A commentary on the book of Proverbs

Preface

The history of the present undertaking is brief and simple. After completing my Commentary on Ecclesiastes, I felt specially attracted toward another book, (that of the Proverbs), by reason of its close affinity with Ecclesiastes, in a variety of respects. The* gnomic form of much that is in the latter book, naturally produced in my mind, after having spent so much time upon it, an interest in respect to the other book, which is filled with gnomes. A large circle of clerical friends, (many of whom had once been my pupils), who are now moving in extensive spheres of usefulness, and enjoying the approbation of highly respected churches, gave me, early in the summer of the present year, cheering and animating encouragement to proceed in the writing of a Commentary on the Proverbs. My own inclination and choice had already, in a measure, anticipated their friendly request ; for when that reached me, I had gone on more than half-way through the book, in the writing of the Commentary. Other friends and brethren, also, have since approved and encouraged the undertaking. A kind Providence has spared my life, when I had little reason to expect its continuance : and from time to time, after repeated partial interruptions of my labors, (during some of which I was led seriously to doubt whether I should ever be able to renew them), I have been enabled to complete what I had begun, if not according to my wishes, yet according to my best ability.

4 PREFACE.

In the composition of the work which follows, I have felt even a deeper interest than I had anticipated. As to the Hebrew in which it is written, it bears the unmistakable stamp of antiquity. Nothing can be more diverse in this respect than the Proverbs and the Preacher. A true lover of the old Hebrew must needs enjoy the reading of the Proverbs. Then, in the next place, such a book as this, which records so many hundreds of short, pointed, pithy sayings, or maxims, must exhibit much of the common conversational idiom of the Hebrews. Moreover, many of the nicer and more difficult points, in respect to Hebrew Grammar, are here developed, as we should naturally conclude they would be ; for proverbial sayings generally take large liberties as to the forms, idioms, and syntax of any language. The student, who is desirous of mastering such difficulties, will acquire much useful training in the accurate investigation of the idioms in the book before us. Nowhere, in the Hebrew Scriptures, is knowledge of this kind more often required than here. And it is in the study of this book, that the masterly Syntax of Ewald, in regard to the most obscure and difficult points of the Hebrew language, affords peculiar, and in general, adequate aid, — aid which can scarcely be found to such an extent in any other work of this nature. I acknowledge myself indebted to him, for illustrations of some points elsewhere either overlooked or imperfectly exhibited. There is scarcely any anomaly in the Hebrew Scriptures, on which he has not touched ; and not only so, but adduced illustration and confirmation of his method of solving it.

Ernesti, almost a century ago, said that no interpretation, ichich is at variance with the laws of grammar and of idiom, can be the true one. The reason is obvious. To be at all understood, the sacred writers must of course conform to the usus loquendi of their times. The laws of grammar, so called, do nothing more than exhibit facts respecting the usus loquendi of any language. They are not laws which grammar makes, but laws which it discovers and exhibits. If, then, we do not attain to a right understanding of these laws, we of course must, to a certain

PREFACE.

extent, be ignorant of the usus in question ; and when we are thus ignorant, how can we interpret with any good measure of assurance, that we are in the right ? We may give credit to the learning and judgment of others, but we cannot trust our own.

On such a ground of exegesis as that mentioned above, I have aimed that the following work should have its basis. There has never been, consciously on my part, any endeavor to dictate what the sacred writer ought to say, but merely to find out what he has said. And to do this, all guessing, conjecture, or imagination must be dismissed, and must stand aside. My reverence for God's Word is such, that when I find out what his servants have said and sanctioned, I regard it as of more value than all which any uninspired interpreter can say. Hence my partiality for a simple commentary of explanation, at least for the use of all preachers of the gospel. A commentary merely hortatory and practical, they should themselves be able to make. They ought not to depend on others, in this case. But to find the real nucleus, out of which this practical commentary is to be developed, one must of necessity betake himself to the aid of grammatico-historical exegesis. The present work is designed to aid such an undertaking, to facilitate the labor of the student, and to spare him as much of time in regard to the investigation of materials, as is practicable, when this is to be carried through by his own efforts.

