(Gejerus), or those who give themselves up to iniquity, and persuade others to follow their example (Cartwright). In the New Testament they are styled duapTwλol. They are those of whom David speaks in strikingly parallel language in Ps. xxvi. 9, "Gather not my soul with sinners (khattaim), nor my life with bloody men" (cf. Ps. i. 1). The LXX. has ǎvdpes dσeßeîs (i.e. ungodly, unholy men). Entice thee; (y'phattukha); the piel form, p (pital), of the kal (patah), "to open," and hence to make accessible to persuasion, akin to the Greek Tev, "to persuade." The noun '♫ẹ (p'thi), is “one easily enticed or persuaded" (Gesenius). The LXX. reads un Tλavhowσiv, "let them not lead thee astray." The idea is expressed in the Vulgate by lactaverint; i.e. "if sinners allure or deceive thee with fair words." The Syriac, Montan., Jun. et Tremell., Versions read pellexerint, from pellicio, "to entice." Consent thou not. (sans, al-toves). The Masoretic text here has been emended by Kennicott and De Rossi, who, on the joint authority of fifty-eight manuscripts, maintain that war (tores) should be written as (toxrex). Others read s (tavox), i.e. "thou shalt not go," which, though good sense, is incorrect. (al) is the adverb of negation, i.q. un, ne. The Hebrew (tovex) is derived from (avah), "to agree to, to be willing" (Gesenius, Delitzsch), the preformative & being omitted, and is accurately rendered by the LXX., un Bovλnens, and the Vulgate, ne acquiescas.

The warning is especially brief and striking. The only answer to all enticements of evil is a decided negative (Plumptre). Compare St. Paul's advice to the Ephesians (Eph. v. 11, "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them").

Ver. 11. If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood. The teacher here puts into the mouth of the sinners, for the sake of vivid representation, the first inducement with which they seek to allure youth from the paths of rectitude, viz. privacy and concealment (Cartwright, Wardlaw). Both the verbs (arav) and E (tzaphan) mean

"to lay in wait" (Zöckler). The radical meaning of arav, from which ? (neer'val), "let us lay in wait" (Authorized Version) is taken, is "to knot, to weave, to intertwine." Verbs of this class are often applied to snares and craftiness (cf. the Greek dóλov ipalve, and the Latin insidias nectere, “to weave plots, or lay snares"). Generally, arav is equivalent to "to watch in ambush" (Gesenius); cf. the Vulgate, insidiemur sanguini; i.e. "let us lay wait for blood." The LXX. paraphrases the expression, kowúvŋ

σov aïuaтos, i.e. "let us share in blood." On the other hand, ¡y (tzaphan), from which

(nitz'p'nah), translated in the Authorized Version, "let us lurk privily," is "to hide or conceal," and intrans." to hide one's self," or ellipt., "to hide nets, snares" (Gesenius, Holden). This sense agrees with the Vulgate abscondamus tendiculas; i.e. "let us conceal nares." Delitzsch, however, holds that no word is to be understood with this verb, and traces the radical meaning to that of restraining one's self, watching, lurking, in the sense of speculari, “to watch for," insidiari, "to lay wait for." The two verbs combine what may be termed the apparatus, the arrangement of the plot and their lurking in ambush, by which they will await their victims. For blood (77, l'dam). The context (see vers. 12 and 16), bearing as it does upon bloodshed accompanying robbery, requires that the Hebrew 7? (l'dam) should be understood here, as Fleischer remarks, either elliptically, for "the blood of men," as the Jewish interpreters explain, or synedochically, for the person, with especial reference to his blood being shed, as in Ps. xciv. 21. Vatablus, Cornelius à Lapide, and Gesenius support the latter view (cf. Micah vii. 2, "They all lie in wait for blood," i.e. for bloodshed, or murder.

