The Pulpit Commentary — Proverbs — Section 268

"~nli tu qu~da~ rC'fercnti crenore scraper; "De not angry," s1tvs the Talmud "and l,x1gua his tnbuenda fides qui multa you will not sin." Cato,' Dist.,' i. 37- loquuntur." " Ipse tibi moderare tuis ut pnrcere possis." The prudent man looketh well to his going ('rer. S); Vulgate, Astulus oonsi'derat gressus And a ma.n ~f wioked devioes is hated. 81WS. The prudent man considers whither The contrast 1s not between the different tli_e advice given will lead him, lllways acts ways in which the two chnra.cters nre with deliberation. This maxim is attributed r~g:arded, as that one is despised e.nd to Pythagoras- ri?icullld, a~d the other hated; but two ~mds _of evil are set forth in contradistino- ,, LC't none persuade thee by his word or t10u_, viz. hasty anger and deliberate plotting deed o.gams~ o,tbers. Septuagint, "The irascible To say or do what is not really good; man (o{v6v/Los) acts without deliberation And before action well deliberate but the prudent man endureth much.': Le.st thou do foolishlv." ' The. Hebrew term, " man of devices," being (X1wa-. 'E""'7, 25, sqq.) ambiguous, the LXX. talrns it in e. fe.vour- Septuagint, " The clever man ( ,ravovp-yos) a?le sense, tpp&,11µ,os; and they have a come,th unto,,repen_tance [?r, •afterthought'] different reading of the verb. ~/L•.,.avo,av); i.e. if ~e, like the simpleton, Ver. 18.-The simple inherit folly. The IS too credulous, he will smart for it. Me-rC:- credulo:u,s simpleton naturally falls into vo,a, so common in the New Testament, is possession of folly, feeds upon it, and enjoys not found elsewhere in the Greek Version it. The LXX. regards the simple as ?f the canoni_eal Scriptures, though it occurs communicating their folly to others and rn Ecclus. xhv. 16; Wisd. xi. 23, etc. The translates, "Fools will divide malice.': :But T'ulgate here introduces the Septuagint the prudent are crowned with knowledge • addition in eh. xiii. 13. put on know~edge as a_ crown of glory, i~ Ver. 16.-A wise man feareth, and de- accordance with the Stoic saying, quoted in P.~eth from evil (eh. xxil. 3). In eh. the 'Speaker's Commentary,' "The wise is 111. 7 w~ bad, "Fear the Lord, and depart the only king." Nowaek thinks the above fr?m evil ; " but here the idea is different. A translation and the idea. alike belong to m_se man fears th~ evil that lurks in every- !a.ter times, and prefers to render, "The• thing, and exammes and ponders actions prudent embrace knowledge," which is by the standard of religion, and is thus parallel to the sentiment of ver. 6. The saved from many evils which arise from word is found only in Ps. c:dii. 8, where it hasti~ess and inadverten~. The fool rageth, is translated either "shall compass me and is con1i.dent (eh. XXL 24; xxviii. 26). about" or "crown themselves through me.'' The fool easily falls into a rage, and has no '.l'he V_nlgate has ezpectabunt, i.e. "wait for control over himself, and is confident in his it patiently," as the fruit of labour and own wisdom, in contrast to the wise man who persevere.nee. Septuagint, " The wise shall has trust in God, and is calm and thougbtful get possession of (1epa-r-f,o-ovo-w) knowledge.'' (Isa. xxx. 15). Revised Version, "beareth Ver. 19.-The evil bow before the good· himself insolently, and is confident;" but, e.s and the wioked stand at the gates of th~ Nowa.c~ remarks, the word (mitl1abbe-r), righteous (eh. viii. 34). The final victory of where it occurs elsewhere, means "to be good over evil is here eet forth. However excited,'' "to be in e. passion" (c~mp. eh. triumphant f'!r e. time and app~rently pros- xxL 24; xxvi. 17 i P_s. lxxviil. 21, 59, 62), perous the wicked may be, their success is and this usual s1gn1fication gives a o-ood not lasting; they shall in the end succumb meaning here. Vulgate, tramilit, "!, he to the righteous, even e.s the Canaanite kings overleaps" all laws and restrictions. The crouched before Joshua's captains (Josh. LXX., by transposition of the letters reads x. 24), and, hurled from their high estate, mithareh, and translates µ,C-yvvra,, "The fool they shall stand humbly e.t the good man's trusting to himself mixes himself up with door, begging for bread tp support their sinners." life (1 Sam. ii. 36). The contrast here Ver. 17.-He that is soon angry dealeth indicated is seen in our Lord's parable of foolishly. The contrast to the irascible Dives and Lazarus, when the beggar is paseionare man is seen in the man slow ~ comforted and the rich man is tormented, anger (ver. 29 ; eh. xv. 18). Such e. one and when the latter urgently sues for thti \n his haste and passion, does things which help of the once despised outcast to miti- in calmer moments he must see are foolish gate the agony which he is suffering (comp. and ridiculous. Says Euripides (' Hyp.,' Wied. v ). Fragm.)- Ver. 20.-The poor is hated even of his own neighbour (eh. xix. 4, 7). Thie sad "E!co -ya.p op-yiis w<is a.lff/p o-otpw-r,pos. experience of selfishness (comp. Ecclus. vi. "Wisor is every man from passion freed." 8, eto.; xii. 8) is corrected by the following OH. XIV, 1-35.] TIIE PROVERBS. 273