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?The Pulpit Commentaries - Proverbs (Vol. 1)?(Joseph S. Exell) Contents and the Editors
One of the largest and best-selling homiletical commentary sets of its
kind. Directed by editors Joseph Exell and Henry Donald Maurice Spence-
Jones, The Pulpit Commentary drew from over 100 authors over a 30 year span
to assemble this conservative and trustworthy homiletical commentary set. A
favorite of pastors for nearly 100 years, The Pulpit Commentary offers you
ideas and insight on "How to Preach It" throughout the entire Bible.
This in-depth commentary brings together three key elements for better
preaching:
. Exposition-with thorough verse-by-verse commentary of every verse in
the Bible.
. Homiletics-with the "framework" or the "big picture" of the text.
. Homilies-with four to six sermons sample sermons from various authors.
In addition, this set also adds detailed information on biblical customs as
well as historical and geographical information, and translations of key
Hebrew and Greek words to help you add spice to your sermon.
All in all, The Pulpit Commentary has over 22,000 pages and 95,000 entries
from a total of 23 volumes. The go-to commentary for any preacher or
teacher of God's Word.
About the Editors
Rev. Joseph S. Exell, M.A., served as the Editor of Clerical World, The
Homiletical Quarterly and the Monthly Interpreter. Exell was also the
editor for several large commentary sets like The Men of the Bible, The
Pulpit Commentary, Preacher's Homiletic Library and The Biblical
Illustrator.
Henry Donald Maurice Spence-Jones was born in London on January 14, 1836.
He was educated at Corpus Christi, Cambridge where he received his B.A. in
1864. He was ordered deacon in 1865 and ordained as a priest is the
following year. He was professor of English literature and lecturer in
Hebrew at St. David's College, Lampeter, Wales from 1865-1870. He was
rector of St. Mary-de-Crypt with All Saints and St. Owen, Gloucester from
1870-1877 and principal of Gloucester Theological College 1875-1877. He
became vicar and rural dean of St. Pancras, London 1877-1886, and honorary
canon since 1875. He was select preacher at Cambridge in 1883,1887,1901,
and 1905, and at Oxford in 1892 and 1903. In 1906 he was elected professor
of ancient history in the Royal Academy. In theology he is a moderate
evangelical. He also edited The Pulpit Commentary (48 vols., London, 1880-
97) in collaboration with Rev. J. S. Exell, to which he himself contributed
the section on Luke, 2 vols., 1889, and edited and translated the Didache
1885. He passed away in 1917 after authoring numerous individual titles. 00 Introduction Introduction
§ 1. NAME OF THE BOOK.
THE book which we are about to consider takes its general title from the
words with which it opens in the Hebrew original, The Proverbs of Solomon -
Mishle Shelomoh. This name, or, in an abbreviated form, Mishle, has always
been current in the Jewish Church. Later, in rabbinical writings, it was
cited under the appellation of Sepher Chocmah, 'Book of Wisdom,' which
title also included Ecclesiastes. In the Septuagint it is headed ???????
ì?? ??????????? in some manuscripts, though in others, and those
the earliest, the name of Solomon is omitted. St. Jerome, in the Latin
Vulgate, gives a longer title: 'Liber Proverbiorum quem Hebraei Misle
appellant.'
Among the early Christian writers, in addition to the name given in the
Septuagint, it was called ???? ì?, 'Wisdom,' or ?? ??????????
??????, 'All-virtuous Wisdom,' though this last title was also applied to
Ecclesiasticus and the Book of Wisdom. Clemens Romanus, in his 'Epistle to
the Corinthians' (1:57), heads a quotation from Proverbs 1:23-33 thus: ?v?
ì??? ?? Ì? ?? ì??? ?? ???? ì?????
???? ì?, "Thus saith All-virtuous Wisdom." That this was
commonly received as the designation of our book is clear also from
Eusebius, who writes ('Hist. Eccl.,' 4:22), "Other passages also, as if
from unwritten Jewish tradition, Hegesippus cites; and not only he, but
Irenaeus, and the whole band of ancient writers, called the 'Proverbs of
Solomon' 'Panaretos Sophia.'" It is true that in the writings which are
attributed to Irenaeus still extant, quotations from the Proverbs are cited
simply as Scripture without further definition, but we have no reason to
discredit Eusebius' testimony concerning a matter with which he must have
been well acquainted. Two other titles are found, viz. ?? ????? ???????,
'The Wise Book,' so called by Dionysius of Alexandria; and ??????????? Ì
???? ì?, 'Educational Wisdom,' by Gregory of
Nazianzum. Melito of Sardis (according to Eusebius, 'Hist. Eccl.,' 4:26)
states, in giving a catalogue of canonical Scriptures, that the book was
known by the name of ???? ì?, 'Wisdom,' as well as that of
'Proverbs of Solomon.' This title, which, better perhaps than that of
Proverbs, expresses the chief subject Of the work, seems not to have been
invented by the primitive Christian writers, but to have been derived from
still earlier times, and to have been handed down by that unwritten Jewish
tradition of which Eusebius speaks.
