of the Lord is discipline to wisdom;" the fear of God, viz. continually exercised and tried, is the right school of wisdom, and humility is the right way to honour. Similar is the connection ban, discipline binds understanding to itself as its consequence, i. 3. Line second repeats itself, xviii. 12, “Pride comes before the fall." Luther's "And ere one comes to honour, he must previously suffer," renders rather than . But the Syr. reverses the idea: the honour of the humble goeth before him, as also one of the anonymous Greek versions: προπορεύεται δὲ ταπεινοῖς δόξα. But the doğa comes, as the above proverb expresses it, afterwards. The way to the height lies through the depth, the depth of humility under the hand of God, and, as my expresses, of self-humiliation. Four proverbs of God, the disposer of all things:

Chap. xvi. 1 Man's are the counsels of the heart;

But the answer of the tongue cometh from Jahve. Gesen., Ewald, and Bertheau incorrectly understand 16 of hearing, i.e. of a favourable response to what the tongue wishes; la speaks not of wishes, and the gen. after у (answer) is, as at xv. 23, Mic iii. 7, and also here, by virtue of the parallelism, the gen. subjecti xv. 23 leads to the right sense, according to which a good answer is joy to him to whom it refers: it does not always happen to one to find the fitting and effective expression for that which he has in his mind; it is, as this cog. proverb expresses it, a gift from above (dołýσeTaι, Matt. x. 19). But now, since my neither means answering, nor yet in general an expression (Euchel) or report (Löwenstein), and the meaning of the word at 4a is not here in question, one has to think of him whom the proverb has in view as one who has to give a reason, to give information, or generally-since my, like åμeíßeolau, is not confined to the interchange of words—to solve a problem, and that such an one as requires reflection. The scheme (project, premeditation) which he in his heart contrives, is here described as 7, from any, to arrange, to place together, metaphorically of the reflection, i.e. the consideration analyzing and putting a matter in order. These reflections, seeking at one time in one direction, and at another in another, the solution of the question, the unfolding of the problem, are the business of men ; but the answer which finally the tongue gives, and which here, in conformity with the pregnant sense of my (vid. at xv. 23, 28), will be regarded as right, appropriate, effective, thus generally the satisfying reply to the demand placed before him, is from God. It

is a matter of experience which the preacher, the public speaker, the author, and every man to whom his calling or circumstances present a weighty, difficult theme, can attest. As the thoughts pursue one another in the mind, attempts are made, and again abandoned; the state of the heart is somewhat like that of chaos before the creation. But when, finally, the right thought and the right utterance for it are found, that which is found appears to us, not as if self-discovered, but as a gift; we regard it with the feeling that a higher power has influenced our thoughts and imaginings; the confession. by us, iκavóτns ημŵv ÈK тоû Oεοû (2 Cor. iii. 5), in so far as we believe in a living God, is inevitable.

Ver. 2 Every way of a man is pure in his own eyes;

But a weigher of the spirits is Jahve.

TT

(according to

Variations of this verse are xxi. 2, where for the root-meaning: pricking in the eyes, i.e. shining clear, then: without spot, pure, vid. Fleischer in Levy's Chald. Wörterbuch, i.

whereupon here without ,כָּל־דַּרְכֵי for כָּל־דֶּרֶךְ and רוּחוֹת for לִבּוֹת,(424

synallage (for ɔ means the totality), the singular of the pred. follows, as Isa. lxiv. 10, Ezek. xxxi. 15. For the rest, cf. with 2a, xiv. 12, where, instead of the subj. ?, is used, and with 26, xxiv. 12, where God is described by nian. The verb ¡♬ is a secondary formation from (vid. Hupfeld on Ps. v. 7), like 12 from Arab. tyakn (to be fast, sure), the former through the medium of the reflex. in, the latter of the reflex. Arab. áitķn;

