INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.

the words of which are metaphorical; e. g., this of the rabbins: "I have given thee my lamp; give me thy lamp. If thou keep my lamp, I will keep thy lamp; but if thou quench my lamp, I will quench thy lamp." Here the word lamp is a metaphor: 1. For divine rerelation. 2. For the human soul. I have given thee my word and Spirit; give me thy soul and heart. If thou observe my word, and follow the dictates of my Spirit, I will regulate thy heart, and keep thy soul from every evil: but if thou disobey my word, and quench my Spirit, I will withdraw my Spirit, leave thee to the hardness and darkness of thy own heart, and send thee at last into outer darkness. Such as this is properly the proterb; the word which stands for a discourse.

But the Hebrew on meshalim, from w mashal, to rule or govern, signifies a set or collection of weighty, wise, and therefore authoritative, sayings, whereby a man's whole conduct, civil and religious, is to be governed; sayings containing rules for the government of life. Or, as the divine author himself expresses it in the beginning of the first chapter, the design is to lead men "to know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding; to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity; to give subtilty to the simple, and to the young man knowledge and discretion," ver. 2, 3. This was the design of proverbs; and perhaps it would be impossible to find out a better definition of the design and object of those of Solomon, than is contained in the two preceding verses. Dissertation on Parabolical Writing, at the end of the notes on Matt. xiii.

See

my

Of the three thousand proverbs which Solomon spoke, we have only those contained in this book and in Ecclesiastes; and of the one thousand and five songs which he made, only the Canticles have been preserved: or, in other words, of all his numerous works in divinity, philosophy, morality, and natural history, only the three above-mentioned, bearing his name, have been admitted into the sacred canon. His natural history of trees and plants, of beasts, fouls, and fishes (for on all these he wrote), is totally lost. Curiosity, which never says, It is enough, would give up the three we have for those on the animal and vegetable kingdom, which are lost. What God judged of importance to the eternal interests of mankind, is preserved; and perhaps we know the vegetable and animal kingdoms now as well through Linnæus and Buffon, and their followers, as we should have known them, had Solomon's books on natural history come down to our time. Others would investigate nature, and to hem those researches were left. Solomon spoke by inspiration; and therefore to him divine doctrines were communicated, that he might teach them to man. Every man in his order. The Book of Proverbs has been divided into five parts:

1. A master is represented as instructing his scholar, giving him admonitions, directions, autions, and excitements to the study of wisdom, chap. i. to ix.

II. This part is supposed to contain the Proverbs of Solomon, properly so called; elivered in distinct, independent, general sentences. From chap. ix. to xxii. 17.

III. In this part the tutor again addresses himself to his pupil, and gives him fresh dmonitions to the study of wisdom; which is followed by a set of instructions, delivered "peratively to the pupil, who is supposed all the while to be standing before him. From hap. xxii. 17 to chap. xxv.

IV. This part is distinguished by being a selection of Solomon's Proverbs, made by the en of Hezekiah, conjectured to be Isaiah, Hosea, and Micah, who all flourished under that eign. This part, like the second, is composed of distinct, unconnected sentences, and extends om chap. xxv. to xxx.

the

V. The fifth part contains a set of wise expostulations and instructions, which Agur, on of Jakeh, delivered to his pupils Ithiel and Ucal, chap. xxx. And the thirty-first hapter contains the instruction which a mother, who is not named, gave to Lemuel her son, eing earnestly desirous to guard him against vice, to establish him in the principles of justice, nd to have him married to a wife of the best qualities. These two last chapters may be onsidered a kind of Appendix to the Book of Proverbs: see Dr. Taylor; but others uppose that the thirty-first chapter contains Bathsheba's words to Solomon, and his commenation of his mother.

There are many repetitions and some transpositions in the Book of Proverbs, from which is very probable that they were not all made at the same time; that they are the work of fferent authors, and have been collected by various hands: but still the sum total is elivered to us by divine inspiration; and whoever might have been the original authors of stinct parts, the divine Spirit has made them all its own by handing them to us in this Some attribute the collection, i. e., the formation of this collection, to Isaiah; others, Hilkiah, and Shebna the scribe; and others, to Ezra.

INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.

That Solomon could have borrowed little from his predecessors is evident from this consideration, that all uninspired ethic writers, who are famous in history, lived after his times. Solomon began to reign A. M. 2989, which was 239 years before the first Olympiad; 479 before Cyrus, in whose time flourished the seven wise men of Greece; 679 before Alexander the Great, under whose reign flourished Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle; and 1011 before the birth of Christ. Therefore, to the Gentiles he could be but little, if at all, indebted.

