_Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary_ The division of the Chapter s obscures the connexion. The maxim now before us is but the figurative expression of the fact stated, without a parable, in the last verse of ch. 9. The "dead flies" are, in the Hebrew, "flies of death," probably, _i.e._p... [ Continue Reading ]
_A wise man's heart is at his right hand_ The symbolism of the right or the left hand, the former pointing to effective, the latter to ineffective, action, is so natural that it is scarcely necessary to look for its origin in the special thoughts or customs of this or that nation. It is, however, no... [ Continue Reading ]
_Yea also, when he that is a fool walketh by the way_ The general drift of the proverb seems plain enough. "_Even when the fool is in the way_(either literally, -whenever and wherever he goes," or figuratively, -when he has been put in the right path of conduct"), _his heart_(_i. e._his intellect) _... [ Continue Reading ]
_If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee_ To the picture of the boastful self-assertion of the fool is appended as a contrast, that of the self-effacement of the wise. The scene brought before us is that of a statesman, or minister, whose advice runs counter to that of the ruler. The "spirit... [ Continue Reading ]
_as an error which proceedeth from the ruler_ The last word serves as a link connecting this verse with the preceding. It might be wise at times to bow to the temper of a despotic ruler, but the ruler was not always right. What the DEBATER had seen was to him a blot upon the government of him who al... [ Continue Reading ]
_Folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in low place_ For "great dignity," literally GREAT HEIGHTS. The "rich" here are those who by birth and station are looked on as the natural rulers of mankind. Such men, like the ἀρχαιόπλουτοι (the "men of ancestral wealth") of Greek political writers,... [ Continue Reading ]
_I have seen servants upon horses_ The general fact of the previous verse is reproduced with more dramatic vividness. To ride upon horses was with the Parthians a special distinction of the nobly born (Justin xli. 3). So Mordecai rides on horseback through the city as one whom the king delighted to... [ Continue Reading ]
_He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it_ It is scarcely a profitable task to endeavour to trace a very close connexion between this and the preceding verses. The writer has got into what we may call the gnomic, or proverb-making state of mind, and, as in the Book of Proverbs, his reflections come... [ Continue Reading ]
_Whoso removeth stones shall be hurt therewith_ The words are referred by some commentators to an act like that of the previous verse, by others to hewing stone in the quarry. In the former case, however, we get but a tame repetition, in the latter there is nothing in the act that deserves retributi... [ Continue Reading ]
_If the iron be blunt_ The proverb seems obviously suggested by that of the preceding verse, but its meaning is far from clear. The axe (literally, THE IRON) is used to cut wood. What if it fail to cut (_i. e._if, going below the imagery, the man has not the sharpness or strength to carry his plans... [ Continue Reading ]
_Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment_ Literally, IF THE SERPENT WILL BITE WITHOUT ENCHANTMENT, _i.e._in the absence of skill to charm it. It is hardly necessary to dwell at length on a topic so familiar as the serpent-charming of the East. It will be enough to say that from time immemor... [ Continue Reading ]
_The words of a wise man's mouth_ The mention of the babbling eloquence of "the master of tongue" in the previous verse is naturally followed by precepts fashioned after the type of those in Proverbs 10:8; Proverbs 10:14; Proverbs 10:32; Proverbs 12:13; Proverbs 15:2; Proverbs 17:7 as to that which... [ Continue Reading ]
_The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness_ The words point, with a profound insight into human nature, to the progress from bad to worse in one who has the gift of speech without discretion. He begins with what is simply folly, unwise but harmless, but "_vires acquirit eundo_" he is bo... [ Continue Reading ]
_A fool also is full of words_ Literally, MULTIPLIES WORDS. The introduction of "a man" is not an idle pleonasm. The "man" is not the "fool," but the fool forgets the limitations of human knowledge, as to what lies in the near future of his own life, or the more distant future that follows on his de... [ Continue Reading ]
_The labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them_ The word for "labour" as in chap. Ecclesiastes 1:3; Genesis 41:52; Job 3:3, as with our word "travail," carries with it the connotation of trouble as well as toil. He labours to no result, for he is destitute of common sense. Not to know "the wa... [ Continue Reading ]
_Blessed art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles_ The epithet has been taken as instance of the Hebrew of expressing character by the phrase "the son of …," and hence as having a meaning here like that of the Latin _generosus_. Probably, however, the maxim reflects the thought of Greek... [ Continue Reading ]
_By much slothfulness the building decayeth_ The maxim, though generalised in form, and applicable to every form of the evil which it condemns, may fairly be contemplated, in relation to its context, as having a political bearing. There, _laissez-faire_, the policy of indolent procrastination, may b... [ Continue Reading ]
_money answereth all things_ The maxim as it stands in the English Version, has a somewhat cynical ring, reminding us only too closely of the counsel condemned by the Roman satirist, "O cives, cives, quærenda pecunia primum est; Virtus post nummos." "Money, my townsmen, must be sought for first;... [ Continue Reading ]
_Curse not the king, no not in thy thought_ The words paint, as from a painful experience, the all-pervading espionage, which, as in the _delatores_of the Roman Empire, associates itself naturally with the police of a despotic government. The wise man must recognise that espionage as a fact and give... [ Continue Reading ]