Verse 16
Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither - Folly or pleasure here personified, uses the very same expressions as employed by Wisdom, [Pro 9:4]. Wisdom says, "Let the simple turn in to me." No, says Folly, "Let the simple turn in to me." If he turn in to Wisdom, his folly shall be taken away and he shall become wise; if he turn in to Foliy, his darkness will be thickened, and his folly will remain.
Wisdom sets up her school to instruct the ignorant:
Folly sets her school up next door, to defeat the designs of Wisdom.
Thus the saying of the satirist appears to be verified: - "Wherever God erects a house of prayer,
The devil surely builds a chapel there.
And it is found upon examination,
The latter has the larger congregation."
De Foe.
Verse 17
Stolen waters are sweet - I suppose this to be a proverbial mode of expression, importing that illicit pleasures are sweeter than those which are legal The meaning is easy to be discerned; and the conduct of multitudes shows that they are ruled by this adage. On it are built all the adulterous intercourses in the land.
Verse 18
But he knoweth not that the dead are there - See on [Pro 2:18] (note). He does not know that it was in this way the first apostates from God and truth walked. רפאים rephaim; gigantev, the Giants - Septuagint. The sons of men, the earth-born, to distinguish them from the sons of God, those who were born from above. See the notes on [Gen 6:1], etc.
Her guests are in the depths of hell - Those who have been drawn out of the way of understanding by profligacy have in general lost their lives, if not their souls, by their folly. The Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic make a long addition to this verse: "But draw thou back, that thou mayest not die in this place; neither fix thy eyes upon her; so shalt thou pass by those strange waters. But abstain thou from strange waters, and drink not of another's fountain, that thou mayest live a long time, and that years may be added to thy life." Of this addition there is nothing in the Hebrew, the Chaldee, or the Vulgate, as now printed: but in the editio princeps are the following words: Qui enim applicabitur illi descendet ad inferos; nam qui abscesserit ab ea salvabitur. These words were in the copy from which my old MS. Bible has been made, as the following version proves: Who forsoth schal ben joyned to hir, schal falle doun on to hell: for whi he that goth awai fro hir, schal be saved. Three of my own MSS. have the same reading.
Introduction
It is impossible to give summaries of such chapters as these, where almost every verse contains a separate subject. Our common version not being able to exhibit the contents as usual, simply says, "From this chapter to the five and twentieth are sundry observations upon moral virtues, and their opposite vices." In general the wise man states in this chapter the difference between the wise and the foolish, the righteous and the wicked, the diligent and the idle. He speaks also of love and hatred, of the good and the evil tongue, or of the slanderer and the peace-maker.
Verse 1
The proverbs of Solomon - Some ancient MSS. of the Vulgate have Proverbiorum liber secundus, "The second book of the Proverbs." The preceding nine chapters can only be considered as an introduction, if indeed they may be said to make even a part, of the proverbs of Solomon, which appear to commence only at the tenth chapter.
A wise son maketh a glad father - The parallels in this and several of the succeeding chapters are those which Bishop Lowth calls the antithetic; when two lines correspond with each other by an opposition of terms and sentiments; when the second is contrasted with the first; sometimes in expression, sometimes in sense only. Accordingly the degrees of antithesis are various; from an exact contraposition of word to word, through a whole sentence, down to a general disparity, with something of a contrariety in the two propositions, as: -
A wise son rejoiceth in his father.
But a foolish son is the grief of his mother.
Where every word has its opposite; for the terms father and mother are, as the logicians say, relatively opposite.
Verse 2
Treasures of wickedness - Property gained by wicked means.
Delivered from death - Treasures gained by robbery often bring their possessors to an untimely death; but those gained by righteous dealing bring with them no such consequences.
Verse 3
But he casteth away the substance of the wicked - But instead of רשעים reshaim, the wicked, בוגדים bogedim, hypocrites, or perfidious persons, is the reading of twelve or fourteen of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS., and some editions; but it is not acknowledged by any of the ancient versions.
The righteous have God for their feeder; and because of his infinite bounty, they can never famish for want of the bread of life. On the contrary, the wicked are often, in the course of his providence, deprived of the property of which they make a bad use.
Verse 4
He becometh poor - God has ordered, in the course of his providence, that he who will not work shall not eat. And he always blesses the work of the industrious man.
Verse 5
He that gathereth in summer - All the work of the field should be done in the season suitable to it. If summer and harvest be neglected, in vain does a man expect the fruits of autumn.
Verse 6
Violence covereth the mouth of the wicked - As blessings shall be on the head of the just, so the violence of the wicked shall cover their face with shame and confusion. Their own violent dealings shall be visited upon them. The mouth forsoth of unpitious men wickidnesse covereth. - Old MS. Bible. "The forehead of the ungodly is past shame, and presumptuous." - Coverdale.
Verse 7
The memory of the just is blessed - Or, is a blessing.
But the name of the wicked shall rot - This is another antithesis; but there are only two antithetic terms, for memory and name are synonymous - Lowth. The very name of the wicked is as offensive as putrid carrion.
Verse 8
A prating fool shall fall - This clause is repeated in the tenth verse. The wise man will receive the commandment: but the shallow blabbing fool shall be cast down. See [Pro 10:10].
Verse 9
He that walketh uprightly - The upright man is always safe; he has not two characters to support; he goes straight forward, and is never afraid of detection, because he has never been influenced by hypocrisy or deceit.
Verse 10
He that winketh with the eye - Instead of the latter clause, on which see [Pro 10:8], the Septuagint has, ὁ δε ελεγχων μετα παῥρησιας ειρηνοποιει· "but he that reproveth with freedom, maketh peace." This is also the reading of the Syriac and Arabic. A faithful open reproving of sin is more likely to promote the peace of society than the passing it by slightly, or taking no notice of it; for if the wicked turn to God at the reproof, the law of peace will soon be established in his heart, and the law of kindness will flow from his tongue.
Verse 11
The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life - מקור חיים mekor chaiyim, is the vein of lives; an allusion to the great aorta, which conveys the blood from the heart to every art of the body. The latter clause of this verse is the same with that of [Pro 10:6].