Proverbs 6:17

worthless person, Pro 6:12-15; seven things hateful to God, Pro 6:16-19; the benefits of instruction, Pro 6:20-23; farther exhortations against bad women, and especially against adultery, Pro 6:24-33; what may be expected from jealousy, Pro 6:34, Pro 6:35. Verse 1 If thou be surety for thy friend - לרעך lereacha, for thy neighbor; i.e., any person. If thou pledge thyself in behalf of another, thou takest the burden off him, and placest it on thine own shoulders; and when he knows he has got one to stand between him and the demands of law and justice, he will feel little responsibility; his spirit of exertion will become crippled, and listlessness as to the event will be the consequence. His own character will suffer little; his property nothing, for his friend bears all the burden: and perhaps the very person for whom he bore this burden treats him with neglect; and, lest the restoration of the pledge should be required, will avoid both the sight and presence of his friend. Give what thou canst; but, except in extreme cases, be surety for no man. Striking or shaking hands when the mouth had once made the promise, was considered as the ratification of the engagement; and thus the man became ensnared with the words of his mouth. Verse 3 Do this - deliver thyself - Continue to press him for whom thou art become surety, to pay his creditor; give him no rest till he do it, else thou mayest fully expect to be left to pay the debt. Verse 5 Deliver thyself as a roe - צבי tsebi, the antelope. If thou art got into the snare, get out if thou possibly canst; make every struggle and excertion, as the antelope taken in the net, and the bird taken in the snare would, in order to get free from thy captivity. Verse 6 Go to the ant, thou sluggard - נמלה nemalah, the ant, is a remarkable creature for foresight, industry, and economy. At the proper seasons they collect their food - not in the summer to lay up for the winter; for they sleep during the winter, and eat not; and therefore such hoards would be to them useless; but when the food necessary for them is most plentiful, then they collect it for their consumption in the proper seasons. No insect is more laborious, not even the bee itself; and none is more fondly attached to or more careful of its young, than the ant. When the young are in their aurelia state, in which they appear like a small grain of rice, they will bring them out of their nests, and lay them near their holes, for the benefit of the sun; and on the approach of rain, carefully remove them, and deposit them in the nest, the hole or entrance to which they will cover with a piece of thin stone or tile, to prevent the wet from getting in. It is a fact that they do not lay up any meat for winter; nor does Solomon, either here or in Pro 30:25, assert it. He simply says that they provide their food in summer, and gather it in harvest; these are the most proper times for a stock to be laid in for their consumption; not in winter; for no such thing appears in any of their nests, nor do they need it, as they sleep during that season; but for autumn, during which they wake and work. Spring, summer, and autumn, they are incessant in their labor; and their conduct affords a bright example to men. Verse 10 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber - This, if not the language, is the feeling of the sluggard. The ant gathers its food in summer and in harvest, and sleeps in winter when it has no work to do. If the sluggard would work in the day, and sleep at night, it would be all proper. The ant yields him a lesson of reproach. Verse 11 So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth - That is, with slow, but surely approaching steps. Thy want as an armed man - That is, with irresistible fury; and thou art not prepared to oppose it. The Vulgate, Septuagint, and Arabic add the following clause to this verse: - "But if thou wilt be diligent, thy harvest shall be as a fountain; and poverty shall flee far away from thee." It is also thus in the Old MS. Bible: If forsothe unslow thou shul ben; shul comen as a welle thi rip; and nede fer shal fleen fro thee. Verse 12 A naughty person - אדם בליעל adam beliyal, "Adam good for nothing." When he lost his innocence. A man apostata; Old MS. Bible. A wicked man - איש און ish aven. He soon became a general transgressor after having departed from his God. All his posterity, unless restored by Divine grace, are men of Belial, and sinners by trade; and most of them, in one form or other, answer the character here given. They yield their members instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. Verse 13 He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers - These things seem to be spoken of debauchees, and