The Pulpit Commentary — Proverbs — Section 569

lmsbnnd, nam1ted by St. Augustine in his to rise at midnight to replenish the oil, and • 0oufessions,' ix. 9 : "Having been given she often then begins her household work over to a husband, she served him ns her by gl'inding the oorn or prepp,ring some• lord: itnd busied herself to win hirn to thee, thing for next day's mee.ls (comp. ver. 18). revenlin~ thee to him by her virtues, in Early rising before any great undertaking which thou madcst her booutiful, and re- is continually mentioned in Scripture (see Yerontly Rmie.ble, e.nd admire.ble to her Gen. x.ix. 2; xxii. 3; Ps. Ivii. 8; J er. vii. busb~nd." 13; xxv. 4, eto.; Murk xvi. 2; John xx. I). Ver. 13.-DALETH. She eeeketh wool, and And giveth meat to her household ; dedit~ fia.x. She pays att0ntion to these things, as quai prredam domesticis sui,, Vulgate. The materials for clothing and domestic uses: word for "meat" is tereph, which means Wool bns been used for clothing from the " food tom in pieces " with the teeth (Pa. earliest times (see Lev. xiii. 47; Job xxxi. cxi. 5), and hence food to be ea.ten, The 20, etc.), and flax was lo.rgel:y cultivated for wife thus early prepares or distributes the tb e manufacture of linen, the processes of food which will be wanted for the day. ,hying, peeling, hackling, and spinning And a portion to her maidens, Chok, "final being well understood (see Josh. ii. 6; Isa. portion," may e.pply either to work or food. xix. 9; Jer. xiii. 1, etc.). The prohibition 'l'he Yulge.te has cibaria, "meet;" Septua- about mixing wool and flax in a garment gint, lf"'Ya, "t!i.Bks." The former, which is (Deut. xxii. 11) was probably based on the in accordance with :eh. xxx. 8, would be idea that all mixtures made by the art of merely a repetition .of the second clause, man are polluted, and that what is pure the meat mentioned there being here co.lied and simple, such as it is in its natural state, the allotted portion, e.nd would be simply is alone proper for the use of the people of taut<Jiogical. If we take it in the sense of God. And worketh willingly with her "appointed labour," we get a new idea, hands; or, she worlceth with her hands' very congruous with the housewife's activity pleasure ; i.e. with willing hands. The (comp. Exod. v. 14, whore the se.me word is rendering of the Revised Vereion margin, used in the cese of the enforced labour of after Hitzig, "She worketh at the business the Israelites). . . of her hands," is feeble, and does not sa.y Ver. 16.-ZAYIN. She considereth a field, much. What is meant is that she not only and buyeth it. She turns her attention to a le.hours diligently herself, but finds pleasure certain field, the possession of which is for in doing so, itnd this, not because she has some cause desira.ble; e.nd, after due ex- none to help her, and is forced to do her amination e.nd consideration, she buys· it, own work (on the contrary, she is repre- One is reminded of Christ's parable of the sented as rich, and at the bead of a large tree.sure hidden in e. field, which the finder household), but beca.nse she considers tbe.t sold all that he. had to purchase (Matt. labour is a dnty for e.ll, and the.t idleness is xiii. 44). With the fruit of her hands she a transgression of a universal law. Sep- planteth a vineyard. Her prudent manage- tuagint, "Weaving (.}J.11puoJJ-•v11) wool and ment and economy give her means to buy flax; she ma.kes it 11Befnl with her hands." vines and plant a vineyard, and thus to Ver. 14.-HE. She is like the merchants' increase her produce. Possibly it is meant ships. She is like them in that she ex- the.t she sees the field she has gotten is tends her operations beyond her own im- more fitted for gra.pes than corn, and she mediate neighbourhood, and bringeth her cultivates it accordingly. Virgil, • Georg.,'· food from afar, buying in the best markets ii. 229- o.nd on e.dvant.ageous terms, without regard " Altera frnmentis quoniam fa.vet, altera to dista.nce, and being e.lways on the look Baccho, out to make honest profit. Septuagint, Densa me.gis Cereri, rarissima quroquo "She is like a s!Jip trading from a dis- Lyroo," tance, and she hereelf gathereth her liveli- hood." The expressions in the text point Ver. 17.-KnETH. She girdeth her loins to active commercia.l operations by sea as with strength (ver. 25). 'l'his seoms at well as land, snch as we know to have been first sight· a strange assertion to me.ke con- undertaken bv Solomon, Jehoshaphat, and cerning one of the weaker. sex; but the otl1<,rs (I Kings ix. 26; xxii. 48), and such phrase is metaphoricl\lly expressive of the as the Hebrews must ha.ve noticed in the energy an<l forco with which' she prepares Pliccnician cities, Sidon and Tyre. herself for her work. Strength and vigour Ver. l!i.-VAv. She riseth also while it are, e.s it wm·e, the girdle which she binds is yet night. Before dawn she is up and round her we.ist to ona.ble her to conduct Btirring, to be ready for her daily occnpa• her operatio[)s with ea.so and freedom. So tion. A le.mp is always kept burning nt we have a similar metaphor boldly applied night in Eastern houses, end ns it is of very to·God (Pa. xcili. 1): "The Lord reigueth, small dimensions, the ca.reful housewife has he is apparolled with majesty; the Lord is OII. XXXI. 1-31.] THE PROVERBS. 599