The Pulpit Commentary — Proverbs — Section 248

Ver. 2.~A mti.n ·shall eo.t good by the fruit to be obtained. Septuagint, "In desire3 of Ids mouth (eh. xii. 14; xviii. 20). By bis every idle man is occupied ; " his mind is kindly speech and wise counsels he shall fixed wholly on aimless wishes, not on gain the good will of his neighbours and the action. Shall be made fat ( eh. xi. 25); blessing of God. Schultens observes that Septuagint, •• The hands of the valiant are the word rendered "good" (!-Ob) means fully occupied ( Iv J.,,,µ,>..,{'!-)-" what is pleasant to taste and BIDell, while Ver. 5.-Lying ; Vulgate, verl,wm mendaz; that translated "violence" (cham~) signi- Septuagint, >..6-yov liliiKov; literally, a wo,rd fies literally what is crude and unripe. The of falsehood. But debar, "word," is used, soul of the transgressors shall eat violence like p'l,µa. in Hellenistic Greek, in a general (eh. i. 31). The Authorized Version intro- sense for "thing," i.e. the subject of speech. duces the verb from the first clause unneces- So here it is not only verbal lying that is sarily. The meaning of this rendering is meant, bnt every kind of deceit and guile. that sinners, especially the treacherous, This naturally betrays itself by the speech, bring on themselves retribution; the in- according to the proverb, " Show me a liar, juries which they devise against others and I will show yon a thief." A. wicked recoil on their own heads ( eh. x. 6). The man is loathsome, and comet!i to shame. Hebrew is, "The soul (i.e. the desire, or The clause is variously b·anslated. Vulgate, delight) of the perfidious (is) violence.'' confundit et IXYTlfundetur, "ea.uses shame to Such men have only one thing at heart, others and to himself." Septuagint, "is viz. to wrong their neighbour, and to in- put to shame, and shall not ham licence of crease their own property by any, even tongue (1ra.pp71uiav).'' The Revised Version nefarious, proceedings. Septuagint, " Of margin, "causeth ~ha.me and bringeth re- the fruits of righteousness the good man proach." Delitzsch, " brings into bad shall eat; but the lives of transgressors odour (Gen. xxxiv. 30) and causes shame.'' shall perish untimely." Hitzig, "behaveth in1uriously and shame- Ver. 3.-:e:e the.t keepeth (guardeth) his fully.'' The antithesis is best broug-ht out mouth keepeth his life ( eh. xviii. 21 ; xxi. by the rendering that marks the effect of 23; comp. Ps. xxxix. l; Jas. i. 26). Thus the wicked man's "lying;" "He brings the gnome- disgrace upon others (who have trusted him 'H "f'A.&rrrra. ,ro'A.'A.olis els ~'A.e9pov ¾ha."t•"· or have been associated with him) anti causes shame." "The tongue he.th many to destruction led." Ver. 6.-Righteonsness keepeth (gunrdeth) And Ecclus. xxviii. 25, "Weigh thy words him tho.t is upright in the w&y; liternlly, in a be.le.nee, and make a door and be.r for uprightness of way, abstmct for concrete, as thy mouth. Bewa-re thou slide not by it, in the second member, "sin" for "sinner." lest thou fall before him that lieth in wait." Those who are good and innocent in the But he that openeth wide his lips shall have walk of life are preserved from evil, moral destruction (eh. x. 14). The Vulgate para- and material. Wiokedness overthrowsth the phrases, "He who is inconsiderate in speech sinner ; literally, ain. "Overthroweth," sholl experience evils;" Septuagint, " will makes to slip. Vulgate, 111,pplantat. The terrify himself"-will occasion to himself LXX. inverts the clo.use, "Sin makes the many terrible alarms and inflictions. Hence impious worthless (1/Ja.v>..ous)" (see e,,h. xi. 3, the psalmist prays, "Set a watoh, 0 Lord, 5, 6). The verse is omitted in many Greek before my mouth; keep the door of my manuscripts. lips." So we have in the Danish," A silent Ver. 7.-There ia that maketh himself man's words are not brought into court;" rich, yet ho.th nothing. "M&keth" may and in the Spanish," Let not the tongue SILY mean "feigns." There o.re some who pre- what the head shall pay for;" while the tend to be rich while really they are poor Italians tell us, "The sheep that bleats is (as eh. xii. 9), and there are some who make strangled by the wolf ; " and " Silence was themselves, i.e. pretend to he poor ( as misers) never written down" (Kelly). (See on oh. while they have muoh wealth. The Vul- xviii. 6; xx. 19.) gate elucidates this meaning by rendering, Ver. 4.-(Comp. ob. x. 4.) The soul of the quasi dives o.nd quasi pauper; o.nd the sluggard desireth, and bath nothing ; li- Hebrew verbs confirm its correctness. The terally, and nothing is there-he gains no- proverb in both members teo.ches one not to thing (eh. xiv. 6; xx. 4). He has the wish, trust to appearances. Septuagint, "There but not the will, and the empty wish with- are who enrich themselves, h11,ving nothing; out corresponding exertion is useless ( eh. and there are who humble themselves amid xxL 25, etc.). Vulgate, " The indolent much weCLlth.'' It is obvious that such e. wishes, aud wishes not ; " he wishes for version lends itself to a Christian interpreta- something, but he wishes not for the labour tion. 'l'he first clause reminds one of the of getting it; he would like the result, but rich fool who laid up treasure for himself, he hutes the process by which the result is and wo.s not rich towo.rd God (Luke xii.  252 THE PROVERBS, [ou. xm. 1-26.