Proverbs 26

Proverbs 26:1-11

LECTURE LXXX.

Proverbs 26:1-11 .

“As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest; so honour is not seemly for a fool. As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying; so the curse causeless shall not come. A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool’s back. 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. He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool cutteth off the feet, and drinketh damage. The legs of the lame are not equal; so is a parable in the mouth of fools. As he that bindeth a stone in a sling; so is he that giveth honour to a fool. As a thorn goeth up into the hand of a drunkard; so is a parable in the mouth of fools. The great God, that formed all things, both rewardeth the fool, and rewardeth transgressors. As a dog returneth to his vomit; so a fool returneth to his folly.”

The two leading ideas in the comparison in the first of these verses are incongruity and mischief. “Snow” and “rain,” in the times of the year mentioned, were very unseasonable, and apt to prove very injurious to the prospects of the husbandman and of the country. Such cold in summer, when warmth was specially necessary for filling and ripening the fruits of the ground; and such wet weather in autumn, when drought was so desirable for in-gathering in proper condition, were alike unsuitable to their respective seasons, and at once ominous and effective of evil.-“So honour is not seemly for a fool.” The incongruity and the mischief are alike predicable, whether the fool be regarded as meaning the weak man or the wicked man. “Honour”-that is any situation of power, authority, and influence-is out of place when in his hands. The weak man will abuse such a position from incapacity; and he may thus oven, without any evil intention, be the instrument of very serious and extensive harm. The harm may arise either from his own obstinacy in the refusal of suitable counsel,-for such obstinacy, alas! is no infrequent associate of imbecility;-or from his being made the dupe and tool of the artful and ambitious, the selfish and the cruel.

But the elevation of wicked men to such a position, is still more unseemly, and still more prejudicial, as all history might be cited to prove. When wickedness is set in high places, and endowed with resources at its own disposal for weal or for woe,-well may a nation tremble!

In the land of Israel, “snow in summer and rain in harvest” would have been regarded as indications of the displeasure of Jehovah.* Such appearances were fitted to fill them with the fear that God was about to visit them with famine and “cleanness of teeth in their borders."-So the advancement to honour and authority of wicked men–men devoid of principle-would have been with them, and is indeed with all, a presage of impending calamities.

• See 1 Samuel 12:17-18 .

Verse Proverbs 26:2 . “As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying; so the curse causeless shall not come.” There is difficulty here in settling the precise point in the comparison. The ordinary interpretation explains it with reference to curses pronounced by men without cause-imprecations, anathemas, that are unmerited:-and the meaning is understood to be-as the bird or sparrow, by wandering, and as the swallow, or wood-pigeon, by flying, shall not come,-that is, shall not reach us or come upon us in the way of injury; so is it with the causeless curse. It will “do no more harm than the bird that flies over head, than Goliath’s curses did to David.”* And it might be added, that, as these birds return to their own place,-to the nests whence they came, so will such gratuitous maledictions come back upon the persons by whom they are uttered. Thus God turned the curses into a blessing which Balak the son of Zippor lured Balaam to pronounce against Israel. Thus the malicious and hard-hearted curses of Shimei against David came not upon him, but fell upon the head of their unprincipled author.

• Henry.

I am not sure, though this interpretation has its difficulties, that a better can be given of the words. They may, however, refer, not to curses uttered by men, but to curses or judgments sent by God. The meaning then will be that as the bird in flying has an object, and by flying gains that object, so the curse, or judgment of God, never comes without a cause. For every visitation of His there is a reason; and an end to be answered by it. It comes, in every case, in testimony of the divine displeasure, and for punitive warning and correction. Thus it was when “snow” came “in summer,” or “rain in harvest:” and thus it was when “the basest of men” were, in God’s providence, raised to power:-it was that they might be the scourges of His people, for their sins, and for their good.

According to the former view, the great lesson taught is that when exposed to the malice of men and their unmerited imprecations we should put our trust in God. According to the latter, that if we would shun “the curse,” or-judicial infliction of the Lord, we must beware of everything that would provoke His displeasure: and that when His heavy dispensations do come, it behoves us to inquire what is their cause, and for what end they are sent; to ask, each one of us-“Why am I thus?”-“What meaneth the heat of this great anger?"-and to “humble ourselves under His mighty hand,” and sigh and pray for the attainment of the end He has in view. This second sense of the proverb appears to derive some countenance from the verse which follows:-

