The Pulpit Commentary — Proverbs — Section 187

bath God chosen " (l Cor. i. 21, 26, etc. ; which experience proves to occur in suoh comp. Matt. xi. 25). cases. Prudence, caution, o.nd tact aro Ver. 5.-Come, eat ye of my bread, Wis- needed in de111ing with these che.rncters. dom now directly addresses the simple and Evil men regard the reprover as e. persono.l the foolish (comp. Rev. uii. 17). And enemy, a!1d treat him with contumely, and drink of the wine which I have mingled (see hence ~r~se_ unseemly bickerings e.nd dis- on ver. 2). Bread and wine represent all putes, rnJur1ous words and deed~. To have needful nourishment, as flesh and wine in wasted teaching on such unreceptive and ver. 2. So Christ says (John vi. 51), "I am antagonistic natures is e. shameful expendi- the living Bread which came down from tu!e of power. St. Gregory thus explains heaven ... and the bread that I will give th1s matter: " It generally ho.ppens that is my flesh, which I will give for the life when they cannot defend the evils that are of the world." Compare the invitation in reproved in them, they are rendered worse Isa. Iv. I, "Ho, every one that thirstcth!" from e. feeling of shame, and carry them- etc. The Fathers see here a prophecy of the eel ves so high in their defence of themselves, gospel feast, wherein Christ gave and gives that tlley to.ke out bad points to urge bread and wine as symbols of his presence against the life of the :reprover, and sp they ()lfatt. xxvi. 26, etc.). do not account themselves guilty, if they Ver. 6.-Forsake the foolish, and live; fasten guilty deeds upon the heads of others Vulgate, reliT,quif,e, in..fantiam; Septuagint, also. And when they art, unable to find d:rroil..i1rE"TE cltppocrv,rr,v," leave folly." These true ones, they feign them, that they may versions take the plural o•~i;:,;i (petaim) as also themselves have things they may seem equivalent to an abstract noun;which gives a to rebuke with no inferior deg:i-ee of justice" good sense; but the plural is not so used in (' 11'.Ioral.,' x. a, Oxford transl.). our book, so we must admit the rendering of Ver. 8.-Reprove not e. scorner, lest he the Authorized Version, "Quit the class, hate thee (see the last note, and comp. eh. give up being of the category of fools," or xv. 12, and note there). Th.ere are times else we must take the word e.s vocative, when reproof only hardens e.nd exasperates. " Leave off, ye simple ones" (Revised " It is not proper," says St. Gregory, "for Version), i.e. quit your simplicity, yolU' the good man to fear lest the scorner should folly. And litie (see on eh. iv. 4). It is not utter abuse at him when he is ehidden, but a mere prosperous life on earth that is here lest, being drawn into hatred, he should !Ji, promised, but something far higher and made worse "(' More.I:,' viii. 67). " Bad men better (John vi. 51, "If any man eat of sometimes we spare, and not ourselv.es, if this bread, he she.II live for ever"). The from the love of those we cease from the LXX. saw something of this when they rebuking of them. Whence it is needful pare.phrased the clause, "Leave ye folly, that we sometimes endure keeping to our- th11t ye may reign for ever." Go in the selves what they are, in order tho.t they may way of understanding. Leaving folly, stay learn in us by our goo<l livingwhat they are not, but make real progress in the direction not" (ibid., xx. 47, Oxford transl.). Rebuke of wisdom. Septuagint," Seek ye prudence, a wise man, and he will love thee. So P;i. e.nd direct understanding by knowledge." cxli. 5, "Let the righteous smite me, it shall be a. kindness ; and let him reprove Vera. 7-10.-These verses form e. paren- me, it shall be as oil upon the head ; lot not thesis, showing why Wisdom addresses only my head refuse it" ( comp. eh. xix. 25; xxv. the simple and foolish. She giveth not that 12 ; xxvii. 6). which is holy unto dogs, nor casteth pearls Ver. 9.-Give instruction to a wise man, before swine (Matt. vii 6). e.nd he will be yet wiser. The Hebrew is merely " give to the wise," with no object Ver. 7.-He that reproveth a scorner mentioneri; but the context suggests "in- getteth to himself ehame. He who tries to struction," even though, as in ver. 8, it takes correct e. scorner (see on ob. i. 22 and iii. 34), the form of rebuke. Vulge.te and Sep- one who derides religion, loses his pains and tuagint, "Give an opportunity to u wise meets with ribald mockery and insult. It is man, and he will be wiser" (comp. Matt. not the fault of messengers or message that xiii. 12; xxv. 29). To mo.ke the best use this should be, but the hardness of heart and of all occasions of learning duty, whether the prido of the hearer make him despise they present themseh-es in a winning or e. the teaching and hate the teacher (11'.Iatt. forbidden shape, is the part of one who i.s xxiv. 9). He that rebuketh a wicked man wise unto salvation (see eh, i. 5, and note getteth himself a blot; rather, he that re- there). Teach a just man, and he will in- proveth a sinner, it is his blot. Snch a pro- crease in learning, Wisdom being e. moral, ce<;diog resulls in disgrace to himself. 'l'his and not merely an intellectual, quo.Iity, is not eaid to discourage the virtuous from there is o. natural interchange of "wise" n·riroving tranegressors, but states the effect and" just," rcfrrring to the some individuo.l. ott. IX, 1-18.] '1':aE PROVE'.RtJS. 183