The Pulpit Commentary — Proverbs — Section 13

Or the additional line produces a proof in confirmation- ," Thine own friend, and thy father's friend, forsake not ; And go not to thy brother's house in the day of thy calamity : Better is a neighbour that is near than a brother that is far off" (eh. xx:vll. 10). Of tetrastichs we find some instances, where the last two lines make the application of the others- .. Take away the dross from the silver, And there cometh forth a vessel for the finer: Take away the wicked from before the king, And his throne shall be established in righteousness" (eh. xxv. 4, 5). In the maxims consisting of five lines, pentastichs, the last two or three generally supply or develop the reason of the preceding- " Weary not thyself to be rich : Cease from thine own wisdom. Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings, Like an eagle that fileth toward heaven" (eh. x.xiii. 4, 5). Of a proverb in six lines, hexastich, we have a few instances- " Deliver them that are carried away unto death, And those that are ready to be slain see that thou hold back. If thou sayest, Behold, we knew not this; Doth not he that weigheth the hearts consider it? And he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? And shall not he render to every man according to his work?" (eh. x.xiv. 11, 12). Of the heptastich there is only one example, viz. eh. xxiii. 6-8. The connected verses in eh. xxiii. 22-25 may be regarded as an octastich, but when thus extended the proverb becomes a mashal ode, like Ps. xxv., xxxiv., xxxvii. Of this character are the introductory pa.rt, which consists of fifteen didactic poems, the hortatory address ( eh. xrii. 17-21), the warning against drunkenness (eh. xxiii. 29-35), and many other passages, especially the praise of the virtuous woman (eh. xxxi. 10, etc.), written in the form of an alphabetical acrostic. The form of the proverb being such as we have described, it remains to distinguish the different kinds of parallelisms employed which have led to their being arranged into various classes. 1. The simplest species is the synonymous, where the second hemistich merely repeats the first, with some little alteration of words, in order to enforce the truth presented in the former; e.g.- " The liberal soul shall be made fat; And he that watereth shall be watered also himself" (eh. :xl, 25). "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; And he that mleth his spirit than he that taketh a city" (eh. xvi. 32). xxvi INTRODUCTION TO