The Pulpit Commentary — Proverbs — Section 443

text here. followed, as in other pasS11ges of excuse to be inability, virea non auppetunt. this chapter, is quitu different from tile re- The LXX. makes it a persona.I matter, ig• ceived one. noring the plural form of the previous Ver. 10.-lf thou faint in the de.y of ad- paragraph. "I know him not, be is no versity, thy strength is small. The gnome friend of mine; why should I trouble myself seems to be unconnected with the preceding. about him?" Such a selfish person, like the There is a paronomasia between nJ~(tsarah), priest and Levite in the parable, would "pass "adversity," and ,~ (tsar)," small," narrow, by on the other side." Doth not he that which is retained by Fleischer : " Si segnis pondereth the heart oonside:. it? God knows fueris die angustim, angustm sunt vires tum." the truth-knows that the excuse is vain; So we may say in English, "If thou faint in for he is the Weigher and Searcher of hearts time of straitness, straitened is thy strength." (eh. xvi. 2; xxi. 2). Cain's plea., "Am I If you fail, e.nd succumb to anxiety or danger, my brother's keeper?" is unavailable; tho in&tead of rising to meet the emergency, then law of love is limited by no circumstances. you are but a weakling or a coward, and the He that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know strength which you seemed to possess, and it? The expression, "keeping the soul," may of which you boasted, perhaps, is nothing be equivalent to "preserving the life;" but worth. Such a man hearkens not to the it more probably means watching, observing, Sibyl's counsel (Virgil, '1Eneid,' vi. 95)- the inmo9t secrets of the nature (Job vii. 20). The verb used is ,~) (na!sar), which has " Tu ne cede malis, sed contra audcntior ito, both significations. The sense of" forming," Quam tua te fortuna sinet." which some give it, seems not allowable. The LXX. again varies from the received (For "heart" (leb) and ''soul" (nephesh), text, "He shall be polluted in an evil day, see note on eh. ii. 10.) Shall not he render e.nd in e. day of affliction, until he foil," or to every man according to his works 1 Know- "die" (,tcl\hrp). ing the heart and the motive, God deals out Vere. 11, 12.-A hexastich, inculcating retributive justice (eh. xii. H: Pa. lxii. 12; humauity on the ground of God's omni- Row. ii. 6). Septuagint, "But if thou say, I know not this man, know that tho Lord science. ln10weth the henrtsofall; and he who formed Ver. 11.-If thou forbear to deliver them (1r>..cluas) breath fo:t all, himself knoweth all that are drawn unto death. The sentence things, who rendereth to every man accordiug is not conditional, ON in the second line being to his works." equivalent to,',, utinam, '' oh that I" "woulJ Vere, 13, 14.-An exhortotinn to the study that I" So the first hemistich should be rendered, "Deliver them that are haleJ to of wisdom, with CLD analogy. death," anJ the second, "And those that Ver. 13.-Eat thou honey, because it is nre tottel'ing to slaughter, oh, hold them good. Honey entered largely into the J ict back I'' The sentence is somewhat obscure, of the Oriental, and was regorJed not only but Cheyne well explains it thus: "Some as pleCLsant to the toste and nutritious, but victims of a miscarriage of justice are about also as possessed of heoliug powers. It ,ms to be dragged a.way to execution, and the especially used for children'• food (Lm. vii. disciple of wiijdom is exhorted to use his 15), and thus becomes an emblem of the endee,vours to deliver them" (' Job and purest wisdom. "I have entou my honey- Solomou '). In the case supposed e, moral comb witl.t my honey," says the lover in obligCLtion lies on the pious nud well-in- Co.nt. v. 1; nud the psnlwist s~ys thCLt the formed to save B human life unjustly im- ordinances of the Lord nre "sweeter tl10.n perilled. At the same time, there is nothing honoy nud the honeycomb" (P•. :s.ix. 10; in tho pCLSsoge which absolutely shows thut seo on eh. xxv. 16). P11lestino was 11 land tho punishment of the guiltless is here flowing with milk and honey (ExoJ. iii. 8); deprecated ; it looks rather as if Wisdom lmd hence is derived the continual reference to no plee.sure in the death of men, innocent this articlo of diet in the llible. or not, and that the victims of an extreme Ver. 14.-So shall the knowledge of sentence claimed pity at her hands, whatever wisdom be unto thy soul; better, know, might be the circumstances of the verdict. apprehend wisdom to be such for thy 8oul- Septuogint, "Deliver those that are being to bo as pleasant ond noui-ishing and lod o.way to death, and redeem (E,nrplov) profituble to thy soul, as honey is to thy those that are appointed to be slain; spare tuste o.nd thy body. Tile moralist woulcl not (to help them)" (comp. Ps. lxxxii. 3, 4). l1CLve his di~ciple feel the sumo relish for Ver. 12.-If thou S&yeat, :Behold, we knew wisdom that ho hns for sweet food, recognize it not. The disciple of Wisdom may excuse it not simply as usoful, but as <leligl1tful himself from molring any effort for the and onjoyable. When thou hast found it. prisoners' release, by saying he hod not To find wisdom is to get possession of it ,md heard of tho case. t:lt. Jerome makes the use it (con1p. eh. iii. l:J, and note there). Then 460 'l'RE PROVERBS. [on. xxrv.1-34.