Verse Proverbs 26:3 . “A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool’s back.” The obvious import is-that correction suits “the fool,” even as the whip does the horse, and the bridle the ass. He requires the rod. Nothing else will do for him; nothing else bring him to his senses, or drive his folly from his heart; if even that proves effectual-“for a reproof entereth more into a wise man, than a hundred stripes into a fool.” I give the following, as the pointed application of the proverb to various characters by a judicious expositor:-“Are you,” then, “the unhappy fathers of foolish children! You must make use of the rod and reproof to give them wisdom. Are you authorized to bear rule in the church? the rod of church discipline must be applied to offenders, that they may be reclaimed, and others warned. Are you magistrates? the rod which God has put into your hands may be a means of preserving young malefactors from the gibbet at a more advanced period of life. Are you wise? beware of turning aside unto folly, that you may never need the rod. Are you fools? learn wisdom, or do not blame those whom duty and charity will oblige to use the rod for your correction. Is it not better, that you should be treated by your superiors with love and in the spirit of meekness, than to be beaten with the rod? Are you obliged, for your faults, to bear the pains of church censure, or criminal law? Kiss the rod, and “sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto you.” Have you formerly endured the rod? Let the impressions and effects of it abide with you for life, lest the sword of divine vengeance be unsheathed against you, because you refused to hear the voice of the rod and Him that hath appointed it.”*

• Dr. Lawson.

Verses Proverbs 26:4-5 . “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.” In these two verses, there is the appearance of contradiction. But it is the appearance only. The principle of harmony seems to lie in the different senses of which the words “according to his folly” are susceptible.

The case is obvious. There may be folly both in the matter and the manner of the fool’s talk. In neither must he be imitated. We must not bring ourselves down to his level. We must not debate with him in his own style-allowing him to get the better of our temper and self-possession. The evil of answering the fool according to his folly in this sense, is stated in the end of the verse-“Lest thou also be like unto him:"-lest, that is, thou pass for a fool like him, sharing in the contempt that attaches to his character;-which is especially apt to be the case, when, in presence of those who do not know him, a man enters into the foolish, frothy, absurd, contemptible talk of the silly, the vain, the worthless,-chiming in with, encouraging and countenancing their folly, and seeming to relish and enjoy it:-or lest thou, in point of fact, really contract resemblance to him;-for by thus descending beneath the proper level, and conforming to such folly, there is a risk of contracting a littleness and silliness of mind; and, along with it, a trifling, talkative, contentious, wrangling spirit, and a manner destitute of all becoming dignity and respectability; producing the scorn of all who do, and the regret and pity of all who do not, know us.

Then, on the other hand, “Answer a fool according to his folly,” means answer him as his folly deserves. And this may be in various ways.-There may be occasions not a few on which entire silence is the most suitable of all replies. The fool’s cavils and questions may really not be at all deserving of notice. As the danger mentioned, however, is “lest he be wise in his own conceit”-the silence in such cases requires to be accompanied with marked and manifest indications of its intention; otherwise, the very evil deprecated will be incurred. The fool will impute it to inability, and take credit to himself accordingly. This will give him a triumph, and settle him in his self-conceit. The same remark applies to irony, which may frequently be a sufficiently suitable kind of answer to the folly of the fool. It is a species of reply which has the appearance of conformity to the folly; but in reality is the reverse. Great care must be taken that the irony be such as to be perceived. If the fool himself does not see it, but takes the irony for earnest, it will then have all the effect of rendering him the more “wise in his own conceit:"-and if others do not see it it will have the effect stated in the former, of making us appear, in their eyes, “like unto him.” Again, a petulant, captious caviller is not entitled to the respectful treatment due to a sincere and modest inquirer or objector. It is well to be able, in such cases, so to point an answer, as at once to expose the ignorance or the malice of the caviller, and to put a reply out of his power;-thus setting him fast-making him feel his folly, and bringing down his self-estimation. This, however, we should be sure, is not done in any such way as would cherish in ourselves the very principle which we seek to repress in him-of petulance and self-conceit. That were to answer him “according to his folly” in the sense of the fourth verse, and “to be like him.” All our answers should be in meekness as well as firmness; and more in the spirit of pity than of scorn.

This ought especially to be attended to on serious subjects. There is a way which some have, when a person starts any objection on points of a religious nature,-bearing for instance on the truth of Christianity or the principles of the gospel,-of half angrily and half sneeringly, with a stern or a taunting rebuff, putting him down, by roundly telling him that what he says is nonsense, and unworthy of an answer. This, in general, is fitted to have one or other or all of three effects:-the excitement to resentful passions; the gratification of self-sufficiency and self-conceit instead of their repression; (for this kind of knock-down way of treating an argument or objection will of course be interpreted as indicating the consciousness of inability to meet it calmly and fairly;)-and the confirmation of scepticism and infidelity. Serious subjects should be treated seriously in all cases,-even with the fool. The best way to reply, is, not by a disdainful, jeering exclamation of “absurd nonsense!"-nor, by anything of the nature of buffoonery, trying to turn the laugh against the caviller: but to endeavour, in our reply, to unite such gravity and seriousness, as to show our deep impression of the importance of the subject, as one never to be trifled with or treated with lightness;-such force of argument as shall settle the question:-such determined firmness, as to rebuke and repress the spirit of self-conceit:-and such gentleness and kindliness, as shall conciliate attention and candid consideration, and contribute to win the heart. This last great object Christians are at times too prone to forget. Never should we imagine it sufficient merely to gain a victory on a disputed point. Our aim should above all things be, to gain the foolish, and even the conceited and impertinent, caviller himself-to draw him to a conviction of God’s truth and a choice of God’s ways. We should seek to make him sensible, by our whole manner, that we are in earnest,-that we are concerned for him, and anxious to convince him, for his own good, of his error and his danger.* O! what is it, in the comparison-to have the credit of silencing an adversary, or to have the satisfaction of winning and saving a soul-saving a soul from death, and covering the multitude of sins!

