07. Chapter 7
PARABLES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
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CHAPTER VII. THE PARABLE AS PROVERB. The relation of the proverb to the idea of the parable. — The conception of the wisdom of man and the wisdom of God: — I. The poetical introduction to the Book of Proverbs, — the praise of the Divine Wisdom, and the personification of that Wisdom. The relation of this personification to the doctrine of the WORD; the connexion of the proverb with psalm and prophecy. II. The chief body of the Book as a collection of proverbs: their various classes — (a) proverbs of prudence, ip) proverbs of morality, {c) proverbs of religion. III. The proverbs of Job and Ecclesiastes. THE proverb, in contrast with other phases of parabolic teaching, may be considered as an implicit or undeveloped parable. It is constantly designated by the name of Parable {Maskal) in the Old Testament; and it has been already noted that the same connexion is occasionally marked in the New Testament also. For we find in Luke 4:23, that the proverb, “ Physician heal thyself,” is in the original cited as a “ parable”; and, on the other hand, in John 16:25, John 16:29, our Lord, contrasting His previous teaching, so often veiled in parable, with the fuller revelation promised in the future, describes it as a “ speaking in proverbs.” The reason of this connexion, as has been already explained, is, first, that the proverb frequently expresses, and still more frequently implies, metaphorical comparison and suggestion of general rule through individual examples, and, therefore, contains in implicit form what might easily be unfolded into the true parable; and next, that it almost invariably preserves the antithetical form, in which, either for comparison or for contrast, “one thing is set over against another.”
It may be added that it manifestly subserves two great practical objects of teaching by parables. On the one hand, it is by its very nature popular; its vivid and picturesque presentation of truth arrests the attention and kindles the imagination of the people at large. On the other hand, it is eminently suggestive of further thought; and therefore acts as a touchstone of distinction between the thinking and the unthinking. This proverbial class of parables is the most fully represented of all in the Old Testament. To say nothing of occasional specimens presenting themselves elsewhere (as in 1 Samuel 10:12; Jeremiah 31:29; Ezekiel 18:2), it forms the whole substance of the Book of Proverbs. It is occasionally exemplified in the Psalms, frequently in the Books of Job and Ecclesiastes. In the Book of Proverbs as a whole it should be mainly studied, and it will be evident on careful examination that we have presented to us in the poetical opening (cc. 1:-ix.), and in the more prosaic body of the book, two very different forms of this proverbial teaching. In their leading characteristic both are alike; for the key-note of both is struck in the first verses of the book, the desire “ to know wisdom and instruction, to discern the words of understanding.” But what, in the Scriptural sense of the word, is that wisdom, which, as Solomon’s dream implies, is God’s choicest gift, and which is the link between His special revelation to the prophets of Israel, and His general enlightenment of man as man “i It may be observed that “ wisdom,” as is seen in the crucial instance of the Wise Man himself 1 Kings 4:29), is expressly distinguished from ’’understanding,” under which may be classed all intellectual gifts, and from the “ largeness of heart,” expanding into knowledge, manifold “ as the sand on the sea-shore.” Both understanding and knowledge subserve wisdom; neither is identical nor coextensive with it. The true idea of wisdom is singularly striking and profound.
Wisdom in man may be briefly described as the knowledge of the true work and purpose of life, for which God has sent him into the world. Wisdom in God, considered in the abstract, is the great purpose of His dispensation — the “ First Law Eternal “ (as Hooker expresses it) “ which God hath set down with Himself to do all things by.” But — in accordance not more with the true religion which sees all things ill God, than with the comprehensive philosophy which recognizes that the individual can be understood only in relation to the totality of the whole — Holy Scripture goes on to teach that this wisdom of man (this discovery, that is, of the true object of his life) is possible only through a knowledge, real but imperfect, of the higher wisdom of God, and a resolution to subordinate his will to it by endeavouring to be in it “ a fellow worker with God.”
It is of course clear that such knowledge can be but partial; that, if it is in part the result of deep and reverent thought, it must be, in still greater measure, the fruit of faith in God’s revelation of Himself; and, accordingly, that the action following upon it is at once the expression and the education of such faith.
Hence the ever-recurring declaration that “ the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”; the warning, “ Trust in the Lord with all thy heart, and lean not upon thine own understanding “; the acknowledgment that “the Lord alone giveth wisdom.”