the following quotation from Ovid, Amor. Iib. i., El. iv., ver. 15, shoots the whole process of the villany spoken of by Solomon: Cum premit ille torum, vultu comes ipsa modestoIbis, ut accumbas: clam mihi tange pedem. Me specta, nutusque meos, vultum que loquacemExcipe furtivas, et refer ipsa, notas. Verba superciliis sine voce loquentia dicamVerba leges digitis, verba notata mero. Cum tibi succurrit Veneris lascivia nostrae,Purpureas tenero pollice tange genas, etc., etc. The whole elegy is in the same strain: it is translated in Garth's Ovid, but cannot be introduced here. Verse 14 He deviseth mischief - He plots schemes and plans to bring it to pass. He soweth discord - Between men and their wives, by seducing the latter from their fidelity. See the preceding quotation. Verse 15 Suddenly shall he be broken - Probably alluding to some punishment of the adulterer, such as being stoned to death. A multitude shall join together, and so overwhelm him with stones, that he shall have his flesh and bones broken to pieces, and there shall be no remedy - none to deliver or pity him. Verse 16 These six - doth the Lord hate - 1. A proud look - exalted eyes; those who will not condescend to look on the rest of mankind. 2. A lying tongue - he who neither loves nor tells truth. 3. Hands that shed innocent blood, whether by murder or by battery. 4. A heart that deviseth wicked imaginations - the heart that fabricates such, lays the foundation, builds upon it, and completes the superstructure of iniquity. 5. Feet that be swift in running to mischief - he who works iniquity with greediness. 6. A false witness that speaketh lies - one who, even on his oath before a court of justice, tells any thing but the truth. Seven are an abomination unto him - נפשו naphsho, "to his soul." The seventh is, he that soweth discord among brethren - he who troubles the peace of a family, of a village, of the state; all who, by lies and misrepresentations, strive to make men's minds evil-affected towards their brethren. Verse 20 Keep thy father's commandment - See on Pro 1:8 (note). Verse 21 Bind them continually upon thine heart - See on Pro 3:3 (note). And see a similar command, to which this is an allusion, Deu 6:6-8 (note). Verse 22 When thou goest, it shall lead thee - Here the law is personified; and is represented as a nurse, teacher, and guardian, by night and day. An upright man never goes but as directed by God's word and led by God's Spirit. When thou sleepest - He commends his body and soul to the protection of his Maker when he lies down and sleeps in peace. And when he awakes in the morning, the promises and mercies of God are the first things that present themselves to his recollection. Verse 23 For the commandment is a lamp - It illuminates our path. It shows us how we should walk and praise God. And the law is light - A general light, showing the nature and will of God, and the interest and duty of Man. And reproofs of instruction - Or, that instruction which reproves us for our sins and errors leads us into the way of life. Verse 24 To keep thee from the evil woman - Solomon had suffered sorely from this quarter; and hence his repeated cautions and warnings to others. The strange woman always means one that is not a man's own; and sometimes it may also imply a foreign harlot, one who is also a stranger to the God of Israel. Verse 25 Neither let her take thee with her eye-lids - It is a very general custom in the East to paint the eye-lids. I have many Asiatic drawings in which this is expressed. They have a method of polishing the eyes with a preparation of antimony, so that they appear with an indescribable lustre; or, as one who mentions the fact from observation, "Their eyes appear to be swimming in bliss." Verse 26 By means of a whorish woman - In following lewd women, a man is soon reduced to poverty and disease. The Septuagint gives this a strange turn: timh gar pornhv, osh kai enov artou. "For the price or hire of a whore is about one loaf." So many were they in the land, that they hired themselves out for a bare subsistence. The Vulgate, Syriac, and Arabic, give the same sense. The old MS. Bible has it thus: The price forsothe of a strumpet is unneth oon lof: the woman forsothe taketh the precious liif of a mam. The sense of which is, and probably the sense of the Hebrew too, While the man hires the whore for a single loaf of bread; the woman thus hired taketh his precious life. She extracts his energy, and poisons his constitution. In the first clause אשה זונה ishshah zonah is plainly a prostitute; but should we render אשת esheth, in the second clause, an adulteress? I think not. The versions in general join אשת איש esheth ish, together, which, thus connected, signify no more than the wife