• This is beautifully exemplified on many occasions, in our Lord’s interviews with his enemies:-See Matthew 12:24 , &c; Matthew 15:1 , &c.; Luke 13:14-17 ; John 8:7 , &c.

Verse Proverbs 26:6 . “He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool cutteth off the feet, and drinketh damage.” The general meaning of this proverb is too obvious to be mistaken by any one. Here again “a fool” may signify either a weak and incompetent man,-who has not capacity for the discharge of the trust committed to him, or one who is unprincipled,-on whose integrity and honour little reliance can be placed;-either the senseless man, or the worthless man, or a combination of both. He who commits any “message” to such a one “cutteth off the feet;"-is guilty of the same anomalous absurdity as if he were purposely to lame himself with a view to expedite his journey! The consequence which might be anticipated is expressed by Solomon in the words-“and drinketh damage:” he reaps, that is, as the reward of his absurdity and recklessness, disappointment, vexation, shame, injury, just in proportion to the magnitude and importance of the business.

Mark the general lesson. It evidently is-that we be careful, in all cases, to select suitable agents for the undertaking on which they are to be commissioned. It is an important lesson for governments, in the selection of ambassadors, diplomatists, and provincial and colonial magistrates;-to see that they be, in all respects, men competent for the trusts committed to them,-likely to execute them successfully, and in a manner that shall secure the honour and the interests of their country. It is a lesson to ourselves as the inhabitants of a free country,-to look well to it that we use conscientiously, considerately, and wisely, our elective franchise, and beware of committing the representative administration of our national affairs to men without principle or without capacity,-or holding such maxims of public policy as are, in our apprehension, at variance with the civil and religious liberties of the realm, or any of its other interests. It is a lesson to churches, in the choice of those to whom they commit the instruction and rule of the house of God;-to see to it, that they be men, in knowledge, in character, in temper, in prudence, and in energy, competent, as far as attainable, for “rightly dividing the word of truth,"-watching for souls,”-“taking care of the church of God.” It is a lesson to both pastors and churches, in cases of discipline, or in any matters of general interest requiring the agency of individuals;-to see to it that persons be appointed, suitable in both disposition, and freedom from partiality and prejudice, and possessing the description of knowledge, whether sacred or secular, which fits them for the charge of the particular case. It is a lesson to all, in the ordinary affairs of domestic life, of secular business, of benevolent exertion;-to see to it, that according to the nature of what is to be done, they engage right heads, right hearts, and right hands.

Verse Proverbs 26:7 . “The legs of the lame are not equal: so is a parable in the mouth of fools.” This verse has by different critics been differently interpreted. One has it, “Lift up the legs of the lame”-“make the legs of the lame to dance;”-“so is a parable in the mouth of a fool.” “A wise saying doth as ill become a fool, as dancing doth a cripple;-for, as his lameness never so much appears as when he would seem nimble, so the other’s folly is never so ridiculous as when he would seem wise.” The force of the comparison is, on this interpretation, sufficiently striking.

Another, from a different application of the same etymology, has the meaning-“the legs of the lame are wasted-emaciated-so is a parable in the mouth of fools.” But this view seems unnatural and tame. The legs of the lame are not always wasted and slender. The meaning he attaches to the proverb is, that as the legs of the lame are slender and have lost their natural strength, so a parable in the mouth of a fool is deprived of its force. The explanation seems to rob the saying of much of its force. The idea certainly that is most readily and naturally suggested by the legs of the lame is that of inequality, and consequent inaptitude for sprightly or graceful movement. And in this sense the comparison is a very apt and expressive one. As the lame man, whose legs are not equal,-a short and a long, a straight and a crooked,-when he attempts to be nimble, is at once ludicrously awkward, and always in danger of falling; so is a fool awkward in the use of wise sayings, and is constantly in danger of stumbling into what is either ridiculous or mischievous, by his misapplication and abuse of them. “As therefore,” says Henry, “it is best for a lame man to keep his seat, so is it best for a silly or a bad man to hold his tongue.” *

• Stuart renders-“Take away the legs of a lame man; and so,” &c. He explains thus-“The legs of a lame man are useless and may as well be taken away as respects any good from them. So a proverb in the mouth of fools is useless. It is a lame proverb.”

