regard to God; this is that which is here preferred far before beauty; that is vain and deceitful; all that are wise and good account it so, and value neither themselves nor others on it. Beauty recommends none to God, nor is it any certain indication of wisdom and goodness, but it has deceived many a man who has made his choice of a wife by it. There may be an impure deformed soul lodged in a comely and beautiful body; nay, many have been exposed by their beauty to such temptations as have been the ruin of their virtue, their honour, and their precious souls. It is a fading thing at the best, and therefore vain and deceitful. A fit of sickness will stain and sully it in a little time; a thousand accidents may blast this flower in its prime; old age will certainly wither it and death and the grave consume it. But the fear of God reigning in the heart is the beauty of the soul; it recommends those that have it to the favour of God, and is, in his sight, of great price; it will last for ever, and bid defiance to death itself, which consumes the beauty of the body, but consummates the beauty of the soul.

III. The happiness of this virtuous woman.

1. She has the comfort and satisfaction of her virtue in her own mind (v. 25): Strength and honour are her clothing, in which she wraps herself, that is, enjoys herself, and in which she appears to the world, and so recommends herself. She enjoys a firmness and constancy of mind, has spirit to bear up under the many crosses and disappointments which even the wise and virtuous must expect to meet with in this world; and this is her clothing, for defence as well as decency. She deals honourably with all, and she has the pleasure of doing so, and shall rejoice in time to come; she shall reflect upon it with comfort, when she comes to be old, that she was not idle or useless when she was young. In the day of death it will be a pleasure to her to think that she has lived to some good purpose. Nay, she shall rejoice in an eternity to come; she shall be recompensed for her goodness with fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore.

2. She is a great blessing to her relations, v. 28. (1.) Her children grow up in her place, and they call her blessed. They give her their good word, they are themselves a commendation to her, and they are ready to give great commendations of her; they pray for her, and bless God that they had such a good mother. It is a debt which they owe her, a part of that honour which the fifth commandment requires to be paid to father and mother; and it is a double honour that is due to a good father and a good mother. (2.) Her husband thinks himself so happy in her that he takes all occasions to speak well of her, as one of the best of women. It is no indecency at all, but a laudable instance of conjugal love, for husbands and wives to give one another their due praises.

3. She gets the good word of all her neighbours, as Ruth did, whom all the city of her people knew to be a virtuous woman, Ruth iii. 11. Virtue will have its praise, Phil. iv. 8. A woman that fears the Lord, shall have praise of God (Rom. ii. 29) and of men too. It is here shown, (1.) That she shall be highly praised (v. 29): Many have done virtuously. Virtuous women, it seems, are precious jewels, but not such rare jewels as was represented v. 10. There have been many, but such a one as this cannot be paralleled. Who can find her equal? She excels them all. Note, Those that are good should aim and covet to excel in virtue. Many daughters, in their father's house, and in the single state, have done virtuously, but a good wife, if she be virtuous, excels them all, and does more good in her place than they can do in theirs. Or, as some explain it, A man cannot have his house so well kept by good daughters, as by a good wife. (2.) That she shall be incontestably praised, without contradiction, v. 31. Some are praised above what is their due, but those that praise her do but give her of the fruit of her hands; they give her that which she has dearly earned and which is justly due to her; she is wronged if she have it not. Note, Those ought to be praised the fruit of whose hands is praise-worthy. The tree is known by its fruits, and therefore, if the fruit be good, the tree must have our good word. If her children be dutiful and respectful to her, and conduct themselves as they ought, they then give her the fruit of her hands; she reaps the benefit of all the care she has taken of them, and thinks herself well paid. Children must thus study to requite their parents, and this is showing piety at home, 1 Tim. v. 4. But, if men be unjust, the thing will speak itself, her own works will praise her in the gates, openly before all the people. [1.] She leaves it to her own works to praise her, and does not court the applause of men. Those are none of the truly virtuous women that love to hear themselves commended. [2.] Her own works will praise her; if her relations and neighbours altogether hold their peace, her good works will proclaim her praise. The widows gave the best encomium of Dorcas when they showed the coats and garments she had made for the poor, Acts ix. 39. [3.] The least that can be expected from her neighbours is that they should let her own works praise her, and do nothing to hinder them. Those that do that which is good, let them have praise of the same ( Rom. xiii. 3) and let us not enviously say, or do, any thing to the diminishing of it, but be provoked by it to a holy emulation. Let none have an ill report from us, that have a good report even of the truth itself. Thus is shut up this looking-glass for ladies, which they are desired to open and dress themselves by; and, if they do so, their adorning will be found to praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ.

Twenty chapters of the book of Proverbs (beginning with ch. x. and ending with ch. xxix.), consisting mostly of entire sentences in each verse, could not well be reduced to proper heads, and the contents of them gathered; I have therefore here put the contents of all these chapters together, which perhaps may be of some use to those who desire to see at once all that is said of any one head in these chapters. Some of the verses, perhaps, I have not put under the same heads that another would have put them under, but the most of them fall (I hope) naturally enough to the places I have assigned them.

