Proverbs 30:23

For an odious woman when she is married; and an handmaid that is heir to her mistress. FOR AN ODIOUS (WOMAN) WHEN SHE IS MARRIED - for by her bad temper and ways she makes herself unbearable to her husband, her domestics, and her neighbours. Cartwright and Maurer explain: when a man had two wives, the one beloved, the other comparatively hated (cf. ), if the latter be made by her husband the beloved wife, she is sure to behave imperiously, because of the former contumely she bare. I prefer the English version. AND AN HANDMAID ... HEIR TO HER MISTRESS - the lower sunk in grade she was before the more insolent she will be when she has gotten a fortune. Gesenius, after the Septuagint, translates, 'an handmaid, when she has expelled; i:e. succeeded into the place of her mistress.' So the Syriac. But the Vulgate and Chaldaic su...

ODIOUS WOMAN - One in whom there is nothing loveable. Marriage, which to most women is the state in which they find scope for their highest qualities, becomes to her only a sphere in which to make herself and others miserable....

EXPOSITION PROVERBS 30:1 PART VII. FIRST APPENDIX TO THE SECOND COLLECTION, containing "the words of Agur." A short introduction, teaching that the Word of God is the source of wisdom (Proverbs 30:1), is followed by apothegms on different subjects (Proverbs 30:7). Cornelius a Lapide offers the following opinion concerning this appendix, which no one can hesitate to say is well founded, if he attempts to give it a spiritual interpretation, and to discern mysteries under the literal meaning: "Quarta haec pars elegantissima est et pulcherrima, aeque ac diffic

FOR AN ODIOUS [WOMAN], WHEN SHE IS MARRIED,.... Odious for her person, her ugliness, and the deformity of her body; or rather for the ill qualities of her mind, which, while single, she endeavours to conceal, but, being married, hides them no longer; but becomes imperious, proud, scornful, and malicious, and behaves in an ill natured way to her husband and all about her, to such a degree, that there is no bearing the place where she is; AND AN HANDMAID, THAT IS HEIR TO HER MISTRESS; that has got so much into her affections that she leaves all she has to her when she dies, which makes her insufferably proud and vain; or she marries her master after the death of her mistress, and so coming into her place enjoys all she had, but only her wisdom and humility; which being wanting, she behaves in such a manner as to make the whole family uneasy. This might be exemplified in the case of Hagar,...

VI. THE WORDS OF AGUR THE SON OF JAKEH CHAPTER 30 Some hold that Agur is another name for Solomon. This opinion is also upheld by the Talmud, which speaks of six names which belonged to the King: Solomon, Jedidiah, Koheleth, Son of Jakeh, Agur and Lemuel. But this opinion cannot be verified, nor do we know who Agur the son of Jakeh was. The Septuagint and the Vulgate have translated the Hebrew words and formed a sentence out of them. “Agur” means “assembler” and Jakeh has the meaning of “pious,” so that some think that Agur means an unknown godly man who gathered these sayings and they were embodied in this book. We leave the name as it is, and believe that Agur, the son of Jakeh, is the name of the author of this chapter. “Whoever Agur was, he had a certain marked individuality; he combines meditation on lofty questions of theology with a sound theory of practical life. He was able to...

PROVERBS 30. THE SAYINGS OF AGUR. It is uncertain whether the title embraces the whole chapter or Proverbs 30:1, or Proverbs 30:1 only. Proverbs 30:1. The title is extremely obscure, and has been much discussed. The VSS show a wide divergence in their interpretation. It is perhaps simplest to accept the title as referring to some sage of repute among the Wisdom circles in the Greek period. Proverbs 30:1 b has been interpreted in many ways, the proper names being taken as significant words. The most interesting is that which represents the sage as saying (_cf. mg.),_ I have wearied myself, O God, I ha

IS HEIRTO. has dispossessed, or become heiress to....

Four things that are INTOLERABLE. Two of them are drawn from each sex, and in each case they are unbearable because they are _out of place, in a false position_....

FOR THREE THINGS THE EARTH IS DISQUIETED— We have here an answer to another enigmatical question, What things are most intolerable? Which he tells us are, 1. A slave who bears rule; 2. A fool over-fed; 3. A vicious wife in a family; 4. A servant-maid become mistress of the house. This is very clear, and but too well confirmed by experience. A slave, or a man of an obscure condition, and of a mean servile soul, who domineers over others, is a subject of vexation and pain to them. If it be difficult to endure a master, even of illustrious birth, what must we think of a man who is lifted from servitude to a throne? he must have many degrees of excellence above another, not to be looked upon with jealousy and pain; and, unless endued with great grace, will be more cruel, and more insolent than another: _——————Regnabit sanguine multo Ad regnum quisquis venit ab exilio._ He will not be spari...

TEXT Proverbs 30:21-33 21. For three things the earth doth tremble, And for four, which it cannot bear: 22. For a servant when he is king; And a fool when he is filled with food; 23. For an odious woman when she is married; And a handmaid that is heir to her mistress. 24. There are four things which are little upon the earth, But they are exceeding wise: 25. The ants are a people not strong, Yet they provide their food in the summer; 26. The conies are but a feeble folk, Yet make they their houses in the rocks; 27. The locusts have no king, Yet go they forth all of them by bands; 28. The lizard taketh hold with her hands, Yet is she in kings-' palaces. 29. There are three things which are stately in their march, Yea, fo