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“Tina
THE WISE MEN OF ANCIENT
ISRAEL

AND /

THEIR) PROVERBS

BY
CHARLES FOSTER KENT, Pu.D.

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE AND HISTORY
BROWN UNIVERSITY

“We that walketh with wise men shall be wise”

Prov. XIII: 20

 

SILVER, BURDETT & COMPANY .\
New York \ BOSTON CHICAGO\ os

| é
8 >
1895 |
CopyrIGHT, 1895,
By SILVER, BURDETT & COMPANY.
PREFACE.

 

Or the books of the Old Testament perhaps none is less
read or studied than the book of Proverbs. Ministers some-
times search through it for a text, and the International Sunday
School Committee has been wont, every seven years, to select
a chapter or two from it for study. Old people ordinarily find
great pleasure in reading it, since its epigrammatic verses so
truly and pointedly express their own life experiences. But
to the great majority of Bible students, and especially to the
young, for whom it has the most valuable message, it is a “erra
incognita.

The reason for this general neglect is patent. The book of
Proverbs is the supreme example of the sententious type of
literature so dear to the Semitic mind. Like many another
product of the East, it is also in its external form signally
deficient in scientific arrangement, and consequently in logical
connection. To the Oriental this seems most natural, but to
the Occidental it is simply confusing. No sooner has the latter
grasped the meaning of one maxim than he is plunged into an
entirely different realm of thought. Having made the conquest
of the truth contained in the second proverb, he is obliged to
repeat the same experience in each succeeding verse. The
result is most discouraging. All that was gained from the
earlier verses is lost, because association of ideas is impossible.
Teachings respecting man’s duty to God, the management of a
farm, the character of Jehovah, the fool, sin, the nature of man,
duties of children, and the future life are all jumbled together

3
4 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

in the same chapter. It is not strange, therefore, that most
people do not find Proverbs fascinating reading, or, if they do
read it perfunctorily, do this so carelessly that they neither
grasp nor retain the thought. And yet we are agreed that this
repository of the crystallized experience of the Hebrew people
contains thoughts beautifully expressed, and valuable truths,
too valuable to be thus slighted.

In view of these facts, I have become convinced that if this
volume of the old library is to fulfil its mission to the present
age, order must be evolved out of chaos. It is evident that
here the principles of systematic, scientific classification are
the only and sufficient guides.

In classifying, I have sought at the same time to attain
another most desirable end. The demand for commentaries
has never ceased, and never will while there is such a wide
divergence in thought and expression between the Semitic past
and the Indo-European present. Not voluminous tomes, how-
ever, but something brief, to the point, helpful rather than con-
fusing, is what is demanded. This is furnished by a detailed
classification, which is itself a condensed analysis of the thought,
since it enables the reader at a glance, and almost uncon-
sciously, to grasp the meaning of the maxim.

In the classification of the proverbs the following canons
have been adopted : —

1. The text or marginal readings of the Revised Version
shall be employed except where this manifestly fails to bring
out the original meaning of the Hebrew text, as revised by the
aid of the Septuagint and other versions.

2. The integrity of each proverb shall be respected.

3. Proverbs repeating the idea brought out by another
proverb, whether in the same or slightly different form, shall
be omitted.

4. To give completeness to the treatment of each theme, a
proverb containing two or more distinct ideas may be repeat-
edly presented under different heads.
PREFACE. 5

5. Not external form, but the fundamental idea contained
in each proverb, shall be the basis of classification.

6. In the cases where a theme is treated consecutively, the
order adopted by the original author shall be observed as far as
is consistent with logical arrangement.

7. The material under each head and sub-head shall be
arranged so as to develop the subject as far as possible in
logical order.

The first prerequisite for an intelligent appreciation of the
Hebrew proverbs is an acquaintance with the aims and methods
of that important class of teachers, the wise, who have be-
queathed to us the wisdom literature of the Old Testament.
Professor Davidson, in a series of articles in the Lxpositor, has
made a most important contribution to our knowledge of their
character and work. In his /od and Solomon, Professor Cheyne
also frequently refers to the wise. Unfortunately the results of
these scholars are not in the hands of the ordinary Bible
student, and with these exceptions the literature both in the
English and German is exceedingly meager.

The classification of the proverbs reveals many new and
inviting fields for investigation. Two only have been entered.
In the chapter on “The Use by Jesus of the Book of Proverbs,”
I wish to acknowledge the suggestions derived from the valu-
able article by Professor Horton in the Zxpositor of 1888
(pp. 105-123).

As a modest contribution to the constantly widening and
deepening knowledge of the history and literature and teach-
ings, preserved in that ancient library which we justly term
“The Book,” this little volume is presented.

Cc. F. K.

Brown UNIVERSITY, September 27, 1895.
nm bw hk

Sewanee p m

°

CONTENTS.

PART I. INTRODUCTORY STUDIES.

CHAPTER I.

THE HEBREW WISE MEN.
PAGE

. The Teachers of Ancient Israel . . . : » I

. The Wise in Israel’s History . i . é . . » &CI7
. Methods of the Wise . . . . . . 23
. The Thought Realm of the Wise i . - 26

The Influence of the Wise upon Hebrew Life and en » 28

CHAPTER II.

THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF WISDOM LITERATURE.

. Similitude . : % : 3 4 ‘ ‘ ‘ s 33
. Riddle s ‘ ‘ 4 ‘ ‘ ‘ é a a Sh
Fable . s ‘ ‘ é : . s . 36
Parable. : : : . : 7 = . é - 37
Simple Proverb . : ¥ ‘ ‘ : . x - 38
Paradox . . . 4 ‘ . 3 . - w 39
Gnomic-Essay_ . : ‘ ‘ é : zi é 5 - 40
. Didactic Drama . : A : . ‘ 7 » 4!
. Phj osophical Drama . . 4 ee re ee 2
Ph’ iosophical Homily ‘ . 5 * ‘ » 44
7
I.

2. The Origin of Proverbs i . A . . 7 .
CHAPTER IV.
THE Book OF PROVERBS.

1. Structure. ‘ : ‘ . . ‘i ‘ ‘
2. Authorship . . :

~ 3. Date of the Different Sections ‘ ‘ . <

PART IJ. CLASSIFICATION OF THE PROVERBS.

PREFACE . .

Pw KH ™

ow ananbewrn

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER III.
PROVERBS AND PROVERB MAKING,

The Philosophical Basis of Proverb Making

CHAPTER I.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION COMMENDING WISDOM.

. Wisdom described

. Wisdom’s Banquet

. Folly, Wisdom’s Rival, described

. Folly’s Banquet .

. Attitude of the Classes bidden

. Consequence of the Choice

. The Basis of Wisdom. ‘ 7

. The Reward of a Persistent Search for Wisdom. ‘ ‘

Ss CHAPTER II.
: MAN.
. His Nature. J r , ¥ i ‘i . i: .
. His Education . ‘ A , é . é . .
. In his Domestic Relations . * : ; 3 ; c
. In his Social Relations é : 7 i a ‘

PAGE
47
49

54
58
62

75

76

79
80

80
80
83
83

85
87
95
100
CONTENTS, 9

PAGE
5. In his Economic Relations . . : . . 5 7 . Lor
6. In his Legal Relations : , 5 . 7 7 ‘ . 108
7. In his Political Relations a . ‘ . . . It

CHAPTER III.

THE DUuTIEsS OF Man.

1. To Animals ‘ a x 2 ‘ 5 é 2 - 16
2. To Himself . ‘ . j ‘ . ‘ é » 116
3. To Others : 7 ’ . ‘ . . ; » 126
4. Toward God i , ‘ x Z i é ‘ ‘ » 136

CHAPTER IV.

THE REWARDS OF HumAN CONDUCT.

1. Whatsoever a Man soweth that shall he also reap é 4 » 139
2. Recompense for Right or Wrong Conduct . ‘ . " » 140
3. The Wicked shall be a Ransom for the Righteous. ‘ - 144
4. Righteousness its own Reward . A ‘ : Ay - 144

CHAPTER V.

Gop.

1. Man’s Knowledge respecting God a ‘ ‘ . + 145
2. The Nature of God . . : ; ‘ 4 : » 145
3. The Creator , : . ‘i Fi ‘ i a « 146
4. The Regulator . F : ‘ ‘ : é i + 147
5. The Defender of the feichtcas : . : . . j - 147
6. The Judge of Human Actions . ‘ fe ; F - 148
7. The Rewarder of Conduct . : : : ; : : - 148
8. What God abominates ‘i ‘ ‘ . ‘ if - 149
9. Whom God champions ‘ ‘ i : 2 ‘ » 150

CHAPTER VI.

DOoctTRINAL PROVERBS.

. Sin. . . ° . . * : . . . + 152
. Sacrifice. . . . : : ‘ . . . + 153
10 CONTENTS.

PAGE
3. Prayer . Fi a ‘ . ‘ 3 5 . . - 153
4. The Future Life.  .  . ee . . o> oe » 153
5. Sheol . 3 “ ; 3 . ; . s ‘ é » 154
CHAPTER VII.
NUMERICAL ENIGMAS,
1. Four Things that are never satisfied . : z ° , . 155
2. Four Things that leave no Trace behind. ‘ 7 - 155
3. Four Things that are Intolerable x : 155
4. Four Things which, though Small, yet manifest ae Foresight 156
5. Four Things which are Stately in their Going. x é + 156
6. Seven Things which are Hateful tothe Lord. : ‘ + 156

PART III. SUPPLEMENTARY STUDIES,
CHAPTER I.

SocIAL TEACHINGS OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.

1. Social Conditions in Old Israel as reflected in the Proverbs « 158
2. The Duties of Man in Society as taught by the Wise . : - 165

CHAPTER II.

UsE BY JESUS OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.

1. The Attitude of Jesus toward Former Revelation : » . 176
2. Identification of Himself with Personified Wisdom - 197
3. Quotations in the New Testament from the Book of Proverbs . 179
4. Reproduction of the Thought of Proverbs . «8K
5. Forms of Expression and Illustrations derived from Proverbs . 193
6. Conclusions ¥ + 199
INDEX TO THE BIBLICAL PROVERBS . . . . . + 202
PART I.

INTRODUCTORY STUDIES.

 

CHAPTER I.
THE HEBREW WISE.

I. The Teachers of Ancient Israel.

“Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the
law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the
wise, nor the word from the prophet” (Jer. 18:18). These
words, uttered by the malignant enemies of the prophet who
proclaimed Jerusalem’s fall, contain the clearest statement in
the Old Testament respecting the three classes who together
guided and molded the intellectual and religious life of Israel.
This chance allusion also indicates beyond a doubt that, at
least during the latter days of the Judean kingdom, both the
existence and the characteristics of each of these distinct
groups of teachers were clearly recognized.

To understand the Old Testament, which is the enduring
product of their inspired thinking, it is absolutely essential to
become intimately acquainted with these leaders of the Hebrew
nation ; to fully realize that they were men who actually lived
and worked ; and to enter into an intelligent appreciation of
their aims and. methods.

1. THe Priests.

The priests, with their long, spotless white robes and solemn
bearing, are figures familiar to every student of that ancient life.
II
12 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

As the guardians of the public sanctuaries, and later of the great
central shrine at Jerusalem, they always stood forth prominently
before the nation. Their strict observance of the laws of per-
sonal cleanliness and abstinence made them living object lessons,
intelligible to the most obtuse. These habits of life also sharply
distinguished them as a class from their fellow-countrymen.
Furthermore, succession to the priestly office depended not
upon choice or ability but upon birth, so that none from
other ranks of society could gain admission to their numbers.
Therefore, in process of time, the priests, as among so many
other ancient peoples, became a close corporation, in reality a
caste, organized and exclusive.

The Hebrew term for priest, 2ohe@n, means one who serves,
one who ministers. Their duties, as their name suggests, were
chiefly manual. They were the custodians of the temple.
When the people came up with their offerings and victims
for sacrifice, the priests received them in the name of Jehovah
and performed the appointed rites. All questions which in-
volved a knowledge of the ritual law were naturally referred
to those who were its official conservers and interpreters.
Frequently civil cases were brought before them, since they
constituted an organized, authoritative body in the state. With
them, also, in early times were found the divine oracles, which
were consulted by ruler and people before taking important
action (Judges 18 : 5, 6; I. Sam. 23 : 2, 4, 9-12). Through-
out Hebrew history, they were recognized by the reigning
monarchs to be the most loyal and powerful defenders of
their throne. Consequently they were by them both courted
and supported.

Furthermore, they were the champions, not only of the existing
government, but also of the prevailing customs and conditions.
No glowing pictures of the future were painted by their lips.
They troubled themselves little about abstract principles, ex-
cept as they were objectively presented in the law. ‘They may
therefore be designated as the ritualists of ancient Israel, since
THE HEBREW WISE. 13

“Keep the law, carefully observe the ceremonies,” was their
never varying exhortation to the nation and individual alike.
Their teachings were by no means as exalted as those of the
prophets, yet for this very reason they were more intelligible
to the mass of the people. Consequently, although exacting,
they were much oftener complied with, since it is far easier to
observe fixed forms than to apply principles to life. The author-
ities also to which they appealed, the past, precedent, and
custom, have always commanded a more unquestioning alle-
giance than truth direct from the Divine. Therefore the im-
mediate religious impression which they made upon the people
was undoubtedly greater than that of the prophets. Any one
visiting ancient Israel would have said unhesitatingly that they
were by far the most influential body in the state. But viewed
in the true perspective of history, they are seen to have been
the subordinate or drill officers in that great religious army,
while the generals who directed its onward progress were the
prophets.

2. THE PROPHETS.

Towering like lofty mountain peaks above all of the men of
their times, rise the Hebrew prophets. Begotten in the crises
of Israel’s life, they emerge into especial prominence at every
great turning point in that unique chapter of the world’s his-
tory. Entrusted with a divine message, they boldly announce
themselves to be the commissioned ambassadors of the Highest.
Even as Aaron was the prophet of Moses, his spokesman and
the chosen interpreter of his will to the Israelites (Exodus
7:1, 2), so the prophets — “ God’s men,” as they were called
in earlier times— were enabled to see conditions as their
divine Master saw them, and to grasp with certainty truths and
principles and purposes eternally existent in the mind of the
Divine. This constituted the essence alike of their call and of
their commission to the prophetic office.

Their mission in turn-was to introduce to their countrymen,
4 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

and through them to the world, those divine truths and prin-
ciples which had been revealed to them. Their task was to
open blind eyes and deaf ears to the perception of truth and
to impel weak wills to act aright. Since their message was
for man, and the prophets themselves were only men, the
methods whereby this was communicated to their nation were
thoroughly human, determined by the immediate circum-
stances, the popular intelligence, and the talents and experience
of the individual prophet.

Ordinarily the prophets stood up at some street corner and
fearlessly and eloquently proclaimed their message by word of
mouth. They were no idle dreamers living in a distant future,
as a careless system of interpretation would make them.
Social, political, and religious questions, which were of vital
interest in their own day, received their first attention. No
one can read their oral prophecies in the light of their historical
setting and still doubt that they at times predicted future events.
But a study of each individual sermon demonstrates that it was
intended primarily to have an immediate influence upon the
nation to whom the prophet spoke. In the divine economy
the future was revealed to the present only as the latter could
be profited by that knowledge. Even though it were a definite
prediction of coming destruction, it was proclaimed with the end
in view of leading the people to repent. This accomplished,
the conditions, implied if not expressed, upon which the predic-
tion rested, would be so changed as to render its fulfilment
impossible (cf. Jer. 26 : 17-19; Jonah; Jer. 18 : 7-12).

The gross sins of the nation made the scathing denunciations
which fill the oral prophecies a necessity ; but the prophets did
not stop with merely negative teachings. Beholding, with
opened eyes, the eternal purposes of the Almighty, they repeat-
edly presented glowing pictures, of what would be realized in
that coming day when the sins of the present would be no
more. But these Messianic prophecies, like the more specific
examples of prediction, had in each case a direct application to
a caret

THE HEBREW WISE. 15

the circumstances in which they were first uttered. True, their
ultimate purpose was to reveal the divine plan; but the im-
mediate aim was to bring out all the more vividly by contrast
the blackness of the present and at the same time to encourage
the nation to strive for the realization of the glowing ideal,
which was projected into the distant future simply because the
iniquities of the chosen people made it an impossibility in the
present.

But the prophets were not content with merely proclaiming
their message by word of mouth. In teaching an infant nation
they did not hesitate to employ the methods which are ap-
plied to-day in the Kindergarten. Isaiah, for example, set up
a great tablet with the inscription in Hebrew, “The spoil
speedeth, the prey hasteth,” that his contemporaries might
read with their eyes and remember his prophecy that the
spoils of Damascus and Samaria would soon be borne away
by the world-conqueror, Assyria (Is. 8: 1-4). Hosea gave to
each of his three children names which reiterated, every time
they were pronounced, his grim prophecy that Northern Israel
would be utterly destroyed because of her sins. The prophet
Ezekiel one day, in the presence of his astonished countrymen,
began in great haste to move out his household goods. Then
he proceeded to dig through the city wall, and through this
opening to carry his chattels. Curiosity (which finds so rich
soil in the Orient) filled the minds of his fellow-citizens.
When the moment was ripe he proclaimed with startling force,
“Tam your sign: like as I have done, so shall it be done unto
you: you shall go into exile, into captivity’’ (Ezek. 12 ; 1-14).

In later times when it became impossible, by virtue of cir-
cumstances, for the prophets to reach all of the nation by
voice or object lesson, they began, in God’s good providence,
to convey their message by the written word. Asa result of
this method of communicating their teachings, we have to-day
the prophetical literature which constitutes more than one-half
of the Old Testament. Thus, by stirring address, clad in
16 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

poetic garb and rich in pictures, or by the name of a child, or
by public poster, or by written tract or historical illustration,
by whatever best means were at hand, the prophets sought to
impress upon the half-awakened consciousness of the nation
the divinely inspired truth which glowed within their enlight-
ened souls.

Hence it is that the Hebrew prophets appear, when studied
in their true historic environment, not merely as seers fore-
telling the future, but in a far higher réle as ambassadors forth-
telling the will of Jehovah. This led them to stand forth,
sometimes as statesmen, manifesting a clear appreciation of
the political situation, and fearlessly and unceasingly advo-
cating a policy which has long since been proved by Time, the
impartial judge, to have been the best under the circumstances ;
sometimes as social reformers, pointing out and denouncing
the evils in the social system, and exhorting the nation to
recognize those principles which alone would bring healing ;
and always as ethical and religious teachers, declaring the
character and truths of God which are the eternal basis of
religion and the guide of life. The conditions which con-
fronted them primarily commanded their attention and ener-
gies. They also had a message for the future. But this was
because their teachings contained truths and principles equally
applicable to all times, since they came direct from the Eter-
nal who changeth not. These represent the “Thus saith the
Lord,” which abides, while form and conditions are altered
and pass away.

The prophets were intensely practical in the performance of
their life work, and yet in the highest and truest meaning of
that term they may be styled idealists. Form, which com-
manded the attention of the priests, was by them lightly
esteemed. The existing conditions and standards were the
constant object of their denunciation rather than of their
reverence, since a higher and nobler ideal always filled their
souls. The object of all their endeavors was to realize in the
THE HEBREW WISE. 17

life of the nation this ideal, the key-note of which is also the
goal of Christianity, “Thy will be done.” Wild dreamers they
must have often seemed to their obtuse contemporaries. But
in the clear perspective of history it is plainly seen that they
were the ones who unceasingly bore onward the divinely
lighted torch which guided the Hebrew people through pros-
perity and through calamity to the realization of their exalted
mission.

3. THE WISE.

Their position, the nature of their work, and their prominence
in the Old Testament record has introduced even the casual
reader of the Bible to the priests and prophets of the Hebrew
state. But they were not the only agents of the Divine who were
active in shaping the nation’s life. Another group of workers
exercised a most potent influence, although they seldom came
to the front. These were the wise, whose counsel was con-
sidered by the contemporaries of Jeremiah as indispensable as
the word of the prophet or the law of the priest. Therefore,
with a mental photograph of their fellow-workers before us as
a basis of comparison, we are ready to study this third class
who taught ancient Israel.

II. The Wise in Israel’s History.

The Old Testament is the only source from which it is pos-
sible to gain information respecting the position and character
of the wise. Here also the data are by no means abundant.
For, (1) all the historical material which we have in the Old
Testament is written either from a priestly or prophetical point
of view, and, consequently, when the work of the sages is re-
ferred to, the reference is only incidental. (2) The work and
methods of the wise were not of such a character as to bring
them into sufficient prominence in the national life to command

a place in these public annals. Therefore it is necessary to
B
18 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

depend, for the most part, upon inferences drawn from these
chance allusions.

Both Samson, in his famous riddle (Judges 14: 14-18), and
Jotham, in his beautiful parable (Judges 9 : 8-15), employ the
characteristic form and product of wisdom thought. The first
person, however, who appears in the pages of Hebrew history
with the distinctive title of “wise” is a woman. She was from
the little Judean town of Tekoah, which late: rave us the
remarkable, rustic prophet, Amos. Her reputation for wis-
dom was so well established that she was employe by Joab,
the commander-in-chief of the Hebrew army, in a no less
important intrigue than the reconciliation of King David to his
son Absalom. Instructed by the wily Joab, she comes before the
king with a feigned story of her own woes which so works upon
his sympathy that he is led to commit himself to the principle
that in certain circumstances strict justice should give way to
pity. Thereupon she at once demands that he himself apply

“it to the case of his own son. It is needless to add that, like
the prophet Nathan, who employed the same methods, she
wins her point.

Again a wise woman figures prominently in connection with
Joab’s history (II. Sam. 20: 16-22). The occasion was the
siege of the town of Abel in Northern Israel, which had given
refuge to the rebel Sheba. When the city seemed doomed to
destruction, a wise woman, who abode there, came forth and
demanded an interview with Joab. With great respect, the
blood-stained warrior listened to her counsel. She first calls
his attention to the saying ‘‘ which they were wont to speak in
old time.” Its elliptical form indicates that it was a popular
proverb. The true translation seems to be: ‘ One should ask
counsel at Abel, for thus would he complete his plans.” At
least it is certain that she is recalling to his remembrance the
well-established reputation for wisdom which the town had long
enjoyed. After this preliminary, she skilfully leads Joab to
propose terms favorable to the city. “Then the woman went
THE HEBREW WISE. 19

unto all the people in her wisdom” (v. 22), and by that wis-
dom she persuaded her townsmen to cut off the head of the
rebel and thus deliver themselves.

In each case in which the wise of ancient Israel command a
place in history, the designation “ wise ’’ seems to have ceased to
be a simple adjective and to have become a substantive, referring
to a class of individuals distinguished from the rest of their com-
peers by ce’. xin well-known characteristics. Their words and
methods, as recorded, also strongly suggest a kinship with the
later wise, svith whom we are much more intimately acquainted.
The references to the far-famed wisdom of Abel certainly justi-
fies the inference that many, if not all, of the towns of ancient
Canaan had its class of men and women who were distin-
guished for their practical prudence and who were the reposi-
tories of that stored-up wisdom which was so highly prized in
that old Semitic world.

Gifted with rare prudence and penetration, King Solomon
is prominent not as the founder of an order of the wise, but
rather as the most conspicuous representative of that practical
cleverness which Semitic antiquity designated as wisdom. This
is all that his biographer in I. Kings 4: 29-34 claims for him.
In fact, he does not maintain that his wisdom is distinctively
Hebrew. He simply states that “it excelled the wisdom of all
the children of the East, and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he
was wiser than all men.”’ The examples cited to illustrate his
marvelous ability only confirm this conclusion. The cleverness
with which he met all the tests presented by the queen of
Sheba merely bears witness to his sagacity and cunning. To-
day we would say that he was brilliant or clever. That he was
utterly lacking in some of the most essential elements of wis-
dom as it is defined by the later wise, and by us at present,
becomes evident as one studies his character and the results
of his rule. Measured by the religious standards of even his
own age, they were but signal examples of colossal folly. The
splendor of his reign and the glory that gathered about his
20 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

name in later Biblical writings and in Oriental tradition, led
subsequent generations to look back upon Solomon as the illus-
trious head of the wisdom school and to attribute to him much
of its literature. The Apocryphal book, the Wisdom of Solo-
mon, is perhaps the best example of the tendency. On the
other hand, however, there must have been some basis for the
later traditions, and there is much in the character of the splen-
dor-loving monarch and of his glittering reign to warrant the
conclusion that he did make actual contributions to the litera-
ture of his nation. These probably took the form of short,
epigrammatical sayings, to which the author of I. Kings refers
when he declares that “He spake three thousand proverbs.”
When he adds that Solomon spake of trees and animals and
birds and fishes, he probably had in mind the use of these for
illustration and comparison, as is also common among the later
wise. The hypothesis that he was a student of Natural History
is the product rather of the present age than of the tenth
century B.C.

The same record in I. Kings refers to certain other wise men.
Evidently they are so well known to the contemporaries of the
author that he feels that their reputation for wisdom can be em-
ployed as a basis for comparison without further description.
Unfortunately we are left in ignorance respecting the character
of these with whom we fain would become better acquainted.
Their names alone are given: Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman,
Calcol and Darda, the sons of Mahol. In the genealogical list
in I. Chr. 2:6 these four names occur together under the tribe
of Judah. Even though they are there catalogued as the sons
of Zerah, there is a probable connection. InJ. Chr. 15:17, 19,
the names of Heman and Ethan are both mentioned among
the prominent singers living during the reign of David. The
eighty-ninth Psalm is also ascribed by its superscription to
Ethan the Ezrahite. In the light of these references it would
seem that they were famous Hebrew wise men living about the
time of Solomon.
THE HEBREW WISE. 21

The oral prophecies contain allusions to the wise as a well-
known class. For example, Isaiah 29:14 speaks of the time
when the wisdom of the wise men of Judah shall perish. Also
side by side with these direct references are found proverbs
and parables, the characteristic products of the sages’ work-
shop, which reflect their activity. Again in later books we find
statements pointing to an earlier wisdom literature. David, as
he addresses Saul (I. Sam. 24: 13), introduces a maxim which
he cites with the suggestive formula: “As saith the proverb of
the ancients.” Ezekiel (7:26) uses this same term, “the
ancients,’ as a synonym for the wise. The book of Job fre-
quently makes reference to the accumulated wisdom of earlier
ages (cf. 8:8 ff.), or to that “which wise men have told from
their fathers” (15 : 18).

It is true that these chance references do not answer all our
questions respecting the wise, but it must be noted that they
are all the more reliable because introduced incidentally.
They certainly are most suggestive. The evidence is conclu-
sive that men and women, distinguished by the title “wise,”
were found among the Hebrews before the prophet was more
than a seer and before the offering of sacrifice was wholly dele-
gated to a distinct class.

Class lines are loosely drawn in the Orient. The sheikh of
an Arab tribe combines the functions of judge, priest, leader in
war, and tribal counselor, with his private duties as father and
property owner. Among the Hebrews the functions of the
priest and prophet were not developed at once. They were
the gradual growth of centuries. Thus it was with the wise.
In the earliest days they had their representatives, although
their characteristics were only partially defined. But from the
time of Solomon they seem to have taken their place — though
that was not nearly so prominent — side by side with the priests
and prophets.

There is no indication that they wore any official garb as did
the priests, nor that admission to their ranks was ever secured
22 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

through inheritance. They did not even claim to have received
any particular divine call to their work. The sole qualification
was the possession of natural ability, developed by experience
and education. Although they do not, like the prophets,
claim special inspiration, yet the products of their thought are
sufficient evidence that their souls also were enlightened by the
Divine. In the case of many, the experience and prudence
that came with mature age were required to fit them for
entrance into the ranks of the wise. The use of the term “ the
ancients’ as a synonym for the wise (Ezek. 7: 26) confirms
this. The long preamble of the youthful Elihu, in which he
apologizes for presuming to speak (Job 32: 1-9) indicates
clearly the prevailing ideas. At the same time it demonstrates
that the rule admitted of exceptions.

That they devoted all their time to their duties as the wise
of the nation, or that their means of subsistence came from
this source, is not postulated any more than in the case of the
prophets. Even the priests, whose functions made greater
demands upon their time and energies, were often found
engaged in other occupations. The wise certainly were not a
caste. Hardly can they be designated as an order. But they
did constitute an important class in the old Hebrew common-
wealth, and were united by common aims, ideas, teachings, and
methods of work. These in turn naturally produced certain
distinct class characteristics which sharply distinguished them,
on the one hand from the mass of the people, and on the
other from the prophets and priests. Probably, in early
times, each worked and thought independently, just as the
ancient seers. But as their functions became more clearly
defined, they were gradually drawn together. The book of
Job presents an interesting picture of the wise reasoning
together (12:2; 13:1ff; 17:10; 32:6 ff.) upon the great
and common problems which demanded their attention. This
illustration also demonstrates that they often failed to agree,
and did not hesitate to call each other’s wisdom “ folly.”
THE HEBREW WISE. 23

Within the class itself there was always an opportunity for a
wide difference of opinion; but in process of time, as they
came to exercise a stronger and more potent influence upon
each other, their teachings became more and more homo-
geneous until there arose a wisdom school with certain well-
defined tenets. After the Restoration they lost their originality
by degrees and degenerated into the scribes of the time of
Christ.

III. Methods of the Wise.

The priests, when performing their duties, were always found
within the national sanctuaries, beside the altars, clad in their
prescribed costumes. The prophets, less conventional, pro-
claimed their message to the nation at the great assemblies, or
whenever and wherever they could gather together a handful of
people to listen. ‘Wisdom crieth aloud in the street: she
uttereth her voice in the broad places: she crieth at the head
of the noisy streets, at the entering in of the gates, in the city,
she uttereth her words” (Prov. 1:20, 21). This, and the
parallel passage at the beginning of the eighth chapter of Prov-
erbs, suggest that the wise also taught from the Jema of the
prophets. Their work certainly took them into the midst of
the busy hum where life was most intense. At times, questions
of practical ethics and national policy, which were of common
interest to all, probably led them to raise their voice in public.
Such passages as:

Every purpose is established by counsel :
And by wise guidance make thou war (Prov. 20: 18),

indicate that the wise formed a committee of ways and means,
who could be consulted in determining the state policy. State-
craft was one of the lines of investigation which commanded
their attention. But it was not in public that they did most of
their teaching. As the messengers, sent out to spread the
invitation to Wisdom’s banquet (Prov. 9: 3, 4), they did not,
24 WISE ALIEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

like the prophets, go to the nation as a whole. Rather they
sought the individual and especially the one who was lacking in
understanding. By personal advice and exhortation they tried
to turn him into the paths of wisdom. To none who desired
to learn did they refuse their teaching. On the contrary, they
continually urged the foolish to give heed. “Walk with the
wise and thou shalt be wise’’ (Prov. 13:20). The reprovers
in the gate, referred to in Am. 5: 10 and Is. 29: 21, probably
belong to this class.

The familiar picture of the Peripatetic school of Greek phi-
losophers gives us the truest illustration in the history of West-
ern thought of the methods of the wise of Israel. As we study
the different portions of the book of Proverbs, we find that
sometimes their teachings are directed to one only, who is
familiarly called “my son” (1:8, 10, 15; 2:13 3:1,113 21;
4: 10,20, etc.). Or, again, the sage seems to have a company of
disciples about him: for example, in 4:1 the instruction is
addressed to “sons,” the teacher assuming the tone of a father.
The Wisdom of Sirach refers (6: 35) to the discourses of the
wise. From these hints it is easy to reconstruct the picture.
At the open space by the city gate, where the judges held their
court, where the people met for converse, that place which
corresponded to the club of the modern city or the village green
of the town, were daily to be found the wise. There, a little
aside from the crowd, the sage gathered his disciples about him
and answered their questions and taught them out of the wealth
of his own experience or from the inherited sapience of preced-
ing generations. Thus they showed their wisdom by selecting
as the site of their primitive school the place where the crowds
whom they desired to reach were to be found at leisure and
ready for discussion.

In Israel’s history, we find that the prophets were often greeted
with contempt and even violence. Many passages in the book
of Proverbs (1: 24,25, etc.) indicate that there was a large
class in Israel, whom the author designates as “scorners,” who
THE HEBREW WISE. 25

refused to hear or heed the teachings of the wise. But nowhere
is there a hint that they were subjected to personal violence.
They seem rather to have enjoyed in a high measure that deep
reverence which is ever paid in the Orient to the venerable
and sagacious. Penetration and prudence, mingled with cun-
ning, are to-day in those lands regarded as the most enviable
of virtues. Consequently the wise invariably stood high in
popular favor and were therefore able to wield a powerful
influence.

In the later days, when they had become mere scribes, we
meet with a suggestive injunction in the Pirke Aboth (IV. 9),
“Make not the Torah a crown to glory in, nor an ax to live by.”
At this time, the Torah had come to have a technical meaning,
so that it was restricted to instruction of a religious character.
This perhaps explains the command not to accept remunera-
tion for services. But the injunction would be inexplicable
unless the practice had prevailed. The references in I. Sam.
9:7, 8 and Am. 7: 12-14 indicate that in earlier times the
prophets often received a fee. ‘Wherefore is there a price in
the hand of a fool to buy wisdom, seeing he hath no under-
standing” (Prov. 17: 16). Ewald infers from this that in the
earlier days the wise also were remunerated for the counsel
which they gave. A kindred suggestion is contained in the
Wisdom of Sirach (51 : 28), “Get learning with a great sum of
money, and get much gold by her.’ Certainly much of the
practical advice of the wise, if followed, brought material as well
as moral profit to the one instructed. To pay therefor would
merely be to pay a just debt. Where the priests were so richly
rewarded for their services, it would have been strange indeed
if that class of teachers, whose instruction was much more
utilitarian, received no remuneration. Obviously no fixed fee
could be charged. The amount in each case was probably
determined by the degree of appreciation on the part of the
one receiving the counsel.
26 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

IV. The Thought Realm of the Wise.

Fortunately we know far more about the teachings of the wise
than about the exact manner in which they were communicated.
By them form and ceremony were lightly esteemed. They by
no means, however, opposed the commands of the priestly sys-
tem. Tacitly they accepted them as a necessary element in
the national religion. But when they do refer to them, it is to
emphasize the fact that life and actions are infinitely more
important.

The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination:
How much more, when he bringeth it with a wicked mind!
(Prov. 21: 27).

Or:

To do justice and judgment
Is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice (Prov. 21: 3).

Here they stood squarely on the platform of their brethren,
the prophets.

But while these two great classes of teachers agreed upon
this fundamental principle, their realms of thought were almost
independent of one another. This was due primarily to the
fact that the wise spoke to the state only through the individual.
The study of man led the wise to present their teachings in a
form equally intelligible to all peoples and times. They spoke
of and to humanity. Thus they proved themselves citizens
not merely of the land of the Hebrews, but of the world. The
book of Proverbs, which contains not a single reference to
Israel, while it speaks of man thirty-three times, well illustrates
the breadth of their vision. The nature of man, his relations in the
family, in society, to the state, his duties to himself, to others,
and to God, were ever the theme of their thought and dis-
course. Nothing which concerned him was too foreign to
receive their attention. Anything, from the details of the
management of a farm to the duties of a king toward his sub-
THE HEBREW WISE. 27

jects, commanded their consideration, provided the interests
of humanity were involved.