Connected also with this same temper of faith and reverence is the frequent exhortation to respect the teaching of the father and the mother, as being God’s representatives and messengers to the child, who have some shadow of His authority, and have by long service entered more fully into His mind. The whole tone of the wisdom of the Book of Proverbs, shrewd and vigorous as it is, is yet sober and reverent, grave even to the verge of sadness, and pervaded at once by a sense of mystery and a firm spirit of faith. It implies, moreover, that sense of the harmony of the higher actions of men, guided by God’s law, with the action of God Himself, which lies at the root of the parable as such. But it would appear that, of the two forms of this •^ proverbial “ teaching, the former tends mainly and continually to the contemplation and adoration of the Wisdom of God; while the latter is chiefly conversant with the embodiment in the form of maxim of the wisdom of man, viewed as in accordance with the higher Wisdom. At times they, naturally enough, melt into each other.
I. For the former element in the Book of Proverbs we look to cc. 1:-ix, which, although they contain some scattered examples of proverbs of the ordinary type, consist almost entirely of earnest exhortations to the love of wisdom, or lofty utterances of the personified Wisdom of God. These are couched, indeed, in language of strongly-marked antithetical character; but, even in this respect, they resemble more the antitheses of the Psalm than of the ordinary proverb, and in general style they are flowing and continuous, often glowing with high rhetorical and poetical beauty. Hence, although called by the name of “ Proverbs,” they rather approach, both in their metaphorical style and the frequent introduction of personification, to the parable in the form of allegory...
Such, for example, is that solemn and terrible utterance of the Divine Wisdom, speaking in tones of personal pleading and judgment, which closes the first chapter (Proverbs 1:20-33) ’- —
“ Wisdom crieth aloud in the street; she uttereth her voice in the broad places; she crieth in the chief place of concourse; at the entering in of the gates, in the city she uttereth her words: “ How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and scorners delight them in scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
“ Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh in the day of your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as a storm, and your calamity cometh on as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish come upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me diligently, but they shall not find me; for that they hated knowledge; and did not choose the fear of the Lord: they would none of my counsel; they despised all my reproof
“Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the backsliding of the simple shall slay them. And the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell securely, and shall be quiet without fear of evil.”
Such, again, is the almost impassioned proclamation of the infinite preciousness of wisdom, — of its glory as a Divine attribute, of its manifold fruits to man of peace and blessing, and of its natural rest in the Lord.
Proverbs 3:13-27. — “ Happy is the man that flndeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies: and none of the things thou canst desire are to be compared unto her.
Length of days is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her. The Lord by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding he established the heavens. By his knowledge the depths were broken up, and the skies drop down the dew. My son, let not them depart from thine eyes, keep sound wisdom and discretion; so shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck. Then shalt thou walk in thy way securely, and thy foot shall not stumble. When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh, for the Lord shall be thy confidence. And shall keep thy foot from being taken. Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it.”
Hardly inferior in force and beauty are the pleadings of parental wisdom and love with youth: — “ My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother.” Everywhere it is implied that the reverence claimed is for God’s Word spoken by them. “If thou wilt receive my words, then thou shalt understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.” Above all, the intention is moral; the warning to youthful inexperience against the snares of the world and the flesh is the burden of the whole strain; and occasionally (as in Proverbs 7:6-23) it enforces itself by a graphic picture, almost approaching the explicit form of parable. But the grandest example of all is the celebrated personification in the eighth chapter of the “ Wisdom of God,” ending with that splendid passage, in which (as afterwards wrought out in the Apocryphal books and by the school of Philo) we trace the anticipation of the doctrine of the “ Word of God,” destined hereafter to afford the fullest expression of the Christian mystery.
Proverbs 8:22-32. — “ The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.
I was set up from everlasting from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth: while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the beginning of the dust of the world. When he established the heavens, I was there: when he set a circle upon the face of the deep: when he made firm the skies above: when the fountains of the deep became strong: when he gave to the sea its bound, that the waters should not transgress his commandment: when he marked out the foundations of the earth: then I was by him, as a master workman, and I was daily his delight. Rejoicing always before him; rejoicing in his habitable earth; and my delight was with the sons of men. Now therefore, my sons, hearken unto me: for blessed are they that keep my ways.” Nor is this kind of proverb confined to the Book of Proverbs itself. We find a magnificent specimen of it in the Book of Job. The twenty-eighth chapter, occurring as a splendid digression from the general tenour of Job’s “parable,” dwells in its opening on the wonderful skill and daring of man, piercing the very bowels of the earth and forcing it to yield up its treasures. But the discovery of wisdom is beyond even that marvellous power.
