posed to all attempts to remove difficulties, by adopting low theories of inspiration, or frittering down God's word in order to make its truths less offensive to the unregenerate heart. When rightly interpreted, the facts of revelation are harmonious, consistent, rational, defensible. The closer we adhere to them, and the more childlike the spirit with which we receive them, the more luminous and heavenly do they appear. But, if, from habits of vain speculation, and an affectation of superior shrewdness and discernment in finding difficulties, we come to regard the sacred page with distrust as to its divine origin, and a distaste for its great fundamental truths, we may rest assured that we shall involve ourselves in doubts and perplexities, whence nothing but the grace of God, in subduing our pride and in imparting to us a teachable spirit, can extricate us."']

XI. The book of Psalms, being composed in Hebrew verse, must generally be studied and investigated agreeably to the structure of Hebrew poetry; but, in addition to the remarks already offered on this subject, there are a few directions more particularly applicable to these songs of Sion, which will enable the reader to enter more fully into their force and meaning.

1. Investigate the argument of each psalm.

2. With this view, examine the historical origin of the psalm, or the circumstances that led the sacred poet to compose it.

3. Ascertain the author of the psalm.

4. Attend to the choral structure of the psalm.

XII. We shall conclude this section with the following common but very useful

TABLE OF THE PSALMS,

classed according to their several subjects, and adapted to the purposes of private devotion.

I. Prayers.

1. Prayers for pardon of sin, Psalms vi. xxv. xxxviii. li. cxxx. Psalms styled penitential, vi. xxii. xxxviii. li. cii. cxxx. cxliii.

2. Prayers composed when the psalmist was deprived of an opportunity of the public exercise of religion, Psalms xlii. xliii. lxiii. lxxxiv.

3. Prayers in which the psalmist seems extremely dejected, though not totally deprived of consolation, under his afflictions, Psalms xiii. xxii. lxix. lxxvii. lxxxviii. cxliii.

4. Prayers in which the psalmist asks help of God, in consideration of his own integrity, and the uprightness of his cause, Psalms vii. xvii. xxvi. xxxv.

5. Prayers expressing the firmest trust and confidence in God under afflictions, Psalms iii. xvi. xxvii. xxxi. liv. lvi. lvii. lxi. lxii. lxxi. lxxxvi.

6. Prayers composed when the people of God were under affliction or persecution, Psalms xliv. lx. lxxiv. lxxix. lxxx. lxxxiii. lxxxix. xciv, cii, cxxiii. cxxxvii.

7. The following are likewise prayers in time of trouble and affliction, Psalms iv. v. xi. xxviii. xli. lv. lix. lxiv. lxx. cix. cxx. cxl, cxli. cxliii.

8. Prayers of intercession, Psalms xx. lxvii. cxxii. cxxxii. cxliv.

II. Psalms of thanksgiving.

1. Thanksgivings for mercies vouchsafed to particular persons, Psalms ix. xviii. xxii. xxx, xxxiv. xl. lxxv. ciii. cviii. cxvi. cxviii. cxxxviii. cxliv.

2. Thanksgivings for mercies vouchsafed to the Israelites in general, Psalms xlvi. xlviii. lxv. lxvi. lxviii. lxxvi. lxxxi. lxxxv. xcviii ev. cxxiv. cxxvi. cxxix. cxxxv. cxxxvi, cxlix.

'Comp. some valuable remarks by Dr. Vaughan, Brit. Quart. Rev. Oct. 1857.

2 See p. 377. supra.

III. Psalms of praise and adoration, displaying the attributes of God. 1. General acknowledgements of God's goodness and mercy, and particularly his care and protection of good men, Psalms xxiii. xxxiv. xxxvi. xci. c. ciii. evii, cxvii. exxi. cxlv. cxlvi.

2. Psalms displaying the power, majesty, glory, and other attributes of the Divine Being, Psalms viii. xix. xxiv. xxix. xxxiii. xlvii. 1. lxv. lxvi. lxxvi. lxxvii. xciii, xcv. xevi, xevii. xcix. civ. cxi, cxiii. cxiv. cxv. cxxxiv. cxxxix. cxlvii. cxlviii. cl.

IV. Instructive psalms.

1. The different characters of good and bad men, the happiness of the one and the misery of the other, are represented in the following psalms: i. v. vii. ix. x. xì. xii. xiv. XV. xvii. xxiv. xxv. xxxii. xxxiv. xxxvi. xxxvii. l. lii, liii, lviii, lxxii. lxxv. lxxxiv. xci. xcii xciv. cxii. cxix. cxxi. cxxv. cxxvii. cxxviii. cxxxiii.

2. The excellence of God's laws, Psalms xix. cxix.

3. The vanity of human life, Psalms xxxix. xlix xc.

4. Advice to magistrates, Psalms lxxxii. ci.

5. The virtue of humility, Psalms cxxxi.

V. Psalms more eminently and directly prophetical.

Psalms ii, xvi. xxii. xl. xlv. lxviii. lxxii. lxxxvii. cx. cxviii.

