T. and T. Clark's Ptiblicaiions. DR. LUTHARDT'S H/EW WORK. Just published, in demy Svo, price 9s., ST. JOHN THE AUTHOR OF THE FOURTH GOSPEL. By Professor C. E. LUTHARDT, AUTHOR OF 'fundamental TRUTHS OF CHRISTIANITY,' ETC. By C. R. GREGORY, Leipzig. Chap. I. Tradition. II. St. John's Authorship disputed. III. The Testimony of the Church. IV. Testimony outside of the Church. V. St. John's Residence at Ephesus. VL The Passover Controversy. VII. The Testi- mony of the Gospel itself. VIII. St. John's Gospel and the Second Century, IX. St. John's Gospel and the Synoptlsts. X. St. John's Gos- pel and the Revelation. XI. St. John's Christology psychologically possible. Appendix. — Literature of the disputed Origin of the Fourth Gospel, from 1792 to the present. ' A work which must be regarded as a very able and almost exhaustive summary of the arguments in favour of the catholic tradition on this subject — exhaustive, that is to say, in the present state of the question, and until new evidence shall have been dis- covered. Nothing can be more lucid or effective than the author's method of arranging and presenting his arguments.'' — Scotsman. ' There are few works in the later theological literature which contain, in such a con- fined space, siich wealth of sober theological knowledge, and such an invulnerable phalanx of objective apologetical critieijsm.' — Professor Guericlce. 'In this work, from the pen of one of the greatest divines of Germany, the facts are made to speak for themselves, and the result is a complete refutation of the Anti- Johannine school of criticism, and a correspondingly complete establishment of the ti-uth on which the unanimous testimony of the ancient Church is shown to rest. . . . Such a work as this was much needed.' — Dickinson's QuaHerly. ' It is with no ordinary gratification that we welcome Dr. Luthardt's exhaustive treatise. All the more so, that while he writes evidently with the earnestness of a man fighting for a treasure, he never descends to the mere special pleader.. . _. We cor- dially commend Dr. Luthardt's work as an able and seasonable contribution to the literature of this question.' — Courant. 'Those who consult Luthardt's volume will find him to be a safe guide. H" - remarkably temperate and fair. He makes the liberal concessions of one who feels i his resources are substantial, and that he need not fight for trifles. . . . This is ! far the best handbook on the subject which any inquirer can have. We hope that in - present form it will find a large circle of readers.' — Daily Rerieiv. T. and T. Clark's Pudlications. Just Published, in Demy Zvo, Price js. 6d., THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD IN RELATION TO MODERN CRITICISM. BY F. L. STEINMEYER, D.D., ORDINARY PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF BERLIN. TKANSLATED, WITH THE PEKMISSION OF THE AUTHOR, FROM THE GERMAN BY L. A. WHEAT LEY. Introduction.— 1. The Problem. 2. Method of Solving it. 3. Value of the Solution. Jesus as a Worker of Miracles. First Group. — Miracles considered as Signs of the Kingdom of Heaven. Second Group. — Miracles considered as Symbols. Third Group. — Miracles as Witnesses of the Power of the Kingdom of Heaven. Fourth Group.— Miracles as Prophecies. ' In this exegesis Dr. Steinmeyer displays a very high degree of critical acumen and a rare subtlety and originality of thought.' — Scotsman. ' We have read this excellent translation of Professor Steinmeyer's famous work on Miracles with great satisfaction. It is a careful and masterly reply to Strauss — to his attack on the historical veracity of the Gospels and on the reality of Biblical Miracles. It is therefore, by anticipation, a reply to " Supernatural Religion." . . . Wo most cordially recommend the volume to young theological students.' — Watchman. ' This work will be found of great and lasting service in the cause of truth against the sceptical tendencies of the present eager age. . . . The whole argument is bold, masterly, and convincing; and the essay will take its place among the best recent volumes of Christian evidence.' — Standard. ' A work of intrinsic importance at the present time, and both as an argument for the miracles and an exposition of their meaning, deserves thoughtful consideration.' — English Independent. ' Besides the value of the work apologetically, there is much of acute criticism and suggestive exegesis, which will be prized by all who have learned to value duly even the smallest contribution to a more fresh, life-like, and correct conception of that unique divine life portrayed in the Gospels.' — British and Foreign Evangelical Review. NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS. M ESSRS. CLARK have much pleasure in forwarding to their Subscribers the Second Issue for 1875 : — Delitzsch's Commentary on Proverbs, Vol. 2, Oehler's Old Testament Biblical Theology, Vol. 2, completing both Works, The First Issue for 1876 they expect to be Dr. Keil's Com- mentary ON EzEKiEL, in Two Volumes ; and they have also pleasure in intimating that Dr. Luthardt is preparing a New Edition of his Commentary on St. John^s Gospel, which, with the sanction of the Author, will appear in the Foreign Theo- logical Library. Professor Godet is also preparing a New Edition of his Com- mentary ON St. John's Gospel. The method of treatment is so different, that they do not think many will object to two Com- mentaries on the Fourth Gospel by scholars so eminent. They beg anew to thank the Subscribers for their continued support, and to respectfully request a continuance of it. May they ask a remittance of the Subscription for 1S76 — 21s. 38 George Street, Edinburgh, November 1875. CLARK'S rOEEIGN THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY FOURTH SERIES. VOL. XLVII. J9dit|äd; on Ü)t ^roöcrbö of Solomon. VOL. II. EDINBURGH: T. & T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET. 18 75. PllINTED BY MUßRAY AND GIBB FOR T. & T. CLARK, EDINBURGH. LONDON, HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO. DUBLIN, JOHN ROBERTSON AND CO. NEW YORK, .... SCRIBNER, WELFORD, AND ARMSTRONG. BIBLICAL COMMENTARY PROVERBS OF SOLOMON. BY FRANZ DELITZSCH, D.D., PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY. TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY M. G. EASTON, D.D. VOL. II. EDINBURGH: T. & T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET. 18 75. TABLE OF CONTENTS. THE OLDER BOOK OF PROVERBS, I.-XXIV. {continued). PAGE First Collection of Solomonic Proverbs, x.-xxii. 16 (continued). Chapter xviii. Exhortations to Fidelity and other Social Virtues, 1 Chapter xix. Exhortation to Humility and Gentleness, . . 18 Chapter xix. 26. Beginning of the Fourth Principal Part of the Solomonic Collection, . . . . .36 Chapter xx. Exhortations against Drunkenness, Slothfulness, Quarrelsomeness, etc., . . . .39 Chapter xxi. Exhortations to the Exercise of Justice, Patience, and Submission to God, . . . .62 Chapter xxii. 1-16. Admonitions as to the Obtaining and Pre- serving of a Good Name, . . . .83 First Appendix to the First Collection of Solomonic Proverbs, xxii. 17-xxiv. 22, . . . . 95-140 Chapter xxii. 17-21. Admonition to lay to heart the " AN^ords of the Wise," ...... 95 Chapter xxii. 22-29. Proverbs regarding the Treatment of the Poor, ....... 99 Chapter xxiii. Warnings against Avarice, Intemperance, and Licentiousness, ..... 103 Chapter xxiv. 1-22. Warnings against Fellowship with the Wicked and Foolish, . . . . .125 Second Appendix to the First Solomonic Collection, xxiv. 23-34, 140-148 Chapter xxiv. 23-29. Admonition to Right Conduct toward others, ....... 141 Chapter xxiv. 30-34. Warning against Slothfulness — a Mashal Ode, 146 VI CONTENTS. SECOND COLLECTION OF SOLOMONIC PROVERBS (which the Men of Hezekiah collected), XXY.-XXIX. PAGE Chapter xxv. Admonition to Kings and their Subjects as to the Fear of God and the Practice of Righteousness, . 149 Chapter xxvi. Warnings against Folly, Indolence, and Malice, . 173 Chapter xxvii. 1-8. Warnings against unseemly Boasting and Anger, 198 Chapter xxvii. 9. Proverbs of the Value of Friendship, . . 204 Chapter xxvii. 14. The Contentious Woman, . . . 210 Chapter xxvii. 17. The Influence of Mutual Intercourse, . 212 Chapter xxvii. 23-27. Exhortation to Rural Industry — a Mashal Ode, 218 Chapter xxviii. Warnings against Unscrupulous, Unlawful Dealings, ...... 221 Chapter xxix. Divers Ethical Proverbs : Warnings against Stubbornness, Flattery, Wrath, etc., . . . 240 First Appendix to the Second Solomonic Collection of Proverbs, xxx., ..... 260 Chapter xxx. 1-6. The " Words of Agiir " — his Confession of a Fruitless Search for Wisdom, .... 260 Chapter xxx. 7-9. A Mashal Ode — a Prayer for a Middle State between Poverty and Riches, .... 280 Chapter xxx. 11-14. A Priamel— a Wicked Generation, . . 284 Chapter xxx. 15, 1 6. Four Insatiable Things, . . . 287 Chapter xxx. 17. The Eye that mocketh, . . . 293 Chapter xxx. 18-20. Four Incomprehensible Things, . . 295 Chapter xxx. 21-23. Four Intolerable Things, . . . 299 Chapter xxx. 24-28. Four Things that are Small and yet Wise, . 301 Chapter xxx. 29-31. Four Creatures that are stately in going, . 305 Second Appendix to the Second Solomonic Collection of Proverbs, xxxi. 1-9, . . . . .314 Chapter xxxi. 1-9. The " Words of Lemuel"— his Mother's Counsel for Kings, . . . . .314 Third Appendix to the Second Solomonic Collection of Proverbs, xxxi. 10-31, .... 325 An Alphabetical Poem (" A Golden A B C for Women ") in praise of a Virtuous Matron, .... 326 Note.— The Proverbs peculiar to the Alexandrine Translation, . 342 ABBREVIATIONS. [The usual abbreviations of words and phrases are adopted throughout this work, and will readily be understood by the reader. The mark of abbreviation in Hebrew words is a stroke like an acute accent after a letter, as e.g. 'in for nionn, xxix. 4; and in Hebrew sentences, 'iJ1 for i??iJl et complens = etc., as e.g. at xxx. 4.] THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. FIRST COLLECTION OF SOLOMONIC PROVERBS.— CHAP. X.-XXII. 16. (Continued.) HAP. XVIII. 