For the sake of the close resemblance of the sentiment, we shall take in here verse ninth,-“As a thorn goeth up into the hand of a drunkard; so is a parable in the mouth of fools.” The meaning is precisely similar to that of the sixth verse. A fool handling the maxims of wisdom is like a drunken man handling thorns. The drunkard, not knowing what he is about, lays hold of them rashly and recklessly, and thus wounds himself:-so the fool wounds himself by his manner of using the sayings of the wise. He confirms his reputation for folly; he exposes himself to pity or scorn; or even, inadvertently, from not at all perceiving how the use he is making of some one of them recoils upon himself, he pronounces his own verdict of culpability and condemnation; or still further, when attempting to bring a proverbial or pithy saying to bear on the support of his own cause, he blunders, by the misapplication of it, into a conclusion the very opposite of what he intended. He lays down principles that, in the eyes of every one who hears him, go to condemn himself, without his being in the least degree sensible of it. The thorn, ere he is aware, has “gone up into his hand,” and the pain and the blood discover to him his folly.

Verse Proverbs 26:8 . “As he that bindeth a stone in a sling, so is he that giveth honour to a fool.” This verse also has been variously rendered. In the margin-“As he that putteth a precious stone in a heap of stones, so is he that giveth honour to a fool.” It seems to be generally agreed that the word translated a sling means more properly a heap of stones.* And the word rendered stone is one frequently used to denote a precious stone.

• Parkhurst, Sohultens, Stock.

It is not denied, that our English version gives a good sense. The man who “binds a stone in a sling” maybe considered as preparing mischief. And so, the honour,-the power and influence,-that are bestowed upon a fool, only fit their possessor for doing hurt, either to himself, or to the person who has conferred it, or to others.*1 But the proper meaning appears to be-“giving honour to a fool is like hiding a precious stone in the midst of a heap of stones;"-or like “fixing a precious stone in the midst of a heap."-One critic renders-“As a spark of precious stone in the midst of a heap of stones, so is giving honour to a fool.” The ideas then conveyed are-that the honour does not accord well with the other parts of the character,-and that to all really useful purposes it is lost. To the expression of incongruity thus brought out some make an addition, by supposing the heap of stones to be such an heap as was usually reared or thrown over notorious offenders, who were stoned, or otherwise ignominiously put to death.*2 This does certainly impart additional point and poignancy to the comparison. Giving honour to a fool is like inserting a diamond in a monument of infamy. The honour is thus worse than thrown away and lost. It is, in every view, where it ought not to be.

*1 Stuart retains the rendering of the English version, and explains, not inaptly, “It would be absurd to bind a stone in a sling and then expect it to do execution. Equally so is it to bestow honour on a fool, and expect any good consequences from it.”

*2 S3e Joshua 7:25-26 ; Joshua 8:29 : 2 Samuel 18:17 , &c.

Verse Proverbs 26:10 . “The great God that formed all things both rewardeth the fool, and rewardeth transgressors.” This verse so rendered, it cannot be questioned, contains an all important and solemn truth. The fool and the transgressor shall come to punishment in the end,-shall “receive the due reward of their deeds,"-at the hand of God himself-“the great God who formed all things;” and who has power to punish as well as to save: “He can create, and he destroy.” But God is a supplement; and in such circumstances the absence of the name of God, and the need of supplying it is very unusual. Here too you may look at the translation in the margin:-“A great man grieveth all; he both hireth the fool and hireth transgressors.” The Septuagint is hardly intelligible. The French translation is substantially the same as our marginal:-“Great men cause offence, or grief, to all, and take into their service the foolish and the wicked.” The Latin Vulgate gives a sense entirely different, which it is not easy to draw from the original-“Judgment settles causes; and he who imposes silence on the fool, allays contentions-or wraths.” The meaning is probably that given in the margin. When a prince takes into his service ministers without capacity and without principle-“the fool and the transgressor,"-it is to his subjects matter of universal concern and trouble;-both because it is a sad indication of his own character; and because the administration of such men ensures to the country so many and so grievous evils. The sentiment, in this view of it, quite harmonizes with those in preceding and following verses.

And the lesson has application from the throne downwards through all the descriptions of subsidiary trusts. Extensive proprietors who employ overseers of their tenants, or of those engaged in their manufactories, or mines, or whatever else be the description of their property, should see to the character of these overseers. Their power may be abused, and multitudes of workmen suffer, when the owner-the master-knows nothing of what is going on. But he ought to know. Many complainings and strikes, well or ill-founded, have their origin here.*

• Stuart renders the verse, “An arrow which woundeth every one is he who hireth a fool and he who hireth vagrants:” and explains, “The man who employs fools and vagrants to do his work, and pays them wages, will injure himself.”

