Commentary on the book

Section comment

10 a) Or: virtuous... See note. "A" to 12: 4.

10 b) Or: coral.

11 Letters: the husband's heart is confident in her.

14 Or: that carries his bread from afar.

15 Friend. possible per .: and the daytime portion of the meal - the maids.

16 Or: will grow a vineyard with his own hands.

18 Or (closer to the letters.): knows what is good and profitable.

21 a) Letter: into the snow.

21 b) So in the Vulgate and LXX. Masoretic text: her whole house is dressed in purple(expensive clothing). The translation of "double robes" is better suited to what is said in the first hemistich ("in the cold for her family, she is not afraid"), however, the translation of "purple" is consistent with what is said further in Art. 22.

22 Hebrew, but actually a borrowed Egyptian word shesh served to denote very fine workmanship of linen. The mummies of the Egyptian pharaohs, bandaged in the finest linen fabrics of amazing strength, have survived to this day.

23 a) Lit .: famous / famous.

B) See note. "B" to 1:21.

24 a) A word rare in the Bible is used here, the exact meaning of which is unknown; Wed Is 3:23 ( the dress).

24 b) Letter: to the Canaanites.

26 Letter: and good teaching in her tongue. Friend. possible per .: the doctrine of unchanging love and fidelity ( Heb. hesed) on her lips.

27 Letters: and he does not eat the bread of idleness.

29 Or (closer to the letters.): daughters of the virtuous.

30 a) Or: cuteness / charm.

30 b) Or: only a haze; letters .: steam / breath.

31 Here the author of this verse, addressing male readers, encourages them not only to express their admiration for this woman's hard work, but also to make sure that she tastes "of the fruits of her hands" and can enjoy all that she earned with her own hands.

These inspired sayings of King Solomon, which absorbed the centuries-old experience of Ancient Israel, are undoubtedly vital even today, in our spiritless era, when a person feels himself to be the measure of things. Yes, we are aspiring to everything that the author of Proverbs speaks about, wisdom and knowledge are dear to us, but we do not always associate our life and well-being with “reverence for God” (in the Synodal translation - “the fear of God”). Modern man may well not deny the Almighty, but he hardly seeks to "cognize the Holy" and gain genuine understanding in this experience. Indeed, the wisdom in Proverbs, on the one hand, is not so much a collection of sophisticated aphorisms as instructions concerning important practical issues that we constantly face in everyday life. On the other hand, wisdom - and this is the key concept of the Book of Proverbs - initially resides in God, emanates from Him and leads to Him. Therefore, if the starting point in a person's life is God, who embodies true wisdom and understanding in Himself, then everything falls into place: the world, man, society acquire meaning, balance and true perspective.

The book of parables, which biblical commentators rightly refer to the section of the Teaching Literature of Ancient Israel, begins with the author's name: "The parables of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel" (1: 1). It is to him, who “surpasses all the sons of the East in wisdom” (1 Kings 4: 29-31, 34), who wrote three thousand parables (1 Kings 4:32), that most of the parables are attributed (Ch. 1-9; 10-22: 16 ; 25-29), although in subsequent chapters it is specified that the Book of Proverbs contains the sayings of several authors, in particular the sayings of nameless sages (22: 17-24: 34), as well as the Words of Agur (ch.) And Sayings of King Lemuel "(Chap.). The very concept of "parable" (the Hebrew title of the book - mishle (parables), from the word waving (parable, proverb), see note. to 1: 1) is polysemantic, and the Russian translation does not fully express its meaning, partly narrowing its polysemy. In the original, it is used in a broader sense (or even in several meanings at once), and therefore it is not so much parables as such, as comparisons, sayings and aphoristic sayings.

The book of parables is a collection of sayings and soul-saving instructions that help people to rationally and reasonably organize their material and spiritual life, rooting it in God. This Old Testament book differs in content and style from previous biblical literature, which mainly provides a spiritual perspective on the life of the Israelite people, its laws, regulations, and the special commands of God Yahweh. The historical books of the Bible are characterized by a focus on the spiritual struggle of the Israeli people, the theological understanding of their political history and fate, which is not fundamental for the ancient literature of wisdom.