VI. Historical psalms.

Psalms lxxviii. cv. cvi.

SECTION III.

ON THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.

I. Title, author, and canonical authority.-II. Scope. -III. Synopsis of its contents.-IV. Observations on its style, use, and importance. — Notice of the description of wisdom in chap. viii.

I. [THE Hebrew name of this book is nibyn, Proverbs of Solomon, or in an abbreviated form. It is also styled in the Baba Bathra PP. Hence by the Christian fathers it is not unfrequently called σοφία, οι ἡ πανάρετος σοφία, appellations given also to the apocryphal books of Ecclesiasticus and Wisdom, and supposed to have originated among the Egyptian Jews. We hence find this book in Melito's catalogue (Eus. Hist. Eccl. lib. iv. 26.), Zoλou@vtos Παροιμίαι ἥ καὶ Σοφία.] The book of Proverbs has always been ascribed to Solomon, whose name it bears, though, from the frequent repetition of the same sentences, as well as from some variations in style which have been discovered, doubts have been entertained whether he was the author of every maxim it comprises. "The latter part of it, from the beginning of the twenty-fifth chapter, forming evidently an appendix, was collected after his death, and added to what appears to have been more immediately arranged by himself." The proverbs in the thirtieth chapter are expressly called The words of Agur the son of Jakeh; and the thirty-first chapter is intitled The words of king Lemuel. It seems certain that the collec

1 See Hävernick, Einleitung, § 301. III. pp. 384-387.

2 Extract from Dr. Mason Good's unpublished translation of the Book of Proverbs, in Dr. Gregory's Memoirs of his Life, p. 289.

tion called the Proverbs of Solomon was arranged in the order in which we now have it, by different hands; but it is not therefore to be concluded that they are not the productions of Solomon, who, we are informed, spoke no less than three thousand proverbs (1 Kings iv. 32.). As it is nowhere said that Solomon himself made a collection of proverbs and sentences, the general opinion is that several persons made a collection of them, perhaps as they were uttered by him. Hezekiah, among others, as mentioned in the twenty-fifth chapter: Agur, Isaiah, and Ezra might have done the same. The Jewish writers affirm that Solomon wrote the Canticles, or Song bearing his name, in his youth, the Proverbs in his riper years, and Ecclesiastes in his old age.

Michaelis has observed that the book of Proverbs is frequently cited by the apostles, who considered it as a treasure of revealed morality, whence Christians were to derive their rules of conduct; and the canonical authority of no book of the Old Testament is so well ratified by the evidence of quotations as that of the Proverbs 2: whence he justly infers that every commentator on the Greek Testament ought to be intimately acquainted with the Septuagint version of the book of Proverbs, and that every Christian divine should consider it as the chief source of scriptural morality.3

II. The SCOPE of this book is "to instruct men in the deepest mysteries of true wisdom and understanding, the height and perfection of which is the true knowledge of the divine will, and the sincere fear of the Lord (Prov. i. 2-7., ix. 10.)." To this end, the book is filled with the choicest sententious aphorisms, infinitely surpassing all the ethical sayings of the ancient sages, and comprising in themselves distinct doctrines, duties, &c., of piety towards God, of equity and benevolence towards man, and of sobriety and temperance; together with precepts for the right education of children, and for the relative situations of subjects, magistrates, and sovereigns.

III. The book of Proverbs is divided by Moldenhawer and Hei

'It is not said that these proverbs were written compositions, but simply that Solomon spake them. Hence Holden thinks it not improbable that the Hebrew monarch spoke them in assemblies collected for the purpose of hearing him discourse. Attempt to illustrate the Book of Ecclesiastes, pp. xliv., xlv.

2 Michaelis, Introduction to the New Testament, vol. i. pp. 207, 208.

"The following table of the quotations from the Book of Proverbs in the New Testament is given from Moldenhawer, Introductio in Libros Canonicos Vet. et Nov. Test. p. 93.; and from Carpzov, Introductio ad Libros Canonicos Vet. Test. p. 184.

Prov. i. 16.

Prov. iii. 7. .

cited in

Rom. iii. 10, 15.

Rom. xii. 16.

66

degger (whose arrangement was followed in former editions of this work) into five parts; but Dr. J. M. Good has divided it into four distinct parts, each of which," he observes, "is distinguished both by an obvious introduction and a change of style and manner, though its real method and arrangement seem, hitherto, to have escaped the attention of our commentators and interpreters.'

PART I. The proem or exordium (i.—ix.).

In this part heavenly wisdom and the true knowledge of God are set forth with great copiousness and variety of expression, as the only source and foundation of true virtue and happiness. This portion of the book of Proverbs, says bishop Lowth, "is varied, elegant, sublime, and truly poetical: the order of the subject is, in general, excellently preserved; and the parts are very aptly connected. It is embellished with many beautiful descriptions and personifications: the diction is polished, and abounds with all the ornaments of poetry, so that it scarcely yields in elegance and splendour to any of the sacred writings."

"2

PART II. To which is prefixed the title of The Proverbs of Solomon, comprises short sententious declarations for the use of persons who have advanced from youth to manhood (x.-xxii. 16.).

