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"nervabuntur," or of excellence, which the word does, undoubtedly, sometimes signify, can enter into its meaning here. It simply implies that the upright, so far from entering the ways which lead to death, shall enjoy long life on the earth, in contradistinction to the wicked, who "shall be cut off from the earth.”—(Ver. 22.)

CHAPTER III.

1. my doctrine]-nn. See ch. i. 8.

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my precepts]— a command or precept, from to command, to ordain, to prescribe; and 7), which occurs about twenty-five times in Proverbs, is to keep or observe that which is commanded.

2. and peace]-By "peace" temporal felicity may be meant; or that peace of mind which accrues from virtuous conduct; the satisfaction which arises from an approving conscience.

3. Let not mercy and truth]—The imagery here introduced seems to be taken, at least in part, from Deut. vi. 8. The abstract terms "mercy" and "truth" are, probably, to be understood in the most general sense, for every thing that can come under these appellations. But see Poli Synop. and ch. vi. 21, and note.

the table of thine heart]—This expression, which occurs Jerem. xvii. 1; Prov. vii. 3; 2 Cor. iii. 3, is, no doubt, an allusion to the tables upon which the ten commandments were written by the finger of God; and to "write them upon the table of the heart," denotes to give them due attention, and to infix them deeply in the mind, so as never to be forgotten. Similar expressions are common among profane authors, as may be seen in Biel, Thesaurus, ypapw; Clemens Rom. § 2. ed. Coteller, not. 23; Le Clerc, Ars. Crit. part. 2. sect. 1. c. 4.

4. And thou shalt find]—¥¤, the imperative for the future.

- favour and kindness]-w cannot here have its usual signification of wisdom or prudence, but must mean either good success, as the root signifies, Deut. xxix. 9; Josh. i. 7; Prov. xvii. 8, and as E. T. Marg. and Durell render it; or kindness, benevolence, as it is rendered by Cocceius, Doederlein, Dathe; and though I cannot find any other undoubted application of it in this sense, yet, as it is easily deducible from the former sense, good success and prosperity often producing kindness, and as it seems to be required by the context, I have not scrupled to adopt it.-See ch. xvii. 8, note.

6. In all thy ways acknowledge him]-In every action and business of life acknowledge the superintending care and protection of Providence, and do all things to his glory; and he will conduct thee to the paths of happiness and virtue.

7. Be not wise in thine own eyes]-That is, Be not puffed up with a vain conceit of thy own importance, thy knowledge, and sagacity. Compare Rom. xii. 16; 1 Cor. viii. 2; Gal. vi. 3.

8. It shall be a healing medicine]-The efficacy of piety and reformation is here compared to the healing and balsamic virtues of medicine applied to a diseased body. Though thou art distempered with sin, spiritually sick and diseased, so that from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head there is no soundness in thee, but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores, yet they will be bound up by the fear of Jehovah, they will be mollified with the ointment of piety and religion, and thou wilt be restored to pristine health and vigour. "It is a comparison," says Sir John Chardin, "drawn from the plasters, ointments, oils, frictions, which are made use of in the East, upon the belly and stomach in most maladies; they being ignorant in the villages of the art of making decoc

tions and potions, and the proper doses of such things, generally make use of external medicines."—Quoted in Harmer's Observations, vol. iv. p. 417, ed. Clarke, Lond. 1808.

and a lotion]-p occurs Hos. ii. 7, Heb.; Psalm, cii. 10, Heb. where it undoubtedly means liquors or drink; but its derivation from рw to wet, to moisten, the parallelism, and the consistency of the imagery, show that it implies in this passage some species of medicine, a lineament, a lotion; i. e. a liquid externally applied. The LXX have imiμɛλna curatio, probably in the same sense. "Nec negari potest vocem inquɛda sat bonum sensum fundere, et bene convenire hebraico "pw, aspersio, irrigatio, seu id, quod corpori robur ac vires dat. Nam inter alia curationem, sanationem notat, quemadmodem iμeλeoðaι ü dicuntur, qui ægrotos et vulneratos curant.”—Schleusner, Opuscula, p. 269. Compare Biel, Thesaurus in voc.

