CHAPTER VI _Exhortations against becoming surety for others_, 1-5; _against idleness, from the example of the ant_, 6-11; _description of a worthless person_, 12-15; _seven things hateful to God_, 16-19; _the benefits of instruction_, 20-23; _farther exhortations against bad women, and especia... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 6:3. _DO THIS - DELIVER THYSELF_] Continue to press him for whom thou art become surety, to pay his creditor; give him no rest till he do it, else thou mayest fully expect to be left to pay the debt.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 6:5. _DELIVER THYSELF AS A ROE_] צבי _tsebi_, the antelope. If thou art got into the snare, get out if thou possibly canst; make every _struggle_ and _excertion_, as the antelope taken in the net, and the bird taken in the snare would, in order to get free from thy captivity.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 6:6. _GO TO THE ANT, THOU SLUGGARD_] נמלה _nemalah_, the _ant,_ is a remarkable creature for _foresight, industry_, and _economy_. At the proper seasons they collect their food-not in the _summer_ to lay up for the _winter_; for they sleep during the winter, and eat not; and therefor... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 6:10. _YET A LITTLE SLEEP, A LITTLE SLUMBER_] This, if not the _language_, is the _feeling_ of the sluggard. The _ant_ gathers its food in summer and in harvest, and sleeps in winter when it has no work to do. If the sluggard would work in the day, and sleep at night, it would be all... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 6:11. _SO SHALL THY POVERTY COME AS ONE THAT TRAVELLETH_] That is, with slow, but surely approaching steps. _THY WANT AS AN ARMED MAN._] That is, with irresistible fury; and thou art not prepared to oppose it. The _Vulgate, Septuagint_, and _Arabic_ add the following clause to this v... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 6:12. _A NAUGHTY PERSON_] אדם בליעל _adam beliyal_, "Adam good for nothing." When he lost his innocence. _A man apostata_; Old MS. Bible. _A WICKED MAN_] איש און _ish aven_. He soon became a general transgressor after having departed from his God. All his posterity, unless restored b... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 6:13. _HE WINKETH WITH HIS EYES, HE SPEAKETH WITH HIS FEET,_ _HE TEACHETH WITH HIS FINGERS_] These things seem to be spoken of debauchees; and the following quotation from Ovid, Amor. lib. i., El. iv., ver. 15, shows the whole process of the villany spoken of by Solomon: Cum premit i... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 6:14. _HE DEVISETH MISCHIEF_] He plots schemes and plans to bring it to pass. _HE SOWETH DISCORD._] Between men and their wives, by seducing the latter from their fidelity. See the preceding quotation.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 6:15. _SUDDENLY SHALL HE BE BROKEN_] Probably alluding to some punishment of the adulterer, such as being _stoned to death_. A multitude shall join together, and so overwhelm him with stones, that he shall have his flesh and bones broken to pieces, and there shall be _no remedy_-none... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 6:16. _THESE SIX - DOTH THE LORD HATE_] 1. _A proud look_ - exalted eyes; those who will not condescend to look on the rest of mankind. 2. _A lying tongue_ - he who neither loves nor tells _truth_. 3. _Hands that shed innocent blood_, whether by murder or by battery. 4. _A heart t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 6:20. _KEEP THY FATHER'S COMMANDMENT_] See on Proverbs 1:8.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 6:21. _BIND THEM CONTINUALLY UPON THINE HEART_] See on Proverbs 3:3. And see a similar command, to which this is an allusion, Deuteronomy 6:6-5.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 6:22. _WHEN THOU GOEST, IT SHALL LEAD THEE_] Here the _law_ is _personified_; and is represented as a nurse, teacher, and guardian, by night and day. An upright man never _goes_ but as directed by God's word and led by God's Spirit. _WHEN THOU SLEEPEST_] He commends his body and soul... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 6:23. _FOR THE COMMANDMENT_ IS _A LAMP_] It illuminates our path. It shows us how _we should walk and praise God_. _AND THE LAW_ IS _LIGHT_] A _general light_, showing the _nature_ and _will_ of GOD, and the _interest_ and _duty_ of MAN. _AND REPROOFS OF INSTRUCTION_] Or, that instr... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 6:24. _TO KEEP THEE FROM THE EVIL WOMAN_] Solomon had suffered sorely from this quarter; and hence his repeated cautions and warnings to others. The _strange woman_ always means one that is not a man's own; and sometimes it may also imply a _foreign harlot_, one who is also a _strange... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 6:25. _NEITHER LET HER TAKE THEE WITH HER EYE-LIDS._] It is a very general custom in the East to _paint the eye-lids_. I have many Asiatic drawings in which this is expressed. They have a method of _polishing the eyes_ with a preparation of _antimony_, so that they appear with an inde... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 6:26. _BY MEANS OF A WHORISH WOMAN_] In following lewd women, a man is soon reduced to poverty and disease. The _Septuagint_ gives this a strange turn: τιμη γαρ πορνης, οση και ενος αρτου. "For the price or hire of a whore is about one loaf." So _many_ were they in the land, that the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 6:27. _CAN A MAN TAKE FIRE_] These were proverbial expressions, the meaning of which was plain to every capacity.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 6:29. _SO HE THAT GOETH IN TO HIS NEIGHBOUR'S WIFE_] As sure as he who takes _fire into his bosom_, or who _walks_ upon _live coals,_ is burnt thereby; so sure he that seduces his neighbour's wife _shall be guilty_. That is, he shall be punished.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Proverbs 6:30. _MEN DO NOT DESPISE A THIEF IF HE STEAL_] Every man pities the poor culprit who was perishing for lack of food, and stole to _satisfy his hunger_; yet no law _clears_ him: he is bound to make restitution; in some cases _double_, in others _quadruple_ and _quintuple_; and if he h... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 32. BUT _WHOSO COMMITTETH ADULTERY_] The case understood is that of a _married man_: he has a wife; and therefore is not in the circumstances of the _poor thief_, who stole to _appease his hunger,_ _having nothing to eat_. In this alone the _opposition_ between the two cases is found: the _thi... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 33. _A WOUND AND DISHONOUR SHALL HE GET_] Among the _Romans_, when a man was caught in the fact, the injured husband took the law into his own hand; and a large _radish_ was thrust up into the anus of the transgressor, which not only overwhelmed him with infamy and disgrace, but generally caus... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 34. _JEALOUSY_ IS _THE RAGE OF A MAN: THEREFORE HE WILL NOT_ _SPARE_] He will not, when he has detected the adulterer in the fact, wait for the slow progress of the law: it is then to him the _day of vengeance_; and in general, he avenges himself on the spot, as we see above.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 35. _HE WILL NOT REGARD ANY RANSOM_] This is an injury that admits of _no compensation_. No _gifts_ can satisfy a man for the injury his honour has sustained; and to take a _bribe_ or a _ransom_, would be setting up _chastity_ at a price.... [ Continue Reading ]