Job 28:13-28. — “Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living-. The deep saith, It is not in me: and the sea saith, It is not with me. It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof. It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire. Gold and glass cannot equal it: neither shall the exchange thereof be jewels of fine gold. No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal: yea, the price of wisdom is above rubies The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold. Whence then cometh wisdom } and where is the place of understanding?
Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the air. Destruction and Death say, We have heard a rumour thereof with our ears. God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof. For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven; to make a weight for the wind; yea, he meteth out the waters by measure. When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder, then did he see it, and declare it: he established it, yea, and searched it out. And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.” The keynote of the whole passage is precisely the same as in the passage already quoted from the Book of Proverbs. Wisdom is precious beyond all preciousness; in nature, in organic life, in man, there is no power to reveal it. But it is the inner law of the creative Providence of God; and in the study and thoughtful acceptance of that law is the only glimpse of it which is given to man.
Similarly the closing “ parable “ of the Book of Ecclesiastes brings out the same idea, with a force, perhaps, emphasised by the contrast of the whole tone of that most modern book with the ancient simplicity and grandeur of the Book of Job. After the picture of a soul’s tragedy of varied experience of “ vanity “ — after doubts and questionings, bewildered with the perplexities of life — the writer comes back to the simplicity of the old teaching, which he had learned as a child, and, as a man, had too long forgotten.
Ecclesiastes 11:9-10
It may be added, that it is this element of the Scriptural Books which has evidently supplied the main conception of the Apocryphal Book of “ Wisdom “ acting on the mystical and allegorical genius of the Alexandrine school, to produce results, sometimes grand and beautiful, sometimes artificial and fantastic. This class of the parables of the Old Testament is one of singular interest and beauty. In respect of actual revelation, its chief importance lies in that representation of the personified “ Wisdom of God,”which combined with the plainer and stronger line of the Messianic promise to prepare the way for the manifestation of the Incarnate Son of God Himself In that preparation the two elements are complementary and corrective to each other. The picture of the Messiah, gradually drawn, touch by touch, in the prophecies of the Old Testament, is the picture of a true Son of Man— the seed of Abraham, the “ Shiloh “ of Judah, the Prophet of prophets, the Son of David— on whom are gradually accumulated attributes too great for man, and in whom, therefore, we come by degrees to see an Immanuel, “God with us.” The teaching here starts from the side of His humanity, and rises to a gradual conception of His Godhead. In the loftier and vaguer revelation •of the “ Wisdom of God “ it is far otherwise. It starts emphatically from God, of whom the “ Wisdom “ is always the manifestation — as in the creation, so in the government of the world — as in the outward sphere of man’s life, so in the inner sphere of his thought and devotion. But what is gradually unfolded here is the truth of distinct personality in the revealed “Wisdom of God,” thus manifested upon earth; which, through the imperfect manifestations of God in and to humanity, continually tends, although it never fully attains, to the conception of a full manifestation in a perfect Son of Man. Of these two forms of teaching, the former had certainly the chief power over the multitude; and we know how they were content to find in it, taken alone, the promise of a comparatively finite and earthly royalty, appropriate rather to the “Son of David” than to “David’s Lord.” The latter, perhaps, hardly extended far beyond the thoughtful precincts of the schools; and there (as in the case of Philo), after harmonizing itself with Platonic theories of a Logos, it halted between the notion of a mere abstract personification, and the belief in a true personal incarnation of God. But the combination of the two was necessary to prepare for that final and absolute revelation of Him, as at once “ the only begotten Son of the Father “ and the “ Word of God,” which speaks to all time from the inspired Prologue to the Gospel according to St. John.
Even independently of this profounder doctrinal significance, this form of the parable is singularly interesting, as constituting an intermediate link between the Sapiential or philosophical books of the Old Testament (of which the Book of Proverbs is the purest specimen), and the writings of the Psalmists and the Prophets. It unites the inquiring and contemplative thoughtfulness of the former with the enthusiastic spiritual vision or aspiration of the latter. It still, indeed, preserves the supremacy of the enlightened understanding, conscious of itself even in its adoration of God; yet it harmonizes it with high moral purpose, and inspires it with the enthusiasm of devotion.