of a man; and out of this we have made adulteress, and Coverdale a married woman. I do not think that the Old MS. Bible gives a good sense; and it requires a good deal of paraphrase to extract the common meaning from the text. Though the following verses seem to countenance the common interpretation, yet they may contain a complete sense of themselves; but, taken in either way, the sense is good, though the construction is a little violent. Verse 27 Can a man take fire - These were proverbial expressions, the meaning of which was plain to every capacity. Verse 29 So he that goeth In to his neighbor's wife - As sure as he who takes fire into his bosom, or who walks upon live coals, is burnt thereby; so sure he that seduces his neighbour's wife shall be guilty. That is, he shall be punished. Verse 30 Men do not despise a thief if he steal - Every man pities the poor culprit who was perishing for lack of food, and stole to satisfy his hunger; yet no law clears him: he is bound to make restitution; in some cases double, in others quadruple and quintuple; and if he have not property enough to make restitution, to be sold for a bondsman; Exo 22:1-4; Lev 25:39. Verse 32 But whoso committeth adultery - The case understood is that of a married man: he has a wife; and therefore is not in the circumstances of the poor thief, who stole to appease his hunger, having nothing to eat. In this alone the opposition between the two cases is found: the thief had no food, and he stole some; the married man had a wife, and yet went in to the wife of his neighbor. Destroyeth his own soul - Sins against his life, for, under the law of Moses, adultery was punished with death; Lev 20:10; Deu 22:22. Verse 33 A wound and dishonor shall he get - Among the Romans, when a man was caught in the fact, the injured husband took the law into his own hand; and a large radish was thrust up into the anus of the transgressor, which not only overwhelmed him with infamy and disgrace, but generally caused his death. Verse 34 Jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare - He will not, when he has detected the adulterer in the fact, wait for the slow progress of the law: it is then to him the day of vengeance; and in general, he avenges himself on the spot, as we see above. Verse 35 He will not regard any ransom - This is an injury that admits of no compensation. No gifts can satisfy a man for the injury his honor has sustained; and to take a bribe or a ransom, would be setting up chastity at a price. Introduction A farther exhortation to acquire wisdom, in order to be preserved from impure connections, Pro 7:1-5. The character of a harlot, and her conduct toward

The Seven Abominations. 12 A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth. 13 He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers; 14 Frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord. 15 Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy. 16 These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: 17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, 19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren. Solomon here gives us, I. The characters of one that is mischievous to man and dangerous to be dealt with. If the slothful are to be condemned, that do nothing, much more those that do ill, and contrive to do all the ill they can. It is a naughty person that is here spoken of, Heb. A man of Belial; I think it should have been so translated, because it is a term often used in scripture, and this is the explication of it. Observe, 1. How a man of Belial is here described. He is a wicked man, that makes a trade of doing evil, especially with his tongue, for he walks and works his designs with a froward mouth ( v. 12 ), by lying and perverseness, and a direct opposition to God and man. He says and does every thing, (1.) Very artfully and with design. He has the subtlety of the serpent, and carries on his projects with a great deal of craft and management ( v. 13 ), with his eyes, with his feet, with his fingers. He expresses his malice when he dares not speak out (so some), or, rather, thus he carries on his plot; those about him, whom he makes use of as the tools of his wickedness, understand the ill meaning of a wink of his eye, a stamp of his feet, the least motion of his fingers. He gives orders for evil-doing, and yet would not be thought to do so, but has ways of concealing what he does, so that he may not be suspected. He is a close man, and upon the reserve; those only shall be let into the secret that would do any thing he would have them to do. He is a cunning man, and upon the trick; he has a language by himself, which an honest man is not acquainted with, nor desires to be. (2.) Very spitefully and with ill design. It is not so much ambition or covetousness that is in his heart, as downright frowardness, malice, and ill nature. He aims not so much to enrich and advance himself as to do an ill turn to those about him. He is continually devising one mischief or other, purely for mischief-sake—a man of Belial indeed, of the devil, resembling him not only in subtlety, but in malice. 