The idea of ​​the Book of Proverbs is different, its sayings, and above all the teachings, were intended, on the one hand, for the entire people, on the other, for the younger generation. The address “my son” (or “wise son” (10: 1), “listen, children”), which occurs more than thirty times in the book, is a confirmation of this. In this regard, the purpose of the Book of Proverbs is already clearly expressed in the first verses: “My son! If you accept my words, preserve my commandments in your soul, incline your ear to wisdom, strive with your mind to sanity, if you call on understanding, cry out for reason in a loud voice, if you seek it like silver, strive for it like a treasure, then you will comprehend what reverence for the Lord is, and you will gain the knowledge of God ”(2: 1-5).

The main themes of Proverbs are wisdom, knowledge, sanity, freedom of choice, righteousness, fidelity, caring for "sons" (children) and their upbringing, mercy towards enemies, justice, responsibility, diligence, hard work, fear of God. In modern language, we would say that all these topics relate to the problems of pedagogy, ethics, religion and theology. And this is true, but more attention is paid to the practical side of life: the abundance of a variety of advice indicates that most sayings are not directly related to the religion and faith of the people of God, but are based on observations of everyday life. For example, while praising true wisdom and the blessings associated with it, the mentor warns the student of the dangers (temptations) that lie in wait for him on the path. These can be acts of violence and robbery (1: 10-19; 4: 14-19), love interests and licentiousness (2: 16-19; 5: 3-20; 6: 23-35; 7: 4 -27), dubious surety (6: 1-5); sages condemn laziness (6: 6-11), deceit (6: 12-15), greed (28:25), money-grubbing (1:19), envy (14:30), stinginess (23: 6-8) and other vices.

This peculiarity of the world outlook of the ancient Israelite is characteristic mainly of the biblical literature of wisdom and distinguishes it from the Middle East, in which there are many wonderful thoughts and sound reasoning, but God the Providence does not play a decisive role there. From the point of view of the authors of the Book of Proverbs, wisdom is not a natural property of man, it must be sought (3:13), it must be learned (30: 3), one must strive for it (2: 4), but this is not enough; in fact, the main thing is completely different: "The Lord grants wisdom, from His mouth - knowledge and sanity" (2: 6). Moreover, the very "beginning of wisdom" implies nothing more than "reverence for God", and this fundamental thought "makes the Hebrew understanding of wisdom unique", because its essence is not only and not so much to help the reader master the art the correct life (learning to live it wisely), how much is to know God.

Truly, the Book of Proverbs is "God's book of discipline, the treasury of His wisdom."

Hide

Commentary on the current passage

Commentary on the book

Section comment

31 Persistent warning about the danger of drinking wine characterizes the moral ideas of the inhabitants of the desert (cf the Rehavites, Jer 35, modern Arabs).

31: 10-31 Alphabetical Poem (cf. Ps 9, Ps 24, Ps 33, Ps 110, Ps 111, Ps 118, Ps 144; Crying 1-4; Nahum 1: 2-8; Ser 51: 18-37) - the sequence of the first letters of each verse (sometimes each stanza) make up the Hebrew alphabet. Interpretation of the poem in approx. to st Proverbs 31:30.

31:25 "Cheerfully looks to the future"- that is, with hope both for the future of his family members and for his fate, for the Lord will reward a virtuous wife for her faithfulness and zeal.

31:30 Praise to a virtuous woman can be understood allegorically as a description of the personified Wisdom. This, perhaps, explains the addition to the Greek translation of this article: "A wise wife will be praised - the fear of the Lord, that is what is praiseworthy" - and also the place allotted to this praise, which concludes the book of Proverbs.

The Book of Proverbs is a typical example of the writing of the wise Israel. It included two collections: "Proverbs of Solomon" - Proverbs 10-22 16 (375 sayings) and Proverbs 25-29, which are introduced by the words: "And these are the parables of Solomon, which were collected by the men of Hezekiah" (128 sayings). Appendices are added to these two main parts: to the first - "Words of the wise" (Proverbs 22: 17-24: 22) and "It is also said by the wise" (Proverbs 24: 23-24), to the second - "Words of Agur" (Proverbs 30 : 1-14), followed by numerical parables (Proverbs 30: 15-33) and “The Word of Lemuel” (Proverbs 31: 1-9), in which the father gives his son the commandments of wisdom, and in chapter 8 the personified himself speaks Wisdom. The book ends with the so-called. an alphabetical poem (in which each verse begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, given in sequential order), glorifying a virtuous wife (Proverbs 31: 10-31).

