THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.

CHAPTER III. VERSES 9, 10.

9 Honor the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: 10 So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.

V. 10. AND THY PRESSES SHALL BURST OUT WITH NEW WINE] Hebrew, vetirosh yeqavikah yiphrotzu, 'and (as to) vine-fruit thy wine-presses shall break down.' The Lxx. has oinō de ai leenoi sou ekbluzōsin, ‘and (so that) with wine thy presses may burst forth'; one MS. has huper ekbluzōsin, 'overflow'; the V., et vino torcularia tua redundabunt, and with wine thy presses shall abound.' This is one of the rare passages which (in the versions) can be cited as lending some apparent countenance to the common notion of tirosh as the liquid (and not the solid) fruit of the vine. The English translators as usual give 'new wine' as the meaning of the word, which would make it correspond to the Greek gleukos and the Latin mustum; but even supposing that yiphrotzu is rightly rendered by ‘shall burst out with,' it is clear that a liquid sense is not thereby assigned to tirosh. A bag may figuratively be said to 'burst out with' money, and a warehouse with dry goods. When, however, we examine the verb phahratz we see that it gives no support to the notion of tirosh as a fluid. The radical signification of phahratz is to 'break' or 'break down,' and this sense well agrees with the context, "Thy barns shall be filled with plenty, and thy wine-presses shall break down with vinefruit." If the secondary sense of increase' be preferred, there will be the same compatibility of the phrase with tirosh as a solid: 'And with tirosh thy wine-presses shall increase (or abound).' This rendering is selected by the V. and Syriac. Gesenius justly objects to the translation 'shall burst with,' on the ground that "neither can the vat of a wine-press, nor yet the wine-press itself, burst with plenty of new wine; that, a cask or wine-skin alone can." He therefore suggests 'overflow with,' phraseology quite consistent with the solid nature of tirosh, since nothing is more common than the use of such figures of speech as 'an overflowing assembly,' 'the streets overflowed with people,' etc. The connection of tirosk with the wine-press has no doubt favored its conception as a liquid, but this error arises from inattention. The writer is not speaking of what is done in the wine-press, but of the fruit collected in it, just as in the first clause of the verse he does not refer to threshing the corn, but to its being stored in the barn. The whole passage may be thus expounded:-'Let the Lord be honored with thy substance by a dedication to Him of the firstfruits of thy increase, and in return He

will so reward thy industry that thy barns shall be crammed with the produce of thy fields, and thy wine-presses shall teem (as if ready to break down) with the produce of thy vines.'

CHAPTER IV. VERSE 17.

For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.

AND DRINK THE WINE OF VIOLENCE] Hebrew, vě-yayn khamahsim yishtu, and the wine of violences they drink.' The Lxx. has oinō de paronomò methuskontai, and with lawless wine they are drunken.' Aquila and Symmachus have they drink the wine of unjust persons' (oinon adikiōn). The V. reads, et vinum iniquitatis bibunt, and the wine of iniquity they drink.'

As the bread of wickedness' signifies the bread obtained by wicked conduct, so this wine of violence' is the wine violently stolen, or purchased by money wrested from its lawful possessors.

CHAPTER V. VERSE 15.

Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.

THINE OWN CISTERN] Hebrew, mib-borekah, 'from thy pit (or cistern).' AND RUNNING Waters out of thine own welL] Hebrew, vè-nozlim mittok beärekah, 'and streams from the midst of thy well.'

Pure domestic pleasures are beautifully and attractively described in this verse. The sensualist may seek forbidden waters and inflaming drinks, strange and illicit loves, but the man who desires the truest satisfactions will find them under his own roof, with the wife of his choice, whose affection and attentions are to be not only like waters of a cistern, but like waters flowing up, ever fresh, from a perennial spring.

CHAPTER V. VERSE 19.

Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.

SATISFY THEE] Hebrew, yeravvukah, 'will satiate thee'-from ravah, 'to drink to the full,' and several times in A. V. 'to be drunk.' The cognate Chaldee term is used in the Targums as equivalent to shah-kar. Aquila has titthoi autees methusketōsan se, 'her breasts may satisfy thee,' not intoxicate. The V. has ubera ejus inebrient te, 'let her breasts inebriate thee.'

CHAPTER VI. VERSES 27, 28.