dam) may) דָם

be also taken for life in the sense that "the blood is the life" (Deut. xii. 23). Let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause. The relation of the phrase, “without cause (, khinnam), in this sentence is a matter of much dispute. It may be taken either with (1) the verb (as in the Authorized Version, Wordsworth, Luther, Van Ess, Noyes, Zöckler, Delitzsch, Hitzig, LXX., Syriac, Rashi, Ralbac), and then "lurk privily without cause is equivalent to (a) without having any reason for revenge and enmity (Zockler), i.e. though they have not provoked us, nor done us any injury, yet let us hurt them, in the sense of absque causâ (Munsterus, Paganini Version, Piscatoris Version, Mercerus), ddik@s (LXX.), inique (Arabic); (b) with impunity, since none will avenge them in the sense of Job ix. 12 (this is the view of Löwestein, but it is rejected by Delitzsch); or (2) it may be taken with the adjective "innocent," in which case it means (a) him that is innocent in vain; i.e. the man whose innocence will in vain protect (Zöckler, Holden), who gets nothing by it (Plumptre), or, innocent in vain, since God does not vindicate him (Cornelius à Lapide). On the analogy of 1 Sam. xix. 5; xxv. 31; Ps. xxxv. 19; lxix. 4; Lam. iii. 52, it seems preferable to adopt the first connection, and to take the adverb with the verb. In the whole of the passage there is an evident allusion to an evil preva

lent in the age of Solomon, viz. the presence of bands of robbers, or banditti, who disturbed the security and internal peace of the country. In the New Testament the same state of things continued, and is alluded to by our Lord in the parable of the man who fell among thieves.

חיים ;Alive

Ver. 12.-Let us swallow them up alive as the grave. A continuation of ver. 11, expanding the idea of bloodshed ending in murder, and showing the determination of the sinners to proceed to the most violent means to effect their covetous ends. The enticement here put before youth is the courage and boldness of their exploits (Wardlaw). The order of the words in the original is, "Let us swallow them up, as the grave, living," which sufficiently indicates the meaning of the passage. (khayyim), i.e. "the living," refers to the pronominal suffix in oy (niv'laem), as in the Authorized Version and Zöckler (cf. Ps. lv. 15; cxxiv. 3). Umbreit and Hitzig are grammatically incorrect in connecting (kish'ol) "as the grave," with "the living," and translating like the pit (swallows) that which lives." The (ki) with a substantive, as here in kish'ol, is a preposition, and not a conjunction (see Gesenius, 'Lexicon'). It denotes a kind of resemblance, but does not introduce a co-ordinate sentence. The allusion is undoubtedly in the teacher's mind to the fate of Korah and his company (Numb. xvi. 30–33), and as in that case "the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up" in the flush of life, so here the robbers say that they will as suddenly and effectively destroy their victims. 7 (Jala); from which niv'laem, in a figurative sense, means" to destroy utterly" (Geseuius). The change from the singular, "the innocent" (?, l'naki), to the plural in "let us swallow them up," is noticeable. Like the pit (by, kish'ol); literally, like Sheol, or Hades, the great subterranean cavity or world of the dead. The all-devouring and insatiable character of sheol is described in ch. xxvii. 20, where the Authorized Version translates "Hell (sheol) and destruction are never full," and again in ch. xxx. 15, where it (sheol, Authorized Version, "the grave") is classed with the four things that are never satisfied. Vulgate, infernus; LXX., ädns. And whole, as those that go down into the pit. The parallelism of ideas requires that the word "whole" (oppr, t'mimim) should be understood of those physically whole (see Mercerus, Delitzsch), and not in a moral sense, as the upright (Luther, Grier, Holden, Plumptre). The word is used in an ethical signification in ch. ii. 21. Gesenius gives it the meaning of "safe, secure." Those that go down into

the pit (a, yorde vor); i.e. the dead. The phrase also occurs in Ps. xxviii. 1; xxx. 4; lxxxviii. 4; cxliii. 7; Isa. xxxviť. 18). The pit (2, vor); or, the sepulchre, the receptacle of the dead, is here synonymous with sheol. The LXX. substitutes for the latter part of the verse, Καὶ ἄρωμεν αὐτοῦ τὴν μνήμην ἐκ γῆς, " And let us remove his memory from the earth." The robbers, by drawing a comparison between themselves and Hades and the grave, which consign to silence all who are put therein, imply their own security against detection. They will so utterly destroy their victims that none will be left to tell the tale (see Musset, in loc.). This, we know, is a fancied, and at the best only a temporary, security.