The order of alternation of these parts is rather random: in Heb. and Greek. It does not always coincide with the Bible, and in the collections themselves the sayings follow one after the other without any plan. The book is like a "collection of collections", framed by a prologue and epilogue. It reflects the process of theological development that took place in the writing of the wise of Israel. The two main collections are mashups, or "wise sayings," in their original form and contain only short aphorisms - usually a couplet. In applications, formulas become more detailed: the so-called. numerical parables (Proverbs 30: 15-33 cf. Proverbs 6: 16-19) introduce an element of mystery that sharpens the reader's interest. This technique was already used in antiquity (cf. Am 1). The prologue (Proverbs 1-9) is a series of instructions, which includes two speeches of the most personified Wisdom, and the epilogue (Proverbs 31: 10-31) is distinguished by the complexity of the composition.

Differences in the form of individual parts of the book allow us to conclude that they were created in different eras. The oldest parts are the two above-mentioned collections (Proverbs 10-22 and Proverbs 25-29). They are attributed to Solomon, who, according to 1 Kings 4:32, “spoke three thousand parables” and was considered “wiser than all men” (1 Kings 4:31). Their tone, however, is so anonymous that it is impossible to reliably attribute to the tsar any definite saying, although there is no reason to doubt that they go back to his era. The sayings of the second collection are also of ancient origin: they existed long before 700 AD, when the "men of Hezekiah" collected them. According to the title of these two collections, the whole book began to be called "Proverbs of Solomon", but in the introductory verses of the small parts it is directly indicated that we are talking about the sayings of other sages (Proverbs 22: 7-24: 34), Agur and Lemuel (Proverbs 30: 1- 31: 8). Even if the names of these two Arabian sages are legendary, their presence in the book of Proverbs is interesting as evidence of respect for foreign wisdom. Evidently the passage of Proverbs 22: 17-23: 11 testifies to the same; in all likelihood, its author was influenced by the Egyptian collection "Teachings on the Wisdom of Amenemope", compiled at the beginning of the first millennium BC.

Therefore, it is not surprising that the first Israeli works of wisdom are in many ways related to the works of neighboring peoples. The most ancient parts of the book. Proverbs contain only the prescriptions of human wisdom. The most important theological themes of the Old Testament: Law, Union-Covenant, Election, Salvation - are hardly touched upon in these books. The exception is the book. Jesus the son of Sirach and the Wisdom of Solomon, written much later. The Israeli sages do not seem to be interested in the history and future of their people. Like their eastern counterparts, they are more concerned with the personal fate of a person, but they consider it in a higher plane - in the coverage of the religion of Yahweh. Thus, despite the common origin, there is a significant difference between the wisdom of the pagan and the Israelite, which intensifies as Revelation is gradually revealed.

The opposition of wisdom and madness becomes the opposition of truth and untruth, piety and wickedness. True wisdom is the fear of God, and the fear of God is synonymous with piety. If Eastern wisdom can be defined as a kind of humanism, then Israeli wisdom can be called religious humanism.

However, this religious value of wisdom was not immediately apparent. Contents Heb. the term "Hochma" is very difficult. It can denote dexterity of movements or professional dexterity, political flair, insight, as well as cunning, skill, the art of magic. Such human wisdom can serve both good and evil, and this ambiguity to some extent explains the negative judgments of some prophets about sages (Isa 5:21; Is 29:14; Jer 8: 9). This also explains that in Heb. In writing, the theme of the Wisdom of God (Hebrew "hohmot" is a plural used in the sense of a superlative) appears rather late, although the origin of wisdom from God has never been denied, and already in Ugorit wisdom was considered a property of the great god El. Only after the Captivity did they begin to assert that God is wise with the transcendental wisdom, the action of which a person sees in creation, but which in its essence is unattainable and "unsearchable" (Job 28; Job 38-39; Sir 1: 1-10; Sir 16:24 ff. ; Sir 39:12 f; Sir 42: 15-43: 33, etc.). In the large prologue of the book. Proverbs (Proverbs 1-9) The wisdom of God speaks as a kind of person, it is inherent in God from eternity and acts with Him in creation (ch. Arr. Proverbs 8: 22-31). In Sire 24, Wisdom itself testifies that it came out of the mouth of the Most High, that it dwells in heaven and was sent to Israel from God. 7: 22-8: 1 defines it as an outpouring of the glory of the Almighty, an image of His perfection. Thus, Wisdom, being a property of God, is separated from Him and presented as a Person. For the Old Testament man, these expressions are, apparently, vivid poetic comparisons, but they already contain the secret that prepares the revelation of the Holy Trinity. Like the Logos in the Gospel of John, this Wisdom is both in God and outside of God, and in all these texts the name "Wisdom of God" is substantiated, which the ap. Paul gives to Christ (1 Cor. 1:24).