means to regulate (from regula, a rule), to measure off, to weigh, here not to bring into a condition right according to rule (Theodotion, espálwv, stabiliens, Syr. Targ. in, Venet. κaтapTile; Luther, "but the Lord maketh the heart sure"), but to measure or weigh, and therefore to estimate rightly, to know accurately (Jerome, spirituum ponderator est Dominus). The judgment of a man regarding the cause of life, which it is good for him to enter upon, lies exposed to great and subtle self-deception; but God has the measure and weight, i.e. the means of proving, so as to value the spirits according to their true moral worth; his investigation goes to the root (cf. KρITIKós, Heb. iv. 12), his judgment rests on the knowledge of the true state of the matter, and excludes all deception, so that thus a man can escape the danger of delusion by no other means than by placing his way, i.e. his external and internal life, in the light of the word of God, and desiring for himself the all-penetrating test of the Searcher of hearts (Ps.

cxxxix. 23 f.), and the self-knowledge corresponding to the result of this test.

Ver. 3 Roll on Jahve thy works,

So thy thoughts shall prosper.

The proverbs vers. 1-3 are wanting in the LXX.; their absence is compensated for by three others, but only externally, not according to their worth. Instead of, the Syr., Targ., and Jerome read, revela, with which the by, Ps. xxxvii. 5, cf. lv. 23, înterchanging with (here and at Ps. xxii. 9), does not agree; rightly Theodotion, kúliσov éπì kúpiov, and Luther, "commend to the Lord thy works." The works are here, not those that are executed, Ex. xxiii. 16, but those to be executed, as Ps. xc. 17, where i, here the active to ia, which at iv. 26 as jussive meant to be placed right, here with 1 of the consequence in the apodosis imperativi: to be brought about, and to have continuance, or briefly: to stand (cf. xii. 3) as the contrast of disappointment or ruin. We should roll on God all matters which, as obligations, burden us, and on account of their weight and difficulty cause us great anxiety, for nothing is too heavy or too hard for Him who can overcome ali difficulties and dissolve all perplexities; then will our thoughts, viz. those about the future of our duty and our life-course, be happy, nothing will remain entangled and be a failure, but will be accomplished, and the end and aim be realized. ·

Ver. 4 Jahve hath made everything for its contemplated end;

And also the wicked for the day of evil.

Everywhere else y means answer (Venet. πрòs ȧπóкρiσi avтоû), which is not suitable here, especially with the absoluteness of the ; the Syr. and Targ. translate, obedientibus ei, which the words do not warrant; but also propter semet ipsum (Jerome, Theodotion, Luther) give to 46 no right parallelism, and, besides, would demand i

,בַּגְּבִרְתָּהּ .which is an anomaly (cf ,לַמַּעֲנֵהוּ The punctuation .למענהו .לְמַעֲנֵהוּ

Isa. xxiv. 2, and ye, Ezra x. 14), shows (Ewald) that here we have, not the prepositional, but with the subst. yp, which in derivation and meaning is one with the form abbreviated from it (cf. byp, y), similar in meaning to the Arab. ma'anyn, aim, intention, object, and end, and mind, from 'atay, to place opposite to oneself a matter, to make it the object of effort. Hitzig prefers ny, but why not rather, for the proverb is not intended to express that all that God has made serve a purpose (by which one is reminded of the arguments for the existence of