Verse Proverbs 26:11 . “As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.” The proverb is quoted by the Apostle Peter.* The emblem is a loathsome and sickening one. It is meant to be so. It would not have been appropriate, had it been anything else. There are two ideas conveyed by the comparison. The disposition or tendency, on the part of the fool or vicious man, to return to his folly; and the loathsomeness-the vileness-of the thing itself, when it does take place. There are persons of great pretensions to refinement, who affect great disgust at the comparison. They wonder how any body of ordinary delicacy can utter it. They would think their lips polluted by the very words. It were well for such persons to remember, that there is no comparison so odious as the thing itself which is represented by it. It were well if such persons would transfer their disgust and loathing at the figure to that which the figure represents:-if they would cherish a proper loathing of sin. That is what God holds in abhorrence:-that is what should be abhorred by us. Persons may affect to sicken at the comparison here used, and yet be themselves exemplifying the very conduct it so aptly represents. Folly and sin are incomparably more polluting and debasing to the nature of man, than the vilest and most disgusting practices in the physical nature of any of the inferior animals. O! to have the due impression of this!-such an impression as will produce a careful practical avoidance of those moral evils which are so offensive in the sight of God!

• 2 Peter 2:22 .

The proverb has a more especial reference to those sinners, who have been warned,-who have smarted for their folly,-who have, when thus made to feel its effects, professed their consciousness of its evil, and their sense of danger as well as guilt,-and who possibly, for a time, have refrained from it,-have vowed their favourite sins away from them, and seemed as if they were resolved not on confessing only but forsaking:-but who have shaken off their temporary convictions, and have returned, more eagerly than ever, to their former ways. Strongly are such characters depicted in some parts of Scripture; and terrible is the warning which the description of them involves.* Beware, O sinner, of this fearful and fatal tendency. And let the professed people of God keep themselves aloof from all temptations to sin,-the sin especially to which they may before their conversion have been addicted. Let not the cup again touch their lips, lest the liking to it return, and they exemplify, as too many, alas! have done, the proverb before us!

• See Matthew 12:43-45 ; 2 Peter 2:20-22 .

Proverbs 26:12-23

LECTURE LXXXI.

Proverbs 26:12-23 .

“Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him. The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets. As the door turneth upon his hinges; so doth the slothful upon his bed. The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom; it grieveth him to bring it again to his mouth. The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason. He that passeth by, and meddleth with strife belonging not to him, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears. As a mad man who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death, so is the man that deceiveth his neighbour, and saith. Am not I in sport? Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out; so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth. As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire; so is a contentious man to kindle strife. The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly. Burning lips and a wicked heart are like a potsherd covered with silver dross. He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him: when he speaketh fair, believe him not; for there are seven abominations in his heart. Whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be shewed before the whole congregation. Whoso diggeth a pit shall fail therein; and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him. A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it; and a flattering mouth worketh ruin.”

How strong the expression in the first of these verses of the utter hopelessness of the self-conceited man! From what Solomon had just said of the fool,-and especially of his attachment to his folly and his proneness to return to it, we can hardly imagine a stronger:-“there is more hope of a fool”-yes, of a fool,-even of the man who returns to his folly like the dog to his vomit-“than of him.” The man who is thoroughly possessed with a high notion of his own superiority in wisdom and excellence,-will listen to nothing.

He is so encased in his self-sufficiency and self-esteem, that no advice, no reproof, no counsel, can reach him. He follows his own way, with a headstrong impetuosity, and a sovereign contempt of all who would presume to offer him any direction. All the wisdom of the wise goes past him, like the idle wind.

The simile in the fourteenth verse may mean, either that in the very way in which the sluggard turns himself there is indolence,-that he does even that lazily-in the way that requires least exertion:-or, that by his indolence everything like progress is precluded. In every employment, if employment he can be said to have, his indolence makes him stationary. The only motion he is able to bear, is the motion from one side to another upon his bed. And as even that cannot be made without some effort, he indulges in it as seldom as possible; and when on one side he has become uneasy, lies long thinking of turning, before he can bring himself to make the movement!

