_A.M. 3304. B.C. 700._ Here begins what has been termed, The fourth part of the book of Proverbs, consisting of only two Chapter s; added to the preceding parts by way of a second appendix, but by whom we are not informed, most probably, however, by the men of Hezekiah, who added the former appendi... [ Continue Reading ]
_The words of Agur_ Who this Agur was no one has ever yet been able to show: it is probable, however, that both he and Jakeh, his father, were well known in Israel at the time this chapter and the next were added to the preceding parts of the proverbs. _Jakeh_ is thought to have lived either in Solo... [ Continue Reading ]
_Surely I am more brutish_, &c. This he utters from an humble and modest apprehension of his own ignorance. _I neither learned wisdom_ I have not been taught in the schools of wisdom; _nor have the knowledge of the holy_ Hebrew, קדשׁים, _of holy persons_, namely, of the holy prophets. I have not suc... [ Continue Reading ]
_Who hath ascended_, &c. What mere man hath ascended into heaven to learn the mind of God, who dwells there? None have. _And descended_ To teach men below what he had learned above. No man can fully know and teach us these things unless he hath been in heaven, and sent down from thence to the earth... [ Continue Reading ]
_Every word of God is pure_ You must not expect the full knowledge of divine mysteries from me, nor from any man, but from the word of God, which is a certain rule, both for your faith and practice, because every part of it is holy, and true, and good, and there is not the least mixture of falsehood... [ Continue Reading ]
_Add thou not unto his words_ As the word of God is pure, do not thou corrupt it, by adding to it thine own or other men's inventions, or opinions; _lest he reprove thee_ By words or deeds; by discovering thy folly, and bringing thee to deserved shame and punishment; _and thou be found a liar_ Deliv... [ Continue Reading ]
_Two things have I required of thee_ I do most earnestly and especially desire: _deny me them not_ Hebrew, אל תמנע ממני, _withhold them not from me; before I die_ That is, while I live, as being things of great and continual necessity, for thy honour and service, and my own good. _Remove far from me... [ Continue Reading ]
_Lest I be full, and deny thee_ By trusting to riches, which is a denial of God, and by un-thankfulness for, and the abuse of his mercies. _And say, Who is the Lord_ That I should obey or serve him? I do not need him: I can live without him. Lest by degrees, I should arrive at downright atheism or i... [ Continue Reading ]
_Accuse not a servant unto his master_ Without sufficient cause, for otherwise, in some cases, this may be a duty. As if he had said, A servant's condition is in itself mean and miserable, and therefore thou shouldest not make it worse without great and apparent necessity. _Lest he curse thee_ Desir... [ Continue Reading ]
_There is a generation_ A sort of men, abominable both to God and men, which is implied concerning these and the following kind of sinners, mentioned in these verses; _that curseth their father_ And mother too, as it follows; ungrateful and unnatural children. _There are those that are pure in their... [ Continue Reading ]
_The horseleech_ An insatiable creature, sucking blood till it be ready to burst; _hath two daughters_ The following things, which resemble the horseleech in their insatiableness, nothing being more common than to call those persons or things the sons or daughters of those whose example they imitate... [ Continue Reading ]
_The grave, and the barren womb_ As the Israelitish women did generally and vehemently desire to have many children, for divers reasons elsewhere mentioned, so those who were barren among them were most eager in those desires, as we see in Rachel, Genesis 30:1. And, as in all other cases, persons mo... [ Continue Reading ]
_The eye that mocketh at his father_ He that scorneth or derideth his parents, though it be but with a look or gesture, and much more when he breaks out into opprobrious words and actions; _the ravens of the valley shall pick it out_ “They who are guilty of such an enormous ingratitude to their pare... [ Continue Reading ]
_There be three things too wonderful for me_ The way whereof I cannot trace; _the way of an eagle in the air_ Either, 1st, The manner of her flight, which is exceedingly high, swift, and strong: or, rather, 2d, The way, or part of the air through which she passes, without leaving any print or sign i... [ Continue Reading ]
_Such_ So secret and undiscernible; _is the way of an adulterous woman_ Of one that secretly lives in the sin of adultery. As “artful men insinuate themselves into the affections of young women, and seduce them to their ruin, by an almost infinity of stratagems, which can never be all unravelled, so... [ Continue Reading ]
_For three things the earth_ That is, the inhabitants of the earth; _is disquieted_ By their insolence and impudence they cause great disturbances in the places where they live; _for four it cannot rest_ They are intolerable in human societies. _For a servant when he reigneth_ When he is advanced to... [ Continue Reading ]
_There be four things little, &c., but exceeding wise_ Comparatively to other brute creatures, they act very wisely and providently, through the direction of Divine Providence, which secretly influences them to do those things for their own preservation which are most agreeable to the rules of wisdo... [ Continue Reading ]
_There be three things which go well_ That walk decently, and with great alacrity and courage, or whose motion is majestic; _A lion, which turneth not away for any_ Doth not flee from his pursuers, whether men or beasts, but walks away with a slow and majestic pace, as is observed by Aristotle, and... [ Continue Reading ]
_If thou hast done foolishly_ “If thy pride or thy passion hath engaged thee in some foolish action, whereby thou hast disgraced thyself; or made thee contrive and endeavour any thing that is unwarrantable, do not add one fault to another, by excusing it, or blaming any body but thyself for it, much... [ Continue Reading ]
_Surely the churning of milk_ This verse, which is connected with that preceding, is thus paraphrased by the last-mentioned author: “For from little things there is an easy progress unto greater. And just as you see milk is first pressed out of the cow's udders, and then, being shaken in the churn,... [ Continue Reading ]