The question of the fate of man is closely connected with the problem of retribution among the sages. In the ancient parts of Proverbs (Proverbs 3: 33-35; Proverbs 9: 6, Proverbs 9:18) Wisdom, i.e. righteousness certainly leads to prosperity, and madness, i.e. wickedness, leads to ruin, for God tends to reward the good and punish the evil. However, life experience often seems to contradict this view. How can we explain the calamities that befall the righteous? This problem is devoted to the book. Job. The same questions, albeit in a slightly different aspect, are troubling to Ecclesiastes. The son of Sirachs mainly adheres to traditional views and praises the happiness of the wise (Sire 14: 21-15: 10), but he is haunted by the thought of death. He knows that everything depends on this last hour: “It is easy for the Lord on the day of death to repay a man according to his deeds.” ). He has a dim premonition of the revelation of man's ultimate destiny. Soon after him, the prophet Daniel (Dan 12: 2) already clearly expresses the belief in the afterlife retribution associated with the belief in the resurrection of the dead, since Heb. thought does not imagine the life of the spirit, separated from the flesh. A parallel and at the same time more elaborate teaching appears in Alexandrian Judaism. Plato's doctrine of the immortality of the soul helped Heb. thoughts of realizing that “God created man to be incorruptible” (Prem 2:23) and after death the righteous will taste eternal bliss with God, and the wicked will receive the punishment they deserve (Prem 3: 1-12).

The original form of writing of the wise can be considered mashal (in Russian translation - a parable). This is in the plural the title of the book, which we call the book. Proverbs. Mashal is a short, expressive saying, close to the folk wisdom preserved in proverbs. Ancient collections of parables contain only such short sayings, but over time, the mashal develops, reaching the size of a small parable or allegorical narrative. This development, clearly expressed in the additional sections and especially in the prologue of the book. Proverbs (Proverbs 1-9), accelerated in the following books of the wise: book. Job and the Wisdom of Solomon are major literary works.

The original origin of wisdom is to be found in the life of the family or clan. Observations of nature or people, accumulated from generation to generation, were expressed in sayings, in folk sayings, in proverbs that had a moral character and served as rules of behavior. The origin of the first formulations of customary law is similar, which are sometimes close not only in content but also in form to the sayings of wisdom. This tradition of folk wisdom continued to exist in parallel with the rise of the written collections of wisdom. They owe their origin, for example, the parables in 1 Samuel 24:14; 1 Kings 20:11, fables in Judgment 9: 8-15, fables in 2 Kings 14: 9. Even the prophets drew from this heritage (eg Is 28: 24-28; Jer 17: 5-11).

Brief sayings engraved in memory are intended for oral transmission. A father or mother teaches them to their son at home (Proverbs 1: 8; Proverbs 4: 1; Proverbs 31: 1; Sir 3: 1) and then the wise continue to teach them in their schools (Sir 41:23; Sir 41:26 ; cf Proverbs 7: 1 ff; Proverbs 9: 1 ff). Over time, wisdom becomes the privilege of the educated class: the wise and the scribes figure side by side in Jer 8: 8-9. The son of the Sirachs, Sire 38: 24-39: 11, praises the profession of a scribe, which enables him to acquire wisdom as opposed to manual crafts. From the scribes came royal officials, and the teaching of wisdom was cultivated first at court. The same thing happened in other centers of Eastern wisdom, in Egypt and in Mesopotamia. One of the collections of Solomon's parables was compiled by “the men of Hezekiah king of Judah,” Proverbs 25: 1. These sages not only collected ancient sayings, but also wrote themselves. Two works, compiled, in all likelihood, at the court of Solomon - the story of Joseph and the history of the succession of the throne of David - can also be considered as the writings of the wise.

Thus, the circles of the wise differ significantly from the environment in which the priestly and prophetic writings emerged. Jer 18:18 lists three different classes — priests, wise men, and prophets. The wise are not particularly interested in the cult, as if they do not care about the misfortunes of their people and are not captured by the great hope that supports them. However, in the era of the Captivity, these three currents merge. In the prologue of Proverbs, the tone of the prophetic sermon is heard, in the book. Sire (Sire 44-49) and Prem (Wis 10-19) contain much meditation on Sacred history; the son of Sirachs honors the priesthood, is jealous of the cult, and even identifies Wisdom and the Law (Sire 24: 23-34): we already have the alliance of the scribe (or wise) with the teacher of the law, which can also be seen in Heb. environment of gospel times.