27 Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? 28 Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned?

These proverbs are capable of a broader application than the one they receive from the Wise man. All objects adapted to excite evil in thought and action should be avoided so far as possible, and to tamper with them is a violation of moral pru. dence. Presumption slays its millions of souls, and in the almost insane selfconfidence with which men consume intoxicating drinks, with the lamentable consequences everywhere and every day around them, we have a warning response to the inquiries of Solomon. With 'fire-waters' that are ever burning, not the clothes only, but the very lives and hopes of multitudes, it must surely be best to have nothing to do.

CHAPTER VII. VERSE 18.

Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves.

Let us take our FILL OF LOVE] Hebrew, nirveh dodim, 'we shall be filled (satiated) with loves'; from ravah, 'to drink largely, or to repletion.' Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion, all read methusthōmen, ‘let us be filled (or satiated)'; the V., inebriemur, 'let us be inebriated.'

CHAPTER IX. VERSES 1, 2, 5.

Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars: 2 She hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her wine; she hath also furnished her table. 5 Come, eat of my bread,

and drink of the wine which I have mingled.

V. 2. SHE HATH MINGLED HER WINE] Hebrew, mahskah yaynah, 'she has mixed her wine.' The Lxx. gives ekerasen eis krateera ton heautees oinon, ‘she has mixed her wine in a mixing-bowl'; the V., miscuit vinum, 'she has mixed wine.'

V. 5. AND DRINK OF THE WINE WHICH I HAVE MINGLED] Hebrew, ushthu beyayin mahsahkti, 'drink from the wine (that) I have mixed.' The Lxx. reads, kai piete oinon hon ekerasa humin, 'and drink wine that I have mixed for you'; the V., et bibite vinum quod miscui vobis, and drink ye the wine which I have mixed for you.'

The mixed wine prepared by Wisdom for her friends must, it is clear, be regarded as essentially different from the mixed wine prepared by God for His enemies (Psa. lxxv. 8); hence, without caution and discrimination in dealing with the imagery of Scripture, violence will be done to every principle of common sense and just interpretation. This passage may be accepted as adequate proof that in the times of the writer the art of mixing wine with aromatic spices was known and frequently practised, the object being not to fire the blood with spirituous excitement, but to gratify the taste with delicate flavors that might 'cheer yet not inebriate.'

CHAPTER X. VERSE 26.

As vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to them that send him.

AS VINEGAR TO THE TEETH] Hebrew, ka-khometz lash-shinnaim, 'as fermented drink to the teeth.' Vinegar, formed by the acetous fermentation, causes, when full and strong, pain to the teeth, and by softening the alkali of the enamel tends to unfit them for their masticating function; hence it forms, with the action of smoke on the eyes, a suitable illustration of the sluggish messenger, whose delay vexes the sender, and hinders him in his duty. The Lxx. has hōsper omphax odousi blaberon, as a sour grape is hurtful to the teeth'; the V., sicut acetum dentibus, 'as vinegar to the teeth.'

CHAPTER XI. VERSE 25.

The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.

AND HE THAT WATERETH SHALL BE WATERED ALSO HIMSELF] Hebrew, u-marveh gam-hu yorch, and he that gives to drink-freely (or waters), even he shall-be-supplied-freely-with-drink (or watered).' The force of ravah is here clearly brought out. Symmachus has 'he who is drenched (methusos) will also himself be drenched'; the V., et qui inebriat ipse quoque inebriabitur, 'and he who inebriates will also himself be inebriated (amply supplied).' The Lxx. reads, 'but a man who is wrathful is not becoming.'

CHAPTER XI. VERSE 26.

He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him: but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it.

In the light of this text what blessing can be imagined to rest upon the waste of fifty million bushels of grain every year in the United Kingdom to supply its inhabitants with intoxicating liquors? This is the worst possible form of withholding corn, for it is a direct and absolute loss to the community; it greatly raises the market price of grain, and it results, not in a mere waste of the corn withheld, but in the production of beverages that fill the land with want and woe, vice and crime, disease and death. The simple truth is, that destruction by fire of the same quantity of grain would be a comparative blessing.*