2. What his doom is ( v. 15 ): His calamity shall come and he shall be broken; he that devised mischief shall fall into mischief. His ruin shall come, (1.) Without warning. It shall come suddenly: Suddenly shall he be broken, to punish him for all the wicked arts he had to surprise people into his snares. (2.) Without relief. He shall be irreparably broken, and never able to piece again: He shall be broken without remedy. What relief can he expect that has disobliged all mankind? He shall come to his end and none shall help him, Dan. xi. 45 . II. A catalogue of those things which are in a special manner odious to God, all which are generally to be found in those men of Belial whom he had described in the foregoing verses; and the last of them (which, being the seventh, seems especially to be intended, because he says they are six, yea, seven) is part of his character, that he sows discord. God hates sin; he hates every sin; he can never be reconciled to it; he hates nothing but sin. But there are some sins which he does in a special manner hate; and all those here mentioned are such as are injurious to our neighbour. It is an evidence of the good-will God bears to mankind that those sins are in a special manner provoking to him which are prejudicial to the comfort of human life and society. Therefore the men of Belial must expect their ruin to come suddenly, and without remedy, because their practices are such as the Lord hates and are an abomination to him, v. 16 . Those things which God hates it is no thanks to us to hate in others, but we must hate them in ourselves. 1. Haughtiness, conceitedness of ourselves, and contempt of others— a proud look. There are seven things that God hates, and pride is the first, because it is at the bottom of much sin and gives rise to it. God sees the pride in the heart and hates it there; but, when it prevails to that degree that the show of men's countenance witnesses against them that they overvalue themselves and undervalue all about them, this is in a special manner hateful to him, for then pride is proud of itself and sets shame at defiance. 2. Falsehood, and fraud, and dissimulation. Next to a proud look nothing is more an abomination to God than a lying tongue; nothing more sacred than truth, nor more necessary to conversation than speaking truth. God and all good men hate and abhor lying. 3. Cruelty and blood-thirstiness. The devil was, from the beginning, a liar and a murderer ( John viii. 44 ), and therefore, as a lying tongue, so hands that shed innocent blood are hateful to God, because they have in them the devil's image and do him service. 4. Subtlety in the contrivance of sin, wisdom to do evil, a heart that designs and a head that devises wicked imaginations, that is acquainted with the depths of Satan and knows how to carry on a covetous, envious, revengeful plot, most effectually. The more there is of craft and management in sin the more it is an abomination to God. 5. Vigour and diligence in the prosecution of sin— feet that are swift in running to mischief, as if they were afraid of losing time or were impatient of delay in a thing they are so greedy of. The policy and vigilance, the eagerness and industry, of sinners, in their sinful pursuits, may shame us who go about that which is good so awkwardly and so coldly. 6. False-witness bearing, which is one of the greatest mischiefs that the wicked imagination can devise, and against which there is least fence. There cannot be a greater affront to God (to whom in an oath appeal is made) nor a greater injury to our neighbour (all whose interests in this world, even the dearest, lie open to an attack of this kind) than knowingly to give in a false testimony. There are seven things which God hates, and lying involves two of them; he hates it, and doubly hates it. 7. Making mischief between relations and neighbours, and using all wicked means possible, not only to alienate their affections one from another, but to irritate their passions one against another. The God of love and peace hates him that sows discord among brethren, for he delights in concord. Those that by tale-bearing and slandering, by carrying ill-natured stories, aggravating every thing that is said and done, and suggesting jealousies and evil surmises, blow the coals of contention, are but preparing for themselves a fire of the same nature.