Proverbs 31:2

What, my son? and what, the son of my womb? and what, the son of my vows? WHAT, MY SON: AND WHAT, THE SON OF MY WOMB (for whom I have borne such throes, and whom therefore, I so intensely love)? AND WHAT. The thrice-repeated interrogation implies the strength of the mother's feelings: What am I to say to thee? With what precepts can I sufficiently instruct thee, so that thou mayest be truly wise and happy as a king? Words fail to express all I feel in respect to thee. THE SON OF MY VOWS? - the son granted to my prayers, like Samuel; and therefore, as thy name, Lemuel, implies (note; ), consecrated to God (; ). A mother's pleadings with her son are likely then t...

Verse Proverbs 31:2. _WHAT, MY SON?_] The Chaldee בר _bar_ is used twice in this verse, instead of the Hebrew בן _ben_, son. This verse is very elliptical; and commentators, according to their different tastes, have inserted _words_, indeed some of them a whole _sentence_, to make up the sense. Perhaps _Coverdale_ has hit the sense as nearly as any other: "These are the wordes of Kynge Lemuel; and the lesson that his mother taughte him. My sonne, thou son of my body, O my deare beloved sonne!" _THE SON OF MY VOWS?_] A child born after vows made for offsprings is called the _child_ of a person's _vows_....

The repetitions are emphatic; expressive of anxious love. SON OF MY VOWS - Like Samuel, and Samson, the child often asked for in prayer, the prayer ratified by a vow of dedication. The name Lemuel (literally “for God,” consecrated to Him) may be the expression of that dedication; and the warning against indulging in wine Proverbs 31:4 shows that it had something of the Nazarite or Rechabite idea in it....

EXPOSITION PROVERBS 31:1 PART VIII. SECOND APPENDIX TO THE SECOND COLLECTION, containing "the words of Lemuel" on the subjects of impurity and intemperance. PROVERBS 31:1 _The_ _superscription. _THE WORDS OF KING LEMUEL, THE PROPHECY WHICH HIS MOTHER TAUGHT HIM. Who is intended by "Lemuel king" is much disputed. Those who connect the following word _massa _("oracle") with the preceding _melek _("king"), translate "King of Massa," as Proverbs 30:1 (where see note). Of the country, or the ki

WHAT, MY SON?.... What shall I call thee? though thou art a king, can I address thee in more suitable language, or use a more endearing appellative than this, and what follows? permit me, thy mother, to speak unto thee as my son: and what shall I say to thee? I want words, I want wisdom; O that I knew what to say to thee, that would be proper and profitable; or what is it I am about to say to thee? things of the greatest moment and importance, and therefore listen to me; and so the manner of speaking is designed to excite attention: or what shall I ask of thee? no part of thy kingdom, or any share in the government of it; only this favour, to avoid the sins unbecoming a prince, and to do the duty of a king, later mentioned. The Targum and Syriac version represent her as exclaiming, reproving, and threatening; as, Alas my son! is this the life thou designest to live, to give up thyself to...

VII. THE WORDS OF KING LEMUEL TAUGHT HIM BY HIS MOTHER CHAPTER 31 The Virtuous Woman “The words of King Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him”; this is the superscription of this chapter. Who is King Lemuel? No king by that name is known. We do not hesitate in saying that it is Solomon. It means “unto God” one who is devoted to the Lord. In all probability Solomon's mother called her boy by this name, and here is the record therefore of the instruction given by Solomon's mother. The warning is once more, and that very earnestly (shown by the thrice asked “what?” What shall I say unto you?) against licentiousness, against wine and strong drink. The brief words of the mother's exhortation end with a request to act righteously as king, to stand up for those who are appointed to destruction, to plead the cause of the poor and needy. The final portion of the book of Proverbs is a...

SECOND DIVISION. SAYINGS OF LEMUEL. A manual of directions for kings. Proverbs 31:1. The title is uncertain. RV is not grammatically correct. Read _mg._ MASSA (_mg.),_ rendered oracle in Proverbs 31:30, and here by RV, is the regular word for the oracles of the earlier prophets, but is strange in this connexion. There is a Mas-' a mentioned in the inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser IV along with Teima in N. Arabia. This was one of the traditional seats of wisdom, like Edom, and possibly the name was adopted in view of this. But of Massa, both here and in Proverbs 30:1, is conjectural (_cf._ Genesis 10:30;...

MY SON? Compare the Structure, (p. 864),...

VII. The Words of King Lemuel. Chap. Proverbs 31:1-9 We have here another short Appendix. King Lemuel records, as his oracle, or wise teaching, the counsel given him by his mother (Proverbs 31:1). With terms of ardent affection (Proverbs 31:2) she bids him beware of lust (Proverbs 31:3), and excess of wine (Proverbs 31:4), and urges him to befriend the helpless (Proverbs 31:8), and to judge righteously ...

WHAT, MY SON, &C.— Solomon tells us, chap. Proverbs 4:3 that he _was tender and only-beloved in the sight of his mother._ The reader cannot have a finer comment upon that passage, than the beginning of this lecture to Lemuel, where his mother breaks out at once into this excess of tenderness, _What, my son,_ &c....