1. This series of proverbs now turns from the fool to the separatist : The separatist seeketh after his own pleasure ; Against all that is beneficial he showeth his teeth. The reflexive T]33 has here the same meaning as the Rab- binical "i^25fn-}p t^'ns, to separate oneself from the congregation, Abothi\.5; T^S^ denotes a man who separates himself, for he follows his own counsel, Arab, mnfrd {intfrrd) brät/h, or jhys ahn/iJil {seorsum ah aliis secedens). Instead of >^]^})?, Hitzig, after Jerome, adopts the emendation "^J^J^p, "after an occa- sion " (a pretext), and by *nS3 thinks of one pushed aside, who, thrown into opposition, seeks to avenge himself. But his trans- lation of lb, " against all that is fortunate he gnasheth his teeth," shows how much the proverb is opposed to this inter- pretation. "T^sa denotes one who willingly (Judg. iv. 11), and, indeed, obstinately withdraws himself. The construction of C'ijjn'i with ^ (also Job x. 6) is explained by this, that the poet, giving prominence to the object, would set it forward : a plea- sure (^1^?n, as Arab, haivan, unstable and causeless direction of the mind to something, pleasure, freak, caprice), and nothing else, he goes after who has separated himself (Fl.) ; the effort of the sepai'atist goes out after a pleasure, i.e. the enjoyment and realization of such ; instead of seeking to conform himself to the law and ordinance of the community, he seeks to carry out a separate view, and to accomplish some darling plan : libidinem sectatur sui cerebri homo. With this lb accords. VOL. II. A 2 THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. n^B'in (^vid. at ii. 7) Is concretely that which furthers and profits. Eegarding V^^T}^, vid. at xvii. 14. Thus putting his subjectivity in the room of the common weal, he shows his teeth, places himself in fanatical opposition against all that is useful and profitable in the principles and aims, the praxis of the community from which he separates himself. The figure is true to nature : the polemic of the schismatic and the sectary against the existing state of things, is for the most part measure- less and hostile. Ver. 2 The fool hath no delight in understanding ; But only that his heart may reveal itself therein. The verb XPJ} forms the f ut. J'?'?.'', as well as Tan;; : first the latter from r?05 ^^^^^ ^^^ primary meaning, to bow, to bend down ; then both forms as intransitive, to bend oneself to something, to be inclined to something, Arab. Hf. (FL). n:i3n is here the intelligence which consists in the understanding of one's own deficiency, and of that which is necessary to meet it. The inclination of the fool goes not out after such intelligence, but (-nx "'S ; according to Ben-Naphtali, QS-'G) only that his heart, i.e. the understanding which he thinks that he already possesses, may reveal itself, show itself publicly. He thinks thereby to show himself in his true greatness, and to render a weighty service to the world. This loquacity of the fool, proceeding from self-satisfaction, without self-knowledge, has already, xii. 23, and often, been reprimanded. The group beginning with ver. 3 terminates in two pro- verbs (vers. 6 and 7), related to the concluding verse of the foregoing : Ver. 3 If a godless man cometh, then cometh also contempt ; And together with disgrace, shame. J. D. Michaelis, and the most of modern critics, read S?K't ; then, contempt etc., are to be thought of as the consequences that follow godlessness ; for that p?!^ means (Hitzig) disgrace- fulness, i.e. disgraceful conduct, is destitute of proof; \b\> always means disgrace as an experience. But not only does the Masoretic text punctuate J?^"!, but also all the old translators, the Greek, Aramaic, and Latin, have done so. And is it on this account, because a coming naturally seems to be spoken of a person? The "pride cometh, then cometh shame," xi. 2, CHAP. XVIII. 4. ö was in their recollection not less firmly, perhaps, than in ours. They read V^l, because Tia does not fittingly designate the first of that which godlessness effects, but perhaps the first of that which proceeds from it. Therefore we adhere to the opinion, that the proverb names the fiends which appear in the company of the godless wherever he goes, viz. first TH, con- tempt (Ps. xxxi. 19), which places itself haughtily above all due subordination, and reverence, and forbearance; and then, with the disgrace [turjnüido], }1^p, which attaches itself to those who meddle with him (Isa. xxii. 18), there is united the shame, nann (Ps. xxxix. 9), which he has to suffer from him who has only always expected something better from him. Fleischer understands all the three words in the passive sense, and remarks, " nsin ]'hp'QV, a more artificial expression for nsnm ])bp, in the Turkish quite common for the copula ivcJw, e.g. swylh thrdh, earth and water, \ortylh dr, the man and the woman." But then the expression would be tautological ; we understand Tin and nsnn of that which the godless does to others by his words, and '{hp of that which he does to them by his conduct. By this interpretation, ÜV is more than the representative of the copula. Ver. 4 Deep waters are the words from a man's mouth, A bubbling brook, a fountain of wisdom. Earlier, we added to hominis the supplement sc. sapientis, but then an unnecessary word would be used, and that which is necessary omitted. Eather it might be said that C'"'X is meant in an ideal sense ; but thus meant, ^^H, like "132, denotes the valiant man, but not man as he ought to be, or the man of honour ; and besides, a man may be a man of honour without there being said of him what this proverb expresses. Ewald comes nearer the case when he translates, " deep waters are the heart-words of many." Heart-words — what an unbiblical ex- pression ! The EXX., which translates \0709 iu KapZla^ has not read :h nni, but nb nm (as XX. 5, "3^ nvy). But that " of many" is certainly not a right translation, yet right in so far as &\^ (as at xii. 14) is thought of as made prominent : the proverb expresses, in accordance with the form of narrative proverbs which present an example, what occurs in actual life, and is observed. Three different things are said of the words 4 THE BOOK OF PROVEEBS. from a man's mouth : they are deep waters, for their meaning does not lie on the surface, but can be perceived only by pene- trating into the secret motives and aims of him who speaks ; they are a bubbling brook, which freshly and powerfully gushes forth to him who feels this flow of words, for in this brook there never fails an always new gush of living water ; it is a fountain or well of wisdom, from which wisdom flows forth, and whence wisdom is to be drawn. Hitzig supposes that the distich is antithetic ; D''i?öy Ci^^, or rather ^''ipoyQ "•», " waters of the deep," are cistern waters ; on the contrary, " a welling brook is a fountain of wisdom." But y>W means deep, not deepened, and deep water is the contrast of shallow water ; a cistern also may be deep (cf. xxii. 14), but deep water is such as is deep, whether it be in the ocean or in- a ditch. 4.b also does not suggest a cistern, for thereby it would be indicated that the description, tJ'''{<"''3 '^121, is not here continued; the "fountain of wisdom" does not form a proper parallel or an antithesis to this subject, since this much rather would require the placing in contrast of deep and shallow, of exhausted (drained out) and perennial. And : the fountain is a brook, the well a stream — who would thus express himself ! We have thus neither an antithetic nor a synonymous (LXX. after the phrase ävaTrrjScüv, Jerome, Venet., Luth.), but an integral distich (yid. vol. i. p. 8) before us ; and this leads us to consider what depths of thought, what riches of contents, what power of spiritual and moral advancement, may lie in the words of a man. Yer. 5 To favour the person of the godless is not good, And to oppress the righteous in judgment. As ver. 4 has one subject, so ver. 5 has one predicate. The form is the same as xvii. 26. \JQ nxb> (cf. xxiv. 23), irpoaco- 7r6\7]-\\r[a, accepiio personce, is this, that one accepts the ''JS, i.e. the personal appearance of any one (7rp6aco7ro.v\a/j,ßdvei), i.e. regards it as acceptable, respectable, agreeable, which is a thing in itself not wrong ; but in a judge who ought to determine according to the facts of the case and the law, it becomes sinful partiality. nitsn, in a forensic sense, with the accus, of the person, may be regarded in a twofold way : either as a turning aside, T'^P, Isa. X. 2, from following and attaining unto the right, or as an oppressing, for the phrase lOSC'O n;2n [to pervert justice] (cf. CHAP. XVIII. 6-8. 5 xvH. 23) is transferred to the person who experiences the op- pression = perversion of the law ; and this idea perhaps always underlies the expression, wherever, as e.g. Mai. iii. 5, no addition brings with it the other. Under xvii. 15 is a fuller explanation of y[\2-vh. Ver. 6 The lips of the fool engage in strife, And his mouth calleth for stripes. We may translate : the lips of the fool cause strife, for 3 sn^ to come with anything, e.g. Ps. ixvi. 13, is equivalent to bring it (to bring forward), as also : they engage in strife ; as one says D''?'"J-? ^^■^' to be engaged in bloodshed, 1 Sam. xxv. 26. We prefer this intrant {ingerunt se), with Schultens and Fleischer. ^5? uKepaioi, ; Jerome ; quasi simplicia ; Aquila, xxvi. 22 : nna. The form of the word in the proverb here is more original than at xxviii. 24. There "isn [companion] is used, here nx [brother], a general Semitic name of him who, or of that which, is in any way related to another, cf. Job xxx. 29, Fleischer com- S THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. pares tlie Arab, proverb : dlshhlit dkht alkhhjdt^ scepticism is the sister of sin. Two proverbs, of the fortress of faith, and of the fortress of presumption: Yer, 10 A strong tower is the name of Jahve : The righteous runneth into it, and is high. The name of Jahve is the "Revelation of God, and the God of Revelation Himself, the creative and historical Revelation, and who is always continually revealing Himself; His name is His nature representing itself, and therefore capable of being described and named, before all the Tetragramm, as the Ä7ia- gramm of the overruling and inworking historical being of God, as the Chiffre of His free and all-powerful government in grace and truth, as the self-naming of God the Saviour. This name, which is afterwards interwoven in the name Jesus, is t'yv"üiO (Ps. Ixi. 4), a strong high tower bidding defiance to every hostile assault. Into this the righteous runneth, to hide himself behind its walls, and is thus lifted {perf. consec.) high above all danger (cf. ajp, xxix. 25). ?« P"i means. Job xv. 26, to run against anything, pi, seq. ace, to invest, blockade anything, 3 pi^ to hasten within ; Hitzig's conjecture, D11^ [riseth up high], instead of P"i^, is a freak. | P"> is speedily 3 t^n^ the idea the same as Ps. xxvii. 5, xxxi. 21. Ver. 11 The possession of the righ_tepus is his strong fort, And is Hke a high wall in his imagination. Line first = x. 15a. ri^sb^o from nab', Chald. X3tp (whence after Megilla 14a, n3D^, she who looks), R. yy, cogn. "JT, to pierce, to fix, means the image as a medal, and thus also intellectually : image (conception, and particularly the imagination) of the heart (Ps. Ixxiii. 7), here the fancy, conceit ; Fleischer com- pares (Arab.) tswivr, to imagine something to oneself, French se ßgurer. Translators from the LXX. to Luther incorrectly think on IDb' (l^D), to entertain ; only the Venet. is correct in the rendering: iv ^avraai'a avTov; better than Kimchi, who, after Ezra viii. 12, thinks on the chamber where the riches delighted in are treasured, and where he fancies himself in the midst of his treasures as if surrounded by an inaccessible wall. We place together vers. 12-19, in which the figure of a secure fortress returns : CHAP. XVIII. 12-14. 