Man in His Legal Relations. The wise who taught by the city gate, where the ancient Hebrew courts were held, were intensely interested in legal questions and give many practical counsels to their fellow citizens (Pr. 2428, 29, 2518, 1425):

Be not a witness against your neighbour without cause,
And do not deceive with your lips.

Say not, 'I will do to him as he did to me,

I will repay the man for his deed.'

A man who bears false witness against his neighbour
Is a maul, a sword, a sharp arrow.

A true witness saves lives,

But he who utters lies is a source of deception.

The wise were well aware of the evils of suretyship both to the man who gave his bond and to the man who might thereby be tempted to betray the generosity of his friend. Although there must have been cases when their counsel seemed heartless, the wise urged their followers (Pr. 2226, 27):

Be not of those who pledge themselves,

Of those who are surety for debts.

If you have not wherewith to pay,

Your bed will be taken from under you.

The wise had a horror of suretyship that was undoubtedly begotten by painful experience. They advised their disciples, if thus involved, to work incessantly for their release (Pr. 61,4,5):

My son, if you have become surety for your neighbour,

If you have pledged yourself for a stranger,

Go and importune your neighbour,

Give no sleep to your eyes,

Nor slumber to your eyelids.

Deliver yourself as a gazelle from the snare,

As a bird from the hands of the hunter.

The wise advocated practical charity, but they evidently favoured a direct gift rather than giving a bond or any form of

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suretyship which might affect not only the future prosperity and happiness of the giver but also those of his family. Experience confirms the eminent wisdom of their counsel. Fortunately, modern bonding corporations make it possible for the socially minded citizen to avoid the snare which has been the undoing of many thousands and at the same time enable him by a direct loan, if need be, to help a friend or a fellow man in the hour of misfortune.

The Responsibilities and Use of Wealth. The wise have much to say regarding wealth. They plainly declared that wealth unjustly acquired was a curse (Pr. 191):

Better is the poor who walks in his integrity,

Than he who is false in his speech, though rich.

At the same time they were fully aware of the value of wealth, if honestly acquired. They recognised that it was one of the credentials of work well done (Pr. 224):

The reward of humility and the fear of Jehovah
Is riches, honour, and life.

Ben Sira was even more outspoken (Ben S. 1324):

Wealth is good, if it be without sin,

And evil is poverty which is due to presumption.

At the same time he declares (Ben S. 143):

To him who is small of heart wealth is unfitting,
And why should the evil-intentioned have gold?

The wise also pointed out the folly of making wealth the chief object of endeavour. Their advice in this respect is timely in all ages, for humanity is ever the same (Pr. 234, 5):

Weary not yourself to become rich,

Cease by the use of your own understanding.
For riches take to themselves wings,

Like an eagle that flies heavenward.

Ben Sira anticipated Jesus in analysing the temptation to make wealth the chief object of a man's ambition (Ben S. 316-8):

Many are they who have bound themselves to gold,

And have put their trust in corals.

It is a stumbling block for the foolish,
And whoever is simple is snared by it.

Happy is the rich man who is found blameless,
And who has not gone astray after mammon.

It is probable that Jesus had this passage in Ben Sira in mind when he declared that a man cannot serve both God and mammon. Ben Sira recognised how difficult it was for a rich man to resist the insidious temptations of wealth (Ben S. 3110):

Who has been tested by it and remained unharmed,
So that it has redounded to his glory?

His question implies that a man thus tested and found faithful was rare indeed. Whoever did endure this test, he declared, was worthy of the praise of the congregation.

The Evils and Prevention of Poverty. The wise were keenly alive to the evils of poverty. Like the modern sociologists, they recognised that it was an unmitigated evil to those who are its victims (Pr. 1015, 197):

A rich man's wealth is his strong city;

The destruction of the poor is their poverty.
All a poor man's kinsmen hate him,

How much more do his friends stand aloof!

The wise do not commend the action of a poor man's kinsmen and friends. They simply take human nature as it is. Their teaching is plainly addressed to the lazy and inefficient. The aim is to arouse their ambitions and energies and thus to keep them out of poverty. By preventive means they sought to deliver men from this evil. They recognised that faithful labour and diligence were the best preventives (Pr. 105, 1227):

THE PREVENTION OF POVERTY

He who gathers in summer is a wise son,

But he who sleeps in harvest time acts shamefully.

A lazy man does not stir up his game,

But a diligent man possesses wealth.

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One of their chief arguments against intemperance was economic (Pr. 2320, 21):

Be not among those who drink wine to excess,
Among gluttonous eaters of flesh;

For the drunkard and the glutton come to poverty,
Drowsiness clothes a man in rags.

With a superlative wisdom begotten by insight and observation the wise set before themselves and their disciples as the highest economic ideal the golden mean between poverty and extreme wealth. In one of the classic passages, which is echoed in the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples, they pray (Pr. 307-9):

Two things I ask of thee,

Deny me them not before I die:

Remove far from me deceit and lying,
Give me neither poverty nor riches;
Provide me with the food that I need,
Lest I be full and deny thee,
And say, 'Who is Jehovah?'
Or lest I be poor and steal,

And profane the name of my God.

XIV

THE GOOD NEIGHBOUR AND CITIZEN ACCORDING TO THE WISE

The Characteristics That Make a Bad Neighbour and Citizen. The wise were working for a very definite and concrete end. Out of the inexperienced youth who came under their influence they were endeavouring to develop good neighbours and citizens. This thoroughly constructive work was their great contribution to human society. They sought to attain their end by holding up before their disciples a variety of concrete pictures. On the one side they presented the composite portrait of the bad neighbour and citizen, that the young might note his characteristics and learn to avoid them. In contrast they drew a vivid picture of the good neighbour and citizen and of his contributions to society. Evil and temptation were so omnipresent and insistent that the wise were tempted to give a large proportion of their attention to the negative portrait. Many of their aphorisms are exceedingly brilliant and compel attention. Sometimes by ridicule, sometimes by denunciation, and sometimes by simply depicting consequences they aimed to make evil loathsome. They pointed out that a lazy man was a burden to society (Pr. 1026):

As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes,

So is a lazy man to those who send him.

Equally unsocial and unwise is a censorious attitude toward one's fellow men (Pr. 1112):

He who despises his neighbour is lacking in wisdom,
But a man of discretion keeps silent.