Verse 7
The robbery of the wicked - The wicked shall be terrified and ruined by the means they use to aggrandize themselves. And as they refuse to do judgment, they shall have judgment without mercy.
Verse 9
In a corner of the housetop - A shed raised on the flat roof - a wide house; בית חבר beith chaber, "a house of fellowship;" what we should call a lodging-house, or a house occupied by several families. This was usual in the East, as well as in the West. Some think a house of festivity is meant: hence my old MS. Bible has, the hous and feste.
Verse 11
When the scorner is punished - When those who mock at religion, blaspheme against its Author, and endeavor to poison society, and disturb the peace of the community by their false doctrine, meet with that degree of punishment which their crimes, as far as they affect the public peace, deserve; then the simple, who were either led away, or in danger of being led away, by their pernicious doctrines, are made wise. And when those thus made wise are instructed in the important truths which have been decried by those unprincipled men, then they receive knowledge; and one such public example is made a blessing to thousands. But only blasphemy against God and the Bible should be thus punished. Private opinion the state should not meddle with.
Verse 12
The righteous man wisely considereth - This verse is understood as implying the pious concern of a righteous man, for a wicked family, whom he endeavors by his instructions to bring into the way of knowledge and peace.
Verse 13
Whoso stoppeth his ears - See the conduct of the priest and Levite to the man who fell among thieves; and let every man learn from this, that he who shuts his ear against the cry of the poor, shall have the ear of God shut against his cry. The words are quite plain; there is no difficulty here.
Verse 16
The man once enlightened, that wandereth out of the way of understanding, in which he had walked, shall remain - have a permanent residence - in the congregation of the dead; רפאים rephaim, the lost; either separate spirits in general, or rather the assembly of separate spirits, which had fallen from primitive rectitude; and shall not be restored to the Divine favor; particularly those sinners who were destroyed by the deluge. This passage intimates that those called rephaim are in a state of conscious existence. It is difficult to assign the true meaning of the word in several places where it occurs: but it seems to mean the state of separate spirits, i.e., of those separated from their bodies, and awaiting the judgment of the great day: but the congregation may also include the fallen angels. My old MS. Bible translates, The man that errith fro the wei of doctrine, in the felowschip of geantis schal wonnen.
Verse 17
He that loveth pleasure - That follows gaming, fowling, hunting, coursing, etc., when he should be attending to the culture of the fields, shall be a poor man; and, I may safely add, shall be so deservedly poor, as to have none to pity him.
Verse 18
The wicked shall be a ransom for the righteous - God often in his judgments cuts off the wicked, in order to prevent them from destroying the righteous. And in general, we find that the wicked fall into the traps and pits they have digged for the righteous.
Verse 22
A wise man scaleth the city of the mighty - Wisdom is in many respects preferable to strength, even in the case of defense. See what skill does in the fortification and reduction of strong places.
Verse 25
The desire of the slothful killeth him - He desires to eat, drink, and be clothed: but as he does not labor, hence he dies with this desire in his heart, envying those who possess plenty through their labor and industry. Hence he is said to covet greedily all the day long, [Pro 21:26], while the righteous, who has been laborious and diligent, has enough to eat, and some to spare.
Verse 27
When he bringeth it with a wicked mind? - If such a person even bring the sacrifices and offerings which God requires, they are an abomination to him, because the man is wicked; and if such offerings be imperfect in themselves, or of goods ill-gotten, or offered by constraint of custom, etc., they are doubly abominable.
Verse 29
He directeth his way - Instead of יכין yachin, he directeth, upwards of fifty of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS., several ancient editions with some of the versions, read יבין yabin, he understands; and because he understands his way, he is able to direct himself in walking in it.
Verse 31
The horse is prepared against the day of battle - Horses were not used among the Jews before the time of Solomon. There was a Divine command against them, [Deu 17:16]; but Solomon transgressed it; see [1Kgs 10:29]. But he here allows that a horse is a vain thing for safety; and that however strong and well appointed cavalry may be, still safety, escape, and victory, are of the Lord. Among the ancient Asiatics, the horse was used only for war; oxen labored in the plough and cart, the ass and the camel carried backloads; and mules and asses served for riding. We often give the credit of a victory to man, when they who consider the circumstances see that it came from God.
Introduction
A good reputation. The rich and the poor. The idle. Good habits formed in infancy. Injustice and its effects. The providence of God. The lewd woman. The necessity of timely correction. Exhortation to wisdom. Rob not the poor. Be not the companion of the frowward. Avoid suretyship. Be honest. The industrious shall be favored.
