THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF ILLINOIS 
 LIBRARY 
 
 From the collection of 
 Julius Doerner, Chicago 
 
 A % f ^ 
 
 Purchased, 1918. 
 
 223 
 
 P94 
 
f * ■ ■ 
 
 Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2017 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates 
 
 https://archive.org/details/proverbsecclesiaOOcowl 
 
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, 
 
 AND 
 
 The Song of Solomon, 
 
 WITH NOTES, 
 
 CRITICAL , EXPLANATORY, AND PRACTICAL, 
 
 DESIGNED FOR BOTH PASTORS AND PEOPLE. 
 
 REV. HENRY COWLES, D. D. 
 
 u CJnderstandest thou what thou readest? And he Raid, -How can 1 except somo 
 man should guide me?”— Acts viii, 30, 31. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 
 
 64 9 & 661 BROADWAY. 
 
 1878. 
 
Entered, according to Adi of Congress, in the year 1870, by 
 REV. HENRY COWLES, 
 
 In the Clerk’s Office of the Distridl Court of the United States, for the 
 Northern Distridl of Ohio. 
 
a.Tn^H. 
 
 
 PREFACE TO PROVERBS AJND ECCLESIASTES. 
 
 Passing from the Old Testament Prophets to Solomon, I am im- 
 pressed here also with the conviction that the full sense of this in- 
 spired author is not ordinarily reached by the mass of readers; 
 that Solomon has more beautiful and worthy thought than is com- 
 monly supposed, and also more profound wisdom and counsel to- 
 ward a virtuous and happy life. Animated by the hope of render- 
 ing some aid to the student of these divine oracles, I have endeav- 
 ored first to gain the precise significance of every verse, and then 
 to present it in a form at once simple, lucid, and forcible. As the 
 only method that could promise success, I have sought to find the 
 author’s precise meaning by studying the language in which he 
 wrote — the very words which he has sent down to us ; yet my 
 criticisms upon the original have been introduced in these Notes 
 only when it seemed to be demanded to justify the conclusions 
 which I have reached. I send forth these Notes on the Proverbs 
 of Solomon in the hope that they will be specially useful to the 
 young — a hope which so manifestly filled the bosom of Solomon 
 when he wrote them and addressed so many portions of them in 
 the touching words, “ My Son.” 0 might his words go to the heart 
 of all the sons and daughters of our land who are now shaping 
 their habits for life, settling their principles, and thus casting the 
 mold of their eventful future ! 
 
 In my studies upon Ecclesiastes my main effort has been to 
 
 (0 
 
 619334 
 
11 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 evolve the animus and aim of the book from the known circum- 
 stances of the author, from his personal experiences and his mani- 
 fold relationships to the great society of the civilized world. If I 
 mistake not, this book, studied in the light of these facts of his his- 
 tory, will develop more self-consistent unity, and more fitness, 
 beauty, and moral power than have been often recognized. 
 
 Oberlin, Ohio, Feb. 1870. 
 
PROVERBS. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The Author. — This book is attributed (chap. 1 : 1) to Solomon, 
 who was the son of David and his successor on the throne of Is- 
 rael. The book itself makes the last two chapters an exception, 
 ascribing chap. 30 to one Agur, and chap. 31 to a certain king Lem- 
 uel and his mother. The fact that while the book in general is 
 ascribed to Solomon, these special exceptions and these only ap- 
 pear in the book itself, is presumptive evidence that all the rest is 
 the work of Solomon, and was so regarded by the original com- 
 pilers. A distinct notice of this work of compilation appears in 
 the opening of chap. 25, which is justly supposed to include the 
 five chapters immediately following (25-29) as having been col- 
 lected and compiled (“copied out”) by certain men assigned to 
 this service by king Hezekiah. 
 
 The history of Solomon should be carefully studied, both for its 
 bearing on the question of the authorship of this book, and for 
 the light it will afford toward its interpretation. This history is 
 recorded 1 Kings, chapters 1-11, and 1 Chron., chapters 22, 23, 
 28, 29, and 2 Chron., chapters 1-9. The salient points of this his- 
 tory are that, coming to the throne in his youth, he found the gov- 
 ernment well organized; the nation eminently prosperous; its ter- 
 ritories extended far beyond the original limits of Palestine, even 
 from the Euphrates on the east to the border of Egypt on the 
 south-west; its ancient enemies subdued, and the nation enjoying 
 uninterrupted peace. Consequently he had every facility for giving 
 
 (Hi) 
 
IV 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 his attention to the arts of peace. It seems that his own genius led him 
 especially to the study of natural science and of ethical philosophy. 
 His father, amid the scenes of a life full of adventure, peril, war, 
 and political organization, had yet found both the heart and the 
 time to write a most precious volume of lyric poetry — indeed, tc 
 open a new era of sacred music and song, and to organize and 
 establish an entirely new department of religious worship in con- 
 nection with the public service of the sanctuary. With this great 
 example before him, Solomon gave himself to philosophical studies 
 and developed a new department of sacred literature — that of 
 moral philosophy expressed in proverbs. So far as appears in He- 
 brew history, this was untrodden ground — a field of literary labor 
 no less original for him than that of lyric poetry and sacred song 
 had been to his venerable father. The historian makes special 
 note of his works in this department of literature. “He spake 
 three thousand proverbs and his songs were one thousand and five ” 
 
 (1 Kings 4: 32). Natural history also received his attention. 
 
 “He spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even 
 unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also 
 of beasts and of fowls, and of creeping things and of fishes ” 
 (v. 33). But especially does the history dwell upon his unparal- 
 leled wisdom. We are not left to infer that this wisdom was 
 merely an original talent, developed by culture, but the historian 
 attributes it especially to the gift of God. “God gave Solomon 
 wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, 
 even as the sand that is upon the sea-shore. And Solomon’s wisdom 
 excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country and 
 
 all the wisdom of Egypt” (1 Kings 4: 29, 30). Wisdom, as a 
 
 special fitness for ruling well a great people, was the one gift chosen 
 by Solomon before all other gifts — a choice eminently pleasing to 
 God, so that he not only granted it, but superadded the other 
 things which Solomon’s choice had left out as of secondary value. 
 
 Such was the man whose name stands at the head of this Book 
 
 of Proverbs as its author. We have here not far from five hun- 
 dred out of the “three thousand” given as the number of his 
 proverbs. Why they are not all brought into this collection; why 
 some that we have are repeated; why the same subject recurs not 
 unfrequently in more or less modified form — these and similar ques- 
 tions may be subjects for speculation — they can be nothing more. 
 Various critics, mostly German, have denied that Solomon could 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 V 
 
 be the author of portions of the first twenty-nine chapters. Mak- 
 ing great account of what they call internal evidence, they assume 
 to fix the date of various parts of the book at least two centuries 
 later than Solomon. Their reasoning is of this sort. Finding an 
 allusion (chap. 1 : 10-19) to highway robbery, they say the gov- 
 ernment was well organized and the people were law-abiding 
 during the reign of Solomon. Therefore no such life could have 
 been led then , and no temptation to it, such as is assumed in these 
 
 verses, could have existed then. But it may be answered, When 
 
 was there ever a period in Arabian history when such scenes were 
 not frequent ? And on what ground can it be assumed that Solo- 
 mon could not know the ways of their life ? or that the temptations 
 to such “spoil” did not come before the young men of Palestine 
 with the growing intercourse between Israel and the outlying 
 tribes, which intercourse was certainly one of the great national 
 
 features of Solomon’s reign ? Again, they say, Solomon doubtless 
 
 wrote the portion, chapters 10-22: 16, for this is unique, consist- 
 ing of detached, independent proverbs, the entire thought 
 being embraced in one verse. Hence (they argue) this was his 
 style of proverb, and therefore he never wrote proverbs in any 
 other style; consequently the other styles of the proverb which 
 appear in the first nine chapters and in chapters 23 and 24, were 
 
 not written by Solomon. But how, I ask, does this appear? Who 
 
 knows that Solomon wrote no other sort of proverb but this ? On 
 what authority is this assertion made ? Certainly it is by no means 
 self-evident. Those critics claim no historic testimony in its sup- 
 port. So far as I know they make no pretensions to supernatural 
 inspiration to this effect. It is, therefore, an assertion utterly 
 without proof. What hinders that Solomon should have used all 
 the different modes of constructing the proverb which appear in 
 
 the first twenty-nine chapters? Again it is said that the plural of 
 
 “ish” (ishim) can not have been written before the times of Hez- 
 ekiah; therefore the passages in which we find this plural could 
 
 not have been written earlier than his reign. But how do they 
 
 know this? The utmost they can say is that (excepting the pas- 
 sages in dispute) they do not find this plural form in any extant 
 Hebrew of an earlier date. But have they had access to all the 
 Hebrew that was written prior to Hezekiah ? And even if they 
 had, have they also a perfect knowledge of the spoken Hebrew, sc 
 that they are authorized to affirm that this plural form was nevei 
 
VI 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 either spoken or written prior to the year B. C. 700? Every 
 scholar knows that the extant Hebrew of a date earlier than 
 Isaiah is very small in amount — entirely too small to form an 
 adequate basis for such an affirmation. Such positive deductions 
 drawn from so very limited premises are puerile and quite unwor- 
 thy of sensible critics. Again, as one proof of a diversity of 
 authors in this Book of Proverbs, it is asserted that the passage 
 (24: 27-34) which commends diligence in husbandry was written 
 
 by some farmer, and never by a king. Indeed! as if Solomon, the 
 
 wealth and glory of whose kingdom was its agriculture, had never 
 noticed the look of the fields and vineyards of the slothful — had 
 no sense of the value of industry and good management in agri- 
 culture, and therefore could never have written such a passage ! 
 He who spake of trees from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop ; 
 who was master of botany and apparently of all branches of nat- 
 ural history — had he never noticed the farms in the land of Is- 
 rael ? How very sage are such reasonings ! How profound such 
 conclusions ! 
 
 At what period in the life of Solomon these proverbs were writ- 
 ten, we have no data to show. If we may suppose that the some- 
 what frequent address, “My son” ( e . g ., 1: 8, 10 and 2: 1 and 3: 
 1 and 23 : 15, 19, 26, etc.) has some special reference toRehoboam, 
 we should locate those proverbs during the first half of his reign, 
 corresponding to the youth of Rehoboam. It will be remembered 
 that Solomon reigned forty years (1 K. 11 : 42) and that Rehoboam 
 was forty-one at his accession (1 Kings 14: 21 and 2 Chron. 12: 
 13). Hence he was a child of one year at Solomon’s accession to 
 the throne. 
 
 Of the nature of the proverb little need be said. The intelligent 
 reader will readily catch their style. Plainly they are not tied 
 down to any one specific form, but appear with considerable lati- 
 tude of construction. In its most usual, perhaps normal, form the 
 proverb is a brief, sententious maxim or saying, naturally conform- 
 ing somewhat to the laws of Hebrew poetic parallelism, and there- 
 fore in two parts, one of which is usually antithetic to the other. 
 Thus (10: 1) “A wise son makes a glad father; a foolish son, a 
 heavy-hearted mother.” The first half gives the wise son; the 
 second, the foolish. The joy of the father in the former is set 
 over against the grief of the mother in the latter. This antithetic 
 position makes the thought more distinct. Contrast heightens its 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 yii 
 
 force. This antithesis is not always apparent without close and 
 
 searching attention. It may lie between what is affirmed in one 
 clause and what is merely implied in the other. Proverbs of this 
 class are a sort of enigma or riddle, “a dark saying” (1: 6), de- 
 signed to test the sagacity and tax the wits of the reader, and so 
 heighten his interest and perhaps deepen the impression of the 
 truth when he has searched it out — akin to that peculiar relish 
 which boys find in nuts that are hard to crack. Thus in the 
 proverb (10: 8), “The wise in heart will receive instruction, but 
 a prating fool shall fall,” there is a double antithesis: (1), The 
 wise-hearted man (instead of prating perpetually himself) hears 
 and receives advice; while the fool prates with deaf ears: and 
 (2) The wise man (it is implied) lives and prospers by means of 
 the wise counsels which he both hears and obeys ; while the prat- 
 ing fool, neither hearing nor heeding counsel, falls into reme- 
 diless ruin — this secondary antithesis lying between what is 
 affirmed of the fool and what is left to be inferred of the wise. 
 This proverb is a “dark saying” to the reader until he has 
 studied out this implied idea and has thus reached the full sense. 
 So in 10: 16, “The labor of the righteous tendeth to life; the 
 fruit of the wicked to sin,” you get the full antithesis and there- 
 fore the true sense, only when you have filled it out — “ The fruit 
 of the wicked to sin” — and consequently to death . The one, being 
 righteous, works toward life and blessedness; the other, being 
 wicked, toward sin and its inevitable result, death. This tacit 
 assumption that sin weds itself to death and surely brings death 
 in its train, illustrates the point of special beauty and force in 
 
 this class of proverbs. There is, however, a considerable range 
 
 of diversity in the manner of making up these proverbs. Some 
 of them are comparisons; “As vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke 
 to the eyes, so is the sluggard to them that send him” (10: 26). 
 Or the comparison is blended with the antithetic arrangement; 
 “As the whirlwind passeth, so is the wicked no more; but the 
 righteous is an everlasting foundation ;” where the passing away 
 of the wicked is first compared to a whirlwind, and then put in 
 contrast with the enduring life and blessedness of the righteous. 
 
 The proverb proper is complete in a single verse. Of this 
 
 sort are those which stand in chap. 10-22: 16. But in the first 
 nine chapters, and also in the last seven, the same subject is 
 usually continued through two or more successive verses. 
 
viii 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 This Book of Proverbs differs widely in one respect from vari- 
 ous collections of a somewhat similar nature which have ap- 
 peared in other nations at diverse periods. The latter have first 
 gained currency among the common people, approved and admired 
 because in harmony with the popular feeling and touching the 
 national heart. At length some mere compiler (not author) gath- 
 ered them into a volume. But this Book of Proverbs (with the 
 
 limited exceptions above noted) appears to be the product, not of 
 the popular taste and of various minds, but of one gifted mind — 
 at once their originator and their writer. I base this judgment 
 upon the manifest unity of thought, sentiment, and style, which 
 obtains throughout; upon the obvious correspondence between the 
 book, and the character and circumstances of Solomon, as given 
 in Jewish history; and upon the apparent paucity of such pro- 
 verbs in Hebrew speech, oral or written, anterior to Solomon. 
 His extraordinary reputation for wisdom, and its strong endorse- 
 ment by the sacred historian, indicate him to be, not the compiler 
 of other men’s proverbs, but the author and writer of his own. 
 These remarks bear upon their origin, as seen on its human side 
 and by no means ignore but rather provide for their true inspira- 
 tion. It does not appear that Solomon compiled these proverbs 
 
 in their present form throughout. When and by whom they 
 were compiled, we know only in part. The three thousand prov- 
 erbs which he spake (1 K. 4: 32) are not all here; indeed, only 
 about one-sixth part are here; but who made the selection of 
 those now standing in the first twenty-four chapters, we are not 
 told. The compilers of chapters 25-29, we may presume, are in- 
 dicated (25: 1) as “the men of Hezekiah” — i. e., men designated 
 by him for this service. Their names are not given. Whether 
 Isaiah was active in this suggestion or in the labor itself, we are 
 not told. We know that he was in active life during that reign; 
 
 Micah also, and other worthy and capable men. Of the authors 
 
 of the last two chapters nothing is known certainly beyond their 
 
 names. Let it suffice us that the Lord commissioned inspired 
 
 men to make up the canon of Jewish sacred books which was 
 divinely commended to the conscientious reception, the reverent 
 study, and the diligent observance, of his people in all ages. This 
 responsibility was borne by a series of prophets, beginning, so far 
 as we know, with Moses, and ending with Ezra and his associates, 
 and perhaps his immediate successors. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 IX 
 
 The references to this Book of Proverbs in the New Testament 
 deserve notice. They are somewhat numerous, hut in general are 
 not designated as quotations. The sacred writers use the hook 
 as it was made to be used — that is, for the value of its maxims 
 of wisdom. For the best of reasons they did not look to it for 
 prophecies to he quoted as fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth. But 
 they did find here maxims of wisdom for use in human life. In 
 one passage (Heh. 12: 5) the words found (Prov. 3: 11, 12) are 
 referred to as an “exhortation which speaketh to you as unto 
 children,” and which, therefore, must have been recognized as 
 their accredited teacher; i. e ., as being words “spoken” in 
 their sacred books. The writer to the Hebrews would say — 
 “ My afflicted brethren, how can you forget that those im- 
 pressive words, ‘Despise not thou the chastening of the Lord,’ 
 are addressed to children, to sons? ‘My son, despise not,’ 
 
 etc. You recollect the passage in the Book of Proverbs.” The 
 
 common form of reference to the proverb appears in Peter’s 
 words (1 Eps. 4: 8), “Above all things have fervent charity 
 among yourselves; for charity shall cover the multitude of sins” — 
 words taken from Prov. 10: 12, “Love covereth all sins.” So 
 also Prov. 25 : 21, 22 appear in Rom. 12: 20, and the sentiment 
 of Prov. 17 : 13 about rewarding evil for good appears in similar 
 words Rom. 12: 17 and 1 Thess. 5: 15. 
 
 This Book of Proverbs is pre-eminently rich in its lessons of 
 practical wisdom. It teaches both the young and the old how 
 to live in this world, resisting most effectually its temptations, 
 shunning its snares, escaping its dangers, and insuring, in largest 
 measure, the good it offers here and hereafter. The beauties of 
 its imagery, the force of its words, the power of its solid and 
 earnest thought, are things to be admired, and may fitly com- 
 mand our attention as we proceed; but these elements of beauty 
 and fitness should never tempt us to neglect the moral applica- 
 tion of these maxims of superlative wisdom. Let every reader 
 see to it that the way of life and peace, delineated with such ex 
 quisite beauty and force, shall become truly the way of his own 
 feet and the choice of his own heart. For what avails it to know 
 the way of wisdom and life, and yet choose the way of folly and 
 death ? 
 
PROVERBS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The author opens with an introduction to the entire book. He 
 gives his aim and object (vs. 1-7), exhorts the young to regard 
 the counsels of their parents (vs. 8, 9); admonishes his young 
 friend especially against the temptations to robbery (vs. 10-19); 
 and closes with the call of Wisdom (vs. 20-23), and the fearful 
 retribution that must come upon those who will not heed her call 
 (vs. 24-33). 
 
 1. The Proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of 
 Israel ; 
 
 2. To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the 
 words of understanding; 
 
 3. To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judg- 
 ment, and equity ; 
 
 4. To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man 
 knowledge and discretion. 
 
 5. A wise man will hear, and will increase learning ; and 
 a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels ; 
 
 6. To understand a proverb, and the interpretation: the 
 words of the wise, and their dark sayings. 
 
 With obvious fitness the author begins with a clear statement 
 of his objects, viz. : To help the reader to the knowledge of Avis- 
 dom; to impart useful instruction; to give just ideas of moral 
 
 rectitude; to settle grave questions of right and wrong. In v. 
 
 4, “ subtilty” must not be taken in its bad sense, of cunning, 
 craftiness; but in the sense of sharp and clear discrimination and 
 
 just apprehension; sagacity. The u simple,” here as usually in 
 
 the writings of Solomon, are the open-hearted and unsuspecting 
 who are accessible to every social influence, and therefore easily 
 
 (ii) 
 
12 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. I. 
 
 seduced into evil ways. — — He proceeds to say that every wise 
 man wili hear good counsel and will make acquisitions of solid 
 wisdom and of all useful knowledge, so as to understand proverbs 
 and those brief and condensed maxims which require skill for 
 their interpretation. The “dark sayings” of the wise are those 
 deep abstruse maxims which purposely task the ingenuity of the 
 reader in order to fix their rich thought more deeply in his mind. 
 
 7. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge : 
 but fools despise wisdom and instruction. 
 
 This verse belongs properly to the introduction, giving very 
 appropriately the state of mind in which wisdom should be sought. 
 The “fear of the Lord” in the sense of Solomon is not a slavish 
 dread, but a reverential and filial regard in which love blends with 
 profound homage, and a respect which, as related to God, rises to 
 the highest reverence. In this spirit we desire above all things 
 else to learn and to do all our Heavenly Father’s will. The les- 
 sons of heavenly wisdom are therefore cherished with warmest 
 affection and sought with most earnest endeavor. So vital is this 
 fear of the Lord to the acquisition of all true wisdom that it may 
 fitly be said to be the very beginning of it, the starting point ; the 
 spirit without which there can be no truly honest and earnest 
 
 pursuit of wisdom. Fools may be known by their despising 
 
 wisdom and instruction. In this their folly is always manifest. 
 They have no heart for wisdom ; they respect it not, and therefore 
 give no heed to learn it, much less still to obey its rules of duty. 
 
 Solomon would say, especially to his youthful readers: Will 
 
 you go with me into this study of all wisdom ? If so, then begin 
 with implanting deep in your heart and cultivating carefully “ the 
 fear of the Lord.” If not, then know ye your place and the com- 
 pany of your choice. None but fools despise wisdom and instruc- 
 tion. 
 
 8. My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and for 
 sake not the law of thy mother : 
 
 9. For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, 
 and chains about thy neck. 
 
 The “law of the mother” includes her counsels and advice, as 
 well as authority. Such obedience to the instructions of one’s 
 father is a graceful garland to the head; a necklace to the bosom. 
 “ Chains” about the neck are not thought of here as symbols of 
 hard bondage, but of beautiful adornment. And truly ; for what 
 can be more lovely than filial respect to parents, manifesting itself, 
 not only in sympathy with their feelings and kindly ministrations 
 to their wants, but in prompt regard to their counsels and in obe- 
 dience to their authority ? The author appropriately places this 
 exhortation at the head of this precious collection of the precepts 
 of wisdom. 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. I. 
 
 13 
 
 10. My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. 
 
 11. If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, 
 let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause : 
 
 12. Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and 
 ttliole, as those that go down into the pit: 
 
 13. We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill 
 our houses with spoil : 
 
 14. Cast in thy lot among us ; let us all have one purse : 
 
 15. My son, walk not thou in the way with them ; refrain 
 thy foot from their path : 
 
 16. For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed 
 blood. 
 
 17. Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any 
 bird. 
 
 18. And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk 
 privily for their own lives. 
 
 19. So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain ; 
 which taketh away the life of the owners thereof. 
 
 Solomon admonishes the young to shun the temptations to rob- 
 Dery — the prevailing and besetting sin of freebooting life. The 
 tempter approaches with the suggestion, Let us get up an expedi- 
 tion for murder and plunder; let us advance stealthily and fall 
 suddenly upon some rich village or household ; let us swallow 
 them up as the grave does, in a moment, remorselessly; so shall 
 we get stores of wealth without labor and fill our houses with 
 plunder. Thus on the one side are the temptations of gain with- 
 out work or cost; the social attractions of the secret fraternity 
 and the love of bold adventure ; the sense of power also, and the 
 charm of witnessing the surprise and panic of the defenseless, 
 but, on the other hand, Solomon admonishes his young friends 
 that those feet run to evil and hasten to the shedding of blood (v. 
 16); that their movements may be anticipated and balked by 
 the wariness of those whom they would fain surprise and destroy 
 (v. 17); that their onset may recoil, and so their lying in wait 
 will be for their own, not others’, blood, and their “ lurking privily” 
 will cost, not others’ life, but their own. He then draws the broad 
 conclusion — So it befalls every man who is greedy of gain, for 
 
 such greed costs the life of those who thus grasp at it. This 
 
 conclusion justifies the remark that this form of sin may represent 
 numerous other forms, any and every other form indeed in which 
 the social element is strong and human selfishness riots recklessly 
 
 upon other men’s interests and rights. Such bold, extreme 
 
 wickedness reacts with fearful power. They who thus take the 
 
 sword will perish (usually) by the sword. Some readers 
 
 will ask — How came Solomon to put this form of sin in the fore- 
 ground of his book? Could it have been prevalent in the land 
 of Israel during his reign? Were not the restraints of law, civ- 
 
14 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. I. 
 
 ilization and religion so strong then and there as to preclude the 
 temptation to such outrageous violence and wrong? I think so, 
 as to the land of Israel (See 1 Kings 4 : 25, and 1 Chron. 22 : 9. ) 
 But it should be borne in mind that the kingdom of Israel under 
 Solomon was greatly extended. It reached even to the Euphrates, 
 embosoming the great Arabian countries, as said by the historian : 
 “Over all the kings on this side the river,” i. e., the Euphrates 
 (1 Kings 4 : 24). In those vast districts, bold, dashing robbery has 
 been common in all ages. The extensive commerce of Solomon, 
 coupled with the great enlargement of his dominions, sent many 
 of the young men of Israel abroad, and hence would sometimes 
 bring them under the temptation to these sins which were universal 
 
 in all Arabian lands. It may be suggested further that the 
 
 great routes of trading caravans in the age of Solomon lay through 
 the vast desert regions of Northern Arabia, past “ Tadmor in the 
 wilderness” to the Euphrates; and through Southern Arabia to 
 the Eastern arm of the Bed Sea at Elath. Along such routes of 
 
 commerce, robber bands have in all ages been wont to strike. 
 
 The reader will also recall various scenes in the early history of 
 David fleeing before king Saul, and subsisting himself and his fol- 
 lowers in a course of life which paid but doubtful regard to others’ 
 rights of property (1 Sam. 27). Solomon, in our passage, would 
 inaugurate and sustain a better type of civilization. 
 
 20. Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the 
 streets : 
 
 21. She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the 
 openings of the gates : in the city she uttereth her words, 
 saying , 
 
 22. How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity ? 
 and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate 
 knowledge ? 
 
 23. Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out 
 my Spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. 
 
 By a bold but beautiful personification, Wisdom here becomes a 
 person with a living voice, and this voice lifted up in all public 
 places where men do congregate, expostulating with them for be- 
 ing so senseless as to love folly and delight in scorning, and hate 
 knowledge. Appropriately she implores them to turn at her re- 
 proof. If we bear in mind that the fear of the Lord (true piety) 
 
 is the very essence and sum of wisdom, we shall readily see that 
 this imploring voice is virtually the voice of God himself. Most 
 certainly it is the God of retributive justice who speaks in the 
 verses that follow (24-30) and who there says: “I have called;” 
 “ I have stretched out my hand;” U I will laugh at your calam- 
 ity ;” “ Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer,” etc. 
 The voice of Wisdom, addressing men, is virtually the voice of 
 God. It is God speaking in his kindness, his wisdom, and his 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. I. 
 
 15 
 
 .ove. admonishing and warning the wayward to cease from folly 
 and become truly wise. The words of v. 23 are specially perti- 
 nent considered as coming from the lips of our divine Lord: 
 u Behold I will pour out my Spirit unto [upon] you; I will make 
 known my words unto you.” In the fullness of his love, he prom- 
 ises to give, not only good counsel, but (what is far more) the 
 good influence of his own Spirit to impress his truth on human 
 hearts and so change them from sin to holiness. This is one of 
 the great central truths of the New Testament, yet far from being 
 
 unknown to the Old. Let us not fail to notice the force of the 
 
 expostulation in v. 22: “How long, ye simple ones, will ye love 
 simplicity?” etc. Why will ye perversely take delight in folly 
 and sin? Why will ye call evil good and good evil, and still labor 
 to find solid good in what is only emptiness and vanity ? Ah, 
 
 why so madly bent on ruin ? The forewarnings of that ruin 
 
 appropriately follow. The spirit of wisdom can not suppress and 
 withhold such forewarnings. 
 
 24. Because I have called, and ye refused ; I have 
 stretched out my hand, and no man regarded ; 
 
 25. But ye have set at naught all my counsel, and would 
 none of my reproof: 
 
 26. I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock 
 when your fear cometh; 
 
 27. When your fear cometh as desolation, and your de- 
 struction cometh as a whirlwind ; when distress and anguish 
 cometh upon you. 
 
 28. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer ; 
 they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me ; 
 
 Here, in words of terrible truthfulness and figures of appalling 
 force, we have the idea of retribution. Because the simple ones 
 will love their simplicity (folly), and scorners will still delight in 
 scorning and fools hate knowledge; because they will not turn 
 to Wisdom at the voice of her reproof; because they will still 
 spurn even the promised grace of God’s Spirit; therefore, when the 
 calls of love have been spurned full long ; when Mercy, “ knowing 
 her appointed bound, has turned to judgment there,” and so gives 
 place to the sternness of just retribution; then the awful voice de- 
 clares, as here — “ Because I have called and ye have refused, 
 therefore shall ye call, but I will not answer.” The repetition 
 and the accumulation of strong figures heightens the force of the 
 passage. “I have stretched out my hands” in imploring earnest- 
 ness, yet no man regarded. “Ye have set at naught nay counsel” 
 in utter disregard ; “ye would none of my reproof,” i. e. ye would 
 not accept it, ye would not incline your will to heed it. And now, 
 because of your stubborn attitude and unyielding repugnance, I, 
 even I, “will laugh at your calamity.” Ye have laughed in scorn 
 at the call of Wisdom ; ye have repelled even with derision the 
 
16 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. I. 
 
 imploring voice of God. Now, therefore, God will turn from you. 
 and let the evils you fear come down on you as desolation and 
 your destruction break upon you as a whirlwind, and there be no 
 
 power to stay their stroke or soften its severity. It is by a 
 
 strong figure that Wisdom says: “I will laugh ;” “I will mock;” 
 the form of expression being due obviously to the force of the 
 antithesis. Ye have laughed and mocked at my words ; the time 
 has come when I must laugh and mock at yours. The idea of 
 retribution is thus put in its full force. Yet it must not be so 
 construed as to conflict with the solemn oath of Jehovah : “ As I live, 
 saith the Lord God, I have" no pleasure in the death of the wicked, 
 but that the wicked turn from his way and live” (Ezek. 33: 11). 
 It has its parallel in Psalms 2 : 4 : “ He that sitteth in the heav- 
 ens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.” Their 
 utmost endeavors are infinitely puny; their most artful plots are 
 ineffably weak, and seem only to provoke the contempt of the 
 Almighty. The words before us seem to exhaust their meaning 
 in the awfully solemn assurance that God will never swerve from 
 his course of righteous retribution, but will make the reckless 
 sinner’s doom inexorable and eternal! Less than this they can 
 not mean: more than this they need not imply. The idea that 
 God takes a malign gratification in the woe of even the guiltiest 
 
 rebel is forever precluded by the nature of his benevolence. 
 
 Let those who give no thought to prayer now, remember that they 
 will yet one day cry out for mercy; but it may be too late. 
 “ Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer. They shall 
 seek me early,” i. e., earnestly, “but they shall not find me.” It 
 is unutterably perilous to turn a deaf ear to God’s call, lest, in 
 the retributions of justice, he be compelled to shut his ear to 
 your cry in the day of your calamity. 
 
 29. For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose 
 the fear of the Lord: 
 
 30. They would none of my counsel : they despised all 
 my reproof. 
 
 31. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own 
 way, and be filled with their own devices. 
 
 Retribution appears again, but more briefly. Sinners are spoken 
 of, and not (as before) spoken to. Because [“for that”] they 
 hated knowledge (the knowledge of God, true wisdom), and did 
 not choose (but rejected) the fear of the Lord — true piety; they 
 would not receive my counsel (literally, “they were unwilling as 
 to my counsel,” setting their will stubbornly against it) ; and they 
 despised all my reproof; therefore they must take the legitimate 
 consequences of their chosen course; they shall be sated to the 
 
 full with their own counsel. The word translated “ devices” 
 
 is one of a family of Hebrew words often met with in these chap- 
 ters, and usually translated “counsel,” in the sense of chosen 
 plans of action See v. 30: “They would none of my counsel;” 
 
PROVERBS -CHAP. I. 
 
 17 
 
 and v. 25: “Ye have set at naught all my counsel.” Because 
 they had scorned God’s counsel, he will let them have their fill, 
 and more, of their own counsels. 
 
 Before we pass on from these words of God respecting the retri- 
 bution that awaits sinners, let us note that the same doctrine of 
 retribution i3 written both in the laws of man’s physical constitu- 
 tion and in the laws which provide for and sustain society. These 
 bodies of ours cry out in pain against abuse, and this pain is none 
 other than God’s voice of wisdom, saying: “Turn ye at my re- 
 proof.” Drunkenness, gluttony, incontinence, excessive indulgence, 
 give their signals of warning, and whoever persists in setting at 
 naught such counsels, and in despising all such reproof, will ere 
 long meet a retribution that knows no mercy. Many a young man, 
 prematurely broken down and self-murdered, cries out in the wail- 
 ings of his agony, but no ear is open to hear, no hand is stretched 
 out to save. The heedless youth, who makes haste unto all sensual 
 indulgence, soon finds that he has made haste toward a most re- 
 lentless retribution. Wisdom called; he only scorned her call. 
 But, when his fear came as desolation and his destruction as a 
 whirlwind, his wailing cry for help brought no arrest of judgment, 
 and could not stay his fearful speed to ruin. Ah, indeed, when 
 Wisdom speaks, none can afford to miss her words, much less to 
 
 scorn them ! In the same way society asserts her laws and 
 
 enforces her retributions. The man who tramples on the prop- 
 erty rights of his fellow men, by schemes of fraud or robbery, will 
 surely find that to be known is to be hated. His crimes will rise 
 up against him as if imbued with the very soul of retribution. So 
 also men who outrage the rights of chastity and strike down all 
 that is most dear in virtuous homes, will fire up the sternest indig- 
 nation and jealousy which human hearts ever feel. Beyond a 
 given line they shall find no mercy. Society can not bear such 
 outrages upon her peace; she must visit on such offenders her 
 inexorable retribution. 
 
 32. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, 
 and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. 
 
 33. But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, 
 and shall be quiet from fear of evil. 
 
 The simple here (as above, vs. 4, 22) are the easily tempted — 
 the same class who are “ fools” in the parallel clause of the verse. 
 Their turning away from Wisdom’s call is their ruin. As the 
 
 word “slay” implies, it murders them; it is precisely suicidal. 
 
 The word “prosperity,” used here of “fools,” is rather their brut- 
 ish apathy, their immovable quietude, an insensibility that no ap- 
 peals of Wisdom, no monitions of peril and danger, can arouse. 
 This works their destruction. But whoso hearkeneth to Wisdom 
 shall dwell in safety and in quiet, fearless of evil. It is the very 
 mission of Wisdom to forewarn him against evil and lead him in the 
 ways of peace and safety. God is to him a kind and careful Father. 
 Following his counsel must insure all prosperity and all blessedness 
 
J8 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. n. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The writer, commending true wisdom strongly and laboring tc 
 lead men to the knowledge and fear of God, promises these bless- 
 ings to those who earnestly seek them (vs. 1-5), because the Lord 
 gives wisdom to the upright and thus guards their way against 
 all evil (vs. 6-9). When wisdom has really come into one’s heart 
 and is cherished and loved there, it will preserve him from per- 
 verseness (vs. 10-15), and from the adulterous woman whose ways 
 lead to death (vs. 16-19), for the upright have long life in the 
 promised land, but the wicked are soon rooted out of it (vs. 20-22). 
 
 1. My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my 
 commandments with thee; 
 
 2. So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply 
 thine heart to understanding ; 
 
 3. Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy 
 voice for understanding ; 
 
 4. If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as 
 for hid treasures ; 
 
 5. Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and 
 find the knowledge of God. 
 
 The precious truths taught here are two-fold; (1.) Indirectly, 
 that true wisdom is worthy of being sought with the utmost dili- 
 gence; and (2.) Directly, that such seeking will insure success. 
 The latter truth is fragrant with hope for all those who thirst 
 for the knowledge of God and for real piety. It breathes the 
 sweet assurance that those who seek with sincere and earnest 
 heart shall find. Let them seek for such wisdom as men seek 
 for silver; let them search as men are wont to do for hid treas- 
 ures, and their labor can not be in vain. No other way of seek- 
 ing for wisdom meets the conditions of success; this does. No 
 seeking for other forms of good is sure of being successful, but 
 such seeking for heavenly wisdom — the greatest and best good 
 men ever can seek — never yet failed to bring the good sought, 
 and never can. So seeking “thou shalt understand the fear of 
 the Lord and find the knowledge of God.” The Great Father 
 never lets his lost children seek for him with earnest longing 
 heart, in vain! Is not this a glorious truth, beyond measure re- 
 freshing? 
 
 6. For the Lord giveth wisdom : out of his mouth cometh 
 knowledge and understanding. 
 
 The reason why the promise of wisdom to the earnest seeker 
 is so sure appears here; viz. : because it is the Lord who gives it ; 
 it comes from his mouth; and he loves to give it. He desires 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. II. 
 
 19 
 
 nothing so much as that his intelligent and moral creatures should 
 ask and receive, and so become his trustful, dutiful and grateful 
 children. Therefore if any man consciously lacks wisdom, let 
 him ask. of God who gives to all men liberally and upbraids not, 
 and it shall be given him . Following the course of thought in our 
 text, we shall see that this must be true of wisdom in the sense of 
 this passage, viz. : true piety, “ the fear of the Lord.” Knowing 
 God, as thought of here, is "that practical and experimental knowl- 
 edge by which a lost sinner returns penitently from his wander- 
 ings and waywardness ; finds God ready to forgive and plenteous 
 in mercy; and comes to know him as an object of love and trust. 
 
 7. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous : he is 
 a buckler to them that walk uprightly. 
 
 8. He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth 
 the way of the saints. 
 
 9. Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judg- 
 ment, and equity; yea , every good path. 
 
 He “layeth up,” i. e ., in store, providing abundantly and guard- 
 ing it well. But the word rendered “ sound wisdom ” seems 
 rather to mean help, succor, salvation. This is the primary sense 
 of the Hebrew word; the meaning of the Septuagint version; and 
 withal, the thought in the parallel clause, “ a buckler to them that 
 
 walk uprightly.” In v. 8 the question must be met, Whose 
 
 paths does God keep, and in what sense ? Some have explained 
 it of God’s own righteous ways which he walks in, never swerving 
 therefrom; while others take it to mean, the paths of just men, 
 kept under the guardianship of God forever. The latter I adopt 
 because in harmony with the course of thought in the parallel 
 clause (“preserveth the ways of his saints”) and in the previous 
 verse also ; and because it better accords with the meaning of the 
 verb “keepeth.” These then are the elements in the blessed- 
 
 ness of the righteous who seek and find wisdom in the sense of 
 piety toward God and uprightness toward man. They are saved 
 of God, shielded from the moral perils of this sinning world, for 
 God is their buckler; He keeps their upright paths under His 
 guardian care, and (v. 9) gives them understanding in all right- 
 eous and good ways. To walk uprightly is of course to walk 
 securely. 
 
 10. When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowl- 
 edge is pleasant unto thy soul ; 
 
 11. Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall 
 keep thee : 
 
 12. To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from 
 the man that speaketh fro ward things ; 
 
 13. Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the 
 ways of darkness; 
 
20 
 
 PROVERBS — CHAP. II. 
 
 14. Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the froward- 
 ness of the wicked ; 
 
 15. Whose ways are crooked, and they fro ward in their 
 paths : 
 
 In particular, Solomon proceeds to show that wisdom, when 
 really embraced in the heart and cherished so as to be sweet to 
 the soul, will preserve its possessor from the influence of bad 
 men. He describes these men. They leave the paths of upright- 
 ness to walk in the ways of darkness (i. e., of sin); they love to 
 do evil and their ways follow not the right line of honesty and 
 integrity, but are tortuous, crooked, ruinous. The social influence 
 of such men is full of peril to the young. From such peril there 
 is no protection but in true piety. This brings men not only into 
 a deep and honest love of uprightness, but under the protecting 
 wing of the great God. He will stand for the defense and succor 
 of those who humbly trust him, and will delight to shield them 
 from the tempting power of bad men. 
 
 16. To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from 
 the stranger which flattereth with her words ; 
 
 17. Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forget- 
 teth the covenant of her God. 
 
 18. For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths 
 unto the dead. 
 
 19. None that go unto her return again, neither take 
 they hold of the paths of life. 
 
 In yet a second specification, Solomon points out another danger 
 from which true wisdom will preserve the young man, viz. : the 
 adulterous woman. The words “strange” and “stranger” usually 
 refer to one of foreign birth ; but as this woman is thought of as 
 “ forgetting the covenant of her God,” she is perhaps an Israelite, 
 and called a “strange” woman because she has the spirit and 
 lives the life so common among heathen women. She makes her 
 words smooth, i. e ., seductive (v. 16); she “forsakes the guide of 
 her youth” (her lawful husband); and “forgets the covenant of 
 her God,” the marriage covenant which is an institution of God, 
 one which he will never see violated with impunity. This divine 
 retribution upon her and her vile partners in crime is sure, for 
 “her house sinks down to death” and her paths lead down to 
 the under world where lie the shades of the dead. “Inclineth” 
 falls far short of giving the full sense of the Hebrew; for the 
 meaning is not merely that her house is an inclined plane verging 
 down toward death and hell ; but that both herself and her house 
 sink down bodily, as it were, into the open jaws of hell. As in the 
 case of Korah and his troop (Num. 16: 30-34), so underneath 
 her house and all her adulterous household, the earth opens and 
 swallows them up alive, and down they sink to the realms of the 
 lost ! Of all who go into her house for such guilty purposes, none 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. III. 
 
 21 
 
 ever return again; the steps of no one ever again take hold of 
 
 the paths of life ! Alas ! what a record is this ! O might this 
 
 awful truth be made to blaze out in glaring light athwart the 
 door-way of every such house of infamy and crime ! No return 
 from these foul precincts to the paths of purity and life! This 
 house sinks down, carrying all its guilty ones to the realms of 
 
 the dead — to the depths of hell ! Blessed be that wisdom which 
 
 shields the young man from dangers scarcely ever less than death 
 itself ! 
 
 20. That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and 
 keep the paths of the righteous. 
 
 21. For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the per- 
 feet shall remain in it. 
 
 22. But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and 
 the transgressors shall be rooted out of it. 
 
 Preserved by wisdom from such fatal snares, thou mayest walk 
 in the ways of good men, a life of honor, prosperity, and happiness. 
 For the upright prolong their days in the land of God’s gracious 
 promise, while the wicked are soon cut off from the earth and 
 
 rooted out of it by the swift judgments of the Almighty. It 
 
 was the more in point to speak of adulterers as soon perishing 
 from the land of Canaan because by the Mosaic law their crime 
 was punishable with death. (See Deut. 22: 22-24.) Civil law 
 may be less stern in our times, but the laws of life, engrafted 
 into every human body, bring down a swift and terrible retribu- 
 tion upon this form of sin. Of all sinners on the earth it is most 
 true of these that they do not live out half their days. 
 
 OO^f^< 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The counsels and promises of good in this chapter are some- 
 what various, yet they all have one central thought, viz., to com- 
 mend wisdom; to show its various applications and uses in 
 common life and the blessings it surely brings to those who seek 
 it diligently and follow its guidance carefully. 
 
 1. My son, forget not my law ; but let thine heart keep 
 my commandments ; 
 
 2. For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall 
 they add to thee. 
 
 The speaker is Wisdom personified, and therefore speaking in 
 the name of God. Or if we look at the human side of this com- 
 
22 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. III. 
 
 position and give prominence to Solomon as the author, we must 
 still think of him as speaking for God, under his inspiration, and 
 in his behalf. The law which he enjoins us not to forget is by 
 no means the law of Solomon only, but is the law of Wisdom, i. e. } the 
 
 law of God. “Let thy heart keep,” etc., is somewhat stronger 
 
 than simply remember ; it implies to remember with affection and 
 
 with interest; to cherish with deep and pure love. -The reward of 
 
 such obedience (as promised here) corresponds to the genius of that 
 age and to the spirit of its promises — long life and abounding pros- 
 perity in this world, as in the fifth command, and prominently in the 
 books of Moses ( e . g ., Deut. 27-29). Such a system was a present 
 and constant witness to the divine law of rewards and punishments 
 which was to be first manifested signally in this world that men 
 might have convincing proof of its reality in the world to come. 
 
 3. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them 
 about thy neck ; write them upon the table of thine heart : 
 
 4. So shalt thou find favor and good understanding in 
 the sight of God and man. 
 
 Mercy in man is rather kindness ; truth is truthfulness, veracity. 
 The writer conceives of them as abstract things which may be 
 repelled and driven away from the soul, or which may be cherished, 
 bound as a graceful ornament about the neck, and written indelibly 
 upon the heart. Retain them, he would say; make them abso- 
 lutely thine own; engraft them into thy life, thy habits, thy very 
 nature ; for so doing, thou shalt find favor and prosperity with God 
 and with men. Prosperity rather than “good understanding” 
 seems to be the sense in the last clause of v. 4. It corresponds 
 better with favor; is admissible as the sense of the Hebrew, and 
 yields a more pertinent meaning. 
 
 5. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean 
 not unto thine own understanding. 
 
 6. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct 
 thy paths. 
 
 Yet think it not enough to be correct in thy morals, or sagacious 
 and far-seeing, in order to guide thine own ways in wisdom and 
 success. Go rather to the fountain of all wisdom ; go to the living 
 counsellor ; trust in the very Lord himself, yea, even with all thy 
 heart: ask his counsel in all matters of duty and of interest, and 
 trust in him implicitly for the help thou needest. Lean on him 
 and not on thine own understanding. In all thy ways know him 
 as thy God and thy guide, and adjust thyself carefully to all thy 
 relations to God, thy great Father; then will he direct all thy 
 steps. Human sagacity is short of vision, seeing but a little way : 
 God’s eye sees through to the end. O, is it not blessed that mor- 
 tals may avail themselves of their great Father’s all-seeing eye 
 
 and guiding hand ? The sentiment of this passage appears also 
 
 in Ps. 37 : 3, 5. 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. III. 
 
 23 
 
 7. Be not wise in thine own eyes : fear the Lord, and 
 depart from evil. 
 
 8. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy 
 bones. 
 
 Conceit of one’s own wisdom shuts out all trust in God’s wisdom. 
 Such self-flattery may be pleasing; it is none the less self-ruinous. 
 It is plainly thought of here as opposed to the fear of the Lord 
 and to departing from evil. Solomon would say, Do not be so self- 
 conceited as to be reckless of God’s counsels and defiant toward 
 his warnings. Shun these fearful evils. So shall wisdom be 
 health to thy muscles [better than “ navel”], and marrow to thy 
 bones. Physical health doubtless comes from obeying the physical 
 laws under "which God has framed the human body. Perhaps the 
 writer meant to suggest tacitly that wisdom insures health of soul 
 as well as health of body. 
 
 9. Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the 
 first fruits of all thine increase : 
 
 10. So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy 
 presses shall burst out with new wine. 
 
 A new precept appears here, on the duty of recognizing God as 
 the source of all earthly good, and of appropriating a liberal por- 
 tion of our substance to his worship and cause. The Mosaic law 
 required that every Hebrew should honor God with various sacri- 
 fices, tithes, and first fruits (Ex. 22 : 29, 30, Deut. 26 : 2 and 
 Mai. 3: 10, etc.). Such dutiful and grateful recognition of His 
 bounty ensured His blessing. The spirit of those laws remains in 
 force, and must, so long as God is the great Giver of all earthly 
 good, and we are only the receivers and almoners of his bounty. 
 The covetousness of man’s heart is naturally so strong that only 
 the most stringent precepts and the most palpable present retri- 
 bution of good or evil accordingly will avail to induce men to 
 honor the Lord with their substance. How few will believe that 
 it is really well to have God and his promises of good on their 
 side amid the perpetual vicissitudes and reverses of all human 
 things ! All the varied circumstances of human life put men’s 
 faith in these promises to a practical and most searching test. 
 
 11. My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord ; 
 neither be weary of his correction : 
 
 12. For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth ; even as a 
 father the son in whom he delighteth. 
 
 These words may perhaps be an after-thought to the verses im- 
 mediately preceding, on this wise : Yet adversity will sometimes 
 come. When it does, be careful to adjust yourself submissively 
 to it. If the Lord should visit you with chastening and correc 
 tion, do not take offence thereat: let it not provoke disgust and 
 loathing (such is the sense of the original word); do not repel it 
 / 2 
 
24 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. III. 
 
 as an unwelcome intruder ; do not wonder at it as a mysterious 
 unmeaning providence — much less resent it as an outrage; but 
 rather accept it as proof of a Father’s love and thoughtful care. 
 Do not human fathers try to correct the bad habits and improve 
 the faults of character of their best beloved sons? Verily there 
 can be no stronger proof of a fathers love to his son, coupled with 
 sound wisdom also, than judicious and kind efforts to correct his 
 faults. So God’s discipline of his children is one of his choicest 
 
 blessings. The writer to the Hebrews (12: 5, 6) assumes that 
 
 the Hebrew converts, faint-hearted and depressed under their 
 persecutions, must have forgotten this pertinent exhortation 
 which spake to them as to children. For if they had kept 
 this in mind, they would have said to themselves, These light 
 afflictions are our Heavenly Father’s rod of correction and come 
 upon us as proofs of his special love and of his purpose to make 
 
 us more fully “partakers of his holiness.” So Davidsaid and 
 
 sung, “Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, 0 Lord, and 
 teachest him out of thy law” (Ps. 94: 12). And even as far back 
 as the age of Job, Eliphaz said, “ Behold, happy is the man whom 
 God correcteth; therefore, despise not thou the chastening of the 
 Almighty, for he maketh sore and bindeth up” (Job 5: 17, 18). 
 See also Rev. 3 : 19. 
 
 13. Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man 
 that getteth understanding: 
 
 14. For the merchandise of it is better than the mer- 
 chandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. 
 
 15. She is more precious than rubies: and all the things 
 thou canst desire are” not to be compared unto her. 
 
 Men of the world are wont to think those happy who amass 
 gold and all precious things. Solomon pronounces those blessed who 
 find wisdom because she is better than all riches. “Merchan- 
 
 dise” is not used here for the traffic itself, but rather for the gain 
 acquired by traffic. He means that wisdom is worth more than 
 silver, and therefore it is more blessed to gain wisdom than to gain 
 
 silver. “Rubies” represent all precious stones, such as have 
 
 been in all ages the highest standard of value. Finally, he 
 
 closes this comparison of wisdom with all things most precious by 
 saying, exhaustively: Of all the things which thou dost most desire, 
 not one can be compared with wisdom. What more could he 
 say to treasure-seeking men to extol its value ? 
 
 16. Length of days is in her right hand ; and in her left 
 hand riches and honor. 
 
 17. Her ways are w T ays of pleasantness, and all her paths 
 are peace. 
 
 18. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her : 
 and happy is every one that retaineth her. 
 
PROVERBS — CHAP. III. 
 
 25 
 
 Wisdom now stands before us in angelic female form, her hands 
 loaded with the blessings she has to bestow. The picture is ex- 
 quisitely beautiful. Long life in one hand; in the other riches 
 and honor; her ways all pleasantness and her paths peace — this 
 
 being the word under which the Orientals group all blessings. 
 
 Trees are symbols of perpetuity. A “tree of life” is therefore a 
 perennial fountain of good, deemed worthy to represent even the 
 joys of the heavenly paradise. This passage, descriptive of the 
 blessedness of wisdom, has been greatly admired for its richness 
 and beauty. But still we may say the picture is not overdrawn. 
 The wisdom that begins in the fear and love of God, and then 
 gratefully accepts the guiding hand of the All-wise Father, is a 
 fountain of perpetual blessedness. 
 
 19. The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth ; by 
 understanding hath he established the heavens. 
 
 20. By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the 
 clouds drop down the dew. 
 
 To heighten his commendation of wisdom, he adds that God 
 himself has it and uses it, and especially that he brought it into 
 use most signally in founding the earth, in establishing the heav- 
 ens, in distributing the waters of our globe, and in making pro- 
 vision for the rich and precious dew. “How manifold are thy 
 works, 0 Lord; in wisdom hast thou made them all!” Follow- 
 
 ing the conception in Gen. 1 : 6-8, we must explain the breaking 
 up of the great depths of water in accordance with the ancient 
 notion, that, on the second of the six days of creation, God divided 
 the waters of our globe into two great masses ; the one reposing 
 on the earth, and the other on a solid firmament over our heads — 
 this latter mass being stored there to supply the clouds, the rains and 
 the dews. Science has given us a different view of the firmament 
 and of the laws by which the waters of our globe are kept in cir- 
 culation ; laws, however, which display to every eye the consummate 
 
 wisdom of their Author. Let it be our joy that the Father of 
 
 all wisdom proposes to us: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him 
 ask of God who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not, 
 and it shall be given him” (Jam. 1 : 5). 
 
 21. My son, let not them depart from thine eyes; keep 
 sound wisdom and discretion: 
 
 22. So shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace to thy 
 neck. 
 
 The renewed address, “my son,” indicates a new point in the 
 general subject, and one to which the writer would call special 
 attention. (See 2: 1 and 3: 1, 11.) Remarkably he says, “Let 
 not them depart,” without having said any thing to suggest definitely 
 what he meant by u them." Of course they are things of which 
 his own mind was full, viz. : What he has said about wisdom. 
 Hold those things ever in thine eye ; do not lose sight of them for 
 
26 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. III. 
 
 an instant. As one who has a sacred charge to keep and must 
 needs have it perpetually under his eye, so let thy heart keep 
 
 wisdom and discretion. “Life to thy soul” should be the 
 
 higher life in which the soul lives before God ; lives in the sense 
 of true blessedness; lives to assert its just prerogatives as of a 
 higher nature than the body, and therefore worthy to hold the 
 appetites of the body in subordination to its own nobler impulses 
 
 and powers. It shall be “grace to thy neck” in the sense of an 
 
 ornament of beauty, for what can be more beautiful than the life 
 that is governed by true wisdom ? 
 
 23. Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy 
 foot shall not stumble. 
 
 24. When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid : yea, 
 thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet. 
 
 The two points made here are safety from external danger, and 
 exemption from disquieting fear. Walking abroad unharmed 
 represents the one ; lying down at home in sweet sleep and repose 
 betokens the other. The writer assumes that God takes care of 
 his wisely obedient and trustful children, so that they neither 
 come into collision with perils abroad nor suffer from the unrest 
 of a troubled conscience in the silence of night, and in the home 
 hours of repose. 
 
 25. Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation 
 of the wicked, when it cometh. 
 
 26. For the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep 
 thy foot from being taken. 
 
 The same general thought is put here in the form of precept 
 and promise. Let not thy mind be disturbed with sudden fear ; 
 be not afraid of the desolation that comes with crushing force upon 
 the wicked. For the Lord God shall be thy confidence. Trusting 
 in him no harm can befall thee nor plague come nigh thy dwell- 
 ing. This line of thought runs through Ps. 91, beginning — 
 
 “ He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide 
 under the shadow of the Almighty.” It appears also in imagery 
 surpassingly magnificent and sublime in the last words of Moses 
 (Deut. 33 : 26-29). “ There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun 
 
 who rideth upon the heavens in thy help and in his excellency on 
 the sky. The eternal God is thy Refuge, and underneath are the 
 everlasting arms ; and he shall thrust out the enemy from before 
 thee, and shall say, Destroy them,”- etc. It is refreshing to 
 notice the fullness and richness of this sentiment as held by the 
 patriarchs of old — God, the Refuge of his trustful saints. 
 
 27. Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, 
 when it is in the power of thine hand to do it 
 
 28. Say not unto thy neighbor, Go, and come again, and 
 to-morrow I will give ; when thou hast it by thee. 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. III. 
 
 27 
 
 Wisdom has its practical duties toward fellow- jeings ; here are 
 some of them. The wise teacher, like Solomon, must not content 
 himself with drawing beautiful pictures of a pious life. He must 
 do something more than embellish his theme and charm our im- 
 agination with its splendors. It behooves him to come down to its 
 practical applications and show us how true wisdom will make us 
 live in the midst of a world of want and of suffering — a world in 
 which every human being, however lowly or uncomely, is yet a 
 
 man and a brother. First in order he says : The good you have 
 
 it in your power to bestow upon one in need thereof, you must not 
 withhold. The fact that another needs it and that you can give 
 it, makes it due from yourself to him. When your neighbor s 
 pinching want drives him to your door, say not to him, “Go, and 
 come again/’ as if your hard heart and close hand would fain 
 stave off a painful call in hope it would never return. When thou 
 hast it by thee, let thy heart give with the promptness of love. 
 This is true wisdom. Man should live not to swell his own pile, 
 but to bless his fellows ; not to amass for himself, but to impart to 
 others. God fills the world around us with want that we may 
 never lack the opportunity of putting forth a kind hand to some 
 needy one. The special point to be noticed here is the underlying 
 assumption that help is due to the weak from the strong. This is 
 the doctrine of practical wisdom. That life of wisdom which flows 
 along with such inimitable peace and blessedness as we have seen 
 in this chapter has a practical working side to it; and here are some 
 of its manifestations. 
 
 29. Devise not evil against thy neighbor, seeing he 
 dwelleth securely by thee. 
 
 .Take no advantage of your unsuspecting neighbor to plot mis- 
 chief against him. If he sleep with unbarred door through his 
 confidence in honest neighbors, enter not that door as a thief and 
 a robber. If he make contracts in all good faith, relying on your 
 integrity and neglecting the safeguards of writing and of the 
 technical forms of law, abuse not his confidence. You can not 
 afford to make a penny at the cost of your own self-respect and at 
 
 the cost of God’s favor. In some aspects of the case it seems 
 
 marvelous that such maxims should be deemed necessary in this 
 category of the precepts of wisdom. But Solomon had seen start- 
 ling developments of human nature — men who would fain be 
 thought wise and good, yet who would labor to gain the confidence 
 of their neighbors only to abuse it, as this precept suggests. We 
 may assume that he believed in the fact of human depravity. 
 
 30. Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done 
 thee no harm. 
 
 Like the one preceding, this precept seems almost too obvious 
 to require statement. The sin condemned is so palpable and so 
 outrageous, why should any mortal ever need to be exhorted against 
 
28 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. Ill 
 
 it ? If he had said, Bear much and bear long rather than strive 
 in self-defence or attempted redress, the precept would be more 
 nearly what we should naturally expect. But selfishness and sin 
 beget folly and a most unreasonable abuse of others. This striving 
 with one Who has done us no harm is a long way from the life of 
 true wisdom. 
 
 31. Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his 
 ways. 
 
 32. For the fro ward is abomination to the Lord : but his 
 secret is with the righteous. 
 
 The oppressor is supposed to enrich himself by his oppression 
 of his weaker neighbor. But even if he does, do not envy his 
 ill-gotten gain nor choose his way of getting rich. God abhors 
 
 him! Perhaps these verses have a tacit connection with the 
 
 two immediately preceding, showing that the temptation to devise 
 evil against thy unsuspecting neighbor and the striving with one 
 who has never harmed thee contemplate cases of oppression not 
 unlike the American slavery that was. Let God be praised, if we 
 may say — that is, no longer! Men are not wont to devise evil 
 without an object, and that object will be some form of oppression. 
 
 God’s secret is with the righteous — this word implying his in- 
 timate fellowship and friendship. It occurs Ps. 25: 14, “The se- 
 cret of the Lord is with them that fear him;” also Ps. 55: 14, 
 “We took sweet counsel together;” literally, We made our asso- 
 ciation together sweet. 
 
 33. The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked : 
 but he blesseth the habitation of the just. 
 
 Probably the thought here continues from the preceding verse, 
 the connection being that God’s curse follows unrighteous gain, 
 comes into the oppressor’s house and abides there, a scourge and 
 a minister of vengeance, converting his fancied good into a living 
 eurse. On the other hand, the just man who wrongs not his 
 neighbor, but befriends him in his need, may be sure of God’s 
 blessing on his habitation. 
 
 34. Surely he scorneth the scorners : but he giyeth grace 
 unto the lowly. 
 
 If men will scorn the Lord, spurning his precepts of wisdom, 
 he will show that he can scorn them, sending his curse upon their 
 house; discarding them from his fellowship and counting them 
 an abomination. The grace of his favor he gives with full heart 
 to the lowly. 
 
 35. The wise shall inherit glory : but shame shall be the 
 promotion of fools. 
 
 To “inherit” carries the idea of permanence. Glory shall be 
 the permanent reward of the wise, their life-long possession, per- 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. IV. 
 
 29 
 
 haps descending to their children after them. In the last clause 
 
 our received translation gives a good sense: Shame shall be. the 
 only distinction of fools ; their shame and that only shall lift them 
 up to public notice. Another sense somewhat different is possible: 
 Every fool shall bear away shame, i. e ., as his portion; or in yet 
 another construction: Shame shall sweep away fools, i. e., into 
 destruction. I prefer the construction first named, as giving the 
 usual sense of the Hebrew verb, viz., to lift up, to raise high; 
 and as affording a natural connection with the clause preceding. 
 The wise have glory legitimately as their own due reward; but 
 all the glory of fools is the prominence which their disgrace gives 
 them. They become notorious for their infamy! 
 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 In this chapter the writer pursues the same general course of 
 thought, commending wisdom, and exhorting the young especially 
 to study, attain, love, and obey it. 
 
 1. Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and at- 
 tend to know understanding. 
 
 2. For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law. 
 
 Instead of “ my son,” the usual form of address, we have here, 
 “ ye sons ” — the same word, only in the plural form and without 
 the term “my.” “Doctrine” stands here in the sense of in- 
 
 struction, something to be received and taken hold of by the ear 
 and the mind. By all the love and regard ye bear to a father, 
 listen to his counsels, for he loves you, and his experience will 
 give you the ripened fruits of wisdom. 
 
 3. For I was my father’s son, tender and only beloved in 
 the sight of my mother. 
 
 4. He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart 
 retain my words : keep my commandments, and live. 
 
 5. Get wisdom, get understanding : forget it not ; neither 
 decline from the words of my mouth. 
 
 6. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee : love 
 her, and she shall keep thee. 
 
 I too (Solomon would say) was myself a son, cherished by a 
 kind father, tenderly beloved of my mother, and 1 know, therefore, 
 what it is to be the object of fond parental love. I remember the 
 counsels of my aged father. I seem even now to hear him saying 
 in ray ear, Let thy heart retain my words ; keep my command* 
 
30 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. IV. 
 
 ments ; so shalt thou live. Wisdom will reward thee for any and 
 all of the regard thou mayest pay to her. If thou will not for- 
 sake her, she will surely preserve thee from harm. Give her thy 
 heart’s love, and she will keep thee With the best of all keeping. 
 
 7. Wisdom is the principal thing ; therefore get wisdom : 
 and with all thy getting get understanding. 
 
 The original word for “principal thing” may bear the sense of 
 first thing , or the beginning . Hence some critics construe this 
 clause to mean, The first thino; in wisdom is to get wisdom ; the 
 beginning of wisdom is to get it. But 1 can not regard this con- 
 struction as in any respect better than that of our received ver- 
 sion, viz., The best thing of all is wisdom; therefore get it; get 
 it, though at the cost of all thine other acquisitions. It is the 
 
 pearl of great price; sell all thou hast to buy it. The last 
 
 clause means, not along with all other gettings, but with the aid 
 of them all, at the cost (if need be) of them all. You can not 
 pay too much for it. 
 
 8. Exalt her, and she shall promote thee : she shall bring 
 thee to honor, when thou dost embrace her. 
 
 9. She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace : 
 a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee. 
 
 The thought in the first clause is put with equal beauty and 
 strength. Exalt wisdom, and she will exalt thee; honor her and 
 
 she will repay the favor in kind and exalt thee to honor. That 
 
 wisdom will adorn the wise is a favorite sentiment with Solomon, 
 it having appeared already in 1 : 9 and 3 : 3, 4, 22. This fact 
 ought to take strong hold of all the youthful lovers of beauty and 
 splendor. Let them know that there is no adorning to compare 
 with that of intrinsic virtue. “ The ornament of a meek and 
 quiet spirit is in the sight of God of great price.” Beauty of 
 soul surpasses all beauty of complexion and form, outlasting all 
 charms of person and shining forth with only the more glory 
 when the wrinkles of age creep over all that is merely “of the 
 earth, earthy.” 
 
 10. Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the 
 years of thy life shall be many. 
 
 11. I have taught thee in the way of wisdom ; I have led 
 thee in right paths. 
 
 12. When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened ; 
 and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble. 
 
 13. Take fast hold of instruction ; let her not go : keep 
 her ; for she is thy life. 
 
 That wisdom (implying true piety and a judicious observance of 
 the laws of life) promotes health and length of days, is always 
 true; was true in the age of Solomon, and never can be otherwise 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. IV. 
 
 31 
 
 than true. Yet it may be conceded that worldly prosperity, in 
 the case both of nations and of individuals, was more uniformly 
 the fruit of well-doing under that ancient economy than under 
 our own. There were reasons then for a prompt and unvarying 
 retribution for good or ill conduct which do not exist in this 
 Christian age of the world. Whoever will read the book of Deu- 
 teronomy attentively will see both the fact and the reasons for 
 it. V. 12 speaks of steps as not straitened , a figure very com- 
 
 mon in the Hebrew writers and specially pertinent in an age 
 when oftentimes men (e. g ., David before Saul) sought safety by 
 flight, and of course needed a fair field and a wide range. But 
 if they fell into a strait place, hedged in, with no outlet for escape, 
 alas! their flight was arrested and escape became impossible. 
 
 Wisdom saves men from these straitened places. In running, 
 
 men encounter a new danger, guarded against here by the prom- 
 ise, “Thou shalt not stumble.” The spirit of v. 13 is, Be care- 
 
 ful not only to hold fast instruction in the sense of not forgetting 
 it, but also in the sense of never failing to obey it. Be careful 
 to act accordingly; so shall instruction be thy life. 
 
 14. Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in 
 the way of evil men . 
 
 15. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass 
 away. 
 
 With all the earnestness of solemn repetition, the writer ad- 
 monishes the young against going at all in the path of the 
 
 wicked. In v. 15 the words, “Pass not by it,” do not forbid 
 
 going past it, but rather forbid going in it, going at all that way. 
 Avoid it (the path of the wicked) ; pass not along over it or even 
 near it ; turn from it,, and so pass on. 
 
 16. For they sleep not, except they have done mischief ; 
 and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to 
 fall. 
 
 17. For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the 
 wine of violence. 
 
 Their hearts are fully set on mischief; they never think their 
 day’s work done unless they have ruined somebody. Their very 
 bread is gotten by wickedness; their wine by violence. They live 
 upon robbery and murder. Why, my son, shouldst thou have 
 fellowship with such wickedness ? 
 
 18. But the path of the just is as the shining light, that 
 shineth more and more unto the perfect day. 
 
 19. The way of the wicked is as darkness : they know 
 not at what they stumble. 
 
 The wicked men who live by crime walk in a way of growing 
 darkness in which they erelong stumble, perhaps never knowing 
 upon what. They plunge headlong and are lost to the sight and 
 
32 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. IV. 
 
 thought of the living, only that the good breathe more easily, 
 conscious that a burden is lifted from the bosom of society. But 
 the path of the just is like the growing light of morning, faint 
 rays first streaming upon the eastern sky, brightening each mo- 
 ment, disclosing new beauties and new glories till at length the 
 mighty sun himself is up and looks forth abroad over all the 
 
 earth with his benign smile. Some critics assume that this 
 
 figure of increasing sunlight covers only the period from the first 
 dawn of light to sunrise, while others extend it to noon when the 
 perfect day is fully developed. The choice between these limita- 
 tions to the figure does not essentially affect its pertinence and 
 beauty, much less its significance. The change is more rapid and 
 impressive if you close the scene at full sunrise. From that point 
 onward to midday, the “shining more and more” is less obvious. 
 Either way the figure is full of beauty, and the truth that shines 
 forth in it is most precious. Legitimately the path of the just 
 brightens as he progresses, ending often in a mild radiance of 
 glory like a golden sunset. He is nearing heaven alike in the 
 march of time and in the mellow ripeness of every Christian 
 grace; why then should it surprise us that some beams from that 
 world of light should heighten the glories of his “perfect day” 
 
 before it closes? The ungodly are not so. Ah! their ever- 
 
 darkening path ! Each joy dying out; every sorrow growing more 
 bitter and more hopeless; sick of life and yet more dreading death ; 
 oppressed with the consciousness of having made life an utter fail 
 ure; what can be so dismal as the sinners latter end ? 
 
 20. My son, attend to my words ; incline thine ear unto 
 my sayings. 
 
 21. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in 
 the midst of thine heart. 
 
 22. For they are life to those that find them, and health 
 to all their flesh. 
 
 These sentiments have appeared substantially before. We may 
 consider their repetition here as prompted by the life and death- 
 scenes of the just man and of the wicked man, as portrayed in 
 the verses next above. With those scenes vividly in mind, how 
 solemnly emphatic must these admonitions become ? 
 
 23. Keep thy heart with all diligence ; for out of it are 
 the issues of life. 
 
 Watch thy heart more than all other things that are to be kept, 
 because out of it flow the streams of thy life. The terseness of 
 the Hebrew tongue enabled them to say — “Watch thy heart above 
 all keeping, for from it are the outflo wings of life.” The heart 
 seems to be thought of as a fountain from which flow out all the 
 streams of human joy or sorrow — the streams that make up the 
 weal or woe of human life. Since man has the making and the 
 guarding of his own life-fountain put under his own charge, it 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. V. 
 
 33 
 
 behooves him to account it his first duty to keep it well. This 
 life-fountain is the heart, the moral heart, out of which, says our 
 divine Lord, “proceed those things that defile the man — evil 
 thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, theft, false witness, 
 blasphemies.” Out of this come also the genial sympathies, the 
 love and the friendship, the sweet charities that perpetually react 
 to bless their authors and givers. But, above all, let it be con- 
 sidered that with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; 
 from the heart men repent with repentance never to be repented 
 of; the love of the heart is the fulfilling of God’s great law and 
 brings the soul into sympathy with heaven. Verily, there is 
 infinite reason for keeping the heart with all diligence, since out 
 of it flow such issues of life. 
 
 24. Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse 
 lips put far from thee. 
 
 25. Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eye-lids 
 look straight before thee. 
 
 26. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways 
 be established. 
 
 27. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left : remove 
 thy foot from evil. 
 
 “Froward” (v. 24) translates a Hebrew word which means de- 
 ceitful false, a mouth that speaketh lies, one that distorts the 
 truth. “Perverse lips ” are the same. Solomon exhorts his young 
 friends to speak the simple truth and never allow their lips to 
 prevaricate, deceive, or in any wise to discolor the facts of the 
 case. So the next verse beautifully conceives of the path of right 
 and duty as straight, on a right line, and not tortuous and zigzag. 
 Let thine eye look ever straight onward, with no thought of devi- 
 ation from simple uprightness. Ponder (in Heb. weigh), i. e ., 
 
 carefully consider the path of thy feet that thy ways may be ever- 
 more on solid ground, firmly planted. Turn into no devious 
 path, either to the right hand, or to the left. Reject all thought 
 of guile, mischief, wrong, in any form. Are not these noble words 
 of wisdom ? 
 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 Solomon admonishes the young man against licentiousness and 
 against all association with the lewd woman. The same general 
 subject appears in chap. 2: 16-19 and 6: 24-35 and 7: 5-27. 
 
 1. My son attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear 
 to my understanding : 
 
34 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. V. 
 
 2. That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips 
 may keep knowledge. 
 
 The fact that the temptations to lewdness are so powerful and 
 so seductive in youth gives emphasis to the admonition. Attend, 
 my son, to my paternal counsels, that thou mayest rule thy spirit 
 and life wisely, and that thy words may be always words of 
 knowledge. 
 
 3. For the lips of a strange woman drop as a honey- 
 comb, and her mouth is smoother than oil : 
 
 4. But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two- 
 edged sword. 
 
 In the primary sense of the phrase, the “ strange woman " is 
 the foreigner, the woman from the outlying countries and of out- 
 landish ways, i. e ., in those times, notorious for lewdness. (See 
 the record respecting Moab and Midian, Num. 25.) The phrase 
 probably came into current use to denote prostitutes of whatever 
 nation, women lost to virtue and mighty to ensnare and ruin the 
 simple. Of such a woman Solomon says : “ Her lips distill honey;” 
 her sweet words charm the unwary. Her mouth is smoother than 
 oil, so artfully can she allure her victims. Her “end” is obvi- 
 
 ously thought of as both her own and that of her paramours and 
 victims. As the honey of her lips is not so much sweet to her- 
 self as sweet and seductive to others, so her bitter end involves 
 not herself alone but preeminently those whom she seduces into 
 crime and consequent ruin. The figures make strong contrasts; 
 the sweetness of honey in the beginning but the bitterness of 
 wormwood in the end. Her mouth is smoother than oil to entice 
 to sin ; but the sin committed becomes in the end sharp as a 
 two-edged sword. Such are the contrasts between the beginnings 
 of sin and the end thereof! It is preeminently true of this form 
 of sin. 
 
 5. Her feet go down to death ; her steps take hold on hell. 
 
 Her “feet” and her “steps” denote not merely her own course 
 of life, but that of her victims as well. She goes down to death 
 and hell, but not alone; she drags her guilty associates with her, 
 
 and together they sink into the grave and to perdition! Her 
 
 feet go down to death. (1.) Because the sin of adultery was by 
 the law of Moses a capital crime, punishable by death. (Deut. 
 22 : 21-25. See also Gen. 38 : 24 ) Illicit connection with “ strange 
 women ” who were foreigners and of course idolaters would be a 
 most aggravated crime. (See the record, Num. 25.) (2.) Because 
 
 God has written his abhorrence of the sin of lewdness in the very 
 laws of man's physical constitution. Human flesh is heir to no 
 forms of disease more loathsome or more fatal than those which 
 stand guard around this sin and visit their swift retribution on 
 the guilty. (3.) Since repentance and reformation almost never 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. V. 
 
 35 
 
 intervene to arrest the career either of the lewd woman or of her 
 associates in crime, their course leads not only to the grave but 
 to the doom of the lost beyond. While it can not be maintained 
 that the Hebrew word Sheol, here translated “hell, ” denoted pri- 
 marily the place of future punishment, yet there can be no reason- 
 able doubt that God taught his ancient people to think of the 
 sinner s death and the sinner’s grave as opening the door-way 
 and leading down to the w T oes of lost souls. “ The wicked is 
 driven away in his wickedness ; but the righteous (he only) hath 
 hope in his death ” (Prov. 14 : 32). “ The wicked shall be turn- 
 
 ed into hell and all the nations that forget God ” (Ps. 9: 17). 
 The system of governing the world morally, which God pursued 
 in those early ages of our race, in which he often, if not usually, 
 began his fearful retributions upon the wicked here in time, and 
 before the very eyes of men, could not fail to associate the first 
 death with the second — the judgments which cut down the incor- 
 rigible sinner and drove him out of this world, with that final 
 doom which was indeed only the same retribution resumed and 
 made eternal. Let the reader consider attentively the contrasted 
 destinies of the wicked and of the righteous as presented in Ps. 
 73: the wicked “cast down into destruction;” “brought into deso- 
 lation as in a moment;” “ utterly consumed with terrors;” but the 
 righteous man peacefully singing: “Thou shalt guide me with thy 
 counsel, and afterward receive me to glory ;” “ Whom have I in 
 heaven but thee, and there is none upon earth that I desire 
 besides thee.” And let us suppose that we, too, like this psalmist, 
 had gone into their ancient sanctuary and had heard there what 
 we may read to-day of the doom of Korah and his company (Num. 
 16: 29-33); how Moses said, “If these men die the common death 
 of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men, 
 then the Lord hath not sent me. But if the Lord do a new thing 
 and the earth open her mouth and swallow them up and they go 
 down alive into Sheol (the very word used by Solomon here), then 
 ye shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord.” 
 Such a going down into Sheol has indeed the grave for the body 
 in the foreground, but certainly this is not the whole of the sin- 
 ner’s death. It is only the vestibule of the real hell. So of the 
 hell upon which the steps of the strange woman take hold, and to 
 which she drags down her fellow sinners. 
 
 6. Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways 
 are movable, that thou canst not know them . 
 
 This verse involves real difficulty, and hence has been construed 
 variously. A part of the difficulty lies in the fact that the gram- 
 matical forms of the verbs translated, “ponder” and “know,” are 
 ambiguous, inasmuch as they may be either the second person 
 masculine or the third person feminine, i. e., either, “lest thou, 
 young man, shouldst ponder,” or lest “she, the strange woman, 
 should ponder;” and so of the verb “know.” The sense in- 
 
 tended by the translators of our English version is by no means 
 
36 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. V. 
 
 very clear. What did they mean by “movable” as applied to 
 
 her ways ? Prof. Stuart translates the verse : “ That she may 
 
 not ponder the path of life, her ways are become unsteady, while 
 she regards it not;” in other words, “she is so busied and per- 
 plexed with her vacillating course that she fails to ponder the 
 path of life.” This seems to me to be weak in sentiment for such 
 a connection. Dr. Muenscher gives it a better sense : “ The way 
 of life she doth not ponder, her paths are devious, while she re- 
 gardeth it not;” i. e., “she plunges reckless and headlong into 
 a whirlpool of dissipation and crime, the inevitable result of which 
 is destruction.” Others variously. In my view the course of 
 thought in the three preceding verses very strongly favors the 
 reference of this verse to the strange woman rather than directly 
 to the young man. The word rendered “movable” suggests the 
 staggering drunkard. I would paraphrase the verse; The path 
 of life she will not seriously think of; she reels, staggers, plunges 
 downward to her doom ere she knows it. That is, she goes to 
 hell in the most natural way. Repelling all thought of the way 
 of life, and staggering on as one drunk with the poison of her 
 own cup, she is gone before she knows it! How fitly, therefore, 
 is it said that 1 her steps take hold on hell ! Who can loosen their 
 fatal grasp upon that broad precipitous way and that terrible end 
 thereof ? 
 
 7. Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not 
 from the words of my mouth. 
 
 8. Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the 
 door of her house : 
 
 The word “therefore” has force. Since the strange woman's 
 doom is such as this — so sure, so near, so awful to herself and to 
 her ensnared victims, I implore you all, ye children, to hear me 
 and never turn away from the words of my mouth. Especially 
 I entreat you to keep your life-path far away from hers and come 
 not near the door of her house. Only in distance can ye find 
 real safety. Take care that ye never come within the sweep of 
 her temptations. How sensible! 
 
 9. Lest thou give thine honor unto others, and thy 
 years unto the cruel : 
 
 10. Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth ; and thy 
 labors be in the house of a stranger ; 
 
 Lest thou give (not precisely thine “honor” but) thy vigor, the 
 stamina and strength of thy life-power (Stuart has it, “ thy bloom ”) 
 to others, and thy years to a cruel one — said with reference, some 
 suppose, to the master to whom, as a slave, the convicted adulterer 
 might be sold in punishment for his crime. But it may more 
 naturally refer to the harlot herself and to her husband or other 
 friends into whose power the lewd young man would fall. It were 
 all in vain for him to look for mercy there! They might seiz3 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. V. 
 
 37 
 
 upon his wealth, and the fruits of his toil would pass into the 
 hands of strangers. His manly vigor lost; his years cut short; 
 his money squandered and himself at the mercy of the merciless — 
 what is he hut the wreck of what might have been a man ! 
 
 11. And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy 
 body are consumed, 
 
 12. And say, How have I hated instruction, and my 
 heart despised reproof; 
 
 13. And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor 
 inclined mine ear to them that instructed me ! 
 
 14. I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congrega- 
 tion and assembly. 
 
 O, there will be mourning in such a latter end of human lifel 
 So great a ruin for so small a consideration; the wealth of a 
 noble existence thrown recklessly away ! Think of the picture 
 drawn here in colors so vivid ; the miserable youth dying of effete 
 old age long years before his time; looking in the agony of de- 
 spair upon the flesh and the body which God made strong, but 
 which his early vices have prematurely wasted ; and then in the 
 bitterest remorse cursing himself for having recklessly spurned 
 instruction and despised reproof ; tracing his inheritance of woe 
 to its true cause in his own inexcusable folly, and giving free 
 utterance to his self-reproach as if his last and only remaining 
 duty to his race were to turn his miseries to some account for 
 the warning of those who were now hearing such counsels as he 
 
 had madly disregarded ! The last words of his confession go 
 
 deep and give a yet darker shading to the life-scene. “I was in 
 almost every kind of evil;” for lewdness breaks down the human 
 conscience and drives its victims into almost all possible sins; and 
 this too, not in secret only, but in public, despite of the virtuous 
 sentiments of the good — “in the midst of the congregation and 
 assembly.” 
 
 15. Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and run- 
 ning waters out of thine own well. 
 
 16. Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of 
 waters in the streets. 
 
 17. Let them be only thine own, and not strangers’ with 
 thee. 
 
 18. Let thy fountains be blessed: and rejoice with the 
 wife of thy youth. 
 
 19. Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let 
 her breasts satisfy thee at all times ; and be thou ravished 
 always with her love. 
 
 In these verses the theme is one — to commend God’s holy insti- 
 tution of marriage and to exhort the young man to be true to its 
 
38 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP V. 
 
 vows and satisfied with its enjoyments. The figures employed ; 
 “waters out of thine own cistern;” “running waters out of thine 
 own well” (v. 15); “thy fountain” (v. 18); all find their cor- 
 responding literal expression and hence their explanation in the 
 words, “Rejoice with the wife of thy youth.” The only words 
 of doubtful application are those of v. 16. And here the only 
 real question is whether or not the writer takes the broadly com- 
 prehensive view of a well ordered family which accounts children 
 as a heritage from the Lord and a numerous offspring as a bless- 
 ing to the world. This is no doubt true, and a truth niost heartily 
 embraced by the virtuous sentiment of the age of Solomon. But 
 the strain of the whole passage favors rather this sense : Let these 
 joys with the wife of thy youth seem to thee evermore abundant 
 and sufficient (v. 16); and let them be exclusively thine own and 
 not another’s with thee (v. 17). In this view, “fountains dis- 
 persed abroad” and “ rivers in the streets” are merely images of 
 abundance. According to the divine institution, live happily with 
 one wife and let her love be to thee as an overflowing fountain. 
 V. 19 presents the same sentiment under new figures. 
 
 20. And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a 
 strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger ? 
 
 21. For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, 
 and he pondereth all his goings. 
 
 It is remarkable here that the expostulations against illicit con- 
 nection with the lewd and base woman are enforced, not by any 
 of the lesser and lower considerations, but promptly and squarely 
 by that highest and most commanding of all — the awful eye of 
 God! That eye which forever seeth in secret ; that eye from which 
 no darkness can hide; which no unchaste deed or even thought 
 can escape — is on thee , and his pure mind pondereth all thy goings. 
 Therefore, before thou shalt suffer thyself to cherish one impure 
 thought, say promptly as the youthful Joseph said — “ How can I 
 do this great wickedness and sin against God!” (Gen. 39: 9.) 
 Let this avail to shut off all temptation. How can I afford to in- 
 cur the wrath of the great and holy God ! 
 
 22. His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, 
 and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins. 
 
 By a figure common as well as forcible, sin is personified and 
 armed with power to seize and punish the guilty. His own ini- 
 quity shall seize upon the wicked man himself and bind him with 
 its own cords. The executioner of justice will never be far away, 
 Ye need not hope to avoid his eye or elude his grasp, for where 
 the sin is, there is the Nemesis, the avenger to punish sin and to 
 make escape utterly impossible ! 
 
 23. He shall die without instruction ; and in the great- 
 ness of his folly he shall go astray. 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP VI. 
 
 39 
 
 He dies, not because he has never heard, but because he will 
 not receive instruction. The bitterness of his doom is in this : 
 “How have I hated instruction and in my heart despised reproof !” 
 It is in the greatness of his folly that he goes astray. This great 
 folly discards all wise counsel, and so he rushes madly upon his 
 own ruin !— — And shall it be nothing to thee, 0 young man, that 
 God has set before thee a pathway of life along which in purity 
 and innocence, in conjugal fidelity and mutual affection, thy foun 
 tain may be always blessed and there shall be no bitterness ir 
 the end; while on the other hand, he paints to thee the strange 
 woman as one whose feet go down to death and whose steps take 
 hold on hell, and who bequeathes to her victims only the bitterest 
 remorse and the most relentless and inexorable doom ! 
 
 0^00 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 This chapter comprises various topics: advice to those who may 
 have made themselves responsible for others’ debts (vs. 1-5); 
 rebuke to the sluggard (v. 6-11) ; the ways of a wicked man and 
 his doom (vs. 12-15) ; seven things which the Lord hates (vs. 16-19) ; 
 and renewed exhortations to honor parental authority and coun- 
 sel as a safeguard against adultery and the ruin it brings in its 
 train (vs. 23-35). 
 
 1. My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast 
 stricken thy hand with a stranger, 
 
 2. Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou 
 art taken with the words of thy mouth. 
 
 To be surety for another is equivalent in modern phrase to be- 
 coming his security or to undersigning his note or bond. “ Strik- 
 ing hands” together was one Hebrew method of publicly assuming 
 this responsibility. The second verse is generally supposed to 
 continue the description of the case, so that the word “if” should 
 be carried forward, thus : “ If thou hast been ensnared with the 
 words of thy mouth, i. e ., if thou hast orally given thy consent to 
 assume this responsibility for another’s debts.” The advice given 
 in such a case follows : 
 
 3. Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou 
 art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, 
 and make sure thy friend. 
 
 4. Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eye- 
 lids. 
 
 5. Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter , 
 and as a bird from the hand of the fowler. 
 
40 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. VI. 
 
 “ When thou art come into the hand of thy friend ” means 
 when thou hast thus placed thyself in his power, where, if he 
 please, he can neglect to pay his debt himself and compel you to 
 
 pay it. To the Hebrew word rendered “ humble thyself,” 
 
 some give the very strong sense, “prostrate thyself,” give thyself 
 up to be trodden upon” (Stuart); while others give it the prefer- 
 able sense of making haste. The last verb obviously does not 
 
 mean “make sure thy friend,” but rather be urgent with thy 
 friend; i. e ., insist that he must pay the debt himself and release 
 you. By the nature of the case, his making his friend sure is 
 the very point of his own trouble ; and now the problem is how to 
 release himself honorably from this assumed obligation. Solomon 
 presses his exhortation warmly ; do it before you sleep ; escape as 
 
 a roe chased by the hunter fleeing for dear life. Nothing can 
 
 be more clear than the doctrine of Solomon in regard to the prac- 
 tice of becoming security for another’s debts. It appears in 11: 15 ; 
 “ He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it; but he that 
 hateth suretyships is sure;” also 17: 18, “A man void of under- 
 standing striketh hands and becometh surety in the presence of 
 his friend;” again in 20: 16, and the same in 27: 13, “Take his 
 garment that is surety for a stranger, and take a pledge of him for 
 a strange woman;” see also 22: 26, 27. A different doctrine ob- 
 tained among the Jews at a later period, e. g ., in the second and 
 third centuries before Christ, as the reader may see in Ecclesiasti- 
 cus [The Wisdom of the Son of Sirach] 8:13 and 29 : 14-16, 18, 19. 
 The suretyship contemplated here should be broadly distin- 
 guished from either giving or lending to the poor for the supply of 
 their immediate necessities. The latter duties are specially en- 
 joined. The practice of suretyship came into the Hebrew com- 
 munity along with foreign commerce, such commerce creating the 
 chief occasion for loans of money. The laws of Moses, and, in- 
 deed, the spirit of the Hebrew constitution, never favored foreign 
 trade. In the latter periods of his life Solomon engaged extensively 
 in such trade himself; but perhaps even then he would have dis- 
 suaded his subjects from it. 
 
 6. Go to the ant, thou sluggard ; consider her ways, and 
 be wise : 
 
 I. Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, 
 
 8. Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her 
 food in the harvest. 
 
 9. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard ? when wilt 
 thou arise out of thy sleep ? 
 
 10. Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of 
 the hands to sleep : 
 
 II. So shall thy poverty come as one that traveleth, and 
 thy want as an armed man. 
 
 The little ant is put before the sluggard as a model of industry, 
 and most fitly. A very slight attention to his habits shows that 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. VI. 
 
 41 
 
 he is a wonderfully active and diligent worker. Two points of 
 
 his natural history are here assumed ; viz. : that he has no recog- 
 nized leader, and that he lays up food in summer for his use in 
 winter. It is not important for us to discuss the correctness of 
 these assumptions; suffice it that they were accepted as facts in 
 the age of Solomon. The scriptures were not designed to teach us 
 the natural history of animals ; we therefore wisely look elsewhere 
 for such knowledge. The moral lesson is equally good whether 
 the ant gathers his food for daily use only and hibernates in win- 
 ter, or gathers a surplus in summer upon which he subsists in 
 
 winter. It will be noticed that the lazy man is supposed to sleep 
 
 far into the morning. To see the full force of this, we must think 
 of the hot climate of Palestine and remember that if men did not 
 work in the very early hours of the day, they did not work at all. 
 To give these precious hours to sleep was to give one’s self to 
 utter idleness. Traveling could be done, and usually was, by 
 night ; but labor requiring daylight was best begun with the early 
 
 dawn. u So shall thy poverty come as one that traveleth:” — 
 
 the force of this figure being heightened by the intensive signifi- 
 cance of this form of the verb which means to ride swiftly; to 
 move with the highest speed: and also by the parallelism, “ an 
 armed man,” which suggests that the traveler here thought of is a 
 mounted robber, an Arab highwayman on his swift steed, rush- 
 ing upon yo.u with the speed of the wind and with no forewarning. 
 So shall poverty come upon the sleeping sluggard. 
 
 12. A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a 
 froward mouth. 
 
 13. He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, 
 he teacheth with his fingers ; 
 
 14. Frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief 
 continually ; he soweth discord. 
 
 15. Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly ; sud- 
 denly shall he be broken without remedy. 
 
 The type of wickedness depicted here is that of guile, treachery, 
 and secret combination. This wicked man artfully plots mischief 
 in concert with his fellows, concealing his designs from his intend- 
 ed victims. The use of the feet as well as the fingers for secret 
 
 communication, reminds us that the Orientals had either a slight 
 covering for the feet, or none ; usually sandals when traveling, 
 nothing at home. Kitto remarks : “ The Orientals are wonderfully 
 proficient in making communications with each other by means 
 
 of signs and gestures with the eyes, the hands, and the feet.” 
 
 Upon such a wicked man, calamity shall come suddenly; it shall 
 crush him without remedy. Retribution will have her course; 
 society cannot endure such crime: God will not long delay his 
 visitations of vengeance. 
 
 16. These six things doth the Lord hate; yea, seven art 
 an abomination unto him : 
 
12 
 
 PROVERBS -CHAP. VI. 
 
 17. A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed 
 innocent blood, 
 
 18. A heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that 
 be swift in running to mischief, 
 
 19. A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that sow- 
 eth discord among brethren. 
 
 This method of enumeration, by first naming a lower number 
 and then adding one more, seems to have been in favor with the 
 Hebrews. See four instances in Prov. 30: viz., vs. 15, 18, 21, 29; 
 also Job 5: 19 — Eccl. 11: 2, and Amos 1 : 3, 6, 9, 11, 13 and 2: 
 
 1, 4, 6. Its use was obviously to aid the memory. Excepting 
 
 only the first, all the points here enumerated are direct violations 
 of the law of love to our neighbor ; and this first — the proud look 
 — breathes the spirit of contempt for our neighbor’s interest and 
 welfare. The lying tongue which you can not trust, and if you do, 
 it is at the cost of bitter disappointment, men will abhor, and God 
 
 yet more. A “false witness that speaketh lies” differs from 
 
 the lying tongue only in the circumstances, e. g ., before courts of 
 justice, in a case of special solemnity and importance. “Im- 
 
 aginations”, devised by a wicked heart, are not fancies, but plots 
 
 for mischief. It is well to consider that our great and good 
 
 Father holds all his intelligent moral creatures to love and. good- 
 will toward each other, simply because he loves all, rejoices in 
 their welfare, and joyfully accepts the obligation of doing all he 
 wisely can to secure the happiness of all. How then can he fail 
 to abhor those who maliciously set themselves to frustrate the 
 object so dear to his heart? 
 
 20. My son, keep tby father’s commandments, and for- 
 sake not the law of thy mother : 
 
 21. Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie 
 them about thy neck. 
 
 Lewdness, in the special form of adultery, leads the course of 
 thought throughout the remaining verses of this chapter and 
 
 through chap. 7, also. As your protection against this great sin, 
 
 Solomon would say, keep thy father’s commandments; forsake 
 not the law of thy mother ; bind them upon thine heart, tie them 
 about thy neck; see that thou keep them ever before thine eye 
 and close to thy heart. 
 
 22. When thou goest, it shall lead thee ; when thou 
 sleepest, it shall keep thee ; and when thou awakest, it shall 
 talk with thee. 
 
 These commandments and counsels will lead thy way safely, 
 shield thee from danger by night, and commune with thee 
 sweetly in thy waking hours. A lovely picture of the peace and 
 joy of duly regarding wise parental counsels. 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. VI. 
 
 43 
 
 23. For the commandment is a lamp ; and the law is 
 light ; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life ; 
 
 24. To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery 
 of the tongue of a strange woman. 
 
 A lamp giving forth its light in the darkness of night and thus 
 showing the way of safety, is a fine emblem of the judicious coun- 
 sels of discreet parents and friends. Their instructive reproofs 
 serve to shield the otherwise unsuspecting and unwary youth from 
 the bad woman. 
 
 25. Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither 
 let her take thee with her eye-lids. 
 
 Do not allow thine heart to be fascinated with her beauty. The 
 Orientals of that age painted their eye-lashes and eye-brows to 
 heighten the beauty of the eye. The custom prevails in the East 
 still. 
 
 26. For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought 
 to a piece of bread : and the adulteress will hunt for the 
 precious life. 
 
 Whoredom brings a man to the point of starvation, not only 
 because it begets idleness and neglect of all legitimate business, 
 but because it is a violation of law, and involves the guilty in its 
 penalties. In all well ordered communities, society seeks to pro- 
 tect its dearest interests by stringent laws against lewdness, and 
 especially against adultery. Solomon wrote with those laws and 
 their penalties, before his mind, as well as the natural consequences 
 of this class of sins. 
 
 27. Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes 
 not be burned? 
 
 28. Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be 
 burned ? 
 
 29. So he that goeth in to his neighbor’s wife; whoso- 
 ever toucheth her shall not be innocent. 
 
 By these forcible figures the writer would show his youthful 
 reader that he might as well take fire into his bosom, or walk with 
 bare feet on burning coals and yet think to escape harm, as yield 
 to the temptations to adultery, and yet escape just retribution for 
 such sin. Let him not think of adultery as anything but guilt, 
 crime, an outrage on most sacred rights ; an abomination both to 
 man and to God. 
 
 30 Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his 
 soul when he is hungry ; 
 
 31. But he shall be found, he shall restore seven-fold ; 
 he shall give all the substance of his house. 
 
44 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. VII. 
 
 Comparing this sin with theft, Solomon says that men will so far 
 abate their abhorrence of the thief, as not to despise him when 
 he steals to appease the gnawings of hunger; yet if he is discov- 
 ered and convicted, he must bear the sternest penalties of the law, 
 restoring seven-fold, even if this should strip him of all his sub- 
 stance. But he implies that the adulterer will have no such abate- 
 ment from the contempt and abhorrence of the community, nor 
 will the law remit a particle of its most righteous penalties in his 
 behalf. He neither deserves nor will he have the least sympathy; 
 he will look in vain for any softening down in the severity of his 
 condemnation, whether in the public sentiment of the community, 
 the penalties of civil law, or the just retributions of the Almighty. 
 
 32. But whoso committetli adultery with a woman lack- 
 eth understanding : he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul. 
 
 33. A wound and dishonor shall he get; and his reproach 
 shall not be wiped away. 
 
 No sin evinces greater folly and a more fatal lack of discretion ; 
 none other carries a more terrible ruin to one’s own soul. His 
 good name perishes ; his reproach no tears can wipe away. Who 
 can ever trust the adulterous young man to regard any rights or 
 interests of his fellow beings of either sex? How can he be 
 thought of otherwise than as a reckless enemy of his race ? 
 
 34. For jealousy is the rage of a man : therefore he will 
 not spare in the day of vengeance. 
 
 35. He will not regard any ransom ; neither will he rest 
 content, though thou givest many gifts. 
 
 The injured husband is brought to view here. No rage burns 
 more fiercely in human bosoms than this jealousy of the rights 
 of the marriage covenant. How often in every age do we see 
 this declaration verified; “He will not spare in the day of 
 vengeance!” He spurns the poor ransom that money can make; 
 you can not pacify him even with many gifts. He will forever 
 feel that the outrage and wrong are such as no money can repair. 
 Why then should the young be so reckless as to incur such rage 
 and such fearful retribution! 
 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The subject with which chap. 6 closes is resumed and presented 
 in somewhat new aspects ; the writer exhorting the young man to 
 keep his commandments and cherish wisdom (vs. 1-4), that so he 
 may be preserved from the strange woman (v. 5). To put the 
 virtuous upon their guard and to fill them with a just abhorrence 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. VII. 
 
 45 
 
 of the ways of crime, he sketches a life-scene in which are traced, 
 first, the young man void of understanding, abroad in the dark 
 night (vs. 8, 9); then a harlot and her vile seductions (vs. 10-20), 
 and the sudden and fearful ruin in which she involves her vic- 
 tims (vs. 21-23); closing with renewed exhortations against being 
 allured by one who has ruined her thousands and whose “ house 
 is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death ” 
 (vs. 24-27). 
 
 1. My son, keep my words, and lay up my command- 
 ments with thee. 
 
 2. Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as 
 the apple of thine eye. 
 
 8. Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the 
 table of thine heart. 
 
 In the phrase (v. 2), “ Keep my commandments and live,” the 
 word “live” is not a command but a promise; keep my com- 
 mandments; so shalt thou live: it shall be th.y life. The 
 
 “apple of the eye” is the pupil; in Heb. the little man of the 
 eye, the part in which you may see your own image (diminutively) 
 reflected. The sense: Keep my commandments with the utmost 
 care as you guard your eye from harm. This exhortation is 
 pressed and illustrated by every variety of figure — bind these 
 commandments upon thy fingers to be ever before thine eye; write 
 them upon tablets (not of silver or brass, but) of thy heart. 
 
 4. Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister ; and call under- 
 standing thy kinswoman : 
 
 5. That they may keep thee from the strange woman, 
 from the stranger which flattereth with her words. 
 
 Bring wisdom into the most endearing relations to thyself; let 
 her be to thee as a sister, a dear relative and bosom friend whose 
 counsels thou wilt most tenderly cherish. The special reason for 
 this as put here is, to keep thee from the allurements of the vile 
 woman — one among the chief dangers incident to youth. 
 
 6. For at the window of my house I looked through my 
 casement, 
 
 7. And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among 
 the youths, a young man void of understanding, 
 
 8. Passing through the street near her corner; and he 
 went the way to her house, 
 
 9. In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark 
 night : 
 
 “Casement ’ should rather be lattice. The same word occur- 
 ring (Judg. 5: 28) is there translated “lattico.” Solomon is 
 
 careful to indicate that this young man was one of the “simple 
 
46 
 
 PROVERBS-CHAP. VII. 
 
 ones,” never forethoughtful of consequences and easily led into 
 crime; one who, in the strong language of the writer, lacked heart 
 (was “void of understanding”). He saw him take the way to her 
 house; it was not in open day when good people transact their 
 business, but in the late evening, in the very heart of the dark 
 night. 
 
 10. And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire 
 of a harlot, and subtile of heart. 
 
 11. (She is loud and stubborn ; her feet abide not in her 
 house : 
 
 12. Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in 
 wait at every corner.) 
 
 In oriental life, both ancient and modern, harlots had an attire 
 
 of their own. (See Gen. 38: 14, 15.) “Subtile,” not frank, 
 
 truthful; but of concealed purpose, presenting a face fair but 
 false. “Loud,” i. e ., bold, void of modesty — one of her usual 
 
 characteristics. “ She is stubborn,” in the sense of having 
 
 broken utterly away from the obligations of her marriage covenant 
 and of being reckless of all right and duty. The original gives 
 precisely the idea of refractory , law-breaking and self-willed. “Her 
 feet abide not in her house;” her heart and life, her labors and 
 her pleasures, are not there. Her character reminds us by con- 
 trast of those golden words by Paul : “ Teach the young women 
 to be sober; to love their husbands; to love their children; to 
 be discreet, chaste, keepers at home ” (Tit. 2: 4, 5). 
 
 13. So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an 
 impudent face said unto him, 
 
 14. I have peace offerings with me ; this day have I paid 
 my vows. 
 
 “With an impudent face” is put forcibly in the Hebrew: “She 
 made her face strong ;” she assumed a brazen impudence, as a 
 woman would need to do to perpetrate such falsehoods for so vile 
 a purpose. Now she becomes very religious; she has made a 
 sacred vow and has a thanksgiving festival on hand, and it there- 
 fore happens most opportunely that she has found her dear friend 
 just at this auspicious moment to enjoy this feast with her. 
 
 15. Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to 
 seek thy face, and I have found thee. 
 
 16. I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, 
 with carved works , with fine linen of Egypt. 
 
 17. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and 
 cinnamon. 
 
 For this very purpose, she says, I came out in the depth of 
 this dark night to meet thee, to seek after thee very earnestly, 
 
 and now I am most happy to find thee.. In v. 16, the word 
 
 “carved” misleads the mind, the sense being only, “I have made 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. VII. 
 
 47 
 
 up my bed with coverlets, striped with various colors, of the fine 
 linen of Egypt; all in the highest style of refinement.” To this 
 she adds that she has sprinkled her couch with the choicest per- 
 fumes known to the East. 
 
 18. Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning : 
 let us solace ourselves with loves. 
 
 19. For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long 
 journey : 
 
 20. He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will 
 come home at the day appointed. 
 
 The “ goodman” is not merely the lord of the house, but the 
 husband. The Hebrew has it precisely, “There is nothing of 
 the man in his house;” but the article, “ the man,” points him out 
 as the head of the house and the real husband of this vile adul- 
 teress. He having taken a bag of money for a long journey, 
 
 you need not fear his unexpected return. The word she used 
 seems to mean, he will come home at the day of the full moon; 
 entirely definite, and a long time hence, since this was in a dark 
 and therefore moonless night, near the new moon. 
 
 21. With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, 
 with the flattering of her lips she forced him. 
 
 22. He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to 
 the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks ; 
 
 23. Till a dart strike through his liver ; as a bird hasteth 
 to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life. 
 
 With such allurements she drew him into her toils. Note the 
 accumulation of figures. He went with her as an ox goeth to 
 the slaughter, all unconscious of his doom ; as a man foot-chained 
 to the correction of his folly; as a bird hastening to the snare 
 that is to seize and hold him. So he goes, till a death dart strikes 
 to his liver. The general sense of the passage is clear, but the 
 precise meaning of the clause rendered, “As a fool to the correc- 
 tion of the stocks,” is somewhat doubtful. I have given the sense 
 which seems on the whole best supported. The case is that of 
 one already bound and being led to punishment; but it is to the 
 correction or chastisement of a fool, i. e ., of one who is reckless, 
 or of too little sense to be aware of what is before him. 
 
 24. Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and 
 attend to the words of my mouth. 
 
 25. Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray 
 in her paths. 
 
 “Therefore,” since such a doom fastens itself inevitably upon 
 such a crime, I implore you to hearken to my counsels and never 
 let thy heart lean toward her ways, or thy feet wander from the 
 right course into her deadly paths. 
 
 3 
 
48 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. VII. 
 
