The Pulpit Commentary — Proverbs — Section 55

pnthe. The root-ides of the Hebrew niph. Isro.elitee with the women of the surrounding participle c•1.\S11 ("un'wzim), tmnelated "and nations; but the ex11mple set by Solomon they froward,'; ie "to bend eside," " to tum would serve to wee.ken the force of these nway." They are turned aside to the right prohibitions, and would lead to e. large influx hand and to the left in their walk. Tile of women of e. different no.tiono.lity. The niph. participle 1\S~ (naroz) only occurs four conclusion we arrive at is that the class mentioned in the t.ext, though not Ismelitieh times in the Scriptures-here; eh. iii. 32; by birth, were yet eo by adoption, o.s the xiv. 2 ; and Isa. xxx. I 2. This is the last context clearly indicates (ver. 17) the fa.et feature in tileir wickednese. of mo.rrio.ge and the noceptance of certo.ln Ver. 16.-To deliver thee from the strange religions observo.ncee. Such women, after woman. Thie is the second form of tempta- a temporary restraint, would eventually set tion against which wisdom (discretion) is a all moro.l and religious obligations at de- preservative, and the great and especial fiance, and would become the source of temp- dangers arising from it to youth, owing to tation to others. The allegorical interprets• its seductive alllll'ements, afford the reason tion given to this passage by the LXX. is to why the teacher is so strong in hie warnings be rejected on the ground that the previous on this subject. Two terms are employed section (vers. 12-15) speaks of perverse to designate the solll'ce of tilis evil-" the men. Which flattereth with her words; strange woman" (n~ i"llf~, ishshah zara), and literally, who has made smooth her words, "the stranger" (~~}, ,wk'riyah)-o.nd both the hiph. perfect being used of p'?i;i (khalak), undoubtedly, in the ·passage before us, mean "to make smooth," or C<flo.ttering." The pre- a meretricious person, one who indulges in terite shows what her habitual practice is, illicit interconrse. The former term is in- and is used of an action still continuing, vnrio.blyemployedin thleeensein the Proverbs and so may be fitly rendered by the pre- (eh. v. 2, 20 ; vii. 5 ; xxii. 14 ; :u:i.i.i. 33) of sent, as in the Authorized Version: "She bas the adulteress (C'":1?, zarim), and Jer. ii. 25. acquired the art of enticing by flattering The participle "1J (zar),from the verb "111 (zur), words, and it is her study to employ them;" of which i"l:,J (zarah) is the feminine form, is, cf. the Vulgo.te, qum mollit sermones suos, however, nsed in e. wider sense, as signifying "who softens her words;" and the Sylliac, (1) one of another nation, or one of another qlLIB subvertit verba sua, "who subverts her family; (2) or some one diEerent from one's words," i.e. "uses deceit." The expression self; (3) or strange. Thns: (I) in Isa. i. 7 occurs again in eh. v. 3; vi. 24 ; vii. 5. we have " Strangers devonr it (yonr land) Ver. 17.-The guide of her youth (91~~ in yonr presence ; " but in Exod. xn:. 33 i:;!')1Jlb alluph n'ureyah); properly, the asso- "the stranger" is one not the high priest. ciate or companion of her youth. 'l'he Hebrew, (2) The "stranger" is another (eh. xi. 15; xiv. 10; xx. 16; n:vii 2, 13), (3) The 9''1;! ( alluph), being derived from the root 9?"1$, " strange fire" (n~ i;~, eBh zarah) is the un- (alaph), "to accustom one's self to," or "to lo. wful fire as opposed to the holy fire (Lev. be accustomed to" or "familiar with" any L 1); the "strange god" ("1J ~!:I, el zar) is one. The word is rendered as "friend" in eh. xvii. 9; xvi. 28; Micah vii. 5. The idea the foreign god (Ps. Ixxxi. 9). But the of guide.nee, which is adopted in the idea of foreign origin implied in the word is Authorized Version, and nppears o.leo in the more strongly brought out in the next term, Vulgate duz, and To.rgum ducatus, is n i"l;~, ( nok'riyah), on which Delitzsch remarks secondary idea, and is derived probo.hly from that it scarcely ever divests itself of a strange, the relation in wilich the husband sto.nds to foreign origin. This word is nsed to desig- his wife. Various interpretations hnve been nate those "strange women" whom Solomon given to the expression. It ~ur~ o.gai~ in loved in his old age, and who turned his Jer. iii. 4, where Jehovah npphes 1t to him- heart a.side to worship false gods (1 Kings self, and so.ys, through his prophe~ to the xi. 1-8), "outlo.ndish women," as they are religiously adulterous Judah, "Wilt thou termed in Neh. xiii. 26; it designates" the not from this time cry unto me, My Father, strange wives" of Ezra x. and Ne_h. xiii. 27; thou art tho Guide of my youth (•-:)~/ 91,~, and is applied to Ruth the Moab1tess (Ruth ii. 10). Ago.in, it ho.a to be further observed alluph n'ura)?" It has also been under- tho.t the laws of the Mosaic code a.go.inst stood as referring to the woman's po.rents, i:,rostitution were o_f a. most strin~~nt nature her father and mother, who were her no.turo.l (Lev. xix. 29 ; xx1. 9; Deut. xxm. 17), and guo.rclians. But the context seems to re- no doubt served to maintain a higher standard quire that it should be taken as designo.ting of morality amon•' Israeliti.h women than her husband. It will then be the correlo.tiv~ tLe.t observed o.mo~g tlrn Midianites, Syrians, of "the wife of thy yot1th" of l\Iul. ii. 14. o.ud otl,er uations. Strong prohibitions The covenant of her God j i.e. the mo.1·rio.go were din,cte,l against the intermarriage of covenant, called "the covenant of her God," Oll. It, 1-22.J THE PROVERBS. 41