God from final causes, which are often prosecuted too far), but that all is made by God for its purpose, i.e. a purpose premeditated by Him, that the world of things and of events stands under the law of a plan, which has in God its ground and its end, and that also the wickedness of free agents is comprehended in this plan, and made subordinate to it. God has not indeed made the wicked as such, but He has made the being which is capable of wickedness, and which has decided for it, viz. in view of the "day of adversity" (Eccles. vii. 14), which God will cause to come upon him, thus making His holiness manifest in the merited punishment, and thus also making wickedness the means of manifesting His glory. It is the same thought which is expressed in Ex. ix. 16 with reference to Pharaoh. A prædestinatio ad malum, and that in the supralapsarian sense, cannot be here taught, for this horrible dogma (horribile quidem decretum, fateor, says Calvin himself) makes God the author of evil, and a ruler according to His sovereign caprice, and thus destroys all pure conceptions of God. What Paul, Rom. ix., with reference to Ex. ix. 16, wishes to say is this, that it was not Pharaoh's conduct that determined the will of God, but that the will of God is always the antecedens: nothing happens to God through the obstinacy and rebellion of man which determines Him to an action not already embraced in the eternal plan, but also such an one must against his will be subservient to the display of God's glory. The apostle adds ver. 22, and shows that he recognised the factor of human self-determination, but also as one comprehended in God's plan. The free actions of men create no situation by which God would be surprised and compelled to something which was not originally intended by Himself. That is what the above proverb says: the wicked also has his place in God's order of the world. Whoever frustrates the designs of grace must serve God in this, ἐνδείξασθαι τὴν ὀργὴν καὶ γνωρίσαι τὸ δυνατὸν αὐτοῦ (Rom. ix. 22). Here follow three proverbs of divine punishment, expiatio [Versühnung] and reconciliatio [Versöhnung].

is a

Ver. 5 An abomination to Jahve is every one who is haughty; The hand for it [assuredly] he remains not unpunished. Proverbs thus commencing we already had at xv. 9, 26. metaplastic connecting form of ; on the contrary, 2, 1 Sam. xvi. 7, Ps. ciii. 11, means being high, as , height; the form underlying is not (as Gesen. and Olshausen write it), but. In 5b, xi. 21a is repeated. The translators are per

VOL. I

Y

plexed in their rendering of T. Fleischer: ab ætate in ætatem non (i.e. nullo unquam tempore futuro) impunis erit.

Ver. 6 By love and truth is iniquity expiated,

And through the fear of Jahve one escapes from evil

literally, there comes (as the effect of it) the escaping of evil (0, n. actionis, as xiii. 19), or rather, since the evil here comes into view as to its consequences (xiv. 27, xv. 24), this, that one escapes evil. By nos are here meant, not the xápis kaì åλý¤eia of God (Bertheau), but, like xx. 28, Isa. xxxix. 8, love and faithfulness in the relation of men to one another. The 2 is both times

that of the mediating cause. Or is it said neither by what means one may attain the expiation of his sins, nor how he may attain to the escaping from evil, but much rather wherein the true reverence for Jahve, and wherein the right expiation of sin, consist? Thus von Hofmann, Schriftbew. i. 595. But the 2 of 7D is not different from that of N, Isa. xxvii. 9. It is true that the article of justification is falsified if good works enter as causa meritoria into the act of justification, but we of the evangelical school teach that the fides quâ justificat is indeed inoperative, but not the fides quæ justificat, and we cannot expect of the O. T. that it should everywhere distinguish with Pauline precision what even James will not or cannot distinguish. As the law of sacrifice designates the victim united with the blood in the most definite manner, but sometimes also the whole transaction in the offering of sacrifice even to the priestly feast as serving, Lev. x. 17, so it also happens in the general region of ethics: the objective ground of reconciliation is the decree of God, to which the blood in the typical offering points, and man is a partaker of this reconciliation, when he accepts, in penitence and in faith, the offered mercy of God; but this acceptance would be a self-deception, if it meant that the blotting out of the guilt of sin could be obtained in the way of imputation without the immediate following thereupon of a blotting of it out in the way of sanctification; and therefore the Scriptures also ascribe to good works a share in the expiation of sin in a wider sense-namely, as the proofs of thankful (Luke vii. 47) and compassionate love (vid. at x. 2), as this proverb of love and truth, herein according with the words of the prophets, as Hos. vi. 6, Mic. vi. 6-8. He who is conscious of this, that he is a sinner, deeply guilty before God, who cannot stand before Him if He did not deal with him in mercy instead of justice, according to the pur