The Pulpit Commentary — Proverbs — Section 126

con<luct into rele.tion with the duty he owes woman; fsh, "man," being used generloa.lly, to Jehove.h. Not merely is his conduct to .A re befo1·e the eye8 of the Lord ; i.e. are an be regulitl;ed by love and affection e.lone, but object on whicll Jehovah fixes his gaze it is to be fe.shione<l by the reflection or and scrutiny. And he pondereth all his goings. The word "he ponderctb " is in the consciousness that the Supreme Doing pre- 01:iginal rn'pl,iilles, the pie! participle of philles, sides over all, l\nd tC1kes cognizance of p1ol of the unused kn.I, paliis, cmd appears humnn artion. Without losing sight thnt to be properly rendered in the Authorize<! the nmrriage contract ha.s its own peculiar Version. This verb, however, has vo.riou!j obligations, the foot is insisted upon that !11-enn~gs: (1) to make level, or prepare, 11a m eh. iv. 26 11nd v. 6; (2) to weigh, or con- all a m3n's ways are open to the eyes of the sider a.ccure.tely, in whioh sense it is used Lord. here. So Gesenius, Lee, Buxtorf, and David- son. Jehovah not only sees, but weighs all Ver. 20.-And why; i.e. whe.t inducement that a. man does, wheresoever he be, and will is there, what reason can be given, for con- apportion rewards and punishments according jugal infidelity, except the lewd and immoral to a. man's actions (Patrick). The German promptings of the lower nature, except sen- commentators, Delitzsch and Zockler, how- snalitv in its lowest form? Ravished. The ever, look upon the word as indioating the verb sluigch recurs, but in a. lower sense, 11s overruling providence of God, just as the indicating" the foolish delirium of the liber- former part of the verse refers to his omni- tine hastening after the harlot" (Zockler). science, and render, "he marketh out," in With a. strange woman (Hebrew, b'zarah); the sense that the Lord makes it possible i.e. with a harlot. On zo.ro.h, see eh. iL 16 for 11 man to walk in the way of uprightness and vii. 5. The b' (~) localizes the sources of e.nd purity. There is nothing inherently the intoxication. Embrace (Hebrew, t'khiib- objectionable in this view, since experienoe bek). On this verb, see eh. iv. 8. The bosom shows the.t the world is regulated by the of a stranger (Hebrew, kheh niJk'riyyah). Divine government, but it loses sight to some A parallel expression having the same force extent of the truth upon which the teacher as its counterpart. The more usual form of appears to be insisting, which is the.t evil khek is kheyk, e.nd means "the bosom " of a. actions are visited with Divine retribution. person. In eh. xvi. 33 it is used of the lap, and in eb. xvii. 23 and xxi. 14 for tile Vers. 22, 23.-The fearful, end of the adul- bosom or folds of a garment. terei·. From the uni vereo.l statement of Ver.21.-For the ways of ma.n a.re before God's omniscience and the Divine judgment, the eyes of the Lord. The obvious meaning here is that as " the eves of the Lord are in the teacher passes to the fate of the profl.i- every place, beholding'the evil and the good" go.te. His end is inevitable ruin and misery. (eh, xv. 3), there is no possibility of any The deep moral lesson oonveyed is that sin act of immorality escaping God's notice. carries with it its own Nemesis. Adultery Tbe consciousness of this fact is to he the and impurity, like all sin of which they are restraining motive, inasmuch as he who sees will also punish every transgression. The forms, aro retributive. The career of the great truth acknowledged here is the omni- adulterer is e. career begun, continued, and science of God, a truth which is borne wit- ended in folly (comp. eh. i. 31, 32; ii, 5; ness to in almost identical language in Job: xviii. 7; xxix. 6; and Ps. ix. 15). "For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings" (Job xxxiv. Ver. 22.-His own iniquities shall take 21; cf. xriv. 23 and xxxi. 4), So Hanani the wicked himself; i.e. his manifold sins the seer says to Asa King of Judah, she.II overtake and arrest him. The imagery "For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro is borrowed from the snare of tbe fow !er. throughout the whole earth" (2 Chron. xvi. The emphatic form of the original, '' His 9); and Jehovah says, in Jeremiah, "For sins shall overtake him, the impious man," mine eyes are upon all their ways, they are point conclusively to the adulterer. It is not hid from my face, neither is their ini- "his" sins that shall overtake him, not quity hid from mine eyes" (Jer. xvi. 17; those of 11nother, and they shall foll upon cf. x.xxii. 29); and again, in Hosea, "They his own head; and further, his character is are before my face" (Hos. vii. 2), and the depicted in the condemning clause, "the same truth is re-echoed in the Epistle to impious man:" for such he is. Sltall take. the Hebrews, in all probability gathered The rnrb lukiid is literally "to le.ke 01: trom our passage, "All things are naked and co.tch 11nimals in Cl en11re or net," properly opened unto the eyes of Lim with whom we "to strike with 11 net." 'l'ho wicked m11n nave to do" (Heb. iv.18). The ways of man; becomes .entangled and cciught in his own i.e. the conduct of auy individual m11n or ewe; he ie strnck down and cC1ptured by OH, V, 1--23.] THE PROVERBS.