Ver. 13.-We shall find all precious substance. This verse carries on the proposal of the sinners one step further, and puts forward a third enticement, viz. that of the profit of crime, or the prospect of immediate riches, before youth to join in crime. A short cut to wealth, and to the acquirement of that which costs others long years of steady application and carefulness, is a strong inducement (Wardlaw). We shall find;

(nim'tza), from p (matza), properly "to reach to," and "to find," in the sense of "to come upon;" cf. Latin invenio. Substance (j, hon); i.e. substance in the sense of riches. The radical meaning of (hun), from which it is derived, is the same as in the Arabic word, "to be light, easy, to be in easy circumstances, and so to be rich" (Gesenius). In its abstract sense, hon, "substance," means ease, comfort, and concretely riches which bring about that result (see also Fleischer, as quoted by Delitzsch); cf. the LXX. KTσis, i.e. collectively, possessions, property. The Piscatoris Version, for "precious substance," reads divitias, "riches." Precious; P (yakar), properly "heavy," is found with (hon), "substance," in ch. xii. 27 and xxiv. 4. The collocation of the ideas of lightness and heaviness in these two words is striking, but we need not necessarily suppose that any oxymoron is intended, as Schultens. Such combinations occur in other languages, and reside more in the radical meanings of the words than in the mind or intention of the writer or speaker. We shall fill our houses with spoil; i.e. they promise not only finding, but full possession (Gejerus, Muffet). Spoil; (shalal), from (shalal), same as the Arabic verb "to draw," and hence "to strip off" (Gesenius); and equivalent to the Greek σkuλa (LXX.), ine arms stripped off a slain enemy, spoils, and the Latin spolia (Vulgate). Shalal is used generally, as here, for "prey," "booty " (Gen. xlix. 27; Exod. xv. 9). Our gains, say

the robbers, will not only be valuable, but numerous and plentiful.

Ver. 14. Cast in thy lot among us. The fourth and last enticement put forward, viz. honourable union and frank and open-hearted generosity. It has distinct reference to the preceding verse, and shows how the prospect of immediate wealth is to be realized (see Delitzsch, Wardlaw). Cast in thy lot cannot mean, as Mercerus, "cast in your inheritance with us, so that we all may use it in common," though (goral) does mean "inheritance" in the sense of that which comes to any one by lot (Judg. i. 3) (Gesenius), since that would be no inducement to youth to join the robbers. Goral properly is "a little stone or pebble," Kλñpos, especially such as were used in casting lots, and so equivalent to a lot" here-that with which the distribution was made, as in Lev. xvi. 8; Neh. x. 34; and the custom of freebooters dividing the spoil by lot is here alluded to (Holden); comp. Ps. xxii. 18 in illustration of the practice of casting lots, "They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture." The sense is, "you shall equally with the others cast lots for your share of the spoil" (Zöckler, Delitzsch). Let us all have one purse. Purse; (kis), the Baλávrov of the LXX., the marsupium of the Vulgate, is the receptacle in which money is placed for security. In ch. xv. 11 it is used for the bag in which traders kept their weights, "the weights of the bag;" and in ch. xxiii. 31 it is translated "cup," the wine-cup. It here signifies the common stock, the aggregate of the gains of the robbers contributed to a common fund. The booty captured by each or any is to be thrown into one common stock, to form one purse, to be divided by lot among all the members of the band. On this community of goods among robbers, compare the Hebrew proverb, In loculis, in poculis, in ira. Community of goods among the wicked carries with it community in crime, just as the community of goods among the early Christians implied community in good works and in the religious sentiments of the Christian body or Church. The Rabbi Salomon Isacides offers another explanation (which leaves the choice open to youth either to share in the spoil by lot, or to live at the expense of a common fund, as he may prefer): "Si voles, nobiscum spolia partieris, si etiam magis placebit, sociali communique marsupio nobiscum vives"-"If thou wilt, thou shalt share with us the booty; ay, if it like thee more, thou shalt live with us on a confederate and common purse" (see Cornelius à Lapide).