Of the comfort, or grief, parents have in their children, according as they are wise or foolish, godly or ungodly, ch. x. 1; xv. 20; xvii. 21, 25; xix. 13, 26; xxiii. 15, 16, 24, 25; xxvii. 11; xxix. 3. Of the world's insufficiency, and religion's sufficiency, to make us happy (ch. x. 2, 3; xi. 4) and the preference to be therefore given to the gains of virtue above those of this world, ch. xv. 16, 17; xvi. 8, 16; xvii. 1; xix. 1; xxviii. 6, 11. Of slothfulness and diligence, ch. x. 4, 26; xii. 11, 24, 27; xiii. 4, 23; xv. 19; xvi. 26; xviii. 9; xix. 15, 24; xx. 4, 13; xxi. 5, 25, 26; xxii. 13, 29; xxiv. 30-34; xxvi. 13-16; xxvii. 18, 23, 27; xxviii. 19. Particularly the improving or neglecting opportunities, ch. vi. 6; x. 5. The happiness of the righteous, and the misery of the wicked, ch. x. 6, 9, 16, 24, 25, 27-30; xi. 3, 5-8, 18-21, 31; xii. 2, 3, 7, 13, 14, 21, 26, 28; xiii. 6, 9, 14, 15, 21, 22, 25; xiv. 11, 14, 19, 32; xv. 6, 8, 9, 24, 26, 29; xx. 7; xxi. 12, 15, 16, 18, 21; xxii. 12; xxviii. 10, 18; xxix. 6. Of honour and dishonour, ch. x. 7; xii. 8, 9; xviii. 3; xxvi. 1; xxvii. 21. And of vain-glory, ch. xxv. 14, 27; xxvii. 2. The wisdom of obedience, and folly of disobedience, ch. x. 8, 17; xii. 1, 15; xiii. 1, 13, 18; xv. 5, 10, 12, 31, 32; xix. 16; xxviii. 4, 7, 9. Of mischievousness and usefulness, ch. x. 10, 23; xi. 9-11, 23, 27; xii. 5, 6, 12, 18, 20; xiii. 2; xiv. 22; xvi. 29, 30; xvii. 11; xxi. 10; xxiv. 8; xxvi. 23, 27. The praise of wise and good discourse, and the hurt and shame of an ungoverned tongue, ch. x. 11, 13, 14, 20, 21, 31, 32; xi. 30; xiv. 3; xv. 2, 4, 7, 23, 28; xvi. 20, 23, 24; xvii. 7; xviii. 4, 7, 20, 21; xx. 15; xxi. 23; xxiii. 9; xxiv. 26; xxv. 11. Of love and hatred, peaceableness and contention, ch. x. 12; xv. 17; xvii. 1, 9, 14, 19; xviii. 6, 17-19; xx. 3; xxv. 8; xxvi. 17, 21; xxix. 9. Of the rich and poor, ch. x. 5, 22; xi. 28; xiii. 7, 8; xiv. 20, 24; xviii. 11, 23; xix. 1, 4, 7, 22; xxii. 2, 7; xxviii. 6, 11; xxix. 13. Of lying, fraud, and dissimulation, and of truth and sincerity, ch. x. 18; xii. 17, 19, 22; xiii. 5; xvii. 4; xx. 14, 17; xxvi. 18, 19, 24-26, 28. Of slandering, ch. x. 18; xvi. 27; xxv. 23. Of talkativeness and silence, ch. x. 19; xi. 12; xii. 23; xiii. 3; xvii. 27, 28; xxix. 11, 20. Of justice and injustice, ch. xi. 1; xiii. 16; xvi. 8, 11; xvii. 15, 26; xviii. 5; xx. 10, 23; xxii. 28; xxiii. 10, 11; xxix. 24. Of pride and humility, ch. xi. 2; xiii. 10; xv. 25, 33; xvi. 5, 18, 19; xviii. 12; xxi. 4; xxv. 6, 7; xxviii. 25; xxix. 23. Of despising and respecting others, ch. xi. 12; xiv. 21. Of tale-bearing, ch. xi. 13; xvi. 28; xviii. 8; xx. 19; xxvi. 20, 22. Of rashness and deliberation, ch. xi. 14; xv. 22; xviii. 13; xix. 2; xx. 5, 18; xxi. 29; xxii. 3; xxv. 8-10. Of suretiship, ch. xi. 15; xvii. 18; xx. 16; xxii. 26, 27; xxvii. 13. Of good and bad women, or wives, ch. xi. 16, 22; xii. 4; xiv. 1; xviii. 22; xix. 13, 14; xxi. 9, 19; xxv. 24; xxvii. 15, 16. Of mercifulness and unmercifulness, ch. xi. 17; xii. 10; xiv. 21; xix. 17; xxi. 13. Of charity to the poor, and uncharitableness, ch. xi. 24-26; xiv. 31; xvii. 5; xxii. 9, 16, 22, 23; xxviii. 27; xxix. 7. Of covetousness and contentment, ch. xi. 29; xv. 16, 17, 27; xxiii. 4, 5. Of anger and meekness, ch. xii. 16; xiv. 17, 29; xv. 1, 18; xvi. 32; xvii. 12, 26; xix. 11, 19; xxii. 24, 25; xxv. 15, 28; xxvi. 21; xxix. 22. Of melancholy and cheerfulness, ch. xii. 25; xiv. 10, 13; xv. 13, 15; xvii. 22; xviii. 14; xxv. 20, 25. Of hope and expectation, ch. xiii. 12, 19. Of prudence and foolishness, ch. xiii. 16; xiv. 8, 18, 33; xv. 14, 21; xvi. 21, 22; xvii. 24; xviii. 2, 15; xxiv. 3-7; vii. 27; xxvi. 6-11; xxviii. 5. Of treachery and fidelity, ch. xiii. 17; xxv. 13, 19. Of good and bad company, ch. xiii. 20; xiv. 7; xxviii. 7; xxix. 3. Of the education of children, ch. xiii. 24; xix. 18; xx. 11; xxii. 6, 15; xxiii. 12; xiv. 14; xxix. 15, 17. Of the fear of the Lord, ch. xiv. 2, 26, 27; xv. 16, 33; xvi. 6; xix. 23; xxii. 4; xxiii. 17, 18. Of true and false witness-bearing, ch. xiv. 5, 25; xix. 5, 9, 28; xxi. 28; xxiv. 28; xxv. 18. Of scorners, ch. xiv. 6, 9; xxi. 24; xxii. 10; xxiv. 9; xxix. 9. Of credulity and caution, ch. xiv. 15, 16; xxvii. 12. Of kings and their subjects, ch. xiv. 28, 34, 35; xvi. 10, 12-15; xix. 6, 12; xx. 2, 8, 26, 28; xxii. 11; xxiv. 23-25; xxx. 2-5; xxviii. 2, 3, 15, 16; xxix. 5, 12, 14, 26. Of envy, especially envying sinners, ch. xiv. 30; xxiii. 17, 18; xxiv. 1, 2, 19, 20; xxvii. 4. Of God's omniscience, and his universal providence, ch. xv. 3, 11; xvi. 1, 4, 9, 33; xvii. 3; xix. 21; xx. 12, 24; xxi. 1, 30, 31; xxix. 26. Of a good and ill name, ch. xv. 30; xxii. 1. Of men's good opinion of themselves, ch. xiv. 12; xvi. 2, 25; xx. 6; xxi. 2; xxvi. 12; xxviii. 26. Of devotion towards God, and dependence on him, ch. xvi. 3; xviii. 10; xxiii. 26; xxvii. 1; xxviii. 25; xxix. 25. Of the happiness of God's favour, ch. xvi. 7; xxix. 26. Excitements to get wisdom, ch. xvi. 16; xviii. 1; xix. 8, 20; xxii. 17-21; xxiii. 15, 16, 22-25; xxiv. 13, 14; xxvii. 11. Cautions against temptations, ch. xvi. 17; xxix. 27. Of old age and youth, ch. xvi. 31; xvii. 6; xx. 29. Of servants, ch. xvii. 2; xix. 10; xxix. 19, 21. Of bribery, ch. xvii. 8, 23; xviii. 16; xxi. 14; xxviii. 21. Of reproof and correction, ch. xvii. 10; xix. 25, 29; xx. 30; xxi. 11; xxv. 12; xxvi. 3; xxvii. 5, 6, 22; xxviii. 23; xxix. 1. Of ingratitude, ch. xvii. 13. Of friendship, ch. xvii. 17; xviii. 24; xxvii. 9, 10, 14, 17. Of sensual pleasures, ch. xxi. 17; xxiii. 1-3, 6-8, 19-21; xxvii. 7. Of drunkenness, ch. xx. 1; xxiii. 23, 29-35. Of the universal corruption of nature, ch. xx. 9. Of flattery, ch. xx. 19; xxvi. 28; xxviii. 23; xxix. 5. Of undutiful children, ch. xx. 20; xxviii. 24. Of the short continuance of what is ill-gotten, ch. xx. 21; xxi. 6, 7; xxii. 8; xxviii. 8. Of revenge, ch. xx. 22; xxiv. 17, 18, 29. Of sacrilege, ch. xx. 25. Of conscience, ch. xx. 27; xxvii. 19. Of the preference of moral duties before ceremonial, ch. xv. 8; xxi. 3, 27. Of prodigality and wastefulness, ch. xxi. 20. The triumphs of wisdom and godliness, ch. xxi. 22; xxiv. 15, 16. Of frowardness and tractableness, ch. xxii. 5. Of uncleanness, ch. xxii. 14; xxiii. 27, 28. Of fainting in affliction, ch. xxiv. 10. Of helping the distressed, ch. xiv. 11, 12. Of loyalty to the government, ch. xxiv. 21, 22. Of forgiving enemies, ch. xxv. 21, 22. Of causeless curse, ch. xxvi. 2. Of answering fools, ch. xxvi. 4, 5. Of unsettledness and unsatisfiedness, ch. xxvii. 8, 20. Of cowardliness and courage, ch. xxviii. 1. The people's interest in the character of their rulers, ch. xxviii. 12, 28; xxix. 2, 16; xi. 10, 11. The benefit of repentance and holy fear, ch. xxviii. 13, 14. The punishment of murder, ch. xxviii. 17. Of hastening to be rich, ch. xxviii. 20, 22. The enmity of the wicked against the godly, ch. xxix. 10, 27. The necessity of the means of grace, ch. xxix. 18.