9 Ver. 12. This proverb is connected with the preceding of the rich man who trusts in his mammon. Before destruction the heart of man is haughty ; And humility goeth before honour. Line first is a variation of xvi. 18a, and line second is simiLir to XV. odb. Ver. 13 If one giveth an answer before he heareth, It is to him as folly and shame. The part stands here differently from what it does at xlii. 18, where it is subj., and at xvii. 14, where it is pred. of a simple sentence ; it is also here, along with what appertains to it in accordance with the Semitic idiom, subj. to Idb (one who answers ... is one to whom this . . .) ; but, in accordance with our idiom, it becomes a hypothetical antecedent (cf. vol. i. p. 282). For " to answer " one also uses 3^*^n without addition ; but the original full expression is "inT n^E'n, reddere verhum, referre dictum (cf. 131 n^y, Jer. xliv. 20, absol. in the cogn., xv. 28a) ; nm one may not understand of the word to which, but of the word with which, the reply is made, i^ i<^'^ comprehends the mean- ing: it avails to him {ducitur ei), as well as it reaches to him (est ei). In Agricola's Fünfhundert Sprüchen this proverb is given thus: Wer -antivortet ehe er höret^ der zaiget an sein torhait vnd toirdt ze schänden [he wiio answers before he hears shows his folly, and it is to him a shame]. But that would require the word to be C'n^, pudefiet ; (^h X\n) nab means that it becomes to him a ground of merited disgrace. " ne^3, properly wounding, i.e. shame (like atteinte a son honneur), from D^3 (cogn. D^n), to strike, hit, wound" (Fl.). Sirach (xi. 8) warns against such rash talking, as well as against the rudeness of interrupting others. Ver. 14 The spirit of a man beareth his sickness ; But a broken spirit, who can bear it? The breath of the Creator imparting life to man is spoken of as spiritus^ spirans, nn (D^^n nn), and as spiritus spiratus, ^'?.5 (pV^ t^'D3) ; the spirit (animus) is the primary, and the soul (anhna) the secondary principle of life ; the double gender of nn is accounted for thus: when it is thought of as the primary, and thus in a certain degree (vid. Psychol, p. 103 ff.) the manly principle, it is mas. (Gen. vi. 3; Ps. li. 12, etc.). Here the 10 THE BOOK OF PKO VERBS. change of gender is in the highest degree characteristic, and 5^^^? also is intentionally used (cf. 1 Sam. xxvi. 15) instead of OHii^ 16a: the courageous spirit of a man which sustains or endures (/^?^, E. 72, co7iipre/ienderej prehendere ; Luther, " who knows how to contain himself in his sufferings;" cf. Ps. li. 12, "may the free Spirit hold me ") the sickness \_SiechtJniin\ (we understand here '•' siecW^ in the old meaning = sich) with self-control, is generis masculini ; while, on the contrary, the HN^: nn (as xv. IS.xvii. 22), brought down from its manliness and superiority to disheartened passivity, is genere feminino (cf. Ps. li. 12 wäth ver. 19). Fleischer compares the Arab, proverb, thhdt ahifs hälglidhä Mat alrivh halghnd, the soul has firmness by nourishment, the spirit by music.-^ The question nastj'^ "ip is like Mark ix. 50 : if the salt becomes .tasteless, wherewith shall one season it? There is no seasoning for the spice that has become insipid. And for the spirit which is destined to bear the life and fortune of the person, if it is cast down by sufferings, there is no one to lift it up and sustain it. But is not God the Most High the lifter up and the bearer of the human spirit that has been crushed and broken? The answer is, that the manly spirit, 14a, is represented as strong in God ; the discouraged, 14^», as not drawing from God the strength and support he ought to do. But passages such as Isa. Ixvi. 2 do not bring it near that we think of the nK33 nn as alienated from God. The spirit is t^b'J, the bearer of the personal and natural life with its functions, activities, and experiences. If the spirit is borne down to powerless and helpless passivity, then within the sphere of the human personality there is no other sustaining power that can supply its place. Ver. 15 The heart of a man of understanding gaineth knowledge, And the ear of the wise seeketh after knowledge. Ji33 may be also interpreted as an adj., but we translate it here as at xiv. 33, because thus it corresponds with the parallelism; cf. p'''nv np, xv. 28, and D3ri 27, xvi. 23, where the adject, inter- pretation is excluded. The gaining of wisdom is, after xvii. 16, ^ In the Arab, language, influenced by philosophy, -r- jjj, the anima vitalis, and ju^ij, the anima rationalis, are inverted; vid. Baudissin's Trans- lationis antiquse Arab, lihri Johi quse supersunt (1870), p. 31. CHAP. XVIII. IC, 17. 11 referred to the heart : a heart vigorous in embracing and re- ceiving it is above all necessary, and just such an one possesses the |U3, which knows how to value the worth and usefulness of such knowledge. The wise, who are already in posses- sion of such knowledge, are yet at the same time constantly striving to increase this knowledge : their ear seeks knowledge, eagerly asking where it is to be found, and attentively listening when the opportunity is given of Nii'a, obtaining it. Ver. 16 The gift of a man maketh room for him, And bringeth him before the great. That irio may signify intellectual endowments. Hitzig supposes, but without any proof for such an opinion. Intellectual ability as the means of advancement is otherwise designated, xxii. 29. But Hitzig is right in this, that one mistakes the meaning of the proverb if he interprets |nD in the sense of inb* {yid. at xvii. 8) : |no is an indifferent idea, and the proverb means that a man makes free space, a free path for himself, by a gift, i.e. by this, that he shows himself to be agreeable, pleasing where it avails, not niggardly but liberal. As a proverb expresses it : Mit dem Hut in der Hand Kommt man durclis ganze Land [with hat in hand one goes through the whole land], so it is said here that such liberality brings before the great, i.e. not : furnishes with introductions to them ; but helps to a place of honour near the great, i.e. those in a lofty position (cf. V3^, xxii. 29; UV, Ps. cxiii. 8). It is an important part of practical wisdom, that by right liberality, i.e. by liberal giving where duty demands it, and prudence commends it, one does not lose but gains, does not descend but rises ; it helps a man over the difficulties of limited, narrow circumstances, gains for him affection, and helps him up from step to step. The a of t^Jip is, in a singular way (cf. njno, ri^no), treated as unchangeable. Ver. 17 He that is first in his controversy is right ; But there cometh another and searcheth him thoroughly — an exhortation to be cautious in a lawsuit, and not to justify without more ado him who first brings forward his cause, and supports it by reasons, since, if the second party afterwards search into the reasons of the first, they show themselves un- 12 THE BOOK OF PKO VERBS. tenable. b^*i3 jiK^Nnn are to be taken together; the words are equivalent to njiji'xna nnn NT IC^'N : qui prior cum causa sua venit, i.e. earn ad judicem defert (FI.), p^i'snn may, however, also of itself alone be qui prior venit ; and ia''"i3 will be taken with pnV: Justus qui pi'ior venit in causa sua (ess'e videtur). The accentuation rightly leaves, the relation undecided. Instead of Nn"" (^^!)) the Keri has ^?31, as it elsewhere, at one time, changes the fut. into the perf. with 1 {e.g. xx. 4, Jer. vi. 21) ; and, at another time, the perf. with 1 into the fut. (e.g. Ps, x. 10, Isa. v. 29). But here, where the perf. consec. is not so admis- sible, as vi. 11, XX. 4, the fut. ought to remain unchanged. 'inyn is the other part, synon. with "nan pT hv^, Sanhedvin lb, where the pTn''^? mnrx (admonition for the court of justice) is derived from Deut. i. 16, to hear the accused at the same time with the accuser, that nothing of the latter maybe adopted beforehand. This proverb is just such an audiatur et altera pars. The status controversice is only brought fairly into the light by the hearing of the altera pars : then comes the other and examines him (the first) to the very bottom, "li^n^ else- where with the accus, of the thing, e.g. ^''"i, thoroughly to search into a strife. Job xxIk. 16, is here, as at xxviii. 11, connected with the accus, of the person : to examine or lay bare any one thoroughly; here, so that the misrepresentations of the state of the matter might come out to view alons; with the reasons assigned by the accuser. Ver. 18 The lot allayeth contentions, And separateth between tbe mighty, i.e. erects a partition wall between them — those contending (r?*l'^?7, as at 2 Kings ii. 11, cf. Arab, frk hpi) ; D^mvy are not opponents Avho maintain their cause with weighty arguments (niJD5;yj Isa. xli. 21), qui argumentis pollent {vid. Raslii), for then must the truth appear in the pro et contra ; but mighty opponents, wlio, if the lot did not afford a seasonable means of reconciliation, would make good their demands by blows and by the sword (FL). Here it is the lot which, as the judg- ment of God, brings about peace, instead of the ultima ratio of physical force. The proverb refers to the lot what the Epistle to the Hebrews, vi. 16, refers to the oath, vid. at xvi. 33. Regarding D"?)"]» and its altered forms, vid. vol. i. p. 145. CHAP. XVIir. 19. 13 Yer. 19 A brother toward whom it has been acted perfidiously resists more than a strong tower ; And contentions are like the bar of a palace. Luther rightly regarded the word V^'Si, according to which the LXX., Vulg., and Syr. translated f rater qui adjuvatur a fratre, as an incorrect reading; one would rather expect ytyio nx, " a brother who stands by," as Luther earlier trans- lated ; and besides, V^S^ does not properly mean adjuvari, but salvari. His translation — Ein verletzt Bruder helt herter denn eine feste Stad, Und Zanck helt herter, denn rigel am Palast [a brother wounded resisteth more than a strong city, and strife resisteth more than bolts in the palacej, is one of his most happy renderings. tiJ"ri;!"}i5?p in itself only means irrrep TToXiv 6-)(vpdv (Venet.) ; the noun-adjective (cf. Isa. x. 10) to be supplied is to be understood to Ty : ^^n tVor Xin T\€'p^ (Kimchi). The Niph. yc^'QJ occurs only here. If one reads J?^'??, then it means one who is treated falsely = i3 J^'f Si, like the frequently occurring "'Pi^, my rising up ones = vp D''?pi5^ those that rise up against me ; but Codd. (also Baer's Cod. jaman.) and old editions have V^^^, which, as we have above translated, gives an impersonal attributive clause ; the former : frater perfidiose tractatus (FI. : mala fide offensus) ; the latter : perfide actu7n est, seil, in in eum = in quern perfide actum, nx is, after xvii. 17, a friend in the highest sense of the word ; V^Si means to break off, to break free, with 3 or pV of him on whom the action terminates. That the WB is to be thought of as nx of the V'^'B^ nx is obvious ; the translation, " brothers who break with one another " (Gesen.), is incorrect : nx is not col- lective, and still less is yti'SJ a o^eciprocum. The relation of nj^ is the same as that of ^^h>^, xvi. 28. The Targum (improv- ing the Peshito) translates ''ins )p \1.Vn'?'! ^^^i which does not mean : a brother who renounces (Hitzig), but who is treated wickedly on the part of, his brother. That is correct ; on the contrary, Ewald's " a brother resists more than . . ." proceeds from a meaning of V^B which it has not; and Bertheau gives, with Schultens, an untenable^ reflexive meaning to the 1 Among the whole Heb. synon. for sinning, there exists no reflexive Niph. ; and also the Arab, fsk has no ethical signification. ?3DJ only, in the sense of fool, is found. 