The Pulpit Commentary — Proverbs — Section 56

beoause entered into in his presence. The Pa. lxxxviii. 11; Isa. xxvi. H, 19; Job forsaking of the guide of her youth is essen- xxvi. 5. tially bound up with a forgetfulneBB of the Ver. 19.-lfone that go unto her return solemn covene.nt which she he.d entered into age.in. Tbe fate of the companions of the in the presence of God. No specific mention strange woman is described e.s irrevocable. is me.de in the Pentateuch of any religious All who visit her shall not return again. ceremony at mCLrriCLge; yet we may infer, from The Te.rgum reads, " They shall not retum MCLl, ii. 14, 15, where God is spoken of BB in peace." The difficulty which they who "e. Witness" between the husband e.nd" the give themselves up to the indulgence or wife of his youth," " the wife of thy cove- lust and passion encounter in extricating ne.nt," thCLt the marriage contract we.a solem- themselves makes the statement of tho nized with sacred rites. The Proverbs thus teacher e.n almost universal truth. Renea give a high and se.cred chare.cter to mar- St. Chrysostom se.ys, "It is as difficult to riage, and so carry on the original idea of bring back a libidinous person to chastity the institution which, under the gospel dis- as II dead man to life." This pe.ssaue led pensation, developed into the principle of some of the Fathers to declare that the Bin the indissolubility of the marriage tie. It of adultery was unpardonable. Fornication is no objection to this view the.t the mono- wa.s cla.ssed by the scholastic divines among ge.mic principle was infringed, and polygamy the seven deadly Bins, and it has this countenanced. 'The reason of this le.tter character given to it in the Litany: "From departure is given in Deut. xxii. 28 and fornication, and all other deadly sin." St. Exod. xxii. 16. The morality of the Pe.ul says, "No whoremonger nor unclean Proverbs e.lwe.ys represents monogamy as person . . . bath any inheritance in the the rule; it deprecates illicit intercourse, and kingdom of Christ and of God" (Eph. v. 5; discountenances divorce, It is in entire cf. I Cor. vi. 9; Rev. xxii. 15). The sin e.ccorde.nce with the seventh commandment. which they commit who have dee.lings with The woman who commits adultery offends, the strange woman is deadly and leads on not only against her husband, but age.inst to death, and from death there is no return, her God. nor laying hold of or regaining the paths of Ver. 18.-l!'or her ho118e inolineth unto life (see Job vii. 9, 10). Compare the words death; rather, she sinl,s down to death together with which Deiphobe, the Cumrean sibyl, with her hoU,Be (Bottcher, Delitzsch). The addresses lEnee.s- objection to the Authorized Version is that it " Troe AnchyBie.de, fa.cilia descensns Averno does not follow the construction of the original, Sed revoca.re gradum supera.sque eve.dere the verb "sinks down" (no~, shakhah) beiug ad auras, feminine, while •• house" (n:~, bayith) is Hoe opus, hie le.bor est." invCLrie.bly masculine. ;Aben Ezra translates, (Virgil, '1Eneid,' vi. 126-129.) "She sinks down to death, (which is to be) "0 Trojan, ~on'.of Ancbyses, easy is the path her house;" but it seems better to regard that leads to hell. But to retrace one's steps, "her house" as an adjunct of the strange and escape to the upper regions, this is CL woman. Her house includes a.11 who belonb work, this is e. task." to her. She and they are involved in the Vere. 20-22.-Conclusionofthe discourse se.me fate. The Authorized Version is in which a.re antithetically stated the respec- evidently influenced by the Vulga.te, Incli- tive destinies of tbo good e.nd the had, tho nata est enim ad mortem domus eju8, " For her house is inclined to death." The LXX. gives upright a.nd the wicked. o. different rendering, "EB•ro -yrt.p 1ra.prt. .. ,;, Ver. 20.-That (Hebrew,]!'~?• l'maan); in lla.vO.r'f' Tbv o1Kov a.,,.,..,<, " For she ha th order t11at (V ulgute, ut), carries us be.ck pluced her house beside deCLth." So the properly to ver. II. The protecting power Ara.hie. The " for " (•~, ki) refers back to of wisdom is developed in a positive direo- ver. 16, and indicates how great is the tion. Negutively, it delivers from the evil deliverance effected by wisdom. The mean- man and from the strange womCLn, but it ing of the passage is e.ptly illustrCLted by does more-" it aha.II keep thee in order thCLt eh. vii. 27, " Her house is the way to hell, thou me.yest walk in CL good wa.y," etc. The going down to the chambers of death." And Hebrew J!'r;J? (l'maan) is co-ordiimte with" to her paths unto the dead. The dead (c•~~-:i, r'phnim) are properly the quiet, or tlio deliver thee," but it serves to bring the dis- feeble. They 11re the shadowy inhabitants course to a oonolusion. Umhreit renders it or !!ha.des of Hu.dee, the inferi of the Vulga.te, "therefore," thus mCLking whu.t follows an inference from the precediug discourse. So o.nd 11re here put for Sheol itself. Compo.re the SyriCLo ambula ,'gitur, "therefore walk." the •l'li..,M Ka.µ.vovToiv of Homer, and the umbrre, "shades," of Virgil. The word In the way of good men (c•:,i\n 1:;r::1"1, b'derek occurs 11gCLin in oh. ix. 18; xxi. 16; and in !ovim); i.e. in the wayofthogood,in 1m ethical  42 THE PROVERBS. [on. u. 1-22.