It is impossible for any description of persons to read the Book of Proverbs without profit. Kings and courtiers, as well as those engaged in trade, commerce, agriculture, and the humblest walks of life, may here read lessons of instruction for the regulation of their conduct in their respective circumstances. Fathers, mothers, wives, husbands, sons, daughters, masters, and servants, may here also learn their respective duties; and the most excellent rules are laid down, not only in reference to morality, but to civil policy and economy. Many motives are employed by the wise man to accomplish the end at which he aims; motives derived from honour, interest, love, fear, natural affection, and piety towards God. The principal object he has in view is, to inspire a deep reverence for GOD, fear of his judgments, and an ardent love for wisdom and virtue. He exhibits injustice, impiety, profligacy, ide ness, imprudence, drunkenness, and almost every vice, in such lively colours as to render every man ashamed of them who has any true respect for his interest, honour, character, or health. And as there is nothing so directly calculated to ruin young men, as bad com pany, debauch, and irregular connexions, he labours to fortify his disciple with the most convincing reasons against all these vices, and especially against indolence, dissipation, and the company of lewd women.

Maxims to regulate life in all the conditions already mentioned, and to prevent the evils already described, are laid down so copiously, clearly, impressively, and in such variety, that every man who wishes to be instructed may take what he chooses, and, among multitudes, those which he likes best.

Besides the original Hebrew, the Book of Proverbs exists in the following ancient Versions: the Chaldee, Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate, and Arabic. But the Septuagint takes greater liberty with the sacred text than any of the rest it often transposes. changes, and adds; and all these to a very considerable extent. This is the Version which is quoted in the New Testament. Several of these additions, as well as the most important changes, the reader will find noticed in the following notes; but to mark them all would require a translation of almost the whole Greek text. How our forefathers understood several passages will be seen by quotations from an ancient MS. in my possession, which begins with this Book, and extends to the conclusion of the New Testament. It is wel written upon strong vellum, in very large folio, and highly illuminated in the beginning of each book, and first letter of each chapter. The language is more antiquated than in the transla tion commonly attributed to Wiclif. It was once the property of Thomas à Woodstock. youngest son of Edward III., and brother to John of Gaunt and the Black Prince. often quoted this MS. in my notes on the New Testament.

I have

A. CLARKE.

THE

PROVERBS.

Year from the Creation, 3004.-Year before the birth of Christ, 996.-Year before the vulgar era of Christ's Nativity, 1000.-Year since the Deluge, according to Archbishop Usher and the English Bible, 1348. Year from the destruction of Troy, 185.-Year before the first Olympiad, 224.-Year before the building of Rome, 247.

CHAP. I.

The design of the proverbs, 1—6. An exhortation to fear God, and believe his word, because of the benefit to be derived from it, 7-9; to avoid the company of wicked men, who involve themselves in wretchedness and ruin, 10-19. Wisdom, personified, cries in the streets, and complains of the contempt with which she is treated, 20-23. The dreadful punishment that awaits all those who refuse her counsels, 24-33.

struction; to perceive the words of under-simple, to the young man knowledge and standing;

e discretion.

*1 Kings iv. 32. Ch. x. 1. xxv. 1. Eccles. xii. 9.b Ch. ii. 1, 9.

NOTES ON CHAP. I.

c Heb. equities. d Ch. ix. 4. - e Or, advisement. the deliberately weighing of the points contained in Verse 1. The proverbs of Solomon] For the mean- | the teaching, so as to find out their importance. ing of the word proverb, see the introduction; and the dissertation upon parabolical writing at the end of the notes on Matt. xiii. Solomon is the first of the sacred writers whose name stands at the head of his works.

Verse 2. To know wisdom] That is, this is the design of parabolical writing in general; and the particular aim of the present work.

This and the two following verses contain the interpretation of the term parable, and the author's design in the whole book. The first verse is the title, and the next three verses are an explanation of the nature and design of this very important tract.

Wisdom] chochmah may mean here, and in every other part of this book, not only that divine science by which we are enabled to discover the best end, and pursue it by the most proper means; but also the whole of that heavenly teaching that shows us both ourselves and God, directs us into all truth, and forms the whole of true religion.

And instruction] musar, the teaching that discovers all its parts; to understand, to comprehend the words or doctrines which should be comprehended, in order that we may become wise to salvation.

Verse 3. To receive the instruction] own haskel,

Equity] mesharim, rectitude. The pupil is to receive wisdom and instruction, the words of wisdom and understanding, justice and judgment, so perfectly as to excel in all. Wisdom itself, personified, is his teacher; and when God's wisdom teaches, there is no delay in learning.

Verse 4. To give subtilty to the simple] The word simple, from simplex, compounded of sine, without, and plica, a fold, properly signifies plain and honest, one that has no by-ends in view, who is what he appears to be; and is opposed to complex, from complico, to fold together, to make one rope or cord out of many strands; but because honesty and plain dealing are so rare in the world, and none but the truly religious man will practise them, farther than the fear of the law obliges him, hence simple has sunk into a state of progressive deterioration. At first, it signified, as above, without fold, unmixed, uncompounded: this was its radical meaning. Then, as applied to men, it signified innocent, harmless, without disguise; but, as such persons were rather an unfashionable sort of people, it sunk in its meaning to homely, homespun, mean, ordinary. And, as worldly men, who were seeking their portion in this life, and had little to do with religion, supposed that wisdom, wit, and under

ness.