14 THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. NipJi. (winch as denom. might mean " covered with crime," Venet. ifk7]ii[jbe\.7]6e[)i\'0 (Ezra X. 3) ; elsewhere eKßdWeLv (^^'\^), hard, fast, of bodies, and figuratively of an un- bending, hard, haughty disposition, and thence of w^ords of such a nature (Fl.). Both nouns are accus, of the object, as Job xl. 27, D'^JI^nn with the parallel nis"}. The proverb expresses a fact of experience as a consolation to the poor to whom, if a rich man insults him, nothing unusual occurs, and as a warning to the rich that he may not permit himself to be divested of humanity by mammon. A hard wedge to a hard clod; but whoever, as the Scripture saith, grindeth the poor by hard stubborn-hearted conduct, and grindeth his bashful face (Isa. iii. 15), challenges unmerciful judgment against himself; for tlie merciful, only they shall obtain mercy, avrol iXerjO/j- Govrai (Matt. v. 7). Ver. 24 A man of many friends cometh off a loser ; But there is a friend more faithful than a brother. Jerome translates the commencing word by vir, but the Syr., Targ. by JT^X, which is adopted by Hitzig, Böttcher, and others. But will a German poet use in one line " itzt" [same SiS jetzt = now], and in the next "jetzt"? and could the Hebrew poet prefer to ^^, its rarer, and here especially not altogether unam- CHAP. XVIII. 24. 17 biguous form ti'^frs (cf. to the contrary, Eccles, vli. 15)? We write ^''i^, because the Masora compreliends this passage, witli 2 Sam. xiv. 19, Mic. vi. 10, as the C.: |n^2D 'j, i.e. as the tliree, where one ought to expect &, and is thus exposed to the danger of falling into error in writing and reading; but errone- ously ti'X is found in all these three places in the Masora magna of the Venetian Bible of 1526; elsewhere the Masora has the defectiva scriptio with like meaning only in those two other passages. While ^^i? = ti^l, or properly ^\, with equal possibility as ^'ii} and it makes no material difference in the meaning of 24a whether we explain : there are friends who serve to bring one to loss : or a man of many friends comes to loss, — the inf. with f' is used in substantival clauses as the expression of the most manifold relations, Gesen. § 132, Anm. 1 (cf. at Hab. i. 17), here in both cases it denotes the end, as e.g. Ps. xcii. 8, to which it hastens with many friends, or with the man of many friends. It is true that ti'^X (like pV"^) is almost always con- nected only with genitives of things ; but as one says D\'i^X C'^K : a man belongs to God, so may one also say D''i?"?. ^'''N : a man belongs to many friends ; the common language of the people may thus have named a man, to whom, because he has no definite and decided character, the rule that one knows a man by his friends is not applicable, a so-called every-man's-friend, or all-the-world's-friend. Theodotion translates avrjp eraiptccv Tov kraipevaaaOaL; and thus also the Syr., Targ., and Jerome render (and among the moderns. Hitzig) J^P'inn as reflexive in the sense of to cherish social intercourse; but this reflexive is •^1';'?'?, xxii. 24. That ypnnn is either Hithpa. of Vr\, to exult, Ps.' Ix. 10, Ixv. 14, according to which the Venet. translates (contrary to Kimchi) wo-re aXaXd^ecv : such an one can exult, but which is not true, since, according to 245, a true friend outweighs the many; or it '\& Hitlipa. of VV"]-, to be wicked, sinful (Fl.: sibi per- niciem paratnrus est) ; or, which we prefer, warranted by Isa. xxiv. 19, of Wl, to become brittle (Böttcher and others) — which not only gives a good sense, but also a similar alliteration with D^J''], as iii. 29, xiii. 20. In contradistinction to J?"], which is a general, ^ One sees from this interchange how softly the '' was uttered; cf. "Well- hausen's Text der Bb. Samuel (1871) (Preface). Kimchi remarks that we say ^'ü\>ii for yL2|?^^, because we would otherwise confound it with ^bp\ VOL. II. B 18 THE BOOK OF PROVERDS. and, according to tlie usage of the language (e.g. lib), a familiar idea, the true friend is called, in the antithetical parallel mem- ber, 3nN* (xxvii. 6); and after xvii. 17, nx?o pn'^, one who remains true in misfortune. To have such an one is better than to have many of the so-called friends; and, as appears from the contrast, to him who ig so fortunate as to have one such friend, there comes a blessing and safety. Immanuel has given the right explana- tion : " A man who sets himself to gain many friends comes finally to be a loser (l?5i'np 1S1D), for he squanders his means, and is impoverished in favour of others." And Schultens: At est amicus agglutinatus prce fratre. Rarum et carum esse genns insinuatur, ac proinde intimam illam amicitiam^ qiice conglutinet compingatque corda, non per midtos spargendam, sed circumspecte et ferine cum uno tantum ineundam. Thus closes this group of proverbs with the praise of friendship deepened into spiritual brotherhood, as the preceding, ver. 19, with a warning against the destruction of such a relation by a breach of trust not to be made good again. Chap. xix. The plur. D'y"], xviii. 24, is emphatic and equiva- lent to ü''?"] Ci''j;n. The group 1-4 closes with a proverb which contains this catchword. The first proverb of the group comes by VJnsb' into contact with xviii. 20, the first proverb of the preceding group. Ver. 1 Better a poor man walking in his innocence, Than one with perverse lips, and so a fool. The contrast, xxviii. 6, is much clearer. But to correct this pro- verb in conformity with that, as Hitzig does, is unwarrantable. The Syr., indeed, translates here as there; but the Chald. assimilates this translation to the Heb. text, which Theodotion, and after him the Syro-IIexapl., renders by virep arpeßXöxei-'^op ä^pova. But does la form a contrast to lb? Fleischer re- marks : " From the contrast it appears that he who is designated in 15 must be thought of as ~i""J'y " [rich] ; and Ewald, " Thus early the ideas of a rich man and of a fool, or a despiserof God, are connected together." Saadia understands Sdd [a fool], after ,Tob xxxi. 24, of one who makes riches his ?p3 [confidence]. Euchel accordingly translates: the false man, although he builds liimself greatly up, viz. on his riches. But yü^ designates the intellectually slothful, in whom the flesh overweighs the mind. CHAP. XIX. 2 19 And the representation of the rich, which, for Ih certainly arises out of la, does not amalgamate with ?''DD, but with Vnab' ti'i^iy. Aramais on the right track, for he translates: the rich who dis- torts his mouth (cf. vol. i. p. 143), for he gives to the poor sup- pliant a rude refusal. Better Zöckler: a proud man of perverse lips and haughty demeanour. If one with haughty, scornful lips is opposed to the poor, then it is manifestly one not poor who thinks to raise himself above the poor, and haughtily looks down on him. And if it is said that, in spite of this proud demeanour, he is a fool, then this presents the figure of one proud of his wealth, who, in spite of his emptiness and nequitia^ imagines that he possesses a greatness of knowledge, culture, and worth corresponding to the greatness of his riches. How much better is a poor man than such an one who walketh {yid. on Dh, vol. i. p. 79) in his innocence and simplicity, with his pure mind wholly devoted to God and to that which is good ! — his poverty keeps him in humility which is capable of no malicious conduct ; and this pious blameless life is of more worth than the pride of wisdom of the distinguished fool. There is in contrast to n^^i'i'py a simplicity, aTrXor???, of high moral worth; but, on the other side, there is also a simplicity which is worthless. This is the connecting thought which introduces the next verse. Ver. 2 The not-knowing of the soul is also not good, And he who hasteneth with the legs after it goeth astray. Fleischer renders 5^'S3 as the subj. and niü'Ni? as neut. pred. : in and of itself sensual desire is not good, but yet more so if it is without foresight and reflection. With this explanation the words must be otherwise accentuated. Hitzig, in conformity with the accentuation, before us : if desire is without reflec- tion, it is also without success. But where C'SJ denotes de- sire or sensuality, it is always shown by the connection, as e.g. xxiii. 2; here T\T[, referring to the soul as knowing (cf. Ps. exxxix. 14), excludes this meaning. But C'SJ is certainly gen. suhjeeti ; Luzzatto's " self-knowledge " is untenable, for this would require it^'SJ nyi ; Meiri rightly glosses C'DJ DVl by b^^. After this Zöckler puts Hitzig's translation right in the following manner : where there is no consideration of the soul, there is no prosperity. But that also is incorrect, for it would require 31D"p^^ ; nit^^kS^ is always pred., not a substantival clause. 20 THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. Thus the proverb states that C'33 nyT^^'n is not good, and that is equivalent to ti'Si n^Ti^^a ni'^n (for the subject to ^[Q-iS is frequently, as e.g. xvii. 26, xviii. 5, an infinitive); or also: nyTK?^ C'D3 is a virtual noun in the sense of the not-knowing of the soul; for to say nj?TX^ was syntactically inadmissible, but the expression is nyTN^n, not nyn 73 (V??), because this is used in the sense unintentionally or unexpectedly. The Da which begins the proverb is diflicult. If we lay the principal accent in the translation given above on " not good," then the placing of Di first is a hyperhaton similar to that in xvii. 26, xx. 11; cf. T]X, xvii. 11; PI, xiii. 10, as if the words were: if the soul is with- out knowledge, then also {eo ipso) it is destitute of anything good. But if we lay the principal accent on the "also," then the meaning of the poet is, that ignorance of the soul is, like many other things, not good ; or (which we prefer without on that account maintaining^ the original connection of ver. 1 and ver. 2), that as on the one side the pride of wisdom, so on the other ignorance is not good. In this case Q3 belongs more to the subject than to the predicate, but in reality to the whole sen- tence at the beginning of which it stands. To hasten with the legs (J*i<, as xxviii. 20) means now in this connection to set the body in violent agitation, without direction and guidance pro- ceeding from the knowledge possessed by the soul. He who thus hastens after it without being intellectually or morally clear as to the goal and the way, makes a false step, goes astray, fails (vid. viii. 36, where ''J^^h is the contrast to '''^^'b). Ver. 3 The foolishness of a man overturneth his way, And his heart is angry against Jahve. Regarding ^bö, vid. at xi. 3 ; also the Arab, signification "to go before" proceeds from the root conception pervertere, for first a letting precede, or preceding (e.g. of the paying before the delivery of that which is paid for : salof^ a pre-numbering, and then also : advanced money), consisting in the reversal of the ^ The old interpreters and also the best Jewish interpreters mar the understanding and interpretation of the text, on the one side, by distinguish- ing between a nearest and a deeper meaning of Scripture (n7J3 "pi and "inD3 I"!