Standing, as they did, so closé to the masses, in such inti-
mate touch with their life, and enjoying their confidences, they
had rare opportunities for drawing inductions. But mere
knowledge was never an ultimate goal of endeavor with the
Hebrew, as it was with the Greek. In thus exalting the prac-
tical above the merely theoretical, the wise (who most closely
resembled the philosophers of the West) were true to the
peculiar genius of their race. Knowledge was with them only
a means to an end. That end was to deduce maxims and
principles which would enable the one who heeded them to
attain the goal which he set before him in the best manner and
by the best means at his command. This fact also explains
the didactic tone which characterizes their teachings. They
had little time for the purely philosophical, since the practical
constantly dominated their thought. Into their ethical instruc-
tions they wove so much of the prudential and useful, that they
have been designated, in contrast to the idealists and ritualists,
the utilitarians of Israel.

But they did not stop with merely furnishing rules for the
guidance of their pupils. They sought a common principle to
give unity to all their teachings. This, when found, they desig-
nated as wisdom. The term was applied both to the means
and the end. When they turned from man to the Divine, they
naturally and truly found the same principle regulating him in
all his acts. As they compared the perfect divine wisdom with
its fallible human counterpart, they began to perceive that the
highest wisdom possible for man was to conform to the divine
wisdom and purposes. Consequently, “The knowledge of the
Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” voices their fundamental
proposition. A much later step was to personify this divine
wisdom and its human counterpart. The memorial of this form
of the thought is contained in the sublime eighth and ninth
chapters of Proverbs.
28 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

Thus, fixing their attention on the seen rather than the unseen,
thinking little about the future, quietly ignoring the Messianic
ideals of the prophets and the rites of the priests, the wise of
old Israel sought by prudent counsels to instruct their disciples
to cherish high ideals and to be wise that they might act wisely,
and thereby attain the worthy aims thus set before them. Util-
itarians, humanitarians, practical moralists, and educators we
may call them, and still fail to bring out every phase of their
activity.

V. The Influence of the Wise upon Hebrew Life and Thought.

Although the wise worked for the present, they gave little
attention to their nation, its dangers, and its crises. To the
future of the nation also they paid no heed. Consequently all
that was narrowly nationalistic is conspicuously lacking in their
teachings. Shall we therefore conclude that their influence in
Hebrew life and thought was slight? As we have seen, there
are certain proverbs which suggest that their voices were some-
times heard in the counsels of the state, but this was not their
true field. Their influence was exerted not externally, but from
within. By molding the character of the individual they
determined the character and consequently the history of the
commonwealth. Aptly does the author of Ecclesiastes bring
this out: “ The words of the wise spoken in quiet are heard
more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools’’(g: 17).
Drinking in many of the principles of the prophets, diluting
them with certain utilitarian elements, they, like the priests,
came to the masses with teachings which all could understand
and consequently absorb. Their work was to interpret in the
language of private life the great truths thus confided to the
nation. The influence of the prophets upon the wise was
probably largely unconscious on the part of both. But it is
plainly indicated by the many points of similarity in the lan-
guage, and especially in the thought of the two classes.
THE HEBREW WISE. 29

Although not ordinarily suspected, yet there is good evidence
to prove that the wise in turn exerted a powerful influence upon
the prophets. Whenever the latter allude to the former the
tone is most deferential. The prophet Nathan did not hesitate
when it was necessary to deliver an unpleasant message to King
David, to employ a parable, the characteristic form of expression
of the wise. Later prophets frequently make use of the proverb
or the epigrammatic form of speech. The influence extended
even to the kernel of the thought. The prophet from the
Judean town of Tekoah, which was renowned in the earliest
Hebrew annals for its wise, spoke more from the point of view
of a sage than of a prophet. The earnestness of Amos in
denying the imputation that he belonged to the prophetic order
is very suggestive : “I am no prophet, neither am I one of the
sons of the prophets’ (7:14). Perhaps the best explanation
of this emphatic statement and the character of his teachings
is that he was a wise man turned prophet for the moment.
It is significant that he combats at every turn the narrow,
nationalistic spirit which discolored the thought of certain later
prophets. He repeatedly proclaimed that Jehovah’s care is not
limited to the Hebrew people alone (cf. chaps. 1 and 2 and
9:7). His denunciations of the Northern Israelites are based,
not upon any laws peculiar to the Hebrew religion, but upon
the one obligation, incumbent on all, to observe the law of the
universal brotherhood of man and the fatherhood of God (cf.
2: 6-12; 3:9-153; 4: 1-33 5: 10-12; 6: 1-7, etc.). Distinc-
tions of race and religion he completely ignores. The Israelites,
instead of being exempted, are regarded as more culpable,
because they enjoy greater enlightenment (3:2). This breadth
of view was what distinguished most sharply the teachings of
the wise from those of the priests and prophets. Isaiah, it is
true, proclaimed that the time was coming when the despised
Gentiles — even their hated enemies the Egyptians and Assyr-
ians — would share equally with the Israelites the blessings and
joys of the religion of Jehovah. But later prophets lost sight of
30 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

this great truth, and the Jews of the time of Christ had largely
read these expansive ideas out of the mouth of Amos and
Isaiah. The post-exilic priesthood fostered rather than com-
bated this narrow Jewish spirit. The wise therefore had a
great service to perform if the Hebrew people were to fulfill
their mission to the world. It was necessary that this chrysalis
should be broken, if Judaism was ever to develop into Christ-
ianity. Although the wise say nothing concerning a coming
Messiah, it was their broad, humanitarian mode of thought
which prepared the way, and made it possible to break these
narrow bonds of nationalism. It brought hope to all, since
it declared at every turn that there was no distinction between
Jew and Gentile before God, but that it was simply man before
his Maker. At the first glance it seems incredible that two
mighty forces, so diametrically opposed to each other, could
exist side by side in the same state and still both be indispens-
able to the realization of its mission. In the unfolding of the
divine plan, prophetism ignored the individual and exalted the
nation to the ultimate exclusion of the non-Hebrews. The
wisdom school ignored the nation and exalted the individual
until it recognized all men as brothers. In thought the prophets
attained to the greatest heights, while the wise presented the
greatest breadth. Without the former the Hebrew nation
might never have been prepared to receive its priceless pearl
of divine truth. Without the latter it might not have been
able to present that truth to the world. Without either, it
might never have become possible to say that “salvation is of
the Jews.” It is only because the character and work of the
wise is so little understood that the great debt which we owe to
them is so frequently ignored.

We often think of Jesus Christ as a prophet, as a priest, and
as a king, but ordinarily we overlook the fact that he also stood
as the highest representative of the wise. Certainly it was
development along this line which was in the mind of the
evangelist when he declared that “ Jesus advanced in wisdom”
THE HEBREW WISE. 31

(Luke 2:52). The Master, referring to himself, declared that
“a greater than Solomon is here” (Mt. 12:42). As we shall
show later, Proverbs was one of the books which he studied
most carefully during those quiet days spent at Nazareth. It
is also evident that the tenets of the wisdom school constitute
some of the most important foundations of Christianity. The
universal fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man,
man’s duties to his brother, the principle that religion is a
relation not merely between God and the nation, but between
God and his individual child, all belong more to the teachings
of the wise than to those of the prophets or priests.

Viewed in the light of these facts, it is doubly significant that
Jesus adopted the method of teaching peculiar to the wise.
“All these things spake Jesus in parables unto the multi-
tudes ; and without a parable spake he nothing unto them”
(Mt. 13:34). He, like the wise of ancient Israel, was speak-
ing to all ages and peoples, and consequently broke away
from the restrictions which trammeled priest and prophet.
Though paradoxical and obscure and often unintelligible to the
unthinking, this style of expression preserved the thought in
imperishable form, so that it could be understood with equal
facility by the truth-seekers of all times. Thus “the words of
the wise spoken in quiet,” by shaping and by degrees trans-
forming the life of the Hebrew people, and counteracting the
narrowing influence which threatened to crush the very soul of
the nation, planted the seed-thoughts which later bore fruit in
Christianity, and gave to the world that method of teaching
which has been forever immortalized because employed by the
Wisest of the wise to convey his message of salvation to erring
men.
CHAPTER II
THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF WISDOM LITERATURE.

ALREADY we have observed in the history of the work of the
prophets, that there came a time when they began to employ
the written word as a means for conveying and preserving their
message. Similar was the experience of the wise. For centu-
ries, the memory of man had been the repository for their
treasures of truth. But at last the storehouse proved inade-
quate for the safe preservation of the constantly increasing
wealth. Then they began to write down their teachings for
their own use and that of their disciples. This gave us the
wisdom literature of the Old Testament, which constitutes one
of the four great departments of that ancient library.

To this product of their thought the Hebrew wise applied
the general term ‘“ Hokma.” This is ordinarily translated
“Wisdom.” It is derived from a root having the primary
meaning of ¢o de firm or solid. ‘The idea is in turn taken over
into the intellectual and moral realm where it signifies ¢o de
solid in understanding, well-grounded, therefore, prudent and
wise. Consequently the substantive has the general primary
meaning of solidity; then the more technical signification of
prudence, skill, knowledge ; and finally, as combining all these
qualities, of wsdom. In its technical sense, it was used to
designate not only these abstract qualities, but also included
their practical application to affairs. The term therefore is
exceedingly broad and comprehensive.

The difference between the literature of the wise and that of
the priest or prophet is not merely one of subject or ideas.
The sages had a vocabulary of their own. Many ordinary

32
DIFFERENT TYPES OF WISDOM LITERATURE. 33

Hebrew words have quite a different meaning in their mouth
than when used by the other great teachers of old Israel.
For example, “torah,” as employed by the wise, referred to
prudent and profitable instruction. But this came in process
of time to be used by the priests in a technical sense to
designate the written ceremonial law. ‘This is its usage in the
famous passage first cited from Jeremiah. Later prophets,
at least, accepted this terminology of the priests. But mani-
festly this is a wide departure from the sense in which it is
used by the sage who urges his disciple not to reject his
“torah”; for this, in the light of the context, is evidently the
wise instruction of the teacher himself. Examples might be
multiplied. It is obvious that a special lexicon is demanded
if we would fully grasp the thought of these old instructors
of humanity. Many have been the errors in the past, simply
because we have been interpreting the writings of the wise by
the aid of the vocabularies which we have derived from the
priestly or prophetical literature.

The wise, ever unique in method, have their own peculiar
forms or literary molds into which they cast their thought. A
familiarity with these different types enables the Bible student
to distinguish at a glance the products of their workshop.
These are:

I. Similitude.

A very early— perhaps the earliest— form of expression
peculiar to the wise is the similitude, that type of the popular
proverb in which the thought is conveyed by means of a fanci-
ful or imaginative comparison. Examples of this appear in
Hebrew literature long before the wise became a distinct class.
According to Gen. 10:9, so great was Nimrod’s fame as a
hunter, that it gave rise to a popular proverb: “ Like Nimrod
a mighty hunter before the Lord.” Many are familiar with

our modern saying of kindred origin: “ He drives like Jehu.”
c
34 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

The book of Proverbs has preserved some of the more formal
and elaborate examples of the similitude :

As the door turneth upon its hinges,

So doth the sluggard upon his bed (Prov. 26:14).

Fervent lips and a wicked heart

Are like an earthen vessel overlaid with silver dross
(Prov. 26: 23).

II. Riddle.

In the mouth of Samson, that physical giant and moral weak-
ling of Judah’s annals, there appears an example of the second
type of wisdom literature, the riddle. Certainly it fulfills the
conditions: “ An ambiguous proposition to be solved by con-
jecture.”” Samson has found in the carcass of a lion, which he
had slain at an earlier period, a great quantity of honey, which
had been deposited there by the bees. To entertain his
friends, as he celebrates his nuptials in a seven days’ feast,
he propounds the following, and gives them the seven days in
which to guess it:

Out of the eater came forth meat,
And out of the strong came forth sweetness (Judges 14:14).

The seven days are nearly past and no solution. At the last
moment, Samson’s wife, at the instigation of the Philistines,
wrests the secret from him. The guests present the answer in
the epigrammatic language, characteristic of the early wise :

What is sweeter than honey,
And what is stronger than a lion? (Judges 14 : 18).

‘Samson, divining how they had become possessed of his
secret, answers in the same enigmatical strain:

If ye had not plowed with my heifer,
Ye had not found out my riddle (Judges 14: 18).

Josephus relates of Solomon—and the statement is quite
DIFFERENT TYPES OF WISDOM LITERATURE, 35

in keeping with what we know of the clever king — that he and
Hiram of Tyre exchanged many riddles, testing each other’s
acuteness.

Riddles were unquestionably one of the very earliest forms
in which human thought found expression. They are plenti-
fully sprinkled through the ancient literature of most nations.
Early English and German present exceedingly interesting
illustrations of this tendency. The Hebrew was evidently no
exception. Unfortunately their secular literature is for the
most part lost, but the few examples suggest the character of
the rest. As at Samson’s marriage feast, the riddle was
undoubtedly one of the favorite modes of entertainment at
all the ancient merry-makings. In high repute was the wise
man who could by their use entertain and instruct the people.
In later times the Jewish scribes took great delight in pro-
pounding difficult and intricate riddles. The type which is
best represented in the Old Testament is the numerical
enigma, The thirtieth chapter of Proverbs contains such a
collection. The enigma as propounded would be, for example,
“What four things are never satisfied?” (30:15), or “ What
four things are little but exceeding wise?” (30: 24). We can
easily imagine the sages as they presented these enigmas to
the group of their disciples or to the crowd who were to be
entertained. The one who has put them in their present form
has naturally combined question and answer. Highly artificial .
and almost childish they seem to us. Probably they belong to
the time when the literary activity of the Hebrews was begin-
ning to decline, for they certainly smack of Scribism. But
justly to estimate this product of the thought of the wise, we
must remember the class whom they sought to reach. These
were not those already wise, but the simple and untaught.
Such a type of teaching, although often artificial, was calculated
to attract the disciple and impress the truth when something
higher would be lost in the air. To put old truth in so original
a setting that it will sink into dull minds is the supreme mark
36 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

of the efficient teacher. This the Hebrew sages essayed, and
in this they certainly succeeded.

III. Fable.

Scattered through the Old Testament we find a few exam-
ples of the fable. This use of a fictitious tale or story for the
purpose of instructing or amusing is, like the riddle, character-
istic of the wisdom school. As in the Greek, German, and
English, so in the Hebrew literature it appears at an early
period. Addison aptly says: “Jotham’s fable of the trees is
the oldest extant and as beautiful as any since.” In the
chaotic period of the Judges, Abimelech, the son of Gideon,
murdered all his brothers except Jotham, who escapes. The
citizens of Shechem proceed to elect the murderer, king. But
Jotham, standing on a cliff overlooking the city, endeavors be-
fore he flees to call them to their senses by means of a fable.
“The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them;
and they said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over us. But
the olive tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness, which
God and man honor in me, and go and wave to and fro over
the trees?” The fig tree is next asked, but refuses to leave
its sweetness. The vine likewise rejects their offer of king-
ship. ‘Then said all the trees unto the bramble, Come thou
and reign over us. And the bramble said unto the trees, If
in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your
trust in my shadow: and if not, then let fire come out of the
bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon” (Judges 9 : 6-21).
The immediate application is obvious. The base-born Abim-
elech is the bramble before which the Shechemites are bowing
down.

Similarly, Jehoash, the strong king of Northern Israel, with
great skill endeavored to bring to his reason Amaziah, the
over-confident king of Judah, by means of a pointed fable in
which he likens himself to a cedar of Lebanon and the latter
DIFFERENT TYPES OF WISDOM LITERATURE. 37

to a troublesome thistle (II. Kings 14:9). The wise in later
times continued to be very fond of employing the fable as a
medium for conveying their teachings.

IV. Parable.

Closely related to the fable is the parable. This is defined
as something real in life or nature from which a moral is drawn
for instruction. Embedded in the Old Testament prophetic
records there are several examples of this. Nathan, who was
evidently a sage as well as a prophet, came before King David
with his story of the poor man and his one little ewe lamb, and
pictured the wrong done to him so powerfully that the royal
culprit was stirred with indignation against the rich offender
(II. Sam. 12; 1-6). Then the prophet turned with irresistible
might upon the victor of so many battles, who had been van-
quished by a temptation, and declared, “Thou art the man.”

Similarly, on another occasion, a wise woman of Tekoah
(as we have already seen), by the use of a parable, worked
upon the feelings of the king until he stood committed to a
certain principle, which he is forced, though much against his
will, to apply to the case of his son Absalom.

According to I. Kings 20: 39, 40, a royal delinquent is again
convicted by a parable. Contrary to the express command of
Jehovah, Ahab has spared the life of his captive, the king of
Syria. As he is riding past the battle-field, a prophet, dis-
guised by a headband over his eyes, accosts him, saying : “ Thy
servant went out into the midst of the battle; and behold, a
man turned aside and brought a man to me, and said, Keep
this man: if by any means he be missing, then shall thy life be
for his life, or else thou shalt pay a talent of silver. And as
thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone. And the
king of Israel said unto him, So shall thy judgment be ; thyself
hath decided it.” The point is thus gained. The king has
committed himself. The doom falls upon his guilty head.
38 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

The youthful Isaiah, with a difficult and disagreeable message
to deliver to an unheeding audience, most skillfully wins a
hearing by employing the methods of the wise. In the trip-
ping, familiar meter of the holiday song he sings of a friend of
his who carefully prepared and planted a vineyard. Having
set out the best varieties of grapes and having bestowed upon
them the tenderest care, he justly expected that they would
bear the choicest fruit. “ But what does it yield? Only sour
grapes.” His audience are fascinated by the artistic beauty of
the song. Their interest is at the white heat. He turns to
them : “Should not my friend destroy such a vineyard?” While
they are nodding their heads in assent, like a flash comes the
application. ‘Jehovah is the husbandman. Israel is the vine-
yard. Your wicked deeds are the fruit. You have pronounced
your own condemnation.”

These picturesque examples, coming from Israel’s most
glorious period, are good evidence that the parable was a
favorite method of conveying thought with prophet as well as
sage. Ezekiel refers repeatedly to those who speak in para-
bles. These apparently were the wise. From later Jewish
history also we have preserved to us several of their stories
with their pointed morals. Some of them bear upon their face
the indications of kinship with those used with such telling
force by the Wisest of the wise, the divine Teacher, who always
spoke in parables.

V. Simple Proverb.

Side by side with the more elaborate types of wisdom litera-
ture there grew up a collection of sentences and epigram-
matic expressions, which briefly and forcibly express and
preserve those practical truths which are the product of
experience and observation. These we style proverbs. The
presence of these sententious expressions, deeply embedded in
the most ancient remnants of the prophetical and legal litera-
ture, indicates the antiquity of the proverb among the
DIFFERENT TYPES OF WISDOM LITERATURE. 39

Hebrews. The Midianite kings, awaiting death, testily goad
on Gideon to rise and himself perform the act of slaughter at
which his youthful son had hesitated. To this end they cite a
popular maxim: “ For as the man, so is his strength’ (Judges
8:21). Interesting and suggestive is “the proverb of the
ancients ” in the mouth of David: “ But of the wicked cometh
forth wickedness” (I. Sam. 24: 13). Jeremiah (31: 29) and
Ezekiel (18: 2) both cite a proverb current in their day whose
misapplication they strenuously combat: “The fathers have
eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.”
A similar maxim is referred to in Ezekiel 16: 44: “As the
mother, so is her daughter.” In fact, Ezekiel abounds in
proverbs and references to those who use them (cf. 12: 22;
16: 44), indicating perhaps that in his day the wise came into
especial prominence. The book of Proverbs, however, with
its gnomic treasures, gleaned from the experience of many
different ages and authors, is the supreme example of this form
of expressing wisdom-thought. The proverb was the thought-
mold in which, for the most part, the results of the experi-
ence and observation of the early wise men of the Hebrew
nation were preserved. It is the most characteristic product
of the thinking of the sages.

VI. Paradox.

Many of our modern proverbs, if put side by side, give us a
proposition, seemingly absurd and contradictory in appearance
and yet true in fact. For example, “ Beauty is only skin
deep,” and “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.” Some
Hebrew sage or collector of proverbs was the first to conceive
the idea of putting two such proverbs together. As the result,
he has given us the first paradox :

Answer not a fool according to his folly,

Lest thou also be like unto him.

Answer a fool according to his folly,

Lest he be wise in his own conceit (Prov. 26: 4, 5).
40 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

*

VII. Gnomic Essay.

To understand and rightly appreciate the literature of the
wise, it is necessary to become familiar with the characteristic
methods of thought of the Orient. These in many ways
stand in direct antithesis to those to which we are accustomed.
That process of reasoning from premises to conclusion, which
we term logical and which is the framework — the sme gua
non of all our thinking —is all but unknown to the Semitic
mind. This does not mean that they have no process of
reasoning, or come to no conclusion. The difference is
chiefly one of method. The Oriental masses a number of
facts, observing no consistent law of arrangement and quite
regardless of their relative importance, and then suddenly
arrives at a conclusion. This is well illustrated by the Koran.
Facts, fables, revelations, exhortations, stories from the life of
the prophet, gems and rubbish, are all mixed together in seem-
ingly hopeless confusion. And yet to-day by two hundred
millions of the earth’s inhabitants this is regarded as the highest
type of thought, bearing clearly the stamp of divine inspiration.
Shall we say that this is mere nonsense? No; instead we will
enlarge our circle, which bounds the known, so that it will
include that type of reasoning which is perhaps best described
as the “intuitive,’’ and which is independent of the laws of
logical arrangement.

The book of Proverbs consists for the most part of inde-
pendent maxims, arranged according to no discoverable law.
But in certain places there are indications that an attempt has
been made to treat a given theme consecutively, if not logic-
ally. The result can best be designated as a gnomic essay.
Here the fundamental characteristics of wisdom-thought appear.
Each verse is a unit by itself. But the assemblage of such
units, all treating of the same general subject, shows that the
author, by the only method with which he was familiar, was
endeavoring to throw all the light which he could upon the
DIFFERENT TYPES OF WISDOM LITERATURE. 41

theme under consideration. Examples of this are found in
26:1-12, where all the proverbs treat of the fool, and in
26: 13-17, where the characteristics and fate of the sluggard
are discussed at length. A more highly developed form of this
type of wisdom literature appears in the elaborate treatise upon
the drunkard (23: 29-35), and in the beautiful alphabetical
poem, contained in 31:10-31. The apocryphal book of
Ecclesiasticus is made up for the most part of such collections,
grouped about a series of independent themes. But the most
beautiful example of the gnomic essay is the sublime descrip-
tion of personified wisdom, contained in the eighth and ninth
chapters of Proverbs.

VIII. Didactic Drama.

The transition from the higher forms of the gnomic essay to
the didactic drama is not great. In the case of both, the wise
men had certain great principles of practical value to the indi-
vidual, which they wished to inculcate. In the former, they
state these truths at once and without prelude. In the latter,
they illustrate them at length by means of a dramatic dialogue,
before they state them abstractly. Our only Old Testament
illustration of this peculiar product of wisdom-thought is that
most exquisite of ancient poems, the Song of Songs. If the
author had been less gifted, he would undoubtedly have pre-
sented his teachings in the form of a simple proverb or gnomic
essay. But being a poet without superior, he selected a story,
probably well known to his contemporaries, and with match-
less skill transformed it into a simple drama, and, in this
attractive setting, presented the great truths to his own and
subsequent generations. Lest the obtuse should overlook
these, he took good care to give them also clear expression
in proverbial form in the last chapter :

For love is strong as death ;
Jealousy is as cruel as the grave:
42 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

The flashes thereof are flashes of fire,

A very flame of the Lord.

Many waters cannot quench love,

Neither can the floods drown it:

If a man would give all the substance of his house for love,
He would be utterly contemned (8: 6, 7).

Probably there were other didactic dramas in the ancient
lore of the Hebrews, but a narrow and unappreciative age
would not be careful to preserve them, since they lacked the
religious language. The best service rendered by the Allegorical
school of interpretation was the preservation of this ancient
love song; for it remains, even when the grotesque theories
which have been foisted upon it have disappeared like mist
before the light of a truer and more careful scholarship. Cer-
tainly it merits the title which it bears — “The Song Peerless
among Songs.” It was by no mere chance that it was thus
preserved from engulfing oblivion, for it has a message, in-
tensely practical, for the life of to-day.

IX. Philosophical Drama.

The next step, from the didactic to the philosophical drama,
is greater as regards content than form. Inthe latter (of which
the book of Job is the only example) there are the same use of
the popular story as the medium for conveying truth, and the
same dramatic elements. The action also is chiefly subjective,
and the aim primarily didactic. The close, connected, logical
reasoning of the Occident is likewise lacking, for we are still in
a thoroughly Semitic atmosphere ; but measured by the broadest
and truest standards, the thought is philosophical. The center
about which it all revolves is a great problem of vital interest to
humanity. At the time when Job was written, it was exalted
to a position of transcendent importance, since upon its solu-
tion seemed to hang the religious life of the nation. It was
the old, perplexing question with which we are so familiar:
DIFFERENT TYPES OF WISDOM LITERATURE. 43

“Why do the righteous in this world often suffer, while the
wicked enjoy prosperity ?”

Through the ages, the old dogma that right-doing inevitably
brings blessings, and wrong-doing calamity, and its converse,
that calamity is a sure index of some sin on the part of the
unfortunate, and prosperity of righteousness, had been reiterated
by generations of prophets and wise men. But, at last, facts, in
the national as well as in the individual experience, gave it the
lie. What made the crisis more intense, was the fact that men
had come somehow to identify the dogma with God himself,
so that the very character of the Divine seemed impeached by
incontrovertible facts. At this critical time a wise man, with
the enlightened vision of a prophet, came forward with a new
and healing message of truth.

In the form in which this is presented, divine revelation and
the results of human reasoning are welded into one grand
whole. Possessed of a great truth, this prophet-sage sought a
vehicle by which to convey it. Searching, he found an ancient
story, familiar to his contemporaries and adapted to his end.
With this as a background, he painted a marvelous picture, in
which the discerning clearly behold, reflected in the life-
experiences of the patriarch, all the different elements of the
mighty problem. The friends of Job, and he himself, in his
changing moods, present in objective form the different phases
of the human mind when brought face to face with the seemingly
irreconcilable facts of life and belief. Thus all the current solu-
tions are mustered in review and dismissed as useless. In fact,
the author does not hesitate to proclaim that the problem of
evil in the world cannot be solved by human reason. In the
ordinary sense there is no solution to be attained from any
quarter, for God never argues with man. Instead, he simply
bids him note that his problem is not the only one in the
universe which man cannot solve ; and then he asks him to listen
to the eternal voice of the Divine, speaking through Nature,
ever whispering softly but distinctly to each heeding heart, the
44 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

supreme truth of God’s infinite, unbounded wisdom and love.
Thus, not by hearsay, but by actual experience, Job learned
to look outward and upward and to know the Infinite. He
no longer conceives merely of a God of man’s creation, but of
a Being to the human mind incomprehensible, yet perfect in
justice, wisdom, and goodness. The solution of the problem of
the book of Job is a broader concept of the universe and of
the Divine. When this has been attained, the step which leads
to perfect faith in that One, so worthy of trust, is most easy
and natural. The mental problems, which before have seemed
so overpowering to Job, shrivel into insignificance in the presence
of that new-born faith which fills his soul. A peace which
passeth all human understanding succeeds the mighty tempest.

In the book of Job, the marvelous skill of the wise reached
its zenith. As we study the times, the mental characteristics
of the men whom the author desired to reach, and the many
elements of the baffling problem which confronted him, we
begin to realize how admirably he has adapted the means to the
end for which he was working. Even to-day we feel the
fascination and thrill of its mighty thought. Its movement is
like the rush of the gigantic avalanche. Not by administering
little pellets of prudential advice, but by turning on the full
current of divine truth, did those skilled physicians, the Hebrew
wise, cure the intellectual and moral ailments of man by means
of the philosophical drama. At least this is true if the poem
of Job is a type of its class.

X. Philosophical Homily.

The afterglow of wisdom-thought is represented by the
philosophical homily. This is closely akin to the didactic
essay, but has this radical distinction: in the latter there is
no trace of the steps whereby the conclusions were reached.
In the philosophical homily, however, we share in the perplex-
ities of the author, and are able to follow his faltering steps as
DIFFERENT TYPES OF WISDOM LITERATURE. 45

he advances in his search for truth. We readily detect the
tendencies toward philosophical thought which are the distant
reflections of the intense mental activity which centered in the
land of the Greek. This reacting upon the peculiar type of
thought which obtained in the Hebrew world at that time
produced the sole Old Testament example of this form of
wisdom literature, the book of Ecclesiastes. In this we ob-
serve the same gnomic style, the same lack of connection or
logical order, the same strong didactic elements which char-
acterize all of the teachings of the sages. Underneath this
Hebrew garb, we find not a few of the characteristic types
of expression and questionings and tenets of the Greek
philosophy, giving it that peculiar form which distinguishes
it from all the other productions of the Hebrew sages.

This examination of the literature which has come down to
us from the wise shows that their teachings were cast in many
different molds. For all these different forms they had how-
ever one common term, “mashal.” This is ordinarily trans-
lated proverb. By derivation, it comes, probably, from a root
meaning ¢o place — then, #0 place beside, to stand for, to represent.
The noun therefore in its original meaning signifies a presenta-
tion, a representation, and hence a similitude, the underlying
thought being something standing for or representing an idea or
fact. Its application consequently is exceedingly broad. The
term includes both the fable and the parable, since the funda-
mental idea in each is the representation of a truth ina graphic
manner by means of a story. The same aim is apparent in
the riddle and enigma. Here, however, the ambiguity in the
representation is regarded as a desirable element, since it calls
forth the ingenuity of the one to whom it is propounded, to
determine, from the slight suggestions, the idea or object in-
tended. In the paradox, the gnomic essay, the philosophical
drama, and the philosophical homily, the unit is for the most
part the simple proverb. Therefore even these more highly
developed forms are produced by the combination of the
46 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

mashal, and hence may properly be classified under the same
general head.

The didactic drama alone seems to be an exception. Ina
broad sense, however, the drama, like the fable and parable,
graphically represents the truth which the author, a wise man,
wished to inculcate in the minds of his contemporaries. Fur-
ther, as we have seen, the central teaching in the case of the
Song of Songs is also presented in the form of a proverbial
statement.

Thus the mashal includes all the various types of wisdom
literature. The desire to give a graphic, striking, thought-inspir-
ing, and impressive representation of the truth to be conveyed
is always the motive which leads the wise to employ these
peculiar forms of expression.
CHAPTER III.
PROVERBS AND PROVERB MAKING.
I. The Philosophical Basis of Proverb Making.

Every nation of antiquity with which we are familiar had its
anthology. Even those peoples who never produced an exten-
sive literature have their collections of popular proverbs which
are treasured up in the memory of the masses. Such a con-
stantly recurring phenomenon must have some philosophical
basis which is independent of national and local conditions.
While there was to a limited extent an interchange of popular
maxims, yet the great bulk of the proverbs of every nation bear
upon their face the evidence that they were native rather than
foreign born. Many, containing a common thought, were
evidently not the offspring of the same parent, but were rather
the products of natural generation.

As one enters into an intelligent sympathy with primitive
man and learns to understand his life and to appreciate the
limitations which surrounded him, he soon perceives the forces
which were active in molding the proverb. Early man went
out into the world of facts and forces an inexperienced child,
complete only in his ignorance. But as his experiences, plea-
sant and unpleasant, kept constantly repeating themselves, the
desire arose to preserve the knowledge thus gained for use
when similiar circumstances should again present themselves.
As his knowledge expanded with added experience and obser-
vation, this longing grew more intense. Not only for his own
use but also for that of others, would he fain preserve this
hard-won treasure. The art of writing, if known at all, was the

47
48 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

possession of only a favored few. Those by whom this stored-
up experience was most sorely needed were the uneducated
masses. ‘These were the conditions of the problem. The solu-
tion was the proverb. The stored-up experience and observa-
tion were cast into the form of condensed statements. Often
a significant catch-word or two sufficed to suggest the truth.
If perchance the idea was at first expressed in diffuse form, the
constant attrition to which it was subjected, as it was handed
down from mouth to mouth, would wear away all needless
words and tend to give it a compact, epigrammatic form. An
interesting example of this process in operation is found in the
book of Proverbs itself. The fifth verse of the nineteenth
chapter reads :

A false witness shall not be unpunished ;

And he that uttereth lies shall not escape.

The first member of the ninth verse of the same chapter is
identical, but the second member has been condensed so as to
read, preserving the same meaning :

And he that uttereth lies shall perish.

The next step would naturally give us :
And the liar shall perish.

This transmission in the mouth of early peoples also tended
to mold the proverb into poetical form, since poetry was the
most natural medium for conveying thought among all primi-
tive races. Mere utility would foster the same tendency, for
rhythm of sound or idea is ever an efficient aid to the memory.
It is not therefore owing to a mere convention that the book
of Proverbs is poetical throughout.

So also a certain degree of obscurity in the form in which
the idea was expressed would demand special attention and
thought, and thereby fix the truth in the mind of the one to be
taught. Truths and principles, thus pointedly and epigram-
matically put, when forced upon the receptive intellect, would
PROVERBS AND PROVERB MAKING. 49

stick like barbed arrows long after the same, if they had been
conveyed in a more abstract and diffuse form, would have faded
from the memory. Hence it was that the condensed, rhythmic,
epigrammatic, and even paradoxical proverb was so popular
with the teachers of antiquity. The same reasons also explain
why it is that it still flourishes to-day in a field so crowded with
other attractive types of literary composition.

The popular proverb possesses especial authority because it
has the endorsement of many different ages. Depending upon
its currency for preservation, in order to survive, it must ap-
prove itself to all men as true at all times and under all circum-
stances. Many a proverb, like a creed or dogma, may command
the absolute allegiance of one age, and be completely rejected
by the next. But one which survives the changes of many
centuries has demonstrated that it stands squarely upon the
unchanging foundation of verity and truth. Thus the free
exercise of the law of the survival of the fittest insures the
preservation of the best.

Since the proverb grows out of actual experience, and not
out of an ideal, it fits again most naturally and closely into the
different phases of human life. The teaching of a trite maxim
often molds character when the same truth, cast in the form
of a sermon, makes not the least impression. Hence it was
that the proverbs, the crystallized experience of past genera-
tions, the quintessence of the wisdom of the Hebrew wise, were
so highly prized by the mass of the Israelitish nation. Their
intrinsic character, as the product of the innermost life of that
enlightened people, is the source alike of their authority and
practical value to the present.