Verse 1
A good name - שם shem, a name, put for reputation, credit, fame. Used nearly in the same way that we use it: "He has got a name;" "his name stands high;" for "He is a man of credit and reputation." טבא toba, καλον, hamood, and bonum, are added by the Chaldee, Septuagint, Arabiac, and Vulgate, all signifying good or excellent.
Is rather to be chosen than great riches - Because character will support a man in many circumstances; and there are many rich men that have no name: but the word of the man of character will go farther than all their riches.
Verse 2
The rich and poor meet together - עשיר ashir the opulent, whether in money, land, or property; רש rash, the man that is destitute of these, and lives by his labor, whether a handicraftsman, or one that tills the ground. In the order of God, the rich and the poor live together, and are mutually helpful to each other. Without the poor, the rich could not be supplied with the articles which they consume; for the poor include all the laboring classes of society: and without the rich, the poor could get no vent for the produce of their laborer, nor, in many cases, labor itself. The poor have more time to labor than the mere necessaries of life require; their extra time is employed in providing a multitude of things which are called the superfluities of life, and which the rich especially consume. All the poor man's time is thus employed; and he is paid for his extra labor by the rich. The rich should not despise the poor, without whom he can neither have his comforts, nor maintain his state. The poor should not envy the rich, without whom he could neither get employment, nor the necessaries of life.
The Lord is the Maker of them all - Both the states are in the order of God's providence and both are equally important in his sight. Merely considered as men, God loves the simple artificer or laborer as much as he does the king; though the office of the latter, because of its entering into the plan of his government of the world, is of infinitely greatly consequence than the trade of the poor artificer. Neither should despise the other; neither should envy the other. Both are useful; both important; both absolutely necessary to each other's welfare and support; and both are accountable to God for the manner in which they acquit themselves in those duties of life which God has respectively assigned them. The abject poor - those who are destitute of health and the means of life - God in effect lays at the rich man's door, that by his superfluities they may be supported. How wise is that ordinance which has made the rich and the poor! Pity it were not better understood!
Verse 3
A prudent man foreseeth the evil - God in mercy has denied man the knowledge of futurity; but in its place he has given him hope and prudence. By hope he is continually expecting and anticipating good; by prudence he derives and employs means to secure it. His experience shows him that there are many natural evils in a current state, the course of which he can neither stem nor divert: prudence shows him beforehand the means he may use to step out of their way, and hide himself. The simple - the inexperienced, headstrong, giddy, and foolish - rush on in the career of hope, without prudence to regulate, chastise, and guide it; thus they commit many faults, make many miscarriages, and suffer often in consequence; and the commission of crimes leads to punishment.
Verse 5
Thorns and snares - Various difficulties, trials, and sufferings.
Verse 6
Train up a child in the way he should go - The Hebrew of this clause is curious: חנך לנער על פי דרכו chanoch lannaar al pi darco, "Initiate the child at the opening (the mouth) of his path." When he comes to the opening of the way of life, being able to walk alone, and to choose; stop at this entrance, and begin a series of instructions, how he is to conduct himself in every step he takes. Show him the duties, the dangers, and the blessings of the path; give him directions how to perform the duties, how to escape the dangers, and how to secure the blessings, which all lie before him. Fix these on his mind by daily inculcation, till their impression is become indelible; then lead him to practice by slow and almost imperceptible degrees, till each indelible impression becomes a strongly radicated habit. Beg incessantly the blessing of God on all this teaching and discipline; and then you have obeyed the injunction of the wisest of men. Nor is there any likelihood that such impressions shall ever be effaced, or that such habits shall ever be destroyed. חנך chanac, which we translate train up or initiate, signifies also dedicate; and is often used for the consecrating any thing, house, or person, to the service of God. Dedicate, therefore, in the first instance, your child to God; and nurse, teach, and discipline him as God's child, whom he has intrusted to your care. These things observed, and illustrated by your own conduct, the child (you have God's word for it) will never depart from the path of life. Coverdale translates the passage thus: "Yf thou teachest a childe what waye he shoulde go, he shall not leave it when he is olde." Coverdale's Bible, for generally giving the true sense of a passage, and in elegant language for the time, has no equal in any of the translations which have followed since. Horace's maxim is nearly like that of Solomon: -
Fingit equum tenera docilem cervice magister
Ire viam, quam monstrat eques; venaticus, ex quo
Tempore cervinam pellem latravit in aula,
Militat in sylvis catulus. Nunc adbibe puro
Pectore verba, puer; nunc te melioribus ofter.
Quo semel est imbuta recens, servabit odorem