9. Honour Jehovah with thy substance]-Give of thine abundance to the poor; pay thy tithes and oblations; and offer the first-fruits of thy produce, as the law directs.-Exod. xxiii. 19; Deut. xxvi. 2, et seq.

11. the chastening of Jehovah]-DD not only means doctrine and instruction, but likewise restraint, correction; and might, in most cases, be adequately rendered by discipline; but as the authorized version expresses the sense with sufficient correctness, it would be unwarrantable to alter its phraseology. See Job, v. 17; Deut. viii. 5; James, i. 2; Rev. iii. 19.

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12. And chasteneth the son]—That our standard version, even as a father the son in whom he delighteth," may be grammatically extracted from the Hebrew, no one will deny; yet I have adopted a different translation for the following reasons: 1. The verb as to grieve, though intransitive, will

become transitive in Pihel, i. e. to correct, to chasten; and, by a small alteration of the points, changing the Masoretic punctuation keab into kieeb, it will admit this sense. 2. The LXX took it for a verb, and render it by μachyo. 3. The inspired author of the Epistle to the Hebrews quotes this passage in the words of the LXX, μαστιγοι δε παντα υἱον ὃν wapa dɛxeraɩ, (ch. xii. 6,) i. e. "scourgeth every son whom he receiveth," namely, receiveth into favour, equivalent to the Heb.

," in whom he delights." I cannot believe that any passage of the O. T. is misunderstood by the inspired writers of the N. T., whether it be cited as prophetical, or by way of accommodation. They may not, indeed, have given an exact literal version, as is often the case, in consequence, most likely, of their generally quoting the LXX, as being the received version of the Scriptures into the language in which they wrote; but still they exhibit the true sense. How much soever they may have neglected critical subtleties and nice grammatical distinctions, I cannot believe that the Holy Spirit, by which they were inspired, would suffer them to misinterpret the words of inspiration. At least, it seems preferable to bow to the authority of an apostle, rather than to a commentator or critic of modern times. On the subject of quotations, besides the well known works of Surenhusius, Randolph, and Owen, the reader may consult, with great advantage, Horne's Introduction to the Critical study of the Scriptures, vol. i. p. 495–528. 4. The parallelism requires the latter hemistich to be rendered "And chasteneth," &c. in order to correspond with the former. Heb. xii. 5, et seq. is an admirable comment upon this passage of Proverbs.

13. that getteth understanding]-The genealogy of the senses attached to pin may be thus arranged. Its primary meaning may be to draw out, Isa. lviii. 10. In this sense the Chald. p and the Syr. in Aphel are used. 2. To

obtain, i. e. to draw out from another, to draw forth something for one's own use, as drawing out the precious metals from the bowels of the earth, or riches from a treasury.(Prov. viii. 35, xii. 2, xviii. 22.) 3. To totter, to stumble; to wit, drawn out of the straight course, drawn aside.—(Isaiah, xxviii. 7.) Schulz, in the true spirit of an Arabizing critic, refers p to the Arabic "altum esse, hinc; superare, indeque de qualibet abundantia:" but there does not appear to be the most remote affinity between them in signification, as any one must be convinced by consulting the Arabic Lex.: nevertheless, Michælis and Simonis coincide with Schulz.

14. For the merchandise, &c.]—That is, it is better to get wisdom than riches. So LXX, κρασσον γαρ αυτην ἐμπορευεσθαι, ή χρυσίου και αργυριου θησαυρους.

15. than gems]-After reading the remarks of Bochart, Michalis, Parkhurst, &c. on '', I remain quite unsatisfied; I have, therefore, chosen to give a general signification to the term, in imitation of LXX, Syr. Targ. Schultens, Dathe.

-And all the things thou canst desire]-Tron, literally, "all thy desirable or delectable things." There does not appear a shadow of a reason for rendering it, here and ch. viii. 11, “monilia,” as Schultens does.

16. Length of days is in her right hand]" Wisdom is here represented as a queen, holding in one hand, instead of a sceptre, length of days; and in the other, instead of a globe, riches and honour."-Burder's Oriental Customs in loc. So Poli Synop. and Gill.

- riches and honour]-Possibly spiritual riches; but more probably temporal advantages and prosperity, as more agreeable to the religious opinions of the ancient Jews.—See Prel, Diss.

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