CHAPTER XXIII _Sobriety in eating and drinking, especially at the tables of_ _the great. Have no fellowship with the covetous. Remove not the_ _ancient landmark. Children should receive due correction. Avoid_ _the company of wine-bibbers. Obedience to parents. Avoid lewd_ _connections. The effe... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 23:2. _PUT A KNIFE TO THY THROAT_] Repress thy appetite, and do not be incontinent of speech. Eat, drink, and converse, under a _check_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 23:4. _LABOUR NOT TO BE RICH_] Let not this be thy object. Labour to provide things _honest_ in the sight of God and all men; and if thou get wealth, do not forget the _poor_, else God's curse will be a canker even in thy _gold_. _CEASE FROM THINE OWN WISDOM._] בינתך _binathecha_, th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 23:6. _OF_ HIM THAT HATH _AN EVIL EYE_] Never eat with a covetous or stingy man; if he entertains you at his own expense, he grudges every morsel you put in your mouth. This is well marked by the wise man in the next verse: "Eat and drink, saith he: but his heart is not with thee.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 23:8. _THE MORSEL_ WHICH _THOU HAST EATEN_] On reflection thou wilt even blame thyself for having accepted his invitation.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 23:10. _REMOVE NOT THE OLD LANDMARK_] See the preceding chapter, Proverbs 22:28. _ENTER NOT INTO THE FIELDS OF THE FATHERLESS_] Take nothing that belongs to an orphan. The heaviest curse of God will fall upon them that do so.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 23:11. _FOR THEIR REDEEMER_ IS _MIGHTY_] גאלם _goalam_, their _kinsman_. The word means the person who has a right, being next in blood, to _redeem a field_ or _estate_, alienated from the family, to avenge _the blood_ of a murdered relative, by slaying the murderer; and to take to _w... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 23:14. _THOU SHALT BEAT HIM WITH THE ROD_] A proper correction of children was a favourite point of discipline with Solomon. We have already seen how forcibly he speaks on this subject. See the notes on the places referred to in the margin.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 23:18. _SURELY THERE IS AN END_] יש אחרית _yesh acharith_, there is _another_ life; "and thy expectation" of the enjoyment of a blessed immortality "shall not be cut off." The Old MS. Bible reads thus: _For thou schalt hav hop in the last: and thin abiiding_ _schal not ben taken awei_... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 23:20. _BE NOT AMONG WINEBIBBERS_] There is much of this chapter spent in giving directions concerning _eating, drinking_, and _entertainments_ in general. First, the pupil is directed relative to the manner in which he is to conduct himself in his visits to the tables of the _rich_... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 23:22. _DESPISE NOT THY MOTHER WHEN SHE IS OLD._] A very necessary caution, as _very old women_ are generally helpless, useless, and burdensome: yet these circumstances do not at all lessen the child's _duty_. And this _duty_ is strengthened by the Divine command here given.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 23:23. _BUY THE TRUTH_] Acquire the _knowledge of God_ at all events; and in order to do this, too much pains, industry, and labour cannot be expended. _AND SELL_ IT _NOT_] When once acquired, let no consideration deprive thee of it. Cleave to and guard it, even at the risk of thy li... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 23:26. _MY SON, GIVE ME THINE HEART_] This is the speech of God to every _human soul_; give thy _affections_ to _God_, so as to love him with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength. _AND LET THINE EYES OBSERVE MY WAYS._] Be obedient to me in all things. _My son_, thou believest that... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 23:27. _FOR A WHORE_ IS _A DEEP DITCH_] See on Proverbs 22:14.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 23:28. _INCREASETH THE TRANSGRESSORS AMONG MEN._] More iniquity springs from this one source of evil, than from any other cause in the whole system of sin. _Women_ and _strong drink_ cause many millions to _transgress_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 23:29. _WHO HATH WO?_] I believe Solomon refers here to the natural effects of drunkenness. And perhaps אוי _oi_, which we translate _wo_, and אבוי _aboi_, which we translate _sorrow_, are mere natural sounds or vociferations that take place among drunken men, either from illness, or... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 23:31. _LOOK NOT THOU UPON THE WINE_] Let neither the _colour_, the _odour_, the _sparkling_, c., of the wine, when poured out, induce thee to drink of it. However _good_ and _pure_ it may be, it will to thee be a snare, because thou art addicted to it, and hast no self-command.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 23:33. _THINE EYES SHALL BEHOLD STRANGE WOMEN_] Evil concupiscence is inseparable from drunkenness. Mr. _Herbert_ shows these effects well: - He that is _drunken_ may his _mother_ kill, _Big with his sister_: he hath lost the reins; Is outlawed by himself. _All kinds of ill_ Did,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 23:34. _LIETH DOWN IN THE MIDST OF THE SEA_] He is utterly regardless of life; which is expressed very forcibly by one in a state of intoxication ascending the _shrouds_, clasping the mast-head, and there _falling asleep_; whence, in a few moments, he must either fall down upon the de... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 23:35. _THEY HAVE STRICKEN ME_] Though beat and abused, full of pain, and exhibiting a frightful figure; yet so drunk was he, as to be insensible who had struck him: still, after all this abuse and disgrace, he purposes to embrace the next opportunity of repeating his excesses! SIN ma... [ Continue Reading ]