*!) ; on the other by this, that they suppose an inward connection of all the proverbs, and expend useless ingenuity in searching after the connection. The former is the method especially adopted by Immanuel and Meiri, the latter has most of all been used by Arama. CIIAP. XIX. 4, 5. 21 natural order, is meant. The way is here the way of life, the walking : the folly of a man overturns, i.e. destroys, his life's- course ; but although he is himself the fabricator of his own ruin, yet the ill-humour (^IVT, cestuare, vid. at Ps. xi. 6) of his lieart turns itself against God, and he blames (LXX. essentially correct : alrMrai) God instead of himself, viz. his own madness, whereby he has turned the grace of God into lasciviousness, cast to the winds the instruction which lay in His providences, and frustrated the will of God desiring his good. A beautiful paraphrase of this parable is found at Sir. xv. 11-20; cf. Lam. iii. 39. Ver. 4 "Wealth bringeth many friends ; But the reduced — his friend separateth himself. The very same contrast, though otherwise expressed, we had at xiv. 20. Kegarding pn, vid. vol. i. p. 63. ?'] is the tottering, or he who has fallen into a tottering condition, who has no resources, possesses no means. The accentuation gives Mugrash to the word (according to which the Targ. translates), for it is not the subject of "1^3"; : the reduced is separated (pass. Niph.) by his misfortunes, or must separate himself (reflex. Niph.) from his friend ('inj;']^, as Eccles. iv. 4, prcB socio sua); but subject of the virtual pred. T^.S^ ^'^V"!^ : the reduced — his friend (inyio, as ver. 7) separates himself, i.e. (according to the nature of the Semitic substantival clause) he is such (of such a fate) that his friend sets himself free, whereby ^üöp may be omitted as self- obvious ; TJ3^ means one who separates himself, xviii. 1. If we make y] the subject of the separatur, then the initiative of the separation from the friend is not expressed. In vers. 5 and 9 we have the introductory proverb of two groups, the former of which, in its close as well as its begin- ning, cannot be mistaken. Ver. 5 A lying witness remaineth not unpunished ; And he who breathes out Hes escapeth not. Eegarding n''?»!;, vid. vol. i. p. 148: as here we read it of false witness at vi. 19, xiv. 5, 25. ^^^\ N? occurs four times before, the last of which is at xvii. 5. The LXX. elsewhere translates D''2D rT'S'' by eKKaieiv -ylrevSj], to kindle lies ; but here by d Se ijKaXüv aZlK(t)3^^ (and every one is friend . . .) (n^3=fe, as Jer. viii. 10, etc.); but why could not V'}J^'^^ be used as well as Dixn-pa, perhaps with the sarcastic appearance which the above translation seeks to express ? The LXX. also had ynn 731 in view, which it incorrectly translates Tra? Se 6 KaK6i (R. ^I3, to divide, separate) signifies to lose oneself in the place of the separated, the dead (Arab, in the infinite). In ver. 5, instead of this äiroXelTai (LXX.), the neo-ative ov awdrjaeTac is used, or as the LXX. there more accurately renders it, ov Stacpev^erai,. Ver. 10 lAixury becometh not a fool ; How much less a servant to rule over princes. Thus also with-niS3 ^b (3 p. Pll. non decet, cf. the adj. xxvi. 1) xvii. 7 begins. "'S H^ rises here, as at ver. 7, a minori ad majus : how much more is it unbecoming = how much less is it seemly. The contrast in the last case is, however, more rugged, and the expression harsher. " A fool cannot bear luxury : he becomes by it yet more foolish ; one who was previously a humble slave, but who has attained by good fortune a place of prominence and power, from being something good, becomes at once something bad: an insolent sceleratus" (Fl.). Agur, xxx. 22 f., describes such a homo novus as an unbearable calamity ; and the author of the Book of Ecclesiastes, written in the time of the Persian domination, speaks, x. 7, of such. The LXX. translates, Koi iav ot/cer??? äp^rjrat fieO' vßp€(o'p is here the commandment of God, and thus obligatory, which directs man in every case to do that which is right, and warns him against that which is wrong. And VDni nns (according to the Masora with Tsere, as in Codd. and old editions, not nnn) is the antithesis of i3~iT "iVb, xvi. 17. To despise one's own way is equivalent to, to regard it as worth no consideration, as no question of conscience whether one should enter upon this way or that. Hitzig's ^ The LXX. translates : -Trctpx. oi xvplov üpfiö^irxi yvy/j dvhoi. Here as often (^vid. my Jesurmi) the Arab, usus loquendi makes itself felt in the idiom of the LXX., for slmkl means ü.pj/,6^iiu. CHAP. XIX. 17, 18. 29 reading, "ij.is, "lie that scatteretli lils ways," lets himself be drawn by the manifold objects of sensuality sometimes in one direction and sometimes in another, is supported by Jer. iii. 13, according to wlilch it must be l^??? ; the conj. is not in the style of the Book of Proverbs, and besides is superfluous. The LXX., which is fond of a quidpro quo — it makes, Idb, a courtesan offer- ing a sacrifice she had vowed of the wages of sin. of the quarrel- some woman — has here, as the Heb. text : 6 Karacppovcov tmv iavTou oScov aTToXetrai. Thus after the Ken riO^^ as also the Targ., Syro-Hexap., and Luther ; on the contrary, the Syr,, Jerome, the Veiiet. adopt tlie ChetMb nov : he will become dead, i.e. dies no natural death. The Keri is more in the spirit and style of the Book of Proverbs (xv. 10, xxiii. 13, x. 21). Vers. 17-21. These verses we take together. But we have no other reason for making a pause at ver. 21, than that ver. 22 is analogous to ver. 17, and thus presents itself to us as an initial verse. Ver. 17 He lendeth to Jahve wbo is compassionate to the lowly, And his bounty He requites to him. As at xiv. 31, pin is part. Kal. The Masoretically exact form of the word is l^.in (as Ptisi, xx. 14) with MercJia on the first syllable, on which the tone is thrown back, and the mayn on the second. The Roman legal phrase, miitui datione contrahitiir obligatio, serves to explain the fundamental conception of ni7, niiduo accipere, and >^}?^, nmtiium dare (vid. xxii. 7). The construction, Ex. xxii. 24, " to make any one bound as a debtor, obligare,''^ lies at the foundation of the genitive connection 'n nvö (not m^a). With 176 cf. xii. 14, where the subject of n^'^ {Kerf) remains in the background, v^^ (not 1?0J) is here his work done in the sense of good exhibited. " Love," Hedinger once said, " is an imperishable capital, which always bears interest." And the Archbishop Walther : nam Deo dat qui dat inopibusj ipse Dens est in pauperibus. Dr. Jonas, as Dächsei relates, once gave to a poor man, and said, " Who knows when God restores it !" There Luther interposed : " As if God had not long ago given it beforehand ! " This answer of Luther meets the abuse of this beautiful proverb by the covetous. Ver. 18. This proverb brings to view once more the peda- gogic character of this Older Book of Proverbs : oü THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. Correct thy son, for yet there is hope; But go not too far to kill him. That "'S is meant relatively, as at xi. 15, is seen from Job xi, 18, xiv. 7 ; Jer. xxxi. 16 f. ; ''ijipj'ji ^T''^ is the usual expression for etenim spes est. Though a son show obstinacy, and manifest a bad disposition, yet there is hope in the training of the youth of being able to break his self-will, and to wean him from his bad disposition ; therefore his education should be carried forward with rigorous exactness, but in such a way that wisdom and love regulate the measure and limits of correction : ad eum interficien- dum animam ne tollas (animum ne inducas). ^??'?? is not the subject, for in that case the word would have been ^^^i^'^il (2 Kings xiv. 10). It is the object: To raise the soul to something is equivalent to, to direct his desire to it, to take delight in it. The teacher should not seek correction as the object, but only as the means ; he who has a desire after it, to put the child to death in the case of his guilt, changes correction into revenge, permits himself to be driven by passion from the proper end of correction, and to be pushed beyond its limits. The LXX. translates freely eU he vßpiv, for vßpt), but he who provokes him (LXX., Syr., Targ., Jerome, Luther). "iSV^n signifies, as we saw at xiv. 16, to be in a state of excessive displeasure, extreme anger. Here the meaning must be : he who puts him into a state of anger (LXX., 6 irapo^vvcov avrov, in other versions with the 40 THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. addition of koX eTrijuiyvv/xevo';, who conducts himself famllLarly towards him = n'iyntD). But can mitharvo have this meaning? That the Hithpa. of transitive steins, e.g. l.^nnn (1 Kings viii. 59) and ""2rlt^'^ (Mic. vi. 16), is construed with the accus, of that which any one performs for himself (cf. Ewald's Gramm. Arab. § 180), is not unusual ; but can the Hithpa. of the intrans. "iny, which signifies to fall into a passion, " express with the accusative the passion of another excited thereby " (Ewald, § 282a)? There is no evidence for this; and Hitzig's conjecture, inaV"» (Tiphel of the Targ. "i^^rn = nnsy), is thus not without occasion. But one might suppose that "i^ynn^ as the reflexive of a Piel or Hipldl which meant to be put into a state of anger, may mean to draw forth the anger of any one, as in Arab., the viTrth form (Hithpa.) of hadr^ to be present, with the accus, as reflexive of the ivth form, may mean : sihi aliquid prcesens sistere. Not so difficult is i<90 ^^*^ ^^^ accus, of that which is missing, vid. viii. 36 and Hab. ii. 10. Yer. 3 It is an honour to a man to remain far from strife ; But every fool slioweth his teeth. Or better : whoever is a fool qnisquis amens, for the emphasis does not lie on this, that every fool, i.e. every single one of this sort, contends to the uttermost ; but that whoever is only always a fool finds pleasure in such strife. Regarding Vp3nn^ vid. xvii. 14, xviii. 1. On the contrary, it is an honour to a man to be peaceable, or, as it is here expressed, to remain far from strife. The phrase may be translated : to desist from strife ; but in this case the word would be pointed ^'^^, which Hitzig prefers; for riT^ from T\2f means, 2 Sam. xxiii. 7, annihilation (the termination of existence) ; also Ex. xxi. 19, W2^ does not mean to be keeping holy day ; but to be sitting, viz. at home, in a state of incapability for work. Rightly Fleischer: "I^ ^'^'l, like Arab, k'ad saii, to remain sitting quiet, and thus to hold oneself removed from any kind of activity." He who is prudent, and cares for his honour, not only breaks off strife when it threatens to become passionate, but does not at all enter into it, keeps himself far removed from it. Ver. 4 At the beginning of the harvest the sluggard plougheth not ; And so when he cometh to the reaping-time there is nothing. Many translators (Symmachus, Jerome, Luther) and inter- CHAP. XX. 4 41 preters {e.g. Raslii, Zöckler) explain: propter frigus ; but ^"^h is, according to its verbal import, not a synon. of "ip and nsy^ but means gathering = the time of gathering (synon. ^''?