Even the exertion of eating is too much for him* ( Proverbs 26:15 ). Having brought his hand from his mouth to the dish, he “hides” it there,-there lets it lie;-though hungry, and fond enough of his meat, “it grieveth him”-it is irksome, it is a weariness to him, to raise it again to his mouth! Thus the sluggard is lazy on his bed, lazy at his meat, and lazy at his work,-if he can ever be said to work. And yet-“The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason.” Ease is his chief good. There is nothing he can imagine better, than just to be let alone, and allowed to do nothing! He has his theory on the subject; and he holds it of all theories the best,-by far the most rational. The only exercise of his mental faculties with which he can be troubled is in behalf of the repose of his bodily powers;-to vindicate the propriety of ease and comfort-that is, according to his vocabulary, of idleness. Arguing implies perhaps rather more effort than he can be supposed to muster. Solomon does not say of him that he will be at the pains to argue. A man may tenaciously hold his point, and hug himself in the full conviction of what his sweet experience-the experience of the delights of lassitude and quiescence,-tells him is right, without being at the pains to reason, or to attempt for a moment to answer the reasons of others. The sluggard sees men bestirring and troubling and fatiguing and vexing themselves,-and he hears them “rendering reasons” why they should be thus busy; reasons, to show the advantages of industry to the individual, to the domestic circle, and to society. The sluggard blesses himself; thinks his own way better; and with inward self-gratulation, turns him on his bed, and lies still. He is ingenious in finding reasons for his not doing what others bring reasons to show him he ought to do: and his own reasons are always the strongest. “Seven men”-that is, any number of the soundest thinkers and the wisest and ablest reasoners will argue in vain. He only thus exemplifies what discovers itself in multitudes of other cases, the extra weight that is given to arguments by their being on the side of inclination.

• Comp. Proverbs 19:24 .

Verse Proverbs 26:17 . “He that passeth by, and meddleth with strife belonging not to him, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears.” The man who ventures to “take a dog by the ears,” will, in proportion to the fierceness of the animal’s temper, be in danger. When ho has once seized him, his difficulty will be to get quit of him in safety. If he keeps his hold, he increases the dog’s fury, and the consequent risk of letting him go: so that he is at a loss what to do; and it is still the longer the worse. Thus the man who, hastily and intemperately, interferes in a quarrel, gets into a hazardous dilemma. He immediately discovers that it is something in which he had no business to intermeddle; he repents his rashness;-but once in, it is not so easy getting out again. Twenty to one if both parties do not turn upon him,-suspending for the moment their combat with one another, to assail the unbidden and unwelcome intruder as the object of their common resentment; as in the case of two quarrelling dogs and the man who injudiciously and in ignorance of the animals, attempts their separation. If the intermeddler takes the side of one of the parties he may provoke both; the one against whom he sets himself for a reason too obvious to need mentioning,-and the one in whose favour he intrudes, from the feeling of pride; because by such help thus impertinently given, he is robbed of the honour of the victory, or even of the credit of having at least enough of pluck in him to stand it out to the last. These are feelings of human nature; and may be alike experienced, whether the “strife” be one of blows or one of words-one of body or of mind-a fight or a controversy. Few men like either opposition or aid in such cases: and a man of spirit would rather have the former than the latter.

Are we never then to meddle?-Are we, in all cases, just to let strife go on?-to let the combatants fight it out, come what will? Assuredly not. There is no proverbial saying that has not exceptions. We must take the general lesson without pushing it to extremes. That lesson is sufficiently plain-that we should beware of taking part in quarrels with which we have nothing to do,-of thrusting ourselves in between angry disputants; of officiously and zealously interfering between those who have expressed no wish for an umpire in their strifes,-for advice or mediation. And it does not seem to be so much the case of the person who interferes for the purpose of separating the combatants that Solomon here means, as the person who, from his love to strife, is not satisfied with any quarrels he may chance to have, or choose to pick, of his own, but who cannot pass by a fray between others without having a hand in it.*

• See Proverbs 18:6-7 ; Proverbs 20:3 .

Verses Proverbs 26:18-19 . “As a mad man, who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death, so is the man that deceiveth his neighbour, and saith, Am not I in sport?” We take the character first; then the simile. It is the character of the man who imposes upon his neighbour by false or distorted representations,-leads him, by this means, into practical mistakes,-involving him in contentions, embarrassments, awkward scrapes, or even trouble and loss:-and then excuses himself by saying it was all in diversion,-he meant no harm-only a joke. This includes all that among ourselves passes under the cant term-hoaxing. The evil may of course vary in degree, according to the trivial or the momentous character of the deception. In some cases the aim and the result may be merely laughable; at other times they may be of a nature to render the agent culpable in the extreme,-being no joke to the sufferer, whatever they may be to him.

It is to the latter of these two cases that Solomon here refers. The comparison shows this by the “mad man who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death,” much harm may be done,-harm to property, to health to comfort, to life: and all is sport to the poor maniac. But in his case we have our apology ready. He knows no better. His disordered mind frees him from accountableness. We do not-we cannot blame him. But he who “deceiveth his neighbour, and saith, I am in sport,” does the maniac’s mischief without the maniac’s apology:-he acts like a man devoid of reason, but without the excuse of having lost it.