I believe I may venture to assert tl^at there is no real difficulty as to form, idiom, or syntax, in the book of Proverbs, on which I have not touched, and which I have not endeavored to explain. Hence the saving of time, as I would hope, to the reader. The materials are gathered for him ; they are fitted for structure ; and he has only to apply his own efforts, in order to erect and complete the structure designed. It has been my intention always to conduct him so as that he may see with his own eyes, if he will use them ; and, moreover, see as clearly as if he had expended his time in collecting for himself the materials now made ready to his hand. Ex cathedra die ere is not designedly the order of the day, in the

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PREFACE.

following work. Nothing is intended to be established by mere assertion or assumption, but every opinion given is designed to be defended by facts and reasons. Of these, the reader has as good a right to judge as the writer.

Brief I have aimed to be. I have been so, specially in the Commentary. I have not labored to explain what can be made no plainer than it already is. Smaller difficulties are briefly and summarily discussed. In a few cases only, has a kind of exegetical dissertation been deemed necessary ; and these are treated with all needful and becoming amplitude.

In a large number of cases, where the language is figurative, or peculiarly compressed, or elliptic, or hyperbolic in the mode of expression, I have subjoined to each verse a summary of what I deemed to be the real sentiment designed to be expressed, in plain and simple English idiom. The expert in commentary will not be displeased with this ; the tyro will, as I would hope, gratefully accept of such aid, and avail himself of it.

I have become more and more attached to a close translation of the original, as a most important aid in the study of a Hebrew book. Our idiom better expresses the Hebrew, than any other modern European language, or than the older Latin or Greek. De Wette has made a noble translation of the Scriptures into the German ; and this language stands next to our own, in exhibiting the power of the Hebrew idiom. But I have forborne habitually to consult his version of the book in question, because I wished to give my own impressions of the meaning of the Hebrew, without any embarrassment. De Wette, however, may well be consulted by the student ; but now and then I have found in him evidence that he had not always mastered some of the peculiar idioms of the book, nor always investigated specialities of syntax in it. I have, therefore, forborne to consult him, with less reluctance than I should have felt, without having come to the knowledge of these facts. I hardly need to say that my aim has been to keep close to the original, and to employ pure and simple English words in my version. The latter will speak for itself. I have more often

PREFACE.

hesitated in order to find a Saxon word which is not vulgar, instead of a word derived from the Latin or Greek, than from almost any other cause. After all, I have been forced, at times, upon the latter class of words, either to avoid vulgarism, or to give the nicer shade of meaning demanded by the Hebrew. E. g. the meaning of Sib is to satisfy, and also to satiate. In cases where the latter meaning is plain, our version has given filled, or satisfied, neither of which convey the Hebrew shade of meaning. I have been obliged, therefore, to use satiate ; for I could not say stuffed, crammed, or the like. But then, this is no* more a Latinism than satisfy ; and it may be employed with equal propriety. In all cases where a real equivalent Saxon word presented itself — a word in good repute — I have preferred it. It is such a usage of our English translators, which has made our common version an immortal monument of the noble Anglo-Saxon.

A good and faithful translation is of itself, for the most part, an adequate interpretation. Hence its importance. That in such a book as that of Proverbs, our English translators should have sometimes erred, being furnished with no other knowledge than what the lexicons and grammars afforded them two centuries ago, is much less a matter of wonder, than that they should so generally have been in the right. No apology however is needed, as I trust, at the present time, for differing from them in a few cases, where new light has been poured upon grammar, idiom, or the general subject of Hebrew antiquities.

Thus much for the history and manner of my present work. A word as to the book itself, which is the subject of commentary, and I have done.