These sententious declarations are generally unconnected, although sometimes a connection with the preceding sentence may be discovered. They treat on the various duties of man towards God, and towards his fellow-men in every station of life.3

PART III. Contains a miscellaneous collection of proverbs, principally relating to rich men and nobles (xxii. 17—xxiv.).

PART IV. An appendix, consisting of various parabolic compositions (xxv.-xxxi.).

1. A collection of Solomon's proverbs, which (as the title shows, xxv. 1.) was made by the learned under the reign of Hezekiah (xxv.-xxix.). The proverbs in this section are unconnected; and some of them are repetitions of the moral aphorisms which are delivered in the former part of the book.

2. The ethical precepts delivered by "Agur the son of Jakel" to his friends Ithiel and Ucal.

That Agur, Jakeh, Ithiel, and Ucal, are proper names, admits of no contradiction. Jerome mistook the proper name Agur for an appellative, and in the Latin Vulgate has translated the expression thus, without any meaning: "Verba Congregantis, filii Vomentis," which, in the AngloRomish version from the Vulgate, is with equal unintelligibility rendered, "The words of Gatherer, the son of Vomiter." Some are of opinion, that, by Jakeh, David is meant, and by Agur, Solomon; and some fanciful expositors think that Ithiel and Ucal mean Christ; but these hypotheses are refuted by Holden. The same close observation of nature, and sententious form, which characterize the precepts of Solomon, are to be found in the proverbs of Agur, whose admirable prayer (xxx. 7-9.) will ever be justly admired for its piety, and for the contented spirit which it

1 Dissertations on the Book of Proverbs, in Dr. Gregory's Memoirs of Dr. Good, pp. 292, 293.

2 Lectures on Hebrew Poetry, by Dr. Gregory, vol. ii. p. 164.

See Gregory's Memoirs of Dr. Good, p. 298. In pp. 299–303. Dr. G. has elucidated the beautiful changes of style in the second part of the book of Proverbs.

Translation of the Book of Proverbs, pp. xvii.-xxv. 366, 367.

breathes. It exactly corresponds with the petition in the Lord's prayer: Give us this day τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον —not our daily bread bread or food sufficient for us.1

but

3. Contains the admonitions given to King Lemuel2 by his mother, a queen (xxxi. 1-9.).

...

66

These admonitory verses are an inimitable production, as well in respect to their actual materials, as the delicacy with which they are selected. . . . The description, though strictly in consonance with the domestic economy of the highest sphere of life, in the early period referred to, and especially in the East, is of universal application, and cannot be studied too closely." 3

4. The description of a virtuous woman, xxxi. 10-31.; where the initial letters of the verses follow the order of the Hebrew alphabet.

[The general title and preface (i. 1-7.) no doubt belong to the book as a whole. But it is questioned whether the portion i.-ix. is the production of Solomon. For we have a new title, x. 1.; which might seem to be unnecessary if there was not a change of authorship. Perhaps, however, the different form of composition of the succeeding portion sufficiently accounts for the fresh inscription. De Wette thinks that the tone of i.-ix. is more like that of a teacher of youth, a prophet or priest, than of a king; and refers to v. 10., vi. 26—31., as indicating a private man instead of a public character. Arguments of this kind are not of much weight. It is admitted that Solomon himself did not collect the book into its present form. It was probably formed by degrees: we should hardly else have found the proverbs which Hezekiah's men copied out, xxv. 1., &c., placed as an appendix. This seems to pre-suppose that there was a former compilation; which must have been made between the time of Solomon and that of Hezekiah, a period of somewhat more than 250 years. If within this time the collection began to be formed, it is reasonable to suppose that Solomon's longer and more connected admonitions might be placed before his briefer maxims: it is not reasonable to imagine that a book, which bore generally Solomon's name, would be made to begin with teachings from another hand. It is urged, however, that chaps. i.-ix. differ in style from the succeeding chapters, and within themselves, being unconnected paragraphs. Besides, the poetical power is greater in the first part than elsewhere in the book: the verses also are synonymous parallels, while afterwards antithetic parallels prevail; the different use, too, of the names of Deity indicates a different authorship. Are these reasons sufficient to overthrow the reasonable presumption that Solomon was the author of the whole of i.-xxix.?

It must be allowed that the parts contained in i.ix. are not very closely connected, that a subject is taken up, laid down, and taken up again; but why should this militate against the whole being from one author-and that author Solomon? Examples of similar want Translation of the Book of Proverbs, p. 372.

2 Some critics have conjectured that Lemuel is another name for Solomon; but this hypothesis is satisfactorily refuted by Mr. Holden, in his Attempt towards an Improved Translation of the Book of Proverbs, Preliminary Dissertation, pp. xviii.-xxv.

Dr. Good's Dissertation on the Book of Proverbs, in Dr. Gregory's Memoirs of his Life, p. 305.

Einleitung, § 281. See Kitto's Cycl. of Bib. Lit. art. Proverbs, The Book of.