1. The moral evil of such conduct must be in proportion to the degree in which truth is violated, and in which a malicious spirit is indulged:-in proportion not merely to the mischief actually done, but to the mischief intended, and the amount of deception and falsehood practised to effect it.-2. Even in diversion truth should be held sacred. In no case should it be sported with. It is a serious mistake for people to imagine that they do no harm when they indulge in this kind of truthless jesting, either to amuse others or make them stare.-3. The sport is always hazardous; inasmuch as no man can ever have a previous certainty as to the precise length to which the results of this and the other of his practical jokes may go.-4. The evil and guilt are not a little aggravated when the deception is practised, and the mischievous tricks are played off upon the weak and the simple; when advantage is taken of their imbecility to turn the laugh against them, and to join in the laugh at their expense; and still more when they are exposed not to laughter only, but to serious inconvenience and privation. There is meanness in this; and there is wickedness. It ought to be reprobated by every rightly-thinking mind and every rightly-feeling heart, with indignant severity. We pity and confine the maniac. We should scorn, condemn, and punish the unprincipled deceiver.

Verses Proverbs 26:20-21 . “Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out; so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth. As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire; so is a contentious man to kindle strife.” In these verses we have two characters of frequent occurrence-the “talebearer” and the “contentious man.” The two are often united; talebearing being just one of the ways of indulging and gratifying the love of contention.* Observe-1. They “kindle the fires of strife.” The effect of a tale of malice-of an insinuation of slander,-of even a single whisper of evil, is at times as amazing as it is annoying and injurious. When the little sting of some insignificant insect, of which the point is so small as to require a microscope to see it, has fairly pierced the skin, and lodged its virus in a puncture that is hardly discernible,-we marvel at the suddenness and extent of the effect produced, the inflammation and swelling that ensue in the surrounding parts, and the feverishness that is infused into the whole mass of circulating blood. Such is the effect of the secretly lodged venom of the talebearer’s whisper!-Or, to keep by the figure before us:-it is like the striking of a single spark into the materials laid for kindling the largest fire.

• Comp. Proverbs 16:28 ; Proverbs 18:8 ; Proverbs 20:19 ; Proverbs 22:10 .

2. They maintain the fires of strife. They kindle where there is no fire; they supply fuel where there is. They heap it on. They do their best to keep up the fire. And O! what delight it gives them if they succeed! Does the fire get low? Do the flame and the heat of mutual passion abate? They are alarmed:-it will never do to let the fire go out altogether. So they are at their post. Down they stoop, and quietly apply their breath. They blow, at first very softly, the glowing embers, and carefully lay on fuel,-little at a time, lest they should frustrate their purpose, and smother instead of inflaming; and when there is a fresh out-burst they inwardly exult, “walking in the light of their fire and of the sparks which they have kindled."-There were some of God’s ministers of old, whose duty it was to keep the sacred fire always burning upon His altar:-these are ministers of Satan; and their unenviable office is, to keep up the accursed fire on the devil’s altar.

It is added of the same characters (Proverbs 26:22 .) “The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.” The word in this verse rendered wounds is by not a few critics and translators understood as signifying what is soft, gentle, sweet, and is interpreted of the insinuating and flattering character of the talebearer’s words,-which, like dainties, there is a readiness to swallow.* But they do their work-“they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.” Soft as they are,-sweet and gentle and the very opposite of injurious as they seem, they are pernicious. Like many poisons, they are tempting to the taste; but they are deadly. They destroy the mental peace and enjoyment of him to whom they are uttered: they destroy the reputation and the interest of him of whom they are uttered; and they destroy the friendship and the social happiness of both.

• The Septuagint, Vulgate, and some other versions, agree in this rendering of the word.

Verses Proverbs 26:23-26 . “Burning lips, and a wicked heart, are like a potsherd covered with silver dross. He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him: When he speaketh fair, believe him not; for there are seven abominations in his heart. Whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be showed before the whole congregation.” These verses all relate to one subject.-“Burning lips”-that is, lips burning with affection and officious warmth of zeal for your service, concealing malicious and wicked intentions:-such lips are as “a potsherd covered with silver dross.” A potsherd thus lacquered over is in reality as worthless as ever; although for the purpose of imposition, it is made to wear a deceitful exterior:-it is silver to the eye; but it is earthenware of the coarsest kind after all. So the heart of such a man is worthless, while his “lips burn.” The exterior and the interior do not correspond. And such men are only, on this account, the more dangerous. When a man honestly utters his mind, we know him, and are on our guard. But in the other case, we fancy we have got a friend when we have taken a serpent into our bosom,-when we have got only a worthless deceiver; a silver vessel in appearance, but a potsherd in reality;-lips of honey, but a heart of gall; or rather lips glowing with love, and a heart burning with enmity.