 26. For slie hath cast down many wounded: yea, many 
 strong men have been slain by her. 
 
 27. Her house is the way to hell, going down to the 
 chambers of death. 
 
 In v. 26 the word rendered 11 strong ” often means simply many— 
 a sense to be preferred here because the parallelism sustains it. 
 Literally, therefore, it is — She hath cast down many wounded; 
 yea, countless are her slain Not only her wounded but her slain 
 are a vast number. Truly then her house is the way to hell, the 
 broad way, thronged with reckless young men, void of under- 
 standing, and down it leads to the chambers of the dead. The 
 word u chambers ” looks toward the receptacles prepared in an- 
 cient tombs where the bodies of the dead were deposited. Alas f 
 how swiftly the throng, traveling this pathway of crime, press 
 along that broad way to hell ! 
 
 The attentive reader of this book must be struck with the 
 prominence given in these chapters (2 and 5-7) to this gigantic 
 sin of adultery and whoredom. Yet none who know the depths 
 of this iniquity throughout the world they live in will think that 
 too much is said. Those may account themselves specially favored 
 who have never had occasian to know the amount of licentious 
 abomination that curses most of the great cities of this and of 
 every land. 
 
 One of the most striking points in these sketches drawn by 
 
 Solomon is that he assumes woman to be the chief seducer. 
 
 Shall this be attributed to a prejudice against the sex, or was it 
 only according to the facts of the case in his age and within his 
 
 knowledge? With no attempt to exhaust this subject, I call 
 
 attention to the following facts as going to show that these views 
 of the female sex in that age were without doubt in harmony 
 
 with the painful facts of the case. (1.) Polygamy has always 
 
 been and always must be debasing and demoralizing, especially 
 
 to woman. (2.) Idolatry was fearfully, terribly polluting. It 
 
 would appal us if the facts were spread out to show the amount 
 of female prostitution connected with heathen temples and idol 
 worship. Let it also be considered that such a sanction of pros- 
 titution must have had a horrible influence upon the masses of 
 
 the people. (3.) The jealousy of husbands toward their wives 
 
 which has prevailed for ages in Oriental society, the espionage 
 and seclusion to which wives and daughters have been doomed, 
 testify but too painfully to the fearful absence of virtuous public 
 
 sentiment among the female sex in those countries. (4.) The 
 
 almost entire lack of female education and of all those influences 
 and social usages which naturally elevate their sex, combine to 
 account for the sad fact which Solomon assumes. 
 
 It is one of the brightest testimonies to the glorious work 
 wrought by Christianity that it has so signally elevated woman. 
 In every Christian land her sphere is indefinitely higher than it 
 was in the age of Solomon or than it ever was in the ancient 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. VIII. 
 
 49 
 
 East. The assumption which appears here that woman is the 
 
 chief seducer to lewdness — an assumption no doubt truthful then — 
 is now to us simply shocking. The modern social state, leavened 
 by Christianity, refuses to justify this assumption. The world has 
 been lifted from that fearful depth of corruption which such de- 
 basement in the female sex indicates. Yet let it be distinctly 
 
 noted that the sin of seduction knows no distinction of sex — is no 
 less cruelly wrong and no less abominable to God when man is the 
 seducer than when woman is. Every word in this fearful portrayal 
 of guilt and this appalling forecast of doom applies in all its force 
 to the young man corrupting the virtue of the sisters and daughters 
 of our land. The awful eye of God is on him no less surely than on 
 the adulteress whose house sinks down to hell. Let him not think 
 to escape his just retribution because in the constitution of his 
 sex, he avoids some of the risks of natural exposure and conse- 
 quent disgrace. The thing above all to be feared is the curse of 
 a holy God which both searches out the guilty in this world, and 
 follows him to the next, so that the real question for every young 
 man to answer is — How can I hope to elude the eye of the Omnis- 
 cient God, or evade the visitations of his just and appalling retri- 
 bution l 
 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 This chapter is altogether unique, distinguished for its bold and 
 peculiar personification of wisdom. At first, as in 1 : 20-28, 
 she is represented as lifting up her cry and making her most 
 earnest appeal to the sons of men (vs. 1-5); commending her words 
 as surpassingly excellent (vs. 6-14). She has been taken into 
 service and held in honor by kings and princes (vs. 15, 16); is a 
 treasure above gold and silver (vs. 17-21); and is then in a very 
 peculiar strain commended to the regard of men, because present 
 as a special friend and counsellor with the Infinite Creator and 
 Lord of all in his glorious works of creation (vs. 27-31). There- 
 fore Wisdom, so honored of God, ought to receive the most pro- 
 found homage and regard from all his intelligent creatures to 
 whom she brings a glorious wealth of blessings (vs. 32-36). 
 
 1. Doth not wisdom cry ? and understanding put forth 
 her voice? 
 
 2. She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in 
 the places of the paths. 
 
 3. She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the 
 coming in at the doors : 
 
 4. Unto you, O men, I call ; and my voice is to the sons 
 of mam 
 
50 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. VIIL 
 
 5. O ye simple, understand wisdom : and, ye fools, be ye 
 of an understanding heart. 
 
 Doth not Wisdom cry ? Most certainly. Who can deny it ? 
 Who does not know it ? She makes her perpetual call to the sons 
 of men to listen to her voice and accept her counsels. In all places 
 of public concourse, where men are wont to assemble and where 
 she may hope to reach their ears, she lifts up her voice inviting 
 their attention. With heart full of love and sympathy for men, 
 with blessings most precious to bestow, she offers her counsels and 
 longs to gain their ear and their heart that she may bless them. 
 
 - — — The reader will compare this chapter with Prov. 1 : 20-28 on 
 the point of bold personification in which Wisdom lifts up her 
 voice to call wayward men back to God. 
 
 6. Hear ; for I will speak of excellent things ; and the 
 opening of my lips shall be right things. 
 
 7. For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is 
 an abomination to my lips. 
 
 8. All the words of my mouth are in righteousness ; there 
 is nothing froward or perverse in them. 
 
 9. They are all plain to him that understandeth, and 
 right to them that find knowledge. 
 
 The subjects of which she proposes to speak are of the highest 
 order of value, the great principles of truth and righteousness, the 
 gravest of all questions of moral duty toward God and toward man. 
 She speaks only truth, never falsehood; and such truth as is 
 always plain to men of upright and honest heart. 
 
 10. Receive my instruction, and not silver ; and knowl- 
 edge rather than choice gold. 
 
 11. For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the tilings 
 that may be desired are not to be compared to it. 
 
 Here (as in 3: 14, 15) Wisdom is put above silver and gold and 
 all things which men regard as having the highest intrinsic value. 
 “ Receive my instruction and not silver,” was not designed to for- 
 bid men to receive silver, but to put in strong light the superior 
 value of the instructions of Wisdom. Forego any amount of sil- 
 ver; spend it never so freely if need be; deem it comparatively of 
 no account, that you may by all means gain Wisdom. Not with 
 silver, gold, and rubies only is Wisdom compared and found far 
 better, but with all things whatsoever that may ever be desired. 
 
 12. I wisdom dwell w r ith prudence, and find out knowl- 
 edge of witty inventions. 
 
 The Hebrew w r ord rendered u prudence ” is sometimes used in 
 the bad sense, subtlety; but here in the good sense, sagacity, 
 sharp-sighted discrimination, and accurate judgment. Essentially 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. VIII. 
 
 51 
 
 the same might he said of the Hebrew word rendered “invention,” 
 which sometimes means cunning and malicious plots; but here, 
 only wise and well considered plans and measures for useful 
 results. “ Witty follows the old English sense of wise , and not 
 the modern idea — sharp, sparkling with quick turns of thought. 
 That wisdom “ dwells with Prudence” implies the closest intimacy — 
 
 living together on the best terms. The whole verse seems to mean 
 
 that, what prudential sagacity and large business ability are in 
 worldly affairs, such is heavenly wisdom to man in all his moral 
 relations and duties, guiding him surely and always to the best 
 results. 
 
 13.. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil : pride and 
 arroganey, and the evil way, and the fro ward mouth, do I 
 hate. 
 
 14. Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am under- 
 standing; I have strength. 
 
 The “ fear of the Lord,” as used in such connections, is not a 
 dread of his wrath, but a filial, affectionate, reverential regard for 
 his will. Remarkably the writer seems here to affirm that this 
 is equivalent to hating evil — essentially the same thing. Fearing 
 the Lord is hating evil. Such fear is not merely a motive to the 
 hating of evil; nor is it merely a tendency to such hating: perhaps 
 Solomon meant to make a stronger statement than that it ensures 
 such hatred, viz. : that it is essentially identical with it and really 
 inseparable. For with such sentiments toward God men always 
 conceive of him as infinitely pure, holy, and good, they revere and 
 love him for these qualities; and what is this but to abhor all 
 
 sin? In the last clause, “do I hate,” — the personification of 
 
 wisdom reappears in its full force. In v. 14, “I have strength,” 
 
 is less exact than “Strength is mine; ” the original being precisely 
 the same as in the first clause ; — “ Counsel is mine.” 
 
 15. By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. 
 
 16. By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges 
 of the earth. 
 
 It should commend wisdom to the respect and regard of the 
 young, that kings and princes bring it into use, and indeed, find 
 their success and their true glory to be as the amount of sound 
 wisdom which controls their life. Wisdom decrees justice ; in- 
 spires all right governing ; develops in man his highest dignity and 
 worth of character, and the only true nobility of conduct. 
 
 17. I love them that love me : and those that seek me 
 early shall find me 
 
 Remarkably, Wisdom as here personified is thought of as act- 
 ively benevolent, really loving and rejoicing in the happiness of 
 intelligent, sentient beings. (See v. 31.) “I love them that love 
 
52 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. VIII. 
 
 me,” not on the selfish principle of reciprocating favors for the sake 
 of getting more, but I love to bless them, and when they give me 
 their hearts, I can. Their love to me makes it possible for me to 
 pour upon them my choicest blessings. Let all men know, and in 
 their very heart believe that the infinitely benevolent God rejoices 
 to lavish his most precious blessings into all such open and grate- 
 ful bosoms. In the last clause it is a question of some interest 
 
 whether the Hebrew verb means early in life, i e ., in youth; or 
 earnestly, dilligently. The word occurs in four other passages in 
 this book: viz., 13 : 24: “He that loveth his son, chasteneth him 
 betimes , i. e ., seasonably, early. Also, 1 : 28 : “ They shall seek me 
 early, but they shall not find me ; ” but in this case they had long 
 refused to seek God, and, therefore, at last, God turns away his 
 ear, and they seek him not early, but earnestly, yet in vain. Also 
 7 : 15 : “ Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek 
 thy face,” etc., and 11 : 27: “He that diligently seeketh good, pro- 
 cureth favor.” It appears, therefore, that usage somewhat favors 
 the sense of diligently, earnestly, rather than early in life, yet it 
 can not be deemed decisive. The consideration that Wisdom di- 
 rects her appeal so generally to the young, favors the sense, early 
 in life. A hearty earnestness is no doubt implied. 
 
 18. Riches and honor are with me; yea, durable riches 
 and righteousness. 
 
 19. My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold ; and 
 my revenue than choice silver. 
 
 “ Riches and honor are with me ; ” i. e ., in my hand to bestow; 
 in my gift. “ Enduring riches,” and not the perishable riches 
 
 which this world affords. In v. 19, the first word for “gold” 
 
 conceives of it as dug from the earth, i. e. } the native ore; the sec- 
 ond, as separated, i. e ., purified from its foreign ingredients. Wis- 
 dom is far before either. “My revenue” is precisely my income ; 
 
 the profit I give. 
 
 20. I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of 
 the paths of judgment : 
 
 21. That I may cause those that love me to inherit sub- 
 stance ; and I will fill their treasures. 
 
 As to the word “ lead,” (v. 20) usage favors the sense, 1 vmlk 
 habitually in the way of righteousness. The consequence is, that 
 I ensure the best prosperity and the largest treasures to those who 
 ove me and follow my counsels. This corresponds to the genius 
 of the Mosaic dispensation — earthly prosperity rewarding ever- 
 more the virtuous and diligent. 
 
 22. The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, 
 before his works of old. 
 
 The passage commencing here (vs. 22-31) carries the personifi- 
 cation of wisdom to its highest point of boldness and sublimity. 
 The conception throughout the chapter is graphic and grand, but 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. VIII. 
 
 53 
 
 prominently so in these verses. The early Christian commen- 
 
 tators were charmed with the idea that Wisdom, as presented in 
 this passage, is precisely the Logos of John in his Gospel (1 : 1-5, 14), 
 the divine “Word.” They assumed that John found his concep- 
 tion of the Logos here, and that his description of the “Word” 
 who “was in the beginning with God,” was taken from this 
 pas'sage. This view of theirs fitly opens the main question 
 of interpretation in this passage, viz., the choice between 
 distinct personality and poetic personification. In other words, 
 is this Wisdom a distinct person, an independent actor, inti- 
 mately related to “the Lord,” yet really acting a second part 
 of his own ; or is the language to be taken as strong personi- 
 fication, designed only to represent God as having and exercising 
 his Wisdom in the original planning and producing of the material 
 creation ? My views in brief on this point will be given below, 
 
 after the passage itself is fully before us. --In this verse opinions 
 
 are divided as to the precise sense of the word rendered “ pos- 
 sessed,” most of the modern critics being in favor of the sense 
 created, rather than possessed or acquired. I think that usage 
 sustains the sense of possessed, yet I can not regard the point in 
 dispute as one of special importance, since it is merely a matter 
 of poetic conception. Only in this way can we speak of God, as 
 either creating or in any way acquiring an attribute of his own 
 infinite mind. Divested of its poetic drapery, the idea can be only 
 this simple one, that God exercises wisdom in his entire plan of 
 the material universe, so that in this sense his wisdom was pres- 
 ent and active in his mind before the earth was, before the mount- 
 ains were established upon their deep foundations, before there 
 was any deep abyss to contain the waters of our globe. His wis- 
 dom planned all these wonderful and glorious parts of this great 
 
 s}^stem. “In the beginning of his way” refers to his ways of 
 
 creative activity. Some give the original the sense, created me, 
 the first and chief thing of his creation. But it is by no means 
 clear that the writer intended to class wisdom among created 
 things, as being one of them, and antecedent in the order of time 
 to the earth, its mountains and waters. 
 
 23. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, 
 or ever the earth was. 
 
 The original for u set up ” means primarily anointed , but in the 
 sense of inducted into office and commissioned to a responsible 
 work. In this sense God determined that Wisdom should guide 
 him in all his works, and thus installed Wisdom in the seat of 
 counsel from the beginning, or ever the earth was. 
 
 24. When there were no depths, I was brought forth ; 
 when there were no fountains abounding with water. 
 
 25. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills 
 was I brought forth : 
 
54 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. VIII. 
 
 26. While as yet he has not made the earth, nor the fields, 
 nor the highest part of the dust of the world. 
 
 The leading thought is beautifully expanded. When there 
 were no great ocean deeps I was brought forth into action to plan 
 this wondrous system of waters, made up of mountains, hills, 
 fountains, streams, seas, and oceans, all constructed to minister 
 to the great ends of utility and beauty in our world. 
 
 27. When he prepared the heavens, I was there : when 
 he set a compass upon the face of the depth : 
 
 28. When he established the clouds above : when he 
 strengthened the fountains of the deep : 
 
 29. When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters 
 should not pass his commandment : when he appointed the 
 foundations of the earth : 
 
 “When he founded [“prepared”] the heavens, I was there; 
 when he described a circle upon the face of the deep,” i. e ., ac- 
 cording to the views of that and all the earlier ages, to draw the 
 curved line where the firmanent above should rest upon the ocean 
 waters below. “ When he made firm the clouds above,” consti- 
 tuting a firmanent strong and solid to retain and sustain 
 the accumulated waters supposed to be stored above and to rest 
 upon it. Job spake sublimely of the same creative work (37 : 18) : 
 “Hast thou with him spread out the sky which is strong , and as 
 
 a molten looking-glass ?” “ When the fountains of the deep 
 
 waxed strong,” i. e. y in the fearful surging of their mighty waves 
 during those stages of the creative work when the elements were 
 
 in violent agitation. “When he gave to the sea his decree,” 
 
 determining the shore limits which the mighty waters must not 
 pass; “when he fixed” [rather than “appointed”] “the founda- 
 tions of the earth,” according to the ancient well known opinion 
 that the earth rests immovably on some deep and strong founda- 
 tions. In all these mighty works wisdom was present, guiding 
 the creative power of the Almighty. 
 
 30. Then I was by him, as one brought up with him : and 
 I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him ; 
 
 The Hebrew word translated, “ one brought up with him,” oc- 
 curs but rarely, and hence its precise meaning is not absolutely 
 settled by usage. Opinions vary, many giving it the sense of an 
 architect; Stuart, a confidant; others a special friend, or a fondly 
 cherished child. The sense of “confidant” harmonizes well with 
 the scope of the context and with the frequent sense of the verb 
 from which the noun comes. The idea is, that in all those 
 stupendous works of creation, Wisdom was in constant exercise, 
 consulted (to honor the personification) in every step of the pro- 
 cess. And God delighted to use his Wisdom. He had glorious 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. VHI. 
 
 55 
 
 purposes of benevolence, and in order to accomplish them, his 
 Wisdom must needs be called into constant and perfect exer- 
 cise. 
 
 31. Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth ; and 
 my delights were with the sons of men. 
 
 Especially was this joy felt toward the intelligent beings of our 
 world in whose happiness the Creator had the most profound and 
 lively interest. It was in view of the earth as inhabited by a 
 race made in God’s own image, that Wisdom so rejoiced in those 
 magnificent provisions for their abode, for their culture, discipline 
 and development, and for their blessedness as the children of 
 their great and good Father. A glorious view indeed of the 
 thoughts and plans of God when he framed the earth we live in 
 
 and fitted it up for the temporary home of his human family. 
 
 Resuming here the question of interpretation as presented above 
 (v. 22) between distinct personality and poetic personification, I 
 must say that the latter seems to me to be favored, not to say 
 proved, by the perpetually recurring use of the word “wisdom” 
 in the first nine chapters of this book as meaning intelligent good 
 sense, a judicious choice of the best means to secure the most 
 valuable ends. In its bearings upon our relations to God in the 
 great questions of moral duty, the author labors assiduously to 
 commend such wisdom to the high regard of his readers, expatiat- 
 ing upon its virtues, its moral beauty, its fruits of blessing. 
 Rising to a strain of lofty poetic eloquence, he sets forth that “ by 
 such wisdom kings reign and princes decree justice” (8: 15, 16); 
 and from this stepping-stone ascending yet higher, he witnesses 
 to us that “ the Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth ” (3:19, 20) ; 
 and then to crown all, Wisdom becomes herself a presence and 
 a power in the bosom of the Great Creator — with him during the 
 ages before the matter of our world began to be ; present through 
 all the stages of that wonderful process of creation as an intimate 
 friend and privy counsellor, rejoicing in the grand benevolent de- 
 signs of the stupendous work, and blending her sympathies with 
 those of the Great Builder of the worlds in the future blessedness 
 
 of those “sons of men.” This seems to me to be a fair and 
 
 legitimate construction of the passage, in harmony with the course 
 of thought throughout chapters 1-9, and in no respect forced or 
 far-fetched. The same can not be said of the other theory which 
 
 takes Wisdom here as a distinct personality. It may be added 
 
 that this “Wisdom” is not said to be the Creator of all worlds, 
 but to be simply with the Creator. It is not said here as in John 
 1 : 3, “ All things were made by him, and without him was not 
 
 any thing made that was made.” Moreover, since every writer 
 
 must aim to make his meaning intelligible, the sense which his 
 first readers would naturally attach to his words should be pre- 
 ferred to any other. Applying this rule in the passage before us, 
 we must prefer poetic personification before distinct personality as 
 the sense most obvious to Solomon’s first readers. How could thej 
 
56 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. VIII. 
 
 have thought of the “Logos’’ of John as the sense of Wisdom in 
 these words of Solomon? 
 
 This hold and beautiful personification of Wisdom as present 
 and active in the creation of our world is here for a purpose, viz., 
 to heighten the writer’s recommendation of Wisdom to the regards 
 of men. The Wisdom which I so earnestly recommend you to 
 honor and to seek more than all things else is not only honored 
 by kings and princes (vs. 15, 16,) but is and was the bosom 
 friend and counsellor of the Great Creator of the universe. Of 
 all the beautiful and sublime things which you admire in the 
 heavens above or in the earth beneath, in the ocean depths, in 
 fountains and rivers, in mountains and hills, none are so ancient 
 as Wisdom ; she was before them all and was present and held 
 in honor by the great Builder and Framer of all when he “ spake 
 and it was done.” Surely a personage so highly honored and em- 
 ployed of God in a work so magnificent and so fraught with utility 
 and beauty, ought to need no higher recommendation to your su- 
 preme regard. Shall God honor Wisdom thus, and will you de- 
 spise her ? If God so exalts and loves Wisdom, let the sons of 
 men, made in his own image, reverence her voice as it speaks in 
 their inner soul. If God built the worlds for the happy abode of 
 his intelligent and moral offspring, rejoicing in their prospective 
 joy (vs. 30, 31), then let his sons and daughters fulfill the benevo- 
 lent purpose of their great and good Father and give him the will- 
 ing homage of their grateful and adoring hearts now and forever ! 
 
 32. Now therefore hearken unto me, 0 ye children : for 
 blessed are they that keep my ways. 
 
 33. Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. 
 
 The force of this logic [“therefore”] has been in part pre- 
 sented above. The consideration, “ Blessed are they that keep 
 my ways,” may have special reference to the benevolence, wis- 
 dom, and consequent joy, with which God fitted up this globe for 
 intelligent man (vs. 30, 31) — a reference of this sort: Since your 
 great Father has felt so deep an interest in your welfare and has 
 exercised his Wisdom so joyfully in these munificent provisions for 
 your subsistence and for your highest and best culture, they must 
 be most blessed who observe the ways of Wisdom. Falling in 
 cheerfully with the wise and kind designs of their Creator, how 
 can they fail of being most richly blessed ? 
 
 34. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily 
 at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. 
 
 35. For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain 
 favor of the Lord. 
 
 By yet a new figure Wisdom has her palace of abode, and those 
 who seek her counsels are to watch at her gates and wait pati- 
 ently at the posts of hex doors. In queenly dignity she receives 
 those who wait upon her, and blessed are they to whom her gates 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. IX. 
 
 57 
 
 are opened ! To find her is to find life and to obtain the favor of 
 the Most High. 
 
 36. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own 
 soul : all they that hate me love death. 
 
 The choice of the verb for sinning suggests this shade of thought: 
 He that misses my favor, making the fatal mistake of disowning 
 and disregarding me, wrongs not only me, but, far more, himself. 
 He perpetrates a fatal wrong against his own soul. All that hate 
 me virtually love death! Of course, if they hate me, it is because 
 
 they love sin, and loving sin is equivalent to loving death. Alas, 
 
 the mad infatuation and sheer folly of sin! Why will not men, 
 gifted with noble intelligence by their own loving Father, be truly 
 wise, and not throw their immortal well-being away for nothing! 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Under yet new imagery Wisdom invites the simple to her banquet 
 (vs. 1-6) ; suggests the evil consequences of reproving scorners and 
 the good results of giving counsel to the wise (vs. 7-9) ; defines 
 and commends wisdom (vs. 10-12); and closes with yet another 
 description of the foolish and unchaste woman (vs. 13-18). 
 
 1. Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out 
 her seven pillars : 
 
 2. She hath killed her beasts ; she hath mingled her 
 wine ; she hath also furnished her table. 
 
 3. She hath sent forth her maidens ; she crieth upon the 
 highest places of the city, 
 
 4. Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither : as for him 
 that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, 
 
 5. Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which 
 I have mingled. 
 
 6. Forsake the foolish, and live ; and go in the way of 
 Understanding. 
 
 As in the previous chapter (v. 34) Wisdom appears in her 
 palace, so here the thought is resumed and expanded. She hath 
 built her house, prepared her table, and now sends forth her 
 maidens to invite all the young and susceptible to her banquet. 
 “Forsake the foolish,” says she, “so shalt thou live” — a promise 
 of life, and not a command to live. 
 
 7. He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame ; 
 and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot. 
 
58 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. IX. 
 
 8. Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee : rebuke a 
 wise man, and he will love thee. 
 
 9. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will he yet 
 wiser : teach a just man, and he will increase in learning. 
 
 Some have supposed that these allusions to the hopelessness of 
 reclaiming the scorner and to the reaction of shame upon those 
 who attempt it are brought in here to justify Wisdom for not in- 
 viting that class of sinners to her banquet. Perhaps so. Whether 
 so or not, these words suggest to good men the reception they are 
 likely to meet with, and the wisdom of taking every precaution to 
 guard against such results. Yet it is scarcely in keeping with the 
 spirit of divine wisdom never to reprove a scorner. Sometimes 
 they are not past recovery. Let us incur the danger of an un- 
 pleasant rebuff rather than forego all opportunity and abandon all 
 endeavor to reclaim them. Rebuff may indeed be a failure, but 
 can be no real disgrace. Let the good intention shield the faithful 
 
 reprover from all reproach. The wise man and the scorner are 
 
 broadly distinguished by the contrast between them in their recep- 
 tion of reproof. There is no mark of true wisdom more decisive 
 than a thankful spirit toward a kind and faithful reprover. Such 
 a man shows that he is seriously aiming to become wiser and bet- 
 ter. His virtue is no mere pretense. 
 
 10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom : 
 and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. 
 
 11. For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years 
 of thy life shall be increased. 
 
 Wisdom begins with the fear of God. This fear must always 
 
 be its chief element. The word “holy” in the clause, “The 
 
 knowledge of the holy,” refers to God in the special sense of know- 
 ing God as the Holy One and of having a just conception of hi 3 
 perfect purity of character. This is true understanding. Such a 
 sense of a holy and just God imparts the best practical understand- 
 ing of personal duty. Such practical wisdom (especially in those 
 days) conduced to longevity. God’s blessing was with it. 
 
 12. If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself; but if 
 thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it. 
 
 The contrast between the wise man and the scorner has appeared 
 in the previous verses: it is put strongly here. The wise man 
 reaps for himself the fruit of his wisdom. So the scorner is his 
 own worst enemy and must bear in his own soul the bitter conse- 
 quences of his folly. 0 how bitter in the wailings of his eternal 
 woe when he will curse himself for his folly, for he might have 
 been wise just as well! 
 
 18. A foolish woman is clamorous: she is simple, and 
 knoweth nothing. 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. X. 
 
 59 
 
 14. For she sittetli at the door of her house, on a seat in 
 the high places of the city, 
 
 15. To call passengers who go right on their ways : 
 
 16. Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither : and as for 
 him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, 
 
 17. Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is 
 pleasant. 
 
 18. Butheknoweth not that the dead are there; and that 
 her guests are in the depths of hell. 
 
 In several points this description of the foolish woman stands 
 in contrast over against Wisdom as she appears in this chapter. 
 She, too, has a house of her own, at the door of which she sits: 
 her seat is “in the high places of the city” (precisely the same 
 words which are said of Wisdom v. 3) ; like Wisdom, she, too, 
 invites the simple to turn in hither, and he that wanteth under- 
 standing (compare v. 6) ; but her arguments are peculiarly her 
 own. “ Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is 
 pleasant.” Darkness and crime are her points of attraction. She 
 is a bad woman; her appeals turn on the pleasures of sinning. 
 Alas ! she may succeed in alluring the reckless, unthinking youth, 
 for he knoweth not that the dead are there and that her invited 
 ones who have yielded to her allurements are in the depths of 
 hell already ! If he knew this, would he so madly follow her 
 footsteps and rush upon the same destruction ? 
 
 In view of the strong and manifold points of antithesis between 
 this foolish woman on the one hand and Wisdom personified on 
 the other, it is not surprising that some critics should assume 
 that this woman represents, not the harlot in her proper person, 
 but a false philosophy, or rather false systems of religion. This 
 construction, however, is ruled out by the life-like and repeated 
 sketches of the lewd woman which stand forth so prominently in 
 chapters 2, 5, 6, and 7. Obviously we have the same character 
 here as appears in those chapters, and we should do violence to 
 those descriptions if we were to apply them to purely ideal error. 
 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 Here commences a distinct portion of the book of Proverbs. It 
 is specially attributed to Solomon, and extends unchanged in gen- 
 eral character to chapter 22: 16. Its special feature is that each 
 proverb is complete in itself, having no intimate connection with 
 what precedes or follows. Usually each proverb is made up of two 
 propositions or affirmations, one over against the other, i. e ., in an- 
 
60 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. X. 
 
 tithetic relations. This antithesis is sometimes direct and some- 
 times indirect, the proper antithesis in the latter case being between 
 what is affirmed in one proposition and what is implied in the 
 other. Thus, in 10: 8: “The wise in heart will receive command- 
 ments ; but the prating fool shall fall,” there is no direct antithesis 
 between the dutiful reception of commandments by the wise and 
 the fall of the prating fool. But it is assumed that wisely receiv- 
 ing commands insures prosperity and life, and this prosperity lies 
 over against the ruin on the other side. Such proverbs have this 
 one feature of the riddle or enigma. They are to be solved by 
 tracing out what is assumed or implied in one clause, and bring- 
 ing it into its proper antithetic relation to what is affirmed in the 
 other. Thus this class of proverbs was framed purposely to exer- 
 cise the wits of the reader, the pleasure of finding the gist of the 
 thought more than paying for the labor. The reader is referred 
 to a more full discussion of the nature of the proverb in the general 
 introduction. 
 
 1. The Proverbs of Solomon. A wise son maketh a glad 
 father : but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother. 
 
 Wisdom and folly are here, not in the intellectual sense merely, 
 but in a moral also (as throughout this book) ; wisdom, an upright- 
 state of heart and course of life, controlled by the fear of God; 
 folly, a wicked heart and life that casts off all fear of God and all 
 due regard for man. It is assumed that the former insures pros- 
 perity ; the latter, ruin — for this world primarily, and, by inference, 
 for the world to come. 
 
 The places assigned in this proverb to the father and the mother 
 respectively were not named at random. It would not do nearly 
 so well to say, “A wise son maketh a glad mother, but a foolish 
 son is the heaviness of his father.” It is much more according to 
 the facts of human nature as Solomon has it. The father, full of 
 the outward activities of life, enjoys the success of his wise son 
 both because he is in the midst of those activities himself, because 
 they constitute as to him life’s burden and very much of life’s 
 v thought, and because he therefore appreciates success in them at 
 its full value; but the mother, quietly at home, has but too much 
 leisure to mourn over the wreck of ruin made of himself by her 
 wicked son. A father can almost forget that a son is lost to him- 
 self, to his family, and to the world; but no mother can forget her 
 ruined boy! Her tender heart takes on the burden of grief and 
 
 will not let it off! Therefore, O thou wayward son, think of thy 
 
 poor mother’s heart! Whether thou canst or canst not forget that 
 thy father has no joy in thy wisdom and in thy consequent success 
 in life, O remember thy fond mother’s incurable grief, and let the 
 breaking of her heart by thy folly and crime haunt thee by day 
 and by night and embitter every cup of sinful pleasure that Satan 
 can ever press to thy lips. 
 
 2. Treasures of wickedness profit nothing: but right- 
 eousness delivereth from death. 
 
PROVERBS -CHAP. X. 
 
 61 
 
 “Treasures of wickedness” are treasures ill-gotten, i e ., by op- 
 pression, fraud, theft, robbery. To say that such treasures profit 
 nothing is the most effective thing that could be said, because 
 men do not perpetrate such wickedness for its own sake, but for 
 the sake of the gain it may bring. They say in their heart, 
 “Though my conscience rebels and my heart recoils from this 
 crime, yet the money I shall get from it is as good as any other 
 money, and I must have it” To which God replies, No] indeed ! 
 Money gotten by crime is good for nothing ! It will bring only a 
 
 curse ! On the other hand, a righteous course of life will bring 
 
 you the utmost possible good; for what can be a greater good 
 than to deliver from death, the worst of all human ills? The 
 sense is not that righteousness saves a man from dying a natural 
 death, but only that it saves him from the greatest and worst of 
 other human ills which the word death is used here to represent. 
 The antithesis lies therefore between ill-gotten gain, absolutely 
 good for nothing — worse than no gain at all, and a life true and 
 righteous in this and all other respects which insures the best 
 of earthly blessings. A similar sentiment appears in chap. 
 
 3. The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to 
 famish : but he casteth away the substance of the wicked. 
 
 Most critics hold that the word rendered “substance” means 
 desire , in antithesis with “soul” in the first clause, which refers 
 to animal life. So far from leaving the righteous to perish from 
 starvation, he will not let them suffer sorely from hunger; but 
 over against this, he will repel the desire of the wicked as having 
 no sympathy or care for them since they will be wicked. 
 
 4. He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand : 
 but the hand of the diligent maketh rich. 
 
 Poor is he that worketh with a slack hand — the indolent and 
 remiss who leaves undone what he ought to do, and brings no 
 energy to his business. Opposed to him is the diligent — the 
 active and earnest man. The doctrine of the verse applies also 
 equally to treasures of learning, and to the higher treasures of 
 eternal life. 
 
 5. He that gatheretli in summer is a wise son : but he 
 that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame. 
 
 The thought is essentially the same in this verse as in the 
 verse preceding. Be always diligent to improve golden opportu- 
 nities, for to be reckless of them will bring upon you disappoint- 
 ment, poverty, disgrace. 
 
 6. Blessings are upon the head of the just: but violence 
 covereth the mouth of the wicked. 
 
 The last clause is difficult The original Hebrew is somewhat 
 
62 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. X. 
 
 ambiguous, since it might grammatically be read, either “ violence 
 covereth the mouth ;” or ‘‘the mouth covereth violence.” The 
 following constructions have been suggested by various critics, 
 each of which has some points in its favor: (1.) Violence shut- 
 teth the mouth of the wicked, smiting them upon the mouth (see 
 Acts 23: 2), or as we might say, “slapping them in the face,” 
 with both insult and wounding. In this sense the antithesis with the 
 first clause is direct, thus : All men pour blessings upon the head of 
 
 the righteous, but violence and abuse upon the wicked. (2.) 
 
 Transposing the subject and object of the verb respectively, thus: 
 “The mouth of the wicked covers up,” conceals words [plans] of 
 purposed violence. His heart is full of them, though his lips may 
 sometimes cover them for malign purposes. Yet he will be known, 
 and then curses will come down upon him, even as blessings do 
 upon the head of the righteous. It is in favor of this construc- 
 
 tion, (a). That this antithesis is natural and forcible: (b). That 
 the collocation of the Hebrew words favors the reading, “The 
 mouth covers violence,” and not “Violence covers the mouth;” 
 (c). That this construction applies well to the same words as 
 they occur below in verse 11. This construction is therefore to 
 be preferred to any other. 
 
 7. The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of 
 the wicked shall rot. 
 
 “Memory” and “name” are here equivalent terms, both re- 
 ferring to posthumous fame — what is thought, said, and felt of 
 men after they are dead. The righteous man leaves a name 
 fragrant with sweet «odors, hallowed memories ; but the name of 
 the wicked, foul and loathsome during its swift decay, the living 
 are in haste to forget and to bury that it pollute the atmosphere 
 no longer. It is in human nature to desire a good name among 
 the living after we are dead. Hence the force of the appeal 
 borne in this proverb : If you would leave your name fragrant 
 with sweet odors and not a stench, be just and upright, and ab- 
 jure the ways of the wicked. 
 
 8. The wise in heart will receive commandments : but a 
 prating fool shall fall. 
 
 This proverb, filled out, would read: The wise in heart will 
 receive commandments and consequently will prosper and truly live : 
 but a prating fool, scorning wise counsel, will make a failure of 
 life and will perish. The leading antithesis lies between what is 
 implied in the first clause, viz., the wise mans success in life, 
 and what is affirmed of the fool in the second — his utter fall. 
 There is also a second antithesis, viz., between receiving wise 
 counsel in the one sense, and babbling forth folly in the other. 
 The latter, of course, never receives wisdom from others ; he only 
 prates out his own foolishness. 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. X. 
 
 63 
 
 9. He that walketh. uprightly walketh surely : but he 
 that perverteth his ways shall be known. 
 
 Perverting one ’3 ways is making them morally crooked, iniqui- 
 tous. The man of such ways will be known , i. e ., exposed and 
 therefore punished. The walking surely (safely) in the one case 
 and the exposure and punishment in the other are the antithetic 
 points in the proverb. 
 
 10. He that winketh with the eye causeth sorrow : but a 
 prating fool shall fall. 
 
 “Winking with the eye” means artful, covert mischief. See 
 its usage in chap. 6: 13. Such cunning, malicious plotting brings 
 sorrow to others, while the babbling fool, always divulging his 
 worst thoughts, brings not so much sorrow to others as ruin to him- 
 self. The former is the man to be feared and hated. The latter 
 gets his own punishment without much help from the guardians 
 of the public weal and the officers of justice. 
 
 11. The mouth of the righteous man is a well of life : 
 but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked. 
 
 Giving the same sense to the last clause here as to the same 
 words in v. 6, we may put it thus : The mouth of the righteous 
 man is a well of life : the wicked man is just as full of violence 
 as the righteous man is of living waters, and his mouth covers 
 these thoughts and schemes of violence only to make them the 
 more destructive. Naturally the wicked man pours out mischief 
 as the righteous man does blessings. 
 
 12. Hatred stirreth up strifes : but love covereth all sins. 
 
 The antithesis here lies between the enkindling on the one hand 
 and the allaying and quenching of strife on the other. The spirit 
 of hate stands over against the spirit of love, the former firing up 
 strife ; the latter extinguishing or preventing it, putting the best 
 construction they will bear upon things doubtful, and suppressing 
 from view where it can be done wisely. Peter seems to have had 
 this proverb in mind when he said (1 Pet. 4 : 8), “ For charity (love) 
 shall cover the multitude of sins.” 
 
 13. In the lips of him that hath understanding wisdom 
 is found : but a rod is for the back of him that is void of 
 understanding. 
 
 Wisdom will appear in the words of the intelligent man, and 
 this wisdom will bring him honor and well-being — his case in 
 this respect standing over against that of the man “void of heart” 
 [Heb.], for whom a rod on the back is the fit reward of his merit. 
 Scourging with the rod was inflicted often under the civil law of 
 
 the Hebrews as also in family government. The phrase, “ void 
 
 of heart,” describes one who seems to have no higher or nobler 
 nature, but who acts under his animal impulses only. 
 
54 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. X. 
 
 14. Wise men lay up knowledge : but the mouth of the 
 foolish is near destruction. 
 
 Wise men store up knowledge for constant use. Consequently 
 this saves them from evils into which they would otherwise fall. 
 In this respect their case stands in contrast with that of the fool 
 whose unguarded reckless words expose him to imminent destruc- 
 tion. To say that his mouth is near destruction implies that this 
 destruction comes from the rash use of his mouth in foolish speech. 
 The original puts the case strongly by making the word “near” 
 an adjective : “ his mouth is destruction near at hand ” — a form o! 
 destruction always impending and ready to break upon him. 
 
 15. The rich man's wealth is his strong city : the destruc- 
 tion of the poor is their poverty. 
 
 The scriptures do not encourage men to trust in riches rather 
 than in God. See the words of Job (31 : 24), and of the Psalmist 
 (52: 7), and of Paul (1 Tim. 6: 17). Bearing this current doc- 
 trine of scripture in mind, we may say of this proverb that Solo- 
 mon, here as elsewhere, aims not to put wealth in the place of 
 God only as our trust, but to encourage industry, economy, and 
 skillful management, by suggesting the value of the wealth gained 
 by such means ; and furthermore, that in speaking as here of 
 the results of wealth and of poverty respectively, he may have 
 thought rather of what is than of what should be ; of what is as 
 the world goes and not of what is intrinsically righteous. It is 
 true that wealth oftentimes becomes a city of strength to shield 
 the rich from evils under which the poor man sinks powerless. 
 But these results of wealth compared with poverty are sometimes 
 due to human depravity and would have no place in a sinless 
 world. — -Further, it is at least supposable that the original word 
 for “destruction,” which means precisely a breaking down , may 
 refer to the spirits of the poor man, depressed, discouraged by his 
 poverty. 
 
 16. The labor of the righteous tendeth to life : the fruit of 
 the wicked to sin. 
 
 The antithesis of life is death — not precisely sin. But it is 
 assumed that sin brings death, inevitably ; and this assumption is 
 the gist of the proverb. The word chosen for “ sin ” half expresses 
 this idea of itself, having the sense oi' missing the mark , making a 
 failure — a fatal failure indeed ! If what the wicked man gains by 
 his labor works toward failure and ruin, how wretched his case ! 
 To toil his life long and get only death eternal as the result thereof ! 
 
 17. He is in the way of life that keepeth instruction : but 
 he that refuseth reproof erreth. 
 
 Inasmuch as the usual sense of the last verb in this form of it, 
 translated “erreth,” is to cause to err ) i. e ., to lead others astray, 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. X. 
 
 65 
 
 the entire proverb may be construed accordingly — thus : He who 
 keepeth instruction (in the sense of obeying it) leads in the way 
 to life ; but he that refuseth reproof seduceth others into sin and 
 ruin. Yet the sense of the English version is by no means bad, 
 the last verb having this turn — makes himself wander ; takes the 
 responsibility of ruining his own soul. 
 
 18. He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that 
 uttereth a slander, is a fool. 
 
 The general method of constructing proverbs is preserved by 
 making two independent but related propositions, thus : He that 
 hideth his hatred has lying lips — is a man of lying lips : and over 
 against this, He that divulgeth himself in slander is a fool. Both 
 have hate in their souls : the one conceals it with lying lips ; the 
 other pours it forth in slander and is a fool. Therefore let there 
 be no hatred in thy soul, since either to conceal it by lying or to 
 divulge it by foolish slander, is odious crime. 
 
 19. In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin : but 
 he that refraineth his lips is wise. 
 
 Whoever talks excessively with no good end in view will say 
 some foolish, sinful things. It is wise, therefore, to put restraint 
 upon the lips and consider ere you speak. The folly of this form 
 of sin stands over against the wisdom of silence. 
 
 20. The tongue of the just is as choice silver : the heart of 
 the wicked is little worth. 
 
 The tongue of the wicked is the proper antithesis to the tongue 
 of the righteous. Hence the proverb implies that the wicked man’s 
 tongue is as his heart — bad, and of the least possible value. “ Out 
 of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.” The com- 
 
 parison of the tongue of the just to choice silver is expressive, 
 showing that its words are precious, fraught with the best influ- 
 ences. 
 
 21. The lips of the righteous feed many : but fools die 
 for want of wisdom. 
 
 The point of this proverb seems to be that while the- righteous 
 have wisdom enough for their own salvation and to impart abun- 
 dantly for the spiritual life of many, fools have not enough to 
 save even their own souls from spiritual starvation. It may also 
 be tacitly implied that such fools perish when they might have 
 bread enough and to spare, there being righteous men at hand to 
 feed them with the bread of life if they would take it. 
 
 22. The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich and he 
 addeth no sorrow with it. 
 
 All other forms of good are in their nature imperfect, and come 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. X. 
 
 66 
 
 to us mixed with some sad alloy of evil. Especially is this true 
 of other riches than that which the Lord gives. But this is alto- 
 gether pure — an unmixed good, and no sorrow with it. Some, 
 
 less well, read the last clause, And toil will add nothing to it. 
 
 23. It is as sport to a fool to do mischief: but a man of 
 understanding hath wisdom. 
 
 Whoever can find sport in doing mischief shows himself a fool 
 in the strong two-fold sense of being malicious and also unwise ; 
 malicious, else he could not enjoy doing mischief to others; un- 
 wise, for such malign mischief is sure to recoil upon his own head. 
 On the other hand the man of understanding has too much good 
 sense as well as too good a heart to do such things, and is in- 
 finitely far from being mean and vile enough to enjoy them. 
 
 24. The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him : but 
 the desire of the righteous shall be granted. 
 
 The thing the wicked fear will surely befall him: the thing the 
 righteous desire, God will grant. The agency of God is involved in 
 the last verb which is not in the passive form [“ shall be granted”] 
 but in the active; he [ i . 6 ., God] will grant. The worst fears of 
 the wicked will be realized : the highest desires and anticipations 
 of the righteous, God will fulfill. What a contrast ! 
 
 25. As the whirlwind passeth, so is the wicked no more: 
 but the righteous is an everlasting foundation. 
 
 Some critics read this, “ When the whirlwind (i. e ., of God’s 
 judgments) sweeps over the wicked, then they are not; they 
 perish.” But the better construction comprehends both the time 
 and the manner ; as a rushing whirlwind will tear along in sud- 
 denness and awful terror, so are the wicked swept away and are 
 no more ! But no whirlwind can disturb the everlasting founda- 
 tion of the righteous. 
 
 26. As vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes, so 
 is the sluggard to them that send him. 
 
 The point common to all these cases is discomfort, annoyance, 
 vexation. The sluggard is a simple nuisance to those who employ 
 and trust him. 
 
 27. The fear of the Lord prolongeth days : but the years 
 of the wicked shall be shortened. 
 
 True piety prolongs human life in many ways; and sin cuts it 
 short. See notes on chap. 3 : 2, 16. 
 
 28. The hope of the righteous shall be gladness : but the 
 expectation of the wicked shall perish. 
 
 The hopes of the righteous are a fountain of joy, comforting and 
 
* PROVERBS — CHAP. X. 
 
 67 
 
 even exhilarating, and withal sure. But the expectation of the 
 wicked shall be frustrated ; every ray of their hope must go out in 
 darkness. 
 
 29. The way of the Lord is strength to the upright : but 
 destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity. 
 
 This “way of the Lord” is not the way of our duty which he 
 enjoins, but is the way of his own working in his providential 
 agencies. This way of his good providence toward the righteous 
 is to them a tower of strength, forevermore securing their safety 
 and blessedness. The same providence of God brings destruction 
 upon sinners. 
 
 30. The righteous shall never be removed : but the 
 wicked shall not inhabit the earth. 
 
 The righteous repose on a sure, stable foundation: the wicked 
 shall not long inhabit the land, i. e ., Palestine, the Lord’s land. 
 So the word rendered “ earth” should probably be taken, as in the 
 Gospel beatitude, “ The meek shall inherit the earth” (Matt. 5 : 5). 
 Two reasons may be assigned for this stereotyped promise; first, 
 that it came into use during those centuries when Canaan was not 
 yet in possession but was only a land of promise, the object of 
 intense desire to the wandering people: and, secondly, that the 
 Hebrews held the land from God, only on condition of obedience, 
 so that wicked men forfeited all possession there, and were in 
 fact often cut off by judgments or driven out. 
 
 31. The mouth of the just bringeth forth wisdom : but 
 the froward tongue shall be cut out. 
 
 The beauty and force of this proverb are heightened by the 
 figure underlying it in the choice of its words. The mouth of the 
 just bears [produces] wisdom as a tree bears fruit; but the per- 
 verse tongue shall be cut off like dead, worthless branches. 
 
 32. The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable : 
 but the mouth of the wicked spealceth frowardness. 
 
 The righteous know how to speak acceptably, in a way to please 
 and profit, because seasoned with good sense. The wicked speak 
 froward things, never pleasing to God ; never fit to be acceptable 
 to men. It seems to be assumed that they know not how to speak 
 otherwise than perversely. 
 
68 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XI. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 1. A false balance is abomination to the Lord : but a 
 just weight is his delight. 
 
 Scales and small stones for weights were used to determine the 
 exact quantity of various articles bought and sold in trade. This 
 proverb teaches not only that the eye of God is upon all such 
 transactions, but that his heart is in them as well, and especially 
 that he disapproves and even abhors fraud in trade ; while his 
 sympathies are with the injured party. He feels as those men 
 do who are cheated and wronged by fraud. He loves the honest 
 
 dealer. The principle applies to fraud in quality as well as to 
 
 fraud in quantity . In modern manufacture and trade, what an 
 amount of adulteration God must see to abhor ! 
 
 2. When pride cometh, then cometh shame : but with 
 the lowly is wisdom. 
 
 Literally and forcibly the Hebrew reads, Pride comes, and then 
 comes disgrace; but with the modest and lowly (as opposed to 
 the proud) is wisdom. There is no wisdom in pride. It never 
 gains the ends of honor which men seek to gain by it. 
 
 3. The integrity of the upright shall guide them : but 
 the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them. 
 
 His own integrity will guide the upright in safety and to happi- 
 ness ; but the perverseness of the treacherous [the precise sense of 
 the original] will destroy them. 
 
 4. Riches profit not in the day of wrath : but righteous- 
 ness delivereth from death. 
 
 Their wealth may screen the rich from the penalties of human 
 law, as administered by corrupt or imperfect men; but what can 
 it avail in the day of the wrath of God? As said by Ezekiel 
 (7 : 19), “ Their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver 
 them in the day of the wrath of the Lord.” In that day it is only 
 righteousness that can save from death. 
 
 5. The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way : 
 hut the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness. 
 
 The righteousness of the perfect (the truly honest-hearted) will 
 make his path straight, smooth, and therefore safe, this implied 
 safety lying over against the ruin into which the wicked fall. 
 
 6. The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them : 
 but transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness. 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XI. 
 
 69 
 
 The word translated “naughtiness” is the same which I have 
 explained to mean desire in chap. 10:3. I take the sense here 
 to be that the treacherous (unreliable, unprincipled men) will be 
 ensnared to their ruin by their strong evil passions. This stands 
 opposed to the deliverance which the upright attain by virtue of 
 their uprightness. 
 
 7. When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall 
 perish: and the hope of unjust men perisheth. 
 
 This verse has been explained variously. One objection to the 
 English version is that the last clause makes no advance upon 
 the first: it not only presents no antithesis, but adds nothing in 
 any way. To improve this clause, I prefer the suggestion of 
 Maurer which is that the word rendered “unjust” means riches 
 (as it manifestly may), thus; “In the death of a wicked man his 
 hopes will perish ; yea, all hope from riches has perished ” [already], 
 i. e.j even before he is really dead. The verb of the first clause 
 is in the future tense; that of the last clause, in the past. Also 
 the former clause tells us whose hopes will perish; the latter, what 
 
 hopes, viz., his hopes from his riches: It should be noticed that 
 
 the passage assumes an existence after death. This becomes the 
 more certain when considered in connection with chap. 14: 32; 
 “ The righteous hath hope in his death.” But that future life is 
 
 to all the wicked hopeless of good. It is not in man to limit 
 
 his expectations and hopes by the bounding line of death. He 
 must and will expect to live on beyond that line and will hope 
 for good there; but the wicked man’s hope as to that future life 
 will perish ! 
 
 8. The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the 
 wicked cometh in his stead. 
 
 The righteous man is delivered out of his straitness — his 
 cramped and perilous position; the wicked man comes into the 
 same trouble from which the righteous is delivered. So God 
 makes his retributions in time express his moral feelings toward 
 both the righteous and the wicked. 
 
 9. A hypocrite with his mouth destroy etli his neighbor : 
 but through knowledge shall the just be delivered. 
 
 The Hebrew word rendered “ hypocrite ” is not limited to this 
 specific sense. It means the vile bad man, and here probably 
 
 either the slanderer or the tempter. But the righteous know 
 
 too much to be ruined thus: their knowledge insures their deliv* 
 erance from this danger. 
 
 10. When it goeth well with the righteous, the city re- 
 joiceth : and when the wicked perish, there is shouting. 
 
 When the righteous prosper, i. e ., stand high in influence and 
 authority, the city rejoice th ; and with good reason, out of regard 
 
70 
 
 PROVERBS-CHAP. XI. 
 
 to its own welfare. So too when the wicked perish, there are 
 shouts of joy; a fearful burden is lifted from the hearts of men. 
 Thus forcibly does Solomon present in contrast the respective in- 
 fluence of good men and of bad in the city of their abode, and 
 the consequent feelings of the people as the one class rises or the 
 other falls. 
 
 11. By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted : 
 but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked. 
 
 The usage of the word “blessing” seems to favor if not even 
 require the sense of benediction, or prayer ; blessings invoked from 
 God upon the city. Over against this, “ the mouth of the wicked” 
 must refer to words uttered ; perhaps their imprecation, their 
 curse. Who can think of the unmeasured curses invoked by 
 wicked men in profane swearing and not forebode the wrath of 
 God upon the city and the whole land where men so dishonor 
 and contemn the majesty of Jehovah ! Why should men in their 
 mad profanity presume to dictate to the great God the curses he 
 should bring on themselves and on their fellow-creatures ! 
 
 12. He that is void of wisdom despiseth his neighbor : 
 but a man of understanding holdeth his peace. 
 
 By very general consent critics read the first clause, not as in 
 our English Bible, “Every unwise man despiseth his neighbor;” 
 but, “He who despiseth his neighbor is unwise.” This despising 
 is supposed to manifest itself in contemptuous words; opposed to 
 which the man of understanding is silent, careful not to utter, 
 without good reason, whatever low opinion of others he may have. 
 A wise maxim ! 
 
 13. A talebearer revealeth secrets : but he that is of a 
 faithful spirit concealeth the matter. 
 
 Whoever goes about tattling, from an excessive love of talk, 
 with more or less propensity to slander, will inevitably reveal 
 secrets. Putting him here over against the man of faithful spirit, 
 Solomon implies that this talebearer has no faithfulness of spirit, 
 but is altogether unreliable. Solomon would say, Beware of such 
 a man or woman! They can by no means be trusted. The Mo- 
 saic law has a precept against this sin and folly: “Thou shalt 
 not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people : I am the 
 Lord.” (Lev. 19: 16.) 
 
 14. Where no counsel is, the people fall : but in the 
 multitude of counsellors there is safety. 
 
 The word rendered “counsel” means primarily the steering of 
 a vessel. Where there is no skill in conducting public affairs, 
 analogous to that of the pilot among quicksands and rocks, there 
 the State goes to wreck. Among a multitude of counsellors some 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XI. 
 
 71 
 
 good suggestion is made and the wise will see its pertinence to 
 the emergency. 
 
 15. He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it: 
 and he that hateth suretyship is sure. 
 
 He shall suffer severely who makes himself responsible for the 
 debts of a stranger. The usual sense of “stranger" is foreigner, 
 one who in those times was a heathen idolater. The ancient 
 Canaanites were given to trade, and for this reason might need 
 to borrow and be glad to get Hebrews to underwrite for them. 
 Solomon was fully in the spirit of the Mosaic law therefore when 
 he spake strongly against becoming surety for a stranger. In the 
 common life of the Hebrew people which was almost exclusively 
 agricultural, there would be very little occasion for suretyship. 
 
 16. A gracious woman retaineth honor ; and strong men 
 retain riches. 
 
 The original word rendered “gracious” means rather graceful- 
 ness , most naturally referring to beauty of person and grace of 
 manner. By these qualities women both obtain and retain honor, 
 even as vigorous active men do wealth. The verb for “retaineth” 
 is used equally for obtaining as for retaining. I see no reason 
 for restricting it to either sense to the exclusion of the other. 
 
 17. The merciful man doeth good to his own soul : but 
 he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh. 
 
 The Hebrew in this verse is ambiguous, admitting two dis- 
 tinct constructions ; either this, “ The man who is merciful in 
 character and to others, will be practically so to himself; ” or 
 this, “He who is merciful to himself will be so to others also.” 
 The last clause is similarly ambiguous. The first named con- 
 
 struction, that of our English Bible, seems to me preferable, the 
 sentiment being that whoever blesses others, being merciful in 
 spirit and character, will be sure to get a rich reward to him- 
 self. The very reaction upon himself is blessed; the showing of 
 mercy to others is a rich mercy to himself. And vice versa, who- 
 ever is cruel to others and savage in temper, will torture his own 
 flesh. The inevitable laws of our being compel this result. 
 
 18. The wicked worketh a deceitful work : but to him 
 that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward. 
 
 “A deceitful work” is here contrasted with “a sure reward.” 
 The Hebrew word for “work” readily admits the sense of reward 
 or fruit of labor. Hence this sense must be accepted here. The 
 wicked will fail of the reward they work for; it will prove delu- 
 sive. But the man who sows righteousness will reap accordingly 
 — a sure reward. These results follow from the laws of society; 
 and they are sure in the end, because God reigns to bless the 
 righteous, to curse the wicked 
 4 
 
72 
 
 PROVERBS -CHAP. XI. 
 
 19. As righteousness tendeth to life: so he that pursueth 
 evil pursuetli it to his own death. 
 
 As right conduct is unto life — bears toward it and insures it 
 as its result, so one pursues evil to his own death. No other re- 
 sult can be expected; no other is possible. This sentiment is 
 closely analogous to that in v. 18, and rests upon the same inva- 
 riable laws of nature and of mind — upon the same infinite and 
 perfect ruling of the all-wise Father. 
 
 20. They that are of a froward heart are abomination to 
 the Lord: but such as are upright in their way are his 
 delight. 
 
 This sentiment appears frequently in this book of proverbs. 
 God abhors the froward of heart, but loves and delights in the 
 upright of way. He being a Great Father, rejoicing in the wel- 
 fare of his creatures, and displeased, yea, even indignant toward 
 those who would mar the moral purity and so destroy the hap- 
 piness which he seeks for all, why should it not be settled once 
 for all in every mind, that if men will perversely war against God 
 and the good he seeks for his children, they must expect his ab- 
 horrence and his severest penalties? 
 
 21. Though band join in band, tbe wicked shall not be 
 unpunished : but tbe seed of tbe righteous shall be delivered. 
 
 The first clause reads strictly, “Hand to hand,” etc. Some 
 critics, influenced by the parallelism (“the seed of the right- 
 eous”), take the sense to be, From generation to generation, the 
 wicked shall be punished; it is the perpetual law of God's deal- 
 ings with them. But, over against this, the righteous and their 
 
 offspring, generation after generation, will be delivered. The 
 
 construction adopted in the English Bible is good, however, and 
 perhaps comes more naturally from the original, viz. : However 
 much the wicked may combine against God in their wicked 
 schemes, they can by no means escape punishment. The right- 
 eous are always safe. Age after age they have salvation. 
 
 22. As a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a fair 
 woman which is without discretion. 
 
 Beauty without discretion, without the good sense which insures 
 propriety of deportment, finds here a homely but a most truthful 
 and telling illustration — good for some fair ones to think of! The 
 oriental fashion of wearing jewels, pendent from the nose as well 
 as from the ears, made this proverb the more caustic. 
 
 23. -The desire of the righteous is only good : but the ex- 
 pectation of the wicked is wrath. 
 
 “Desire” and “expectation” are spoken of here, not with ref- 
 erence to their quality o'* character, but to their results , their ul* 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XI. 
 
 73 
 
 timate fruits. The desires of the righteous issue in good only, in 
 pure, unalloyed good; while the hopes and expectations of the 
 wicked terminate at last in the wrath of God. Instead of the re- 
 sults they seek and hope for, they get only the terrible penalties 
 of sin. God brings them to a solemn and fearful account. 
 
 24. There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth ; and there 
 is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to pov- 
 erty. 
 
 “ Scattering” abroad (in benevolence, for the good of others,) 
 does not impoverish. Men may give liberally, and through God’s 
 blessing upon them, their wealth may increase. So on the other 
 hand, one withholds more than is just and right, but only to his 
 greater poverty. It can not be wise to ignore the providence of God. 
 Whom he will he blesses, and whom he will lie smites with his 
 curse. And his will is to honor those who honor him, and to put 
 his mark of disapproval on those by whom he is lightly esteemed. 
 (See 1 Sam. 2: 30.) 
 
 25. The liberal soul shall be made fat : and he that 
 watereth shall be watered also himself. 
 
 The soul of blessing [Heb.], i. e ., the soul that blesses others 
 shall be enriched thereby — a proverb which follows in thought 
 the first clause of the verse preceding. It is not only more blessed 
 to give than to withhold ; it is even more blessed to give than to 
 receive. Giving, if done in simplicity and love, is sure to come 
 back in blessings. • 
 
 26. He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse 
 him : but blessing shall he upon the head of him that selleth 
 it 
 
 “That withholdeth,” (i. e. from the hungry who need bread), 
 hoarding and holding for the sake of a higher price, taking ad- 
 vantage of the necessities of the breadless. Those breadless 
 mouths will curse him, nor they alone, for they are of God’s fam- 
 ily, and his curse too must fall on them. On the other hand, the 
 
 blessings of the poor (and of their Great Father no less), will 
 come on the head of him that selleth it, promptly, in time of need, 
 
 at fair and not at famine prices. 0, might these words of God 
 
 be emblazoned on every store-house in all the land ! Alas, that 
 dealers in “corn” [all breadstuffs — indeed, all food] should so 
 strangely ignore God’s words, and so recklessly trample his prom- 
 ises and his threatenings beneath their feet ! No wonder that 
 financial reverses should come crashing down upon the. specula- 
 tor’s ill-gotten gains! It is one of God’s ways of fierce and terri- 
 ble rebuke. The same principle applies to fuel, and to what- 
 
 ever else is a necessity to the subsistence or the comfort of the 
 masses. 
 
74 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP XI. 
 
 27. He that diligently seeketh good procureth favor : but 
 he that seeketh mischief, it shall come unto him. 
 
 The verb rendered “procureth” never has this sense unless by 
 implication, but means to seek . I take the clause to mean that 
 diligently seeking good — the best good of others — is equivalent to 
 seeking the favor of God; amounts to the same thing and brings 
 the same result. The sense of procuring is therefore implied but 
 
 not expressed. This implication is the pith of the proverb.- 
 
 Over against this, he who seeks to bring mischief upon others, 
 will, in fact, bring it down upon himself. 
 
 28. He that trusteth in his riches shall fall; but the 
 righteous shall flourish as a branch. 
 
 The sense seems to be, He that trusteth to his riches for the 
 good which can be gained only by righteousness and true virtue, 
 will surely fail of it, and bring upon himself destruction ; while 
 the righteous will flourish as the living tree — a symbol jointly of 
 beauty, productiveness, and perpetuity. u The righteous shall flour- 
 ish like the palm tree ; he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.” 
 
 (Ps. 92: 12. See also Ps. 52: 8, and 1: 3.) This branch is 
 
 not a limb only of a tree, but the young tree itself, perhaps com- 
 ing up from the root of a former tree cut down, and therefore 
 shooting up with the full strength of those old roots. 
 
 29. He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the 
 wind : and the fool shall he servant to the wise of heart. 
 
 The key to reveal the sort of trouble thought of here is found 
 in Prov. 15 : 6, 27. It is that which comes of leaving one’s house- 
 hold affairs to derangement, confusion, and waste, by negligence, 
 mismanagement, and unthrift generally. The man who does this 
 shall “inherit the wind” — a most unsubstantial thing to live on. 
 We might say, He will sow to the wind — only scattering abroad. 
 Managing so foolishly, he will become servant to the man of wise 
 heart. Reducing himself to poverty, he must make himself the 
 menial dependent of wiser men. 
 
 30. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life : and he 
 that winneth souls is wise. 
 
 In what special sense the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life 
 is indicated in the latter clause. It is so because it is a blessed 
 moral influence toward the winning of souls from sin and ruin. 
 The results of such labor are indeed a tree of life, a permanent 
 source of blessing, insuring the highest good of immortal souls 
 for the whole eternity of their being. The terms “wise” and 
 “righteous” are essentially equivalent, both being used here and 
 elsewhere for the same class, viz. : the good man who is right- 
 eous, not wicked, and wise in the sense of fearing the Lord and 
 departing from evil, and also of putting his active powers to the 
 best possible account for the good of mankind. 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XII. 
 
 75 
 
 31. Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the 
 earth : much more the wicked and the sinner. 
 
 The word rendered “recompense” applies to both good deeds 
 and bad. The proverb, therefore, calls attention to the fact that 
 the righteous experience a measure of recompense [retribution] 
 in this world, and infers that the wicked must, with more cer- 
 tainty, or more palpably, receive a measure of theirs. The writer 
 does not necessarily imply that the recompense of either class is to 
 be finished, made perfect, in this world, and by no means denies that 
 
 a part, even the greater part, holds over to the future world. 
 
 The main question of doubt upon the verse turns on the reason 
 why he affirms “much more” of the sinner’s recompense. Whyis 
 the recompense of the sinner more certain or more palpable in this 
 
 world than that of the righteous ? Some answer the question by 
 
 saying that the sins [not the virtues] of the righteous man are 
 thought of, the sense therefore being that if God punishes those 
 sins (of inadvertence or neglect, or sins soon repented of and for- 
 saken), much more will he punish in this world the deliberate, 
 daring, whole-souled sins of the ungodly. This may be the true 
 explanation. The chief objection to it is that the word used for 
 “recompense” carries in itself no restriction to the punishment of 
 
 sin, but applies equally to the rewards of virtue. Why may 
 
 not the reason for the “ much more ” be this — that as virtue and 
 vice usually appear in this world, vice is far more strong, palpa- 
 ble, and, may we not say perfect than virtue, and hence the rea- 
 sons, under God’s moral government, for its being recompensed in 
 this world are more imperative? Sin strikes boldly at Jehovah’s 
 throne, and challenges the Almighty to come to the rescue of his 
 
 law, his cause, his people; how then can he refuse? The 
 
 apostle Pet. (1 Eph. 1 : 18) quotes this verse from the Septuagint. 
 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 1. Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge: but he 
 that hateth reproof is brutish. 
 
 The words translated “instruction” and “reproof” contemplate 
 the correction of mistakes, not in moral conduct only but in moral 
 sentiments, in opinions pertaining to moral conduct, for they relate 
 to knowledge and not merely to external acts. “Instruction,’ 
 applied to moral truth, gives the true idea. The Hebrew word 
 for “ reproof” means almost identically the same thing. Hence 
 if we retain this English word we must think of it as not harsh 
 and stern, but affectionate, parental, designed simply to lead into 
 
76 
 
 PROVERBS— r-CHAP. XII. 
 
 righteousness and peace. To love instruction is equivalent to 
 
 loving knowledge because it is the same thing in spirit and be- 
 cause it ensures the result of knowledge. But he who hates in- 
 struction acts the part of a brute and not of a rational man. 
 So far forth as respects progress in knowledge and virtue he might 
 as well have been made a brute since he persistently refuses to 
 exercise those powers and capabilities which place him in a grade 
 
 of being above the brute creation. What a view is this of the 
 
 folly of sin ! The sinner, hating instruction, setting himself against 
 the knowledge of moral duty and against all right use of such 
 knowledge, is working himself down to brutishness as fast as 
 possible ! 
 
 2. A good man obtaineth favor of the Lord : but a man 
 of wicked devices will he condemn. 
 
 This good man never plans mischief against others, but always 
 plans and seeks their welfare. Hence the Lord approves his spirit 
 and his life. But how can he fail to condemn the man who con- 
 trives to injure his neighbor ? This man’s spirit and life are utterly 
 unlike God’s. 
 
 3. A man shall not be established by wickedness : but 
 the root of the righteous shall not be moved. 
 
 In the figure underlying this proverb, men are compared to trees. 
 The righteous man gets well rooted, stands strong, thrives well, 
 and is never moved ; but the wicked never get a firm footing and 
 rooting, but are blown down, torn up by the roots and left to rot. 
 God is against them. 
 
 4. A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband : but she 
 that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones. 
 
 The word “virtuous,” no doubt includes moral purity and con- 
 jugal fidelity, but it also means more than this, viz. : those qualities 
 which are portrayed so finely in Prov. 31 : 10-31 — a capable 
 woman, adequate to the responsibilities of her position at the head 
 vf her household. Of such a wife the proverb implies that a hus- 
 oand may well be proud; while she who is incompetent and 
 untrustworthy in these matters not only makes him ashamed but 
 brings over him a weakness which is as rottenness in his bones. 
 
 5. The thoughts of the righteous arc right: but the 
 counsels of the wicked are deceit. 
 
 The word for “thoughts” means rather plans, purposes, those 
 
 which involve intention, will. He means right, aims right. 
 
 The “counsels” (the word properly means guidance) of the wicked 
 are treacherous, having bad ends in view. 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XII. 
 
 77 
 
 6. The words of the wicked are to lie in wait for blood : 
 but the mouth of the upright shall deliver them. 
 
 The wicked talk and plot schemes of robbery and murder, as we 
 have seen, chap. 1 ; 11-14. The expressed counsels of the upright 
 avail to rescue those against whom such plots are devised. The 
 word “them” manifestly means those whom the wicked seek to 
 destroy. So the righteous counterwork and frustrate the schemes 
 cf the wicked. 
 
 7. The wicked are overthrown, and are not ; but the 
 house of the righteous shall stand. 
 
 In judgment upon the wicked, God often tears them up by the 
 roots, destroying the entire family and leaving no trace behind; 
 while the house, i. e., household and family of the righteous, stand 
 from generation to generation. This thought is expressed strongly 
 in Ps. 37. It seems that under the ancient economy God often 
 dealt with families as with nations, giving them a very manifest 
 retribution in time , before the very eyes of the living. 
 
 8. A man shall be commended according to his wisdom : 
 but he that is of a perverse heart shall be despised. 
 
 If the question be raised here whether “ wisdom” on the one 
 hand and a “perverse heart” on the other, refer to the intellect 
 or to moral qualities and conduct, it may be said that the original 
 word for “wisdom” is used naturally of the intellect, while 
 the word “heart” is used in both the intellectual and the 
 moral sense. The final answer to the question is that Solomon 
 associates a clear and well-balanced mind with good moral senti- 
 ments and life ; and on the other hand assumes the wicked man to 
 be practically demented intellectually, either as the cause or the 
 fruit of his wicked spirit. The doctrine of the proverb, therefore, 
 is that a man will be praised according to the measure of his wis- 
 dom and virtue, his clear and just views of life and of duty; while 
 the man whose wicked spirit distorts his practical views of duty 
 and blunts his moral perceptions, deserves to be and will be only 
 despised. 
 
 9. He that is despised, and hath a servant, is better than 
 he that honoreth himself, and lacketh bread. 
 
 The Hebrew word here used for “ despised ” is not the same 
 as that in the close of the preceding verse, and should be taken 
 in a quite different sense. That was the contempt due to the 
 man who had perverted his noblest powers, mental and moral, 
 by sin. This denotes only a humble and lowly condition in life. 
 It is better to move along little noticed or even disparaged and 
 disesteemed, provided you have a servant and plenty of bread, 
 than to make a great swell in the world, put on the airs of wealth 
 and distinction, and yet really lack the commonest comforts of life. 
 
78 
 
 PROVERBS— CIIAP XII. 
 
 The sentiment : bread is more than show ; the substantial com 
 forts of life are worth more than display and the flattery or dis- 
 tinction you may gain thereby. This is sensible. 
 
 10. A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast : but 
 the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. 
 
 It is remarkable that the original word translated “ regardeth 
 is the most common one for know. The righteous man knoweth 
 the soul of his beast — probably in the sense of acting as if ho 
 was aware of the sensibilities of his ox, his horse, or his sheep, 
 as if he knew they had a sensitive nature that would suffer under 
 savage treatment, and therefore he abstains from abusing them. 
 On the other hand the tenderest mercies of the wicked are only 
 cruel — a strong way of saying that he has no mercies, no com- 
 passions for the suffering of man or beast. 
 
 11. He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread : 
 but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding. 
 
 The Hebrews were an agricultural people, subsisting from 
 their soil. Their dense population demanded the best of tillage. 
 This Solomon aimed to encourage. He who, instead of working 
 his land, followed after idle men, out of business and doing noth- 
 ing to purpose for the ends of life, would show himself without 
 understanding, would play the fool, and would righteously come 
 short of bread. Such men ought to go breadless. 
 
 12. The wicked desireth the net of evil men : but the root 
 of the righteous yieldeth fruit. 
 
 Critics give the precise sense of this proverb variously. The 
 word rendered u net ” may mean “ fortress ” as in the English margin. 
 The choice lies, therefore, between these two constructions; (1), 
 That of our English version ; Bad men covet the results which 
 the wicked gain by their plots and schemes of wickedness, but 
 the root of the righteous produces for them substantial fruit; or, 
 (2), The wicked seek the protection of the wicked, their own class ; 
 but the righteous stand firm on their own foundation. Righteous- 
 ness needs not the help of bad associates. The former con- 
 
 struction seems to me preferable, especially because the verb 
 rendered u desireth ” means precisely to covet, applicable therefore 
 to treasures, the fruit of robbery or fraud ; and because the word 
 “ root,” applied to the righteous, looks toward productiveness in 
 the line of provision for human subsistence. 
 
 13. The wicked is snared by the transgression of his lips : 
 but the just shall come out of trouble. 
 
 The bad words of the wicked man, i. e., slander or falsehood, 
 become a snare to catch him and bring him to his just punish* 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XII. 
 
 79 
 
 ment; but true integrity brings a ( man safely out of all the 
 troubles in which unjust suspicion may have involved him. 
 
 14. A man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of 
 his mouth : and the recompense of a man’s hands shall be 
 rendered unto him. 
 
 The lips that speak well are no less sure of reward than the 
 hands that work well. To show this the former is put over 
 against the latter — lips against hands — with perhaps a shade of 
 preference for the lips as the more fruitful of good. 
 
 15. The way of a fool is right in his own eyes : but he 
 that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise. 
 
 The gist of the proverb is that the way of the fool is so very 
 right in his own eyes that he will not hearken to counsel. 
 Hearkening to good counsel is the characteristic, not of the 
 fool but of the wise. Self-conceit dooms a man to folly and to 
 its consequent mischiefs. 
 
 16. A fool’s wrath is presently known : but a prudent 
 man covereth shame. 
 
 A fool’s wrath is known at once; he takes no pains to conceal 
 it. But the prudent, the wary and wise man, suppresses and 
 thus conceals what it would disgrace him to expose. The next 
 best thing to governing one’s temper and overcoming the tempta- 
 tions to wrath is to govern its manifestations — to smother and 
 keep it in. 
 
 17. He that speaketh truth sheweth forth righteousness : 
 but a false witness deceit. 
 
 Both clauses refer properly to witnesses giving testimony. He 
 who speaks truth sets forth the right of the case, presents the 
 facts as they are and promotes the ends of justice ; but the false 
 witness gives a false view of the case and leads to its being mis- 
 apprehended. “ Speaking truth” is here [Heb.] breathing it 
 
 forth ) as if it came naturally with and like his breath. 
 
 18. There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword : 
 but the tongue of the wise is health. 
 
 This “speaking” in this proverb, quite unlike that in the one 
 next preceding, is prating, babbling, pouring out words incon- 
 siderately, recklessly. Such words pierce like daggers. But the 
 tongue of the wise gives healing ; their words lovingly heal the 
 very wounds which the babbling slanderer inflicts. There is 
 a precious balm in such words. Wise and good men take care 
 not merely that they wound no one’s feelings, but that they heal 
 the wounds which they see inflicted by others. How much society 
 owes to such healing words I 
 
80 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XII. 
 
 19. The lip of truth shall be established forever : but a 
 lying tongue is but for a moment. 
 
 He who speaks truth invariably establishes a reputation for 
 veracity which endures a life-time. The lying tongue will be be- 
 lieved but for a moment. The Hebrew has it, u Only while I 
 wink only for the twinkling of an eye. 
 
 20. Deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil : but 
 to the counsellors of peace is joy. 
 
 “Deceit” on the one side and joy on the other do not seem 
 properly antithetic. I take the gist of the proverb to lie in 
 what is implied in the first clause over against what is expressed 
 in the second, thus : Deceit and therefore no joy , but a conscious 
 sense of meanness and guilt, are in the heart of those who devise 
 mischief; but joy in abundance is for those who counsel and plan 
 for others’ peace, i. e ., welfare. 
 
 21. There shall no evil happen to the just : but the wicked 
 shall be filled with mischief. 
 
 In an age when present retribution was almost the common 
 law, this proverb must have been manifestly true; true to the eye 
 of sense, true in its surface view. Taken in its ultimate bearings 
 and results, its truth will surely become manifest, inasmuch as to 
 the just “ afflictions are only mercies in disguise,” for God makes 
 all things work together for good to those who love him. 
 
 22. Lying lips are abomination to the Lord : but they 
 that deal truly are his delight. 
 
 Sentiment: God abhors falsehood and delights in those who 
 deal truly. Acting out the truth is perhaps a little stronger than 
 merely speaking it. It means a life of honest integrity in which 
 both the words and the life are true. 
 
 23. A prudent man concealeth knowledge : but the heart 
 of fools proclaimeth foolishness. 
 
 “Prudent” [Heb.] means discreet, forethoughtful, wary. Such 
 a man considers beforehand what it is best to say and what not 
 to say, and has the wisdom to withhold the latter. On the con- 
 trary, the heart of the fool prompts him to proclaim abroad his 
 folly. He must be saying something and does not mind what he 
 says. 
 
 24. The hand of the diligent shall bear rule : but the 
 slothful shall be under tribute. 
 
 The word for “slothful” means properly deceitful; here in the 
 sense of disappointing the expectations of his employers by his 
 slackness, his utter want of diligence and attention. The diligent 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XII. 
 
 81 
 
 in business are advanced to authority; the slothful and unreliable 
 gravitate downward in society, and, like the weaker nation, come 
 under tribute to the stronger. 
 
 25. Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but 
 a good word maketh it glad. 
 
 “Heaviness” [Heb.] is rather anxiety, fear, that which gives a 
 sense of heaviness. Such a sense of dread, foreboding evil, de- 
 presses the heart, bows it down; but a cheering word gladdens 
 it. This “good word” may be either good tidings, or a word 
 whose comfort is in its kindly tone and manner. At how little 
 cost sometimes may great burdens of grief be lifted from sad 
 hearts ! 
 
 26. The righteous is more excellent than his neighbor : 
 but the way of the wicked seduceth them. 
 
 The sense given to the first clause in our English version can 
 not be the true one, for who can know but his neighbor may be 
 as good a man as he, or even better? Moreover this sense has nc 
 relation, antithetic or otherwise, to the second clause and therefore 
 can not be the true one. The English translators seem to have 
 entirely misconceived the sense of the verb rendered “more ex- 
 cellent.” All the modern critics agree in giving the verb the 
 sense of 'pointing out , showing to his neighbor the way. The pro- 
 verb thus becomes lucid and complete : The righteous man shows 
 his neighbor the way rightly; but the way pointed out by the 
 wicked man leads him astray. The righteous man is a safe guide : 
 the wicked man is not, but will lead you wrong. 
 
 27. The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in 
 hunting : but the substance of a diligent man is precious. 
 
 In the first clause critics are divided between the meanings, 
 roasting game, and snaring or taking it. Neither is bad ; the more 
 expressive is that of the English version — a man so remiss as not 
 to roast his game after he has taken it. The Hebrew, moreover 
 has it u his” game, which can more properly be said if the verb 
 means to roast than if it means to snare } for if he fails to catch 
 
 it by snaring as is here supposed, how comes it to be his ? Over 
 
 against this, to the diligent man, all his wealth is precious, i. e. y 
 Srned to the best account. 
 
 28. In the way of righteousness is life ; and in the path- 
 way thereof there is no death. 
 
 “Life” in its highest and best sense, pure, perfect blessedness. 
 No death is in that traveler’s path. It opens to a glorious im- 
 mortality. 
 
B2 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XIII. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 1. A wise son heareth his father’s instruction : but a scorner 
 heareth not rebuke. 
 
 The son who is truly wise will gladly listen to the counsels of 
 his father. The scorner, proud, disdainful, will not receive “re 
 buke ’ designed to correct his faults. 
 
 2. A man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth : but 
 the soul of the transgressors shall eat violence. 
 
 Good, i. e ., truthful words bring a man good fruit — results of 
 good: but the perfidious, untruthful, will experience hurt. The 
 Heb. word for “transgressors” properly means “perfidious,” men 
 of bad faith, of lying words. 
 
 3. He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life : but he 
 that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction. 
 
 To guard the mouth is to guard the soul, the very life; but he 
 that openeth his lips wide, to let come what may, speaking reck- 
 lessly, shall have destruction. It is remarkable that so many 
 proverbs set forth the evils of a loose and lying tongue, and that 
 they represent these evils to be so very great. The Apostle 
 James takes the same view : “ The tongue is a fire, a world of 
 iniquity; it setteth on fire the course of nature, and it is set on 
 fire of hell ” (Jam. 3 : 6). 
 
 4. The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing : 
 but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat. 
 
 The sluggard has a stomach and must get hungry. Having pro- 
 vided nothing, he must go hungry. The diligent will have enough. 
 Solomon is justly severe upon sluggards, but strongly commends 
 industry. 
 
 5. A righteous man hateth lying : but a wicked man is 
 loathsome, and cometh to shame. 
 
 It is implied here that the righteous man, hating falsehood and 
 sacredly adhering to truth, comes to honor thereby; while the 
 wicked man, given to lying, comes to loathing and detestation. 
 
 6. Righteousness keepeth him that is upright in the way : 
 but wickedness overthroweth the sinner. 
 
 Righteousness keepeth (guarding and protecting) him whose life 
 is upright. “Righteousness” and “wickedness” are both per- 
 sonified here and considered, the one as saving, the other as des- 
 troying, each her respective votaries. 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XIII. 
 
 83 
 
 7. There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing : 
 Mere is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches. 
 
 Of course “maketh” is here in the sense only of pretendeth) 
 would pass himself off as being. The one would be thought rich 
 yet hath nothing; the other would be thought poor, etc. Under 
 various circumstances and motives men may have some reasons 
 in their own view for either course. In oriental countries, where 
 property is often unsafe, men might be tempted to conceal their 
 wealth and put on the appearance of extreme poverty. The other 
 extreme, the pretense of great wealth, is more often assumed for 
 the sake of honor and distinction. 
 
 8. The ransom of a man’s life are his riches : but the poor 
 heareth not rebuke. 
 
 Two constructions are given to this proverb ; we have to choose 
 between them. (1.) The rich man ransoms his life by his riches; 
 but although riches are so manifestly useful, yet the poor man 
 [who has made himself such by his indolence or folly] will not 
 listen to the rebuke that seeks to rouse his indolence or cure his 
 folly. (2.) As between riches and poverty the advantages are not 
 all on one side ; for while in the despotic governments of the east 
 rich men are often dragged before magistrates on groundless 
 charges for the mere purpose of exacting money; the poor man 
 escapes this sort of prosecution altogether, there being in his case 
 no motive for it. On this construction, the antithesis proper to a 
 proverb is preserved, and it also has abundant illustrations in 
 oriental life even to this day. For both reasons this construction 
 is better than the other. 
 
 9. The light of the righteous rejoiceth : but the lamp of 
 the wicked shall be put out. 
 
 The light of the righteous will be a joyful thing; but the lamp 
 of the wicked will be put out. The pith of this proverb lies in the 
 way of putting the first half of it. The precise antithesis would 
 require this : The lamp of the righteous burns and will continue 
 to burn brightly; but instead of this the writer puts the statement 
 in the more general form : The light [not lamp] of the righteous 
 will be a perpetual joy , tacitly compared to a lamp that shines all the 
 night long in contrast with one that soon goes out. 
 
 10. Only by pride cometh contention : but with the well- 
 advised is wisdom. 
 
 The force of the word “only” should be thrown upon the word 
 “contention” and not upon the word “pride,” the sense being, not 
 that contention comes only from pride and from no other cause, 
 but that contention only and nothing better or other than conten- 
 tion, can be expected from pride. Pride will produce it. Pride is 
 
 the chief occasion of strife. The proverb means that wisdom 
 
 will be with those who take good counsel, implying that there is 
 
84 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XIII. 
 
 but the least possible wisdom or none at all with the proud who 
 get into quarrels to gratify their pride. 
 
 11. Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished : but he 
 that gathereth by labor shall increase. 
 
 The serious, not to say fatal, objection to the construction in our 
 English version, is that the Hebrew does not say “ gotten/' and 
 the word is too vital in that construction to be omitted. It is better, 
 therefore, to read: “Wealth vanishes more than a breath," as a 
 breath does, only more so; but he who accumulates by the hand 
 will increase it. By its antithetic force the proverb implies that 
 the wealth which vanishes so quickly is not that which is gathered 
 by the hand, or which is cared for and preserved with the hand. 
 The common law, the general fact, is that all other wealth except 
 that in which the hand bears the prominent agency, both in pro- 
 curing and preserving it, soon flees away, “ quicker than a breath," 
 says the strong figure of the proverb. 
 
 12. Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the 
 desire cometh, it is a tree of life. 
 
 The long deferred realization of one’s hope sickens the heart; 
 it sinks discouraged as with a sense of sickness : but the coming of 
 the thing desired is a “ tree of life," a permanent and rich feast ot 
 good. See the sense of the phrase, “tree of life" (chap. 3: 18). 
 
 13. Whoso despiseth the word shall be destroyed: but 
 he that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded. 
 
 The “word" and the “commandment" are here the revealed 
 law of God. The precise sense of the first clause I take to be, 
 He who despiseth God’s word shall be held responsible — held as 
 with a cord [the sense of the Hebrew] from which there can be 
 no escape ; but he who reverently fears and obeys it shall be rec- 
 ompensed. 
 
 14. The law of the wise is a fountain of life, to depart 
 from the snares of death. 
 
 In this proverb the connection between the first part and the 
 last is that the law of the wise both contemplates and secures the 
 result of departing from fatal snares. It both aims to save men 
 and does save them from ruin. 
 
 15. Good understanding giveth favor: but the way of 
 transgressors is hard. 
 
 Good common sense, sound discretion, wins favor. The special 
 type of “transgression" indicated by the Hebrew word is perfidy. 
 The way of the perfidious is hard, can not win favor, but will, on 
 
 the contrary, be detested. The word for “hard” is thought by 
 
 some to mean like a sweeping torrent ; but other good critics prefei 
 the sense, stony, rough. 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XIII. 
 
 85 
 
 16. Every prudent man dealeth with knowledge: but a 
 *ool layeth open his folly. 
 
 “Dealeth with,” not in the sense of having business with, but 
 of acting, managing his affairs wisely, with the requisite knowl- 
 edge of whatever bears upon the case. Over against this, the 
 fool is forever exposing his folly, bringing it out indiscreetly every- 
 where. 
 
 17. A wicked messenger falleth into mischief: but a 
 faithful ambassador is health. 
 
 A messenger may be bad [“wicked”] either because he is 
 slow, lazy, or because he is unreliable, not trustworthy. Con- 
 trasted here with the faithful one, the latter sense must be pre- 
 ferred. He falls into mischief, i. e., trouble, because his em- 
 ployer, indignant at his perfidy, makes him smart for it. The com- 
 fort of a faithful ambassador is like that of a healing medicine, 
 giving health in place of sickness. 
 
 18. Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuseth inr 
 struction : but he that regardeth reproof shall be honored. 
 
 “Reproof” has the broad sense of instruction and good counsel, 
 designed to make one better. He who faithfully observes such 
 counsels will come to honor. His character and life will be im- 
 proved, his faults corrected, and then all will esteem and honor 
 him. The opposite course will end not in shame only, but in 
 poverty — a consideration adapted to take hold of the heart. 
 
 19. The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul : but ^ is 
 abomination to fools to depart from evil. 
 
 The two parts of this proverb are each obviously true ; but why 
 are they brought into such juxtaposition ? The gist of the proverb 
 
 lies in what is implied [not expressed] in the latter clause. 
 
 All men, whether fools or wise, appreciate and long for the joy 
 of gratified desire. But fools who abhor departing from evil can 
 not get it. Their life is a perpetual but fruitless endeavor to over- 
 come and countervail the laws that link together sin and misery, 
 folly and ruin. Abhorring to depart from evil, they must forever 
 miss the joy of gratified desire. This I take to be the pith of the 
 proverb. 
 
 20. He that walketh with wise men shall be wise : but 
 a companion of fools shall be destroyed. 
 
 The Hebrew words of the last clause seem to mean, He who 
 associates heartily with fools, feeding upon their words, will, like 
 them, become wicked and be ruined. The proverb testifies to the 
 power of the social law — the potent influence of associates— the 
 good for good, and the evil for evil, and its consequent ruin. 
 
86 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XIII. 
 
 21. Evil pursueth sinners : but to the righteous good 
 shall be repaid. 
 
 The force of this proverb lies very much in the bold personi- 
 fication which attributes life and the spirit of a righteous retri 
 bution to both objective good and evil, i. e ., to prosperity and 
 adversity. Evil chaseth down sinners, pursues them closely, and 
 will overtake them surely; but good will requite the righteous. 
 This is only another way of saying that God will bring evil upon 
 sinners and good to the obedient, implying perhaps that he has 
 wrought more or less of essential retribution into the very nature 
 of things and the laws of society. 
 
 22. A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s 
 children : and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the 
 just. 
 
 In those days it was one of the manifestations of present retri- 
 bution that good men laid up their wealth for even their grand- 
 children; but the sinner’s wealth passed out of his family into 
 the hands of the just. To some extent the same thing happens 
 in all ages ; the great estates of the wicked are soon squandered, 
 and come into the hands of better men. 
 
 23. Much food is in the tillage of the poor : but there is 
 that is destroyed for want of judgment. 
 
 In the last clause, the original seems to signify, not the mere 
 lack of judgment, but positive injustice — the opposite of “judg- 
 ment” when taken in the sense of justice. Fraud or violence, ab- 
 solute injustice, ruins even rich men. It is therefore infinitely 
 better to be poor, upright, and get abundance -of bread by honest 
 though hard labor, than to try to get rich by injustice, and so 
 bring on yourself destruction. 
 
 24. He that spareth his rod hateth his son : but he that 
 loveth him chasteneth him betimes. 
 
 “Hateth his son,” i. e ., acts as if he hated him, suffering the 
 greatest of evils to be fastened upon him, as if he were reck- 
 less of his welfare. This is said of him who withholds the proper 
 means of correcting his son’s faults. The term “rod” primarily 
 applies to corporeal chastisement, but legitimately covers all ju- 
 dicious means for the same result. The father who truly loves 
 his son seeks to correct his faults betimes, i. e. } early. 
 
 25. The righteous eateth to the satisfying of his soul : but 
 the belly of the wicked shall want. 
 
 In that age preeminently, but in all ages as the common law, 
 the most abject poverty and suffering are the fruit of sin. The 
 wicked, through their folly, their indolence, their criminal self- 
 indulgence, or their outrages upon others’ rights, involve them- 
 selves in pinching want. 
 
PROVERBS -CHAP. XIV 
 
 87 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 1. Every wise woman buildetli her house: but the 
 foolish plucketh it down with her hands. 
 
 “House” is here rather in the sense of estate, the house con- 
 sidered as property, well ordered, and affording the conveniences 
 and comforts of a home. The “woman” [wife] is thought of, 
 not as a carpenter, but as a manager of her domestic concerns. 
 Managing them prudently, she increases the comforts of the 
 household, lessens the outgoes, builds up the estate. The foolish 
 woman, managing badly, reverses this process, and like a Vandal, 
 tears down the household with her hands. Solomon must have 
 the credit of being a sagacious observer of the ways of house- 
 wives in the matter of economy and thrift. 
 
 2. He that walketh in his uprightness feareth the Lord : 
 but he that is perverse in his ways despiseth him. 
 
 True probity and true piety will always be found together, for 
 probity would insure piety, and piety would develop probity. 
 The man of upright life will be a fearer of the Lord on the 
 principle that “if any man will do his [God’s] will, he shall 
 know of the doctrine,” etc., and vice versa , “if a man’s deeds are 
 evil, he will hate the light [respecting God] and will not come 
 
 to it.” So, over against this, whoever is perverse in his moral 
 
 ways of life must be a despiser of God, else he could not live so. 
 And moreover, such a life begets such a spirit toward God. 
 
 3. In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride : but 
 the lips of the wise shall preserve them. 
 
 Foolish words become a rod to scourge the pride of fools; 
 while on the other hand, the lips of wise men inure to their 
 protection. Both clauses may best refer to the reacting influence 
 of folly and of wisdom respectively — the former to punish; the 
 latter, to protect. 
 
 4. Where no oxen are , the crib is clean : but much 
 increase is by the strength of the ox. 
 
 “Clean,” in the sense of empty. Field-culture must be on a 
 very small scale only, and with very meager returns, unless you 
 have the strength of oxen. 
 
 5. A faithful witness will not lie : but a false witness 
 will utter lies. 
 
 Men called to give testimony in courts of justice will act out 
 their own character. The man of essential fidelity and veracity 
 will not lie there ; but the faithless man will pour out lies as ho 
 
88 
 
 PROVERBS— CIIAP. XIV. 
 
 does his breath. This comparison of lying to breathing is in the 
 Hebrew verb, denoting that he has no sense of restraint or com- 
 punction to hold him to the truth. It comes more easy and 
 natural to him to lie than not. 
 
 6. A scorner seeketh wisdom, and findeth it not : but 
 knowledge is easy unto him that understandeth. 
 
 The scorner is, of course, puffed with self-conceit and pride, with no 
 proper respect for either truth or those who have it and could teacli 
 him what it is. Such a man seeks truth to no purpose. In the 
 expressive style of the Hebrew, “He seeketh truth, and there is 
 none” [ i . e ., for him]; truth is never found and taken possession 
 of by such seeking. Lord Bacon (as quoted by Dr. Muenscher) 
 says : “ He that comes to seek after knowledge with a mind dis- 
 posed to scorn and censure will be sure to find matter enough for 
 his humor, but none for his instruction.” Remarkably the scorner 
 is here put over against the man of understanding, as if to imply 
 that the former naturally lacks that love of truth and that sympa- 
 thetic attraction toward it which intuitively sees and then seizes 
 upon it. To a man who has these last-named qualities knowledge 
 
 comes naturally and easily. This doctrine assumes that good 
 
 moral qualities are vital to the acquisition of truly valuable 
 knowledge. 
 
 7. Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou 
 perceives! not in him the lips of knowledge. 
 
 Some critics read the last clause — “For thou wilt not find lips 
 of knowledge in him.” But the sense given in our English version 
 seems to me more close to the original, which reads literally : 
 “And thou hast not discerned lips of knowledge.” When, after a 
 reasonable opportunity for knowing a man, you discern not the 
 lips of knowledge, retire from his presence; withdraw from his 
 society ; desist from all efforts either to get wisdom from him or to 
 impart wisdom to him. 
 
 8. The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way : 
 but the folly of fools is deceit. 
 
 The wisdom of the discerning man turns to the practical use of 
 understanding rightly his life-path and life-duty ; but the folly of 
 
 fools misguides them — leads them into error and ruin. Some 
 
 construe the latter clause — applies to the deceiving of others: but 
 the antithesis is better as given above : wisdom helps a man to live 
 right, while folly leads him to live fatally wrong. 
 
 9. Fools make a mock at sin: but among the righteous 
 there is favor. 
 
 There are several constructions of this proverb worthy of being 
 named and considered. (1.) Sin mocks fools in the sense of dis- 
 
 appointing their expectations — its pleasures being so much mor« 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XIV. 
 
 89 
 
 meager and its penalties being so much more terrible than they 
 
 had thought. (2.) The sin-offering mocks fools, availing them 
 
 nothing because of their impenitence and folly, when they had 
 
 hoped to get immunity from such offerings [Stuart]. (3.) Fools 
 
 make light of sin, accounting it a trifling matter. This is the sense 
 
 of our received version. It is slightly in favor of either the first 
 
 or the second construction that the noun “ sin ” and the verb 
 “mock” agree in number, being singular, while the word for 
 “fools” is plural. The second is also favored by the usual sense 
 of the last word of the verse “favor,” which very commonly denotes 
 the acceptance of a true offering before God. It lies against both 
 these constructions that the word “ mocks,” implying derisiveness, 
 does not truly represent the feeling of God, nor of sin or of a 
 sin-offering when personified and thus made to represent the heart 
 of God. This seems to me the main objection to those construc- 
 tions. “Mocking” truthfully represents the sinner’s feeling, but 
 not God’s. On this ground I prefer the last-named construc- 
 tion. This word for “sin” has two senses; either guilt, blame- 
 
 worthiness, or the trespass-offerings of the Mosaic law: here, I 
 think, the former. Fools scoff at and scornfully repel the idea of 
 personal guilt; nor do they care much if the fact of wrong-doing 
 
 is fastened upon them. The antithesis lies (as often) between 
 
 what is assumed in the first clause and asserted in the second, 
 thus : Fools mock at sin and therefore incur God’s wrath [not his 
 favor] ; but the righteous have his favor, and what is thus true of 
 God’s favor is true also of the esteem of all right thinking moral 
 agents in the universe. 
 
 10. The heart knoweth his own bitterness ; and a stranger 
 doth not intermeddle with his joy. 
 
 Each individual heart knows its own sorrows and its own joys 
 as no other merely human mind can know them. In the confi- 
 dence and unrestrained communion of friendship we may approxi- 
 mate to a knowledge of each other’s joys and sorrows : it is but 
 an approximation. Only in Jesus is there an exception to this 
 otherwise universal law, for his infinite mind knows perfectly every 
 sorrow and every joy of our being, and his perfect sympathies 
 [almost] make our joys and sorrows his own ! 0 might we only 
 
 believe this and find therein all the ministries of consolation and 
 strength which it has to give ! 
 
 11. The house of the wicked shall be overthrown ; but 
 the tabernacle of the upright shall flourish. 
 
 Two beautiful points are prominent in this proverb, viz. : (1) 
 the antithesis between “house” and “tent;”* the house of the 
 wicked, built as he supposes of most substantial material, wood, 
 brick, or stone, shall yet be razed to the ground ; while the tent of 
 the upright, fragile in itself, put up so as to be easily taken down, 
 shall yet stand, and long outlast the house of the wicked. (2.) 
 
90 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XIV. 
 
 This tent is said to “ flourish/’ like a plant, shrub, or tree, well' 
 rooted, having a life-power of its own, and therefore blooming in 
 beauty as well as living with its own life and only waxing the 
 stronger for tfle coming and going of the seasons and for all the 
 storms that beat upon it. All this is involved in the Hebrew verb 
 here rendered u flourish.” 
 
 12. There is a way which seemeth right unto a man. but 
 the end thereof are the ways of death. 
 
 The obvious sense of this proverb is no doubt the true one, 
 viz.: that a way of living (in the moral sense of life) may seem 
 right to a man, and yet be wrong and end in death. Men may 
 be deceived by their associates, or they may deceive themselves, 
 and so may assume what is utterly wrong to be, at least in their 
 case, right. Hence the somewhat popular doctrine that it mat- 
 ters not what a man believes provided he be sincere, is a fatal 
 mistake, for a man may think himself very sincere in accepting 
 and holding pernicious error and in pursuing a fatally wrong 
 course of life. Such sincere but ruinous errors may be held by 
 the human mind, and the corresponding course of life may be 
 pursued, ending in death. For example, Saul of Tarsus for a 
 long time u verily thought he ought to do many things contrary 
 to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.” Would his verily thinking 
 so have saved him from damnation? Did that thinking so make 
 it right for him to persecute Jesus? Could he have thought so 
 at all if his heart had been thoroughly honest and right before 
 
 God ? Is there any help against this liability to fatal mistake ? 
 
 Most certainly. “If any man will do the will of God, he may 
 know” with certainty all the truth he needs to know for his 
 salvation. It is only when men love darkness rather than light 
 that they embrace fatal error. When men love sin exceedingly 
 and labor hard to make themselves think it right for them in 
 their circumstances, they invite delusion into their souls, and 
 delusion is almost certain to come to their (transient) relief, but 
 
 to their swift and certain destruction. This proverb, affirming 
 
 a most momentous truth, appears again, 16: 25, also one part of 
 it, 12: 15. 
 
 13. Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the 
 end of that mirth is heaviness. 
 
 Two facts of human experience are involved here : (1) That 
 laughter is sometimes a thin disguise to conceal a sad heart; (2) 
 That the reaction which follows vain mirth is often the most 
 painful heaviness. This passion for laughter, which assumes it 
 to be very much the chief good of life, is a miserable folly. 
 
 14. The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own 
 ways : and a good man shall be satisfied from himself. 
 
 The backslider in heart, apostate from God, shall be sated 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XIV. 
 
 91 
 
 with his own ways, shall have enough and more than enough 
 of the bitter fruits of his apostacy. On the contrary, the good 
 man will find ample sources of joy in himself. Joy springs up 
 
 spontaneously out of his benevolent heart. The turn of the 
 
 thought which is the gist of the proverb lies in the play upon the 
 sense of the word rendered “ filled,” which is obviously to be 
 supplied in the last clause. The backslider shall be filled with 
 the sorrow that comes from his backsliding: the good man shall 
 be filled with the joy of his steadfast goodness. Another con- 
 
 struction is approved by Stuart, who supplies, in the last clause, 
 not the verb filled, but some other, e. g ., removes; reading the 
 last clause — “But the good man removes away from him,” the 
 backslider. But this (without cause) sacrifices all corresponding 
 relation between the two clauses, and improperly supplies in the 
 last clause, not the verb expressed in the first, but another taken 
 up capriciously. 
 
 15. The simple believeth every word : but the prudent 
 man looketh well to his going. 
 
 The “simple” in the sense of Solomon are the credulous and 
 susceptible who are open to every impression, especially if evil, 
 and who have no forethoughtful wariness in choosing their path 
 of life. The point of the proverb is that while the prudent man 
 thinks before he acts, the simple believes whatever is said to him 
 and thinks not. 
 
 16. A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil : but 
 the fool rageth and is confident. 
 
 “ Rageth” is not the best word here to give the sense of the orig- 
 inal or to fit the other part of the description, since it suggests the 
 passion of anger, whereas the true sense is that of pride — an 
 insolent and reckless bearing, corresponding to the last word, 
 self-confident — having no fear of God before his eyes. The wise 
 man fears to sin ; has a reverential fear of God, and hence departs 
 .from evil. The fool is fearless, dashing, reckless, breaking over 
 all restraint. 
 
 17. He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly : and a man 
 of wicked devices is hated. 
 
 The man of quick, hasty passions acts foolishly, meaning either 
 that he is foolish in the very fact of giving way to this sudden 
 excitement, or that he will be sure, under his uncontrolled 
 passion, to do foolish things, such as he ought to be ashamed of — 
 
 the latter being probably the leading thought. On the other 
 
 hand, the man who conceals his anger, but craftily plots mischief, 
 will be hated. He who is soon angry and soon over it may have 
 many amiable traits of character, and his weakness of passion 
 may rather evoke your pity than your abhorrence. But all must 
 hate the man of wicked devices. If you kn vw that he is equal 
 
92 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XIV. 
 
 to the protracted guilt of plotting mischief and holding his heart 
 upon it day after day with no compunctions, you are afraid of 
 him; you dare not trust him; you set him down as a radically 
 bad man, an enemy of his race. 
 
 18. The simple inherit folly : but the prudent are crowned 
 with knowledge. 
 
 For the sense of the word “simple,” see v. 15. Such men have 
 only folly and its consequent disgrace as their inheritance — the 
 reward of their careless, unthinking spirit and of their reckless 
 life. But the prudent, who sagaciously consider both truth and 
 duty, embrace true knowledge — become masters of it, and wear it 
 as their crown of honor. The possession of knowledge in the one 
 case stands over against the possession of ignorance and folly in 
 the other; and the consequent honor in the former case makes a 
 second antithesis with the implied disgrace in the latter. The 
 word “crown” implies the idea of honor. 
 
 19. The evil bow before the good; and the wicked at 
 the gates of the righteous. 
 
 Righteous and good men gain possession of honor, competence, 
 and therefore naturally of power, so that before them the wicked 
 bow in deference and homage, perhaps in supplication for favors. 
 The case of the good Joseph and his evil-minded and envious 
 brethren is in point, and perhaps was in the mind of the writer. 
 
