HOMILETIC COMMENTARY

ON

PROVERBS.

INTRODUCTION AND PREFACE

THE Hebrew word for proverb (mashal) means a comparison. Hence it includes more than we generally understand by the English word, viz., a pithy sentence expressing in a few words a well-known or obvious truth. When books were few it was most natural that observations on life and manners should be compressed into the smallest possible compass: hence proverbial teaching has been employed from the most remote antiquity. It is highly probable that all proverbial sayings were at first literally comparisons, as this would tend to fix them more indelibly upon the memory. But the word by degrees came to express that which we now understand it to signify.

Although a few more lengthy discourses are found in this book, it consists mainly of such short proverbial sentences, often illustrated and enforced by most striking metaphors. It has been almost universally received by both Jewish and Christian writers as the inspired production of Solomon. The most convincing proof of its canonicity is the fact that the New Testament contains many quotations from it. Compare Prov. iii. 11, 12, with Heb. xii. 5, 6; Prov. iii. 34, with Jas. iv. 6; Prov. x. 12, with 1 Pet. iv. 8; Prov. xi. 31 (Sept.), with 1 Pet. iv. 18; Prov. xxii. 9 (Sept.), with 2 Cor. ix. 7; Prov. xxv. 21, 22, with Rom. xii. 20; Prov. xxvi. 11, with 2 Pet. ii. 22; Prov. xxvii. 1, with Jas. iv. 13, 14. But, were these wanting, its superiority to every other book of a similar character would constitute a most weighty internal evidence of its Divine inspiration. Moses Stuart says of it: "All the heathen moralists and proverbialists joined together cannot furnish us with one such book as that of the Proverbs." And Wordsworth remarks: "The Proverbs of Solomon come from above, and they also look upward. They teach that all true wisdom is the gift of God, and is grounded on the fear of the Lord. They dwell with the strongest emphasis on the necessity of careful vigilance over the heart, which is manifest only to God, and on the duty of acting, in all the daily business and social intercourse of life, with habitual reference to the only unerring standard of human practice, His will and Word. In this respect the Book of Proverbs prepared the way for the preaching of the Gospel, and we recognise in it an anticipation of the apostolic precept: Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as unto the Lord."" Dr. Guthrie considered that "the high character which Scotsmen earned in by-gone years was mainly due to their early acquaintance with the Book of Proverbs." (Sunday Magazine, Oct., 1868, p. 15.)

Although the greater part of the book was doubtless compiled by Solomon during his life, chapters xxv.-xxix. were not copied out until the days of Hezekiah, and the last two chapters are assigned in the book itself to other authors, of whom we know nothing. It seems startling at first sight that a man whose character we know from other parts of Holy Scripture to have been marred by so many serious defects, should be the author of an inspired book, but Dr. Arnot remarks on this point that "practical lessons on some subjects come better

through the heart of the weary, repentant king than through a man who had tasted fewer pleasures, and led a more even life. Not a line of Solomon's writings tends to palliate Solomon's sins. . The glaring imperfections of the man's life have been used as a dark ground to set off the lustre of that pure righteousness which the Spirit has spoken by his lips." It is evident from the most cursory study of its contents that this book is rather ethical than doctrinal. The following Commentary has for its main object the setting forth the great moral lessons contained in it in a homiletic form. It does not pretend to be a critical Commentary, although the latest and best criticisms have been quoted where they seemed to throw any new light upon the text. But the book of Proverbs is not easy to treat homiletically. Prof. Lockler, the author of the expositions on the works of Solomon in Dr. Lange's Commentary, says,"A theological and homiletical exposition of the book of Proverbs has difficulties to contend with which exist in an equal degree in but few books of the Old Testament, and in none in quite the same form. . . . To treat the book homiletically and practically, in so far as regards only brief passages, is rendered more difficult by the obscurity of many single sentences; and in so far as it attempts to embrace large sections, by the unquestionable lack of fixed order and methodical structure."

The main DIVISIONS of the Book of Proverbs are:-I. A series of discourses on the excellency and advantages of wisdom, and the destructive character of sin (ch. i.—ix.) II. A collection of unconnected maxims on various subjects (ch. x.-xxii. 16). III. Short discourses on a variety of subjects (ch. xxii. 17; xxiv. 22), with a brief appendix of maxims (ch. xxiv. 23, 24). IV. The collection of Solomon's proverbs made in the time of Hezekiah (ch. xxv.—xxix.). V. A supplement containing the words of Agur (ch. xxx.) and of King Lemuel (ch. xxxi.). [Annotated Paragraph Bible.]

CHAPTER I.