standing were given to men that they might make the best of them in reference to the things of this life, the word sunk still lower in its meaning, and signified silly, foolish; and there, to the dishonour of our language and morals, it stands! I have taken those acceptations which I have marked in italics out of the first dictionary that came to hand-Martin's; but if I had gone to Johnson, I might have added to SILLY, not wise, not cunning. Simplicity, that meant at first, as MARTIN defines it, openness, plain dealing, downright honesty, is now degraded to weakness, silliness, foolishAnd these terms will continue thus degraded, till downright honesty and plain dealing get again into vogue. There are two Hebrew words generally supposed to come from the same root, which in our common Version are rendered the simple, ♫ pethaim, and or pethayim; the former comes from patha, to be rash, hasty; the latter, from puthah, to draw aside, seduce, entice. It is the first of these words which is used here, and may be applied to youth; the inconsiderate, the unwary, who, for want of knowledge and experience, act precipitately. Hence the Vulgate renders it parvulis, little ones, young children or little children, as my old MS.; or very babes, as Coverdale. The Septuagint renders it axakoig, those that are without evil; and the Versions in general understand it of those who are young, giddy, or inexperienced.

d

7 The fear of the LORD is

the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

these proverbs.

A. M. cir. 3004.
B. C. cir. 1000.
Ante I. Ol
cir, 224.
Ante U.C. c. 247.

8 My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother. 9 For they shall be an ornament of grace

e Or, the principal part.-
h Heb. an adding.

fCh. iv. 1. vi. 20.--5 Ch. iii.??.

parables, such as those delivered by our Lord, nearly express the meaning of the original.

Verse 7. The fear of the Lord] In the preceding verses Solomon shows the advantage of acting according to the dictates of wisdom; in the following verses he shows the danger of acting contrary to them. The fear of the Lord signifies that religious reverence which every intelligent being owes to his Creator; and is often used to express the whole of religion, as we have frequently had occasion to remark in different places. But what is religion? The love of God, and the love of man; the former producing all obedience to the divine will; the latter, every act of benevolence to one's fellows. The love of God shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit produces the deepest religious reverence, genuine piety, and cheerful obedience. To love one's neighbour as himself is the second great commandment; and as love worketh no ill to one's neighbour, therefore it is said to be the fulfilling of the law. Without love, there is no obedience; without reverence, there is neither caution, consistent conduct, nor perseverance in righteousness.

This fear or religious reverence is said to be the beginning of knowledge; nx¬ reshith, the principi, the first moving influence, begotten in a tender conscience by the Spirit of God. No man can ever be come truly wise, who does not begin with God, the fountain of knowledge; and he whose mind is i fluenced by the fear and love of God will learn more in a month than others will in a year. Fools despise]

evilim, evil men. Men of bad hearts, bad heads, and bad ways.

Verse 8. My son, hear] Father was the title of preceptor, and son, that of disciple or scholar, among the Jews. But here the reference appears to be to the children of a family; the father and the mother have the principal charge, in the first instance, of their children's instruction. It is supposed that these parents have, themselves, the fear of the Lord, and

To the young man] naar is frequently used to signify such as are in the state of adolescence, grown up boys, very well translated in my old MS. punge fulwaren; what we would now call the grown up lads. These, as being giddy and inexperienced, stand in especial need of lessons of wisdom and discretion. The Hebrew for discretion, mezimmah, is taken both in a good and bad sense, as □ zam, its root, signifies to devise or imagine; for the device may be either mischief, or the contrivance of some good purpose. Verse 5. A wise man will hear] I shall not only give such instructions as may be suitable to the youth-that they are capable of giving the best counsels to ful and inexperienced, but also to those who have much knowledge and understanding. So said St. Paul: We speak wisdom among them that are perfect. This and the following verse are connected in the old MS. and in Coverdale: " By hearyinge the wyse man shall come by more wysdome; and by experience he shall be more apte to understonde a parable and the interpretation thereof; the wordes of the wyse and the darke speaches of the same."

Verse 6. Dark sayings.] chidoth, enigmas or riddles, in which the Asiatics abounded. I believe

their children, and that they set before them a strict example of all godly living. In vain do parents give good advice if their own conduct be not consistert. The father occasionally gives instruction; but he not always in the family, many of those occupations which are necessary for the family support being carried on abroad. The mother-she is constantly within doors, and to her the regulation of the family belongs; therefore she has and gives laws. The w man says in effect to every child, “Be obedient ta thy mother within, and carefully attend to the i

unto thy head, and chains about them; refrain thy foot from
thy neck.
their path:

13 We shall find all precious substance, we of the owners thereof. shall fill our houses with spoil:

20 i Wisdom * crieth without; she uttereth

14 Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have her voice in the streets :

15 My son, walk not thou in the way with in the openings of the gates: in the city

Verse 19. Which taketh away the life] A covetous man is in effect, and in the sight of God, a murderer; he wishes to get all the gain that can accrue to any or Verse 11. If they say, Come with us] From all ac-| all who are in the same business that he followse no counts, this is precisely the way in which the work-matter to him how many families starve in consequence. ers of iniquity form their partisans, and constitute their marauding societies to the present day.