 20. The poor is hated even of his own neighbor: but the 
 rich hath many friends. 
 
 Some of the proverbs aim to state facts of human life, to be 
 thought of as facts pregnant with various instruction, but not as 
 examples worthy of imitation. “Hate” is quite too strong a word 
 for this connection if we are to conceive of the writer as designedly 
 suggesting that we ought to do the same. Indeed it is a little too 
 strong to represent the average sentiments of men in our age of 
 the world. It must be conceded that usually the rich are courted 
 — the poor neglected; the rich held in high honor — the poor in 
 relatively low esteem. From the rich, every man has more or less 
 hope of some sort of favor, but from the poor he expects no such 
 good. So much may be said of human life as we see it. But in 
 the last clause, the marginal reading, “many love the rich,” is 
 the precise rendering of the Hebrew, so that hate and love are put 
 in direct antithesis. Even his own neighbors hate the poor man, 
 while many love the rich. I suggest that the proverb should be 
 interpreted in the light of the peculiar features of those early 
 ages of time, when poverty was associated with not only folly, 
 but crime, and prosperity in the form of wealth was regarded as 
 the special reward of the upright, virtuous man. These sentiments 
 stand out prominently in various proverbs, as also in the Old Tes- 
 tament somewhat generally. It may be noted that the next 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XIV. 
 
 93 
 
 proverb seems to have been designed to guard against the abuse 
 of this. 
 
 21. He that despiseth his neighbor sinneth : but he that 
 hath mercy on the poor, happy is he. 
 
 Even he who has made himself poor by folly or crime should not 
 be despised and treated contemptuously, much less he who has be- 
 come poor by misfortune. Contempt toward a neighbor is always 
 sinful, and all men, live where they may, are neighbors in the ap- 
 plication of this principle. Tn this proverb, “despising” stands 
 over against “having mercy,” and therefore implies an unforgiving, 
 
 unfeeling, hard spirit. The last clause might well be read, 
 
 “Blessed is he who hath mercy on the poor! ” 
 
 22. Do they not err that devise evil? but mercy and 
 truth shall be to them that devise good. 
 
 The original word for “devise” includes both plotting and la- 
 boring for an end. He who in this sense deviseth mischief will 
 miss his end, to his ruin ; while mercy and truth will be the re- 
 ward of those who devise good. The ‘intent of the heart determines 
 the moral character of the act, and therefore the sort of retribution 
 that righteously follows. 
 
 23. In all labor there is profit; but the talk of the lips 
 tendeth only to penury. 
 
 All well-directed labor naturally brings some useful returns, 
 but lip- words are only toward want. Mere talk, words having no 
 worthy aim, work out only poverty. Probably the writer meant 
 that those who talk when they should work will miss the laborer’s 
 harvest. 
 
 24. The crown of the wise is their riches : but the fool- 
 ishness of fools is folly. 
 
 This proverb is difficult of interpretation, especially because the 
 last clause reads literally, “The folly of fools is folly,” the word 
 for “folly” being repeated. Some critics (e. g., Gesenius, Stuart), 
 assume a play upon two supposed senses of the word for folly, 
 thus : The precedence [promotion] of fools tends only to greater 
 folly, or only serves to manifest their folly the more. This is op- 
 posed to the influence of wealth upon the wise which only serves 
 to adorn their life, and, like a crown, make their wisdom the more 
 
 conspicuous. Others give the proverb this sense: The riches 
 
 they acquire add new honors to the wise, inasmuch as they still 
 deport themselves wisely and worthily; but the folly of fools will 
 still be folly though they acquire never so much wealth. Wealth 
 will make them no wiser, and hence will confer upon them no 
 
 honor. They will only play the fool the more conspicuously. * 
 
 I nrefer the latter construction. 
 
94 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XIV. 
 
 25. A true witness delivereth souls: but a deceitful wit- 
 ness speaketh lies. 
 
 “Delivereth souls,” i. e., of those whose lives are imperiled 
 by false accusation before the civil tribunals. On the contrary, 
 a deceitful witness pours out lies, and consequently, far from de- 
 livering the lives of the innocent, augments their peril. This im 
 plied antithesis is due to the genius of the proverb. 
 
 26. In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence: and 
 his children shall have a place of refuge. 
 
 The pith of the first clause is in its apparent paradox; fear in 
 the sense of anxious apprehension being the opposite of confidence 
 when taken in its proper sense — the repose of trust. But the fear 
 of the Lord is true piety, and this involves such a committal of 
 ourselves and of all our interests to God as gives us strong con- 
 fidence. So fearing him, we have the utmost reason to confide in 
 his wisdom and love. He who, in this blessed and scriptural 
 
 sense, fears God will have nothing else to fear. In the last 
 
 clause his children may grammatically be either the children of 
 him who thus fears God, or the children of God himself — the sense 
 in the former case being that ' the blessings of piety descend to 
 one’s children; in the latter, that naturally all the true children 
 of God must have a refuge in their great Father. The latter sense 
 is universally true; the former, only generally. 
 
 27. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart 
 from the snares of death. 
 
 Compare 13: 14, where the same thing is said of “the law of 
 the wise” as is said here of “the fear of the Lord,” and said in 
 the same sense. 
 
 28. In the multitude of people is the king’s honor : but 
 in the want of people is the destruction of the prince. 
 
 To have a populous realm and numerous subjects is an honor 
 to a king; and, as is implied here, a source of strength to his 
 kingdom; while the lack of people works his destruction. Other 
 things being equal, the power of a kingdom will be as the num- 
 ber of its subjects. Hence the proverb suggests that it must be 
 a wise policy for every king to encourage the increase of popula- 
 tion within his realm. All history shows that the natural means 
 for this purpose are industry and virtue ; the comforts of life ; the 
 protection of all the natural rights of mankind. Let rulers re- 
 member that it is their honor and safety to shape their ruling to 
 promote these ends. 
 
 29. He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: 
 but he that is hasty of spirit exaltcth folly. 
 
PROVERBS -CRAP. XIV. 
 
 95 
 
 The two personages described here are doubly contrasted. The 
 one is slow to anger ; the other quick and hasty ; the former has 
 great wisdom and evinces it prominently by his remarkable self- 
 control ; the latter not only has great folly but sets it up on high 
 before all observers. Every one sees and feels how foolish it is 
 to be quick tempered and to let one’s passions flash suddenly into 
 flame with no self-control. 
 
 30. A sound heart is the life of the flesh : but envy the rot- 
 tenness of the bones. 
 
 The doctrine of this proverb is the physiological effect of the 
 mind upon the body. A calm, placid heart [better than “ sound”] 
 gives life to the flesh in the sense of augmenting the vital forces 
 and conducing to health and therefore to life ; while, on the other 
 hand, envy, forever disquieting the soul, works rottenness of the 
 bones. Probably the Hebrews were familiar with the physio- 
 logical fact that an unhappy state of mind retards the healing of 
 broken bones. 
 
 31. He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker : 
 but he that honoreth him hath mercy on the poor. 
 
 In so far as the poor are made so by the providence of God, it 
 is especially true that to oppress them because they are poor is 
 to reproach him whose providential agency has been the means 
 
 or occasion of their poverty. In a yet broader sense, all the 
 
 poor are under God’s protection against unrighteous oppression, 
 so that whoever tramples on God’s law forbidding the oppression 
 of the poor contemns God himself. The former sense, however, 
 
 harmonizes better with the word “reproach.” The last clause 
 
 makes a more direct antithesis if read, “He who hath mercy on 
 the poor does honor to his Maker.” Both clauses concur to show 
 how our treatment of God’s poor expresses our regard for himself. 
 Oppressing them, we reproach him ; compassionating them, we do 
 him honor. Corresponding to which are the words of Jesus : 
 “Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of these, ye 
 have done it unto me” (Matt. 25: 40). Do we practically think 
 so? 
 
 32. The wicked is driven away in his wickedness : but 
 the righteous hath hope in his death. 
 
 This proverb draws the fearful contrast between the wicked 
 and the righteous in their death, and leaves us to infer the yet 
 jaore fearful contrast in their respective destinies in the life be- 
 yond. “The wicked are driven away,” pressed and forced along 
 by resistless agencies of disease or disaster, their guilty souls 
 shrinking, recoiling, and struggling in vain against the iron power 
 of death and retribution. “ They are driven away in their wicked- 
 ness ,” no penitence in their hearts and no pardon from the throne 
 of a just God, and as the antithesis of the proverb implies, with 
 
 5 
 
96 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XIV. 
 
 no hope , such as the righteous have in their death. Alas! this 
 is the bitterness of his lot! No ray of hope gleams upon the lurid 
 darkness of his impending and engulfing doom! As he lived a 
 sinner, so he dies a sinner, and goes a sinner into that other world 
 where such enemies of God and of all goodness have their “ own 
 place .” 
 
 In the strongest contrast with this stands the death of the 
 righteous. A single element in his case suffices to suggest all the 
 rest; he “has hope in his death.” But this word “hope” must 
 not be taken in the low sense of a doubtful anticipation, a shade 
 of hopefulness struggling against many misgivings and fears. The 
 word is stronger and richer far than that. It means that he is 
 trustful and has a refuge, full of consolation, in the hour of his 
 death. God is that refuge. God witnesses to his soul of his 
 gracious presence and of his quenchless, ever faithful love. 
 Hence the righteous man’s hope dictates this song : “ Though I 
 walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no 
 evil, for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.” 
 (Ps. 23 : 4). 
 
 It has been the fashion for a class of critics to deny that the 
 old patriarchs and prophets had any knowledge of a future state 
 of rewards and punishments. Suppose one of those critics 
 should accost Solomon — Do you know any thing about the wicked 
 or the righteous after death ? Solomon would at least have so 
 much as this to answer: I have carefully observed the death of 
 the two opposite classes. I have seen hundreds of bad men die, 
 driven away in their wickedness; I also saw my venerable father 
 die with those blessed words on his tongue — “ Though I walk 
 through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil.” I 
 have seen many a good man die in the spirit of a sustaining trust 
 in his God; and now, believing that death changes no man’s 
 moral character and that the same God rules over both this world 
 and the next, I must conclude that these foreshadowings of the 
 future which stand out so boldly in the hour of death are God’s 
 witnesses to the contrast in destiny which we shall all find when 
 
 we enter the world to come. This is the logic of the proverb 
 
 before us. How much direct revelation from God on this point 
 he or his fathers before him had, he does not say. Let it suffice 
 us just here to interpret well the words he gives us and to bring 
 the truths they teach us home to our very hearts ! 
 
 33. Wisdom resteth in the heart of him that hath un- 
 derstanding : but that which is in the midst of fools is made 
 known. 
 
 Wisdom finds a natural home in the heart of the intelligent 
 and discreet; they know more than they say, and' give you the 
 impression of reserved force behind, ready for all future emer- 
 gencies. On the other hand, fools know but little and know 
 
 not how to conceal or reserve any portion of that. This senti- 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XV. 
 
 97 
 
 ment which puts it as a characteristic of fools to blurt forth all 
 they think appears in various proverbs, e. g ., 12: 13 and 13: 14 
 
 and 15 : 2. A proper regard to this proverb would abate much 
 
 of the foolish talking of our world for reputation’s sake, if not 
 from discretion. 
 
 34. Righteousness exalte th a nation : but sin is a re- 
 proach to any people. 
 
 This proverb speaks of righteousness and sin as pertaining 
 either to the government or to the general character of a people; 
 or more probably to both, since in general the government will 
 reflect the average sentiment and character of the people. The 
 point of the antithesis seems to be not so much strength on the 
 one hand and weakness on the other, as honor in the one case 
 and shame in the other. Righteousness in the sense of rectitude, 
 a just administration of government and a people bearing them- 
 selves justly toward each other but especially toward other nations, 
 will lift the nation high in honor; while on the other hand sin, 
 in the strong sense of national outrages against the great laws of 
 our common humanity, the oppression of the weak, unjust wars, 
 
 tyrannous exactions — these are the reproach of nations. The 
 
 Hebrew word standing here for “reproach” occurs but once else- 
 where in this sense, viz. : Lev. 20: 17; “It is a wicked thing” — 
 said of a most unnatural crime against the chastity and purity 
 
 of the family relation. The Hebrew words for “ nation ’ and 
 
 “people” are used for Gentiles as distinct from Jews, and there- 
 fore include all the nations of all time, Gentiles by specification, 
 and a fortiori the Jews and all Christian nations of every age, for 
 with clearer light comes greater responsibility and greater guilt 
 and shame for national sin. 
 
 35. The king’s favor is toward a wise servant: but his 
 wrath is against him that cause th shame. 
 
 The servant is thought of here as causing shame to his king by 
 his indiscretions and by disappointing his reasonable expectations. 
 Such a servant justly incurs the king’s displeasure. How can he 
 endure such a servant ? 
 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 1. A soft answer turneth away wrath : but grievous 
 words stir up anger. 
 
 An answer soft, not in the sense of weak, silly, but of mild and 
 soothing, turns back wrath ; abates its virus, averts its aim, makes 
 the wrathful man ashamed. But irritating words, such as cause 
 
98 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XV. 
 
 pain,, fire up the passion of anger to more fearful fury. Even 
 gentle tones of voice and a quiet manner and bearing have a mar- 
 velous power to turn away wrath ; even as sharp and violent tones 
 on the contrary excite angry passions to a fiercer flame. 
 
 These words are a fine example of the useful proverb — terse, 
 sententious, full of good sense and practical truth, so put as to be 
 easily remembered and readily carried in the mind for every-day 
 use. 
 
 2. The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright : but 
 the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness. 
 
 The special sense in which the tongue of the wise makes good 
 use of knowledge I take to be that the wise man speaks on fit 
 occasions ; is wise in manner and in adaptation to times and cir- 
 cumstances ; and also, not least, that he uses his skill to make 
 
 knowledge pleasing and attractive to the learner. Over against 
 
 this, the mouth of fools pours forth folly as an inverted bottle lets 
 out its waters, bubbling, gurgling, splurging, as if to caution by- 
 standers to keep out of the way. This seems to be the figure 
 involved in the verb here used. This proverb is not lacking in 
 pith and power. 
 
 3. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding 
 the evil and the good. 
 
 The eye is the best possible symbol from the material world to 
 represent the piercing, pervading, perfect knowledge of the omnis- 
 cient mind. To say “they are in every place” gives us the con- 
 ception of his omnipresence, reaching every possible sphere and 
 mode of created existence, showing that the darkness and the light 
 are both alike to him, and that there is no hiding in any secret 
 place where his mind shall not know our thoughts and deeds most 
 perfectly. The word for “beholding” means scanning, searching 
 out, the term commonly used for the responsible service of the 
 
 watchman whose sole concern is to see. The words, “ the evil 
 
 and the good,” mean not evil and good in the abstract, but evil 
 men and good men — the responsible agents who are doing either 
 evil or good. The infinite God is bound to take cognizance of 
 
 their doings. This proverb puts a great and vital truth in its 
 
 most practical form. 
 
 4. A wholesome tongue is a tree of life : but perverseness 
 therein is a breach in the spirit. 
 
 This proverb, like vs. 1, 2, treats of the power of the tongue. A 
 tongue mild [better than “wholesome”] is a permanent blessing 
 [“tree of life”] ; but one that works perversely breaks the heart, 
 comes down crashing with dire blows into the chambers of the 
 soul. Men feel such inflictions keenly. What breaking is like 
 that of the spirit ? 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XV. 
 
 99 
 
 5. A fool despiseth his father’s instruction : but he that 
 regardeth reproof is prudent. 
 
 In the last clause “is prudent,” should rather be “ will act pru- 
 dently” Then the antithesis of the proverb lies between what is 
 implied in the first clause and what is affirmed in the second, 
 thus : The fool despiseth his father’s instruction and therefore will 
 act foolishly , while he who regards reproof will be guided thereby 
 to act wisely. Of course the son who scorns his father’s counsels 
 is very sure to play the fool and go wrong, and so make his life 
 a failure. 
 
 6. In the house of the righteous is much treasure : but in 
 the revenues of the wicked is trouble. 
 
 The word “ revenues,” as here used, means income in general. 
 But the assumption is that the income of wicked men has been 
 gained by bad means, and therefore brings him trouble. Over 
 against this, the righteous man has in his house not only much 
 treasure, but treasure that does him much good, that brings not, 
 trouble but real comfort. In this point lies the gist, the real 
 antithesis, of the proverb. 
 
 7. The lips of the wise disperse knowledge : but the heart 
 of the foolish doeth not so. 
 
 The last word of the verse “so” is by general consent of modern 
 critics a noun (as in Isa. 16 : 6), meaning things not sound, not 
 reliable, but vain, empty, valueless. Then, there being no verb 
 expressed in the last clause, the choice lies between reading it, 
 The heart of the foolish is an unsound, valueless thing ; or with 
 the verb of the clause preceding, disperses , scatters abroad , value- 
 less things. The latter is the best. 
 
 8. The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the 
 Lord : but the prayer of the upright is his delight. 
 
 The sacrifice offered by the wicked, God abhors for the twofold 
 reason — that it lacks sincerity, love, the element of true worship 
 and homage ; and also, that it has sinister ends in view, e. g . , to 
 propitiate God’s favor upon a heart and life of sin; to buy an in- 
 dulgence; it being an effort to offset so much cost of sacrifice 
 against the permission to go on in sin and rebellion without in- 
 curring the awful penalties thereof. On the other hand, the 
 
 mere prayer of the upright, even though he may have no costly 
 sacrifice to give, is God’s delight. The offering of the heart in- 
 sures his favor. 
 
 9. The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the 
 Lord ; but he loveth him that followeth after righteous- 
 ness. 
 
 The last preceding proverb respects the offering of religious 
 
100 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XV. 
 
 sacrifices and prayer ; this relates to the moralities of life. God 
 abhors the conduct of the wicked, the way they live, the things 
 they do; while those who follow earnestly after righteousness [the 
 sense of the Hebrew verb as it stands here] God truly loves. 
 
 10. Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the 
 way : and he that hateth reproof shall die. 
 
 The first clause does not mean merely that correction is unpleas- 
 ant, repulsive to one who forsakes the right way of life ; but this, 
 that a sore, severe correction will befall him. A grievous correc- 
 tion will be the lot of those who forsake the way. To this the 
 
 last clause corresponds : he who hateth reproof shall die. Upon 
 
 the last word, the question must arise, What death will he die? 
 Can it be merely that death which is the common lot of all, of 
 the good and the bad with equal certainty ? This would amount 
 to no distinctive threatening whatever. We must, therefore, assume 
 that this death involves the fearful penalties of the divine law — 
 the death that lies beyond the dissolution of this mortal body — the 
 death which is for the wicked alone. 
 
 11. Hell and destruction are before the Lord: how 
 much more then the hearts of the children of men? 
 
 The word for “hell” used here is Sheol , meaning the under- 
 world, the supposed abode of the dead, thought of as the deepest 
 and darkest of all places. The word for “destruction” (abaddon), 
 corresponding to the Greek apolluon (Eng. apollyon), is here an- 
 other name for the same place. The proverb affirms that this 
 deepest and darkest of places is not too dark for the eye of God 
 to pierce through, but is present to his view, all exposed and 
 naked before him. How much more then must this be true of the 
 hearts of all the sons of men ? The sentiment is therefore essen- 
 tially the same as in v. 3 above. 
 
 12. A scorner loveth not one that reproveth him: 
 neither will he go unto the wise. 
 
 By his very nature the scorner is proud and disdains reproof. 
 Even the wisdom of the wisest of men has no attraction for him. 
 
 13. A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance : but 
 by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken. 
 
 “Merry” in the sense of joyful. A joyous heart expresses 
 itself in a cheerful face, but by sorrow [vexation] of heart, the 
 spirit is depressed, dejected, and with the spirit, the countenance 
 also, though this is implied, not expressed. 
 
 14. The heart of him that hath understanding seeketh 
 knowledge: but the mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness. 
 
 The heart of the thoughtful [intelligent] will seek additional 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XV. 
 
 101 
 
 knowledge. The last clause I take to mean that fools love to talk 
 nonsense; they enjoy it as a hungry man his bread; consequently 
 they have no impulses toward the acquisition of knowledge. Igno- 
 rance and folly answer the purpose of their heart’s desire even 
 better! Alas, for such folly in souls endowed by their Creator 
 with capacities for the noblest science ! 
 
 15. All the days of the afflicted are evil : but he that is 
 of a merry heart hath a continual feast. 
 
 The old English sense of the word “merry” was not jolly, 
 mirthful, but cheerful, serene — perhaps through sweet resignation 
 to the will of God. The Hebrew word in this case means good, a 
 good heart, or perhaps goodness of heart. The doctrine of the 
 proverb is that although the outward life and surroundings of the 
 afflicted may be wholly sad and comfortless, yet a good heart 
 rises nobly above their depressing influence and becomes like a 
 perpetual feast — a source of joy at once pure and perennial. So 
 may the spirit of man assert its superiority to the flesh — the inner 
 man to the outer. 
 
 16. Better is little with the fear of the Lord, than great 
 treasure and trouble therewith. 
 
 This sentiment is at once plain and rich. The blessing of God 
 on the humblest crust of bread is sweeter than the abundance of 
 
 earthly riches, with trouble ever attending. “The fear of the 
 
 Lord” is used here in the large sense of true piety, including 
 love and trust. It is the filial spirit of sonship, reposing in 
 the universal providence of a Great Father, and rejoicing in his 
 
 wisdom to withhold as truly as in his bounty to bestow. The 
 
 trouble incident to “great treasure” is rarely estimated at its full 
 measure. Men are not wont to consider how many have lost their 
 reason under the perpetual strain of the cares and anxieties of a 
 great estate. Monomaniacy is often God’s mode of retributive 
 
 visitation upon the sin of an excessive love of money. Over 
 
 against this, how blessed are those who have only the more of 
 God’s presence and love, as they have less of earth and of things 
 earthly ! 
 
 17. Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a 
 stalled ox and hatred therewith. 
 
 Even leaving the favor and love of God out of account, there are 
 things in the line of the social affections which far more than 
 counterbalance the ills of frugal or even meager fare. A dinner 
 of herbs, with the sweet charities of the heart superadded, stands 
 indefinitely far before the stall-fed ox, served up amid the asperi- 
 ties and malignities of cherished hate. This again is a fine ex- 
 
 ample of the moral proverb, terse and telling in the form of it, 
 wholesome and forcible in sentiment and in its social bearings. 
 
102 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XV. 
 
 18. A wrathful man stirreth up strife : but he that is slow 
 to anger appeaseth strife. 
 
 This proverb may be applied to the relative influence of the 
 passionate and of the self-governed respectively upon other people s 
 quarrels , or to their influence upon their own. The same qualities 
 of spirit and manner will produce the same results in either case. 
 Compare 29: 22 and 28: 25. 
 
 19. The way of the slothful man is a hedge of thorns : 
 but the way of the righteous is made plain. 
 
 The sluggard makes his own pathway like a thorn-hedge — almost 
 impassable and always full of annoyances and troubles; while the 
 righteous man makes his as a prepared causeway, a turnpiked road. 
 
 A road raised, thrown up, is the sense of the Hebrew. The 
 
 writer can not mean that the sluggard always finds his way made 
 for him a thorn-hedge — the circumstances of his life always such 
 as render useful activity almost hopeless to him. This would as- 
 cribe to divine providence what is due to his own laziness. 
 
 The remarkable thing in this proverb is the antithesis be- 
 tween the sluggard on the one hand and the righteous man on the 
 other — as if to suggest that such laziness is a sin — a moral obliquity 
 — which never appears in a truly upright man. 
 
 20. A wise son maketh a glad father : but a foolish man 
 despiseth his mother. 
 
 See essentially the same in 10: 1, and also in 29: 3. Compar- 
 ing this proverb with that in 10: 1, we have “man” instead of 
 “son,” as if to suggest the baseness of such contempt of one’s 
 mother, holding on from the tender years of the boy into the ma- 
 turity of manhood. Also observe that instead of saying, “is the 
 heaviness of his mother,” he says what is naturally equivalent, 
 “despiseth his mother.” Folly (always associated with sin and 
 crime) is most certain to manifest itself in contempt of one’s 
 mother. Maternal counsel and prayer will surely be set at naught 
 by the man of folly and crime. How many mothers’ hearts are 
 doomed, from this cause, to bear a daily load of almost crushing 
 heaviness ! 
 
 21. Folly is joy to him that is destitute of wisdom : but 
 a man of understanding walketh uprightly. 
 
 The man who lacks a heart [Heb.] finds a low, miserable pleas- 
 ure in his folly, and consequently he will not forsake his foolish 
 life nor cease from his folly of soul. This logical consequent 
 seems to be put in antithesis with the natural bent of the intelli- 
 gent wise man toward walking uprightly. The one will not and 
 the other will walk right, because the former loves his folly, and 
 the latter loves wisdom and all her ways. 
 
PROVERBS— CIIAP. XV. 
 
 103 
 
 22. Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in 
 the multitude of counselors they are established. 
 
 See 11 : 14. The best of plans need wisdom for their effective 
 execution. 'Since all men, even though wise, do not look from the 
 same stand-point, and hence see various aspects of the same thing, 
 it comes to pass that u a multitude of counselors” enhances the 
 probability of attaining the best wisdom and the safest results. 
 
 23. A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth : and a 
 word spoken in due season, how good is it ! 
 
 I take the sense to be that a man enjoys giving a discreet and wise 
 answer. He feels a personal satisfaction in the exercise of the 
 kindness and good-will which it involves, and also in imparting 
 useful knowledge or good advice. Moreover, a word spoken in 
 good time, well put, how good it appears to others ! How much 
 they, too, enjoy it! 
 
 24. The way of life is above to the wise, that he may 
 depart from hell beneath. 
 
 “Above” is used precisely in the sense of upward. The wise 
 man s chosen way of living tends upward , far as possible away 
 from hell below. He keeps himself remote and bends his path- 
 way far from the deep abyss of perdition beneath. The proverb 
 seems to involve these two ideas : that he aims to remove himself 
 as far as possible from the place and the doom of the wicked ; 
 and that such is in fact the result of his chosen path of life. 
 
 25. The Lord will destroy the house of the proud ; but 
 he will establish the border of the widow. 
 
 “ House ” includes the estate, the wealth of the proud. The Lord 
 abhors them, and therefore will bring upon them the present retri- 
 butions of his righteous providence. But on the other hand, the 
 widow, defenseless in herself, will be the special object of his 
 care. To “establish her border,” i. e ., the boundary lines of her 
 landed estate, covers the whole idea of assured protection and 
 defense. As to this world’s good, the former class God will over- 
 throw; the latter, he will enlarge in their straits and make sure 
 to them all needful good. 
 
 26. The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to 
 the Lord : but the words of the pure are pleasant words. 
 
 The Hebrew word for “thoughts,” is rather devices. The 
 plottings of evil are an abomination to the Lord; but amiable 
 words are pure, acceptable before him. Words spoken with kind 
 purpose, good intention, are pure in his sight, like the appointed 
 sacrificial offerings. I prefer this construction of the last clause 
 to that given in the English version for two reasons: (1.) The 
 Hebrew word for “pure” is naturally apnlied to sacrificial offer- 
 
104 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XV. 
 
 ings rather than to pure-minded men; and (2.) In this construc- 
 tion, the antithesis with the previous clause is more direct — the 
 devices of the wicked placed over against words flavored with 
 grace, goodness. 
 
 27. He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house ; 
 but he that hateth gifts shall live. 
 
 “Gifts” in the sense of bribes. “Live,” in the broad sense of 
 all prosperity, real life. He who is so greedy of gain as to accept 
 bribes and to allow himself as a judge to give corrupt decisions 
 therefor, brings trouble upon his house, including perhaps both 
 his family and his estate. The money he gets in this way will 
 curse him and his children after him. 
 
 28. The heart of the righteous studieth to answer : but 
 the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things. 
 
 “ Studieth,” in the sense of considering well in order to answer 
 discreetly. On the other hand the mouth of the wicked dis- 
 charges the virus of a bad heart with no reserve, no forethoughtful 
 consideration. The one thinks seriously before he speaks; the 
 other only lifts the floodgates and lets his pent-up wickedness gush 
 out. 
 
 29. The Lord is far from the wicked : but he lieareth 
 the prayer of the righteous. 
 
 “The Lord is far from the wicked” both in sympathy and in 
 fact — so far that he hears not their wicked prayer. Of course 
 this conception of the Lord as far away from the wjcked pertains 
 to his moral relations and feelings toward them, and has no bear- 
 ing upon his omniscience — does not imply that he is too far re- 
 moved to mark and note their deeds or to hold them responsible 
 for their sins. 
 
 30. The light of the eyes rejoiceth the heart : and a good 
 report maketh the bones fat. 
 
 As light is pleasant to the eye and breathes cheerfulness through 
 the heart, so good tidings thrill the very nerves (so we should 
 express it), but the Hebrew writer thinks of the bones as made 
 full of marrow by that which diffuses joy through the soul. 
 
 31. The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth 
 among the wise. 
 
 The ear that heareth (regardeth) reproofs tending to life shall 
 abide (find its permanent home) among the wise. The word for 
 “abide” means primarily shall lodge over night; but this is to 
 make a residence, to find a home. So beautifully does this pro- 
 verb commend the docility which bends the ear to listen to re- 
 proof. He who loves to correct his own faults and to make himself 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XVI. 
 
 105 
 
 wiser and better to-day than he was yesterday, will surely find his 
 permanent home among the wise and good. 
 
 32. He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul : 
 but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding. 
 
 This proverb treats of the same general truth as the preceding. 
 “ Despiseth his own soul,” i. e ., shows himself no mercy; acts as 
 if he would throw away his best good, his immortal welfare, as a 
 worthless thing. On the other hand, to hear reproof is to “get a 
 heart” (so the Heb.) i. e ., a good heart, intelligent, well-informed, 
 wise. 
 
 33. The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom ; 
 and before honor is humility. 
 
 The fear of the Lord (true piety) brings the instructions of true 
 wisdom. Humility before honor is a truth full of practical good 
 sense and of useful suggestion. He who is too wise in his own 
 conceit to receive kindly and even thankfully the counsels and 
 when needed the faithful reproofs of the good, need not hope to 
 become worthy of honor. To stand low in one's own esteem is 
 thus a first condition of standing high in the esteem of others, the 
 wise and the good. Discreet men award honor most freely to 
 those who seem not only worthy to receive but able to bear it. 
 
 
 CHAPTER XYI. 
 
 1. The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer 
 of the tongue, is from the Lord. 
 
 The received version fails to give the sense of the Hebrew 
 which should read— “To man is the preparation of the heart; 
 from the Lord is the answer of the tongue.” To man pertains the 
 disposing, the ordering of his heart; the government of his 
 thoughts ; the formation of his purposes ; the shaping of his peti- 
 tions in prayer; but to God pertains the answering of his requests, 
 the successful issue of his schemes. Apparently the sentiment 
 of the proverb may cover both the offering of prayer with its an- 
 swer from the Lord, and the shaping of man’s plans with their 
 ultimate issues, which are determined through the agencies of 
 God’s providence. 
 
 2. All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes ; 
 but the Lord weigheth the spirits. 
 
106 
 
 PROVERBS — CHAP. XVI. 
 
 “ Clean, ” in the sense of morally pure, right. Men are prone 
 to assume that all their own ways are right. But the Lord tries 
 the heart, and finds the basis of his judgment there. Thought 
 and spirit may be quite intangible to us ; we may have no crucible 
 to try them in; no scales that will weigh them; but the scales of 
 
 God weigh the souls and the spirits of men. The sentiment of 
 
 the first clause has already appeared in 12 : 15 and in 14: 12; the 
 entire proverb in slightly different terms in 21 : 2, and the thought 
 mainly in 24: 12. 
 
 3. Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts 
 shall be established. 
 
 Having formed your plans in the fear of God, seek the aid of 
 his providence in their execution; so shall they be established. 
 The original is expressive — u Moll your doings over upon the 
 Lord;” devolve upon him the ordering of all the events which 
 are to affect you. He will make your plans firm, successful. See 
 the same sentiment, Ps. 37 : 5. God’s providential agencies are 
 every-where, to confirm or to confound human devisings and 
 doings. Let no man ignore God's hand, lest God set at naught 
 all his endeavors. 
 
 4. The Lord hath made all things for himself : yea, 
 even the wicked for the day of evil. 
 
 It is doubly important to understand this proverb, (1) Because 
 it does teach a great truth ; (2) Because it does not teach a cer- 
 tain great error which has been sometimes imputed to it. The 
 
 word “made” can not be restricted to creative work, but legiti- 
 mately includes all the doings of God, — works of providence more 
 specifically than works of creation. The Lord works all things in 
 the sense of shaping events and determining issues with special 
 reference to retribution for moral good or evil done by his moral 
 
 subjects. The original word rendered u for himself ” admits of 
 
 another construction with this sense : The Lord works everything 
 for its own purpose, i. e ., he makes results and issues correspond 
 to the human agencies involved in them. He makes the final 
 result of every earthly life correspond to what that life has been. 
 This second possible construction yields a perfectly unexceptiona- 
 ble sense, and is moreover strongly sustained by the peculiar 
 punctuation of the Hebrew word in which the presence of the 
 article forbids us to read it simply “for,” in the sense, “for the 
 sake of.” The sense of the proverb therefore is that simply in 
 accordance with the great, eternal law of fitness, God brings 
 upon the wicked the destiny of suffering. There is a just and 
 righteous correspondence between the moral activities of his 
 creatures and the reward which a just God will bestow therefor. 
 This has its special manifestation as between sin and suffering; 
 the moral evil that is wickedly, rebelliously done by his creatures, 
 and the evil of suffering, righteously inflicted by their Supreme 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XVI. 
 
 107 
 
 King and Judge. Unfortunately this proverb has sometimes 
 
 been tortured to say that God has created the wicked for the 
 sake of punishing them, i. e., in order to secure the good results 
 of it in his moral universe. This doctrine has been made specially 
 objectionable by associating it with a practical denial of free 
 moral agency — by assuming that, to accomplish his ends in 
 creating sinners for perdition, God holds them to a life of sinning 
 by a law of necessity which they can not break. Nothing can be 
 wider from the truth than this, or more repugnant to every senti- 
 ment of benevolence or even of justice. We need to remember 
 that God punishes the wicked for their voluntary rebellion against 
 his authority — for their purposed antagonism toward all righteous- 
 ness, goodness and truth. We need to distinguish broadly between 
 God’s supposed creating of sinners in order that they may sin, 
 that so he may damn them for the good to come from it : and on 
 the other hand, his actually creating them that they might be 
 obedient and so be blest, and then punishing them only because 
 they will not obey him, but will perversely scorn their Maker, 
 disown his authority, abuse his love, and set at naught all his 
 efforts to reclaim and save them. Our proverb affirms that in 
 this sense God shapes the destiny of the wicked to their just 
 doom of suffering. When they absolutely will consecrate them- 
 selves to sinning and to rebellion, the only use God can make of 
 them is to give them their just doom of woe, and make them an 
 example to his moral universe. The only issue that can bear a 
 just relation of correspondence to their horribly wicked life, is 
 this awful doom of suffering. 
 
 5. Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination 
 to the Lord : though hand join in hand, he shall not be 
 unpunished. 
 
 It is often repeated in various forms that God abhors the proud. 
 See 6: 17 and 8: 13. The last clause, “hand to hand the wicked 
 shall not be held innocent,” appears in 11 : 21. Prof. Stuart 
 gives it this turn: — Though one hand be joined to the other, 
 though the proud man put both his hands and all his power to 
 the effort, he can never secure his own exemption from punish- 
 ment. But probably the sentiment is, Though one man’s hand 
 be put to another man’s hand with never so much combination of 
 human forces, etc., etc. 
 
 6. By mercy and truth iniquity is purged : and by the 
 fear of the Lord men depart from evil. 
 
 “ Purged,” in the almost obsolete sense of cleansed in the eye 
 of law, atoned for, covered so as to be screened from punish- 
 ment. This end is promoted by thorough reformation, the offender 
 returning to kindness [mercy] and to truth, real uprightness. 
 The doctrine applies to human laws and to their administration ; 
 also to the personal relations of man with man. We much more 
 
108 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XVI. 
 
 readily forgive those who give us proof of their penitence by 
 radical reform. Yet we need not press the proverb to make it 
 assert that God’s system of forgiving sinners calls for nothing else 
 but reformation. In his system true repentance is a condition of 
 
 pardon, yet not the ultimate ground on which it rests. As the 
 
 first clause shows how sin once committed may be atoned for, the 
 last clause shows how men may avoid sinning. Let a wholesome 
 fear of God be impressed constantly upon their souls. So they 
 will depart from sinning. 
 
 7. When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketli 
 even his enemies to be at peace with him. 
 
 This general truth finds its reason in God’s favoring providence, 
 and in the fact that what pleases God will commend itself to the 
 human conscience as right, and will therefore afford the least 
 possible occasion for ill-will and opposition. This truth can not 
 be taken as a universal one, for, if universal, it would make per- 
 secution for righteousness’ sake impossible. The depravity of a 
 very wicked world brings in some exceptions to the general law 
 indicated here. 
 
 8. Better is a little with righteousness, than great revenues 
 without right. 
 
 Nearly the same sentiment appears in 15: 16 and Ps. 37: 16. 
 A very little wealth, and even few comforts, yet with righteous- 
 ness, insuring peace of conscience and peace with God, is better 
 than great incomes obtained in violation of justice. Wealth so 
 gotten brings with it the curse of the Almighty; sooner or later 
 the bitterest self-condemnation, and the detestation of all the good. 
 With stinging words of terrible truth the apostle James puts this 
 case: “Your gold and silver is cankered, and the rust of them 
 shall be a witness against you and shall eat your flesh as it had 
 been fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. 
 Behold, the hire of your laborers who have reaped down your 
 fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth, and the cries 
 of them that have reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord 
 of Sabaoth” (5: 1-5). 
 
 9. A man’s heart deviseth his way : but the Lord direct- 
 eth his steps. 
 
 It is for man to lay his plans ; the Lord only can confirm them. 
 This rests in his good pleasure. 
 
 10. A divine sentence is in the lips of the king : his 
 mouth transgresseth not in judgment. 
 
 Solomon thought of civil government as ordained of God, and 
 of the king therefore as ruling under God, and, while standing in 
 his proper relations toward God, as divinely guided in his deci- 
 sions. The Hebrew word rendered “divine sentence” is often 
 
PROVERBS- -CHAP. XVI. 
 
 109 
 
 xrsed for divination, i. e., for communications supposed to come 
 
 from some higher power. “His mouth transgresseth not" 
 
 [more precisely, will not speak deceitfully ] in its judicial decisions. 
 You may expect honesty from one who stands so near to God and 
 
 who bears such responsibilities. It need not be assumed that 
 
 this proverb was intended as a history of the kings of the earth. 
 It is rather a view of their relations to God and of their conse- 
 quent responsibilities and duties. If you may assume that they 
 are acting honestly and truly for God, then these things will be 
 true. 
 
 11. A just weight and balance are the Lord’s: all the 
 weights of the bag are his work. 
 
 These are the Lord’s in the sense that he requires them and 
 enjoins the fair dealing which they provide for and were intended 
 to secure. u His work" seems to imply that he made them, and 
 enjoined their use as a safeguard against the inherent human 
 selfishness which would otherwise develop itself in fraud or in- 
 justice. See the same sentiment in 11. : 1, and the Hebrew law in 
 Let. 19: 36.— — The Hebrew word for “weights” is stones , sug- 
 gesting the ancient usage of small stones for weights. The dealer 
 carried them in a bag. Hence the greater facility for deceit, 
 since he might and sometimes did carry one set of stones to buy 
 with and another to sell with. See 20: 10 below, where this 
 form of fraud is condemned. 
 
 12. It is an abomination to kings to commit wickedness : 
 for the throne is established by righteousness. 
 
 Obviously this first clause must be taken in the ethical and not 
 the historical sense — as affirming what is in itself considered rather 
 than what is in the real hearts of kings. In view of the king’s 
 relations both to the Great God and to the good of his people, 
 nothing can be more true than this, that the doing of evil ought 
 to be utterly abhorrent to his soul, a supreme abomination. The 
 reason assigned is — “ For the throne is established by righteous- 
 ness,” and no king has a right to break down his own throne. 
 He ought to shudder at the bare thought of any act that must 
 
 naturally sap its foundations. It is pleasant to think that these 
 
 were Solomon’s own views of his royal responsibilities when he 
 came to the throne of Israel (1 Kings 3: 5—9, and 2 Chron. 1: 8- 
 10), and that he w r as taught them impressively in the last words 
 of his venerable father: “ The Spirit of the Lord spake by me and 
 his word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, He that 
 ruleth over men must be just , ruling in the fear of God. And he 
 shall be as the light of the morning when the sun riseth, even a 
 morning without clouds ; as the tender grass springing out of the 
 earth by clear shining after rain” (2 Sam. 23: 2-5). 
 
 13. Righteous lips are the delight of kings ; and they love 
 him that speaketh right. 
 
110 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XVI. 
 
 In this connection “righteous lips” are truth-speaking lips 
 They are the delight of kings, because it is essential in order to 
 rule well that their sources of knowledge should be reliable, and 
 that they should know the actual facts of every case. 
 
 14. The wrath of a king is as messengers of death: but a 
 wise man will pacify it. 
 
 This assumes that the king’s power is absolute — the power of 
 life and death over his subjects. Hence his wrath is like the 
 swift “angels of death.” The same arbitrary terrible power is 
 assumed to lie in the king in the proverbs (19: 12 and 20: 2). 
 It appears in the history of David and Solomon (1 Kings 1: 52 
 and 2 : 6, 8, 9). Hence, if a man is wise he will labor to pacify 
 the king’s wrath and be careful not to excite it. 
 
 15. In the light of the king’s countenance is life ; and his 
 favor is as a cloud of the latter rain. 
 
 In symbol, light indicates joy and good will ; the “ light of the 
 king’s countenance” stands opposed to dark frowns on his brow. 
 It therefore expresses his good will and is life to those on whom it 
 falls. Beautifully is his favor compared to the cloud that brings 
 the latter rain. These latter rains, falling in March and April, 
 shortly before their harvest, and essential to its maturing well, 
 were foretokened by this cloud of promise, which must, therefore, 
 have been a beautiful sight to the husbandman — not a black cloud 
 of wrath ; not the precursor of hail and tempest, but of gentle 
 showers that came to crown with blessings the approaching harvest. 
 
 16. How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and 
 to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver ! 
 
 Compare 8: 11, 19. This is rather an exclamation than a ques- 
 tion, calling for a precise answer. In the original it is put tersely 
 and forcibly : “To get wisdom — how good it is more than gold ! 
 And to get understanding — to be chosen more than silver! ” Solo- 
 mon himself, at least in his youth, was a fine illustration of this 
 sentiment. (See 1 Kings 3: 11-13.) The sentiment is eminently 
 wholesome both for kings and for all who bear the responsibilities 
 of government. 
 
 17. The highway of the upright is to depart from evil: 
 he that keepeth his way preserveth his soul. 
 
 Very noticeably, the way of the upright is here a highway , raised 
 and made smooth and dry for perfect travel; not rough, or low 
 and miry as in the state of nature. Such is the way of life which 
 belongs to the upright. The thing said of it here is that it turns 
 squarely away from evil — leads off to avoid all sin, and so, all ill. 
 He who carefully keeps this way will preserve not merely his 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XVI. 
 
 Ill 
 
 strength from waste and himself from weariness, hut his soul from 
 the evils that imperil human souls in this world of sin. 
 
 18. Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit 
 before a fall. 
 
 Pride is the natural antecedent of destruction. According to 
 all social and moral law, destruction follows close upon foregoing 
 pride. A haughty spirit is itself a prophecy of a speedy fall. The 
 philosophy of this fact is not hard to find, for who does not know 
 that a proud and haughty spirit betrays folly, forfeits esteem and 
 love; provokes the social and moral retribution that is itself destruc- 
 tion and a fall ? If this be true in human society and under its 
 moral laws, how much more under the righteous retributions of 
 Jehovah’s administration! 
 
 19. Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, 
 than to divide the spoil with the proud. 
 
 As the preceding proverb gives us the ruinous results of pride, 
 
 this gives the worth of humility. “Dividing the spoil,” in a 
 
 country for ages hut too familiar with the ways of savage robbery 
 and plunder as well as of war, was naturally significant of victory, 
 booty, and exuberant joy. But better are the humble of heart who 
 have sympathy with the lowly than they who associate with the 
 proud even in their hours of most exultant hilarity. 
 
 20. He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good : 
 and whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he. 
 
 “Handleth wisely,” translates a Hebrew word which means 
 simply to consider attentively, wisely, intelligently. “Matter” re 
 presents the very common Hebrew term for word , which may, how- 
 ever, bear the sense of thing. Hence we may choose between 
 referring it to God’s revealed word, or to things in general that are 
 proper subjects of consideration. Probably the latter sense should 
 be taken, the proverb commending serious, careful thought on all 
 important subjects. Blessed are they who add to such diligent 
 consideration a real and hearty trust in the Lord. 
 
 21. The wise in heart shall be called prudent : and the 
 sweetness of the lips increaseth learning. 
 
 The original word forbids our taking “prudent” in the sense 
 primarily of cautious, safe against indiscretions; and requires the 
 
 sense, intelligent, discerning. “ Shall be called,” according to 
 
 the common Hebrew idiom, means shall really be so, and not 
 merely, shall be so reputed and spoken of. The distinction is that 
 
 between character and reputation. “ Sweetness of lips,” signifies 
 
 pleasant words and an agreeable manner of speaking. Such sweet- 
 ness gives the teacher a special charm, and augments his teaching 
 power so that he actually teaches not only better but more thereby. 
 
112 
 
 PROVERBS - CHAP. XVI. 
 
 22. Understanding is a well-spring of life unto him that 
 hath it : but the instruction of fools is folly. 
 
 See a similar use of the figure “ a fountain of life,” in 13 : 14 and 
 14 : 27. Such a source of rich and permanent good is the human 
 intelligence, the possession of a mind capable of apprehending and 
 appreciating truth, especially the great moral truths which relate 
 
 to God and duty. In the last clause, the word for “ instruction” 
 
 often has the sense of correction, chastisement. So taken, it means : 
 Their own folly is the chastisement, the scourge of fools. The 
 proverb would then put in contrast the life-fountain of good which 
 the one has in his intelligence and knowledge, against the source 
 of self-scourging and torment which the other has in his folly. 
 Thus the proverb may refer to wisdom and folly in their bearing 
 upon their possessors. It may, however, refer to their respective 
 influence on others. I favor the former. 
 
 23. The heart of the wise teacheth his mouth, and 
 addeth learning to his lips. 
 
 If the Hebrew idiom corresponded in this point to our own 
 English, I should find in this proverb the sentiment that real be 
 nevolence, good and great-heartedness, helps the wise to teach and 
 gives their lips augmented power of instructing others. But Sol- 
 omon’s usage of the word u heart” looks to intelligence rather 
 than benevolence. Hence we must interpret this proverb: The 
 intelligence of the wise gives them useful truth for their lips to 
 speak and makes their words precious for the instruction of others. 
 
 24. Pleasant words are as a honeycomb, sweet to the soul, 
 and health to the bones. 
 
 Words are made pleasant in many ways: (1.) By the charms 
 of imagination; (2.) By their suggestive power; (3.) By their 
 simplicity; (4.) By becoming the vehicle of sweet thoughts and 
 pleasing emotions ; (5.) By the agreeable manner of speaking them. 
 
 The Hebrew allows here a broad range. The proverb tells 
 
 us that the charm of such words is like the sweetness of honey, 
 only that this is said to carry its sweetness both to the soul and to 
 
 the body. The wise will infer the desirableness of possessing 
 
 this power of pleasant words. 
 
 25. There is a way that seemeth right unto a man ; but 
 the end thereof are the ways of death. 
 
 See the same in 14: 12. 
 
 26. He that laboreth, laboreth for himself ; for his mouth 
 craveth it of him. 
 
 The original is in this form: “The appetite of the laboring man 
 labors for him”- — probably in the sense of energizing to press him 
 to work for its gratification. The impulses of appetite become a 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XVI. 
 
 113 
 
 constant force toward labor — as said in the last clause, “His 
 mouth urges this upon him.” Man must work because he must 
 eat. 
 
 27. An ungodly man diggeth up evil : and in his lips 
 there is as a burning fire. 
 
 As digging a pit was one way to ensnare wild animals, it came 
 to be used in the sense of laying snares and plotting mischief in 
 general. The ungodly man [“man of Belial,” Heb.] loved and 
 manufactured mischief That there was a burning fire on his lips 
 betokens slander — malign, satanic slander — as if every word were 
 hot shot, or a poisoned arrow for the bosom of friend or foe, almost 
 without discrimination. Of such sin, what language, what figures 
 of speech can over-paint its vileness ! 
 
 28. A fro ward man soweth strife : and a whisperer sep- 
 arateth chief friends. 
 
 While in this collection (chap. 10-22: 16), each proverb is a 
 complete truth of itself, and not dependent on any other, yet we 
 often have several in succession relating to the same subject. 
 
 Here we have a series upon sins of the tongue. This declares 
 
 that a man of perverseness scatters abroad strifes, sowing the 
 seeds of discord. A tattler separates the best of friends. 
 
 29. A violent man enticeth his neighbor, and leadeth 
 him into the way that is not good. 
 
 “Violence” [Heb.] contemplates assaults upon human life. 
 (See Gen. 6: 11, 13.) In this proverb, Solomon seems to have his 
 eye on those robbing and murdering practices referred to in chap. 
 
 1: 10-18. The “enticing” appears there as here. The way 
 
 “not good” is a way superlatively bad. 
 
 30. He shutteth his eyes to devise fro ward things : mov- 
 ing his lips he bringeth evil to pass. 
 
 This proverb seems to set forth the intense feeling with which 
 the wicked sometimes project and prosecute their malign schemes. 
 He shuts his eyes in order to think the harder and to plot the 
 more deeply ; he bites his lips under his burning emotions. So he 
 accomplishes his cherished mischief. 
 
 31. The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in 
 the way of righteousness. 
 
 Solomon does not say “ if it be found,” etc., though he may 
 perhaps imply it. Literally, I translate : “A crown of glory is the 
 hoary head; in the way of righteousness it will be found.” It is 
 certainly supposable that the sense may be: Old age is prima 
 facie evidence of a virtuous life. In Solomon’s time, wicked men 
 did not live out half their days ; he who honored father and mother 
 lived long upon the land God had given his people. But whether 
 
114 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XVII. 
 
 the proverb should take this turn or not, it certainly means all 
 that our English version expresses. It is a glory to have lived a 
 
 long life, be it only a virtuous and a useful one. Our age of 
 
 the world has some hoary sinners ; a sadder class of men, and 
 one more to be pitied live not on the face of the earth ! To have 
 outlived almost every form of sensual enjoyment; to have worn 
 out body and soul in sin; to have nothing in the past that mem- 
 ory can recall with pleasure, and nothing in the future that can 
 be thought of intelligently without shuddering horror; how does 
 the realization of such an old age agonize and appall us ! 
 
 32. He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty ; 
 and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city. 
 
 Noble sentiments are these! The man who is slow to anger is 
 greater than the hero : he who thoroughly rules himself, than he 
 who conquers a city. Man has no capacity for power more noble 
 than that by which he holds every passion in due self-control ; no 
 ruling is greater or better than self-ruling. Let us emulate such 
 glory" I 
 
 33. The lot is cast into the lap ; but the whole disposing 
 thereof is of the Lord. 
 
 This is obviously the sacred lot — a method of appealing to God 
 for his decision. The reader may see cases of this in Lev. 16 : 8-10, 
 in the choice between the two goats on the great day of atonement ; 
 in Josh. 15-19, for the division of Canaan among the tribes; in 
 1 Chron. 24: 5, 7, in the assignment of special duties among the 
 priests. It must not be inferred that this appeal to God can be 
 properly made without special direction from himself. Such di- 
 rection preceded its use in the cases referred to. It can not be 
 well to presume upon God’s interposition to express his will by the 
 lot unless he has authorized it in the special case. 
 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 1. Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than 
 a house full of sacrifices with strife. 
 
 Essentially the same sentiment appears in 15 : 17. The word 
 
 for “quietness” has the broad sense of peace as opposed to strife 
 
 and as the fruit of love. One class of sacrifices, the peace- 
 
 offerings, were chiefly appropriated to the use of the offerer and 
 his friends as a sort of thanksgiving feast. See the allusions to 
 this custom in 7 : 14 ; also in Ps. 22 : 25, 26. But the word here 
 used may have a wider application, even to slaughtered animals 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XVII. 
 
 115 
 
 in general. The Orientals esteemed flesh as the richest of food. 
 
 But a dry crust with peace and love is better than a house 
 
 full of fatlings to be eaten amid strifes and heart-aches and bit- 
 terness of soul. Think of a family quarrel over a thanksgiving 
 feast! Who would not sooner have the driest crust with only the 
 poorest water to moisten it? The joy of the heart is indefinitely 
 more and better than the joy of the palate ! 
 
 2. A wise servant shall have rule over a son that causeth 
 shame, and shall have part of the inheritance among the 
 brethren. 
 
 A “ son that causeth shame ” in the eye of Solomon is the indo- 
 lent, thriftless son (see 10: 15), or the reckless spendthrift who 
 wastes his father s estate and drives his mother from the ancestral 
 home (19 : 26). Fitly he puts the wise servant above such a son. 
 It reversed the laws of Hebrew society for a servant to bear rule 
 over the son — the ruling of the house and the rights of power 
 under the patriarchal regime naturally descending from father to 
 
 son. So also did the inheritance of the estate. A wholesome 
 
 moral lesson is here for the wayward sons in Israel, and not less 
 so for wayward sons in all ages. Let them see to it that in point 
 of dignity and power they fall not below even the servants or the 
 slaves of the household. 
 
 3. The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold : 
 but the Lord trieth the hearts. 
 
 The skill of man finds out the agents and invents the processes 
 for proving and purifying gold and silver: the Lord does the same 
 thing as to human hearts. How can the dross of sin abide the 
 ordeal of his furnace and of his fires ! 
 
 4. A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips ; and a liar 
 giveth ear to a naughty tongue. 
 
 The sentiment of this proverb may be that bad men love to 
 drink in and pour out slander; love to become receivers and re- 
 tailers of the falsehoods that float round in vile and slanderous 
 society. Or it may perhaps signify that wicked men are them- 
 selves deceived by their equally wicked associates, and so get a 
 part of the penalty of their own wickedness by associating with 
 men of like character. Either sense is true. The former would 
 paint the vice and the ways of slander; the latter would look 
 toward one form of retribution which God provides for under the 
 laws of a sinning world. The latter view is unexceptionable. 
 
 5. Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker : and 
 he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished. 
 
 If we may suppose that the latter clause continues and expands 
 the sentiment of the former, then the poor are thought of as being 
 
116 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XVII. 
 
 made so by sudden calamity. In this view of the cause of their 
 poverty, it would be specially reproachful to their Maker to mock 
 their sufferings, since it would virtually assume that the great 
 Father, so far from sending upon them affliction for their higher 
 good, had sent it only as a visitation of his wrath — only to hold 
 them up to the scorn of mankind. What a scandal would this 
 be upon the Infinite Father! The men who fall under his chas- 
 
 tising rod should surely in their day of purifying trial receive from 
 us our prayerful sympathy and not our haughty scorn. Let us 
 recall those words of Job [19: 21]; “Have pity upon me, have 
 pity upon me, 0 my friends; for the hand of God hath touched 
 me.” 
 
 6. Children’s children are the crown of old men ; and the 
 glory of children are their fathers. 
 
 Virtuous grandsons are a crown of honor to the aged ; so also 
 are worthy fathers to their children. The reflection of honor be- 
 tween fathers and sons is reciprocal. Each class therefore has 
 this high and noble motive to a virtuous life ; the father, that he 
 may be a glory to his sons: sons and grandsons, that they may 
 be a crown of honor as well as a perpetual joy to their aged father. 
 Such sentiments have a wholesome bearing. 
 
 7. Excellent speech becometh not a fool : much less do 
 lying lips a prince. 
 
 Choice words, a noble voice and impressive manner befit real 
 dignity of character and well become the utterance of wisdom; 
 but, alas ! how unsuitable are they to the fool ! So and much 
 more are lying lips unfitting for the prince. Whoever bears the 
 solemn responsibility of ruling under God should abjure all false- 
 hood. 
 
 8. A gift is as a precious stone in the eyes of him that 
 hath it: whithersoever it turneth, it prospereth. 
 
 The Hebrew word used here for “gift” is shochad. 
 
 This word appears in the Mosaic law (Ex. 23 : 8 and Deut. 
 16: 19) — every-where a thing forbidden. A very different word 
 (]nn) mattan, appears in the proverbs (18: 16 and 19: 6) which 
 
 might seem to the English reader to be analogous to this. They 
 are not so. The “present” which Jacob sent forward to con- 
 ciliate Esau (Gen. 32: 13) is indicated by still another word to 
 
 which no bad sense attaches. In this proverb therefore we can 
 
 not suppose that the great influence of the bribe is adduced to 
 recommend its use, but rather to state the fact for its admonitory 
 lessons. It is but too true that a bribe is like a precious stone — 
 a ruby or a diamond — in the eye of him who receives and retains 
 it. As the stone, turn it which way you will, reflects a brilliant 
 and beautiful light, so a bribe unconsciously dazzles the eye, and 
 thus perverts first the clear view, and then the righteous judgment. 
 
RROVERBS— CHAP. XVII. 
 
 117 
 
 9. He that covereth a transgression seeketh love ; but he 
 that repeateth a matter separateth very friends. 
 
 Manifestly the word “ cover” has here not precisely its some- 
 what usual Hebrew sense, forgive, but the English sense of con- 
 ceal, hide from view. It stands opposed to reporting a case over 
 and over. He who thus conceals a transgression promotes the 
 spirit of love toward the offender both in his own heart and in the 
 
 hearts of others. A similar sentiment appears in 10: 12. 
 
 Over against this, he who repeats the story of a wrong may sever 
 the warmest friendships — may sunder the hearts of the best friends. 
 
 Compare 16: 28. But let no reader suppose that this proverb 
 
 forbids all disclosure of others’ wrong doings, it forbids our 
 disclosing such wrong maliciously , or even causelessly ; but by no 
 means forbids its being done when the greater good manifestly 
 requires it, and when therefore the law of love to all men de- 
 mands it. 
 
 10. A reproof entereth more into a wise man than a 
 hundred stripes into a fool. 
 
 The verb rendered “ entereth into ” may come from either of 
 two Hebrew roots ; in the one case meaning- — Goes down into him 
 more deeply; in the other, Takes hold of him more powerfully. 
 The Masorites favor the latter. Either makes good sense. A re- 
 proof (in words only) takes more effect upon a wise man than a 
 hundred floggings upon a fool. This I take to be the exact sense 
 of the original. 
 
 11. An evil man seeketh only^ rebellion : therefore a cruel 
 messenger shall be sent against him. 
 
 The rebellion thought of here is against the king and the gov- 
 ernment. Against a man radically bad whose aim is only rebel- 
 lion, the king sends his sternest messengers of iustice. Why 
 should not he ? 
 
 12. Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather 
 than a fool in his folly. 
 
 This proverb evinces a keen sense of the mischiefs of folly and 
 of the dangers of coming into contact with a fool when his folly 
 is in full blast. Some of the commentators assume that the fool 
 here is thought of as maddened by his angry and revengeful pas- 
 sions — which is at least probable. 
 
 13. Whoso rewardeth evil for good, evil shall not depart 
 from his house. 
 
 “Returning evil for good” is such an outrage upon all right- 
 eousness and even upon common morality that God will take the 
 case in hand and punish the man who does it not only in his own 
 
118 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XVII. 
 
 person but in his children after him, onward and onward indefi- 
 nitely. The sentence, “Evil shall not depart from his house,” 
 dooms his offspring to an inheritance of calamity. 
 
 14. The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out 
 water : therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled 
 with. 
 
 A dam, embankment, dike, or levee, raised to confine the waters 
 of a river or of the ocean in their bed, afford this very apposite 
 illustration of the dangers attendant upon the beginnings of con- 
 tention. As a pin-hole — the slightest leak in the earth-bank — 
 rapidly wears itself to a perilous size, and the mighty torrent can 
 be stayed by no human power, so a slight disagreement — one 
 sharp word — one angry retort — may fire up fierce passion to 
 fearful madness. Therefore leave off that strife before it gets 
 under headway — rolling itself violently along — the precise sense 
 of the original. 
 
 15. He that justifieth the wicked, and he that con- 
 demneth the just, even they both are abomination to the 
 Lord. 
 
 As God’s glorious nature and his infinitely just administration 
 hold him to condemn the wicked and to justify the righteous, he 
 must instinctively abhor those who seek to reverse his policy and 
 frustrate his aims of justice. Why should not he both abhor 
 them with the utmost ardor of his holy soul, and withstand them 
 with the full energy of his almighty arm ? 
 
 16. Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool tc 
 get wisdom, seeing he hath no heart to it f 
 
 The fool with no heart to buy wisdom is not the idiot ; is not even 
 the half-idiotic, as some of the commentators assume. “ Heart” in 
 such a connection is not synonymous with intellect. The quality 
 which this fool hath not is far more that of his moral nature 
 than of his intellectual. So 1 must think, my views being deter- 
 mined both by such usage as I find in Prov. 7 : 7 and 9 : 4 and 10 : 
 13 — passages which treat of the lack of heart as this does — and 
 partly by the nature and right of the case. It would be utterly 
 foreign to the genius of this book of proverbs for the writer to 
 deplore the waste of money and means for the purchase of wis- 
 dom because so many of the race were semi-idiotic ! No ; it is 
 not for the lack of brains but for the lack of a morally right 
 heart that such multitudes never pay out the money God has put 
 into their hands for the genuine article, heavenly wisdom. This 
 fact may well be for a lamentation and a marvel ! 
 
 17. A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born 
 for adversity. 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XVII. 
 
 119 
 
 The love of a true friend is constant through all the changes 
 of time and circumstance. A true brother is born to you for 
 your aid in the day of adversity. You will need and may rely 
 on him then. 
 
 18. A man void of understanding striketh hands, and 
 becometh surety in the presence of his friend. 
 
 The author has previously given his views of suretyship for 
 others lebts. (See 6: 1-5 and 11: 15.) In saying that a man 
 void of understanding will do this he means to hint that no other 
 man will — none but he who lacks discretion and good sense. 
 
 19. He loveth transgression that loveth strife : and he 
 that exalteth his gate seeketh destruction. 
 
 To love strife is practically to love the sin to which it leads 
 
 and which inevitably ensues from it. Building the gates of 
 
 one’s palace very high evinces pride, provokes envy, and precipi- 
 tates ruin. As a very high gate is dangerously exposed to a 
 sudden and crashing fall, so the pride which it represents works 
 in a thousand ways to bring down destruction. To connect the 
 last clause with the first, we have only to consider that such 
 manifestations of pride naturally provoke contention and hence 
 
 also the sin and ruin which ensue. That men of rank in the 
 
 oriental world sought distinction by building their gate high, ap- 
 pears in the epithet given to the monarch of Turkey — “ The 
 Sublime Porte” — the man of high gate [sublimis porta]. 
 
 20. He that hath a froward heart fiudeth no good : and 
 he that hath a perverse tongue falleth into mischief. 
 
 11 Findeth no good ” is one mode of saying, finds any thing else 
 
 but good ; finds evil in abundance. A froward heart and a 
 
 perverse tongue are essential equivalents. Both are ruinous. 
 
 21. He that begetteth a fool doeth it to his sorrow: and 
 the father of a fool hath no joy. 
 
 11 Fool ” is here, as usual, in the moral rather than the intellectual 
 sense. The father of such a son can have only sorrow, no real 
 joy, from him. 
 
 22. A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a 
 broken spirit drieth the bones. 
 
 See similar sentiments in 12: 25 and 15 : 13, 15. “Merry” is 
 joyful. Joy of soul acts on the body like a medicine. 
 
 23. A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosom to 
 pervert the ways of judgment. 
 
 Here as in verse 8 above, “gift” is the Hebrew word for bribe 
 and is used in this sense. It is only the wicked man who makes 
 use of a bribe to pervert the course of justice by corrupting the 
 6 
 
120 
 
 PROVERBS -CHAP. XVII. 
 
 judge. He takes it out of his bosom where he has had it con- 
 cealed. The thing is done very covertly. Of course Solomon 
 condemns this. 
 
 24. Wisdom is before him that hath understanding : but 
 the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth. 
 
 The wisdom of wise men is at hand, ready for use, always 
 before 'him, under his eye: but over against this, the eyes of the 
 fool see none of the present facts of his condition — overlook the 
 very things he needs to see in order to judge well and to act 
 discreetly. What eyes he has are in the ends of the earth, 
 occupied upon things utterly remote and valueless. 
 
 25. A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness 
 to her that bare him. 
 
 The same sentiment appears in verse 21, and elsewhere. 
 
 26. Also to punish the just is not good, nor to strike 
 princes for equity. 
 
 To punish the just is not good, but very bad. So also to smite 
 princes for doing right — literally, on account of righteousness , 
 which of course means, because they are righteous. All this 
 reverses the great law of equity. 
 
 27. He that hath knowledge spareth his words : and a 
 man of understanding is of an excellent spirit. 
 
 In the clause, u of an excellent spirit,” the English margin 
 [“a cool spirit”] follows the Plebrew text in preference to the 
 Hebrew marginal reading, and is the preferable one, the sense 
 then being: He who is of cool spirit, under self-control, of pas- 
 sions not easily excited. I prefer to transpose both clauses and 
 render thus: He who spareth his words evinces good sense 
 [valuable knowledge], and the man of cool, self-governed spirit 
 is the man of understanding. The author of these proverbs ac- 
 counts much talk prima facie proof of a shallow mind ; and on 
 the other hand, a prudent reserve in speech a proof of good sense 
 and a fair intelligence. 
 
 28. Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted 
 wise : and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of 
 understanding. 
 
 This proverb follows out the thought of the next preceding, 
 and confirms the general doctrine taught there. Even a fool, if 
 he had the sense to hold his peace, might have some reputation 
 for wisdom. So strong are the convictions of mankind to the 
 point that much talk goes with little thought, and that reserve 
 in speech often signifies more than average thinking. 
 
PROVERBS -CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 121 
 
 CHAPTEE XVIII. 
 
 1. Through desire, a man, having separated himself, 
 seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom. 
 
 On this proverb the views of commentators have been not only- 
 various but extremely diverse. A few take it in a good sense; 
 most, however, in a bad. What kind of a man the translators of 
 our English version found described here, it would be hard to 
 say. “He who separateth himself” [rPDD] may be the recluse 
 
 who withdraws from all society; or, more probably, the self-con- 
 ceited, haughty man who cuts the acquaintance of the wise and 
 
 repels all advice or suggestion toward a better life. The first 
 
 thing affirmed of him is that he intensely seeks self-gratification; 
 literally the phrase is — 11 seeketh ardently for desire,” i. e ., to gratify 
 
 his own desires. The next thing said of him is that he rushes 
 
 onward against all good counsel. The pivot word is the one which 
 our version translates “ intermeddleth” [JJ-JJJV]. Gesenius translates 
 
 it, becomes angry or warm in strife ; but Fuerst, a more recent 
 critic, gives it — moves violently forward , rolls himself along, reckless 
 and headlong. The other cases of its use are in Prov. 17 : 14, and 
 20 : 3, where the sense last named is very pertinent. “ Leave off 
 contention before it gets under furious headway;” “ It is an honor 
 to a man to cease from strife; but every fool will dash headlong,” 
 i. e ., will do the very opposite of ceasing from strife. The ety- 
 
 mological grounds of this meaning as they appear in Fuerst’ s 
 Lexicon can not well be presented to the English reader, but he 
 can readily see that the resulting significance is unexceptionably’ 
 pertinent in all these passages. 
 
 2. A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his 
 heart may discover itself. 
 
 “Discover,” as usual in our Bibles, not in the sense of finding 
 
 out for himself, but of revealing to others. Literally the last 
 
 clause would read — “ a fool hath no delight in understanding, but 
 if his heart may disclose itself,” i. e ., if this can be done, he likes 
 it ; he loves to bring out all he thinks, all he is. He has not sense 
 enough to see that he makes himself ridiculous ; but thinks his very 
 follies are smart, etc. 
 
 3. When the wicked cometh, then cometh also cor tempt, 
 and with ignominy reproach. 
 
 Where the wicked come, disgrace will come, i. e ., will follow 
 them inseparably ; and with disgraceful conduct will come disgrace 
 itself. The reputation will follow the deed and the wicked man 
 will go on accumulating disgrace, reproach. 
 
122 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 4. The words of a man’s mouth are as deep waters, and 
 the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook. 
 
 “ The words of a mans mouth ” — but not of every man’s mouth — 
 for the last clause shows that he thinks only of the wise man. His 
 words are as deep waters, a deep, capacious reservoir, not easily, if 
 ever, exhausted. His words have a savor of good sense which 
 impress you as coming from a deep fountain of thought and wisdom. 
 
 5. It is not good to accept the person of the wicked, to 
 overthrow the righteous in judgment. 
 
 To “accept the person” (literally, to receive the face ) is to 
 regard the merely external circumstances, as opposed to regard- 
 ing the essential right and equity of the case. It includes all 
 forms of personal favoritism, whether on the ground of sympathy 
 with the character, or of relationship, or the influence of bribes. 
 It was expressly and stringently forbidden in the Mosaic law 
 (Lev. 19: 15 and Deut. 1 : 17 and 16: 17). See also Prov. 24: 23. 
 
 This proverb may be construed in two ways. (1.) It is not 
 
 good to accept the person of the wicked ; nor is it good to frus- 
 trate the righteous in his effort for a just judgment; or, (2.) It is 
 not good to respect the person of the wicked for the purpose and 
 with the result of frustrating the righteous in judgment. The latter 
 
 is preferable because it simply translates the text. Such regard 
 
 to persons to the extent of overthrowing the righteous in judgment 
 must always be a flagrant sin before God, not only because he 
 hates all injustice, but especially because this form of injustice 
 frustrates the very provisions God has made for securing justice 
 to those who are both innocent, and powerless to assert and main- 
 tain it. Civil government is God’s own institution, ordained for 
 this very end, to secure justice to those who need the aid of 
 government for this purpose. To balk these kind designs of the 
 Great Father by corrupting his own earthly tribunals of justice 
 must, therefore, be an aggravated, heinous offense against God—an 
 utter abomination in his sight. Let corrupt rulers think of it ! 
 Shall they set themselves to frustrate the kind designs of the Great 
 God and then think to escape his wrath ! 
 
 6. A fool’s lips enter into contention, and his mouth 
 calleth for strokes. 
 
 A fool’s lips enter [readily, naturally] into contention. The 
 words of his mouth provoke violence ; they are such words as call 
 for blows. Reason : they are ill-tempered, rash, offensive, irritat- 
 ing, and, withal, are void of discretion. 
 
 7. A fool’s mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the 
 snare of his soul. 
 
 This proverb is a corollary, an inference from the preceding 
 one. His rash words become his destruction. His lips are a 
 snare to his very life. 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 123 
 
 8. The words of the tale-bearer are as wounds, and they 
 go down into the* innermost parts of the belly. 
 
 The word for “ wounds ” occurs only here and in the same prov- 
 erb repeated (26 : 22). Hence it has been interpreted variously. 
 Fuerst gives it, “ oracular” as the words of an oracle, which were 
 spoken in whispers, or in low muttering tones, yet took hold pow- 
 erfully of men’s minds, and in this sense went down into the soul 
 to be deeply pondered. So of the words of the slanderer. They 
 have entirely too much influence; take hold too strongly of the 
 listener’s mind. The analogies which this critic finds between 
 this and kindred roots seem to favor this meaning strongly. But 
 Gesenius, Maurer, and others, following an Arabic analogy, give 
 the word the sense of sweet-meats, dainty morsels, such as men 
 swallow greedily. This resulting sense is eminently simple and 
 
 pertinent, which is its strongest recommendation. The English 
 
 version, “ wounds,” is not sustained by any modern critic. 
 
 9. He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him 
 that is a great waster. 
 
 As bearing upon the accumulation of wealth and the comforts 
 of life, there is little to choose between the slack hand and the 
 wasteful one. They are near enough alike to be brothers. The 
 
 difference between not getting and wasting is of small account. 
 
 The Hebrew phrase for “great waster” is expressive — “master of 
 wasting” — as if he had the art to perfection. 
 
 10. The name of the Lord is a strong tower : the right- 
 eous runneth into it, and is safe. 
 
 All the names of God being significant of his attributes, express- 
 ing some of the various qualities of his being and character, the 
 phrase, “ the name of the Lord,” differs not materially from the 
 word Lord only. Perhaps it originally implied that the name was 
 used with a proper appreciation of what it meant. In this proverb 
 the meaning is simply that the Lord himself is a strong tower. 
 The figure is military. Towers, built high, were a very effective 
 protection against the missile weapons of ancient warfare. The 
 Hebrew word for “is safe” means is up on high, and therefore out 
 
 of the reach of darts, javelins, or the sling-stones of war. We may 
 
 suppose that Solomon had read those beautiful words by his father 
 — “The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my 
 God, my strength, in whom I will trust ; my buckler, and the horn 
 of my salvation, and my high tower” (Ps. 18: 2). So we may also 
 suppose that Peter had both Solomon and David in his eye when 
 (1 Pet. 1: 5) he spake of Christians as “ kept” (his was a military 
 word) by the power of God through faith unto salvation.” 
 
 11- The rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and as an 
 high wall in his own conceit. 
 
124 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 This proverb seems to be located here to show the contrast be- 
 tween this and the preceding. As the righteous man makes the 
 name of the Lord his strong tower, so the rich man regards his 
 wealth as his strong city and high wall. It is so, the proverb adds, 
 not in fact but in his own conceit. He so regards it. Alas, that 
 he should so commonly esteem this “strong city” above that “high 
 tower;” should disown and discard the mighty Gcd, and make 
 his riches the object of his supreme trust! (See 10: 15.) 
 
 12. Before destruction the heart of man is haughty; and 
 before honor is humility. 
 
 This sentiment appears in 16: 18 and in 15: 33. Haughtiness 
 of heart is followed swiftly by destruction, and by the same law 
 of sequence, honor follows true humility. 
 
 13. He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is 
 folly and shame unto him. 
 
 The sense seems to be, Before he has heard it thoroughly , heard 
 the whole of it and given it due attention. This case is strongly 
 put by saying, “ Answers it while yet he has not heard it.” This 
 can never be to a man’s credit, but only to his shame. 
 
 14. The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity ; but a 
 wounded spirit who can bear? 
 
 “ Infirmity ” is thought of here as that of the body. A resolute, 
 strong heart can bear up against physical pain ; but when the 
 heart itself is broken down, who can bear it ? What remains to 
 
 bear up under such suffering? This proverb rightly assumes the 
 
 absolute superiority of mind over matter, as tested by their relative 
 power to endure suffering. The mind rises nobly above the ills 
 of the body; but what can the body do toward lifting man above 
 the ills of a crushed spirit ? 
 
 15. The heart of the prudent gettetli knowledge ; and 
 the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge. 
 
 The gist of this proverb I take to be that the heart of the dis- 
 cerning [“prudent”] acquires knowledge readily, because his ear 
 is always earnestly open to catch all words of wisdom. He ap- 
 propriates all the valuable truth that comes within his reach, and 
 
 puts himself in the best attitude for reaching it. Remarkably 
 
 in the proverb (15: 14), we have [in Hebrew] the same descrip- 
 tion of the wise man as here in the first clause, and the same 
 things affirmed of him as here in the second. 
 
 16. A man’s gift maketh room for him, and bringeth 
 him before great men. 
 
 The “gift” here is not the bribe [as in 17: 8], but any thing 
 given , a present offered according to oriental custom. According 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 125 
 
 to the ancient usages of society, such a present opened the way 
 for the giver and conducted him into the presence of great men. 
 The proverb should be regarded rather as stating the fact than as 
 commending the practice, although the practice does not seem to 
 be condemned. 
 
 17. He that is first in his own cause seemeth just; but 
 his neighbor cometh and seareheth him. 
 
 You hear the first man state his case ; he seems to have right on 
 his side ; but when his neighbor comes in to reply, and to give his 
 side of the case, he searches out his opponent, canvasses the facts, 
 and often puts a new face upon the whole matter. The moral is, 
 therefore, hear the other side before you judge. 
 
 18. The lot causeth contentions to cease, and parteth 
 between the mighty. 
 
 The appeal to the lot to decide a contested question seems to 
 have been common in the age of Solomon. When the parties 
 agreed to submit their case to such an appeal, it put an end to the 
 contest and parted the mightiest combatants asunder. 
 
 19. A brother offended is harder to he won than a strong 
 city ; and their contentions are like the bars of a castle. 
 
 One remarkable thing in this proverb is that so much is left to 
 be supplied. The Hebrew would read literally, U A brother alien- 
 ated [i. e ., in love and confidence] is more than a strong city, and 
 contentions are like the bars of a castle; ” which, with our English 
 translators, I take to mean — is a more stubborn thing to subdue 
 than a strong city, and their contentions are strong like the bars 
 of a castle. Quarrels between children of the same father and 
 mother are most difficult of all to appease. 
 
 20. A man’s belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his 
 mouth ; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled. 
 
 Words spoken will bring their proper retribution. There is an 
 income from them — a result of good or ill according to what they 
 are. As the fruit and income from hand labor goes to supply the 
 demands of the digestive organs and of the animal frame, so the 
 lips also have their income, i. <?., a just retribution. See kindred 
 sentiments in 12 : 14 and 13 : 2. 
 
 21. Death and life are in the power of the tongue ; and 
 they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. 
 
 As absolute monarchs have the power of life and death over 
 their subjects, so has the tongue a life-and-death-power as to its 
 possessor. Its too free use, especially its malicious use, may cost 
 him death; its wise and discreet use will be his life. They who 
 love its too free indulgence must eat the fruit thereof — a suggestive 
 
126 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 warning! — -In an age when all human governments outside of 
 Israel were absolute, all kings arbitrary, all courts suspicious, and 
 all utterances on political matters were under a rigid espionage, 
 proverbs like this would have a pertinence and a practical bear- 
 ing which we but feebly apprehend. 
 
 22. Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing , and ob- 
 taineth favor of the Lord. 
 
 The author manifestly recognizes marriage as a divine institu- 
 tion and naturally a fountain of blessing. Hence a wife is a 
 good — a blessing from the Lord. (See 19 : 14.) It is remarkable 
 that nearly the same words are used here of the wife as are said 
 of wisdom in 8 : 3, 5 : “Whoso findeth me” (saith Wisdom) 
 
 “findeth life and shall obtain favor from the Lord.” Some of 
 
 the critics marvel that Solomon did not discriminate enough to 
 say, “findeth a good wife,” since they are sure he must have 
 meant this and this only. It is indeed marvelous that if he 
 meant to say this only , he did not say it just as he meant it. It 
 seems to me safe to conclude that he meant to indorse marriage 
 as a divine institution and a source of blessings to the husband 
 whose concern it is to find a wife. Let him always regard a wife 
 found as a favor obtained from the Lord. Some degree of mutual 
 adaptation to each other in age and character are essential to 
 the very purposes of married life and may therefore be consid- 
 ered as necessarily implied in the idea of a wife. 
 
 23. The poor useth entreaties ; but the rich answereth 
 roughly. 
 
 The poor speak imploringly. Conscious of weakness they ap- 
 peal to your compassion. But the rich man will answer with 
 harsh or even contemptuous words. He feels very independent, 
 and is perhaps irritable under the pressure of his cares; so he 
 repels you with a hard and haughty bearing — of all which the 
 
 world is full of living illustrations. But let it not be supposed 
 
 that this stands here commended to any man’s imitation. 
 
 24. A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly : 
 and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. 
 
 This difficult proverb has of course been interpreted variously. 
 All the modern critics concede that the English version is inad- 
 missible, if we retain the Hebrew text with its present punctua- 
 tion. Our translators erroneously assumed that the word for 
 “friend,” and the verb “Show thyself friendly,” were from the 
 
 same root. The obscurity of the proverb is probably due in 
 
 part to the paranomasia between these two words — i. e., a play 
 upon the similarity in their letters, consequently in their sound, 
 while their sense is quite unlike. It is somewhat as if we should 
 say in our tongue — A man of [too many] companions will be 
 companionized; or rather (for the sense) victimized . This is thA 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XIX. 
 
 127 
 
 sense of the first clause. Comparing the first clause with the 
 
 second, the original uses a very different word for “friend” where 
 the English has the same. The first (“he that hath friends”) may 
 be a bonny companion, a hale fellow, a very free associate to live 
 upon you, to eat up at once your time, your morals, and your 
 estate; but the second (“there is a friend”) is the loving friend 
 who is bound to you by ties of pure and strong affection. He 
 will cleave to you more than a brother. The sentiment seems 
 to be that too many loose associates will work your ruin ; but one 
 truly affectionate friend is worth more than a brother. 
 
 
 CHAPTEK XIX. 
 
 1. Better is the poor that walketh in his integrity, than 
 he that is perverse in his lips, and is a fool. 
 
 The man described in the last clause [“ perverse in his lips,” 
 etc.] is probably assumed to be rich as well as perverse of lips 
 and a fool; inasmuch as the proverb (28: 6), nearly identical with 
 this in other respects, substitutes “rich” for “fool.” Without 
 riches this man would have nothing to recommend him. It would 
 be very tame to compare a poor but upright man with one who 
 was both liar and fool, and say, that is better than this. 
 
 2. Also, that the soul be without knowledge, it is not 
 good; and he that hasteth with his feet sinneth. 
 
 Knowledge, in the first clause, opposed to hasting with the feet 
 in the second, implies the practical use of knowledge, i. e ., discre- 
 tion, forethought, wisdom. It is not good that the soul be void 
 of such knowledge. The word for “sinneth” means etymolog- 
 
 ically to miss the mark; to make a misstep and get a fall — the 
 natural consequence of too much haste with the feet. 
 
 3. The foolishness of man perverteth his way : and his 
 heart fretteth against the Lord. 
 
 I take the course of thought to be this; a man’s folly perverts 
 his heart; his perverse heart perverts his outward life [“way”], 
 making it rough, calamitous, wretched. Then he frets against the 
 Lord as if He had brought on these evils — which however are 
 really the natural fruit of his own sins, or at least mag be. Of 
 this human life is full of illustrations. 
 
 4. Wealth maketh many friends; but the poor is sepa- 
 rated from his neighbor. 
 
128 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XIX. 
 
 “ Friend ” here, not in the sense of the loving one who sticks 
 closer than a brother (18 : 24), but in the sense of companions, 
 associates, who hang about you to get good from you rather than 
 to do good to you. Many such are drawn round the rich man : 
 all such keep aloof from the poor. The same Hebrew word is 
 rendered “friend” in the first clause and “neighbor” in the sec-, 
 ond. The same sort of friend therefore who hangs about the 
 rich man finds no attraction in the poor. Indeed he feels a posi- 
 tive repulsion; he may have some unwelcome draft or call upm 
 him to aid such a friend in his extreme need. See this senti- 
 
 ment in other proverbs, 14 : 20 and 19 : 7. 
 
 5. A false witness shall not be unpunished ; and he that 
 speaketh lies shall not escape. 
 
 See v. 9 below. False witness, especially in the solemn form 
 
 of judicial testimony, God will surely punish. All liars shall have 
 their part in the burning lake. (Rev. 21 : 8.) 
 
 6. Many will entreat the favor of the prince : and every 
 man is a friend to him that giveth gifts. 
 
 “Gifts” here are not precisely bribes but presents, after the 
 prevalent oriental usage. This is the same sort of friend as in v. 
 
 4 above, and also in the first clause of 18: 24. This proverb 
 
 affirms a general fact in society, but does not commend it as an 
 example. 
 
 7. All the brethren of the poor do hate him : how much 
 more do his friends go far from him ? he pursueth them with 
 words, yet they are wanting to him . 
 
 See 14 : 20 and the notes there. This poor man seems to be 
 
 one who has seen better days but has by some means become 
 poor. Then even his brothers turn from him as if they hated 
 him ; how much more do his former associates stand aloof — that 
 loose sort of friends who seem true in the sunny days, but show 
 
 themselves false in the foul. The last clause is difficult. The 
 
 most obvious construction of the Hebrew would make “ words ” 
 the direct object of the verb, thus: “He pursues words, but they 
 are not;” which may mean that he earnestly follows up those 
 words of kindness and implied promise which they had given him 
 freely in his prosperous days ; he appeals to these friends to fulfill 
 those pledges of friendship, and, by implication, of material help, 
 but finds to his bitter disappointment that they are not; there is 
 nothing of them ; they fail him altogether and forever. Chasing 
 after such “words” is only a double aggravation to his poverty. 
 
 8. He that getteth wisdom loveth his own soul : he that 
 keepeth understanding shall find good. 
 
 The Hebrew use of the common word for “heart” is noticeable 
 here: “He who acquireth a heart loveth his own soul.” This 
 
PROVERBS — CHAP. XIX. 
 
 129 
 
 must be a wise and understanding heart, one that welcomes 
 
 moral truth and loves to obey it in the form of duty. He who 
 
 “keeps understanding, ” in the sense of duly observing its moral 
 claims, it shall inure to his finding good ; for this is the form of 
 
 statement in the original. As to the mode of expression in the 
 
 first clause, compare 8 : 36. “ He that sinneth against me [wis- 
 
 dom] wrongeth his own soul: all that hate me love death” — in 
 the same sense in which the wise man “ loves his own soul ” in 
 the verse before us. 
 
 9. A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that 
 speaketh lies shall perish. 
 
 See verse 5 above. This sentiment is reiterated with extraor- 
 dinary frequency and fullness in these proverbs. 
 
 10. Delight is not seemly for a fool ; much less for a 
 servant to have rule over princes. 
 
 The word rendered “delight” means delicacies, luxuries; 
 usually those of the table, yet perhaps not excluding those of 
 
 dress, equipage, etc. These are unbecoming for the fool. 
 
 Similar views as to servants having rule over princes appear in 
 Prov. 30: 21, 22, and in Eccl. 10: 5-7. Solomon assumes their 
 
 utter unfitness for the station and for its responsibilities. The 
 
 doctrine of this proverb corresponds with Solomon’s own example, 
 for no king of his time had ever associated royalty with external 
 splendor and luxury to a greater extent than he. 
 
 11. The discretion of a man deferreth his anger: and 
 it is his glory to pass over a transgression. 
 
 The thoroughly wise man will be long-suffering, slow to anger, 
 keeping his passions under vigorous self-control. It is his glory 
 to overlook and forgive offenses. 
 
 12. The king’s wrath is as the roaring of a lion ; but 
 his favor is as dew upon the grass. 
 
 Similar sentiments appear in 16: 14, 15, and in 20: 2. Ab- 
 
 solute power appears in this comparison of the king of men with 
 
 the king of beasts. “ Dew upon the grass ” was in oriental life 
 
 a pertinent and forcible symbol of whatever was most cheering 
 and refreshing 
 
 13. A foolish son is the calamity of his father: and the 
 contentions of a wife are a continual dropping. 
 
 The long-continued fall of only single drops of water, upon the 
 head for example, becomes in no long time unendurable and even 
 fatal to life. When the power of reaction is exhausted, the agony 
 becomes fearful. So the contentions of a wife, in your home, 
 where you look for rest and for love, and feel that you can not 
 
130 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XIX. 
 
 live without, are of the same unendurable sort. Whether Solo- 
 
 mon had only heard of such agony by the ear, or seen it at a 
 distance from his own hearthstone, or whether he had felt it, we 
 have no means of certain knowledge. 
 
 14. House and riches are the inheritance of fathers : and 
 a prudent wife is from the Lord. 
 
 “Prudent” is here in the sense of wise, intelligent to appre- 
 hend the responsibilities of her position, and true to her duty. 
 While houses and lands come down from fathers to sons, such a 
 wife comes from the Lord. He provides this choicest of social 
 blessings for the good of the race through well-ordered families. 
 Those who believe this and have faith in God’s universal provi- 
 dence will of course see the fitness of asking such a blessing from 
 the Lord, and, when received, of recognizing it through all their 
 life as a gift from his hand. 
 
 15. Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep ; and an idle 
 soul shall suffer hunger. 
 
 See similar views of sloth in 6 : 9-11. Sloth and excessive 
 sleep are closely associated. Solomon abhors sloth ; holds that it 
 brings men to want, and that it ought to. 
 
 16. He that keepeth the commandment keepeth his own • 
 soul ; but he that despiseth his ways shall die. 
 
 We may notice here a play upon the word “keepeth,” bringing 
 out its two different senses. He who keepeth God’s commands in 
 the sense of holding them carefully in mind and constantly obey- 
 ing them, keepeth his own soul from sin and from its consequent 
 ruin and death. Obeying God’s commands is the very opposite 
 
 of sinning, and therefore saves one from the loss of his soul. 
 
 But over against this, “ he who despiseth his ways ” in the sense 
 of being reckless of his own moral conduct, thoughtless and even 
 contemptuously regardless of his obligations to God and to man, 
 must fall under the curse of God. “ The soul that sinneth, it 
 shall die.” 
 
 17. He tbat hath pity upon the poor, lendeth unto the 
 Lord ; and that which he hath given will he pay him 
 again. 
 
 It is assumed here that this pity of the poor does not expend 
 itself in mere emotion, but yields the genuine fruits of substan- 
 tial help according to our ability and their need. He who gives 
 to the poor in the spirit of such true pity virtually lends to the 
 Lord upon the Lord’s promise to repay in his own due and 
 best time. The Hebrew has it — His recompense the Lord will 
 
 make good to him. What an investment this must be! Do we 
 
 believe in the plighted word of the Most High ? Have we confi- 
 dence in his resources to pay and in his wisdom to make the 
 
PROVERBS-CHAP. XIX. 
 
 131 
 
 payment in the best possible time and manner ? If so, then here 
 is an opportunity for investing which ought to be regarded as 
 amply secure and eminently satisfactory. 
 
 18* Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy 
 soul spare for his crying. 
 
 In the first clause the original words more often and more 
 
 naturally mean u for there is hope/’ than “ while there is,” etc. 
 
 In the last clause, if we accept the Hebrew text as it stands, 
 we must reject the received translation — “ Let not thy soul spare 
 for his crying.” The primary and proper sense of the Hebrew 
 word is, “And thou shalt not lift up thy soul to cause his death." 
 This last verb which I have translated — “ To cause his death,” 
 seems to admit no other sense. No word in the language has a 
 more certain meaning, [hid]. The other Hebrew words are 
 used somewhat frequently and in a well-established sense, e. g ., 
 the verb ; the noun [OTp] ; and the preposition [btf]. 
 
 This usage may be seen in Deut. 24: 15 — the laborer, lifting up 
 his soul to his wages, i. e ., setting his heart upon them; Hos. 4: 8 — 
 the wicked lifting up their soul to the iniquities of God’s people, 
 i. e., setting their heart upon them; Jer. 22: 27, said of the exile 
 with reference to his fatherland, “ To the land whereunto they 
 lift up their soul to return; and Ps. 25: 1, “To the Lord do I lift 
 up my soul, etc.; and Ps. 24: 4, the good man has not “lifted 
 up his soul to vanity.” These cases unite in the one idea of 
 setting the heart upon an object of desire. But it will be asked : 
 How can we suppose that a father deems it an object of desire to 
 
 take the life of his son ? 1 can give no other explanation of 
 
 the passage than to take it as a caution against the excitement of 
 sudden passion, kindled, perhaps, to exasperation by insult or 
 violent resistance. Let the father beware that he do not abuse his 
 absolute power ! 
 
 The translators of the English version apparently assumed 
 another root [non] for their rendering — “liis crying.” But if 
 
 our Hebrew text is correct, this derivation is grammatically im- 
 possible. See other proverbs on this subject (23 : 13, 14) which 
 
 seem to have had an influence on our translators in their version 
 of this passage. 
 
 19. A man of great wrath shall suffer punishment : for 
 if thou deliver him , yet thou must do it again. 
 
 The man of great wrath, i. e., greatly given to violent passion, 
 must suffer punishment, for though you might deliver him once, 
 his passion will plunge him into violence again, so that you may 
 as well despair of shielding him permanently. 
 
 20. Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou 
 mayest be wise in thy latter end. 
 
132 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XIX. 
 
 Keep thine ear open to the counsels of wisdom so that, if not 
 wise now, thou mayest become so in thy future years and may die 
 a wise man. 
 
 21. There are many devices in a man’s heart; neverthe- 
 less the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand. 
 
 The word for “ devices ” is most often used in the bad sense. 
 Men have many such, and the proverb implies that they are wont 
 to fail. The plans of men are often abortive ; the plans of God, 
 never. 
 
 22. The desire of a man is life kindness : and a poor man 
 is better than a liar. 
 
 The charm [“ desire”] of a man in humble life is his kindness; 
 the poor is better than a man who is in high life, but is a liar. 
 In this translation I have given their special shades of mean- 
 ing to the two different words for “man,” which occur here in 
 the Hebrew; the first [DTK] meaning man as frail, low, in 
 
 humble life ; and the second [$’ N] man as noble, in high life, 
 and, probably, rich. I do not find this speciality of meaning in 
 this proverb alluded to in any commentator, but since it is an 
 admitted Hebrew usage and gives more point to this proverb, I do 
 not hesitate to suggest it. (See this special usage Ps. 62 : 9, and 
 
 69: 3, and Isa. 2: 9 and 5 : 15.) The proverb looks apparently 
 
 to the value of these two men as related to the afflictions and wants 
 of their suffering neighbors. The charm of the poor man’s kind 
 words and spirit (he having nothing else to give) is worth more 
 than the fairest promises of the rich man who fails to perform 
 them with ample means to do so. 
 
 23. The fear of the Lord tendeth to life : and he that hath 
 it shall abide satisfied ; he shall not be visited with evil. 
 
 The fear of the Lord [true piety] is unto life; not only tends 
 toward life, but surely works out this result. He shall pass the 
 whole night satisfied — a beautiful way of saying that his peace 
 of soul shall be constant. The visitations of judgment on the 
 wicked shall not touch him. 
 
 24. A slothful man hideth his hand in his bosom, and 
 will not so much as bring it to his mouth again. 
 
 Not “bosom,” but “ dish ,” the common receptacle for the food 
 upon the table. The orientals made use of no knife, fork, or 
 spoon; only fingers. Hence such allusions as that in Matt. 26 : 23 : 
 “ He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish,” and hence the 
 special propriety of washing hands both before dinner and after. 
 
 This sluggard is supposed to be hungry ; but having plunged 
 
 his hand all over [hiding it] in the dish, as if to economize labor 
 to the utmost, he still finds himself too lazy to bring it back to his 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XIX. 
 
 133 
 
 mouth again! This is strongly put, purposely to make the slug- 
 gard appear ridiculous, revolting. Too lazy to eat ! 
 
 25. Smite a scorner, and the simple will beware : and 
 reprove one that hath understanding, and he will under- 
 stand knowledge. 
 
 The simple is here not in the bad sense of one easily seduced into 
 
 sin, but in the good sense of being open to good impressions. 
 
 If you smite a scorner [corporeally], though you may fail to do 
 him good, yet the simple will profit by the example. Reproof 
 alone will suffice for those who are truly discerning. They will 
 grow wiser thereby. 
 
 26. He that wasteth his father, and chaseth away his 
 mother, is a son that causeth shame, and bringeth reproach. 
 
 He who wasteth his father’s estate by his prodigal life and 
 drives his mother from her home, either by abuse or by sacrificing 
 and wasting the very home itself, is truly a son who brings dis- 
 grace on himself, not to say, on the whole family. 
 
 27. Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to 
 err from the words of knowledge. 
 
 Never listen, my son, to any counsel that would influence you 
 to turn aside from the words of knowledge to go into ways of error, 
 folly, and shame. 
 
 28. An ungodly witness scorneth judgment: and the 
 mouth of the wicked devoureth iniquity. 
 
 “A witness of Belial,” at heart a bad man, scorns justice ; has 
 not the least regard to it. The mouth of the wicked swallows 
 down iniquity greedily as one who loves it. See the same figure 
 in Job 15: 16 : “Man who drinketh in iniquity like water.” 
 
 29. Judgments are prepared for scorners, and stripes for 
 the back of fools. 
 
 Penalties and the scourge are for those whom no counsel can 
 reach to reclaim. The man who repels all good advice, scorning 
 the good friends who seek to save him, and even the Great Father 
 above — what else remains, befitting his case, but judgments ? If 
 these fail to save him, he is past being saved. The example of his 
 punishment will be wholesome to society, wholesome to the moral 
 
 universe. Fools and scorners in the sense of the proverb are of 
 
 the same class ; indeed, we may say these are only different names 
 for the same sinner. The proverb may be taken to mean not only 
 that such punishments await them, but that such and nothing less 
 or other, are the law of the moral universe, and the only righteous 
 policy. 
 
134 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XX. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 1. Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging : and who* 
 soever is deceived thereby is not wise. 
 
 What is called “strong drink” was made, according tc 
 
 various ancient authorities, from wheat, from barley, dates, and 
 other fruits, or from honey, and was sometimes mixed with spices 
 to make it more intoxicating. It seems not to have been called 
 by our translators “ strong ” relatively to wine, but to other com- 
 mon drinks. Like wine it was intoxicating. The thing affirmed 
 
 here is that wine robs a man of his sense of propriety and makes 
 him abusive and insulting to others. Strong drink makes him 
 boisterous, noisy, sometimes raging like a madman. Whoever 
 reels, staggers, under their intoxicating power, will not become 
 wise [this verb being future]. The use of either wine or strong 
 drink will shut off all hope of attaining true wisdom. For this 
 acquisition, a calm, self-poised, considerate state of mind is indis- 
 pensable. The maddening power of strong drink is fatal. 
 
 “Deceived” seems not to be the precise sense of the original 
 word [n y*5p. This verb always means to waver, wander, to miss 
 
 one’s mark, to reel, etc. 
 
 2. The fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion : whoso 
 provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul. 
 
 The fear which the king inspires is like that produced by the 
 roaring of the lion. He who irritates the king by himself becom- 
 ing excited, overbearing, abusive, makes a fatal mistake, makes 
 a miss that will reach his very life. The Hebrew words seem to 
 involve these ideas. Compare 19: 12 and 16: 14. 
 
 3. It is an honor for a man to cease from strife : but every 
 fool will be meddling. 
 
 “ Meddling ” is far short of the full sense, which is, Will rusl 
 on violently and madly in strife, rolling himself over and over, 
 plunging on headlong. The same verb occurs in this strong sense. 
 17: 14 and 18: 1. 
 
 4. The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold : 
 therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing. 
 
 In the climate of 'Palestine plowing and seed-sowing are late 
 in autumn and in early winter. Hence the sluggard would ex- 
 cuse himself because of the cold. In the harvest-time he will 
 beg for bread and get none. 
 
 5. Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but 
 a man of understanding will draw it out. 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XX. 
 
 135 
 
 The wisdom that yields useful counsel is deep in die heart like 
 the waters of a well. The discerning man will see it there and 
 will have the skill to draw it out. 
 
 6. Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness ; 
 out a faithful man who can find? 
 
 Almost every man will publish and parade his own goodness i 
 but the man of faithfulness — true to his professions — is hard to 
 find. 
 
 7. The just man walketh in his integrity : his children 
 are blessed after him. 
 
 This proverb may be connected with the preceding as a sort of 
 answer to its closing question. The just man habitually walks 
 in his integrity, with consequent blessings not upon himself alone 
 but upon his children as well. 
 
 8. A king that sitteth in the throne of judgment scat- 
 tered away all evil with his eyes. 
 
 See v. 26. This is what a wise and faithful king should do. 
 His very look should discriminate the wicked from the good and 
 drive away wickedness as a winnowing wind does chaff. 
 
 9. Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure 
 from my sin. 
 
 This must be explained to mean : Who can say this appro- 
 priately and truthfully, and perhaps with some emphasis on the 
 word I as opposed to what God and his grace do for those who 
 seek help of him. I see no reason to suppose that Solomon meant 
 to deny what John (1 Eps. 5: 4) affirms, viz., that “this is the 
 victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” He seems 
 rather to speak of those who boastfully proclaim what they them- 
 selves have done. 
 
 10. Divers weights, and divers measures, both of them 
 are alike abomination to the Lord. 
 
 “Weights and measures” relate to commerce, being the instru- 
 ments used to determine quantities. The thing which God abhors 
 is not the having of two or more, but having them unequal, some 
 larger, some smaller; one set to buy with, and another to sell 
 with. See v. 23 below, and Deut. 25 : 13—16. 
 
 11. Even a child is known by his doings, whether his 
 work he pure, and whether it he right. 
 
 By his doings the mere child will show not only what he is 
 now* but what he will become in after life. Hence the importance 
 of studying his developments of character closely at the earliest 
 possible period, that you may forecast his future and guard in 
 season against evils which, neglected, will become incurable. 
 
136 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XX. 
 
 12. The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the Lord hath 
 made even both of them. 
 
 That God made the ear and the eye is affirmed for the sake of 
 this inference, viz., that he must therefore himself have a perfect 
 ear and eye to discern all human deeds and even thoughts. (See 
 Ps. 94: 9.) “He that planted the ear, shall not he hear? He 
 that formed the eye, shall not he see?” 
 
 13. Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty : open 
 thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread. 
 
 The thing disapproved here is the sleep of the sluggard as in 
 6: 9 and 19: 15, and not the taking of sleep for wholesome, need- 
 ful rest. 
 
 14. It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer : but when 
 he is gone his way, then he boasteth. 
 
 Thus the arts of trade and the spirit of the sharper were the 
 same in the age of Solomon as in our own. Human selfishness 
 makes no progress (morally) in the ways of business, with the 
 lapse of ages. 
 
 15. There is gold, and a multitude of rubies : but the 
 lips of knowledge are a precious jewel. 
 
 A forcible and elegant way of saying that lips of knowledge 
 are precious and beautiful even as gold or rubies. 
 
 16. Take his garment that is surety for a stranger : and 
 take a pledge of him for a strange woman. 
 
 Taking raiment for a pledge was by the Mosaic law put under 
 special limitations (Ex. 22: 26, 27), yet in this extreme and very 
 questionable case, those limitations seem to be disregarded. Take 
 for a pledge even the clothing of a man who is so reckless as to 
 become surety for a foreigner, and if you have business transac- 
 tions with that foreigner, bind him — this Israelite, and take his 
 responsibility, not the foreigner’s. Yet (as said in the first clause), 
 take not his word for security, but take real property, for though 
 his word may be better than the foreigner’s, you do well not to 
 trust any thing but his garment. In this last clause if we fol- 
 
 low the Hebrew text and not the Hebrew margin the noun for 
 foreigner [“strange”] is masculine plural and not feminine sin- 
 gular; i. e ., it does not speak of the “strange woman,” but of 
 foreign men. Foreigners, as to the Jews, were aliens and heathen 
 with whom, according to the divine law, they were to have as little 
 intercourse as possible. Nearly the same appears in 27 : 13. 
 
 17. Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards 
 his mouth shall be filled with gravel. 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XX. 
 
 137 
 
 The bread obtained by deceit [fraud] may be very sweet at 
 first; the after part will be as if his mouth were filled with gravel. 
 So universally, though the first taste of sinful enjoyment may be 
 sweet, it w r ill be bitterness in the latter end. 
 
 18. Every purpose is established by counsel : and with 
 good advice make war. 
 
 Even the best of plans need wisdom to carry them into effect; 
 and making war should be managed with the utmost caution and 
 good judgment — the best policy of all being to let it alone! 
 
 19. He that goeth about as a tale-bearer revealeth se- 
 crets : therefore meddle not with him that flattereth with 
 his lips. 
 
 All the best modern critics make the last clause essentially 
 parallel with the first by giving the word rendered “flattereth” 
 the sense of openeih. Be not intimate with him who carries his 
 mouth open — who never closes his lips to keep any thing he knows, 
 but divulges every thing. This seems to be the well established 
 sense of the verb. With the first clause, compare 11 : 13. 
 
