The Pulpit Commentary — Proverbs — Section 429

lledneas of eyes. The Hebrew word ohakli- the palo.te, and passes over it without rough- lutl, is commonly to.ken to moan the flashing ness or harshness ( comp. Cant. vii. 9). The of eyes occasioned by vinous excitement. LXX. has enlarged on tbe original thus: The Authorized Version refers it to the "Be ye not drunk with wine, but converse bloodshot o.ppee.rnnce of e. drunkard's eyes, with just men, and converse in public 68 in Gen. xlix. 12, e.ccording to the same places ( iv ,r•pmd:ro,s). For if thou set thine version. Bni Delitzsch, Nowack, o.nd many eyes on goblets and cups, a[terwards thou modem commentators consider that the sba.lt walk more bare than a pestle ( yuµ,I,. word indice.tes "dimness of sight," that T<pos ~1dpou)." This last expression, pis- change in the power of vision when the tillo nudiur, is a pro.erb. Regarding the stimulant reaches the bro.in. Septuagint, danger of looking on seductive objects, the "Whose eyes e.re livid (,r<ll.tovol)?" The Arab, in his sententious language, says, effects of intemperance o.re described in e. "The contemplation of vice is vice." well-known paeso.go of Lucretius, ' De Rer. Ver. 32.-At the last it biteth like a serpent. Ne.t.,' iii. 475, etc.- Wine is like the subtle poison of a. serpent, which affects the whole body, a.nd produces " Denique, cor hominnm quom vini vis the most fatal consequences ( comp. Ecclus. penetravit xxi. 2). Nachash is the generic name for any Acris, et in venas discessit diditus ardor, of the larger tribe of snakes (Gen. iii. I, etc.); Consequitur gro.vito.s memhrorum, prre- the poisonons nature of its bite was, of course, pediuntur well known (Numb. xxi. 9). Stingethlike a.n Crura. va.cillanti, ta.rdescit lingua., madet adder. The Hebrew word is tsiphoni, which mens, is ueua.lly rendered " cockatrice" in the Nant ocnlei; clamor, singultus, jurgia. Authorized Version, bnt the particular species gliscunt." intended has not been a.ccnre.tely identified. There was somo confusion in men's minds We may rPfer to tl1e article in Jeremy as to the organ which inflicted the poisonous Taylor's 'Holy Living' on "Evil Conee- wound. Thus a psalmist says, "They have queuts to Drunkenness,'' a.nd to Ecclus. sharpened their tongue like a serpent" (Ps. xxxiv. (xxxi.) 25, etc. ex!. 3). But the verb "sting" is to be Ver. oO.-The answer to the above search- taken in the sense of puncturing, ma.king ing questions is here given. They that tarry e. wound. Vulgate, Sicut f'egulus -renena long o.t the wine (Ise.. v. 11), who sit till diffundet, "It will diffuse its poison like a late hours drinking. They that go to seek basilisk : " Septuogint, "But at the lll8t he mixed wine ; i.e. go lo the wine-house, place stretches himself like one stricken by a of revelry, whero they ma.y taste and give serpent, o.nd the venom is diffused through their opinion upon "mixed wine," mimsak, him os by e. horned snnke (1«pdaTou )." wine mingled with certain spices or aromatic Ver. 33.-The excitement occasioned by substances, or else simply with water, as it wino is now described. Thine eyes sha.ll was too luscious to be drunk undiluted (see behold strange women. Ew[lld, Delitzsch, on oh. ix. 2). Septuagint, "those who hunt o.nd others take r,\iJ to mean "strange out whero carousals 111·0 to.king place." things," as affording a better p:iro.llel to the Ver. 31.-Look not thou upon the wine "perverse things" of the next clause. In when it is red. Be not attracted by its this case the writer intends to denote the beautiful appe11ro.nce. 'l'hll wino of Pales- fantastic, often dreadful, images produced tine was chiefly "red," though what we cl\ll on the bro.in by the feverish condition of white wino was not unknown. The Vulgo.ta the ineLriated. But tho often denounced jlavescit points to the latter. When it giveth connection between drnnkr.nness and incon- his colour in the oup. For "colour " the tinence, the constant reference to " strange Hebrew h11S "eye,'' which refers to the women" in this book, aud the generul con- sparkling And gleaming which show them- sensus of the versions, lead one to uphold selves in wine poured into the cup. It is the rendering of tho Authorized Version. as though the cup had a.n eyo which It seems, too, somewhat meagre to note g!Bncod at the drinlicr with a. fascination these illusions 68 one of tho terrible effects which he did not resist. When it moveth of intemperance, omitting 1111 mention of the itself aright. Having warned oga.iust the unbridling of lust, when tho eyes look out attraction of sight, the moralist now posses for and rove after unchaste women. Thine to the seduction of taste. Hebrew, when bee.rt shall utter perverse things ( corn p. it goeth by the right road. This ma.y rarer to oh. xv. 28; Matt. xv. 19). The drunk11nl's its transference from the jor or skin to the notions are distorted, and his words part11.ko drinking-cup; but it more probably alludes to of the so.me oha.ra.ct()r; be confuses right the drinker's throe.t, and is best tre.nsle.ted, o.nd wrong; he says things which he woulJ. " when it glidoth do1vn smoothly." Vul- never speak if he were in full possession of ~ote, ingreditur blande. The wino pknsce his senses. Septuftgint, "When thine eyes 440 'l'HE PROVERBS. [cH, xxm. 1-35.