The Pulpit Commentary — Proverbs — Section 143

hood," "lying" (of. ob. xxi. 28). .A. fa'la6 stronger of a purely tempor0.l nature could ,cit'M1'11 (Hebrew, ed-k'eavim), &B in margin, be devised. It may be objected that the sin "a witness of lies." The expression, •• aa is not put forward iu the higher light, as cm a false witness," as it appears in the origine.l, is explanatory, and indicates the particular offence before God, and the.t the appeal is aspect under which the speaking of lies is me.de simply on the lines of self-interest; regarded. Lving in its more general sense but who will deny that the scope of the has been slr<>ady spoken of in ,·er. 17. The teaching is distinctly moral, or the.t me.nkind vice which is here noted as odious to God is not influenced and dissuaded from sin by is expressly forbidden in the moral code, "Thou she.It not bear fa.lee witness a.go.inst such e. category of evils as includes personal thy neighbour" (Exod. :u. 16). But this, beggary, dishonour, and death? though the chief, is only one view of the ca.se. Perjury may be employed, not only Ver. 20.-The first part of this verse is in ruining the innocent, but also in screen- couched in almost the same terms as that ing the guilty. "Much hurt," says Muffet, of oh. i. 8, except that mitz'rath, "precept," in Zoe., "doth the deceitful and lying witness, preceptum, is here used instead of musar, for he corrupteth the judge, oppresseth the eruditio, or "disciplinary instruction," while innocent, suppresseth the truth, a.nd in the the latter part of the two verses are iden- courts of justice sinneth age.inst his own tical. soul and the Lord himself most grievously." Ver. 21.-This verse recalls also eh. iii. 3, "He tba.t spea.keth lies as a false witness," and reminds us of the use of the phylacteries, again, may be the vile instrument in the or tefellim, common among the Jews of our hands of unscrupulous and inexore.ble ene- Lord's time, and the practice of binding mies, as those employed against our Lord which upon various parts of the person me.y and Stephen. Perjury, too, destroys the have had its origin in this and such like secmity of communities. The shipwreck passe.ges. The "tying about" the neck may of society which it occasions may be seen suggest the use of amulets, an Oriental cus- in the frightful misery which ensued when tom, to ward off evil, but it is more likely the system of delatoree wa.s not only counte• the.t it refers to the wearing of ornaments. nauced, bnt encouraged nuder the Rome.n Them j i.e. the commandment and law of empire. Truly speaking, he that lies as a father and mother respectively, expressed in false witness must be ha.teful to God. And the Hebrew by the suffix -em, in the verb he th&t soweth discord among brethren; the koah'rem, equivalent to liga ea, and age.in seventh and last thing in the enumera.tion, in ifndem, equivalent to 1'inci ea. (For the but not, as Delitzsch holds, the ne plw personal use of this figure, see Cant. viii. 6.) tiltra of e.ll that is hated of God. It closes, Tie them; Hebrew, ilndem. The verb ciniid, as in ver. 14, the series, but with the addi- " to tie," only occurs twice as a verb-here tion •• among brethren ; " thns emphe.tically and in Jobxx.xi.36. Leeprefers"to bind;" stigmatizing the conduct of the.t man as Delitzsch, however, states that it is equiva- diabolical who destroys the harmony and lent to the Latin circumplicare, "to wind unity of those who ought to live together about." The meaning of this and similar in brotherly affection, and who disturbs the passages ( cf. eh. vii. 3; Exod. xiii. 9; Dent. peace of communities. vi. 8; xi. 13) is the.t the commandment, precept, law, or whatever is intended, should Vere. 20-35.-12: Twelfth admonitory dis- be always present to the mind. The heart course. In this the teacher returns again to suggedts that they are to be linked to the affections, and the neok that they will be the Bllbject which he has already tree.ted in an ornament decking the more.I character. the eighth discourse. The extreme ten- Ver. 22.-The going, sleeping, and awak- dency of men, and especially young men, to ing occur in the same order in the Penta- sins of impurity is no doubt, as Delitzsch teuch, from which the ideas of this and the remarks, the reason why this subject is again preceding verse are evidently derived (see Dent. vi. 7 and xi. 19). Though only resumed. The subject is gradually worked specifying three conditions, they refer to the up to the preceding admonitions in vera. 20 whole conduct of life, e.nd hence the verse -23, pointing out that the way of life, the promises direction, gue.rdianship, and con- way of safety, is to be secured by obedience verse of wisdom, which will undoubtedly to the precepts of parents, whose commaud- attend life where the precepts of parents are lovingly treasured and obediently ob- mentand la.w illumine the perilous road oflife, served. The Authorized Version couvey11 and whose reproofs are salutary to the soul. the impression that it is "the keeping" The arguments against the sin of adultery of the parents' precepts, eto., which is to e.re cogent in their diseuasiveness, and none bee.r suoh results; but it is bettor to mide:r- 0lt, vt. 1-35.] THE PROVERBS. 133