CHAP. XXXI. Verſ. 1. The words of King Lemuel]

LEmuel's Leſſon, Bathſheba's Catechiſme. Lemuel ſhe calls him, becauſe God had owned him; (2 Sam. 7.14. I will be his Father, and he ſhall bee my Son) and was with him ſo long as he was with God, according to 2 Chron. 15.2. Indeed when he grew diſcinct and diſſolute, then Gods ſoul ſate looſe to him, and was disjoynted from him, Jer. 6.8. and the rather, becauſe he had had the benefit of better education. His father had taught him, and had taken much pains with him,Ariſtippus dictus eſt [non-Latin text not transcribed] quod cum mater Are[illegible: 1 letter]a do[illegible: 1 letter]n[illegible: 1 letter]ſſe[illegible: 1 letter]. 1 King. 11.9. Prov. 4.4. His mother alſo had counſelled and cautioned him betimes, not to give his ſtrength to Wine and Women. And yet he was moſt inordinate in his love to theſe two, Eccleſ. 2. This was almoſt as great an aggravation of his Sin, that he had been better taught and brought up, as that other, that he forſook the Lord that had appeared unto him twice. The words of King Lemuel they are called, becauſe though compoſed by his Mother, yet for his uſe in the ſame ſenſe, as Pſal. 127. is ſtiled, A ſong of degrees of Salomon, or for Solomon, though made by his Father: who tells him there, that which hee found true by experience. Loe, children are an heritage of the Lord, &c. for by all his Wives, Salomon had none but one Son, and him none of the wiſeſt neither.

