The Pulpit Commentary — Proverbs — Section 360

Ver. 18.-0haaten thy son while there ii Another interpretation of the paeee.ge, bu\ hope; @r, eeeiflg that /here is hope. Being not so sait11ble, ie this: "If thou seek to save still young o.nd impreeeione.ble, o.nd not con- the sufferer ( e.g. by soothing the angry man), firmed in bo.d ho.bits, he may be reformed thou wilt only the more excite him (the by judicious chastisement. The same ex- wrathful): therefore do not intermeddle in pression ocours in Job xi. 18; Jar. xxxi. 16. que.rrels of other persons." " For eo he shnll be well hoped of" ( ,l/,,\1m ), VAr. 20.-(Comp. eh. viii. 10; xii, 15.) Septuagint (comp, eh. xxiii. 13). And let The Septuagint directs the maxim to not thy soul spare for his crying. "It is children, "Hear, 0 son, the instruction ot' better," so.ye a German o.pothegm, "that the thy father." That thou mayest be wise in child weep than the father." But the render- thy latter end. Wisdom gathered and ing of the Authorized Version is not well digested in youth is seen in the prudence established, and this second clause is in- and intelligence of manhood and old age. tended to inculcate moderation in punish- Job viii. 7, "Though thy beginning was ment. Vulgate, Ad interfeclwnem autwi, ejUB small, yet thy latter end should greatly in- ne ponas animam tuam; Revised Version, Bet crease." Ecclas. xxv. 6, "0 how comely is not thine heart on his destruction. Chastise the wisdom of old men, and understanding him duly and sufficiently, but not so heavily 11nd counsel to men of honour I Much ex- as to occasion hie death, which a. father had no perience is the crown of old men, a.nd the right to do. The La.w enjoined the parents fear of God is their glory." '' Wer nicht who had an incorrigibly bad son to bring horen will," say the Germans, "mnss fiihlen," him before the judge or the elders, who "He that will not hear mast feel." Among a.lone had the power of life and death, and Pythagoras's golden words we read- might in certain cases order the offender to Bov,\,oov Be ,rpl, lnov 31rcos µ.'I, µwpa. 1r{,\71-ra1. be stoned (Deut, xxi. 18, etc.), Christianity "Before thou doest aught, deliberate, recommended moderation in punishment Lest folly thee befall." (see Eph. vi. 4; Col. iii. 21). Septuagint, "Be Ver. 21.-The immutability of the counsel not excited in the mind to despiteful treat- of God is contrasted with the shifting, flnc- ment (,ls i${Jpw);" i.e. be not led a.way by tue.ting purposes of ma.n (comp. eh. xvi. pa.ssion to unseemly note or words, but re- 1, 9; Numb. =iii. 19; Mal iii. 6). Aben prove with gentleness, while you are firm Ezra connects this verse with the preceding, a.nd uncompromising in denouncing evil. as though it gave the reason for the advice This is much the ea.me advice as that given contained therein. But it is most natural to by the apostle in the passages just cited. take the maxim in e. general sense, a.a above. Ver. 19.-Some connect this verse with Wied. ix. 14, "The thoughts of mortal the preceding, as though it signified, "If men are miserable, and our devices are but you are too severe in chastising your son, uncertain." The co11I1Sel of the Lord, that you will suffer for it." But there is no con- shall stand; permanebit, Vulgate; ,ls .,.l,v necting particle in the Hebrew, and the a.lwva. p.•v1!,, '' shall abide for ever," Septua- statement seems to be of a general nature. gint (Ps. xx.xiii. 11). A man of great wrath; literally, rough in Ver. 22.-The desire of a man is his kind- at1ger; Vulga.te, impatiens; Septuagint, ness. The Revised Version rather para- ,ca.1e&,pp•w lI.vf,p. Such a one shall suffer phrases the cl11use, The desire of a man is punishment; shall bear the penalty which the measure of his kindne•s; i.e. the wish hie want of self-control brings upon him. and intention to do good is that which For if thou deliver him, yet must thou do it gives its real ve.lue to e.n act. The word for again. You cannot eave him from the con- ''kindness" is chesed, "mercy;" nnd, look- sequences of hie intemperance; you may do ing to the context, we see the meaning of so once and again, but while his disposition the maxim to be that II poor man's desire of is unchanged, all your efforts will be use- aiding a distressed neighbour, even if he is less and the help which you have given unable to carry out his intention, is taken him' will only make him think that he may for the act of mercy. "The desire of n. continue, to indulge his anger with impunity, man" may signify a. man's desirableness, or, it may be, he will vent his impatience on that which makes him to be desired or his deliverer. loved; this is fonnd in his liberality. But the B,\cl,rTfl Tbv ll.vBpa. 8vµ.bs EIS omv 11'EO',I,v, former explanation is most suitable. Septua- "Anger" says an ndnge, "is like a ruin, gint, " Mercifulness is a gain unto a man," which is like ver. 17; Vulgo.te, Homo indigens which breaks itself upon what it falls." misericOf's est, taking a man's desire as evidenc- Septuo.!rint "If he destroy ( J,w 8~ ,\o,µ.,tf- ing his need and poverty, and introducing the .,,.,.a.,), he shall a.di! even his life ; " if by his idea that the experience of misery conduces anger he inflict lose or damage on his neigh- to pity, as says Dido (Virgil,' En.,' i. 630)- ·cour, he sh11II pay for it in his own person; Vulgate, Et cum razruerit, alii+4 a:piionet, '.' Non i~e.m l!l~i !llllleris succu1Tere disco," raovmRl3B, ~ :i> 870 Tlltt 'PROVEnns: [ciH, XIX, 1-20,