II. The Origin of Proverbs.

The facts presented in the preceding section merely explain
the presence and popularity of proverbs in general. But each

proverb has in addition its own private biography. Unfortu-
D
50 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

nately, in the process of transmission, these have long since
been left behind. In the case of the great majority we can
write this history only by the aid of conjecture. Without the
record of their origin, not a few of our modern proverbs would
be quite meaningless. Doubtless for this reason many of the
old Hebrew sayings have been abandoned as useless. Those
which have survived are naturally the ones which are intelligible
independently of their historical setting.

1. THE OUTGROWTH OF SOME HISTORICAL INCIDENT OR
TRADITION.

Undoubtedly, if the facts could be known, we should find
that many of the proverbs which have been preserved owe
their origin to some historic incident, long since forgotten.
The proverb, “Is Saul among the prophets?” is a good
illustration of this. Being current among the people in later
times, the question would naturally arise: ‘‘What is the
origin of this saying?”’ The two distinct narratives which we
find in the book of Samuel were evidently two distinct attempts
by different authors to answer this. The one in I. Sam. ro:
10-12 states that when Saul, after his first interview with Samuel
at which he was anointed king, was returning, he met a band
of prophets. These he joins and with them prophesies. This
occurrence, so out of keeping with the well-known character
of the stern warrior, impressed the popular consciousness so
deeply that at once — almost in jest — the popular proverb arose :
“Ys Saul among the prophets?” The writer in I. Sam. 19:
18-24, however, places the date of its origin after Saul had
been king for many years. The jealous monarch had re-
peatedly sent messengers to capture the fugitive, David, but
in vain; for all in succession are seized with the frenzy of
prophesying when they come near to the charmed circle of
prophets gathered about Samuel. At length Saul himself goes
as a last resort, and is seized with the same frenzy. The
author adds: ‘“ Wherefore they say, Is Saul also among the
PROVERBS AND PROVERB MAKING. 51
prophets?” Whichever narrative be accepted as the oldest,
they cast a clear light upon one of the ways in which the
popular proverb came into existence. Parallel examples
might be cited from modern gnomic literature.

2. DERIVED FROM RIDDLES.

Inasmuch as there are indications that among the early
Hebrews, as well as among other primitive peoples, riddles
were exceedingly common and popular, it has been suggested
(Dr. Oort in “The Bible for Learners,” II. p. 80) that many
of the Old Testament proverbs, and especially those implying
a comparison, appeared originally in this garb. For example,
Prov. 16: 24 could well have had at first the form: “ What
is as sweet as honey? Pleasant discourse, for it is sweet to
the soul and medicine to the bones.” Similarly 26:17:
“What is like seizing a dog by the ears? Meddling with a
quarrel not your own.” Or 22:1: “What is worth more
than gold? A good name.” Certainly it would be very easy
for a riddle to grow into a proverb; for, whether the answer
was guessed or given by the one propounding it, this would,
in the popular memory, be immediately associated with the
question. Thus combined, the two would most naturally tend
to merge into a proverb. Accepting this theory of their
origin, we have an explanation of the popular favor which cer-
tain proverbs enjoyed which to us to-day seem only trite and
pointless.

3. DERIVED FROM FABLES.

Traces of the fable we have also found in early Hebrew
literature. This makes plausible the hypothesis that certain
proverbs are derived from this type of wisdom-thought. As
examples, are cited the familiar passage in Prov. 6: 6-11, in
which the habits of the ant are held up before the sluggard as
an object for emulation ; and the numerical enigmas in the
thirtieth chapter of Proverbs. With us to-day the expressions,
52 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

“Sour grapes” and “Dog in the manger’ (which have prac-
tically become proverbs) derive all their force and meaning
from the old fables of which they are only the abbreviated
representatives. Certainly the transition from the fable to the
proverb is an easy one, and the theory is far from improbable.

4. THE RESULT OF COMPARISON.

The chief idea contained in the Hebrew word for proverb
(mashal) is, as has been indicated, that of putting side by side,
a comparison. In all Oriental thinking, comparison, or the
illustration of an idea by something selected from the objective
world of life and things, plays a most important réle. There,
the process of reasoning by analogy, which we regard with the
greatest suspicion, stands in highest favor. The simple com-
parison is one of the most natural and rudimentary forms of
expressing thought. “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before
the Lord,” is perhaps, as we have seen, the oldest proverb in
the Old Testament. Differing in character, but no less simple
and natural in their origin, are such proverbs as:

As cold waters to a thirsty soul,
So is good news from a far country (Prov. 25:25).

One experiencing the physical pleasure of drinking a draught
of clear, cold water, when parched with thirst, and the equally
keen mental pleasure of receiving good news from afar, would
be led almost unconsciously to compare the two sensations.
The result would be such a proverb as we have before us.
Even such popular sayings as, “The fathers have eaten sour
grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge,” are the off-
spring of the instinctive tendency to compare sensations.

5. THE PRODUCT OF THE MEDITATION OF THE WISE.

Thus far we have considered chiefly the different ways in
which the popular proverb came into existence. This type of
gnomic literature possesses a character peculiar to itself. Brief,
PROVERBS AND PROVERB MAKING, 53

pointed, epigrammatic, often rude, it can always be readily de-
tected. Even a hasty examination suffices to show that the
majority of the canonical proverbs do not belong to this class.
The careful elaboration, the balanced parallelism (which often
borders upon artificiality), and the deep thought which they
betray, stamp them as the product of the mental activity of the
wise. Undoubtedly the sages often worked over the popular
sayings until they were clothed in language agreeable to their
taste. In this manner probably many of the maxims of the
people have been preserved for us. But as a rule, not the
masses, but the wise speak to us through the book of Proverbs.
As they reflected upon their own experiences and studied life
and human nature and its needs, they each contributed their
portion of that crystallized experience which has been pre-
served for us.

Such is the genesis of the proverbs which we meet with in the
Old Testament. Some recall a striking scene or story of the
olden time ; others are the sole remnants of famous riddles and
fables, first propounded at some primitive merry-making ; others
are the expression of a comparison, suggested to the imagi-
native mind of some Hebrew of the ancient days; while the
great majority are the product of the calm meditation of wise
men, rich in life-experience and keen observation, whose eyes
were opened by the all-wise Father so that they were enabled
to see truth in its fullness.
CHAPTER IV.

THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.
I. Structure.

A GLANCE at the book of Proverbs is sufficient to demonstrate
that its parts are neither closely nor logically connected. Its
present form suggests a bundle, loosely bound together by a
cord, which is the title of the book. A closer comparison of
the literary style and ideas of the different parts of the bundle
shows that the proverbs are by no means homogeneous through-
out. It is rather a bundle made up of smaller bundles, each
of which is labeled with its separate title. Thus the book is
divided into eight distinct sections :

(1) Chapters 1-9. This section betrays the influence of a
definite effort towards logical arrangement. Chapter 1 : 1-6,
in a series of connected clauses, sets forth the purpose of the
book. The remainder of the section, in the form of exhorta-
tions, addressed by a wise man to his disciple, outlines the pe-
culiar dangers which the youth will encounter, and commends
wisdom as the only true guide through life’s perils. Chapters
6:20-7:27 describe the dangers which lurk for the one who
yields to the seductions of the strange woman; while chapter 8
presents the exquisite picture of personified Wisdom. Chapter
9 describes two banquets which are set forth by Wisdom and
her rival, Folly. In the other parts of the section, the logical
sequence is often broken and does not admit of a satisfactory
analysis. But the peculiar use of words, the flowing and highly
poetical style, and the preponderance of one kind of parallelism
(the synonymous, that type in which the second line repeats in
slightly different form the same idea as is presented in the

54
THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. 55

first), all proclaim the unity of the section. The earnest,
hortatory tone, which characterizes every part, also confirms
this. These peculiarities in turn distinguish this from the other
sections. Evidently these opening chapters were written as an
introduction to those which follow ; and the theme, Wisdom, is
fitly chosen that the reader may thus become familiar with that
of which the remainder of the book is the expression.

(2) Chapters 10: 1-22:16. A new title, “The proverbs
of Solomon,” introduces an entirely different type of gnomic
literature. The logical connection, which distinguished the
first section, has entirely disappeared. Each verse is an inde-
pendent proverb, containing not more than two lines of three
or four words each. The only indication of a principle regu-
lating the order of the proverbs, is the fact that at times some
seem to be grouped together because they contain a common
catchword. The synonymous parallelism of the preceding
section is almost unknown. Instead, the antithetic (in which
the thought of the first line is emphasized or confirmed by a
contrasted thought expressed in the second) predominates in
chapters 10-15 in the proportion of eight to one, while in the
remainder of the section the synthetic (in which the second
line supplements or completes the thought of the first) is by
far the most common type of parallelism.

Frequently here the same proverb appears twice (cf. 10:1
and 15:20;10:2 and 11:4313:14 and 14: 27;14: 20 and
19:4;16:2 and 21:2). In other cases only one member in
each proverb is the same (cf. 10:15 and 18:11; 15: 33 and
18:12). The general tone of thought is much happier than
in the preceding section. Fewer religious proverbs are found.
Instead, the subjects treated are those which concern man in
his ordinary occupations, as for example, the right use of the
lips, duties to parents and the king, and the value of wealth.

(3) Chapters 22:17-24:22. This section is introduced
by the exhortation: “Incline thine ear and hear the words
of the wise.” The independent, two-membered verse, which
56 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

characterized the preceding, here expands until we find one
thought running through six, seven, and even eight lines. With
only one or two exceptions, the synthetic parallelism prevails.
The hortatory tone and the frequently recurring term, “my
son,” suggest kinship with the first rather than the second
section. The subject-matter, however, consists of prudential
maxims on such practical themes as the danger of suretyship
and excess in drinking or eating.

(4) Chapter 24: 23-34. This little section, introduced by
the new title, “‘ These also are of the wise,” shares the external
characteristics of the preceding. The parallelism is still syn-
thetic, and one thought runs through ten lines. The practical
advice contained in the opening verses is succeeded by an
extended satirization of the sluggard, pointed with an obvious
moral. Evidently this section is a short appendix, added to
the preceding.

(5) Chapters 25-29. The second large division of the
book of Proverbs is introduced by a suggestive superscription :
“These also are the proverbs of Solomon, which the men of
Hezekiah, king of Judah, copied out.”

Many of the internal characteristics of this section point to
a relationship with the other great collection, which was also
labeled the proverbs of Solomon. The two-membered verse
prevails, although the didactic dissertation, extending even to
ten lines, occurs. The old method of grouping according to
catchwords again appears. At times, this is supplanted by the
more fundamental principle of classification in which similarity
in thought is the guiding norm. The synthetic type of parallel-
ism is the more common.

The realm of thought, represented in these two leading
sections, is practically the same. The utilitarian element far
exceeds the distinctively religious or philosophical.

The fact that a remarkably large number of proverbs are
practically identical in both suggests that the two collections
were gleaned from the same great field, but by different
“we
THE BOOK OF PROVERB: “: 57

collectors. Each apparently was ignorant of the other’s work.
Otherwise they would have guarded more carefully against
unnecessary repetition. However, in the light of the frequent
reappearance of the same proverb in the same collection
(cf. § 2), this inference does not necessarily hold true.

(6) Chapter 30. This bundle of wisdom literature is dis-
tinguished from the other proverbs of the book by the peculiar
title: “The words of Agur, the son of Jakeh, the Massite.”
The ideas of this section and the forms in which they are cast
are as strange as the superscription. In the first part of the
chapter the sententious style is superseded by the philosoph-
ical, while the latter part consists of a collection of numerical
enigmas.

(7) Chapter 31:1-9. The superscription: “The words
of Lemuel, the king of Massa, which his mother taught him,”
at once recalls the heading of the preceding section. Undoubt-
edly these two appendices to the book of Proverbs bear a loose
relationship to each other in time, if not also in the circum-
stances, in which they were produced. Just what these were
we can determine only by conjecture. The contents of the
last section bears out the testimony of the superscription. It
is a body of maxims for the guidance of a king, such as a
mother might well give to her royal son. Temperance, mercy,
and righteousness are the virtues which are commended.

(8) Chapter 31: 10-31. This little section has no title.
The theme and literary style is so radically different from that
of the preceding that it is certain that there was originally no
connection. It is simply the latest appendix to the book as a
whole, and therefore was added at the end. That it is a unit
by itself is conclusively shown by the fact that it is an alpha-
betical poem, each line beginning with the succeeding letter of
the Hebrew alphabet. The theme, the characteristics of the
virtuous woman, is one often touched upon by the proverb
writers, but never before treated at such length nor so beau-
tifully.
58 WR® MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

Thus we see that the book of Proverbs is a collection of
collections or, to use our first figure, a bundle composed of
independent bundles, each possessing its own individual pecu-
liarities of literary style, arrangement, and theme. These
peculiarities distinguish each from the others, and at the same
time suggest that certain sections are by birth related to each
other, because they were produced in the same general circum-
stances or written with the same aim. The further investiga-
tion of this latter question falls under the head of date and
authorship.

II, Authorship.

The preliminary study of the structure of the book of
Proverbs has demonstrated conclusively that it is not from
one but from many authors. According to the testimony of
the titles of sections (3), (4), (6), (7), and (8), Solomon is
not their author, but certain wise men, and, perhaps, in some
cases, women, living at different periods in Israelitish history.

How are we to explain the general title, “The Proverbs of
Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel,” which is placed
at the head of the book? For obvious reasons Solomon him-
self is not its author. The hypothesis, therefore, which best
explains the facts, is that the one who did write it used the
formula, “the proverbs of Solomon,” as a general designation
for all proverbial literature, whether actually from the wise king
or preserved from a misty antiquity, and therefore most naturally
associated with hisname. Whether this hypothesis be accepted
or not, it is certain that it was thus interpreted by later collectors
of proverbs, who did not hesitate to include their appendices
under this general heading, although they were first penned
centuries after Solomon.

A further study of the passage 1 : 1-6 (of which the title
cited is but the opening sentence) shows that it is a general
preface, describing the practical value of the proverbs of Solo-
mon. ‘These begin, as we have seen, with chapter 10.. The
THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. 59

intervening material, 1: 7-9: 18, is also a further introduction,
apparently from the same author. Possibly he was also the
collector of the proverbs contained in chapters 10-22 : 16, for
which this elaborate introduction was written.

Consequently we see that according to the testimony of the
book itself, the only sections making claim to Solomonic author-
ship are (2) and (5). In the case of these the question still
remains to be answered, Was Solomon the author of all the
proverbs in the two collections, or were these titles appended
because the proverbs, as they had been handed down from
antiquity, had become associated with the name of the man
who stood in the eyes of later generations as the most dis-
tinguished representative of the wisdom school? Certainly on
a priori grounds, either explanation may be the true one, for
the first would be suggested at once, and the second has the
support of strong analogies, even within the Old Testament itself.
All the psalms were thus popularly attributed to David and all
the laws to Moses. The book of Ecclesiastes, which is now
generally assigned by scholars to the last two or three centuries
before the Christian era, was long supposed to be the work of
David’s son. The most striking parallel is presented by the
apocryphal Wisdom of Solomon, which is conceded by all to
have been written centuries after Solomon, and yet in no
ambiguous language claims him as its author. Thus it is
evident that the Hebrew usage sanctioned the grouping
of literature of the same class about the name of its most
prominent exponent. Manifestly the present question can
be answered only by a study of the character of the proverbs
themselves.

Turning to the two collections, we find not a few proverbs
which fit very awkwardly in the mouth of the Solomon of
history. The pure monotheism which breathes through such
maxims as:

Better is a little with fear of the Lord,
Than great treasure and trouble therewith (15 : 16),
60 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

or: The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life,
To depart from the snares of death (14 : 27),

is quite out of keeping with the character of the king who did
not hesitate to bow down before heathen gods and to do so much
which was out of accord with that attitude of reverence and
glad obedience to Jehovah which the proverbs commend so
highly. Again, the strict monogamy, which is implied in all
the passages which touch upon the relation of husband and
wife, tallies ill with the stories of his many wives (cf. 18 : 22;
19 : 13, 14), and the far from flattering testimony of the Song
of Songs.

In the fifth section, the evidence that Solomon could not
have been the author of all the proverbs is even more con-
clusive. The opening verses of chapter 25 speak at length of
a king, not, however, from the standpoint of the ruler, but of
the subject. This is equally true of all references to a king in
the section. The homely advice, for example in 25 : 6, 7, to
a subject in the presence of a sovereign, would have sounded
very strangely in the mouth of the Louis XIV. of Israel.

The king by judgment establisheth the land:
But he that imposeth tribute (literally, a man of offerings) overthrow-
eth it (29: 4),

and many kindred proverbs voice rather the bitter experience
of the people under the grinding rule of the Grand Monarch,
than the principles which guided him. These on the lips of
the king, who by his unjust and crushing system of taxation
completely alienated the affections of his people, and ultimately
sundered his kingdom, would be but hateful hypocrisy. Even
a casual examination of the proverbs contained in these two
collections shows that the majority of them were written from
the point of view of a citizen of the middle class, and deal with
those practical questions in which he would be most naturally
interested. True, it is possible that Solomon, by virtue of his
superior wisdom, could have accommodated himself to the
THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. 61

various standards reflected in the different proverbs ; but this
is at best but a theory, and, while beset by great difficulties, is
quite without support. It is far simpler, and in keeping with
the striking analogies within and without the book, to conclude
that here, as in the other collections, we have the maxims
of many different wise men, thus collected and handed down.
The noble ethical and religious teachings of many of them
would certainly lose much of their force if we were obliged to
see in them the preaching of a man whose practice was so
evil.

However, that many of the proverbs of King Solomon are
here preserved in their original form or recast in the mold of
certain later wise, is not only possible but exceedingly proba-
ble. As has been said, the reputation which he bore for wis-
dom among later generations can hardly be without some
foundation. That he was the prince of the sages of antiquity
must be conceded. Since proverbs are the characteristic form
in which the earliest wisdom-thought is cast, it is to be
expected that his practical prudence and discernment found
expression in the proverb. Just which proverbs, of the three
thousand which Solomon is reputed to have spoken, were
committed to writing and incorporated in our present collec-
tions is a question which can never be definitely answered. A
study of the individual maxims certainly does not lead one to
the conclusion that many are from the Solomon of history.

Thus it appears that the book of Proverbs is the product of
the thought and experience of many wise men, living in differ-
ent ages and perhaps in different lands, and writing from many
and various points of view. It is an encyclopedia of pru-
dential and ethical teachings, contributed by different authors,
whose names have, for the most part, been swallowed up in
the common oblivion which shrouds the identity of many
ancient writers to whom we to-day are deeply indebted. How-
ever, if we do not know their names, we are familiar with their
ideas, which is far more essential. Through these teachings
62 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

and from outside sources, we are able to study them as a class,
having distinct methods and aims, and thus in reality to know
them much more intimately than if merely their names had
been preserved.

III. Date.

The date at which the different collections of the book of
Proverbs were made is a question of vital interest to the
student of Israel’s life and thought. This is in many cases
quite distinct from the other and much more difficult problem
which concerns itself with the question of when each proverb
first appeared. We can only hope to answer the former, and
that approximately.

The data are of two kinds: (1) External, including the
testimony of the titles and of tradition. (2) Internal, includ-
ing all references which suggest a definite period in Hebrew
history, and the evidence which comes from a comparison of
the form and ideas of the proverbs with those of that portion
of the Old Testament literature to which we are able to affix a
definite date.

According to the period to which they assign the Hebrew
proverbs in general, scholars are divided into two classes:
(1) Those who hold that the different collections in their
present form could not have appeared until long after the
Exile. The leading advocates of this position are: Vatke,
Wellhausen, Stade, and Smend. (2) Those who maintain
that, with the exception of the later appendices, chapters 30
and 31, the book antedates the capture of Jerusalem by the
Chaldeans. Practically all the English and American scholars
accept this view, and also, among the Germans, such author-
ities as: Dillman, Ewald, Strack, and Delitzsch.

The leading arguments for the later date briefly summarized
are: (1) All the proverbs in the book bear the same stamp,
and are therefore from about the same period. (2) All the
battles of the prophetic period have been fought through
THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. 63

(cf. 28: 4-9). Prophecy is dumb, and the law is completed
(29:18). With this, the bright hopes and the inspiration
of earlier times have disappeared. The book belongs to the
period of the wisdom literature, which came last. (3) Prov-
erbs fix the gaze on the individual and not the nation. The
former came into prominence for the first time after the Exile,
when the latter was no more. (4) The philosophical specu-
lations bear the stamp of Greek influence. (5) The idea of
personifying Wisdom is very late. (6) The references to
kings (eg. 25 : 2-7) apply most naturally to Hellenistic
monarchs. (7) The similarity between Proverbs and the
Wisdom of Sirach indicates that they were subject in gen-
eral to the same influences and that they therefore are
both late.

Certainly no presupposition should deter one from accepting
a later date than is commonly assigned by tradition. It must
be confessed that it is a simple and attractive theory which
finds the activity of the prophets gradually giving place to that
of the priests, and then the latter in turn yielding in the late
Jewish times to that of the wise. But unfortunately it is only
a theory, and is open to the grave charge of overlooking many
facts and of bending others to suit its requirements. Among
other things, it completely ignores the indications of the
gradual growth and work of the wise during the centuries
before the Exile — indications imbedded in historical and pro-
phetical records whose antiquity is established beyond all
question. It further fails to make any allowance for the differ-
ence in methods and aims which characterized the work of the
prophets, the priests, and the wise. When this is understood,
it is evident why the nation is almost forgotten by the latter,
and the individual regarded as alone worthy of attention. The
other arguments adduced in support of this theory may all
be challenged on the basis of fact. For example, no one can
study the proverbs carefully and still maintain that they all
bear the same stamp, or that the references to a king were
64 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

based upon the experiences of the Jewish people under the
cruel bondage of the Hellenistic tyrants.

But, as in the case of many Old Testament questions, the
truth can be attained only after a careful weighing of opposing
evidence. The arguments for the pre-exilic date of the body
of the proverbs are cumulative, and may be briefly summarized
as follows :

(1) Proverbs appear in the literature of all early nations,
not as a late product, but as one of the earliest. This is true
not only of the popular maxim, but also of the result of the
more deliberative thought of the sages. This is strikingly illus-
trated by the large body of gnomic poetry which has been
handed down from the Greek writers who wrote just before
their literature reached its height in their masterpieces of
drama and prose. It is also interesting to note that the period
of their activity (from the eighth to the fifth century B.c.) cor-
responded precisely with that in which the wise of Israel were,
according to the advocates of the earlier date, committing their
anthologies to writing. Students of early English are also
familiar with the collection, probably from many different
authors, which, like our book of Proverbs, is named after that
prince who enjoyed the highest renown among later genera-
tions, “ The Proverbs of King Arthur.”

(2) The titles appended to chapters 1-29 point to a pre-
exilic and not to a post-exilic date. This testimony must be
conceded by all as important ; for, if these superscriptions do
not come from the original collectors, they are at least valu-
able, as presenting the views of later editors. These certainly
have weight until invalidated by internal evidence.

(3) The testimony of the titles is corroborated and not
refuted by the character of the proverbs themselves. It must
be admitted that no proverb in these chapters is necessarily
later than the Exile, and the great majority manifestly cannot
be.

(4) The conspicuous lack of references to the Law, in its
THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. 65

technical sense, and to the ceremonials is exceedingly difficult
to explain on the basis of the late date, when priestcraft ruled
supreme in the Jewish state. On the other hand, the distant
allusions to the work of the prophets and priests are in perfect
keeping with the conditions of the earlier period when they
were just beginning to awake to their mission and functions.

(5) The absence of philosophical problems, and the strong
putting of and the unquestioned belief in the dogma that action
is ever rewarded in kind, which is so bitterly challenged in Job
and Ecclesiastes and certain Psalms, can be satisfactorily ex-
plained only by the simple conclusion that the great questions
involved had not yet been mooted. At least they had not yet
been burned into the popular consciousness as they were by
subsequent events in the national experience.

(6) This conclusion is strongly seconded by the generally
happy and contented tone which pervades the different collec-
tions, which is entirely incompatible with either the wails which
rose during the Exile, or the bitter discontent which reigned
in Jewish hearts under the Greek rule.

(7) A comparison of Proverbs with the Wisdom of Sirach
shows at a glance what a wide chasm yawns between the two
books. Both at times treat of the same themes, but in such a
different manner and spirit that the difference in historical
background appears even on the surface.

Such are some of the general lines of evidence which tend to
shatter the fascinating, symmetrical theory which would place
all the literary activity of the wise far down in the Greek
period. It is but fair, however, to note that the majority of the
advocates of this position are quite ready to admit that many, if
not the greater part, of the proverbs come from the pre-exilic
centuries. On the other hand, granting that the collections
are for the most part pre-exilic, one must concede, in view of
the wide divergences in order and contents between the
Hebrew, Greek, and Syriac versions of Proverbs, that they have

been subject to many changes and interpolations at the hands
E
66 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

of subsequent editors and copyists. Thus the essential differ-
ences between the two positions is not nearly as great as at
first appears.

With these facts in mind respecting the date of the Hebrew
proverbs in general, we take up the more definite and at the
same time more difficult question of the date of the different
sections.

Chapter 10: 1-22: 16, being the main section of the book,
we naturally consider first. Here, as has already been observed,
the external form is for the most part rudimentary. No traces
of the didactic dissertation appear. The two-membered prov-
erbs prevail without exception. The tone is remarkably happy,
there being no suggestion of the great moral and social corrup-
tion of later times. Righteousness is ever rewarded (cf. 10: 2,
3, 6, 7, 25, 27, etc.). Life is still simple. For example, the
chief themes treated, are the right use of the tongue, the char-
acter of a fool, and good and quarrelsome wives. Only little
sins of untruth and slander are attacked. The king is repre-
sented as just (14:35; 16:13; 20:8; 22: 11), wise (16:12;
20:26), merciful (20:28), and guided by God (16:10;
21:1). The principles of the prophetic rather than the legal
age are in the mouth of the sages and form the background of
their teachings.

To do justice and judgment

Is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice (21: 3).

(Cf. also 15: 8 and 16: 6.)

The conditions of society are also primitive. True, it is said
that “The rich and poor meet together” (22:2), and “ He
that oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker” (14: 31),
but they are only the slight traces of the beginning of that
cruel crushing of the lower by the upper classes which called
forth the unsparing denunciations of Amos and Isaiah. There
is still a great middle class which is the object of the advice
and instruction of the wise. The references to agriculture are
frequent (13:23; 12:93 20:4).
THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. 67

Taking all these facts into consideration, one cannot but
feel that the majority of these proverbs must have come from
the brighter and simpler days before the Assyrian storms broke
over the land and before social and moral decay attacked the
vitals of the nation. Ewald suggests the opening days of the
eighth century B.c. as the probable date of the collection.
But, viewing the section as a whole, several facts confront
us which lead us to hesitate to follow the illustrious German
scholar. (1) Such technical words as “scorner,” “ doctrine,”
and “steermanship” are perhaps possible but certainly very
extraordinary in the mouth of sages living before the reign of
Josiah. (2) Although always two-membered, yet many of the
proverbs in their present form betray a careful elaboration and
balancing which often borders upon artificiality. (3) Even
more significant is the fact that the same proverb is often
repeated or else appears in a slightly different form, which sug-
gests a working-over. The simplest and most satisfactory
explanation of these facts is that the collection in its present
form is made up from several smaller collections, coming from
periods widely separated from one another. The elements of
artificiality in certain of the proverbs and the lack of origi-
nality and spontaneous vigor suggests the Babylonian period of
Hebrew history, when the literary style was on the decline, as
is so clearly demonstrated by the written prophecies. On the
other hand, there is nothing to indicate that the collection is
later than the fall of Jerusalem. Within these limits, the peace-
ful days of Josiah’s reign, which followed his great reform,
furnish the most satisfactory background for the work of the
collector, some wise man, who, unlike his friend the prophet,
labored best in the calm rather than when the nation was swept
by tempests.

The proverbs in the two appendices (22: 17-24: 22 and
24: 23-34) evidently come from a later period than the major-
ity of those contained in the main collection. They are akin
rather to the few which indicate that this section, as we have it
68 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

now, comes from a later date. The form of the proverbs in
the appendices is much more complex. The distich is ex-
panded into the elaborate didactic dissertation. The same
themes, however, are treated, and many phrases found in the
main section are repeated (cf. 11: 14 with 24:5, 6 and 13:9
with 24:19, 20). Also there are plain indications of an
endeavor to imitate the older models (cf. 23 : 27 with 22: 14);
but the resultant is far inferior. Not only the style and the
ideas but also the personal, hortatory tone which pervades and
gives a distinct color to these proverbs forcibly recall the
corresponding characteristics which appear in Deuteronomy
and Jeremiah and the writings which come from the age of
Josiah. As their titles suggest, they are little collections of a
later date which did not claim to be from Solomon but from
different wise men. The compiler of 10; 1-22: 16, after arrang-
ing the earlier collections which were popularly attributed to
the great wise man of Hebrew antiquity, by thus appending,
preserved these subsequent collections which he found at hand.
True, it is not impossible that this addition was made by some
later redactor, but there is nothing in the character of the
proverbs or in the relation of the collections to make this
hypothesis necessary.

Accepting the former and simpler conclusion, it is evident
that our Deuteronomic redactor has welded together in chap-
ters 10-24 all the proverbs in the smaller collections which he
deemed worthy of preservation. The frequent repetitions of
the same proverb demonstrate conclusively that his method was
that of a compiler who appended collection to collection rather
than of an editor who carefully worked over his material, cast-
ing out duplicates and rearranging the whole. Following this
same method, he next proceeded to append to his own collect-
tion of collections another body of proverbs (25-29), which he
describes as “these also are proverbs of Solomon which the
men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out.” Evidently this
superscription is not from those men of Hezekiah, but from
THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. 69

some later hand. This most naturally is the one who thus put
these two great collections together. But there is no reason
for questioning the truth of its testimony. Our Deuteronomic
compiler, living less than a century after Hezekiah, would cer-
tainly have access to reliable sources of information. The
definiteness and uniqueness of the statement both tend to
establish its veracity. Further, such a wise and cultured king,
as history represents Hezekiah to have been, would naturally
gather around him a band of literary men, as did the later
reformer Josiah. As has been suggested, the fall of Northern
Israel, which occurred during the earlier part of his reign, and
the natural desire which would arise to preserve the best of its
literary productions, undoubtedly gave an impetus to this work.
Perhaps the captivity of the northern people is suggested in
the pathetic proverb 27: 8:

As a bird that wandereth from her nest,
So is a man that wandereth from his place.

The verb which is used suggests that the work of this band of
compilers was similar to that of the later Deuteronomic editor,
namely, to transcribe the proverbs contained in earlier collec-
tions and weld them together.

Thus this section, in its present form, is, according to the
testimony of the superscription, the oldest in the book. This
is confirmed by the general character of the proverbs as a
whole. None are necessarily later than the reign of Hezekiah.
There is a simplicity, combined with a beauty and force,
which bespeaks an early period. The comparison, which we
have seen was one of the very earliest forms of wisdom-thought,
abounds. At the same time, the presence of the same proverbs
in the two large collections not only confirms the conclusion
that they grew up separately, but also indicates that many of
those contained in 10: 1-22 : 16 were contemporary with those
in the Hezekian collection.

Did our Deuteronomic compiler or compilers merely hand
7O WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

down the great Hebrew anthology as we find it in chapters
10-29? In the light of the internal evidence of chapters 1-9
we can confidently answer, No. As we turn to this beautiful
introduction, we are at once reminded that we are in quite a
different atmosphere than that to which we have become accus-
tomed in the larger proverbial collections. Many of the wisdom
terms have become technical. The theological vocabulary is
more highly developed. The early optimism has disappeared.
There is much greater immorality. At least the sense of guilt
is much stronger, which is fully as significant. The strange
woman openly seeks for her victim. As in the late appendix
(23: 26-28) the wise man takes occasion in strongest terms to
warn his disciple against her wiles. Wisdom also for the first
time becomes “ self-conscious ” and regards herself. This was
possible only when she had labored long and had much work
and experience upon which to look back. Granting this, how-
ever, we do not need to seek any foreign influence to explain
the simple and natural personification of Wisdom which we find
in the syblime eighth and ninth chapters of Proverbs. As they
thought of what the prudent counsels of the wise had done, and
could do, for those who needed, and became eager to influence
the inexperienced and the thoughtless to avail themselves of
this opportunity, and consequently desirous of presenting their
collective teaching in the most attractive form, the sages were led
in course of time to thus personify it. This dramatic mode of
impressing thought is abundantly foreshadowed in the writings
of the earlier prophets, as for example in the great dialogue in
the fourteenth chapter of Hosea or when Amos (5s : 2) speaks
of Israel as “ the virgin which is fallen, and shall rise no’more.”

While this cumulative evidence conclusively demonstrates
that these opening chapters could not have come from the
earlier days of the Judean kingdom, it is equally clear that they
antedate the Exile. As has already been noted, they are not,
like the other sections, heterogeneous collections coming from
many different centuries, but are from the same period and ema-
THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. 71

nated for the most part from one mind. Consequently the
internal evidence is much more conclusive. The background
is evidently a large city. There are references to city gates
and bustling streets and broad places. It must have been a
rich commercial center. The fact that the robbers anticipate
much booty (1: 13) reflects a period of prosperity. The social
life is far from provincial. The picture as a whole and the
reference to sacrifice (7: 14) indicate that the city must have
been Jerusalem, and the period previous to the Babylonian cap-
tivity, since at no date subsequent to the Exile did the capital
city answer this description, until we come down to the second
or third century B.c. How different were the ideas of the wise
of this latter time is best illustrated by a comparison with the
Wisdom of Sirach. Hence, by a process of elimination, we are
led to seek for the date to which to assign this section in a
period a little before the Exile. This is found not in the
troublesome days when the city of David was fast tottering to
its ruin, but in the more peaceful and prosperous years of Josiah’s
reign. This conclusion is strongly corroborated by the tone and
style of expression, which distinguishes it from all other sections
of the book, except the small Deuteronomic collection contained
in 22:17-24:22. As Delitzsch has well said, “Who can fail
to hear an echo of the Shema (hear) of Deuteronomy?” The
hortatory tone and the warmer religious glow, all speak of the
period following the great reform. It would have been strange
indeed, if, in that stirring epoch when prophet and priest were
so intensely active, the wise had not made their contribution
toward the education of the nation. Then it was that prophetic
compilers collected older narratives, and putting them into form
gave us at least portions of the present books of Samuel and
.Kings and perhaps Judges. We are therefore not surprised to
find that at this time of intense literary activity some wise man
was similarly led to gather and unite into one great collection
the gnomic productions of earlier generations of sages, and then
to write, in the language and spirit of his age, a fitting intro-
72 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

duction to the whole. Consequently, with the exception of
certain interpretations, the Jews probably carried with them
into the Exile chapters 1-29 of the book of Proverbs as we
have it to-day.