Whether, as in the passage quoted from the Book of Ecclesiastes, it embodies the final experience of a soul, worn and weary in the vain search after happiness, in itself and as apart from God, or, as in the opening of the Book of Proverbs, grasps from the beginning that knowledge of the purpose of life which “the Preacher” had thus vainly sought for — in either case it appeals to the soul, in which contemplation or inquiry rules, without unduly subordinating, the moral and spiritual elements of human nature. It expresses the presence of that faith which especially overflows “ unto knowledge,” but which, nevertheless, by its very nature, is “ made perfect by works” of action, and by the “ love” of devotion. In this aspect it presents a form of teaching almost unique in the Old Testament, although approached in the more contemplative passages of the psalm and prophecy: and so supplies one element of that completeness of variety and adaptation to all needs, which makes Holy Scripture a literature in itself Perhaps it may be thought in this to speak with especial force to an age of inquiry and speculation, such as our own.
II. This higher and more poetical element of the book serves as a grand introduction to the series of “proverbs “ of the more ordinary type, to which the greater part of the whole (chaps, 10-29.) is given up. We find here two collections of the “ Proverbs of Solomon,” of which the one comprises chaps, 10-24. and the latter (noted as having been “ copied -out by the men of Hezekiah”) chaps, 25-29.; with two appended chapters, each complete in itself, of the wisdom of Agur and “ King Lemuel.”[1] These ----------------
[1] It is doubtful whether these are not symbolical names, Agur (according to St Jerome) is simply “ Collector “ (of proceeds), “ Lemuel “ is “ God’s own.” From whatever hand they •came, these two appendices of the book have each a peculiar stamp of its own. “The words of Agur” are marked by an ingenious and somewhat artificial grouping together of “ two things to be desired,” “three things which be wonderful,” “four things which the earth cannot bear,” and the like; and are full of a thoughtful reflectiveness, which rises to its highest exemplification of well-balanced wisdom in the celebrated prayer, “ Give me neither poverty nor riches: feed me with the food that is needful for me: lest I be full and deny Thee, or lest I be poor and steal.” The words of King Lemuel — “ the oracle which his mother taught him “ — after warning against lust and drunkenness and negligence of high duty, are almost entirely devoted to the famous description of the are “ proverbs,” commonly so called. They often preserve the original idea of the parable in strong; metaphorical form, or in comparisons drawn for man’s guidance from the animal world. Thus, “ A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in baskets of silver. As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear. As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to them that send him; for he refresheth the soul of his masters. As clouds and wind without rain, so is he that boasteth himself of his gifts falsely.” “ There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise, the ants are a people not strong, yet they provide their meat in the summer; the conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks; the locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands; the lizard taketh hold with her hands, yet is she in kings* palaces. There be three things which are stately in their march, yea, four which are stately in going: the lion, which is mightiest among beasts, and turneth not away for any; the greyhound; the he goat also; and the king, against whom there is na rising up” (Proverbs 25:11-14; Proverbs 30:24-31).
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“ virtuous woman,” “ whose price is above rubies,” and “ whose children rise up and call her blessed,” — a Mashal, acrostic and artificial in form, but of singular fulness of thought and beauty. But more frequently this peculiarity is lost, and they become simply short, pungent, antithetical expressions, of “ the wisdom of many,” crystallised into hardness and brilliancy by “ the wit of one.” They are so far like the former class of proverbs, that they also claim to be the expressions of the true wisdom, cast into that mould of maxim or sententious saying so familiar to us in all ancient teaching, especially to the teaching of the East, — so appropriate to a time when knowledge had to be committed to memory, in forms best calculated to engrave themselves on the mind. It maybe remarked that, as the former element supplied the inspiration of the Alexandrine book of “ Wisdom,” so this latter element is worked out in the simpler and more prosaic teaching of the Palestinian book of “ Ecclesiasticus.”
