The Pulpit Commentary — Proverbs — Section 482

■eems in teniled to denote tiscless labour, as tural, denoting that the great Oree.tor recmn- we speak of "carrying coals to Newcastle." pensca the good and punishes sinners. So So is he that giveth honour to a fool. You the mediruval jingle- pay respect to a fool, or place him in an " Ante Dei vultum nihil unquam restat inul- honourable position, but your labour is tum." wast.ed; he cannot act up to his ilignity, he cannot maintain the honour; it passes away " God " is not in the Hebrew and rab like the stone from the sling, or, if it re- "great," is never used absolutely' as equivS.-: mains, it is useless to him. lent to" God." Nor is the word used else- Ver. 9.-As a thom goeth up into the where to mean "head-workman ·" so the hand of a drunkard. There is here no idea Revised Version margin, •• a master-worker of the drunkard's hand being pierced with a formeth all things," is suspicious. Some thorn wbile be is insensible to the pain, but translate, "A gree.t man woundeth [equi- rather of his bciug armed with it, and ripe valent to ' punisheth '] all; he renders their for mischief. So it is best to render, "A due to fools aud to transgressors." One thorn bush cometh into the baud of a does not see why this should be attributed drunkard; " he somehow gets possession of to the great man ; it certainly is not gene- it, and in his stupid excitement is liable to rally true. Rosenmiiller, "The mighty man causes terror ; so does he who hires the fool become dangerous. Some understa.ud ;·i,v of and the transgressor;" but it is not clear the growth of the thorn; thus the Septuagint, why the hiring of a fool should occasion .. Thorns grow iu the hand of a drunke.rd;" terror. The rendering in the Revised Vei·- Vulgate, "As if a thorn grew in the hand sion, or something very similar, has found of a drnnkard." But one does not see the favour wi~h many modem commentators, bearing of such an expression ; and the though quite unknown to the more ancient translation given above is more appropriate. versions. According to this interpretation, So is a parable, etc. ( as ver. 7). Iu that the proverb says that a careless, random passage the wise saying in a fool's mouth way of doing business, taking into one's was compared with something useless, here it service fools, or entrusting matters of impor- is compared with something injurious. He tance to any chance loiterer, is as dangerous employs it purposely to wound others; or by as shooting e.rrowe about recklessly without the ignorant use of some sharp-edged word caring whither they flew or whom they he does much mischief. In this hemistich wounded. tTo this view Nowack objects the LXX. has read ~ii,c with a different that it is unparalleled to present a.n archer vocalization,and renders,'' servitude (llouAda:) as a picture of what is unusual and profit- in the hand of fools." Tbis seems to mean less; that it does not explain wily "hiretll" that it comes natural to fools to be manacled is twice repeated ; that tile connection be- and restrn.ined by force. tween shooter and the hire of fool and Ver. 10.-Few passages have given greater loiterer is not obvious; and tllat ci•,::iv does difficulty than this verse; almost every word not mean! "vagabonds" or "pa.seers-by." has been differently explained. The Autho- None of tllese objections are of much impor- rized Version is, The great God that formed tance; and this interpretation still holds its all things both rewe.rdeth the fool, and re- ground. .There is also much to be ea.id for wardeth tr6llllgressors; Revised Version, As the rendering of the Revised Version mar- an archer (Job xvi. 13) that woundetl, all, so gin, which is virtually that of Gesoniua, is he that hireth the fool and he that hireth Fleischer, Wordsworth, Nutt, and others: them that pass by. At first sight one would A skilful man, a master-workman, pro- hardly suppose that these could be versions duces, makes, everything by hie own oare of the same passage. To show the diversity and superintendence; but be that hires a that obtained in early times we quote the fool to do his work hires, as it were, any Greek and Latin versions. Septnagint, "All casual vagabond who may know nothing of the flesh of fools is much distressed (,roMu the buaiuess. One objection to this inter- XE1/L«(•-r«1), for their distraction (l1<1T-rcuns) pretation is that the verb ,,,n, does not else- is brought to nought;" Vulgate, "Jndg- where have the meaning bere attributed to it. ment decides causes, and he who imposes Considering all the above interpretations un- silence on a fool appeases wre.th." From satisfactory, Hitzig, after Umbreit, followed the various interpretations of which this pro- herein by Delitzsch and Nowack, translates, f'erb is capable, it may be surmised that it "Much bringeth forth all," which means that was originally one of those hard sayings he who possesses much can do anything, or, which were intended to exercise the inge- as St. Matt. xiii. 12, "Whosoever bath, to nuity of auditors. It has certainly had the.t him shall be given" (comp. oh. i. 5). But the effect in modern times. We may at once second hemiatich comes in rather lo.mely, eliminate the rendering of the Authorized "But be who hires a fool is oa one who Y er~iou, though the ~euse is good a.ud scrip- hires o. vogabond." Hence Delitzsoh reads on. x:itvr. 1-28.J 'rHE PROVERBS. 501