VII.

(m). Thirteenth Discourse:—Also Against Adultery (Proverbs 7).

(3) Bind them upon thy fingers.—See above on Proverbs 3:3. The thong of the phylactery or fillet for the left arm was wound seven times round it, and as many times round the middle finger.

(7) Among the simple ones.—He was not yet vicious, only empty-headed.

(8) And he went the way . . .—The word is used of the slow step of a religious procession (2Samuel 6:13), here of the sauntering of the idle youth up and down the street within view of the temptress’s house.

(9) In the twilight . . .—He has no excuse of sudden temptation to offer; from twilight till dark night he had trifled with danger, and now at last his “calamity comes” (Proverbs 6:15).

(10) Subtil of heart.—Feigning love to her husband and devotion to her lovers, yet caring for none, only to satisfy her own passions.

(11) Her feet abide not in her house.—She is not a “keeper at home,” as St. Paul (Titus 2:5) would have Christian matrons to be.

(14) I have peace offerings with me.—Rather, upon me, i.e., I had vowed them, and to-day I have accomplished my vow. The peace-, or thank-offering as it is also rendered, was purely voluntary, in token of thanksgiving for some mercy. The breast and right shoulder of the victim were given to the priest, and the rest belonged to the offerer, who was thus admitted, as it were, to feast with God (Leviticus 3, 7), profanation of this privilege being punished with death. Peace-offerings were accordingly offered on occasions of national rejoicing, as at the inauguration of the covenant (Exodus 24:5), at the accession of Saul (1Samuel 11:15), and at the bringing up of the ark to Zion (2Samuel 6:17), &c. This turning of what should have been a religious festival for the family into an occasion for license, is paralleled by the desecration of the Agapæ at Corinth (1Corinthians 11:20 sqq.) and the history of Church-feasts among ourselves. (For the spiritual interpretation of this passage as symbolising false doctrine, see Bishop Wordsworth; and also Notes on Proverbs 2:16-19 above.)

(16) Carved works.—Rather, with coloured or striped coverlets. For another notice of the extravagance of the women of Jerusalem, see Isaiah 3, and for a description of the trade of Tyre, the great supplier of foreign luxuries, see Ezek. xxvii Myrrh is said to be a natural product of Arabia, aloes and cinnamon of the east coast of Africa and Ceylon.

(19) The goodman.—Literally, the man; she does not even call him “my husband.”

At the day appointed.—Rather, at the full moon, a fortnight later, as now it would seem to have been new moon, when the nights are dark.

(22) Or as a fool to the correction of the stocks.—This sense is only gained by a transposition of the original. It has been attempted to translate it literally “and as if in fetters to where one corrects fools,” i.e., to prison.

(23) Till a dart strike through his liver.—These words must be taken in a parenthesis.

That it is for his life.—i.e., at the cost of it, when “his flesh and body are consumed,” and remorse has seized upon him (Proverbs 5:11).