The closing chapters of the book (30 and 31) present strong
contrasts to all that has gone before. Their introductions point
to a non-Israelitish origin. An occasional Aramaism suggests,
although it does not establish, the inference that they are from
a late period. The perplexing philosophical questions pro-
pounded in the opening verses of the thirtieth chapter have no
analogies in Hebrew literature before the time of Job and
Ecclesiastes. Imitation of earlier models has begun, since
30: 5 evidently echoes the sentiments of Ps. 12: 6 and 18: 30.
The literary style is more redundant and less lucid. The series
of numerical enigmas contained in 30: 15-31 find their closest
analogies in the productions of the early Rabbinical school.
The high degree of commercial activity reflected in the descrip-
tion of the virtuous woman (31: 10-31) was probably first
realized among the Hebrews long after the Exile. Certainly
the elaborate literary form of this alphabetical poem, which
borders upon artificiality, bespeaks a late date.

In view of all these facts we are led to conclude that these
are post-exilic collections appended to the pre-exilic anthology.
The data are not sufficient for determining the exact period.
Probably they are not earlier than the fourth century B.c. The
similarity in the superscriptions would suggest that 30: 1-31: 9
comes from the same source and period. Chapter 31: 10-31
is probably by virtue of its character as well as position the
latest appendix.

Thus we are able in broad outlines to sketch the history of
the growth of the book of Proverbs which we have to-day.
Chapters 25-29, the proverbs copied out by the men of Heze-
kiah, is the earliest collection which has entered in its original
form into the book. During the next three generations, certain
other collections were independently taking form. Some of
’

THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. 73

them contained proverbs in origin contemporary or even antedat-
ing many contained in the Hezekian collection. During the
days of Josiah, about 615 B.c. after the great reform, a cer-
tain wise man set to work: (1) To compile the collections
coming from a distant antiquity and popularly attributed to
Solomon. The result was the anthology contained in ro: 1-
22:16. (2) To this he added two other small collections
(22: 17-24: 22 and 24: 23-34) which came from his own age
or from the generations immediately preceding. (3) To this
initial compilation he added the great Hezekian collection, that
thus he might make complete the Hebrew anthology. (4) His
final work was to write a suitable introduction (1-9) to the
whole, commending that wisdom which was so well presented
in the proverbs which followed, and also giving the practical
fruits of his own life experience.

At some period after the Exile, certain smaller collections
(30, 31) were appended to the book of Proverbs as it came
from the Deuteronomic compiler. Subsequent copyists in the
long process of transmission altered the original text in certain
minor details. Thus from many hands and reflecting the
thought of many different ages has been preserved and trans-
mitted to us that book which we to-day know as Proverbs.
PART II.

CLASSIFICATION OF THE PROVERBS.

 

PREFACE.

THE PURPOSE AND VALUE OF THIS COLLECTION
OF PROVERBS.

To know wisdom and instruction ; I:
To discern the words of understanding ;

To receive instruction in wise dealing, I:
In righteousness and judgment and equity ;

To give subtilty to the simple, I:
To the young man knowledge and discretion:

That the wise man may hear, and increase in learning ; I:

And that the man of understanding may attain unto sound
counsels :

To understand a proverb, and an enigmatical statement ; I:

The words of the wise, and their dark sayings.

75
CHAPTER I.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION COMMENDING WISDOM.

I. Wisdom Described.

I. WHERE SHE TEACHES.

DoTH not wisdom cry, 8:
And understanding put forth her voice?

In the top of high places by the way, 8:
Where the paths meet, she standeth ;

Beside the gates, at the entry of the city, 8:

At the coming in at the doors, she crieth aloud :

2. WHOM SHE CALLS.

Unto you, O men, I call; 8:
And my voice is to the sons of men.

O ye simple, understand subtilty ; 8:
And, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart.

3. NATURE OF HER TEACHING.
a Absolutely true.

Hear, for I will speak excellent things ; 8:
And the opening of my lips shall be right things.

For my mouth shall utter truth ; 8:
And wickedness is an abomination to my lips.

All the words of my mouth are in righteousness ; 8:
There is nothing crooked or perverse in them.

b Clearly intelligible.

They are all plain to him that understandeth, 8:
And right to them that find knowledge.

76
WISDOM DESCRIBED.

c Lavaluable.
Receive my instruction, and not silver ;
And knowledge rather than choice gold.
For wisdom is better than rubies ;
And all the things that may be desired are not to
be compared unto her.

4. HER CHARACTERISTICS.
a Prudent and discerning.

I wisdom have made subtilty my dwelling,
And find out knowledge and discretion.

b Antagonistic to evil.
The fear of the LorD is to hate evil :
Pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way,
And the froward mouth, do I hate.

c Indispensable for counsel.
Counsel is mine, and sound knowledge:
I am understanding ; I have might.
By me kings reign,
And princes decree justice.
By me princes rule,
And nobles, even all the judges of the earth.

d Very approachable.
I love them that love me;
And those that seek me diligently shall find me.

e Able to richly reward.
Riches and honor are with me;
Yea, ancient riches and righteousness.
My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold;
And my increase than choice silver.

f Fust in rewarding her followers.

I walk in the way of righteousness,
In the midst of the paths of judgment :

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tI

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:16

717

218

11g

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WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

That I may cause those that love me to inherit sub-
stance,
And that I may fill their treasuries.

g& The first of God's creation.

The Lord formed me as the beginning of his way,

The first of his works of old,

From everlasting was I set up,

From the beginning, before the earth was,

When there were no floods, I was brought forth;

When there were no fountains abounding with
water.

Before the mountains were settled,

Before the hills was I brought forth:

While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the
fields,

Nor the beginning of the dust of the world.

h Present and active at the creation of the universe.

When he established the heavens, I was there:

When he marked out a circle upon the face of the
deep:

When he made firm the skies above:

When the fountains of the deep became strong:

When he gave to the sea its bound,

That the waters should not transgress his com-
mand:

When he marked out. the foundations of the earth:

Then I was by him, as architect :

And I was daily full of delight,

Rejoicing always before him ;

i Supremely interested in man.

Rejoicing in his habitable earth ;
And my delight is with the sons of men.

5. HENCE SHE DEMANDS MANn’s ATTENTION.

Now therefore, #zy sons, hearken unto me:
For blessed are they that keep my ways.

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:27

: 28

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: 30

231

232
WISDOM’S BANQUET.

Hear instruction, and be wise,

And refuse it not.

Blessed is the man that heareth me,

Watching daily at my gates,

Waiting at the posts of my doors.

For whoso findeth me findeth life,

And shall obtain favor of the Lorp.

But he that misseth me wrongeth his own soul:
All they that hate me love death.

II. Wisdom’s Banquet.

1. BOUNTIFUL ARE THE PREPARATIONS.

Wisdom hath builded her house,

She hath hewn out her seven pillars : a

She hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her
wine ;

She hath also furnished her table.

79

z. AN EARNEST INVITATION IS EXTENDED TO ALL WHO LACK

UNDERSTANDING.

She hath sent forth her maidens, she crieth

Upon the highest places of the city,

Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither :

As for him that is void of understanding, she saith
to him,

Come, eat ye of my bread,

And drink of the wine which I have mingled.

Leave off, ye simple ones, and live;

And walk in the way of understanding.

3. ACCEPTANCE INSURES LonG LIFE.

For by me thy days shall be multiplied,

And the years of thy life shall be increased.
If thou art wise, thou art wise for thyself:
And if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.

9: 3
9: 4
9: 5
9: 6
g:lI
9:12
80 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

III. Folly, Wisdom’s Rival, Described.

Madam Folly is clamorous ;
She zs simple, and knoweth nothing.

IV. Folly’s Banquet.

213

1. FOLLY ALSO BIDS LOUDLY AND BEGUILINGLY FOR GUESTS.

And she sitteth at the door of her house,

On a seat in the high places of the city,

To call to them that pass by,

Who go right on their ways,

Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither:

And as for him that is void of understanding, she
saith to him,

Stolen waters are sweet,

And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.

2. Burt ACCEPTANCE MEANS DEATH.
But he knoweth not that the dead are there;
That her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

V. Attitude of the Classes Bidden.

He that correcteth a scorner getteth to himself
shame:

And he that reproveth a wicked man get¢eth himself
a blot.

Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee:

Reprove a wise man, and he will love thee.

Give znstructzon to a wise man, and he will be yet
wiser :

Teach a righteous man, and he will increase in
learning.

VI. Consequences of the Choice.
1. THE FATE OF THOSE WHO SPURN WISDOM.
a She will only mock them when judgment comes.
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity ?
And scorners delight them in scorning,
And fools hate knowledge ?

9:

9:

9:

14

15
16

217

218

122
CONSEQUENCES OF THE CHOICE.

Because I have called, and ye refused ; I:

I have stretched out my hand, and no man re-
garded ;

But ye have set at nought all my counsel, I:

And would none of my reproof:

I also will laugh in the day of your calamity ; I:

I will mock when your fear cometh ;

When your fear cometh as a storm, I:

And your calamity cometh on as a whirlwind ;
When distress and anguish come upon you.

b Yoo late shall they seek her.

Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer ; I:

They shall seek me diligently, but they shall not

find me:
For that they hated knowledge, I
And did not choose the fear of the Lorp:
They would none of my counsel ; I

They despised all my reproof:

c Their sins upon their own heads.

Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own 1:

way,
And be filled with their own devices.

For the backsliding of the simple shall slay them, I:

And the careless ease of fools shall destroy them.

2. WHAT WISDOM CONFERS UPON THOSE WHO SEEK HER.

a Spiritual enlightenment.

Turn you at my reproof: I
Behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you,
I will make known my words unto you.

b Long and peaceful life.

My son, attend to my words; 4:

Incline thine ear unto my sayings.

Let them not depart from thine eyes ; 4:

Keep them in the midst of thine heart.
F

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25

26

27

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: 30

31

32

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20

21
82

WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

For they are life unto those that find them,
And health to all their flesh.

For length of days, and years of life,

And peace, shall they add to thee.

c Perfect security.

Get wisdom, get understanding ;

Forget z¢ not, neither decline from the words of my
mouth : ‘

Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee ;

Love her, and she shall keep thee.

The Lorp by wisdom founded the earth;

By understanding he established the heavens.

By his knowledge the depths were broken up,

And the skies drop down the dew.

My son, let not them depart from thine eyes ;

Keep sound wisdom and discretion ;

So shall they be life unto thy soul,

And grace to thy neck.

Then shalt thou walk in thy way securely,

And thy foot shall not stumble.

When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid :

Yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be
sweet.

Be not afraid of sudden fear,

Neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it
cometh :

For the LorD shall be thy confidence,

And shall keep thy foot from being taken.

d Honor, riches, and joy.

Wisdom zs the principal thing; ‘¢herefore get
wisdom :

Yea, with all thou hast gotten get understanding.

Exalt her, and she shall promote thee :

She shall bring thee to honor, when thou dost em-
brace her.

She shall give to thine head a chaplet of grace :

A crown of beauty shall she deliver to thee.

t

122

219

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121

322

123

224

125

: 26
THE REWARD OF SEARCHING FOR WISDOM. 83

Length of days is in her right hand; 3:16
In her left are riches and honor.
Her ways are ways of pleasantness, 3:17

And all her paths are peace.
She is a tree of life to them that lay holduponher: 3:18
And happy is every one that retaineth her.

e Happiness.

Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, 3:13

And the man that getteth understanding.

For the merchandise of it is better than the mer- 3:14
chandise of silver,

And the gain thereof than fine gold.

She is more precious than rubies : 3:15

And none of the things thou canst desire are to be
compared unto her.

VII. The Basis of Wisdom.

The fear of the Lorn is the beginning of wisdom: 9: 10
And the knowledge of the Holy One is under-
standing.

VIII. The Reward of a Persistent Search for Wisdom.

1. A TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD, THE SOURCE OF ALL

WIspDom.

My son, if thou wilt receive my words, 2 SE
And lay up my commandments with thee ;

So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, 2: 2
And apply thine heart to understanding ;

Yea, if thou cry after discernment, Bi -3
And lift up thy voice for understanding ;

If thou seek her as silver, 2: 4

And search for her as for hid treasures ;

Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lorp, 2: 5

And find the knowledge of God.

For the Lorp giveth wisdom ; 2: 6

Out of his mouth cometh knowledge and under-
standing :
84

A

WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

He layeth up sound wisdom for the upright,
He is a shield to them that walk in integrity ;
That he may guard the paths of judgment,
And preserve the way of his saints.

KNOWLEDGE OF THE RIGHT AND A DESIRE TO DO

Then shalt thou understand righteousness and
judgment,

And equity, yea, every good path.

For wisdom shall enter into thine heart,

And knowledge shall be pleasant unto thy soul ;

3. DELIVERANCE FROM EVIL AND TEMPTATION.

Discretion shall watch over thee,

Understanding shall keep thee:

To deliver thee from the way of evil,

From the men that speak froward things ;

Who forsake the paths of uprightness,

To walk in the ways of darkness ;

Who rejoice to do evil,

And delight in the frowardness of evil;

Who are crooked in their ways,

And perverse in their paths :

To deliver thee from the strange woman,

Even from the stranger which maketh smooth her
words.

Which forsaketh the friend of her youth,

And forgetteth the covenant of her God:

For her house inclineth unto death,

And her paths unto the dead:

None that go unto her return again,

Neither do they attain unto the paths of life:

That thou mayest walk in the way of good men,

And keep the paths of the righteous.

Ir

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215

218

119

120
CHAPTER II.
MAN.
I. Nature of Man.

1. THE SAME THE WORLD OVER.

AS in water face answereth to face,
So the heart of man to man.

2. FINITE.

Boast not thyself of to-morrow ;

For thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.

3. FALLIBLE IN JUDGMENT.

Every way of a man is right in his own eyes:
But the Lorp weigheth the hearts.

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man,
But the end thereof are the ways of death.
4. POSSESSED OF A GOD-GIVEN CONSCIENCE.

The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lorp,
Searching all the innermost parts of the belly.

5. NEVER CONTENTED WITH PRESENT POSSESSIONS.

Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied ;
And the eyes of man are never satisfied.

6. EveRY HEART HATH ITS OWN SORROW.
The heart knoweth its own bitterness ;
And a stranger cannot intermeddle with its joy.
Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful ;
And the end of mirth is heaviness.
85

27:

27:

21:

14:

20:

27:

14:

14:

19

Iz

27

20

Io

13
WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

7. KEENLY SENSITIVE TO JOY OR PAIN.

Hope deferred maketh the heart sick : 13:12
But when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.
The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul: 13:19
But it is an abomination to fools to depart from evil.
The light of the eyes rejoiceth the heart : 15:30
And good tidings make the bones fat.
As cold waters to a thirsty soul, 25:25
So is good news from a far country.
A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: 15:13
But by sorrow of heart the spirit is broken.
Care in the heart of a man maketh it stoop; 12:25
But a good word maketh it glad.
All the days of the afflicted are evil: 15:15
But he that is of a cheerful heart Zath a continual

feast.

8. CHARACTER REVEALED BY ACTS.

Even a child maketh himself known by his doings, 20: 11
Whether his work be pure, and whether it be right.

9g. MUTUALLY INFLUENCED BY AND INFLUENCING FELLOW-
MAN.

Iron sharpeneth iron ; 27517."
So aman sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.

10. CAPABLE BY THE USE OF THE WILL OF RISING ABOVE
ADVERSITY.

The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity ; 18:14
But who can raise up a broken spirit?

11. PEACE OF MIND GIVES PHYSICAL HEALTH.
A tranquil heart is the life of the flesh : 14: 30
But jealousy is the rottenness of the bones.

A merry heart is a good medicine: 17:22
But a broken spirit drieth up the bones.
THE EDUCATION OF MAN.

12. OLD AGE AS WELL AS YOUTH HAS ITS PECULIAR
ADVANTAGES.

The glory of young men is their strength: 20:

And the beauty of old men is the hoary head.

The hoary head is a crown of glory, 16:

It shall be found in the way of righteousness.

13. MODESTY AND REAL WORTH ARE ALL TOO RARE.

Most men will proclaim every one hisownkindness: 20:

But a faithful man who can find?

14. Each MAN TESTED BY WHAT MEN SAY ABOUT HIM.

The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold, 27:

And a man is ¢ried by his praise.

II. The Education of Man.

1. FOLLY— THE ABSENCE OF EDUCATION.

a Inherent.
Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; 22:

But the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.

The simple inherit folly : 14:

But the prudent are crowned with knowledge.

b Due to the lack of education.
Go from the presence of a foolish man, 14:

For thou wilt not perceive 2 42m the lips of knowl-
edge.

c Due to the neglect of education.
The fear of the Lorp is the beginning of knowl- 1:

edge:
But the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.

2. CHARACTERISTICS OF A FOOL.

a Inattentive.
Wisdom is before the face of him that hath under- 17:

standing:
But the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth.

87

29

31

21

15

18

24
88 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

b Obdtuse.

Wisdom is too high for a fool :
He openeth not his mouth in the gate.

c Unapt in expression.

The legs of the lame hang loose:
So is a parable in the mouth of fools.

Asa thorn that goeth up into the hand of a drunkard,
So is a parable in the mouth of fools.

d Dissatisfied with his lot.

The foolishness of man subverteth his way ;
And his heart fretteth against the LorD.

e Fond of his folly.
Folly is joy to him that is void of wisdom:
But a man of understanding maketh straight his
going.
It is as sport to a fool to do wickedness :
And so ¢s wisdom to a man of understanding.

f Zmprovident.

Every wise woman buildeth her house :
But the foolish plucketh it down with her own
hands.

g Indiscreet.

A fool hath no delight in understanding,
But only that his heart may reveal itself.

A prudent man concealeth knowledge :
But the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness.

h Shameless.
A fool’s vexation is known at once :
But a prudent man concealeth shame.
The foolish make a mock at guilt:
But among the upright there is good will.

24:

26:

26:

19:

Is:

Io:

14:

12:

12:

14:

21

23

23
THE EDUCATION OF MAN.

i Untrustworthy.

He that sendeth a message by the hand of a tool
Cutteth off Ais own feet, and drinketh in damage.

The thought of the foolish is sin :
And the scorner is an abomination to men.

j Thoroughly perverse.

If a wise man havea controversy with a foolish man,
He rageth and laugheth and there is no rest.

k Unalterable.

Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar
with a pestle among bruised corn,
Yet will not his foolishness depart from him.

1 Disgusting.
As a dog that returneth to his vomit,
So zs a fool that repeateth his folly.

m Jntolerable.

A stone is heavy and the sand weighty,
But a fool’s vexation is heavier than them both.

n Dangerous.

Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man,
Rather than a fool in his folly.

3. EVILS THAT FOLLOW FOLLY.
a Disgrace.

The wise shall inherit glory ;
But fools carry away shame.

b Serfdom.

He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the
wind:

And the foolish shall be servant to the wise of
heart.

26:

24:

29:

27:

26:

27:

17:

II:

89

22

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29
go WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL,

c Punishment.
In the lips of him that hath discernment, wisdom
is found:
But a rod is for the back of him that is void of
understanding.

A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass,
And a rod for the back of fools.

d Calamity.
The wise in heart will receive commandments :
But a prating fool shall fall.

A fool’s mouth is his destruction,
And his lips are the snare of his soul.

e Death.

The man that wandereth out of the way of under-
standing
Shall rest in the congregation of the dead.

4. AIM OF EDUCATION TO ACQUIRE:
a Understanding.
Hear, my sons, the instruction of a father,
And attend to know understanding :
Wisdom is the principal thing: therefore get
wisdom:
Yea, with all thy getting get understanding.

b Knowledge.

The heart of him that hath understanding seeketh
knowledge :

But the mouth of fools feedeth on folly.

A scorner seeketh wisdom and findeth it not:

But knowledge is easy unto him that hath under-
standing.

Every prudent man worketh with knowledge :

But a fool spreadeth out folly.

10:

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14:

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THE EDUCATION OF MAN. gI

Wise men lay up knowledge : 10:14
But the mouth of the foolish is a present destruc-

tion.
The heart of the prudent getteth knowledge ; 18:15

And the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge.

c Wisdom.

Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a foolto 17:16
buy wisdom,

Seeing he hath no understanding?

Wisdom resteth in the heart of him that hath 14:33
understanding :

But that which zs in the inward part of fools is
made known.

Buy the truth, and sell it not; 23:23

Yea, wisdom and instruction, and understanding.

By pride cometh only contention : 13:10

But with the well advised is wisdom.

5. THE INSTRUCTORS.

a Parents.
Hear, my son, the instruction of a father, 4:1
And attend to know understanding.
For I give you good doctrine; 4: 2
Forsake ye not my teaching.
For I was a son unto my father, 4: 3
Tender and only beloved in the sight of my
mother.
And he taught me, and said unto me, 4: 4

Let thine heart retain my words;
Keep my commandments, and live:

b Wise men.

A scorner loveth not to be reproved : 15:12
He will not go unto the wise.

The words of a man’s mouth are as deep waters ; 18: 4
A gushing torrent, a wellspring of wisdom.
92

WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

Counsel in the heart of man is ze deep water ;
But a man of understanding will draw it out.

6. CHILD TRAINING.
Train up a child in the way he should go,
And even when he is old he will not depart from it.
Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest ;
Yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul.

7. DISCIPLINE NECESSARY TO EDUCATION.
The rod and reproof give wisdom :
But a child left to himself causeth shame to his
mother.
Chasten thy son, seeing there is hope;
And set not thy heart on his destruction.
Withhold not correction from the child:
for if thou beat him with the rod, he shall not die.
Thou shalt beat him with the rod,
And shalt deliver his soul from Sheol.
Better is open rebuke
Than love that is hidden.
He that spareth his rod hateth his son:
But he that loveth him chasteneth him diligently.

8. CORRECTION MUST BE HEEDED.

He is in the way of life that heedeth correction:

But he that forsaketh reproof erreth.

Whoso loveth correction loveth knowledge:

But he that hateth reproof is brutish.

There is grievous correction for him that forsaketh
the way:

And he that hateth reproof shall die.

He that keepeth the commandment keepeth his
soul :

But he that is careless of his ways shall die.

He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck

Shall suddenly be broken, and that without
remedy.

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A fool despiseth his father’s correction :

But he that regardeth reproof getteth prudence.

They that forsake the law praise the wicked :

But such as keep the law contend with them.

He that refuseth correction despiseth his own soul :

But he that hearkeneth to reproof getteth under-
standing.

A rebuke entereth deeper into one that hath
understanding

Than an hundred stripes into a fool.

Asan earring of gold and an ornament of fine gold,

So is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear.

g. THE LEARNER MUST BE RECEPTIVE.
The way of the foolish is right in his own eyes:
But he that is wise hearkeneth unto counsel.
He that separateth himself seeketh his ows desire,
And rageth against all sound wisdom.
Apply thine heart unto instruction,
And thine ears to the words of knowledge.
Hear counsel, and receive instruction,
That thou mayest be wise in thy latter end.
Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go:
Keep her; for she is thy life.

10. KNOWLEDGE MUST BE PRACTICALLY APPLIED.

Cease, my son, to hear instruction
Only to err from the words of knowledge.

11. VALUE OF EDUCATION.

a In general.

My son, hear the instruction of thy father,

And forsake not the teaching of thy mother:

For they shall be a chaplet of grace unto thy head,
And chains about thy neck.

My son, eat thou honey, for it is good;

And the honycomb, which is sweet to thy taste:

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So shalt thou know wisdom to be unto thy soul:

If thou hast found it, then shall there be a reward,

And thy hope shall not be cut off.

Understanding is a wellspring of life unto him that
hath it:

But the correction of fools is ¢heér folly.

He that getteth wisdom loveth his own soul :

He that keepeth understanding shall find good.

b Better than riches.
How much better is it to get wisdom than gold!
Yea, to get understanding is rather to be chosen
than silver.
The rich man is wise in his own conceit ;
But the poor that hath understanding searcheth
him out.

c Guide to the use of wise words.

The tongue of the wise uttereth knowledge aright :
But the mouth of fools poureth out folly.
The lips of the wise disperse knowledge :
But the heart of the foolish doeth not so.

The heart of the wise instructeth his mouth,
And addeth learning to his lips.

d Secures favor.

Good understanding getteth favor:
But the way of the treacherous is rugged.

e Brings victory.
A wise man scaleth the city of the mighty,
And bringeth down the strength of the confidence
thereof.

f A source of wealth.
There is precious treasure and oil in the dwelling
of the wise ;
But a foolish man swalloweth it up.

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Through wisdom is an house builded ;
And by understanding it is established :
And by knowledge are the chambers filled
With all precious and pleasant riches.

g Insures a long and peaceful life.

The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life,

To depart from the snares of death.

Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings ;

And the years of thy life shall be many.

I have taught thee in the way of wisdom:

I have led thee in paths of uprightness.

When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened ;
And if thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.

III. Man in his Domestic Relations.
1. PARENTS AND CHILDREN.

a Filtal obligations.

Hearken unto thy father that begat thee,

And despise not thy mother when she is old.

He that treateth his father violently, and chaseth

away his mother,

Is a son that causeth shame and bringeth reproach.

Whoso curseth his father or his mother,

His lamp shall be put out in the blackest darkness.

Whoso robbeth his father or his mother, and saith,
It is no transgression ;

The same is the companion of a destroyer.

The eye that mocketh at his father,

And despiseth to obey his mother,

The ravens of the valley shall pick it out,

And the young eagles shall eat it.

A wise son heareth his father’s correction ;

But a scorner heareth not rebuke.

b What children confer upon parents.

A wise son maketh a glad father :
But a foolish man despiseth his mother.

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A foolish son is a grief to his father,

And bitterness to her that bare him.

He that begetteth a fool doeth zt to his sorrow:

And the father of a fool hath no joy.

The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice:

And he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy
of him.

A wise son maketh a glad father:

But a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.

Let thy father and thy mother be glad,

And let her that bare thee rejoice.

My son, be wise, and make my heart glad,

That I may answer him that reproacheth me.

c What parents confer upon children.

A good man leaveth an inheritance to his chil-
dren’s children ;

And the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the
righteous.

Children’s children are the crown of old men;

And the glory of children are their fathers.

A just man that walketh in his integrity,

Blessed are his children after him.

2. HUSBAND AND WIFE.

a A wife is the source of her husband’s weal or woe.

A foolish son is the calamity of his father:

And the contentions of a wife are a continual
dropping.

A continual dropping in a very rainy day

And a contentious woman are alike:

He that would restrain her restraineth the wind,

And his right hand encountereth oil.

It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop,

Than with a contentious woman in a wide house.

It is better to dwell in a desert land,

Than with a contentious and fretful woman.

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MAN IN HIS DOMESTIC RELATIONS.

A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband ;
But she that doeth shamefully is as rottenness in
his bones.

b Value of a good wife.

House and riches are an inheritance from fathers:
But a prudent wife is from the Lorn.

Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing,

And obtaineth favor of the Lorp.

A virtuous woman who can find?

For her price is far above rubies.

c The ideal wife. (1) Trusted by her husband.

The heart of her husband trusteth in her,

(2) Ever faithful to his interests.

And he shall have no lack of gain.
She doeth him good and not evil
All the days of her life.

(3) Zndustrious and prudent.

She seeketh wool and flax,

And worketh willingly with her hands.

She is like the merchant-ships ;

She bringeth her food from afar.

She riseth also while it is yet night,

And giveth meat to her household,

And their portion to her maidens.

She considereth a field, and buyeth it;

With the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.
She girdeth her loins with strength,

And maketh strong her arms.

She perceiveth that her merchandise is profitable :
Her lamp goeth not out by night.

She layeth her hands to the distaff,

And her hands hold the spindle.

She maketh linen garments and selleth them ;

And delivereth girdles unto the merchant.
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98 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

(4) Charitable.

She spreadeth out her hand to the poor;
Yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.

(5) Provident for herself and family.

She is not afraid of the snow for her household ;
For all her household are clothed with scarlet.
She maketh for herself carpets of tapestries ;
Her clothing is fine linen and purple.

She looketh well to the ways of her household,
And eateth not the bread of idleness.

(6) Wise and kind.

Strength and dignity are her clothing:
And she laugheth at the time to come.
She openeth her mouth with wisdom ;
And the law of kindness is on her tongue.

(7) Brings honor to her husband.

Her husband is known in the gates,
When he sitteth among the elders of the land.

(8) Pradtsed by her children.
Her children rise up, and call her blessed:

(9) Praised by her husband.
Her husband also, and he praiseth her, sayzng:
Many daughters have done virtuously,
But thou excellest them all.

(10) Worthy of honor.
Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain:
But a woman that feareth the Lorp, she shall be
praised.
Give her of the fruit of her hands;
And let her works praise her in the gates.

d Duty of a husband to his wife — Fidelity.

Drink waters out of thine own cistern,
And running waters out of thine own well.

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Should thy springs be dispersed abroad,

And rivers of water in the streets?

Let them be for thyself alone,

And not for strangers with thee.

Let thy fountain be blessed ;

And rejoice in the wife of thy youth.

As a loving hind and a pleasant doe,

Let her breasts satisfy thee at all times ;

And be thou ravished always with her love.

For why shouldest thou, my son, be ravished with
a strange woman,

And embrace the bosom of a stranger?

3. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BROTHERS.

A brother injured zs harder to be won than a strong
city:
And such contentions are like the bars ofa castle.

4. MASTER AND SERVANT.

a The spoiled servant.

He that delicately bringeth up his servant from a
child

Shall have him become refractory at the last.

A servant will not be corrected by words:

For though he understand he will not answer.

b A servant as a ruler.

Delicate living is not seemly for a fool;
Much less for a servant to have rule over princes.

c Let a stranger not intermeddle.

Slander not a servant unto his master,
Lest he curse thee, and thou be held guilty.

d The reward of a faithful servant.

A servant that dealeth wisely shall have rule over
a son that doeth shamefully,

And shall have part in the inheritance among the
brethren.

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IV. Man in his Social Relations.
1. SOCIAL CALLS.

Let thy foot be seldom in thy neighbor’s house ; 25:17
Lest he be weary of thee, and hate thee.

2. FRIENDSHIP.

Thine own friend, and thy father’s friend, forsake 27: 10
not;

And go not to thy brother’s house in the day of
thy calamity :

Better is a neighbor that is near than a brother far

off.

Make no friendship with a man that is given to 22:24
anger ;

And with a wrathful man thou shalt not go:

Lest thou learn his ways, 22:25

And get a snare to thy soul.
He that maketh many friends doeth it to his own 18:24
destruction :
But there are loving friends who stick closer than a
brother.
A friend loveth at all times, 17:17
And is born, as a brother, for adversity.
Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: 27: 9
So doth the sweetness of a man’s friend that cometh
of hearty counsel.
Faithful are the wounds of a friend: 27: 6
But the kisses of an enemy are profuse.

3. RICH AND Poor.

a The existence of the two classes.

The poor man and the oppressor meet together : 29:13
The Lorp lightened the eyes of them both.
MAN IN HIS ECONOMIC RELATIONS. 101

b Oppression of the poor.

A needy man that oppresseth the poor 28: 3
Is like a rain which sweeps away and gives no
bread.
The newly plowed land of the poor yields much 13: 23
food:

But there is that is destroyed by reason of injustice.

c Obligations to the poor.

The righteous taketh knowledge of the cause of 29: 7
the poor:

The wicked hath not understanding to know 72.

Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, 21:13

He also shall cry, but shall not be heard.

He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack: 28: 27

But he that hideth his eyes shall: have many a
curse.

He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his 14: 31
Maker:

But he that hath mercy on the needy honoreth him.

He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed ; 22: 9

For he giveth of his bread to the poor.

V. Man in his Economic Relations.

1. INDUSTRIAL LIFE.
a Pastoral.
Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, 27 : 23
And look well to thy herds:
For riches are not for ever; 27:24
And doth the crown endure unto all generations?
The hay is carried, and the tender grass showeth

itself, 27:25
And the herbs of the mountains are gathered in.
The lambs are for thy clothing, 27:26

And the goats are the price of the field:
WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

And there will be goats’ milk enough for thy food,
for the food of thy household ;
And maintenance for thy maidens.

b Agricultural.

Where no oxen are, the crib is clean:

But much increase is by the strength of the ox.

He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread:

But he that followeth after vain Zersons shall have
poverty enough.

He that gathereth in summer is a wise son:

Sut he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that
causeth shame.

Prepare thy work without,

And make it ready for thee in the field ;

And afterwards build thine house.

c Commercial.

He that hath an evil eye hasteth after riches,
And knoweth not that want shall come upon him.

“Bad, bad,” saith the buyer:
But when he is gone his way, then he boasteth.

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

2. LABOR.

a An incentive.

The appetite of the laboring man laboreth for him ;
For his mouth urgeth him thereto.

b The reward of diligence.

Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit
thereof ;

And he that waiteth on his master shall be honored.

Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall
stand before kings ;

He shall not stand before obscure men.

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The slothful man doth not stir up his game: 12:27
But the precious substance of men zs Zo be diligent.
The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: 12:24

But the slothful shall be put under taskwork.

© Characteristics of a lazy man.

The sluggard saith, There is a lion without : 22:13
I shall be slain in the streets.

As the door turneth upon its hinges, 26:14
So doth the sluggard upon his bed.

The sluggard burieth his hand in the dish; 26:15
It wearieth him to bring it again to his mouth.

The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit 26: 16

Than seven men who can answer discreetly.

d The evils that result from laziness.
The slothful will not plow at the beginning of 20: 4
winter ;
Therefore when he seeketh in harvest there shall
be nothing.
Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep ; 19:15
And the idle soul shall suffer hunger.
The way of the sluggard is as an hedge of thorns: 15:19
But the path of the upright is made an high-way.
The desire of the slothful killeth him ; 21:25
For his hands refuse to labor.
He also that is slack in his work 18: 9
Is brother to him that is a destroyer.

3. POVERTY.

a Causes— (1) Intemperance.
Be not among winebibbers ; 23:20
Among gluttonous eaters of flesh:
For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to 23:21
poverty:
And drowsiness shall clothe @ ax with rags.
104 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

(2) Dissolute friendships.
He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread: 28:19
But he that followeth after vain persons shall have
poverty.

(3) Acts of oppression.

He that oppresseth the poor to increase his gazm, 22:16
And he that giveth to the rich, cometh only to
want.

(4) Fatlure to listen to correction.

Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuseth 13: 18
correction :
But he that regardeth reproof shall be honored.

(5) Laziness.

Go to the ant, thou sluggard ; 6: 6

Consider her ways, and be wise:

Which having no chief, 6: 7

Overseer, or ruler,

Provideth her meat in the summer, 6: 8

And gathereth her food in the harvest.