The public journals of Great Britain occasionally render testimony to the truth of what is alleged above. The Times newspaper, in a leading article in the December of 1853, when referring to a speech delivered by the King of Sweden, remarked, "It is a peculiarity of spiritdrinking, that money spent upon it is, at the best, thrown away, and in general far worse than thrown away. It neither supplies the natural wants of man nor offers an adequate substitute for them. Indeed, it is far too favorable a view of the subject to treat the money spent on it as if it were cast into the sea. A great portion of the harvest of Sweden and of many other countries is applied to a purpose compared with which it would have been better that the corn had never grown, or that it had mildewed in the ear. No way so rapid to increase the wealth of nations and the morality of society could be devised as the utter annihilation of the manufacture of ardent spirits, constituting as they do an infinite waste and an unmixed evil. The man who shall invent a really efficient antidote to this system of voluntary and daily poisoning, will deserve a high place among the benefactors of his species. Such an antidote does not need 'inventing'; personally, it is found in abstinence; socially, in forbidding men to traffic in and get gain from such a pernicious merchandise.

CHAPTER XX. VERSE I.

Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.

WINE IS A MOCKER] Hebrew, latz hay-yayin, ‘a mocker (is) the wine'; the Lxx., akolaston oinos, ‘an incorrigible (= a profligate, intemperate) thing (is) wine.’ One MS. reads, apaideusia oinos, an undisciplinable thing is wine'; Aquila and Theodotion, chleuastees oinos, 'a derider (is) wine'; Symmachus, loimos oinos, ‘a pestilent thing (is) wine.' The V. has luxuriosa res vinum est, 'an immoderate (or wanton) thing is wine'; the T., 'a mocking thing is wine.' The Hebrew latz is the participle of lulz, 'to mock' or 'deride,' and is frequently applied (as in Prov. ix. 7, 8; xiii. 1; xiv. 6; xv. 12; xix. 25) to men who scorn or contemn that which is good. Here it denotes their character. As applied to the wine that intoxicates (it applies to no other) this word symbolizes the effect of such wine upon the drinker, either in inclining him to mock at serious things, or in the mockery it may (by a figure) be said to make of the good resolutions he forms before partaking of it.

STRONG DRINK IS RAGING] Hebrew, homeh shakar, 'raging (is) shakar.' The Lxx. gives kai hubristikon methee, and full of violence (is) strong drink.' The V. has et tumultuosa ebrietas, 'and turbulent (is) inebriety.' The T. reads, 'and sikrah fills to the full (or inebriates)'-ravythah. The T. here alters the form of the Hebrew shakar without translating it as elsewhere by khamar attiq, 'old wine,' or mirvai, 'strong-drink.' It is also noticeable that the V. for the first time renders shakar by ebrietas. [On SHAKAR see Prel. Dis.] Homch, rendered 'raging,' comes from hahmah, to hum'; hence to make loud sounds and noises, as of water, a riotous people, etc. The statement that 'strong drink is raging' teaches that it causes disturbance internally to those who drink it-this is, to the letter, physically true,—and, through them, externally to their families and society at large. Nor are vocal signs of this disturbing agency often absent.

AND WHOSOEVER IS DECEIVED THEREBY IS NOT WISE] Hebrew, vě-kahl shogeh bo lo yekhkam, and whosoever wanders (or goes astray) through it, is not wise.' The Lxx. has pas de aphrōn toioutois sumpleketai, and every fool is entangled with them.' Codex A introduces before these words the following:-pas de ho summenomenos ouk estai sophos, and every one who has become connected (with them) shall not be wise,' etc. Another MS. has 'but every one seduced (lumeinomenos) by it will not be wise.' The V. has quicumque his delectatur non erit sapiens, 'whosoever with these is delighted shall not be wise.' The T. has 'he who wanders through them shall not be wise.'

Obs. 1. No teaching could be more definite than that conveyed in this passage on the inherent properties of intoxicating drinks. Wine 'mocks,' strong drink 'rages'; and as these terms include all fermented liquors, it will not be contended that ardent spirits are entitled to a milder description or to warmer praise.

2. Possessed of such qualities, the effects arising from the common use of such drinks might be predicated with certainty. Even in a community entirely well educated, wise, and pious, causes of mischief so powerful would make themselves felt, if admitted and trusted; but circulating as they ever have among the masses of mankind, who are governed by appetite rather than by intelligence, their influence has been terribly (though not to the moralist unexpectedly) severe.