 20. Whoso curseth his father or his mother, his lamp 
 shall be put out in obscure darkness. 
 
 By a figure at once truly beautiful and terribly forcible, this 
 flagrant sin against one’s father and mother is threatened with 
 the most appalling punishment. That the lamp of one’s life — the 
 only means for one ray of light and joy — shall be extinguished in 
 the very depths of darkness, leaves this miserable victim the 
 wreck of ruin and despair. God will never lack the requisite 
 agencies to punish this most unnatural sin. 
 
 21. An inheritance may he gotten hastily at the begin- 
 ning ; but the end thereof shall not be blessed. 
 
 We have two diverse readings in the case of the verb translated, 
 “gotten hastily,” the Hebrew text giving the sense, An inheri- 
 tance cursed in the beginning will not be blessed in the end ; but 
 the Hebrew margin, followed by the English version and by many 
 able commentators, means, gotten with haste ) with the implication 
 of injustice in the means of its acquisition. The former, because 
 it is the reading of the text, has the higher authority. Of course 
 it assumes that this inheritance is cursed for good cause ) i. e ., be- 
 cause gotten by fraud or violence. Hence the two constructions 
 are essentially one in thought. 
 
 22. Say not thou, I will recompense evil; hut wait on the 
 Lord, and he shall save thee. 
 
 “Recompense evil” I take to be requiting evil for evil done; 
 doing evil to others for the evil you suppose them to have done tc 
 
133 
 
 PROVERBS — CHAP. XX. 
 
 you. The proverb entreats you not to say, I will do this, not even 
 in your most secret thought; but rather to wait on the Lord, com- 
 mitting your cause to him under his promise that he will save you. 
 This is fully in harmony with the doctrine of the Scriptures else- 
 where; e. g ., Deut. 32: 35, u To me belongeth vengeance and re- 
 compense” — a declaration which Paul uses with great force, 
 (Rom. 12: 19) — “ Recompense to no man evil for evil. Revenge 
 not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath, for it is written, 
 Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” Also, Prov. 
 24: 29, and the doctrine of the sermon on the mount (Matt. 5 
 
 39, 44). If this precept were obeyed by half the living world, 
 
 these obedient ones would have little violence to fear from the 
 other half; there would be a vast diminution in the wrongs in- 
 flicted by man upon his fellows. Those who thus committed all 
 vengeance to God would have a most precious experience of his 
 friendship and love; would find their hearts drawn exceedingly 
 near to him as to an ever-present Friend and Preserver, and would 
 have a double joy in the victory gained over one of the most dan- 
 gerous passions of the depraved heart. 
 
 23. Divers weights are an abomination unto the Lord ; 
 and a false balance is not good. 
 
 Here, as in v. 10, the original for “ divers weights,” is “a stone 
 and a stone” — two or more of different weight, to be used for 
 fraud in trade. A deceitful balance not good , means one utterly 
 bad ; not even one good element in it. 
 
 24. Man’s goings are of the Lord ; how can a man then 
 understand his own way? 
 
 The question here lies between two possible constructions: (1.) 
 ITow can a man know what he should do and ought to do? (2.) 
 How can he foreknow the circumstances under which he must 
 act, and hence, what he will do and its consequences? The 
 former is the question of moral duty considered as determined by 
 man’s free choice; the latter is simply the question of the future, 
 considered as determined by the providence of God — the force of 
 circumstances and events. Plainly the latter and not the former 
 accords with the line of thought here. Since the future is in this 
 sense determined by the Lord, how can he, frail man, foreknow 
 it and its results ? The Hebrew avails itself of its choice of terms 
 for man. The goings of even the mighty man [*nj] are controlled 
 
 of God ; how then can man, weak and of short vision [anx] know 
 ivliat his own way is to be? 
 
 25. It is a snare to the man who devoureth that which is 
 holy, and after vows to make inquiry. 
 
 The word rendered “devour” means rather to vow rashly to 
 regard something as holy — to consecrate any thing to a holy use 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XX. 
 
 139 
 
 without reflection. The sentiment is that a man is ensnared by 
 making a vow thus without reflection, and postponing till after 
 his vow the inquiry whether he can perform it, or whether it is 
 admissible to disregard it. (See Eccl. 5 : 4, 5.) 
 
 26. A wise king scattereth the wicked, and bringeth the 
 wheel over them. 
 
 Solomon had previously spoken (v. 8) of kings as winnowing 
 out the wicked as chaff is separated from the grain. Probably 
 that figure of the chaff suggested this, borrowed from threshing — 
 the wheel of the heavy threshing wain or sledge, drawn by cattle 
 and driven over the grain, a vivid image of the crushing down of 
 the wicked under the penalties of violated law. History records 
 some cases in which this threshing wain was literally dragged over 
 human flesh. (See 2 Sam. 12: 3, and 1 Chron. 20: 3, and Amos 
 1 : 3.) But as the winnowing in this proverb is a figure, so prob- 
 ably is the ‘‘wheel.” 
 
 27. The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, search- 
 ing all the inward parts of the belly. 
 
 The soul of man, considered as having the power of turning its 
 searching eye inward and taking cognizance of its own moral states 
 and acts, is here beautifully compared to the lamp of the Lord, 
 going down into the secret chambers of the inner man to search 
 out the dark things there. The conception of the chambers of 
 the soul as within the belly is quite oriental and not occidental at 
 all. We must not judge their tastes fastidiously, and yet we need 
 
 not adopt them. Let us see in this reflexive power one of the 
 
 noblest features of mans God-like nature. He can and may know 
 himself, and therefore may prosecute the noble work of self-cor- 
 rection and self culture. To know one’s faults or weaknesses is 
 the first step toward correcting them. A being made capable of 
 self-improvement must inevitably have before him a momentous 
 destiny. Given an eternity in which to prosecute this work, who 
 can estimate the height to which he may rise? Or if he neglect 
 all effort for self-improvement and give himself up to self-murder, 
 who can conceive how low he may sink? 
 
 28. Mercy and truth preserve the king : and his throne is 
 upholden by mercy. 
 
 These qualities of heart and principles of regal administration 
 afford him the best security for his person and the most solid 
 support for his throne, for the twofold reason that they will best 
 insure to him the love and good-will of his subjects, and also the 
 favor and blessing of the great God. 
 
 29. The glory of young men is their strength : and the 
 beauty of old men is the gray head. 
 
 The last clause should doubtless be qualified as in 16: 31: 
 
140 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XXI. 
 
 The hoary head is a crown of glory if found in the way of right- 
 eousness. 
 
 30. The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil : so do 
 stripes the inward part of the belly. 
 
 Stripes that make deep wounds are the remedy for the wicked 
 Such smitings go down deep into the chambers of the soul. The 
 Hebrew gives no hint of the idea of “ blueness.” The general 
 sentiment is as above — that a vigorous corporeal punishment is an 
 effective remedy for the wicked man or boy, because it goes deep 
 into his sensibilities — takes hold, when, by the supposition, noth- 
 ing else will. Closely in this connection, Solomon had spoken of 
 the “spirit of man” as “the candle of the Lord,” going down deep 
 into the soul; but remembering that some men do their utmost to 
 extinguish this candle, and will not be searched deeply by its light, 
 he intimates that God’s fearful discipline, in the form of corporeal 
 infliction, must be his next and last resort. 
 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 1. The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the 
 rivers of water : he turneth it whithersoever he will. 
 
 The “rivers of water” referred to here are the little rills turned 
 aside from the main stream for the purposes of irrigation. As the 
 farmer conducts the water along the hillsides in an artificial water- 
 course, and then takes out the lesser streams at whatever point he 
 will to irrigate his lands, so God turns the hearts of kings with 
 infinite facility to whatever purposes he will. Moses alludes to 
 irrigation in Egypt (Deut. 11 : 10) as a land where “thou sowedst 
 thy seed and wateredst it with thy foot as a garden of herbs.” 
 Vast reservoirs of water having first been filled from the Nile, the 
 husbandman cut his aqueducts, let in the water, and then, as he 
 passed along, opened an outlet or closed it with his foot , with the 
 greatest ease. Especially was this done with ease compared with 
 any other known method of irrigation ; and to this the figure in our 
 
 proverb may tacitly refer. So God can turn the mighty influence 
 
 of kings into channels of beneficence, along which he can make 
 it pour blessings all abroad at his own good pleasure. So he used 
 Cyrus, the Persian king, for blessings upon his captive children 
 in Babylon. So he makes even the wrath of kings praise himself. 
 If he can shape the mighty issues of the counsels of kings with 
 infinite ease, and even their very counsels themselves, how much 
 more all the purposes and works of men of lesser power ! 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XXI 
 
 141 
 
 2. Every way of a man is right in his own eyes : but the 
 Lord pondereth the hearts. 
 
 See 16:2 for a parallel proverb ; the same sentiment in the 
 same or synonymous words. 
 
 3. To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the 
 Lord than sacrifice. 
 
 This great moral truth, eminently important to be reiterated 
 under a dispensation in which sacrifices were so prominent, we 
 actually find repeated often in the ancient scriptures. (See 1 Sam. 
 15: 22, 23, and Ps. 50; 8 and 51; 16, IT, and Isa. 1 : 11 — 15, and 
 Hos. 6 : 6, and Mic. 6 : 7, 8). 
 
 4. A high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of 
 the wicked is sin. 
 
 An high look and a proud heart (literally, lofty eyes and swell- 
 ing of heart) are repulsive to God, because they are the manifesta- 
 tions of a spirit that disowns his supreme authority and disregards 
 
 the law of love to man. See a similar expression in Ps. 101 : 5. 
 
 The uniform usage of the word “plowing” compels us to 
 
 give it the sense of lamp or light , used figuratively to denote what- 
 ever the wicked most delight in and count most vital to their hap- 
 piness. Since they are in rebellion against God, their lamp or 
 light is precisely that which most sustains them in this rebellion, 
 which constitutes their chief joy and chief reward in the ways of 
 sin. Light is a common, not to say universal, symbol of prosper- 
 ity and joy. That which is the source or fountain of such pros- 
 perity to the wicked is the thing here referred to. It feeds their 
 pride, fosters their high looks ; therefore this, along with their high 
 
 looks and proud heart, goes to constitute their sin. In a moral 
 
 and practical point of view, it is a great, not to say fatal, objection 
 to the English version that the plowing of the wicked is, of all 
 their doings, least associated with high looks and a proud heart. 
 Who would ever think of classing it with lofty eyes and a haughty 
 bearing ? 
 
 5. The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteous- 
 ness ; but of every one that is hasty only to want. 
 
 “ Thoughts ” (as usual in this Hebrew word) has the sense of 
 plans, arrangements for business. The active and diligent are 
 here put in contrast with the rash and headlong whose schemes 
 are never well considered. Or perhaps we may better follow the 
 course of thought, frequent in these proverbs, which associates 
 haste in getting rich, not so much with ill-digested plans of labor 
 as with violations of the moral law, fraud, theft, or robbery. (See 
 Prov. 20: 21 and 28: 20.) 
 
142 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XXI. 
 
 6. The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity 
 tossed to and fro of them that seek death. 
 
 This somewhat difficult proverb I prefer to construe thus : 
 Treasures gotten by a lying tongue are as the driven breath of 
 those who are [practically] death-seekers. Treasures gotten, 
 rather than the getting of treasures. A driven breath is a breath 
 driven as if before the whirlwinds of the Almighty. It is the 
 breath of those who by virtue of their wickedness are seeking 
 their own death. Alas, these treasures, so vain, so transient, 
 so fraught with death ! Procuring death, i. e ., bringing upon their 
 possessor the ruin he righteously deserves. Such treasures, con- 
 sidered with reference to the enjoyment they afford, are a breath 
 dispelled suddenly ; but considered with reference to the terrible 
 retribution they bring, they seek and demand the destruction of 
 
 their lying possessor. The first word may very naturally mean 
 
 not precisely the getting of such treasures but the treasures them- 
 selves so gotten. This construction being admitted, the rest is 
 natural and exceedingly pertinent. 
 
 7. The robbery of the wicked shall destroy them ; be- 
 cause they refuse to do judgment. 
 
 The violence of the wicked (which they use upon others) 
 snatches, sweeps them away to their destruction, because they re- 
 fuse to do justice. Deliberately discarding justice, and deliber- 
 ately resorting to violence, God’s righteous retribution gives vio- 
 lence its commission to sweep them away to their doom. 
 
 8. The way of man is froward and strange : but as for 
 the pure, his work is right. 
 
 This proverb presents rather stubborn difficulties, yet they are 
 so involved in the etymology of the Hebrew word translated 
 “strange” that the case can not be easily presented before the 
 merely English reader. Our received version can not be right; 
 the first clause is too indefinite. It seems to say that the ways of 
 all men are froward — which is not true: indeed, an important 
 
 exception is made in the next words of this proverb. The 
 
 choice lies between these two constructions: (a) Very perverse is 
 the way of the guilty man [the man laden with guilt ] ; but as to 
 the upright, his work is pure, (b) The man of perverse way, even 
 he is apostate [i. e ., from God] ; but as to the upright, etc. 
 
 9. It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than 
 with a brawling woman in a wide house. 
 
 To live in a small corner on the turret of a house, though badly 
 exposed to sun, wind, and storms, is better than to live with a 
 quarrelsome woman and have the whole house to yourselves. See 
 essentially the same sentiment in v. 19, below. The original 
 indicates nothing in respect to the size of the house. The idea 
 
PROVERBS-CHAP. XXL 
 
 143 
 
 is that with the whole house between you, you will still be more 
 uncomfortable than in the most narrow and exposed quarters, yet 
 alone. 
 
 10. The soul of the wicked desireth evil : his neighbor 
 findeth no favor in his eyes. 
 
 The very soul of the wicked man is insatiably greedy for mis- 
 chief. Hence his friend finds no compassion in his eyes; his 
 eagerness for mischief, his propensity toward wrong, will shut 
 out from his heart all compassion for even a friend. A strong 
 statement; but human depravity sometimes comes fully up to it. 
 
 11. When the scorner is punished, the simple is made 
 wise : and when the wise is instructed, he receiveth knowl- 
 edge. 
 
 See 19 : 25 for the same sentiment. 
 
 12. The righteous man wisely considereth the house of 
 the wicked : but God overthroweth the wicked for their 
 wickedness. 
 
 There can scarcely be a doubt that the great agent in both 
 clauses of this proverb is God, the just one. He studies closely 
 and knows perfectly the house of the wicked : he, too, plunges the 
 wicked headlong into ruin. He marks the growth of the wicked 
 man’s family and estate; sees how he prospers in his ungodliness; 
 but when God has borne with him as long as wisdom and justice 
 can sustain or even endure, then he hurls this hopelessly incorrig- 
 ible sinner swiftly down to perdition. 
 
 13. Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he 
 also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard. 
 
 This is righteous retribution. He who will not hear the cry of 
 the afflicted in their distress shall be brought to cry himself for 
 help, but have no answer. As said by the Apostle James (2 : 13), 
 “He shall have judgment without mercy who hath showed no 
 mercy.” Our Lord taught the same truth most forcibly (Matt. 
 18: 23-35). 
 
 14. A gift in secret pacifieth anger : and a reward in 
 the bosom, strong wrath. 
 
 It seems to be assumed that gifts conveyed secretly are thereby 
 made more effective to appease excited passion — which is in har- 
 mony with the laws of human nature. 
 
 15. It is joy to the just to do judgment : but destruction 
 shall be to the workers of iniquity. 
 
 Just men find their happiness in doing justice. The workers of 
 iniquity find in their work r ot happiness, but destruction. 
 
 1 
 
144 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XXL 
 
 16. The man that wandereth out of the way of under- 
 standing shall remain in the congregation of the dead. 
 
 The man who wanders [morally, sinfully] out of the way of 
 wisdom, shall find his home, his place of permanent abode, among 
 the lost [in Ileb. the shades, the spirits of the wicked dead]. 
 Compare 9: 18 : “But he knoweth not that the dead [the shades] 
 are there, and that her guests are in the depths of hell.” 
 
 17. He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man: he that 
 loveth wine and oil shall not be rich. 
 
 Giving himself up to sensual enjoyment, he will consume as 
 fast as he earns, and even faster if he can, and so will accumulate 
 nothing. Besides this, such sensuality of life steals a man’s health 
 and vigor away and makes him prematurely old and feeble. See 
 v. 20, below. 
 
 18. The wicked shall be a ransom for the righteous, and 
 the transgressor for the upright. 
 
 That the wicked become themselves the price of redemption for 
 the righteous seems to assume that they have sought (maliciously) 
 to involve the righteous in suffering, but under God’s righteous 
 retribution are made to bear the same suffering themselves while 
 the righteous go free. This sort of substitution is implied in the 
 last clause, the transgressor coming into the place of the upright. 
 
 See also 11: 8. Cases in illustration of this principle would 
 
 often occur under the despotic governments of the east, where 
 wicked men would accuse the righteous before the king, but, the 
 truth coming to light, they would themselves be made to bear the 
 punishment they had maliciously sought to bring upon the inno- 
 cent. See the case of Mordecai and Haman. 
 
 19. It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a 
 contentious and an angry woman. 
 
 See v. 9. The idea is that no society at all is better than such. 
 It is sad to think how often human depravity converts God’s 
 richest blessing into a positive curse. 
 
 20. There is treasure to be desired, and oil in the dwell- 
 ing of the wise : but a foolish man spendeth it up. 
 
 The wise lay up for future use, and therefore have on hand, but 
 fools lay aside nothing; but forthwith consume all. Solomon 
 labors to encourage not only industry but a wise provision for the 
 future. 
 
 21. He that followeth after righteousness and mercy 
 findeth life, righteousness, and honor. 
 
 “Following after” is here in the sense of carefully and earnestly 
 aiming to practice— to reach as an attainment in his own life- 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XXI. 
 
 145 
 
 experience. He who labors to be just and kind to all will find 
 life [true blessedness], righteousness in the sense probably of all 
 prosperity, and true honor. I assume a slight play upon the two- 
 fold sense of the. word “righteousness;” first, upright conduct; 
 second, its results in blessings upon the upright doer. He who 
 follows righteousness in the former sense will find it in the latter. 
 
 22. A wise man scaleth the city of the mighty, and 
 casteth down the strength of the confidence thereof. 
 
 Wisdom is power, even in war — even in the assault and capture 
 of fortified cities — a work which would seem specially to call for 
 pure physical force. The same point is put strongly in Eccl. 
 
 9: 13-16, 18. “Casting down the strength of the confidence 
 
 thereof” — i. e ., the citadel within, the point of greatest military 
 strength, in which men chiefly confide. 
 
 23. Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue, keepeth 
 his soul from troubles. 
 
 Compare 13: 3 and 12: 13. So large a part of the mischiefs of 
 life comes from abuse of the tongue that Solomon guarantees 
 exemption from most of the ills of society to him who discreetly 
 governs that unruly member. The Apostle James states the case 
 with about equal strength (Jam. 3 : 2). 
 
 24. Proud and haughty scorner is his name, who dealetli 
 in proud wrath. 
 
 The last clause bears the strong sense — Who conducts himself 
 with overbearing scorn. You can scarcely give him too bad a 
 name. He is intrinsically and intensely vile and hateful. 
 
 25. The desire of the slothful killeth him ; for his hands 
 refuse to labor. 
 
 The strength of his propensity to sloth will prove his death, 
 for his hands will not work. The doctrine seems to be that he 
 ought to starve, and in the course of nature and of society he must. 
 Paul taught a similar doctrine (2 Thess. 3: 10), “That if any 
 would not work, neither should he eat.” 
 
 26. He coveteth greedily all the day long : but the right- 
 eous giveth and spareth not. 
 
 This seems to be a continuation of the preceding. All the day 
 long his hunger and want press; his appetite craves; but the 
 implication is, find no supply. But the righteous have enough 
 and to spare. 
 
 27. The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination : how much 
 more when he bringeth it with a wicked mind ? 
 
 See 15: 8. The sacrifice brought by the wicked is always 
 abominable to God, because a true heart is never in it. How much 
 
146 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XXI. 
 
 more when he brings it with a specially crafty purpose? e. g., 
 to buy an indulgence to sin — as if he could bribe the infinitely 
 pure and holy God ! 
 
 28. A false witness shall perish : but the man that heareth 
 speaketh constantly. 
 
 The point of this proverb lies in assuming that the hearing 
 witness testifies only to what he personally knows, and that con- 
 sequently he always commands confidence. His mouth will neve** 
 
 be stopped [forcibly]. Over against this, the false witness shall 
 
 perish, bringing ruin upon himself. 
 
 29. A wicked man hardeneth his face : but as for the up- 
 right, he directeth his way. 
 
 Both the wicked and the upright employ themselves in giving 
 firmness and solidity — the wicked man to his face; the upright 
 man to his steps. A hard, tough, brazen face is the finished 
 work of the former; a firm, sure, well directed moral life is the 
 fruit of his labor to the latter. The point of the proverb lies in 
 the play upon the different uses of the hardening process — to put 
 on the air of impudence in the one case ; to give moral stability 
 to one’s life in the other. 
 
 30. There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel 
 against the Lord. 
 
 Human wisdom, knowledge, counsel, avail nothing for a position 
 before the Lord. This phrase corresponds very closely to the 
 Hebrew, leaving as that does a slight ambiguity in the sense, 
 whether it means (1) in his view; or (2) considered as arrayed 
 against him; or (3) as being compared with his. The first is 
 morally inadmissible. If we take the second as the leading idea 
 it involves the third, a construction which I accept. 
 
 31. The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but 
 safety is of the Lord. 
 
 Up to the age of Solomon, the Hebrews knew nothing of any 
 use for the horse except for war. They had known them trained 
 for the day of battle; for nothing else. But this proverb declares 
 that salvation even in battle comes from the Lord and not from the 
 war-horse — a sentiment eminently adapted to the case of the He- 
 brew people, who had no cavalry of their own, but who sometimes 
 had to face those powerful animals in the hosts of their foes. 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XXII. 
 
 147 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 1. A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, 
 and loving favor rather than silver and gold. 
 
 A good name means a reputation for integrity and virtue. By 
 “ loving favor ” I understand the affectionate good will of mankind. 
 Both this and a good name are a possession earned by a good life 
 and awarded by the friends secured to the good by such a life. 
 In this point of view they are compared with the possession of 
 
 gold. The moral influence of such a proverb as this upon the 
 
 character of the young, if carefully remembered and diligently 
 regarded, can not fail to be wholesome and elevating. Think of 
 it, young man — a richer treasure than the gold of the mine, and 
 none of you are too poor to get it ! 
 
 2. The rich and poor meet together: the Lord is the 
 maker of them all. 
 
 The course of providence in this world mingles the rich and the 
 poor together every-where. Therefore, since they are destined to 
 live in each other’s society here, let each remember that the same 
 God is the one Maker and Lord of both classes, and will protect each 
 and all in their respective rights. For he hath made of one blood 
 all the nations and the peoples; the high and the low, the rich 
 and the poor together. This consideration should minister both to 
 the respect due from the poor to the rich, and to the sympathy and 
 kindness due from the rich to the poor. 
 
 3. A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself : 
 but the simple pass on, and are punished. 
 
 The sense of the word rendered “prudent” is wary, fore- 
 thoughtful, sagacious — the very qualities of mind which foresee 
 impending evils. The “simple” here are the credulous, the men 
 who are open to all temptations. “Passing on” is less strong 
 than the Hebrew, which means they pass over — in this case, the 
 line of prudence. Of course they meet their reward. 
 
 4. By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and 
 honor, and life. 
 
 The original might be rendered at once more precisely and 
 more clearly thus : The rewards of humility, the fear of the Lord, 
 are riches, honor, and life. 
 
 5. Thorns and snares are in the way of the fro ward : he 
 that doth keep his soul shall be far from them. 
 
 This kind of “thorns and snares” manifestly imperil, not so 
 much the feet physically as the soul morally, for the righteous 
 man avoids them by keeping his soul with all diligence. 
 
148 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XXII. 
 
 6. Train up a child in the way he should go : and when 
 he is old, he will not depart from it. 
 
 The word for 11 train up ” means to educate ; to confirm in a given 
 course; to devote or dedicate to a special service, as a house or 
 
 temple is dedicated. The translation, “in the way he should 
 
 go,” is what we call somewhat free, departing considerably from 
 the literal form of the original, yet not perhaps from its true sense. 
 The original would naturally read, after the manner of his ivay ; 
 i. e. r train him with reference to his future way, in a manner cor- 
 responding to what his future is to be; which certainly may 
 mean— to what you wish it to be; to what it ought to be. All 
 that Solomon said, however, is precisely this : “ Train him after 
 the manner of his way.” The Hebrew student will see the usage 
 of the pivot words in Gen. 43: 7, “We told him according to the 
 tenor of these words; ” and Exod. 34; 27, “ After the tenor of those 
 words have I made a covenant,” etc. ; and Lev. 27 : 18, “ Shall 
 reckon to him the money according to the years that remain,” etc. 
 Probably Solomon meant, shape the young twig as you would have 
 the future tree; give your child a culture for the after-life which 
 you wish him to live. So doing, he will not depart from it in his 
 
 old age. Some of the critics give this construction : “ Train him 
 
 according to the bent of his tastes, or of his genius.” Within 
 certain limits, this may be wise philosophically ; but it is not in 
 harmony with the drift of Solomon’s teachings in this book. The 
 current of his exhortation here is thoroughly moral , looking directly 
 to the great moral ends and responsibilities of human life. 
 
 7. The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is 
 servant to the lender. 
 
 The second clause gives a clew to the meaning of the first, 
 showing in what sense the rich have power over the poor, and 
 wherein the poor are dependent upon the rich. Solomon labors 
 continually to encourage such industry and frugality as will lift 
 the poor above an abject dependence upon others. 
 
 8. He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity: and the 
 rod of his anger shall fail. 
 
 On the last clause critics differ. The choice lies between these 
 constructions, viz. : (1) The rod which he passionately inflicts on 
 others shall fall powerless ; come to an end ; or (2) The rod for 
 his insolence [to scourge it] is made ready. The radical idea of 
 the verb is to make full , complete. Hence the two shades of mean- 
 ing given above are both legitimate — to be used up so that nothing 
 remains ; and, to be fully prepared for its work. I incline to the 
 latter construction. Either would give a true sentiment; the lat- 
 ter is most forcible. 
 
 9. He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed ; for he 
 giveth of his bread to the poor. 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XXIT. 
 
 149 
 
 A “ bountiful eye ” is literally a good eye, in the sense of an 
 eye to 'pity : an eye that sees suffering and want, and indicates a 
 heart and a hand of generous benevolence. God will bless such 
 an eye. 
 
 10. Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out: 
 yea, strife and reproach shall cease. 
 
 The scorner is reckless of the feelings and rights of others, 
 and consequently has no qualities of heart that restrain him from 
 contentions and quarrels. The proverb says that if such men 
 would be off, contention would go too, and society would have a 
 sabbath of rest from strife and from reproachful words. 
 
 11. He that lovetli pureness of heart, for the grace of 
 his lips the king shall be his friend. 
 
 The English version seems to assume that he who loves purity 
 of heart will have the gift of agreeable speech, graceful eloquence ; 
 and that for the latter quality, the king will be his friend. An- 
 other construction, approved by some critics, supposes that the 
 man has both purity of heart and graceful expression, and that 
 for both these qualities, rather than for the latter only, the king 
 will be his friend; thus: “He who loves purity of heart and 
 whose lips are graceful, the king will be his friend.” I like this 
 construction. 
 
 12. The eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge : and he 
 overthrowetli the words of the transgressor. 
 
 The word for “knowledge” here must mean the wise and in- 
 telligent, the sense being that the eyes of the Lord watch kindly 
 over them and shield them from harm, while he overthrows the 
 words and frustrates the schemes of the perfidious, and of course 
 brings them to ruin. 
 
 13. The slothful man saitli, There is a lion without, I 
 shall be slain in the streets. 
 
 Not that he has seen the lion or heard him; but he wishes he 
 could — any thing to excuse himself from w^ork! 
 
 14. The mouth of strange women is a deep pit : he that 
 is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein. 
 
 “ Strange ” is primarily in the sense of foreign , and as to the 
 Jew*? practically, a woman lost to virtue, whose words were fear- 
 fully seductive to sin. Such words ensnare men to destruction 
 like a deep pit from which none who fall into it can ever escape. 
 The figure refers to the deep pits prepared to catch ferocious wild 
 beasts. Those whom God no longer hopes to reclaim, but in his 
 righteous indignation is ready to destroy, will fall therein. 
 
150 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XXII. 
 
 Does not this imply that God has no means of destruction for the 
 incorrigibly wicked more sure than this ? 
 
 15. Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child ; but the 
 rod of correction shall drive it far from him. 
 
 “ Foolishness/’ not in the sense of ignorance, much less of 
 semi-idiocy, but of wickedness, evil passions, vicious ways. 
 “Bound up” must mean, deep-rooted, cherished and loved; in- 
 terlaced with his impulses and habits so as to become almost a 
 second nature. Yet even in this toughest case the rod of correc- 
 tion has a marvelous expelling power. 
 
 16. He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and 
 he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want. 
 
 This man is supposed to pursue two methods of enriching him- 
 self ; he robs the poor ; he gives to the rich ; but in both cases he 
 will only impoverish himself. His two methods, viewed super- 
 ficially, may seem to be of opposite character and incongruous ; but 
 they both have the same end in view, and both alike will fail of 
 the end he seeks, and will really bring him not riches but ruin. 
 
 17. Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, 
 and apply thine heart unto my knowledge. 
 
 18. For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within 
 thee ; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips. 
 
 19. That thy trust may be in the Lord, I have made 
 known to thee this day, even to thee. 
 
 20. Have not I written to thee excellent things in coun- 
 sels and knowledge, 
 
 21. That I might make thee know the certainty of the 
 words of truth ; that thou mightest answer the words of 
 truth to them that send unto thee ? 
 
 With v. 17 commences a third part of this Book of Proverbs, 
 distinct in some points of style and method from those which 
 precede or which follow. See the Introduction. This part closes 
 with chap. 24. 
 
 The writer invites most diligent attention to the words of wis- 
 dom which he has to speak. “ Shall be fitted in thy lips ” 
 
 (v. 18) means shall be confirmed or established upon thy lips, to 
 be always (as we might say) at thy tongue’s end, fresh in memory 
 and ever at hand, not only for reflective thought but for ready 
 utterance ; words in season fitly spoken. I have taught thee these 
 
 great truths in order that thou mayest fully trust the Lord. In 
 
 the Hebrew word for “excellent things” (v. 20) the English ver- 
 sion follows the Hebrew margin. The Hebrew text (of higher 
 authority and making equally good sense) should be preferred, its 
 significance being — “Have I not previously written thee in wise 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XXII. 
 
 151 
 
 counsels and knowledge that I might make thee know the cer- 
 tainty,” etc. His object was to establish the great principles of 
 
 wisdom and truth in the reader’s mind. The allusion in the 
 
 words, “them that send thee,” seems to be to those who might 
 intrust to thee any important business or resposibility. Com- 
 pare 10: 26. 
 
 22. Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither op- 
 press the afflicted in the gate: 
 
 23. For the Lord will plead their cause, and spoil the 
 soul of those that spoiled them. 
 
 Never take advantage of the poor, assuming that they can not 
 defend themselves and retaliate upon you; neither oppress the 
 afflicted [and defenseless] “in the gate,” where civil tribunals 
 were anciently held, for the Lord will plead the cause of those 
 who have no other friend. Hence their Redeemer is mighty [23: 
 
 10, 11]. “Spoil the soul,” etc., means that he can overmatch 
 
 the cunning and overbearing spirit of the mightiest oppressors, 
 even to the ruin of their souls. The Hebrew verb carries this 
 
 sense. It is a fearful thing for proud, heartless oppressors of 
 
 the poor to bring themselves into collision with the Infinite God — 
 the never-failing Redeemer and Benefactor of the otherwise help- 
 less, friendless ones of his great family ! 
 
 24. Make no friendship with an angry man ; and with a 
 furious man thou shalt not go ; 
 
 25. Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul. 
 
 With men given to passion have no intimacies, nay more, go 
 not with them at all, lest thou catch their spirit, be drawn into 
 their ways and become ensnared at the cost of life. 
 
 26. Be not thou one of them that strike hands, or of them 
 that are sureties for debts. 
 
 27. If thou hast nothing to pay, why should he take away 
 thy bed from under thee ? 
 
 This admonition has occurred already (6: 1-5 and 11 : 15). 
 The doctrine of suretyship as it appears in this Book of Proverbs 
 should be studied and judged of in the light of the age of Solomon 
 and of the Mosaic system. From Moses to Solomon, the Jews had 
 never been a commercial people. For obvious reasons it was man- 
 ifestly the divine policy to prevent them from becoming such. Their 
 system of agriculture, with no costly implements, required but lit- 
 tle capital. Hence while they kept aloof from traffic, they had but 
 the least possible occasion to loan money on the guaranty of an- 
 other. Most of those who sought such aid were doubtless for- 
 eigners, coming or living among them for trade. During Solo- 
 mon’s reign, commerce received a vigorous impulse. We must 
 
152 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 suppose the country filled with foreign tradesmen. Many He- 
 brews too were seeking to amass a fortune speedily in this pursuit. 
 Hence Solomon saw the necessity of giving line upon line of warn- 
 ing against suretyship. The laws [or usage] to enforce the 
 
 payment of debts were stringent, as our passage indicates. — — By 
 the laws of Moses, the poor mans outer garment, if taken in 
 pledge, must not be kept over night, because it was his bed-cov- 
 ering. 
 
 28. Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers 
 have set. 
 
 See the Hebrew law, Deut. 19 : 14 and 27 : 17. Also Prov. 23 : 
 
 10. Offenses committed with ease and detected with difficulty 
 
 must be punished rigorously. But since the best of human laws 
 are very imperfect as means of preventing such offenses, the ut- 
 most possible moral force should be brought to bear to sustain 
 them. We see this wisdom manifested here. The “old landmark” 
 should be honored as a relic of the venerable past. The fathers 
 put it there : let no sacrilegious hand touch it ! 
 
 29. Seest thou a man diligent in his business ? he shall 
 stand before kings ; he shall not stand before mean men. 
 
 Seest thou a man [the Hebrew word gives us the higher style 
 of a man, not the lower] diligent, i. e., prompt, active, expeditious 
 in his work; he will make himself a standing before kings [they 
 need. such men]: he will not have his place among obscure [in 
 Heb. dark, unknown] men. Such men as Joseph and Daniel 
 work themselves up to high responsibilities by dint of their u dil- 
 igence in business. They bring to their service capacity, energy, 
 industry, application. Doing every thing they attempt in the 
 best manner possible, they soon come before kings because they 
 are wanted. 
 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 1. When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider 
 diligently what is before thee : 
 
 2. And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given 
 to appetite. 
 
 3. Be not desirous of his dainties : for they are deceitful 
 meat. 
 
 The nicer shades of thought in this passage turn on the ques- 
 tion whether the writer would guard men merely against over- 
 eating, or also and especially against degrading themselves in the 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 153 
 
 presence of the king; also, whether the king, in the case supposed, 
 spread his table luxuriously for the sake of mere politeness, of 
 friendship, or from royal custom ; or rather for the special purpose 
 of putting to the test the self-control and thereby the intrinsic stamina 
 of his guest. I accept the latter alternative in each of these general 
 questions. Solomon had seen enough of kings and courts to know 
 that they had their own way of testing a man’s character and 
 habits, and the power of his appetites over him; and he gives the 
 world at large these hints bearing on that point. “ Consider dil- 
 
 igently ” not so much what as “ who is before thee.” Solomon does 
 not exhort us to look sharply into the dishes to see what we should 
 like, nor even to judge what we ought wisely to avoid, but rather 
 to consider thoughtfully where we are, in whose presence we are 
 sitting, and how much may depend on the impression we may 
 make upon his mind by our manner and bearing at his luxurious 
 table. “Restrain thy appetite if thou be a man given to indul- 
 gence in good eating, even though it may require stern self-control, 
 compared to a knife at the throat. Let not thy appetite be ex- 
 cited by the presence of his tempting dishes, for they are “deceit- 
 ful meat,” they are set before thee not in pure friendship but as 
 a sharp test of thy proneness to sensual indulgence and of thy 
 
 power of self-control. Another sinister motive which the king 
 
 may be supposed to have in feasting you might be to get from 
 you some secret which it were wise and well for you to keep. 
 Take care, therefore, lest you be thrown off your guard or ren- 
 dered unfit for discreet judgment. Think of those luxuries as 
 
 “deceitful meat.” Let it be suggested that self-control is always 
 
 manly (as opposed to beastly), and that we always sit at table in 
 the presence of the Great King ! 
 
 4. Labor not to be rich ; cease from thine own wisdom. 
 
 5. Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not ? for 
 riches certainly makes themselves wings ; they fly away as 
 an eagle toward heaven. 
 
 An admonition against making riches the chief end of one’s 
 
 labor. “Cease from thine own wisdom” should be construed 
 
 as bearing on the subject in hand, and hence must mean, Cease 
 to depend on thine own sagacity, shrewdness, skill in making 
 money. Solomon assumes that the supreme pursuit of wealth is 
 sure to fail of its object. This is the main doctrine of the Book 
 
 of Ecclesiastes. Wilt thou let thine eyes fly upon riches? i. e ., 
 
 turn eagerly, with longing look as if to rush with outspread wings 
 upon them? But they are not ; they will not be there; they 
 vanish from your view ; they suddenly elude your grasp and your 
 hand is upon nothing; for they take wings like an eagle and are 
 away! See similar sentiments in Paul to Timothy (1 Tim. 6: 
 9, 10) and below, 28: 20 — a lesson which men of the world are 
 sadly slow to learn. 
 
154 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 6. Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, 
 neither desire thou his dainty meats : 
 
 7. For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he : Eat and 
 drink, saith he to thee ; but his heart is not with thee. 
 
 8. The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, 
 and lose thy sweet words. 
 
 The sentiment here is somewhat analogous to that in vs. 1-3 
 above. In that passage, however, the ruler is your host: in this, 
 any man of malign and sinister purpose. This is the meaning of 
 the “evil, eye/’ a man whose aim is selfish and even malicious. 
 He must be judged of, not by what he says but by what he thinks — 
 his “heart” (v. 7). “His heart is not with thee,” in sympathy 
 and in friendship. If you eat his dainties you will find to your 
 shame and chagrin that he has meanly and maliciously sought 
 mischief against you, and you would be glad to vomit up every 
 morsel you ate at his table. You will “ lose his sweet words ” of 
 gracious but deceitful invitation, as if you were to vomit them up ! 
 
 9. Speak not in the ears of a fool : for he will despise 
 the wisdom of thy words. 
 
 Cast not thy pearls before swine ! So the fool has no sense of 
 the worth of wisdom. 
 
 10. Remove not the old landmark ; and enter not into 
 the field of the fatherless : 
 
 11. For their Redeemer is mighty ; he shall plead their 
 cause with thee. 
 
 Encroach not upon the lands of the fatherless [the orphan], for 
 they have a mighty Redeemer in the Great God — always the Father 
 of all fatherless ones ; the most formidable antagonist you can 
 have. Stir not up his wrath, for he will plead and avenge their 
 cause with thee. The original sense of the word redeemer ap- 
 
 pears here — one who stands in law-phrase as “ next friend,” accord- 
 ing to ancient usage the nearest blood relative ; but in general, 
 one who acts the part of a father for his son, or if there be no 
 father, of a brother for a deceased brother’s widow and children. 
 It was held to be the duty of this “next friend” to assume the 
 case and defend the rights of his protege, to be as a guardian to 
 his ward, to avenge his blood if slain, to protect his estate if in 
 
 any way encroached upon or endangered. This doctrine should 
 
 be a terror to all who would oppress the fatherless or the widow. 
 
 12. Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears 
 to the words of knowledge. 
 
 This exhortation is good for all readers and hearers, in all times 
 and circumstances, but probably stands here with a somewhat 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 155 
 
 special reference to the admonitions which immediately follow 
 (23: 13-24: 22). 
 
 13. Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou 
 oeatest him with the rod, he shall not die. 
 
 14. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver 
 his soul from hell. 
 
 The views of Solomon in respect to corporeal suffering inflicted 
 for the discipline of the young are given in slightly varying phrase 
 yet with somewhat frequent repetition. See 13: 24 and 19 : 18 
 and 22: 15 and 29: 15, 17. The points made here are — Let not- 
 parental tenderness withhold the rod (when milder measures fail) ; 
 thou hast no need to fear that under proper correction he will die ; 
 far otherwise; for if thou shalt use the rod judiciously, thou shalt 
 
 rather save his soul from the death eternal. On the question 
 
 which the critics will raise here, whether “hell" [Sheol] (v. 14) 
 means the under-world in the sense merely of the place for all 
 the dead indiscriminately, or in the sense of the abode and doom 
 of the wicked, the true view seems to me to be this: The death 
 of the body when thought of as a special visitation of divine judg- 
 ment upon the wicked, was deemed a pledge and precursor of the 
 eternal death of woe beyond. In this class I would put the case of 
 Korah and his company (Num. 16 : 29-33), of which Moses said ; “ If 
 these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited 
 after the visitation of all men, then the Lord hath not sent me. 
 But if the Lord make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth 
 and swallow them up with all that appertain unto them and they 
 go down quick” [living] “into the pit; then ye shall understand 
 
 that these men have provoked the Lord.” Also in the same 
 
 class, Ps. 9: 16, 17 and Prov. 14: 32. The passage before us is 
 of the same sort. The primary sense is not — Thou shalt save him 
 from ever dying a natural death ; but thou shalt save him from 
 dying under the judgment of God for his sins — that is, from the 
 sudden, awful death which in that age God often visited upon the 
 incorrigibly wicked — upon specially aggravated sins also, e. g ., con- 
 tempt of parents. Now since such a death under the wrath of 
 God carried with it eternal death also, the sense clearly must be, 
 Thou shalt save his soul from the death eternal. 
 
 15. My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall re- 
 joice, even mine. 
 
 16. Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right 
 things. 
 
 Beautiful outgushings of a father s heart are these ! How deep 
 are the fountains of his joy over a truly wise son ! How does 
 nis very heart exult when a son’s lips speak uprightly, according 
 to truth and righteousness! We must assume that this father 
 speaks of his own son ! 
 
156 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 17. Let not thine heart envy sinners ; but be thou in the 
 fear of the Lord all the day long. 
 
 18. For surely there is an end; and thine expectation 
 shall not be cut off. 
 
 Be not envious toward sinners who seem to he prosperous, hut 
 abide thou permanently in thy piety — the “fear of the Lord,” com- 
 prehending piety in all its relations, involving here especially the 
 
 elements of faith and trust. “An end” (v. 18) fails to give the 
 
 full idea, which is : There shall be an after-part , correlated to the 
 present, which shall even up the rewards of human deeds accord- 
 ing to justice. This involves complete reward to the righteous. 
 The same word occurs in this sense (24: 14, 20) where our Eng- 
 lish version properly has it “reward.” (See also Jer. 29: 11 and 
 31: 17.) In most of these cases it is significantly connected with 
 the word “expectation” — ground of hope for the righteous. The 
 Lord therefore would say to his dutiful children, Be not troubled 
 by the present prosperity of the wicked ; the righteous will surely 
 have their reward in due time; if not wholly in this world, yet 
 without fail in the world to come. Your expectation of due re- 
 ward can by no means fail in the end. 
 
 19. Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart 
 in the way. 
 
 "20. Be not among wine-bibbers ; among riotous eaters of 
 flesh : 
 
 21. For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to pov- 
 erty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags. 
 
 Earnest admonitions against drunkenness and gluttony. Upon 
 the two Hebrew words translated, “riotous eaters of flesh,” the 
 question arises whether the “flesh” referred to is that of animals 
 eaten, or of the human body wasted by gluttony and a lascivious 
 life. The lexicons and the common usage of the Heb. word for 
 flesh [Ai#!!] favor the latter, yet the sort of correlated use of the 
 
 participle for “glutton” against “drunkard” looks toward the 
 other construction. (Compare Deut. 21: 20.) The general sense 
 of the passage is scarcely affected by this diversity. 
 
 22. Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise 
 not thy mother when she is old. 
 
 Let thy respect for thy father and thy mother be abiding — fresh 
 and strong even though they have become “old.” Let not the 
 notion that the age you chance to live in is “progressive” flat- 
 ter your pride into the assumption that your wisdom and expe- 
 rience are better than theirs. It is beautiful to see the honor and 
 regard due from children to parents cherished their life long in 
 filial bosoms. God sheds his blessings on such sons and daughters, 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 * 157 
 
 23. Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and in- 
 struction, and understanding. 
 
 Get hold of truth at any cost; pay its price and take it; but 
 never sell it! Part with it for no consideration! Its value is 
 
 above rubies ! To expand more fully the idea embraced in 
 
 the word “truth,” he subjoins — “wisdom, instruction, understand- 
 ing.” That must be pre-eminently precious which the wise 
 
 Solomon, taught of God, exhorts us to buy perpetually but never 
 to sell. Obeying this direction, we shall accumulate a vast store. 
 
 24. The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice : and 
 he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him. 
 
 25. Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she 
 that bare thee shall rejoice. 
 
 Compare vs. 15, 16, the same sentiment which is expanded and 
 reiterated here. 
 
 26. My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes ob- 
 serve my ways. 
 
 The heart asked for here includes both diligent attention and 
 affectionate confidence. Cherish my words; believe them and 
 
 obey. Probably as the words stand here, they have special 
 
 reference to the exhortations that immediately follow — exhorta- 
 tions so vital to the welfare of every son that a father might well 
 preface them with this beautiful and pertinent entreaty. 
 
 27. For a whore is a deep ditch ; and a strange woman 
 is a narrow pit. 
 
 28. She also lieth in wait as for a prey, and increase th 
 the transgressors among men. 
 
 Compare 22: 14. The point of the fignre is that her victims 
 will never or almost never escape from her deadly grasp. Once 
 in her snare, they are lost — lost to virtue, lost to happiness, lost 
 to society, lost as to their own welfare for this world and for all 
 
 worlds! She lieth in wait as a robber [so the Hebrew], and 
 
 she multiplieth transgressors among men. Many of the otherwise 
 strong and mighty fall before her, never to rise again. (Compare 
 7 : 26, 27.) The observation of the discerning in all ages confirms 
 the fearful truth so strongly put here, that no form of sin holds its 
 victims with more unyielding grasp than this; no form breaks 
 down all self-recuperative power and hurries men to their graves 
 more swiftly or more fearfully. 
 
 29. Who hath wo ? who hath sorrow? who hath conten- 
 tions ? who hath babbling ? who hath wounds without 
 cause ? who hath redness of eyes ? 
 
158 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 30. They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to 
 seek mixed wine. 
 
 31. Look thou not upon the wine when it is red, when 
 it givetli his color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. 
 
 32. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like 
 an adder. 
 
 This life-painting of the drunkard’s experiences and miseries is 
 done with a master’s hand. — — Where will you look for woe ? 
 Where for sorrow ? Where for the grouping of all these terrible 
 ills (in one poor, wretched victim)? Only there — in the men that 
 tarry long over their wine, protracting their carousals deep into 
 the midnight hours — the men who in those times made their drink 
 
 more intoxicating and maddening by strong spices. At this 
 
 point the writer fitly interposes the warning — ‘“Look not on the 
 wine when it is red (the red wine being stronger than the white); 
 when it sparkles brilliantly in the cup ; when it flows down 
 the throat smoothly with a mellowness free from astringency; 
 for though it has these bewitching attractions to your eye, to 
 your taste, and to your excitable nerves, yet at the last, its 
 bite is the serpent’s — its sting, the adder’s! The word ren- 
 
 dered “ babbling ” some render solicitude; others, complaint. Bab- 
 bling is wonderfully true to fact, but the Hebrew word as well 
 as the drift of this description favor the sense of moaning, sigh- 
 ing — indications of trouble, and sorrow. Wounds self-inflicted 
 
 — which have no necessary cause, and which the wretched man 
 
 might just as well have avoided by keeping sober. “ Giveth its 
 
 color in the cup,” is literally its eye , in the sense of its “bead” or 
 sparkle. 
 
 33. Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine 
 heart shall utter perverse things. 
 
 34. Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst, 
 of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. 
 
 35. They have stricken me, shalt thou say , and I was not 
 sick ; they have beaten me, and I felt it not : when shall I 
 awake ? I will seek it yet again. 
 
 The intoxication of wine fires and maddens lascivious pas- 
 sion; thine eyes rove toward strange women, harlots. Thine 
 heart utters all perverse things; frivolity, obscenity, profanity, 
 
 pour forth from the heart of the drunkard. Lying down 
 
 in the heart of the sea or on the top of a mast, swayed to 
 and fro, tossed up and down — may be supposed to indicate the 
 sensations of the drunken man ; or more probably the point here 
 intended is his imminent yet unconscious peril His sensations 
 appear in the next verse. In point of peril, he is like a sailor-boy 
 sleeping in his frail canoe in the heart of the rough sea, or on the 
 top of the rocking mast. Then, half rousing from his stupor, he 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 159 
 
 says, “They have stricken me, but I was not sick; they have 
 beaten me; I felt it not. They have kicked me about; thrown 
 me into the gutter. Little did I know or care, only to ask, When 
 
 will this stupor be off? Then I will be to my cups again !” Oh, 
 
 the appetite that is never quenched! Alas, the bands strong as 
 death that bind the inebriate to this worse than beastly life — to 
 this destiny of shame and woe ! 
 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 1. Be not thou envious against evil men, neither desire 
 to be with them : 
 
 2. For their heart studieth destruction, and their lips 
 talk of mischief. 
 
 The frequent admonitions of the Scriptures ( e . g ., Ps. 37 and 
 73 and Prov. 3: 31 and 23: 17 and 24: 19) against being envious 
 of the wicked assume that they often prosper in this world, at 
 least for a season, and that we need to be reminded that a God 
 of retributive justice has an account to settle with them except 
 they repent, and that his favor is more to us than all earthly good 
 can ever be. It follows that God’s children never can have any 
 good reason for being envious of the prosperity of the wicked. 
 The special point added here is a caution against being intimate 
 with them because their heart will plot destruction and their lips 
 will speak evil. Consequently their social influence over you 
 will be morally perilous. 
 
 3. Through wisdom is a house builded ; and by under- 
 standing it is established : 
 
 4. And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with 
 all precious and pleasant riches. 
 
 Wisdom is always useful in its application to the common busi- 
 ness of life. It helps to build houses well, to give them a firm 
 foundation, to furnish and to fill their chambers. Perhaps the 
 gist of the proverb is to suggest that the same good judgment 
 which proves itself so useful in the common matters of our ex- 
 ternal life must be worthy of our confidence and of our diligent 
 pursuit and careful use in the greater and more vital matters of 
 our moral and eternal life — the treasures to be garnered in “ the 
 house not made with hands.” 
 
 5. A wise man is strong yea, a man of knowledge in- 
 ereaseth strength. 
 
160 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 6. For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war: and 
 in multitude of counselors there is safety. 
 
 Wisdom is strength — the version which Solomon would give to 
 the modern adage: “Knowledge is power.” In Solomon’s form 
 of statement and in his view of the case, it is not every kind of 
 knowledge that is power. This can be said only of that knowledge 
 of practical sort which works itself naturally into skillful and 
 right doing, which enables its possessor to form judicious plans 
 
 and execute them efficiently. He adds that this is eminently 
 
 useful in war. The same wisdom of judgment should rule in all 
 the great questions of human life, and most of all in those which 
 respect man’s relations to his Maker. Compare Prov. 21 : 22 and 
 20: 18 and 11: 14. 
 
 7. Wisdom is too high for a fool : he openeth not his 
 mouth in the gate. 
 
 The Hebrews spake of things difficult of attainment as being 
 high. So Moses said of the commandments which God had given 
 the people through him (Deut. 30: 12), “It is not in heaven that 
 thou shouldst say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring 
 
 it unto us, that we may hear it and do it,” etc. “ The fool will 
 
 not open his mouth in the gate” — the gate being the place for the 
 courts of justice and the counsels of the wise — for wisdom there- 
 fore and knowledge — far too high for the fool to reach. That is, 
 therefore, no place for him ; he has not the first element of fitness 
 for such responsibilities. 
 
 8. He that deviseth to do evil shall be called a mischiev- 
 ous person. 
 
 This proverb gives the name which the bad man here described 
 will get and ought to get in the community. If he is known to 
 give his mind to schemes of mischief, men will call him a master - 
 mischief-maker. He may have the honor of being lord (in Heb. 
 “ baal”], but it is lord of mischief-plotting. Let him wear his 
 honors. 
 
 9. The thought of foolishness is sin: and the scorner is 
 an abomination to men. 
 
 The word for “thought” [n.3 ?] is stronger [toward mischief] 
 
 than a mere idea or mental conception. It describes crafty cun- 
 ning schemes of folly. Solomon declares that this is sin. All 
 
 men abominate the scorner, the man who has no respect for his 
 fellows, but, lifting himself proudly above them, would fain look 
 down upon them scornfully. Who can love or esteem such a 
 spirit ? 
 
 10. If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is 
 small. 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 161 
 
 The Hebrew plays somewhat upon the words of this proverb — • 
 u If thou faint in the day of straitness , thy strength is straitened, 
 t. e ., shut up, limited, of small account.. The day of straitness 
 comes to test man’s strength ; let him see to it that he proves 
 himself equal to his emergency. 
 
 11. If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto 
 death, and those that are ready to be slain : 
 
 12. If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not ; doth not he 
 that pondereth the heart consider it t and he that keepeth 
 thy soul, doth not he know itf and shall not he render 
 to every man according to his works ? 
 
 While the general sentiment of this passage is expressed in the 
 English version, the more precise translation is no less strong and 
 pertinent, thus: “Deliver those who are borne toward death; O 
 do thou rescue those who move on trembling toward the slaughter, 
 ^or shouldst thou say, “ Behold, we have not known this [man], 
 me Ponderer [Searcher] of hearts — will not He detect; the 
 Watcher of thy soul — will not He know; and will He not requite 
 
 to man as his work ” [may be] ? The innocent and helpless are 
 
 seen dragged away to their death ; the voice of God comes through 
 the inspired proverb — Rush thou to the rescue ! If thou shouldest 
 say, That man is a stranger, we know him not : of what concern 
 is his case to us ? will not the Great God fathom thy selfish 
 heart, and prove thy lying lips, and hold thee to a stern and 
 solemn responsibility to meet the claims of our common humanity ? 
 
 In ancient as in modern times, cases of unjust arraignment 
 
 and causeless prosecution might not unfrequently arise under the 
 despotic governments of oriental countries. In our age we have 
 seen a whole race causelessly crushed under a cruel and often 
 deadly bondage. Here is God’s view of the responsibility and 
 duty, not of professedly good men only, but of every living man, 
 toward such sufferers. 
 
 13. My son, eat thou honey, because it is good ; and the 
 honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste : 
 
 14. So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul : 
 when thou hast found it , then there shall be a reward, and 
 thy expectation shall not be cut off. 
 
 Inasmuch as the sweetness of wisdom to the soul is manifestly 
 compared to the sweetness of honey to the taste, it seems better tc 
 read v. 13, not as a command to eat honey, but as a comparison ; 
 u As thou dost eat honey because it is good and sweet upon thy 
 palate ; So get thou the knowledge of wisdom, for it shall be nc 
 less sweet to thy soul. Its rewards are sure to all who find, and 
 their expectation of good therefrom can by no means fail. 
 
 15. Lay not wait, O wicked man , against the dwelling 
 of the righteous ; spoil not his resting place : 
 
162 
 
 PROVERBS-CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 16. For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up 
 again : but the wicked shall fall into mischief. 
 
 The tacit assumption here is that just men are helped to rise 
 by their Great Protector and Defender. “Seven,” a round for a 
 large indefinite number, means that however often he may fall, he 
 will rise again. Take heed, therefore, 0 thou wicked man, lest 
 
 thou be found fighting against God ! Also this sentiment is 
 
 here — that while the just shall surely rise after his fall, no such 
 rising is to be the lot of the wicked. Their fall is to be final and 
 fatal. 
 
 17. Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not 
 thine heart be glad when he stumbleth : 
 
 18. Lest the Lord see it, and it displease him, and he 
 turn away his wrath from him. 
 
 Does the writer express a doubt whether the Lord will see your 
 joy over your fallen enemy, and whether it will displease him ? 
 I judge that the word “lest” should not be pressed so as to im- 
 ply any uncertainty on this point. God will surely know it if we 
 exult over a fallen enemy ! He does not expect us to interpret his 
 providences to the extent of assuming that we can determine for 
 what particular sin he sends special judgments, and may infer 
 from the calamities that befall our enemy that God has taken 
 
 our side in our controversy. The moral tone of this proverb 
 
 is high — nothing lower than to love our enemies and cherish kind- 
 ness and pity toward them in their calamity. “ And he [God] 
 
 turns away his wrath from him” [thine enemy], seems tacitly to 
 imply that he also turns it against thee. 
 
 19. Fret not thyself because of evil men, neither be thou 
 envious at the wicked ; 
 
 20. For there shall be no reward to the evil man; the 
 candle of the wdcked shall be put out. 
 
 The reason assigned here against fretfulness and envy toward 
 the wicked is that there is really nothing in their lot that should 
 excite such feelings. Far otherwise. Alas ! they have no reward, 
 no blessed future : their lamp of light and hope shall go out in 
 eternal darkness ! O how little dost thou understand their case 
 and their doom when thou art envious of their prosperity! Rather 
 come and drop a tear over their mad infatuation and their bitter 
 end ! 
 
 21. My son, fear thou the Lord and the king r and 
 meddle not with them that are given to change : 
 
 22. For their calamity shall rise suddenly ; and who 
 knoweth the ruin of them both ? 
 
 The king, as appointed of God to rule over men, should be 
 
PROVERBS -CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 163 
 
 nonored and feared, for reasons similar to those which demand of 
 us homage and reverence toward God. Have no association with 
 those who are fickle and revolutionary, never satisfied with things 
 as they are. Such men are sure to meet a swift and fearful retri- 
 bution! Take heed lest thou perish with them ! “The ruin of 
 
 them both” is the destruction inflicted upon these traitors and 
 rebels by both God and the king. The ruin of them is not the 
 ruin they experience, but the ruin they inflict. 
 
 23. These things also belong to the wise. It is not good 
 to have respect of persons in judgment. 
 
 The remaining part of this chapter seems to be a special appen- 
 dix. The sin of having respect of persons in judicial decisions 
 
 is so flagrant and withal was so common that Solomon reiterates 
 his rebuke of it. See 18 : 5 and notes there. Also 28: 21. 
 
 24. He that saith unto the wicked, Thou art righteous; 
 him shall the people curse, nations shall abhor him : 
 
 25. But to them that rebuke him shall be delight, and a 
 good blessing shall come upon them. 
 
 “He that saith,” i. e ., in his place as a judge, in his judicial 
 decisions, to which the proverb has special reference. To say this 
 under any circumstances is wrong, but to say it as a civil judge 
 is a most flagrant wrong. The thing said here is that such a 
 judge shall be execrated by all mankind. All the good, all who 
 appreciate the need of civil government for its legitimate purposes 
 of justice to the otherwise defenseless, will abhor and even curse 
 him. But the judge who rebukes the evil doer shall be a delight, 
 regarded with favor and gratitude. Blessings of goodness shall 
 come upon him ; the good will wish him well and give him their 
 benediction. 
 
 26. Every man shall kiss his lips that giveth a right 
 answer. 
 
 Probably the same subject continues before the mind. If so, 
 this right answer is either the right decision of the judge, or the 
 right testimony of the witness whose evidence promotes the ends 
 of justice. “ Men will kiss his lips,” thus expressing their love 
 and esteem. 
 
 27. Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thy- 
 self in the field ; and afterward build thine house. 
 
 In the climate of Palestine this was doubtless good advice. 
 Look first to your grounds; prepare them for the seed and secure 
 your harvests in their season : this done, turn, if you will, to house- 
 building. Till then live in tents ; any mere shelter from the storm 
 will suffice you. Houses were rather luxuries than necessities. 
 
164 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 28. Be not a witness against thy neighbor without cause ; 
 and deceive not with thy lips. 
 
 Perhaps the most vital question touching the sense and bearing 
 of this proverb is — Does it assume that “ thy neighbor” is inno- 
 cent, or does it apply in a case where he is guilty ? If “ thy 
 neighbor” is here assumed to be innocent, the writer means, Be 
 not a witness against him with no foundation of truth for your testi- 
 mony — with no just cause. Why should you deceive with your 
 lips to bring evil upon the innocent? Why (according to the next 
 verse) should you cherish the spirit of retaliation, taking vengeance 
 
 into your own hand for some supposed injury done yourself? 
 
 On the other hand, if the writer does not assume the innocence of 
 “ thy neighbor ” but tacitly admits his guilt, the admonition would 
 lie against being officious in reporting all the evil you may know 
 against your neighbor; e. g., in a case not sufficiently flagrant to 
 call for judicial investigation. Make no gratuitous exposure of 
 trivial offenses ; do not appear as a witness unless the greater good 
 require it. The latter sense is, for ought I see, admissible, yet, on 
 the whole, I prefer the former as being more in harmony with the 
 latter clause of the verse. This latter clause, if we accept the 
 punctuation of the Ideb. text, should read interrogatively — “And 
 wilt thou deceive with thy lips? Will you permit your malign 
 feelings to lead you into actual falsehood for the sake of bringing 
 punishment upon your innocent neighbor?” 
 
 29. Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me : 
 I will render to the man according to his work. 
 
 See 20: 22 and notes there. Personal retaliation assumes to 
 take the administration of justice out of the hand of the Almighty, 
 as if you could not- wait his time, or had no confidence in his 
 justice. Can you hope to please God by such implied imputations 
 against him and by thus assuming his prerogatives? Can you 
 suppose that He will quietly resign his throne to you that you may 
 gratify your excited passion, or even what you suppose to be your 
 just indignation? Remember who has said, “Vengeance is mine; 
 1 will repay.” 
 
 30. I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vine- 
 yard of the man void of understanding ; 
 
 31. And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and net- 
 tles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof 
 was broken down. 
 
 Remarkably Solomon associates sloth with folly, as if he as- 
 sumed that every sensible and wise man will be industrious and will 
 
 take good care of his farm and garden. But on the grounds of 
 
 the slothful, void understanding, all is dilapidated and desolate ! 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XXV. 
 
 165 
 
 32. Then I saw, and considered it well : I looked upon it, 
 and received instruction. 
 
 33. Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of 
 the hands to sleep : 
 
 34. So shall thy poverty come as one that traveleth; 
 and thy want as an armed man. 
 
 I studied that spectacle diligently and long, and I found it truly 
 instructive. See what I learned then of the ways of the slothful : 
 U A little more sleep,” said he, “a little more slumber” — more, 
 more, and yet more ! “So ” [if thou doest] shall thy poverty come 
 like a highwayman [“one that traveleth”], and his coming will 
 break upon thee at dead of night, in the depth of thy fancied 
 
 security, and he gives no note of warning! This scene affords 
 
 us a symbol — at once vivid and but too truthful — of the moral ruin 
 which comes over the soul of the spiritual sluggard. He, too, 
 makes this the law of his life — “A little more sleep, a little more 
 slumber ” — a little more procrastination of life’s chief work, heed- 
 lessly quenching the sense of present duty, drowning his more 
 grave convictions under the din and roar of earthly bustle; study- 
 ing evermore to be so engrossed with cares or with pleasures as 
 never to think deeply and solemnly of God and of his own mo- 
 mentous responsibilities : so he sleeps and dreams life away ; but 
 his soul, ah, how desolate of moral culture and of moral fruit unto 
 God ! Oh, those thorns and weeds of sinful growth ; and what 
 shall be the end thereof? So shall thy poverty come like the 
 mounted highwayman — thy want like an armed man ! 
 
 
 CHAPTEE XXV. 
 
 1. These are also proverbs of Solomon, which the men 
 of Hezekiah king of J udah copied out. 
 
 The portion of the book commencing here (chaps. 25-29) was 
 transcribed and compiled by men appointed to this service by 
 king Hezekiah. It is of small account to us to inquire in whose 
 keeping they had been during the period of two hundred and 
 seventy-five years since the death of Solomon ; how many copies 
 of them were in existence ; or why these were not introduced intc 
 the sacred canon at the same time with the earlier portions of 
 this book. The bar to such inquiries is that we know nothing on 
 
 the subject and have no means of knowing. Who those men 
 
 were, of literary taste or of religious sympathy, who made and 
 kept copies of these admirable proverbs ; whether or not they bore 
 public responsibilities and acted in that ‘capacity, there remain no 
 
166 
 
 PROVERBS — CHAP. XXV. 
 
 data for determining. It must suffice us to know that these pro- 
 verbs were extant ; that they came to the knowledge of Hezekiah ; 
 and that he employed suitable men to copy them and append them 
 as we see here, to the previously compiled proverbs of Solomon. 
 
 2. It is the glory of God to conceal a thing : but the 
 honor of kings is to search out a matter. 
 
 The form of the antithesis here is quite remarkable. It is God’s 
 glory that his ways are unsearchable, past finding out, and that 
 he takes none into his secret counsels to avail himself of their 
 wisdom, but in this sense rules the universe alone , in his own in- 
 finite knowledge, wisdom and love. The case of human kings is 
 not put in precise contrast with this. The writer only says that 
 it is their glory to search out every matter upon which they have 
 occasion to act officially — their glory to understand it fully before 
 they take action. In this restricted sense, it is their glory to search 
 out, while as to his own plans, it is God’s glory to conceal. 
 
 3. The heaven for height, and the earth for depth, and 
 the heart of kings is unsearchable. 
 
 As the heaven is too high and the earth too deep to be explored, 
 so is the heart of kings. They hold a position so removed from 
 their subjects; they may, at least if they choose, seclude themselves 
 so much from intimate association and may so thoroughly keep 
 their secrets to themselves that no man can search them out. 
 
 4. Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall 
 come forth a vessel for the finer. 
 
 5. Take away the wicked from before the king, and his 
 throne shall be established in righteousness. 
 
 As the dross must be removed from the silver to render it 
 malleable and fit to be wrought into vessels by the artist, so let 
 wicked men be taken away from before the king, let them have no 
 place in his counsels ; then shall his throne be established in right- 
 eousness. Bad men are to him and to his throne what dross is to 
 silver. 
 
 6. Put not forth thyself in the presence of the king, and 
 stand not in the place of great men : 
 
 7. For better it is that it be said unto thee, Come up 
 hither; than that thou shouldest be put lower in the pres- 
 ence of the prince whom thine eyes have seen. 
 
 Do not make a display of thyself in presence of the king and 
 thrust thyself into the place of the great ; for it is better that thou^ 
 shouldest be invited to go up higher than to be put lower in the 
 
 presence of the prince. The reader will be struck with the 
 
 close resemblance of this sentiment to that propounded by oui 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XXV. 
 
 167 
 
 Lord (Luke 14: 8-11). It is a principle of wide application and 
 of the soundest wisdom. 
 
 8. Go not forth hastily to strive, lest thou know not what 
 to do in the end thereof, when thy neighbor hath put thee 
 to shame. 
 
 The precise translation is thus : “ Go not rashly into strife lest — 
 what wilt thou do in the latter end thereof?’’ We may take 
 “what” as essentially an interrogative ; or we may supply other 
 
 words as in the English version. Prof. Stuart gives it — “Lest 
 
 thou shouldest do something in the latter end,” etc., i. e ., something 
 
 desperate, outrageous; something to be ashamed of. The sense 
 
 is obvious and "full of wisdom. Beware of plunging yourself 
 rashly into strife. 
 
 9. Debate thy cause with thy neighbor himself ; and dis- 
 cover not a secret to another : 
 
 10. Lest he that heareth it put thee to shame, and thine 
 infamy turn not away. 
 
 The mutual relation of all the points made in these verses is 
 not absolutely certain. The choice seems to lie between these 
 two constructions: (1) If dispute or controversy arise between 
 thy neighbor and thyself, keep it between yourselves, and disclose 
 not to him any secret you may have in your keeping which would 
 bear injuriously or offensively upon him, lest hearing it, he should 
 be irritated, and the difference between you become irreconcilable, 
 to your perpetual shame. Or (2) thus : Disclose nothing to others 
 which ought to remain a secret between your neighbor and your- 
 self lest he hear of it, and so it shall work his irritation and your 
 shame. In either construction it is a caution against being tempted 
 to betray secrets unwisely and worst of all, maliciously, by any 
 variance between yourself and your neighbor. 
 
 11. A word fitly spoken is lilce apples of gold in pictures 
 of silver. 
 
 “Fitly spoken,” spoken in the fitting time and wisely adapted 
 to all the circumstances. As to the precise thing to which it is 
 here compared, critics differ, leaving us to choose between (1) 
 .some actual fruit, e. g., not American apples in Asia, but quinces 
 or citrons of gold color, served in a dish ornamented with silver ; 
 and (2) real gold and silver, wrought into tapestry, to be suspended 
 for ornamental purposes. In either construction the figure is 
 beautiful, and sets forth a very beautiful scene in social life. Let 
 him who would make social life a thing of beauty and joy, study 
 how to put in “words fitly spoken” on every opportune occasion. 
 The original word used here I take to mean precisely, according 
 to the circumstances of the case. 
 
 8 
 
168 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XXV. 
 
 12. As an ear-ring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, 
 so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear. 
 
 Reproof wisely given and kindly received, or rather, the man 
 who administers reproof wisely, tenderly, to one who opens his 
 ear and his heart thankfully to hear and to profit thereby, are 
 next compared to the finest ornament of gold — a scene in the social 
 and moral world the beauty of which Solomon had an eye to see, 
 a heart to appreciate, and a pen to describe with exquisite charm. 
 Such moral culture, such winning ways to draw the young from 
 folly to wisdom, are indeed more angelic than any ornament of 
 fine gold can avail to represent. Note the admirable spirit of the 
 Psalmist (141: 5). 
 
 13. As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a 
 faithful messenger to them that send him: for he refresheth 
 the soul of his masters. 
 
 Ice-water in a hot summer day gives us the true sense of this 
 figure. So is a reliable messenger to his employers. They can 
 trust him and they are refreshed by his fidelity to his trust. 
 
 14. Whoso boasteth himself of a false gift is like clouds 
 and wind without rain. 
 
 It matters little whether this false p. £., deceitful] gift is false 
 in its quality , being really worthless, or false as to the promise of 
 giving, this promise being fulfilled in no sense whatever, nothing 
 at all being given. The original will bear either construction. 
 The figure — clouds and wind, but no rain — looks specially to the 
 great parade of promise, set off against the utter failure of per- 
 formance. 
 
 15. By long forbearing is a prince persuaded, and a soft 
 tongue breaketh the bone. 
 
 If you have occasion to persuade a prince, be very patient and 
 keep your temper; use gentle persuasions, but no irritating re- 
 proaches or stern demands. The pertinence of the figure, “a 
 
 soft tongue breaketh the bone,” may not be at first view particu- 
 larly obvious. A soft tongue would be in itself a very insufficient 
 hammer upon a hard bone. But in the animal world, the soft 
 tongue belongs to the flesh-eating and bone-cranching species, 
 while the rough, corrugated tongue characterizes the grass-eating. 
 The soft tongue therefore is mighty, not in itself, but in its accom- 
 paniments — the sharp incisors and the powerful jaws. The figure 
 is therefore exquisitely pertinent: the soft tongue, apparently at 
 first view a powerless thing upon hard bone, but in its accom- 
 paniments strikingly effective, well represents the almost magic 
 power of soft words to soothe the roughest souls and break the 
 toughest hearts. 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XXV. 
 
 169 
 
 16. Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient 
 for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it. 
 
 The gist of this proverb is, Beware lest you eat too much; be 
 careful to eat no more than will suffice you ; no more than your 
 
 stomach can bear. In Palestine, honey was found wild and 
 
 often naturally in large quantities, by hungry men. Hence the 
 temptation to excess, and hence this caution, the spirit of which 
 should pass over to every form of animal indulgence. In the hour 
 of abundance, and in the face of its temptations, guard against 
 excess. The reaction of abused nature is by no means comfortable. 
 
 17. Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbor’s house ; lest 
 he be weary of thee, and so hate thee. 
 
 The Heb. verb for “ withdraw” [^p^] in the form which occurs 
 
 here, may mean either to make precious or to make rare. It per- 
 haps suggested to the Hebrew reader the sense: make precious by 
 making rare; make your presence more sought for by never over- 
 doing your calls to the annoyance and disgust of your neighbor. 
 “Lest he be weary” — sated , as a man who has eaten too much 
 honey — the writer using the same word here as in the next pre- 
 ceding proverb for the effect of excess in the use of honey. This 
 proverb seems to be correlated to that. 
 
 18. A man that beareth false witness against his neigh- 
 bor is a maul, and a sword, and a sharp arrow. 
 
 None of these death-weapons are more terrible than the false 
 and slanderous tongue, perjuring itself in order to ruin a neigh- 
 bor in the vital issues of a trial before the courts of justice. Slan- 
 der anywhere, under any circumstances, is a death-weapon wielded 
 against a mans good name — such a name being often felt to be 
 dearer to man or to woman than life. 
 
 19. Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble 
 is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint. 
 
 As a broken tooth for eating, and a foot out of joint for walk- 
 ing, so is confidence in a faithless man in the time when you really 
 need him. You lean on him, and he not only fails you but fills 
 you with pain. 
 
 20. As he that taketh away a garment in cold w r eatlier, 
 and as vinegar upon nitre : so is he that singeth songs to an 
 heavy heart. 
 
 This “taking away of a garment” is not the robbery of an- 
 other man, but rather the laying off of one’s own principal, outside 
 
 garment in a cool day — unsuitable and dangerous. The word 
 
 “nitre” here (as in Jer. 2: 22) is not the article known now un- 
 der that name, i. e. salt-petre, a neutral salt which is not specially 
 
170 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XXV. 
 
 disturbed by the application of vinegar; but it represents a min- 
 eral alkali well known in Palestine and much used with oil in the 
 manufacture of soap. Vinegar applied to this, produces an ac- 
 tive effervescence under which both the alkali and the acid lose 
 their peculiar properties. The point of the comparison is the dis- 
 turbance, the commotion, the signals of repellency which are 
 thrown out. So is the singing of jovial songs to a sad heart — a thing 
 uncongenial, repulsive, which stirs up a most unwelcome effer- 
 vescence in the soul. Or according to the first figure, it gives you 
 the chills. In his hours of joy the same man who is now sad 
 might love that music and welcome its sentiment; but how can 
 his heart endure it in his days of sadness ? 
 
 21. If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and 
 if he be thirsty, give him water to drink : 
 
 22. For thou slialt heap coals of fire upon his head, and 
 the Lord shall reward thee. 
 
 V. 22 means, For in this ivay thou wilt heap coals, etc. 'The 
 specification of bread to your enemy when hungry, water when 
 thirsty, of course represents any and every act of kindness and 
 love. The sentiment is — Love your enemies and show it by doing 
 them good. So you may melt down the ice of their frozen hearts, 
 
 or as the Hebrew figure puts it — of their frozen heads. The 
 
 critics have raised the question whether these “ coals of fire ” de- 
 note the retributive vengeance of God in punishment for your en- 
 emy’s sin, or the subduing power of love which your kindness 
 would bring to bear upon a cold heart. In my judgment the for- 
 mer must be rejected; the latter accepted — the universal law of 
 human nature being that kindness, manifested love, in requital 
 for unkindness and hate, has power above every thing else possible 
 to man to melt frigid souls. Done with this kind intent, God will 
 reward it. The figure requires us to think of the effect of kind- 
 ness as shown by a man to his enemy, and not of any retribution 
 
 from God upon him. See how Paul (Rom. 12 : 20) cites and 
 
 uses this passage. Dismiss (says he) all thought of vengeance; 
 leave vengeance to God alone, and turn thine heart wholly to kind- 
 ness : so shalt thou overcome evil with good. Our Lord has the 
 same doctrine in its comprehensive form (Mat. 5: 44): “Love 
 your enemies,” etc. The same doctrine of morality, the same 
 law of love, appears in both the Old Testament and the New. 
 A sublimely glorious doctrine indeed ! 
 
 23. The north wind driveth away rain : so doth an angry 
 countenance a backbiting tongue. 
 
 The sense of the English margin, and not that of the English 
 text, is now accepted by all modern critics: “A wind from the 
 north (probably north-west more precisely) drives on [not drives 
 away] the rain — the great rain storms of Palestine coming from 
 the Mediterranean. So does a backbiting tongue by its covert 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XXV. 
 
 171 
 
 slander bring on a dark, lowering face, a soul full of indignation. 
 Every man instinctively abhors the sly insinuations of slander, es- 
 pecially when himself is the victim. 
 
 24. It is better to dwell in the corner of the house-top, 
 than with a brawling woman and in a wide house. 
 
 In 21: 9, we have the same language; in 21: 19, the samo 
 sentiment. 
 
 25. As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from 
 a far country. 
 
 It is assumed that this good news not only comes from far but 
 from a dear friend. Such news brings a wealth of joy, fitly com- 
 pared to cold water to one suffering from heat and thirst. 
 
 26. A righteous man falling down before the wicked is as 
 a troubled fountain, and a corrupt spring. 
 
 Oriental travelers are often sadly disappointed to find the foun- 
 tain in the desert which they have traveled far to reach “troubled” 
 and “corrupted” — tramped and fouled — by the feet and the offal 
 of camels, asses — every animal of the desert. Having hoped for 
 pure, wholesome water, they look with sad and sinking heart upon 
 this loathsome mass. Such is the spectacle when a righteous man 
 succumbs before the wicked. It would be a most welcome sight 
 to see him stand up a bold witness for truth and righteousness. 
 It is deplorably sad to see him bowing abjectly before the wicked, 
 whether in moral or in physical weakness, but most in moral. 
 
 27. l£ is not good to eat much honey : so for men to search 
 their own glory is not glory. 
 
 Very different constructions have been put upon this proverb. 
 The Heb. words do not determine whether the relation of the 
 two clauses to each other is corresponding or antithetic — to be 
 expressed by “ so ” or by but , on the other hand. The last clause 
 has no negative [“?$ not"~\. Then we have also the question 
 whether the word for “glory” [*1133], twice occurring, is used in 
 
 the good sense or the bad, i. e ., in the sense of what is truly hon- 
 orable, noble ; or of mere reputation, vain glory. We have also the 
 further question whether we must fall back upon the primary 
 though not most common sense of the word, viz. : things difficult, 
 
 heavy, burdensome. In view of these difficulties, critics have 
 
 interpreted the passage variously; e. g ., as in our English 
 version (Ges.); “The searching out of deep, [divine] things is 
 burdensome” (Fuerst); “The searching after one’s own glory is 
 wearisome” (Muenscher); “ The investigation of things difficult to 
 be understood is an honor, and never, like honey-eating, excessive” 
 (Maurer); “The search of their glory is glory” (Wordsworth). 
 In my view Solomon’s usage of this word “glory” should be 
 
172 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XXVI. 
 
 essentially decisive. We have it fully brought out in this Book of 
 Proverbs. Thus in this chapter (v. 2) : “It is the glory of God to 
 conceal a thing; but the glory (Eng. “honor”) of kings is to 
 search out a matter;” (this “search out” being the same as in 
 our passage). This glory is the gift of Wisdom (3 : 17). In her 
 left hand riches and glory [Eng. “honor”]. “The wise shall in- 
 herit glory ” (3 : 35). So also 8: 18, “Riches and glory are with 
 me;” and 11: 16 and 21: 21 and 15: 33 and 18: 12 and 22: 4. 
 The use of “glory,” in the good sense, is invariable. Hence it 
 seems to be imperative that we give it the good sense here. The 
 search after true glory is glorious — like the sentiment announced 
 by Paul (Rom. 2 : 7) : “ To them who seek for glory, honor, and 
 
 immortality, eternal life.” The word “search” implies diligent 
 
 and earnest, and usually, if not always, noble pursuit. Of course 
 
 in this construction, the last clause is not corresponding (as to the 
 first) but antithetic. You may eat too much honey; but there is 
 no danger of seeking too earnestly for real glory, for what is 
 truly noble. 
 
 28. He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city 
 that is broken down, and without walls. 
 
 In Oriental countries cities needed walls and towers; else they 
 were exposed to pillage and even utter destruction. Bo a man’s 
 spirit with no self-control stands all exposed to enemies from 
 within as well as from without. Every passion runs riot and 
 makes a wreck of the poor, defenseless soul. Temptations from 
 without also keep him in perpetual peril. How forcibly is his 
 case put here — an Oriental city with no walls, and every house in 
 ruins ! 
 
 CHAPTER XXYI. 
 
 1. As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so honor 
 is not seemly for a fool. 
 
 The unseemliness which forms the point in common to the 
 two clauses here is not so much that of appearance — the look of 
 the thing — as of inutility, the mischief it brings. Honor is un- 
 becoming to a fool, because it is only a curse to him and a waste 
 of all the blessings which honor ought normally to bear with it. 
 Even as rain and snow are in their time great blessings, but out 
 of time, fearful calamities. 
 
 2. As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so 
 the curse causeless shall not come. 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XXVI. 
 
 173 
 
 As the bird gives himself to aimless and indefinite flying which 
 harms no one and hits no mark; so the curse which you have 
 never deserved will only fly in the air and will never fall upon 
 you. The causeless curse comes with no moral force and need 
 never be feared. 
 
 3. A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod 
 for the fool’s back. 
 
 Fitness is here the one point in common. The horse needs the 
 whip, the ass the bridle, and the fool’s back, for the same reason, 
 the rod of correction. It is assumed that by reason of his folly 
 the persuasions of wisdom and the law of kindness are unavail- 
 ing, so that nothing remains but the rod. 
 
 4. Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also 
 be like unto him. 
 
 5. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in 
 his own conceit. 
 
 Obviously these two proverbs are placed together that each 
 may throw light upon the sense of the other. A slight enigma, 
 a sort of paradox, gives zest to them both. The words “ according 
 to” admit two somewhat different shades of meaning, and this 
 difference is the clew to the true sense of this pair of proverbs ; 
 thus : Answer not the fool foolishly, according to the spirit of his 
 folly, lest thou become like him. But answer a fool as his folly 
 deserves , according to the desert of his folly, lest he be left to sup- 
 pose that he has said a very smart thing and become even more 
 wise in his own conceit than ever before. Rebuke him; expose 
 his folly to his own eyes : but beware of being drawn by sympathy 
 into the same strain of foolish talking. 
 
 6. He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool cut- 
 teth off the feet, and drinketh damage. 
 
 You might as well cut off the messenger’s feet so that he can 
 not go at all as send your message by the hand of a fool. His 
 
 folly will certainly frustrate all your hope of a useful result. 
 
 “Drinking damage” is taking it in bountifully, on a large scale. 
 Solomon would not trust a fool with any important message. 
 
 7. The legs of the lame are not equal : so is a parable in 
 the mouth of fools. 
 
 The most approved construction of the central word [Eng. 11 are 
 not equal”] is this: The legs of the lame hang pendulous , drag; 
 so does a parable in the mouth of fools. They see not the pith of 
 it and lack the good sense to apply it. It moves on their lips with 
 a limping, halting gait. None but sensible men catch the true 
 meaning of the real proverb and know how to speak it impressively, 
 
174 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XXVI. 
 
 8. As he that bindeth a stone in a sling, so is he that 
 giveth honor to a fool. 
 
 Upon the precise sense of the first clause critics have differed 
 somewhat widely. Several (Gesenius, Bosenmueller, and other 
 Germans) give the sense which appears in the English margin, 
 “As one who puts a precious stone in a heap of [common] stones,” 
 etc. But in this construction neither of the three Hebrew words 
 
 is taken in its best established and most probable sense. Others 
 
 (Fuerst, Stuart, Muenscher) say — “ As one who binds a stone in 
 a sling (i. e., so that it can not leave the sling and fly to its mark), 
 so is he that giveth honor to a fool.” The effort in both cases is 
 a failure. The stone can not reach its mark because it is tied in 
 the sling; honor can not reach the fool. But this illustration is 
 
 by no means either obvious or pertinent. Maurer gives the verb 
 
 translated “bind” the sense, to hurl: as one who hurleth a stone 
 with a sling, so, etc., i. e ., honor given to a fool is honor thrown 
 away — it flies like a stone from a sling. This would do well if 
 the verb [nnv] would bear this construction. Unfortunately the 
 
 verb means to bind and not to hurl. Looking still further there- 
 
 fore for the precise sense of this figure, I suggest that the capital 
 mistake of the critics has been their assuming that the stone is 
 tied in the sling effectually , so as to be fastened there. But sup- 
 pose the fact to be that such tying of a stone in a sling is a prac- 
 tical impossibility. Think of tying into a sling one of David’s 
 five smooth stones (1 Sam. 17 : 40) chosen out of the brook, well- 
 water-worn. You might about as well tie a rifle-ball into its place 
 upon the powder and expect it to stay there, despite of the explo- 
 sive force of burnt powder. So a stone must tear itself away 
 from the sling with prodigious force if it is so hurled as to fly with 
 deadly effect to its distant mark. This then is the pith of the 
 proverb. Honor will not stick to a fool. It can no more abide 
 with him than a smooth stone will abide in the sling when the 
 hurling impulse is felt tearing it away. Honor even tied down 
 upon a fool will keep its place just as a stone tied in a sling keeps 
 its place — i. e ., by no possibility, for one moment. 
 
 9. As a thorn goeth into the hand of a drunkard, so is 
 a parable in the mouth of fools. 
 
 If with our English version we assume that the thorn goes into 
 the hand of the drunkard, we must, if we follow the Hebrew, 
 make the parable pierce into the mouth of fools, i. e ., to harm them- 
 selves rather than others. In the Hebrew the words are the same ; 
 in the hand ; in the mouth. The better sense is, As a thorn-bush 
 borne aloft in [or with] the hand of the drunkard, to the peril of 
 all bystanders, so is a parable in the mouth of fools. The para- 
 ble with its sharp cutting points will be hurled at random, right 
 and left, to wound all sensitive souls. Fools will surely brandish 
 the stiletto or the long sword with no sort of care or discrimination. 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XXVI. 
 
 175 
 
 10. The great God that formed all things both rewardeth 
 the fool, and rewardeth transgressors. 
 
 An unusual degree of obscurity and uncertainty attaches to this 
 proverb, from the fact that the first two Heb. words maybe derived 
 from very different roots, and hence may have quite diverse mean- 
 ings. I on the whole prefer this construction : “As the archer who 
 pierces all,” i. e ., who casts abroad w^ounds and death indiscrim- 
 inately; so is one who hires [into his service] the fool, or who 
 hires transgressors. No man can do this without getting wounds, 
 as from the piercing arrow, or as we might say, without getting 
 bitten. 
 
 11. As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth 
 to his folly. 
 
 As the dog turns back to eat again what he has vomited, so a 
 fool repeats his folly of speech over and over. It never goes 
 against his stomach ! Thoroughly caustic ! But Solomon prob- 
 ably considered that nothing but a very sharp-edged proverb will 
 pierce into the tough sensibilities of the fool. 
 
 12. Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is 
 more hope of a fool than of him. 
 
 “Wise in his own eyes” [Heb.] means in his own view of him- 
 self. There is more hope of improvement in the case of the ig- 
 norant, untaught, uncultured man than in his. Self-conceit is a 
 more fatal bar to knowledge and true wisdom than ignorance or 
 even stupidity. He who thinks himself wise enough already 
 scorns all diligent application and real study. It seems to him 
 a tacit and humiliating admission that he does not know every- 
 thing yet. 
 
 13. The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the way; 
 a lion is in the streets. 
 
 See 22 : 13. 
 
 14. As the door turneth upon his hinges, so doth the 
 slothful upon his bed. 
 
 As the door, with no self-moving power, turns not itself but only 
 is turned, so the slothful may be sarcastically represented as too 
 lazy (of his own motion) even to turn over in his bed. Or per- 
 haps the point of the comparison may be that as the door can 
 have no other motion than that of turning to and fro upon its 
 hinges, so the sluggard never moves beyond rolling from side to 
 
 side upon his bed — never rises to any active, useful labor. These 
 
 proverbs spare not the sluggard ! 
 
 . 15. The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom ; it 
 grieveth him to bring it again to his mouth. 
 
176 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XXVI. 
 
 Nearly the same words appear in 19: 24. The only difference 
 is that this represents the sluggard as being grieved , afflicted (poor 
 man!) with the labor of carrying his hand from the dish [of food] 
 to his mouth ! Not “ bosom/’ but dish is admitted to be the sense 
 of the Hebrew word. 
 
 16. The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven 
 men that can render a reason. 
 
 The point of the sluggard’s inactivity is here mental . He thinks 
 he knows more than any number of men who can give intelligent 
 answers. His knowledge comes by intuition, with no mental effort. 
 But he is sure he has it far above the man of true intelligence. 
 
 “ Seven,” a definite number for an indefinite, as in v. 25 and 
 
 in 24: 16. 
 
 17. He that passeth by, and meddleth with strife belong- 
 ing not to him, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears. 
 
 He who has no other interest than that of a passer-by, but yet 
 involves himself in other people’s quarrels, might as well pinch the 
 ears of a ferocious dog. Oriental dogs were notoriously fierce. A 
 man would get himself into gratuitous trouble by seizing their ears. 
 Solomon would say, Keep aloof from other men’s quarrels.’ 
 
 18. As a mad man who casteth firebrands, arrows, and 
 death, 
 
 19. So is the man that deceiveth his neighbor, and saith, 
 Am not I in sport? 
 
 As the word rendered “mad man” occurs only here, its precise 
 meaning becomes a matter of dispute. Some give it the sense of 
 insane, reckless, either through rage or utter lack of self-control; 
 while others make it mean the recklessness of excessive fun which 
 risks even extreme and fatal mischief for the sake of fine sport. 
 The grounds for these respective opinions lie in the analogies of 
 this Hebrew word with other kindred roots or with Arabic words. 
 We can afford to forego these investigations inasmuch as the sig- 
 nificance and force of the parable are but slightly affected by the 
 
 points at issue. The word for “firebrand” means fiery darts 
 
 filled with combustibles. “Death” in this connection means 
 death-bearing weapons. With one who recklessly hurls abroad 
 such death-weapons, the proverb compares the man who deceives 
 his neighbor with flagrant misrepresentations (big stories, per- 
 haps), and then excuses his outrages of the truth by saying: 
 
 “Am I not in sport?” Is it not admissible to tell lies in fun? 
 
 The precise point of analogy in the proverb seems to be that fun 
 is the same sort of apology in the latter case as in the former. It 
 will justify him who throws out big lies equally with him who 
 throws abroad death-weapons. Human flesh and blood are no 
 more sacred than those interests of human souls which truth pro- 
 tects, and which falsehood and deception sacrifice. 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XXVI. 
 
 177 
 
 20. Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out : so where 
 there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth. 
 
 The remarkable thing in this proverb is that so much should 
 be attributed to the tongue. The doctrine is that an unruly 
 tongue, malicious talking, is to strife what fuel is to fire. As fire 
 dies when the fuel fails, so strife ceaseth when the mischief-making 
 tongue is suppressed. The assumption seems to be that as the 
 malign use of the tongue enkindles human passions and fires up 
 strife, so if passionate men would keep still their anger would 
 subside and their strife with others would cease. Taken as a 
 universal statement it seems rather strong; for men sometimes 
 nurse their wrath in sullen silence. But the proverb touches a 
 great truth when it witnesses to the terrible power of a tattling 
 tongue. Compare 16 : 28. 
 
 21. As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire ; so 
 is a contentious man to kindle strife. 
 
 The contentious man (literally, “the man of contentions”) loves 
 quarrels; is always in them; and has the skill to draw others in. 
 He kindles strife as coals kindle dry wood. What a curse to so- 
 ciety is he ! 
 
 22. The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they 
 go down into the innermost parts of the belly. 
 
 The same words occur in chap. 18 : 8. 
 
 23. Burning lips and a wicked heart are like a potsherd 
 covered with silver dross. 
 
 Drossy silver, shining and showy but very impure and overlaying 
 a potsherd withal, represents a man with warm kisses on his lips 
 but foul malice in his heart. 
 
 24. He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth 
 up deceit within him : 
 
 25. When he speaketh fair, believe him not : for there are 
 seven abominations in his heart. 
 
 A man of malicious spirit [“a hater”] does not suffer his lips 
 to divulge his malign feelings, but keeps them deep within. 
 When he speaks smooth words [Heb. makes his voice soft, pleas- 
 ing] believe him not; for there are seven [an uncounted number 
 
 of] abominations in his heart. Solomon does not say how we 
 
 are to know this arch deceiver. He forewarns us that there are 
 such men, and probably assumes that we must judge of them by 
 those manifestations of a malign spirit which even arch dissem- 
 blers can not altogether conceal. 
 
 . 26. Whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness 
 shall be shewed before the whole congregation. 
 
178 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XXVII. 
 
 This gives us the comforting assurance that the arch dissem- 
 bler whose soul is full of malice, but who yet labors to cover it 
 up with deceit, shall be exposed before the great congregation. 
 
 27. Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein : and he that 
 rolleth a stone, it will return upon him. 
 
 This implies that he digs a pit for others to fall into, and rolls 
 a stone up the hill to hurl it down upon other mens heads. His 
 malicious labor reacts with curses upon himself. Haman thought 
 to build a gallows for Mordecai; by God’s overruling hand it 
 came to pass that he built it for his own neck. 
 
 28. A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it ; 
 and a flattering mouth worketh ruin. 
 
 A man of lying tongue hates those whom he slanders and tra- 
 duces. Those who suffer from his lying tongue must also suffer 
 from his increased hatred. To explain this, some commenta- 
 
 tors say, The man who has slandered you hates you the more be- 
 cause he knows he has unjustly provoked your displeasure. It is 
 much nearer the truth to say that having hated and slandered you, 
 he is perpetually pressed in self-justification to make out that you 
 have deserved it all and more. He does not love to think that 
 this bad spirit of his is pure wickedness, that his slanderous words 
 have no justification. Therefore his strong desire to justify him- 
 self commits him to think as ill of you as he can and hence 
 urges him on to hate you the more. The homage which even the 
 vilest of men are compelled to pay to abstract virtue does not 
 make them candid enough to see the virtues of those they have 
 maligned. It works rather to stimulate their malice and make 
 them ignore every good quality or deed of those whom they have 
 wronged. 
 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 1. Boast not thyself of to-morrow; for thou knowest not 
 what a day may bring forth. 
 
 In this proverb, 11 boast ” is the expressive word. Do not vainly 
 and proudly assume that to-morrow is your own, so that you may 
 claim and use it as you will with no recognition of God as the 
 great Owner and really the Giver to mortals of all their earthly 
 days. If even to-morrow — only one day onward — is not our own, 
 
 how much less the days that lie still more remote in the future. 
 
 The apostle James (4: 13-16) seems to have had this proverb in 
 mind; “Go to now, ye that say, To-day or to-morrow we will go 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XXVII. 
 
 179 
 
 into such a city,” etc. “ But now ye rejoice in your boastings , etc., 
 these boastings being manifested in their plans for the future, 
 which left out all thought of God and assumed to have an absolute 
 control of future days and circumstances as their own. 
 
 2. Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth ; 
 a stranger, and not thine own lips. 
 
 Self-praise is specially liable to fail of its object. As a general 
 rule it is better for one’s reputation to forego praise altogether than 
 to attempt to furnish it for one’s self — the reason of which is not 
 far to seek. 
 
 3. A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty ; but a fool’s 
 wrath is heavier than them both. 
 
 By “the fool’s wrath” I understand the vexation and trial which 
 his presence occasions you. You can better afford to carry a load 
 of sand or a weight of stones than such a burden. Some com- 
 
 mentators assume that the fool’s ill temper and bad habits are a 
 burden to himself, comparable to a load of sand. This may be 
 true ; but I doubt if it be precisely the truth which is put before 
 us in this parable. 
 
 4. Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous, but who is 
 able to stand before envy ? 
 
 I take the word rendered “ envy ” to mean jealousy , in the specific 
 form which this author portrays so vividly, chap. 6 : 34, 35. When 
 either party to the marriage bond becomes jealous of the other and 
 the warmest and most sacred sensibilities known to the human 
 heart are outraged, who can stand before their fury ? 
 
 5. Open rebuke is better than secret love. 
 
 Both open rebuke and secret love are thought of here as per- 
 taining to our professed friends in their bearing toward ourselves. 
 It is better that they should rebuke us frankly than hide their 
 love by silence when the case calls for reproof. Real love should 
 by no means be silent [“secret” 1 when the best good of a friend 
 demands a faithful word of admonition. This sentiment is devel- 
 oped yet more fully in the next proverb. 
 
 6. Faithful are the wounds of a friend ; but the kisses of 
 an enemy are deceitful. 
 
 The rebukes of true friendship may seem to wound, but let 
 them be accepted gratefully and borne calmly. You can well af- 
 ford this if they are faithful — the fruit of true fidelity and love. 
 
 Over against this, the kisses of an enemy are abundant [the 
 
 sense of the Heb.] — the idea of deceit being not expressed but 
 implied. Coming from an enemy, the more numerous they are 
 the more certainly are they deceitful. 
 
180 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XXVII. 
 
 7. The full soul loatheth an honey-comb ; but to the hun- 
 gry soul every bitter thing is sweet 
 
 The English margin gives the precise sense of the Hebrew 
 word for “loatheth,” viz., tramples under foot. The appetite fully 
 satiated can not bear even honey. 
 
 8. As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man 
 that wandereth from his place. 
 
 This proverb may be applied to a man’s place in the sense of 
 his house, his home, his family; or in the larger sense of his 
 country. The verb “wander” favors the latter, and so also does 
 the genius of the Hebrew system, civil and religious, which looked 
 with disfavor upon emigration to foreign lands. 
 
 9. Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart : so doth the 
 sweetness of a man’s friend by hearty counsel. 
 
 As oil, pleasantly scented, and perfume, are grateful to the sense 
 of smell, so is the sweetness of friendship, manifested by affec- 
 tionate hearty counsels. Good advice, such as manifestly comes 
 up from the depths of a loving heart, is the sweetness of friend- 
 ship, corresponding to the fragrance of sweet odors. 
 
 10. Thine own friend, and thy father’s friend, forsake 
 not ; neither go into thy brother’s house in the day of thy 
 calamity : for better is a neighbor that is near, than a brother 
 far off. 
 
 Heart friendship is more and better than consanguinity. There- 
 fore cultivate true friendship; forsake neither your own friend 
 nor your father’s; prove yourself true to them that they may be 
 true to you, for you can rely upon a long-tried friend more than 
 on one who is merely a brother. Some have gone to a brother 
 in their day of calamity to their bitter disappointment. A neigh- 
 bor near in sympathy and love is better than a brother who in 
 
 these respects is far away. A similar sentiment appears in the 
 
 last clause of 18 : 24. Perhaps Solomon remembered that Amnon 
 and Absalom were brothers; also Adonijah and himself; and on 
 the other hand that his venerable father cherished the memory 
 of Jonathan, and sought to bless his children for his sake. 
 
 11. My son, be wise, and make my heart glad, that I 
 may answer him that reproacheth me. 
 
 The key to the last clause lies in the fact that society holds the 
 father in a great measure responsible for the morals of his son, 
 and therefore if he has not done his parental duty will reproach 
 him for his neglect and failure. Hence Solomon says, Remember, 
 my son, that my good name as well as yours is at stake, pending 
 upon the life you live; therefore be wise; so shall my heart be 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XXVII. 
 
 181 
 
 glad, and I can proudly point to your wisdom as my defense against 
 those who would reproach me. (Compare 23 : 15, 24.) 
 
 12. A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth him- 
 self ; but the simple pass on, and are punished. 
 
 Essentially the same appears in 22 : 3. 
 
 13. Take his garment that is surety for a stranger, and 
 take a pledge of him for a strange woman. 
 
 See the same, in 20 : 16. 
 
 14. He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising 
 early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him. 
 
 The writer thinks of these manifestations as excessive and there- 
 fore suspicious; unnatural, and therefore the fruit, not of true 
 friendship, but of some sinister purpose. 
 
 15. A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a con- 
 tentious woman are alike. 
 
 16. Whosoever hideth her hideth the wind, and the 
 ointment of his right hand, which bewrayeth itself. 
 
 Flat roofs, mud-covered, thoroughly saturated in a day of great 
 rain, leaking like a sieve, with not the cleanest of water, are the 
 nearest like things to a quarrelsome woman — an irrepressible 
 scold. Whoever for the honor of the house would hide her wrath, 
 might as well hide the wind or the odors of perfumed oil which 
 no skill can bind but which will proclaim itself. Or since the 
 word for “hide” admits the sense of restrain , the meaning may be; 
 Whoever would restrain her might as well bind the hurricane, or 
 
 the strong odors of scented oil. But the last clause of v. 16 
 
 has been construed variously. It is not easy to decide between 
 these conflicting constructions. Stuart gives it ; “ His right hand 
 comes upon oil ” — a thing so slippery that he can not grasp it to 
 any purpose. Maurer; “His right hand calleth for oil” — i. e ., 
 to bind up the wounds he gets from an infuriate woman. This 
 has at least the merit of making out a strong case. Is it not a 
 little far-fetched? If the sense of repressing, restraining, is car- 
 ried forward from the first clause (which seems natural) then the 
 received English version gives the most probable meaning. 
 
 17. Iron sharpeneth iron ; so a man sharpeneth the coun- 
 tenance of his friend. 
 
 The law of sympathy acts on the human face as friction does 
 on iron. Solomon plays upon the slightly differing senses of two 
 Hebrew verbs which have nearly the same radical letters; the 
 first of which* means to sharpen as in the case of iron edge tools • 
 
 * Yin 
 
182 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XXVII. 
 
 the second ,* to brighten , as the human countenance is lighted up 
 with smiles by the law of human sympathy. 
 
 18. Whoso keepeth the fig-tree shall eat the fruit there- 
 of : so he that waiteth on his master shall be honored. 
 
 “ Keeping the fig-tree ” is not merely to own and possess, but to 
 cultivate diligently; to take due care of. Correspondingly, the 
 servant who devotes himself to his duty to his master will be held 
 in honor and rewarded. 
 
 19. As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of 
 man to man. 
 
 In the East, the cheap and simple mirror used by the poor is the 
 surface of water in a vessel. As the image reflected from such a 
 surface represents the object, e. g., your own face, so does your 
 own heart represent the universal heart of man, and you may look 
 
 into it to study and learn all human nature. Some interpreters 
 
 give the proverb a slightly different shade of meaning, thus : 
 Every man is as his own heart. The heart is the index of the 
 
 man. Look into your own heart and you see your real self. 
 
 But the former construction comprehends this. If the heart as 
 you see it in yourself reveals all human hearts, it of course reveals 
 all human character and your own is included. Therefore your 
 own heart reflects the heart of universal man as the surface of 
 water reflects your own face; the face you wear answers to the 
 face you see in the water as your inner heart answers to the heart 
 of man as a race. 
 
 20. Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of 
 man are never satisfied. 
 
 “Hell” [Sheol] and Destruction [Death] stand here for the 
 grave personified to represent the great law of human mortality 
 from which none are exempted. The grave is never sated — is 
 never so full as to be satisfied without more victims. So the eyes 
 of men never see so much that they care to see no more. 
 