^), from ^■^n, carpere^ as harvest, the time of tlie Kapirl^ecv, the plucking off of the fruit ; but the harvest is the beginning of the old Eastern agricultural year, for in Palestine and Syria the time of ploughing and sowing with the harvest or early rains (TIC — '^"'•^^ Neh. vii. 24; Ezra ii. 18) followed the fruit harvest from October to December. The }p is thus not that of cause but of time. Thus rendered, it may mean the beginning of an event and onwards (e.g. 1 Sam. xxx. 25), as well as its termination and onwards (Lev. xxvii. 17) : here of the harvest and its ingather- ing and onwards. In 4b, the Chetlah and Keri vary as at xviii. 17. The/t«/!. ''i^P'1 would denote what stands before the sluggard ; the perf. ?xn places him in the midst of this, and besides has this in its favour, that, interpreted as perf. hypo- thedcum, it makes the absence of an object to bü^ more tenable. The Chellnb, ^^f], is not to be read after Ps. cix. 10 : he will beg in harvest — in vain (Jerome, Luther), to which Hitzig well remarks : Why in vain ? Amid the joy of harvest people dispense most liberally ; and the right time for begging comes later. Hitzig conjecturally arrives at the translation : " A pannier the sluggard provideth not ; Seeketh to borrow in harvest, and nothing cometh of it." But leaving out of view the " pannier," the meaning " to obtain something as a loan," which 7X5^" from the connection may bear, is here altogether imaginary. Let one imagine to himself an indolent owner of land, who does not trouble himself about the tilling and sowing of his fields at the right time and with diligence, but leaves this to his people, who do only as much as is commanded them : such an one asks, when now the harvest- time has come, about the ingathering; but he receives the answer, that the land has lain unploughed, because he had not commanded it to be ploughed. When he asks, there is nothing, he asks in vain (HNI, as at xiv. 6, xiii. 4). Meiri rightly ex- plains «i™ by ntrnnn ;or n^nno, and Ab by: "so then, when he asks at harvest time, he will find nothing;" on the other ^ Vid. Fleischer in Levy's CJiald. Wörterbuch, i. 426. 42 THE BOOK OF PKOVEEBS, hand, the LXX. and Aram, think on «inn, carpere convicUs, as also in Codd. here and there is found the meaningless ^"^nip. Ver. 5 The purpose ia the heart of a man is deep water ; But a man of understanding draweth it out. " Still waters are deep." Like such deep waters (xviii. 4) is that which a man hath secretly (Isa. xxix. 15) planned in his heart. He keeps it secret, conceals it carefully, craftily mis- leads those who seek to draw it out ; but the man of ^^'^^^, i.e. one who possesses the right criteria for distinguishing between good and bad, true and false, and at the same time has the capacity to look through men and things, draws out (the Venet. well, dveX^et) the secret nvy, for he penetrates to the bottom of the deep water. Such an one does not deceive himself with men, he knows how to estimate their conduct according to its last underlying motive and aim ; and if the purpose is one that is pernicious to him, he meets it in the process of realization. What is here said is applicable not only to the subtle statesman and the general, but also to the pragmatical historian and the expositor, as, e.g.., of a poem such as the book of Job, the idea of which lies like a pearl at the bottom of deep water. Ver. 6 Almost every one meeteth a man who is gracious to him ; But a man who standeth the test, who findeth such an one ? As D''31DS T'y, xiii. 17, signifies a messenger in whom there is confidence, and n'':iDK ny, xiv. 5, a witness who is altogether truthful, so ^^^^^i\ 5J'"'{< is a man who remains true to himself, and maintains fidelity toward others. Such an one it is not easy to find ; but patrons who make promises and awaken ex- pectations, finally to leave in the lurch him who depends on them — of such there are many. This contrast would proceed from Ga also, if we took ^"1(5 in the sense of to call, to call or cry out with ostentation : multi homines sunt quorum suam quisque humanitatem jjrQclamat (Schelling, Fleischer, Ewald, Zöckler, and also, e.g., Meiri). But i'^on c'^N is certainly to be interpreted after xi. 17, Isa. Ivii. 1. Recognising this, Hitzig translates : many a man one names his dear friend ; but in point of style this would be as unsuitable as possible. Must iX^\>\ then mean vocat f A more appropriate parallel word to N^'ö is Nnj? = n"ji5, according to which, with Oetinger, Heiden- heim, Euchel, and Löwenstein, we explain : the greater part of CHAP. XX. 7. 4a men meet one who shows liimself to them (to this or that man) as ion ^"^iij a man well-affectioned and benevolent ; but it is .rare to find one who in his affection and its fruits proves him- self to be true, and actually performs that which was hoped for from him. Luther translates, with the Syr. and Targ. after Jerome : Viel Menschen werden From gerhihnht [many men are reputed pious] ; but if ^']\>\ were equivalent to X^I?';, then ion c"X ought to have been used instead of inon ti'^X. The LXX. read ion tr"'S "ip'' mx nn, man is something great, and a compassionate man is something precious ; but it costs trouble to find out a true man. The fundamental thought remains almost the same in all these interpretations and readi-ngs : love is plentiful ; fidelity, rare ; therefore IDD, of the right kind, after the image of God, is joined to nöN. Ver. 7 He who in his innocence walketh as one upright, Blessed are his children after him ! "VYe may not take the first line as a separate clause with P''^V, as subject (Van Dyk, Elster) or predicate (Targ.) ; for, thus rendered, it does not appropriately fall in as parallel to the second line, because containing nothing of promise, and the second line would then strike in at least not so unconnectedly (cf. on the contrary, x. 9, xiv. 25). We have before us a sub- stantival clause, of which the first line is the complex subject. But Jerome, the Venet., and Luther erroneously : the just man walking in his innocence ; this placing first of the adj. is in opposition to the Hebr. syntax. We must, if the whole is to be interpreted as nom., regard pn^ as permutative : one walking in his innocence, a righteous one. But, without doubt, tsedek is the accus, of the manner ; in the manner of one righteous, or in apposition: as one righteous; cf. Job xxxi. 26 with Mic. ii. 7. Thus Hitzig rightly also refers to these two passages, and Ewald also refers to xxii. 11, xxiv. 15. To walk in his innocence as a righteous man, is equivalent to always to do that which is right, without laying claim to any distinction or making any boast on that account ; for thereby one only follows the impulse and the direction of his heart, which shows itself and can show itself not otherwise than in unreserved devotion to God and to that which is good. The children after him are not the children after his death (Gen. xxiv. 67) ; but, according 44 THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. to Dent. iv. 40, cf. Job xxi. 21, those who follow his example, and thus those who come after him ; for already in the life- time of such an one, the benediction begins to have its fulfil- ment in his children. The following group begins with a royal proverb, which expresses what a king does with his eyes. Two proverbs, of the seeing eye and the necessary opening of the eyes, close it. Ver. 8 A king sitting on the seat of justice, Scattereth asunder all evil with his eyes. Excellently the Venet. i-jrl 6p6vov SZ/ct^?, for H'^?? is the name of the seat of rectitude (the tribunal), as the " throne of grace," Heb. iv. 17, is the name of the capporeth as the seat of mercy ; the seat of the judge is merely called &?DD ; on the other hand, ;n-ND3 is the -contrast of ni^n ND3, Ps. xciv. 20 : the seat from which the decision that is in conformity with what is right (cf., e.g., Jer. v. 28) goes forth, and where it is sought. As little here as at ver. 26 is there need for a characterizing adj. to melek ; but the LXX. hits the meaning for it, understands such to pi: orav ßaaiX€v<} SlKaio<; KaOlcrrj irrl 6p6vov. By the " eyes " are we then to understand those of the mind : he sifts, dignoscif, with the eyes of the mind all that is evil, i.e. distin- guishes it subjectively from that which is not evil? Thus Hitzig by a comparison of Ps. xi. 4, cxxxix. 3 (where Jerome has eventilasti, the Vulg. investigasti). Scarcely correctly, for it lies nearer to think on the eyes in the king's head {vid. xvi. 15) ; in that case : to winnow (to sift) means to separate the good and the bad, but first mediately: to exclude the bad; finally, ver. 26 leads to the conclusion that niTD is to be understood, not of a subjective, but of an actual scattering, or separating, or driving away. Thus the penetrating, fear-inspiring eyes of the king are meant, as Immanuel explains : VJDö Dnnnn vry rT'^i^nn nx''D ^533 anix nrsiDI. But in this explanation the personal ren- dering of V'l'p'^ is incorrect ; for mezareh, meant of the driving asunder of persons, requires as its object a plur. (cf. 26a). Col-ra is understood as neut. like v. 14. Before the look of a king to whom it belongs to execute righteousness and justice (Isa. xvi. 5), nothing evil stands ; criminal acts and devices seen through, and so also judged by these eyes, are broken up and scattered to all the winds, along with the danger that thereby threatened CHAP. XX. 9, 10. 45 tlie communitv. It is the command : " put away the evil" (Deut. xiii. 6 [5]), which the king carries into effect by the powerful influence of his look. With col-ra there is connected the thought that in the presence of the heavenly King no one is wholly free from sin. Ver. 9 Who can say I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sins ? It it the same thought that Solomon expresses in his prayer at the consecration of the temple, 1 Kings viii. 46 : there is no man who sinneth not. To cleanse his heart (as Ps. Ixxiii. 13), is equivalent to to empty it, by self-examination and earnest effort after holiness, of all impure motives and inclinations ; vid. regarding n^T, to be piercing, shining brightly, cloudlessly pure, Fleischer in Levy's Chald. Wörterbuch, i. 424. The conse- quence of rii3T is, becoming pure ; and the consequence of ni? ni2Tj i.e. of the purifying of the heart, the being pure from sinful conduct : I have become pure from my sins, i.e. from such as I might fall into by not resisting temptations ; the sufHx is not understood as actual, but as potential, like Ps. xviii. 