Proverbs 6 - Introduction
_AGAINST SURETYSHIP, IDLENESS, AND MISCHIEVOUSNESS. SEVEN THINGS HATEFUL TO GOD. THE BLESSINGS OF OBEDIENCE. THE MISCHIEFS OF FORNICATION AND ADULTERY._... [ Continue Reading ]
_AGAINST SURETYSHIP, IDLENESS, AND MISCHIEVOUSNESS. SEVEN THINGS HATEFUL TO GOD. THE BLESSINGS OF OBEDIENCE. THE MISCHIEFS OF FORNICATION AND ADULTERY._... [ Continue Reading ]
MY SON, IF THOU BE SURETY— This and the ten following verses contain precepts oeconomical. The wise man recommends first, not to become surety for another; and, secondly, to avoid idleness: he inculcates the first advice in various places of this book; and certainly nothing is more contrary to true... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THOU ART COME, &C.— The LXX render this, _For thou art come into the hands of evil men upon thy friend's account; go therefore, be not careless, or remiss, but earnest and importunate with thy friend, to get thyself discharged._ This, says Dr. Grey, is more agreeable to the sense, and the metre... [ Continue Reading ]
GO TO THE ANT— Horace has made use of the same similitude: ———Thus the little ant (to human lore No mean example) forms her frugal store, Gather'd with mighty toils on every side, Nor ignorant, nor careless to provide For future want. Sat. I. lib. 1: The reader will also find in Virgil's AEn. 4: v... [ Continue Reading ]
AS ONE THAT TRAVELLETH— Dr. Grey would render this verse, _So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want_ [_shall overtake thee speedily_] _as a post,_ or _messenger._ See Jeremiah 51:31. Lord Bacon upon this proverb distinguishes between the poverty which comes as a traveller, and... [ Continue Reading ]
A NAUGHTY PERSON— In the Hebrew _a man of Belial, with a froward mouth,_ Houbigant renders, _distorting his mouth._ The LXX read, _Walketh in ways that are not right. A froward,_ or _distorted mouth,_ signifies a speech void of truth, fidelity, and honesty.... [ Continue Reading ]
HE WINKETH— It is a remark of St. Ambrose, that the mein and gesture of the body are an image of the mind; and he was so delicate upon this subject, that he would not ordain the son of one of his particular friends, because the young man's air and manner were by no means conformable to clerical grav... [ Continue Reading ]
FROWARDNESS IS IN HIS HEART, &C.— _Pravo corde architectatur malum,_ as one translation has it: he does not do mischief by chance or negligently, but deliberates how he may do it with most success; he builds it commodiously and speciously to the eye, that it may invite men to inhabit it: there is no... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH HER EYELIDS— Women in the east used to be particular in painting and beautifying their eyelids; and as their motive was by that means to ensnare and captivate the men, the expression seems to be highly proper. "The eye of a harlot is the snare of her lover," says St. Ambrose. See Philostratus's... [ Continue Reading ]
CAN A MAN TAKE FIRE— "The wife of one's neighbour is as fire: if you deliver yourself up to her impure love, it will consume you: you give admission to a passion which is unconquerable, and in the end will fall under the hand of her enraged husband." See Proverbs 6:34.... [ Continue Reading ]
IF HE BE FOUND, HE SHALL RESTORE SEVENFOLD— The law, Exodus 22:1 did not oblige the thief to restore sevenfold, but only five oxen for one, or, in another case, only double: wherefore some commentators think that the word _sevenfold,_ is only used as an indefinite number. "He shall restore the value... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR JEALOUSY IS THE RAGE OF A MAN— The wise man carries on the contrast between the punishment of theft and adultery. "The theft (says he) may be ransomed by making restitution; but he that violates the marriage-bed raises such an inexorable spirit of revenge in the bosom of the injured, as nothing... [ Continue Reading ]