How long wilt thou lie down, O sluggard? 6: 9

When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?

Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, 6:10

A little folding of the hands to sleep:

So shall thy poverty come as a robber, 6:11

And thy want as an armed man.

I went by the field of the slothful, 24: 30

And by the vineyard of the man void of under-
standing ;

And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, 24:31

The face thereof was covered with nettles,
And the stone wall thereof was broken down.

Then I beheld, and considered well : 24: 32
I saw, and received instruction.
Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, 24: 33

A little folding of the hands to sleep:
MAN IN HIS ECONOMIC RELATIONS. 105

So shall thy poverty come as a robber; 24: 34
And thy want as an armed man.

b tts disadvantages.

The rich man’s wealth is his strong city : 10:15
The destruction of the poor is their poverty.

The poor is hated even of his own neighbor: 14:20
But the rich hath many friends.

All the brethren of the poor do hate him: 19: 7

How much more do his friends go far from him!

He pursueth them with words, but they are gone.

Wealth addeth many friends: 19: 4
But the poor is separated from his friend.

The poor useth intreaties : 18:23
But the rich answereth roughly.

c Preferable to dishonesty.
Better is the poor that walketh in his integrity Ig: I
Than he that is perverse in his lips and is a fool.
The desire of a man is the measure of hiskindness: 19: 22
And a poor man is better than a liar.

4. FALSE AND TRUE ECONomy.

There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath 13: 7
nothing :

There is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great
wealth.

There is that scattereth, and increaseth yet more; 11: 24
And there is that withholdeth more than is meet,
but zt tendeth only to want.

5. WEALTH.
a How obtained.
(1) By violence.
A gracious woman retaineth honor: 11: 16

And violent men retain riches.
106 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

(2) By inheritance.
Houses and riches are an inheritance from fathers ;
But a prudent wife is from the Lorp.

(3) Gift of Goa.
The blessing of the Lorp, it maketh rich,
And toil addeth nothing thereto.

(4) By wise and right conduct.
The crown of the wise is their riches:
But the folly of fools is only folly.
In the house of the righteous is much treasure :
But in the revenues of the wicked is trouble.
The reward of humility avd the fear of the Lorp
/s riches, and honor, and life.

(5) Ly labor.
In all labor there is profit:
But the talk of the lips ¢emdeth only to penury.
Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished :
But he that gathereth by labor shall have increase.

(6) By diligence.

The thoughts of the diligent ¢ezd only to plen-
teousness :

But every one that is hasty asteth only to want.

He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread:

But he that followeth after vain Zersons is void of
understanding.

The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath
nothing :

But the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.

He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand:

But the hand of the diligent maketh rich.

b /ts value.
(1) F acquired justly.
The ransom of a man’s life is his riches:
But the poor heareth no threatening.

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The rich man’s wealth is his strong city,
And as an high wall in his own imagination.

(2) Of acquired unjustly.

Treasures of wickedness profit nothing :

But righteousness delivereth from death.

The getting of treasures by a lying tongue

Is a vapor driven to and fro; they ¢hat seek them
seek death.

An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the
beginning ;

But the end thereof shall not be blessed.

A faithful man shall abound with blessings :

But he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be
unpunished.

Better is the poor that walketh in his integrity,

Than he that is perverse in 4s ways, though he be
rich.

(3) Relative to honor.

A good name is rather to be chosen than great
riches,
And favor is better than silver and gold.

(4) Relative to knowledge.

There is gold, and abundance of rubies:
But the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel.

(5) Relative to righteousness.
Riches profit not in the day of wrath:
But righteousness delivereth from death.
He that trusteth in his riches shall fall:
But the righteous shall flourish as the green leaf.
Better is a little with righteousness
Than great revenues with injustice.

c Difficult to retain.

Weary not thyself to be rich;
Cease by the use of thine own understanding.

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Shouldst thou set thy eyes upon it: it is gone! 23: 5
For riches certainly make themselves wings,
Like an eagle that flieth toward heaven.

d The desirable mean.
Better is little with the fear of the Lorn, 15:16
Than great treasure and trouble therewith.

Better it is to be of a lowly spirit with the humble, —-16: 19
Than to divide the spoil with the proud.

Two things have I asked of thee; 30: 7
Deny me ¢hem not before I die:
Remove far from me vanity and lies : 30: 8

Give me neither poverty nor riches ;

Feed me with the food that is needful for me:

Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the 30: 9
Lorp?

Or lest I be poor, and steal,

And use profanely the name of my God.

VI. Man in his Legal Relations.
1. LEGAL FORMS.

a Procedure in a lawsuit.

He that pleadeth his cause first seemeth just ; 18:17
But his neighbor cometh and searcheth him out.
Go not forth hastily to strive, 25: 8

Lest thou know not what to do in the end thereof,
When thy neighbor hath put thee to shame.

Debate thy cause with thy neighbor Azmself, 25: 9
But disclose not the secret of another :
Lest he that heareth it revile thee, 25:10

And thine infamy turn not away.

b Use of the lot.

The lot causeth contentions to cease, 18:18
And parteth between the mighty.
MAN IN HIS LEGAL RELATIONS. 109
c The obligations of an oath.

Whoso is partner with a thief hateth his own soul: 29: 24
He heareth the adjuration and uttereth nothing.

d Dangers of suretyship.

Be thou not one of them that strike hands, 22:26
Or of them that are sureties for debts :

If thou hast not wherewith to pay, 22:27
Why should he take away thy bed from under thee?

A man void of understanding striketh hands, 17:18
And becometh surety in the presence of his neigh-

bor.
He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it: 11:15

But he that hateth suretyship is sure.

My son, if thou art become surety for thy neighbor, 6: 1
If thou hast stricken thy hands for a stranger,

Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, 6: 2
Thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.
Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, 6: 3

Seeing thou art come into the hand of thy neighbor ;

Go, humble thyself, and importune thy neighbor.

Give not sleep to thine eyes, 6: 4

Nor slumber to thine eyelids.

Deliver thyself as a gazelle from the hand of the 6: 5
hunter,

And as a bird from the hand of the fowler.

Take his garment that is surety for a stranger ; 20:16
And hold him in pledge that zs surety for a strange
woman.

2. THE SIN OF BRIBERY.

A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosom, 17:23
To pervert the ways of judgment.

He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house: 15: 27
But he that hateth gifts shall live.
110

WISE MEN OF ANCIENT JSRAEL.

3. DUTIES OF A WITNESS.

Be not a witness against thy neighbor without
cause ;

For wouldst thou deceive with thy lips?

A man that beareth false witness against his
neighbor

Is a maul, and a sword, and a sharp arrow.

A worthless witness mocketh at judgment:

And the mouth of the wicked swalloweth iniquity.

He that uttereth truth showeth forth righteousness,

But a false witness deceit.

A true witness delivereth souls:

But he that uttereth lies causeth deceit.

A false witness shall not be unpunished ;

And he that uttereth lies shall not escape.

A false witness shall perish:

But the man that heareth shall speak so as to
endure.

4. DUTIES OF A JUDGE.

To accept the person of the wicked is not good,

Vor to turn aside the righteous in judgment.

Also to punish the righteous is not good,

Vor to smite the noble for ¢Aecr uprightness.

To have respect of persons is not good:

Neither that a man should transgress for a piece of
bread.

He that saith unto the wicked, Thou art righteous ;

Peoples shall curse him, nations shall abhor him:

But to them that rebuke /z shall be delight,

And a good blessing shall come upon them.

5. THE OBJECT OF PUNISHMENT.

Stripes that wound cleanse away evil :
And strokes reach the innermost parts of the body.

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MAN IN HIS POLITICAL RELATIONS.

A man of great wrath shall bear the penalty :

For if thou deliver 427, thou must do it yet again.

Smite a scorner, and the simple will learn prudence :

And reprove one that hath understanding, avd he
will understand knowledge.

When one punisheth the scorner, the simple is made
wise:

And one instructeth the wise when he receiveth
knowledge.

VII. Man in his Political Relations.

1. THE KING.

a Subject to the Lord.

The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lorp as the
watercourses :
He turneth it whithersoever he will.

b Principles that should guide him.

It is an abomination to kings to commit wickedness :
For the throne is established by righteousness.
Mercy and truth preserve the king :

And he upholdeth his throne by mercy.

c As judge.
(1) Lnvestigator.

It is the glory of God to conceal a thing:
But the glory of kings is to search out a matter.

(2) Divinely guided.

A divine sentence is in the lips of the king:
His mouth shall not transgress in judgment.
A king that sitteth on the throne of judgment
Scattereth away all evil with his eyes.

(3) Champion of the poor and afflicted.

The king that faithfully judgeth the poor,
His throne shall be established for ever.

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It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to
drink wine;

Nor for princes fo say, Where is strong drink?

Lest they drink, and forget the law,

And pervert the judgment of any that is afflicted.

Open thy mouth for the dumb,

In the cause of all such as are ready to pass away.
Open thy mouth, judge righteously,

And minister judgment to the poor and needy.

d His plans secret.

The heaven for height, and the earth for depth,
And the heart of kings is unsearchable.

e His counselors.

Take away the dross from the silver,

And there cometh forth a vessel for the finer:

Take away the wicked from before the king,

And his throne shall be established in right-
eousness.

f His favor or wrath.

The king’s wrath is as the roaring of a lion;
But his favor is as dew upon the grass.

(1) Nature and effects.

The terror of a king is as the roaring of a lion:

He that provoketh him to anger sinneth against
his own life.

In the light of the king’s countenance is life ;

And his favor is as a cloud of the latter rain.

The wrath of a king is as messengers of death:

But a wise man will pacify it.

(2) How incurred.

Righteous lips are the delight of kings ;
And they love him that speaketh right.

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The king’s favor is toward a servant that dealeth 14: 35
wisely :

But his wrath shall be agazzs¢ him that doeth shame-
fully.

g Effects of hds rule.

As a roaring lion, and a ranging bear ; 28:15
So is a wicked ruler over a poor people.
When the righteous are increased, the people 29: 2
rejoice:
But when a wicked man beareth rule, the people
sigh.
If a ruler hearkeneth to falsehood, 29:12
All his servants are wicked.
The king by judgment establisheth the land: 29: 4
But he that exacteth gifts overthroweth it.
A wise king winnoweth the wicked, 20: 26
And bringeth the ¢hreshing wheel over them.

2. THE PRINCES AND NOBLES.

Arrogant speech becometh not a fool: 17: 7

Much less do lying lips a prince.

The prince that lacketh understanding is also a 28: 16
great oppressor :

But he that hateth covetousness shall prolong his
days.

For the transgression of a land many are the 28: 2
princes thereof:

But by a man of understanding amd knowledge the
state ¢hereof shall be prolonged.

3. THE ROYAL MESSENGER.

A rebellious man seeketh only rebellion ; 17:11
Therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against

him.
A wicked messenger falleth into evil: 13:17

But a faithful ambassador is health.
H
Il4 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, 25:13
So is a faithful messenger to them that send him;
For he refresheth the soul of his masters.

4. THE PEOPLE.

a Bearing in the presence of rulers.

When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, 23: 1
Consider diligently him that is before thee;

And put a knife to thy throat, 23: 2
If thou be a man given to appetite. :

Be not desirous of his dainties ; 23% 3

Seeing they are deceitful meat.

Put not thyself forward in the presence of the king, 25: 6

And stand not in the place of great men:

For better is it that it be said unto thee, Come up 25: 7
hither ; 5

Than that thou shouldest be put lower in the pres-
ence of the prince,

Whom thine eyes have seen.

b The value of forbearance before a ruler.

By long forbearing is a ruler persuaded, 25:15
And a soft tongue breaketh the bone.

c Loyalty to the king.

My son, fear thou the Lorp and the king: 24: 21
And meddle not with them that are given to

change:
For their calamity shall rise suddenly ; 24: 22

And who knoweth the end of their years?

d The diplomatic use of a gift.
A man’s gift maketh room for him, 18: 16
And bringeth him before great men.

A gift in secret pacifieth anger, 2r:14
And a present in the bosom strong wrath.
MAN IN HIS POLITICAL RELATIONS. 115

A gift is asa precious stone in the eyes of him that 17: 8
hath it:
Whithersoever it turneth, it prospereth.

e Importance of the people.
In the multitude of people is the king’s glory : 14: 28
But in the want of people is the destruction of the
prince.

f What citizens confer upon their country.

Scornful men set a city in a flame: 29: 8

But wise men turn away wrath.

When it goeth well with the righteous, the city 11:10
rejoiceth :

And when the wicked perish, there is shouting.

By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted: = 11:11

But it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.

Where no wise guidance is, the people falleth : Il: 14

But in the multitude of counselors there is safety.

5. LovE oF Country.

As a bird that wandereth from her nest, 27: 8
So is a man that wandereth from his place.

6. CARRYING ON WaR.

Every purpose is established by counsel : 20:18
And by wise guidance make thou war.

A wise man is strong; 24: 5
Yea, a man of knowledge increaseth might.

For by wise guidance thou shalt make thy war: 24: 6

And in the multitude of counselors there is safety.
CHAPTER III.

I. Man’s Duty to Animals.

A RIGHTEOUS man regardeth the life of his beast:
But the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.

II. Man’s Duty to Himself.
1. TO BE TEMPERATE IN SLEEPING.

Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty ;
Open thine eyes, azd thou shalt be satisfied with
bread.

2. TO BE TEMPERATE IN EATING.

Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is suffi-
cient for thee;

Lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it.

The full soul loatheth an honeycomb:

But to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.

Whoso keepeth the law is a wise son:

But he that is a companion of Eluttonouls men
shameth his father.

3. TO BE TEMPERATE IN DRINKING.

He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man:

He that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich.

Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler ;

And whosoever erreth thereby is not wise.

Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath con-
tentions?

Who hath complaining? who hath wounds without
cause?

Who hath dimness of eyes?
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MAN’S DUTY TO HIMSELF.

They that tarry long at the wine;

They that go to seek out mixed wine.

Look not thou upon the wine when it is red,

When it giveth its color in the cup,

When it goeth down smoothly :

At the last it biteth like a serpent,

And stingeth like an adder.

Thine eyes shall behold strange things,

And thine heart shall utter froward things.

Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the
midst of the sea,

Or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.

They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was
not hurt;

They have beaten me, and I felt it not:

When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.

4. TO BE TEMPERATE IN THE USE OF Worps.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue ;
And they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride:
But the lips of the wise shall preserve them.

In the transgression of the lips is an evil snare :
But the righteous shall come out of trouble.

It is a snare to a man rashly to say, /¢ zs holy,
And after vows to make inquiry.

He that giveth answer before he heareth,
It is folly and shame unto him.

Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words?
There is more hope of a fool than of him.

A man hath joy in the answer of his mouth:
And a word in due season, how good is it !

Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted
wise :

When he shutteth his lips, he is esteemed as
prudent.

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WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

He that spareth his words hath knowledge :

And he that is of a cool spirit is a man of under-
standing.

He that guardeth his mouth keepeth his life :

But he that openeth wide his lips shall have de-
struction.

Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue

Keepeth his soul from troubles.

Inthe multitude of words there wanteth not trans-
gression:

But he that refraineth his lips doeth wisely.

Put away from thee a froward mouth,

And perverse lips put far from thee.

5. TO RESTRAIN THE TEMPER.
He whose spirit is without restraint
Is ke a city that is broken down and hath no wall.
He that is soon angry will deal foolishly :
And a man of wicked devices is hated.
A fool uttereth all his anger:
But a wise man keepeth it back and stilleth it.
The discretion of a man maketh him slow to anger;
And it is his glory to pass over a transgression.
He that is slow to anger is of great understanding:
But he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly.
He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty ;
And he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a
city.

6. TO RESTRAIN JEALOUSY.
A tranquil heart is the life of the flesh:
But jealousy is the rottenness of the bones.

7. TO RESTRAIN THE SENSUAL PASSIONS.

Whoso loveth wisdom rejoiceth his father :
But he that keepeth company with harlots wasteth
Ais substance.

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MAN'S DUTY TO HIMSELF.

Give not thy strength unto women,
Nor thy ways to them that destroy kings.

My son, give me thine heart,

And let thine eyes delight in my ways.

For a whore is a deep ditch ;

And a strange woman is a narrow pit.

Yea, she lieth in wait as a robber,

And increaseth the treacherous among men.

The mouth of strange women is a deep pit:
He that is abhorred of the Lorp shall fall therein.

My son, attend unto my wisdom ;

Incline thine ear to my understanding :

That thou mayest preserve discretion,

And that thy lips may keep knowledge.

For the lips of a strange woman drop honey,
And her mouth is smoother than oil :

But her latter end is bitter as wormwood,
Sharp as a two-edged sword.

Her feet go down to death ;

And her steps take hold on Sheol;

So that she findeth not the level path of life:
Her ways are unstable avd she knoweth it not.
Now therefore, my sons, hearken unto me,

And depart not from the words of my mouth.
Remove thy way far from her,

And come not nigh the door of her house:
Lest thou give thine honor unto others,

And thy years unto the cruel:

Lest strangers be filled with thy strength ;

And thy labors de in the house of an alien;
And thou groan at thy latter end,

When thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
And say, How have I hated instruction,

And my heart despised reproof ;

Neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers,
Nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me !
I was well nigh in all evil

In the midst of the congregation and assembly.

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WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

My son, keep the commandment of thy father,

And forsake not the teaching of thy mother:

Bind them continually upon thine heart,

Tie them about thy neck.

When thou walkest, it shall lead thee;

When thou liest down, it shall watch over thee;

And when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.

For their commandment is a lamp; and their
teaching is light ;

And reproofs of instruction are the way of life:

To keep thee from the evil woman,

From the flattery of the stranger’s tongue.

Lust not after her beauty in thine heart ;

Neither let her take thee with her eyelids.

For on account of a whorish woman @ man is
brought to a piece of bread:

And the adulteress hunteth for the precious life.

Can a man take fire in his bosom,

And his clothes not be burned?

Or can one walk upon hot coals,

And his feet not be scorched?

So is he that goeth in to his neighbor’s wife ;

Whosoever toucheth her shall not be unpunished.

Men do not despise a thief, if he steal

To satisfy his soul when he is hungry:

But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold ;

He shall give all the substance of his house.

He that committeth adultery with a woman is void
of understanding :

He doeth it that would destroy his own soul.

Wounds and dishonor shall he get;

And his reproach shall not be wiped away.

For jealousy is the rage of a man;

And he will not spare in the day of vengeance.

He will not regard any ransom ;

Neither will he rest content, though thou givest
many gifts.

My son, keep my words,

And lay up my commandments with thee.

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MAN’S DUTY TO HIMSELF.

Keep my commandments and live ;

And my teaching as the apple of thine eye.

Bind them upon thy fingers ;

Write them upon the table of thine heart.

Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister ;

And call understanding ¢y familiar friend.

That they may keep thee from the strange woman,
From the stranger which flattereth with her words.
For at the window of my house

I looked forth through my lattice ;

And I beheld among the simple ones,

I discerned among the youths,

A young man void of understanding,

Passing through the street near her corner,

And he went the way to her house;

In the twilight, in the evening of the day,

In the blackness of night and the darkness.

And, behold, there met him a woman

With the attire of an harlot, and guarded of heart.
She is restless and wilful ;

Her feet abide not in her house:

Now she is in the streets, now in the broad places,
And lieth in wait at every corner.

So she caught him, and kissed him,

And with an impudent face she said unto him:
Sacrifices of peace offerings are with me;

This day I have paid my vows.

Therefore I came forth to meet thee,

Diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.
I have spread my couch with tapestries,

With striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt.

I have sprinkled my bed

With myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning;
Let us solace ourselves with loves.

For the goodman is not at home,

He is gone a long journey:

He hath taken a bag of money with him;

He will come home at the full moon.

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WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

With her much fair speech she causeth him to yield,
With the flattering of her lips she forceth him away.
He goeth after her straightway,

As an ox goeth to the slaughter,

Or as one in fetters to the correction of the fool ;
Till an arrow strike through his liver ;

As a bird hasteth to the snare,

And knoweth not that it is for his life.

Now therefore, zy sons, hearken unto me,

And attend to the words of my mouth.

Let not thine heart decline to her ways,

Go not astray in her paths.

For she hath cast down many wounded :

Yea, all her slain are a mighty host.

Her house is the way to Sheol,

Going down to the chambers of death.

8. To AVOID TEMPTATION.

Happy is the man that feareth alway :
But he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into
mischief.

A prudent man seeth the evil, avd hideth himself -
But the simple pass on, avd suffer for it.

A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil:
But the fool beareth himself insolently, and is
confident.

A wicked man hardeneth his face:
But as for the upright, he ordereth his ways.

Let thine eyes look right on,

And let thine eyelids look straight before thee.
Make level the path of thy feet,

And let all thy ways be ordered aright.

Turn not to the right hand nor to the left:
Remove thy foot from evil.

Be not thou envious against evil men,
Neither desire to be with them:

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MAN'S DUTY TO HIMSELF.

For their heart studieth oppression,
And their lips talk of mischief.

The beginning of strife is as when one lets out water:

Therefore leave off quarrelling before showing the
teeth.

g. TO RESIST TEMPTATION.

My son, if sinners entice thee,

Consent thou not.

Enter not into the path of the wicked,

And walk not in the way of evil men.

Avoid it, pass not by it;

Turn from it, and pass on.

For they sleep not, except they have done mischief ;

And their sleep is taken away, unless they cause
some to fall.

For they eat the bread of wickedness,

And drink the wine of violence.

Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye,

Neither desire thou his dainties :

For as he reckoneth within himself, so is he:

Eat and drink, saith he to thee;

But his heart is not with thee.

The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou
vomit up,

And lose thy sweet words.

An evil-doer giveth heed to wicked lips ;

And a liar giveth ear to a mischievous tongue.

As a troubled fountain, and a corrupted spring,

So is a righteous man that giveth way before the
wicked.

Io. TO BE PRUDENT.
As a ring of gold in a swine’s snout,
So zs a fair woman which is without discretion.
The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his
way:
But the folly of fools is deceit.

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WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

A prudent man seeth the evil, and hideth himself:
But the simple pass on, and suffer for it.

The simple believeth every word:

But the prudent man looketh well to his going.

Also, that the soul be without knowledge is not
good ;

And he that hasteth with his feet erreth.

As an archer that woundeth all,
So is he that hireth the fool and he that hireth
them that pass by.

11. TO USE TACT IN ANSWERING A FOOL.

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

12. TO RECEIVE CORRECTION.

The ear that hearkeneth to the reproof of life
Shall abide among the wise.

13. TO CHOOSE GOOD ASSOCIATES.

He that walketh with wise men shall be wise;
But the companion of fools shall smart for it.

14. TO CHERISH RIGHT DESIRES.
The soul of the wicked desireth evil:
His neighbor findeth no favor in his eyes.
The desire of the righteous is only good:
But the expectation of the wicked is wrath.
He that diligently seeketh good seeketh favor:
But he that searcheth after mischief, it shall come
unto him.

15. TO BE MEEK.

The proud and haughty man, scorner is his name,
He worketh in the arrogance of pride.

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MAN’S DUTY TO HIMSELF.

It is not good to eat much honey:

So for men to search out their own glory is not
glory.

An high look, and a proud heart,

Even the lamp of the wicked, is sin.

Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit?

There is more hope of a fool than of him.

Pride goeth before destruction,

And an haughty spirit before a fall.

Before destruction the heart of man is haughty,

And before honor goeth humility. a

When pride cometh, then cometh shame:

But with the lowly is wisdom.

Better is he that is lightly esteemed, and tills for
himself,

Than he that honoreth himself, and lacketh bread.

A man’s pride shall bring him low:

But he that is of a lowly spirit shall obtain honor.

Let another man praise thee, and not thine own
mouth ;

A stranger, and not thine own lips.

16. To BE PURE IN HEART.

Thorns avd snares are in the way of the froward:
He that keepeth his soul shall be far from them.
The way of him that is laden with guilt is exceed-

ing crooked :
But as for the pure, his work is right.
He that loveth pureness of heart,
For the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend.
Keep thy heart above all that thou guardest ;
For out of it are the issues of life.

17. To BE RIGHTEOUS.
The righteousness of the perfect shall make
straight his way:
But the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness.

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126 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

The righteousness of the upright shall deliver
them:

But they that deal treacherously shall be taken in
their own mischief.

Righteousness guardeth him that is upright in the
way:

But wickedness overthroweth the sinner.

A man shall not be established by wickedness :

But the root of the righteous shall never be moved.

The high way of the upright is to depart from
evil:

He that keepeth his way preserveth his soul.

III. Man's Duties to Others.
I. TO AVOID:
a LIndolence.

As vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes,
So is the sluggard to them that send him.

b Disdainfulness.
He that despiseth his neighbor is void of wisdom:
But a man of understanding holdeth his peace.

c Greed.
He that augmenteth his substance by usury and
increase,
Gathereth it for him that hath pity on the poor.
He that is of a greedy spirit stirreth up strife :
But he that putteth his trust in the Lorn shall be
made fat.

d Hatred.

Hatred stirreth up strifes :
But love covereth all transgressions.

e Anger.
An angry man stirreth up strife,
And a wrathful man aboundeth in transgression.

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MAN'S DUTIES TO OTHERS.

A wrathful man stirreth up contention:
But he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.

f Fealousy.
Wrath is cruel, and anger is overwhelming ;
But who is able to stand before jealousy ?

g Revenge.
Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth,
And let not thine heart be glad when he is over-
thrown:
Lest the LorD see it, and it displease him,
And he turn away his wrath from him.
Say not, I will recompense evil :
Wait on the Lorp, and he shall save thee.

h lugratitude.

Whoso rewardeth evil for good,
Evil shall not depart from his house.

i Contention.

Strive not with a man without cause,

If he have done thee no harm.

If thou hast done foolishly in lifting up thyself,

Or if thou hast thought evil,

Lay thine hand upon thy mouth.

For as the churning of milk bringeth forth butter,

And the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood:

So the forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife.

It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife :

But every fool shows his teeth.

He that vexeth himself with strife that does not
belong to him,

Is like one that taketh a passing dog by the ears.

He loveth transgression who loveth strife :

He that raiseth high his gate seeketh destruction.

Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out;

Yea, strife and ignominy shall cease,

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A fool’s lips bring contention,
And his mouth calleth for stripes

As coals are to the hot embers, and wood to fire ;
So is a contentious man to inflame strife.

The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out
water,

Therefore leave off quarrelling before showing the
teeth.

Better is a dry morsel and quietness therewith,
Than an house full of feasting with strife.

j Flattery.

The words of a whisperer are as dainty morsels,

And they go down into the innermost parts of the
body.

He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising
early in the morning,

It shall be counted a curse to him.

A man that flattereth his neighbor

Spreadeth a net for his steps.

A lying tongue hateth those whom it hath wounded :

And a flattering mouth worketh ruin.

He that rebuketh a man shall afterward find more
favor

Than he that flattereth with the tongue.

k Dissimulation.

Fervent lips and a wicked heart

Are /zke an earthen vessel overlaid with silver dross.

He that hateth dissembleth with his lips,

But layeth up deceit within him:

When he speaketh fair, believe him not ;

For there are seven abominations in his heart ;

Though Zzs hatred cover itself with guile,

His wickedness shall be openly showed before the
congregation.

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MAN’S DUTIES TO OTHERS. 129

Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: 26:27
And he that rolleth a stone, it shall return upon
him.

1 Lying.
A faithful witness will not lie; 14: 5
But a false witness uttereth lies.
A righteous man hateth lying: 13: 5
But a wicked man causeth shame and bringeth
reproach.
The lip of truth shall be established forever : 12:19
But a lying tongue is but for a moment.
As clouds and wind without rain, 25:14
So zs he that boasteth himself of his gifts falsely.
Bread of falsehood is sweet to a man; 20:17
But afterwards his mouth shall be filled with
gravel.
A lying tongue hateth those whom it hath crushed; 26: 28
And a flattering mouth worketh ruin.

m Breach of confidence.

He that goeth about as a talebearer revealeth 11:13
secrets :

But he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the
matter.

He that goeth about as a talebearer revealeth 20:19
secrets :

Therefore meddle not with him that openeth wide
his lips.

n Zvreachery.

As a madman who casteth firebrands, 26:18
Arrows, and death ;
So is the man that deceiveth his neighbor, 26:19

And saith, Am not I in sport ?

A man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth: 13: 2
But the desire of the treacherous is violence.
I
WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

o Slander.

With his mouth the godless man destroyeth his
neighbor :

But .through knowledge shall the righteous be
delivered.

The north wind bringeth forth rain:

So doth a backbiting tongue an angry countenance.

For lack of wood the fire goeth out:

And where there is no whisperer, contention
ceaseth.

A froward man scattereth abroad strife :

And a whisperer separateth trusted friends.

He that hideth hatred is of lying lips ;

And he that uttereth a slander is a fool.

p Lvil machinations.

Devise not evil against thy neighbor,
Seeing he dwelleth securely by thee.

A worthless man deviseth mischief:
And in his lips there is a scorching fire.

He that shutteth his eyes to devise froward things,
And compresseth his lips, bringeth evil to pass.
He that winketh with the eye causeth sorrow:

But a prating fool shall fall.

A worthless person, a man of iniquity ;

He walketh with a froward mouth;

He winketh with his eyes, he shuffleth with his feet,

He maketh signs with his fingers ;

Frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth evil con-
tinually ;

He letteth loose discord.

Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly ;

Ona sudden shall he be broken, and that without
remedy.

He that deviseth to do evil,
Men shall call him a mischievous person.

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MAN’S DUTIES TO OTHERS. 131

Evil devices are an abomination to the LorD: 15:26
But pleasant words are pure.

q Oppression of the poor.

Rob not the poor, for he is poor, 23 222
Neither crush the afflicted in the gate:
For the Lorp will plead their cause, 22:23

And despoil of life those that despoil them.

r Stealing land

Remove not the ancient landmark, 22: 28
Which thy fathers have set.

Remove not the ancient landmark ; 23:10
And enter not into the fields of the fatherless :

For their redeemer is strong: 23:11

He shall plead their cause against thee.

s Deeds of violence.
The words of the wicked are a lying in wait for

blood : 12: 6
But the mouth of the upright shall deliver them.
A man of violence enticeth his neighbor, 16: 29
And leadeth him in a way that is not good.
The bloodthirsty hate him that is perfect : 29: 10
But the upright care for his soul.
When the wicked rise, men hide themselves: 28: 28
But when they perish the righteous increase.
Envy thou not the man of violence, 3:31
And choose none of his ways.
For the perverse is an abomination to the Lorp: 3:32

But his secret is with the upright.
If they say, Come with us, 1:11
Let us lay wait for blood,
Let us lurk privily for the innocent without

cause ;
Let us swallow them up alive as Sheol, 1:12
And whole as they that go down into the pit;
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We shall find all precious substance,

We shall fill our houses with spoil ;

Thou shalt cast thy lot among us;

We will all have one purse:

My son, walk not thou in the way with them ;

Refrain thy foot from their path:

For their feet run to evil,

And they make haste to shed blood.

For in vain is the net spread,

In the eyes of any bird:

And these lay wait for their own blood,

They lurk privily for their own lives.

So are the ways of every one that is greedy of
gain;

It taketh away the life of the owners thereof.

2. TO CHERISH.

a Strict justice.

It is joy to the righteous to do judgment ;

But it is a destruction to the workers of iniquity.
To do justice and judgment

Is more acceptable to the Lorp than sacrifice.

b Uprightness.

An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous:

And he that is upright in the way is an abomina-
tion to the wicked.

The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable:

But the mouth of the wicked is frowardness.

The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life:

But the mouth of the wicked covereth violence.

The tongue of the righteous is as choice silver:

The heart of the wicked is little worth.

The lips of the righteous feed many :

But the foolish die for lack of understanding.

The thoughts of the righteous are judgment:

But the counsels of the wicked are deceit.

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MAN’S DUTIES TO OTHERS. 133

The heart of the righteous studieth to answer : 15:28
But the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil

things.
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; 11:30

And he that is wise winneth souls.

The wicked desireth the prey of evil men: 12:12
But the root of the righteous yieldeth fruzt.

When the righteous triumph, there is great glory: 28:12
But when the wicked rise, men hide themselves.

c Fidelity in friendship.
Thine own friend and thy father’s friend 27:10
Forsake not.

Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble 25: 19
Is ike a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint.

A friend loveth at all times, 17:17
And a brother is born for adversity.

d Courage in delivering the innocent.

If thou faint in the day of adversity, 24: 10
Thy strength is small.
Deliver them that are carried away unto death, 24:11

And those that are tottering to the slaughter see
that thou hold back.
If thou sayest, Behold, we knew not this: 24: 12
Doth not he that weigheth the hearts consider it ?
And he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it ?
And shall he not render to every man according to
his work ?

e Charity towards another's faults.

He that covereth a transgression seeketh love: 17: 9
But he that harpeth on a matter separateth trust
friends.

£ Consideration for another’s feelings.

As one that taketh off a garment in cold weather, 25:20
and as vinegar upon a wound,
So is he that singeth songs to a heavy heart.
WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

g Wisdom in treating with a fool.

Speak not in the hearing of a fool;

For he will despise the wisdom of thy words.
Answer a fool according to his folly,

Lest he be wise in his own eyes.

As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest,
So honor is not seemly for a fool.

As one that bindeth fast a stone in a sling,
So is he that giveth honor to a fool.

h TZact in speaking.

A word fitly spoken

Is “ke apples of gold in chased work of silver.
He kisseth the lips

That giveth a right answer.

The healing tongue is a tree of life:

But perverseness therein is a breaking of the spirit.

The wise in heart shall be called prudent:
And the sweetness of the lips increaseth learning.

i Kind words.

There is that which speaketh rashly like the pierc-
ings of a sword:

But the tongue of the wise is health.

A soft answer turneth away wrath:

But a grievous word stirreth up anger.

Pleasant words are as an honeycomb,

Sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.

j Helpfulness.

The righteous is a guide to his neighbor :
But the way of the wicked causeth them to err.

k Liberality.

Withhold not good from them to whom it is due,
When it is in the power of thine hand to do it.

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MAN'S DUTIES TO OTHERS.

Say not unto thy neighbor, Go, and come again,

And to-morrow I will give;

When thou hast it by thee.

There is that coveteth greedily all the day long:

But the righteous giveth and withholdeth not.

Many will intreat the favor of the liberal man:

And every man is a friend to him that giveth gifts.

The liberal soul shall be made fat :

And he that watereth shall be watered also himself.

He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse
him:

But blessing shall be upon the head of him that
selleth it.

1 Mercy.

He that despiseth his neighbor sinneth :

But he that hath pity on the poor,,happy is he.

He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the
Lorp,

And his good deed will he pay him again.

Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker :

And he that is glad at calamity shall not be un-
punished.

The merciful man doeth good to his own soul:

But he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh.

Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish,

And wine unto the bitter in soul:

Let him drink, and forget his poverty,

And remember his misery no more.