 21. As the fining pot for silver, and the furnace foi 
 gold; so is a man to his praise. 
 
 As the fire of a crucible proves silver and gold, so a man should 
 prove the praises he gets, sifting, scanning them with humble 
 views of himself, and accepting them as true only when in sober 
 reflection he finds them to be so. Or as the sense may be, So will 
 the praise a man gets prove him. revealing his true character. 
 The vain, weak man will be elated and made giddy ; the man of 
 solid worth will show it by his bearing under the influence of praise. 
 The choice therefore lies between these two constructions : As the 
 crucible tries silver, so (a) a man should try the praises he gets; 
 
 * mn 
 
 T 
 
PROVERBS — CHAP. XXVII. 
 
 183 
 
 or (b) the praise he gets will try him. The man in either case 
 corresponds to the crucible; but whether considered in relation 
 to praise as acting or as acted upon is the question. As to the facts 
 of human nature, the former is what ought to be — the latter, what 
 is. Neither sense is bad. 
 
 22. Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among 
 wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart 
 from him. 
 
 The almost obsolete word “bray” means to bruise, to beat, to 
 maul. The proverb sets forth that a fool sticks to his folly and 
 his folly to him, as if they were mutually parts of each other 
 united by a common affinity. The fool is precisely the man who 
 spurns and withstands all effort to make him wise, i. e., to get his 
 folly out of him. 
 
 23. Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and 
 look well to thy herds : 
 
 24. For riches are not for ever: and doth the crown 
 endure to every generation? 
 
 25. The hay appeareth, and the tender grass showeth 
 itself, and herbs of the mountains are gathered. 
 
 26. The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are 
 the price of the field. 
 
 27. And thou shalt have goats’ milk enough for thy food, 
 for the food of thy household, and for the maintenance for 
 thy maidens. 
 
 A beautiful commendation of husbandry. Give very careful at- 
 tention to your flocks and herds, for wealth sought by other means 
 is treacherous ; often transient ; even crowns are not wont to pass 
 
 down in long unbroken line from generation to generation. 
 
 Here is also rich beauty as well as utility. The hay is taken off; 
 then springs up the after-math, young, tender, and green; the 
 vegetable growths of the hills are gathered in for the winter. The 
 lambs furnish wool and skins for your clothing; goats are so prof- 
 itable that you may rely on their price for the purchase of fields; 
 so shall your supplies of food be ample for all your household. 
 An employment which combines such varied pleasure and beauty 
 with so much security against failure, and such supply for mans 
 chief wants of food and clothing, may be commended wisely. 
 The glory of Solomon’s kingdom was its agricultural wealth. 
 
184 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XXVIII. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 1. The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the 
 righteous are bold as a lion. 
 
 Conscious guilt makes men fearful. When a man knows he 
 ought to suffer, every rustling leaf is to him the stealthy tread of 
 
 some mortal foe ; every specter is a fiend to curse him. But the 
 
 righteous are fearless. An approving conscience and a cheerful 
 trust in God’s universal providence conspire to quell all sense of 
 fear. The primary and proper sense of the Hebrew verb rendered 
 
 “are bold,” is to trust. Remarkably, the same language used 
 
 here respecting the fear and the feeling of the wicked, appears in 
 the threaten ings of the Mosaic law against the people whenever 
 they should apostatize from their God. (See Lev. 26: 17, 36). 
 
 2. For the transgression of a land many are the princes 
 thereof : but by a man of understanding and knowledge the 
 state thereof shall be prolonged. 
 
 While the general sense of this proverb is given in the received 
 version, the more precise thought of the original w T ords might be 
 better put thus : “ For the rebellion of a land, its princes are many; 
 but for [because of ] wise and knowing men, so shall he [the prince] 
 live long. 1 ’ If the people go into rebellion, they will be cursed with 
 a frequent change of rulers. If they act wisely, their own prince 
 will have a long and prosperous reign. Did Solomon foresee the 
 future destinies of his own people of Israel? His words found 
 abundant illustration in the frequent revolutions of the northern 
 kingdom on the one hand, and in the long and wholesome reigns 
 of various good kings of the southern on the other. 
 
 3. A poor man that oppresseth the poor is like a sweep- 
 ing rain which leaveth no food. 
 
 A penniless man raised to power (a case not infrequent in orien- 
 tal countries), and then oppressing the defenseless to enrich him- 
 self by merciless exactions, is [in Hebrew] “a sweeping rain and 
 no bread ;” i. e ., a flood which destroys all the harvests and begets 
 
 a famine. In the first clause the Heb. has two quite unlike 
 
 words where the English has but one — “ poor.” The 'penniless man 
 that oppresseth the powerless etc. 
 
 4. They that forsake the law praise the wicked : but such 
 as keep the law contend with them. 
 
 Through a common sympathy, the lawless praise the wicked; 
 but the law-abiding stir up themselves to withstand them. Since 
 bad men will sustain each other against law and order, it behooves 
 the good to combine their efforts on the other side. 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XXVIII. 
 
 185 
 
 5. Evil men understand not judgment : but they that seek' 
 the Lord understand all things . 
 
 Wickedness of heart blinds the eye of the mind so that bad men 
 will not comprehend justice and right. Over against them are 
 those who seek the Lord, and who therefore get all needful wisdom. 
 The proverb implies that the latter only can be trusted to rule 
 well. 
 
 6. Better is the poor that walketh in his uprightness, 
 than he that is perverse in his ways, though he be rich. 
 
 Better for any purpose, and especially better for a ruler, is the 
 poor but upright man than the rich but perverse. Tried, reliable 
 integrity is far above riches as a qualification for either a citizen or 
 a ruler — a sentiment not inappropriate to our own country and times. 
 Solomon says expressively — u than he who perverts his double 
 ways,” using the dual number to show that his moral ways are 
 changeful, now this, now that — guided by no moral principle. 
 
 7. Whoso keepeth the law is a wise son : but he that is a 
 companion of riotous men shameth his father. 
 
 These “riotous men,” in the sense of the Hebrew, are not men 
 given to mob violence, but rather, to revelry and gluttony. The 
 same word occurs above, 23 : 21, and in Deut. 21 : 20. The young 
 man who associates intimately with such prodigals will surely 
 bring his father to shame. It will be a disgrace to any father to 
 have such a son. 
 
 8. He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth his sub- 
 stance, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor. 
 
 See 13: 22. The retributions of God’s providence will appear in 
 the history of great estates. God’s infinite justice and his wise 
 regard to human welfare forbid his awarding unmingled and abid- 
 ing prosperity to men notorious for fraud and oppression. Hence 
 wealth, amassed by usury and unrighteousness, goes into the hands 
 of one who will use it as God designed wealth should be used — to 
 bless the needy. Let his name be praised for this ! 
 
 9. He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, 
 even his prayer shall be abomination. 
 
 If men will not hear God’s law, he will not hear their prayer* 
 Refusing to hear his law, they are in actual rebellion against him. 
 Consequently their prayer to him is only an insult, because it is 
 simply asking him not to hurt, but to bless men who are actual 
 persistent rebels against his throne. Their praj^er virtually begs 
 permission to go on to sin all they will, and to be exempted from 
 punishment therefor. And God might as well vacate his throne as 
 to hear such prayer propitiously! 
 
186 
 
 PRO V ERBS — CHAP. XXVIII. 
 
 10. Whoso causeth the righteous to go astray in an evil 
 way he shall fall himself into his own pit : but the upright 
 shall have good things in possession. 
 
 “His own pit 1 is that which he dug for the righteous man, and 
 would fain have enticed him from the paths of virtue into it. (Com- 
 pare 26 : 27.) The upright shall inherit blessings by permanent 
 possession, never subject to such reverses as justly befall the 
 wicked. 
 
 11. The rich man is wise in his own conceit ; but the poor 
 that hath understanding searcheth him out. 
 
 The noticeable thing in this proverb is its assumption that rich 
 men are self-conceited. No doubt this is sometimes, perhaps often, 
 true. They are prone to ascribe their success in accumulating 
 wealth to their superior sagacity and wisdom. But it will some- 
 times happen that a poor man of real thought and deep penetra- 
 tion will search them out in the sense of probing and fathoming 
 the shallowness of their assumed wisdom. Solomon means to say 
 that riches and wisdom are quite unlike; that riches does not 
 necessarily presuppose wisdom; that some rich men may be sadly 
 deficient, not only in profound knowledge, but in that fear of the 
 Lord, which is the beginning of true wisdom ; while some poor men 
 may be truly rich in these treasures of the mind and of the heart. 
 Such views are always wholesome, especially in their bearing 
 upon the aspirations of the young. 
 
 12. When righteous men do rejoice, there is great glory : 
 but when the wicked rise, a man is hidden. 
 
 It can scarcely be doubted that the sentiment here is substan- 
 tially the same as in 11 : 10 and 29 : 2, and also in v. 28, below, i. e ., 
 it refers to the relative influence of righteous rulers and of wicked. 
 There is great joy in the former case : in the latter, men are fain to 
 hide themselves away from the common danger. So far from 
 walking abroad in exuberant joy, they are thankful if they may 
 escape with only “ dear life.” 
 
 13. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but 
 whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. 
 
 If men could only cover their sins from the Omniscient One — but 
 they can not ! And he will' not let their covering of sin avail to 
 their prosperity, even among their fellow-beings, who are not 
 omniscient. But the leading thought is that they shalt not prosper 
 as toward God % They shall find no mercy from him so long as 
 they cover their sin. It is only by confessing and forsaking that 
 they can find mercy. So it always is : so for the interests of every 
 sinner and of the whole moral universe it ought to be 1 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XXVIII. 
 
 187 
 
 14. Happy is the man that feareth always : but he that 
 nardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief. 
 
 See 14: 16. This fear is not the superstitious dread of imagin- 
 ary evil but the wholesome fear of offending God by sin. O how 
 blessed is he who never loses this solemn fear of displeasing the 
 
 great and holy God ! On the contrary, he who hardens his 
 
 heart against such fear and becomes reckless as to sin and its con- 
 sequences shall surely fall into ruin — the word “mischief” repre- 
 senting here, not some of the lesser evils, but nothing less than 
 destruction. 
 
 15. As a roaring lion, and a ranging bear; so is a wicked 
 ruler over the poor people. 
 
 A “ranging bear” — one at large, unrestrained and furious. 
 Such is a wicked ruler over a defenseless people. 
 
 16. The prince that wanteth understanding is also a great 
 oppressor: but he that hateth covetousness shall prolong 
 his days. 
 
 The difficult point in the original is that the two things said in 
 the first clause, of the prince, viz., (a) that he lacketh understand- 
 ing ; (b) that he is great in oppression ; are united not by the verb 
 “ is,” but by the Heb. word which usually means and. Hence 
 Stuart translates : “As to a prince who lacketh understanding and 
 multiplieth oppression — he who hateth covetousness shall prolong 
 his days.” He then paraphrases it — “As to the foolish and greedy 
 oppressor, I have only to say that the man of an opposite charac- 
 ter shall obtain the blessing of long life.” Of course the oppressor 
 
 can not obtain it. Ewald makes the clause an exclamation ; 
 
 which would be all right if the author had prefixed a woe, saying 
 “ Woe to him who is weak in understanding, but mighty in oppres- 
 sion!” Most of the commentators translate with our received 
 
 version. I think the construction proposed by Prof. Stuart, while 
 doing no violence to the Hebrew words, has great force by means 
 of tacitly assuming that the reader must know that such a course 
 cuts short one’s days. 
 
 17. A man that doeth violence to the blood of any person 
 shall flee to the pit ; -let no man stay him. 
 
 Laterally this would read — “A man oppressed with life-blood 
 will flee to the pit ; let them not lay hold of him.” It is plainly 
 the case of the murderer whose conscience is agonized with the 
 sense of his guilt, and who instinctively flies to the grave for relief 
 from tortures more terrible to him than death, seeming to say as 
 he rushes on — Let not the avenging furies seize this murderer ! 
 
 18. Whoso walketh uprightly shall be saved : but he that 
 is perverse in his ways shall fall at once. 
 
188 
 
 PRO\ ERBS — CHAP. XXVIII. 
 
 The last clause better thus: “He who walketh tortuously In 
 double ways shall fall in one ” [of them]. No matter which he 
 takes, for both are wrong and he must meet his death in either. 
 The noun for “ ways ” is in the dual number — in the sense of 
 
 double . 
 
 19. He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread : 
 but he that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty 
 enough. 
 
 “Followeth after” is more strictly chaseth after , runs eagerly 
 with them. The antithesis is better preserved by following the 
 original: The one shall Have bread enough; the other poverty 
 enough: the one, bread to satiety; the other poverty, also, to his 
 heart’s content. The Heb. repeats the same verb. 
 
 20. A faithful man shall abound with blessings : but he 
 that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent. 
 
 According to the original, the “faithful man” is the man of 
 integrity — truthful, sure. He will be great and rich in blessings. 
 But he who makes haste to be rich is supposed to lose this integrity. 
 Solomon does not say that he will miss the great blessings spoken 
 of in the first clause, but he does more than to say it : he assumes 
 that it can not possibly be otherwise, and that every reader must 
 see this. He will not be guiltless, and therefore being guilty, he 
 will not be blessed. 
 
 21. To have respect of persons is not good : for, for a 
 piece of bread that man will transgress. 
 
 Compare 24: 23 and 18 : 5. It is worse than merely “ not good ;” 
 it is outrageously bad to have respect of persons — to be influenced 
 by favoritism to deny justice to the innocent and to acquit the 
 guilty. The proverb assumes that this evinces an utter want of 
 principle. Such a man would sin for a morsel of bread — so cheap 
 and facile a thing with him is his virtue. He would sell for less 
 than a dish of pottage. 
 
 22. He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and con- 
 sidered not that poverty shall come upon him. 
 
 The English margin gives the sense of the original: “The man 
 of evil eye hasteth to be rich,” his evil eye implying a distorted 
 view of the value of riches and a heart reckless as to the means 
 of getting them. “ Hasteth,” in eager anxiety. It does not occur 
 to him that poverty is his doom ; that wealth so gotten will “ fly 
 away.” The “man of evil eye ” appears also in 23: 6. 
 
 23. He that rebuketh a man, afterward shall find more 
 favor than he that flattereth with the tongue. 
 
PROVERBS — CHAP. XXVIII. 
 
 189 
 
 When wise reproof shall have really saved you from ruin, and 
 you come to see it, you will surely thank your reprover. But you 
 can not wisely thank the deceitful flatterer who not merely passes 
 your faults unnoticed, but blinds your eyes to their existence. 
 
 24. Whoso robbeth his father or his mother, and saith, 
 It is no transgression ; the same is the companion of a de- 
 stroyer. 
 
 Probably the assumed apology for robbing father and mother is 
 that, being a son, the estate is prospectively his, and he only antici- 
 pates the use of what is his own. The proverb declares that such 
 a son is an associate in sympathy and character with a destroyer; 
 ready for robbery or any other foul crime. 
 
 25. He that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife : but 
 he that putteth his trust in the Lord shall be made fat. 
 
 A very perceptible antithesis between the two clauses of this 
 proverb will appear if we give them this shade of meaning : The 
 proud heart naturally begets strife and therefore forbids quietness 
 and pure enjoyment ; but he who humbly trusts in the Lord will 
 be enriched with most abundant blessings. The proud man can 
 brook no supposed insult, and therefore will have his hands full 
 of quarrels and of revenge; but he who commits his cause to God 
 
 as his great Avenger may repose in perpetual peace. Stirring 
 
 up strife appears in 15: 18; being “made fat” in 11: 25 and in 
 13: 4; the general sentiment in 13 : 10. 
 
 26. He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool : but whoso 
 walketh wisely, he shall be delivered. 
 
 u Trusting to one’s own heart ” is following its impulses, the 
 lead of its passions, as opposed to following the wisdom of God. 
 The first clause which, in form, only affirms such an one to be a 
 fool, in fact assumes that this folly will ruin him ; while walking 
 in wisdom would insure his deliverance from such ruin. 
 
 27. He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack : but he 
 that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse. 
 
 “ Hiding the eyes ” here is closing one’s own eyes so as not to 
 see a suffering brother’s want and shutting the sympathies of the 
 heart against such appeals. This man shall have many a curse. 
 (See Deut. 15: 7, 8.) The Great Father commits himself to bless 
 those who are with him in loving care for the poor. (See 19: 17 
 and 29: 7.) 
 
 28. When the wicked rise^ men hide themselves : but 
 when they perish, the righteous increase. 
 
 Y. 12 has the same general idea. (See also 29 : 2 and 11 : 10.) 
 
190 
 
 PROVERBS-CHAP. XXIX. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 1. He, that being often reproved liardeneth his neck, 
 shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. 
 
 “The man of reproofs” (the form of the Hebrew) is he who has 
 been reproved much , and upon whom the power of reproof has 
 
 been exhausted in vain. “Hardening the neck” takes its figure 
 
 from the bullock who resists the yoke and rebels against re- 
 straint — a very common figure with the Hebrews. (See Jer. 19 : 15 
 and 7 : 26 and 17: 23 and Neh. 9 : 29 and Acts 7 : 51.) “De- 
 
 stroyed” is expressed in Hebrew by a very strong verb and in its 
 most intensive form: “ shall be utterly broken to pieces — and no 
 healing l" When all hope of amendment is gone, judgment with- 
 out mercy must ensue, for the honor and safety of God’s moral 
 universe demand it. 
 
 2. When the righteous are in authority, the people re- 
 joice : but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn. 
 
 The parallel passages are 28: 12, 28. “When the righteous 
 flourish ,” are in prominent positions and in prosperity. The orig- 
 inal does not restrict the case to the holding of public office. 
 
 3. Whoso loveth wisdom rejoiceth his father: but he 
 that keepeth company with harlots spendeth his substance. 
 
 The antithesis implies that the associate of harlots both hates 
 wisdom and brings sorrow upon his father s heart. 
 
 4. The king by judgment establisheth the land : but he 
 that receiveth gifts overthroweth it. 
 
 The word “land” implies his kingdom, considered as involving 
 the welfare of society. By honest and upright judgment, good 
 order is maintained and every good thing prospers ; but a king or 
 judge who receives bribes, subverts all justice and ruins his 
 country. 
 
 5. A man that flattereth his neighbor spread eth a net 
 for his feet. 
 
 It is assumed that this flattery [Heb. making the tongue smooth] 
 is practically falsehood. It is easy to see that such flattery, min- 
 istering to human pride, will be a snare to any man unless he is 
 very w T ise or very humbie. 
 
 6. In the transgression of an evil man there is a snare : 
 but the righteous doth sing and rejoice. 
 
 A bad man’s transgression proves a snare of ruin to him, and 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XXIX. 
 
 191 
 
 brings him none of the real, substantial joy which is the legitimate 
 lot of the righteous. The antithesis implies the latter point. 
 
 7. The righteous considereth the cause of the poor : but 
 the wicked regardeth not to know it 
 
 “The righteous lcnoweth ” [Heb.] and takes pains to know, the 
 case of the weak. The weak are not necessarily the penniless, 
 but rather the friendless and dependent. The wicked man does 
 not seek this knowledge ; takes no pains to inform himself as to 
 their case. 
 
 8. Scornful men bring a city into a snare : but wise men 
 turn away wrath. 
 
 Scornful men are probably those who scorn all law, human or 
 divine ; the lawless and self-willed. The verb that follows means 
 to blow up [as a fire], and, applied to the minds of men, means 
 to inflame their passions. In this sense they set the city on fire : 
 but the wise allay [Heb. turn back] wrath. 
 
 9. If Si wise man contendeth with a foolish man, whether 
 he rage or laugh, there is no rest. 
 
 The words “if” and “there is’ are not represented in the orig- 
 inal. — —“A wise man litigates with a fool,” the verb referring le- 
 gitimately to proceedings before a court of justice. We must at 
 least give it the sense of a grave discussion of some important 
 
 matter in issue between the parties. The proverb proceeds to 
 
 say, “ He will rage and he will laugh” — both by turns — “ but there 
 will be no rest.” Which of the two will rage and laugh? Com- 
 mentators differ singularly on this point, some assuming that this 
 is said of the wise man; others that it is said of the fool. I accept 
 the latter construction, referring it to the fool, who, in this dis- 
 cussion, will either fly into a passion, or treat the case with ridi- 
 cule and laughter; never with calm, dispassionate consideration; 
 never with candor and honesty, in the absence of all undue ex- 
 citement; never in a state of mind well put here as one of rest, 
 i. e., from the agitations of passion and folly. 
 
 10. The bloodthirsty hate the upright : but the just seek 
 his soul. 
 
 Bloody men hate the upright by a natural repugnance, fearing 
 justice from their hands. It seems to be implied that these men 
 of blood would gladly take the life of the upright; while on the 
 contrary, just men seek to save his life, i. e., the same life which 
 the men of blood seek to destroy. To “seek the soul” is here not 
 to destroy life but to save. 
 
 11. A fool uttereth all his mind : but a wise man keepeth 
 it in till afterwards. 
 
 I understand this proverb to refer, not so much to thoughts 
 
 9 
 
192 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XXIX. 
 
 as to the feelings, passions. The Hebrew word requires this shade 
 of meaning. A fool throws out [Heb. causes to come forth] all 
 his spirit; * all the impulses of his passions and excited feelings. 
 The wise man represses his feelings; turns their current back- 
 ward. This verb occurs Ps. 89: 9, “When the waves of the sea 
 arise, thou stillest them.” The proverb contrasts the wise and the 
 fool in the point of self-control of passion. Compare 12: 16. 
 
 12. If a ruler hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked. 
 
 If a ruler bend his open ears to falsehood, he will have servants 
 enough to fill those ears. His influence will corrupt them. They 
 will be ready enough to gratify him with the lies he loves to hear. 
 
 13. The poor and the deceitful man meet together: the 
 Lord lightenetli both their eyes. 
 
 The English margin has the true sense : usurer , and not “ flat- 
 terer.” The poor and the usurer, the man oppressed and the man 
 who oppresses him, come in contact face to face — perhaps the 
 thought is, into unpleasant collision; but let them both remem- 
 ber that they owe the light of life, and by consequence, all the 
 blessings of their existence, to the same omniscient and righteous 
 
 Lord. The same sentiment appears in 22 : 2. The sense of his 
 
 relations to' God as the author of his being and of all his blessings 
 will make the poor man patient and trustful; the usurer, mindful 
 of his responsibilities and of his duty toward his poor brother. 
 
 14. The king that faithfully judgeth the poor, his throne 
 shall be established forever. 
 
 As usual, the “poor” are here the weak, the defenseless — the very 
 class for whom God provides the protection of civil law. There- 
 fore when the king meets the ends for which God ordains human 
 
 government, God will establish his throne. The strain of Ps. 
 
 72 applies this doctrine to King Messiah. Indeed its full devel- 
 opment can be had only in him. No other king ever reaches the 
 perfection of just ruling; the throne of none other shall be estab- 
 lished literally forever . 
 
 15. The rod and reproof give wisdom : but a child left to 
 himself bringeth his mother to shame. 
 
 A child let loose [literally, “sent abroad”] will bring shame upon 
 his mother, the naming of the mother in this case being perhaps 
 a suggestion that she rather than the father is under special temp- 
 tation to this fault, and is pre-eminently the sufferer from it. 
 
 Solomon believes in vigorous and effective discipline for the young 
 — a truly wise man . (See 13: 24 and 23: 13.) 
 
 16. When the wicked are multiplied, transgression in- 
 creaseth : but the righteous shall see their fall. 
 
 *nn 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XXIX. 
 
 193 
 
 Crime will naturally increase with the numerical increase of 
 wicked men, for they will override the public sentiment of the 
 good and the restraining force of law. But let not the righteous 
 lose hope and heart, for the triumphing of the wicked is short. 
 They shall live to see the wicked fall. 
 
 17. Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he 
 shall give delight unto thy soul. 
 
 Due correction, the efficient moral training of children, will 
 bring to the parent’s heart the fruits of joy and rest in the end. 
 
 18. Where there is no vision, the people perish : but he 
 that keepeth the law, happy is he. 
 
 This word “vision” is one of the two most common words for 
 prophetic vision — revelations made expressly from God to inspired 
 men, and through them to the people. The meaning here seems 
 to be that where there is no vision from God revealing and en- 
 forcing man’s moral duty, there the people will become lawless 
 and dissolute. Such will, of course, altogether miss the blessed- 
 ness of those who keep the law. For the usage of the verb ren- 
 
 dered “perish”* see Ex. 32: 25 and 2 Chron. 28: 19. In both 
 these passages it is very imperfectly rendered, “made naked;” 
 while the true sense is, had demoralized , made dissolute and law- 
 less. The proverb is a rich testimony to the practical value of 
 
 a revelation from God of man’s moral duty and of the sanctions of 
 the divine law. 
 
 19. A servant will not be corrected by words: for though 
 he understand he will not answer. 
 
 This servant is peristently disobedient, obstinate, mulish. 
 “Though he may understand:” [Heb.] “no answer.” The doc- 
 trine of the proverb is that some appliances, more stern than 
 words, are demanded. Of course Solomon assumes that right and 
 reason are on the side of the master and not on the side of the 
 servant — that servants have duties, and have no excuse for stub- 
 bornly refusing to perform them. 
 
 20. Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words ? there is 
 more hope of a fool than of him. 
 
 The very same thing is said of him who is wise in his own con- 
 ceit (26: 12). The man “hasty of words” speaks without pre- 
 vious and preliminary thinking. He who will not think before 
 he speaks might as well have no thinking power, i. e., be a fool. 
 
 21. He that delicately bringeth up his servant from a 
 child shall have him become his son at the length. 
 
 In this proverb the important word ir each clause is one of rare 
 * IhD 
 
194 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XXIX. 
 
 occurrence. In the first clause, the verb means, to fondle, to pet, 
 to treat with indiscriminate indulgence. The word rendered 
 “son” is found only here. Some give it the sense of a dissolute, 
 lawless one; but the current of critical opinion sets strongly in 
 favor of the sense son. 
 
 22. An angry man stirretli up strife, and a furious man 
 aboundeth in transgression. 
 
 See 15: 18 and 26: 21. “A furious man” is precisely a man 
 fully possessed with the spirit of wrath, over whom it has supreme 
 control. He will be abundant in transgression. 
 
 23. A man’s pride shall bring him low : but honor shall 
 uphold the humble in spirit. 
 
 The humble of spirit shall take hold of honor — shall attain it. 
 This seems to be the sense of the Hebrew verb and corresponds 
 well with the first clause. Pride brings a man low in general es- 
 teem; humility raises him high. 
 
 24. Whoso is partner with a thief hateth his own soul : 
 he heareth cursing, and bewrayeth it not. 
 
 He who shares the stolen goods with the thief is reckless of his 
 soul ; acts as if he hated it, and was ready to bring on himself 
 damnation. (See 8 : 36.) He is put under oath to testify accord- 
 ing to the Levitical law (Lev. 5: 1), and yet refuses to bring out 
 the active partner in the transaction. The law referred to pro- 
 vides that “if a soul shall hear the voice of swearing,” i. e. } the 
 solemn adjuration of the officer of justice, binding him before God 
 to testify to the crime “ whether he hath seen it or known it,” and 
 attaching the awful penalty — “ If he do not utter it, then he shall 
 
 bear his iniquity;” there is no pardon for him Judg. 17: 2 
 
 gives a historic case of this sort of adjuration. 
 
 25. The fear of man bringeth a snare : but whoso puttetli 
 his trust in the Lord shall be safe. 
 
 The fear of man in the sense of an undue solicitude to please 
 and fear to displease men, becomes a snare into sin. Only those 
 who trust in the Lord are safe, on high above this snare. They 
 are safe because they fear God far more than man, and trust in 
 him for protection and for all needful blessings. Consequently 
 they have no occasion to feel sensitively and excessively depend- 
 ent on the favor of men. 
 
 26. Many seek the ruler’s favor ; but every man’s judg- 
 ment cometh from the Lord. 
 
 Many seek the face of the ruler to obtain judgment in their own 
 favor ; but the ultimate decision in every case is from the Lord. 
 His universal providence gives shape to even the earthly destiny 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XXX. 
 
 195 
 
 of man; much more to his eternal reward. Therefore let men 
 seek the ruler’s favor far less and God’s far more — for their well- 
 being both here and hereafter. 
 
 27. An unjust man is an abomination to the just : and 
 he that is upright in the way is abomination to the wicked. 
 
 The bad and the good have a mutual dislike, not to say abhor- 
 rence of each other. The just abhor the unjust because they hate 
 
 and loathe wickedness. On the other hand the wicked dislike 
 
 the upright, whose very name and presence rebuke them ; whose in- 
 fluence annoys them and perhaps even frustrates their wicked 
 schemes and brings them to just punishment. There never can be 
 any common, sympathy between men of morally opposite character. 
 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 This chapter and the next are not ascribed to Solomon; but 
 this to Agur and the next to Lemuel and his mother. In this 
 chapter the style and general manner are peculiar and unique, 
 quite unlike any thing we have from the pen of Solomon. The 
 writer brings forward his points in groups. Two things he prays 
 for (vs. 7-9); a series of four “generations” have their very dis- 
 tinctive qualities (vs. 11-14); four things are insatiable (vs. 
 15, 16); three, yea four things are very wonderful and not easily 
 traced out (vs. 18, 19)) ; another group of three or four bring upon 
 society intolerable disquiet (vs. 21-23) ; another group of four 
 things are each small but very wise (vs. 24-28); a closing group 
 of three or four are stately in their movements (vs. 29-31). Some 
 proverbs disconnected and apparently independent of these groups 
 are interspersed occasionally between them. 
 
 In regard to the author of this chapter ; his time ; his country — 
 in general, his history, nothing is certainly known. I see no 
 valid reason to concur with those who make Agur a symbolic 
 name for Solomon, meaning the collector, i. e., of proverbs. 
 
 1. The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, even tlie 
 
 f ropliecy : the man spake unto Ithiel, even unto Ithiel and 
 leal, 
 
 The great body of commentators concur with the received ver- 
 sion in making the words, “Jakeh,” “Ithiel,” “Ucal,” proper 
 names, yet of persons whose history is now utterly lost. A few 
 critics [Prof Moses Stuart, and before him Hitzig and Bertheau] 
 take these words, not as proper nouns but as common nouns or 
 
196 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XXX. 
 
 verbs, and therefore give an entirely different construction to v. 1. 
 Stuart translates the verse : “ The words of Agur, the son of her 
 who was obeyed in Massa. Thus spake the man: I have toiled 
 for God, I have toiled for God, and have ceased.” He takes 
 Massa to be a province in Southern Arabia, near Dumah, both 
 these names appearing among the sons of Ishmael (Gen. 25 : 14 
 and 1 Chron. 1 : 30), and therefore probably, like the names 
 of his other sons, becoming subsequently the names of tribes and 
 countries in vast Arabia. A scrap of stray history appears in 
 1 Chron. 4: 39-43, showing that in the days of Hezekiah five 
 hundred Simeonites made a raid upon Southern Arabia; found a 
 rich country ; drove out the ancient Amalekites and held posses- 
 sion of their lands. This being in the same region with the sup- 
 posed countries of Dumah and Massa, it is assumed that Agur 
 lived in this remote Hebrew colony, 1 see no insuperable ob- 
 
 jections to this view. The considerations in favor of it are — (1.) 
 That the received version has too much introduction — too many 
 of the usual formulae of opening an oriental treatise ; “ the words 
 of;” “the prophecy;” “the saying of the man,” etc. We have 
 no other instance of three distinct announcements for an intro- 
 duction. One only is the rule. (2.) It is slightly improbable 
 
 that we should have such a group of proper names with no clue 
 
 to their history. (3.) In the construction proposed by Prof. 
 
 Stuart, we have a natural and pertinent connection of thought 
 between the first verse and the second. In v. 2, the word ren- 
 dered “surely”* should be read for , introducing the reason for 
 something previously stated. This normal sense of the word is 
 provided for thus : “ I have toiled to know God ; I have labored 
 even to weariness to find out God — and have desisted : for [v. 2] 
 
 I am very stupid intellectually and very ignorant, etc. (4.) 
 
 The construction requires no change in the consonants of the 
 original. The vowels only and the division into words are 
 
 changed. (5.) The most ancient versions are conflicting; the 
 
 Chaldee and Syriac translators and the Masoretic punctuators 
 make the words in dispute proper nouns, while the Septuagint 
 
 and Vulgate make them common nouns. On the other hand, 
 
 the great objections lying against Prof. Stuart’s construction are 
 the harshness of the circumlocution — “ the son of her who was 
 obeyed in Massa;” and the authority of so many of the most an- 
 cient witnesses. In conclusion, I am inclined to regard this 
 
 construction of Prof. S. as perhaps admissible, yet not sustained 
 by decisive authority. I do not find data which suffice to put the 
 question beyond reasonable doubt. Fortunately the point has 
 no vital importance, since it affects but slightly the course of 
 thought, and not at all the inspired authority of the chapter. 
 
 2. Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have 
 not the understanding of a man. 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XXX. 
 
 197 
 
 3. I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of 
 the holy. 
 
 The author declares that his effort to find out the Almighty to 
 perfection had been unsuccessful, and he here confesses his ignor- 
 ance and incapacity. Probably these expressions must be attrib- 
 uted jointly to his great (perhaps excessive) modesty and to the 
 fact that he has been pushing his inquiries, not so much into 
 questions of practical duty, nor into the practical aspects of the 
 divine character, as into those deep things of God which no human 
 mind can fathom. 
 
 4. Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? 
 who hath gathered the wind in his fists ? who hath bound 
 the waters in a garment? who hath established all the 
 ends of the earth ? what is his name, and what is his son’s 
 name, if thou canst tell ? 
 
 Who has gone up into heaven and then come down again [so 
 the Hebrew runs] that he may show us those deep things of God 
 
 which no human eye from our earthly stand-point can reach ? 
 
 The questions that follow contemplate God as seen in the glory 
 and majesty of his works of creation. Most appropriately does 
 frail, feeble man look forth upon the vastness of these works and 
 ask — Who has wrought them? What can I learn of his name, 
 i. e ., of his nature and of the great depths of his being, his wis- 
 dom and his power? 
 
 5. Every word of God is pure : he is a shield unto them 
 that put their trust in him. 
 
 6. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, 
 and thou be found a liar. 
 
 If this great God, the Maker of all things, so manifestly wise 
 and good, shall deign to speak to mortals, we may be very sure 
 that every word he utters will be pure. See that thou add nothing 
 to his words lest he reprove thee and convict thee of representing 
 him falsely. How canst thou presume to add words of thine own 
 to the words of the great God and then to claim for them his 
 
 sanction as if thou wert no less wise than he ? Moreover, since 
 
 this great God proffers himself to us as our protector and invites 
 our filial trust and confidence in him, we may certainly assume 
 that his protection will be most ample, a perfect shield to all who 
 put their trust in him. 
 
 7. Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not 
 before I die: 
 
 8. Remove far from me vanity and lies; give me neither 
 poverty nor riches ; feed me with food convenient for me : 
 
 9. Lest I be full, and deny thee , and say, Who is the 
 
198 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XXX. 
 
 Lord ? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of 
 my God in vain . 
 
 Agar prays for two things: (1.) Put vanity and lies far from 
 my heart; let my spirit never be polluted, even in the sight of God, 
 with falsehood; and, (2.) Of earthly good let me have a simple 
 competence — no more, no less. Not more, lest becoming sated and 
 over-fed, I lose the sense of my dependence upon God, and say in 
 guilty pride — Who is the Lord? And what do I need from him ? 
 And not less, lest becoming impoverished I should be tempted to 
 steal, and so should dishonor the name of God ; literally, u take it 
 up roughly,” irreverently. This last point may perhaps refer to 
 the custom of putting men under oath to testify respecting a theft 
 in respect to which they are supposed to be directly or indirectly 
 implicated. -Or it may be assumed that theft naturally leads on to 
 
 the profaning of God’s name. u Deny me them not before I die” 
 
 does not mean (in the original) Let them be granted me at some 
 one point somewhere in my future life; but this — Let me never be 
 denied them throughout all my remaining life. Deny them not to 
 me while yet I shall not have died, i. e ., shall yet live. 
 
 10. Accuse not a servant unto his master, lest he curse 
 thee, and thou be found guilty. 
 
 All servants by reason of their dependent condition should be 
 commiserated. At least their case should be treated with careful 
 consideration. Therefore never slander a servant to his master, 
 lest he curse thee, and lest, investigation ensuing, thou be found 
 guilty. 
 
 11. There is a generation that curseth their father, and 
 doth not bless their mother. 
 
 12. There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, 
 and yet is not washed from their filthiness. 
 
 13. There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes ! 
 and their eye-lids are lifted up. 
 
 14. There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and 
 their jaw-teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the 
 earth, and the needy from among men. 
 
 Four classes are next named, briefly described, and obviously 
 held up to universal detestation: those who curse father and 
 mother [not to bless is equivalent to curse] ; the proud and self- 
 conceited; the haughty and scornful; and the malicious and sav- 
 agely cruel. Let the reader abhor these “generations;” let those 
 who bear either of these characters receive our righteous and un- 
 mitigated reprobation ! 
 
 15. The horse-leech hath two daughters, crying , Give, 
 give. There are three things that are never satisfied yea, 
 four things say not, It is enough : 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XXX. 
 
 199 
 
 16. The grave; and the barren womb; the earth that 
 is not filled with water ; and the fire that saith not, It is 
 enough. 
 
 The word rendered 11 horse-leech,” occurs here only. Obviously 
 he is a specimen of insatiability. Critics mostly agree that the 
 word represents the vampire — a fiction of ancient mythology, sup- 
 posed to frequent the desert and fasten upon its victims by night 
 to suck their blood. Its two daughters may represent its organs 
 for drawing blood.- With this ideal conception the writer com- 
 
 pares four other insatiable things, as in v. 16. He does not make 
 any moral application of this group of things that are never satis- 
 fied, but seems to rest with grouping them together to illustrate 
 each other. 
 
 17. 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. 
 
 This is a strong way of expressing a terrible truth, viz.: that 
 God will bring condign and exemplary retribution upon those who 
 proudly insult and scornfully disobey their parents. 
 
 18. There be three things which are too wonderful for me, 
 yea, four which I know not : 
 
 19. 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. 
 
 This group seems to be wonderful in respect to leaving no trace 
 of their path behind them. 
 
 20. Such is the way of an adulterous woman ; she eateth, 
 and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wicked- 
 ness. 
 
 Eating and then wiping the mouth are figures of speech. The 
 real thing intended is the crime which her name indicates and 
 which she would fain conceal by denial. 
 
 21. For three things the earth is disquieted, and for four 
 which it can not bear : 
 
 22. For a servant when he reigneth; and a fool when he 
 is filled with meat; 
 
 23. For an odious woman when she is married ; and a 
 handmaid that is heir to her mistress. 
 
 The four things grouped here are specially irritating and unen 
 
 durable. All are in their nature social evils. The servant is 
 
 unfit to be a king — can not be supposed to have the requisite quali- 
 fications. Consequently his administration will be intolerable. • 
 
200 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XXX. 
 
 Quite analogous is the case of a handmaid who becomes heir to 
 her mistress. Very few can bear a great fortune, falling to them 
 
 suddenly. The moral instruction in this series as in several of 
 
 the others is conveyed mainly in the grouping — in the bringing of 
 various things together, some of which the reader is supposed to 
 understand well, and the rest he may infer to be of like sort. 
 
 24. There be four things which are little upon the earth, 
 but they are exceeding wise : 
 
 25. The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare 
 their meat in the summer ; 
 
 26. The conies are hut a feeble folk, yet make they their 
 houses in the rocks ; 
 
 27. The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of 
 them by bands ; 
 
 28. The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in 
 kings’ palaces. 
 
 Over against the group of human follies which grievously dis- 
 quiet the earth and which society can not well bear, there appears 
 here a group of four things distinguished -for being small but 
 
 eminently wise, sagacious. Critics have sought diligently to 
 
 identify these little animals. There is no doubt as to the “ant” 
 and the “locust.” But the coney p. rabbit] and the “spider” 
 have involved much discussion and difference of opinion. The 
 question turns upon the etymology of the original word; the voice 
 of the earliest versions; the testimony of the cognate languages, 
 especially the Arabic, still a living tongue; and the present natural 
 history of these animals in those countries. Judging from these 
 sources of evidence, modern critics mostly agree that the coney 
 [rabbit] is not the animal designated here, but that he is either 
 the mountain rat [some say mouse] or a somewhat larger animal, 
 known in scientific zoology as the “ Hyrax Syriacus,” found at this 
 day in those countries, at out the size of the rabbit; yet not like 
 him adapted to burrowing in the ground, but living in the clefts of 
 
 the rocks. For similar reasons the “spider” is rejected, and 
 
 the house-lizard takes his place as the animal spoken of here. It 
 has organs much resembling the human hand with which it seizes 
 
 upon house-flies and spiders as its prey and its food. The 
 
 remarkable instincts of this group of small animals constitute 
 their special peculiarity. Each in his way seems to be “ exceed- 
 ing wise.” In these respects they suggest what man might do if 
 he were to give himself earnestly to the study and the practice of 
 the wisdom for which God has given him the capacity. 
 
 29. There be three things which go well, yea, four are 
 comely in going : 
 
 80. A lion, which is strongest among beasts, and turneth 
 not away for any ; 
 
PROVERBS — CHAP. XXXI. 
 
 201 
 
 31. A grey-hound ; a he-goat also ; and a king, against 
 whom there is no rising up. 
 
 This group of four is distinguished for stately movement. 
 
 The word rendered “ grey-hound ” (literally, one compassed or 
 girded about as to the loins), not being a proper name but a de- 
 scription, has given occasion to much diversity of opinion; e. g., 
 the grey-hound; the zebra; the war-horse; and the wrestler. I 
 doubt if the data accessible to us are sufficient to decide this 
 
 question with absolute certainty. The moral lesson, if any, in 
 
 this group of stately travelers is by no means obvious. Perhaps 
 it looks toward the thought in the verses that follow. 
 
 32. If thou hast done foolishly in lifting up thyself, or if 
 thou hast thought evil, lay thy hand upon thy mouth. 
 
 If thou hast sought to distinguish thyself by a lofty and stately 
 bearing before thy fellows, and in this hast done foolishly or hast 
 had a malign intent — “ hand to mouth,” the silence of modest hu- 
 mility best becomes thee. Give no utterance to the evil thought; 
 no outward development to the evil deed. 
 
 33. Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, 
 and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood : so the 
 forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife. 
 
 The decided self-control indicated by laying the hand upon the 
 mouth is strongly recommended and enforced by the well known 
 law which is so finely put here in triple illustration: The violent 
 agitation of milk brings butter; the wringing of the nose, blood; 
 and a similar rough treatment of man’s sensibilities to anger fires 
 up mad strife. This running comment assumes a logical con- 
 
 nection between the four things noted for stately going (vs. 28- 
 31); the putting on of proud and haughty airs; the admonition 
 against it appended (v. 32 ) : and this final enforcement of the ad- 
 monition in v. 33. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 1. The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his 
 mother taught him. 
 
 This chapter, as well as the preceding, is unique and unlike the 
 first twenty-nine of this book. It comes not from Solomon, but 
 from a certain king Lemuel and his mother, of whom nothing fun 
 
202 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XXXI. 
 
 ther is certainly known. It is in two parts, vs. 1-9 being a wise 
 mother’s counsels to her son with reference to his responsibilities 
 and duties as king; while vs. 10-31 recite the qualities and praises 
 of a virtuous woman. The same mother’s hand may be supposed 
 
 to have originated both parts of this interesting chapter. This 
 
 latter portion of twenty-two verses is an acrostic on the Hebrew 
 alphabet, each successive verse commencing with the successive 
 letters of this alphabet — a method due, we may suppose, jointly to 
 the current literary taste and to its actual value as an aid to the 
 memory. 
 
 2. What, my son ? and what, the son of my womb ? and 
 what, the son of my vows ? 
 
 These questions and repetitions must be understood as the nat- 
 ural expression of strong maternal affection. What shall I say to 
 thee, 0 my beloved son ? How can I express all the interest I 
 feel in thy future course of life, in the virtue and the wisdom with 
 which thou shalt meet the responsibilities and withstand the temp- 
 tations incident to a youthful prince ascending his throne. 
 
 “ The son of my vows” finds a pertinent illustration in the mother 
 of Samuel (1 Sam. 1: 11). 
 
 3. Give not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to 
 that which destroyeth kings. 
 
 That this admonition has not only a place but the first place in 
 this series of maternal counsels is due, not to her lack of modesty, 
 but to her superior discernment, her searching knowledge of hu- 
 man nature, and her just apprehension of the dangers incident 
 even in that age to the almost unlimited facilities of indulgence 
 which accompanied royalty, often to the premature enervation and 
 too speedy ruin of kings. 
 
 4. It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to 
 drink wine ; nor for princes strong drink : 
 
 5. Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the 
 judgment of any of the afflicted. 
 
 6. Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, 
 and wine to those that be of heavy hearts. 
 
 7. Let him drink and forget his poverty, and remember 
 his misery no more. 
 
 The next danger is from wine. Most expressively does she say 
 — “It is not for kings to drink wine:” this indulgence, this form 
 of excitement, is for every reason unbecoming and unfitting tq one 
 who bears the responsibilities of a throne. Men who drink wine 
 will surely increase their own danger of forgetting the law and 
 perverting their own administration of justice. How admirably 
 does she assume that her son is raised to the throne, not to reach 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XXXI. 
 
 203 
 
 higher facilities for self-indulgence, but to bear worthily a higher 
 class of responsibilities ; to rule under God for the protection and 
 vindication of human rights, especially the rights of the weak and 
 afflicted ! Noble woman ! Our hearts instinctively honor thee for 
 these admirable sentiments, so worthily put in fitting words ! 
 
 Strong drink may have its uses for medicine. It may be useful 
 to rally the waning vitality of one just perishing [Heb.], or it 
 may bring an oblivion of grief to the bitter of soul. If there are 
 cases of extremest wretchedness in which it is better to drown 
 sorrow at the expense even of drowning sober thought and the 
 conscious self-possession of one’s intellectual and moral faculties, 
 then let strong drink go to their relief ! But whoever can bear 
 the ills of life with manly heroism, or better, with Christian res- 
 ignation, let him never seek oblivion of his sorrows in the mad- 
 dening cup! But alas for those who claim for themselves the 
 
 privileges and prerogatives of being all their days “ready to per- 
 ish !” How little of manhood is shortly left to them ! 
 
 8. Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such 
 as are appointed to destruction. 
 
 9. Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the 
 cause of the poor and needy. 
 
 Let the king deem it his first glory that God has given him a 
 mouth to plead effectually for those who are dumb as to pleading 
 for themselves. “Such as are appointed to destruction,” is liter- 
 
 ally [in Hebrew] all the sons of bereavement, i. e., the orphans who 
 have no father and no mother to plead in their behalf. So in the 
 next verse, “ the poor and the needy ” comprise all those classes 
 who are defenseless against oppression, and for whom therefore 
 the great Father provides the protection of civil law and the 
 power of righteous kings. 
 
 10. Who can find a virtuous woman ? for her price is far 
 above rubies. 
 
 Here opens an admirable portrait of a model woman. Of course 
 the picture is laid amid the scenes of oriental life and adapts it- 
 self to the usages of those times. Yet every-where we have the 
 qualities of industry, diligence, devotion to the duties of her 
 sphere, love and esteem for her husband, care of her family, and, 
 to crown the whole, the spirit of kindness toward all and of true 
 
 piety toward God. “Virtuous” is here in a somewhat broader 
 
 sense than simply moral purity, connubial chastity. It is rather 
 the old Koman sense of virtus — energy, capability — describing the 
 woman who fills every sphere of her duty capably and nobly. 
 Where will you find such a woman? Her price is above rubies. 
 
 11. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so 
 that he shall have no need of spoil. 
 
204 
 
 PROVERBS-CHAP. XXXI. 
 
 12. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her 
 life. 
 
 The heart of her husband can safely trust her in all respects — 
 not only in her love and fidelity — though these are painfully rare 
 qualities in oriental households — but in the management of prop- 
 erty, in the economy and frugality of her household. The latter 
 is the point specially in mind here. Her husband will feel no 
 need of spoil; good management will insure to him ample supplies 
 for all family wants without resorting to the freebooter s robbery. 
 Such a wife is a richer treasure than a great estate. 
 
 13. She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly 
 with her hands. * 
 
 She looks after wool and flax — all the clothing of the household 
 in those ages being of domestic and really home manufacture. 
 Pertinently it is said of her, “She worketh with the willingness 
 of her hands ” [Heb.], implying perhaps both a cheerful alacrity 
 and that energy which we call “working with a will 
 
 14. She is like the merchants’ ships; she bringeth her 
 food from afar. 
 
 She acquaints herself with the best sources of supply, and there- 
 fore knows where to get the best provisions at the lowest cost, like 
 the merchant vessels which bring valuable products from far 
 where they can be furnished best and cheapest. Fine business 
 qualities are these of the oriental housewife ! 
 
 15. She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat 
 to her household, and a portion to her maidens. 
 
 Early rising was in those times and countries universal, save 
 with the professional sluggard. This matron rises while yet it is 
 night, and breakfast is over ere the day calls men to their labor. 
 
 16. She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit 
 of her hands she planteth a vineyard. 
 
 One of the last things we should expect in such a list appears 
 here. She studies the value and capabilities of a field and then 
 proceeds to buy it. It is intimated (v. 23) that her husband is a 
 man of public responsibilities, one of the elders of the land, sit- 
 ting in court — the place where judicial proceedings were held. 
 Hence she relieves him, it would seem, as much as possible from 
 
 the cares of business, not only within doors but without. “ With 
 
 the fruit of her hands, she planteth a vineyard.” It is not said, 
 with her own hands, but rather with the results of her labor else- 
 where applied. 
 
 17. She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth 
 her arms. 
 
PROVERBS -CHAP. XXXI. 
 
 205 
 
 She does not shrink from such use of her physical strength as 
 naturally gives more strength. In her view, weakness was not 
 among the womanly virtues. 
 
 18. She perceiveth that her merchandise is good : her 
 candle goeth not out by night. 
 
 The original suggests the idea of taste. She has the good taste, 
 t. e., judgment to see that the things she buys are the best of their 
 kind. 
 
 19. She layetli her hands to the spindle, and her hands 
 hold the distaff. 
 
 This was before the days of cotton mills and machinery. The 
 mothers and daughters must have had incessant occupation. 
 
 20. She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she 
 reacheth forth her hands to the needy. 
 
 By a beautiful correspondence of ideas she not only puts forth 
 her hand to the spindle and the distaff, but also as a “ helping-hand ” 
 to the poor and the needy. Her heart is large. Its sympathies 
 and cares reach out far beyond her own household. 
 
 21. She is not afraid of the snow for her household ; for 
 all her household are clothed with scarlet. 
 
 Some of the critics plead strongly for the reading which appears 
 in the margin of the English Bible: “clothed,” not with scarlet, 
 but u with double garments ” This forms the Hebrew word from 
 another root, but with better sense. For what has a scarlet color 
 to do with protection against snow and cold ? But double clothing 
 as against cold and snow is entirely in place. 
 
 22. She maketh herself coverings of tapestry ; her cloth- 
 ing is silk and purple. 
 
 The word for “coverings of tapestry” naturally means bed- 
 covering. 
 
 23. Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth 
 among the elders of the land. 
 
 Her husband is no sluggard ; no cypher in the world. His place 
 of being known is not in the street-corners nor in the dram-shops, • 
 but “in the gates,” where all courts were held and all public bus- 
 iness transacted. There he makes his presence felt. 
 
 24. She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth 
 girdles unto the merchants. 
 
 She not only manufactures the clothing necessary for her house- 
 hold, but some for export as well. By this means she is able, 
 
206 
 
 PROVERBS— CHAP. XXXI. 
 
 like the merchant ships, to bring her food (some of it) “from 
 far” (v. 14). 
 
 25. Strength and honor are her clothing ; and she shall 
 rejoice in time to come. 
 
 Clad with strength and honor, she laughs [Heb.] at the terrors 
 of the future. She fears no such evils as famine or winter. So 
 fully is she prepared for emergencies that she knows no anxiety 
 as to future wants. She looks only with joy into the future. 
 
 26. She openeth her mouth with wisdom ; and in her 
 tongue is the law of kindness. 
 
 It is only what we should expect from so much practical good 
 sense in her business that her speech would be with words of wis- 
 dom. It testifies to the wealth of her heart’s love for all that in 
 her tongue is “the law of kindness.” She lives^to make others 
 blessed, even all who come within the range of her influence. 
 
 27. She looketh well to the ways of her household, and 
 eateth not the bread of idleness. 
 
 These are comprehensive statements, summing up the numerous 
 particulars already given. 
 
 28. Her children arise up, and call her blessed : her 
 husband also, and he praiseth her. 
 
 “Arise up” to make their testimony the more emphatic and im- 
 pressive. They pronounce her blessed — worthy of honor and of 
 praise — worthy of the joy that- comes by reaction from so much 
 well-doing. Her husband has abundant cause to join in these tes- 
 timonials to her princely worth. 
 
 29. Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou ex- 
 cellest them all. 
 
 The character here described is a paragon of womanly virtues. 
 While others have done well, she excels them all. 
 
 30. Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain : but a woman 
 that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. 
 
 “Favor” appropriately means grace of person, and probably, 
 here, of manner. Stuart gives it “ loveliness.” These qualities of 
 person are deceptive and more or less transient ; but qualities that 
 lie in the heart, and especially those of true piety, have enduring 
 value and deserve unqualified commendation. 
 
 31. Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own 
 works praise her in the gates. 
 
 The best critics take the word rendered “give” from a root 
 which may mean to praise. Praise her according to the fruit of 
 
PROVERBS— CHAP. XXXI. 
 
 207 
 
 her hands. Let all her works praise her in the great assembly 
 of the people. The moral bearing of such an example, so beau- 
 
 tifully commended, must have been eminently wholesome in those 
 ancient times. It is scarcely less so in our age, although the 
 modes of domestic life and labor have so greatly changed. The 
 same qualities of massive goodness; the same capabilities for fill- 
 ing perfectly her domestic sphere; the same words of wisdom in 
 her mouth and the same law of kindness on her tongue, are never 
 out of order — must be in every age the cardinal elements of woman’s 
 power and of woman’s worth. The verdict of the good through 
 all ages goes unanimously to the praise of such mothers of man- 
 kind. 
 
ECCLESIASTES 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 N o one of the canonical books of the Bible has been inter 
 preted more variously than this. No one has seemed to tax the 
 skill of the best critics more severely. This diversity of views 
 has not been limited to the exposition of particular passages, but 
 has reached the fundamental questions of authorship and date, 
 the object of the author in his book, and the manner in which 
 he aims to accomplish it. While many have accepted the testi- 
 mony of the book itself that Solomon was the author, some have 
 utterly denied this, attributing it to an unknown writer subsequent 
 to the restoration — in the age of Ezra, or of Malachi, or even of 
 the Maccabees. And in regard to the character of the book, some 
 have accounted it a philosophical essay on the chief good of man ; 
 others, a record of the actual experiences of the author and of 
 his varying moods of thought and feeling; while yet another 
 class have in a sort combined these two theories, supposing that 
 the author aims to teach, first what is, then what is not, man’s 
 highest good, and how to insure and not to miss it, drawing 
 largely from his own experience as well as from the wide range 
 
 of his personal observation. Critics have also held opposite 
 
 opinions on the question whether the author expresses skeptical 
 views as to the future life and the moral government of God in 
 this ; and if so, whether he states them as his own convictions 
 or as the sentiments of a supposed objector. 
 
 It will be readily seen that some of these points affect not merely 
 
 ( 209 ) 
 
210 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the critical but the popular mind and serve to make the perusal 
 of this book perplexing and unsatisfactory. Yet all critics agree 
 that the book is truly a part of the Jewish sacred Scriptures, re- 
 ceived into their canon by the same authority as other books and 
 indorsed by Christ and his Apostles with their divine sanction. 
 There can therefore be not the least doubt that the book, legiti- 
 mately interpreted, is “ profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for 
 correction and instruction in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3: 16.) 
 Can it be so interpreted as to bring out its inherent moral power 
 and redeem it from dangerous or at least damaging misapprehen- 
 sion ? It is a delicate, not to say difficult, undertaking. I ap- 
 
 proach it with diffidence, yet with the hope that the conclusions 
 which have proved in the main satisfactory to myself will also 
 
 prove to be somewhat so to others. My views differ in some 
 
 respects widely from those of many able critics, some of whom 
 ( e . g ., Stuart and Hengstenberg) are evangelical, but most of whom 
 are neological. Of their opinions it behooves me to speak respect, 
 fully, and of my own not dogmatically. I do not propose in these 
 notes to controvert the opinions of others extensively, but rather 
 to present my own with only brief allusions to the views and argu- 
 ments of those from whom I differ, deeming this method best 
 adapted to promote the interest and profit of the class for whom I 
 write. 
 
 It will be useful to the reader to study with care the following 
 points which belong naturally to an introduction : 
 
 I. The Author. 
 
 II. The theme and special aim of the book. 
 
 III. The style or dialect. 
 
 IY. The author’s alleged skepticism. 
 
 Y. His alleged epicureanism, in commending “mirth” and pres- 
 ent enjoyment. 
 
 YI. The practical value of the book for the age when it was 
 written and for all ages. 
 
 I. The Author. — I accept the testimony of the book as to its 
 author, and hold that it was written by Solomon. His name is not 
 given, but he is described so fully and precisely as to preclude all 
 doubt. The author was a “ son of David and king in Jerusalem ” 
 (v. 1); was “king over Israel in Jerusalem” (chap. 1: 12). Solo- 
 mon is the only man in whom these conditions meet. And there 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 211 
 
 is no apparent reason why the omission of his name should preju- 
 dice his claim of authorship. He may have had reasons for this 
 omission, some of which may be suggested in the sequel. Yet 
 further, the entire current of Jewish tradition sustains his author- 
 ship. Both Stuart and Hengstenberg, though they deny that Solo- 
 mon was the author, admit that the voice of the early Jewish and 
 Christian fathers down to the sixteenth century is unanimous for 
 Solomon. This testimony of the Jewish fathers, running back 
 nearly or quite to the age of the compilers of the canon, should 
 have great weight. 
 
 Moreover, the account which the author gives of the salient 
 points of his life (chap. 2 : 4-10) identifies him as being really 
 Solomon. “I made me great works; I builded me houses,” etc.; 
 “I gathered me silver and gold; I was great and increased more 
 than all” [not merely all kings but all men] “that were before 
 me in Jerusalem.” Those who deny that Solomon wrote the book 
 find themselves compelled to admit that the speaker here is Solo- 
 mon — introduced as they suppose by the writer to say these things 
 and then withdraw. But according to the book this “1” is the 
 author himself. 
 
 It should be noted that the opening statement of the book is one 
 of the usual forms in which the Hebrew writers introduce them- 
 selves to their readers and claim authorship. “ The words of the 
 preacher , the son of David, king in Jerusalem.” So we have “ The 
 words of Jeremiah” etc. (Jer. 1: 1); “ The words of Amos ” 
 (Amos 1: 1). Hence there can be no doubt that the writer in- 
 tended to represent himself to be Solomon. The reference to his 
 preeminent wisdom and to his “setting in order many proverbs” 
 (chap. 12: 9) bears toward the same result. Throughout the 
 entire range of Jewish history Solomon stands forth preeminent 
 for wisdom and the only Jewish author known to the world as 
 
 “setting in order many proverbs.” All these points concur to 
 
 show that the writer claimed to be Solomon, and therefore prove 
 either that he was Solomon and said these things in honest truth 
 of himself, or was a pretender, trying to pass himself off for what 
 he was not; in other words, an impostor. The latter alternative 
 
 is to my mind exceedingly revolting. The fact that Solomon 
 
 styles himself “the preacher” (Heb. “Coheleth”) bears not at all 
 against his being the author. The best criticism sustains this 
 sense of the Hebrew word, given even by the translator of the 
 
212 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 Septuagint who translates “ Ecclesiastes ” — one who addresses a 
 public assembly — a preacher. — By the use of this term he meant 
 to indicate that in this book he appears, not in his usual and well 
 known character, of a king on his throne ; not as a monarch on 
 the tribunal of justice, but simply a preacher of moral truth. He 
 comes forth with a moral purpose, to exhort his fellow-men to de- 
 sist from seeking their supreme good in sensual enjoyment. He 
 comes to reason with them of “righteousness, temperance, and a 
 judgment to come.” He lays off for the time his robes of royalty, 
 and is simply a preacher . The term therefore is eminently appro- 
 priate for Solomons use to designate his purpose and character 
 in this book. 
 
 I am well aware that the authorship of Solomon has been boldly 
 denied, and that this denial has been defended with much learning 
 and by arguments which, if not irrelevant, must be admitted to have 
 
 weight. The main arguments are drawn from two sources: 
 
 (1.) The dialect in which the book is written; and (2.) The inci- 
 dental allusions to existing circumstances, e. y., unjust rulers; 
 governmental oppression ; a state of public calamity and of gen- 
 eral despondency. Those who deny that Solomon was the author 
 claim that on both these grounds the book could not have been 
 written by him, since neither its dialect nor the historical facts 
 which it assumes to be then existing belong to his age. These 
 main points will receive attention in their place. A few minor 
 points may be disposed of briefly here. 
 
 Hengstenberg boldly takes the strongest ground, saying, “ The 
 book of Ecclesiastes was not only not composed by Solomon, but 
 does not even pretend to have been” (pp. 44 and 8). This asser- 
 tion may be left to the reader’s good sense. Any one can see what 
 the author of the book does say of himself. It need not sur- 
 
 prise us that after this assertion, Hengstenberg should suggest that 
 when the author wrote (chap. 1: 12) “I, the preacher, was king 
 over Israel,” he “forgot himself,” i. e., it slipped his mind for the 
 moment that he was only to personate and act the part of Sol- 
 omon, and so, unconsciously, he virtually said, “I am Solomon.” 
 But is it entirely legitimate for an interpreter to assume that his 
 author did not know what he said, and did not say what he meant, 
 
 or at least ought to have meant? Prof. Stuart avers that it can 
 
 not be Solomon who says (1 : 12), “I was king in Jerusalem,” be- 
 cause the tense of “was” implies past time merely to the exclusion 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 21S 
 
 of present, i. e., I was but am not now. Solomon was king till his 
 death, and therefore could not have said, “I was king.” But this 
 is a very extraordinary mistake for such a critic as Prof. Stuart, 
 since it is a well settled principle that this Hebrew preter tense 
 often implies past time coming down to and including the present. 
 I was and am still. Indeed Prof. S. himself, in this very commen- 
 tary, declares and applies this principle, and refers to the grammar 
 in proof of it. (See his comment on chap. 3 : 15, on p. 179, and on 
 chap. 6: 10, p. 235.) Besides, if there were some force instead of 
 none at all in this criticism of his, what should forbid the sense — 
 I was king when I made the experiments in pleasure-seeking to 
 which I now call your attention ? Just now I am rather the preacher 
 
 than the king. Again, he says, “How strange that Solomon 
 
 should tell his readers that he was king in Jerusalem,” a fact that 
 every body would know. But this objection disappears when you 
 admit the fact that Solomon wrote, or at least may have written, 
 not for his Hebrew subjects only or even chiefly, but for people in 
 outlying countries and onward in coming ages — a fact of which 
 
 the book affords very strong if not conclusive proof. When 
 
 Solomon says (1: 16), “I acquired more wisdom than all who 
 were in Jerusalem before me,” Prof. S. assumes that he must com- 
 pare himself with kings only, of whom there was but one — David. 
 But what forbids that he should compare himself with all men ? 
 And how much is the matter helped on his own hypothesis, which 
 is that some unknown writer in the age of Ezra or Malachi put 
 
 these words in the mouth of Solomon? Again, he objects that 
 
 it was not modest for Solomon to speak of his own wisdom as he 
 
 does in chap. 1 : 16 and 2: 9, 15, 19. Perhaps it was not. It 
 
 is not essential that we should vindicate his modesty. Yet the 
 fact of his superior wisdom was so prominent and so universally 
 admitted, and withal being somewhat vital to his argument in the 
 present case, perhaps his offense is not unpardonable. Or rather, 
 perhaps it ought not to bear seriously against his being the author 
 
 of this book. The various allusions to oppressive and unjust 
 
 rulers and to egregious misgovernments, Prof. S. thinks could not 
 have come from Solomon because no such evils were then present 
 among hia people; or if they were so, he could and should have 
 corrected them himself at once. But if Solomon wrote for readers 
 in other countries, this objection becomes irrelevant. There was 
 always misgovernment enough existing in those heathen tribes and 
 
214 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 nations. Moreover, it is not altogether clear that there was not 
 some ground for complaint against Solomon himself in the latter 
 years of his reign. The feeling so manifest upon the accession of 
 his son plainly indicates a sense of oppression among his own peo- 
 ple. It is certainly supposable that this sense of being oppressed 
 
 came to the knowledge of Solomon before his death. Again, 
 
 Prof. S. pleads that what is said (chap. 5: 1) respecting temple 
 offerings and services (“Keep thy foot w r hen thou goest to the 
 house of God, and be more read} 7 to hear than to give the sacrifice 
 of fools”) hardly accords with the views given respecting the 
 worship at the temple in the history (1 K. 3: 3, 4, 15 and 8: 5, 
 62-64, etc). To which it is pertinent to reply that precisely such 
 a development of splendor and attractiveness in the externals of 
 the temple-worship would draw together thousands of heartless 
 men who would need the very caution which Solomon here gives 
 
 them. Has it not always been so? Remarkably Prof. S. urges 
 
 that the “ passage (7 : 26-28) respecting the extreme baseness of 
 women seems hardly consonant with the views of him who had 
 seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines (1 K. 11 : 1-8), 
 and who was devoted, more than any other Jewish king known tc 
 
 us, 4o amatory enjoyments.” But it is much sounder philosophy 
 
 to say that this conclusion is precisely what should be expected 
 from such abuse of the marriage relation. How could Solomon 
 know any thing of the tenderness, the fidelity, and the purity of 
 woman’s character? Writing near the close of such a connubial 
 life, what other or better testimony from his experience could be 
 expected? In view of Solomon’s life, this passage testifies not sc 
 much against woman as against the ruin of all the nobler elements 
 
 of womanhood by polygamy and concubinage. A few other 
 
 objections founded in misinterpretation are best reserved for notice 
 when the passages themselves come under consideration. 
 
 In regard to this question of authorship it has seemed to me both 
 legitimate and right that my mind should be influenced very con- 
 siderably in the outset by these considerations ; viz. : that the book 
 is found in the sacred canon; that it must therefore have been 
 accepted by the original compilers of the canon as in some vital 
 sense inspired ; and that they must have known whether the author 
 was in fact Solomon or some nameless writer who set up a claim to 
 be Solomon, but who really lived in their own age and under their 
 own eye. Now I find the utmost difficulty in bringing my mind to 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 215 
 
 believe that Ezra and his associates, or as some suppose, his suc- 
 cessors, placed this book in the sacred Hebrew canon, knowing 
 that it was not written by Solomon in any sense or in any part, but 
 was really written in their own times by some man who tried to 
 personate Solomon. Those who at a somewhat later day had the 
 canon in charge carefully excluded from it the spurious writings 
 which now apppear in the Apocrypha, e. g ., those attributed to 
 Ezra [Esdras], to Daniel, Baruch, Jeremiah, Solomon, etc. The 
 spurious character of these writings sufficed to exclude them from 
 the Hebrew canon. There were probably other reasons ; yet who 
 can doubt that their spuriousness alone would suffice to rule them 
 
 out? The same principle obtained in the formation of the New 
 
 Testament canon. Spurious books, e. g., letters falsely claiming to 
 
 have been written by Paul, were, of course, excluded, If 
 
 Ecclesiastes is spurious, it stands alone in this respect among all 
 the books of both the old Testament and the New. The rule of 
 rejecting spurious writings, i. e ., forgeries, was faithfully observed 
 
 in every case but this. This principle commends itself to our 
 
 sense of propriety and to all just views of inspiration. Of all men, 
 he who is inspired of God should be expected to deal honestly and 
 to speak truthfully. It outrages our convictions of God’s eternal 
 veracity and honesty to suppose that he directly inspired some 
 servant of his in the age of Ezra or of Malachi to personate Solomon 
 and claim to be, or to have been, a “ son of David ” and “ king over 
 Israel in Jerusalem.” Nor does it much relieve the difficulty to 
 suppose that this nameless writer himself first conceived this notion 
 of passing himself off for Solomon and built his book upon it, and 
 that then the Lord accepted the book as u profitable for doctrine, 
 reproof,” etc., and consequently directed his inspired servants to 
 give it a place in the sacred canon.— — Let us now for a moment 
 shift our stand-point and look at this subject from another side. 
 Suppose the doctrine held by so many modern critics to be true. 
 Suppose that Solomon never wrote this book nor any thing of the 
 sort. It was written (let it be supposed) by one Pseudo, who 
 
 lived in the age of Malachi. Then we have no proof from any 
 
 authentic record that Solomon ever became heart-sick of his pur- 
 suit of worldly pleasure, or ever saw his sin in this matter, or ever 
 came in his latter days to a deep sense of the duty of fearing and 
 obeying God, and of the certainty and solemnity of the final judg- 
 ment. All this, as actual knowledge, testified to by himself or by 
 10 
 
216 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 any reliable record of his own times, is blotted out, and is not. 
 
 How did Pseudo, living six hundred years later, get this knowl- 
 edge ? He has not told us. All he says on the subject is — “ I am 
 Solomon himself.’’ But this very pretension convicts him of false- 
 hood. How then can we believe any thing else he has to say ? 
 
 Again, if Pseudo, writing for a good moral end, had wished to ben- 
 efit the world by the results of Solomon’s experience, why did he 
 not refer to Solomon’s history in the legitimate way which all 
 other sacred writers have adopted ? Observe how Nehemiah does 
 it (chap. 13 : 26). Whole chapters of sacred writ are made up 
 in this way, reciting the history of former times and the experi- 
 ences of historic men, for the moral benefit of generations then 
 
 living or yet to live. See (e. g.,) Neh. 9 and Ps. 78. Such a 
 
 method is honest and legitimate. If Pseudo had done this over 
 his own name and in the manner of an honest writer, we could 
 readily accept it for what it would be worth — so much tradition 
 — hanging by a long thread indeed, but, perhaps, having some 
 
 truth at the farther end. Can we approach this theory of the 
 
 authorship of Ecclesiastes with any other feeling than that of a 
 deep and just repugnance ? 
 
 Taking up the book with these views, I have naturally inquired 
 whether a careful study of the history of Solomon, coupled with 
 an equally careful study of this book, would not suggest a satis- 
 factory view of its scope and purpose and thus afford a clue to its 
 just exposition, in full harmony with the theory that Solomon was 
 the author. [This inquiry belongs to our second topic and will be 
 prosecuted there.] 
 
 The reader will judge how far this attempt seems to be sucess- 
 ful. If successful, he will readily see that this theory must al- 
 most of necessity be true. If it harmonizes with both the external 
 facts of the book and with its internal character; if it gives a 
 book from Solomon according to the demands of the text, and also 
 gives us a purpose and an argument legitimate for Solomon and 
 every way befitting his circumstances and his character, then it 
 has a claim to be accepted which can not reasonably be set aside. 
 Hence we come next to consider — 
 
 II. The Theme and Special Aim of the Book — These are 
 points of vital moment. Fortunately its great theme is propounded 
 very distinctly; “Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 217 
 
 vanity.” The utter vanity of all earthly things when sought as 
 the chief good of man, stands out strongly in the opening sentence 
 as the text of this sermon: it re-appears repeatedly during the 
 
 discourse: it is made emphatic in the conclusion (12: 8). To 
 
 prove this to his readers and to impress it upon their mind and 
 heart, he adduces his own exhaustive experience ; he also draws 
 largely from his observation of other men; he takes up in detail 
 numerous forms of earthly good which men are wont to seek, his 
 eye sweeping the range not of Israel alone but of the “provinces” 
 — those other tribes and countries with which his readers and 
 himself were familiar — all converging to the same grand conclu- 
 sion. His argumentation is not tied down to the rules of modern 
 logic. His strain is usually discursive and not closely consecutive, 
 so that it is often difficult, perhaps sometimes impossible, to trace 
 with certainty any logical connection between his successive topics. 
 Some of the points may seem to have at best only a remote bear- 
 ing upon his main theme. Probably if we understood better the 
 type of mind which he was specially addressing and the circum- 
 stances of the times under which he wrote, what seems now al- 
 most irrelevant might appear specially pertinent and timely. The 
 state of the author’s own mind and the views of those for whom 
 he adapted his argument need to be known somewhat thoroughly 
 in order to see the pertinence, beauty, and force of his book. 
 Hence the personal history of Solomon up to the time when he 
 wrote this book should be carefully studied in connection with 
 the book itself as the legitimate means of obtaining the clue to 
 his special aim and purpose in writing it. 
 
 The early life of Solomon and the great events of the first half 
 of his reign are well known. There is no occasion therefore to 
 eulogize his wisdom, or to descant upon the radiant promise of 
 piety, usefulness and honor with which his royal career opened. 
 We all know how assiduously and nobly he devoted himself to 
 the building of the temple ; how gorgeous and splendid a structure 
 he reared; with what august ceremonials and with what beauti- 
 ful appropriateness he ministered to its solemn dedication to the 
 God of his fathers. We remember also how he opened a vigorous 
 trade with Tyre, with Tarshish and doubtless other ports on the 
 Western Mediterranean; with Ophir also, and with ports on the 
 Indian Ocean ; and moreover, through Tadmor in the wilderness, 
 with the mighty East; — indeed with the entire commercial world 
 
218 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of his age. Now it is obvious that these commercial relations 
 
 involved somewhat intimate political relations as well. The his- 
 tory indicates such relations with Tyre and with Egypt. It can 
 scarcely be doubted that these political relations led him on ac- 
 cording to the usages of the times to the marrying of foreign wives 
 
 as a means of cementing political alliances. Now let it be 
 
 noted; these three facts of his regal life; his foreign commerce; 
 his political alliances ; and his heathen, idolatrous wives, were each 
 and all in violation of the spirit of the Hebrew Theocracy. The en- 
 tire policy of God’s administration over Israel aimed to make them 
 as a people simply agricultural and not commercial. The prophets 
 constantly denounce all intimate alliance with foreign powers. 
 (See Isa. 30 and 31.) The law explicitly forbade the king to mul- 
 tiply wives to himself, lest they turn away his heart. (See Deut. 
 17 : 17 and 7 : 3, 4 and Ex. 34: 16.) These three great sins com- 
 bined their influence to weaken the moral stamina of the king and 
 to ensnare him into deeper apostacy from God. It was not in the 
 nature of a wisdom merely human, however masterly, to withstand 
 such temptations. Even the great Solomon fell before them. The 
 inspired record of his fall is brief but painfully expressive. 
 
 “ But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the 
 daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edom- 
 ites, Zidonians, and Hittites ; Of the nations concerning which the 
 Lord said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, 
 neither shall they come in unto you : for surely they will turn away 
 your heart after their gods : Solomon clave unto these in love. 
 And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred 
 concubines: and his wives turned away his heart. For it came to 
 pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart 
 after other gods : and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his 
 God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after 
 Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the 
 abomination of the Ammonites. And Solomon did evil in the sight 
 of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord, as did David his 
 father. Then did Solomon build a high place for Chemosh, the 
 abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for 
 Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. And likewise 
 did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed 
 unto their gods.” (1 K. 11 : 1-8). 
 
 The reader will note the main points : that Solomon was then 
 old ; that his many wives and concubines were from the adjacent 
 heathen nations; that Solomon “loved them” — “clave to them in 
 love;” and that they turned away his heart from the true God to 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 219 
 
 the gods of the heathen. Add to this the yet more brief allusion 
 
 made by Nehemiah (13: 26); “Did not Solomon, king of Israel, 
 sin by these things [the marriage of heathen wives] ? Yet among 
 many nations was there no king like him who was beloved of his 
 God, and God made him king over all Israel; nevertheless, even 
 him did outlandish women cause to sin.” Alas, that so great a 
 king should make so great a fall ! These latter years of Solo- 
 
 mon’s reign lie under a dark cloud. Little is said of them pertain- 
 ing either to the kingdom or the king. The sacred historian — or 
 rather shall we say the Divine Spirit who guided his pen — was too 
 honest to ignore the painful fact of the king’s fall ; yet on the other 
 hand this fact and its consequences to the social and religious life 
 of the nation and its king are dismissed with few words as an 
 unwelcome theme. Some things, however, may be inferred safely 
 from the inevitable influence of such apostacy, and are confirmed 
 moreover by the developments made at the king’s death in connec- 
 tion with the accession of his son. Thus it was inevitable that the 
 king’s apostasy should operate disastrously upon public morals and 
 piety. There was an appalling change from Solomon upon his 
 knees before the assembled people offering prayer at the dedication 
 of the temple, to the same Solomon building altars and shrines to 
 the gods of Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Tyre. It was disastrous 
 that this same great king, after leading the pious in their sacred 
 worship during the early years of his reign should in his later 
 years head this base idolatry which he had himself imported with 
 his heathen wives and concubines, and had installed in the high 
 places of social position and royal favor. The influence upon the 
 masses of the people must have been exceedingly pervading and 
 fearful because of the prestige of wisdom, splendor, and dignity 
 which invested the throne. When, at Solomon’s death, we find 
 that Jeroboam’s scheme of semi-idolatry met with no remonstrance 
 from the masses of the ten tribes, we see ample reason to conclude 
 
 that the tone of national piety had greatly declined. It is also 
 
 obvious that when Solomon gave his heart so entirely and so sin- 
 fully to his strange wives and to the numerous foreigners who 
 must have filled his court, he withdrew his heart from his people, 
 and consequently lost, in great measure, their profound esteem and 
 love. For, if he had retained their love till his death, the power 
 of his name would have seated his son immovably upon the 
 father’s throne. But it is quite apparent that the revolution met 
 
220 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 with no special resistance from any cherished remembrance of 
 their late sovereign. On the contrary, it appears that they had 
 been galled by his severe exactions of tribute, and that this was 
 practically the one thing which remained impressed on their minds 
 and holding over after that once honored head was laid in the 
 dust. We must, therefore, conclude that the love and respect of 
 his people which Solomon unquestionably enjoyed during the early 
 years of his reign had signally disappeared before his death. The 
 loss of it will no doubt account in part for his personal restiveness 
 and wretchedness in the midst of unparalleled external splendor. 
 It helped to intensify his sense of the utter vanity of human thrones 
 — filled unworthily. In his mind it must have given a thrilling 
 significance to the words of his text: “Vanity of vanities, saith the 
 Preacher; all is vanity.” 
 
 We shall fail to reach the fountain-sin of Solomon’s later and 
 apostate life if we stop with idolatry and overlook that love of the 
 world which in all ages “ worketh death.” The heart of Solomon 
 became a pleasure-loving heart; his life a pleasure-seeking life. 
 He sought pleasure in wealth and splendor ; he sought it in fame 
 and honor; he sought it in all forms of sensual enjoyment. The 
 immense resources at his command were lavishly expended upon 
 this one object. Such pleasure-seeking swept him away from the 
 fear and service of God. It was to him, we may fairly assume, 
 “the root of all evil.” It led him on to those associations which 
 ensnared him into idolatry. A gracious providence spared Solo- 
 
 mon to live till he became convicted, even if not radically peni- 
 tent. After so much guilty wandering, he “ came to himself and 
 thought on his ways.” It can not be said on authority that he 
 ever saw clearly the guilt of his idolatry, but it is plain that he 
 saw the folly of his pleasure-loving life and felt the solemn obli- 
 gation resting on all rational beings 11 to fear God and keep his 
 commandments” as their supreme duty. Having reached these 
 convictions, it was inevitable that he should feel the importance 
 of undoing, so far as he might be able, the mischiefs he had done. 
 For this purpose he became “the Preacher,” and wrote this book. 
 
 Here we meet a question, vital to the legitimate interpretation 
 of the book, viz., For whom , definitely , was it prepared ? What 
 class of people were specially in his mind; for whom consequently 
 both the style of language and the course of thought would be 
 carefully adapted ? 1 answer, Those who had been most directly 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 221 
 
 under hi 3 influence and with whom in the most sinning years of 
 his life he had been intimately associated. These were — (1.) His 
 wives and concubines, and their family connections and special 
 friends; and (2.) His political allies and admirers in foreign 
 courts; and (3.) His commercial acquaintances to whom his ex- 
 tensive foreign trade had introduced him; (4.) Those also who 
 like the Queen of Sheba had been attracted to him by his fame 
 
 for wisdom. In close intimacy with all these classes he had 
 
 sinned. Before them it was altogether appropriate that he should 
 bear this testimony of confession and of solemn truth for their 
 admonition. He could not but know that they (like the Queen 
 of Sheba) had looked upon him as a paragon of success in the 
 pursuit of worldly happiness. His brilliant reign, his immense 
 wealth, his unprecedented splendor, his almost unlimited provision 
 of those most coveted appliances for the gratification of every 
 taste and every sense conspired to make him the great Observed 
 Man of the age. His personal influence upon the hearts of the 
 
 aspirants for worldly pleasure must have been unbounded. 
 
 Hence when he came to see the grand mistake and sin of his 
 heart and of his life, and came also to see how pernicious his in- 
 fluence had been especially upon these classes, how could he do 
 less than precisely what he has done in this book ? That he 
 should write especially for these classes is so appropriate in itself — 
 is so legitimate as one of the fruits of a convicted heart — that we 
 naturally assume and expect it. We do not see how he could 
 
 fail to do it, or could be willing to die till he had done it. 
 
 Why he is silent in reference to the sin of idolatry, it may not 
 be possible to say absolutely. It may be that his convictions of 
 guilt in that respect were less deep and truthful than we should 
 naturally expect in a penitent man. This view is favored by the 
 fact that in his best days, he “sacrificed and burnt incense in 
 high places.’’ (See 1 Kings 3: 3, 4.) Or it may be that he ac- 
 counted his pleasure-loving spirit and life his chief sin — the foun- 
 tain of all his other sins — and therefore restricted his book to this. 
 Or we may class this omission under the general fact that prior 
 to the apostolic age aggressive assaults upon foreign idolatry were 
 never made and seem not to have been regarded as within the scope 
 of religious work. Or perhaps in view of all the circumstances 
 of his life, he was led of God to regard this discussion of man’s 
 chief good as his special work, to which he was preeminently 
 
222 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 fitted and to which therefore God definitely called him — leaving 
 to others what others could do as well or better than he. Upon 
 this point no light of revelation has fallen. I must therefore leave 
 
 it with only these brief conjectural hints. The hypothesis that 
 
 Solomon wrote somewhat specifically for those with and before 
 whom he had especially sinned, seems to me to be a legitimate 
 dictate of common sense. Given, the wise but sensual and sin- 
 ning Solomon, now impressed with a sense of his sin and folly, 
 and of his consequent duty to obviate the mischiefs thereof — and 
 we have as a result, this book , written for those who had most 
 emulated his pernicious example. 
 
 Now in the light of this hypothesis, two prominent features of 
 this book — the same which have been the main ground of objec- 
 tion to Solomon as the author — receive a satisfactory elucidation ; 
 viz., the dialect in which the book is written, and the somewhat 
 frequent allusions to misgovernment and civil oppression. This 
 oppression may have been chiefly outside of his own kingdom, 
 and precisely under the direct observation of many of his readers. 
 
 There was enough of it there. His dialect manifestly came 
 
 from the outlying countries and was intended to go back to them 
 again. 1 shall have occasion to speak of both these points some- 
 what in detail in another place. Moreover, this hypothesis in 
 
 regard to the special design of the book accounts for the fact 
 that its argument addresses mainly a class of readers moving in 
 the higher strata of society — the rich and well-conditioned who 
 have high aspirations for worldly pleasure and large means for 
 its pursuit. The author does indeed allude to the toiling and 
 down-trodden millions ; but the main drift of his argument adapts 
 itself rather to men who are seeking great fortunes or who have 
 
 already gained them. And further, if we accept the hypothesis 
 
 that a considerable portion of those for whom he specially wrote 
 were foreign merchants or men of foreign courts, we get some 
 relief from these difficulties otherwise felt; viz., Why is the moral 
 tone of many of his precepts so low? And why this utter ab- 
 sence of allusion to the national history of the Hebrew people in 
 illustration of God’s moral and providential government over 
 
 men ? These and kindred points have seemed to me to constitute 
 
 the most stubborn difficulties of the book. They are certainly re- 
 lieved very considerably if we may assume that Solomon wrote it 
 especially for those whose training had been under the darkness 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 223 
 
 of tlie- outlying lands, and that therefore he let himself down to 
 their intellectual and moral state. Thus Paul, before Jewish 
 audiences, “reasoned out of their own Scriptures from morning 
 till evening ” (Acts 28 : 23), but before the men of Athens, only 
 from the great book of nature and from the testimony of the 
 human conscience, with the addition perhaps of their own poets 
 and altar inscriptions (Acts IT : 22-34). So Solomon had for the 
 basis of his argument the universal conception of some great 
 God; the moral convictions as to right and wrong of all human 
 souls; and a wide range of personal experience and observation, 
 coupled with the analogous though more limited experience and 
 observation of his readers. From those sources he drew his staple 
 
 arguments ; upon their basis he rests his appeals. A higher 
 
 plane, intellectually and morally, was even in that age held by 
 the men of favored Israel — the land where God had long dwelt 
 and had recorded his name; but Solomon seems not to assume 
 that his readers are in that higher plane, nor does he propose at 
 once to raise them up to it. Does not this view of the case ac- 
 count for the lack of a higher moral tone in this book ; for the 
 fact of only the slightest allusion to religious worship and institu- 
 tions, and no allusion whatever to Hebrew history or a written 
 revelation? Have we not a good reason for the fact that this is 
 a treatise on natural and not revealed religion? This argu- 
 
 ment places his thousand wives and their associates, who were 
 mostly of heathen origin and education, in the same class essen- 
 tially with the princes and merchants of the same foreign lands. 
 Coming into Israel to reside, they did not come to adopt and en- 
 joy the religion of Israel, but brought their own, and therefore, 
 
 intellectually and morally, remained unchanged. It may not 
 
 be amiss to suggest here that a theory of the book which meets 
 all its difficult points so readily and naturally, and which cor- 
 responds so completely with the known and supposable features 
 of Solomon s reign and character — with his connubial, commercial 
 and political relations — presents strong claims to be accepted as true. 
 
 III. The Style or Dialect of the Book. — This is quite pe- 
 culiar. There is no extant Hebrew of the same character. Indeed 
 there is none which very closely resembles it. The writers after 
 the exile present more of its peculiarities than any other books 
 extant; yet even their dialect is quite unlike this. The resem- 
 
224 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 blances, such as they are, have been the staple argument with many 
 learned critics in their attempt to prove that Solomon could not have 
 written this book, and that some unknown author, living between 
 Ezra and the Maccabees — i. e., from fifty to three hundred years after 
 the restoration from Babylon — must have produced it. The spe- 
 
 cial features of this dialect can not be presented profitably before 
 the merely English reader. Nor is it at all necessary. I have no 
 controversy with the critics here referred to in regard to the fa^t 
 of a diversity of style between this book and the book of Proverbs, 
 for example, or the Psalms of David. But I account for this di- 
 versity upon an entirely different hypothesis. They say it belongs 
 to a later age. I maintain that it belongs not to a later age but to 
 another 'people. As already said and shown, the latter years of 
 Solomon’s life brought him into the closest relationship with for- 
 eigners, people of outlying lands — Tyre, Moab, Ammon, Edom, 
 Arabia. They constituted his family, his court, and hence his 
 most intimate associates at home; they were in closest corre- 
 spondence with him abroad. Add to this his knowledge of adjacent 
 dialects gained by foreign travel; for Solomon “went” to Hamath- 
 zobah; “went” to Ezion-geber; and probably located and built 
 Tadmor after personal inspection. (See 2 Chron. 8: 3, 4, 17). 
 It follows inevitably that he would become familiar with their di- 
 alect. It does not follow that he lost his vernacular dialect, but 
 only that he became familiar with the dialect of the “ outlandish 
 women” (Neh. 13: 26) who drew him into sin, and of the out- 
 landish princes and men of trade with whom he was in constant 
 
 and somewhat intimate association. -This being admitted, we 
 
 may advance another step. Having become familiar with this 
 dialect, and having occasion to write specially for this class of 
 people, Solomon used it. Why should not he ? No reason can be 
 given why he should not; there is every reason why he should. 
 
 But it will be asked, What is the proof that this dialect of 
 
 the outlying countries in Solomon’s time corresponds with that of 
 
 Ecclesiastes? 1. It is held by all learned critics, and is indeed 
 
 altogethed undeniable, that the Hebrew, or some dialect of it, was 
 the language of all those countries of Southwestern Asia, includ- 
 ing the original Canaanites, Philistines, Phenicians ( i e ., the peo- 
 ple of Tyre and Sidon), Syria, Moab, Ammon, Edom, Arabia, and 
 
 even Chaldea. 2. While the spoken dialect changed scarcely 
 
 at all with the lapse of time among the same people, there were 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 225 
 
 jet provincialisms in different localities, and some variety in the 
 dialects spoken by different tribes and nations; Of these provin- 
 cialisms, we have traces in the history of Jephthah (Judges 12: 5, 
 6), as between the men of Ephraim and the men of Gilead on the 
 
 east of Jordan. The test word “Shibboleth” revealed it. 
 
 Diversity of dialect appears in Neh. 13: 23, 24. “I saw Jews who 
 had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab, and their 
 children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak 
 in the Jews’ language, but according to the language of each peo- 
 ple.” It will be noticed that Solomon’s wives came in part from 
 
 these identical countries. Again, as between the “Syrian” and 
 
 the common Hebrew of Palestine, a difference of dialect appears 
 in Isa. 36; 11, when the officers of Hezekiah say to Rabshakeh, 
 “Speak, I pray thee, unto thy servants in the Syrian language, 
 for we understand it: and speak not to us in the Jews’ language, 
 in the ears of the people that are upon the wall.” This language, 
 called “ Syrian,” was that of Assyria, yet not very widely diverse 
 from that of the Jews. It would seem that the higher classes, 
 especially those of the court, understood it, but that the lower 
 
 classes did not. The Chaldee proper, the language of Babylon 
 
 at the time of the exile, was yet farther removed from the Hebrew 
 of Palestine, but was of the same family or group of languages. 
 The countries lying nearer to Canaan, e. g ., Edom, Moab, Am- 
 mon, Tyre, and Syria, had dialects that were much less remote 
 from the Hebrew of Israel than the Chaldean was. 3. Fortu- 
 
 nately, we are able to advance yet further, and adduce evidence 
 little short of demonstration to the point now in question. It 
 happens that some remains of the ancient Phenician language 
 (that of Tyre and Sidon), have come down to our times. By an- 
 cient here I mean as old as the age of Solomon. Gesenius has 
 published a work entitled “ Monuments of the Phenician Lan- 
 guage,” in which he says (as quoted by Stuart on Ecclesiastes, p. 
 80), “ The Phenician remains are more kindred to the later than 
 to the earlier Hebrew, e. g ., the relative “ashr” is abbreviated 
 and only the middle consonant is fully written — an important cir- 
 cumstance for the history of the Hebrew language.” This pe- 
 
 culiar use of the relative is one of the most palpable features in 
 the special dialect of Ecclesiastes. Yet Gesenius affirms that pre- 
 cisely this usage of it is universal in the dialect of Tyre in the 
 age of Solomon. And in general the dialect of Tyre in that age 
 
226 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 is more kindred to the Hebrew of Ezra and Malachi than to the 
 Hebrew of David. In other words, by going over the geograph- 
 ical boundaries of Israel in the age of Solomon, you find very 
 nearly the same dialect which you reach by coming down five 
 hundred years in Judah to the age of Ezra and Malachi. So that 
 there is not the least necessity, nor even occasion to come down to 
 the time of Malachi to find a man who could or who naturally would 
 write in the dialect of the book of Ecclesiastes. You have him 
 provided in Solomon himself, made familiar with the then current 
 dialect of Phenicia, and writing for the special use of his foreign 
 wives and his numerous foreign associates, friends, and admirers. 
 At the same time, let it be observed, this dialect would not be so 
 diverse from the Hebrew of Palestine as to be unintelligible to 
 
 the Israelites. It deserves yet more special notice that you do 
 
 not find precisely, or even nearly the dialect of Ecclesiastes in the 
 writings of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Malachi. While Ecclesiastes 
 has some peculiarities that are like theirs, it has more that are 
 unlike. These peculiarities pertain not mainly to grammatical 
 forms, but to the use of new words; of old words in somewhat new 
 senses, and of new derivatives from old roots. Some of these pe- 
 culiarities — we can not perhaps say just how many — may be due 
 to difference of subject. We have no other philosophical essay 
 
 but this in any extant Hebrew. Again, Ecclesiastes differs yet 
 
 more widely from the real Chaldean tongue. Here grammatical 
 forms as well as new words present strong points of diversity. 
 Hence it is worse than vain to search for an author for Ecclesiastes 
 in some geographical location nearer to Chaldea, or in the age of 
 greater Chaldean influence over the spoken Hebrew of Palestine. 
 
 In fine, this argument might probably be made conclusive if 
 
 we had before us sufficient specimens of the Hebrew dialect then in 
 use in Tyre, Edom, Moab, and Arabia. It is very much to our pur- 
 pose that all those remains which are still extant give their whole 
 
 strength to sustain the theory here assumed. Yet another and 
 
 distinct argument may be drawn from the choice of a Hebrew 
 name for God. Let it be borne in mind that these names being 
 all significant, Elohim looks specially to the natural attributes of 
 God ; Jehovah , to his moral attributes. Elohim is God thought of 
 as Almighty, the Lord of nature, the Great God who is infinitely 
 above all the false gods of the heathen; but Jehovah is the God 
 of the promises, forever the same, forever faithful and true, forever 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 227 
 
 more the God of his covenant people. With this distinction in 
 mind, let us consider the fact that in the book of Proverbs the 
 name Elohim occurs but five times; the name Jehovah about 
 ninety times, showing that when writing for his own people, 
 Solomon naturally used the latter name. But in the book of 
 Ecclesiastes, the name Elohim appears thirty-nine times ; the name 
 Jehovah, not once. The people of the outlying lands knew not 
 this sacred name. To them its special significance as a God of 
 promise — a God of covenant — was utterly unknown. Hence the 
 fact that Solomon, writing specially for their reading, never uses 
 this name. 
 
 Yet further, the facts concerning the use of these names of God 
 are in point to explode the favorite Neological theory of the date 
 and author of this book, viz. : that it was written after the resto- 
 ration from Babylon, to comfort the Hebrew people under their 
 national affliction. But let Ecclesiastes be compared, in respect 
 to its use of the names of God, with the known writings of that 
 age. In the Psalms of that period (mostly 91-150), the name 
 Jehovah occurs almost exclusively. In the three prophets of the 
 restoration, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, Elohim occurs in its 
 absolute form five times ; Jehovah no less than two hundred and 
 fourteen times. Yet Ecclesiastes, claimed by the Neologists to 
 bear the same date and to have the same general purpose, gives 
 the name Jehovah not even once ! 
 
 IY. The Alleged Skepticism of the Author. — The points in 
 regard to which skepticism may be charged with some plausibility 
 are not the existence of God ; not his attributes (abstractly viewed) 
 of goodness and justice; but the doctrine of a future life and of God’s 
 
 righteous moral government over men. In the outset there 
 
 arises a preliminary question somewhat vital to the result; viz., 
 Whether we shall assume the author’s self-consistency, and con- 
 sequently whether we shall carry his strong declarations of ortho- 
 dox sentiments in certain passages, to the interpretation of those 
 
 which have the aspect more or less of skepticism. If we do 
 
 assume the author to be throughout self-consistent, we shall con- 
 strue his whole book in a way which will involve no skepticism 
 whatever. On the other hand if it seems admissible to assume 
 that the author is not altogether self-consistent, but intends to 
 give the reader his shifting, changeful moods of thought as thej 
 
228 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 occurred, both in his days of apostasy, and subsequently in his 
 seasons of sober and more just thought, then another construction 
 might be given to his language and we might find skeptical views, 
 obviously as the fruit of a pleasure-loving heart and life, but dis- 
 appearing with his return to a better moral state. At this stage 
 
 of our investigation it is not important to affirm absolutely yea or 
 nay, on this preliminary question. .When the special passages come 
 under consideration, I shall endeavor to show what their sense seems 
 to be and how their interpretation may be modified in accordance 
 
 with either of these alternatives. Extreme views have been 
 
 held on this point, on the one hand by those who make the author 
 more a skeptic than he makes himself; and on the other, by those 
 who in their zeal to acquit him of all suspicion of skepticism, 
 insist that he introduces a skeptical objector to say the words 
 in dispute, and then answers these objections himself. The for- 
 mer class seem to me to violate the rule of charity which requires 
 that of two admissible constructions, of claims otherwise equal, 
 the most orthodox should be preferred if the speaker be a pro- 
 fessedly good man. Also, some have erred by construing as gen- 
 eral or universal statements what the author intended to say with 
 only a specific and limited application. Thus by misinterpretation 
 the author has been subjected to the charge of more skepticism 
 than he is guilty of.— — On the other hand it avails nothing to try 
 to exonerate him by the groundless assumption that the words in 
 question are not his own but those of an ideal or supposed objector. 
 Thus Prof. Stuart, who holds this view, claims to find analogous 
 cases to this in Paul’s Epistles where (e. g ., Rom. 3: 8 and 1 Cor. 
 15 : 35) he says, 11 Let us do evil that good may come and, “ How 
 are the dead raised up ? and with what body do they come ? ” Also 
 
 in the case of Job’s three friends and in Ps. 73. But the reader 
 
 will notice that these cases differ from the case of the author of 
 Ecclesiastes in precisely the vital point. Paul is always careful to 
 draw the line unmistakably between what is said by the objector 
 and what is said by himself. He never leaves you in doubt for 
 a moment whether he is saying these skeptical words as his own 
 sentiments. So also the words of Job’s three friends rest on their 
 responsibility alone. Neither Job nor the Almighty endorse them ; 
 but both disown them. There is no room for the mistake that 
 their doctrine stands in the Bible with the authority of inspira- 
 tion. So the writer of Ps. 73 records certain sentiments which 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 229 
 
 he once entertained ; but he tells us that when he came into the 
 sanctuary of God he saw them to be all wrong and then he ex- 
 claims against himself : “ So foolish was I and ignorant ; I was as 
 a beast before thee !” And now he rejects those views of his for- 
 mer “foolish” and “ignorant” self with strong reprobation! 
 
 But the author of Ecclesiastes gives us no hint whatever of an 
 objector other than himself, nor does he hint that his own views 
 have changed from what they were. He makes no confession of 
 previous skeptical views or darkness of mind from which he subse- 
 quently emerges. He talks right on as if quite unconscious of 
 saying in one passage what he gainsays in another. These con- 
 
 siderations should have force in favor of such a construction of 
 his words as will not involve real skepticism. For in the end (as 
 all admit) he comes out with true and staunch faith in both the 
 
 future life and the just moral government of God. Yet it is 
 
 still supposable [and therefore worth considering] that the author 
 of the book may intend to give the changeful hues of his own 
 thoughts as he passed along through his backsliding, skeptical life, 
 perhaps more than willing that the world should see in his case 
 that a pleasure-loving life by a natural law of mind begets skepti- 
 cism — first leading men to hate the light because their deeds are 
 evil and because this light exposes them very uncomfortably; and 
 then, for the sake of a more quiet conscience, to put darkness for 
 light and light for darkness; i. e., to subvert these irritating moral 
 realities and believe error to be truth and truth to be error. There 
 is no law of mind more important to be understood than this, that 
 persistent sinning in the face of perceived and admitted truth is a 
 perpetual annoyance to a man’s sense of self-respect, and therefore 
 tempts him strongly to repel and pervert the truth which gives him 
 this trouble. Thus it is that error, affording some relief to a con- 
 sciously guilty mind, is made welcome. What a man so wishes to 
 believe he accepts almost unconsciously, and often in the face of 
 
 very clear convictions of both its falsehood and its folly. The 
 
 acute micd of Solomon must have been fully aware of this law of 
 depraved human nature, and therefore, as already suggested, he 
 may have been quite willing that his own example should stand as 
 a moral warning against such abuse of reason and conscience. 
 Such a construction of Solomon’s words is therefore admissible in 
 view of the laws of mind. The question whether it be the true 
 construction is one of interpretation, to be determined therefore 
 
230 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 by its laws. We must consider this when the passages come 
 before us. 
 
 It may not be amiss to suggest here that in my view the points 
 in the book which savor most strongly of skepticism appear, not in 
 the form of distinctly expressed doubts as to the future life, or the 
 moral government of God ; much less in the form of direct denial 
 of those truths ; but rather in the low moral tone of the inferences 
 which he seems to draw from certain great truths (e. g ., the fact 
 of universal mortality) which should stimulate high moral pur- 
 poses. But this feature of the book will come up for consider- 
 ation somewhat in the next general head, and yet more in my 
 notes on the passages themselves. 
 
 Y. The Author’s Alleged Epicureanism in Commending 
 “Mirth” and Present Enjoyment. — The term epicurean is con- 
 venient and current to denote a supreme regard for present sen- 
 sual pleasure. Its spirit is — let us get all we can of such pleasure 
 
 at any cost or any consequences. Do the words of Solomon 
 
 in this book, legitimately interpreted, breathe this spirit and incul- 
 cate this course of life ? 
 
 In the first place if we may assume that he wrote as a sensible 
 and self-consistent man, and if his words will at all bear a self-con- 
 sistent construction, we must construe them as being against , and 
 not in favor of, epicureanism. For, what is the great doctrine of 
 his book ? What but this, — that worldy pleasure, sought as man’s 
 chief good, is utter vanity? That is to say, the substance and 
 soul of the book asserts and re-asserts that the epicurean/ life is 
 an utter failure. Hence nothing can be more palpably self-con- 
 tradictory than for this book to commend the epicurean spirit and 
 life as the best thing possible for man. It is as if Solomon should 
 begin — “My epicurean friends, I have two things to say : first, your 
 whole life and labor are utter vanity: secondly, go on and prosper : 
 make the most of it; for I know of nothing better.” This con- 
 
 struction of the book is a priori violently improbable — to be re- 
 jected therefore if any other can be found less revolting, less 
 absurd and less glaringly inconsistent with the great doctrine of the 
 book. 
 
 The better construction is at hand. It is in itself not unphil- 
 osophical ; and moreover derives support from the view above taken 
 of the special aim of the book as seen in the light of the class 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 231 
 
 particularly addressed. Solomon wrote for pleasure-loving and 
 
 pleasure-seeking men. He is no ascetic himself; he does not be- 
 lieve in decrying the moderate pleasures which God provides for 
 us in our daily food and nightly rest : and he knows that if he 
 were to push the doctrine of the vanity of this world to this ex- 
 treme, his words would only recoil upon himself and would utterly 
 frustrate his great purpose. Therefore he sees the necessity of 
 discriminating sharply between loving the world supremely and 
 loving its legitimate Comforts very moderately ; between grasping 
 it in a spirit that is reckless of God, and accepting certain forms 
 of its pleasure as kindly provided and given of God, to be ac- 
 cepted with gratitude ; between devoting one’s utmost powers to 
 unlimited acquisition, and being satisfied with the moderate enjoy- 
 ments which man’s physical constitution provides for, and God’s 
 love bestows. This discrimination, always important to the effect- 
 ive moral presentation of the subject, was in Solomon’s case alto- 
 gether vital to the least success. Having been over the same 
 ground himself and fully comprehending the character of his con- 
 templated readers, he saw how surely his preaching the vanity of 
 worldly things would fall powerless if it were not accompanied 
 with these exceptive modifications. He knew that men of the 
 world hold the constitutional enjoyments of life to be admissible 
 and right, and that their good sense persistently repels any effort 
 to make them think otherwise. He therefore took special pains 
 not to offend and repel them from his doctrine. It was not the 
 moderate enjoyment of one’s daily bread or of the well-ordered 
 family state that he set forth as vanity and exhorted men to re- 
 nounce. It was not the legitimate use but the gross abuse of 
 the world that he condemned. The thing he decried and deplored 
 was that in this matter men should be reckless of the ordinations 
 of Divine Providence and of their responsibility to their Great 
 Lawgiver and Judge, and that then, in this spirit, not satisfied 
 with the moderate, legitimate enjoyments of life, they should stride 
 on with all-grasping desire and unmeasured toil to accumulate 
 wealth, honor, and sensual pleasure till they make the whole 
 of life one intense and utter vanity, and bring upon themselves 
 the righteous retributions of their Maker. His book as a whole 
 bears this construction, and it is therefore due to the author to 
 give it. 
 