In considering the appropriateness of the usual name of our book, we must
see what is meant by the Jewish term mishle, "proverbs," as we translate
it. The word mashal has a much wider significance than our word "proverb."
It is derived from a root meaning "to be like," and therefore has primarily
the meaning of comparison, similitude, and is applied many discourses,
sentences, and expressions which we should not class under the head of
proverbs. Thus Balaam's prophecy is so called (Numbers 22:7, etc.); so too
Job's didactic poem (Job 27:1); the taunting satire in Isaiah 14:4, etc.;
the parables in Ezekiel 17:2 and 20:49, etc.; the song in Numbers 21:27,
etc. It is often translated "parable" in the Authorized Version, even in
the book itself (Proverbs 26:7), and in the historical psalm (78), the
second verse of which St. Matthew (Matthew 13:35) tells us Christ fulfilled
when he spake by parables. This would lead us to expect to find other
meanings in the term and under the husk of the outward form. And, indeed,
the Hebrew mashal is not confined to wise or pithy sayings, expressing in
pointed terms the experience of men and ages; such an account; would, as we
see, be most inadequate to describe the various forms to which the term was
applied. That there are in our book numerous apothegms and maxims,
enforcing moral truths, explaining facts in men's lives and the course of
society, which are proverbs in the strictest sense of the word, is obvious;
but a very large proportion of the utterances therein are not covered by
that designation. If the notion of comparison at first restricted, the term
to sayings containing a simile, it soon overstepped the bounds of such
limitation, and comprehended such brief sentences as conveyed a popular
truth under figures or metaphors. Of this sort is the pointed query, "Is
Saul also among the prophets?" (1 Samuel 10:12); and, "The fathers have
eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge" (Ezekiel
18:2); and, "Physician, heal thyself" (Luke 4:23). In many so-called
proverbs the contrasted obiects are placed side by side, leaving the hearer
to draw his own deduction. In the longer pieces so named a single idea is
worked out at some length in rhythmical form. Further, under this general
category are contained also dark sayings, riddles, intricate questions
(chidah), which have always had great attraction for Oriental minds. The
Queen of Sheba, we are told, came to try Solomon with hard questions (1
Kings 10:1); as the Septuagint renders it, "with enigmas." Probably such
puzzles are found in ch. 30., and in many of those passages which,
according as they are pointed, are capable of very different
interpretations. There is one other word used in this connection (ch. 1:6)
melitsah, which is rendered in the Authorized Version "interpretation," and
in the Revised Version "a figure;" it probably means a saying containing
some obscure allusion, and usually of a sarcastic nature. There are very
few examples of this form in our book.
The various kinds of proverbs have been divided by Hanneberg ('Revel.
Bibl.,' 5:41, quoted by Lesetre) into five classes:
1. Historical proverbs, wherein an event of the past, or a word used on
some momentous occasion, has passed into a popular saying, expressive of
some general sentiment or idea. The saving about Saul mentioned just above
is of this nature. Of the historical proverb there seems to be no instance
in our book.
2. Metaphorical proverbs. These are what we should most appropriately call
proverbs. They enunciate some moral truth under a figure drawn from nature
or life. Such are these: "In vain is the net spread in the eyes of any
bird" (Proverbs 1:17); "Go to the ant, thou sluggard" (Proverbs 6:6); "Let
a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly"
(Proverbs 17:12); "The contentions of a wife are a continual dropping"
(Proverbs 19:13; 27:15, 16).
3. Enigmas. These are either riddles like that of Samson (Judges 14:14), or
obscure questions which needed thought to elucidate them, and the kernel of
which conveyed a moral truth. Such are the words of Agur, "Who hath
ascended up into heaven, or descended?" etc. (Proverbs 30:4); "The
horseleech hath two daughters, Give, give" (Proverbs 30:15).
4. Parab