The book of Proverbs, I venture to assert, has a deep Jiistorical interest, as well as a moral, social, industrial, and pious one. Solomon doubtless did not make or compose all the proverbs contained in it. Many of them he selected, digested, and arranged. But the mass of the book passed through his hands, or at least through his mind ; and therefore it has his sanction. But there can be little doubt, that by far the greater part of the book orig-

PREFACE.

inated among the Hebrew people as such. Most of the maxims are plainly the offspring of sound common sense, of much experience, and of acute discrimination. They bear the evident stamp of serious, thinking, and devout minds. I have spoken of them as a selection. There is good reason for thus speaking ; inasmuch as in 1 Kings 4 : 32, we are told that Solomon " spake three thousand proverbs." If now he drew from these, in order to compose one book of Proverbs, he must have selected ; for the present book contains less than one thousand. The internal testimony of the book discloses the certainty, that the proverbs of other wise men besides Solomon are contained in it. The store, then, of Hebrew proverbs must have been very great, in the time of Solomon.

Let this however be as it may, there can be no doubt that this book had great currency among the Hebrews. It fell in, therefore, with the feelings and views of that people. It is here, then, that we come to see the historical element of the book. It is a picture • — a vivid picture — of the internal Hebrew man ; of his genius, feelings, practical reasonings, morals, industry, social condition, internal relations, comity, and, in a word, of the whole state of the Hebrews, and their rank among the society of nations. What is generally popular and approved among the masses of any people, must be that which is congruous with their civil, social, and moral condition. What they thought, and felt, and said, on all the great problems relating to a social state and the respective rights of men, in regard to their mutual relations and dependencies, or in respect to their moral and religious views and feelings, — all this is completely before us, in the picture drawn in the book of Proverbs. Not that there were no dissenters from many of its maxims ; for there were doubtless bad men among them, at that time ; and the like have been found in every age and among every nation. But the mass of the people must have been of a different character ; for how else could they relish and heartily approve of such a manual of ethics, of sobriety, chastity, industry, and economy, as the book before us contains ? In

PREFACE.

this book, then, is virtually contained the history of their mental and moral state and progress, — a history more minute, more graphic, more extensive, and, I may add, more interesting, than all the external histories of the nation taken together.

And what story does this tell of the Hebrew people, in the days of Solomon ? One, I venture to say, that the proverbs of no nation destitute of the Bible ever did or can tell. I have pursued this course of thought to some length in my Introduction to the book ; and I have also compared a considerable mass of the Arabic and Greek proverbs with those in the book before us. The reader may now judge in some measure for himself, whether foreign nations had any good reason to despise the Hebrews. All the heathen moralists and proverbialists joined together cannot furnish us with one such book, as that of the Proverbs in the sacred Scriptures.

The subject is one of deep interest, to all who wish to acquire an intimate knowledge of the mental and moral state of the Hebrews in ancient times. If the preceding remarks are all well grounded, then is it plain, that this book gives a better insight into their manners and morals, than all their histories, not even excepting the sacred ones. If the student will carefully peruse the book with this view of the matter before him, he will find himself richly repaid in the end, by coming at most interesting developments of the Hebrew national character.

The book in its present form, was a thing of gradual accomplishment. " The words of the wise," in 22 : 17, seq. ; the additions made by " the men of Hezekiah," 25 : 1, seq.; and the compositions of Agur and Lemuel, 30 : 1, seq., 31: 1, seq. ; are all witnesses to the correctness of this statement. But all these topics are amply discussed in the Introduction.

I have only to add, that I have purposely adapted my work to beginners in Hebrew stuchj. Hence the minute and careful solution of all which is abnormal, either in form, idiom, or syntax. It is of little or no use to pursue the study of the original Scriptures, without aiming at minute philological accuracy. Half-way be-

PREFACE.

tween this and a mere popular preaching commentary, is the least satisfactory way of all. It is too high for the common reader, and too low for the accurate inquirer. It therefore satisfies neither.

