The Pulpit Commentary — Proverbs — Section 124

and Jaoob or IBl'!lel sn appeitring in the pro- on the preoeding, " Then shall thy springe phecy of BalRam (Numb. xxiv. 7). The be dispersed abrond, even rivers of waters people are spoken of by David as they that in the streets." The objeotion to this is that nre "of the fountain of Israel" (Ps. lxviii. it necessitates the insertion of the copulntive 26). A simil1<r imagery is employed in the mu (1) before the verb, yaphiltzu, "be dis- New Testament of the wife. The apostles persed." (3) Zi:ickler cmd Hitzig read the St. Paul and St. Pekr both speak of her as verse interrogatively, "Sho.11 thy strenms "the vessel (-ro <TKeiios)" (see 1 Thess. iv. 4 flow ahrond as water-brool{s in the streets?" and 1 Pet. iii. 7). The forms of the original, on the analogy of oh. vi. 30 and Ps. lvi. 7. b'or and I/er, standing respectively for" cis- (4) The reading of the LXX., ndopted by tern" and ., well," indicate a common deri- Origen, Clemens Alexandrinus, places a vation from baiir, "to dig." But Mr is an negative before the Yerb, M~r lnrep<KX<(<T8w, artificially coustructed reservoir or cistern, i.e. •· Let 11ot thy waters flow beyon<l thy equi.alent to the Vulgate cisterna, and fountain ; " i.e. "confine thyself to thy wife.'' LXX. liyyuos, while b' er is the natural spring Fountains. '.rhe Hebrew ma'yanim, plural of water, equivalent to the Vulgate pulens. of mayan, derived from ayrn ("11 fountain") So Aben Ezra, who says, on Lev. ii. 36, with the formative men, is rather a stream "Bar is that which catches the rain, while or rill-water flowing on the surface of the b'cr is that from within which the water ground. It is used, however, of a fountain wells up." This explanation, however, does itself in Gen. vii. 11; viii. 2. Rirer8 of not entirely cover the terms as used here. waters (Hebrew, pal'gey-miiy,m); rather, The "waters" (Hebrew, miiyim) may be the water-courses, or water-broo1'8 ( cf. Joh xxxviii. pure water conveyed into the cistern, and 25). The ptleg represents the various streams not simply the water which is caught in its into which the miiyan, "fountain," divides descent from heaven. The parallel term, itself at its source or in its course. We "running waters" (Hebrew, noz'lim), de- find the same expression, pal'gey-mayrrn, scribes the flowing limpid stream fit, like the used of tears in Pa. cxix. 136; Lam. iii. 48. other, for drinking purposes. A similar use It occurs again in our book in eh. xxi. 1, of the terms is made in the Song of Sol. iv. '' The king's heart is in the hand of tha 15, "a well of living waters (b'er •mayim Lord as the rivers of waters (piil'gey mayim)." khayyim) and streams (v'noz'lim) from Leba- On "abroad" (Hebrew, khutz), and "m the non." It may be remarked that the allusion streets " ( r' 1'hovoth), see eh. i. 20. to the wife, under the figures employed, en- Ver. 17.-Let them be only thine own, hances her valne. It indicates tile high and not strangers' with thee. By confining estimation in which she is to be held, since yourself to chaste intercourse with your the "cistern" or "well" was one of the lawful wife, be aEsured that your offspring most valuable poseessions and adjuncts of is your own. Promiscuous and unlawful an Eastern house. The teaching of the intercour.e throws doubt upon the paternity passage, in its bearing on the subject of of children. Thy children may be thine, marriage, c.oincides with that which is they may belong lo another. The natural snbsequently put forward by St. Paul, in pride which is felt in a legitimate offspring l Cor. vii. 9. is the motive put forward to commend the Ver. 16.-Let thy foantains be dispersed husband to confine himself exclusively to abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets. his wife. Grotius on this verse remarks, The figurati.e language is still continued, " Ibi sere u bi prolem metas "-" Sow there and under the terms" fountains" and'' rivers where you may reap an offopring." Them; of waters,'' are to be understood children, i.e. the children referred to figuratively in the legitimate issue of lawful marriage. So the preceding verse, from which the subject Aben Ezra and the majority of modem of this verse is supplied. The repetition of commentators, Schultens, Doderlein, Holden, the pronoun which occurs in the original, Muenscher, Noyes, Wardlaw, etc. The "let them belong to thee, to thee,'' is em- meaning appears to be, "Let thy marriage phatic, and exclusive of others. The latter be blessed with many children, who may go clause of the verse, "and not strangers' with forth abroad for the public good." Other thee," covers the whole ground. '.rhe idea. interpretations have been adopted. Thus: of their being strangers' is repulsive, and so (I) Delitzsch takes the wordR "fountains" gives further point to the exhortation. and "rfrers of w•tera" as use,! fi(\'uratively Ver. 18.-Let thy fountain be blessed: for the procreative power, and renders, and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. "Shall thy streaws flow abroad, and water- The employment of the ordinary term brooks in the streets?" and interprets, "Let " wife" in the second hemistich shows in ~enerative power act freely and unrcslrain- what sense the figure which is need has to .,dly within the marriage relation." (2) be understood. The terms "fountain" and Schultens and Dathe, followed by Holden, ",wife" denote the same person. The wife regard the verse as expressing a conclusion is here called "thy fountain" (Hcbrc,, • <JH, V, 1-23.] THE PROVERBS. 113