232 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 VL The Practical Value of this Book for the age of Solomon 
 and for every age. — if the view above given of its main doctrine 
 and of its special purpose be just, it surely meets a great moral 
 want of mankind. For who does not know that the over-anxious, 
 excessive, and ungodly pursuit of worldly good has been, in all 
 ages, the bane of the race ? Who does not know that in this pur- 
 suit men have trampled down the rights of their fellows, have 
 forgotten God their Maker, and so have made utter shipwreck of 
 
 their own well-being for time and for eternity ! Our Lord and 
 
 his apostles have borne their testimony in the strongest form to the 
 greatness of this sin and to the fearful ruin which it has brought 
 upon both the bodies and the souls of men. 
 
 In the age of Solomon, the value of this book was heightened 
 greatly by its testimony from his experience and by his personal 
 relations to his first readers. No man ever lived who stood out 
 more prominently before the men of his time as an illustrious ex- 
 ample of success in all those forms of earthly good which human 
 hearts are wont to love and seek. Sagacious and far-seeing, he 
 made every undertaking prosper. Rich beyond all precedent, he 
 enjoyed the luxury of having, more than most men, made his 
 fortune by his own skillful efforts. Exalted in power, he had the 
 satisfaction of witnessing a steady growth and expansion of his 
 royal influence until far along in his reign. And who ever had 
 a wider range than he for sensual gratification? What was there 
 in the broad fields of desirable pleasure that he could not com- 
 mand to his heart’s utmost request? His fame went abroad to 
 
 every land. He was known every-where as the wise, the honored, 
 the splendid, the successful monarch of a great and prosperous 
 kingdom. The Queen of Sheba was only one of many who heard, 
 admired, and applauded. What could human heart wish more ? 
 
 Now, therefore, let such a man give the world his testimony 
 
 as to the intrinsic satisfaction which such a life affords him. He 
 is surely entitled to speak by authority. There is no impeaching 
 his testimony. Let him speak, and let a fair construction give his 
 words their legitimate force and just application. Let him speak, 
 and let not his words be snatched from his lips and put into the 
 mouth of some unknown author who would impose upon mankind 
 by pretending to be Solomon, “ king over Israel in Jerusalem.” 
 Let him speak; all the wise will listen. Let him speak; his ex- 
 perience may save thousands from the folly of a selfishly pleasure- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 233 
 
 loving and pleasure-seeking life, and from the ruin which such a 
 life so certainly involves. Let him speak, and let the earth hear, 
 for his voice is the testimony of God, warning all pleasure-loving 
 men of the rocks on which myriads have made shipwreck, not for 
 time only, but for eternity. 
 
• ECCLESIASTES 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Solomon introduces himself (v. 1); propounds his subject (v. 2); 
 begins with the fruitlessness of human toil (v. 3) ; illustrates it 
 by the ceaseless revolutions in the course of nature (vs. 4-7) ; 
 corresponding to which are the routine and labor of human life 
 (vs. 8-10) ; all which things pass into oblivion, never making suf- 
 ficent impression to be long remembered (v. 11). Again the 
 author introduces himself in order to speak more definitely of his 
 own experience (vs. 12-18). 
 
 1. The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king 
 in Jerusalem. 
 
 David had no other son, king in Jerusalem, but Solomon. This 
 verse, therefore, as also v. 12, was designed to describe Solomon 
 
 as the author of this book. In the general introduction 1 have 
 
 referred to the probable reason for his styling himself u the 
 preacher;” viz., that in this book he appears before men, not in 
 his usual character of king, but in the special character of a 
 moral teacher, inculcating lessons of wisdom. So he indicates in 
 his closing section : “ Because the Preacher was wise, he taught 
 
 the people knowledge,” etc., (12 : 9-12). The original Hebrew 
 
 word for “Preacher” is by some critics transferred without trans- 
 lation — “ Coheleth .” Hengstenberg insists that being feminine, it 
 must be an abstract noun denoting wisdom, personified (as he 
 supposes) in the person of Solomon. From this circumstance, he 
 labors (unsuccessfully) to prove that the author of the book was 
 not Solomon himself. I accept the explanation given by Gesenius 
 and Stuart, viz., that in Hebrew, feminine nouns are in current 
 use to denote office, station, and specifically the men who fill 
 them, as we say, “his Excellency;” “his royal Highness;” “his 
 
 Grace ” — indicating thus a person who fills some high position. 
 
 ( 234 ) 
 
ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. I. 
 
 235 
 
 The sense of the term is well given by the Septuagint version 
 which has the Greek word “ Ecclesiastes,” the Preacher. The 
 Hebrew verb from which the noun comes, means primarily to 
 convoke an assembly, but obviously is associated with its purpose, 
 viz., to address them, and hence the idea of preacher. Some have 
 supposed that the idea of convening , gathering (i. e., the people) 
 contemplates drawing them away from vanity and sin to God and 
 a religious life. This seems to me rather far-fetched. Com- 
 
 paring the Song of Solomon with Ecclesiastes, Wordsworth says 
 . beautifully — “Solomon’s first work, the Canticles, is entitled the 
 Song of Songs, i. e ., the most excellent of all songs, for there he 
 sings the joys of the devout soul united to God. But his last 
 work, Ecclesiastes, begins, ‘Vanity of vanities,.’ or ‘Utter vanity/ 
 because he is here describing the hollowness of all earthly joys 
 on which the soul sets the affections independently of God. The 
 Song of Songs describes the joy of the human soul united to God ; 
 but Ecclesiastes with its opening words, ‘Vanity of vanities,” 
 describes the misery of the soul divorced from God. The 
 former is the gladsome carol of a spiritual marriage; the latter 
 is the funeral dirge of a spiritual death. The unrythmical charac- 
 ter of Ecclesiastes strengthens the contrast. He had no longer 
 any relish for poetry and song.” (Compare 12: 4.) 
 
 2. Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vani- 
 ties ; all is vanity. 
 
 The phrase, “vanity of vanities,” is a Hebrew idiom, denoting 
 utter, supreme vanity; the most vain of all vain things. What 
 and how much he included under the comprehensive statement, 
 “ all is vanity/’ must be learned from the book as a whole, which 
 will give his own comments and explanations. Plainly he did not 
 intend to say that it is a vain thing to “fear God and keep his 
 commandments ;” but only that all other human life but this is 
 vain — vain in the sense of being profitless, delusive, fraught with 
 utter disappointment as to the desired result — enduring and soul- 
 satisfying happiness. These points will be more fully and clearly 
 unfolded as we proceed. 
 
 3. What profit hath a man of all his labor which he 
 taketh under the sun? 
 
 The original word for “profit” suggests the sense — What sur- 
 plus of good, what net income or excess of good over actual cost, 
 comes of all the labor of men which is done under the sun ? Men 
 toil for bread; they eat and live; then die; but what is the re- 
 sult of all? Do they find the enduring happiness which they 
 seek so earnestly? Alas! for their utter failure! Such is the 
 life of those myriads who “ have not God in all their thoughts.” 
 Their life as to enjryment is scarcely more or other than that) of 
 animals ! 
 
236 
 
 ECCLESIASTES — CHAP. I. 
 
 4. One generation passeth away, and another generation 
 cometh : but the earth abideth forever. 
 
 5. The sun also ariseth, and the. sun goeth down, and 
 hasteth to his place where he arose. 
 
 6. The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about 
 unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the 
 wind returneth again according to his circuits. 
 
 7. All the rivers run into the sea ; yet the sea is not 
 full : unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither 
 they return again. 
 
 Ceaseless toil, in one perpetual round with no real progress; 
 so man lives and labors, and gets no resulting good. This seems 
 to be the central thought in these several illustrations. Human 
 generations come and go ; the earth on which they dwell abides 
 unchanged. The sun rises and sets each day, and according to 
 the ancient modes of expression, hastens by some unknown path 
 from his setting place to his rising, to come forth again u like a 
 strong man to run a race.” The winds blow toward the south ; 
 then return toward the north, sweeping round their ever varying 
 circuits; and just so the waters of our globe are in ceaseless 
 motion, flowing in rivers to the sea, but never tilling it; for 
 evaporation lifts those waters again into the atmosphere where 
 they form clouds which pour the same waters again upon the 
 earth — filling the springs, swelling the rivers, which again run 
 into the great deep sea. So the order of nature gives us per- 
 
 petual revolution — which in one aspect of it is labor without 
 progress. It is in this special aspect that Solomon compares these 
 features in the course of nature with the course of human life. 
 It is indeed a somber view of human life, as it is also of the 
 course of nature ; but, as to the masses of men in every age of the 
 world yet, not more somber than true. For what has been the 
 product of substantial good from the toilsome lives of the myriads 
 who have been born, have lived, and have died in the lapse of 
 the thousands of human generations since the world began? 
 What have they done to bless each other and to make the world 
 better, and thereby to gain for themselves the solid pleasures of 
 a useful life? 
 
 “ The man may last, but never lives. 
 
 Who much receives, but nothing gives ; 
 
 Whom none can love, whom none can thank, 
 
 Creation’s blot; creation’s blank.” 
 
 The men who have lasted but never lived through the few and 
 short years of their earthly life, to pass away then and be for- 
 gotten, have been the myriads of our race; the rest have been the 
 rare exceptions. These exceptions would give us quite another 
 view of human life — its labors of love wrought with angelic spirit; 
 Belf-sacrificing, but for this very reason, prolific in the purest 
 
ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. I. 
 
 237 
 
 enjoyment. Corresponding to this in the course of nature, we 
 should think of the sun as rising to pour forth light and heat to 
 the jov of a waking world, to the quickening of animal and vege- 
 table iife in all climes — his face like the open face of God smiling 
 on the worlds he has made fair and good. The changeful winds 
 break the otherwise painful monotony of climate and seasons, 
 bringing us now the grateful warmth of summers heat and now 
 the welcome stimulus of winter’s cold; now the rains and now 
 the cloudless skies; and so also the ceaseless revolutions of the 
 waters of our earth are by no means everlasting labor without 
 resulting good, for at every point in their revolutions they perform 
 some ministries of useful service. Falling in rains and dews ; 
 flowing in rivers; rolling in the billows of the sea; coming back in 
 the cool overshadowing clouds ; every- where they wait on man and 
 all the animal races with their hands full of blessings. So human 
 life might he; so it would be if men were only true to the mission 
 God gives them as the elements of nature are true to their Creator 
 
 in the sphere he gives them to fill. But Solomon is thinking 
 
 only of the never ceasing routine of human toil, selfishly designed 
 and selfishly applied ; and to get from nature the symbol of this he 
 must think of the ceaseless march of human generations from the 
 cradle to the grave with no progress in human well-being, of the 
 naked fact of everlasting sameness in the revolutions of the sun 
 and the winds and the waters of our globe. 
 
 8. All things are full of labor; man can not utter it: the 
 eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hear- 
 ing. 
 
 The first clause admits of two constructions, turning on the two 
 different senses of the word rendered “things,” which means not 
 only things, but more often and naturally words. Hence some of 
 the best critics, e. g., Gesenius, Hengstenberg, and Stuart, read; 
 “All words tire” — i. e., in the effort to describe it. This construc- 
 tion has also in its favor that it harmonizes with the next clause, 
 
 “Man can not utter it.” Other critics, e. g., Rosenmueller and 
 
 Michaelis, are with the English version. Neither sense is bad. — — 
 The last clause — “the eye not satisfied,” etc., gives other illustra- 
 tions of the leading truth of the passage — human desire never 
 fully gratified. Everlasting toil with no adequate compensating 
 returns. 
 
 9. The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be ; 
 and that which is done is that which shall be done: and 
 there is no new thing under the sun. 
 
 10. Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See this is 
 new ? it hath been already of old time, which was before us. 
 
 Human life affords nothing new. It is only a perpetual recur- 
 rence of the same things. What has been is the same with what 
 
238 
 
 ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. I. 
 
 will be: only one unvarying routine of labor and toil after good 
 
 which yet men never find. The last clause of v. 10 might well 
 
 be read: “Long ago hath it been in the ages that were before us.” 
 
 What Solomon says here was true on a larger scale then than 
 
 now ; there in western Asia, than here in our America. That was 
 neither the age nor the country for those new things which come 
 up among us in the progress of the arts and the wonders of mod- 
 ern invention. Yet it should be borne in mind that Solomon’s 
 thought is mainly upon the great operations of the material world 
 and the laws of human life. 
 
 11. There is no remembrance of former things; neither 
 shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come 
 with those that shall come after. 
 
 Events once passed are no more remembered ; events yet future 
 will in like manner be forgotten by those who shall live after they 
 have transpired. No man can do any thing that will make suffi- 
 cient impression on the mind of the race to be long remembered. 
 We all know that the countless things done in the ages before us 
 have, almost without exception, dropped into oblivion forever. We 
 must infer the same result in regard to whatever we or others may 
 be doing now. Consequently man’s passion for a name and fame 
 that shall outlast his mortal life is sure to be frustrated ; and he 
 might as well know beforehand that all such hopes are vain. 
 What then comes of human toil? All human glory perishes. 
 Life is but a treadmill process with no resulting good that endures 
 and pays him for his labor. This is the outcome of every pleasure- 
 seeking life. To this conclusion it must come at last. 
 
 12. I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 
 
 This renewed introduction of himself to his readers, essentially 
 repeating what he had said in v. 1, seems to have special refer- 
 ence to the statement which immediately follows. I, who have 
 been and still am king, have, notwithstanding the cares of my 
 kingdom, given my attention very closely to the great philosophical 
 
 problem of human life and happiness. Those who attribute the 
 
 book to some other pen than Solomon’s make a point here by ask- 
 ing why Solomon should need to tell his own subjects that he was 
 king over Israel in Jerusalem. Who of them all did not know this 
 
 already? 1 answer, (1.) It is one thing that a man of Israel 
 
 should know that Solomon was his king, and quite another to 
 know that this same Solomon wrote this book. The latter they 
 would not know by any intuition nor by any testimony so naturally 
 
 as from his own statement in the book itself. But (2.) A more 
 
 important reason for the statement lay in the point assumed in my 
 introduction, viz. : that this book was written to go abroad to other 
 lands where Solomon was less known. Perhaps he hoped it might 
 go‘ where he was not known at all, or only by vague rumor. The 
 specifications precisely meet this supposition : “ I was king not 
 
ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. I. 
 
 239 
 
 a subject, or in any other more humble station of life than royalty. 
 I was king over Israel — a nation you may have heard of ; and in 
 Jerusalem ,” whose regal splendor as a city of the great king has 
 gone abroad probably to your own distant land. Besides, Solo 
 mon may have been already apprised that his kingdom was to be 
 rent asunder and no successor of his be king over all Israel in 
 Jerusalem. The future kings of Israel located their thrones else- 
 where. 
 
 13. And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wis- 
 dom concerning all things that are done under heaven : this 
 sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be ex- 
 ercised therewith. 
 
 The course of thought in this book shows that the precise point 
 of his philosophical study was not so much the laws of human 
 action as the results of human toil — the question being whether 
 the usual struggle for earthly happiness is successful, and, if not, 
 why it fails and how it can be made successful. A philosophical 
 inquiry into the motives of human conduct and the means of act- 
 ing upon the human will, would be quite another thing ; and yet 
 more unlike still would be a philosophical inquiry into the nature 
 of the will and into its relations to our other mental faculties. 
 Solomon’s inquiry is conducted with wisdom, is pursued labori- 
 ously, and is one of most vital moment in a practical point of view. 
 
 As to the last half of the verse, it is a question whether this 
 
 sore travail is that of human life generally, or that which he him- 
 self experiences in this study of human life. Is it the subject- 
 matter of his philosophical investigations, or is it the very labor 
 
 itself of pushing this investigation ? In favor of the former view 
 
 is the fact that precisely the same language is used (chap. 3: 10) 
 for this travail of human life which God gives to all men. The 
 strong reason for the latter is that this thought appears in vs. 1 7 , 
 18, at the close of this chapter. The critics chiefly adopt the lat- 
 ter view. The former seems to me preferable, especially because 
 he would not be likely to speak of philosophical inquiries like his 
 as u given to the sons of men ” to toil upon, since in fact not one 
 in ten thousand give their minds as he did to this study. In this 
 construction, the last clause is in apposition (parenthetically) with 
 the “all things” that are done under the sun. He means to 
 affirm of the “all things” that they involve a vast amount of toil 
 imposed upon man after his fall by the ordinations of divine prov- 
 idence. “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou 
 return unto the dust.” 
 
 14. I have seen all the works that are done under the 
 sun; and behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. 
 
 Beyond question this refers to the toilsome works of the race as 
 a whole, and not to the toilsome philosophical study of their 
 works, such as his own had been. lie affirms of it that he has 
 
 11 
 
240 
 
 ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. II. 
 
 found it to be all vanity and vexation of spirit, or, as the Hebrew 
 might be more precisely rendered, a striving after wind — a fruit 
 less and irksome labor. 
 
 15. That which is crooked can not be made straight: and 
 that which is wanting can not be numbered. 
 
 The passage (chap. T: 13) seems manifestly parallel to this, and 
 therefore may give us a clue to the meaning here. “Consider the 
 work of God, for who can make that straight which he hath made 
 crooked?” In consequence of sin, God has subjected the course 
 of nature to certain physical evils, e. g., destructive storms, ruin- 
 ous droughts, extremes of heat and of cold, earthquakes, pestilence, 
 disease, death. The sense of the original words is, Who can re- 
 duce to order that which God hath put in disorder? Who can 
 change the ordinations of his providence in the rule of earthly 
 things? If man could do this at his ©wn will, he might avoid 
 many of those disasters which frustrate the wisest of human plans 
 
 and overthrow the best laid schemes for earthly good. That 
 
 which is wanting is not, and therefore can not be taken into -ac- 
 count. Man often finds precisely this fatal lack of the things he 
 happens to need sufficient to frustrate his best endeavors. 
 
 16. I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am 
 come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than 
 all they that have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my 
 heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge. 
 
 17. And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know 
 madness and folly : I perceived that this also is vexation 
 of spirit. 
 
 18. For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that in- 
 creased knowledge increased sorrow. 
 
 These are his reflections upon his own personal history, turning 
 especially upon the sadness and pain which his studies of human 
 
 life had occasioned him. “I gave my heart to know madness 
 
 and folly,” i. e ., in the sense of finding out what they are good for 
 toward the result of human happiness. He found that such studies 
 were fraught with sorrow. The results were only a grief to his 
 heart. 
 
 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The writer still speaks of his personal experience. He made 
 trial of mirth and conviviality (vs. 1, 2); of wine and folly (v. 
 3) ; of houses, gardens, servants, cattle, gold, and music (vs. 4-8) 
 — of every thing heart could desire, but it proved only vanity (vs. 
 
ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. II. 
 
 241 
 
 9-11). He finds wisdom far better than folly (vs. 12-14), yet 
 such are the ordinations of Providence that both the wise man 
 and the fool are subjected in many respects to a common destiny 
 (vs. 14-16), which makes life and all its labors seem intensely 
 irksome (v. 17), especially because he must leave all at death so 
 soon and can by no means control it after his death (vs. 18-21). 
 He concludes that all is vanity (vs. 22, 23) save the little that God 
 gives man to enjoy in this very labor itself (vs. 24, 25). The wealth 
 of sinners is laid up for the just, so that sinners at least labor as 
 tr, themselves altogether in vain (v. 26). 
 
 1. I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with 
 mirth ; therefore enjoy pleasure : and, behold, this also is 
 vanity. 
 
 2. I said of laughter, It is mad : and of mirth, What 
 doeth it ? 
 
 Throughout this chapter both the forms of statement and the 
 nature of the things said combine to show that it is precisely 
 the personal experience of Solomon, adduced as bearing directly 
 on the main point of the discussion, the vanity of a pleasure-seek- 
 ing life. First, he tries mirth and hilarity; but ah! this is only 
 vanity ! His experience compels him to say of laughter, “ It is 
 mad.” This Hebrew word for “mad ” suggests rather that it shines 
 with a false glare, and plays off a false splendor in which there is 
 
 nothing substantial. Of mirth he said, What can it do ? i. e ., 
 
 for the real good of human souls ? 
 
 3. I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet 
 acquainting mine heart with wisdom ; and to lay hold on 
 folly, till I might see what was that good for the sons of 
 men, which they should do under the heaven all the days 
 of their life. 
 
 The first clause plainly means that he experimented with wine, 
 aiming to use it wisely ; but the more precise sense of the Hebrew, 
 rendered — “To give myself to wine,” is very much in dispute. 
 The Hebrew verb is in somewhat frequent use in the general 
 sense — to draw, to draw out, to prolong. Gesenius has it — “ to 
 prolong the body; to make it durable, robust, firm; to strengthen.” 
 Hengstenberg, “ I sought in my heart to nourish my flesh with 
 wine.” Posenmueller, “to prolong the excitement of wine for 
 the sake of greater enjoyment.” Stuart finds here the figure of 
 drawing the body as a chariot is drawn, wisdom guiding it as 
 the charioteer does his chariot. Clearly the author means that he 
 sought to make a very discreet and wise use of wine, to get all 
 the physical good and all the present enjoyment from it he could 
 with the least possible evil. The clause rendered, “yet ac- 
 
 quainting my heart with wisdom,” is parenthetic and yields a bet- 
 ter sense if translated more literally, thus (“my heart still leading 
 
242 
 
 ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. II. 
 
 on with wisdom”) i. e ., in all my use of wine I still subjected my* 
 self to the dictates of wisdom. 
 
 4. I made me great works ; I builded me houses ; I 
 planted me vineyards : 
 
 5. I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees 
 in them of all hind of fruits : 
 
 6. I made me pools of water, to water therewith the 
 wood that bringeth forth trees : 
 
 7. I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born 
 in my house ; also I had great possessions of great and small 
 cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me : 
 
 8. I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar 
 treasure of kings, and of the provinces : I got me men- 
 singers and women-singers, and the delights of the sons of 
 men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts. 
 
 This is a chapter of Solomon’s personal history. The reader 
 
 will find much of it in its historic form in 1 Kings, 9 and 10. 
 
 He built a magnificent house (temple) for the Lord his God; one 
 for himself; one for his Eg}^ptian wife; another for a royal arse- 
 nal, “the house of the forest of Lebanon.” The word rendered 
 
 “orchards” is paradises, i. e., parks, pleasure-gardens with groves. 
 
 In v. 6, the word “wood” has the sense of grove , a cluster of 
 
 trees, the groves in which trees were cultivated. The last clause 
 
 of v. 8, it is now generally conceded by the best critics, must have 
 the sense — a wife and wives. The original words seem to have no 
 reference whatever to musical instruments. “The delights of the 
 sons of men” (see Cant. 7 : 7) are amorous pleasures. The prom- 
 inence of these pleasures in the actual life of Solomon forbids their 
 omission in this list. Indeed their very prominent place in his life 
 corresponds to their place in the climax here. It also appears in 
 the history that he had one wife “ par excellence,” viz., the daughter 
 of Pharaoh; and besides her, many subordinate wives. 
 
 9. So I was great, and increased more than all that were 
 before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me. 
 
 10. And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from 
 them, I withheld not my heart from any joy ; for my heart 
 rejoiced in all my labor: and this was my portion of all 
 my labor. 
 
 11. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had 
 wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do : and 
 behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there ivas 
 no profit under the sun. 
 
 Here is an apparent discrepancy between v. 10 and v. 11, since 
 in v. 10, he says — “ My heart rejoiced in all my labor,” but in v. 
 11 he looks upon all this labor and pronounces it only vanity and 
 
ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. II. 
 
 243 
 
 vexation of spirit. Does he mean that while he was in the midst 
 of this toil he thought himself happy; but that his more mature 
 reflections afterward convinced him of his mistake ; or this — that 
 there was a certain measure of enjoyment in his very activities 
 and labors ; in the consciousness of power and the sense of suc- 
 cess ; and that this was precisely his portion of earthly good — all 
 there is of it: but that when the days of acquisition were past, 
 and he came to look back upon his accumulations of earthly good, 
 the product of his immense toil, he found nothing but vanity and 
 vexation ? He plainly seemed to himself to have toiled for nothing. 
 There was no profit. The things he had accumulated supposing 
 they would be permanent sources of good, had no more happiness 
 to give him. The little satisfaction he found in the labor itself was 
 all they had to give. The things he had acquired proved to be 
 emptiness and vanity. This view corresponds closely with his 
 language. So it does also with all humafi experience. There is 
 undeniably some enjoyment in the process of accumulating a great 
 estate. Men hope they shall enjoy it exceedingly when they have 
 gotten it, and this pleasure of hope is one item of enjoyment. The 
 very activity itself affords health and happiness, and there is withal 
 a cherished consciousness of power ; but when the toil is over and 
 men come to reflect on the actual profit; when they ask their own 
 hearts — Am I now realizing those visions of hope that lured me on 
 through my life-long labor ? Alas ! the conviction forces itself upon 
 them that all this is vanity and vexation of spirit. The care of 
 keeping safely outweighs the pleasure of using. The hope of en- 
 during and satisfying joy is blasted. 
 
 12. And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, 
 and folly : for what can the man do that cometh after the 
 king? even that which hath been already done. 
 
 13. Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as 
 light excelleth darkness. 
 
 14. The wise man’s eyes are in his head ; but the fool 
 walketh in darkness : and I myself perceived also that one 
 event happeneth to them all. 
 
 Somewhat changing the subject, he compares wisdom with folly. 
 Throughout this book, wisdom is rather sagacity than piety. It 
 is the skill which plans well for the attainment of its ends, and 
 not, as usually in the book of Proverbs and in Job, “ the fear of the 
 
 Lord,” and the principle of implicit obedience to his will. 1 
 
 turned my attention to consider closely wisdom as compared with 
 madness and folly. What can a man hope to accomplish coming 
 after the king? Can he experiment more successfully? Hay; he 
 can do only what has been done as well or better by others before 
 him. Solomon hints that his experiment ought to be satisfactory 
 
 and conclusive, since no man can succeed where he has failed.- 
 
 In the middle of v. 14, the turn of thought is strongly adversative: 
 but , although wisdom is so much above folly, yet 1 saw that the 
 
244 
 
 ECCLESIASTES -CHAP. II. 
 
 wise man and the fool are in some respects subjected to the same 
 destiny. This becomes a very exceptive fact in its bearings upon 
 the superior practical value of wisdom over folly — as he proceeds 
 u o show more fully. 
 
 15. Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, 
 so it happeneth even to me ; and why was I then more wise ? 
 Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity. 
 
 16. For there is no remembrance of the wise more than 
 of the fool forever; seeing that which now is, in the days 
 to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise man $ 
 as the fool. 
 
 17. Therefore I hated life; because the work that is 
 wrought under the sun is grievous unto me : for all is van- 
 ity and vexation of spirit. 
 
 “Saying in the heart” is thoughtful reflection, talking to one’s 
 
 self, and turning the matter over and over in one’s mind. As 
 
 it happeneth to the fool, so it will happen to me, even to me (wise 
 though I am); why then have I been so very wise? That is, 
 what comes of it? Of what use does it prove to be to me, since 
 in the end I must succumb to the common destiny of all mortal 
 men, whether wise or foolish? Common to both is this inevitable 
 oblivion that sweeps over the deeds and the life of all mankind. 
 They will none of them be long remembered. “ That which is now, 
 in the days to come will have been long ago forgotten,” and there- 
 fore be quite lost from the thought of all the living. The last 
 
 clause of v. 16 is better read as an exclamation of sadness: “And 
 how dieth the wise man like the fool ! ” Alas, to think that the 
 wise no less than the fool must die ! that both are doomed to the 
 same inevitable destiny of death! Taking this view of the sub- 
 
 jection of all human life to this revolting necessity of passing 
 away from earth and being for evermore forgotten, I hated life, for 
 all the work done under the sun appeared odious to me. My heart 
 sickened at the thought of such death and oblivion — the unavoidable 
 
 conditions of all human existence. It need not be supposed that 
 
 Solomon meant here to deny what he had said in his proverbs 
 (chap. 14: 32) of the broad contrast in death between the wicked 
 and the righteous: “The wicked is driven away in his wickedness; 
 but the righteous hath hope in his death.” For we may either 
 say that his subject here did not lead him to speak of these 
 aspects of death, or we may say that during his pleasure-loving 
 and seeking life, his heart was drawn away from God, and for the 
 time, he had no comfort from that hope in death which the right- 
 eous man enjoys. That is, he is here recording his own personal 
 experiences — the thoughts that coursed through his mind in those 
 days of his vain pursuit of earthly pleasure. These are the views 
 he had then, and they are such as his contemplated readers, them- 
 selves far from God, should pertinently take while they are esti- 
 
ECCLESIASTES -CHAP. II. 
 
 245 
 
 mating the inherent value of all pleasure that is merely of the 
 earth, earthy. 
 
 18. Yea, I hated all my labor which I had taken under 
 the sun : because I should leave it unto the man that shall 
 be after me. 
 
 19. And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man 
 3r a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labor wherein 
 I have labored, and wherein I have showed myself wise 
 under the sun. This is also vanity. 
 
 20. Therefore I went about to cause my heart .to despair 
 of all the labor which I took under the sun. 
 
 21. For there is a man whose labor is in wisdom, and in 
 knowledge, and in equity; yet to a man that hath not la- 
 bored therein shall he leave it for his portion. This also is 
 vanity and a great evil. 
 
 Another and third fact incident to all human life and labor 
 adds to his discontent and vexation. He can not control the 
 fruits of his labor after he is dead. He may have wrought never 
 so wisely: at his death all he has done or accumulated may go 
 into the hands of some fool who has done nothing to produce 
 this wealth, and nothing to deserve it. Who knows whether his 
 wealth shall go, at his death, into the hands of a wise man or a 
 fool ? In this view of the contingencies of human labor, Solomon 
 turned to make his heart despair, etc. He was strongly tempted 
 to feel that it was all useless and fruitless. His mind turned to 
 take this view of the matter. Alas, said he to himself, how un- 
 substantial, how short-lived are all my enjoyments ! How soon 
 may all that I have toiled so laboriously and so wisely to accu- 
 mulate, fall into the hand of some spendthrift, perhaps the vilest 
 of men and the laziest, and become only a curse to him, and through 
 him to all the living world ! Alas, that the history of great es- 
 
 tates should, in the majority of cases, be precisely this and noth- 
 ing better ! Plainly God would have this fact stand out before the 
 eyes of every man who is toiling to build up a vast estate, admon- 
 ishing him to give his children durable and not perishable riches — 
 that heavenly wisdom which only blesses, rather than the earthly 
 wealth which by itself and alone can scarcely fail of being a curse. 
 
 It is supposable that Solomon saw developments in his son 
 
 Rehoboam which suggested these reflections. 
 
 22. For what hath man of all his labor, and of the vexa- 
 tion of his heart, wherein he hath labored under the sun? 
 
 23. For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, 
 his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity. 
 
 These verses look simply at the case of the man who is toiling 
 to amass wealth. How hard he works ? How diligently he plans 
 
246 
 
 ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. II. 
 
 How intense are his anxieties! Sleep will not come at his bid 
 ding. Hengstenberg well translates, “For all his days are sor- 
 row, and discontent is his plague.” Truly such a life is a vanity. 
 
 24. There is nothing better for a man, than that he should 
 eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good 
 in his labor. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of 
 God. 
 
 This may be read interrogatively. Is it not good for man that 
 he eat and drink and make his soul see good in his labor? The 
 comparative sense, “There is nothing better than,” etc., is not 
 clearly expressed in the original. Yet the ultimate sense is nearly 
 the same either way. Substantially the same thought appears, 
 chap. 3: 12, 13, 22 and 5: 18 and 8: 15. Solomon meant to say 
 that the surest and the best of all the good that is properly of this 
 world, pertaining to this mortal life, consists in the moderate en- 
 joyment of our daily bread, and in our labor to supply these natural 
 wants of those who are dependent upon us. So much God gives 
 us to enjoy, and it should be accepted as his gift. These moderate 
 enjoyments are here put in contrast with the corroding anxieties, 
 the ever-grasping spirit and never-ceasing labors of the man who 
 is bent on hoarding immense treasures and building up a vast 
 estate. Solomon would say, Take the moderate enjoyment of what 
 suffices to meet your animal wants, and desist from those infinite 
 toils for what you can never enjoy. 
 
 25. For who can eat, or who else can hasten hereunto , 
 more than I ! 
 
 If we accept the Hebrew text and read “more than I,” the 
 meaning is that Solomon considers his experience of the pleasures 
 in question entirely valid to his argument and not to be gainsay ed. 
 Who can know better than I do what the pleasures of eating 
 
 amount to ? But the Septuagint and Syriac versions have the 
 
 pronoun of the third person, and not of the first, giving the sense, 
 Who can eat and who can enjoy himself without (i. e ., apart from) 
 God? All are dependent on his blessing for the health which 
 enables men to enjoy food or any animal pleasure, and also for 
 
 the means of such enjoyment. Either sense is good; the latter, 
 
 very good ; yet it is well to adhere to the principle of taking the 
 Hebrew text as it stands unless the reasons for changing it are of 
 the strongest kind. 
 
 26. For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight, 
 wisdom, and knowledge, and joy : but to the sinner he 
 giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give 
 to him that is good before God. This also is vanity and 
 vexation of spirit. 
 
ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. III. 
 
 247 
 
 The point most vital to the sense of this verse is, What 
 is vanity and vexation of spirit? Of luhat 'particular thing does 
 
 the author affirm that “ this also is vanity ?” It is not even 
 
 supposable that Solomon is thinking of the good man whom God 
 loves, and to whom he gives the accumulated wealth of the wicked. 
 Dismissing this, therefore, the choice lies between these two sup- 
 positions; viz., either those agencies of God in his providence 
 which take the wicked man’s stores away and give them to the 
 good man; or the case of the wicked man himself, thus stripped 
 of his hard-gotten wealth. It has been supposed by some that 
 the author meant to say — It is a vanity and a vexation that God 
 should manage human affairs on this principle. But there is no 
 necessity of attributing a sense so revolting as this to Solomon’s 
 language. The other is therefore for every reason to be preferred 
 
 and adopted. To the wicked man it is indeed a vanity and a 
 
 vexation of spirit that God lets him toil on for: earthly good and 
 amass heaps of treasure, but only to give it to the good man 
 whom this wicked man malignantly hates. This is intensely 
 galling and vexatious. In favor of this construction is its har- 
 
 mony with the entire drift of the book. For obviously the book 
 in whole labors to point out in detail the circumstances which make 
 a pleasure-loving and godless life a failure and a mere vanity. 
 In addition to many other points, here is a new one of the same 
 general character with the rest, viz., that God gives travail and 
 stores of wealth to the wicked, yet only that he may in the end 
 
 take it away from him and give it to the righteous. On the other 
 
 hand, it is not in harmony with the spirit of this book to find 
 fault with God’s management of this world in his providential gov- 
 ernment. Every where the author vindicates God and justifies his 
 ways toward men. We are therefore by no means warranted in 
 fairness and charity to construe this passage squarely against the 
 
 entire strain of all the rest of the book. The doctrine that God 
 
 gives to the good man the wealth gotten by the wicked appears not 
 unfrequently in the Old Testament, and the fact was doubtless in 
 some measure characteristic of that ancient economy. (See Prov. 
 13 : 22, “The wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.”) (Also 
 Prov. 28: 8 and Job 27: 16, 17.) 
 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The central thought in vs. 1-15, I take to be that God’s over- 
 ruling hand in providence shapes human events so that life is full 
 of changes and even contrasts, doings and undoings ; and that con- 
 sequently a vast amount of human toil is fruitless; but God would 
 have men study his works and ways, and learn to fear him rever- 
 
248 
 
 ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. III. 
 
 ently and obey him sincerely; desist from excessive eagerness 
 for worldly good, and be content and happy in the moderate 
 
 legitimate enjoyments which he provides. V. 16 starts a new 
 
 train of thought, beginning with the fact of cruel injustice in the 
 administration of law, where righteousness should reign; advanc- 
 ing to the fact of God’s righteous retribution for this sin, which sin 
 develops intense moral brutishness, and shows that the doom of 
 mortality to man in common with beasts is obviously righteous, 
 for he who will live like the brutes morally should die like 
 the brutes physically. But man’s spirit, bearing higher respon- 
 sibilities, must have a far different destiny. Let this also 
 dissuade man from an intense and excessive pursuit of worldly 
 good, and make him content with the measure of enjoyment 
 which God designs for him, reflecting how soon he must pass 
 away and have no more cognizance of what this world shall 
 be after he has gone. The chapter presents some real difficul- 
 
 ties, and has been interpreted variously by very able critics. I 
 give the construction which seems to me to accord best with the 
 sense of the words and with the general scope of the book. It 
 does not become me to speak severely of the views of others 
 which I reject, or dogmatically of my own. 
 
 1. To every thing there is a season, and a time to every 
 purpose under the heaven : 
 
 2. A time to be born, and a time to die ; a time to plant, 
 and a time to pluck up that which is planted ; 
 
 3. A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break 
 down, and a time to build up ; 
 
 4. A time to weep, and a time to laugh ; a time to mourn, 
 and a time to dance ; 
 
 5. A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones 
 together ; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from 
 embracing ; 
 
 6. A time to get, and a time to lose ; a time to keep, and 
 a time to cast away ; 
 
 7. A time to rend, and a time to sew ; a time to keep 
 silence, and a time to speak ; 
 
 8. A time to love, and a time to hate ; a time of war, 
 and a time of peace. 
 
 The sense of the special clauses in this passage is for the most 
 part clear. Every earthly life has its beginning and its close, both 
 determined in the plan of God’s providential rule of human affairs. 
 Planting and plucking up are to vegetables what birth and death 
 are to men. So killing and healing relate to man ; breaking down 
 and building up to cities and the great works of human art and 
 labor. Weeping and mourning come of calamity; but laughing 
 
ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. III. 
 
 249 
 
 and dancing express good fortune and joy. “ Casting forth stones ” 
 (v. 5) was practiced by an enemy to injure arable lands for culti- 
 vation. Thus Israel treated the best lands of Moab. God said, 
 “Ye shall smite every fenced city and shall fell every good tree 
 and stop all wells of water and mar every good piece of land with 
 stones.” “And they beat down the city, and on every good piece 
 of land they cast every man his stone and filled it,” etc. (2 Kings 
 3 : 19, 25). But after the special sense of each clause is ascer- 
 
 tained, the more vital question still remains: What is the bearing 
 of the whole passage ? What is the real significance of this list 
 of contrasted events? First, it is obviously not the writer’s ob- 
 ject to group together a list of moral duties. He does not mean 
 to say that these things are lawful and right, while other things 
 are forbidden and ought not to be done. He does not mean to 
 say that it is right to dance and right to laugh ; right to kill and 
 right to cure; right to go to war and right to make peace. Nor 
 does he mean to say that these things, though sometimes wrong, 
 are yet right at certain seasons — their moral right or wrong turning 
 upon the circumstances under which they are done. This would 
 be more plausible than the former supposition; but even this I 
 judge to be entirely foreign from the author’s meaning, and quite 
 useless for moral instruction without some light upon the circum- 
 stances which are to make these various things right or wrong. 
 
 Affirmatively, I understand him to say simply that this world is 
 so governed providentially under God’s hand that these unlike 
 events are in fact constantly occurring and have their place in the 
 completed history of human affairs. They actually occur in the 
 routine of human life, yet are thought of here rather in their re- 
 lation to the agency and purpose of God in them than as related 
 to the moral agency of man. In the divine ordering of human 
 affairs there is perpetual doing and undoing. Life is full of 
 changes and even reverses. A man is rich to-day and poor to- 
 morrow ; in health to-day, in sickness and death to-morrow ; now 
 in peace, anon in war; now joyful in prosperity, soon mourning 
 in bitter adversity. And these extreme changes in the mortal lot 
 of mankind come of the purposes and ways of God’s providence 
 in his moral discipline of our race. He breaks up the smooth 
 and even tenor of man’s earthly life for the sake of turning his 
 eye upward to the overruling hand that shapes all. This is indi- 
 cated particularly in v. 14, “ God doeth it that men should fear 
 
 before him.” As intimated already, these frequent changes, 
 
 coming in a way that baffles and defies the best foresight of men, 
 have a most vital bearing on the pursuit of human happiness — 
 especially on that pleasure-seeking pursuit which makes earthly 
 good its supreme and sole end. How vain it must be for man to 
 toil thus intensely to do when God’s order of things in this world 
 involves so much perpetual undoing ? 
 
 9. What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he 
 laboreth ? 
 
250 
 
 ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. III. 
 
 10. I have seen the travail, which God nath given to 
 the sons of men to be exercised in it. 
 
 These two verses give in part the author’s moral application of 
 vs. 1-8, as above explained. What profit can the worker have, 
 however long and hard his toil, in a world where such reverses 
 are the common law of human life. How easily can an adverse 
 providence undo all that his toilsome life has done ! 
 
 11. He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: 
 also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man 
 can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning 
 to the end. 
 
 The first clause is plain, referring, however, not to God’s works 
 of creation, but rather to his works in providence, the same which 
 are sketched in vs. 1-8, and therefore is better rendered done than 
 “ made.” In this endless shifting of human scenes, God has 
 always done every thing well in its time — this word “time” here 
 looking back to its use in vs. 1-8. Working with the noblest ends 
 and guiding his work with infinite wisdom, he evermore doeth all 
 things beautifully, yea, infinitely well. The second clause de- 
 
 mands our special attention. Critics have explained it variously. 
 The translators of the English version seem to have understood it 
 to say that though God had made all things so beautifully, yet he 
 had put such love of the world into the hearts of men that they 
 can not find out his works thoroughly in all their relations and 
 bearings. But this sense is too revolting to be accepted. We 
 must not attribute man’s love of the world to God as if it were his 
 gift to man — much less still as given for such a purpose , viz. : that 
 man might not be able to understand God’s works thoroughly. 
 Fortunately there is not the least occasion to give the words a 
 
 sense so repugnant to both Scripture and reason. It may interest 
 
 the reader to see some of the various constructions given to this 
 
 passage. The writer on Ecclesiastes in Smith’s Bible Dictionary 
 
 gives the doctrine of the verse thus: “The heart of man with its 
 changes is the mirror of the universe, and is, like that, inscrutable.” 
 Bosenmueller translates it : “ He hath done all things beautifully, 
 each in its own time, and although he hath implanted in their 
 mind a sense of eternity, yet they do not attain to the knowledge 
 of the whole work of God from the beginning even to the end.” 
 Hengstenberg thus : “He maketh every thing beautiful in his time ; 
 eternity also hath he put in their heart so that no man can find 
 out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.” 
 Prof. Stuart thus : “ Every thing hath he made beautiful in its 
 season ; moreover, he hath put intelligence in their heart without 
 which no man can find out the work that God doeth from begin- 
 ning to end.” Prof. S. changes the text in the case of the word 
 rendered in the English version the “ world,” but by Rosenmuellei 
 
ECCLESIASTES'— CHAP. III. 
 
 251 
 
 and Hengstenberg “eternity.” Such a change should in my judg- 
 ment never be made, except under an imperative necessity and on 
 some adequate authority, neither of which exist here. Besides, it 
 is very tame and inept to say that without intelligence [the intel- 
 lectual faculty] no man can understand “ the whole work of God 
 from beginning to end." There is not the least occasion to state so 
 specially and emphatically that man can not know every thing about 
 God without intelligence, when obviously he could not begin to 
 understand the first and simplest thing about God without an 
 intellectual faculty, i. e., without the power of knowing something. 
 
 The test words in the passage are two: that which is translated 
 in our English version, “the world,” and by others “eternity;” 
 and the particles which follow it, rendered “so that,” or “without 
 which.” 1 translate, “God hath done [and is ever doing] every 
 thing beautifully in its season; also he hath put eternity in their 
 heart without which man will not [or can not] find out the work 
 that God doeth from beginning to end.” That is, he hath given 
 man the thought or idea of eternity, and without its aid no man 
 could ever understand these works of God in providence in all 
 their just and far reaching relations. For, these providential 
 agencies of God in their plans and results, reach onward into 
 eternity. They lap over from this world into the next, unfinished 
 here, to be completed there. Retribution for the deeds of earth, 
 beginning sometimes here, is to be finished there. The frustration 
 of human plans for time has an outlook to the hopeful compensa- 
 tions of eternity. “These light afflictions which are but for a mo- 
 ment work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of 
 glory,” and therefore are wise in God’s plan and well for his chil- 
 dren. Hence there is no understanding the ways of God here save 
 as you take into the account their bearings upon the destiny that 
 
 awaits men there. This doctrine all must admit to be true, and 
 
 its significance in this connection most admirable ; but the ques- 
 tions will arise, Is it not too good to fit the times and the pen of 
 Solomon ? Postponing this question to a later stage of this discus- 
 sion, I ask, Is this the legitimate and precise sense of his words ? 
 
 I think so most decidedly. As already suggested, the first test 
 
 word is the somewhat common one in Hebrew, rendered the 
 “world,” or “eternity” [olam]. In the sense of world this word 
 occurs nowhere in the Old Testament. On this point the best 
 critics seem now to be agreed. But in the sense of eternity , i. e ., 
 long indefinite time, it occurs very frequently, and in this book of 
 Ecclesiastes five times: viz. : chap. 1 : 4 and 2: 16 and 3 : 14 and 
 
 9 : 6 and 12 : 5. Such testimony to this point ought to suffice. 
 
 The next words would read literally : “ From [or because of] the 
 absence or non-existence of which, man will not find out, etc., the 
 plain sense of which is without which ; i. e., on the supposition that 
 man had not this idea of eternity, he would not, or could not, find 
 out the work that God doeth, here in his providence, from begin- 
 ning to end. This is the first and most obvious sense of the origi- 
 nal words. Let it be added moreover that all the other words 
 
252 
 
 ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. III. 
 
 in this passage conspire to sustain this interpretation. The first 
 • word “ also,” implies something more of the same sort. This cor- 
 responds with the construction which I suggest. God hath done 
 two things of kindred bearing and significance, viz. : (1.) He 
 hath done every thing in his providence most beautifully and fitly 
 in its time; (2.) He hath also put in man’s heart the idea of eter- 
 nity, without which man could not find out either the wisdom or 
 the love of these works of God’s providence from beginning to end 
 — another gift to man quite analogous to the former gift of a well- 
 ordered course of providence. First, to ordain a course of provi- 
 dential dealings wisely; and, secondly, to give man the idea of 
 eternity so that he can understand what would otherwise seem to 
 him inexplicable and perhaps unjust — these two things comple- 
 ment each other and fill out the plan of God for revealing himself 
 
 and his ways to men. It might be added that the Hebrew word 
 
 rendered “set” (“set the world, etc.,”) is in Hebrew give; the 
 same verb from which the writer takes the noun “gift” — “it is 
 the gift of God.” (See below v. 13 and chap. 5: 19.) He must, 
 therefore, have thought of it as a blessing, and not a thing put 
 into their heart to forestall their knowledge of his ways and to 
 
 render it impossible. Further, the words rendered in the Eng 
 
 lish version “so that,” and which express the relation between 
 God’s giving man the idea of eternity and man’s not finding out 
 God’s works perfectly, have for their first and legitimate sense, 
 without which. That is, without this idea of eternity, man neither 
 will nor can find out God’s work fully. To render this (with 
 Hengstenberg and the English version) “ so that,” imputes to God 
 the design of making his ways unintelligible to man — a design 
 squarely opposed to every thing we know of God through his works 
 and his word — not to say also to the very fact that he reveals 
 himself in a written revelation at all. For why has he done this 
 if indeed it be his purpose not to let us understand his ways and 
 
 works ? Moreover, to render this connecting particle with 
 
 Kosenmueller : “ Although God has given man the idea of eternity, 
 yet he does not fully understand God,” is to force a sense upon the 
 passage, and not to find a sense in it, or to bring a sense out of 
 it. For in the words which the author uses there is nothing to 
 
 justify this sense. Finally, the construction above suggested 
 
 and defended corresponds admirably with the qualifying clause, 
 “find out the work that God doeth from the beginning to the end." 
 For, without the idea of eternity, man might find out some of 
 God’s works and ways, at least in some of their bearings and 
 relations. But those methods of God’s providential government 
 over men which embrace the moral discipline of suffering here, 
 correlated to glorious compensation there; or his long-suffering 
 endurance with sin here, to be set right at last by swift and just 
 retribution there, can by no means be understood by the human 
 mind save with the aid of this idea of eternity. Whenever we 
 take in the whole range of those far-reaching plans of God which 
 stretch “ from the beginning to the end,” we must have eternity is 
 
ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. III. 
 
 253 
 
 our hearts; and hence he has given it. Thus every several 
 
 point; I might say, every word of this passage, harmonizes admir- 
 ably with the construction above given, leaving, it would seem, 
 
 nothing more in the way of sustaining proof to be desired. 
 
 More than two years after the above was written, I had oppor- 
 tunity to examine the commentaries of McDonald ( J. M. McDonald 
 of Princeton, N. J.) and of Wordsworth (Arch-deacon of West- 
 minster). The former translates as 1 have done ; the latter thus : 
 “He hath set eternity in their heart so that man can not find out 
 
 the works of God from the beginning to the end.” McDonald 
 
 alone of all the critics that have fallen under my eye has given 
 what I regard as the true sense of the passage. 
 
 12. I know that there is no good in them, but for a man 
 to rejoice, and to do good in his life. 
 
 13. And also that every man should eat am* drink, and 
 enjoy the good of all his labor, it is the gift of God. 
 
 By general consent of critics, the word translated “ in them,” 
 means, /or mm, i. e ., “in” has the sense of for and “them” re- 
 fers to men. “ There is no good for the race of men in this 
 
 world but to rejoice,” etc. The question has been raised 
 
 whether “ to do good ” (last clause of v. 12) means precisely doing 
 good to others, or getting good to one’s self. Prof. Stuart pleads 
 for the latter, citing in its support the supposed parallel passages 
 in this author (2: 24 and 3: 22 and 5: 17 and 8: 15 and 9: 7), 
 in none of which however do we find the same words, “doing 
 good.” Better is the sense given by Gesenius, viz., doing right; 
 living uprightly and well, according to the laws of one’s being 
 and relations to God and men. This is obviously the meaning 
 of these identical words in Ps. 34: 15 — “Depart from evil and 
 do good;” and in Ps. 37 : 3 : “Trust in the Lord and do good)” 
 and in Isa. 38: 3: “Bemember, O Lord, how I have walked be- 
 fore thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done good in 
 thy sight.” He who does good in this sense subserves the hap- 
 
 piness of both others and himself. And beyond all question this 
 is a just view of what human life should be — a life joyful, tran- 
 quil, right-doing. V. 13 recognizes the fact that God has pro- 
 
 vided for us sources of physical enjoyment in our daily bread, 
 and in the consciousness of power and success in producing desired 
 results. These are gifts of God to men. An infinite Father to 
 us, he delights to see his children enjoying his bounty, and with 
 numble acknowledgment and grateful love, exercising the powers 
 of labor and acquisition wdiich he has bestowed. A just sense of 
 our relations and obligations to God will guard us against the gross 
 and grievous mistake of living to eat and drink, and thus of eat- 
 ing and drinking so as to debase ourselves even below irrational 
 animals. Hence while commending the moderate enjoyments of 
 our constitutional appetites, Solomon continually suggests the 
 thought that these enjoyments come to us from God, our Great 
 
254 
 
 ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. III. 
 
 Father, and are the fruits of his divine economy in the creation of 
 man. 
 
 14. I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for- 
 ever; nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from 
 it ; and God doeth it, that men should fear before him. 
 
 Here also, as throughout the previous part of this chapter, 
 “ whatsoever God doeth ’ looks to his works and ways in his 
 providential government of our world. In all these, his great 
 principles and plans are changeless, and especially are they su- 
 preme and sovereign in the sense of being beyond the reach and 
 control of mortals. And God rules thus with supreme authority 
 and with a wisdom all his own and a steadfastness of purpose 
 that no created being can change, in order that men may fear be- 
 fore him. Such glorious majesty and such immutability in wis- 
 dom, justice, and love, become the infinite throne of the universe. 
 It is altogether well that the universe has such a Father — such a 
 Ruler — such a God! 
 
 15. That which has been is now; and that which is to 
 be hath already been ; and God requireth that which is 
 past. 
 
 This verse expands the thought that God’s plans of governing 
 
 the world and shaping its events remain forever the same. 
 
 The first clause might be rendered more closely — “ That which is 
 now was also long ago, and that which is to be was also long 
 since;” i. e ., there is nothing new under the sun. What we see 
 to-day and what generations to come are yet to see, has been oc- 
 
 curing through all past ages. “God requireth that which is 
 
 past,” seems to mean that he calls it forth again to reproduce it — 
 to give it another and yet another place in the successive scenes 
 of earth. He is perpetually reenacting the events of the past, 
 not indeed in their precise external forms, but in their essential 
 principles and purposes. 
 
 16. And moreover I saw under the sun the place of 
 judgment, that wickedness was there ; and the place of 
 righteousness, that iniquity was there. 
 
 While God’s providential government of this world is perfect, 
 man’s administration of civil government has often been fearfully 
 imperfect. Every broad and comprehensive view of human his- 
 tory takes in some illustrations of this sad fact. Whoever looks 
 carefully into the place where just judgment should be will find that 
 wickedness is there. The very men whom God has clothed with 
 die power and the functions requisite for the authoritative adminis- 
 tration of justice are lending themselves to the most shameful 
 injustice, “ framing iniquity by law,” or, as the case may be, sub- 
 
ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. III. 
 
 255 
 
 verting good laws under corrupting influences and for bad ends. 
 The world has always been full of this. Solomon saw it in all 
 those adjacent countries with which his political and commercial 
 relations had made him acquainted. This fact sustains exceed- 
 ingly important relations to God’s moral government over men, 
 and therefore is by no means foreign to the general scope of this 
 chapter. 
 
 17. I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous 
 and the wicked : for there is a time there for every purpose 
 and for every work. 
 
 When I saw this shocking injustice perpetrated by the very 
 men whom God had made specially responsible for the protection 
 of the defenseless and for the administration of justice, I said, 
 God will surely set this matter right on the score of justice. He 
 will judge both those righteous sufferers and their wicked oppres- 
 sors. It can scarcely be doubted that this passage, like the 
 
 last verses of the book, refer in part at least to the final and uni- 
 versal judgment. If we follow the Hebrew text and read, a a 
 
 time there" we must understand the word “there” to be a tacit 
 allusion to the final judgment scene as to a great fact familiar to 
 the writer’s mind, and therefore not requiring a more specific 
 description. Prof. Stuart prefers a very slight change in a single 
 letter by which the word becomes a verb with the sense, appoint ; 
 thus, “ Because a time for every purpose and for every work he 
 hath appointed;” i. e. } a time to judge every purpose and work. 
 But without greater necessity for it, it can not be wise to change 
 the original text. 
 
 18. I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the 
 sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they 
 might see that they themselves are beasts. 
 
 It is difficult to trace the course of thought here. I suggest 
 the following as best meeting the demands of the context and the 
 sense of the words used, and paraphrase thus : “ I said in my 
 heart (a further reflection upon the fact brought out in vs. 16, 17) 
 it is because of the sons of men — for their sake — that God may 
 prove them and that they may see that in themselves they are 
 
 morally brutish, acting like the beasts.” The received version 
 
 leaves the sense suspended and incomplete. What that is which 
 is done in order “ that God might manifest them,” is not said. 
 This thought needs to be supplied. I assume that it must be 
 found in v. 16, viz., in the fearful and horrible wickedness of civil 
 rulers. God suffers this to develop itself in order to reveal the 
 awful depravity of the race and to show men that they are 
 worse than brutish morally in this horrid perversion of the 
 functions of civil authority which are entrusted to them* for 
 the ends of justice, and which they abuse to purposes of most 
 
256 
 
 ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. III. 
 
 flagrant injustice. God made man with exalted mental and moral 
 powers; but alas! how has he fallen! God clothed him with the 
 responsible functions of civil government over his fellows; alas, 
 that he should have abused them so outrageously ! In view of 
 such a moral fall, it is only fitting that mortality and death should 
 be the earthly destiny of all the race. Since man will debase his 
 soul to the state of a beast intellectually and morally, why should 
 not God doom his body to the destiny of a beast physically ? 
 
 19. For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth 
 beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dietli, 
 so dieth the other ; yea, they have all one breath ; so that 
 a man hath no pre-eminence above a beast : for all is 
 vanity. 
 
 20. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all 
 turn to dust again. 
 
 The word “for” assumes that it is even so. One common law 
 of physical mortality reigns over both man and beast. Each alike 
 receive their bodies from the dust of the earth, and give them 
 back to their mother earth. Considered closely with reference to 
 this part of our being, man has no preeminence above a beast. 
 This close construction is obviously demanded by the course of 
 thought; — ‘‘all go to one place” — the earth; all are made of dust 
 and all return to it again. This must refer to the body only. 
 
 21. Who knoweth the spirit of man. that goeth upward, 
 and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the 
 earth ? 
 
 This passage does not deny but on the contrary affirms that the 
 spirit of man goes upward to God who gave it, while the spirit 
 of beasts goes downward to the earth, becoming (as the passage 
 seems to imply) extinct with the dissolution of the body. But in 
 the words “ Who knoweth?” the writer assumes that many things 
 respecting the spirit of man and the spirit of beasts were yet un- 
 known. The subject lies beyond the range of our personal expe- 
 rience while yet we remain in this mortal state. There are more 
 things to be known in respect to the “going up” of the one and 
 the “going down” of the other than any human mind has yet 
 attained. Hence the fitness of the language, “Who knoweth?” 
 With the same words, the Psalmist (Ps. 90: 11) asks; “Who 
 knoweth the power of thine anger?” How can mortals ade- 
 quately appreciate its power and its effects? A somewhat dif- 
 
 ferent construction with a widely diverse sense is given by Profi 
 Stuart, thus; — “Who knoweth the* spirit of the sons of men 
 whether it ascendeth upward, and the spirit of beasts whether it 
 descendeth downward to the earth?” He supposes the author to 
 have had before him the idea of the future existence of the soul, 
 but at this time, to have been doubtful as to the truth of it. He 
 
ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. III. 
 
 257 
 
 finds support for this construction in the ancient versions, the 
 Septuagint, Vulgate, Syriac, and Arabic, and has with him all the 
 Neological critics, for they have a permanent propensity to deny 
 to the writers of the Old Testament all knowledge of a future 
 
 state. The reply to Prof. Stuart is that the Hebrew punctuation 
 
 is against him, and that the sentiment expressed in his construc- 
 tion conflicts with the author’s views elsewhere given, and no less 
 with the doctrine of man’s creation and destiny as given in Gen- 
 esis, viz., that the body, taken from the dust, returns to dust again 
 to meet its destiny of dissolution ; but the spirit, being the breath 
 of God, (Gen. 2:7) returns to God, its author, to meet its destiny 
 of moral retribution. It seems plain that the ancient people of 
 God had from the first (and never lost) this general idea, that the 
 souls of the good at death return to God to dwell in his presence 
 with all who have gone before in purity and blessedness. See Ps. 
 17: 15 and 16: 11 and 73 : 24, 25 and Gen. 15: 15 and 25: 8 
 and 49 : 29, 33 and 37 : 35, which last passage shows that this 
 being gathered to one’s people was not merely the burial of the 
 body in a common grave.* Inasmuch as this is the obvious and 
 usual sense of Solomon’s words in this passage, and inasmuch as 
 he certainly avows this sentiment in his last chapter, it must be 
 reasonable to assume that this is his meaning here ; and very un- 
 reasonable to make him contradict himself by forcing a sense 
 upon his words against which they rebel. 
 
 22. Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, 
 than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that 
 is liis portion : for who shall bring him to see what shall 
 be after him? 
 
 Here we have the sentiments of vs. 12, 13 repeated and still 
 enforced by the inferences drawn from the brevity of human life 
 
 * It may be due to Prof. Stuart to say that both in this case and in 
 many others he finds skeptical sentiments expressed in this book and 
 accounts for them in two ways, viz., as suggested by a supposed objector 
 and then answered by the author; or as the earlier views of the author, 
 but corrected subsequently by his better heart and consequent better light. 
 The difficulty with these suppositions is that the author gives no hint 
 of the presence of a supposed objector, dist inct from himself, and no hint 
 of any subsequent change in his own views. He does not say, I thought 
 wrong in chap. 3, but give my corrected views in chap. 12. This fact 
 should have weight, and yet, if the book seems to require to be con- 
 strued as a “confession ” in the broad sense of a recital of personal 
 experiences and of the varying phases of his views on moral questions, 
 then a diversity of views between one part of the book and another 
 may be admitted, even although the writer makes no special allusion 
 
 to such change. On another point Prof. Stuart leaves us quite in the 
 
 dark. Holding as he does that the author of the book is not Solomon 
 himself but some nameless and unknown writer after the captivity, 
 he fails to tell us whether these skeptical views were given by the au- 
 thor as being Solomon’s or his own. Perhaps it did not occur to him 
 that the theory of a forged authorship for a book of confessions— a de- 
 tail of heart-thoughts and experiences— must labor heavily. It is utterly 
 against nature. Who else ever attempted to write out a heart-history for 
 another man, five hundred years dead, with no autobiographical help 
 at hand ? 
 
258 
 
 ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. IV. 
 
 and from the fact that at death man passes away forever from 
 the scenes of earth. “What shall be after him” obviously re- 
 
 fers to this world after he has left it, and not to the next after he 
 shall have entered it. The things he can not know are not his 
 future destiny in the world to come, but rather the destiny of what 
 he leaves behind him as the fruit of all his toil in this world. The 
 parallel passage (6: 12) has it, “For who can tell a man what 
 
 shall be after him under the sunV ’ The conclusions to which 
 
 the author arrives at the various stages of his argument show 
 clearly that a secondary point, subordinate to his main theme— the 
 vanity of earthly pleasure — was the real good which God does give 
 man to enjoy in this mortal state. Remarkably he carries along these 
 two great themes — how to abuse the world and make it a worthless 
 vanity, and how to use it so as to get its real good most effectively. 
 
 oo'^( 
 
 CHAPTER IY. 
 
 Here are illustrative cases of failure in the pursuit of earthly 
 good : the oppressed (vs. 1-3) ; the successful but envied man (v. 
 4) ; the fool (v. 5) ; the man of great toil and anxiety (v. 6) ; the 
 miserly and solitary (vs. 7-12) ; kings on unstable thrones, whether 
 old and foolish, or young, popular and then unpopular (vs. 13-16). 
 
 1. So I returned and considered all the oppressions that 
 are done under the sun : and behold the tears of such as 
 were oppressed, and they had no comforter ; and on the 
 side of their oppressors there was power ; but they had no 
 comforter. 
 
 For the most part, Solomon, in this book, contemplates and ad- 
 dreses the rich and the noble who have high aspirations for worldly 
 pleasure, and large means (to human view) for attaining it. But these 
 verses form an exception, in part, i. e., they speak of and contemplate 
 the poor, yet are addressed , for aught that appears, to those in high 
 life. These oppressed ones are not princes, but subjects; are not 
 men of wealth, but men of poverty. Any just view of human life as 
 a whole must include the masses — those millions in almost every age 
 and every country who have been wretchedly misgoverned and griev- 
 ously oppressed. Solomon saw these masses in all the outlying 
 countries with which his political and commercial relations brought 
 him into contact. There is not the least occasion therefore to in- 
 fer from these allusions to oppression, that, since there was no such 
 oppression among his people during his reign, therefore this book 
 must have been written after the captivity, when the Jews were 
 somewhat subject to a foreign power. For the writer gives nc 
 
ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. IV. 
 
 259 
 
 hint that these oppressions were among his own people, the Jews. 
 
 These allusions to the oppressed are beautifully appropriate 
 
 and touching — every way worthy of the heart of Solomon in his 
 better days. It is to be feared that in his most apostate days, he 
 lost somewhat this tender regard for the tears of the oppressed, 
 and took little heed of his own exactions upon his people and of 
 the grievances under which they suffered, 
 
 2. Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead, 
 more than the living which are yet alive. ' 
 
 3. Yea, better is lie than both they, which hath not yet 
 been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under 
 the sun. 
 
 The second verse commends the state of the dead as better than 
 that of the living who are suffering under grievous oppression. 
 In v. 3 the italicised words — u is he ” — are so located as to darken 
 the real sense, which is — yea, better than both (i. e ., both those 
 who live under oppression, and the dead), is he who is yet unborn, 
 who has as yet had no sense of the evil that is done under the sun; 
 It should have been arranged thus: Yea, better than both is he 
 that hath not yet been born, etc. Of the three classes, the living, 
 the dead, and the yet unborn — the condition of the latter is adjudged 
 the best. 
 
 4. Again, I considered all travail, and every right work, 
 that for this a man is envied of his neighbor. This is also 
 vanity and vexation of spirit. 
 
 This is the case of the successful man of business. The phrase, 
 translated, u right work,” should rather have been successful work , 
 managed skilfully and accompanied with good fortune so as to 
 ensure the best results. For this a man is envied of his neighbor. 
 And this envy detracts very seriously from the enjoyment of good 
 fortune and success. It brought Solomon to the conclusion; This, 
 too, makes wealth a vanity and a vexation of spirit. 
 
 5. The fool foldeth his hands together, and eateth his 
 own flesh. 
 
 Over against the wise manager and successful worker stands the 
 fool who manages badly and lives indolently. He eats up his 
 estate and starves himself. Passages in the Book of Proverbs 
 show that Solomon had neither respect, sympathy, nor pity for 
 this class of men. (See Prov. 6: 9-11 and 24: 30-34.) 
 
 6. Better is a handful with quietness, than both the 
 hands full with travail and vexation of spirit. 
 
 Better is one hand full, with quietness, than both hands full, 
 with unrest and vexation. When a man has too much for his 
 mind to manage and his hands to keep without corroding anxiety, 
 
260 
 
 ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. IV. 
 
 he has too much for his enjoyment and best good. His wealth 
 whether little or much, becomes a real curse. No living man can 
 afford to endure such unrest and vexation for the sake of being 
 rich. Very many rich men wear out life prematurely and deny 
 themselves almost all the common enjcyments of life through haw 
 ing both hands full, with travail and vexation of spirit. Alas ! 
 what a comment on the miseries of wealth and on the folly of its 
 
 too eager pursuit! This passage is remarkably in harmony 
 
 with the scope of the entire book. Throughout the author com- 
 mends the moderate amount of earthly good which man needs and 
 can really enjoy, but does not commend the abundance and super- 
 lluity which goes far beyond the supply of all legitimate wants. 
 This corresponds with his main purpose of guarding his readers 
 against the pernicious influence of his own example in seeking 
 worldly pleasure and in making immense accumulations of what 
 men please to call worldly good. 
 
 7. Then I returned, and I saw vanity under the sun. 
 
 8. There is one alone , and there is not a second ; yea, he 
 hath neither child nor brother: yet is there no end of all 
 his labor ; neither is his eye satisfied with riches : neither 
 saith he , For whom do I labor, and bereave my soul of 
 good ? This is also vanity, yea, it is a sore travail. 
 
 This is the case of a miserly recluse, solitary in the world, with 
 no son and no brother, and, of course, no wife or daughter ; who 
 yet toils excessively, and has not the wisdom and the good sense 
 to ask himself — For whom am I wearing out my life and denying 
 
 myself life’s real good? There are some such men in every age, 
 
 too fearful of being drawn upon for others’ good to put themselves 
 in any close relations to society; content to deny themselves the 
 best solace of human woe and the best comforts of human life 
 lest they be required to minister to others’ happiness beyond what 
 their selfish hearts choose to bear. It is but fitting that their lot 
 should be hard. Solomon very justly accounts it a sore travail. 
 In the constitution of human nature, and in the laws of human 
 society, our Maker made no provision for any very desirable happi- 
 ness in such a life. It is simply human selfishness outwitting 
 itself, overdoing to the damage of its own interests. 
 
 9. Two are better than one ; because they have a good 
 reward for their labor. 
 
 10. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow : but 
 wo to him that is alone when he falleth ; for he hath not 
 another to help him up. 
 
 11. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but 
 how can one be warm alone t 
 
 12. And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand 
 him ; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken. 
 
ECCLESIASTES — CHAP. IV. 
 
 261 
 
 The case of the recluse suggests by contrast these remarks in 
 praise of the closest union of friendship. It is not good for man to 
 be alone in the journey of life. Let him always have a next friend 
 at hand if he hill to help him rise — himself meanwhile the next 
 friend of his companion to minister in like manner to every need. 
 The doctrine of the passage was probably intended to apply to 
 lawful marriage — the union of one man and one woman ; perhaps 
 also to business partnerships, and -in general to the closer intima- 
 cies and friendships of human life in which the ministries of 
 affection and of aid are mutual and mutually beneficent. 
 
 13. Better is a poor and a wise child, than an old and 
 foolish king, who will no more be admonished. 
 
 The remaining verses in this chapter give the mutations of earthly 
 life as seen in the case of kings. Here also we may see that wis- 
 dom is better far than folly : wisdom in the sense of sagacity ; folly . 
 as manifesting itself in egregious self-conceit and stolid ignorance. 
 
 Better is a child, poor but wise, than a king, old [and rich 
 
 withal] but foolish, who knows not to be any more enlightened ; 
 i. 6 , who is past being taught — past learning any thing — being too 
 wise in his own conceit to be ever really any wiser. 
 
 14. For out of prison he cometh to reign ; whereas also 
 he that is born in his kingdom becometh poor. 
 
 For [this poor boy] comes forth, like Joseph in Egypt, from prison 
 to a throne, but even the one born to a kingdom becomes impover- 
 ished — i. e., stripped of all his regal honors and with them of his 
 wealth. This is the hereditary heir to the kingdom. He goes down 
 to poverty, while the diligent, sagacious young man rises from ob- 
 scurity to regal honor. Prof. Stuart, less aptly, renders the last 
 
 clause — “For in his own kingdom he was born a poor man” — 
 assuming that it refers to the successful youth and not to the de- 
 throned dotard. 
 
 15. I considered all the living which walk under the sun, 
 with the second child that shall stand up in his stead. 
 
 16. There is no end of all the people, even of all that have 
 been before them : they also that come after shall not rejoice 
 in him. Surely this also is vanity and vexation of spirit. 
 
 The same case but in still changing aspects. “ I have seen all 
 the living who walk beneath the sun with" [the emphatic word, 
 meaning, in harmony with, and following in his train as his 
 adorers] with this second son (not the first-born, legitimate heir) 
 who comes into the place of the first-born, the lawful heir; stand- 
 ing up as king instead of him. That is, I have seen the order of 
 primogeniture set aside, and the second son supersede the first- 
 born and ascend the throne in his stead. And all people in the 
 wide realm followed in his train to shout their welcome homage. 
 The number of people — “all the living” — indicates that his eye 
 
262 
 
 ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. IV. 
 
 is on the case of those vast, world-wide empires, Egypt or Assyria, 
 which at various periods held sway over the greater part of the 
 
 then known world. V. 16 gives the reverse side of the picture. 
 
 First, there is no end to the masses who throng his train — even 
 to all before whom he is an idolized king; but, mark the change! 
 the after-coming ones — the next vast throng — rejoice not in him. 
 They shout for some other candidate ; give their homage to some „ 
 other aspirant; and then the former, however popular in his short 
 day, goes down, to give place to his successor. Surely this also is 
 vanity. — So changeful and unstable are the fortunes of kings. So 
 precarious is the best footing on human thrones ! In the wide 
 range of his observation Solomon had seen the utter vanity 
 
 of the wealth and honor and glory of human kingdoms. 
 
 Some critics tax their ingenuity to identify the particular kings 
 to whom they suppose Solomon referred in this passage. To 
 little purpose, however. If he had told us who they were we 
 should know; but since he has not, it avails little to conjecture. 
 It is by no means certain that he meant to restrict his allusion to 
 any one set of historic facts. The poor but wise boy coming out 
 of prison to power all but regal, corresponds so well to the case of 
 Joseph that I have ventured to suggest him as probably in the 
 writer s thought. More than this is too purely conjectural to be 
 of any value. Facts of this kind occur often enough, and the 
 practical lesson is good without names, or specially defined and 
 historic cases. 
 
 Some critics are entirely positive that in vs. 13-16 they find Jer- 
 oboam, “the poor and wise child” (v. 13) “coming out of prison 
 [in Egypt] to reign (v. 14) ; “ the second child followed by all the 
 living (v. 15); yet not rejoiced in by those that come after;” (v. 
 16). Also they find Solomon himself in the “old and foolish king” 
 (v. 13), and Rehoboam in the one “ born to a kingdom,” yet “ be- 
 coming poor”.(v. 14). 1 have no taste for such conjectures; at 
 
 best they bring us no profit. Considered as solutions of an enigma, 
 they are in this case a failure ; there are too many unfitting points : 
 e. g ., that Solomon should write himself “an old and foolish king, 
 past being wiser; that Rehoboam should be described as “becom- 
 ing poor” rather than as half dethroned; that the words “I con- 
 sidered” (v. 15) need to be explained of prophetic vision rather 
 than of personal observation — the sense they always bear in this 
 book; that “all the living” are said to have followed Jeroboam 
 (quite too strong); that the words “the second child” should need 
 to be forced upon him; and finally that he should lose all favor 
 with the people before his death — never a fact. 
 
ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. V. 
 
 263 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 This chapter treats miscellaneously, of irreverence in the wor- 
 ship of God (v. 1); of rash vows (vs. 2-7); of oppression and of 
 retribution therefor (v. 8) ; of riches and of the vanity of their ex- 
 cessive pursuit (vs. 9-17), and of the propriety and wisdom of using 
 the good things of the world with moderation, and as gifts from 
 God (vs. 18-20). 
 
 1. Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, 
 and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of 
 fools : for they consider not that they do evil. 
 
 “ Keep thy foot,” etc., enjoins that the very approach to the 
 house of God should be with reverence, even as the Lord said to 
 Moses — “ Draw not nigh hither; put off thy shoes from off thy feet, 
 for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground” (Ex. 3: 6). 
 
 Draw near to hear, is precisely the sense of the second clause, 
 
 and exhorts the worshipers to enter the inner court where the 
 priests were accustomed to read the law, and to listen there to this 
 reading as better than to remain without, feasting in a merely sen- 
 sual way on the portions of their slain animals which in certain 
 forms of sacrifice were designated for this purpose. These pro- 
 fessed worshipers really acted the part of fools in neglecting to 
 hear the word of God and in resorting to the temple only for the 
 sake of these low forms of sensual gratification. Solomon says of 
 them — “They are reckless as to the doing of evil.” They seem 
 
 to have no thought or care how much they sin. Prof. Stuart 
 
 renders the last words — “They know not how to be sad;” i. c., 
 they are altogether averse to proper sorrow for sin and do not fre- 
 quent the temple for the sake of humbling themselves before God 
 penitently and imploring his pardon. Doing evil is the legiti- 
 mate sense of the original. That the priests taught the people 
 
 out of the law and, naturally, at the temple, appears from Deut. 
 33: 10: “They shall teach Jacob thy judgments and Israel thy 
 law;” and from Micah 3: 11: “The priests teach for hire;” 
 and Mai. 2:7: For the priests’ lips should keep knowledge; and 
 they should seek the law from his mouth, for he is the messenger 
 of the Lord of Hosts.” To obtain this knowledge through the 
 priests was therefore always a matter of the utmost consequence, 
 not restricted indeed to the temple as to location, yet never inap- 
 propriate there. That a portion of certain sacrifices was cus- 
 
 tomarily eaten in a social way by the offerer and his friends ap- 
 pears in such passages as 1 Sam. 9: 12, 13 and 20: 29. This part 
 of the temple service had special attractions for the sensual and 
 morally reckless, and was by them most shamefully perverted and 
 
 abused. Some of the critics who insist that this book was not 
 
 written till long after the restoration from Babylon suppose they 
 find confirmation in the circumstance that Malachi rebukes sim- 
 12 
 
264 
 
 ECCLESIASTES — CHAP. V. 
 
 ilar sins, and also that during Solomon’s reign the temple worship 
 was never abused in this way. But such perversions are not very 
 extraordinary in any age. As suggested in the general introduc- 
 tion, the great splendor which in Solomon’s reign was suddenly 
 thrown round the temple worship would naturally attract thou- 
 sands who had no hearty reverence for God and no desire to hear 
 his law, but only to indulge their curiosity and their social and 
 animal propensities. Such cases must have been perpetually be- 
 fore the eye of Solomon. Especially in the latter part of his 
 reign it is morally certain that a great decline in national piety 
 had taken place — else the people of the ten tribes could not have 
 accepted so readily the edict of Jeroboam, requiring them to wor- 
 ship his calves. 
 
 The fact that here are seven verses (1-7) referring to attendance 
 upon the house of God, to prayer and to vows under the Hebrew 
 law, may appear to some to be an objection to the view given in 
 the Introduction of the special design of this book, viz., that it 
 was adapted somewhat particularly to the case of foreigners who 
 had been Solomon’s admirers and followers. To this objection I 
 reply : (1.) I do not hold that the book was designed for foreigners 
 exclusively . It was open to Hebrews as well. (2.) One class of 
 his contemplated readers of foreign birth, viz., his numerous wives 
 and their friends, were located near the temple. To them, this 
 passage was specially appropriate. (3.) Naturally, Solomon might 
 have been more than willing that foreign princes and merchants 
 should know his views in respect to the reverence due to the Great 
 God, in respect to prayers also and vows. These remarks might 
 suggest to them the wide contrast between Jehovah and their own 
 idol gods. (4.) If in addition to these points, it be further con- 
 sidered that this passage is quite aside from the main course of 
 thought and argument in this book, and that there is nothing else 
 of the same sort, it can not be regarded as an objection to the 
 theory that in the main Solomon contemplated readers of foreign 
 birth and adapted his argument to their case. 
 
 2. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart 
 be hasty to utter any thing before God : for God is in heaven, 
 and thou upon earth : therefore let thy words be few. 
 
 3. For a dream cometh through the multitude of busi- 
 ness ; and a fooTs voice is known by multitude of words. 
 
 This language might apply pertinently either to words of prayer, 
 or to the words used in the solemn vow. Inasmuch as prayers and 
 vows were naturally blended together, it is quite legitimate to 
 consider both as involved here. This caution applies to all words 
 addressed to God. A multitude of words, poured out irreverently 
 and without serious thought, is compared to the incoherent and 
 unmeaning fancies of dreams when the mind has been overborne 
 with business and cares. In no such manner and spirit should men 
 approach the Great God. Let them rather think of him as filling 
 
ECCLESIASTES -CHAP. V. 
 
 265 
 
 the highest heavens and yet as condescending in his great com- 
 passion to bend his ear thence to the humble prayer of mortals 
 Let them, therefore, approach his mercy-seat with profoundesb 
 gratitude and reverential awe, blended, indeed, with a filial but 
 
 never a reckless spirit. This precept can not legitimately be 
 
 construed to forbid the free use of as many words as may be 
 necessary to express our wants or to give free utterance to the 
 real longings of our burdened hearts. “Vain repetitions,” which 
 are both the index and the expression of an irreverent heart, are 
 rightly forbidden. 
 
 4. When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay 
 it ; for he hath no pleasure in fools : pay that which thou 
 hast vowed. 
 
 5. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that 
 thou shouldest vow and not pay. 
 
 The Mosaic Institutes permitted and regulated these solemn 
 vows. (See Num. 30 throughout, and Deut. 23 : 21-23.) The latter 
 passage is fully in harmony with these words of Solomon. “When 
 thou shalt vow a vow unto the Lord thy God, thou shalt not slack 
 to pay it ; for the Lord thy God will surely require it of thee ; and 
 it would be sin in thee. But if thou shalt forbear to vow, it shall 
 be no sin in thee,” etc. The history of the Lord’s people, both 
 before and after Moses, gives us cases of such vows. The reader 
 will recall the case of Jacob before (Gen. 29: 20-22), and of Han- 
 nah after (1 Sam. 1: II). Solomon applies the term “fools” 
 
 to those who vow recklessly and care not to perform their vows. 
 
 6. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin ; neither 
 say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore 
 should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of 
 thine hands? 
 
 In this somewhat difficult passage I understand the mouth to be 
 named as the organ of speech in making vows, and in irreverent 
 prayers. “ Flesh” is used for the entire person with special refer- 
 ence to the body because under the Mosaic system the punishment 
 for rash and unperformed vows fell naturally upon the body of the 
 offender. The word rendered “ cause to sin,” probably means here 
 to involve in guilt , with special reference to its consequences, i. e ., 
 punishment. It can not be supposed that the flesh itself, consid- 
 ered as distinct and apart from the mind, can sin. But it can suffer 
 for sin; and this is probably the meaning here. Let not thy mouth 
 rashly involve thy entire person in guilt and consequent suffering. 
 
 The “ angel ” here is doubtless the priest, so called because in 
 
 a sense the messenger of God — the agent acting for God — in the 
 matter of vows especially, and of sacrifices and divine worship 
 generally. See his agency in the case of vows, in Lev. 27 : 1-25. 
 The same term is applied to the priest in Mai. 2:7. “ For he i? 
 
266 
 
 ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. V. 
 
 the messenger [angel] of the Lord of Hosts.” “ Say not, it was 
 
 an error i. e ., an inadvertence ; a sin of ignorance — with reference 
 to the broad distinction made in the Mosaic law between sins of 
 inadvertence on the one hand, and presumptuous, deliberate and 
 daring sins on the other. See this distinction fully drawn out 
 (Num. 15 : 22-31). The spirit of the admonition here is — Do not 
 make a rash vow, and then resort to this plea of inadvertence to 
 excuse or extenuate your guilt or justify non-fulfillment. Rather 
 consider beforehand and act deliberately. Make no solemn vow 
 without a serious purpose to perform it. When made, see that 
 you do perform it faithfully. Why should you provoke the dis- 
 pleasure of Almighty God by your rash words and your guilty 
 irreverence, and so bring down his judgments upon the work of 
 
 your hands ? “ The work of your hands,” i. e., the fruits of your 
 
 labor, refer naturally to the products of the field. If these had 
 been pledged to God in the solemn vow, and then guiltily withheld, 
 God would bring his curse upon them, sending his judgments as 
 usual so in the line of their sin as to show them why he scourged 
 them. 
 
 7. For in the multitude of dreams and many words there 
 are also divers vanities : but fear thou God. 
 
 The sense of this verse is better given by a more precise trans- 
 lation, introducing in brackets what is implied, thus: “For in 
 multiplying dreams and vanities and words excessively, [you 
 expose yourself to this destruction] ; but fear thou God.” Men 
 are in peril when they talk too much, and especially when they 
 speak rashly and thoughtlessly before God. The precept of wis- 
 dom in this case is, Fear thou God. Let a deep and wholesome 
 reverence toward God possess thy soul and guard thy tongue 
 against rash words before him. 
 
 8. If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent 
 perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel 
 not at the matter : for he that is higher than the highest 
 regardeth ; and there be higher than they. 
 
 The last clause of this verse I would translate — “ For one who 
 is higher than this high one is observing, and the Most High is 
 over them both;” — the meaning of which is that a higher officer is 
 over this oppressive magistrate, taking cognizance of his acts ; and 
 the Most High God is over both of them, so that if the superior 
 human ruler fails to bring his subordinate to account, the Great 
 
 God will punish them both. This oppression is supposed to 
 
 occur in “ the province” where subordinate officers would naturally 
 be in charge. Within the range of Solomon’s extensive acquaint- 
 ance in the east, such abuses of power in civil magistrates were 
 no doubt exceedingly common. He says — Do not marvel at it, 
 nor think that this horrible iniquity wiil pass unpunished. The 
 
ECCLESIASTES- CHAP. V. 
 
 287 
 
 Great God is never blind to the wrongs which unjust magistrates 
 inflict upon their people. If the king who places them in powei 
 does not call them to account, God surely will. 
 
 9. Moreover the profit of the earth is for all : the king 
 himself is served by the field. 
 
 This verse is difficult and has been interpreted quite variously. 
 Stuart translates it — “Moreover an advantage of a land in all this 
 is, a king to a cultivated field.” He assumes a close connection 
 with the preceding verse, thus : Whereas many public officers are 
 so oppressive upon the laboring classes as to discourage and almost 
 preclude agriculture, it is a great advantage to a country to have 
 
 a king who cares for and insures the cultivation of the fields. 
 
 Hengstenberg renders it: “And the advantage of the earth is in 
 all; a king to the cultivated field.” This cultivated field he takes 
 to be the whole earth so far as capable of culture. The king is 
 
 God himself. The general sense given in the received English 
 
 version is not bad, viz.: that the soil is the ultimate source of 
 supply for all human wants ; even the king is dependent on the 
 field, or the king is a servant to the field, i. e ., is compelled to do 
 service to the soil in order to get subsistence for himself and his 
 
 people. The Septuagint suggests another construction in some 
 
 respects more close to the original, viz.: The excellence of a country 
 universally is this : — a king over well cultivated fields. That is, 
 the best thing of all for the earth [in this line] is a king who fos- 
 ters agriculture. It was specially pertinent that Solomon should 
 
 thus commend agriculture inasmuch as the exports of his country 
 were almost exclusively these products of the soil. (See 1 Kings 
 5: 9, 11.) Solomon gave Hiram (of Tyre) twenty thousand 
 “ measures of wheat,” etc. In the full account which Ezekiel 
 (chap. 27) givps of the trade of Tyre, the same fact appears ; 
 “Judah and the land of Israel were thy merchants; they traded 
 in thy market, wheat,” etc. Such praise of agriculture was spe- 
 cially in point considered as addressed to the princes and monarchs 
 of foreign lands — those princes being under temptation to oppress 
 their subjects to such an extent as to impede the cultivation of the 
 soil ; — the merchants being moreover liable to over-estimate silver 
 and gold and to under-estimate the more homely products of field 
 culture. The indirect moral influence of husbandry is admirable, 
 and Solomon was the very man to see it. 
 
 10. He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with 
 silver ; nor he that loveth abundance with increase : this is 
 also vanity. 
 
 Avarice is wont often, not always, to take on this precise form — 
 “the love of silver” — and to develop itself in hoarding the pre- 
 cious metals. A man of such spirit is never satisfied; there is 
 nothing in silver and gold that can satisfy him. His miserly heart 
 
268 
 
 ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. Y. 
 
 is only tormented with the lust of accumulation and the fear of 
 loss. Unceasing anxieties corrode his soul and forbid repcse. 
 This is precisely a “vanity” What can be more empty ! Worse 
 than merely empty, it is positively a mischief and a misery. 
 
 11. When goods increase, they are increased that eat 
 them : and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving 
 the beholding of them with their eyes ? 
 
 With the increase of wealth in goods, cattle, lands, there comes 
 a demand for an increase of servants and employees to manage 
 them. All these must be fed. Thus the outgoes advance with 
 the incomes. What good then has the owner above his servants, 
 except in this, that he can look on these possessions and say — All 
 these are mine ! Each alike has his daily bread ; the owner no 
 more ; and his family, his household and servants no less. Hence 
 the actual enjoyments of life are more nearly equal than is com- 
 monly supposed: the special advantage of the rich man above the 
 poor is less than he is wont to think. These facts have a whole- 
 some bearing upon the class for whom Solomon is specially writing. 
 
 Luther comments tersely : “Whoso then gathers riches, gathers 
 
 devourers. Therefore why plague thyself to collect much and to 
 increase thy treasure? However many possessions thou hast, 
 thou canst not do more than fill thy belly and clothe thy poor body. 
 If God gives thee riches, use thy share as thou usest thy share of 
 water, and let the rest flow on : and if thou doest it not, thy gather- 
 ing will still be in vain.” 
 
 12. The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eat 
 little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suf- 
 fer him to sleep. 
 
 Comparing the man of daily labor with the man of wealth, the 
 former is pretty sure to eat as well and to sleep much better. 
 Such labor almost insures health, and with health the best pleas- 
 ures of food and sleep. On the other hand, abundance — an ex- 
 cess above his real wants — is so much to be cared for and kept, 
 often with a degree of anxiety that forbids sleep. In this balanc- 
 ing of the relative enjoyments of the two classes, the laborer has 
 
 altogether the advantage. This also is wholesome doctrine 
 
 for the wealthy classes to whom Solomon specially addresses his 
 Dook. 
 
 13. There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, 
 namely , riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt. 
 
 A sore evil it is that riches, the avails of so much labor, should 
 be hoarded by their owner to his damage; kept, locked from use, 
 to be only a curse to their possessor. What a man has paid for 
 so dearly, one would think ought to pay him well in return. 
 WTat then if it only pays him in hurt — rewards him with calami- 
 
ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. V. 
 
 269 
 
 ties and curses ! The true wisdom of life lies in laboring not 
 
 for one's self, but for others — for the greatest good of the greatest 
 possible number. Riches accumulated and used on this principle 
 are choice and precious blessings, not only to the great number 
 of others blessed thereby, but specially to the princely owner — 
 the almoner of these blessings to his fellow-creatures. What a 
 luxury must life be to him ! How unlike to his expanded and 
 overflowing heart is the shriveled soul of the miserly man who 
 hoards and keeps to his hurt, so that the more he has, he is only 
 the more wretched! 
 
 14. But those riches perish by evil travail : and he beget- 
 teth a son, and there is nothing in his hand. 
 
 Here another point is made ; those hoarded riches not only 
 curse their owner while they stay, but they are liable to disap- 
 pear suddenly and be no more. “They perish by evil travail” — 
 “by luckless undertakings” (Stuart); by misfortune; by unfore- 
 seen disaster; by causes of loss which no human sagacity can 
 provide against. “Riches take to themselves wings and fly 
 away.” Then the man who is supposed to have been accumu- 
 
 lating for his children, begets a son and has not a thing in his 
 hand to give him. This is a sore trial to one who has labored 
 hard for wealth to give his children, and has once had it, but 
 
 has lost it. Thus I prefer to answer the question, Whose hand? 
 
 by saying — the fathers. For it would be a too obvious truism to 
 say that this rich man begat a son and this son was born with 
 nothing in his hand. This happens to be true of all babes — those 
 of the poor and of the rich alike. 
 
 15. As he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall 
 he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his 
 labor, which he may carry away in his hand. 
 
 16. And this also is a sore evil, that in all points as he 
 came, so shall he go : and what profit hath he that hath 
 labored for the wind? 
 
 This too is said of the rich man. He leaves the world as naked 
 as he entered it, and takes with him no fruit of all his life-long 
 labors. In all points as he came, so does he go : what profit then 
 is it to him that he hath labored for the wind? As if one were 
 to accumulate some choice materials which a sudden blast of 
 
 wind should sweep utterly away. The apostle Paul (to Timothy 
 
 1 Eps. 6: 7) has the same idea, perhaps suggested by this pas- 
 sage; “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain 
 we can carry nothing out.” “What ceases with death can not 
 make us truly happy even while we have it.” It holds too low 
 a sphere ; touches not the greater elements of our being — char- 
 acter, virtue, goodness — the qualities that go with us into the eter- 
 nal world. It is utterly unlike laying up treasures for heaven. 
 
270 
 
 ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. V. 
 
 17. All his days also he eateth in darkness, and he hath 
 much sorrow and wrath with his sickness. 
 
 This verse lias been translated and construed variously, yet in 
 general with substantially the same resulting sense. Stuart — • 
 “Also he consumes all his days in gloom, and is much irritated, 
 
 and his infirmities are matter of indignation.” Hengstenberg— 
 
 “All his days also he eateth in darkness and hath much discon- 
 tent, and then his sickness and wrath.” The word rendered in 
 the English version “ sorrow ” is pointed in Hebrew as a verb. 
 The general sentiment is that this rich man does not even enjoy 
 his food, but all his life eats in darkness, i. e ., in sadness, anxiety; 
 is full of discontent; his infirmities irritate his temper and 
 make him intensely unhappy. Probably the writer alludes to 
 those diseases which naturally result from luxurious living, and 
 
 which so often help to poison the cup of the rich. Thus closes 
 
 one of the most vivid and truthful descriptions ever drawn by 
 human pen of the wretchedness and folly of the avaricious pur- 
 suit of wealth. O how well if it might dissuade men from a life 
 so full of disquiet, so disastrous in its influence upon the heart, 
 and so sure to repay hard toil and corroding anxiety with the 
 keenest disappointment ! 
 
 18. Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely 
 for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his 
 labor that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, 
 which God giveth him : for it is his portion. 
 
 Look at the conclusions to which I have come from my personal 
 observation of human life. It is both good in itself and comely, 
 in the sense of appropriate, befitting man in all his relations, 
 whether to God or to his fellow-men, that he should eat and drink 
 what is needful and wholesome, and should enjoy the good of his 
 labor as he passes on through life, accepting it all with grateful 
 heart to his Great Benefactor and Preserver. The beauty of the 
 passage lies in its recognition of God’s hand in both the gift of 
 days to live in, and the gift of food and drink to enjoy while he 
 lives. It is preeminently wholesome in its moral bearings to keep 
 this sense of God’s favor in the gift of days and of daily food, ever- 
 more fresh upon the heart. It begets a humble trust for the fu- 
 ture ; allays all wasting anxieties for great accumulations ; and 
 inspires us to a ready sympathy and benevolence toward our fel- 
 lows who may have fallen under sore affliction from the hand of 
 the Lord. This is using the world as not abusing it; using it sc 
 as to fill it with heavenly influence toward a filial trust and a 
 grateful love of our divine Father. As indicated in the Eng- 
 
 lish margin, the Hebrew translated — “ It is good and comely,” 
 might be rendered, “ that is good which is also comely ;” but the 
 meaning seems to be — good and comely also. 
 
ECCLESL\STES — CHAP. V. 
 
 271 
 
 19. Every man also to whom God hath given riches and 
 wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take 
 his portion, and to rejoice in his labor ; this is the gift of 
 God. 
 
 To complete the sentence and bring out the full sense we may 
 read — u The same is true of every man also to whom God hath 
 given,” etc. That is, it is true of every such man that it is both 
 good and comely for him to eat and drink, accepting all as the 
 gift of God. This verse adds to the thought in v. 18, this consid- 
 eration — that if God gives to a man both riches and the ability to 
 enjoy them, he should accept both these gifts, and especially the 
 latter — the power to enjoy worldly good — as the very gift of God. 
 It so often happens that where God gives riches, he gives not the 
 power to enjoy them, that the bestowment of both blessings upon 
 the same man should awaken special gratitude. The author pro- 
 ceeds to speak of this case in the next chapter, vs. 1, 2. The 
 
 sentiment of this verse appears also chap. 2: 24 and 3 : 12, 13, 22. 
 
 20. For he shall not much remember the days of his life ; 
 because God answereth him in the joy of his heart. 
 
 He will have small occasion to dwell in mournful reminiscence 
 upon the scenes of the past, however trying and laborious they 
 may have been, for God now meets the desires of the heart, giving 
 him both a competence of earthly good, and the ability to enjoy 
 
 it. Some critics give a slightly different turn to the word 
 
 “ answereth ” by taking it in the causative sense of making other 
 things (e. g ., all nature) answer (correspond) to the joy of his 
 heart. God helps a man to a cheerful satisfied spirit which sheds 
 sunshine over all this otherwise dark world, making every object 
 reflect the same brightness which glows in his own trustful, happy 
 soul. The very idea is beautiful, and the state of mind which it 
 describes is almost half a heaven upon earth, so that it were a 
 pity to throw any doubt upon this construction. The verb will 
 bear it since it may be in the causative (Hiphil) conjugation; but 
 the 11 all things ,” assumed to be the direct object of the causative 
 verb is not in the text. Hence the first construction above given 
 corresponds best with what the writer actually said. 
 
272 
 
 ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. YI. 
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 The course of thought in this chapter is very similar to that in 
 chap. 5: 10-17, viz., a specification of ways in which men wlf5 
 seek much worldly good are frustrated in their search and find 
 little or none. 
 
 1. There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and 
 it is common among men : 
 
 2. A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and 
 honor, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that 
 he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, 
 but a stranger eateth it : this is vanity, and it is an evil 
 disease. 
 
 This evil, I understand the author to say, presses heavily upon 
 man ; not, is “ common among men.” This sense is rendered very 
 probable by the usage of the same word in chap. 2: 21 and 8:6; 
 
 “a great evil;” “the misery of man is great upon him.” The 
 
 case is that of a man to whom God has given all the wealth and 
 all the distinction by means of wealth that his soul could desire, 
 but has not “given him the power to eat thereof, but a stranger 
 eateth it.” The author does not state definitely why this rich man 
 could not enjoy his wealth. Probably eating is to be taken in the 
 broad sense for all forms of enjoying wealth, and the statement is 
 made thus indefinite on purpose to cover a great variety of cases ; 
 e. g., ill-health; indigestion which would quite forbid his enjoy- 
 ment of his food ; or robbery and violence by which it might sud- 
 denly pass into other and villainous hands. “This is a vanity 
 
 and a grievous plague!' In Deut. 25: 29, “sore sickness,” trans- 
 lating the same words that are used here, has the same general 
 sense as “plagues ” in the parallel clause, which the Lord would 
 make “ wonderful.” Solomon s meaning is not to be restricted to 
 bodily disease. 
 
 3. If a man beget a hundred children , and live many 
 years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul 
 be not filled with good, and also that he have no burial ; 
 I say, that an untimely birth is better than he. 
 
 4. For he cometh in with vanity, and departeth in dark- 
 ness, and his name shall be covered with darkness. 
 
 5. Moreover he hath not seen the sun, nor known any 
 thing : this hath more rest than the other. 
 
 Long life and a numerous offspring were accounted by the 
 Orientals the richest of blessings. But Solomon says that even 
 this man so blessed, if his desires are not gratified, and if more- 
 over he should fail of burial (in their esteem a very great calamity), 
 
ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. VI. 
 
 273 
 
 has a less desirable lot than the “untimely birth” — the still-born 
 who live not to see the light of day. This “ untimely birth ” is 
 further described in vs. 4, 5. The point decisive in favor of the 
 latter is that he hath more rest than the other who has lived long 
 and had many children. Rest is regarded in Oriental life as the 
 chief good. 
 
 6. Yea, though he live a thousand years twice told , yet 
 hath he seen no good : do not all go to one place ? 
 
 The same comparison is still continued, enlarging the supposition 
 as to the great age, the “many days,” which the father of a hun- 
 dred children should live. Suppose his days double the years of 
 the longest-lived antediluvian, yet if he fails of seeing good in his 
 life, what avails it that he has lived so long? Does not he die at 
 last and go to the same place with the still-born infant? A life 
 however long, yet fruitless of enjoyment, and ending in a death 
 that is common to all the race and even to the untimely birth — 
 what is the good of it ? 
 
 7. All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the ap- 
 petite is not filled. 
 
 8. For what hath the wise more than the fool ? what hath 
 the poor, that knoweth to walk before the living ? 
 
 The demand for food is twofold, viz.: (1.) For sustenance, strength 
 and life; and (2.) For the indulgence and gratification of appetite. 
 Comprising both these demands, it may be said truly that much 
 if not strictly all of human labor is “for the mouth.” But the 
 appetite is not so filled that its cravings do not return. More sup- 
 plies are soon wanted. And in this respect the wise man and the 
 fool are alike — the wise having no distinctive advantage over the 
 fool. The poor man who has great discretion as to his demeanor 
 before living men is here parallel to the wise man, and the same 
 things are said of him. He feels the returning demands of appe- 
 tite in common with the man of no such discretion. The ques- 
 tion — What hath the wise man more than the fool ? must be re- 
 stricted to the definite point in hand, and not taken in a broad, 
 unqualified sense. 
 
 9. Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of 
 the desire : this is also vanity and vexation of spirit. 
 
 The sentiment is— It is better to enjoy the sight of present good 
 quietly and gratefully than to let your desires roam abroad for 
 pleasures far to seek and hard to gain. Accept what comes to 
 your hand, and beware that you do not throw a loose rein on your 
 desires for absent good. Luther remarks : — Solomon’s will is that 
 we make use of the present; thank God for it; and not think of 
 any thing else, like the dog in .zEsop who snapped at the shadow and 
 let the flesh fall.” 
 
274 
 
 ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. VI. 
 
 10. That which hath been is named already, and it is 
 known that it is man: neither may he contend with him 
 that is mightier than he. 
 
 The received translation fails to give the full sense of this verse. 
 I paraphrase it : What man has been and is, was long ago (i. e ., 
 in Eden) indicated by the name given him there — “Adam” i. e. y 
 dust; and it is known [by long and sad experience] that he is 
 only dust — frail and perishing ; and therefore entirely unable to 
 contend with him who is mightier far, viz., the Most High God. 
 
 How can frail dust cope with Omnipotence ? Beyond all ques- 
 
 tion the passage alludes to the name, Adam, given to man in Eden 
 (Gen. 2 : 7) because he was formed out of “ Adamah ,” the ground 
 or dust of the earth. 
 
 11. Seeing there be many things that increase vanity, 
 what is man the better ? 
 
 To the word rendered “things,” Prof. Stuart gives the sense 
 words (the Hebrew will bear either), and he supposes the mean- 
 ing to be that words are vain when used in the effort to “ dis- 
 close a permanent and immutable good for man in the present 
 world.” I prefer the sense things , thus: — “For there are many 
 things that intensify vanity — augmenting its force and insuring 
 its result of utter emptiness; what profit then can there be for 
 man in the selfish pursuit of earthly good ? 
 
 12. For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, 
 all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow ? 
 for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the 
 sun? 
 
 Who can know what of all merely earthly things will be an en- 
 during good to man in this vain and fleeting life ? For who can 
 tell a man what shall be after him — i. e ., either after his present 
 hour, in the remaining future of his present life; or after his 
 death, befalling his estate and his labors then ? The general 
 scope of thought favors the former view T : the usual sense of the 
 phrase, “after him,” favors the latter. In either sense there is 
 truth and a pertinent application. All the future from any given 
 point is utterly unknown to man ; how then can he tell what is 
 
 good for him in this life while yet his fleeting days hold out? 
 
 So entire is this uncertainty, so dark is all the future, — why should 
 man vainly labor to carve out his own fortune by dint of care and 
 toil, and refuse to cast himselt upon God, commit his ways to his 
 guiding providence, and trust him for all ? 
 
ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. VII. 
 
 275 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 In this chapter we have miscellaneous counsels, hearing upor 
 the culture of wisdom and virtue. 
 