Should a kind Providence still preserve me in life, with the power of action, I think seriously of endeavoring, at some future period, to write a commentary on this book, altogether adapted to common readers, that is, to the great mass of our population. There is no book on earth of deeper interest, in a social, moral, industrial, and economical point of view, than the book of Proverbs. May and should it not have a wider diffusion, and be more read and studied, and better understood ? I believe it may, if it shall be duly provided with popular and appropriate illustrations. I hesitate, indeed, as to my own competency duly to perform this task ; but I cannot hesitate as to cherishing an ardent desire that it should be speedily and well performed.

Moses Stuart.

Andover, 1852.

Introduction

§ 1. Name of the Booh

The full name of the book is nn£$ , Proverbs of Solomon, which constitute the first two words that present themselves in the text to the reader. More commonly, only the first of these words is employed to designate the book ; and accordingly, ^biBB is the running title in our Hebrew Bibles; and in our English ones, the common appellation given to it is Proverbs. The Talmud, and all the later Jews, exhibit the like usage. In Baba Bathra however (fol. 14. 6), the name fi^sn "WS, i. e. Book of Wisdom, is given both to this book and to that of Coheleth or Ecclesiastes.

In the Greek Christian fathers, we find not only naooijilai JZaloitwvTog, (a literal translation of the first compound Hebrew name), but very frequently meet with coopia, as a title for the book ; or, as Gregory Nazianz. has it (Orat. xi.), we also meet with r\ navdozTog ooopla. This last designation is also given by Clement of Rome (i. 57) ; and Eusebius (Hist. Ecc. iv. 22) speaks of Hegesippus, Irenaeus, and others, as giving to Proverbs the same title. Semler thinks this to be the title of an apocryphal book of Proverbs, (Pref. to Vogel's edit, of Schultens on the Prov.) ; but without any valid reason. Thus much however is true, viz., that the Christian fathers apply navaqexog (Tocpia also to the book of

§ 1. Name of the book.

Sirach and the Wisdom of Solomon ; see Cotelerius in Epist. Clem. i. 57. It seems probable, that the Jews, before the writing of the Talmud, were accustomed, in common parlance at least, to . call the book tvztt ; probably because of the peculiar wisdom of Solomon, its main author, or because Wisdom makes so conspicuous a figure in it, and is often introduced as a personage speaking. It was natural, therefore, to name her words aotyia. And so, in imitation of this title of the book, we have a late apocryphal one which is entitled aocpla ^olofxddvtog. In this way we may see a sufficient reason, why (in Baba Bathra as quoted above) the name Book of Wisdom was employed.

Our English word Proverbs, however, or the German Spruche, does not accurately express 'fettjtt- A proverb usually means a short and pithy saying which is often employed, and commonly with point and special significancy. But this proverb may be either prose or poetry ; and more usually with us, it is the former. Not so as to ^TBEi . The word bxfiv means comparison, resemblance, similitude. But, as applied to the book of Proverbs, it should not be taken as meaning, that this composition in a peculiar, manner abounds in the use of figurative or tropical language or similitudes. In fact, Proverbs is quite distinguished from the Psalms and Prophets, by the comparative infrequency of such language. The comparison or similitude, in the present case, belongs not so much to the kind of diction, as to the poetic parallelisms everywhere employed. Scarcely a single proverb is completed in one clause, or short sentence. Nearly every verse is bimembral ; a few only are trim emlb ral ; and still fewer have four or more clauses. But whether there are two, or three, or more clauses, they are always adjusted to each other by the like measure or metre. Being placed side by side, being of the like length, and usually standing in the closest connection, they form a basis of similitude, even in their external form. Their internal structure

§ 2. Divisions of the book.

helps to confirm this idea. The parallelisms are either synonymous, or antithetic, or synthetic. The first repeat, in the second clause, the same or the like sentiment which is developed in the first clause ; the second place the two clauses in contrast, or antithesis ; and the third continue the sentiment begun in the first clause, by adding something in the second, either confirmatory or explanatory, or else something which advances the movement of thought. In this case, the parallelism is one of measure, or metre, rather than one of meaning. Hence the position side by side, (in the last case as well as in the others), the like length of the clauses, and at least the general correspondence of meaning, all naturally lead to and suggest the name . This name, moreover,

is appropriately given to a book which consists wholly of language so adjusted and measured, that all parts suggest the idea either of comparison or of similarity.