Let not mercy and truth forsake thee:

Bind them about thy neck;

Write them upon the table of thine heart:

So shalt thou find favor and good understanding

In the sight of God and man.

m Love.

Hatred stirreth up strifes :
But love covereth all transgressions.

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Better is a portion of herbs where love is, 15:17
Than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.

n Kindness toward an enemy.
Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done tome; 24: 29
I will render to the man according to his work.
If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat ; 25:21
And if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:
For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head,
And the LorD shall reward thee.

IV. Man’s Duties toward God.

I. REVERENCE.
a What it zs.

The fear of the LorD is the beginning of wisdom: 9: Io

And the knowledge of the Holy One is under-
standing.

The fear of the Lorp is the instruction of wisdom: 15: 33

And before honor goe¢h humility.

He that walketh in his uprightness feareth the 14: 2
Lorp:

But he that is perverse in his ways despiseth him.

b /ts rewards.

My son, if thine heart be wise, 23:15
My heart shall be glad, even mine:

Yea, my reins shall rejoice, 23:16
When thy lips speak right things.

Let not thine heart envy sinners: 23:17
But e ¢hou in the fear of the Lorp all the day long:

For surely there is a reward : 23:18
And thy hope shall not be cut off.

Hear thou, my son, and be wise, 23:19
And guide thine heart in the way.

In the fear of the Lor is strong confidence: 14: 26

And his children shall have a place of refuge.
MAN’S DUTIES TOWARD GOD.

The fear of the LorD is a fountain of life,

To depart from the snares of death.

The fear of the Lorp prolongeth days:

But the years of the wicked shall be shortened.
The fear of the Lorn ¢endeth to life:

And he ¢hat hath it shall abide satisfied ;

He shall not be visited with evil.

Be not wise in thine own eyes ;

Fear the Lorp, and depart from evil:

It shall be health to thy navel,

And refreshment to thy bones.

The reward of humility and the fear of the LorD,
Is riches and honor and life.

2. SUBMISSION.

The foolishness of a man perverteth his way ;
And his heart fretteth against the Lorp.

My son, despise not the discipline of the Lorp:
Neither be weary of his reproof:

For whom the Lorp loveth he reproveth ;

Even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.

3. REGARD FOR THE PROPHETIC WoRD.

Where there is no vision, the people cast off
restraint :

But he that keepeth the teaching, happy is he.

Whoso despiseth the word maketh himself a debtor
thereto.

But he that feareth the commandment shall be
rewarded.

4. Honor.

Honor the Lorp with thy substance,

And with the first-fruits of all thine increase:
So shall thy barns be filled with plenty,

And thy vats shall overflow with new wine.

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WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

5. TRUST.

The fear of man bringeth a snare:

But whoso putteth his trust in the Lorp shall be
protected.

He that giveth heed unto the word shall find good:

And whoso trusteth in the Lorn, happy is he.

He that is of a greedy spirit stirreth up strife

But he that putteth his trust in the Lorp shall be
made fat.

He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool:

But whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.

Trust in the Lorn with all thine heart,

And lean not upon thine own understanding :

In all thy ways acknowledge him,

And he shall make plain thy path.

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CHAPTER IV.

THE REWARDS OF HUMAN CONDUCT.
I. Whatsoever a Man soweth that shall he also reap.

BEHOLD, the righteous shall be recompensed in the 11: 31
earth:

How much more the wicked and the sinner !

A man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of 12:14
his mouth :

And the doings of a man’s hands shall be rendered
unto him.

The wicked earneth deceitful wages : 11:18

But he that soweth righteousness Zat/ a sure reward.

He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity : 22: 8

And the rod of his wrath shall fail.

His own iniquities shall take the wicked, 5:22

And he shall be holden with the cords of his sin.

He shall die for lack of instruction ; 523

And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.

A man’s belly shall be filled with the fruit of his 18:20
mouth ;

With the increase of his lips shall he be satisfied.

Whoso causeth the upright to go astray in an evil 28:10
way,

He shall fall himself into his own pit:

But the perfect shall inherit good.

The integrity of the upright shall guide them: 11:3
But the perverseness of the treacherous shall de-
stroy them.
The backslider in heart shall be filled with hisown 14:14
ways:

And a good man shall be satisfied from himself.
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II. Recompense for Right or Wrong Conduct shall be:

WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

1. HOPE oR HOPELESSNESS.

The wicked is thrust down in his evil-doing:
But the righteous hath a refuge in his death.
The light of the righteous rejoiceth ;

But the lamp of the wicked shall be put out.
The hope of the righteous shall be gladness :
But the expectation of the wicked shall perish.
Fret not thyself because of evil-doers ;
Neither be thou envious at the wicked:

For there shall be no reward to the evil man;
The lamp of the wicked shall be put out.

2. MORAL COURAGE OR COWARDICE.
The wicked flee when no man pursueth:
But the righteous are bold as a lion.
The way of the wicked is as darkness:
They know not at what they stumble.
But the path of the righteous is as the light of
dawn,
That shineth more and more unto the perfect day.

3. MORAL PERCEPTION OR BLINDNESS.

Evil men understand not judgment:
But they that seek the Lord understand all things.

4. TRUTH OR ERROR.

Do they not err that devise evil?
But mercy and truth shall be to them that devise
good.

5. HONOR OR HUMILIATION.

The evil bow before the good ;
And the wicked at the gates of the righteous.

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RECOMPENSE FOR CONDUCT.

When the wicked cometh, there cometh also con-
tempt,

And with ignominy cometh reproach.

A man shall be commended according to his wis-
dom:

But he that is of a perverse heart shall be despised.

6. REMEMBRANCE OR OBLIVION.

The memory of the just is blessed :
But the name of the wicked shall rot.

7. BLESSEDNESS OR VIOLENCE.
Blessings are upon the head of the righteous :
But the mouth of the wicked covereth violence.
The violence of the wicked shall sweep them
away ;
Because they refuse to do judgment.

A man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth:
But the soul of transgressors shall eat violence.

8. QuiET SECURITY OR UNENVIABLE PUBLICITY.

He that walketh uprightly walketh surely :
But he that perverteth his ways shall be known.

g. DELIVERANCE OR MISFORTUNE.
There shall no mischief happen to the righteous:
But the wicked shall be filled with evil.
As the sparrow in her wandering, as the swallow
in her flying,
So the curse, that is causeless, lighteth not.
My hand upon it. the evil man shall not be unpun-
ished :
But the seed of the righteous shall be delivered.
Whoso walketh uprightly shall be delivered :
But he that is perverse in Azs ways shall fall at
once.

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WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

10. PROSPERITY OR CALAMITY.

The house of the wicked shall be overthrown :

But the tent of the upright shall flourish.

When the wicked are increased, transgression in-
creaseth :

But the righteous shall look upon their fall.

The righteous man considereth the house of the
wicked ;

How the wicked are overthrown to ¢hezr ruin.

Evil pursueth sinners :

But the righteous shall be recompensed with good.

He that hath a froward heart findeth no good:

And he that hath a perverse tongue falleth into
mischief.

II. RICHES OR TROUBLE.

In the house of the righteous is much treasure:
But in the revenues of the wicked is trouble.

12. PLENTY OR WANT.

The righteous eateth to the satisfying of his soul:
But the belly of the wicked shall want.

13. Joy or EvIL.
Deceit is in the heart of them that devise evil :
But to the counselors of peace is joy.
In the transgression of an evil man there is a
snare :
But the righteous doth sing and rejoice.

14. STABILITY OR INSECURITY.

When the whirlwind passeth, the wicked is no
more:

But the righteous is an everlasting foundation.

Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the habita-
tion of the righteous ;

Spoil not his resting place:

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RECOMPENSE FOR CONDUCT.

For a righteous man falleth seven times and riseth
up again:

But the wicked are overthrown by calamity.

The righteous shall never be removed :

But the wicked shall not dwell in the land.

The wicked are overthrown, and are not:

But the house of the righteous shall stand.

For the upright shall dwell in the land.

And the perfect shall remain in it.

But the wicked shall be cut off from the land,

And they that deal treacherously shall be rooted
out of it.

15. FULFILLMENT OF DESIRES OR FEARS.
The Lorp will not suffer the soul of the righteous
to famish :
But he thrusteth away the desire of the wicked.
The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him:
And the desire of the righteous shall be granted.

16. LIFE oR DEATH.

He that is stedfast in righteousness shall attain

unto life :
And he that pursueth evil doeth zt to his own death.
The labor of the righteous ¢endeth to life ;
The increase of the wicked to sin.
In the way of righteousness is life ;
And in the pathway thereof there is no death.
The mouth of the righteous bringeth forth wisdom:
But the froward tongue shall be cut off.
A man that is laden with the blood of any person
Shall flee unto the pit; let no man stay him.
Treasures of wickedness profit nothing :
But righteousness delivereth from death.

17. DIVINE Favor OR CONDEMNATION.

A good man shall obtain favor of the Lorp:
But a man of wicked devices will he condemn.

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WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

Judgments are prepared for scorners, 19: 29
And stripes for the back of fools.

The Wicked shall be a Ransom for the Righteous.

The righteous is delivered out of trouble, i: 8
And the wicked cometh in his stead.
The wicked is a ransom for the righteous ; 21:18

And the treacherous cometh in the stead of the
upright.

IV. Righteousness its Own Reward.

Righteousness keepeth him that is upright in the 13: 6
way:

But wickedness overthroweth the sinner.

The backslider in heart shall be filled with hisown 14:14
ways:

And a good man shall be satisfied from himself.

He that followeth after righteousness and mercy 21:21

Findeth life, righteousness, and honor.
CHAPTER V.
GOD.
I. The Cry of a Questioning Soul: ‘‘ What can Man know
respecting God? ”’

THE utterance of the strong man: I have wearied 30: 1
myself, O God,
I have wearied myself, O God, and have not pre-

vailed ;
For I am more stupid than an ordinary man, 30: 2
And have not human understanding :
And I have not learned wisdom, 30: 3

Neither have I the knowledge of the Holy One.
Who hath ascended up into heaven,and descended? 30: 4
Who hath gathered the wind in his fists?
Who hath bound the waters in his garment?
Who hath established all the ends of the earth?
What is his name, and what is his son’s name, if
thou knowest?

II. The Nature of God.
1. OMNIPOTENT.
The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lorpasthe 21: 1
watercourses :
He turneth it whithersoever he will.
There is no wisdom nor understanding 21: 30
Nor counsel against the Lorp.

2. OMNISCIENT.
If thou sayest, Behold we knew not this: 24:12
Doth not he that weigheth the hearts consider it?
And shall he not render to every man according to
his work?
kK 145
146

WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

Sheol and Abaddon are before the LorD:

How much more then the hearts of the children of
men!

The eyes of the Lorp are in every place,

Keeping watch upon the evil and the good.

For the ways of man are before the eyes of the
Lorp,

And he maketh level all his paths.

3. UNCHANGEABLE.

There are many devices in a man’s heart ;
But the counsel of the LorD, that shall stand.

4. UNSEARCHABLE.

It is the glory of God to conceal a thing:
But the glory of kings is to search out a matter.

5. Just.
A just balance and scales are the Lorp’s:
All the weights of the bag are his work.

To do justice and judgment
Is more acceptable to the Lorn than sacrifice.

6. Lovinc.

The way of the wicked is an abomination to the
LorpD:

But he loveth him that followeth after righteous-
ness.

My son, despise not the chastening of the Lorn ;

Neither be weary of his reproof:

For whom the Lorn loveth, he reproveth ;

Even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.

III. Creator.

The Lorp by wisdom founded the earth :

By understanding he established the heavens.
By his knowledge the depths are broken up,
And the skies drop down the dew.

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DEFENDER OF THE RIGHTEOUS.

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

The hearing ear, and the seeing eye,
The Lorp hath made even both of them.

IV. Regulator of:
1. SPEECH.

The preparations of the heart belong to man:
But the answer of the tongue is from the Lorp.

2. Man’s FORTUNES.

A man’s goings are of the Lorp;
How then can man understand his way?

A man’s heart deviseth his way:
But the Lorp directeth his steps.
3. THE Lor.

The lot is cast into the lap;
But the whole disposing thereof is of the Lorp.

4. VICTORY.

The horse is prepared against the day of battle:
But victory is of the Lorp.

5. ALL THINGS.

The Lorp hath made every thing for its own end:

Yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

V. Defender of the Righteous.
For the Lorp shall be thy confidence
And shall keep thy foot from being taken.
Say not thou, I will recompense evil.
Wait on the Lorp, and he will save thee.
The name of the Lorn is a strong tower ;
The righteous runneth into it, and is safe.

22:

20:

16:

20:

16:

16:

21:

16:

20:

18:

147

12

24

33

31

226
22

Io
148

WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

VI. Judge of Human Actions.

All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes:
But the Lorp weigheth the spirits.

Every way of a man is right in his own eyes:

But the Lorp weigheth the hearts.

Many seek the ruler’s favor:

But a man’s judgment cometh from the Lorp.

The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold :
But the Lorn trieth the hearts.

VII. Rewarder of Conduct.

If thou sayest, Behold, we knew not this:

Doth not he that weigheth the hearts consider it ?

And he that keepeth the soul, doth not he know it ?

And shall not he render to every man according to
his work ?

A good man shall obtain favor of the Lorp:

But a man of wicked devices will he condemn.

The Lorp will not suffer the soul of the righteous
to famish :

But he thrusteth away the desire of the wicked.

The way of the Lorp is a stronghold to the
upright ;

But it is a destruction to the workers of iniquity.

If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat;

And if he be thirsty, give him water to drink :

For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head,

And the Lorp shall reward thee.

The blessing of the Lorp, it maketh rch,

And toil addeth nothing thereto.

When a man’s ways please the Lorn,

He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with
him.

16:

21:

29:

17:

24:

12:

Io:

25:

25:

Io:

16:

26

12

29

21

22

22
WHAT GOD ABOMINATES.

VIII. One who abominates:

1. PRIDE.

Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination
to the Lorp:
My hand upon it, he shall not be unpunished.

The Lorn will root up the house of the proud:
But he will established the border of the widow.

2, WICKEDNESS.
The curse of the Lorp is in the house of the
wicked ;
But he blesseth the habitation of the righteous.
Surely he scorneth the scorners,
But he giveth grace unto the lowly.

3. Unjust MEASURES.

Divers weights, and divers measures,
Both of them alike are an abomination to the Lorp.

A false balance is an abomination to the Lorp:
But a just weight is his delight.

4. LyING.

Lying lips are an abomination to the Lorp:
But they that deal truly are his delight.

5. Evi. DEvIcEs. -

Evil devices are an abomination to the Lorp:
But pleasant words are pure.

6. THE SACRIFICE OF THE WICKED.

The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to
the Lorp:
But the prayer of the upright is his delight.

7. PERVERSENESS.
They that are perverse in heart are an abomination
to the LorpD:
But such as are perfect in ¢hedr way are his delight.

16:

20:

II:

12:

15:

15:

149

5

125

+33

234

Io

22

26

:20
150

WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

For the perverse is an abomination to the Lord:
But his secret is with the upright.

The Lorn is far from the wicked :
But he heareth the prayer of the righteous.

8. Unjust DECISIONS.

He that justifieth the wicked, and he that con-
demneth the righteous,

Both of them alike are an abomination to the Lorp.

g. SEVEN HATEFUL SINS.
There be six things which the Lorp hateth ;
Yea, seven which are an abomination unto him:
Haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
And hands that shed innocent blood;
An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations,
Feet that be swift in running to mischief;
A false witness that uttereth lies,
And he that soweth discord among brethren.

IX. Champion of:

1. THE WIDOW.

The Lorp will root up the house of the proud :
But he will establish the border of the widow.

2. THE Poor.
Rob not the poor because they are poor,
Neither oppress the afflicted in the gate :
For the Lorp will plead their cause,
And despoil of life those that despoil them.

3. THE WISE.
The eyes of the Lorp preserve Aim that hath
knowledge,
But he overthroweth the words of the treacherous
man.
4. THE RIGHTEOUS.

The name of the Lorn is a strong tower :
The righteous runneth into it, and is safe.

15

17:

15

22:

22

22:

18:

232

29

15

:16

117

225

22

223

12

to
WHOM GOD CHAMPIONS.

5. THOSE WHO TRUST HIM.

Commit thy works unto the Lorn,

And thy purposes shall be established.
Every word of God is tried:

He is a shield unto them that trust in him.
Add thou not unto his words,

Lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.

16: 3

30: 5

30: 6
CHAPTER VI.
DOCTRINAL PROVERBS.

I. Sin.
An example.

AN high look and a proud heart,
Even the lamp of the wicked is sin.

1. ITs EFFECTS.
a Upon the righteous.
As a troubled fountain and a corrupted spring,
So is the righteous man that giveth way before the
wicked.

b Upon a nation.

Righteousness exalteth a nation:
But sin is a reproach to any people.

c Upon the sinner.
The way of him that is laden with guilt is exceed-
ingly crooked:
But as for the pure, his work is right.

2. NO MAN CAN CLEANSE HIMSELF.

Who can say, I have made my heart clean,
I am pure from my sin?

3. THE VALUE OF CONFESSION.
The foolish make a mock at guilt :
But among the upright there is good will.
He that covereth his transgressions shall not
prosper :
But whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall

obtain mercy.
152

21: 4
25:26
14: 34
21: 8
20: 9
14: 9
28: 13
SACRIFICE.— PRAVER.—THE FUTURE LIFE.

4. THAT WHICH CAN CLEANSE.
By mercy and truth iniquity is purged :
And by the fear of the Lorp men depart from evil.

II. Sacrifice.

The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to
the Lorp,

But the prayer of the upright is his delight.

The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination:

How much more, when he bringeth it with a wicked
mind!

To do justice and judgment

Is more acceptable to the Lorp than sacrifice.

III. Prayer.
He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law,
Even his prayer is an abomination.

The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to
the Lorn,
But the prayer of the upright is his delight.

The Lorp is far from the wicked,
But he heareth the prayer of the righteous.

IV. The Future Life.

1. FOR THE WICKED.
When a wicked man dieth, 42s expectation shall
perish :
And the hope of worthless men perisheth.

The man that wandereth out of the way of under-
standing,
Shall rest in the congregation of the dead.

2. FOR THE WISE AND UPRIGHT.

To the wise the way of life goeth upward,
That he may depart from Sheol beneath.

\

16:

15:

2r;:

21:

28:

15:

15:

II:

21

1g:

153

27

29,

216

24
154

WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

The wicked is thrust down in his evil doing ;
But the righteous hath a refuge in his death.

V. Sheol.

I. KNowWN TO GOD.

Sheol and Abaddon are before the Lorp:
How much more then the hearts of the children of
men.

2. SWALLOWS UP THE LIVING.

My son, if sinners entice thee,

Consent thou not.

If they say, Come with us,

Let us lay wait for blood,

Let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause,
Let us swallow them up alive as Sheol,

And whole as those who go down into the pit.

3. INSATIABLE.

Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied ;
And the eyes of man are never satisfied.

14:

15:

27:

32

II

:10

11

212

20
CHAPTER VII.

NUMERICAL ENIGMAS.

I. Four Things that are never satisfied.

THE horseleach hath two daughters, cyzug, Give,
give.

There are three things that are never satisfied,

Yea, four that say not, Enough:

Sheol; and the barren womb;

The earth that is not satisfied with water ;

And the fire that never saith, Enough.

II. Four Things that leave no Trace behind.

There be three things which are too wonderful for
me,

Yea, four which I know not:

The way of an eagle in the air;

The way of a serpent upon a rock;

The way of a ship in the midst of the sea;

And the way of a man with a maid.

So is the way of an adulterous woman ;

She eateth, and wipeth her mouth,

And saith, I have done no wickedness.

III. Four Things that are Intolerable.

Under three things the earth doth tremble,
And for four, whzch it cannot bear:

For a servant when he is king ;

And a fool when he is filled with meat ;

For an odious woman when she is married ;
And an handmaid that is heir to her mistress.

155

30:

30:

30:

30:

30:

30:

30:

30:

15

19

20

21

22

23
156

WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

IV. Four Things which, though Small, yet manifest Great

Foresight.

There be four things which are little upon the 30:24
earth,
But they are exceeding wise :

The ants are a people not strong, 30:25
Yet they provide their meat in the summer;

The conies are but a feeble folk, 30: 26
Yet make they their houses in the rocks ;

The locusts have no king, 30:27
Yet go they forth all of them by bands;

The lizard thou canst seize with thy hands, 30: 28

Yet is she in kings’ palaces.

Vv. Four Things which are Stately in their Going.

There be three things which are stately in their 3a: 29

march,
Yea, four which are stately in going:
The lion, which is mightiest among beasts, 30: 30
And turneth not away for any ;
The war-horse, the he-goat also ; 30: 31

And the king, when his army is with him.

VI. Seven Things which are Hateful to the Lord.

There be six things which the Lorp hateth ; 6:16
Yea, seven which are an abomination unto him

Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, 6:17
And hands that shed innocent blood ;

An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, 6: 18
Feet that be swift in running to mischief;

A false witness that uttereth lies, 16:19

And he that soweth discord among brethren.
PART III.

SUPPLEMENTARY STUDIES.

 

CHAPTER I.
SOCIAL TEACHINGS OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.

SociaL Science and the knotty problems with which it en-
deavors to grapple are no new product peculiar to the present
age. The terms and the scientific spirit of which the former
are the expression, alone are modern. The conditions and the
inevitably resulting problems are as old as humanity. They
arose the moment that man came into relations with his fellow-
men. In the ancient Hebrew state, social questions were not
only present, but also vital and insistent, as the fervid sermons
of the prophets demonstrate. The wise also, in following the
various interests of the individual, were led perforce to turn
social teachers. The result is that they have presented con-
clusions, preserved in the Proverbs, which are to-day as appli-
cable to the problems of society as they were when first
enunciated.

The contributions of the Proverbs to Social Science are of a
twofold character: (1) facts respecting the conditions in
ancient Israel, (2) principles and laws governing the relations
of men in society.

157
158 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

I. Social Conditions in Old Israel as reflected in the
Proverbs.

I. MAN IN THE FAmMILy.

The unit of society in the Hebrew commonwealth was the
family. The duty of the individual within the home, therefore,
was one of the first and most important subjects considered by
the sages. Thoroughly conversant with life as they there found
it, they unconsciously, but for this reason all the more faithfully,
reflect conditions as they actually existed. The glimpses which
one catches of the domestic life of the ancient Hebrews through
the Proverbs reveal a thoroughly Oriental atmosphere. The
chief figures are the parents and sons. Daughters are passed
by with a silence which is significant. Even the male slave
seems to have been regarded as more important. It is only
when the daughter leaves the ancestral roof to become a wife
that she emerges into prominence. Even then she may con-
tinue a silent member of the household. But from the moment
that she becomes the mother of sons she is a puissant force in
the family. This is illustrated by the command to the son not
only to hear the instruction of the father but also not to forsake
the teaching of the mother (1:8). The mother is likewise
mentioned as participating equally in the honor or shame which
results from the conduct of the sons:

A foolish son is a grief to his father ;

And bitterness to her that bare him (17: 25).
Let thy father and mother be glad,

And let her that bare thee rejoice (23: 25).

However, the presence of the lamentable tendency to hold the
mother in lighter esteem is suggested in the exhortation which
was calculated to counteract this :

Hearken unto thy father that begat thee,
And despise not thy mother when she is old (23: 22).
SOCIAL TEACHINGS OF BOOK OF PROVERBS. 159

While the wife enjoyed the veneration and obedience of her
children, she was nevertheless regarded as the property of her
husband whom she ever knew as her “Baal” (master). If
prudent and virtuous, she proved of far greater value to him
than houses or rubies (19:14; 31:10). A prudent wife was
regarded as a gift from the Lord. But even the author of the
beautiful description of the ideal housewife (31 : 10-31) sighs,
“ A virtuous woman who can find?” The difficulty which many
of the Hebrews of the olden time found in managing these
possessions when they did not come “ from the Lord ” is laconi-
cally presented in certain proverbs which tell their own tale :

A continual dropping ina very rainy day,

And a contentious woman are alike:

He that would restrain her restraineth the wind,

And his right hand encountereth oil (27: 15, 16).

It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop,

Than with a contentious woman in a wide house (25: 24).

The author of 21 : 19 even prefers to dwell in a desert land than
with a contentious and fretful woman. These maxims, based
upon bitter experience, graphically portray the domestic infe-
licity which inevitably followed as the fruit of alliances where
marriage was made merely a matter of barter and the wishes
of the bride were totally ignored.

But on the whole the photographs of the Hebrew wife are
attractive. Prov. 31 : 10-31 introduces us to her in her home,
or at least it shows us the type of wife which the Hebrew hus-
band wished to find there. She is industrious, prudent, prov-
ident for the needs of her family, and ever loyal to the interests
of her lord. To these virtues she adds that of charity toward
the poor and needy. Within her realm, which is by no means
a narrow one, she reigns supreme. She even buys real estate
in her own right. However, the separation of her own interests
from those of her husband is to her unthinkable. Her highest
aspiration is to bring honor to him, and comfort and happiness
160 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

to her family. The reward with which she is well contented is
the genuine gratitude of her children, and the hearty praise of
her husband. As a finishing touch, the sage fittingly adds that
the secret of all that is commendable in her character is a deep
and true reverence for the Lord. ,

One element which we to-day regard as the most essential is
lacking. This is furnished by another wise man, who in the
Song of Songs pictures in rich Oriental colors a glowing, un-
quenchable love which remains true although tested by all the
temptations which the age could adduce.

The scholar who thinks of the Hebrew woman only in the
light of the debased and debasing conditions which now obtain
in the Orient is far afield of the facts. She enjoyed much more
freedom than her sisters in the same lands to-day. The veil
had not yet begun to exercise its tyranny. She moved and
mingled freely with all classes. The harem, with all its repress-
ing influences, was just beginning to be introduced by the kings
of Israel. Their example was also probably followed by the
more powerful nobles who had the desire, and could afford the
enormous expense involved. But it was most emphatically
un-Hebrew, merely an aping of the customs which obtained in
the neighboring courts. The prophets eyed it askance, and
pointed out the dangers which it introduced into the Hebrew
state. The proverb writers tacitly condemn polygamy, for they
nowhere suggest the possibility that a man could have more
than one wife. Monogamy is a primary assumption upon which
their teachings rest. .

From every husband they demanded fidelity to the wife of his
youth (5: 15-20). This is the one obligation which they laid
upon the husband, but this they insist upon most strenuously.
It may be a new idea, but it is a significant fact, that the wise who
studied its life most closely and who were the great moralists of
Israel, never sanctioned polygamy. Even their most promi-
nent patriarchal character, Job, had only one wife. Further-
more, they not only condemn polygamy by taking monogamy for
SOCIAL TEACHINGS OF BOOK OF PROVERBS. 161

granted, but one of their most important books, the Song of
Songs, points out graphically the evils of the harem. It pre-
sents the true love for one triumphing over the allurements of
the brilliant but polygamous King Solomon, and therefore is a
most effective protest against that most implacable foe of the
peace and purity of thehome. The Hebrew parents demanded
and exacted the strictest obedience and the deepest reverence
from their sons. The proverbs:

Whoso curseth his father or his mother,

His lamp shall be put out in the blackest darkness (20: 20),
The eye that mocketh at his father,

And despiseth to obey his mother,

The ravens of the valley shall pick it out,

And the young eagles shall eat it (30: 17),

echo the stern law in Deuteronomy, which commanded that the
disobedient son be punished by stoning. Conversely, the wise
classify filial obedience among the most important fruits of true
wisdom (13: 1).

On the other hand, these frequently recurring injunctions
indicate that the sons of the ancient Hebrews were not always
obedient, and that the bad boy was even then no rarity, for
the practical sages never set up straw men for the sake of
casting them down again. In addition to the simple sin of
disobedience, cursing (20:20), mocking (30:17), robbing
(28: 24) and maltreating parents (19:26) are mentioned.
Absalom evidently had many followers in succeeding genera-
tions.

The broad difference which now exists in content and appli-
cation between the words “slave” and “servant” is the result
of definition and usage rather than derivation. The Latin word
“servus,” from which our term “servant” is derived, was used to
designate the bond as well as the hired laborer. Even so the
Hebrew has but one term for both. The broad distinction
which we make was unknown. In the Hebrew mind the one

L
162 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

who hired himself out to another, even though it were but for
a day, became during that time the slave of the employer.
Therefore the kind of treatment received by the laborer de-
pended more upon whether he was a Hebrew or an alien than
upon any distinctions between servant and slave.

While the Hebrew laws did not abolish slavery, they did
much to mitigate its hardships. Consequently the position of
the slave in Israel was much like that of the family servant
to-day. The translators of the Proverbs have done well to con-
sistently employ the term ‘‘servant” rather than “slave,” since
the latter, in the sense in which it is employed in the present
age, would be misleading. Remembering, therefore, the real
meaning of the term, we learn from the Proverbs that the
position of the Hebrew slave was neither unbearable nor
hopeless. Disobedient slaves, like disobedient children, were
a common result of too great leniency or fondness on the part
of the master (29:19, 21). So intimate and confidential was
the relation between the master and slave that the sage utters
a warning against attempting to destroy this feeling of mutual
confidence, lest the meddler suffer for his pains (30: 10).
Another proverb (19: 10) suggests that it was not uncommon
for a slave to become the virtual ruler in the family and even
in the state. Historical illustrations might be cited. On the
whole, however, this is regarded as dangerous, although 17: 2
asserts very justly that :

A servant that dealeth wisely should have rule over the son that
doeth shamefully,
And should have a part in the inheritance among the brethren.

2. MAN IN SOCIETY.

Thus with a few fresco strokes the wise have presented a
clear-cut portrait of the chief characters in the Hebrew family,
and have also shown them in their true relations to each other.
In a similar manner they have preserved the peculiarities of
that ancient society.
SOCIAL TEACHINGS OF BOOK OF PROVERBS. 163

Abundant references are found to the three distinct indus-
trial stages through which the Hebrew people passed. In the
gnomic essay preserved in 27: 23-27 we are introduced into
the patriarchal household. Riches consist of flocks of sheep
and goats. These provide for the simple needs of that primi-
tive stage. Diligence and care are the virtues enjoined.

In another series of proverbs the central figure is the farmer,
and the background is entirely agricultural :

Where no oxen are, the crib is clean:

But much increase is by the strength of the ox (14: 4).

He that gathereth in summer is a wise son:

But he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame (10: 5).

Certain other maxims indicate that that commercial spirit
which to-day characterizes the descendants of the ancient
Hebrews had already appeared.

The rich ruleth over the poor,

And the borrower is servant to the lender (22: 7).
“Bad, bad,” saith the buyer:

But when he is gone his way, then he boasteth (20: 14).

These references to the three stages, the pastoral, agricultural,
and commercial, do not necessarily indicate that each in turn
yielded to the succeeding, and that therefore those under the
first head are the earliest, and that those under the last are the
latest. If this were the case, the proverbs treating of the pas-
toral life would have been cast aside as useless by the later
age. Instead, their presence indicates that each of the three
industrial stages were in existence side by side in the Hebrew
commonwealth at the period when the proverbs were collected.
Consequently three distinct lines of occupation opened before
the Hebrew youth. He might be a shepherd, farmer, or
merchant, according as his circumstances, training and tastes
dictated.

Within each of these industrial groups he would find wealth,
defined in the possessions peculiar to that particular stage, a
164 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

much desired prize. The protests of the sages against the
inclination to sacrifice all else to attain this indicate how strong
was the passion for acquisition. There was then as now the
same rush for wealth :

An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning:

But the end thereof shall not be blessed (20: 21).

A bountiful man shall abound with blessings :

But he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be unpunished
(28: 20).

In this rush some forged ahead and some fell behind.
Consequently the simplicity of the earlier ages when every
free man stood on nearly the same round in the social lad-
der had almost disappeared. Social inequalities had become
glaring. Not only were there the two classes, the rich and
the poor, but the former had become the oppressor, and the
latter was the victim.

The poor man and the oppressor meet together :

The Lorp lighteth the eyes of them both (29 : 13).

A needy man that oppresseth the poor

Is like a rain that sweepeth away and gives no bread (28: 3).

As classes crystallized, and the chasm between them grew
wider and wider, men began to forget that they were brothers.
Thus the strongest bonds that can bind society together were
being rapidly loosened, and the strength of the state was being
destroyed. Side by side with the sin of oppression was its
twin sister, iniquitous taxation, fostered by legal injustice. It
is darkly hinted at in the proverb:

The newly plowed land of the poor yields much food:
But there is that which destroyeth by reason of injustice (13: 23).

Society was evidently suffering from the same fatal diseases
which have always proved the worst menace to its true health
and progress. The wise as well as the prophets were correct
in their diagnosis of the case. The prescriptions of the former
SOCIAL TEACHINGS OF BOOK OF PROVERBS. 165

constitute some of the most valuable teachings in the book of
Proverbs.

II. The Duties of Man in Society as taught by the Wise.

The wise, as has been so often illustrated, fixed their attention
exclusively on the individual. Consequently they approached
social questions only indirectly. Their first and final question
always was, “What is wise, what is best for man?” It is
probably because they constantly confined their attention to
the immediate and practical interests of the individual that
there has arisen a popular and wide-spread impression that
their teachings were exceedingly utilitarian and almost base.
This, like many other popular concepts concerning the Old
Testament, is born of ignorance and begotten by a failure
to appreciate how far down into the bed rock of truth the
answer to the question “ What is wisest for the individual?”
took them.

1. DOMESTIC OBLIGATIONS.

While the Proverbs are sometimes silent, when the more
highly developed ethical systems of to-day speak distinctly,
yet they have a most valuable and important message for
humanity respecting its domestic duties. Never before per-
haps, were the exhortations to filial obedience and true reverence
more apropos. Certainly no other moral teachers have pre-
sented these obligations so clearly and forcibly, as the Proverb
writers.

In accenting the truth that the glory and shame of parents
is intimately and inseparably connected with the character and
acts of their children, they emphasize not only the duty of the
offspring to thus honor those who bore them, but also the sacred
obligations of the parents to develop a noble personality in
those whom they have begotten. To-day an earnest endeavor
is being made to define these duties of the parent to the child.
166 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

It is interesting to note that the old sages were beginning dimly
to conceive of them :
A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children,
And the glory of children are their fathers (17: 6).
A just man that walketh in his integrity,
Blessed are his children after him (20: 7).