Verſ. 2. What, my ſon! and what, the ſon of my wombe!] An abrupt ſpeech, importing abundance of affection; even more than might be uttered. There is an Ocean of love in a Parents heart, a fathomleſs depth of deſire after the Childes welfare, in the mother eſpecially. Some of the Hebrew Doctors hold, that this was Bathſheba's ſpeech to her ſon after his fathers death: when ſhe partly perceived which way his Genius leaned and lead him: that then ſhee ſchooled him in this ſort, q. d. Is it even ſo my ſon, my moſt dear ſon, &c. O doe not give thy ſtrength to women, &c.

Verſ. 3. Give not thy ſtrength to women] Waſte not unworthily the fat and marrow of thy dear and precious time, the ſtrength of thy body, the vigor of thy ſpirits, in ſinful pleaſures, and ſenſual delights. See chap. 5.9.

Nor thy wayes to that which deſtroyeth Kings] Venery is called by one, Deaths beſt Harbinger. It was the deſtruction of Alexander the great, of Otho the Emperour (called for his good parts otherwiſe, Miraculum mundi) of Pope Sextus the fourth, (qui deceſſit tabidus voluptate, ſaith the Hiſtorian, dyed of a wicked waſte) and of Pope Paul the fourth, of whom it paſſed for a Proverb, Eum per candem partem animam profudiſſe per quam acceperat. The Lacedemonian Common-wealth, was by the hand of Divine Juſtice utterly overturned at Leuctra, for a rape committed by their Meſſengers on the two Daughters of Scedoſus. And what befell the Benjamites on a like occaſion, is well known out of Judg. 20. that I ſpeak not of the ſlaughter of the Shechemites, Gen. 34. &c.

Verſ. 4. It is not for Kings to drink wine] i. e. To bee drunk with Wine, wherein is exceſs, Epheſ. 5.18. where the Apoſtle determines exceſſive drinking to bee down-right drunkenneſs, viz. when as Swine do their bellies, ſo men break their heads with filthy quaffing. This, as no man may lawfully doe, ſo leaſt of all Princes: for in maxima libertate minima eſt licentia. Men are therefore the worſe, becauſe they are bound to be better.

Nor for Princes ſtrong drink] Or as ſome read it, where is the ſtrong drink? It is not for Princes to ask ſuch a queſtion. All heady and intoxicating drinks are by ſtatute here forbidden them. Of Bonoſus the Emperour it was ſaid, that he was born, non ut vivat, ſed ut bibat, not to live, but to drink; and when, being overcome by Probus, he afterwards hanged himſelf, it was commonly jeſted, that a tankard hung there, and not a man. But what a Beaſt was Marcus Antonius, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Strabo. Camd. Eliſ. that wrote (or rather ſpued out) a book concerning his own ſtrength, to bear ſtrong drink? And what another was Darius King of Perſia, who commanded this inſcription to bee ſet upon his Sepulcher, I was able to hunt luſtily, to drink wine ſoundly, and to bear it bravely? That Iriſh Rebel Tiroen, Anno 1567. was ſuch a Drunkard, that to cool his body when hee was immoderately inflamed with Wine and Uskabagh, hee would many times bee buried in the earth up to the chin. Theſe were unfit men to bear rule.

Verſ. 5 Leſt they drink and forget the Law] Drunkenneſſe cauſeth forgetfulneſs, (hence the Ancients feigned Bacchus to bee the ſonne of forgetfulneſs) and ſtands in full oppoſition to reaſon and religion: when the Wine is in, the Wit is out.Plutarch. in Sympoſ. Seneca ſaith, that for a man to think to be drunk, and yet to retain his right reaſon, is to think to drink rank poyſon, and yet not to dye by it.

And pervert the judgement, &c.] Pronounce an unrighteous ſentence: which when Philip King of Macedony once did, the poor woman, whoſe cauſe it was, preſently appealed from Philip now drunk, to Philp when hee ſhould be ſober again. The Carthaginians made a Law, that no Magiſtrate of theirs ſhould drink wine. The Perſians permitted their Kings to be drunk one day in a year only. Solon made a Law at Athens, that drunkenneſs in a Prince ſhould be puniſhed with death. See Eccleſ. 10.16, 17.

Verſ. 6. Give ſtrong drink to him, &c.] To thoſe that ſtand at the barre, rather than to them that ſit on the bench. Wine maketh glad the heart of man, Judg. 9.13. Pſal. 104.15. Plato calls Wine and Muſick the [non-Latin text not transcribed]: Mitigaters of mens miſeries. Hence that laudable cuſtome among the Jews at Funerals, to invite the friends of the deceaſed to a feaſt, and to give them the cup of conſolation, Jer. 16.7. And hence that not ſo laudable, of giving Wine,Bacchus & afflictis requien[illegible: 1 letter] mortalibus affert. Tibul. mingled with Myrrhe, to crucified Malefactors, to make them dye with leſsſenſe. Chriſt did not like the cuſtom ſo well, and therefore refuſed the potion. People ſhould be moſt ſerious and ſober when they are to dye: ſith in Death, as in Warre, non licet bis errare, if a man miſs at all, he miſſes for all and for ever.Vitellius trepidus, d[illegible: 1 letter]in tem[illegible: 1 letter] lentus Vitellius therefore took a wrong courſe, who looking for the meſſenger Death, made himſelf drunk to drown the fear of it.

