The Pulpit Commentary — Proverbs — Section 144

stand "it" as signifying the whole teaching some other souree. The "commandment" or doctrine of wisdom, as Delitzsch. Wisdom an,\ the "law" alike enlighten the con- becomes personified in the representation, ecience and enable one to walk in his way and identified with her teaching. It ahall of life. On this passage Le Clerc remarks, lead thee. The Hebrew verb ndkhah, "to "Ut in tenebris lucerna, aut fax ostendit lead," in the sense of "to direct," like the nobis, qua eundum sit: in ignora.ntim ho- Lo.tin dirigere (Delitzsch), and as it is used mo.nm caligine, qum noR per bane rotam in Exodus and Numbers, passim. In the vito.m cingit, revela.tio divina nos docet, quid Pee.Ima (v. 9; xxvii. 11; xxxi. 4, etc.) it is sit faciendum, quid vitandum." So the employed of God as governing men. Hence, psalmist says in Ps. xix. 8, "The commanr\- in the affairs of life, Wisdom will so guide ment of the Lo1·d is pure, enlightening the and control us that we shall act uprightly. eyes;" and again in Ps. cxix. 105, "Thy There is the further notion imported into Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light the word of preservation from evil ( cf. cb. unto my path;" i.e. they direct and show iii. 23, "Thou shalt walk in thy way safely, the true way of faith and life (Gejerus). and thy foot shall not stumble"). When thou 'l'he "commandment" and the "law" may aleepest ; or, when thou liest down, es in stand for the whole revelation of Goel with- eh. iii. 24, where the same verb occurs. It out reference to any particular precept (as shall keep thee; i.e. watch over, keep safe, Scott), but they have here a specific bearing or preserve ; as in the V ulgate, custodire, on e. particular form of human conduct, as and the LXX. ,PvJ\a•r"r•iv. We have had appears from the fol\owi □ g verses. And tbe so.me verb, sluimiir, before in eh. ii 11. reproofs of instruction a.re the way of life. Wisdom will be as it were a guardian angel Re'[IToofs of instruction; Hebrew, tok'khoth in our hours of repose. When thou awakest; mu.stir, disciplinary reproofs, i.e. reproofs Hebrew, hiikitsotluz, the hiph. perfect of ku.tz. whose object is the discipline of the soul This word only occurs here. The hiph. and the moral elevation of the character. form, hekitz, is intransitive," to be aroused" The LXX. reads, ,cal lJ\E")'Xor ,cal 1ra.ilida; (cf. the LXX., /-y.,po/J,<vq,). It shall talk thus connecting it with edacation in its with thee; rather, she. Bertheau renders, highest sense. Sur.h reproofa a.re a. wo.y of " She will make thee thoughtful ; " and life (Hebrew, <Urlk khayyim), i.e. they lead Dathe," Let them be thy meditation;" bot to life; they conduce to tlie prolongation the accusative suffix designates the person of life. This view of the subject, so promi- who is the object of the action of the verb, nent iu the mind of the teacher in other ae in Ps. v. 5; xiii. 4; Zech. vii. 5 (Zockler) passages (cf. eh. iii. 2 and 19), most not be and as Deli tzsch remarks, the personificaticn lost eight of, though the words o.re suscep- requires something more than a mere medi- tible of another interpretation, as indicating tation with one's self on the precepts of that the severest reproofs, inasmuch as they Wisdom. Wisdom herself shall hold con- correct errors and require obedience, conduce verse with thee (cf. the LXX., ,ruUa.J\:fi ,ro,), to the greate,t happiness (Pa.trick). Or she sho.11 suggest thoughts how thou art to again, it may mean that disciplinary re- behave thyself. The meaning of the verb, proofs are necessary to life. The soul to "to meditate," "to think deeply," however, arrive at perfection must undergo them as need not be lost sight of. part of the contlitions of its existence, and, Ver. 23.-For the commandment is a consequently, they are to be submitted to lamp ; and the law is light. The teacher with the consciousness that, however irksome takes up the words "commandment" (He- they may be, they o.re imposed for its even- bll:lw, mrtzrah) and "law" (Hebrew, torah) tual benefit ( cf. Heb. xii. 5). But this in- from ver. 20, which he describes respectively terpretation is unlikely from what follows. e.s "e. lamp" and "light." The "command- Ver. 24.-To keep thee from the evil ment" is any special or particular com- woman. The specific object to which the mandment which harmonizes with God's discourse Wll,9 tending. The "command- will, and commo.ntls what is to be done and ment" and the "low" illuminate the path forbids who.t is to be left undone. The of true life generally, but in a special degree "lnw" is the wholo lo.w of God in its en- they, if attended to, will guard the young tirety; not here the Law of Moses techni- against sins of impurity, fornication, and cally, but the whole system of generalized adultery. The evil woman (Hebrew, eshlt/1 instruction. They stand, therefore, in the ra) ; strictly, a woman of evil, or vileness, or snme relo.tion to each other as " a lamp" of a wioked disposition, addictetl to evil in and "light," the one being particular, and an extraordinary degree ; ra being here a the other general. "Light" (Hebrew, or) substantive standing in a genitive relation is light in gener11l, e.s the light of the dny to efheth, as in eh. ii. 12, "The way of evil and the sun, while "e. le.mp" (Hebrew, ner, (d&lk ra)." Of. o.lso tiiJ1'pilkoth ra, pe-r- from nr2r, "to shine") is a v11.rticular light '1entates mali (eh. ii. 14), and makh'sh'voth like that of a candle, which is enkindled l\t ra, cogitationes mali (eh. ::i:v. 26), anu ii11'sllq  134 THE PROVERBS. [on. v1. 1-35.