24. No one can boast of this, for man's knowledge of himself and of his sins remains always limited (Jer. xvii. 9 f. ; Ps. xix. 13) ; and sin is so deeply rooted in iiis nature (Job xiv. 4, XV. 14-16), that the remains of a sinful tendency always still conceal themselves in the folds of his heart, sinful thoughts still cross his soul, sinful inclinations still sometimes by their natural force overcome the moral resistance that opposes them, and stains of all kinds still defile even his best actions. Ver. 10. This proverb passes sentence of condemnation against gross sins in action and life. Diverse stones, diverse measures — An abomination to Jahve are they both. The stones are, as at xi. 1, xvi. 11, those used as weights. Stone and stone, ephah and ephah, means that they are of diverse kinds, one large and one small (the LXX., in which the sequence of the proverbs from ver. 10 is different, has ^e'' ; and that poal occurs, e.g. Isa. i. 31, not merely in the sense of action, but also in that of performance or structure, is favourable to this interpretation. But one would think that poal, if thus used in the sense of the nature of man, would have more frequently occurred. It everywhere else means action or work. And thus it is perhaps also here used to denote action, but regarded as habitual conduct, and according to the root-meaning, moral disposition. The N. T. word €p /; t^ hajar, a stone, is used as the image of disappointed expectations, / e.g. the adulterer finds a stone, i.e. experiences disappointment. Ver. 18 Plans are established by counsel, And with prudent government make war. From the conception of a thought, practically influencing the formation of our own life and the life of the community, to its accomplishment there is always a long way which does not lead to the end unless one goes forward with counsel and strength combined, and considers all means and eventualities. The Nijoh. of 113 means, in a passive sense : to be accomplished or realized (Ps. cxli. 2). The clause 18a is true for times of war as well as for times of peace ; war is disastrous, unless it is directed with strategic skill (vid. regarding ni7|innj i. 5). Grotius compares the proverb, Tvcaixac 7r\eov Kparovaiv r) cr6evo<; 'Xetpwv. In xxiv. 6, the necessity of counsel is also referred to the case of war. Ewald would read [the infin.] nb'y, or 52 THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. nb»^: with maoagement it is that one carries on war. But why ? Because to him the challenge to carry on war appears to be contrary to the spirit of proverbial poetry. But the author of the proverb does certainly mean : if thou hast to carry on war, carry it on with the skill of a general ; and the imper. is protected by xxiv. 6 against that iufin., which is, besides, stylistically incongruous. Ver. 19 He that goeth out gossiping revealeth a secret; And with the babbler have nothing to do. Luther otherwise (like Hitzig) — Be not complicated with him who revealeth a secret, And with- the slanderer, and with the false (better : loquacious) mouth, so that ? and the warning apply to the threefold description, a rendering which Kimchi also, and Immanuel, and others at least suggest. But in connection with xi. 13, the first line has the force of a judicium, which includes the warning to entrust nothing to a babbler which ought to be kept silent. Write "liB npia, as found in Codd. and old Edd., with Munach on the penultima, on which the tone is thrown back, and Dagesh to D, after the rule of the p'-m (Gesen. § 20, 2«), altogether like 3^ njip, XV. 32. 19Z> the Venet. translates after the first meaning of the word by Kimchi, tw äiraraLwvL Tot<; '^elXeat, to him who slanders and befools, for it thus improves Theodo- tion's Tft) aTrarcbvTi, ra %6tX,7; avrov. But nna means, Job v. 2, — cf. Hos. vii. 11, — not him who befools another, but him who is befooled, is slandered, by another (Aben Ezra : Dnns "inins^t^), with which ''''JnSJti' here does not agree. But now he wlio is easily befooled is called nnbj as being open to influence (sus- ceptible), parens ; and if this particip. is used, as here, transitively, and, on account of the object VDDb' standing near cannot pos- sibly be equivalent to nriDO, the usage of the language also just noticed is against it, then it means patefaciens or dilatans (cf. r\T\^r}^ Gen. ix. 27, Targ. ^riQS = l^n]n), and places itself as synon. to pti^S, xiii. 3 ; thus one is called who does not close his mouth, who cannot hold his mouth, who always idly babbles, and is therefore, because he can keep nothing to him- self, a dangerous companion. The Complut. rightly translates : jxera irXuTWOvTO'; to. iavrov fxr] /jiL-^6r]TC X^^^V' CHAP. XX. 20. 53 The following group begins, for once more the aim of this older Book of Proverbs becomes prominent, with an inculcation of the fourth^ commandment. Ver. 20 He that curseth his father and his mother, His light is extinguished in midnight darkness. The divine law, Ex. xxi. 17, Lev. xx. 9, condemns such an one to death. But the proverb does not mean this sentence against the criminal, which may only seldom be carried into execution, but the fearful end which, because of the righteousness of God ruling in history, terminates the life of such an unnatural son (xxx. 17). Of the godless, it has already been said that their light is extinguished, xiii. 9, there is suddenly an end to all that brightened, i.e. made happy and embellished their life ; but he who acts wickedly (''?!?, R. 7p, levem esse, synon. '^^P'?, Deut. xxvii. 16), even to the cursing of his father and mother, will see him- self surrounded by midnight darkness (Symmachus, aKOToixrjvrjy moonless night), not : he will see himself in the greatest need, forsaken by divine protection (Fleischer), for Jansen rightly : Lux et lucerna in scripturis et vitce claritatem et posteritatem et prosperitatem signißcat. The apple of the eye, |iEi^''5<, of dark- ness (yid. vii. 9), is that w-liich forms the centre or centralization of darkness. The Syr. renders it correctly by hobtho, pupil [of the eye], but the Targ. retains the |^Ci')< of the Keri, and renders it in Aram, by |inx, which Rashi regards as an infin,, Parchon as a particip. after the form '^^'^J^; but it may be also an infin. substantive after the form TlTV, and is certainly nothing else than the abbreviated and vocally obscured \\^''^, For the Talm. I^i^, to be hard, furnishes no suitable idea ; and the same holds true of *'}y^% times, Lev. xv. 25 of the Jerusalem Targ. ; while the same abbreviation and the same passing over of o into u represents this as the inflected li5J^''^? (=rij;). There is also no evidence for a verb T^X, to be black, dark ; the author of Aruch interprets ^?31t^'x, Bereschith Rabba, c. 33, with reference to the passage before us, of a dark bathing apartment, but only tentatively, and \\^^ii is there quoted as the Targ. of ^V^ Gen. xix. 8, which the text lying before us does not ratify. Ishon means the little man (in the eye), and neither the blackness '■ i.e. The ß/th according to the arrangement of the "Westminster Con- fession.] 54 THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. (Buxtorf and others) nor the point of strength, the central point (Levy) of the eye.-^ Ver. 21 An inheritance which in the beginning is obtained in haste, Its end wUl not be blessed. The partlc. ^{}'^''P may, after Zech. xi. 8, cf. Syr. IL.^.».^, nauseans, mean " detested," but that affords here no sense ; rather it might be interpreted after the Arab, bajila, to be IraJi^ avaricious, " gotten by avarice, niggardliness," vv^ith which, however, neither '"i^™, inheritance, nor, since avarice is a chronic disease, njitJ'K")^ agrees. On the contrary, the Keri ripribo [hastened] perfectly agrees, both linguistically {vid. xxviii. 22 ; cf. xiii. 11) and actually ; for, as Hitzig remarks, the words following ver. 20 fully harmonize with the idea of an inheritance, into the possession of which one is put before it is rightly due to him ; for a son such as that, the parents may live too long, and so he violently deprives them of the possession (cf. xix. 26) ; but on such a possession there rests no blessing. Since the Piel may mean to hasten, Esth. ii. 9, so '''^^'f may mean hastened = speedy, Esth. viii. 14, as well as made in haste. All the old interpreters adopt the Keri; the Aram, render it well by t^nnnoOj from ^ü"??^, overturned ; and Luther, like Jerome, hcereditas ad quam festinatur. Ver. 22 Say not : I will avenge the evil ; Hope in Jahve, so will He help thee. Men ought always to act toward their neighbours accord- ing to the law of love, and not according to the jus talionis, xxiv. 29 ; they ought not only, by requiting good with evil (xvi. 13 ; Ps. vii. 5a, xxxv. 12), not to transgress this law of requital, but they ought to surpass it, by also recompensing not evil with evil (vid. regarding Dpw', and synon. to xvii. 13) ; and that is what the proverb means, for 22b supposes injustice suffered, which might stir up a spirit of revenge. It does not, however, say that men ought to commit the taking of vengeance to God; but, in the sense of Rom. xii. 17-19, 1 Pet. iii. 9, that, renouncing all dependence on self, they ought to commit their deliverance out of the distress into which they have fallen, and their vindication, into the hands of God ; for the promise is not that He will avenge them, but that ' Vid. Fleischer in Levy's Chald. Wörterluch, i. 419. CHAP. XX. 23, 21 55 He will help them. The jussive V^'") (write yJi']"), according to Metheg-setziing, § 42, with Gaja as m):iVT\j with the V to secure distinct utterance to the final guttural) states as a consequence, like, e.g., 2 Kings v. 10, what will then happen (Jerome, Luther, Hitzig) if one lets God rule (Gesen. § 128, 2c) ; equally pos- sible, syntactically, is the rendering : that He may help thee (LXX., Ewald) ; but, regarded as a promise, the words are more in accordance with the spirit of the proverb, and they round it off more expressively. Ver. 23 An abomination to Jahve are two kinds of weights ; And deceitful balances are not good. A variant to ver. 10, xi. 1. The pred. y^U'^h (xvii. 26, xviii. 5, xix. 3) is conceived of as neut. ; they are not good, much rather bad and pernicious, for the deceiver succeeds only in appearance ; in reality he fails. Ver. 24 The steps of a man depend on Jahve ; And a man — how can he understand his way ? Line first is from Ps. xxxvii. 23, but there, where the clause has the verbal predicate =i33i3, the meaning is that it is the gracious assistance of God, by virtue of which a man takes certain steps with his feet, while here we have before us a variation of the proverb " der Mensch denkt, Gott lenkt " [= man proposes, God disposes], xvi. 9, Jer. x. 23; for IP, as at 2 Sam. iii. 37, Ps. cxviii. 