It would be out of place here to enter upon any general examination of the force and weakness, the capacities and limitations, of the teaching of Proverbs generally.[1] It obviously contains truth only so far as It can be put into terse clearness and definiteness of form; It appeals, indeed, especially to the common sense of humanity, although it is tinged with the special colouring of age, and race, and country, and accordingly gives large, perhaps disproportionate, prominence to the homelier and more prudential aspects of life; it must be trenchant and [1] See on this subject Trench’s “Study of Proverbs.” decisive; and has to purchase these qualities by some narrowness and one-sidedness of teaching. All these peculiarities belong to proverbs as such, and attach accordingly, in some degree, even to the Book of Proverbs in the Old Testament; but (as we shall see) its main characteristic tends to raise it continually above them. Nor would it be possible to examine even the Scriptural proverbs in detail. They have proved themselves an almost inexhaustible treasure for thought and speculation; they have accordingly been dwelt upon again and again, and have in many cases become household words. It will be sufficient here to glance at their general characteristics, and to indicate the classes into which they naturally fall. Their general scope is practical — teaching, directly or indirectly, what true wisdom bids a man do or abstain from doing. There are, indeed, proverbs which in themselves wear the aspect of what may be called “ proverbs of reflection,” — thoughtful speculations, unveiling the chief principles of human nature and life. Such (to take but a few instances) are the well-known maxims, “ The heart knoweth his own bitterness, and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy “ (Proverbs 14:10); “ Hope deferred maketh the heart sick; but when the desire cometh it is a tree of life” (Proverbs 13:12); “ Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth is heaviness” (Proverbs 14:13); “Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility “(Proverbs 18:12); “ A poor man that oppresseth the poor is like a sweeping rain which leaveth no food “(Proverbs 28:3); “ There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty” (Proverbs 11:24). Even these, it may be remarked, have indirectly a practical purpose. They aim at teaching a man to know his own heart and the hearts of others, that he may refuse the evil in both, and choose the good. But the proverbs in general are even more plainly and directly practical; they bear directly on the embodiment of wisdom in action; and we may discern in them three main varieties, corresponding to different views of the true purpose of human life, as the service of self, of humanity, and of God.
{a) Thus we have in great abundance “ proverbs of prudence,” looking on the end of human life simply as it concerns a man’s own self — as being, in fact, identical with his own happiness and perfection.
Some of these proverbs may perhaps startle us (especially in contrast with the self-denial of the Gospel) by their apparently shrewd and worldly wisdom, careless, as it seems, of all interests but our own. Such proverbs, for example, are the following: — “ He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it; and he that hateth suretyship is sure “(Proverbs 11:15); “The merciful man docth good to his own soul; but he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh “(Proverbs 11:17); “A gift ill secret pacifieth anger: and a reward in the bosom strong wrath” (Proverbs 21:14); “A fool’s wrath is presently known: but a prudent man concealeth shame” (Proverbs 12:16); “Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding” (Proverbs 17:28).
Many, again, deal with the homelier virtues of patience, industry, caution, thrift, honesty, simply upon the prudential ground of their “best policy,” either as actually advancing external prosperity, or as securing happiness and contentment. “A soft answer turnethaway wrath: but grievous words stir up anger “(Proverbs 15:1); “ The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water: therefore leave off contention, before there be quarrelling” (Proverbs 17:14); ’’ The slothful will not plow by reason of the winter; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing “ (Proverbs 20:4); “ Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open thine eyes, and thou shalt be filled with bread “ (Proverbs 20:13).
Perhaps the most striking of these are the two following descriptions (graphic, and having a touch of satire) the one of the folly of drunkenness and the other of the ruinousness of sloth. Proverbs 23:29-35;
Proverbs 24:30-34. — “Who hath Woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions t who hath complaining t who hath wounds without cause.” who hath redness of eyes } They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek out mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its colour in the cup, when it goeth down smoothly, at the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. Thine eyes shall behold strange things, and thine heart shall utter froward things. Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of the mast. They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not hurt; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake t I will seek it yet again.” “ I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; and lo, it was all grown over with thorns, the face thereof was covered with nettles, and the stone wall thereof was broken down.
Then I beheld and considered well: I saw and received instruction. Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: so shall thy poverty come as a robber; and thy want as an armed man.”
Some, although they admit of a higher interpretation, yet at first sight seem to urge even virtue to see fellow-men on purely selfish grounds.
Proverbs 25:21-22; Proverbs 24:17-18. — “If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink: for thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord shall reward thee.” “Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he is overthrown, lest the Lord see it, and it displease Him, and he turn away His wrath from him.”
Others, again, are simply maxims of shrewd understanding of the more worldly aspects of life. “ It is nought, it is nought, saith the buyer; but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth “ (Proverbs 20:14); “ Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit “ (Proverbs 26:4, Proverbs 26:6).