In these days, when woman’s sphere of activity and influence
is being so widely extended, the picture of the ideal wife is
felt to be not quite complete. However, it is to be hoped
that the traits which are accented — industry, prudence, provi-
dence, fidelity to the interests of her family, charity, and a
genuine piety — will never go out of fashion. Although homely
virtues, they are not merely adapted but absolutely necessary
to the wear and tear of the domestic life. When any of them
are lacking in the wife the home is in just so far incomplete.
The ideal of the old sages is now being broadened, but none
of the elements which they emphasize can yet or ever be set
aside as unessential. When one recalls the debased, popular
conceptions and the lower practice which prevailed in the age
and in the atmosphere out of the midst of which these wise
men spoke, the wonder grows, not only because of the truth
and beauty of what they presented, but even more because of
what they left unsaid. The harem, polygamy, nothing which
would tend to drag down woman from her exalted throne and
corrupt the purity of the home-sanctuary, are for a moment
countenanced by these enlightened teachers of a benighted
age. Simplicity, chastity, and fidelity are the royal garments
with which this queen is attired. To-day we put into her hands
the scepter of love, and her sway becomes absolute.

2. THE PROPER ATTITUDE TOWARD POVERTY AND WEALTH.

Since man’s relations and actions toward other men in
society were so fundamentally influenced by the attitude which
he assumed towards wealth, it will perhaps be best first to
inquire what were the teachings of the sages upon this per-
SOCIAL TEACHINGS OF BOOK OF PROVERBS. 167

sistent question. The possession of much or little of worldly
goods was even more in the old Hebrew state than in the
present that which distinguished classes. The one constituted
the rich ; the other, the poor. Both were relative terms, varying
in the different industrial stages, and according to the education
and antecedent environment of the individual. Both, there-
fore, then as now, were practically outside the realm of clear
definition. Poverty in the Proverbs represents the lack, and
riches the excess, of those material possessions which are
necessary to the physical, mental, and spiritual well-being
of the individual.

a. Causes and Disadvantages of Poverty.

Although the wise did not regard poverty as in itself a sin,
they did realize clearly that it was ordinarily the result of
intemperance, dissolute friendships, laziness, failure to follow
wise advice, and kindred weaknesses in character. Conse-
quently they seemed to have viewed it a little askance. They
recognized, however, that the rule was by no means universal.
They plainly declared that :

Better is the poor that walketh in his integrity
Than he that is perverse in his lips and is a fool (19: 1).
And a poor man is better than a liar (19 : 226).

Honest poverty is considered to be unquestionably prefer-
able to dishonest wealth. But nowhere do the wise claim
that it is something desirable. Their testimony is quite the
opposite. Their keen observation led them to point out the
trials and disadvantages inevitably attendant upon it.

The destruction of the poor is their poverty (10: 154).

The poor man is hated even of his own neighbor (14: 20a).
All the brethren of the poor do hate him:

How much more do all his friends go far from him !

He pursueth them with words, but they are gone (19:7).
The poor useth entreaties,

But the rich answereth roughly (18 : 23).
168 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

Therefore, clearly apprehending the disadvantages which
accompanied poverty, the sages regarded it as something to be
strenuously avoided.

b. Ls Wealth a Worthy Goal for which to strive?

Since they assumed such an attitude toward poverty, it
might be expected on @ priori grounds that the wise would
unqualifiedly commend the opposite extreme. Certain proverbs
at first glance seem to confirm this conclusion :

The rich man’s wealth is his strong city:

The destruction of the poor is his poverty (10: 15).
The poor man is hated even of his own neighbor:
But the rich hath many friends (14: 20).

Wealth addeth many friends:

But the poor is separated from his friend (19: 4).

A closer study of these proverbs, however, shows that they
are by no means exhortations to acquire wealth, but instead
only keen observations, such as are so often found in the mouth
of the wise. Of kindred nature is the apothegm :

The poor man useth entreaties :
But the rich man answereth roughly (18 : 23).

No one would think of adducing this as evidence that the
wise commended wealth. The aim of the writer is merely to
contrast the different effects in character and action of the
two extremes, poverty and riches. Upon the first proverb
there is also an interesting commentary in 18:11:

The rich man’s wealth is his strong city,
And as a high wall in his own imagination.

With even more cutting sarcasm they speak of those friends
who love only in the time of prosperity. Therefore the advan-
tages which they concede to wealth are, to say the least,
exceedingly questionable.
SOCIAL TEACHINGS OF BOOK OF PROVERBS. 169

The wise hold up a variety of rewards before those who will
heed and follow their prudent counsels. Among these are
found honor, the gratitude of mankind, immunity from evil,
joy and long life; but nowhere are material riches promised
as a reward for righteous action. True, they proclaim:

The Lorn will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish:

But he thrusteth away the desire of the wicked (10: 3).

A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children :
And the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the righteous (13: 22).

But even here only a competence is promised. Immunity
from actual want and the privilege of leaving an inheritance
to one’s descendants by no means signify that the one thus
favored is rich in the sense in which the word is ordinarily
employed. The wise speak of Wisdom as having riches to
confer (3:16), but they are careful to define the exact sense
in which they use this term:

Riches and honor are with me:

Yea, durable riches and righteousness.

My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold:
And my revenue than choice silver (8: 18, 19).

“Durable riches,” something far more valuable than the
most coveted material possessions, silver and gold, are the
gifts which Wisdom has to confer. Consistent with its usage
in every other instance, “ riches” in the proverb,

The reward of humility and the fear of the Lorp
Is riches, and honor, and life (22: 4),

has a far deeper and broader application than that which
would restrict it merely to the abundance of silver and gold
and to only that which they can buy. Even if in this one
case it be maintained that temporal riches are held up as a
reward for right action, it is the exception that proves the
rule. The persistency with which the Hebrew proverb-makers
refused to present as a goal for which to strive, that which the
170 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

masses whom they sought to reach, were the most eager to
secure, is as surprising as it is significant.

They did not, however, overlook the popular craving for
wealth. Instead, they endeavored to deliver men from its
allurements by pointing out those objects which were more
worthy of effort to attain. Character and reputation they
placed on a far higher plane:

A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches,

And favor is better than silver and gold (22:1).

Better is the poor that walketh in integrity,

Than he that is perverse in his ways, though he be rich (28: 6).

The ignorance which leads many to seek for the proverb,
“ Honesty is the best policy,” in the Bible is not so far from
the truth after all, for this is but a condensed paraphrase of the
thought of 28: 20:

A faithful man shall abound with blessings :
But he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be unpunished.

Similarly, that crowning and comprehensive virtue, righteous-
ness, even though it be attended only with poverty, is much
more desirable than great revenues, secured through injustice
(16:8). Righteousness is the most perfect fruit of wisdom.
Therefore wisdom, with all that it insures, is the highest goal
which man can attain. Everything else possesses a secondary
value.

Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom:
Yea, with all thou hast gotten get understanding (4: 7).

In the attainment of this greatest good, wealth ordinarily
proves a hindrance rather than an aid, for it inspires a feeling
of pride and self-conceit which dulls the mental perception
and destroys the appetite for truth :

The rich man is wise in his own conceit ;
3ut the poor that hath understanding searcheth him out (28: 11)
SOCIAL TEACHINGS OF BOOK OF PROVERBS. 171

The wise further point out that wealth is often a positive
disadvantage to man because that which spurs him on to
secure it, the greed for gain, is a constant temptation to dis-
honesty and bribery :

He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house (15: 272).
He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be unpunished (28 : 204).

Finally, they declare that wealth must forever prove unsatis-
factory, even to those who attain it, because it is so difficult to
retain.

Weary not thyself to be rich:

Cease by the use of thy own understanding.

For riches certainly make themselves wings,

Like an eagle that flieth toward heaven (23: 4, 5).

At best the pleasures which come from riches are only
transient. ‘They are a weak reed to lean upon in the crisis of
a man’s life :

Riches profit not in the day of judgment:
But righteousness delivereth from death (11: 4).

This study has made it clear that although the wise recog-
nized that the majority of the men about them were in hot
pursuit of wealth, they never acknowledged it to be a worthy
goal for which to strive, but that instead they earnestly pointed
out its limitations and its dangers, and constantly endeavored
to turn the attention to that which was higher and more
satisfying.

c. The Golden Mean.

Since the wise declare both poverty and riches to be un-
desirable, it is manifest what they regard as best for man. It
was, however, one of the later sages who, absorbing the thought
of those who had gone before, first presented the essence of
the wisdom teaching. It is found in the famous prayer of

Agur :
172 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

Two things have I asked of thee;

Deny me them not before I die:

Remove far from me vanity and lies:

Give me neither poverty nor riches ;

Feed me with the bread of my portion:

Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lorn?
Or lest I be poor and steal,

And use profanely the name of my God (30: 7-9).

Both poverty and wealth are undesirable. The one because
want may lead a man in desperation to theft and even blasphemy.
Riches, on the other hand, beget self-satisfaction, pride, impiety,
and even skepticism. The highest goal for which to strive is
found between these two extremes. In the original the phrase
which is translated, “Feed me with the bread of my portion,”
is richly expressive. The verb comes from a root meaning
to “tear off’; and the word translated “portion” means
literally “that which is established by law or custom.” It
occurs in Ezek. 16:27, where the Revisers have more cor-
rectly translated it by “ordinary food” or (marginal reading)
“allowance.” The thought of the passage therefore is: “ Give
me not too much nor too little of material possessions, only
what is reasonable and necessary.” To Jehovah the decision
as to the exact amount (the breaking off of the portion) is
left.

The simplest and most striking illustration of this principle,
to the mind of an Israelite of later time, would be the narrative
of the furnishing of the manna in the wilderness-wandering. It
was Jehovah’s provision. There was always just enough. To
gather more was unavailing. This was the supreme illustration
of Jehovah’s plan. If man was to do his will, he must carry
this principle into the agricultural and commercial life, and
follow it in essence as strictly as the children of Israel are
represented as doing during their wanderings as nomads.

Thus the most weighty religious and utilitarian reasons (which
are at bottom in perfect agreement) command the individual
SOCIAL TEACHINGS OF BOOK OF PROVERBS. 173

to shun both poverty and riches, and to choose the middle
state. A competency, which will enable him to live in comfort,
but simply and unostentatiously, is the greatest good that
material possessions can confer. This greatest wealth was
probably in the mind of the proverb-maker when he enunciated
the paradoxical aphorism :

There is that scattereth and increaseth yet more ;
And there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth only
to want (11:24).

It is the key also to the true interpretation of that other
kindred paradox :

There is that maketh himself rich and hath nothing ;
There is that maketh himself poor and yet hath great wealth (13:7).

The most desirable wealth, in the mind of the sages, evidently
consists of the food of a man’s portion, plus those more precious
possessions which are gained only through deeds of mercy.
They are nothing more nor less than hearts filled with love
for God and man.

He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth to Jehovah ;
And his good deed will he pay him again (19: 17).

Those who would restrict the reward to merely material
gifts, minimize its rich message. The pay is to be in kind:

The liberal soul shall itself be made fat;
And he that watereth shall be watered also himself (11: 25).

The sages not only hold up this high ideal of the golden
mean, but they also indicate in detail the manner in which it
can be attained. This is by the avoidance of the extremes.
Hence diligence is exalted to a lofty virtue, since it is one
of the elements in character which will deliver its possessor
from poverty:
174 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

The soul of the sluggard desireth and hath nothing:
But the soul of the diligent shall be made fat (13: 4).
He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand:
But the hand of the diligent maketh rich (10: 4).

For the same reason honest labor is strongly commended :

Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished :
But he that gathereth by labor shall have increase (13: 11).

Similarly the virtues of temperance and fidelity are recognized
as necessary if the issue of the struggle against poverty is to be
successful :

He that Joveth pleasure shall be a poor man:

He that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich (21: 17).

He that tilleth the land shall have plenty of bread ;

But he that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty
enough (28 : 19).

The opposite extreme, wealth, is not ordinarily regarded as so
difficult to avoid. The danger is not objective, but subjective,
the temptation being found within the human heart. Deliverance
is therefore to be found through inspiring higher ideals, by
making righteousness, honor, and wisdom the possessions for
which men put forth their best energies. This we have seen
was the constant aim of the sages. With these high ideals
they endeavored to inculcate a spirit of generosity which is the
antidote of greed. This was to be shown first toward the great
Giver of all good:

Honor Jehovah with thy substance,
And with the first fruits of all thine increase (3:9).

Then toward one’s fellow-men. Three most desirable ends
would thereby be realized: (1) The rich themselves would
attain the golden mean; (2) Their poorer brethren would be
assisted in reaching the same goal ; (3) Those who have would
discharge their duty to those who have not.
SOCIAL TEACHINGS OF BOOK OF PROVERBS. 175

3. THE RIGHT ATTITUDE OF MaNn TO MAN IN SOCIETY.

The wrongs and evils of society grow for the most part out
of a false attitude of the individual toward wealth. Therefore
the wise in dealing with the problem of poverty and wealth
have, perhaps unconsciously to themselves, outlined the duties
of man to man in society, and in so doing have suggested the
true remedies for social disorders. Explicitly and forcibly
they state the duties entailed by wealth:

The righteous taketh knowledge of the cause of the poor:
But the wicked hath not understanding to know it (29:7).
Whoso stoppeth his eyes at the cry of the poor,

He also shall cry and not be heard (21: 13).

He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack:

But he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse (28: 27).

Charity is one of the first fruits of true wisdom. It is a duty
which each man owes to himself as well as to his fellow-men.
But the wise also make it a duty to God:

He that oppresseth the poor, reproacheth his Maker:
But he that hath mercy on the needy, honoreth him (14: 31).

Therefore the sages sought to solve the great problem of
society, not by enacting national statutes, but by an appeal (1)
to the highest and best interests of the individual, and (2) to
the religious instinct within man. Like the prophets, they
endeavored to put an end to oppression and class wrong by
inspiring noble purposes within the hearts of men ; to drive out
greed, by implanting within the soul the principle of love.
They worked not from without, but from within, whence all
true and abiding social reform must come. Contentment with
a competence, contentment with nbthing less and nothing more,
combined with a genuine love ‘for humanity which finds ex-
pression in deeds, is the simple and only remedy which can
permanently heal the social evils of all peoples and ages. The
teachings of the wise are very simple, but they strike deep
down to the very springs of life and conduct.
CHAPTER II.

USE BY JESUS OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.
I. The Attitude of Jesus toward Former Revelation.

THE testimony of Jesus that he came not to “ destroy but to
fulfill” is constantly receiving a broader and deeper interpreta-
tion. It is no longer limited, in its application, to the law and
the prophets. Nothing that was good in the past falls without
the pale of this comprehensive statement. We to-day are
beginning to realize that the great Teacher of Galilee not only
brought to earth a new revelation, but also gathered up all the
scattered fragments of divine truth revealed to humanity in
preceding ages, and unified and gave them full expression. As
a result of this work there appeared completeness instead of
incompleteness. But the former was not attained at a leap,
but only through the latter. God’s eternal and sacred law of
development from the lower to the higher form is potent in
the spiritual as well as in the physical world. Christ himself
proclaimed it: ‘First the blade, then the ear, then the full
corn in the ear.” His work and teachings illustrated it. The
unity and harmony of God’s great plan of truth and beauty
postulated it.

Hence the mission of the Son of Man was not so much to
proclaim a new régime as to reteach and live old truths, with
a simplicity and force and fullness, which made them in reality
a new revelation. A closer study demonstrates that there is no
chasm, as is sometimes ignorantly imagined, between the Old
and the New Testament. In the truest sense, they are but

parts of a great whole. The New contains little that is not
176
USE BY FESUS OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. 177

found in germ in the Old. Many a supposed difference is
shown to be only a difference in language and terminology.
The fundamental truth is identical, although at first glance no
relationship may be patent between the “blade” and the “ full
corn in the ear.” The Christ reared his kingdom upon the
foundations already laid in the Old Testament. The principles
and teachings of prophet, priest, and psalmist were ever in his
mind and often on his lips. He showed himself to have been
a most careful student of the Hebrew legalsystem. Therefore,
speaking as he did to humanity and by parables, the character-
istic form of expression of the wise, it would be an inexplicable
fact if he had not also been acquainted with their wisdom, and
especially with the great repository of crystallized experience,
the book of Proverbs. Even a casual comparison of his teach-
ing, as contained in the gospels, with the Hebrew anthology
gives us the history of many days at Nazareth when he was
advancing in wisdom in closest communion with those of
ancient Israel who taught the simple and receptive the way of
life. After learning to understand and appreciate the depth
and beauty of the teachings contained in the book of Proverbs,
it is a loving task to go back with the Master and glean the
precious grain from this productive harvest-field, and to observe
how he used the pregnant truths which he found there.

II. Identification of Himself with Personified Wisdom.

Several statements in the mouth of Jesus seem clearly to
indicate that he found in the Proverbs, as well as in the proph-
ets, foreshadowings of the eternal purpose which was realized
in himself. At least in the language employed in the descrip-
tion of personified Wisdom he found forms of expression which
he adopted and modified and then used to set forth his con-
sciousness of his own nature. His memorable words, to the
Jews, “ Before Abraham was I am,” and again in his intercessory

prayer, ‘‘ And now, O Father, glorify thou me with Thine own self
M
178 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

with the glory which I had with thee, before the world was,”
certainly seem to contain echoes of Wisdom’s testimony respect-
ing herself :

I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning,

Or ever the earth was.

When there were no depths, I was brought forth ;

When there were no fountains abounding with water ;
Before the hills, was I brought forth :

While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields;

Nor the beginning of the dust of the world (Prov. 8: 23-26)

In himself likewise he found the true answer to the almost
skeptical questioning of the old sage:

Who hath ascended up into heaven, and descended? (30: 4).

for he declared, “ No man hath ascended into heaven, but he that
descended out of heaven, even the Son of Man” (John 3: 13).

Again, in speaking of his own character and life as contrasted
with that of John, he added the significant statement, cast in
epigrammatic language, ‘‘ Wisdom is justified by her works”
(Mt. 11: 19), or as Luke has it, “Wisdom is justified of her
children” (Lk. 7: 35). Apparently here he purposely identi-
fies himself with personified Wisdom.

The thought contained in his other words, spoken in the
same connection: “I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven
and earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise and
understanding, and didst reveal them unto babes” (Mt. 11 : 25),
finds its first expression in Wisdom’s invitation :

Who is simple, let him turn in hither:

As for him that is void of understanding, she saith to him
Come, eat ye of my bread,

And drink of the wine which I have mingled (9: 4, 5).

Even the Master’s most precious promise of rest to those
who accept his gracious offer, “Come unto me, all ye that
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest”
USE BY ¥ESUS OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. 179

(Mt. 11: 28), is suggested in the description of the rewards
that Wisdom will confer upon her followers :

Her ways are ways of pleasantness,

And all her paths are peace (3:17).

Then shalt thou walk in thy way securely,

And thy foot shall not stumble.

When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid:

Yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet

(3:23, 24).

While we recognize the connection in the idea, we cannot
fail to observe how the Saviour of men infused into these cold
impersonal words the warmth of his own divine personality.
So, also, in speaking of his attitude toward the seeker, “ He that
loveth me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him,
and will manifest myself unto him” (John 14: 21), he seems to
have appropriated and vitalized the words put by the sage of
old into the mouth of Wisdom :

I love them that Jove me;
And those that seek me diligently shall find me (8: 17).

Was it not the testimony of the Christ himself that led the
writer of the gospel of John in his introduction, following the
suggestion contained in Prov. 1-9, to recognize in Jesus the
incarnate Word ?

This deliberate identification of himself with personified
Wisdom in turn gives additional ground*for anticipating that
the relationship between the teaching of Jesus and that of the
book of Proverbs is peculiarly intimate.

III. Quotations in the New Testament from the Book of
Proverbs.

The epistles contain several direct quotations from Proverbs.
Most striking is the one found in Heb. 12: 5, 6:

My son, regard not lightly the chastening of the Lorp,
Nor faint when thou art reproved of him;
180 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

For whom the Lorp loveth he chasteneth,
And scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

This is cited from Prov. 3:11, 12, and is introduced by the
interesting formula, “‘ The exhortation which reasoneth with you
as with sons,”’ which is certainly a reference to the hortatory tone
which characterizes the introductory chapters of the book of
Proverbs (cf. also II. Peter 2: 22 with Prov. 26:11). It is
significant that in the cases where the debt to the earlier source
is acknowledged the thought alone is reproduced. No attempt
is made to cite the exact words. Thus the ideas contained in
the proverbs seem to have been regarded as common property
all the more valuable for the use of the teacher and most
efficient, because already familiar to those whom he sought
to reach.

Therefore it is not so surprising that there is no direct
quotation in the gospels from the book of Proverbs. John
7: 38, however, contains one notable passage: “He that be-
lieveth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall
flow rivers of living water.” Strangely enough the passage
occurs nowhere verbatim in the Old Testament. The scrip-
ture here referred to is evidently the book of Proverbs ; but the
present quotation appears to be an epitome of the thought, not
of one, but several proverbs :

The works of a man’s mouth are a flowing brook,

A gushing torrent, a wellspring of wisdom (18: 4).

The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life (10: 11@).
The fear of the Lorn is a fountain of life,

To depart from the snares of death (14: 27).

Incidentally it is interesting to note that the passage most
analogous to the one before us is found only in the Septuagint
of Prov. 4: 21:

Son, attend to thy speech, and to my words lay thine ear;

In order that thy fountains may not fail thee, guard them in thy
heart.
USE BY F¥ESUS OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. 181

In this instance, Jesus takes the thought, and in part the
language, of the earlier teachers, and applies them directly to
himself, the great source of all spiritual life. This is the one
example in which reference is made to the earlier source. It,
however, illustrates the peculiarities of Jesus’s use of the book
of Proverbs.

The gospel passages which reflect the older book may be
divided into two classes according as they reproduce the
thought or the form of expression.

IV. Reproduction of the Thought of Proverbs.

To insure a systematic treatment, the order adopted in the
classification of the proverbs will be followed in the process of
comparison.

1. TEACHINGS CONCERNING THE CHARACTER OF MAN.

In his unerring analysis of human nature, Jesus looked
beyond external deeds, into the very heart of man. “The
things which proceed out of the mouth come forth out of the
heart ; and they defile the man” (Mt. 15:18). “The good
man out of his good treasure bringeth forth good things: and
the evil man out of his evil treasure bringeth forth evil things ”
(Mt. 12:35). Within the book of Proverbs the Master
found this teaching variously presented :

The thought of the foolish is sin (24: 9).
The heart of the wise instructeth his mouth
And addeth learning to his lips (16: 23).
Keep thy heart with all diligence:

For out of it are the issues of life (4: 23).

The words which Jesus employed in his scathing reply to the
Pharisees, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth
speaketh” (Mt. 12: 34), are really a condensed paraphrase of
the last two proverbs.
182 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

The converse truth, which is also a fundamental doctrine,
“By their fruits ye shall know them” (Mt. 7: 16), is fore-
shadowed in Prov. 20: 11:

Even a child maketh himself known by his doing,
Whether his work be pure, and whether it be right.

As a careful observer and practical teacher of men, the
Master laid great emphasis upon the importance of speech.
“And I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall
speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
For by thy words shalt thou be justified, and by thy words
shalt thou be condemned” (Mt. 12: 36, 37). This again he
found as one of the central teachings of the Proverbs.

Whoso keepeth his mouth and tongue,

Keepeth his soul from troubles (21 : 23).

A man shall eat good from the fruit of his mouth (13: 2).

A wholesome tongue is a tree of life,

But perverseness therein is a breaking of the spirit (15: 4).

A man’s belly shall be filled with the fruit of his mouth;

With the increase of his lips shall he be satisfied.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue;

And they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof (18: 20, 21).
(Cf. also 14 : 35 12:13; 20:25; 18:13; 29:20; 15 : 23.)

The last proverb cited probably originally referred, as do the
others, to reward in the present life. Jesus, with the broader
view of man’s destiny, transferred the recompense to the future
world.

2. MAN IN HIS FAMILY RELATIONS.

Conceiving of all men as brothers and children of a common
Father, Jesus does not say much concerning the domestic
duties of man. However, in condemning adultery in the
heart as a sin (Mt. 5: 28) he clearly states what has already
been noted as a general principle in the writings of the wise,
USE BY $¥ESUS OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. 183

and which is dimly suggested in Prov. 6:25, where the
exhortation respecting the evil woman occurs:

Lust not after her beauty in thine heart.

3. MAN IN HIS ECONOMIC RELATIONS.

The desire to acquire and to hold is such a dominating
passion within the human breast, that the old Hebrew sages,
as well as the Christ, were constantly confronted by it. Their
conclusion as to what should be man’s attitude toward wealth
is presented in the familiar proverb :

Better it is to be of a lowly spirit with the poor,
Than to divide spoil with the proud (16: 19).

This Jesus reteaches in the first of the beatitudes: ‘“ Blessed
are the poor in spirit.” The peculiar epithet “ poor in spirit ”’
is illuminated by the corresponding expression ‘‘of a lowly
spirit.” Evidently the humble, those free from pride, and
consequently the receptive, those who say by word and deed,
“Thy will be done,” are intended. Instead of retaining the
comparative “ better,’ Jesus immeasurably strengthens the form
in which the truth is presented by the use of the absolute
“blessed.” Similarly the sages declared that:

He that putteth his trust in the Lorp
Shall be made fat (28: 25).

The Master proclaimed that the reward of the poor in spirit
should be nothing less than the possession of the kingdom of
heaven which he came to establish. In the kindred beatitude :
“ Blessed are the meek,’”’ he combats the utilitarianism, which
finds expression in certain of the proverbs, and which must
have led some to be righteous for the sake of temporal rewards,
by promising the heritage of the earth to those in whose hearts
. greed is the rarest element. Thus by his divine alchemy the
Saviour burns out all the dross of the ancient teaching and
retains the pure gold unalloyed.
184 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

The attitude of the human heart toward wealth is the subject
of prime importance. But the value of wealth viewed objectively
is also considered. ‘Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon
the earth . .. but in heaven” (Mt. 6: 19, 20), was the Master’s
earnest advice. The worthlessness of wealth, especially if
acquired by unfair means, as compared with moral and spirit-
ual possessions, is a favorite theme in the book of Proverbs.

Better is a little with the fear of God,

Than great treasure and trouble therewith (15 : 16).
Better is a little with righteousness,

Than great revenues with injustice (16: 8).

It further asserts that:

He that trusteth in riches shall fall:

But the righteous shall flourish as the green leaf (11 : 28).
Riches profit not in the day of wrath:

But righteousness delivereth from death (11: 4).

In all these we recognize the limitations imposed by the
ignorance of the proverb-writers, respecting the future life.
But Jesus could not read them without looking forward into
the life beyond the present. Hence to him the proverbs :

There is a treasure which does not fail :
It is found in the house of the righteous (15 : 6),

and:

There is that maketh rich, yet hath nothing:
There is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great wealth (13:7),

would at once suggest the “incorruptible treasure which does
not fail” and which is laid up not on earth, but in heaven.

As Jesus pondered upon these penetrating maxims, and veri-
fied them in human life, the exclamation burst from his lips:
“ How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the king-
dom of God” (Lk. 18: 24; Mk. 10: 24). His ironical words
in Lk. 16:9: “Make to yourselves friends by means of the
mammon of unrighteousness ; that when it shall fail, they may
USE BY ¥ESUS OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. 185

receive you into the eternal tabernacles,” recall the form of
Prov. 15:27, in the Chaldee Targum, with which he was
doubtless then familiar: “‘He who gathers the mammon of
unrighteousness troubleth his own house.”

The Master’s ideal in regard to earthly possessions is pre-
sented most simply and clearly in the prayer which he taught
his disciples to use and which contains the fundamentals of his
teachings. ‘Give us this day our daily bread.” We catch
here again the reflection of the thought of one of the proverbs :

Give me neither poverty nor riches :
Feed me with the bread that is needful for me (30: 8).

Both the idea and the language are strikingly similar. The
profound conclusion of the sage, however, is transfused with the
perfect, childlike trust which is the highest heritage of the dis-
ciple of the Teacher of Galilee. The eager seeking for wealth
and the wearisome discussion as to its value are alike set aside.
All is left to him who knoweth best.

4. Man’s Duties To HIMSELF.

The wise of old Israel, as did the Wisest of the Wise, recog-
nized and taught that man’s first duty is to be. Right or wrong
doing is but the inevitable result of right or wrong being. The
proverbs teach that the spirit of pride is especially detrimental
to the best interests and best development of the individual.

When pride cometh, then cometh shame:
But with the lowly is wisdom (11: 2).

Upon the opposite characteristic, humility, they place the high-
est premium :

By humility and the fear of the Lorp,

Are riches, and honor, and life (22:4).

A man’s pride shall bring him low:

But honor shall uphold the humble in spirit (29: 23).
186 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

The thirty-seventh Psalm, which consists of a series of religious
maxims reflecting the teaching and spirit of the wise, proclaims
clearly that, “the meek shall inherit the land” (Ps. 37:11).
It is more than probable that the Master had these sayings in
mind when he uttered the third beatitude: “ Blessed are
the meek; for they shall inherit the land.” The expression
“inherit the land” originally referred in the Old Testament
passages to the peaceful occupation of the land of promise.
In the mouth of Jesus, however, it was endowed with a deeper
and broader meaning, until it became in reality synonymous
with the corresponding expression in the first beatitude, “to
possess the kingdom of heaven.”

On another occasion he illustrates and practically applies
this great truth in the parable (Lk. 14: 7-11) in which he
commands the guests not to seek the highest seats at the feast,
but to modestly wait until called up higher. Here again he
obviously had before him the homely maxims contained in
Prov. 25:6, 7:

Put not thyself forward in the presence of the king,

And stand not in the place of great men:

For better is it that it be said unto thee, Come up hither ;

Than that thou shouldst be put lower in the presence of the prince,
Whom thine eyes have seen.

The familiar words at the close of this parable (which are
again found in the mouth of Jesus in Lk. 18:14) are them-
selves a proverb:

Every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled:
And he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

In vain, however, we seek for it in the Hebrew anthology in its
present form. The truth, however, which it voices is presented
in many of the proverbs already cited. Prov. 18: 12 furnishes
the closest analogy :

Before destruction the heart of man is haughty,
And before honor goeth humility.
USE BY ¥ESUS OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. 187

The graphic picture of the hypocrites sounding a trumpet
before them in the synagogue before doing their alms, that they
may have glory of men (Mt. 6:2), is sketched in the old
proverb (20:6), which remarks with perfect fidelity to human
nature in all ages:

Most men will proclaim every one his own kindness.

Righteousness, regarded as one of the highest goals of life, is
another favorite theme with the sages. Repeatedly they pro-
claim that it is attainable to those who eagerly seek it.

The desire of the righteous shall be granted (10: 24).

He that diligently seeketh good procureth favor (11: 27).
The appetite of the laboring man laboreth for him ;

For his mouth urgeth him thereto (16: 26).

The message contained in the first two proverbs, expressed in
a form suggested by the third, appears in the mouth of the
great Teacher as the fourth beatitude: “Blessed are they that
hunger and thirst after righteousness ; for they shall be filled.”

Even the gospel promise: “Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness: and all these things (z.e. food,
possessions, etc.) shall be added unto you” (Mt. 6: 33), is
foreshadowed in the ancient adage :

He that followeth after righteousness and mercy,
Findeth life, righteousness, and honor (21: 21).

Another proverb must have been before the mental eye of the
Master as he laid down the fundamental law of his kingdom :

He that loveth pureness of heart,
For the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend (22 : 11).

In those later days when the temporal Hebrew king was no
more, and when the theocratic idea had become such a common
possession, the idea of the spiritual king had come to take
the place of the earthly ruler. Thus the transition was most
natural from the old gnome to the glad proclamation: “ Blessed
188 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

are the pure in heart ; for they shall see God,” that is, be ad-
mitted into the presence and favor of the divine King.

The admonition of Mt. 7:6 is itself a proverb: “ Give not
that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast your pearls before
the swine, lest haply they trample them under their feet, and
turn and rend you.” This fundamental maxim in its present
form is not found in the book of Proverbs. The idea, however,
is variously presented :

He that correcteth a scorner getteth to himself shame:
And he that reproveth a wicked man

Getteth himself a blot.

Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee:

Reprove a wise man, and he will love thee (9: 7, 8).
Speak not in the hearing of a fool ;

For he will despise the wisdom of thy words (23:9).
Answer not a fool according to his folly,

Lest thou also be like unto him (26 : 4).

5. Man’s DUTIES TO HIS FELLOW-MEN.

The Hebrew wise clearly apprehended the great truth that
men are bound together by ties from which they cannot be
absolved. With their practical bent they naturally proceeded
to point out the obligations which grew out of this relationship.
As a result, a large portion of the book of Proverbs is devoted
to this theme. Along this line it contributes the most to the
Christian system.

The merciful man doeth good to his soul :
But he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh (11: 17).

This is presented positively in 19:17:
He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lorn,
And his good deed will he pay him again.
In these luminous proverbs, one readily perceives the truths of
which the fifth beatitude is the epitome: “ Blessed are the
merciful; for they shall obtain mercy” (Mt. 5:7). This
USE BY FESUS OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. 189

characteristic teaching of the old wisdom, that mercy will be
shown to those who are merciful to their brother men, reap-
pears frequently in the gospels. Jesus taught his disciples to
pray: “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” The
parable concerning the unjust servant, who, although forgiven
his debt by his master, showed no mercy in turn to his own
debtors (Mt. 18: 23-35), was intended to impress this same
fundamental doctrine. After portraying the just punishment
which fell upon this merciless servant, Jesus declares (v. 35),
“So shall also my heavenly Father do unto you, if ye forgive
not every one his brother from your hearts.”
Similarly, the essential teaching of Prov. 21: 13:

Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor,
He also shall cry, but shall not be heard,

appears with a new distinctness and force in the strong passage .
contained in Mt. 25 : 31-46: “ For I was an hungered, and ye
gave me no meat ; I was thirsty, and ye gave menodrink: .. .
inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of these least, ye did it not
unto me. And these shall go away into eternal punishment.”

Luke 6:37, 38 echoes the same, giving it a still broader
application: “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged; and
condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned ; release, and ye
shall be released ; give, and it shall be given unto you: good
» measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall
they give into your bosom. For with what measure ye mete
it shall be measured to you again.’

Even the germ of the sixth beatitude: “Blessed are the
peacemakers ; for they shall be called the children of God,”
is found in the storehouse of wisdom literature.

To the counselors of peace is joy (Prov. 12: 206).

No better illustration of the work of the great Teacher could
be found than is furnished by a comparison of this germ of
truth, with the full fruit. In the one, the subjects of reward
are those who counsel peace. In the other, they are those who
190 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

bring “peace” to fruition. The term “peace” as used in the
Old Testament comes from a verb meaning 40 be whole, to be
complete. In this sense it was employed by Jesus. Peace-
makers therefore are whole-makers, apostles of completeness
and perfection, instead of incompleteness and imperfection.
To such the Master promises not merely joy,—the joy that
comes from beholding harmony and perfection,— but the
exalted title of “sons of God.” They are thus heralded as
true children of the Highest, because in realizing harmony and
perfection in his universe, they are in the truest sense doing
his will and thereby inaugurating his kingdom.

