idea of something recommendatory, :For to the person add1·essed. "Thouo-h thou the expression, nl2st1 phanim, cf. Gen. xix. 21; givest many gifts," or more literally,-~ thou"h xxii. 21 ; Job xiii. 10; xiii. 8; and Mai. i. 8. thou multipliest the gift," brings the matter The LXX. rendering is, 0&1< ii.v-ral\71.&.!<Ta• home to the young man. Gift•; Hebrew, o~B,vos 71.oTpov Tlw txepav, "He will not com- shokiid, "the gift," is the word usually mute for any redemption his enmity." employed to designate the bribe offered to Neither will he rest content; litewlly, and corrupt a judge (see El!:od. x:x;iii. 8; Deut. x. he will not be willing; Hebrew, 'lllo-yovl!h; 17; xvi. 19; xxvii. 25; 1 Sam. viii. 3). LXX., o&5~ µ+, B1all.716f,, "nor may it, i.e. his Here it refers to the money offered to free enmity, be dissolved or weakened." (On the from punishment, 'l'he Vulgale gives the verb a·ulih, "to consent to," or''to be willing," idea that these gifts or bribes are offered by eee eh. i. 10.) Me.ny gifts, e11ch increasing a third party on behalf of the adulterer: in value, may be offered, but he will not be Nee acquiucet cuj1J,Squam precibus, nee sus- willing to forego hie rightofrevenge. Though cipiet po redemptione dona plurima. On thou givest many gifts. It is noticeable these two last verses Lange remarks, "Just that the address, which he.s been e.dapted as liltle as the adulterer, taken in his to the third person, here becomes personal, adultery, b left unpnnished by the injured and so takes up the form originally employed husband, so little, yea, even less, will the in vers. 20-25. A hypothetical case has spiritual adnlterer remain unpunished of been imagined in vers. 26-35, but still with the Lord (1 Cor. iii. 17)." the thought underlying it the.t it e.pplies
HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-5.-The surety. Our Christian charity may naturally be shocked at the - selfishness apparently inculcated by the frequent warnings against giving security for others that are scattered up and down the Book of Proverbs. They have done mure than anything else to lead people to regard the standard of morality uf the Proverbs as low and worldly. Let us consider the subject from various points of view. I. 'i'HE STANDARD OF MORALITY OF THE BooK OF PROVERBS 18 LOWER THAN THAT OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. Let this fact be clearly recognized. Revelation is pro- gressive. Doctrine is only revealed by degrees. The same applies to ethics. Such a method is most suited to the moral education of the race. A less-advanced people can only live up to a less-elevated principle. If the standard be raised too high, it ceases to bi! effective, and becomes like a counsel of perfection, which ordinary people disregard. On the otbar band, Christians have no excuse for taking refuge in the lower principles of an obsolete dispensation. lJ. AN EXCLUSIVE ATTENTION TO ONE DUTY WILL ALWAYS MILITATE AGAINST OTm:R DUTIES. Duties cross and qualify one ·another. Each taken hy itself and pressed to its extreme will lead to conflict with others. Now, here vrudence only is commended. 'fo enforce it the more powerfully, other duties are for the time left out of sight. When they are taken up tbey will qualify it considembly. !II. lT IS FOOLISH 'l'O UNDERTAKE AN OBLIGATION WHICH WE ARE UNWILT.ING TO CARRY OUT. It is so easy to make chivalrous promises. But immense harm is done by overhaste in professions of generosity. Let a rnan count the cost enough to see whether be is morally able to bear the strain before making a very liberal offer. IV. MucH EVIL WAS DONE BY THE MONEY-LENDING SYSTEM OF THE JEWS. The laws of debt were most stringent, and "the goods of the sureties might be distrained, or they even sold o.s slaves, just as in the case of insolvent debtors." Such an out- rageously cruel state of things was jnstly deprecated. V, OTHER MORE PRESSING 0LAll1S FORBID US TO CONTRACT SO:M.E OF THE MOST EXACTING Olll,IGATIOKS. 'l'he good-natured Jew who beggared his children and lost his liberty by becoming surety to a spendtbrirt, robbed those who bnd most right to enjoy his property, and hinrlered himself from doing more good in the future. '!'be duty of a man to his family is often pleader! as an excuse for some act of mean selfishness. Nevertheless, the duty is real, and must not be neglected; A man has no right to risk bis children's welfare in order to oblige a friend. Peop!e who are too basty in put tin:; their names to bills should remember this. VI. TIIE BURE'fY IS ONLY ADYISED TO ESCAPE DY JUST MEANS. He is not told to 140 THE PROVERBS. [on. vt. 1-85,
break his promise, to hide, to leave the country. He is urged to eeek a release by requesting his fnend to grant it him. Such a course is humiliating. But it ie not dishonest.