Some show a similar shrewdness of insight into human nature, as such. “ A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city” (Proverbs 18:19); “He that maketh many friends doeth it to his own destruction; but there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother “ (Proverbs 18:24); “ As a madman who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death, so is the man that deceiveth his neighbour, and saith. Am not I in sport”? (Proverbs 26:18-19). In various forms these are all the utterances of a prudence, — grave, cautious, sometimes half-cynical, conscious, and even tolerant, of the lower elements of human nature, pursuing its own course, with little thought for good or evil of others, to its appointed end. Such proverbs are naturally, perhaps necessarily, prominent in the proverbial philosophy of the world generally. They have their place accordingly, although it is the lowest place, in the comprehensiveness of Holy Scripture, which depicts and appeals to human nature in all its parts. But it is only in the Book of Proverbs that they emerge into anything like prominence. Even at the best their tone, being merely prudential, seeking virtue rather for the sake of happiness than for its own sake, fails to rise to the full height of Scriptural morality. It belongs to the lower stages of the spiritual life. It has its chief value as showing that, even judged by the standard of unenthusiastic common sense, it will profit a man to have lost the whole world, if he gain his own soul; and it may carry the mind accordingly over the “ dead points “ of moral perplexity or despondency. But to raise it to a dominant principle of religious life would be to dwarf and degrade humanity to what is rightly called “ selfishness,” unworthy of true men, but especially unworthy of true Christians.
(b) But in the Book of Proverbs itself we fail not to find a higher strain of teaching, — represented in the nobler class of proverbs, which regard the true end of life as simply the service of righteousness and goodness, and forget in it the happiness, and even the perfection, of our own souls. They are proverbs of morality, not “ proverbs of prudence.” In some degree they recognise, as above all duty to self, the service of duty and love to our fellowmen; they magnify the relative virtues of truthfulness, unselfishness, humility, forgiveness, kindliness; they dwell, especially when they touch upon the life of the king, on the glory of doing some good in our generation. Thus: “ A righteous man hateth lying; but a wicked man is loathsome, and cometh to shame (Proverbs 13:5); “ he that despiseth his neighbour sinneth; but he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he” (Proverbs 14:21); “ Righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin is a reproach to any people “ (Proverbs 14:34); “ By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted, but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked “ (Proverbs 11:11); “ Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right “ (Proverbs 16:8); “ Better is it to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud” (Proverbs 16:19); “Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith” (Proverbs 15:17); “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city” (Proverbs 16:32); “A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast; but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel “ (Proverbs 12:10); “ Say not, I will do so to my neighbour as he has done to me: I will render to the man according to his work “(Proverbs 24:29).
These proverbs, though they are fewer in number, shine out with a brighter light amidst the proverbs of prudence. In them we not only move in a higher atmosphere, but catch anticipations of Gospel teaching. For, while the New Testament does not disdain, or allow us to put aside as needless, the motives of hope and fear, and the right love of self, yet it brings out in unquestioned dominance the hunger and thirst after righteousness for its own sake. It teaches that to “ bear one anotherls burdens” is “to fulfil the law of Jesus Christ “; that it is a part, though not the highest part, of the “ self-denial “ which He describes as the condition of following Him. But we have not yet found the true key of human life. The Book of Ecclesiastes, in its sad relation of the experiences of life, confesses that in the service of men, taken alone and in itself, there is “vanity and vexation of spirit.” In the golden rule itself, the “ love of our neighbour” is only the love of him “ as of ourselves “; there must be a higher principle, to which both must be subordinate, differing from both not in degree, but in kind; and that principle must be not mere enthusiasm for abstractions, but supreme love of a person.
{c) This idea is the one which so pervades the whole book as to impress on the Scriptural proverbs a characteristic stamp, distinguishing them from the proverbs of the world. It finds the one object of man’s life in the fear, the knowledge, and the love of God, approaching at least to the idea of doing all things, even the most trivial, “ to the glory of the Lord.” It is brought out explicitly in countless instances of the highest class of proverbs, looking up consciously to God. But it is not found in this class alone. Into it both the other classes melt insensibly; for the happiness which prudence seeks is looked upon as the gift of God to those who know Him, and the duties of truth, justice, and righteousness to man are reverenced, because sanctified by the will of God.