It is easy now, in this light, to see the special significancy of the Hebrew name ; while our English one does not serve at all to characterize the manner of the book, (as the Hebrew designation does), but merely its matter. Most of the latter (but not all) is, indeed, of a proverbial and gnomic cast ; but the Hebrew name shows that this matter has put on a special and poetic costume, in respect to measure and arrangement. But we have no English word which will exactly correspond with the Hebrew. We may as well abide, therefore, by the common usage, and name the book, as is wont, the Proverbs.

§ 2. Leading Divisions of the Booh

Independently of striking differences in the style and mode of composition, in various portions of the book, there are some palpable boundaries, which are evidently designed to separate one part from another. For example, there are at least six different titles, which serve to show where a new,

§ 2. Divisions of the book.

separate, and different composition begins, if they do not indicate a new and different writer.

Prefixed to the book stands a general title, introductory to the whole, and comprehensive of the whole. This is in chap. 1: 1 — 7. First, we have the name, Proverbs of Solomon, which in this case is generic. Then follows a designation of the general design and object of the book, which comprehends all parts of it. The book not only teaches how to acquire wisdom and instruction, to know justice and judgment, but also " to understand the words of the ivise, and their dark sayings" v. 6. Accordingly, where the special proverbs of Solomon (included in 10 : 1 — 22 : 16) break off, the tvords of the wise constitutes a new title, 22 : 17. Dark sayings, or enigmas, is also specially significant, and has reference, in all probability, to the closing part of the book, where are many of this character. But of this, more in the sequel.

Of the general title, then, in 1: 1 — 7, we are now prepared to make some estimate. It is plain, that it stands at the head of a collection, which embraces some things not written by Solomon, but by other wise men. That this general title was affixed by a later compiler, will also appear more plainly in the sequel; for this general title evidently alludes to all the various contents of the book. At the same time, it may, and perhaps does, serve to introduce the first part of the work, wThich comprises 1: 8—9: 18, for two titles might be deemed superfluous. This first division is separated from all the rest of the book, by both manner and matter. In what particular way these serve as a line of distinction or separation, must be a subsequent question; for at present we are concerned only with the titular signs of distinction.

The second portion of the book, chap. 10: 1 — 22: 16, commences with a new and simple title, viz., The Proverbs of Solomon. In style and character these are, as we shall

§ 2. Divisions of the book.

hereafter see, very discrepant from the first nine chapters. The subordinate and internal divisions of this second part, it concerns us not at present to notice.

The third division begins with 22 : 17, where the pupil is admonished to hear the words of the wise. These too are peculiar in their manner, and somewhat in their matter, and they extend from 22 : 17 to the end of chap. 24. We shall hereafter see, that they exhibit plain marks of an authorship different from that of Solomon. They may have passed under his revision ; but they differ much from his proverbial style. There too, as before, is a subordinate division, commencing with 24: 23, and ending with the same chapter.