 1. A good name is better than precious ointment ; and 
 the day of death than the day of one’s birth. 
 
 The Hebrew which means strictly a name is pertinently qualified 
 in the received version by the word “good” — “a good name,” as 
 in Prov. 22: 1 , “A name (i. e ., a good name) is rather to be 
 chosen than great riches.” It is of course assumed that this rep- 
 utation is well deserved, being founded in true virtue. Such a 
 name is more fragrant than the sweet odors of the choicest oint- 
 ments. This figure was familiar to the people of the East who 
 made great use of ointments and valued them highly. The com- 
 parison is at once pertinent and beautiful. We love to think of a 
 truly good man. The mention of his name and even the very 
 thought of him refresh the soul and strengthen every virtuous pur- 
 pose and effort. They have the power of a charm against temp- 
 tations to vice. The savor of such goodness in this evil world is 
 like some fragrance borne down to us from the fields of paradise. 
 It comforts us to see that fallen human nature can be so redeemed. 
 We have more exalted ideas of the practical possibilities of virtue 
 in our race. The declaration that the day of one’s death is bet- 
 
 ter than the day of one’s birth seems by its connection here to be 
 made concerning the good man specially — the man who both has 
 and deserves to have a good name. As to him it is true ; for birth 
 opens to him the era of conflict, trial, temptation, contingency; 
 but death closes the scene with victory ; — all perils over, all con- 
 flicts past, and the great problem of life wrought out with glorious 
 success. These views are surely not too high for the age of Sol- 
 omon, nor for his personal wisdom ; for they appear in the utter- 
 ances of some of the sages of heathen antiquity. “Judge of my 
 principles and of my life,” said one of them, “when you have seen 
 me die.” 
 
 2. It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to 
 go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men ; 
 and the living will lay it to his heart. 
 
 3. Sorrow is better than laughter : for by the sadness of 
 the countenance the heart is made better. 
 
 4. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning ; 
 but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. 
 
 Since every man must die and knows he must, it is good for 
 him to refleet upon this fact. The scenes of the house of mourn- 
 ing lead the mind to such reflections. It is wholesome for every 
 living man to cherish them in his heart. Sorrow may make the 
 
276 
 
 ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. VII. 
 
 countenance sad, but it makes the heart better. Sympathy with 
 those who are suffering griefs known to be the common lot of 
 mankind serves to soften hearts otherwise hard, and to bind more 
 closely together those whom the selfish collisions of life are wont 
 to sever and keep asunder. Moreover, the grave gives us our best 
 lessons on the value of time, the duties of life, and the momen- 
 tuous issues of eternity. Hence it is that wise men feel at home 
 in the house of mourning even as fools do in the house of mirth. 
 The wise find a congenial atmosphere in the one ; fools in the 
 other. Hence whoever aspires to wfisdom should put himself at 
 school with the wise, where they love to be. If he would shun 
 frivolity, let him turn his steps far away from the house of mirth. 
 
 Some of the critics think it essential to the explanation of 
 
 these verses to assume that the external circumstances of the wri- 
 ter were depressing and afflictive, and that for this reason he took 
 this morbidly sombre view of life, feeling that death was better 
 than such a suffering existence. But it seems to me that just 
 views of life as a scene of moral conflict will adequately account 
 for these words. With such views men readily feel the immense 
 value of those considerations which are naturally suggested by 
 scenes of mourning and death. Whoever is manfully struggling 
 upward in virtue and girding his soul against temptation’s power 
 will surely find the better elements of his moral nature quickened 
 in the presence of death and the grave. He will be conscious of 
 something there congenial to virtue. Hence we may ascribe these 
 remarks to Solomon’s profound wisdom rather than to any specially 
 afflictive circumstances, or to a positive weariness of life. 
 
 5. It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a 
 man to hear the song of fools. 
 
 6. For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the 
 laughter of the fool : this also is vanity. 
 
 Quite in harmony (morally) with the superior value of mourning 
 to mirth, is this next thought. Listen to rebuke from wise men 
 rather than to flattery from fools. It will do you more good. You 
 arc not yet perfect, and the discreet rebuke of the wise may help 
 you upward. The praise of fools might inflate your vanity; and 
 even if their wit should seem to sparkle, and its light should flare 
 up brilliantly, the wise Solomon will abate your high appreciation 
 of it by reminding you that the crackling of thorns under a pot is 
 of the same sort, equally flashy and equally transient, vapid and 
 delusive. There are few men more dangerous in society than 
 those whose wit and laughter foster giddy mirth and repel all 
 serious thought. Solomon had seen such men and had marked 
 their influence adverse to true wisdom. It is not perhaps abso- 
 
 lutely certain that “ the song of fools,” as spoken of here, involves 
 flattery and praise, a “plaudit song,” as Prof. Stuart calls it; but 
 the antithesis with the rebuke of the wise suggests this and renders 
 it probable. On the other hand, laughter and the crackling of 
 
ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. VII. 
 
 277 
 
 thorns under a pot carry the mind to the usual manifestations of 
 
 giddy mirth. The figure of thorns, burning under a pot, is quite 
 
 oriental — the scarcity of fuel there and the abundance of thorn- 
 bushes rendering this a very familiar scene. 
 
 7. Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad ; and a gift 
 destroy eth the heart. 
 
 The main question of interpretation here is whether the wise 
 man made mad by oppression is the oppressor or the oppressed — 
 the master or the slave. It is somewhat common to assume the 
 latter, in the sense that being oppressed drives men to rash and 
 unwise resistance. But without doubt Solomon speaks here of the 
 oppressor and not of the oppressed. For the word he uses, rendered 
 “ maketh mad,” does not mean to make impatient, furious, revenge- 
 ful, but, to make infatuated, to cause to play the fool. And this 
 expresses most appositely the reflex influence of being an oppressor. 
 No better illustration of it ever need be sought in history than the 
 American people have seen in the slaveholders of our country. 
 Were ever a class of men more thoroughly infatuated than they? 
 Have men ever made more egregious blunders in their policy for 
 upholding their cherished system of human bondage? Verily, so 
 far as concerns the influence upon wisdom in the sense of sagacity, 
 the slaveholder as compared with the slave has incomparably the 
 worst of it, and as to the influence upon general character, morals, 
 and virtue, the same must be said. The party that are made fools 
 
 by oppression are not the oppressed but are the oppressors. 
 
 Yet again, the parallelism in the verse sustains the same construc- 
 tion. The gift or bribe that corrupts the heart contemplates the 
 case of the’ruler or judge — the same who is supposed to be guilty 
 of oppressing. It perverts a man’s heart to receive a bribe, just as 
 it does to lend himself to oppressing his fellow men for his own 
 selfish ends. Prof. Stuart supposes the wise man thought of here to 
 be precisely the “Hakim” — the Arabic name for the judge and 
 the Hebrew word used here. He thinks that this case comes in 
 here as a tacit exception to what he had said (v. 5) of the value 
 of rebukes from wise men. As much as to say — While the judi- 
 cious rebukes of the wise are useful, yet, when the wise man gives 
 way to the temptation to oppress his fellow men, it makes him a 
 fool. If he touch a bribe, his wise heart is at once corrupted, 
 destroyed. Alas, this is but too true ! 
 
 8. Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof : 
 and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. 
 
 The first clause 3f this verse, standing apart from any connection 
 might apply to many things ; but standing here with the case of 
 the oppressor before it, and the comparison between the patient 
 and the proud of spirit after it, and indeed in some sense parallel 
 in sentiment, we must construe it as having reference to the case of 
 the oppressor and the oppressed. In this connection the author 
 
278 
 
 ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. VII. 
 
 seems to mean this : If you would form your opinion of the effects 
 of oppression upon the parties involved, judge not from the begin- 
 ning of the thing, but from the end thereof. Wait patiently and 
 see how they come out at last. Mark and see if it fares well with 
 the oppressor in the latter end. Note how it debases his better 
 feelings, fosters his basest passions, perverts his judgment, and 
 makes him play the fool, and thus precipitate upon himself the 
 judgments of Almighty God for the sin of oppression. The latter 
 end of the case will give you a far better insight than the beginning 
 of it, into the terrible curses which a career of oppression is sure to 
 bring upon its author. — — Here also American slavery is a wonder- 
 ful chapter of illustrative examples. During several generations 
 at the beginning it seemed that oppression was strangely success- 
 ful — pouring wealth, luxury, social prestige, and political power 
 into the lap of the oppressor ; — but what of the latter end thereof? 
 What now of the wealth and the political power of which slavery 
 
 vaunted itself so long? In the last clause we might suppose 
 
 the writer would set the impatient and irascible, by name, over 
 against the patient ; but instead of this, with the far-seeing eye of 
 a wise man, he puts his finger not on the effect but on the cause. 
 He knows very well that under oppression it is the proud in spirit 
 who become impatient and will not brook abuse. So he says it is 
 better to be patient under inflicted wrongs than to be too proud to 
 bear them meekly. He assumes that the proud in spirit will fire 
 up in resistance and revenge; but as against civil authority it is 
 plain he does not recommend such resistance. It is better to bide 
 God’s time for setting right these grievous wrongs of a wicked 
 world. 
 
 9. Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry : for anger rest- 
 eth in the bosom of fools. 
 
 This reason assigned against indulging hasty anger is very strik- 
 ing, viz.: that such anger finds its native home, its resting and 
 abiding place, in the bosom of fools. It is not the dictate of pru- 
 dence and wisdom, but of thoughtlessness and of unwisdom. 
 Therefore, as you would be wise and would have the good of your 
 wisdom, guard against sudden outbursts of anger. Under its im- 
 pulses you will be very sure to do what you will have occasion to 
 regret most bitterly. 
 
 10. Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days 
 were better than these? for thou dost not inquire wisely 
 concerning this. 
 
 The word “wisely” (“inquire wisely”) does not qualify the 
 manner of pressing this inquiry, but the origin or occasion of mak- 
 ing it. As the marginal reading suggests, the original might be 
 lendered, “not out of wisdom,” i. e ., not from or because of wisdom 
 dost thou raise this inquiry. His meaning is that the underlying 
 assumption that the present age has degenerated below the stand- 
 
ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. VII. 
 
 279 
 
 ard of past ages, implies a distorted vision — an over-estimate of 
 present evils and an under-estimate of present good. He would 
 suggest to us that former ages had their evil as well as their good 
 points, and that to compare the past with the present wisely will 
 require a cool judgment and a clear-sighted eye. The mistake to 
 which he refers here comes very often from the heavy pressure of 
 some present evil. Sometimes the aged make it because the former 
 was the time of their activities; the present of their repose; and 
 they are prone to feel that things were better done in those times 
 when their hand was prominent than now when they are only 
 lookers-on. Solomon does not give such a judgment of things the 
 
 credit of wisdom. On the other hand national degeneracy may 
 
 sometimes be a real fact, and in such a case good men ought to see 
 it, study its causes, and labor to withstand their influence. It is 
 certainly supposable that there was more real degeneracy in the 
 latter part of Solomon’s reign than he was himself fully aware of, 
 and hence more ground for this inquiry into its causes than he 
 seems to recognize. 
 
 11. Wisdom is good with an inheritance: and by it there 
 is profit to them that see the sun. 
 
 The author does not mean that wisdom is good provided you 
 have wealth with it, for this would imply that it is not good with- 
 out wealth — a sentiment which he distinctly discards. (See chap. 
 4: 13 and 9: 15-17.) But he means that wisdom is good along 
 with and equally with an inheritance — should be accounted a posi- 
 tive good as truly as wealth and of as high an order. Indeed the 
 last clause affirms that wisdom is even better than wealth, and 
 affirms this universally as to all the living, who are described here 
 as those that see the sun. 
 
 12. For wisdom is a defense, and money is a defense : but 
 the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to 
 them that have it. 
 
 The Hebrew of the first clause is very peculiar, running thus : 
 “For in the shadow of wisdom, in the shadow of money,” implying 
 that both forms of expression are used and are true; that both 
 wisdom and wealth afford men their shadow for protection from 
 the heats and evils of life. In the climate of Palestine a shadow 
 becomes a pertinent figure for protection, and the more so because 
 the great evils sent on men are so often presented under the figure 
 
 of heat and fire. “Giveth life ” can not be here in the sense of 
 
 imparting it by creation or by resurrection ; but either in the sense 
 of giving real life — the truest and best happiness, or in the sense of 
 preserving life in seasons of peril. The words will bear either 
 sense, and both are true. 
 
 13. Consider the work of God : for who can make that 
 straight, which he hath made crooked? 
 
280 
 
 ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. VII. 
 
 Here is scope for wisdom — not to fathom the work of God ; much 
 less to counteract, resist, or change it; but to see clearly that nc 
 such thing is possible to mortals. (See chap. 1:15 and notes there.) 
 I understand this work of God to be his ways in providence, with 
 special reference to those arrangements which may seem to us tc 
 be out of joint, distorted, because they spare the wicked and afflict 
 the righteous; and possibly referring also to those disruptions in 
 the physical order of the world which bring calamities in their 
 train; e. g ., tempests, earthquakes, plagues, etc. These things 
 men are prone to account u crooked ;” but if so, who can make them 
 straight? It is most wise for man to recognize God’s hand in these 
 things and bow submissively to his known wisdom, however in- 
 scrutable it may be to our present vision. Let it be forever settled 
 in our mind that the Great God evermore doeth all things well. 
 Hengstenberg has well said : “Because no one can withstand God, 
 no one therefore should wish to. We ought to humble ourselves 
 with joy beneath the almighty hand of God. For, as the Almighty 
 One, he is the sum and substance of all wisdom, all love, all righte- 
 ousness. Almighty arbitrariness is inconceivable.” Perhaps it 
 
 were better to say, insupposable . i. e utterly at variance with every 
 just notion of wisdom and of love. 
 
 14. In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of 
 adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against 
 the other, to the end that man should find nothing after 
 him. 
 
 The u work of God,” just alluded to, fills human life with various 
 and even contrasted scenes of prosperity and adversity. Hence 
 adjust thyself to them as they occur. In the day of prosperity 
 rejoice, thankful for the good which the Lord bestows in his loving 
 kindness. In the day of adversity, give thyself much to thoughtful 
 reflection, if so be thou mayest discover in thy heart or life the 
 occasion of the Lord’s chastisements. Moreover, God hath set 
 prosperity so over against adversity, arranging them in such un^ 
 certain succession that no man can surely anticipate what is next. 
 Let every man, therefore, be prepared for either. With a filial, 
 obedient trust in God, he need not fear, for the worst that can 
 come will only bring him nearer to God and be therefore a bless 
 ing ; but in the attitude of rebellion against God and in the selfish 
 struggle after good that is only of this world, man is prepared for 
 neither. Whichever may come, it will prove only a curse to his 
 
 soul. The dark uncertainty expressed in the last clause — No 
 
 man can know whether good or ill is coming upon him hereafter 
 — was designed to bear specially upon the pleasure-loving and 
 seeking class who make earthly good their great end of life. In 
 such a w'orld, so governed of God, how surely they must miss the 
 end they seek and at last bewail their failure and their folly ! 
 
 15. All things have I seen in the days of my vanity . 
 
ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. VII. 
 
 281 
 
 there is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness, and 
 there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wick* 
 edness : 
 
 The doctrine of this verse is that moral retribution is not per- 
 fect in this life; that length of days, and by implication other 
 forms of good and ill as well, do not befall men precisely accord- 
 ing to their moral character. I have looked through this whole 
 matter, says Solomon; I have seen it in all its phases during my 
 vain, fleeting life. I have seen the righteous perish (by persecu- 
 tion perhaps) in his righteousness and even because of it: and I 
 have seen wicked men prolong their days both in their sins and 
 despite of them. It can not therefore be claimed that God’s moral 
 administration is finished and perfect in the present life. These 
 
 anomalous cases do certainly occur; I have seen them all. In 
 
 the first clause the Hebrew requires, not u all things,” but all this ; 
 literally, u the all have I seen,” etc., i. e ., all these varieties and 
 anomalies in the allotment of human destiny on earth. 
 
 16. Be not righteous over much, neither make thyself 
 over wise : why shouldest thou destroy thyself? 
 
 It is not supposable that this can be a caution against too much 
 genuine righteousness or too much true wisdom; i, e you can 
 not suppose it unless you assume that the author is very shaky 
 in his own moral principles. It is not charitable to assume this 
 unless there be an imperative demand for it. The better con- 
 struction therefore is — Be not self-righteous , be not vain of your 
 righteousness ; do not make it obtrusive and repulsive. Prob- 
 
 ably this verse must be assumed to have so much connection with 
 the preceding one as to contemplate a period of persecution for 
 righteousness’ sake. In this view his meaning might be : Do not 
 obtrude your righteousness offensively upon the enemies of God 
 and of all righteousness ; do not make a useless display of it to 
 
 provoke persecution. In the clause which speaks of wisdom, 
 
 the form of the Hebrew verb very often means, to make a vain 
 show, a foolish display. Such a course under the circumstances 
 contemplated would precipitate persecution and the unwise man 
 might become the occasion of his own destruction. The fact that 
 the verb rendered “ over wise ” naturally has this sense of vain 
 display favors the same construction of what is said of being 
 righteous. But the passage has real difficulties. It is not easy 
 to account for a state of persecution for righteousness’ sake, such 
 as v. 15 seems to assume. 
 
 17. Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish : 
 why shouldest thou die before thy time ? 
 
 Neither do thou rush into the opposite extreme as a means of 
 greater safety. Fools have their own ways to perish : why 
 shouldest thou hasten the time of thine own death by thine own 
 
282 
 
 ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. VII. 
 
 folly? Although it be true as is implied in v. 15, that the 
 
 wicked man sometimes prolongs life in spite of his wickedness, 
 yet take care not to abuse this fact by overdoing your wickedness. 
 Such folly will insure and precipitate your ruin. More especially 
 under the ancient economy — generally, in every age. the outrage- 
 ously wicked do not live out half their days. 
 
 18. It is good that thou shouldest take hold of this; yea, 
 also from this withdraw not thine hand : for he that fear- 
 eth God shall come forth of them all. 
 
 The cautions given in vs. 16 and IT are here reaffirmed for the 
 sake of deeper impression. It is good that thou take firm hold of 
 what I have said about being righteous and wise ; also that thou 
 draw not back thy hand from my caution against extreme, out- 
 rageous wickedness and folly. He that feareth God will come 
 forth safe from all these perils, and (by implication) will avoid the 
 mistakes (or sins) which I exhort thee not to commit. This last 
 clause, implying that if a man really fears God he will not be 
 righteous over much nor wicked over much and will consequently 
 escape the ruin which follows either, shows plainly that in the 
 author’s view, the sense and spirit of his precepts are in harmony 
 
 with sound morals and true piety. Some have supposed that 
 
 these cautions against over much righteousness and wickedness 
 were bona fide instructions for magistrates — on the one hand 
 against being too exacting and rigorous ; and on the other, against 
 being too lax, corrupt and foolish — to which construction I have 
 two objections: (1.) That there is nothing in the passage or its 
 context to suggest, much less to restrict, its special application to 
 magistrates; and (2.) In this application its tone of morality 
 would be repulsively low. Law and right would cease to be the 
 magistrate’s rule and guide. He would be required to consult his 
 personal welfare only. 
 
 19. Wisdom strengtheneth the wise more than ten mighty 
 men which are in the city. 
 
 Wisdom affords protection to the wise man. The 11 mighty men ” 
 here are probably captains, chieftains, and perhaps the implication 
 
 is, at the head of their commands. u Ten,” for an indefinite but 
 
 very considerable number, supposed to be the garrison of a city. 
 The same sentiment appears in Prov. 21 : 22 and 24: 5, 6 and also 
 in Eccl. 9 : 16, 18. 
 
 20. For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth 
 good, and sinneth not. 
 
 The word rendered “sinneth” means primarily, to miss the 
 mark, to mistake, to err . and secondarily, to sin. Here, standing 
 in contrast with “doing good,” it should naturally take the sense 
 of sinning. The connection of thought is difficult and has been 
 
ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. VII. 
 
 283 
 
 understood variously. If the first word means “ for,”* it naturally 
 connects this verse with the preceding, and then might imply that 
 the best of wise men sometimes need their wisdom for protection, 
 since they are not always sinlessly wise, but sometimes make mis- 
 takes or commit sins which involve them in difficulty. On the 
 
 other hand if this first word, rendered “ for,” means here surely , 
 as it possibly may at the beginning of a sentence, then a new 
 subject may be introduced, thus : Surely the best of men some- 
 times sin ; therefore be not over anxious to hear all that may be 
 said of thyself; thy mistakes and faults will sometimes provoke 
 severe remarks from even thy servants which it were quite as 
 
 pleasant for thee not to hear. This construction seems to be 
 
 admissible. The pertinent sense which it brings out is its chief 
 recommendation. The common usage of the word “ for ” favors 
 the former. 
 
 21. Also take no heed unto all words that are spoken ; 
 lest thou hear thy servant curse thee : 
 
 22. For oftentimes also thine own heart knoweth that 
 thou thyself likewise hast cursed others. 
 
 Let the consciousness that thou thyself hast sometimes spoken 
 too severely of others admonish thee to expect the same of other 
 men and even of servants toward thyself, and let it make thee 
 
 content not to inquire very carefully into all they may say. 
 
 May we not suppose that in the latter years of Solomon’s life, 
 there were whisperings of dissatisfaction with his course, which 
 sometimes came to his ears, and which may have suggested this 
 
 counsel? The same remark might apply to v. 10 above* As 
 
 suggested in the general introduction, the reader will note here 
 that the parties specially addressed are not the common people, 
 not the toiling millions ; but men high in rank or in wealth, for 
 they have “ servants.” 
 
 23. All this have I proved by wisdom : I said, I will be 
 wise ; but it was far from me. 
 
 24. That which is far off, and exceeding deep, who can 
 find it out? 
 
 “Proved” in the sense of assayed, tried as metals are tested 
 in the crucible. Despite of my best efforts to gain absolute wis- 
 dom, I found it still far from me. Another turn is given by 
 
 some to the first clause of v. 24, thus: “Far off is that which is” 
 i. e ., the real entity of things, their essential nature ; and deep, 
 deep is it; who can find it out?” The order of the words in the 
 Hebrew somewhat favors this construction; but its abstruseness 
 makes it very doubtful. The usage of representing things diffi- 
 
 cult of comprehension as being far off, deep or high beyond our 
 reach, appears in Deut. 30: 11-14 and Rom. 10: 6-8 — said there 
 
284 
 
 ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. VII. 
 
 negatively of the precepts of God’s law and gospel. These are 
 declared to be “not hidden from thee” — not “far off” — not “in 
 heaven that thou shouldst say, Who shall go up into heaven tc 
 bring them down,” etc. 
 
 25. I applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to 
 seek out wisdom, and the reason of things , and to know 
 the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness: 
 
 A more close rendering will give the nicer shades of the orig- 
 inal, thus: “I turned myself round and round, even my heart 
 did, to know and to search and to seek out wisdom and intelli- 
 gence, and to know wickedness as folly, and this folly as mad- 
 ness ” — i. e., to know wickedness in its true character as folly, 
 and this folly to be real madness. 
 
 26. And I find more bitter than death the woman, whose 
 heart is snares and nets, and her hands as bands : whoso 
 pleaseth God shall escape from her ; but the sinner shall 
 be taken by her. 
 
 This testimony as to the vile woman who sets herself to seduce 
 the other sex to their ruin is expanded yet more fully in Prov. 5. 
 She is there called “ the strange woman,” i. e ., a foreigner, from 
 other lands — which indicates the depth of licentiousness and pol- 
 lution to which the heathen of adjacent countries in that age had 
 sunk. Jewish history abounds with facts to the same purport. 
 It is deplorable that Solomon should have had so much personal 
 experience of the depravity of the “outlandish women” of his 
 time. (See Neh. 13: 26.) 
 
 27. Behold, this have I found, saith the Preacher, 
 counting one by one, to find out the account ; 
 
 The Hebrew phrase translated in the English version, “ count- 
 ing one by one,” may mean either, taking up one thing at a time 
 for special investigation, or applying one thing to another by com- 
 parison. Literally it is — “one to one to find out deep knowledge.” 
 It defines the method of his investigation. 
 
 28. Which yet my soul seeketh, but I find not : one 
 man among a thousand have I found ; but a woman among 
 all those have I not found. 
 
 In a thousand he has found one good and true man, "but not 
 one good and true woman. Alas! that he should have thrown 
 bimself into the society of such women — “strange women!” 
 Alas! that he should have put himself into such relations to seven 
 hundred wives and three hundred concubines! (L K. 11: 3.) 
 How could he hope to find one good and true woman even in all 
 this host while he held them in such relations to himself! Not 
 ono of them all had any right to feel that she enjoyed his love, 
 
ECCLESIASTES— CITAP. VIII. 
 
 285 
 
 confidence, and fidelity as a true husband. This testimony of 
 Solomon, therefore, so far from bearing to the dishonor of the sex 
 as such, bears only to the condemnation of polygamy and to the 
 exposure of the wretchedly low morals of the outlying countries, 
 long polluted by the basest forms of idol worship and by their 
 attendant abominations. 
 
 29. Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man 
 upright ; but they have sought out many inventions. 
 
 “ Inventions,” not in the arts — the handicrafts of li-fe, but in the 
 science of sinning, in devices for the perpetration of iniquity. God 
 made man upright; but man, falling from his primeval purity, 
 had strangely prostituted his powers to sinning, to devising 
 methods of selfish gratification, schemes of fraud, treachery, pol- 
 lution, the covering up of iniquity ; the means of being in fact 
 intensely wicked, and yet of retaining the semblance of virtue. 
 Ah, how does it tax the ingenuity of wicked men to sustain an 
 appearance of virtue so unlike the foul reality of their vices ! 
 
 
 CHAPTER YIII. 
 
 Wisdom is commended (v. 1), and loyal obedience to kings (vs. 
 2-5). The unknown future of God’s providence may frustrate the 
 schemes of man (vs. 6, 7), and so may man’s mortality (v. 8). 
 The career and doom of wicked rulers appears (vs. 9, 10), whom 
 the delay of divine retribution encourages onward in their sin (v. 
 11). The imperfections in present retribution should not shake 
 our faith in God nor in the final triumph of the right (vs. 12, 13), 
 though these imperfections are often exceedingly trying and per- 
 plexing (v. 14). It is well to enjoy the daily comforts of life which 
 God assigns us and provides for us in the journey of life (v. 15) since 
 no reach of human thought can fathom the depths of God’s ways 
 in providence (vs. 16, it). 
 
 1. Who is as the wise man f and who knoweth the inter- 
 pretation of a thing? a man’s wisdom maketh his face to 
 shine, and the boldness of his face shall be changed. 
 
 Who can compare with the wise man ? Who else knows the 
 exposition of things, i. e., knows how to explain the occult causes 
 of events? — said perhaps with an eye to accounting for the per- 
 mission of evil under the government of God (chap. 7 : 29) ; also, 
 for the present apparent imperfections in God’s moral government 
 
 and in the retributions due for sin. Wisdom is apparent even in a 
 
 man’s face to whom God has given the power of expressing intef 
 
286 
 
 ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. VIII. 
 
 licence and emotion. It makes his face glow with the radiance of 
 thought. The last clause is usually construed to mean, the bra- 
 
 zen impudence of folly gives place to the mild and modest expres- 
 sion of good sense. The original word means primarily strength, 
 fixedness, and may perhaps mean here that the stolid, inexpressive 
 face becomes through wisdom full of intellectual and benevolent 
 expression ; a fact often noticeable, and certainly worthy of remark 
 by such a writer in such a connection. 
 
 2. I counsel thee to keep the king’s commandment, and. 
 that in regard of the oath of God. 
 
 The original is quite abrupt, having no verb at all for “ coun- 
 sel.” “I — mark the mouth of the king;” i. e ., so say I. And 
 do this, not merely through fear of his displeasure, but because of 
 the oath of God which binds thee to loyal obedience to thy king. 
 
 8. Be not hasty to go out of his sight : stand not in an 
 evil thing; for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him. 
 
 4. Where the word of a king is, there is power: and 
 who may say unto him, What doest thou ? 
 
 If he should displease you, go not forth from his presence in 
 rash haste ; beware that you make no expression of dislike, much 
 less of strong passion and rage ; and u persist not in any evil 
 thing.” If you are in the wrong, yield and be not obstinate ; for 
 he will do what he pleases. It behooves you to fear his absolute 
 power, and to adjust yourself to it. In the middle clause, Stu- 
 
 art prefers this sense, viz. , “Do not make delay in regard to a 
 command which is grievous;” i. e ., obey promptly, even an un- 
 just command. 1 see no occasion to give the words this mean- 
 
 ing, and the idea is very objectionable and should not be assumed 
 
 without some valid reason. Hengstenberg thinks “the king,” 
 
 in vs. 2-4, is God himself ; but there is no indication of this ; while 
 if this king were God, we might expect to see some of the names 
 of God applied to him. Besides, in the first verse of the passage 
 both God and the king are introduced separately; you should obey 
 your king because of your oath before God. Then again, if this 
 king were God, how could the subject — man — be supposed to go 
 forth from his presence, as said in v. 3? Well might he exclaim 
 — “Whither shall I go from thy Spirit ? Whither shall 1 flee from 
 thy presence? (Ps. 139: 7.) 
 
 5. Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil 
 thing : and a wise man’s heart discerneth both time and 
 judgment. 
 
 Obedience to the king will shield the subject from the evil con- 
 sequences which surely follow disobedience. Wisdom will teach 
 him what befits the times and circumstances, and what is there- 
 fore true “judgment.” Solomon’s own relations as king afforded 
 
ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. VIII. 
 
 287 
 
 him countless illustrations of these truths. Very probably he had 
 sometimes put down with a strong hand the uprisings of disaffec- 
 tion. He knew that such a course was common in the absolute 
 governments of the countries adjacent. 
 
 6. Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, 
 therefore the misery of man is great upon him. 
 
 7. For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can 
 fccll him when it shall be ? 
 
 These verses have been construed variously by good critics. It 
 is difficult to determine satisfactorily their precise significance. 
 The choice seems to me to lie between these two constructions: 
 (1.) In close connection with the preceding context, he says (v. 5) 
 — A wise man’s heart discerns the fit time and way of doing 
 things: (v. 6) and because success depends so much on this wis- 
 dom as to judging of times and seasons (and because so few have 
 and use it), therefore the misery of the race bears heavily upon 
 them. (V. 7) For man can know the future but very imperfectly; 
 for who can tell him when events shall occur ? In this construc- 
 
 tion the connection with the preceding context is natural, but the 
 connection of v. 7 with v. 6, though not bad, is yet not altogether 
 
 faultless. (2.) The second construction makes a very peculiar 
 
 connection with v. 5. Passing over from man’s “ time and judgment ” 
 to God’s “ time and judgment,” as developed in his providential or- 
 dering of events, it supposes that the writer means by “a time for 
 every purpose ” precisely what he meant in chap. 3 : 1-10. Because 
 God in his providence determines the time and manner of all events 
 and shapes them so that human life is full of changes, reverses, 
 contrasts, doings and undoings, which no man can forecast or avert, 
 therefore the calamities of man are great on the earth; (v. 7) for 
 man can not know what is yet to come nor- when. The future is 
 
 all to him unknown. This construction has in its favor the fact 
 
 that the same words for “ time and purpose ” are here as in chap. 
 3:1; also that this line of thought makes a perfect connection 
 between v. 6 and v. 7, and also connects naturally with v. 8. In 
 view of these considerations, I can not well resist the conclusion 
 that this is what the author means. As in chap. 3: 1-10 his in- 
 ference from the views there taken of God’s course in providence 
 was — u What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he la- 
 boreth?” i. e.: How many failures continually occur in human 
 plans because God’s over-ruling plans set them aside and baffle 
 man’s vain purpose : How can man accumulate surely according 
 to his own purposes while God’s purposes comprise such incessant 
 undoing of man’s doings? So here: Because God gives such 
 shape to every purpose, so often disappointing man; “therefore 
 the misery of man is great upon him.” Of course this is look- 
 
 ing upon the merely human side of things, leaving out of account 
 for the time the great fact that God frustrates human plans for 
 purposes both wise and good, i. e ., that he may put checks upon 
 13 
 
288 
 
 ECCLESIASTES -CHAP. VIII. 
 
 the spirit of mere pleasure-seeking, and may turn man s heart 
 from seeking earthly good to seeking heavenly — to make earthly 
 loss conducive to heavenly gain. Prof. Stuart gives a very dif- 
 
 ferent turn to v. 6. Because man’s sins (not his misery) are great, 
 therefore God has a final judgment for every human purpose and 
 
 act. But this accepts an unusual instead of the usual sense 
 
 of the word rendered “misery:” makes a very bad connection 
 with v. 7 : and puts a very different sense upon the words, “ time 
 and judgment,” from what they bear in v. 5. These circumstances 
 conspire to set aside his construction. 
 
 8. There is no man that hath power over the spirit to 
 retain the spirit ; neither hath he power in the day of death; 
 and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wicked- 
 ness deliver those that are given to it. 
 
 From the general truth that no man knows the future, the au- 
 thor passes to the specific one, that no man can resist death. It 
 will come and fulfill the mission on which God has sent it. No 
 man hath power to retain his spirit when God summons it away. 
 He is utterly powerless in the battle with death; he can not be 
 exempted or discharged in that war; no matter how wicked he 
 may be, how desperate, how blasphemous, how malignant toward 
 God, — this can not save him from his doom. The weakness and 
 frailty of man before the stroke of death are analogous to his 
 
 weakness in regard to knowledge of the future. Prof. Stuart 
 
 translates— 1 No man hath power over the wind to restrain the 
 wind,” etc.,— apparently overlooking the imperative demands of 
 the context here, which certainly treats not of the wind, but of 
 the immortal spirit of the dying man. 
 
 9. All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every 
 work that is done under the sun ; there is a time wherein 
 one man ruleth over another to his own hurt. 
 
 “All this have I seen,” introduces a slightly different subject — 
 the case not of wicked men in general, but of wicked rulers.— — 
 In the last clause the question is to be settled — For ichose hurt, 
 that of the ruler or of the ruled? The Hebrew reads — “a time 
 when man rules over man for hurt to him” — the nearest antece- 
 dent, and that therefore to which “him” should refer, being the 
 man ruled over. The case is that of a king who rules to the 
 damage or ruin of his subjects. The reflex ruin upon himself is 
 secondary, and not specially referred to in this first statement. 
 
 10. And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and 
 gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten 
 in the city where they had so done : this is also vanity. 
 
 The English version — “who had come and gone from the place 
 of the holy” — represents these wicked men as having frequented 
 
ECCLESIASTES -CHAP. VIII. 
 
 289 
 
 u tlie place of the holy ” — with probable reference to their worship- 
 ing assemblies. But the Hebrew accents, by making a long 
 pause after “ come,” are against this construction, and the words 
 themselves do not favor it, but rather suggest this as the sense: 
 “And so I saw these wicked ones [rulers especially] buried, and 
 they went down, i. e ., to their grave ; yea, from the place of the 
 holy [their tribunals of justice] they passed away [forever] ; and 
 
 they who had done so were forgotten in the city.” This is 
 
 another point in the vanity of human life — the sad end and the 
 fearful ruin of the dead sinner, king or magistrate though he may 
 have been. For though gorgeously buried, yet the clearer vision 
 of faith sees him go down to his dishonored grave, passing for 
 evermore away from the society and communion of the holy, to 
 be quickly forgotten in the city where he had guiltily oppressed 
 
 the innocent. It is noticeable that our Lord in like manner 
 
 (Luke 16: 19-24) represents the rich man’s burial as a notable 
 event, yet his soul went down to hell, away forever from the 
 
 abodes of the holy. The verb rendered in our English version, 
 
 “had come,” is used naturally of the going down of the sun, and 
 
 of going down into the grave. Let it be considered moreover 
 
 that Solomon does not speak of this frustration of human hopes as 
 a vanity in the way of complaining of it as wrong. He simply 
 adduces it as one illustration of the utter failure of the wicked 
 man’s life. Though high in dignity and power, yet ruling over 
 other men to their hurt, he soon ran through his career ; went 
 down to his grave ; ceased forever to be seen in the place of the 
 holy ; and was speedily forgotten. This is indeed a specimen of 
 vanity, but so let it be ! 
 
 11. Because sentence against an evil work is not executed 
 speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set 
 in them to do evil. 
 
 Hengstenberg thus translates : “ Because a sentence is not pro- 
 nounced, the work of wickedness hasteneth ; therefore the heart of 
 the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.” But the received 
 English version gives the sense well. The delay in God’s retri- 
 butive judgments for sin emboldens sinners; they madly say — 
 “Where is the promise of his coming? ” and set their heart fully to 
 the doing of evil. The very mercy that spares the sinner to give 
 him space for repentance, he abuses and perverts to bolder sin, to 
 deeper guilt, and to a swift and more terrible doom. Alas ! for 
 the infatuation of sinners ! What can divine mercy do for them 
 more with honor and safety when the merciful delay of deserved 
 retribution results only in more desperate sinning ! Scarcely any 
 words in this book evince a more just appreciation of the spirit of 
 wicked men than these. The author had noted closely but truth- 
 fully how wicked men abuse God’s mercy and provoke his wrath. 
 
 12. Though a sinner do evil a hundred times, and his days 
 
290 
 
 ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. VIII. 
 
 be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with 
 them that fear God, which fear before him : 
 
 13. But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall 
 he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he 
 feareth not before God. 
 
 The current teaching of the Old Testament is that the sinner 
 shall not but the righteous shall prolong his days on the earth. 
 No doubt this was usually the fact — that dispensation being con- 
 ducted largely on the principle of a present retribution. Solomon 
 here says that though there may be an apparent exception to this 
 rule for a season, yet it must be short; soon the rule will prevail; 
 the guilty sinner will perish in his sins because he does not fear 
 
 God. Remarkably in this description of the good man the point 
 
 of his fearing God is repeated for the greater prominence and 
 emphasis: “It shall be well with the fearers of God who truly fear 
 
 before him.” “Days which are as the shadow,” is the common 
 
 Hebrew figure for a short, evanescent life. (See Psalms 144 : 4 and 
 102: 11). “Man is like to vanity; his days are as a shadow that 
 passeth away.” 
 
 14. There is a vanity which is done upon the earth ; that 
 there be just men , unto whom it happeneth according to 
 the work of the wicked : again, there be wicked men , to 
 whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous : 
 I said that this also is vanity. 
 
 One of the sore trials of this earthly state comes from what 
 seems to be an imperfection in the divine administration of retri- 
 butive justice. It seems to us that there are good men who receive 
 the treatment due to the work of the wicked, and also bad men 
 who have the reward due to the work of the righteous. So unde- 
 niably it does sometimes seem to mortals. God’s moral government 
 over men is not complete and finished in this world. Its retribu- 
 tions are allotted only in part here ; the unfinished part lies over 
 to the future world. Under the clearer revelations of the New 
 Testament some points are explained which must have been very 
 perplexing to such minds as Solomon’s. In this later light we can 
 see that God shapes this present world precisely for probation, and 
 not for full retribution ; that he presents himself before us in the 
 very forms which most thoroughly test our faith, our docility, our 
 obedience; which reveal enough for us to know to meet these 
 most vital ends and reserve the rest for the fuller light of eternity. 
 He gives us illustrations of his righteous justice, abundantly suffi- 
 cient to satisfy the candid and honest mind, yet not so much as 
 to leave no scope for the exercise of candor, honesty, and docility. 
 When men intensely love darkness rather than light, they can and 
 will have darkness and not light. Another fact of vast impor- 
 
 tance to the explanation of these apparent anomalies in God’s 
 dealings with men, is that he continually blends together discipline 
 
ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. VIII. 
 
 291 
 
 and partial retribution, sending afflictions upon men for both these 
 purposes, and perhaps giving us no definite marks by which to 
 distinguish the one from the other. Hence we often mistake God’s 
 thought entirely. The pains which he sends upon the good for 
 discipline we may mistake for retribution and assume to be only 
 tokens of his wrath. The good things he grants to the wicked may 
 be for their moral trial, and in no sense a proof of his approba- 
 tion. These points, brief compared with the magnitude of the 
 subject, bear upon the just explanation of those apparent anomalies 
 in the present administration of God’s moral government over the 
 race to which our passage alludes. 
 
 15. Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no 
 better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and 
 to be merry : for that shall abide with him of his labor the 
 days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun. 
 
 Mirth is not the best word here, because being merry and mirth- 
 ful involve commonly the idea of frivolity — the absence of all 
 serious thought and of all sense of our relations to God. Enjoy- 
 ment, rejoicing, give the sense of the Hebrew much better. This 
 Hebrew word is used more than any other for “rejoicing before the 
 Lord,” and “ rejoicing in the Lord,” especially in sacred worship 
 and in grateful praise and trust; e. g ., Lev 23 : 40 and Deut. 12 : 7, 
 12, 18, and Ps. 9: 2 and 32: 11 and 85: 6, etc. Solomon com- 
 mends the free-hearted and cheerful enjoyment of our daily bread 
 and of all the good which God provides for in our physical consti- 
 tution, for this remains with us, cleaves to us as the good of our 
 labor while we live. Yet he carefully suggests that it is God who 
 gives us this life and all its enjoyments. They should therefore 
 be accepted and enjoyed as his gifts in the spirit of filial obedience 
 
 and true gratitude. The same sentiment has appeared before, 
 
 chap. 2: 24 and 3: 12, 13, 22, guarded there, moreover, against 
 abuse by the same beautiful and pertinent suggestion that this is 
 u the gift of God,” and that we have even these most common 
 blessings of life from his gracious hand and parental heart. 
 
 16. When I applied mine heart to know wisdom, and to 
 see the business that is done upon the earth; (for also 
 there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes :) 
 
 17. Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man can 
 not find out the work that is done under the sun : because 
 though a man labor to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; 
 yea further ; though a wise man think to know it , yet shall 
 he not be able to find it. 
 
 11 To see the business.” The word for “ business ” is the same 
 which is rendered “travail” in chap. 2: 26 and 3: 10, having 
 obviously here the same sense as there, viz.: selfish, pleasure-seek- 
 ing toil for earthly good — thought of, moreover, as altogether 
 
292 
 
 ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. VIII. 
 
 unavailing, futile, and vain. Solomon applied his mind to com- 
 prehend by deep research the methods, the laws, and the results 
 of such intense pursuit of worldly good. He saw some men over- 
 tasking themselves so utterly that day and night they had no sleep. 
 When he came to study this pleasure-seeking toil and travail in 
 the light of God’s works in providence, so conducted as usually to 
 frustrate human calculations and baffle the most persistent and 
 pains-taking endeavors, he found himself unable to fathom these 
 depths. With all his labor he could not master this vast and 
 complicated problem. There would be things occurring under the 
 
 providence of God that were too deep for him. Plainly “ the 
 
 work of God,” which is the subject of remark in v. IT, is the 
 same which is spoken of in chap. 3 : 1-15, viz.: those agencies in 
 providence which shape man’s earthly destiny and usually frustrate 
 his pursuit of worldly good, despite of his shrewdest plans and 
 
 most laborious efforts. It is a great deep, too great for human 
 
 wisdom, unaided of God himself, to fathom. Revelations from 
 God, made subsequent to the age of Solomon, have brought up 
 many things out of those otherwise unfathomable depths; yet still 
 when we seek to apply these more full revelations to specific cases, 
 we are often compelled to desist, saying : “Who by searching can 
 find out God? Who can find out the Almighty unto perfection?” 
 
 A mournful interest attaches to the efforts of such a mind as 
 
 Solomon’s, reaching forth and tasking its gigantic powers to the 
 utmost to master this great problem of God’s ways in providence 
 as bearing upon the life-long efforts of men to secure worldly good. 
 All that mortal man could do with such light from revelation as 
 he had before him. we may suppose he achieved. Yet after his 
 utmost outreachings of thought, how did he perpetually fall back 
 
 upon the sad conclusion — no human wisdom can find it out ! 
 
 Let us not omit to notice that these confessions and statements are 
 the very things to say to the pleasure-seeking men for whom Solo- 
 mon was specially writing. Nothing else could give them a deeper 
 impression of the utter futility of the selfish pursuit of worldly 
 good. I can not tell you altogether how or why it is, but so it is 
 (Solomon would say to them), you can not withstand the Infinite 
 God ! His providential government of this world will surely frus- 
 trate your pleasure-seeking endeavors and your utmost grasping 
 after worldly good. The Almighty One is against you and you 
 can not prosper. I can not fathom the mystery of this great fact; 
 I can give you no clew to the understanding of it so that you can 
 master the problem and devise means to counter-work its untoward 
 influences. The thing is too deep for me. There is, therefore, no 
 help for you but to desist from such a life, be content with the 
 moderate pleasures which God freely bestows, and above all, “ fear 
 God and keep his commandments.” 
 
ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. IX. 
 
 293 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The subject under discussion at the close of chapter 8 is con- 
 tinued. God shapes the destiny of the righteous (v. 1); yet even 
 they are in some respects under the common law that controls 
 the life and death of all men in this world (v. 2). This law, af- 
 fecting the good and the bad uniformly, seems to be in some re- 
 spects an evil (v. 3). Thought of strictly with reference to this 
 world, death brings an end to all labor, and all knowledge and 
 reward (vs. 4-6); therefore let men accept in quiet and grateful 
 enjoyment the good things of earth which God bestows (vs. 7-9), 
 and do what belongs to this life with all diligence (v. 10), for all 
 human labors are contingent and uncertain in their results (vs. 
 11,12). Wisdom is even better than strength, though not always 
 duly honored (vs. 13-18). 
 
 1. For all this I considered in my heart even to declare 
 all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, 
 are in the hand of God : no man knoweth either love or 
 hatred by all that is before them. 
 
 Critics give the word for “ declare/' the sense of u search out.” ' 
 u 1 applied all this to my heart ; I brought it home to my mind, 
 to search it out thoroughly [and I found] that “the righteous, the 
 wise, and their works are in the hand of God” who cares for them 
 and shapes their destinies in his love and wisdom. Also this did 
 I search out, viz., that no man knoweth either love or hatred as to 
 all that is before him; i. e., he does not know beforehand which 
 he shall receive from his fellow-men ; their love or their hatred. 
 
 The future is all unknown to him. Neither the Hebrew accents 
 
 nor the words of the passage favor the English version — u by all 
 that is before them.” There is no word meaning “ by." It is 
 better therefore to read either — in respect to all that is before 
 them ; or, as a distinct sentence : u No man knoweth either love 
 
 or hatred; all is before them,” i. e ., in the unknown future. 
 
 This testimony respecting the righteous is peculiarly grateful in 
 such a connection as this, not only because this truth is inexpres- 
 sibly precious at all times and under all possible circumstances, 
 but because it is refreshing to see that the author in the depth of 
 his perplexities in reference to both God’s providential and moral 
 government over men, when facing events and complications which 
 tasked his mind to the utmost, could yet fall back upon this pre- 
 cious truth — that the righteous, the wise, and their works, are all 
 in the hand of God, the object of his unceasing love and care. 
 
 2. All things come alike to all : there is one event to the 
 righteous and to the wicked ; to the good, and to the clean, 
 and to the unclean ; to him that sacrificeth, and to him 
 
294 
 
 ECCLESIASTES — CHAP. IX. 
 
 that sacrificeth not : as is the good, so is the sinner ; and 
 he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath. 
 
 What are these “all things?” What is the author thinking of, 
 and of what things does he affirm that they befall the righteous and 
 the wicked alike and without discrimination as to their character 
 and relations ? This is the vital point in the interpretation of the 
 
 passage. It can not be supposed that he meant to say that the 
 
 wicked and their works are in the hand of God in the same sense 
 in which he affirms this of the righteous and the wise. If he had 
 meant this, he need not and would not have specified the right- 
 eous especially as enjoying this care. Nor does he mean to say 
 that the same final destiny and punishment will befall both the 
 righteous and the wicked ; for he held the very opposite of this. 
 (See chap. 8: 12, 13.) But guided by the context, we may con- 
 
 clude that his mind is upon the unknown contingencies of this mor- 
 tal state. No man knoweth what is before him here in the line of 
 the good or evil things of this life. Sickness, suffering, the plague, 
 the cholera, the frailties of the body, the infirmities of old age, and 
 death itself — all these evils and the causes that produce them, be- 
 fall every class of men, good or bad, substantially alike. All these 
 things come under one common law of our present earthly state. 
 The Great Father “maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on 
 the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” (Mat. 5 : 
 45). For the best of reasons there is no attempt to discriminate 
 in these allotments between good men and bad. The great law 
 of our present existence — “ Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt 
 return,” makes no exception in favor of even the best friends of 
 God. To this great universal law, 1 understand the passage be- 
 fore us to allude. 
 
 3. This is an evil among all things that are done under 
 the sun, that there is one event unto all : yea, also the heart 
 of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their 
 heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead. 
 
 To the view of Solomon, and indeed to the limited views of 
 most men, it will seem in some respects an evil, that, as to the 
 points here considered, the lot of both good men and bad is com 
 mon. It looks as though God had no special favors for his friends ; 
 no special displeasure toward his enemies. It suggests perhaps 
 the doubt whether there be indeed a God above who befriends the 
 righteous and is displeased with the wicked. This is the point 
 that troubles the author. It seems to him that one result of this 
 common ordering of the events of life is that men’s hearts are the 
 more full of evil and of madness. They see no God. Some of 
 the greatest events of human life disclose no moral discrimination 
 as between the righteous and the wicked; so that they say — “It 
 is just as well to be wicked as to be righteous; we shall live out 
 our time, no matter how wicked we may be, and the righteous can 
 
ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. IX. 
 
 295 
 
 fare no better than this. We see no retribution for sin in this life ; 
 who then will believe that there is any to be feared hereafter 
 
 — if indeed there be any hereafter ? This madness, he says, 
 
 abides in them long as they live. After that — what ? “ To the 
 
 dead ” [they go]. The omission of the verb go in the original is 
 peculiarly expressive: “After that — to the dead /” 
 
 4. For to him that is joined to all the living there is 
 hope : for a living dog is better than a dead’ lion. 
 
 For the verb translated “ is joined,” there are in Hebrew dif- 
 ferent readings. The marginal reading transposes the first two 
 radical letters of the textual reading. Following the text, we 
 have the sense — “For who is excepted?” — i. e., not included 
 under this universal doom of mortality. The marginal reading, 
 preferred by most of the critics, is followed by the English and 
 by all the older versions, thus : — “ Whoever is still attached to the 
 living, as to him there is hope.” The meaning seems to be — He 
 is an object of trust; more or less confidence may be reposed in 
 him; he is something; has some power of accomplishment, for 
 even a dog, contemptible as he was in the east, could do more and 
 was more an object of hope or of fear, than a dead lion. This is 
 doubtless a proverb. The author meant to say strongly that so 
 far as this world is concerned, there is no power in the dead, and 
 therefore no ground of confidence or trust in them. This he 
 
 proceeds to show more in detail. This word rendered “hope” 
 
 occurs elsewhere only in Isa. 36 : 4 and in a parallel passage 2 K. 
 18 : 19. “ What confidence [object of hope or trust] is this wherein 
 
 thou trustedst?” 
 
 5. For the living know that they shall die : but the 
 dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a 
 reward ; for the memory of them is forgotten. 
 
 6. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is 
 now perished ; neither have they any more a portion for- 
 ever in any thing that is done under the sun. 
 
 The difficulties in these verses come of assuming that they 
 speak of the future state and particularly of the condition of 
 human souls after death. Assuming that they speak of souls in 
 respect to their relations to the future world , we are troubled, for 
 the author seems to deny to them consciousness, knowledge and 
 
 reward, if not even existence. Prof. Stuart would fain get over 
 
 this difficulty by supposing that these are the words, not of the 
 author, but of an objector to his doctrines: Hengstenberg, by 
 saying — “ Such is the language of natural reason to whose eye 
 ali seems dark and gloomy that, lies beyond the present scene be- 
 cause it fails in this world to discern the traces of divine retri- 
 bution.” The -Spirit says on the contrary — “The spirit returns 
 to God who gave it.” These methods are essentially the same 
 
296 
 
 ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. IX. 
 
 the vital point in each being that these are not the sentiments of 
 the author. I have more difficulty with this exposition than with 
 the passage itself. For what right have we to say that these are 
 not the words of the author ? He has given us no hint that these 
 are some other man’s words and not his. He says these things 
 just as he says all the other things in his book. They come to us 
 with the same external evidence to prove them his words that we 
 
 have for any thing else he has written. Let us rather go back 
 
 to the root of this difficulty. As said above it lies in assuming 
 that the author is here giving his views of the state of human 
 souls after death not with reference to this world , hut to that other 
 world whither they have gone. May it not be that the error lies 
 in precisely this assumption, and that the relief will come by as- 
 suming that he speaks of the souls of the dead only with reference 
 to their relations to this present world of ours ? — — Let us con- 
 sider carefully the thought which immediately precedes ; a living 
 dog is better than a dead lion; i. e ., better for any effect in this 
 world. The dead animal — the lion — had incomparably the most 
 power while he lived. But now that he is dead, nobody fears 
 him ; he has even less power than the meanest of animals — a 
 dog. The efficiency of the dead as to this world — the question 
 whether they are objects of fear or of hope here in time — is the 
 
 point with which the passage opens. Mark also the closing 
 
 thought: “Neither have they any more a portion forever in all 
 that is done under the sun.” This is in the same strain with which 
 the passage opened in v. 4. They are dead as to all things here. 
 How much soever they may, like Dives, have amassed of earthly 
 good, they have no portion in it or of it for evermore. They have 
 no agency or profit in any thing done beneath the sun. But this 
 (be it noticed) does not say they have no portion of good or ill 
 
 in the retributions of the future world. 1 give below a paraphrase 
 
 of these two verses which in my view is sustained by the following 
 considerations: (1.) As already intimated it is in harmony with 
 the course of thought with which the passage is introduced in v. 
 
 4 and with which it closes in v. 6. (2.) It coincides with the 
 
 logic of the passage itself, especially in the last half of v. 5. 
 
 (3.) It relieves the passage of its doctrinal difficulties, viz., its 
 supposed denial of a future conscious existence and its contradic- 
 tion of the great doctrine of a future retribution — a doctrine which 
 
 Solomon in this very book affirms with most solemn emphasis. 
 
 “ For the living know as to death that they shall die ; but the dead 
 know nothing as to the living, nor as to any of the scenes and 
 events of this earthly life, neither have they any more reward in 
 the line of fame and honor , for the memory of them is forgotten. 
 They may have labored hard for an immortal name among the 
 living of earth, but this reward fails them, for no remembrance 
 of them long survives their disappearance from among men. Also 
 their love and their hatred and their envy have long ago perished ; 
 all died with them and are no longer of the least concern to the 
 living whom their love can not help nor their hatred harm; 
 
ECCLESIASTES -CHAP. IX. 
 
 297 
 
 neither have they any longer a portion forever in all that is done 
 under the sun. They may have a portion elsewhere; of that 
 there is no occasion now to speak; but they have no portion in the 
 way of active agency or proper reward in anything done on the 
 
 earth.” This paraphase assumes that the author is not speaking 
 
 at all of the departed dead with reference to their consciousness — • 
 their happiness or their misery in that other*world ; but only with 
 refesence to their relations to this world and to its events and inter- 
 ests. The reader will notice especially the argument in v. 5. 
 
 The dead know nothing and have no more reward because the very 
 memory of them is forgotten. This cause is not that they have 
 themselves lost all memory and consciousness, but is that the 
 living men of this world have lost all remembrance of them. But this 
 is no reason why they should know nothing in the other world ; it 
 is no reason why they have no more a reward in that other world. 
 The reasoning is good only upon the assumption that the author 
 is thinking of the dead in view of their relations to this world and 
 
 not to the world to come. 1 suggest, moreover, that the form of 
 
 the statement — “The dead know not any thing,” is determined by 
 a sort of antithesis with the clause immediately before it, thus : 
 For the living know as to death that they must die; but the dead 
 
 know as to what transpires here not any thing at all. It remains 
 
 to suggest that in this construction the passage bears most pertinently 
 and forcibly upon the vanity of laying up immense stores for future 
 enjoyment, whether in the line of wealth or of posthumous remem- 
 brance and fame. Thousands in every age toil to accumulate 
 indefinitely more than they could ever use in a century — to whom 
 Solomon would say here : “What will all that wealth avail you 
 after you are dead ? Other thousands, especially in the ancient 
 oriental world, exhausted the great labors of a life-time to build 
 mausoleums and tombs for themselves that should immortalize 
 their names among the living. In the rocks of ancient Petra, the 
 capital of Edom, the traveler of to-day may find sepulchers chis- 
 elled out in the eternal rock, witnessing to the folly of some Edom- 
 ite sage who thought he might thus prevent the remembrance of 
 himself from being ever lost. Or go to Egypt; study her pyramids 
 and the testimony, now generally accepted, that they were reared 
 with almost infinite labor, each to be the burial place of some one 
 man (a king perhaps) who meant to defy the power of oblivion 
 over his name and his glory. Alas, was there not occasion enough 
 to say to such men : “ The dead know not any thing of what trans- 
 pires among the living;” nor have they any more a reward on 
 earth, however much they may have sought it, for the very re- 
 membrance of them is perished, however stubbornly they may 
 have fought against this result and labored to make their earthly 
 name immortal. 
 
 The reader will notice that Solomon differs entirely from those 
 of our time who suppose our world to be full of the presence and 
 agency of departed spirits — cognizant of all that transpires, inter- 
 meddling with all mundane affairs, manifesting themselves in 
 
298 
 
 ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. IX. 
 
 rappings and thumpings, in table-tippings and answerings from 
 the realms of the dead. Solomon’s doctrine squarely denies the 
 possibility of any such thing. 
 
 7. Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy 
 wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works. 
 
 8. Let thy garments be always white ; and let thy head 
 lack no ointment. 
 
 9. Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the 
 days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee 
 under the sun, all the days of thy vanity : for that is thy 
 portion in this life, and in thy labor which thou takest under 
 the sun. 
 
 Here is a turn in the course of thought. The author would say 
 to his readers — Instead of toiling hopelessly and vainly for huge 
 masses of wealth which you can never enjoy, or for posthumous 
 fame and glory that you can never know of and that will surely 
 be engulfed and sunk under the waves of oblivion, I counsel you 
 to enjoy with quiet satisfaction your daily bread, thankful that 
 God accepts your work. Let your garments betoken inward purity 
 and true joy; living happily with one wife (not miserably with 
 many), even with the wife whom thou lovest, all the days of thy 
 transient life, for this is thy portion of good for thy labor in this 
 
 earthly life. We have met substantially the same counsel in 
 
 chap. 2: 24 and 3: 12, 13, 22, and 5: 18, 19, and 8: 15. 
 
 “ Drink thy wine with a good heart,” better expresses the Hebrew 
 
 than “merry.” “For God accepteth thy works;” i. e. } provided 
 
 they are done in the spirit here enjoined. Garments of white 
 
 were for joyful occasions ; black and coarse garments betokened 
 sadness and mourning. White was the natural symbol of purity 
 as well as joy — indeed of purity as the source and fountain of 
 joy. The reader will recall the white robes of angels and saints 
 as seen JVlk. 16: 5 and Mat. 17 : 2 (the transfiguration); also Rev. 
 
 3: 4, 5 and 7: 9. Oil upon the head is called “the oil of joy” 
 
 (Isa. 61: 3) and the oil of gladness (Ps. 45: 7). This testimony 
 
 against polygamy, coming from Solomon, is specially noticeable. 
 Do not, as I have done, multiply wives foolishly and wickedly, to 
 your sorrow and to the poisoning of all your domestic happiness ; 
 but live in joy.with the wife whom thou lovest, for such is the 
 portion God giveth thee for thy labors under the sun, i. e ., in this 
 earthly life. Solomon says not a word in all this book in com- 
 mendation of polygamy. His condemnation of his own course in 
 this respect, though somewhat indirect, is yet decisive and emphatic. 
 
 10. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy 
 might ; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor 
 wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest. . 
 
 The Hebrew accents favor this reading : — “ Whatsoever thj 
 
ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. IX. 
 
 299 
 
 hand findeth to do with thy might, do it.” Any thing that cornea 
 to hand so that you can take hold of it vigorously and do it to 
 useful purpose, do it without fail or delay. Why? Because you 
 can not resume and finish it in that grave — the under-world — 
 whither thou art going. He does not mean to say that nothing is 
 done there , in that other world ; but that no effort of yours, how- 
 ever wise or intelligent, can reach back from that world to this to 
 prosecute and complete your labors left unfinished here at your 
 death. So construed, his language bears to the point in hand — • 
 viz., the doing of whatever work God gives you to do here while 
 your life and life-power may last.— — The reader will observe that 
 v. 10 and also vs. 7-9 confirm the construction put upon vs. 4-6. 
 Enjoy and accomplish all God gives you to enjoy or to accomplish 
 here , for you can neither do or enjoy any thing as to this world 
 when you have passed away from earth. 
 
 11. I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is 
 not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet 
 bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, 
 nor yet favor to men of skill ; but time and chance hap- 
 peneth to them all. 
 
 12. For man also knoweth not his time : as the fishes that 
 are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught 
 in a snare ; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, 
 when it falleth suddenly upon them. 
 
 Taking still another and a new view of human labor (“ I turned 
 and saw”), I observed that even the most assiduous and well-di- 
 rected efforts of men sometimes fail. The swiftest do not always 
 win the race; the strongest lose the battle; the wisest miss their 
 bread; “time and chance” seem more potent over human destiny 
 than man’s own best endeavors. Casualties will happen; no man 
 knows his hour of death; the snare sometimes falls suddenly on 
 men as fishes are caught in a net ; so that we must admit there is 
 an overruling power higher than human that shapes the destiny 
 of men. 
 
 13. This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it 
 seemed great unto me : 
 
 14. There was a little city, and few men within it ; and 
 there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and 
 built great bulwarks against it. 
 
 15. Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he 
 by his wisdom delivered the city ; yet no man remembered 
 that same poor man. 
 
 Yet wisdom sometimes accomplishes most extraordinary feats 
 of success. A poor wise man saved a little city against a great 
 king. Yet, much as this poor man deserved of his fellow-citizens, 
 
300 
 
 ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. X. 
 
 they shamefully forgot him. The real value of wisdom often fails 
 
 of being duly acknowledged. To attempt, as some critics have 
 
 done, to find in history the specific city here referred to seems to 
 me altogether futile. The author has not named it; how then can 
 we ? 
 
 16. Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength : nev- 
 ertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words 
 are not heard. 
 
 17. The words of wise men are heard in quiet more than 
 the cry of him that ruleth among fools. 
 
 18. Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sin- 
 ner destroyeth much good. 
 
 In the phrase — “ The words of wise men are heard in quiet/' it 
 is not clear in the English version whether it is the speaking or 
 the hearing that is done “in quiet." The Hebrew shows that at 
 least the hearing is done in quiet — i. e ., in the hour of calm and 
 thoughtful stillness; while the antithesis with the boisterous out- 
 cry of a foolish king among fools implies that the wise men 
 thought of here spake also in a modest and quiet way. So speak- 
 ing and so being heard, their words have great force. Wisdom 
 
 is better than war-weapons, even in the defense of a city, as the 
 case above cited shows : over against which stands the closing 
 thought — “One sinner" — a man who misses the mark through lack 
 of wisdom — “ destroyeth much good.” “ Good ” is used here, not 
 in the moral but in the physical sense, as is not unfrequent in 
 this author, e. g ., chap. 6 : 6. This erring and wicked man des- 
 troys cities and human lives; no public interests are safe in his 
 
 hands. It is no doubt equally true that one sinner destroys 
 
 much good in the moral sense — in the line of the morals and the 
 souls of men. But the context does not favor this sense in this 
 passage. 
 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 This chapter, closely connected with the preceding, is made up 
 of miscellaneous statements, many of them proverbial, touching 
 the excellence of wisdom and the mischief of folly. 
 
 1. Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to 
 send forth a stinking savor : so doth a little folly him that 
 is in reputation for wisdom and honor. 
 
 In sentiment this verse repeats in a different form, that of the 
 clause next before it — 1 One sinner destroyeth much good.” A 
 
ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. X. 
 
 301 
 
 little folly pollutes and mars the character of one who is other- 
 wise noble in point of wisdom and honor. The words, “ in repu- 
 tation,” do not assume that this is reputation merely and not char- 
 acter. The Hebrew says, one who is precious (or glorious) in re- 
 spect to wisdom and honor. Even upon such a man, a little folly 
 acts like small dead flies in precious ointment, which as here said 
 
 (Heb.) produce fermentation and offensive odor. The world is 
 
 full of illustrations of this sentiment. It is obviously and pain- 
 fully true that many men of otherwise noble qualities have little 
 foibles, foolish habits, which mar their character and greatly dam- 
 age their influence. Probably this verse and many others in 
 
 this chapter were current proverbs in the days of the author. 
 
 2. A wise man’s heart is at his right hand ; but a fool’s 
 heart at his left. 
 
 “ Heart,” here, as often, in the sense of understanding. “At the 
 right hand,”. means skillful and adapted for ready and effective use; 
 “at the left” — awkward, blundering, unskilled. Perhaps the pro- 
 verb involves also the old idea that the left is ill-starred, of evil 
 omen, unpropitious. “ Seen over the left,” according to these no- 
 tions, was a bad omen. The two ideas — unskillful for use, and of 
 evil augury — might be united in the left. So the fool’s wit is of 
 little worth. It is wanting just when and where he most needs it. 
 He seems fated to blunder. 
 
 3. Yea also, when he that is a fool walketh by the way, 
 his wisdom faileth him , and he saith to every one that he is 
 a fool. 
 
 “ Walking by the way ” I take to mean his every-day life, rather 
 than precisely his passing along the street, although the latter sense 
 is possible. — The last clause is ambiguous, since it may mean either 
 that he says this of himself, or that he says it of every one else. 
 I incline to think that we need not press the word “say” to its 
 strictest literal sense — that of using these very words; but may 
 take it to mean, He seems to say ; he shows very plainly — that he 
 is a fool. Then the verse will mean that in the common affairs of 
 life, the fool’s wisdom fails him and he shows himself to all men 
 to be a fool. The statement is more universally true in this sense 
 than in the other, for it is scarcely a fact that every foolish man 
 says of every man he meets, Thou art a fool. 
 
 4. If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not 
 thy place ; for yielding pacifieth great offenses. 
 
 “ The ruler,” the one before spoken of (chap. 9: 17), is con- 
 ceived of as a wicked, foolish man. If his spirit becomes exas- 
 perated against thee, leave not thy standing, i. e., thy steadfast- 
 ness of principle and of self-possession ; but bear thyself meekly, 
 modestly, quietly for so a spirit otherwise ripe for “ great offenses ” 
 
302 
 
 ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. X. 
 
 may be pacified. The “great offenses” are thought of as those of 
 the ruler, not of thyself, the party addressed. An exasperated 
 feeling, ready for extreme measures, may be mollified by a meek 
 and gentle deportment, even without abandoning any thing that 
 is right and true in thy standing. 
 
 5. There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, as 
 an error which proceedeth from the ruler : 
 
 6. Folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in low 
 place. 
 
 7. I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking 
 as servants upon the earth. 
 
 The same foolish ruler perpetrates another egregious blunder 
 which is a great evil in affairs of state. He exalts fools (not “ folly 11 
 in the abstract) to many high places, and thrusts down the rich 
 (assumed to be noble and worthy men) into a low place. “ Ser- 
 vants upon horses” are in positions of honor, riding on horses be- 
 ing one of the prerogatives of office and royalty ; while princes are 
 seen walking like servants on foot. The idea is that the foolish 
 ruler commits a great mistake and does a great evil by thrusting 
 
 out of office worthy men and promoting the unworthy. This 
 
 practice has always been common in the despotic goverments of 
 the East. Men of wealth and of worth are hurled out of office for 
 the sake of confiscating their property, and men of low rank and 
 of no merit are elevated to power. No wonder Solomon should 
 account it a great evil. 
 
 8. He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it ; and whoso 
 breaketh a hedge, a serpent shall bite him. 
 
 9. Whoso removeth stones shall be hurt therewith; and 
 he that cleaveth wood shall be endangered thereby. 
 
 These are probably proverbial expressions. The digging of a 
 pit, i. e. : to entrap and catch wild animals, or as a snare for fel- 
 low-men, would expose a man to fall into it himself. As serpents 
 found their hiding-place in hedges, whoso should break them 
 would expose himself to be bitten. Both these acts may imply 
 evil intention, and so would challenge the retributions of justice. 
 The cases made in v. 9 are simply difficult but useful occupations 
 which require skill to prevent personal harm. Wisdom is profit- 
 able to direct here, as well as in the case next mentioned. 
 
 10. If the iron be blunt, and he do not whet the edge, 
 then must he put to more strength : but wisdom is profit- 
 able to direct. 
 
 It is of course a case of wisdom whether it will pay best to 
 sharpen the dull tool, or to put in the requisite additional strength. 
 The case is adduced simply to illustrate the practical value of 
 wisdom. 
 
ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. X. 
 
 303 
 
 11. Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment ; 
 and a babbler is no better. 
 
 Accepting the general construction which appears in our Eng- 
 lish version, I should still prefer to read slanderer rather than 
 “ babbler.” It is the slanderer who wall bite you as surely as the 
 unenchanted serpent unless you have the wisdom to charm him 
 into a better spirit, or to put yourself beyond his power to harm, 
 
 The Lexicons of Gesenius and of Fuerst give to the phrase 
 
 rendered “babbler”* the sense of enchanter — one who has the 
 skill to charm serpents. I understand them to give the passage 
 this construction : Inasmuch as the serpent will bite unless en- 
 chanted, there is no advantage to the enchanter (i. e., unless he 
 has the wisdom to use his skill promptly and so prevent the bit- 
 ing). The context treats of the superior advantages of wisdom 
 over folty; in harmony with which this construction would be in 
 point. The objection to their view of the passage is that it re- 
 quires so much to be supplied. 
 
 12. The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious ; but 
 the lips of a fool will swallow up himself. 
 
 The antithesis here lies between the words of wise men and 
 the words of fools in the point of value and of results to them- 
 selves. The wise man’s words are gracious, i. e ., pleasant, agree- 
 able, conciliatory, winning the good will of others and fraught 
 with good to himself. On the contrary, the lips of a fool (by 
 means of his foolish words) w T ill engulf him in ruin. His indis- 
 creet words will forever frustrate his efforts and sink his cause. 
 
 As the lips are associated with swallowing, there was special point 
 in using this term to denote his words. His lips (by virtue of the 
 foolish words he utters) become a vortex to engulf the miserable 
 man to his ruin! 
 
 13. The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolish- 
 ness : and the end of his talk is mischievous madness. 
 
 His talk begins with folly and ends with ruinous madness. All 
 is folly, only waxing more and more so, with yet more ruinous 
 consequences to himself. 
 
 14. A fool also is full of words : a man can not tell 
 what shall be : and what shall be after him, who can tell 
 him ? 
 
 The connection between the first clause and the rest of the 
 verse may be either that the fool prates excessively about the un- 
 known future, building air-castles and talking boastfully of his 
 great plans; or that his talk is reckless of future consequences. 
 He is full of words that may have tremendous power against him 
 
 wbn Sys * 
 
S04 
 
 ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. X. 
 
 in the future, and yet he heeds nothing. The latter is most in 
 keeping with the course of thought in the context. 
 
 15. The labor of the foolish wearieth every one of them, 
 because he knoweth not how to go to the city. 
 
 The fool works at immense disadvantage because he lacks the 
 wit to do well the most common things — the illustration of which 
 is, knowing the way to the city — a thing that every man but a fool 
 would be supposed to know. If he can not follow the great thor- 
 oughfare of travel where every body walks, what does he know, 
 and what can he do? 
 
 16. Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and 
 thy princes eat in the morning! 
 
 Wisdom is good and folly especially bad in the case of kings . 
 Alas! for the land whose king is a child — not in years so much 
 as in wisdom and especially in self-control. As to age, the He- 
 brew word for “child” might apply to any period from two years 
 to thirty; but in such a connection it has the sense of childishness. 
 Isaiah (3: 4) uses it: “I will give children to be their princes;” 
 
 parallel to which is this: “And babes shall rule over them.” 
 
 Early breakfasts were not in good repute, nor the use of wine in 
 the morning hours of the day. References to the use of wine 
 early in the day may be seen (Isa. 5: 11): “Woe unto them that 
 rise up early in the morning that they may follow strong drink,” 
 etc.; and also Ac. 2 : 15. The next verse shows that the eating here 
 disapproved is feasting coupled with the use of wine. 
 
 17. Blessed art thou, O land, when thy king is the son 
 of nobles, and thy princes eat in due season, for strength, 
 and not for drunkenness ! 
 
 The counterpart of v. 16, this pronounces the land blessed whose 
 king is of noble birth, and whose princes eat at the suitable time, 
 and for purposes of nutrition and physical invigoration, and not 
 for banqueting and drinking to intoxication. Gluttony and intem- 
 perance in strong drink least of all become kings — men bearing 
 responsibilities so grave and momentous. “ It is not for kings, O 
 Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes strong 
 drink, lest they drink and forget the law and pervert the judg- 
 ment of any of the afflicted ” (Prov. 31 : 4). “ Thy king the 
 
 son of nobles,” reminds us that in the authors age much was 
 thought of the hereditary rights of kings. It helped to dispose 
 
 of the always vexing question of succession to the crown. There 
 
 is no reason to suppose that in this verse and the preceding, Solo- 
 mon thinks of any particular countries. His remarks apply to any 
 country whatever. 
 
 18. By much slothfulness the building decayeth ; and 
 through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through. 
 
ECCLESIASTES— CIIAP. X. 
 
 305 
 
 Slack and sluggish hands neglect repairs and leave the timbers 
 iff the house to rot and its roof to leak. 
 
 19. A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry : 
 but money answereth all things . 
 
 Speaking of sensual men, the meaning seems to be that they 
 pervert even their common meals (Heb. their “bread”) into 
 laughter, and their wine (they say) makes life joyful ; their money 
 (they being rich) answereth all purposes. They have every thing 
 that heart can wish. The description obviously looks toward the 
 case of the wealthy who indulge in gross sensuality in their feasts. 
 The next verse favors the supposition that he has in mind glutton- 
 ous and drunken kings. 
 
 20. Curse not the king, no not in thy thought ; and curse 
 not the rich in thy bed-chamber ; for a bird of the air shall 
 carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the 
 mattejr. 
 
 Though you see great faults in your king, and in your rich 
 neighbors, be careful how you give utterance to severe words 
 against them. Some unseen bird of the air may catch and carry 
 the sound, and your indiscreet words may involve you in serious 
 
 evil. The word rendered “thought” will admit the sense — the 
 
 place of thought, the study — corresponding to the private bed- 
 chamber in the parallel clause. It can scarcely mean, in thy 
 unspoken thought, since the supposition is that some bird of the 
 
 air will carry the voice — the spoken word. This is one of the 
 
 precepts of wisdom. Do not expose yourself to collision with the 
 powerful by needless maledictions upon their life, even though it 
 
 be wicked and sensual. Solomon may have been aware of a 
 
 growing disaffection toward himself and his administration — the 
 same which developed itself so manifestly after his death. How- 
 ever this may have been, it may be said that this counsel was not bad 
 for those times and for the outlying countries where kings were often 
 immoral, and kingdoms were misgoverned, and where moreover no 
 means of redress for these grievances lay within the reach of the 
 individual subject. Then to bear in silence and in patience was 
 the part of wisdom. 
 
306 
 
 ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. XI. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Critics differ somewhat in regard to the course of thought in 
 vs. 1-6. I understand the author to say — Prepare for the disasters 
 of life by making friends with your benefactions while you are 
 prosperous (v. 1): multiply those friends, for evil times will come 
 (v. 2); the causes of great calamities are inwrought into the sys- 
 tem of this sinning world, and their effects are more than tran- 
 sient (v. 3) ; be not niggardly in this outlay for insurance against 
 life’s evils (v. 4); there will be things in the divine administra- 
 tion which you can not fathom (v. 5) ; be diligent and use all 
 appropriate means of success in reliance on God for results (v. 6). 
 
 The remaining verses of the chapter are in another strain. 
 
 Life is precious and God has filled this world with many sources 
 of pleasure ; yet in the midst of your joy, forget not that days of 
 darkness will come (vs. 7, 8). Let the young man enjoy the vigor 
 of youth and its legitimate pleasures, yet evermore bearing in 
 mind that God holds him responsible for all his moral life and 
 will bring him into judgment (v. 9). Let him therefore banish 
 discontent from his heart, and, observing the laws of health, pro- 
 long his youthful vigor to the utmost, for childhood and youth are 
 subject to vanity — the failure and loss of earthly good (v. 10). 
 
 1. Cast thy bread upon the waters : for thou shalt find it 
 after many days. 
 
 The figure used here is found by some in the sowing of grain 
 upon the fields while yet under water in the process of irrigation, or 
 from the inundation of swollen streams ; and by others in the 
 freighting of grain over the waters to distant markets — the returns 
 from which might be only “after many days.” In either case 
 “bread” would mean the grain of which bread is made. An allu- 
 sion to commerce seems to me the more probable as being more 
 germain to Solomon’s personal life, and as corresponding somewhat 
 better with the terms here used. If seed-sowing had been in 
 mind, he would naturally have said “seed” and “sowing,” as in 
 v. 6. The Hebrew word for “ cast” means properly “ send forth,” 
 and applies readily to the freighting of a merchant vessel with 
 grain for commerce. The history records that Solomon’s navy of 
 Tharshish made voyages of three years’ duration (1 K. 10: 22), and 
 that in his trade with Tyre, grain was one of his staple exports 
 (IK. 5: 11). Ezekiel’s account in detail of the trade of Tyre is to 
 
 the same purport (Ezek. 27 : 17). But whichever is the figure 
 
 used, the sense is ultimately the same. Dispense thy charities 
 liberally and look for returns in the distant future. The policy is 
 the same which his lord commended in his unjust steward because 
 he had done wisely; “making to one’s self friends of the mammon 
 of unrighteousness,” that in the time of failure “they may receive 
 you into their habitations.’’ 
 
ECCLESIASTES — CHAP. XI. 
 
 307 
 
 2. Give a portion to seven, and also to eight ; for thou 
 knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth. 
 
 “Give a portion to seven” — the usual round indefinite number; 
 but do not stop at any definite point; give also to the eighth : and 
 by implication, give still to more if you can ; for which the reason 
 here assigned is — “For thou knowest not what evil shall be upon 
 the earth.” Evil will come; you can not forecast its precise form 
 cr time ; therefore be in readiness by having previously secured 
 
 friends to stand by you in your calamities. The usage of definite 
 
 numbers for the indefinite idea of many is very common in the 
 Hebrew writings. (See Amos 1 : 3, 6, 9.) “For three toansgres- 
 sions and for four.” Also Micah 5: 5. “We shall raise against 
 him seven shepherds and eight principal men.” AlsoProv. 30: 18, 
 21, 24. 
 
 3. If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves 
 upon the earth : and if the tree fall toward the south, or 
 toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there 
 it shall be. 
 
 Calamities will come by a common law of human life, even 
 as great storms come in the course of nature, and, coming, hurl 
 down the trees of the forest to lie where they fall. That is, the 
 effects of these calamities are more than transient, and are not 
 easily remedied. Sometimes these calamities come in clusters, 
 reminding us of the adage — “It never rains but it pours.” Pro- 
 vide, therefore, wisely and abundantly against these seasons of 
 disaster. 
 
 4. He that observeth the wind shall not sow ; and he 
 that regardeth the clouds shall not reap. 
 
 This and many other sayings in this connection were doubtless 
 proverbs in current use. If the husbandman was too particular in 
 regard to a favorable state of the wind, he might, often, miss of 
 sowing at all : if he studied the clouds too anxiously he would not 
 reap, and so would lose all, through not sowing or not gathering 
 in his harvests. Sentiment: Be not close and niggardly in pro- 
 viding these friends against your time of need. It were better 
 to run some small risk on some one of the eight or twenty than to 
 get none and lose all. 
 
 5. As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor 
 how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with 
 child : even so thou knowest not the works of God who 
 maketh all. 
 
 There are and will be things in God’s providential administra- 
 tion of human affairs which thou canst not fathom to the bottom — 
 just as in the processes of nature referred to, we aro compelled to 
 
308 
 
 ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. XI. 
 
 confess our ignorance. Where animal life come from, what it is 
 in its essential nature, and many of its laws, are matters too deep 
 for our philosophy. 
 
 6. In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening with- 
 hold not thine hand : for thou knowest not whether shall 
 prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall he 
 alike good. 
 
 Therefore use wisdom and all due diligence. Let no hopeful 
 means of good be omitted, sowing thy seed morning by morning, 
 and at evening still let thy hand be active and thy heart earnest; 
 for thou canst not tell which of the many things shall be success- 
 ful. Do your whole duty and then calmly leave the issues with 
 
 God. So much for wisdom in the affairs of life, and particularly 
 
 in making provision against its unknown and unavoidable calami- 
 ties. 
 
 7. Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for 
 the eyes to behold the sun : 
 
 8. But if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all ; 
 yet let him remember the days of darkness ; for they shall 
 be many. All that cometh is vanity. 
 
 There are rich comforts and joys in human life, and some of 
 the best of them, like the light of day and the sweetness of the 
 sunshine, are open to the masses of mankind — to the poor no less 
 than to the rich ; to the slave and to the subject no less than to 
 
 the master and to the king. But if a man live many years (as 
 
 some do not), let him rejoice in them all ; yet let him remember 
 the days of darkness (calamity), for they shall be many. In the 
 midst of the unbroken joys of youth and of prosperous life, let no 
 man forget that far other scenes may be before him; that days of 
 darkness will follow these days of light, for they surely will, and 
 they may be many. All that cometh is subject to vanity. It has 
 the nature of intrinsic emptiness and may prove an utter failure, 
 despite of the best appearances to-day. 
 
 9. Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart 
 cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways 
 of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes : but know thou, 
 that for all these things God will bring, thee into judgment. 
 
 10. Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put 
 away evil from thy flesh : for childhood and youth are 
 vanity. 
 
 Some have supposed that these verses are solemn irony. Go on, 
 thou young man, to enjoy thy youthful vigor; make thy heart 
 cheerful ; do what seemeth good in thine eyes ; but know assuredly 
 that God will require it of thee in the judgment. Know thou that 
 
ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. XI. 
 
 309 
 
 for this .self-indulgence thy judgments from God’s hand must be 
 fearful in this life, and yet more appalling in the last great day ! 
 
 So it has been sometimes construed; yet, as it seems to me, 
 
 erroneously. For (1.) It is by no means necessary to explain the 
 things here recommended or permitted as being sinful. It is not 
 in itself sinful that a young man should rejoice in his youth — 
 enjoying his youthful vigor and health; nor that his heart should 
 be cheerful ; nor that he should walk in ways pleasant and agree- 
 able to himself, in harmony with the laws of his being, provided, 
 however, always that he regulate his pursuit of pleasure by a 
 sense of his moral responsibilities to God. It is vital here to draw 
 the line between admissible cheerfulness, legitimate physical and 
 social enjoyments on the one hand, and on the other sinful indul- 
 gences, injurious if not even ruinous to one’s self or to others. 
 
 (2.) The context forbids the construction which makes these verses 
 ironical. u The light is sweet,” (and of course it is good and right 
 to enjoy it), and “ a pleasant thing it is to behold the sun,” and 
 did not God give us this pleasure to be accepted and enjoyed 
 thankfully? u If a man live many years, let him rejoice in them 
 all ” (this is the true sense of the original), yet let him remember 
 the days of darkness” — sure to come — and let this remembrance 
 temper his enjoyment of the good things God gives him and make 
 him the more grateful for them while they last. All this is serious 
 and not ironical. The same strain ought, therefore, to be carried 
 on throughout the passage. (3.) The numerous parallel pas- 
 
 sages in the book suffice to settle this point definitely. They have 
 come repeatedly under our consideration, and can by no means be 
 explained as being irony. (See chap. 2: 24 and 3 : 12, 13, 22, and 
 5: 18-20 and 8: 15.) We must then include the passage before 
 us in this class, and explain it as referring to the legitimate enjoy- 
 ments of youth, bearing in mind, however, that the author wisely 
 guards against excess and abuse by solemnly assuring the young 
 man that in reference to this whole period of his life and to all 
 its special and abundant sources of enjoyment, God will bring him 
 into judgment — not to condemn him for the wholesome enjoyment 
 of youthful vigor, but for its sinful abuse ; — not for any pleasures 
 that are legitimate, but for all that are illegitimate, pernicious, 
 
 morally wrong. The sense of the last verse seems to be — Put 
 
 away discontent from your heart, and physical evils from your 
 body. Cultivate the spirit of a cheerful contentment, and by care- 
 fully observing the laws of health, put from you, far as possible, 
 the ills that flesh is heir to. God made your mind and body for 
 much enjoyment; be careful, therefore, to study and obey the 
 laws of life and happiness pertaining to both mind and body ; for 
 it the best childhood and youth are transient, and full of vanity. 
 
310 
 
 ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. XII. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Let the young, rejoicing in their youthful freshness, beauty, and 
 strength, yet remember their Creator before the evils of old age 
 come on, and because those evils or an early death will surely 
 come (1-6):. death and its results appear (v. 7.) The preacher 
 closes with the reassertion of his great theme and with some 
 account of his book (vs. 8-12) ; and then with his final inference 
 from all his facts and discussions, and with his farewell exhorta- 
 tion (vs. 13, 14). 
 
 1. Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, 
 while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when 
 thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them : 
 
 This verse stands in close relation with chap. 11 : 7-10, and 
 especially vs. 9, 10, and should not have been separated in the 
 arrangement of chapters. The young man, rejoicing in his youth, 
 and passing cheerfully along through those days of health, hope, 
 and high anticipation and of superabundant physical life, is ex- 
 horted to remember his Creator even then, in the morning of his 
 youthful years. To “remember one’s Creator” is more than 
 simply to remember God. It is to think of God as your personal 
 Creator, the Author of your very being and of all that wealth of 
 blessings which he provides so profusely for the morning period of 
 life. To be thus seriously mindful of our Creator is to feel our 
 obligation to filial obedience and to grateful love and trust. It is 
 to say from the heart — All I am ; all I can ever become ; all I have 
 or ever can have — are due to my Infinite Creator and Father. Let 
 me hold all my powers as his gift and use them gratefully accord- 
 ing to his pleasure and for his honor. Now obviously there 
 
 can be no moral obligation more absolute than this which binds a 
 creature to perfect homage, love, and obedience to his Great Creator. 
 Ought not a son to honor his earthly father ? But this oughtness 
 is intensified indefinitely when from an earthly father never so 
 worthy w r e turn to our Heavenly Father whose merits and whose 
 
 claims on us are indeed absolutely infinite. The point of the 
 
 exhortation as it stands here regards the time when. Remember 
 now thy Creator while yet “ youth and years are bright,” while yet 
 the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt 
 say — I find no pleasure in these days and years. Give to God the 
 full outgushing affections of your young hearts — the warmth and 
 freshness of your earliest love. This is his due, and this is peculi- 
 arly acceptable. It may be supposed, moreover, that the preacher 
 
 held in contrast before his mind the opposite of the godly youth, 
 viz. : the ungodly young man passing on through a wicked youth and 
 a more wicked manhood — to a godless, comfortless, worn out and 
 wretched old age — to drop at last unwept and unhonored into his 
 
ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. XII. 
 
 311 
 
 grave, to be remembered no more ! By all the miseries of such a 
 life and such an end would he exhort his youthful readers — yea, 
 all the living to whom in the lapse of the ages these words might 
 ever come, to shun such a life and such an end by giving their 
 heart to their great and good Creator in the very morning of life. 
 This I take to be the course of thought and argument in this and 
 the subsequent verses. 
 
 2. While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, 
 be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain : 
 
 3. In the day when the keepers of the house shall trem- 
 ble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the 
 grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out 
 of the windows be darkened, 
 
 4. And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the 
 sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the 
 voice of the bird, and all the daughters of music shall be 
 brought low : 
 
 5. Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, 
 and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall 
 flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire 
 shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the 
 mourners go about the streets : 
 
 6. Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl 
 be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the 
 wheel broken at the cistern. 
 
 All critics admit, for none can deny, that these verses describe 
 under imagery more or less poetic, a forlorn, joyless, broken down 
 old age. Yet, upon the question of the precise character of these 
 figures, there is room for diversity of opinion. Instead of attempt- 
 ing to define this diversity in general terms, I propose to para- 
 phrase the passage according to the two prominent theories of fig- 
 urative conception. In v. 2, all must agree that the figures are 
 
 drawn from the natural world, and not from the old man himself. 
 The darkening of the great lights of heaven is one of the most 
 common figures with the Hebrew writers for great and sad ca- 
 lamity. (See Ezek. 32: 7, 8; Isa. 13: 10; Joel 2: 31 and 3: 15; 
 Amos 8: 9; Rev. 6: 12, 13 and Mat. 24: 29.) The clouds re- 
 
 turning after the great rain, when “storm after storm rises dark 
 o’er the way,” describe the rainy season of Palestine, when one 
 storm passes away only to make room for another to follow, and a 
 whole fair day is scarcely known. This represents forcibly the 
 
 gloom and grief that hang over the old age of the ungodly. 
 
 The next three verses (3-5), those interpreters who find here the 
 very body — the physical organs and the waning senses of the de- 
 crepit old man, would paraphrase thus: — “In the day when the 
 keepers of the house (the old man’s arms) become tremulous, and 
 
 14 
 
312 
 
 ECCLESIASTES -CHAP. XII. 
 
 the strong men (his legs) bow themselves, becoming bent under 
 the infirmities of years; and the grinders (his molar teeth, used 
 chiefly for mastication) cease to work because they are few ; and 
 the eyes that look out as from the windows of the head, become 
 dim with growing blindness ; and the doors are shut in the streets ” 
 — i. e ., the lips are closed and little is said through lack of power 
 or of interest; or as others think, the ears are shut with deafness* 
 — when the sound of the grinding is low, the voice becoming 
 weak and scarcely audible; or as some, the sound produced in 
 chewing food is low: and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird 
 — wakened very early in his sleepless morning by the bird-songs, 
 he starts from his slumbers: and since, by Hebrew usage, ‘daugh- 
 ters of music’ means all singers, their being brought low signi- 
 fies that he loses his power if not also his interest in music. And 
 he is afraid to venture upon what is high; he has fears when 
 abroad in the public way; the almond tree flourishes, betokening 
 his gray hairs; or as others read it, the almond nut which he 
 once loved becomes disgusting, because, having lost his teeth, he 
 can not eat it: the grasshopper becomes a burden through his 
 great weakness to bear any load whatever ; and the natural appe- 
 tites lose their vitality and cease to afford him pleasure in their 
 exercise; because man goeth to his eternal home; mourners fol- 
 low the mortal remains of the dead through the streets; for the 
 nice, the delicate and wonderful organism of the human frame is 
 broken down, even as the machinery for raising water or the ves- 
 sels for bearing it away from well or cistern become broken and 
 useless. So death comes and the dust goes back to its mother 
 
 earth ; the spirit rises to God, its author. This view of these 
 
 figures (with slight variations) receives the suffrages of probably 
 the major part of the critics. A somewhat different view de- 
 
 serves our notice. In vs. 3, 4 an oriental village , besieged by ene- 
 mies, dilapidated and half-deserted, going fast to ruin — forms the 
 ground-work of the illustrations. On this hypothesis we might 
 paraphrase thus: — In the day when the city guards — the watch- 
 men — are filled with alarm ; when even the strong men bow them- 
 selves, weak and faint, under the burden of defending the city; 
 when the grinders at the oriental handmills suspend labor because 
 so few survive to do the work or to be fed by its products : and 
 when the women in their houses no longer look out from their 
 windows with curiosity to see the passing traveler ; when the doors 
 are fast shut and bolted toward the streets through fear of assault- 
 ing foes; when the sound of the oriental handmill is so low as to 
 be scarcely audible — those sounds which in times of average pros- 
 perity you are sure to hear at break of day in every oriental vil- 
 lage or encampment; when men start up in* fear at the voice of 
 even a bird because it might betoken an assault from their inva- 
 ders ; and all the daughters of music are brought low, for in such 
 a time of pressing calamity and possibly of impending ruin, none 
 
 could have the heart to sing or the ear to hear it. In v. 5 the 
 
 description may perhaps be best applied, in part at least, directly 
 
ECCLESIASTES -CHAP. XII. 
 
 313 
 
 to the aged man who is afraid of whatever is high ; who has fears 
 in the public highway. The blossoming of the almond tree, by 
 oriental usage, may indicate that events are hastening on toward 
 their accomplishment. The almond, first to bloom in spring, gave 
 the earliest promise of a change from winter. As used in symbol 
 by the Lord to Jeremiah (Jer. 1 : 12), its significance was — “ I will 
 hasten my word to perform it.” So God hastens' to close up the 
 
 miserable career of the ungodly old man. The construction 
 
 last given to vs. 3, 4 pleases me much better than the first one. 
 That first one seems in many points very harsh, tame, insipid, 
 badly forced, and un poetic. Especially I can not imagine how an 
 oriental reader could understand by “the sound of the grinding,” 
 any thing else but that well-known sound from the handmills of 
 every household each morning for the day’s use, or could think of 
 “the daughters of music” as being any other than those singing 
 bands who entertained the people with their songs. So of the en- 
 tire description. It accords so pertinently with oriental life in a 
 village besieged and imperilled, that I can not bring my mind to 
 accept any other construction. Moreover, an oriental village in 
 which the hum of busy, peaceful life has died away ; in which 
 music is heard no longer; even the curiosity of woman fails to 
 bring her to the window to look out abroad; the doors are barred; 
 the watchmen tremble ; the soldiers are overborne with their task 
 and every thing betokens capture, sack, and ruin ; — such a group- 
 ing of scenes is an admirable picture of the failing life-powers, 
 the departing joys, and the impending downfall of the poor old 
 man. Nor does it seem to me in any wise incongruous, for v. 2 
 unquestionably draws its figures from the great lights of heaven 
 and the storms of the oriental rainy* season, and there is nothing 
 that requires us to return to a specific description of the individ- 
 ual man till we reach v. 5. Some of the points of v. 5 may best 
 be applied to him personally. — V. 6 is a beautiful description of 
 the severing of the cords of life which hold the body and soul in 
 their life-communion. Comparing the nice physical organism of 
 the body with the machinery for raising water, the cords snap 
 asunder; the choice bowl that bore the living water is dashed in 
 pieces; the machinery on the action of which animal life hung 
 is broken down — and all is over! 
 
 7. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was : and 
 the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. 
 
 Then “ashes to ashes, and dust to dust.” The dust of the 
 human frame returns to its kindred dust ; but the spirit, of far 
 higher nature, the very breath of God (Gen. 2 : 7), returns to God 
 who gave it; not to be absorbed again into the essence of the 
 Divine Being; not to lose its personality, its individual conscious- 
 ness, or its moral responsibility; but to receive from God its re- 
 ward according to its moral life in the body. “ For God will bring 
 every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it bo 
 
314 
 
 ECCLESIASTES— CRAP. XII. 
 
 good or whether it be evil.” This doctrine of future retribution 
 forever precludes the pantheistic notion of the absorption of the 
 human soul at death into the being of God himself. The doc- 
 
 trine that all human souls have their existence directly from God 
 so that he is strictly and properly “ the Father of all spirits,” ap- 
 pears in both the Old Testament and the New. See Num. 16 : 
 22, where it occurs in the prayer of Moses and Aaron : “ O God, 
 the God of the spirits of all flesh,” etc.; also again in the words 
 of Moses (Num. 27: 16), u Let the Lord, the God of the spirits 
 of all flesh, set a man over the congregation,” etc. So the writer 
 of the epistle to the Hebrews (12: 9) — “Shall we not be in sub- 
 jection unto* the Father of spirits and live ?” That the soul, 
 
 thus related to God as its father should return to him at death, is 
 due also and especially to its moral nature and moral relations 
 and responsibilities. That this was the doctrine of the ancient 
 Jewish teachers appears even in the Chaldee paraphrast who trans- 
 lates our verse : “ The living spirit will return to stand in judg- 
 ment before God who gave it to thee.” The same doctrine 
 
 underlies this Book of Ecclesiastes, cropping out not unfrequently 
 throughout the course of its discussions, and brought forth most 
 distinctly and emphatically at the close. (See chap. 3: 17, 21 and 
 
 5 : 8 and 8 : 8, 12, 13 and 11:9 and 12 : 14.) And what can be 
 
 more reasonable? For the gift of intellectual faculties devolves 
 the obligation to know God. The gift of a moral power to obey 
 and love God creates the obligation to obedience and love. “To 
 him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin” 
 
 (Jam. 4: 17). God therefore has an account to settle with all 
 
 those beings to whom he has committed such exalted powers, and 
 hence their spirits must return to him at death to meet this re- 
 sponsibility and to render this account. 
 
 8. Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher ; all is vanity. 
 
 Obviously this introduces the closing section of the book — the 
 concluding remarks. Hence he repeats the sentiment which more 
 than any other has been his leading theme — the utter vanity of 
 all things that are merely of the earth — sensual and worldly en- 
 joyments. At the same time this sentiment has a close relation 
 to what has immediately preceded — the infirmities and miseries of 
 a godless old age. If such, he would say, is to be the end of a 
 sinning life, even though protracted into extreme old age and con- 
 sequently using up and exhausting all there is of sinful pleasure 
 in human life; how justly may we conclude that such a life is an 
 utter vanity ! Standing over the grave of the dead sinner who 
 has filled out his four-score years, think how he has lived; how 
 he has worn out life’s pleasures, and how few and small they have 
 been; then mark how he dies at last, and say in view of all, if 
 the whole of his life is not “ vanity of vanities!” Who can afford 
 to live and die so f 
 
 9. And moreover, because the Preacher was wise, he 
 
ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. XII. 
 
 315 
 
 still taught the people knowledge ; yea, he gave good heed, 
 and sought out, and set in order many proverbs. 
 
 “And moreover,” i. e ., in conclusion it remains to say that the 
 preacher being wise still taught, etc. It is not perhaps absolutely 
 certain whether he refers exclusively to this Book of Ecclesiastes, 
 or includes also other literary labors, and specially those writings 
 which are in part or whole embraced in the Book of Proverbs 
 The latter view seems quite probable. 
 
 10. The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words : 
 and that which was written was upright, even words of truth. 
 
 The preacher studied not only to get useful thoughts but pleas 
 ing words in which to express them ; and yet not this only, for he 
 was also careful that the things he wrote should be “upright” — 
 i. e ., just and good — words of truth. 
 
 11. The w r ords of the wise are as goads, and as nails 
 fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from 
 one shepherd. 
 
 From speaking of his own work, he passes to speak in a more 
 general way of all the words of the wise, with special reference it 
 would seem to the other inspired books of the Old Testament, then 
 
 extant. These words of wise men are as goads; they have a 
 
 piercing, penetrating power. They commend themselves to the 
 good sense of mankind and to their conscience no less, and there- 
 fore take fast hold of the human soul. So the writer of the Epistle 
 to the Hebrews : “ For the word of God is sharper than any two- 
 edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and 
 
 spirit,” etc. (Heb. 4: 12). “And as nails driven in (deeply 
 
 planted in the heart) are the makers of the collection” — this 
 “collection” being the collected words of the wise, and those who 
 make the collection being here put for the collection itself of the 
 sacred writings, even as we now say Moses and Paul, but mean 
 the words they wrote. This seems to be the literal meaning of 
 
 this somewhat contested passage. That these collected writings 
 
 are “given by one shepherd” looks to their common origin in the 
 one revealing Spirit of God. It was as a great and good shepherd, 
 leading his people like a flock into the green pastures of truth, 
 that the Divine Spirit taught holy men of old to speak and write 
 
 these words of preeminent and superhuman wisdom. The word 
 
 translated “assemblies,” it is now conceded by the best critics, 
 refers not to assembled persons but to collected manuscripts, con- 
 stituting the recorded wisdom of the wise and therefore parallel to 
 “ the words of the wise ” in the first clause, with probable refer 
 ence moreover to the inspired books then extant. 
 
 12. And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of 
 making many books there is no end ; and much study is a 
 weariness of the flesh. 
 
316 
 
 ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. XII. 
 
 From these sacred books, my son, receive your divine instruc- 
 tion. I have sought, dear reader, in a truly parental spirit, to 
 lead you into the paths of true wisdom. Allow me, therefore, to 
 address you as “my son.” Solomon adopts the same mode of 
 address (Prov. 1 : 8, 10 and 2: 1 and 3: 1, 16, 21, etc ). Of mak- 
 
 ing books on a large scale, there is no natural end ; one seems to 
 find no place to stop. But much study — the hard labors of the 
 author — are a weariness to the flesh. I shall therefore (says Sole* 
 mon) close my work and give you in the fewest possible words the 
 
 grand lesson of this book. It is in harmony with the entire 
 
 strain of this book that Solomon should speak in this verse of his 
 own personal experience as an author. If we may suppose him to 
 have been at this writing far advanced in age, the pertinence of 
 
 these words to his case becomes the more apparent. If he had 
 
 in view also the multitude of books other than his, it was quite in 
 place to exhort the reader to spare himself the labor, and not less, 
 the loss, of reading many poor ones, and be content to read, digest, 
 and put in practice the wisdom here laid so briefly before him. 
 
 13. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter : 
 Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the 
 whole duty of men. 
 
 Closely translated, this is — “ The conclusion — the whole matter — 
 let us hear;” i. e ., the sum and quintessence of this entire book. 
 “ Fear God and keep his commandments, for this ... of all 
 men” — i. e. } is the duty of all men ; or we might supply the ellipsis 
 thus ; this belongs to all men ; or this binds all — is obligatory on all 
 men; or very fitly thus — “for this all men should do .” The He- 
 brew has no word for “ duty.” And usage will not allow us to 
 read — “This is the whole of man.” The Hebrew words for “ whole 
 of man ” are used so frequently and so invariably in the sense — 
 all men , the whole race of man — that we can not give them any 
 other sense here. The sentiment therefore must be — not this com- 
 prises all human duty, but this duty is universal. It binds all 
 human beings. It belongs to man as a creature of God, made in- 
 telligent so that he can know God and with such voluntary powers 
 that he can give to his Maker the love of his heart and the service of 
 his life in true obedience to his commandments. 
 
 14. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with 
 every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. 
 
 The precise sense I take to be — God will bring into the final 
 judgment every thing done by men, together with every secret 
 thing, whether good or evil; all the unspoken words, all the un- 
 uttered thoughts of the heart — every thing whatever that has moral 
 character and therefore comes within the pale of his moral law 
 
 and government. Comparing the retributive judgments sent of 
 
 God upon individuals and nations in time with that final judgment 
 whioh is reserved for men at the end of the world and whose 
 
ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. XII. 
 