CRITICAL NOTES.-1. Proverbs. See Introduction. 2. Instruction, properly "chastisement," signifying moral training, admonition, then good habits, the practical side of wisdom. 3. Wisdom. A different word from that in ver. 2. It means "prudence." Justice relates to a man's attitude in relation to God, and would be better translated "righteouness." Judgment includes our duties to our fellow-men and should be rendered "justice." Equity is "uprightness," "sincerity of purpose." 4. Subtlety,prudence." Simple, literally "the open," those easily persuaded. 5. Wise counsels, or capability to guide," literally "helmsmanship." 7. Fools, derived from a word meaning to be gross and dull of understanding. Gesenius understands it to signify one who turns away," the "perverse." 10. Entice thee, "lay thee open." Miller here reads "if sinners would make a door of thy simplicity, afford thou no entrance." 17. Some interpret this verse as referring to the godly who escape the snares laid for them, others to the wicked, who, not so wise as the bird, plunge themselves into ruin by plotting against the good. Then the blood and lives of ver. 18 refer to the blood and life of the sinner. 20. The word wisdom is in the plural form in the Hebrew. 27. Desolation, or "tempest." 28. To seek early denotes earnestly." See ch. viii. 17, Hos. v. 15. The person now changes from the second to the third, as though wisdom were increasing alienated" (Miller). 32. The turning away of the simple, i.e., their rejection of wisdom. Prosperity, "Security," "idle, easy rest."

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MAIN HOMIletics of tHE PARAGRAPH.-Verses 1—4.

THE AUTHOR, HIS METHOD, AND HIS OBJECT.

I. Four things connected with Solomon would tend to commend his proverbs to the Hebrew nation. 1. His remarkable antecedents. The influence of any man in this world depends very much upon his antecedents. If they happen to be such as are held in esteem by society, they form at once letters of commendation for him, and often prove stepping-stones to great positions. The question, "Whence art thou? is more often asked than "What art thou?" Perhaps

this was even more true of Hebrew society than it is of English. Solomon was the son of a king. The king whom he claimed as his father was the man whom God had honoured more than any other since the days of Moses. He was not only a king, but a prophet and a poet, who had no equal in the day in which he lived. He was more than this. His reputation as a warrior, more than anything else, endeared him to a people who looked upon him in this light as the best representative of their nation. The fact that Solomon was the " son of David," would ensure him the ear of the Jewish people throughout all their generations. 2. His personal position. He was not only the son of a king but a king himself -a king who had attained the highest pinnacle of royal greatness. 3. His practical wisdom. The instance of this narrated in 1 Kings iii. 16-28, proved to Israel that "the wisdom of God was in him to do judgment." Who so fit to utter proverbs concerning human life as a man who could thus so skilfully bring to light the hidden counsels of the heart? The Son of God Himself speaks of Solomon as a wise man (Matt. xii. 42). 4. The variety of his experience. Experience is always a good reason why men should speak their thoughts. Those are most fitted to counsel others who have travelled by the same path before them. Solomon's experience had been great and varied. He knew the real value of all that is held in estimation by men. See Eccles., chapters i. and ii. These considerations gave weight to his words in the day in which he lived and among his own people, and have done so in every succeeding age and in every nation in which his proverbs have been made known.

II. The form in which Solomon communicates his thoughts. A proverb is a large amount of wisdom wrapped up in the fewest possible words. It is like a corn-seed which, though a tiny thing in itself, encloses that which may expand and increase until it furnishes food for millions. Even a child may carry a large sum of money when it is in the form of golden coin, although his strength would be quite unequal to the task if the same amount were in baser metal. One diamond may constitute a small fortune, and may be easily carried and concealed upon the person, but its value in iron could only be lifted by the united strength of many. The proverb stands in the same relation to mental and moral wisdom as gold and diamonds do to copper or iron. It is so portable that it can be carried and retained by the weakest memory.

III. The main object of the utterer of these proverbs. "To give subtilty to the simple." The man who has to travel a dangerous path may be ignorant of the way to arrive at his destination in safety. His simplicity arises from his ignorance. Anyone who has gone the same way before, and has thus experimentally gained the knowledge which he lacks, can make him wise upon this subject. Solomon had trodden the greater part of the path of human life, those who had not done so were the simple, or ignorant, to whom he here desires to impart the knowledge which might save them from moral ruin. There were those in the days of Solomon, as there are now, who would take advantage of simplicity to destroy character. Solomon desires to preserve and strengthen character by showing how to avoid and resist sin.

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS.

Verse 1. The Bible is not given to teach us philosophy, but religion: not to show us the way to science, but the way to holiness and heaven. Notwithstanding, therefore, the extent and variety of Solomon's knowledge in botany, in natural history, and other

departments of science, we have in preservation none whatever of his discoveries or his speculations on such subjects.-Wardlaw.

The Queen of Sheba came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear Solomon's wisdom. Did she come so