The fourth division is made by the title in 25:1, " These are the Proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out." These have, as we might expect, many traits in common with the second or Solomonic division, in 10: 1 — 22: 16. They exhibit, also, various discrepancies of manner, which show that the plan of collecting and arranging here, was different from that which predominates through the whole of the second division. There are some evident tokens that this fourth division was copied out, by the sacred scribes of Hezekiah, from different collections or volumes of Proverbs, current at that period. "What belonged to Solomon, in those collections, seems to have been selected by the scribes from among other proverbs, and then brought together by them into one little volume. The evidence here becomes quite clear, that our present book of Proverbs was not completed, in respect to the final and entire compilation, until nearly three centuries after Solomon ; (Solomon f 975 ; Hezekiah f 698). Before the labor of selecting and copying out, performed by the pious king's scribes, the contents of Prov. 25 : 1—29 : 27, would seem to have been circulated in connection with books of proverbs, different from the second division of the compound book m

§ 2. Divisions of the book.

now before us, viz. 10: 1—22: 1G. A title, which gives us a history like that here given, is rarely, if at all, foond anywhere else in the Scriptures.

The fifth division consists of chap. 30 ; which, as its title indicates, appears to be the work of Agur, a son of the queen of Massa. But if no special title had designated this chapter as coming from a hand different from that of Solomon, yet the contents themselves would offer satisfactory proof of this. The style and manner are altogether different from anything else in the book of Proverbs, or in the Old Testament.

The sixth division consists properly of the words of Lemuel, in chap. 31 : 1 — 9 ; but if we make the division more general, it embraces the whole of the last chapter. Yet a subdivision, in this case, seems necessary, since the eulogy of the virtuous woman, in 31 : 10 — 31, is entirely different from anything else in the whole book. The song is alphabetical, i. e. each successive clause begins with each successive letter in the alphabet. This is artistic beyond any other example in the book ; but still the piece is one of the most simple and beautiful specimens of lyric eulogy that can be found in the Hebrew writings. Who wrote it? is a question for discussion in the sequel. It would seem probable (see Comm. on 30 : 1), that Agur and Lemuel were brothers, and sons of the same queen of Massa ; and not improbably, moreover, the beautiful picture of the " virtuous woman" was drawn by the hand of that fortunate and excellent mother. What Lemuel writes, is in fact and confessedly only a repetition of the excellent advice which his mother gave him ; and she, who could give such advice, might also draw the picture in question.

The reader must not be startled with the apprehension, that we are about to bring in foreigners and unknown persons, as writers of a part of the Hebrew Scriptures. If he will turn to the Comm. on 30: 1, he may find reason to

§ 3. Why one common name ? 17

believe, that Massa was held and inhabited by the sons of Simeon, i. e. by Hebrews, during the reign of Hezekiah, and probably for some time afterwards ; see 1 Chron. 4: 41 — 43. Inasmuch as chaps, xxx. xxxi. stand last in the book, and after the portion copied out by the men of Hezekiah king of Judah, it is probable that they were obtained last of all, by the final compiler of the book. I speak of compiler, because the inscription in 25 : 1, shows beyond all doubt, that the collection of the whole, and the uniting of them in one compact body, was a work performed at least about three centuries later than the time of Solomon.

§ 3. Why is one common name given to the whole ?

Certainly not, as we have seen, because that Solomon wrote the whole ; for the testimony of the book itself decides against this, beyond any appeal. And if it did not, the contents of the book would speak against universal sameness of authorship. Still, Solomon appears to have been the principal author. Chap. 10: 1 — 22: 16 are plainly his ; and so 25 : 1 — 29 : 27. These constitute a very large portion of the boot. From chap. x. to the end of the work, we have only four and a half chapters which appear to have come from other hands. More difficult is it to decide respecting the first division, viz., 1 : 8 — 9 : 18. The general title (1: 1 — 7), as we have seen above, refers to other words than those of Solomon, viz., the words of the wise, comp. 22:17 — 24:34; and under these we may also arrange chaps, xxx. xxxi., for Agur, Lemuel, and the queen-mother, were doubtless among the wise. But whether the general title to the whole compilation, (inasmuch as it refers to the different parts of the whole), specifically designates also the first nine chapters, is a question about which one i may be at a loss. If the title should be interpreted, as designating what follows immediately as belonging to Solo-