The Pulpit Commentary — Proverbs — Section 136

fulfil hie engagements. Of this unwearied he does. In the case of suretyship sueh nn energy in the pursuit of an object in which issue is uncertain; there is the possibility one is deeply interested, compare David's resolution, "I will not give sleep to mine of escape, the surety may prevail upon his eyes, or slumbP.r to mine eyelids, until I find friend to release him from his obligation, out a place for the Lord, an habitation for and so he may escape rnin ; but with the mighty God of Jacob" (Ps. cxxxii. 4, 5). sloth no such contingency is possible, its Ver. 5.-The struggles of the roe and the invariable end is disaster. So far as the bird to escape from the snare are employed grammatical structure of the two discourses figuratively to describe the efforts which the surety ie to make to tear and free is concerned, thoy e.ppear to be quite inde- himself from hie friend. ll'rom the hand of pendent of each other, the only points of the hunter (Hebrew, mlyyad); literally, coincidence observable being the repetition from the hand, ea shown by the italics. The of one or two words, which is purely acci- variation in all the ancient versions, with dental ( cf. "go" in vers. 3 and 6, and the exception of the Vulgate e.nd Venetian, which read "from the snare," suggests that "sleep" and "slumber" in vers. 4 and 10). the original text we.a mippath instead of Ver. 6.-0o to the ant, thou alngge.rd; mlyyad. The Hebrew yad, "hand," me.y, consider her ways, and be wise. The ant however, be used by metonymy for e. toil or (Hebrew, n'malah) is here brought forward gin; but this is improbable, 115 no example as supplying an example of wisdom to the of this kind can be found. With regard to sluggard. The habits of tbis insect, its the addition, "of the hunter," though this industry e.nd providence, have in all ages does not occur in the original, the pare.1- made it the symbol of these two qualities, Jelism would seem to clearly require it, and and not only the sacred, but also profane Bottcher maintains, but upon insufficient writers have praised its foresight, e.nd held evidence, and against the reading of all it up for imitation. The ant is only men- m1rnuscripts, which omit it, that the word tioned twice in the Old Testament, and on uayyad, equivalent to "of the hunter," both occasions in our book (see present pas- formed part of the original text, but hAs sage aml eh. m. 25). The derivation of fallen out. The plain reading, "from the n'malah is either from the root ncim, with hand," may, however, be used absolutely, as reference first to the silence with which it in 1 Kings xx. 42, " Because thou hast let moves, and secondly to its active yet unper- go out of thy hand (mlyyad)," in which case ceived motion (Delitzsch), or from namcil, the hand will not be that of the hunter, but i.q. malal, "to cut off," from its cutting off that of the person for whom the one ia surety. or consuming seeds (ab incidendi8 seminibus) Roe. There is e. paronomasia in ts'vi, equi ve.- (Buxtorf, Gesenius). The A.ro.me.ic name, lent to "roe," and tslphor, equivalent to shum'sh'manah, however, points to its e.ctivity " bu-d," of the original, which is lost in the and rapid running hither and thither Autborized Version. The ts'vi is the " roe" (Fleischer). 81,uggard; Hebrew, atsel, e. or " gazelle," so named from the beauty of verbe.l e.djective found only in the Proverbs. its form (see also Song of Sol. ii. 7-9, 17; The primary idea of the root atsal is that of iii. 5; viii. 14; l Kings v. 3; Isa. xiii. 14). languor nnd laxity. The cognate abstract Tslppor is e. generic word, and represents nouns iits'lah e.nd ats'luth, equivalent to e.uy small bird. It is derived from the "slothfulness," occur in eh. xix. 15; xxx.i. twittering or chirping noise which the bird 27. Consider her way~; o.ttentively regard makes, the root being tsaphiir, "to chirp, or them, and from them derive a lesson of twitter." As to its identifice.tion with the wisdom. Her we.ye are the manner in sparrow, Passer montanus, or the blue thrush, which the e.nt displays her industry and PetrocossyphU8 C'Jlanens (see• Bible Animals,' foresight. Rev. J. G. Wood, p. 405, edit. 1876). Ver. 7.-Whioh he.ving no guide, overseer, or ruler. This statement is substantially Vere. 6-11.-10. Tenth arlmonitory dis- correct, for though the most recent observa- course. Warning against sloth. The ethical tions made by modern naturalists have dis- covered various olasses of ants occupying connection of this discourse with the pre- the same ant-hill, yet there 11ppee.rs to be ceding has alree.dy been pointed out. Sloth e. total we.nt of that gradation and sub- militates age.inst prosperity; it is the pro- ordination in e.nt-life which is notioooble lific po.rent o[ we.nt, and, even more surely among bees. The three terms used here, the.n suretyship, leads to misfortune e.nd katsa, skater, moshel, e.11 refer to government, and correspond re~pectively with the moderu ruin. The certo.inty with which ruin steals Are.hie terms, kadi, wali, e.nd emir (Zockler). upon the slugge.rd me.y be the reuson why The first refers to the judicial office, e.nd the teacher closes the discourse in tho wo.y should rather be rendered "judge," the root  126 'l'HE PROVERBS. [olI, VI, 1-35,