The Pulpit Commentary — Proverbs — Section 31

seems to be implied, between this and the that which oppresses and crushes its victims. preceding verses (22 and 23), when the ad• The terrific nature of the punishment of tho dress passes into a. new phase-from that of wicked is marked by a succession of terms invitation and promise to that of judgment all of terrible import-calamity, fear, desola- and stem denunciation (vers. 24-27). In tion, destruction, distress, and anguish (vers. the subsection tho antecedent clauses are 26, 27). When these come upon them, then vers, 24, 25, fotroduced by the conjunction Wisdom wi.11 laugh and have them in de- "because" (J:g:,yaan; quia, Vulgate),whfoh rision. The verbs "laugh" (pr:i"??, sakhak) expresses the reason or cause for the con• and "mock" (ll17, laag) are the same as in olusion in vers. 26 and 27, introduced by Pe. ii. 4, where they are rendered '' to "I also," to which the" because" answers. mock" and "have in derision." When your A similar grammatical construction and fear cometh; i.e. has actually arrived. Fear judgmeut is to be found in Isaiah: "I also (7T1~, paT,had); here used metonymically will choose their delusions, and will bring for that which causes the fear or terror ( id, their fears upon them; because when I called, q'UOd timebatis, Vulga.te). There is a similar none did answer; when I spake, they did use of ,p6{3os in I Pet. iii. 14. not hear" (Isa. lxvi, 4; see also J er. vii. 13). Ver. 27.-When your fear cometh as deso- Refused; i.e. refused to hear.ken, as signified lation. The imagery in this verse is borrowed in the LXX. vrra,coo~a.-re. I have stretched from nature-from the tempest and whirl- ont my he.nd. A forensic gesture to arrest wind, which, in their impetuous fury, involve attention. The expression is equivalent to all in irretrievable ruin. The two leading "I have spread out my hands" (Isa. lxv. ideas here iu the writer's mind are calamity 2) ; cf. " 'l.'hen Paul stretched forth the and fear. These-their fear, that which hand ( t,cTEiva.s T¾w x••pa.)" (Acts xxvi. causes their fear; and their destruction, i.e. 1). Regarded (:i'\l'R'?, mak'shiv). The ori- calamity-both representing Wisdom's, and ginal idea of the verb :npr_ (1,ashav ), used so God's, judgment, will come on sinners as a wasting tempest and sweeping hurricane. here, is that I of erecting or pricking up The terror and devastation caused by these the ear, like the Latin arrigere, sc. aures, latter as they pass over the face of nature in Plaut., 'Rud·.,' 5. 2. 6 ; and cf:" arrectis- are employed to depict the alarm and ruin of que auribus adstant" (Virgil, '1Eneid,' i. sinners. Desolation; i'Qt:t.~ (shaavah) is a. wast- 153). Ver. 25.-Yehavesetatnought; rather, ing, crashing tempest {cf. eh. iii. 25 ; Zeph. rejected (Umbreit, Ewald, et alii). The i. 15), derived from nt:t~ (shaah), "to make a. Authorized Version rendering here is eqai- crash,'' as of a house falling. The Vulga.te vocnl, inosmuch as it is capable of meaning reads, repentv.ra calamitas ; the LXX., (upvw "despised,'' whereas Jl'.:1~ (para) signifies'' to 86pvf3os ; both bringing out the idea of sud- let loose," "to let go " •( cf. the German denness, and the latter that of the uproar of jahren lassen), and hence "to overlook, or the tempest. The Khetib, or traditional reject." Its force is fairly represented in the ten of the manuscripts (n,1~~:;,), is equi- LXX., ~A,copovs bro&EITE .,,a. ffovJ..its, "Ye valent to the Keri, or emend.ad reading (n~\lli;i), 11,11d both appear to have the same rendered my counsel of no effect." Counsel (nfA', •etsah) ; i.e. ad vice, in the sense of root-maiming. Desti:uction (1'~, eyd); the recommendations for doing good, as opposed ea.me as "calamity" in the preceding verse. to reproofs for the avoidance of evil (see Whirlwind; n~no (8Uphah), from the root 'l'D vers. 23 and 30). Would none, The same (suph), "to snatch, or carry awa.y," means a. verb, n:it-i (avah), occurs in vers. 10 and 30, whirlwind carrying everything before it- hence ~;d with the negative ti? (lo) in the the ,ca;7a.ry(s of the LXX., or hurricane, as in 11ense of a.1m8e1v (LXX.), "to refuse com- Arist., 'Mund.,' 4. 16. Distress and anguish pliance with," as in lEschylue, 'Agam.,' (npJlll n';I~, tsarah 11'tzv.kah). A corre- 1049. sponding alliteration occurs in Isa. x.xx. 6 Ver. 26.-I also will laugh at your and Zeph. i. 15. The root-signification of calamity; or, more accurately, in the time the former is that of compression, reproduced of your calamity; as in the Vulga.te, in in the LXX. 6J..l,jm, and the Vulgate tribu.- interitu vestro ridebo. The preposition pre- latio ; that of the latter is narrowness. fi_xed to the substantive b'eyd'chem (CJ?,~•~:p) LXX., 1roJ..1op,c[a, "o beleaguering;" Vnl- refers to the time, or state, or condition gate, angv.stia. The LXX. adds, at the (Gesenius, 'Gram.,' 154. 3). In the time close of this verse, 1) 3nv lpx11n, v,.,v of their ca.la.mity wisdom will exult or /lJ..e8pos as explanatory. rejoice. The LXX., Tp VJJ.fT'p~ a.1rwJ...l~ Ver. 28.-The phe.ee which the address lm-yeJ..rluoJJ.a.•, however, favours the renrloring now enters upon continues to the thirty-first of the Authorized Version. Calamity (i•~, verse. The cha.nge in this verse from the eyd) is heavy overwhelming misfortune, second" to the third person is striking. It  lG THE PROVERBS. [CH. I, 1-33