THE PULPIT COMMENTARY, EDITED BY THE VERY REV. H. D. M. SPENCE, D.D., DEAN OF GLOUCESTER; AND BY THE REV. JOSEPH S. EXELL, M.A. WITII INTRODUCTIONS BY THE VEN. ARCHDEACON F. W. FARRAR, D.D., F.R.S. London: KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRÜBNER & CO., LT 1891. PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, 46507 (The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved.) THE PULPIT COMMENTARY, EDITED BY THE VERY REV. H. D. M. SPENCE, D.D., DEAN OF GLOUCESTER; AND BY THE REV. JOSEPH S. EXELL, M.A. PROVERBS. Exposition BY REV. W. J. DEANE, M.A., RECTOR OF ASHEN; AND BY REV. S. T. TAYLOR-TASWELL, M.A., KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRÜBNER & CO., LTD: 1891. THE PROVERBS. INTRODUCTION. §1. NAME OF THE BOOK. · THE book which we are about to consider takes its general title from the words with which it opens in the Hebrew original, The Proverbs of Solomon'-Mishle Shelomoh. This name, or, in an abbreviated form, Mishle, has always been current in the Jewish Church. Later, in rabbinical writings, it was cited under the appellation of Sepher Chocmah, 'Book of Wisdom,' which title also included Ecclesiastes. In the Septuagint it is headed Пaporμíaι Zaλwuwvros in some manuscripts, though in others, and those the earliest, the name of Solomon is omitted. St. Jerome, in the Latin Vulgate, gives a longer title: 'Liber Proverbiorum quem Hebræi Misle appellant.' Among the early Christian writers, in addition to the name given in the Septuagint, it was called Σοφία, Wisdom, oι Ἡ Πανάρετος Σοφία, ‘Α11virtuous Wisdom,' though this last title was also applied to Ecclesiasticus and the Book of Wisdom. Clemens Romanus, in his 'Epistle to the Corinthians' (i. 57), heads a quotation from ch. i. 23-33 thus: Ovros yàp Aéyeι ý ПaváρETOS Zopía, "Thus saith All-virtuous Wisdom." That this was commonly received as the designation of our book is clear also from Eusebius, who writes (Hist. Eccl.,' iv. 22), "Other passages also, as if from unwritten Jewish tradition, Hegesippus cites; and not only he, but Irenæus, and the whole band of ancient writers, called the 'Proverbs of Solomon''Panaretos Sophia.'" It is true that in the writings which are attributed to Irenæus still extant, quotations from the Proverbs are cited simply as Scripture without further definition, but we have no reason to discredit Eusebius's testimony concerning a matter with which he must have been well acquainted. Two other titles are found, viz. 'H Σopǹ Bißλos, ‘The Wise Book,' so called by Dionysius of Alexandria; and Пaιdaywyıkǹ Zopía, 'Educational Wisdom,' by Gregory of Nazianzum. Melito of Sardis (according to Eusebius, 'Hist. Eccl.,' iv. 26) states, in giving a catalogue PROVERBS. b |