23, denotes God in general as conditioning, as the ultimate cause. Man is indeed free to turn himself hither or thither, to decide on this course of conduct or on that, and is therefore responsible for it ; but the relations co-operating in all his steps as the possible and defining conditions are God's contrivance and guidance, and the consequences which are connected with his steps and flow therefrom, lie beyond the power of man, — every one of his steps is a link of a chain, neither the beginning nor the end of which he can see; while, on the other hand, God's knowledge comprehends the beginning, middle, and end, and the wisdom of God ruling in the sphere of history, makes all human activity, the free action of man, subservient to his world-plan. The question, which has a negative answer, is applicable to man : what, i.e. how shall he understand his way? n» is like, e.g., Ex. x. 26, Job ix. 2, xix. 28, accus., and fluctu- ates between the functions of a governed accusative : What 56 THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. does he understand . . . (Job xl. 8) and an adv.: how, i.e. how so little, how even not, for it is the no of the negative question which has become in (Arab.) 7nä a word of negation. The way of a man is his life's-course. This he understands in the present life only relatively, the true unravelling of it remains for the future. Ver, 25 It is a snare to a man to cry out hastily " holy ; " And first after vows to investigate. Two other interpretations of the first line have been proposed. The snare of a man devours, i.e. destroys the holy ; but then nnx K'piO must be an expression of an action, instead of an expression of an endurance, which is impossible. The same is true against the explanation : the snare of a man devours, i.e. consumes, eats up the holy, which as such is withdrawn from common use. Jerome with his devotare sanctos, and Luther with his das Heilige lestern [to calumniate the holy], give to yv = ypn a meaning which loses itself in the arbitrary. Accordingly, nothing is to be done with the meaning Kara- TTierat (Aquila, the Venet.). But V}) will be the abbreviated fut. of vh (from V^^l)^ or yy^ (y^'), Job vi. 3 = (Arab.) laghd temere loqui (proloqui) ; and ^"j? (after Hitzig : consecration, which is contrary to usage) is like Kopßäv, Mark vii. 11, the exclamation to which one suddenly gives utterance, thereby meaning that this or that among his possessions henceforth no longer belongs to him, but is consecrated to God, and thus ought to be delivered up to the temple. Such a sudden vow and halting deference to the oath that has been uttered is a snare to a man, for he comes to know that he has injured himself by the alienation of his property, which he has vowed beyond that which was due from him, or that the fulfilling of his vow is connected with difficulties, and perhaps also to others, with regard to whom its disposal was not permitted to him, is of evil consequences, or it may be he is overcome by repentance and is constrained to break his oath. The LXX. hits the true meaning of the proverb with rare success : IlayU ävhpl raj^x) TL rwv ISloov dyidcrat, [xera he to erj^aaOac fxeravoelv ryiverai. D''")n3 is plur. of the category (cf. 16^» Chetldb), and li?.?, as 2 Kings xvi. 15, Arab, hakr, examinare, inquirere^ means to subject to investigation, viz. whether he ought to observe, and might observe, a vow such as this, or whether he CHAP. XX. 26, 27. 57 might not and ought not rather to renounce it (Fleischer). Viewed syntactically, 25a is so difficult, that Bertheau, with Hitzig, punctuates y?''. ; but this substantive must be formed from a verb V^] (cf. Hab. iii. 13), and this would mean, after (Arab.) ivala, " to long eagerly for," which is not suitable here. The punctuation shows y^'' as the 3d. fut. What inter- preters here say of the doubled accent of the word arises from ignorance: the correct punctuation is y?'^, with Gaja to J?, to give the final guttural more force in utterance. The poet appears to place in the foreground: " a snare for a man," as a rubrum; and then continuing the description, he cries out suddenly " holy ! " and after the vow, he proceeds to deliberate upon it. Fleischer rightly : post vota inquisiturus est (in ea) = ^ij^^p n''n> ; vid. at Hab. i. 17, which passage Hitzig also compares as syntactically very closely related. Ver. 26 A wise king -winnoweth tlie godless, Aud bringeth over them the wheel. A variant to xx. 8, but here with the following out of the figure of the winnowing. For |Sii< with niTö is, without doubt, the wheel of the threshing-cart, npjy, Isa. xxviii. 27 f.; and thus with niTD, the winnowing fork, n~iTrp is to be thought of ; vid. a de- scription of them along with that of the winnowing shovel, nni, in Wetzstein's Excursus to Isa., p, 707 ff. "VYe are not to think of the punishment of the wheel, which occurs only as a terrible custom of war (e.g. Amos i. 3). It is only meant that a wise king, by sharp and vigorous procedure, separates the godless, and immediately visits them with merited punishment, as he who works with the winnowing shovel gives the chaff to the wind. Most ancient interpreters think on jSIN (from \pi^, vertere) in its metaphorical meaning : rpoiro'i (thus also Löwenstein, he deals with them according to merit), or the wheel of fortune, with reference to the constellations; thus, misfortune (Im- manuel, Meiri). Arama, Oetinger, and others are, however, on the right track. With a proverb of a light that was extinguished, ver. 20 began the group ; the proverb of God's light, which here follows, we take as the beginning of a new group. Ver. 27 A candle of Jahve is the soul of man, Searching through all the chambers of the heart. 58 THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. If the O. T. language has a separate word to denote the self- conscious personal human spirit in contradistinction to the spirit of a beast, this word, according to the usage of tlie language, as Reuchlin, in an appendix to Aben Ezra, remarks, is no^b ; it is so called as the principle of life breathed im- mediately by God into the body {vid. at Gen. ii. 7, vii. 22). Indeed, that which is here said of the human spirit would not be said of the spirit of a beast : it is " the mystery of self-con- sciousness which is here figuratively represented " (Elster). The proverb intentionally does not use the word ^'^},, for this is not the power of self-consciousness in man, but the medium of bodily life ; it is related secondarily to HDt^'j (nn), while r\D^2 W'Ti (nn) .is used, W^Ti K'D3 is an expression unheard of. Hitzig is in error when he understands by nctJ>J here the soul in con- tradistinction to the spirit, and in support of this appeals to an expression in the Cosmography of Kazwmi : " the soul (Arab. dl-nefs) is like the lamp which moves about in the chambers of the house ;" here also en-nefs is the self-conscious spirit, for the Arab, and post-bibl. Heb. terminology influenced by philo- sophy reverses the biblical usage, and calls the rational soul C'S:, and, on the contrary, the animal soul noti'3, nil {Psychologie, p. 154). '^^h is the particip. of ti'sn, Zeph. i. 12, without dis- tinguishing the Kal and Piel. Regarding It^n-nin, LXX. ra/xLela Koi\ia^, vid. at xviii. 8 : i^? denotes the inner part of the body (R. 02, to be deepened), and generally of the per- sonality ; cf. Arab, batn ulrwh, the interior of the spirit, and xxii. 18, according to which Fleischer explains : " A candle of Jahve, i.e. a means bestowed on man by God Himself to search out the secrets deeply hid in the spirit of another." But the candle which God has kindled in man has as the nearest sphere of illumination, which goes forth from it, the condition of the man himself — the spirit comprehends all that belongs to the nature of man in the unity of self-consciousness, but yet more : it makes it the object of reflection ; it peneti'ates, searching it through, and seeks to take it up into its knowledge, and recog- nises the problem proposed to it, to rule it by its power. The proverb is thus to be ethically understood : the spirit is that which penetrates that which is within, even into its many secret corners and folds, with its self-testing and self-knowing light CHAP. XX'. 28, 29. 59 — it is, after Matt. vl. 22, the inner light, the inner eye. Man becomes known to himself according to his moral as well as his natural condition in the light of the spirit ; " for what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?" says Paul, 1 Cor. ii. 11. With reference to this Solomonic proverb, the seven - branched candlestick is an ancient symbol of the soul, e.g. on the Jewish sepulchral monu- ments of the Eoman via Portuensis. Our texts present the phrase nin^ "13; but the Talm. Pesachim 7b, 8a, the Pesikta in part 8, the Midx'ash Othijoth de-Ralbi Akiba, under the letter 3, Alphasi (fl''"i) in Pesachim, and others, read Ö''^l^^? 1J ; and after this phrase the Targum translates, while the Syr. and the other old versions render by the word "Lord " (Venet. 6vtcüt7]<;), and thus had nin^ before them. Ver. 28 Love and truth guard the king ; And he supports his throne by love. We have not in the German [nor in the Eng.] language a couple of words that completely cover ncNI non ; when they are used of God, we translate them by grace and truth \_Gnade u. Wahrheit], Ps. xl. 12 (^?^^5:^.) ; when of men, by love and truth [lAehe u, Treue~\, xvi. 6 ; and when of the two-sided divine forces, by kindness and truth, iii. 3. Love and truth are the two good spirits that guard the king. If it is elsewhere said that the king's throne is supported " with judgment and with justice," Isa. ix. 6 [7] ; here, on the other side, we see that the exercise of government must have love as its centre ; he has not only to act on the line of right, H^ n^Vk^ ; but, as the later proverb says, in such a way, that within this circle his conduct is determined by the central motive of love. In this sense we give the king not only the title of Grossmächtigster [most high and mighty], but also that of ^^ AUergnädigster'^ [most gracious], for the king can and ought to exercise grace before other men; the virtue of condescension establishes his throne more than the might of greatness. Ver. 29 The ornament of young men is their strength ; And the honour of the old is grey hairs. Youth has the name 'I'lna (different from "i^^a, chosen), of the maturity (it. "inn, cogn. ")33, 133, whence Mishn. H^J?, man- hood, in contradistinction to ri^""!^:) into which he enters from 60 THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. the bloom of boyhood ; and the old man is called lü^T (Arab. dhikn, as Schaltens says, a mento pendulo, from the hanging chin li^T, (Arab.) dhahan, chin, beard on the chin). To stand in the fulness of fresh unwasted strength is to youth, as such, an ornament (JTiSSn, cf. IIIN'S, blooming colour of the countenance); on the contrary, to the old man who has spent his strength in the duties of his office, or as it is said at xvi. 31, " in the way of righteousness," grey hairs (n3''t;^, f rom 3^^, AYSih.shdh^canescere) give an honourable appearance i^y}, from ^^'^^ turgidum^ amplum esse, vid. at Isa. Ixiii. 1). Ver. 30 Cuttiug wounds cleanse away evil, And reach the inner parts of the body. The two words for wounds in line first stand in the st. consir. ; rrp.n (from "i3n, to be bound around with stripes, to be striped) is properly the streak, the stripe; but is here heightened by W? (from J'V?, to cleave, split, tear open), beyond the idea of the stripe- wound : tearing open the flesh, cuts tearing into the flesh. The pred. is after the Keri pnori ; but this substantive, found in the Book of Esther, v/here it signifies the purification of the Avomen for the harem (according to which, e.g., Ahron B. Joseph explains tirh ns^ Kint^ D^C^J^ pnnn 1D3), is syntactically hard, and scarcely original. For if we explain with Kimchi: wounds of deep incision find their cleansing (cure) by evil, i.e. by means which bring suffering (according to which, probably the Venet. ixu>\w7re