Ver. 15.-My son, walk not thou in the way with them. The admonitory strain of ver. 10 is again resumed, and in vers. 16-19 the teacher states the reasons which should

dissuade youth from listening to the temptations of sinners. My son. The recurrence of these words for the third time in this address marks the affectionate interest, the loving solicitude, in which the admonition is addressed. Walk not thou. Immediate and entire abandonment is counselled. The warning is practically a repetition of ver. 10, and is given again in ch. iv. 14, "Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men." Way; 777 (derek) means, figuratively, the way of living and acting (Gesenius). "Mores et consuetudines" (Bayne); cf. ch. xii. 15, "the fool's way;" xxii. 25; and Ps. i. 1. The meaning is "associate not with them, have no dealings whatever with them." Refrain thy foot from their path; i.e. keep back thy foot, or make not one step in compliance, resist the very first solicitations to evil. Compare the legal maxim, Initiis obsta. Refrain; yı (m'na) is from yo? (mana), "to keep back, restrain;' LXX., ěkλIVOV (cf. Ps. cxix. 101, "I have refrained my feet from every evil way; Jer. xiv. 10, "Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet"). Restraining the foot carries with it indirectly the natural inclination or propensity of the heart, even of the good, towards evil (Cartwright). Foot (7, regel) is, of course, used metaphorically, and means less the member of the body than the idea suggested by it; hence the use of the singular (Gejerus, Delitzsch). Bayne remarks that the Hebrews understood this passage as meaning "neither in public nor private life have any dealings with sinners." Path (♫}, nathiv) is a beaten path, a pathway, a byway; from the unused root an (nathav), “to tread, trample;" and hence, while "way" may mean the great public high-road, path' may stand for the bypath, less frequented or public. The same distinction probably occurs in Ps. xxv. 4, "Show me thy ways, O Lord; and teach me thy paths."

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Ver. 16.-For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood. This is the first dissuasive urged to enforce the warning against evil companionship, as showing the extremes to which entering upon the ways of the wicked lead ultimately. At once the youth who listens will be hurried along impetuously to the two crimes of robbery and murder, which God has expressly forbidden in the eighth and sixth commandments respectively of the moral code. Eril (y, ra) is “wickedness,” Tò kakóv, generally, but here more specifically highway robbery, latrocinism (Cornelius à Lapide), as appears from vers. 11-13, where also murder, the laying in wait for blood, is proposed. The Rabbis Salomon and Salazar understand the evil to refer to the evil or destruction

which sinners bring upon themselves, and the shedding of blood to the fact that they lay themselves open to have their own blood shed by judicial process (see also Holden). The former explanation seems preferable to this, as putting a higher law than that of self-preservation before youth. The fear of judges who can condemn to death is nothing comparatively to the fear of him "who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell." This verse is wanting in the Vatican LXX., and Arabic, and hence Hitzig has concluded that it is an interpolation made from Isa. lix. 7, but upon insufficient evidence, as it is found in the Alexandrian LXX., Chaldee Paraphrase, Vulgate, and Syriac Versions, all which follow the Hebrew text. latter part of the verse is quoted by St. Paul in Rom. iii. 15.

.