Thus, if honesty is to be enforced, we are told again and again in various words, “ A false balance is an abomination to the Lord; but a just weight is His delight” (Proverbs 11:1; Proverbs 16:11; Proverbs 20:10, Proverbs 20:23). “ The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination to the Lord; but the prayer of the upright is His delight” (Proverbs 15:8). If cruelty to the poor is denounced, and mercy commended, it is because “ He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker; but he that honoureth Him hath mercy on the poor” (Proverbs 14:31; Proverbs 17:15); and because “ He that hath pity upon the poor, lendeth unto the Lord” (Proverbs 19:17). If self-reflection is urged, it is because “ The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord” (Proverbs 20:27). If revenge is forbidden, we are warned, “ Say not thou, I will recompense evil, but wait upon the Lord, and He shall save thee.” It is, perhaps, in the earlier portion of the book already referred to that this supreme view of life is directly urged with prophetic force and impressiveness. But everywhere it emerges in separate proverbs under its various aspects. Again and again the opening maxim repeats itself, that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge “ and the “ instruction of wisdom “ (Proverbs 1:7; Proverbs 9:10). All is acknowledged as being in the hand of God’s gracious Providence. “The blessing of the Lord, it makcth rich; and He addeth no sorrow therewith “; “ The fear of the Lord prolongeth days; but the days of the wicked shall be shortened “ (Proverbs 10:22, Proverbs 10:27). Nay, that hand is recognised, overruHng even the great mystery of evil. “ The Lord hath made everything for its own end; yea, even the wicked for the day of evil “ (Proverbs 16:4). All is felt to be in His sight, and disposed by His wisdom; for “ the eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch upon the evil and upon the good “ (Proverbs 15:3); The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord” (Proverbs 16:33); “A man’s goings are of the Lord; how, then, can man understand his way?” (Proverbs 20:24); “ Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not upon thine own understanding “ (Proverbs 3:5). Everywhere, indeed, the principle is recognised, which in the Law fills up every vista of thought and duty with the solemn words, *’ I am the LORD thy God.” “ The knowledge of God “ is the key of this life, as well as the next, because even now it is “ the life eternal.”
HI. To this examination of the proverb in the Book of Proverbs itself it may be well to add a brief reference to the other two books — Job and Ecclesiastes — in which proverbial philosophy is less fully, but still largely, represented. In each case the proverbs evidently catch the characteristic tone of the book itself. In the Book of Job, which — whatever be the date of its composition and inclusion in the Canon in its present form — undoubtedly contains in substance much of the ancient wisdom of the East, the proverbs occurring from time to time have indeed much in them of gravity and even gloominess, but yet breathe a certain spirit of freshness, with a touch of poetry, often graphic and picturesque in metaphor, drawn from the life of the desert. Many of them have passed into household words. “Naked I came out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither” (Proverbs 1:7). “ Skin for skin; all that a man hath will he give for his life “ (Proverbs 2:4). “ Man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upwards” (Proverbs 5:7) “ Man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. He cometh forth as a flower, and is cut down. He fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not” (Proverbs 14:1-2). “I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth Thee; therefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes “ (Proverbs 13:5-6). Some express in clear and forcible conciseness that sense of the mystery of God’s righteous government and man’s destiny, which is the pervading idea of the whole book. “ Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection? It is high as heaven; what canst thou do? Deeper than Sheol; what canst thou know?” (Proverbs 11:7-8). “Behold I go forward, but He is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive Him (Proverbs 23:8). “As the cloud is condensed and vanisheth away, so he that goeth down to Sheol shall come up no more” (Proverbs 7:9).