The teachers of Israel, like the modern Oriental, put “ Blessed
is the liberal giver,” first among their beatitudes.

He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed ;
For he giveth of his bread to the poor (22:9).

Jesus re-affirmed the old truth and clearly proclaimed a great
fact, only half suggested in the proverb, when he said: “It
is more blessed to give than to receive.”

At another time, when he again touches upon this theme, it
is more than probable that he had the words of the old pre-
cept:

Say not unto thy neighbor, go and come again,

When thou hast it with thee (3: 28),
on his lips as he taught, “ Give to him that asketh thee, and
from him that would borrow of thee turn not away” (Mt.
5:42).

The precious and oft-quoted promise of the Master: ‘ Who-
soever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of
cold water only, in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto
you, he shall in no wise lose his reward” (Mt. 10:42), isa
more personal and vivid putting of the thought of the ancient
wisdom :

He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lorp,
And his good deed will he pay him again (19: 17).
USE BY ¥ESUS OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. IQ!

The proverb writers never rose so far superior to the prompt-
ings of the natural man as to teach, “Resist not him that is
evil: but whosoever smiteth thee on the right cheek, turn to
him the other also” (Mt. 5 : 39), but they did proclaim that the
spirit of revenge was wrong :

Say not thou, I will recompense evil :
Wait on the LorD, and he shall save thee (20: 22).

Here again we behold the “ blade” of which the gospel admo-
nition is the “ full corn in the ear.”

Even that spirit of love toward God and man which is the
essence and perfect fruitage of Christianity was already present,
and had taken root and had begun to grow in that ancient
Hebrew soil.

Hatred stirreth up strifes :
But love covereth all transgressions (10: 12).

This glimpse of truth was also being practically applied.

Say not, I will do so to my neighbor as he hath done to me:
I will render to the man according to his work (24: 29).

It required only the divine touch of the Saviour of humanity
from its humanity, to convert this into the strong, positive, all-
comprehensive command: “Do unto others as ye would have
them do unto you.” Recalling the savagery and cruelty which
characterized those early days, one cannot fail to recognize
clearly the direct influence of the Divine upon the human heart
in the following :

Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth,
And let not thine heart be glad when he is overthrown

(24:17).
If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat;
If he be thirsty, give him water to drink,
For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head,
| And the Lorp shall reward thee (25: 21, 22).
192 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

Remembering also the ancient aphorism which proclaimed the
universal brotherhood of man :

The poor man and the oppressor meet together :
The Lorp lighteth the eyes of them both (29: 13),

the great Teacher gathered up the precious grains of truth con-
tained in these maxims, and concentrating and infusing into
them the spirit of the kingdom which he came to establish,
gave us the sublime message: ‘ Love your enemies, and pray
for them that persecute you: that ye may be sons of your
Father in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and
the good and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust” (Mt. 5.
44, 45)-
6. Man’s RELATION TO Gop.

Upon the prophets preéminently devolved the duty of in-
structing the Hebrew nation respecting the character of God
and respecting the relations and duties of the people to their
divine King. Therefore within this realm Jesus built upon the
foundations laid by these ambassadors of the Highest. But the
wise, following the varied experiences of the individual, also
incidentally considered his relations to his Creator. Conse-
quently the great Teacher also found in their reflections truths
which he wove into the woof of his peerless teachings.

His ready response to the adulation of one of his auditors,
“ Blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it”
(Lk. 11: 28), suggests that he had appropriated the thought
in Wisdom’s words :

Blessed is the man that heareth me (8: 34¢).
Blessed are they that keep my ways (8: 324).

Another retort — this time directed to the scoffing Pharisees —
“Ve are they that justify yourselves in the sight of men: but
God knoweth your hearts” (Lk. 16: 15), reflects a familiarity
with the old saying :

Every way of a man is right in his own eyes:
But the Lorp weigheth the hearts (21: 2).
USE BY FESUS OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. 193

The keen observation preserved in Prov. 16:1:

The plans of the heart belong to man:
But the answer of the tongue is from the LorD,

seems to have been in the mind of Jesus as he sent out his
disciples : “Be not anxious how or what ye shall speak... .
For it is not ye that speak, but the spirit of your Father which
speaketh in you” (Mt. 10: 19, 20).

Similarly the genesis of the rich promise: “He that seeketh
findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened” (Mt.
7:8), is probably to be found in the homely adage :

Evil men understand not judgment:
But they that seek the Lorp understand all things (28: 5).

The concise apothegm :

Commit thy works unto the Lorp,
And thy purposes shall be established (16: 3),

is amplified by the great Teacher and applied ‘to the everyday
affairs of life: “Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat,
or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall
put on” (Mt.6:25). The loving Father, who knoweth best
your wants, will provide.

V. Forms of Expression and Illustrations derived from the
Book of Proverbs.

The indications that Jesus was a deep student of the book
of Proverbs are not limited to those which are furnished by the
remarkable analogies between the teachings of the ancient
maxims and of the gospels. There is also unmistakable evi-
dence that, in this storehouse of current wisdom, he found
many a figure or suggestion as to form of expression to weave
into the texture of his discourses.

N
194 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

1. METHOD OF CONVEYING HIS TEACHINGS.

We have noted already that the Master employed the method
of teaching peculiar, not to the prophets and priests, but to
the wise. Forms he relegated to their proper place. To the
individual he spoke, and not to the nation. The language with
which he clothed his ideas contains little that is local and
temporal. This was because, like the sages of old, he sought
to teach man in whatever age or nation he might be found.
Therefore he very frequently employed the parable, which most
simply and vividly illustrated and impressed the truth which
he wished to convey. When he desired to speak directly,
without the use of figure or illustration, he cast his truths into
proverbial form. Many of these pointed, epigrammatic state-
ments recall the synonymous and synthetic parallelism of the
Hebrew anthology.

Give to him that asketh thee,
And from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away

(Mt. 5: 42).
Blessed are the pure in heart ;
For they shall see God (Mt. 5: 8).

Even the paradox was used by the Master to communicate
some of his deepest verities :

He that findeth his life shall lose it ;
And he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it (Mt. 10: 39;
cf. Mt. 16:25).

It is interesting to observe in passing that this paradox is
parallel in thought as well as in form to the ancient adage,
which perhaps represents the germ of the gospel teaching:

There is that maketh himself rich, and hath nothing ;
There is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great wealth (13: 7).
USE BY FESUS OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. 195

2. FIGURES OF SPEECH.

Certain of the most familiar and striking figures of speech
employed by Jesus are taken from the lips of the wise. For
example, that of “the way” recurs so frequently in the book of
Proverbs that it becomes a mannerism :

Make level the path of thy feet,

And let all thy ways be established (4: 26).

The reproofs of instruction are the way of life (6: 230).
There is a way which seemeth right unto a man,

But the end thereof are the ways of death (14: 12).

This favorite figure of the sages occurs frequently in the
teachings of the Master: “Enter ye in by the narrow gate;
for wide is the gate and broad is the way, that leadeth to
destruction, and many be they that enter in thereby. For
narrow is the gate, and straitened the way, that leadeth
unto life, and few be they that find it” (Mt. 7:13, 14).
Meditating especially upon those proverbs found in the mouth
of that personified Wisdom with which he identified himself:

Now therefore, my sons, hearken unto me:

For blessed are they that keep my ways (8: 32).
For whoso findeth me findeth life,

And shall obtain favor of the Lorp (8: 35).
Leave off, ye simple ones, and live;

And walk in the way of understanding (9: 6),

the Saviour replied to the eager question of Thomas that, “I
am the way, the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the
Father but by me” (John 14:6). The figure of “walking
in the light ” is found in Prov. 4: 18, 19:

The path of the righteous is as the light of dawn,
That shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
The way of the wicked is as darkness :
They know not at what they stumble.
196 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

It reappears in various forms in the gospels: “ Yet a little
while is the light among you. Walk while ye have the light,
that darkness overtake you not: and he that walketh in dark-
ness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have the light,
believe on the light, that ye may become sons of light ” (John
12:35; cf. also John 11: 10).

Recognizing in the description of Wisdom the lineaments
of his own character, it is possible that Jesus drew the vivid
picture of the “vine and its branches,” whereby he portrayed
the intimate relationship between himself and his disciples,
from Prov. 3:18:

She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her,
And happy is every one that retaineth her.

3. THE OUTLINES OF PARABLES.

The study thus far of the Master’s use of the old Hebrew
proverbs has tended to confirm the conclusion that he gath-
ered their scattered teachings and presented them in a con-
cise, condensed form. But some truths, which he found only
partially expressed, he deemed worthy of fuller illustration.
Several of the gospel parables stand in this relation to the
older sayings. The familiar picture of the two houses, one —
that of the foolish man — built on the sand, and the other —
that of the wise man— founded upon the rock, is found in
germ in several of the proverbs :

When the whirlwind passeth, the wicked is no more:
But the righteous is an everlasting foundation (10: 25).
The wicked are overthrown and are not:

But the house of the righteous shall stand (12:7).

The connection is not so close nor the correspondence in
details so striking, and yet one cannot read the proverbs :
Boast not thyself of to-morrow :
For thou knowest not what a day will bring forth (27:1).

He that trusteth in his riches shall fall:
But the righteous shall flourish as the green leaf (11 : 28),
USE BY FESUS OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. 197

and then turn to the parable of the rich man who planned to
pull down his barn and build greater, confidently looking
forward to years of selfish enjoyment (Lk. 12: 16-21), with-
out feeling that Jesus was endeavoring thereby to vividly
impress upon mankind the well-nigh forgotten truths contained
in the ancient anthology.

Certain elements in the story of the rich man and Lazarus
are vivid presentations of the fact that :

The poor is hated even of his own neighbor :

But the rich hath many friends.

He that despiseth his neighbor sinneth:

But he that hath pity on the poor, happy is he (14: 20, 21).

The central truth which this parable was intended to teach
is also annunciated in Prov. 23: 17, 18:
Let not thine heart envy sinners,
But be thou in the fear of the Lorn all the day long:

For surely there is a reward ;
And thy hope shall not be cut off.

The memory of Wisdom’s famous banquet, described in
Prov. 9: 1-6, perhaps gave to Jesus the imagery which he
employed in setting forth the character of the kingdom of
heaven in the familiar parable of the marriage feast (Mt. 22:
1-14; Lk. 14: 16-24). In each representation the prepara-
tions are made complete, and then the invitation is sent forth.
This is scornfully rejected by the self-satisfied, who are intent
only upon their own interests. Ultimately the invitation in
the gospel parable, as at first in the case of Wisdom’s banquet,
is extended to all, and especially to the needy, quite irrespec-
tive of rank.

It has been suggested that Wisdom’s handmaidens (Prov.
9:3) are the literary prototypes of the five wise virgins of
the gospel parable (Mt. 25:2, 3). Certainly it is not improb-
able that the Master had in mind the proverb:

There is precious treasure and oil in the dwelling of the wise:
But a foolish man swalloweth it up (21: 20),
198 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

when he adduced this striking illustration of the wise virgins
with oil in their lamps and the foolish with none.
In Prov. 2: 4, 5 the wise man had proclaimed:

If thou seek for wisdom as silver,

And search for her as for hid treasures ;

Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LorpD,
And find the knowledge of God,

and in 3:15:
She is more precious than rubies :

And none of the things thou canst desire are to be compared with
her.

It is obvious from what source the Master derived his figures,
when he likened the kingdom of heaven to a treasure hidden
in the field which a man found, and then in his joy went and
sold all that he had to secure this priceless possession. Upon
the thoughtful and intelligent of his hearers, this illustration,
which vividly recalled to their minds the ancient wisdom and
suggested that the one who thus used it was that perfect wis-
dom, could not fail to make the deepest impression.
The bit of practical experience preserved in the maxim:

By long forbearing is a ruler persuaded,
And a soft tongue breaketh the bone (25:15),

likewise furnishes the outlines of the picture which is presented
in the story of the unjust judge who was led to act by the per-
sistency of the plaintiff (Lk. 18: 1-6).

Even in the parable of the prodigal son a part of the imagery
is suggested by one of the proverbs:

Whoso loveth wisdom, rejoiceth his father:
But he that keepeth company with harlots wasteth his substance

(29: 3)-

Within the ancient Hebrew anthology there is found a rough
fresco sketch of the famous picture of the Pharisee and the
USE BY FESUS OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. 199

Publican praying, with which the Master was undoubtedly
acquainted :

There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes,
And yet are not washed from their filthiness.

There is a generation, oh how lofty are their eyes!
And their eyelids are lifted up (30: 12, 13).

To this the wise also added :
Most men will proclaim every one his own kindness (20: 62).

By a few deft strokes, the divine Artist filled in the details of
this sketch with elements presented by the conditions then
before the eyes of himself and his hearers. Thus the antique
fresco, heretofore almost too indistinct to be intelligible, for
the first time becomes so real and clear that the simplest can
understand it, and apprehend both the old and the new and
greater truth which the divine Painter would have it teach.

VI. Conclusions.

The present investigation corroborates the great and im-
portant fact, which is so often overlooked, that the Old and
New Testaments are a unit, indivisible, each recording parts of
the same great divine plan. It has also demonstrated that
Christianity is founded not alone upon the work of the priests
and prophets. A very large and important portion of that
foundation was laid by those quiet workers of ancient Israel,
the wise. In seven out of the eight beatitudes, Jesus fulfilled —
that is, brought to perfect fruition — the germ of truth contained
in the Proverbs. More than half of the teachings preserved in
the Sermon on the Mount bear on their face the indications of
their genetic relationship to the earlier wisdom. Many of the
most familiar gospel parables represent the expansion of an
idea or figure, first presented in some antique saying of the
sages. On more than one occasion the Master found in the
portrayal of personified Wisdom language with which to de-
200 WISE MEN OF ANCIENT ISRAEL.

scribe his own nature. In almost every recorded address, he
indicated his acquaintance with, and high esteem for the truths
treasured up in the storehouse of his nation’s experience.
Exactness in quotation, however, was not sought. In fact, a
study of the use of the Old Testament in the gospels shows
that few citations are verbatim. Preéminently is this true in
the case of the ancient maxims. Not being so closely asso-
ciated, as were the law and oral prophecies, with the men who
first gave them utterance, their form was usually disregarded
and the idea alone appropriated. It was also because they
were looked upon as a common possession that the debt
incurred by the use of their thought was so rarely acknowl-
edged. To quote literally was not necessary for the Master’s
purpose. He came to put both old and new truth, not in old,
but in new bottles. The old, interpreted, elevated, and trans-
formed by him, and thus made new and then presented in his
own inimitable form, constitutes the doctrines of Christianity.
The Master therefore appropriated the fragments of divine
truth revealed to the earlier students and teachers of mankind,
and re-applied them to the situations and problems of his own
time. Sometimes he amplified and illustrated them more fully.
But oftener he gleaned that which was best from many proverbs,
and concentrated all into a simple, vivid statement, which daz-
zled and still dazzles the world with its intensity and brilliancy.
The truth contained in general observations was by him trans-
formed into commands which no one can ignore, or into prom-
ises which the simplest can understand, and all prize as their
own peculiar possession. Eternal verities, which had almost
been forgotten, were cast in a new mint and put again into
active circulation, bearing the stamp of his own divine per-
sonality. Ideas, also, which in the book of Proverbs are just
emerging into the realm of human consciousness, appear fully
developed in the discourses of the Master. All are permeated
and transfused and thus transformed by the great principles
which dominate his teachings. Of these the first and all-
USE BY ¥ESUS OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. 201

inclusive is that of love, the potent force which binds God
to man, and man to God, and man to man, making all human
beings brothers, sons of a common Father. Under the com-
prehensive law of love, each command and promise forthwith
became personal and applicable to each and every member of
the great household.

While the horizon was bounded in the Proverbs by the narrow
span of the mortal life, in the gospels it was extended to the
eternal life. Humanity entered into full possession of the
heritage of immortality with all that that entailed. Future
as well as present happiness at once became a goal and an
incentive to hope and action. This belief in turn became one
of the corner stones of Christianity.

Thus the truth, in former times partial and limited, was
suddenly made complete and universal, since humanity beheld
not through the half-opened eyes of prophet, priest, or sage, but
with the perfect insight of the Divine. The “blade” of the
Old Testament became the “full corn in the ear” of the
gospels. The ancient systems of morality were at last em-
bodied in a living, present, potent personality.
INDEX TO THE CLASSIFICATION OF
BIBLICAL PROVERBS.

 

 

 

PROVERB Pace | PRovERB Pace | Provera Pace
rt: x Superscription| 2: 2 83 | 3:14 83
is i 95| 122 3 83.) 3:15 83
I: 3 78 | 23 4 83 | 3:16 83
Ti 4. 75| 2:5 83 | 3:17 83
I: 5 75) 2: 6 83 | 3:18 83
Ti 6 75| 2:7 84 | 3:19 82, 146
Ti 9 87| 2: 8 84 | 3:20 82, 146
i, 8 93] 2:9 84 | 3:21 82
rm 9) 93 | 2:10 84 | 3:22 82
I:10 123,154 | 2:11 84) 3:23 82
T:11 131,154] 2:12 84 | 3:24 82
{Et 1e 131,154 | 2:13 84} 3:25 82
1:13 132 | 2:14 84} 3:26 82, 147
T:14 192: | @215 84 | 3:27 134
1:15 132 | 2:16 84 | 3:28 135
1:16 132] 2:17 84 | 3:29 150
I:17 132| 2:18 84 | 3:30 127
1:18 132| 2:19 84 | 3:31 131
r:19 132 | 2:20 84 | 3:32 131, 150
ae Ch 8:1-3; 9:3 2:21 143 | 3:33 149
I: 2r 2:22 143 | 3:34 149
Piee Go| ge 2 Ch 4cto5. 3235 89
1:23 81] 3: 2 82 | 4: 1 90, 91
1:24 81} 3: 3 135 | 4: 2 gt
1:25 81] 3: 4 135 | 4: 3 gt
1:26 81} 3: 5 138 | 4: 4 or
1:27 81} 3: 6 138 | 4: 5 82
1:28 81] 3:7 137 | 4: 6 82
I:29 81} 3: 8 137 | 4: 7 82, 90
1:30 81} 3:9 137 | 4: 8 82
1:31 81} 3:10 137 | 4: 9 82
#53% 81 | 3:11 137,146 | 4:10 95
1:33 Cf. 3:23-25 3:12 137,146 |; 4:11 95
2:1 83] 3:13 83 | 4:12 95

202
PROVERB
713
714
215
:16
117
:18
:19
220
221
122
123
+24
125
226

DADDAADAKDADAUUNUHAUNANUAUNNUNUNHANUNUNUNMNUNUNMNAMNADAAAAAARALH AA ADA

ow ON anwrnrd

w

bob
ON ANA WNHHODN

Pace
93
123
123
123
123
140
140
81
81
82
125
118

T22,

I22

11g
TI9
119g
119
TI9
T19
TI9
I19
119
119
119
TI9
rig

98

99

99

oo

99
146
139
139
Tog
Tog
tog
tog
109
104
104
104

 

INDEX.

PROVERB PaGE
6:9 104
6:10 104,
6:11 104
6:12 130
6:13 130
6:14 130
6:15 130
6:16 150, 156
6:17 150, 156
6:18 150, 156
6:19 150, 156
6:20 11g
6:21 120
6:22 + 120
6:23 120
6:24 120
6:25 120
6: 26 120
6127 120
6: 28 120
6:29 120
6:30 120
6:31 120
6:32 120
6:33 120
6:34 120
6:35 120
Td 120
722 120
7:3 I2r
7:4 12
7: 5. I2r
7: 6 I2r
PE I2r
7: 8 12r
7:9 I2r
7:10 121
7:11 12
7:12 T21
7:13 T2r
7:14 121
7:15 T2r
7:16 121
7:17 I2r
7:18 121

 

203
PROVERB Pace
7:19 121
7:20 121
7:21 r2r
7:22 122
7:23 122
7324 122
7:25 122
7:26 122
7:27 122
8: 1 76
8: 2 76
8:3 76
8: 4 76
$87.75 76
8: 6 76
B57. 76
85 8. 76
8: 9 76
8:10 77
8:11 77
8:12 77
8:13 77
8:14 77
8:15 77
8:16 77
8:17 77
8:18 77
8:19 77
8:20 77
8:21 78
8:22 78
8:23 78
8:24 7
8:25 7
8:26 78
8:27 78
8:28 7
8:29 7
8:30 78
8:31 2B
8:32 78
8:33 79
8:34 79
8:35 79
8:36 79
204 INDEX.

 

 

PROVERB Pace | Provers Pace | PRovers Pace
g: I 79 | 10: 28 140 | 12: I0 ‘116
g: 2 79 | 10:29 148 | 12:11 106
9: 3 79 | 10:30 143 | 12:12 133
9: 4 79 | 10:31 143 | 12:13 117
9: 5 79 | 10:32 132 | 12:14 139
9: 6 79 | tI: I 149 | 12:15 93
9: 7 80] 11: 2 I25 | 12:16 88
9: 8 80] Ir: 3 139 | 12:17 IIo
9:9 80] Ir: 4 1o7 | 12: 18 134
9:10 83,136 | 11: 5 125 | 12:19 129
g:1II 79 | 11: 6 126 | 12:20 142
g:12 79 | Il: 7 153 | 12:21 I4I
9:13 80] 11: 8 144 | 12:22 149
9:14 80] 11: 9 130 | 12:23 88
9:15 80 | 11:10 Tig | geseg 103
9:16 80 | 11:1 IIs | 12:25 86
9:17 80 | 11:12 126 | 12:26 134
9:18 80 | 11:13 129 | 12:27 103
Io: I 96 | 11:14 115 | 12:28 143
Io: 2 107, 143 | 11:15 Iog | 13: 1 95
Io: 3 143, 148 | 11: 16 Ios | 13: 2 129, 141
10: 4 106 | 11:17 595 | *35 3 118
Io: 5 To2 | 11:18 139 | 13: 4 106
Io: 6 IqI | 11:19 143 | 13: 5 129
10: 7 I4I | II: 20 149 | 13: 6 126, 144
to: 8 go | 11: 21 I4I | 13: 7 105
Io: 9 14 | 11: 22 123 | 13: 8 106
Io: Io 130 | II: 23 124 | 13: 9 140
10:11 132 | Il: 24 Tos | 13:10 91
10: 12 126, 135 | 11: 25 135 | 13:11 106
10: 13 go | 11: 26 135 | 13: 12 86
Io: 14 gt | 11: 27 124 | 13: 13 137
to: 15 Tos | 11: 28 to7 | 13:14 95
10: 16 143 | 11: 29 89 | 13:15 94
10:17 g2 | II: 30 133 | 13:16 go
to: 18 130 | 11:31 139 | 13:17 113
10:19 118 | 12: 1 92 | 13:18 104
10:20 132 | 12: 2 143, 148 | 13: 19 86
10: 21 132 | 12: 3 126 | 13:20 124
Io: 22 106,148 | 12: 4 97 | 13: 21 142
10: 23 88 | 12: 5 132 | 13: 22 96
10: 24 143 | 12: 6 131 | 13: 23 Tol
10: 25 142 | 12: 7 143 | 13: 24 92
To: 26 126 | 12: 8 141 | 13: 25 142
10: 27 137 | 12: 9 I25 | tq: 1 88

 
INDEX. 205

PROVERB PacE | Provers PacE | PRoverB PAGE
14: 2 136 | 15:12 QI | 16:24 134
14: 3 1IZ | T5213 86 | 16:25 Cf. 14:12

14: 4 To2 | 15:14 go | 16: 26 102
14: 5 129 | 15:15 86 | 16:27 130
14: 6 90 | 15:16 108 | 16; 28 130
14: 7 87 | 15:17 136 | 16: 29 131
14: 8 123 | 15:18 127 | 16:30 130
14: 9 88, 152 | 15:19 103 | 16: 31 87
14:10 85 | 15:20 95 | 16:32 118
14:11 142 | 15:21 88 | 16:33 147
14:12 85 | 15:22 Cf. 11:14; 20:18] 17: 1 128
14:13 85 | 15:23 117 | 17: 2 99
14:14 139,144 | 15: 24 153 | 17: 3 148
14:15 124 | 15:25, 149,150] 17: 4 123
14: 16. I22 | 15:26 131,149} 17: 5 135
14:17 118 | 15:27 Iog | 17: 6 96
14:18 87 | 15: 28 133 | 17: 7 113
14:19 140 | 15:29 150,153 | 17: 8 TI5
14: 20 to5 | 15:30 86] 17: 9 133
14: 21 135 | 15:31 124 | 17:10 93
14: 22 140 | 15:32 93 | 17:11 113
14: 23 106 | 15: 33 136 | 17:12 89
14: 24 106 | 16: 1 147 | 17:13 127
14:25 110 | 16: 2 148 | 17:14 123, 128
14: 26 136 | 16: 3 I51 | 17:15 150
14:27 137 | 16: 4 147 | 17: 16 gt
14: 28 TI5 | 16: 5 149 | 17:17 100, 133
14:29 118 | 16: 6 153 | 17:18 Tog
14: 30 86,118 | 16: 7 148 | 17: 19 127
14:31 Ior | 16: 8 107 | 17: 20 142
14: 32 140, 154 | 16: 9 147 | 17: 21 96
14:33 gt | 16:10 III | 17: 22 86
14:34 152 | 16:11 146 | 17: 23 Tog
14:35 113 | 16:12 III | 17:24 87
15: I 134 | 16:13 Il2 | 17:25 96
I5: 2 94 | 16:14 Il2 | 17: 26 IIo
I5: 3 146 | 16:15 12 | 17:27 118
Is: 4 134 | 16:16 94 | 17: 28 117
Is: 5 93 | 16:17 126 | 18: 1 93
Ig: 6 106, 142 | 16:18 125] 18: 2 88
Ig: 7 94 | 16:19 108 | 18: 3 141
15: 8 149, 153 | 16:20 138 | 18: 4 gt
IS: 9 146 | 16:21 134 | 18: 5 IIo
15:10 g2 | 16:22 94 | 18: 6 128
15:11 146, 154 | 16:23 94 | 18: 7 go

 

 
206 INDEX.

 

 

PROVERB Pace | PRoverB Pace | PRroverB Pace
18: 8 128 | 19: 29 144 | 21:15 132
18: 9 Io3 | 20: I 116 | 21:16 90, 153
18:10 147, 151 | 20: 2 85, 112 | 21:17 116
18:11 107 | 20: 3 127 | 21:18 144
18:12 125 | 20: 4 Io3 | 21:19 96
18: 13 117 | 20: 5 g2 | 21: 20 94
18:14 86 | 20: 6 87 | 21: 2r 144
18:15 QI | 20: 7 96 | 21: 22 94
18:16 114 | 20: 8 III | 21: 23 118
18:17 108 | 20: 9 152 | 21:24 124
18; 18 108 | 20; 10 149 | 21:25 103
18:19 99 | 20:11 86 | 21: 26 135
18: 20 139 | 20:12 147 | 21:27 153
18:21 117 | 20:13 I16 | 21: 28 IIo
18: 22 g7 | 20:14 To2 | 21: 29 122
18:23 Io05 | 20:15 107 | 21:30 145
18: 24 Ioo | 20: 16 Iog | 21: 31 147
Ho: t tog | ROn77 129 | 22: I 107
ri = 124 | 20:18 II5 | 22: 2 147
Ig: 3 88, 137 | 20:19 I29 | 22: 3 124
Ig: 4 Ios | 20:20 95 | 22: 4 106, 137
19: 5 IIo | 20: 21 107 | 22: 5 125
Ig: 6 135 | 20: 22 127,147 | 22: 6 92
19: 7 Ios | 20:23 Cf. 20: Io. 22: 7 Io2
Ig: 8 94 | 20:24 147 | 22: 8 139
Or @ Ch 19s. 20:25 117 | 22: 9 Iol
1g: 10 gg | 20: 26 113 | 22:10 127
Ig: II 118 | 20: 27 85 | 22:11 125
1g: 12 112 | 20: 28 III | 22:12 150
19:13 96 | 20:29 87 | 22:13 103
19:14 97, 106 | 20:30 I1o | 22:14 TI9
19: 15 Io3 | 21: 1 IIT, 145 | 22:15 87
19:16 g2| 21: 2 85,148 | 22:16 104
19:17 135 | 21: 3 132, 146, 153 | 22:17

19:18 g2| 21: 4 125, 152 | 22:18

19:19 T1r | 20: 5 106 | 22:19 } Superscription.
Ig: 20 93 | 21: 6 107 | 22:20

Ig: 2I 146 | 21: 7 I41 | 22: 21

1g: 22 tos | ar; 8 125, 152 | 22: 22 131, 150
19! 23 137 | 21: 9 Cf 25: 24. 22: 23 106, 131, 150
19:24 Cf. 26: 15. 21:10 124 | 22:24 I00
1g: 25 rir | 2T: 11 IIr | 22:25 100
Ig: 26 95 | 21:12 142 | 22: 26 r09
19:27 93 | 21:13 tor | 22:27 109
1g: 28 Ilo | 21:14 114 | 22: 28 131
PROVERB
22:
23:
- 23:
23:
23:
23:
23:
23:
23:
23:
23:
23:
23:
23:
23:
23:
23:
23:
23:
23:
23:
23°
23:
23:
23:
23:
23:
23:
23:
23:
23:
23:
23:
23:
23:

FESE Te ee se

29

COD AN ANAWDHHA

HHH HAM HAR HH
OW AON ANAW NH

20

Pace

102
114
14
114
107
108
123
123
123
134
131
131

93

gz

g2
136
136
136
136
136
103
103

95

96

96
11g
119
IIg
116
117
117
117
117
117
117

122
95
95

115

IIs,
88

130
89

 

INDEX.

PROVERB PAGE
:I0 133
tI 133
112 133, 145, 148
+13 93

14 94
15 142
16 143
17 127
18 127
19 140
20 140
2i 114
22 114

23a Superscription.
1236 Cf 18:5.

RARER RRERERERRRERKRRKRKERERES

24 IIo
$25 IIo
26 134
27 To2
28 IIo
29 136
30 104
231 104
132 104
+33 104
: 34 105

1 Superscription.
2 III, 146
3 112
25: 4 112
25: 5 112
25: 6 114
25: 7 II4
25: 8 108
25: 9 108
25:10 108
25:11 134
25:12 93
25:13 114
25:14 129
25:15 114
25:16 116
25:17 B Kore)
25:18 IIo
25:19 133

 

207
PRovERB PaGE
25:20 133
25:21 136, 148
25:22 148
25:23 130
25:24 96
25:25 86
25: 26 123, 152
25:27 125
25:28 118
26: 1 134
26: 2 141
26: 3 go
26: 4 124
26: 5 134
| 26: 6 89
26: 7 88
26: 8 134
26: 9 88
26: 10 124
26:11 89
26:12 125
26:13 Cf. 22:13.
26: 14 103
26:15 103
26:16 103
26:17 127
26:18 129
26:19 129
26: 20 130
26:21 128
26:22 Cf. 18:8.
26:23 128
26: 24 128
26:25 128
26: 26 128
26:27 129
26; 28 128, 129
27: 1 85
27: 2 125
27: 3 89
27: 4 127
27: 5 92
27: 6 I0o
27: 7 116
27: 8 IIs
 

208 INDEX.
PROVERB Pace | Provers PAGE
ais go Too | 28: 28 131
27210 100, 133 | 29: 1 92
Apel 96 | 29: 2 113
Spt 122 | 29: 3 118
27:13 Cf. 20: 16, 29: 4 113
27044 128 | 29: 5 128
27:15 96 | 29: 6 142
27:16 96 | 29: 7 Ior
27:17 86 | 29: 8 IIs
27:18 102 | 29: 9 89
27:19 85 | 29:10 131
27:20 85, 154 | 29:11 118
27:21 87 | 29:12 113
27:22 89 | 29:13 100
27:23 Ior | 29:14 IIL
27:24 Tor | 29:15 92
27:25 Ior | 29:16 142
27:26 IOI | 29:17 g2
27:27 Io2 | 29:18 137
28: 1 140 | 29:19 99
28: 2 113 | 29: 20 117
28: 3 IoI | 29: 21 99
28: 4 93 | 29: 22 126
28: 5 140 | 29: 23 125
28: 6 Io7 | 29: 24 B Kore)
28: 7 116 | 29:25 138
28: 8 126 | 29: 26 148
28: 9 153 | 29:27 132
28:10 139 | 30: I 145
28:11 94 | 30: 2 145
28; 12 133 | 30: 3 145
28: 13 152 | 30: 4 145
28:14 I22 | 30: 5 ISI
28:15 113 | 30: 6 ISI
28:16 113 | 30: 7 108
28:17 143 | 30: 8 108
28:18 I4I | 30: 9 108
28:19 Io2, 104 | 30: 10 99
28: 20 to7 | 30:11 Cf. 20: 20,

28: 21 110 | 30:12 Cf, 26: 23-26,

28; 22 Io2 | 30:13 Cf. 21: 24.

28: 23 128 | 30:14 Cf. 14: 31.

28: 24 95 | 30:15 155
28: 25 126, 138 {| 30:16 155
28; 26 138 | 30:17 95
28: 27 Io1 | 30:18 155

 

 

 

PROVERB Pace
30: 19° 155
30: 20 155
30: 21 155
30: 22 155
30: 23 I55
30: 24 156
30: 25 156
30: 26 156
30: 27 156
30: 28 156
30: 29 156
30: 30 156
30: 31 156
30: 32 127
30: 33 127
she 2 | Superscription.
31: 2
3I: 3 Ig
3I: 4 112
3r: 5 TI2
31: 6 135
31: 7 135
gr: 8 Il2
31: 9 Ir2
31:10 97
31:11 97
31:12 7
31:13 97
31:14 97
31:15 97
31:16 97
31:17 97
31:18 97
31:19 97
31:20 98
31: 21 98
31:22 98
31: 23 98
Sr: 24 97
31:25 98
31: 26 98
31:27 98
gr: 28 98
31: 29 98
31: 30 98
31:31 98
 

 

 

 

 

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— = r=
a at = =
eee = SS
SSS <= ;
= — —S
Sass — so
=e —— SS
== SS SSS
—— = —— Se
eeeneee a
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= = r= eterna
— i ae
==
= aa
SSS aS SSS SS
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eS = = a ——————
= =e cece a
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= a a a ean nee corr Sh crear
SSS SSS
ee == = es
=e = ———
SS = aS aaeeceere
ae sean re ato ne ee enn ae = eeethe
Se 3 =
SSS <= a = Se
—————— SS Saree == st
SE =
sSemmanansounnw nase —— Se ee ee Se
Stee aera en Strep cena Peet tartare
sramacmmansinettncnse tbo Fee area er Tere neem enieneret
eee eee
ESS : == = <=
senate =< os mS rare
SSS = <= SS =
eects = eee <—— ——
Hbietess tartan ee Smee ee rt =
= ee ee eee aT ee
= aa eee =