The Pulpit Commentary — Proverbs — Section 98

"s 1,i9 father's advice wns the outcome of David's instructions to Solomon are found affection, so he addresses his hearers in the in 1 Kings ii. 2; 1 Caron. xxil. 12, 13; same spirit. Dathe and others connect xxviii. 9. And he taught; i.e. his fath6r, for "tencler"(rak)with "son" (ben),andrender, viiyyoreni is masculine. The LXX. renders, "I wns e. son dear to my father." So "They said and taught me (ot t·1wyov 1'a.l the LXX., which, however, understands iB,Ba.1T1<dv µ.,)," as if the precepts which fol- "tender" in the sense of "tractable," low were the combined teaching of David and " obedient:" "For I was an obedient son Bathsheba. This variation is duo to the to my father"-a meaning which the word mention of both parents iu the preceding riik can only bear as indicating the suscepti- verse. Retain; yith'mlfk, kal fut are, userl bility of the young to receive impressions. imperatively, of thamiik, "to take hold of," In general, riik means "tender," "soft," and and metaphorically, as here, " to hold fast" has reFerence to the weakness and helpless- (see eh. iii. l 8). The LXX. renders nees 'of the young; comp; Gen. xxxiii. 13, ip.,Be-r"', imperative of lp,CBw, "to fix firm." "My lord •knoweth that the children are Symmachus has ,ca-r,xfr"', "give heed to." tender (ra7ckim)." Combined with yakhid, And live; i.e. and thou shalt live, as the which follows, it signifies, in the passage kal imperative, kh'yeh, from khayah, "to before us, that the teacher was an object of live," has here the force of the future tender care cir love. The Vulgate tenellus, (cf. Vulgate, et viues). The meaning is, the diminutive of tener, ea signifying" some- '' And thou shalt enjoy e. long and happy what tender or delicate," reproduces the life." Temporal life alone seems to be in- idea of the Hebrew riik. In the word the <'licated, as in ver. 10 ( cf. eh. iii. 2). The teacher recalls his early life and the Syriac addition, "And my law as the apple instruction in wisdom which he received in of thine eye," is probably borrowed from eh. it. Only beloved; literally, only (yakhid), vii. 2, where we meet with the same admo- as "beloved " does not occnr in the original. nition, The Vulgate renders, unigenitua; Aquila, Ver. 5.-After the general exhortation Symmachus, and Theodotion, µ.ovo-y•V1J•, given above, the father's instruction becomes i.e. "only begotten : " but this was not more specific, and deals with the acquire- literally the fact, as Bathsheba, the mother ment of wisdom. This subject seems to be of Solomon, had other sons (2 Sam. v. 14; continued in ver. 13, where the second and 1 Chron. iii. 5). Both the Hebrew y4khid, concluding branch of the instruction begins, "only," and the Vulgate unigenitus, "only which consists mainly of warning, as the begotten," consequently signify who.t is first part does with exhortation. We o.re expressed by the LXX. a.-ya:,rwµ.,vos, i.e. thus furnished with an example how to "beloved." Solomon wo.s so beloved of his teach. In oar teaching it is not sufficient mother as if he were an only child. So simply to point out what is to be done, bat yalchid is used of Isaac in Gen. xxii. 2, 12 we must show who.t is to be arnided. Get in the same way, since at the time that wisdom, get understanding. The father Isaac was so designated, Ishmael, the other urges the acquirement of wisdom in the son of Abraham, was still living. The same way and with the same importunity word yakhid occurs in Ps. xxii. 20, where as the trader or merchant presses his goods it is rendered "darling," and mo.y possibly upon buyers. Wisdom and understanding refer to Solomon. Jennings, in Ps. x.xii. 20, a.re put forward as objects of merchnndise ; understands it, however, of the life besides for the verb kanal,, from which the impera- which the psalmist has no other-unicam tive k'neh, signifies not only " to acquire for meam, oa the Vulgate, i.e. "his only life" (cf. one's self," or "to posses.'!," but especfolly " to Ps. xxxv. 17; and for the word yahhid, see buy." The verb occurs agnin in the same Jer. v. 26; Amos viii. 10; Zecu, xii. 10). sense in ver. 7, "Get [k'neh, i.e. buy] wiE• In the sight of my mother (liph'ne immi); dom;" and in eh. xxiii. 23, "Buy (k'neh) literally, ·ad facies matris mea1, or, bPfore my the truth, and sell it not; nlso wisrlom, and mother; Vulgate, coram mat.re mea, i.e. in instruction, ond understanding" ( cf. also eh. her estimation (cf. Gen. :xvii. 18). The xv. 22: xvi. 16; xix. 9, where we e.lso meet mention of the mother is probably introduced with the se.me verb). The reiteration of the here for the sake of poetio parallt:lism ; of. word "get,'' o.s Umbreit remarks, is "o.n eh. i. 8 (Ziickler). imitation of the exclamation of a merchant Ver. 4.-From this verse to ver. 19 in- who is offering his wares." The importunity clusive, the teacher quotes the instruction of the father measures the value he sets upou which he had received of his father. His wisdom oe an inestimable treasure, a penrl of object in doing so is to show that his own great price (see eh. iii. 14). Forget it not, te11ching was in hormony with it, and there- etc. ; rather, forget not, neither !um from !he fore worthy of attention. His precepts, words of my mouth,-so Ziickler, Delit~sch, admonitions, and warnings aro not his only, Hodg., nud others; Vulgo.te, ne oblivi8caris, ,ut those of his father. Other examples of nlliue declines ii verlri, oris mei. There is no  88 THE PROVERBS. [orr. IV. 1-2T.