And Wine unto thoſe that be of heavie hearts] Heb. bitter of ſpirit, as Naomi was, when ſhe would needs be called Marah, Ruth 1.20. as Hannah was, when ſhe pleaded that ſhe had neither drunk Wine nor ſtrong drink (though at that time ſhe had need enough of it) but was a Woman of a ſorrowful ſpirit, 1 Sam. 1.15. as David was, when his heart was leavened and ſowred with the greatneſs of his grief: and he was pricked in his reins, [non-Latin text not transcribed] Pſal. 73.21. This grief was right, becauſe according to God, 2 Cor. 7.11. ſo was that bitter mourning, Zach. 10.12. and Peters weeping bitterly. Theſe waters of Marah, that flow from the eyes of repentance, are turned into wine, they carry comfort in them; there is a clear ſhining after this rain, 2 Sam. 23.4. Such April-ſhowers bring on May-flowers.

Dejicit ut revelet, premit ut ſolatia praeſtet: Enecat ut poſſit vivificare Deus.

Verſ. 7. Let him drink and forget his Poverty] And yet let him drink moderately too, leſt he increaſe his ſorrows, as Lot did, and not diminiſh them: for drunkenneſſe leaves a ſting behind it, worſe than that of a Serpent, or of a Cockatrice, Prov. 23.32. Wine is a prohibited ware among the Turks: which makes ſome drink with ſcruple, others with danger; The baſer ſort, when taken drunk, are often baſtinadoed upon the bare feet. And I have ſeen ſome, (ſaith mine Author) after a fit of drunkenneſſe, lye a whole night crying, and praying to Mahomet for interceſſion, Blu[illegible: 1 letter]t[illegible: 1 letter] voyage, p. 105. that I could not ſleep neer them, ſo ſtrong is conſcience, even where the foundation is but imaginary,

Verſ. 8. Open thy mouth for the dumb] i.e. Speak wiſely and freely for thoſe that either cannot, or may not ſpeak for themſelves. Thus Nicodemus ſpoke for our Saviour, Joh. 7.51. Paphnutius in the Council for the married Clergy, Pliny to Trajan for the perſecuted Chriſtians, the Elector of Saxony for Luther, &c. Oecolampadius ſaith, that wiſe men only open their mouthes, for a fools mouth is never but open. Oecolamp. in Job 33. Hence [non-Latin text not transcribed] Gapers are put for fools in Lucian and Ariſtophanes.

Verſ. 9. Plead the cauſe of the poor and needy] Theſe are Gods great care, as appears in many texts. Job comforted himſelf in this,Job 29.15, 16 that hee had been eyes to the blind, feet to the lame, a father to the poor, &c. Ebedmelech is renowned for pleading the cauſe of the poor Prophet, and ſo ſhould Pharaohs Butler have been if he had done it ſooner. Maſter Holt who was of Counſel to Maſter Pryn (when ſo unjuſtly cenſured in the Star-chamber) but refuſed, (through cowardiſe) to ſign his anſwer according to promiſe, being over-awed by the Prelates, bewayled his own baſeneſſe to his wife and friends▪ New diſcoveries of the Prelates tyranny. p. 47, 48. And ſoon after falling ſick for conceit only of the miſcarriage of that cauſe, he dyed, never going to the Star-chamber after that bloudy ſentence.

Verſ. 10. Who can find a vertuous woman] Good Wives are rare commodities, and therefore precious and highly to be prized, even above Rubies. The Hebrews put rarum pro charo, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Ariſt. Ethic. as 1 Sam. 3.2. and Prov. 25.7. Let thy feet be precious in thy neighbours houſe, that is, let them ſeldome come there, leſt thou become over-cheap and under-valued. It is eaſie to obſerve that the New-Teſtament affords more ſtore of good Women than the Old. When Paul came firſt to Philippi, few or none came to hear him but women, Acts 6.13. but they drew on their husbands, and it ſoon became a famous Church. What a rare piece was Priſcilla, who better inſtructed Apollo, ventured her life for Paul, Rom. 16.4. and was ſuch a ſingular help to her husband, that ſhe is mentioned before him, as the more forward of the two, Rom. 16.3? Like as was alſo Manoahs wife, Exod. 18.24, 25 and Nazianzens mother. Salomons mother was behind none of them, as appears by this Poem, either compoſed by Salomon as a character of her (as ſome have thought) or elſe by her ſelf, for his direction in the choyce of a good wife, which would bee worthy his pains, though he ſhould fetch her as farre as men doe rubies, Procul prae unionibus precium ejus. What a way ſent Abraham and Iſaac for good Wives for their Sons!

Verſ. 11. The heart of her husband doth ſafely truſt in her] Hee is confident of her love, care, and fidelity: he dare truſt her with his ſoul-ſecrets, &c. hee doubteth not of her chaſtity, ſecreſie, or care to keep his family.

So that he ſhall have no need of ſpoyl] i. e. of neceſſary commodities: for theſe ſhe will provide as plentifully by her induſtry, as if ſhe had ſhared in the ſpoyls of a ſackt and ranſackt City. The Turks, when they took Conſtantinople, were ſo enriched,Turk. Hiſt. fol. 347. that it is a Proverb amongſt them at this day, if any grow ſuddenly rich, to ſay, He hath been at the ſacking of Conſtantinople.

