The Pulpit Commentary — Proverbs — Section 550

than tho.t of St. Jerome, who rendel'B the and dwelling in the pa.la.oe of the great term by lepu.soulua. King. Ver. 27.-The loonsts have no king (oh. Vera. 29-31.-Four things of stately vi. 7), yet they show discipline, guidance, nnd order. They go forth all of them by presence. bands; so that Joel (ii. 7, 8) speaks of them Ver. 29.-There be three things whioh go as n well--0rdered army, as it were men of well ( tob); a.re of stately and majestic cC1r- war, marching every one on hie we.ye, not riage. Comely in going; "stately in aoina." entangling their ranks, walking every one Ver. 30.-A lion which is strongesto.mo~g in his path. Septuagint, " The locusts are bee.ate. The word here used for" lion," laish, withont a king, yet march at one command occurs elsewhere only in Job iv. 11 and in good order." Isa. x..xx. 6. The LXX. renders it, "e. lion's Yer. 28.-The spider taketh hold with her whelp." "Strongest" is gibbor,e. mighty one, hands. Semamith or shemamith is some a hero. Tnrneth not away for any; Sep- sort of lizard, probably the gecko, KM11- tuagint," turneth not away, nor feareth any 13,:,,,...,,., Septuagint; sf,el,l,'o, Vulgate. The beast." So Job desoribes the war-horse Authorized Version alludes either to its fan- "He mocketh at fear, e.nd is not dismayed: like foot, which enables it to run up walls neither turneth he be.ok from the sword " and to cling to ceilings, or to its power of (Job ::uxix. 22). exuding from its feet a certain poisonous Ver. 31.-Agreyhonnd; c:~z;,1;> 1'P! (zarzir humour by which it catches flies and other mothnayim), " girt in the loins" (1rEp1- insects. But the above translation, as well ECTtp1-yµ.,11os ..1,., ocrtpvv, Symmachus), an ex- ns that of the Septuagint and the Vulgate pression very vague, e.nd, e.s the name of manibus nititur, is incorrect. The first line, a.n animal, occurring nowhere else in the in accordance with the method pursued in Old Testament. In post-biblical Hebrew the three cases previously, ought to give zarzir is found RB the name of some pugna- some expression denoting weakness or little- cious bird, and the Septuagint, Vulgate, and ness, whereas by the above rendering it is Syriac call it here the cock. So also Aquila rather strength and activity that are signi- a,nd Theodotion. But if the word is onome.- fied. The translation therefore should run, topoetic, it would seem to apply with more as in the Revised Version mo.rgin," The lizard propriety to one of the raven tribe; and then thou canst seize with thy hand," and yet what is to be made of the allusion to the it is in king's palaces. Small as it is, and loins? And how comes it that amid the easy to catch and crush, it is agile and quadrupeds in the gnome e. bird should clever enough to make its way into the very suddenly be introduced, as one stately in palace of the 1.··ing, and to dwell there. going? It seems certain that some quad- Septuagint, "And the lizard, supporting ruped is here meant, but whe.t? What ani- it.self by its hands, e.nd being easy to catch mal has as characteristic tight-girded loins (Euall.wTos), dwelleth in kings' strongholds." or slender or aoti ve loins? There are, indeed, This combines the two interpretations given many that might be so designated, but none above. St. Gregory takes the lizard as the that, e.s far as we know, e.ppropriated this type of tLe simple, earnest man, wLo often unique appellation. Hence various opinions succeeds better than the clever. "Ma.ny are held by commentators concerning the that are quick-witted, while they grow slack identification. The zebra, eo.y some, with from carelessness, continue in bad practices, its stripes, which may be thus denoted; the and the simple folk, which have no wing of war-horse, say others, comparing Job xxxix. ability to stand them in stead, the excel- 19, 25, e.nd considering the trappings with lency of their practice bears up to attain which, as we see in ancient sculptures, he to the walls of the eternal kingdom. was adorned; others, again, fix upon the leo- 'Whereas, then, 'the lizard climbeth with pard as the beast intended. But tha.t of the his hands,' he 'is in kings' palnces;' in Authorized Version seems, on the whole, to that the plain man, by earnestness of right be the most likely rendering, the slender, practice, reaches that point whereunto the agile make of the greyhound having given man of ability never mounts"(' More.I.,' vi. ea.use for the appropriation of the term used 12, Oxford transl.). The ancient expoijitors in the text. Delitzsoh compares the German see iu these verses a. pr~sentation of the word windspiel, which designates the grey- Church of God, weak on its human side and hound without the necessity of using the despi•ed by men, yet exceeding wise (l Cor. full term, wi-ndspiel11und. 'l'he only points i 27)-like the o.ut, laying up treasure in whioh me.y be considered adverse to this heaven, providing for death and eternity; view are these two, viz. the ill repute in like the coney, mu.king the Rockherrefuge; which dogs were held by the Hebrews, like the locuijts, moving forward a mighty Scripture consistently dispe.roging and army in haltle array; like the lizard, active despising them; e.ud the f.,ot that, as fe.r as in movmnent, holding the truth t1,naciously, we have information, the Jews did not use cm, XXX, 1-33.] THE PROVERBS. fi,9