“ As the waters fail from the sea, and the river decayeth and drieth up, so man lleth down and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake” (Proverbs 14:11-12). Others dwell on the infinite littleness and imperfection of man, and his utter incapacity to stand before the Divine judgment, which are again the staple of thought in the speeches both of Job and his friends. “ If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean, yet wilt thou plunge me in the ditch, and my own clothes shall abhor me “ (Pro. 9:30-31). “Behold even the moon hath no brightness, and the stars are not pure in His sight. How much less man that is a worm! And the son of man, which is a worm! “ (Proverbs 25:5-6). In accordance with the lofty and solemn spirit of the book, they less often descend to the maxims of shrewdness and worldly wisdom; they deal with a simpler and less absorbing condition of human society; they belong mainly to the highest class of all, resting on a deep, though perhaps sombre, consciousness of God, fuller of awe than of the glad familiarity of His servants within the covenant of Israel. On the other hand, the later Book of Ecclesiastes, essentially modern in its tone, reproduces with characteristic difference the leading lines of proverbial philosophy, as they have been noted in the Book of Proverbs; and, indeed, shows in many passages traces of imitation or reminiscence of earlier proverbial sayings. This is, indeed, but natural; for the whole tenour of the book is the record of an attempt to find the meaning of life, first in seeking one’s own pleasure, culture,- perfection, then in the rule and service of humanity, and of the conclusion that both are vanity, and that “ to fear God and keep His commandments is the whole duty” and wisdom “of man.” Freely interspersed in this autobiographical record of life’s experience, and the despondent comments upon its vanity, which form so large a portion of this remarkable book, there occur many famous specimens of proverbial teaching, —mostly, however, marked with greater subtlety of thought than the older proverbs,— and (although we can trace in them the contradictions of the “two voices”) marked also, on the whole, by a pensive sadness, half mournful, half cynical, but not hopeless, in the view taken both of human character and of human life. It is instructive, for example, to compare with Prov. xxii. i, « A good name is rather to be chosen than riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold,” the corresponding passage in Ecclesiastes (Ecc vii. i), “ A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death better than the day of one’s birth.”
These characteristics come out very strikingly in the following verses, so often quoted in our darker hours, which yet, except by a confirmed pessimist, must be held to contain only half the truth as to the experience of this life.
Ecclesiastes 7:2-6, Ecclesiastes 7:14. — “ It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made glad. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning: but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools. For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool: this also is vanity. In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God hath even made the one side by side with the other, to the end that man should not find out any thing tJiat shall be after him.” The gloominess of tone is naturally deepened by the doubt or despondency, which, at least at times, crosses the mind, in relation to any hope of the future, “ To him that is joined to the living there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they shall die, but the dead know not anything.” “ Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might, for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest “ (Ecclesiastes 9:4-5, Ecclesiastes 9:10). There is again in these proverbs not only a singular bitterness against a fool, especially a loquacious fool, but also a touch of that cynical contempt, which apathy calling itself good sense, feels for all extremes of energy, either for good or for evil In a life conceived to be thus unsatisfying and transitory.
Ecclesiastes 7:16-17. — “Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself? Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time? “
Another phase of the same thought is expressed in the famous declaration that all things are good in their season, and nothing good permanently and absolutely.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. — “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die: a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.” The impression of this continual recurrence and alternation from life is illustrated by the keen poetic observation of natural phenomena, which has always been noted as characteristic of Ecclesiastes.
Ecclesiastes 1:5-7. — “ The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he ariseth. The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it turneth about continually in its course, and the wind returneth again to its circuits. All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full; unto the place whither the rivers go, thither they go again.”
Yet, again, answering this, there flashes out a gleam of light in the conviction that, in spite of all, man’s energy can count for something, by virtue of a mysterious purpose of God, fulfilling itself through all these changes.
Ecclesiastes 11:1-6. — “ Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days. Give a portion to seven, yea, even unto eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth. If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth: and if a tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there shall it be. He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap. As thou knowest not what is the way of the wind, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the work of God who doeth all. In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not which shall prosper, whether this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.” Nor can man be content to acquiesce in a ceaseless alternation of opposites; for he has capacities and aspirations beyond it for something fixed and eternal.
Ecclesiastes 3:10, II. — “I have seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith. He hath made every thing beautiful in its time: also he hath set eternity in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the work that God hath done from the beginning even to the end.” And this higher conception of man’s nature and destiny associates itself, — in accordance with the historical experience of all human thought, — with a deep-lying belief, troubled indeed, but yet on the whole unshaken, not only in a hand of God over life, but in a communion with Him, though it may be reserved and silent in worship.
Ecclesiastes 5:1-2
Such are some of the leading characteristics of this, perhaps the best known of all classes of “ the parables of the Old Testament.” In it, as has been said, we depart somewhat from that explicitly developed comparison, which we necessarily connect with the word “ parable.” But the same great idea still underlies this class also — the idea of the unity of all the laws of creation in the supreme Law of the Wisdom of God — fulfilling itself alike through physical force or brute instinct, and through the reason and will of man, and hence manifesting in all these various agencies fundamental similarities, which make each in some degree symbolical of the nature of the others. That idea manifests itself alike in the frequent picturesqueness of the proverbs of the people, and the more philosophic insight of the proverbs of the court or of the schools. Necessarily it rises to its supremest height, when we meditate upon it in the sanctuary of God’s known Presence.