Verſ. 12. She will doe him good and not evil, &c.] She is conſtant in her conjugal affection, and ſticks to him, as Sarah did to Abraham, in all changes and chances whatſoever. She leaves not off her kindneſſe to the living, and to the dead, Ruth 2.20. See that notable example of the Lady Valadaura in Lud. Vives.

Verſ. 13. She ſeeketh wool and flax] This was held no ſhame for Salomons wife. Auguſtus Caeſar taught his Daughters to Spin and Card: hee wore no Garments but what his Wife and Daughters made him. The like is reported of Charls the great. Spinſter they ſay is a term given the greateſt women in our Law. Rebecca was a dainty Cook, ſo was Thamar Davids daughter, 2 Sam. 13. By Mahomets Law, the grand Turk himſelf muſt be of ſome trade.

And worketh willingly with her hands] As if her hands did deſire to doe, what ſhe put them to doe: for ſo the Original ſoundeth; She worketh with the will of her hands. The vulgar renders it, with the counſel of her hands, as if her hands were oculatae. She diſcreetly and cheerfully rids her work, with fervour and fore-caſt.

Verſ. 14. She is like the Merchants ſhips] That is, ſhe gets wealth apace, yea though ſhe ſtirre not off her ſtool, and ſtudies how to buy every thing at beſt hand, though ſhe ſend farre for it. Of the Low-Country-men it is ſaid, Peterent coelum navibus Belgae, ſi navibus peti poſſet. So the good Houſwife would doe any thing to further thrift.

Verſ. 15. Shee riſeth alſo while it is yet night] That is, betime in the morning, a great while before day, as our Saviour alſo did to pray, Mark 1.35.

And a portion to her maids] She neither pines, nor pampers them: but allows them that which is ſufficient. Three things ſaith Ariſtotle a man owes to his Servants, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. work, meat, and correction.

Verſ. 16. She conſidereth a field and buyeth it] Here's is the fruit of her pains and providence. The Manus motitans, the ſtirring hand maketh rich, Pro. 10.4. and a wiſe woman buildeth her houſe, Prov. 14.1. See the Notes. She conſiders of the conveniency of this field, and then caſts about how ſhee may compaſs it.

Verſ. 17. She girdeth her loyns with ſtrength] She flyeth about her work, and ſets on it with a courage. Wee have read of women, in whom beſides their Sex, there was nothing woman-like or weak, ſuch were Semiramis, Zenobia, Blandina, that brave Hungarian woman, who in an aſſault at the Siege of Buda, thruſting in among the Souldiers, upon the top of the Fort, with a great Sythe in her hand,Turk. Hiſt. fol. 741. at one blow ſtruck off two of the Turks heads as they were climbing up the rampier. The like is reported of Marulla a Maid of Lemnos, who ſeeing her Father ſlain in the Gates of the City by the Turks, Ibid. 413, which hoped to have ſurprized it, took up the Weapons that lay by him, and like a fierce Amazon notably revenged his death.

Verſ. 18. She perceiveth that her merchandize is good] She feels the ſweet of it: and is heartened to redouble her diligence: as a Draught-horſe feeling his load coming, draws the harder. The good ſoul doth the ſame. For having once taſted how ſweet the Lord is, it can never have enough of him: but is carried after him with ſtrength of deſire, as the Doves to their Columbaries, as the Eagles to the Carcaſes, Pſal. 84.1, 2, 3. No reaſon would ſatisfie Moſes: but when God had done much for him, he muſt ſtill have more, Exod. 33.12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19. & 34.9.

Verſ. 19. She layeth her hands to the Spindle] Notwithſtanding her late purchaſe, and planting a vine-yard, verſ. 16. and other out-buſineſſes. Lucretia inter ancillas ad Lucernam fila ducebat. Life and Death of Card. Wolſ. p. 69. Act. & Mon. fol. 957. See the Note on verſ. 13. The two Cardinals Wolſie and Campeius coming from King Henry the eighth on a meſſage to Queen Katharine of Spain, a little afore the divorce, found her with a skain of red ſilk about her neck, being at work with her maiden. And Queen Anne of Bullen kept her Maids, and all that were about her, ſo buſied in ſowing and working, that neither was there ſeen any idleneſs then amongſt them, nor any leaſure to follow ſuch paſtimes as are uſually in Princes Courts.

Verſ. 20. She ſtretcheth out her hand to the poor] Shee laboureth with her hands to that purpoſe, Epheſ. 4.28. and findeth by experience, that not getting, but giving is the way to thrive. See my common-place of Almes.

Yea ſhe reacheth forth her hands to the needy] Nittily needy, as one phraſeth it. To thoſe that are extremely poor, ſhe not only ſtretcheth, but reacheth, not her hand only, but both hands; yea ſhe hath her Almoners to give to thoſe that ſhe cannot goe to: as Queen Anne of Bullen had.Ibid. For beſides what ſhe dealt and diſtributed by the hands of others, ſhe carried ever about her a certain little purſe: out of which ſhe was wont to ſcatter about daily ſome almes to the needy; thinking no day well ſpent, wherein ſome man had not fared the better by ſome benefit at her hands. The like is ſtoried of Placilla wife to the Emperour Theodoſius, that for her courteſie and bounty to the poor, ſhe was called [non-Latin text not transcribed], The poor mans friend.

Verſ. 21. She is not afraid of the ſnow] As ſhe is liberal to the poor, ſo her chief care is for thoſe of her own houſe, that they may be accommodated. For ſhe knows that to ſtretch beyond the ſtaple, were to marre all; and not to provide for her own, were to be worſe than an infidel, 1 Tim. 5.8.

