SURETY - The “pledge,” or security for payment, which, for
example, David was to bring back from his brothers 1 Samuel 17:18. So
the word was used in the primitive trade transactions of the early
Israelites.
In the warnings against this suretyship, in the Book of Proverbs, we
may trace the influence... [ Continue Reading ]
Or, “If thou art snared ... if thou art taken,” etc.... [ Continue Reading ]
Better, “Do this now, O my son, and free thyself when thou hast come
into thy friend’s house; go, how thyself down (perhaps “stamp with
thy foot,” or “hasten”), press hotly upon thy friend. By
persuasion, and if need be, by threats, get back the bond which thou
hast been entrapped into signing:” The... [ Continue Reading ]
The warning against the wastefulness of the prodigal is followed by a
warning as emphatic against the wastefulness of sloth. The point of
comparison with the ant is not so much the foresight of the insect as
its unwearied activity during the appointed season, rebuking man’s
inaction at a special cri... [ Continue Reading ]
The words express the wonder with which the Hebrew observer looked on
the phenomena of insect life. “Guide,” better captain, as in
Joshua 10:24. The Septuagint introduces here a corresponding reference
to the industry of the bee.... [ Continue Reading ]
The similitude is drawn from the two sources of Eastern terror: the
“traveler,” i. e., “the thief in the night,” coming suddenly
to plunder; the “armed man,” literally “the man of the
shield,” the armed robber. The habit of indolence is more fatally
destructive than these marauders.... [ Continue Reading ]
A NAUGHTY PERSON - literally, “a man of Belial,” i. e., a
worthless man (see the Deuteronomy 13:13 note). This is the portrait
of the man who is not to be trusted, whose look and gestures warn
against him all who can observe. His speech is tortuous and crafty;
his wink tells the accomplice that the... [ Continue Reading ]
The duper and the dupe shall share the same calamity.... [ Continue Reading ]
A new section, but not a new subject. The closing words, “he that
soweth discord” (Proverbs 6:19, compare Proverbs 6:14), lead us to
identify the sketch as taken from the same character. With the
recognized Hebrew form of climax (see Proverbs 30:15, Proverbs 30:18,
Proverbs 30:24; Amos 1:1; Amos 2;... [ Continue Reading ]
The thought of Proverbs 3:3 is carried step further. No outward charm,
but the law of obedience, shall give safety to the traveler, when he
sleeps or when he wakes.... [ Continue Reading ]
Compare Psalms 119:105.... [ Continue Reading ]
EVIL WOMAN - literally, “woman of evil.” In reading what follows,
it must be remembered that the warning is against the danger of the
sin of the adulterous wife.... [ Continue Reading ]
EYELIDS - Possibly pointing to the Eastern custom of painting the eyes
on the outside with _kohl_ so as to give brightness and languishing
expression.... [ Continue Reading ]
The two forms of evil bring, each of them, their own penalty. By the
one a man is brought to such poverty as to beg for “a piece of
bread” (compare 1 Samuel 2:36): by the other and more deadly sin he
incurs a peril which may affect his life. The second clause is very
abrupt and emphatic in the origi... [ Continue Reading ]