In the latter verse it is either assumed that we have some previous ground to suspect the man’s sincerity; or it signifies that in his very manner-in his very style of “fair speaking” there is something which should make us suspicious and jealous of him,-his parasitical fawning and flattering being overdone and out of nature:-though it is not always so,-there being some dissemblers who have studied nature to the very life. At all events, in proportion as he becomes increasingly fulsome, let our suspicions correspondingly rise:-“There are seven abominations in his heart.” This may be understood, either as a very strong expression of the detestable odiousness of the character; (and in truth there is no character more deserving of entire abhorrence;)-the number seven being often used, both as to evil and good, with the sense of fulness, completeness, perfection; or, as every one of the deceitful and wicked devices of which his heart is the secret manufactory and storehouse, is an abomination-hateful to God, as opposed to the whole spirit of His law and character, and hateful in the eyes of all holy beings in creation,-the expression may mean that his heart is full of such unprincipled devices-plans and purposes of evil, concealed under the guise of friendship and love!

When, then, we have such cause for suspicion and jealousy, what is duty? Evidently, not to commit oneself to him,-to keep on the reserve-to say little-to have patience-to wait and watch. For ( Proverbs 26:26 ) “Whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be showed before the whole congregation."-His falsehood and hypocrisy will come to light. His sin will find him out. He will by and by betray himself. Circumstances will occur to detect and expose him, and render him the object of public and merited infamy. The very circumstance of his finding you incredulous and distant, and not immediately yielding to him, may, through the very power of chagrin and irritation, provoke the disclosure of what has been within. And when this disclosure comes, with what shame is the deceiver covered! Not Christian morality, merely, but even the conventional virtue of the world, agree to banish such a man from society with indignant reprobation, whether his devices have succeeded or failed.

And more than shame will be his portion:-Verse Proverbs 26:27 . “Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein; and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him.”-“Digging a pit” for another is planning schemes of evil against him. The providence of God not seldom makes these schemes ultimately productive of mischief to the schemer. The figure in the verse evidently means that as there is a constant tendency in the stone that is rolled up to return and come down upon him that rolls it-so is there a tendency in the devices of deceit-in the secret plans of mischief-to bring evil in the end to the wicked author of them. In both cases, there is constant effort and constant risk. The framer of evil must keep his hand vigilantly and unremittingly to it; else in some unguarded moment it will come back with disgrace and ruin upon himself.*

• Psalms 7:14-16 ; Psalms 9:15 ; Psalms 57:6 ; Ecclesiastes 10:8 .

In the next verse we have still the same subject. The “lying tongue” corresponds with “the flattering mouth,” for hypocrisy, slander, and flattery are very common associates.* The falsehood and calumny are produced by hatred, and are the manifestations and expressions of it:-but there is in them, at the same time, a tendency to increase and confirm it:-“The lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it.”

• See Proverbs 20:19 .

1. There is the inward self-reproach, arising from the workings of conscience, from which arises a secret irritability and fretfulness and unhappiness:-and this produces dislike of the innocent occasion of it; instead of terminating (as it always ought to do) on self. This of course is only more injustice. True; but it is in human nature to hate with a bitter hatred the object of our own crime; as if it were a fault in that object to exist, and so to be the object on which our sin terminates.

2. The evil passions, like the good, are strengthened and increased by their exercise. If the utterance of the feelings of love serves further to inflame love,-the utterance, in like manner, of the feelings of hatred tend to inflame hatred. The passion gives birth to the word and the action; and, reciprocally, the word and the action strengthen the passion.

3. The fretful uneasiness produced by the unceasing apprehension of detection and exposure, already alluded to, and of the weight of his vengeance who is the object of the lying tongue’s assaults, gives rise also to the same feeling of rankling dislike to him who is the source of it. Thus the slanderer, instead of feeling pity for the man whom his slander wounds, hates him still the more. This appears to have had a very striking exemplification in the case of our blessed Lord and his Jewish unbelieving adversaries. They “hated him without a cause.” They uttered their spiteful reproaches; and the very utterance of them irritated and confirmed their malignity. They were angry that they could not find a cause to justify their hatred. The more they reproached and maligned him, the more were their reproaches belied by the unimpeachable purity of his whole conduct. And they hated him with the keener dislike, that they could not tempt him to give them the slightest ground for their reproaches. Their “lying tongue” thus “hated him that was afflicted by it.” For he was afflicted by it. This was part of his sufferings. In prophecy be is represented as saying-“Reproach hath broken my heart.” He “endured the contradiction of sinners against himself.” And the greater portion of venom they discharged upon him, there was the more abundant secretion of it within.

As to the “flatterer”-he is the most dangerous of characters. He attacks at points where men are naturally most successfully assailable; where they are most in danger of being thrown off their guard and giving him admission. And when by his flatteries he has thus got the mastery, then follows the execution of the end for which they were employed-“working ruin.” The expression is strong; but not stronger than experience fully justifies. It often works ruin to the most interesting characters-characters admired and worthy of the admiration,-by infusing a principle that spoils the whole-the principle of vanity and self-conceit. They thus lose their loveliest and most engaging attraction. And whatever be the selfish object of the flatterer, his selfishness obtains its gratification by the ruin of him whom his flatteries have deceived.