The

Ver. 17.-Surely in vain the net is spread in the face of any bird. The teacher here advances a second reason in support of his warning in ver. 15, under the form of a proverb in its strict sense. It is based on the ill-advised audacity of sinners in flying in the face of God's judgments. In vain (P, khinnam), see ver. 11, may be taken in two senses. (1) I.e. to no purpose, gratis, frustra (Vulgate, Chaldee Paraphrase, Arabic). The meaning of the proverb here used then is, "to no purpose is the net spread before birds," i.e. though they see the net spread before them, they nevertheless fly into it (comp. ch. vii. 23, As a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life"). So sinners, when they are plotting for others, plunge into their own destruction with their eyes open. Therefore do not associate with them, do not imitate their crass folly, be warned by their example, or you will share their fate. This view is supported by the LXX. reading, Où yàp ἀδίκως ἐκτείνεται δίκτυα πτερωτοῖς, " For not unreasonably is the net spread before birds;" i.e. they fall into the snare (see Luther, Patrick, Umbreit, Ewald, Hitzig, Zöckler, Plumptre). (2) Others, as Delitzsch, Ziegler, Beda, Döderlein, Bertheau, Wardlaw, take khinnam in a different sense, as indicating the escape of the birds-the birds see the snare and fly away, and so in vain the net is spread in their sight. This explanation is in agreement with Ovid's statement, "Quæ nimis apparent retia vitat avis." The moral motive put before youth in this case is the aggravation of his guilt if he listens to the enticements of sinners. The teacher seems to say, "Imitate the birds, flee from temptation; if you listen to sinners, you will sin with your eyes open." Is spread; nip (mʼzorah), expansum, not conspersum est, i.e. besprinkled or strewn with corn as a bait, as Rashi. M'zorah is the participle passive of pual,

(zorah), "to be strewn," from kal (zarah), "to scatter, or disperse" (Gesenius), and means expansum, because when a net is scattered or dispersed it is spread out (see Delitzsch). Of any bird (by, khalbaal khanaph); literally, of every possessor of a wing, or, as margin, of everything that hath a wing, i.e. of every bird. Compare the same expression in Eccles. x. 20, Dian Sya (baal hach'naphayim); i.e. "that which hath wings" (Authorized Version).

Ver. 18.-And they lay wait for their own blood, etc. The third reason or argument why the teacher's warning should be followed, drawn from the destruction which overtakes the sinners themselves. "Lay wait," and "lurk privily," as in ver. 11, from which this verse is evidently borrowed. They propose, as they say, to lay wait for the blood of others; but it is, says the teacher, for their own blood. ? (l'dhamam), contra sanguinem suum; they lurk privily, as they say, for the innocent, but in reality it is for their own lives; (l'naph'shotham); contra animas suas (Vulgate); or, as the LXX. puts it, Aurol yàp oi pórov μετέχοντες, θησαυρίζουσιν ἑαυτοῖς κακὰ, “ For they who take part in murder treasure up evils for themselves;" that is, they are bringing a heavier and surer destruction upon themselves than they can ever inflict upon others (Wardlaw). The LXX. adds, at the close of the verse, Ἡ δὲ καταστροφὴ ἀνδρῶν παρανόμων κακή, “ And the overthrowing or destruction of transgressors is great, or evil." The Arabic Version has a similar addition.

Ver. 19. So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain. The epiphonema or moral of the preceding address. So are the ways, or such is the lot (as Delitzsch), or such are the paths (as Zöckler), i.e. so deceitful, so ruinous, are the ways. 12 (chen) is here used as a qualitative adverb. Ways; ♫inių (ar'khoth), the plural of 7% (orakh), a poët. word, equivalent in the first instance to “way,” i.q. 177 (derekh), and metaphorically applied to any one's ways, his manner of life and its result, and hence lot, as in Job viii. 12, and hence the expression covers the three preceding verses. That is greedy of gain (ys ys, botsea batsa); literally, concupiscentis concupiscentiam lucri; i.e. eagerly longing after gain; he who greedily desires riches (avari, Vulgate). Gain; batsa in pause, from yr (betsa), which takes its meaning from the verb yr (batsa), "to cut in pieces, to break," and hence means properly that which is cut or broken off and taken by any one for himself, and so unjust gain anything whatever fraudulently

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acquired, as in ch. xxviii. 16, where it is translated covetousness (Authorized Version); cf. Isa. xxxiii. 15; ch. xv. 27. The idea of greed and covetousness enters largely into the word. Which taketh away the life of the owners thereof. The pronoun "which" does not occur in the original. The nominative to taketh away" (Mp!, yikkath) is "gain;" the "unjust gain" (betsa) takes away the life of its owners, i.e. of those who are under its power. Owners thereof (, b'alayo) does not necessarily imply that they are in actual possession of the unjust gain, but rather refers to the influence which the lust for gain exercises over them. The expression in this second hemistich does not mean that the rapacious take the life of their comrades who possess the gain, as Rabbi Salomon; nor, as the Vulgate, "the ways of the avaricious man take away the lives of those who possess them." For the phrase, "taketh away the life," as importing a violent taking away, cf. Ps. xxxi. 13; 1 Kings xix. 10. The sentiment of the verse is well expressed in 1 Tim. vi. 10, "For the love of money is the root of all evil; which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."