Verſ. 22. Her clothing is ſilk and purple] Suitable to her Husbands condition, who is a principal man,Lib. de cultu foem. verſ. 23. That's excellent counſel that Tertullian gives Women, Vestite vos ſerico pietatis, byſſino ſanctitatis, purpurâ pudicitia. Cloath your ſelves with the ſilk of piety, with the ſattin of ſanctity, with the purple of modeſty, &c.

Verſ. 23. Her husband is known in the gates] Is renowned and noted for his wives worth, beſides that he is a ruler in Iſrael.

Verſ. 24. She maketh fine linnen and ſells it] Such ſindons as our Saviours dead Body was wrapt in, and for girdles, read 2 Sam. 18.11. Iſa. 3.24. Jer. 2.32. It was anciently no ſhame for a Queen to make gain of her handy-work.

Verſ. 25. Strength and honour are her clothing] See verſ. 22. She is not of thoſe quae fulgent monilibus, ſordent moribus, that are well-habited, but ill-mannered. No, ſhe is inwardly decked with Spiritual attire, ſuch as rendreth her glorious in the eyes of God and Angels. The joy of the Lord is her ſtrength, ſo that ſhe laugheth at the time to come. This daughter of Sarah, ſo long as ſhee doth well, and hath the E[illegible: 1 letter]ge of a good Conſcience, is not afraid with any amazement (as women are apt to be) 1 Pet. 3.6. Gaudebat Criſpina cum tenebatur, Aug. in Pſal. 137. cum audiebatur, cum damnabatur, cum ducebatur. So did Miſtris Anne Askew, Alice Driver, and many other gracious women, that ſuffered for the Truth in Queen Maries days: Strength and honour was their clothing: and they rejoyced at the time to come: they went as merry to dye, as to dine: and cheared up one another with this, That although they had but a bitter break-faſt, yet they ſhould ſup with Chriſt in joy.

Verſ. 26. She openeth her mouth with wiſdome] Her mouth is not alwayes open, but duly ſhut, and diſcreetly opened: her words are few, true, and ponderous; the ſtream and current of her conference tends either to wiſdom or kindneſs, that is, to duties either of piety or charity. The Jeſuites forbid Women to ſpeak of God and his wayes, either in good ſort or in bad: and to meddle only with the diſtaff. But the good Women in both Teſtaments, Abigail, Hannah, Heſter, the Virgin Mary, Priſcilla, Lois, &c. never heard of this new doctrin. Tatianus tells us, that in the Primitive Church every Age and Sex among the Chriſtians, were Chriſtian Philoſophers: yea that the very Virgins and Maids, as they ſate at their work in wool, were wont to ſpeak of Gods Word.Hiſt. Eccleſ. lib. 34 cap. 37. And Nicephorus writes, that the Chriſtians, even as they laboured or journied, were wont to ſing Pſalmes: and that thereby there was at a certain time a Jew converted. It were ſurely a great grace (ſaith Lambert the Martyr) if we might have the Word of God diligently and often ſpoken, and ſung unto us in ſuch wiſe, that women and children might underſtand it. Then ſhould it come to paſſe,Act. & Mon. fol. 1015. that Crafts-men ſhould ſing Spiritual Pſalms ſitting at their work, the Husband-man at his Plow, the good Huſwife at her Wheel, as wiſheth St. Hierome.

And in her tongue is the law of kindneſſe] It is worthy the mark (ſaith the Chronicler) that Edward the firſt, and his Grand-ſon Edward the third, the beſt of our Kings, Daniel 262. had the two beſt Wives: Ladies of excellent vertue, that drew evenly with them in all the courſes of Honour, that appertained to their ſide. The firſt of theſe Edwards being traiterouſly wounded (whiles hee was yet Prince) in the Holy-Land (as they called it) by the poyſoned knife of an Aſſaſſine,Speed 646. Cavid. in Middleſex. f. 432. the Lady Elinor his Wife extracted the Poyſon with her tongue, licking daily, whilſt her Husband ſlept, his rankling wounds, whereby they perfectly cloſed, and yet her ſelf received no hurt. So ſoveraign a medicine is a Wives tongue, annoynted with the vertue of kindneſſe and affection.

Verſ. 27. She looketh well to the wayes of her houſhold] She hath an oar in every boat, an eye in every buſineſſe; She ſpyes and pryes into her Childrens and Servants carriages, and exacts of them ſtrict converſation and growth in godlineſs: She over-looks the whole Family no otherwiſe than if ſhe were in a Watch-tower, Speculatur itinera domus ſuae.

Ariſt. 1. Rhet. lib. 1. And eateth not the bread of idleneſſe] She earns it before ſhe eats it. Ariſtotle alſo commends [non-Latin text not transcribed], laboriouſneſs in a woman, and joyns it with temperance and chaſtity, which are preſerved by it. So is taciturnity and ſober communication, for which ſhe is commended in the former verſe. For as idleneſs is the ſeed of talkativeneſſe, 1 Tim. 5.13. ſo painfulneſs is a ſingular help againſt it. Queen Katharine of Spain, wife to our Henry the eighth, was not more buſie in her calling, than prudent in her carriage. She had been counſelled to it by Ludovicus Vives, who came into England with her, and was Maſter to her Daughter the Lady Mary. See the note on ver. 19. of this Chapter.

Verſ. 28. Her children ariſe up and call her bleſſed] As they grow to any bigneſs, and conſider their beholdingneſs, ſo they bleſs her, and bleſs God for her: they bleſs the time that ever they were born of her, and ſo vertuouſly bred by her: being ready to ſay of her, as once Deborah ſaid of Jael, Judg. 5.24. Bleſſed above women ſhall Jael the wife of Heber be, bleſſed ſhall ſhe be above women in the tent. Bleſſed be the womb that bare us, and the paps that gave us ſuck.