 317 
 
 awards lie in the eternal state, the former relates for the most part, 
 not to secret things, but to patent, open transactions, such as are 
 naturally “ known and read of all men;” while the latter distinct- 
 ively includes “ every secret thing ” — the thoughts of the heart, 
 unseen by mortal eye; the unuttered murmurings; the rebellious 
 spirit; the persistent purpose to remain a rebel against God despite 
 of his unceasing love and tenderest calls of mercy. These secret 
 sins can not wisely be judged and punished of God until they are 
 fully disclosed both to the sinner himself and to the universe as 
 the ground and reason for the infliction of his righteous penalties. 
 Thus Jude — “To convince all that are ungodly of all their ungodly 
 deeds” (v. 15). The overt, public sins of men and nations are or 
 may be sufficiently known in this world to justify any amount of 
 present retribution which God may deem wise and well for the sup- 
 port of his moral government. The argument is therefore unan- 
 swerable which infers that this judgment, since it takes cognizance 
 not only of some secret things, but of “ every secret thing,” must 
 be specially and preeminently that final judgment scene at the end 
 of the world of which both our Lord and his apostles spake with 
 
 the utmost distinctness and solemnity. -It is vain to assert (as 
 
 many German critics have done) that Solomon knew nothing of 
 a final judgment. The fact that he had such knowledge does not 
 rest on this one verse alone, and can not therefore be set aside by 
 severing (as they do capriciously) the closing verses of this chap- 
 ter (8-14) from the rest of the book, and ascribing them to some 
 compiler of much later date. For the doctrine of a future judg- 
 ment appears repeatedly throughout this book. (See notes on v* 
 7 above.) It entered deeply into the moral and religious system 
 of its author. He felt in his own moral nature the fitness of. it 
 and the demand for it, and he saw in the anomalies and imperfec- 
 tions of moral government in this world that there must be an- 
 other scene of judgment for the deeds of earth — a complement to 
 this, to even up (so to speak) the jagged surface as it presents itself 
 in this imperfect world; or in his own language, to obviate that 
 striking “ vanity which is done upon the earth, whereby there are 
 just men to whom it happeneth according to the work of the 
 wicked, and wicked men to whom it happeneth according to the 
 work of the righteous” (chap. 8 : 14). The apparent wrong of 
 such allotments of evil to the righteous and of good to the wicked, 
 Solomon knew must be set right somewhere. Not seeing it done in- 
 variably and perfectly in the present world, he inferred that it 
 must be done after the present life shall have closed. Here was 
 an illustration of the doctrine brought out in chap. 3: 11 — “God 
 hath done every thing fitly, beautifully in its time. He hath also 
 given to men the idea of eternity without which they could not 
 find out the work that God doeth from the beginning to the end 
 thereof.” There is no adequate explanation of the anomalies and 
 irregularities of God’s dealings with men as they stand before us 
 in this life, until we take into consideration the grand idea of eter- 
 nity — the fact of a future eternal life in which retribution will be 
 
318 
 
 ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. XII. 
 
 made equal and righteous, in perfect harmony with the deeds done 
 
 in the body, including every secret thing whether good or evil. 
 
 Solomon therefore had a distinct knowledge of a future general 
 judgment, and also of its natural and inevitable result, a subse- 
 quent state of retribution. I would not eonvey the impression 
 that he was indebted for this knowledge exclusively to the saga- 
 cious and unaided inferences or even the intuitive affirmations of 
 his own mind. It would not be safe to assume that he was the 
 first man of all the race who possessed this knowledge. The old- 
 est patriarchs, and Moses, and Samuel, and David, may all have 
 had it. It is not important here to debate this question at length. 
 I simply say in brief they may have had it. No man can prove 
 the contrary. The fact that the theocracy was in its very nature 
 an external system , administered by rewards and punishments in 
 this world , needs no other explanation to account for it than this — 
 that it was to be administered by human agents who could not 
 legislate over the heart and could not wield the retributions of 
 eternity. Consequently this fact by no means proves that those 
 fathers had no knowledge of a future judgment and a future retri- 
 bution. How early God revealed these great facts of his moral 
 government to the race, it may be impossible for us to decide with 
 absolute certainty. Nor are we quite competent to say on authority 
 how much Solomon may have been indebted to direct revelation 
 
 from God for his knowledge on this subject. Let it suffice that 
 
 he had this knowledge. Having it, he used it most appropriately 
 and w r ith august solemnity to enforce upon all men the duty of 
 fearing God and of keeping all his commandments. To the 
 pleasure-loving and pleasure-seeking men of his time before whom 
 his own example had been terribly pernicious, he bears throughout 
 this book a straight-forward, strong, and solemn testimony to the 
 vanity of the life they are living; to the wisdom of accepting with 
 gratitude to God the moderate enjoyments of earthly good which 
 are provided in the simple gratification of the few natural wants 
 of the human system ; and then he exhorts them to hold forever 
 fresh in their mind the thought of a present God, every-where and 
 always to be feared and obeyed ; whose will should be the great 
 study of mortals, accepted as infinite reason, and whose final retri- 
 bution for all human deeds should perpetually shield men against 
 temptation and bind them to a docile and true-hearted obedience 
 
 to all the known commands of the Great Maker and Father. 
 
 Nor was this testimony of Israel’s penitent king designed for the 
 pleasure-seeking men of his time alone. It is a testimony for the 
 ages that were to come after — the voice of a wisdom, if human, yet 
 also more than human in that the Most High gave it his endorse- 
 ment and sanction. It speaks to us of the nineteenth century — to 
 men of all the centuries far down in time as the world shall be a 
 snare to human souls — long as the young shall need the word — • 
 “Kemember thy Creator now." The great apostolic injunction to 
 use the world as not abusing it" stands forth here in greatly ex- 
 panded form, enforced by a thousand proofs that such abuse is 
 
ECCLESIASTES— CHAP. XII. 
 
 319 
 
 only one intense and utter vanity, and regulated by the twofold 
 consideration — on the one hand that all the real good of this 
 world is the gift of God ; and on the other, that he will surely hold 
 every man to a righteous retribution in the final judgment for both 
 his use and his abuse thereof. With surpassing pertinence and force 
 this book closes, leaving the echo of this judgment trump still re- 
 sounding in our ear. Ah, king Solomon! did the voice of that 
 trump die away from thine ear in those guilty days of thine apos- 
 tasy from the God of thy fathers ? Even if so, it was only to make 
 its echoes the more impressive when returning wisdom brought thy 
 heart once more back to just thoughts of God and of duty. The 
 words that come down to us wet with the tears of a penitent eye 
 and fragrant with the odors of a penitent life are the very words 
 for a generation of sinners to hear. Let them sink deeply into our 
 penitent hearts l 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
THE SONG OF SOLOMON. 
 
 PEEFACE. 
 
 Haying commented upon the two other books of Solomon, I 
 paused long at the threshold of this Song before I could decide 
 whether to write upon this also, or pass it without remark. I 
 could not doubt that it is an accredited portion of the inspired 
 word, and therefore I felt unwilling to suggest any thing to its 
 discredit, even by implication. To give reasons for passing it by 
 would involve more or less discussion of the main questions at 
 issue in the book. To pass it without remark could not be satis- 
 factory to those who hold (rightly) that “all scripture” (i. e., all 
 the present Old Testament Canon) “is given by inspiration of God 
 and is profitable.” I also considered that some who read and love 
 the Bible know not what to think of this book, and are therefore 
 prepared to welcome any modest attempt to relieve their diffi- 
 culties. 
 
 My own difficulties and doubts in respect to writing an exposi- 
 tion of this book have turned mainly on two points: (1.) Whether 
 the scope and aim of the book admit of being satisfactorily deter- 
 mined. (2.) Whether a book so thoroughly oriental in its con- 
 ceptions, its imagery and its taste, can be read and studied with 
 profit in our times, by a people so unlike the orientals as we are 
 in our sense of delicacy and propriety and in our poetic concep- 
 tions. 
 
 As to the first of these points, my views will appear in their 
 place in the introduction below. I need only say here that, hav- 
 ing commenced my special investigation with a strong leaning 
 
 ( 321 ) 
 
322 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 toward the literal construction of the book as opposed to the 
 figurative, I have been constrained to abandon that view and to 
 embrace the opposite one by the force of considerations which 
 seem to me to be at once so legitimate and so strong as to leave 
 
 no room for serious doubt. As to the second point, I have 
 
 considered that one part of the commentator’s work is to prepare 
 an oriental book for occidental readers — a book written twenty-five 
 centuries ago, in a state of society exceedingly unlike our own, 
 for profitable use in our own times. 
 
 In some few passages the received English translation should 
 be improved for the sake of greater delicacy. This may be done 
 with no violation of the spirit of the original. I have therefore 
 
 introduced a new translation. Moreover, the book being mainly 
 
 a dialogue in which the principal speakers are Solomon and his 
 bride, I have indicated the passages spoken respectively by these 
 two parties. This distinction is very obscure in the English trans- 
 lation, but is for the most part very obvious in the Hebrew because 
 this language distinguishes the gender of the second person — the 
 party spoken to — in both the pronoun and the verb. I have trans- 
 ferred the Hebrew names of the parties, Shelomoh (Solomon), and 
 “ Shulamilh” his bride. 
 
 Some other points of a preliminary nature will appear in the 
 Introduction. 
 
 I am happy to acknowledge my indebtedness to Prof. C. E. Stowe 
 (Biblical Repository, April, 1847) and Rev. Leonard Withington’s 
 “Solomon’s Song Translated and Explained.” 
 
 Oberltn, Ohio, 1870 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Whatever may be true as to a secondary meaning, in its pri- 
 mary sense this book treats of love as between the sexes. It has 
 been conceded generally, if not universally, and it must be, that 
 the love portrayed here is connubial, or wedded love, i. e., between 
 parties sustaining the marriage relation, either prospectively by 
 solemn betrothal, or actually, after marriage, and most probably 
 the latter. The representation is in no respect that of illicit pas- 
 sion.— — It is doubtless due to oriental taste that so much is said 
 of personal attractions, and that such a standard of personal beauty 
 is assumed. But there is no disputing over questions of taste. 
 [“ De gustibus,” etc.] The love of beauty was in our common 
 nature in paradise. Our Maker provided a large place for this 
 element in our constitution, wisely designing it should conduce 
 both to honorable marriage, and to its ministries of good to our race. 
 It should be carefully noticed, moreover, that this book repre- 
 sents the parties as fascinated with each other’s society and as 
 mutually enjoying in a high degree the loveliness of spring, the 
 fragrance of sweet odors, the charms of music, the beauty of 
 flowers — in short all the joys of this fair world which blend so 
 perfectly with pure and chaste love in human bosoms. A due 
 regard to these features of the book ought to vindicate it from the 
 aspersions sometimes thrown upon it, of having a lascivious and 
 morally pernicious tendency. 
 
 In order to do justice to the author of this book’and to those who 
 
 ( 323 ) 
 
324 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 placed it in the sacred canon, more should be said of its style and 
 taste than simply to call it oriental. Let us, then, examine this 
 matter more thoroughly and ask how it came to pass that men of 
 pure mind, living in the ancient East, could have tastes so unlike 
 
 ours? In answer, two facts have paramount influence. (I.) 
 
 That general society was scarcely ever mixed. Outside the family 
 circle the sexes rarely intermingled in society. To this day the 
 wives and daughters of Western Asia are subjected to a rigid 
 seclusion, and even espionage, which we should consider degrading, 
 debasing, and intolerable. Now a little reflection will show that 
 the laws of taste and propriety in regard to what shall be con- 
 sidered delicate are determined largely by the fact of mixed society. 
 Many things are tolerated in the presence of only one sex, which 
 would be deemed entirely inadmissible in the presence of both. 
 
 (2.) A second fact pertains to different modes of dress. By 
 
 the general law of language it is not indelicate to speak of those 
 parts of the person which are usually exposed, uncovered, e. g., the 
 face, the eyes, the hair, the neck, the hands. If we see beauty in 
 these exposed parts of the person we never think it a violation of 
 delicacy to speak of it. Now the people of the ancient East wore 
 less clothing than we do, and covered less of the person. Especi- 
 ally they did not cover the bosom, and hence spake naturally of 
 this as one point of personal beauty, as we now sometimes hear 
 of the fair and beautiful neck. I do not say this to defend their 
 notions of taste, much less to recommend their adoption. Suffice 
 it to give the facts as they are, and to say that we must not im- 
 pute to them indelicacy of mind and impurity of heart because 
 
 their tastes and standard of judgment differ from our own. 
 
 I add further that in my view a fair translation of this book should 
 aim to give its spirit rather than its precise letter; for obviously 
 it should labor to make the book to us what it was to Solomon 
 and his first readers — equally chaste and delicate in its allusions ; 
 equally far from liability to unhallowed associations. 
 
 The Scope of the Book. — From these preliminary remarks, I pass 
 to the main question of exposition; viz.: Is the book a mere deline- 
 ation of human love ; or is it an allegory , designed to represent the love 
 of God to his covenant people f 
 
 In the former case, the writer may be supposed to aim to re- 
 commend marriage; to present the attractions toward that high- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 325 
 
 est state of earthly happiness; to bear his testimony to the purity 
 of this relation, to its legitimate sympathy with whatever is beau- 
 tiful in nature, to the pure and abiding pleasures of connubial so- 
 ciety, and especially to the blessedness of monogamy as compared 
 with polygamy — of living joyously with one wife as contrasted with 
 living, as best one could, with many. These views of the writer’s 
 lim (I suggest) are supposable. Some very worthy critics have held 
 them. They will claim our attention. 
 
 The other alternative I have termed an allegory , meaning by 
 this a series of scenes and acts which have an ulterior aim, a half 
 concealed significance — well known examples of which we have in 
 Bunyan’s “ Christian Pilgrim” and in Hannah More’s “Parley the 
 Porter.” The Bible also furnishes illustrations of the spiritual 
 allegory in both the Old Testament and the New. In the Old 
 Testament see Isa. 5: 1-7, where the vineyard of the Lord of 
 Hosts is the house of Israel,” and Ps. 80: 8-16 and Ps. 45; in 
 the New, essentially the parables of our Lord. As already indica- 
 ted, the book taken as an allegory represents the covenant relation 
 between God and his people in which mutual love and fidelity are 
 the central elements — God on his part ever loving and faithful to- 
 ward his people ; and his people on their part in duty bound and 
 solemnly binding themselves to responsive love and eternal fidelity 
 to their God. Our choice must lie between these two alterna- 
 
 tives. There can be no third. 
 
 The arguments germain to the question must come from the fol- 
 lowing sources : 
 
 1. Worthiness of aim, comparatively viewed. 
 
 2. Admissibility; i. e ., Is either theory ruled out as incompat- 
 ible with the points made in the book ? 
 
 3. The early traditional interpretation. 
 
 4. The allusions to the book in other books of the Bible, and 
 
 the current use of its spiritual analogies. These sources of evi- 
 
 dence we must examine. 
 
 I. Worthiness of Aim, viewed comparatively. — This book 
 stands in the sacred canon by indefeasible right, counted in among 
 the sacred books by all the standard authorities; endorsed there- 
 fore by Christ and his apostles ; and moreover, attributed to Solo- 
 mon according to the unanimous consent of all sober critics. 
 
 Now all other scripture has a high moral purpose — an obvious aim, 
 
326 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 worthy of the source whence it came. The very idea of a reve- 
 lation from God to man involves such an aim and purpose. Con- 
 sequently, we are not only authorized but bound to look for such 
 an aim in this book. If a choice lies between two construc- 
 tions, otherwise possible, this consideration legitimately comes in 
 
 with a strong, perhaps decisive bearing upon our choice. Many 
 
 things have been said against the litoral construction of this book 
 with which I can have no sympathy. The early Christian fathers 
 sometimes seem to speak of connubial love, even the purest known 
 to mortals, as necessarily involving more or less of original sin. 
 Hence they denounce unsparingly any construction which finds 
 such love in this song. Our age has advanced too far toward the 
 Millenium to endorse such asceticism. I judge that in so far as 
 this song commends conjugal fidelity ; paints attractively the pure 
 devotion of husband and wife to each other [“my beloved is mine 
 and I am his ”] ; sets forth the beautiful blending of the love of 
 nature and the charms of rural life with the social endearments 
 of the connubial relation, it has done a noble work for the purity 
 and elevation of our common humanity. The main question which 
 presses upon my mind at this point is of this sort: — Under the 
 literal construction of the book, do its subject and the manner of 
 treating it correspond to the rest of the Bible ? Is it in the same 
 general sense religious f With our eye on the Bible as a whole, 
 should we expect this subject, so presented, would find a place 
 in it? 
 
 There is one special aspect of the literal construction which 
 seems to me to stand, in point of worthiness of aim, quite above 
 any other, viz., that which supposes the book to be a protest against 
 polygamy and a purposed argument for monogamy — the original 
 and perfect form of marriage between one man and one woman. 
 This would be a high and worthy purpose, the more important in 
 that age of debasing polygamy, and the more effective as coming 
 from Solomon himself — a protest against the gigantic sins of his 
 own life. As the book of Ecclesiastes stands before the ages 
 liis witness against the supreme pursuit of earthly pleasure in 
 general, so this song might be supposed to stand in like manner as 
 his protest against polygamy. If in its leading points the book 
 would bear this construction, there would be no lack in it of 
 worthy and high moral aim. Whether or not it will bear this 
 construction will be considered under our next class of proofs. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 327 
 
 No other modification of the literal sense seems to me to fill ade- 
 quately the true idea of a worthy and high aim, judged of in the 
 light of analogy with the purpose and aim of the other sacred 
 books. 
 
 It deserves special attention here that this book stands before 
 us with high claims — “The Song of Songs ” — the superlative song 
 of the holy Word. The nation already had in hand the song of 
 Moses and Miriam at the Red Sea; the last song of Moses in re- 
 view of God’s paternal care of his chosen through their forty years 
 of wandering; the Song of Deborah over the fall of Israel’s foes; 
 and many a song of “the sweet psalmist of Israel” — with all of 
 which we may suppose this of Solomon to be tacitly compared as 
 the song of all songs, inferior to none, if not eclipsing all. [If we 
 suppose the point of comparison to be with the thousand and four 
 others written by himself (1 Kings 4: 32), the argument is essen- 
 tially the same.] Shall we here assume the point of comparison 
 
 and standard of value to be only that of poetic embellishment— 
 artistic merit? Must we not assume a broader range of compar- 
 ison so as to include as well the excellence of its theme and the 
 high moral worthiness of its aim ? If so, this consideration must 
 have weight upon the question of its construction as literal or al- 
 legorical. If the allegorical construction be admissible and ac- 
 cepted, the book at once develops the noblest theme and the highest 
 moral purpose. The love of God to his chosen redeemed people — 
 a love so pure, so deep, so true, so rich in its fruits of blessing 
 so fraught with reacting influence toward reciprocal love in return 
 — what can be a more worthy theme for poetry and song ? What 
 truth ever revealed from God to man should more command our 
 grateful reception and our profound regard ? 
 
 II. We are next to consider the point of admissibility ; for it is 
 certainly supposable that one or the other of these theories can 
 not be carried out in view of the points made in the book. I 
 think this must be said of the literal construction. It encounters 
 stubborn and in my view insurmountable difficulties. Thus : 
 
 1. The one wife is shown to be, not one but many. She says 
 (1 : 4) “ Draw me; we will run after thee. The king hath brought 
 me into his chambers; we will be glad and rejoice in thee; we 
 .will remember thy love more than wine.” Here the “ me ” is 
 what is called a collective, or a noun [pronoun] of multitude ; not 
 
328 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 one bride only, but many. The speaker is a representative per- 
 sonage. The church of God considered allegorically might fitly 
 say this; but no one only wife would say this or could. 
 
 2. In this same connection and verse the allegorical sense is 
 plainly indicated in another expression : “ The upright love thee.” 
 In the allegorical sense all the morally good will love God. The 
 language is (to say the least) far less pertinent considered as 
 coming from the lips of a literal bride, for intense connubial love 
 is wont to be jealous of rivals — exclusive in its claims. 
 
 3. The facts of the case rule out the best form of the literal 
 sense, viz. : that the author devotes his book to the praises of mo- 
 nogamy as opposed to polygamy; for this bride is not the only 
 one; there are at least sixty more, besides four-score concubines 
 (6 : 8). The king does indeed give this one the preference, and 
 says that the other queens and concubines praised her (v. 9). But 
 this point in the story effectually spoils the theory of a panegyric 
 on the blessedness of having one wife as compared with the curse 
 of having many. 
 
 4. As here represented, the bride in this book is not an Isra- 
 elite but a foreigner, for she comes from a more southern clime, 
 apparently the daughter of some Arab sheik, dark-skinned as the 
 tents of her own Kedar (1 : 5, 6); the bridal procession comes up 
 from this southern wilderness (3 : 6 and 8:5); the daughters of 
 Jerusalem are envious of her as an alien of another race (1:5 and 
 2: 7 and 3: 5, 11 and 5: 8). Consequently, under the literal 
 construction, this book is Solomons defense before the people of 
 Israel and especially before the jealous damsels of Jerusalem for 
 marrying a heathen wife ! Moreover, the defense is put on the 
 ground of her personal beauty — of his passion for her and of hers 
 for him. Now, considering that this is an attempted justification 
 of what was a crime under the divine law (Ex. 34: 16 and Deut. 
 7: 3 and 17: 17), how can this construction be adopted? How 
 can we suppose that Solomon wrote this book by divine inspiration 
 for such a purpose, and that inspired men gave it a place in the 
 
 sacred canon with this view of its scope and bearing? On the 
 
 other theory the bearing of these features of the cas.e, considered 
 as the historic basis for an allegory, will be considered in its 
 place. 
 
 5. Understood literally, many of the prominent facts recorded 
 of the life of this bride are scarcely supposable; e. g. } that she 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 329 
 
 spends so much of her time in the care of her flocks, in shepherd 
 life in her native desert ; and that her husband puts her to this 
 business (1 : 8) ; that on at least two different occasions while tem- 
 porarily in Jerusalem, she roams about the city in the dead of night 
 in search of her lost husband ; and, worse still, is in one of these 
 cases (5:7) insulted and roughly treated by the city watchmen. 
 Can this be a scene in the actual life of Solomon’s favorifce queen? 
 
 6. The passage (5:1) certainly seems to speak, under the image 
 of a feast, of the pleasures incident to the marriage relation. U A 
 garden enclosed is my spouse — a fountain sealed ” [a chaste and 
 faithful wife.] “I am come into my garden, my spouse,” says the 
 king; “I have drunk my wine and my milk,” etc., and then, most 
 remarkably, he adds : “ Eat, O friends,” etc. But Solomon surely 
 understood the incongruity of this when said of the marriage rela- 
 tion. [Compare Pro v. 5: 17.] 
 
 7. I must concede some force to the objection that literally con- 
 sidered Solomon could not with propriety speak in such exalted 
 terms of himself as he does in this book ( e . g. } in 5 : 10-16). But 
 if we suppose him here to speak of the virtues and glories of the 
 Great Celestial Bridegroom, all is right. 
 
 These considerations seem to me effectually to preclude the 
 literal construction and shut us up logically to the allegorical. 
 
 III. A third source of testimony lies in the early traditional 
 interpretation of this book. 
 
 1. There is in my view a strong probability that those who in- 
 troduced this book into the sacred canon held its allegorical inter- 
 pretation, since I can scarcely suppose that otherwise they would 
 have given it a place there. Their views if known on unques- 
 tionable authority would of course be decisive, both on the score 
 of their own personal inspiration and divine guidance (points 
 which I feel constrained to assume), and on the score of their 
 traditional knowledge coming down from the author of the song. 
 
 2. It is a point of perhaps some importance that, according to 
 Josephus, the compilers classed this book, not in the Hagiographa, 
 t. e ., with Job, Psalms, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, but with the 
 Prophets . This fact seems to intimate that they gave the book a 
 prophetic significance, which of course must imply its allegorical 
 construction. 
 
 3. The testimony of the Chaldee paraphrast is full and clear tc 
 
330 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 this point. He calls it, “The songs and hymns which Solomon 
 the prophet , the king of Israel, uttered in the spirit of prophecy 
 before the Lord.” It will be seen that the value of this testi- 
 mony turns very much upon its antiquity. Unfortunately this 
 point remains in some doubt. In its written form, this Targum 
 [Chaldee paraphrase] must be placed after the Talmud, for 
 it contains allusions to it. [This Talmud is dated at differ- 
 ent periods from the second to the fourth century of the 
 Christian era.] Some of the Targums were written out much 
 earlier — that of Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Prophets, shortly be- 
 fore the Christian era, and that of Onkelos on the Pentateuch, 
 shortly after ; but this on the Songs is put by some as late as the 
 sixth century [Kitto]. But in its oral form it existed several cem 
 turies earlier, the demand for such translations from the original 
 Hebrew into a dialect of the Chaldee having sprung up in the ‘age 
 of Ezra and Nehemiah among the exiles returned from Babylon. 
 (Neh. 8: 2, 3, 7, 8.) We must dismiss the testimony of the Chal- 
 dee paraphrast with the remark that he is abundantly explicit and 
 positive in his statements — all we could ask, if only he were an- 
 cient and therefore competent to give the views of the author, or 
 
 even of the compilers. The same may be said of all the Jewish 
 
 authorities from the Christian era to the age of the Reformation. 
 
 This voice is one, wholly in favor of the allegorical sense. So of 
 
 the early Christian fathers. They all held the allegorical sense, 
 following Origen of whose commentary on this song Jerome 
 quaintly says, that whereas in his other commentaries he easily 
 surpassed all his competitors, in this he surpassed himself. They 
 all speak on this point with no misgivings of doubt. They re- 
 pelled the literal sense with indignation and abhorrence. It 
 
 would avail little for me to expatiate upon the value of their testi- 
 mony. I need only say that while I am constrained to attach some 
 importance to it, I can by no means regard it as decisive. 
 
 IV. Much more important in my view is the testimony obtained 
 from analogous imagery in other scriptures and from probable allu- 
 sions made in other sacred writers to this book. The nature of 
 
 this argument will be readily understood. If it shall appear that.be- 
 fore this book was written, we find few if any clear cases of the use 
 of human marriage to represent God’s relation to his people, but 
 that after its appearance, this imagery became exceedingly com- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 331 
 
 mon, we may reasonably infer — (1.) That this sort of imagery 
 was congenial to the Hebrew taste, and therefore with great proba- 
 bility obtains in this song; and, (2.) That with like probability this 
 song was the special occasion of introducing and giving currency 
 to this imagery; and therefore it must have been interpreted in this 
 figurative way. Yet farther, if unmistakable allusions to this book 
 appear in other scriptures, in which allusions the figurative alle- 
 gorical sense is certain, then the proof that these other sacred wri- 
 ters accepted this song in an allegorical sense can not well he gain- 
 
 sayed. Taking up these several points in their order, we may 
 
 notice that in the first public covenant formally made between God 
 and the Hebrew people (Ex. 19: 5-8), there is no allusion to the 
 figure of marriage. The only supposed allusions, prior to the writ- 
 ing of this song, are in the word ‘‘jealous” [“for I am a jealous 
 God,.” Ex. 20 : 5, etc.], and in the phrase — “ go a whoring after other 
 gods” (Ex. 34: 15, 16. and Lev. 20: 5, 6 and 17 : 7 and Num. 14: 
 33 and Judg. 2: 17). But very soon after the appearance of this 
 song, the use of this figure of marriage to express God’s relation to 
 his covenant people became exceedingly frequent. We have it in 
 very strong form in Hosea, chapters 1-3; also in Isa. 1 : 21 and 
 50: 1 and 54: 5, 6 and 62 : 4, 5 and Jer. 2 : 22 and 3 : 1-4 and 31 : 
 22 and Ezek. 16 and 23, and in expressions as follows : “ The land 
 hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord.” “For 
 she is not my wife, neither am I her husband ; let her therefore 
 put away her whoredoms out of her sight” etc. “ How is the faith- 
 ful city become a harlot?” “Where is the bill of your mother’s 
 divorcement whom I have put away ? ” “ For thy Maker is thine 
 
 Husband.” “Remember then, the kindness of thy youth, the love 
 of thine espousals when thou wentest after me in the wilderness,” 
 
 etc. The same figure passes over into the New Testament and 
 
 appears in Matt. 9: 15 and 22: 2-10 and Jn. 3: 29 and Rom. 7 : 
 4 and 2 Cor. 11:2 and Eph. 5 : 25-32 and Rev. 19 : 7-9 and 21: 
 2 and 22 : 17, thus : “Jesus said to them, Can the children of the 
 bride-chamber mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?” 
 “ But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken from 
 them and then shall they fast.” “He that hath the bride is the 
 bridegroom,” etc. “Ye are become dead to the law by the body 
 of Christ, that ye should be married to another, even to him who is 
 raised from the dead.” “I am jealous over you with godly jeal- 
 ousy, for I have espoused you to one husband that I may present 
 
332 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” “ The marriage of the Lamb is 
 come and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was 
 granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white ; 
 for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints .” “ The Spirit and 
 
 the bride say come/ etc. 
 
 Reserving Ps. 45 for future consideration, we may notice that 
 these allusions are very common in the prophets, and not least in 
 those who stand nearest to the age of this Song, indicating that 
 this figurative conception became current, may we not say national 
 — familiar to every Israelite, as if it had been impressed upon the 
 national mind by some such influence as that of this book by Sol- 
 omon. It may at least be said that the free use of this figure by the 
 prophets is a fact that this Song of Solomon, taken in a figurative 
 sense, will readily account for. It may also be safely affirmed that 
 this current usage most abundantly proves that there was nothing 
 in this conception distasteful to the Hebrew mind — nothing uncon- 
 genial to their national character; whence it becomes at least 
 probable that the figurative sense of this book is the true one. 
 
 Our argument becomes far more positive and decisive when 
 
 we come to the point of definite allusions in subsequent writers to 
 this Song , of a sort which assumes its allegorical sense. Here 
 special notice must be taken of Ps. 45. This Psalm seems to have 
 been built upon the Song of Solomon. It certainly contains a num- 
 ber of similar forms of expression which have altogether the ap- 
 pearance of being definite allusions. Thus in the caption of the 
 Psalm, “Upon Shoshannim,” i. e ., concerning lilies — the symbol of 
 beautiful women. Now this is the very word used repeatedly in 
 this as well as in its primary sense in the Song (2 : 1, 2, 16 and 
 
 4: 5 and 5: 13 and 6: 2, 3 and 7 : 2). Further the caption 
 
 adds, U A song of the loved ones ,” which also is a precise descrip- 
 tion of the Song of Solomon. Again, the subject of the Psalm is 
 declared to be “touching the king” (vs. 1, 5, 11, 13-15), to which 
 point the Song of Solomon corresponds perfectly as may be seen 
 
 in 1 : 4, 12 and 7 : 5. This king (in the psalm) receives the 
 
 highest possible commendation for his beauty; v. 2, “Thou art 
 fairer than the children of men” — which only reproduces the 
 whole scope of the Song, e. g., 5: 10. “My beloved is white and 
 
 ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand.” A special point is 
 
 made of “ grace of lips ” — useful and attractive speech. The 
 phrase in the Psalm is, “Grace is poured into thy lips” ( 7 . 2): in 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 333 
 
 the Song — “ His lips like lilies, dropping sweet-smelling myrrh : his 
 mouth is most sweet, yea, he is altogether lovely” (5: 13, 16). 
 Again, the reference (Ps. 45 : 7) to this king’s companions [ u fel- 
 lows ”] gives us in the Hebrew the same word which occurs twice 
 in the Song (1 : 7 and 8: 13). “The flocks of thy companions; ” 
 
 “the companions hearken to thy voice.” The bridal procession 
 
 is prominent in both the Song (3 : 6-11, and the Psalm (vs. 14, 15). 
 The Queen is adorned with surpassing splendor in the Psalm (v. 
 9) : “ Upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.” 
 “ The King’s daughter is all glorious within ” (v. 13). The en- 
 tire strain of the Song is the same, e. g ., 4 : 9-11, with all which 
 may be compared Rev. 19: 7, 8 — “His wife hath made herself 
 ready; ” “arrayed in fine linen, clean and white.” A very spe- 
 
 cific point is the mention in both of “myrrh and aloes;” in the 
 Psalm v. 8; in the Song, 4: 14 — a combination found nowhere 
 
 else in the Bible. Resemblances so numerous, so apparently 
 
 undesigned, and at once so general, covering the scope and drjft 
 of each composition, and yet so minute, reaching to the definite 
 points of costume and drapery, seem to justify us fully in the con- 
 clusion that the Psalm is precisely the Song over again — the Song 
 condensed, simplified, its religious significance and practical bear- 
 ings brought out more distinctly, and the whole adapted to public 
 worship in the sanctuary — set to music. There can not be the 
 least doubt in regard to the allegorical sense of the Psalm. If it 
 appears beyond reasonable question that the Psalm is built upon 
 the Song and is only a condensation of it, modifying and repro- 
 ducing for the special purposes of sacred worship, then the Song 
 must have been understood in the same allegorical sense as the 
 
 Psalm. Several other allusions to this Song of Solomon appear 
 
 in the sacred writers; e. g ., in Isa. 5:1: “Now will I sing to my 
 well beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard.” The 
 terms, “beloved,” a “song,” his “vineyard,” all seem to be bor- 
 rowed from this Song. So when Paul says (Eph. 5 : 27) that 
 Christ loved the church and gave himself for it that he might pre- 
 sent it to himself without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, the 
 attentive reader of this song would discern the allusion — “ Thou 
 art all fair, my love, there is nc spot in thee.” Naturally we may 
 suppose that Paul had his eye on this book when he said (2 Cor. 
 11 : 2), “I am jealous over you with godly jealousy, for I have 
 espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste 
 
334 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 virgin to Christ.” And to name no more, the revelator John also, 
 when he wrote — “ The marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife 
 hath made herself ready.” u And to her was granted that she should 
 
 be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white.” It should not be 
 
 forgotton that this Song of Solomon was in the Jewish sacred scrip- 
 tures — was therefore in the hands of the sons of Asaph (the writ- 
 ers of Ps. 45), of Hosea, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Paul and John; and 
 further, was not only in their hands but was with them a classic , 
 a book to be read and read again ; read and admired ; read till its 
 leading terms and catch-words (so to speak) became familiar, and 
 therefore found place in their current thought and utterance when- 
 ever they touch upon kindred themes. Hence the readiness and 
 ease of these allusions to its leading thoughts and expressions; 
 hence perhaps (let me suggest) the reason why their references to 
 this Song take this form of passing allusion and the current use 
 of its imagery and catch-words instead of distinct and formal quo- 
 tation. It has been often urged against the figurative sense that 
 no sacred writer — certainly no New Testament writer — has quoted 
 from it. If my suggestion is pertinent, it more than obviates this 
 objection, for an easy and ready use of its imagery and of its lead- 
 ing terms and phrases is a more decisive attestation than a for- 
 mal quotation would be, for it proves both a more familiar acquaint- 
 ance and a higher appreciation. 
 
 1 have thus sought to open and to examine briefly, yet by no 
 means exhaustively, these four sources of evidence from which the 
 proofs in my view must be drawn for the decision of this great 
 question between the literal and the allegorical sense of the book. 
 
 I pass now to notice somewhat more fully the principal objections 
 to the allegorical sense, viz. : 
 
 I. That there is nothing in the book to indicate an allegory — 
 nothing that gives us clearly its spiritual intent and bearing. It is 
 said that wherever else the Scriptures speak of God’s relation to 
 his people as being that of the husband to the wife, they make this 
 spiritual use of the figure perfectly plain, and then it is asked : If 
 this song be a case of the same sort, why is not its meaning made 
 equally clear and certain ? 
 
 In reply I have to say that this objection for a long time seemed 
 to me to have great force and inclined me to the literal construc- 
 tion. More extended investigation has suggested to me the follow- 
 ing points of reply, which seem at least to abate, if not even to 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 335 
 
 nullify, its force. (I.) In the ancient East it was the custom 
 during the seven days nuptial feast for the bridegroom (if equal to 
 it) to put forth riddles (Judg. 14; 12-14) — something of the enig- 
 matical sort, to quicken the social life and exercise the wits of the 
 party. This song partakes of this character, conforms itself (we 
 may say) to the usage current in those times in respect to nuptial 
 songs. Can any good reason be assigned why, being written pri- 
 marily for his own times, and for a people, therefore, accustomed 
 to this style of nuptial song, it should not appear in a form that 
 would somewhat task the ingenuity of the reader to fathom its 
 
 real significance? (2.) I have said above, “if equal to it.” 
 
 Now Solomon, of all the men that ever lived, was equal to it. May 
 we not say that he prided himself upon his unrivaled sagacity, 
 his keeness of intellectual apprehension, his surpassing in wisdom 
 all the kings and queens of the earth when they came to his court 
 “ to prove him with hard questions ” (1 Kings 10 : 1-3) ? To which 
 I may add as germain to this point that a large portion of tho 
 proverbs from his pen have this same enigmatic quality — a spice 
 of the riddle — a deeper sense than lies upon the surface. That is, 
 Solomon had accustomed himself to write in this way. He had a 
 taste for it and had decided convictions of its value. Is it not, 
 therefore, entirely appropriate that this fact should have weight in 
 our construction of this 11 song,’* and that it should go to obviate 
 
 the objection now in hand ? (3.) Lest some of my readers should 
 
 assume that this way of writing with a recondite half-concealed 
 significance does not befit the sacredness and solemnity of a reve- 
 lation from God to man, I must briefly suggest that the parables of 
 our Lord are constructed on this very principle and involve this 
 same recondite significance which you must needs study and search 
 out diligently if you would reach their true meaning and full 
 
 force. (4.) The objection draws a comparison between this 
 
 long and very much expanded composition on the one hand, and 
 on the other the much shorter ones, like Ps. 45 or Isa. 5 : 1-8, or 
 the still more brief use of this figure in the writings of Hosea, 
 Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel; and argues that since these more 
 brief compositions or allusions indicate very decisively their alle- 
 gorical sense, so the much longer one of this song ought to do. To 
 which the proper reply is that the longer the allegory the less need 
 is there that it should explain its own meaning in literal terms. 
 The greater the number of circumstantial points given in the alle 
 
 15 
 
336 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 gory, the more material you have for evolving of yourself the true 
 significance. John Bunyan made a whole book out of his story of 
 Christian, the pilgrim. Having interwoven throughout the whole 
 story numerous points, features, and circumstances that can have 
 their proper construction on no other theory than that of the alle- 
 gory, delineating the life-experiences of a pilgrim Christian, no 
 
 special explanation was necessary. (5.) The allegory usually 
 
 makes the names given to its prominent characters significant. 
 Bunyan more than half disclosed the meaning of his allegory when 
 he gave his hero the name Christian, and his wife the name Chris- 
 tiana. Hannah More gave a clew under the name “Parley the 
 Porter,” to the case of one who ‘parleys with the tempter and is 
 remiss in his watch at the gate of the castle as the responsible 
 u porter ” never should be. So in this song, the names of the two 
 leading personages are specially significant. The name Solomon 
 (Heb. Shelomoh) means the peaceful one — the Prince of peace. 
 (It occurs in the song, in 1 : 1 and 3: 11 and 8: 11, 12.) Who- 
 ever will carefully read Ps. 72, considered as written either by 
 Solomon himself or by his father for him, and bearing in mind 
 this significance of his name, will see that the very name had an 
 outlook toward the person and work of the Great Messiah. This 
 view will be very much confirmed if we consider the promise made 
 to David (2 Sam. 7 : 12-17, 19, 29) of a royal son whose rule 
 should be universal, his influence most blessed, and his sway eter- 
 nal — a son, not Solomon himself, but one like him in certain points 
 yet indefinitely greater. Hence Solomon’s use of his own name in 
 this song may certainly be supposed to look toward the typical 
 (shall we call it?) or rather the prophetical use of his own name. 
 
 This becomes far more obvious when we pass from the name 
 
 of Solomon to that of his bride. Considering that this bride is 
 from another nation and tribe, it seems to me beyond question that 
 the name she bears in this book is not her own original and proper 
 name, but is given her to indicate the sense of the allegory. It 
 is Shulamith (twice occurring) (6: 13), which is probably the 
 Hebrew feminine of Shelomoh (Solomon). That is, this female 
 personage is Mrs. Solomon. If he is the Prince of peace she is 
 the Princess of peace. If his name bears in it a prophetic outlook 
 toward the great Messiah, so does hers toward the bride of the 
 Messiah, the Lamb’s wife. (6.) The song contains other indica- 
 
 tions of its allegorical character, partly in points that are incom- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 337 
 
 patible with the literal sense, as above considered ; and partly in 
 more direct allusions to its true significance, e. g., in 1: 4, “The 
 upright love thee.” 
 
 II. A second objection often urged is that the New Testament 
 writers make no quotations from this book, but would have dona 
 so if they had accepted its allegorical sense. 1 am free to ad- 
 mit that the apostles might have quoted from this book in a way 
 which probably would have satisfied some who are not convinced 
 by the endorsement they have in fact given. Why they did not 
 give some explicit declaration to decide this vexed question, they 
 have not told us. But we may say, (1.) That they do make very 
 free use of the figure which underlies the allegorical construction 
 of this song; and (2.) That they make some quite obvious allu- 
 sions to its prominent points, as has been already shown. These 
 allusions, so far forth as they can be identified and traced to this 
 book, are thoroughly in point to prove its acceptance by the apos- 
 tles as a spiritual allegory. 
 
 III. It has been sometimes objected that the spiritual sense im- 
 
 plies a higher type of spirituality in the author than Solomon seems 
 to have had ; while the literal sense is quite in harmony with his 
 taking to himself seven hundred wives. But this objection over- 
 
 looks several facts, e, g ., that the book bears internal evidence of 
 having been written in his youth and not in his advanced age ; 
 that in youth his piety seems to have been eminently exemplary 
 and for aught that appears truly spiritual, judging from his choice 
 of wisdom before all other good; from the zeal with which he de- 
 voted himself to the building of the temple ; from the striking per- 
 tinence, simplicity, and spirituality of his prayer at its dedication; 
 and if he wrote Ps. 72, as is generally supposed, then we have in 
 that psalm another index of enlarged and just spiritual views of 
 vital truth. Such a degree of piety as was a prerequisite to the 
 inspiration of the Holy Ghost, he must have had, for the fact of 
 his real inspiration as a writer of the Divine Word can by no 
 means be denied. 
 
 IV. It has been objected to this book that the sentiments and 
 emotions of connubial love can not be safely transferred into our 
 devotional feelings toward God or the Lord Jesus Christ, and that 
 the study of this song as an allegory naturally leads to such a 
 
 transfer and is therefore dangerous. Some degree of danger in 
 
 this direction to a certain o’ass of minds probably exists. Hence 
 
338 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the importance of noting carefully that neither this allegory nor 
 
 any other is intended to apply in all possible points. (1.) Of 
 
 course the sexual relation is ruled out utterly and absolutely. 
 
 (2.) It does not involve any such equality between the respective 
 parties, God and his church, as exists in the marriage relation be- 
 tween bridegroom and bride. The latter relation is between par- 
 ties belonging to the same order of existence, of the same race 
 perhaps, the same nationality, the same grade of intellectual and 
 social culture — in a word, the same grade of substantial worth. 
 But in all these points, how utterly unlike are God and his cove- 
 nant people ! How exalted is He in the great scale of being high 
 above all human thought ! How measureless are his dignity and 
 worth ! The marvel of all marvels is that this great God should 
 ever represent himself as the Husband of his people ! That he 
 should stoop so low — should come down to assume such relations 
 to beings so insignificant, so weak, and more than all else, so vile 
 
 and unworthy ! In this point of light — the true one — it becomes 
 
 unutterably revolting to think that the unworthy recipients of such 
 
 royal favor should abuse it to purposes of vain pride! (3.) If 
 
 any Christian should press this allegory in a way and to the ex- 
 tent of assuming himself to be the special favorite of the Most 
 High and worthy to engross and appropriate his bridal affection — 
 a feeling neither unusual nor culpable in the merely human rela- 
 tion — he would most egregriously abuse it. Perhaps it was to 
 guard against this and kindred abuses that the Scriptures never 
 employ this allegory with reference to the individual Christian, but 
 only with reference to the church as a whole. Such seems to be 
 the fact. In this song the bride represents a plurality of persons : 
 “Draw me; we will run after thee.” It is to the ideal Zion that 
 the Lord says through Isaiah, “ Thy Maker is thy Husband,” and 
 Paul speaks “ concerning Christ and the church ” when he alludes 
 to this great mystery, exhorting husbands to love their wives even 
 as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it that he might 
 sanctify and cleanse it to become spotless and meet to be presented 
 to himself as his heavenly bride. All notions therefore of a very 
 special exclusive favoritism must be promptly ruled out and utterly 
 discarded. Let us not abuse this precious book. What could be 
 more sad than to convert one of our most precious blessings into 
 a rank and withering curse! These are the prominent objec- 
 
 tions to the allegorical sense. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 339 
 
 It is pertinent now to inquire what principles shall guide die 
 Christian reader in his study of this book, and what points of 
 practical instruction will he find here ? 
 
 It should never be forgotten that the book is an allegory, and 
 consequently that the laws of interpretation that govern the alle- 
 gory should apply here. The allegory is a very extended figure of 
 speech — one great figurative conception running through the whole 
 production. The most common abuse is to try to make the alle- 
 gory teach too many things, by making every minute feature in the 
 costume and drapery teach its own separate truth. In this song, 
 if the reader should assume a special spiritual sense in every arti- 
 cle of dress, in every allusion to fruit or flower or fragrance, to hill 
 or vale, to animals, foxes, roes, hinds of the field — he would doubt- 
 less make the book very ridiculous. Such fancy-work is utterly 
 out of place. What has man to do to foist his fancies into God’s 
 revealed word and claim for them the authority of divine inspira- 
 tion ? The only sensible way to treat an allegory is to look with 
 
 the utmost diligence for the great central idea, and then to assume 
 that the allegory was designed to illustrate, embellish, and enforce 
 this one leading, governing idea, and no other. All the minor points 
 are subservient to this and take their places under it in close and 
 dependent relation. 
 
 In this song taken allegorically, the great central idea is that the 
 relation of God to his people in covenant with himself is analogous 
 
 to the well-known marriage relation in human society. It has 
 
 already been said that in this allegory the bride is not precisely 
 the individual Christian, but the church as a whole. It seems to 
 me the part of wisdom to give scope to this fact so far forth as to guard 
 us against the abuses above indicated, but not so far as to rob the 
 book of its precious applications to the heart and life of the indi- 
 vidual Christian. For it must be true that in loving the church, 
 God loves the individual Christian souls that compose it. In all 
 the condescensions, compassions, tendernesses, fidelities of his con- 
 nubial love, his heart rests on the individuals that make up the 
 church rather than strictly upon the church itself as an abstract 
 ideality. . 
 
 Guided by these principles we shall learn from this allegorical 
 
 song, 1. That the love between God and his people should be 
 
 reciprocal. In the marriage covenant each party professes and 
 binds itself to love the other. A sense of love received should 
 
340 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 prompt to responsive love in return. So a sense of God’s love to 
 us should quicken and intensify our love to him. 
 
 2. In all true marriage it is assumed that this mutual love of 
 the parties is and should be exceedingly strong. One of the first 
 lessons taught us in this song is the strength of the love which God 
 bears toward his people. The figure seized upon as the basis of 
 this allegory indicates and signifies the deepest, strongest love 
 known to human souls. The loving man and the loving woman 
 are happy to leave father and mother, brother and sister, and be 
 no longer twain, but one . Human bosoms can witness to no love 
 more deep, more pure, more self-sacrificing than this. This is a 
 simple fact of human experience which it were quite gratuitous to 
 attempt to prove. The proof is in the hearts of those who have 
 
 experienced its presence and its power. Now when God takes 
 
 up this well-known human affection as he does often in his word, 
 and by allegory as I believe in this song, and affirms it of himself 
 toward his people, he testifies most explicitly and forcibly to the 
 deep, intense, absorbing love of his heart toward his people. 
 Then let a sense of this great love toward us quicken and call forth 
 a like deep, intense, and all-absorbing love from our hearts toward 
 him. Why not? Would it not be an outrage against all pro- 
 priety and all obligation to withhold it? 
 
 3. That it involves on God’s part extreme and wondrous conde- 
 scension. The mightiest and proudest of earthly monarchs 
 
 might descend to the meanest hovel in his realm and take thence 
 a maiden for his royal queen ; yet this would only begin to indi- 
 cate the sort of condescension we now speak of ; it could scarcely 
 be deemed a unit of measurement by which to estimate it. We 
 have no line to measure the height of God’s majesty above our in- 
 significance — the glory of his nature above the baseness of ours. 
 0, who can think that one so pure, so great, so glorious, should 
 condescend to assume the most endearing relations of love toward 
 beings like ourselves ! We can give no reason for it save to say it 
 comes of his pure and exhaustless benevolence, taking the form of 
 compassion for the self-ruined — the otherwise hopelessly lost. O 
 what inspirations toward responsive love and eternal gratitude 
 should come to us from God’s amazing condescension and unutter- 
 able love ! 
 
 4. That whereas this relation began on the part of God in his 
 love in the sense of benevolence, it proceeds to seek most assidu- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 341 
 
 ously and earnestly to lay the foundation in our character for the 
 love of complacency. In other words, it labors to make us love- 
 able — to create in us those qualities of character upon which even 
 the pure and Holy One can look with approbation. God comes 
 into these most endearing relations to us in order to reproduce in 
 our souls his own lost image of purity — his own self-sacrificing 
 benevolence. For this end he shapes the discipline of his chastise- 
 ments to u make us partakers of his own holiness ” (Heb. 12 : 10). 
 For this he gives us his Spirit to change us into the same image 
 from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3: 18) — to sprinkle clean water upon 
 us that we may be clean from all our filthiness and idols (Ezek. 36 : 
 25). Now to know that our Maker in the capacity of “ Hus- 
 
 band” (Isa. 54: 5) labors with us and in us to such an end, for 
 such a purpose — how should it set our souls on fire with unutter- 
 able longings and endeavors to realize in our Christian develop- 
 ment this high ideal of love and purity like that of God ! 
 
 5. That as the relation involves on God’s part the most perfect 
 fidelity — a steadfast, unfaltering love, forever true to his own cove- 
 nant; so does it demand nothing less on our part — even a perfect 
 chastity, the supreme and most devoted love and homage of our 
 heart and of our life. 0 how should our hearts say with Ephraim 
 of old (Hos. 14: 8), 11 What have I to do any more with idols?” 
 How should we be jealous over our souls with godly jealousy lest 
 any lower love should come in to supplant in the least possible 
 measure the higher and purer love that is forever due to God alone ! 
 
 6. As in the relation of husband and wife, little services, per- 
 petually recurring, are the life of love, so the perpetual cares and 
 services of our great Maker and Husband toward his people and 
 in truth toward every individual soul, should hold us to perpetual 
 service for him — a service done in love, done as the spontaneous 
 expression of our love for him — a service that our love should be 
 too strong to suffer us ever to neglect. O how should the recipro- 
 city of this loving service on our part toward God be assiduously 
 cherished! It is beautiful as between husband and wife — as be- 
 tween our divine Lord and his affianced people, it is glorious. 
 How full of joy does the most laborious and self-sacrificing service 
 toward God become when done in love, responsive to the love that 
 glows in all the service he does for us ! 
 
 7. As this song particularly indicates that this sweet relation 
 ship of love is liable to be interrupted and disturbed, and its bright- 
 
342 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ness beclouded by remissness on the part of the bride, let us take 
 this purposed warning. Perhaps it will be to none of us untimely. 
 Putting the whole force of this suggestion into one word, it would 
 say to every one and to all, Watch ! 
 
 8. The allegory implies that God confers great honor upon his 
 
 people when he takes them into this relation to himself. One of 
 
 the greatest of earthly kings finds a humble maiden in the southern 
 land and manifests for her the most tender affection. She is raised 
 thereby to a place of highest honor. But on this point of the 
 analogy it is but little that we can say now — nothing indeed 
 beyond what John has said (1 Jn. 3:2): “It doth not yet appear 
 what we shall be; but we know that when he shall appear we 
 shall be like him.” But even so much should beget in us perpetual 
 endeavors to prove ourselves worthy, at least to the extent of un- 
 swerving and unceasing fidelity. 
 
 9. And finally, as our divine Father has seen fit to set forth his 
 love for his people and his claims upon their love, under this most 
 precious relation, so fraught with suggestive analogies, so richly 
 instructive, and withal, so intensely quickening and inspiring, let 
 us guard most sedulously against abusing it ; let us shut off sternly 
 every unhallowed association which may steal upon us from the 
 peculiar form of these representations, that so, holding our minds 
 to the manifest intent of the allegory, we may bring home to our 
 heart all the gloriously impulsive, quickening, heavenly inspirations 
 to love and duty which it may and should impart. 
 
 If we may assume for this allegory an actually historic basis 
 instead of a purely ideal one, we may think of Solomon as making 
 affinity with some Arab chief in the land of the South and taking 
 his daughter to wife. In fact he seems to have entered into many 
 such matrimonial alliances as a measure of state policy, to cement 
 fraternal bonds ; to promote commerce and international friendship. 
 It is not necessary that we should justify this policy as right and 
 in harmony with the Mosaic law. Suffice it that the object seemed 
 to Solomon important, so that his motives may not have been of 
 
 the worst sort. In its allegorical bearings this foreign bride 
 
 may have foreshadowed the already predicted introduction of 
 Gentile nations to constitute the great mass of the living church of 
 Immanuel. 
 
THE SONG OF SOLOMON 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The title and the author having been given briefly, the song 
 opens with its great central thought — the ideal Zion declaring her 
 love for her divine Lord, and giving utterance to her longings for 
 the manifestations of his love in return. We have her words in vs. 
 2-7 ; the first response of her Lord and King in vs. 8-11 ; then she 
 resumes in vs. 12-14. V. 15 is from the bridegroom, and vs. 16, 
 17 from the bride. 
 
 1. The Song of songs, which is Solomon’s. 
 
 All that need be said as to the title and the author has had its 
 proper place in the introduction. 
 
 Shulamith speaks. 
 
 2. Let him greet me with affectionate salutations ; his 
 love is better than wine. 3. Thy perfumes are precious ; 
 thy name is fragrant with sweet odors effused ; therefore the 
 virgins love thee. 
 
 The change of person from “his” to “thy” is too common in 
 
 Hebrew to need remark. The word which I have translated 
 
 “ effused,” Fuerst makes a proper noun : — u Thy name is as the 
 oil of Turah” This construction relieves the discordance of gender, 
 but labors under the objection that no such place is known. The 
 proposed change does not affect the general sense of the passage. 
 According to the sentiments of that age, wine and the fra- 
 grance of sweet spices filled their highest ideal of things delight- 
 ful. We need not wonder therefore that the charms of the beloved 
 one were set forth in such terms in a nuptial song. Translating 
 them into the language of the Christian heart, we might put it 
 thus : “ 0 for some manifestations of my Savior’s presence and 
 love ! His work meets every want of my nature and of my case 
 as a lost soul. His name therefore embodies every excellence; his 
 
 ( 343 ) 
 
344 
 
 SONG OF SOLOMON— CHAP. I. 
 
 favor is more to me than all the universe beside. Give me the wit- 
 ness of his love, and take away all else you will, yet I am more 
 than blessed. Or to borrow the pertinent and exquisite lines of 
 Dr. Withington, given (p. 233), to show how these sentiments 
 might appear in a modern dress : 
 
 “ From all the enchantments of time, 
 
 Where bitterness waits on desire, 
 
 Where pleasure is blended with crime, 
 
 And love is a vanishing fire— 
 
 I turn to the Bridegroom above, 
 
 Whose looks can such sweetness impart, 
 
 Whose kiss can our passions improve, 
 
 Because it encounters the heart. 
 
 “ I am weary with phantoms that fade,— 
 
 They cause me to weep and repine ; 
 
 I would be in his garments arrayed 
 Whose love is much better than wine. 
 
 When the heart from its idols is loosed, 
 
 And the soul for its tenant makes room, 
 
 Then his name is like ointment effused, 
 
 Affording the richest perfume.” 
 
 4. Draw me; we will run after thee. The king has 
 brought me into his pavilion ; let us rejoice and delight in 
 thee ; let us praise thy love more than wine. The good must 
 always love thee. 
 
 As already said in the introduction, the speaker here is obvi- 
 ously not one individual and certainly not one only bride, but an 
 ideal bride, representing many individuals — fitly speaking, there- 
 fore, sometimes in the singular and sometimes in the plural. Zion 
 speaks for herself as one, or for all her sons and daughters as in- 
 dividuals, alternating from the one method to the other at her will 
 and her taste. Thus by its obvious plurality of persons, this verse 
 bears with great force against the literal and in favor of the alle- 
 gorical construction of the whole book. It involves also another 
 
 point bearing in the same direction and with no less force, viz., the 
 pertinence and fitness of the main idea — “Draw me; so will we 
 run after thee.” It will be seen that this is prayer. Considered as 
 prayer, it implies conscious weakness and a sense of dependence 
 for help. Now the thing to be noted is that this is precisely Chris- 
 tian experience. Every really Christian heart cries out to God, 
 saying, Draw me more and more into a deeper, purer love ; apply 
 to my soul the strong attractions of thine own love, by the power 
 of thine own divine Spirit; — then I may safely promise that I will 
 run after thee. But with all my love, I am so conscious of per- 
 sonal weakness, I have so much reason to distrust myself if left 
 one moment upon my own resolutions, even the best and holiest of 
 them, I must implore thee never to leave me without thine own 
 perpetual drawing. It is safe to say that this prayerful, trustful 
 cry for help is the very breath of the Christian soul. No words 
 could put it mere perfectly. But suppose these words applied 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON— CHAP. I. 
 
 345 
 
 to the case of the human bride and her husband. We will sup- 
 pose her to say — My dear husband, my heart is weak and treach- 
 erous ; I am but too conscious of a very unsteady and unreliable 
 love for you ; I therefore beg you to throw around me all possible 
 attractions to draw my heart; else how can I be sure of a cheer- 
 ful and steady affection for you ? Now is this the usual tone of 
 
 bridal love ? Do the generations of human brides from loving Eve 
 downward agree that this is a true copy of their hearts’ experience ? 
 Do the happy husbands of earth all along the ages bear their 
 united witness that they hear such prayers and such confessions ? 
 If they should, would not some of them be strongly tempted to 
 respond — You may as well confess that you have no real love for 
 
 me at all? Here my argument is that the language is a perfect 
 
 expression of Christian experience toward God, endorsed by all 
 Christian hearts; but that taken as the utterance of woman’s con- 
 nubial love, its assumptions are slanderous, its prayer finds no 
 echo in their experience. Therefore Solomon could never have 
 put these words into the mouth of a bride to be spoken in their 
 
 literal sense and application. Much the same argument might 
 
 be made upon the fitness of the promise — 11 We will run after 
 thee.” Husband and wife walk hand in hand, arm in arm. The 
 picture of one running behind and after the other is uncivilized, 
 not to say monstrous. But when the voice of Christian devotion 
 testifies — “ My soul followeth hard after God,” we feel its propriety ; 
 we welcome it into our experience. 
 
 5. I am dark, but fair, ye daughters of Jerusalem, like 
 the tenets of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon. 6. Eye 
 me not with scorn because I am dark, because the southern 
 sun has looked down upon me. My mother’s sons were 
 offended with me and set me to keep the vineyard; my 
 own vineyard I have not kept. 
 
 The historical basis for this allegory which supposes the bride 
 to have been the daughter of some Arab chieftain of a more 
 southern clime and of a people subsisting upon their flocks and 
 vineyards, serves to explain some of these allusions, but leaves 
 some unexplained. The scenes are too remote, and perhaps, we 
 must say, the enigma too deep for us to decipher the whole. We 
 can understand why the jealous damsels of Jerusalem should look 
 with no very pleasant feelings upon this royal stranger; but we 
 have no clew to the unpleasant feeling toward her among her own 
 
 mothers sons; and it is vain for us to inquire. She seems to 
 
 account for her dark complexion by her peculiar exposure in this 
 out-of-door service in the vineyards. Her own vineyard [personal 
 
 beauty] she had not been abie to care for as she would. The 
 
 spiritual application of these minute particulars must in my view 
 be fanciful, hazardous, and therefore unprofitable. 
 
 7. Tell me, thou beloved of my soul, where thou feedest 
 
346 
 
 SONG OF SOLOMON— CHAP. I. 
 
 thy flock and where thou takest thy noon-tide repose; for 
 why should I be as one vailed among the flocks of thy 
 companions ? 
 
 Both alike are thought of here as amid the scenes of shepherd 
 life. She longs for the presence and society of her beloved, and 
 begs to know where she may find him, especially in his hours of 
 leisure and rest in the heat of the day. — —It is generally agreed 
 among the best commentators that the last clause of the verse 
 should be translated, “ Why should I be as a vailed one" and that 
 the sense is, as a harlot, a woman of suspicious if not even of posi- 
 tively bad character. (Compare Gen. 38: 14, 15.) She could not 
 endure to be at large among the flocks of other shepherds when her 
 appropriate place and the home of her heart were with him whom 
 
 her soul loved. It scarcely need be said that Christian feeling 
 
 has its corresponding phases — “ 0 that I knew where I might find 
 him !” Why should I suffer my heart to be afar from thee, in 
 dangerous contact with other loves? 
 
 Shelomoh replies. 
 
 8. If thou knowest not, O thou fairest of women, go 
 forth at the footsteps of the flock and feed thy kids by the 
 tents of the shepherds. 
 
 The spirit of this seems to be — You will find the presence and 
 the love you seek, in the way of duty. “Feed my sheep;” “feed 
 my lambs;” so shall the chief shepherd delight in thee and reveal 
 his presence to thy longing heart. 
 
 9. To my chariot horse of Pharaoh do I compare thee, 
 my love. 10. Most fair are thy cheeks amid pendant 
 chains — -thy neck with gems. 11. Chains of gold have we 
 made for thee with studs of silver. 
 
 Thus the king expresses his admiration of her beauty. Solo- 
 
 mon imported his chariot horses from Egypt, models of beauty in 
 
 form and of grace in motion. It is noticeable that the king 
 
 himself provides for his bride the richest ornaments of gold and 
 silver to set off her personal beauty. The corresponding spiritual 
 facts are obvious. “ By the grace of God, I am what I am.” 
 
 iShulamith responds. 
 
 12. While the king sits upon his divan, my spikenard 
 diffuses its sweet odors. 13. As a bundle of myrrh is my 
 beloved to me, to be worn for its fragrance upon my bosom. 
 14. A cluster of fragrant white flowers [cyprus] is my be- 
 loved to me in the vineyards of Engedi. 
 
 Her admiration and affection find expression in terms borrowed 
 from the sweet odors and lovely flowers of her native clime. In 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON — CHAP. I. 
 
 347 
 
 v. 13 her thought is unexceptionably pure and fine. Her beloved 
 is a bundle of odoriferous myrrh which she binds upon her bosom 
 to wear it permanently there, where its perfumes may regale her 
 with perpetual delight. Prof. Stowe’s translation gives the true 
 idea more nearly than may be at first supposed — “A cluster of 
 myrrh is my beloved to me — a bouquet in my bosom.” This ren- 
 dering varies from the precise thought of the passage only in this, 
 that the bouquet is worn mainly for its beauty; this bundle of 
 myrrh was placed there for its fragrance — admirably representing 
 the precious associations that cluster about the name and memo- 
 rial of Jesus in every Christian’s heart. His very name is fragrant 
 with all sweet odors, exhaling the breath of heaven. How beau- 
 tiful and befitting that we should bind it to our bosom to wear it 
 there by day and by night, that we may inhale its sweet odors and 
 refresh our souls with its quickening power ! 
 
 Shelomoh resumes. 
 
 15. Lo, thou art fair, my love ; lo, thou art fair : thine 
 eyes are doves. 
 
 So the original gives the last clause — thine eyes are to me doves — 
 gentle, affectionate, winning. 
 
 Shulamith responds in the same strain. 
 
 16. Lo, thou too art fair, my beloved ; yea, thou art 
 lovely. Our couch is the green turf. 17. The beams of 
 our house are these overhanging cedars, its rafters these 
 branches of cypress. 
 
 They are abroad in the open field — a deeply shaded grove their 
 house and home. Dr. Withington has not unaptly said : — “ When 
 an Almighty Savior becomes the Bridegroom, heaven, earth, and 
 sea, the stars and the sky, become the marriage chamber and all 
 
 the works of nature glow with the consummation.” The reader 
 
 will not fail to notice that the love portrayed in this song between 
 the two parties is mutual and the expression of it is promptly re- 
 sponsive, each vying with the other in terms of endearment and in 
 assurances of affection. So the Lord through Jeremiah (2: 2, 3) 
 said of Israel: “I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the 
 love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilder 
 ness. Israel was holiness unto the Lord.” 
 
348 
 
 SONG OF SOLOMON— CLAP. II. 
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 
 Eecipkocal and mutual expressions of love fill out this chapter 
 Shulamith continues : 
 
 1. I am only the rose of Sharon, the humble lily of the 
 vale. 
 
 It should be noted that the bride compares herself to things 
 lowly, not lofty ; expressing a sense of modesty, not of pride. 
 
 Shelomoh responds : 
 
 2. As the lily among the thorns, so is my love among the 
 daughters. 
 
 That is, Though thou be the humble lily of the vale, yet thou art 
 to me the lily as compared w T ith the thorns, the only beautiful and 
 lovely object on earth. All else is vile and repulsive. 
 
 Quick as thought Shulamith returns the compliment : 
 
 3. As the apple among the trees of the forest, so is my 
 beloved among the sons. Under his shade have I delighted 
 to sit, and his fruit has been sweet to my taste. 4. He 
 brought me into his house of wine, his banner over me was 
 love. 5. Sustain me with grape-cakes ; refresh me with 
 apples ; for I languish with love. 6. His left hand is un- 
 der my head; his right enfolds me. 
 
 So much manifested love as v. 4 expresses affects the bride most 
 deeply. Overpowered by her emotions, she sinks down into sleep. 
 Here the bridegroom, tenderly caring for her comfort, interposes : — 
 
 Shelomoh. 
 
 7. I charge you, ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes 
 and the gazelles of the field, that ye rouse not nor wake my 
 love, till she please. 
 
 This verse, which occurs twice elsewhere in this Song (viz., in 
 3 : 5 and 8 : 4), should be in every case, “ until she please ; ” not 
 as our English version has it, “Until he please ” — the gender in the 
 Hebrew being uniform and decisive, showing that the party spoken 
 of is the bride and not the bridegroom ; the speaker, therefore, is 
 the bridegroom and not the bride. 
 
 Shulamith now speaks : 
 
 8. The voice of my beloved: — ’ 1 is he; he comes — leap 
 ing o’er the mountains ; bounding o’er the hills. 9. My 
 love is like the antelope or the young fawn ; — lo, there he 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON— CHAP. II. 
 
 349 
 
 stands beyond the wall, looking through the window, glanc- 
 ing his eye through the lattice. 
 
 Some writers assume that the bride is here supposed to be asleep 
 and dreaming , the scenes narrated in vs. 8-17 and 3: 1-4 being 
 those of her dreams. 1 see no great objection to this assumption, 
 and on the other hand I see no special necessity for it. Sudden 
 transitions of thought are entirely admissible in such poetry with- 
 out the supposition of dreams. All we need as fair interpreters is 
 the hypothesis of a sudden transition from one poetic scene to an- 
 other. At this point the bride has awakened, and now there 
 
 breaks upon her ear the voice of her beloved, coming with the 
 speed of the antelope over mountains and hills to meet her. The 
 scene is inspiring ; her loving heart invests it with the richest cos- 
 tume of oriental poetry. He looks through her chamber window 
 and calls her forth to enjoy with him the loveliness of spring, in 
 the words that follow: — 
 
 10. My beloved spake and said to me, Rise up, my love, 
 my fair one, and come away. 11. For lo, the winter is 
 past ; the rains are over and gone ; 12. The flowers appear 
 on the earth : the time of song has come ; the voice of the 
 turtle-dove is heard in our land : 13. The fig-tree spices 
 
 her green figs ; the blossoming vines exhale their fragrance : 
 arise and come, my love ; my fair one, come away. 14. My 
 dove is in the clefts of the rock, in the coverts of the preci- 
 pices. Show me thy face; let me hear thy voice; for thy 
 voice is music and thy face is beauty. 
 
 All this is true to nature. Hearts that really love delight to 
 make the loved one happy. The feeling is that all life is dull and 
 all pleasure tasteless unless enjoyed as well by the object of our 
 tender affection. But every earthly good becomes ten-fold more a 
 joy to us when we may share it with those we love. These princi- 
 ples of our social nature are beautifully set forth in this song, and 
 with them yet another, viz.: that the beauties and charms with 
 which God has enriched the realm of nature — the music of 
 birds, the fragrance and beauty of flowers, the countless charms of 
 spring after the winter is over and gone — have a wonderful sym- 
 pathy with the pure love which the same Great Father has pro- 
 vided for in the social nature of the sexes in their mutual relation 
 
 to each other. The thing to be specially noted here is that the 
 
 inspired author of this song seizes upon this beautiful exemplifica- 
 tion of wedded love to illustrate the deep and pure affection which 
 exists in such richness and power between God and his redeemed 
 people. God would assure us of the strength and tenderness of 
 this love on his part, and would call forth responsive love on our 
 part in return. Blessed are they whose hearts do respond with 
 overflowing soul! In v. 14 the bridegroom seems to assume 
 
350 
 
 SONG OF SOLOMON— CHAP. III. 
 
 that his bride is reserved, distant, half-hidden from his view, and 
 
 he would fain call her forth from her hiding place. In the 
 
 remaining verses of this chapter the bride speaks in her own per- 
 son, thus: 
 
 Shulamith. 
 
 15. Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that are spoiling 
 the vines, for our vines are now in blossom. 
 
 That is, Think not of me as distant and heartless. I am by 
 your side, in full sympathy with you in all that appertains to our 
 common life and mutual comfort, watching against our common 
 enemies, ready for any service that may minister to our mutual 
 welfare. And not content with this, her loving heart breathes 
 forth its loyalty, saying: 
 
 16. My beloved is mine, and I am his ; he is feeding his 
 flock among the lilies. 17. When the day breathes cool 
 and the shadows grow long, then return thou, my love, and 
 be like the gazelle or the fawn, bounding over the craggy 
 hills. 
 
 He spends the day with his flocks in the cares of shepherd life. 
 Her yearning heart awaits his return at nightfall, and thinks of 
 him as gracefully overleaping the hills in the ardor of his warm 
 love to greet her in their rural happy home. So the Christian 
 heart delights to meet and commune with Jesus when the day and 
 its labors are over and darkness shuts off the outer world and 
 invites us to soul-communion with those w r e love. 
 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The chapter opens with a scene in the city (vs. 1-5) and closes 
 with another in which the king is seen coming up from the land 
 of the South where he has wedded this rural bride (vs. 6-11). 
 
 Shulamith speaks. 
 
 1. On my bed in the night I sought him whom my soul 
 loveth ; I sought him, but I found him not. 2. Let me rise 
 now and go about the city ; in the streets and in the broad 
 ways let me seek him whom my soul loveth. I sought 
 him, but I found him not. 3. The watchmen who patrol 
 the city found me : — Have you seen him whom my soul 
 loveth? 4. Scarce had I passed them when I found him 
 whom my soul loveth ; I took hold of him and would not let 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON— CHAP. III. 
 
 351 
 
 him go until I had brought him to my mother’s house — to 
 the chamber of her who bare me. 
 
 Literally understood, the scenes described here are very im- 
 probable, scarcely supposable. A young bride roaming the streets 
 of Jerusalem by night in the strange pursuit of her missing hus- 
 band, and at length arresting him, much as an officer of justice 
 arrests a culprit; such a scene, whether in oriental or occidental 
 life, would be thought extravagant and romantic. Moreover, the 
 localities seem incongruous, for this scene is in Jerusalem, but 
 her mother’s house is in some remote southern land. The literal 
 
 sense labors. But to the Christian consciousness every feature 
 
 is a matter of experience. God sometimes hides his face and 
 withdraws all sense of his presence. Some cherished sin, some 
 remissness in spiritual watchfulness and prayer, is the cause: 
 this painful sense of an absent God and of his expressed displeasure, 
 is the result. The records of Christian experience witness, alas, 
 but too often, to facts of which the scene here put before us is a 
 
 vivid illustration. Wearied with this search through the streets 
 
 of the city by night, and at length relieved from her painful solici- 
 tudes and heart-agonies, she falls asleep, and 
 
 Shelomoh speaks : 
 
 5. I charge you, ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes 
 and by the gazelles of the field, that ye rouse not nor wake 
 my love till she please. 
 
 And now a sudden transition places before us a new scene. 
 Shulamith seems to be the speaker. 
 
 6. Who is this that comes up from the wilderness of the 
 
 south, like columns of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and 
 frankincense, with all the spices of the caravans ? 7. Be- 
 
 hold the couch of Shelomoh ! Around it are sixty valiant 
 men of the heroes of Israel ; 8. All of them girt with the 
 sword, trained for war, each with his sword upon his thigh 
 because of dangers by night. 9. A royal palanquin has 
 king Shelomoh prepared for himself of wood from Leba- 
 non. 10. Its pillars he made of silver ; its seat of gold ; 
 its cushions of purple ; the midst of it paved with love by 
 the daughters of Jerusalem. 11. Go forth, ye daughters of 
 Zion, behold king Shelomoh wearing the bridal wreath with 
 which his [rural] mother crowned him in the day of his 
 nuptials — in the day of the joy of his heart. 
 
 The closing verse seems to take us back to the wedding scene, 
 as the verses that precede give the bridal tour ; the palanquin, the 
 royal guard, and the magnificent procession from the rural home 
 of the young bride to the royal city of Zion. 
 
352 
 
 SONG OF SOLOMON— CHAP. IV. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 In vs. 1-15 the king is the speaker, setting forth the beauties 
 
 and charms of his royal bride. V. 16 is her response. In the 
 
 current strain of the song the respective parties extol each other’s 
 charms as if in a pleasing rivalry, laboring each to outdo the 
 other in these mutual testimonies to their high appreciation of 
 each other. The reader will be struck with the oriental and pas- 
 toral cast of the imagery under which these points of personal 
 beauty are set before us. Shepherd life furnishes a large share 
 of the illustrations. The standard of what is deemed fair and 
 beautiful is that of the children of the East in those early ages of 
 our race. 
 
 iShelomoh. 
 
 1. Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; 
 thine eyes seen through thy vail are doves ; thy hair is like 
 a flock of goats which seem to hang from the crags of Mt. 
 Gilead. 2. Thy teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes as they 
 come up from the washing, each with twin lambs and no 
 barren one among them. 
 
 Here, as in 1 : 15, I give the sense of the Hebrew precisely: 
 u Thine eyes are doves;” not, Thou hast eyes like a dove. The 
 poetic conception is full and strong. The dove is the embodiment 
 of whatever is tender, delicate, loving: so her eyes were best 
 
 described by the one word, doves. A charming sight to the 
 
 shepherd was his flock of goats, seeming to hang suspended from 
 the beetling crags of Mt. Gilead; such was the hair of the bride. 
 So, too, the perfectly pastoral scene of a flock of ewes, fresh from 
 their washing, with each her twins attending like a setting of 
 jewels; such were her teeth. Utility is one element of beauty. A 
 barren ewe would be a deformity and a grief — a thing out of order 
 and in bad taste. 
 
 3. Thy lips are a scarlet thread ; thy mouth most beauti- 
 ful ; thy cheeks from behind thy vail are as a slice of the 
 pomegranate. 4. Like the tower of David, built for an 
 arsenal, a thousand bucklers suspended from it, all shields 
 of the heroes — such is thy neck. 
 
 We might be tempted to call this extravagant, save as we re- 
 member that under the enchantment of impassioned love nothing 
 seems extravagant. 
 
 5. Thy two breasts are as two young fawns, twins of the 
 beautiful roe, feeding among the lilies. 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON— CHAP. IV. 
 
 353 
 
 The reader will bear in mind that in oriental usage the bosom 
 was uucovered equally with the neck, and hence it was no offense 
 against modesty and delicacy to speak of it as we would speak of 
 the cheeks or of the eyes. The vail covered the bosom equally 
 with the face — no more. 
 
 6. When the day blows cool and the shadows grow long, 
 I will haste to this mountain of myrrh, this hill of frankin- 
 cense. 
 
 The approach of evening calls the shepherd-king home to the 
 bride he loves — here thought of as a mountain crowned from base 
 to summit with the richest spices of the East. 
 
 7. Thou art all fair, my love ; there is no spot on thee. 
 
 8. Come thou with me from Lebanon, my spouse ; yea, 
 from Lebanon come thou with me and look forth from 
 the summit of Amanah, from the height of Shenir^and 
 Hermon, from the lairs of the lions, and from the mountains 
 of leopards. 
 
 Some have inferred from this allusion to Lebanon that Solomon 
 had a country seat there and laid this scene amid those surround- 
 ings. Perhaps so ; and yet we may connect this allusion by the 
 laws of mental association with his thought of his bride (v. 6) as 
 herself a mountain of myrrh, a hill of frankincense. Let us think 
 of all this as poetry and love, the happy pair regaling themselves 
 amid the charms of nature, each enjoying with double relish the 
 jointly shared happiness of looking forth from some lofty mountain 
 peak upon the glory of the valleys below. At least such is the 
 poetic conception. 
 
 9. Thou hast stolen my heart, my sister, my spouse ; 
 thou hast stolen my heart with one glance of thine eye, with 
 one chain of thy neck. 10. How ravishing thy love, my 
 sister, my spouse ; how much better than wine ; and the 
 fragrance of thy ointments above all the spices. 11. Thy 
 lips, O my spouse, distill honey ; honey and milk flow from 
 thy tongue ; thy robes breathe the odors of Lebanon. 
 12. A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse ; a spring in- 
 closed, a fountain sealed. 
 
 A garden whose fruits and even its odors were sacred for its 
 proprietor alone ; a fountain sealed, yielding its waters to him 
 only — such was his beloved spouse, chaste and true to her vows — • 
 to the covenant of her God. So the living church, so every true 
 Christian, yields the heart’s love to Christ supremely, to Christ 
 
 alone. Naturally the song at this point expatiates afresh upon 
 
 the charms of such wedded love. The main source of the imagery 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON- — CHAP. IV. 
 
 354 
 
 is an oriental fruit and flower garden, filled with the fragrant spice 
 bearing plants of the East. 
 
 13. Thy plants are a paradise [park] of pomegranates 
 with all most precious fruits, cypress with spikenard ; 
 14. Spikenard and crocus, sweet cane and cinnamon, with 
 all the trees of Lebanon ; myrrh and aloes, with the richest 
 spices. 15. A fount of the gardens art thou, a well-spring 
 of living waters and streams from Lebanon. 
 
 A living fountain bursting forth at the foot of the garden ; a 
 well-spring of cold flowing waters like those from the sides of 
 Lebanon, fill out the ideal of this paradise of spicery and beauty 
 which means simply the charms of person and of character seen 
 
 by the king in his bride. Here let us for a moment turn our 
 
 thought to the proper significance of this representation. God 
 delights in the true piety of his redeemed and sanctified people. In 
 the <mse of the father rejoicing over his prodigal son, now alive 
 from the dead, penitent too, trustful and grateful, we may see the 
 reason why. The “joy set before him for which Jesus endured 
 the cross,” he finds in the deep warm gratitude, the ardent respon- 
 sive love, the abiding trust, the honest and loving service of those 
 who give him their very hearts. When “ beholding as in a glass 
 the glory of their Lord, they are changed into the same image,” 
 why should not he love the resulting spirit and character ? I know 
 it is sad to our heart [how much more to his?] to think that this 
 image of Christ, reproduced in his people, has such imperfections. 
 O, how we wish it were pure as the pattern itself, worthy of the 
 love which has begotten it all ! But God employs himself in agen- 
 cies of dicipline and agencies of his Spirit to make us yet the more 
 “ partakers of his holiness ” — to “ sprinkle us with clean water that 
 we may be clean ” from all moral filthiness. The final result will 
 be to his overflowing joy. Let us trust his wise management and 
 thank him for his faithfulness. Let it be a perpetual inspiration 
 toward more holiness that our Savior finds an object of compla- 
 cent regard in every grateful emotion of our souls toward him; in 
 every thought and deed of love and service ; in all our homage, in 
 
 all our sympathy, in all our trust. At this point and in this 
 
 view, the prayer of the bride in the closing verse is beautifully 
 significant. 
 
 Shulamith. 
 
 16. Wake, O north wind; come, O south ; breathe upon 
 my garden that its spices may exhale their fragrance. Let 
 my beloved come into his garden and eat his luscious fruits. 
 
 As the breezes draw forth and waft along the sweet odors of a gar- 
 den of spices, so God’s Spirit stirs the emotions of love, calls forth the 
 aspirations of faith, of prayer, of gratitude — indeed, of all holy affec- 
 tions and purposes. This Spirit is the “ wind that bloweth where 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON— CHAP. V. 
 
 355 
 
 it listeth,” and does its work unseen to the eye of sense but. not 
 unfelt in the chambers of the Christian heart. How fitting that 
 when Jesus intimates how much he loves the beauty of holiness 
 in his people and the fragrance of pure hearts, grateful, loving, 
 and trustfdl, we should lift up our prayer as in the verse before 
 us — “Wake, 0 north wind; come, 0 south wind; breathe upon 
 my garden that its spices may exhale their odors ; and then let 
 my beloved come into his garden.” O might there only be in it 
 some fruits of penitence and love and self-sacrificing devotion in 
 which he could find delight! 
 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Shelomoh responds. 
 
 1. I come into my garden, my sister, my spouse ; I 
 gather my myrrh with my spices ; I have eaten my 
 honey from the comb; I have drunk my wine with my 
 milk. Now eat, O friends ; drink, yea, drink freely, O ye 
 beloved. 
 
 In its literal aspect this passage must refer either (1) to the 
 usual marriage feast — the bread and flesh, the honey, wine, and milk 
 provided so plenteously on such occasions ; or (2) it must repre- 
 sent under the figure of a feast the connubial joys of the wedded 
 
 pair. The former is singularly unsocial and inept — thus: I 
 
 have eaten all I care for; now, my invited guests, turn in and help 
 
 yourselves to all you want ! The second alternative is fully in 
 
 harmony with the strain of the previous context — “ A garden in- 
 closed is my spouse, a fountain sealed ” — all delights are for her 
 beloved, and for him only. As said in the introduction, the un- 
 limited invitation of friends to this feast is one of the features in 
 this song which seem to forbid its exclusive and ultimate reference 
 to a literal marriage, and demand the figurative or allegorical con- 
 struction. In this construction the sense is obvious. As Jesus 
 enjoys the communion and fellowship of love with his Zion as an 
 ideal unity, so does he also invite all his people to come individ- 
 ually and participate in the wealth of this blessedness. Who can 
 doubt that all the holy in the universe come into the broad and 
 deep sympathy of love in admiring contemplation of such depths 
 of divine compassion and tenderness for those once lost but at 
 length found? “There is joy in the presence of the angels of 
 God over one sinner that repenteth.” The revelations of the love 
 of God for lost men, made in the gospel scheme, will be the joy 
 and the song, not of saints from earth alone, but of all the holy 
 
356 
 
 SONG OF SOLOMON— CHAP. V. 
 
 beings in the universe. Of this pervasive joy and blessedness our 
 passage may give pre-intimations. 
 
 A new scene opens — Shulamith speaks. 
 
 2. I sleep, but my heart waketh. The voice of my be- 
 
 loved, knocking, saying, “ Open to me, my sister, my love, 
 my dove, my undefiled ; for my head is wet with dew ; my 
 
 locks with the drops of the night.” 3. I have taken off my 
 
 dress ; how shall I put it on ? I have washed my feet ; 
 
 how shall I soil them again? 4. My beloved passed 
 
 his hand through the window ; my heart fluttered be- 
 fore him. 5. I rose to open to my beloved; my hand 
 dropped myrrh, yea, my fingers the sweet smelling myrrh 
 upon the handles of the bar. 6. I opened to my beloved, 
 but my beloved had turned away and was gone ! My soul 
 went forth for one word from him : I sought him, but I 
 found him not ; I called, but he gave me no answer. 7. 
 The watchmen who patrol the city found me ; they smote 
 and wounded me ; they tore off my vail — those watchmen of 
 
 the city walls! 8. Ye daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure 
 
 you if ye find my beloved that ye tell him I languish for 
 him with love. 
 
 The transitions of thought from point to point in this scene are 
 somewhat sudden, yet on the whole the sense is obvious, the 
 sketching is beautiful, and the moral instruction of the highest 
 
 order. u 1 sleep, but my heart waketh” — restive, dissatisfied, 
 
 under a painful sense of something wrong in this state of moral 
 distance from God. Then how touching the call to open to her 
 beloved ! With what patient discomfort, with what long suffering 
 compassion had her Lord sought to restore the disturbed connu- 
 bial relations ; how had he waited for her under the chilling dews 
 of night to open the door and let him in ! Then the conflict of emo- 
 tions in her bosom ; on the one hand, the pitiful excuses, the slug- 
 gish reluctance to the least effort: but, on the other, the fluttering 
 of the heart, the sense of duty, the yearnings of reviving love ! 
 How sad her heart to find that he had turned away and was gone ! 
 Some bitter experiences of grief and penitence must be endured 
 
 before she can have again the joys of his presence. All this is 
 
 wonderfully true to Christian experience. Who does not know it? 
 
 Next we have the daughters of Jerusalem saying, — 
 
 9. What is thy beloved more than any beloved, thou fair- 
 est of women ; what is thy beloved more than any beloved 
 that thou shouldest adjure us so? 
 
 The same envious and sinister feeling appears here in the dam- 
 sels of Jerusalem that we have seen before and shall meet again. 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON— CHAP. VI. 
 
 357 
 
 Their question however gives occasion to the bride to answer in 
 good faith and recount the virtues, the beauties, and the graces of 
 her beloved. 
 
 iShulamitk. 
 
 10. My beloved is white and ruddy, the chief among ten 
 thousand. 11. His head is the purest gold, his locks are 
 bushy, black as a raven. 12. His eyes are as doves by the 
 rivers of water, bathed in milk, reposing in full sockets ; 
 13. His cheeks are beds of spices, aromatic mounds ; his 
 lips are lilies, exhaling sweet odors. 14. His hands are 
 pillars of gold set with gems of Tarshish ; bis body is as 
 wrought ivory, jeweled with sapphires. 15. His legs are 
 like marble columns, set on bases of pure gold ; his form 
 is as Lebanon, grand as its cedars ; 16. His mouth is most 
 sweet ; yea, he is altogether lovely. Such is my beloved — 
 such is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. 
 
 Carrying out the ideas of that age as to personal beauty and 
 splendor, this portrait is exquisite and gives us a transcendent 
 model of a prince. Translating it from the sensual and earthly 
 to the spiritual, it witnesseth most admirably to the beauties and 
 glories of our Divine Redeemer.— — The reader will find it refresh- 
 ing to compare this description with that given (Rev. 1 : 12-16) 
 of the glorified Jesus as he appeared to the seer of Patmos. This 
 is cast after the ideas of royal splendor which prevailed in the age 
 of Solomon. That shown in Patmos is, however, by far the more 
 majestic and sublime. 
 
 ooXXoo 
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 Daughters of Jerusalem. 
 
 1. Whither has fhy beloved gone, thou fairest of women ; 
 whither has thy beloved turned away? Let us seek him 
 with thee. 
 
 Shulamith replies: 
 
 2. My beloved has gone down to his garden, even to his 
 beds of spices, to regale himself in the garden, and to gather 
 lilies. 3. I am for my beloved, and my beloved is for me. 
 He regales himself among the lilies. 
 
358 
 
 SONG OF SOLOMON— CHAP. VI. 
 
 It is remarkable how naturally the assurances of mutual devo« 
 tion between her Lord and herself blend here with the love of 
 nature — the beauties of flowers and the odors of sweet spices. 
 Perhaps this may be a foreshadowing of the joys of the paradise 
 above. If in this world, so fearfully cursed with sin, God has yet 
 lavished such a wealth of beauty and loveliness, what may we not 
 anticipate in that pure heaven where no sin exists to demand an 
 expression of God’s displeasure; where there is nothing to impose 
 limitations upon the exuberant fulness of God’s love of the beau- 
 tiful, or upon his delight in the varied and endlessly diversified 
 bliss of his obedient children ! 
 
 Shelomoh resumes: 
 
 4. Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as 
 Jerusalem, magnificent as a bannered host. 5. Turn away 
 thine eyes from me, for indeed they overpower me. Thy 
 hair is as a flock of goats which seem to hang from the 
 crags of Mt. Gilead. 6. Thy teeth are as a flock of ewes 
 which come up from the washing, every one with twin lambs 
 and no one barren. 7. As a slice of the pomegranate are 
 thy cheeks, seen through thy vail. 8. There are three score 
 queens and four score concubines and virgins without num- 
 ber. 9. But this one is my dove, my undefiled, the one of 
 her mother, most dear to her that bare her. The daughters 
 saw and blessed her ; the queens and concubines praised her. 
 
 Tirzah (v. 4) appears in the history (1 Kings 15: 21, 33) as the 
 residence of King Baasha. The recurrence of the same expres- 
 
 sions is a characteristic feature of this song. Compare 4 : 1-3 with 
 
 vs. 5-7 in this passage. The allusion to queens and concubines 
 
 must naturally refer to those of Solomon himself — else how should 
 they be queens at all ? They are introduced here apparently to 
 show that this one is ranked and beloved far before them all. The 
 allusion avails to rule out the theory that the song contemplates a 
 case of monogamy, and that it should be taken in its literal sense 
 only, being designed to set forth the joys of living with one wife in 
 contrast with the ills of living with many. 
 
 At this point of the scene Shelomoh catches a view of his bride 
 and exclaims : 
 
 10. Who is this that shines forth as the morning, fair as 
 the moon, pure as the sun, and magnificent as a bannered 
 host ? 
 
 To which Shulamith answers, explaining why she is there. 
 
 11. I came down to my nut-garden to see the green plants 
 of the vale — to see if the vines w T ere in blossom and the 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON— CHAP. VII. 
 
 859 
 
 pomegranates in the flower. 12. Ere I was aware my soul 
 was as the war-chariot of my noble people. 
 
 The charm of this passage is the humble modesty of her answer, 
 considered as following such expressions of admiration, or may we 
 not say, of exuberant panegyric as appear in v. 10. O if the 
 children of God were always in the spirit of such modest self-appre- 
 ciation, would it not be beautiful ? I was only looking into our 
 garden to care for its welfare and to enjoy the opening flowers of 
 spring as the smiles of my Father’s love. But those words of 
 thine, so significant of thy love to me — how did they lift my soul 
 into rapture and seem to bear me away with overpowering emo- 
 tions ! 
 
 Shelomoh resumes : 
 
 13. Return, return, 0 Shulamith ; return, return, and let 
 us look upon thee. 
 
 To which Shulamith responds : 
 
 Why should ye look upon Shulamith as upon a dance of 
 double bands? 
 
 I regard this passage as somewhat obscure, and can not be ab- 
 solutely certain that I have the true meaning. My translation 
 gives what seems to be the legitimate sense of the original, and 
 withal it is in harmony with the spirit of the context. We see the 
 same exquisite modesty which shone so finely in v. 11. Why 
 should you scan my personal beauty so sharply, looking upon me 
 much as you might upon a troop of dancing girls in double rows ? 
 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Shelomoh extols the beauty of form and of person which he sees 
 in his bride (vs. 1-9), to which the bride replies (vs.10-13). The 
 dividing line seems to be more precisely in the midst of v. 9. 
 
 1. How fair are thy sandaled feet, thou chieftain’s 
 daughter ! Thy hips are round like turned work skillfully 
 wrought ; 2. Thy front as a round goblet never lacking 
 mixed wine ; thy full form as a sheaf of wheat encircled 
 with lilies ; 3. Thy two breasts like two fawns, twins of the 
 roe ; 4. Thy neck like an ivory tower ; thine eyes as pools 
 of Heshbon at the gate of Bath-rabbim ; thy nose like the 
 tower of Lebanon which looks out upon Damascus. 5. Thy 
 16 
 
360 
 
 SONG OF SOLOMON— CHAP. VIII. 
 
 head surmounting thy person is as the top of Carmel ; its 
 locks are as purple hangings in which a king’s heart might 
 be fast bound. 6. How fair art thou and how sweet, O 
 Love, in thy charms ! 7. Thy stature is like the palm-tree ; 
 thy breasts as grape-clusters. 8. I said, I will go to this 
 palm-tree and take hold of its pendant boughs — thy bosom 
 as the grape-cluster ; thy fragrance as the apple ; 9. Thy 
 mouth like sweet wine. 
 
 iShulamith interposes. 
 
 9. Let this wine go (rightly) for my beloved, gliding 
 through the lips of the sleeping ones. 10. I am for my be- 
 loved, and his affection is upon me. 11. Come, my be- 
 loved, let us go forth to the fields ; let us abide in the vil- 
 lages. 12. Let us be up betimes to the vineyards; let us' 
 see if the vines are in blossom, if the young grapes have 
 set, if the pomegranates have budded. There will I as- 
 sure thee of my love. 13. The love-apples diffuse their 
 fragrance ; at our doors are all most precious fruits, new 
 and old, which I have treasured for thee, my beloved. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to reiterate that these conceptions and 
 illustrations of personal beauty and form are altogether oriental in 
 their cast, and can not therefore be judged of in all respects by 
 the standard of our age and country. This is wedded love, thor- 
 oughly mutual and promptly responsive, such as takes hold of the 
 deepest sensibilities of our being. Here, too, as throughout this 
 exquisite poem, it manifests the richest sympathy for rural life and 
 for the thousand beauties and charms with which God has invested 
 
 the face of this fair world. Need it surprise us that God should 
 
 seize upon this strong and rich affection of human souls to illus- 
 trate the love he bears to his people and the responsive love which 
 his Spirit begets in their hearts to himself in return ? Where else 
 can a more vivid and perfect illustration of this spiritual love be 
 found ? 
 
 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Shulamith continues. 
 
 1. AVould that thou wert as my own brother who had 
 nursed the same mother ; then might I find thee abroad 
 and kiss thee, and men would not despise me for it. 2. I 
 might lead thee and bring thee to the house of my mother 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON— CHAP. VIII. 
 
 361 
 
 who should instruct me, and I might give thee spiced wine 
 to drink from the fresh juice of my pomegranates. 3. His 
 left hand should be under my head ; his right should em- 
 brace me. 
 
 The warm love of her heart prompts her to the caresses of affec- 
 tion which in the view of the people would be admissible as be- 
 tween brother and sister. Hence the wish that her relation to 
 
 him was of this sort. At this point she is supposed to fall asleep, 
 
 perhaps overcome by her emotions, and Shelomoh interposes — 
 
 4. I charge you, ye daughters of Jerusalem, that ye rouse 
 not nor wake my love till she please. 
 
 Other parties speak. 
 
 5. Who is this that comes up from the wilderness, lean- 
 ing upon her beloved ? 
 
 By a sudden transition, Shelomoh reverts to the place of his 
 bride’s birth, which seems also to have been the place where he 
 first made her acquaintance and solicited the love of her heart. 
 
 Shelomoh. 
 
 Under that apple tree did I first solicit thy love, even 
 there where thy mother bare thee, where thou wast born. 
 
 By the same coincidence, Israel was born as a nation and be- 
 came the royal bride of Jehovah by special covenant, both at the 
 same place and at the same time, the Exodus and Sinai marking 
 this location and chronicling this time. (See Ex. 19 and Jer. 2: 
 
 2, 3.) This allusion brings out Shulamith, expressing the ardor 
 
 and strength of her love and praying that she may be bound to 
 her Divine Husband in bonds that can never be broken. 
 
 Shulamith. 
 
 6. Let me be as a signet upon thy heart, yea, as a signet 
 upon thine arm, for love is strong as death ; jealousy is 
 relentless as the grave ; its coals are those of burning fire. 
 
 7. Many waters can not quench love, nor rivers drown it. 
 If one should give all the wealth of his house for love, men 
 would utterly despise it. 
 
 In the next two verses we have the same brothers of the bride 
 who appear in chap. 1 : 6 — there putting her to constant service 
 
 in the fields; here, inappreciative and distrustful. Some critics 
 
 assume in these verses a younger sister of the bride and not the 
 bride herself; but the assumption seems to me to lack support 
 The passage however is obscure, perhaps a designed enigma. 
 
362 
 
 SONG OF SOLOMON— CHAP. VIII. 
 
 First brother . 
 
 8. We have a little sister and she hath no breasts : what 
 shall we do for our sister when one shall speak for her ? 
 
 Second brother. 
 
 9. If she were a wall, we would build on it a silver 
 palace : if she were a door, we would overlay it with boards 
 of cedar. 
 
 The sense of this seems to be — If she were chaste and reserved, 
 walling off all improper approaches, we might build up a noble 
 character, comparable to a palace of silver ; but if she were a door ) too 
 easily approachable, we must needs barricade and strengthen it with 
 boards of cedar. In this construction, the thing most objection- 
 able in their spirit is their lack of confidence in their sister, and their 
 
 thinking of her as still a mere child. To this she indignantly 
 
 replies, in their own sort of figure and phrase : 
 
 Shulamith. 
 
 10. I am a wall and my breasts are as towers ; so was I 
 in his eyes as one who finds favor. 
 
 I am a wall, not a door; there is no occasion for your suspicious 
 
 insinuations. I enjoy my royal husband’s love. Changing the 
 
 subject suddenly, as a modest girl would, she continues — 
 
 11. King Shelomoh had a vineyard in Baal Hamon: he 
 let it out to vine-dressers. They gave for its fruits a thou- 
 sand pieces of silver. 12. My vineyard is under my own 
 care. The thousand pieces of silver are for thee, O She- 
 lomoh, and two hundred for the vine-dressers. 
 
 So far as appears in these brief and therefore obscure statements, 
 Solomon’s contract brought him in one thousand shekels annually 
 [say, five hundred dollars], but made no stipulation as to the pay 
 of the vine-dressers, and gives no hint whether they squandered 
 the rest or put it in their pockets. The bride’s proposal is to take 
 care of her vineyard herself; to give her royal husband one thou- 
 sand shekels, and to make a fair provision for her laborers besides. 
 Every thing here is definite and apparently both generous to her 
 lord and just to her workmen. This is an improvement on his 
 system. 
 
 This is one of the fruits of true love in domestic life. O, might 
 it have its full development in all those works of faith and labors 
 of love in which Jesus permits his people to be laborers together 
 with himself! 
 
 Shelomoh resumes : 
 
 13. O thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions 
 are bending to hear thy voice ; let me hear it also. 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON— CHAP. VIII. 
 
 363 
 
 One who takes so much interest in gardens, both for the labor 
 and the care of them and for their beauties and fragrance, might 
 well be designated as “ Thou that dwelleth in the gardens.” The 
 
 bride should take this as a compliment. She seems to have 
 
 been a general favorite. The king’s associates and friends find 
 it a pleasure to hear her voice. Therefore the king says : Let 
 me also hear its sw^et tones — its utterances of fidelity, of sympathy 
 in our work, of constancy in love. To which Shulamith makes the 
 closing reply: — 
 
 14. O haste, my love, and be like the gazelle or the 
 young roe over the mountains of spices. 
 
 0 come to dwell forever with me — thy service my only care ; 
 thy presence my only and perpetual joy ! 
 
 Thus closes this exquisite Song, of which one can not easily say 
 whether most to admire its poetic beauty, its painting of wedded 
 love in rural life, or its transcendent presentation of the love which 
 Jesus bears to his people, and which they should, may, and some- 
 times do bear to him. The latter, which I take to be the ultimate 
 thought — the real significance of the poem — is a theme of exhaust- 
 less interest — the theme which wakens the strongest and purest 
 emotions ever known to the Christian heart in this life — the theme 
 which is destined to swell the song of the redeemed in their eter- 
 nal home of purity and bliss. 
 

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 Rev. JAMES HAMILTON, D. D. 
 
 “I am sure Dr. Van Doren will have the gratitude of all whose books are few and 
 whose time is precious.” 
 
 Rev. J. JONES, of Belfast. 
 
 “To ministers and school-teachers I would say, that they will here find an amount 
 of knowledge, in my judgment, not to be found in the same space anywhere else.” 
 
 W. L. ALEXANDER, D. D., Edinburgh. 
 
 “ I am much pleased with the plan, and with the success with which it has been 
 carried out.” 
 
 THE FORWARD, London. 
 
 “ This work is cheap, compact, and suited to this hard-working age. The plan is 
 new and usefiil.” 
 
 BAPTIST MESSENGER, London. 
 
 “ In ordinary cases we do not consult commentators in two cases out of ten with 
 real advantage. But in the 1 Suggestive Commentary ’ we have not in a single instance 
 been disappointed.” 
 
 BRITISH QUARTERLY, London. 
 
 “Dr. Van Doren, in the form of short sentences, brings together the gist of all pre- 
 vious commentators, and supplies abundance of hints to those who have but little 
 leisure.” 
 
 ENGLISH PRESBYTERIAN, London. 
 
 “To clergymen and students this work is invaluable. We have brought the work 
 under the special notice of our' friends in private.” 
 
 WESLEYAN TIMES, London. 
 
 “ An excellent idea, admirably worked out. We have tested the work on the Lord’s 
 Prayer, and we cordially commend it.” 
 
 WESLEYAN METHODIST TIMES. 
 
 “ It is a work to make men think, and not save them from thinking. These vol- 
 umes will be welcome to many a student of the Scriptures. Hard-worked ministers 
 and Bible-class teachers will be well repaid by studying them.” 
 
 THE INDEPENDENT, London, 
 
 “ This is a remarkable work, and valuable as well. If there ever was multum in 
 parvo, it is here found. The labor in preparing it must have been immense. The 
 work is eminently suggestive, and will save an enormous amount of time.” 
 
 L. HALSEY, D. D., Prof ess w Theological Seminary, Chicago. 
 
 “Every page bears marks of thorough and accurate scholarship, and of patient, 
 careful study. It is the most readable commentary we have ever met. It is impos- 
 sible to say things in quicker time or narrower space than he has said them.” 
 
 G. B. CHEEVER, D. D. 
 
 “ It is admirable. The best multum in parvo I have ever seen.” 
 
 ^ PRINCETON REVIEW. 
 
 “This work has been highly recommended by the journals of Great Britain. It cer- 
 tainly evinces thought, labor, and learning.” 
 
CHRIST IN MODERN LIFE. 
 
 SERMONS PREACHED IN ST. JAMES CHAPEL, LONDON. 
 
 By Rev. STOPFORD A. BROOKE, M. A., 
 
 Honorary Chaplain-in-Ordinary to the Queen. 
 
 I volume, i 2 mo. Cloth Price, $2.00. 
 
 “Nobly fearless, and singularly strdng. . . . Carries our admiration throughout.” 
 — British Quarterly Review. 
 
 “No one can be insensible to the charm of his style, or the clear, logical manner in 
 which he treats his subject.” — Churchman' s Monthly. 
 
 “ No one who reads these sermons will wonder that Mr. Brooke is a great power in 
 London, that his chapel is thronged, and his followers large and enthusiastic. They 
 are fiery, energetic, impetuous sermons, rich with the treasures of a cultivated imagina- 
 tion.” — Guardian. 
 
 “In the style in which it is written it is beyond all praise ; in clearness of diction, in 
 delicate truth of analysis, in beauty and aptness of illustration, in earnestness and elo- 
 quence of address, he reminds his reader continually of T. W. Robertson, while in 
 depth and range of thought, and in profundity of view, he is the superior of that almost 
 matchless sermonizer. He unfolds the incarnation of the Divine Son of God in its ap- 
 plication to all needs and phases of humanity, in its regenerating, guiding, forming, 
 and perfecting graces ; in its solution of the spiritual problems of our human history ; in 
 its adaptation for the purposes of development, and sanctification, and saving, and per- 
 fecting discipline to all departments of human life and action, and all ages of our pro- 
 gressive life, from infancy to our birth, by death, into a higher life ; in its adaptation to 
 individual progression, and to the progression toward the good of our being, of our 
 collective humanity, in a way most true, and admirable, and impressive. He pre- 
 sents, squarely and fully, the position of Christianity toward scientific research in the 
 utmost advancement which it has reached, and draws, clearly and convincingly, the 
 boundary-line between scientific research and religious faith and thought, along which 
 each may advance in its own legitimate way, without calling in question the rightful 
 action, in its own sphere, of the other.” — Church Journal. 
 
 “ There is a manliness of tone, a vigor of illustration, a beauty of language, and 
 the manifest beating of a loving heart in its pages, which challenge our admiration.” 
 — Christian Observer. 
 
 “The sermons throughout are strong in thought, the style frequently beautiful, the 
 topics of lively interest. The book is altogether healthful and invigorating.” — Chris* 
 tian Leader. 
 
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 The Good Report ; Morning and Evening Lesson* 
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