Vers. 20-33.-2. Second admonitory discourse. Address of Wisdom personified, exhibiting the folly of those who wilfully reject, and the security of those who hearken to, her counsels. The sacred writer, in this section, as also in h. viii., uses the rhetorical figure of prosopopoeia, or impersonation. Wisdom is represented as speaking and as addressing the simple, scorners, and fools. The address itself is one of the noblest specimens of sacred eloquence, expressing in rapid succession the strongest phases of feelingpathetic solicitude with abundant promise, indignant scorn at the rejection of her appeal, the judicial severity of offended majesty upon offenders, and lastly the judicial complacency which delights in mercy towards the obedient. The imagery in part is taken from the forces of nature in their irresistible and overwhelming violence and destructive potency.

Ver. 20.-Wisdom crieth without. Wisdom. The Hebrew word (hochmoth) here used to designate Wisdom seems to be an abstract derivation from the ordinary khochmah. The form is peculiar to the Proverbs and Psalms, in the former occurring four times (ch. i. 22; ix. 1; xiv. 1; xxiv. 7), and in the latter twice only (viz. Ps.

xlix. 4; lxxviii. 15). As in ch. ix. 1 and xxiv. 7, it is a pluralis excellentiæ of the feminine gender, a variety of the pluralis extensivus, as Böttcher prefers to denominate it. The feminine form may be determined by the general law which associates purity and serenity with womanhood (Plumptre). The idea of plurality, however, is not that of extension, but of comprehension, i.e. it is not so much all kinds of wisdom which is presented to us, as all the varieties under which wisdom par excellence may be regarded and is comprehended. The plural form of the word denotes the highest character or excellence in which wisdom can be conceived; or, as the marginal reading expresses it, wisdoms, ie. excellent wisdom. Other instances of the pluralis excellentiæ are met with in Holy Writ, e.g. Elohim, God, i.e. "God of Gods," either from the polytheistic view, or from the monotheistic view as expressive of God's might in manifestation, passim; k'doshim, "the Holy (God)," ch. ix. 10; xxx.3; adonim, for adon, "lord" (Gesenius, Gram.,' § 108. 2 b). In the conception of Wisdom here presented to us in the text we have the germ of an idea which, on the principles of expansion, developed subsequently in the consciousness of the Christian Church into a definite identification of Wisdom with the Second Person of the blessed Trinity. There is a striking parallel to this passage in Luke xi. 49, where Christ speaks of himself as ἡ Σοφία τοῦ Θεοῦ, “ the Wisdom of God," that shall send prophets and apostles into the world, and thereby identifies himself with Wisdom (cf. this with vers. 20, 21; ch. vii.). Again, a striking similarity is observable between the teaching of Divine Wisdom and that of the Incarnate Word, as much in their promises as in their threats and warnings. But it is difficult to determine with accuracy to what extent the Messianic import of the personification was present to the consciousness of the sacred writers, and whether Wisdom as here presented to us is simply a poetic and abstract personification or a distinct hypostatizing of the Word. Dorner (Pers. of Christ,' Introd., p. 16), with reference to ch. viii. 22, etc., says that though Wisdom is introduced speaking as a personality distinct from God, still the passage does not lead clearly to an hypostatizing of the Khochmah. Döllinger (Heidenthum und Judenthum,' bk. x. pt. iii. sec. 2 a, and ch. viii. 22, etc.) maintains that Wisdom is "the personified idea of the mind of God in creation," rather than the presence of “a distinct hypostasis." Lücke (see references in Liddon, Bampton Lects.') holds that in Proverbs Wisdom is merely a personification. It is clear that whatever is predicated

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