Her husband alſo] whom ſhe commanded by obeying, as Livia did her Husband Auguſtus.

And he ſhall praiſe her] Praiſe is due to vertue. And albeit — laudis non indiga virtus, Illae ſed est proprio plane contenta theatro; Vertue is her own reward, and ſhe is the beſt woman, and beſt to be liked, ſaith Thucidides, Honos alit artes. Virtus laudata creſcit. Omnes laudis ſtudio incenduntur. de cujus laude vel vitu perio minimus ſit ſermo, of whoſe praiſe or diſpraiſe, there is leaſt ſaid abroad: yet for as much as praiſe is a ſpurre, and vertue grows by it, why ſhould it be denied to thoſe that deſerve it? Is not a Garland here made up by the hand of the Holy Ghoſt, and ſet upon the head of this excellent Huſwife? Neither is it any diſparagement, that her own Husband and Children commend her; for her buſineſs lying moſt within doors, who ſo fit to praiſe her as thoſe that were ever preſent with her? and yet neither doe they more praiſe her by their words, than by their lives, formed by her to a right poſture.

Verſ. 29. Many daughters have done vertuouſly] By the benefit of a better nature, or civil education, or for praiſe of men, or for a quiet life: ſure it is, that all unſanctified Women, though never ſo well qualified, have failed, both quoad fontem, & quoad finem, for want of faith for the principle, and Gods glory the aym of their vertuous actions. And therefore though they bee ſuo genere, praiſe-worthy, yet they are farre ſhort of this gracious Matron. The civil life without faith is but a beautiful abomination, a ſmoother way to hell. Melius eſt pallens aurum quam fulgens aurichalcum, Bern. better is pale gold than glittering copper. Say the world what it will, a dram of holineſs is worth a pound of good nature. Preferre that before this (in the choyce of a Wife eſpecially) as yee would doe a piece of gold for weight, rather than for workmanſhip, for value, than for elegancy, like that French coyn in the Hiſtorian, in qua plus formaequam ponderis, wherein there was more neatneſs than weightineſs. Of carnal women, though never ſo witty, well-ſpoken, and well-deeded too, we may ſay, as the Civil Law doth of thoſe mixt beaſts, Elephants and Cammels, operam praeſtant, natura fera eſt, they doe the work of tame Creatures, but they have the nature of wild ones.

But thou excelleſt them all] As the only Paragon of the world, the Female glory, the wonder of Women-kind.

Verſ. 30. Favour is deceitful] Some marry by their eyes, and ſome by their fingers ends; Dos non Deus makes ſuch marriages: but they commonly prove unhappy. There's eſh, eſh, fire, fire of debate and diſcord betwixt that Iſh and Iſhah, that Man and Wife, where Jah is not the Match-maker, as the Cabbaliſts have collected: Favour will fade, and beauty wither; an herd of pox will marre the faireſt face, and of a Nireus make a Therſites. Forma bonum fragile eſt, ſaith one Poet. Res eſt forma fugax, ſaith another.Ovid. Seneca. But better than they both, the Prophet Eſay, All fleſh is graſſe, and the glory thereof as the flower of the field. All theſe outward accoutrements are non tantum fallacia quia dubia, verum etiam inſidioſa quia dulcia, ſaith Lactantius; as there is no truſting to them, ſo there is great danger in them, as Abſolom and his Siſter Tamar found in their beauty.

But a woman that feareth the Lord] That is indeed the crown of all commendation: as that which makes one all glorious within, amiable and admirable beyond belief. Nicoſtratus in Aelian, himſelf being a cunning Artiſan, finding a curious piece of Work, and being wondred at by one, and asked what pleaſure hee could take to ſtand gazing as hee did on the Picture, anſwered; Hadſt thou mine eyes, thou wouldſt not wonder, but rather bee raviſht as I am at the inimitable Art of this rare Piece. So if men had Saints eyes to ſee the beauty of Holineſs, the excellency of the New Creature, they would prize and preferre it before the ſhining rubbiſh of all Earths beauty and bravery. But as Auguſtus in his ſolemn Feaſts gave to ſome Gold, to others Gawdes and Trifles, ſo doth God to ſome give his Fear, to others Beauty, Wealth, Honour, and with theſe they reſt contented. But what ſaith the Pſalmiſt? The Lord that made heaven and earth bleſſe thee out of Sion. q. d. The bleſſings that come out of Sion are choyce bleſſings, even above any that come out of Heaven and Earth.

She ſhall be praiſed] Shall live and dye with honour. The body of Honour is Vertue, the ſoul of it, Humility. Whoſoever riſes without the one, or ſtands without the other, embraces but the ſhadow of a ſhadow, may bee notable or notorious, cannot be truly noble.

Verſ. 31. Give her of the fruit of her hands] God would have deſert dignified, good parts praiſed. Here he ſeals up his approbation and good liking of what her Husband and Children had ſaid of her in the former verſes. Hee takes it well when we ſpeak good of his people, and holds himſelf honoured in their juſt praiſes. Give her her fall due, ſaith God, both within doors and without: let her eat of the Vine-yard that ſhe hath planted, live of the Land that ſhe hath purchaſed, enjoy the fruit of her own labours, have both the comfort and the credit of her worthy parts and practices: ſhe being (as ſhe here ſtands deſcribed) not unlike that precious Stone among the Troglodytes which is therefore called Hexacontalithos, Solin. Poly-hiſt. cap. 44. becauſe within its own little compaſs it hath the radiant colours of threeſcore other ſtones of price.