Thus ends the long journey, which began in the OT by Solomon. All the teachings of the wise, gradually taught to the chosen people, prepared the minds for the perception of a new revelation - the revelation of the Incarnate Wisdom, which is "greater than Solomon" (Matt 12:42).

Hide

Commentary on the current passage

Commentary on the book

Section comment

10-31 The alphabetic speech of these 22 verses, containing praise for the virtuous wife, mother of the family and mistress of the house, is, according to the apt expression of one researcher (Döderlein), "the golden letter of women." And, indeed, here the sublime view of the Biblical Jews on the dignity and position of a woman in the family, on her attitude towards her husband, children and household members was expressed most fully and typically here. We will not find parallel or similar to this praise in the entire world literature of antiquity, the image of the "virtuous wife" by Proverbs is surpassed only in the New Testament by the image of a Christian woman. As in other alphabetical biblical works ( Ps 33, and etc.; Crying 1-4) in the section under consideration, individual verses are not closely adjacent to each other, but all are united by a common theme: the perfections of a virtuous wife are revealed here from certain sides - tireless activity, comprehensive care, mercy, rationality.

10-22 The virtuous wife (cf. 12:4 ) is depicted first from the side of her domestic activities (v. 11-22), and then from the side of helping and helping her husband in his social activities (v. 23 ff.). The first virtue of a virtuous wife is her husband's complete confidence in her (v. 11); at the same time, here, as in the subsequent speech, the wife's economic activity is in the foreground. Out of love for her husband (v. 12), the wife, the mistress of the house, takes on all the various household duties and fulfills them in the most perfect way. First of all, according to the custom of antiquity, he personally prepares materials - wool and linen - for clothing for family members (v. 13), and then makes fabrics for sale abroad (v. 24.) distribution of food to family members, food to the maids, the caring hostess distributes even deep in the morning (vv. 14-15), giving them her own example of activity and diligence. The economic activity of a valiant wife, not limited to the boundaries of the house, extends further - to the acquisition of new plots of land for planting bread and a vineyard (v. 16) In her work, she feels strong, and is successful in everything (v. 17-18). Work, such as spinning, for the mistress's wife, often goes on at night (v. 19). With all her wealth, a valiant wife satisfies not only her family, but also shares with the poor, extending a helping hand to everyone in need of her; so that with regard to charity, as in other respects, a virtuous wife is exemplary. The households of such a hostess are not afraid of winter and cold, since all family members are dressed not only warmly enough, but also beautifully (vv. 21-22).

23-27 The husband of a valiant wife, not distracted by worries about household and household affairs, especially thanks to the good fame of the whole house created by the work of his wife, gains honorable fame among the people, completely devotes himself to social activities - in the East, concentrated at the city gates - and takes a place in a number of elders (v. 23). The wife of the mistress makes so many items of spinning and weaving with her own hands that they are left to her to sell to the Phoenicians (v. 24). Having success in the past and present (v. 18a), a gifted and hardworking woman looks forward to the future (v. 25). Not only every deed, but every word, the wife ponders, and speaks only useful and edifying (v. 26). She maintains strict order in her house, so that all members of the family, following her example, work and labor to acquire food (v. 27).

28-31 The fruit and reward of the great virtues of a virtuous wife is the deep appreciation of her husband and children, who enthusiastically glorify her various perfections. Among the latter, the fear of God is especially emphasized, which distinguishes a virtuous wife and constitutes her true value (v. 30). They bring the glory of their worthy wife and mother to the notice of the whole society (v. 31)

The Book of Proverbs of Solomon in the Hebrew Bible is placed in the third part of the biblical canon, among the so-called ketubim or hagiographers, and takes second place among them - after the book of psalms and before the book of Job. The Hebrew title of the book of Proverbs is Michelet-Shelomo (המלש ילשמ) or more commonly simply Michelet, like the Greek LXX: Παροιμίαι Σαλωμω̃ντος , and the Latin Vulgate: Parabolae Salomonis or liber proverbiorum and the like indicate the predominant form of presentation of this holy book, the content of which is precisely parables, that is, in most cases, fragmentary, aphoristic, sometimes coherent, in a sequential order (embracing whole sections) the stated sayings, in which speculative truths are offered - mainly of a religious nature, for example, about God, His properties, His world government, about divine (hypostatic) Wisdom, etc., then - most often various rules of practical wisdom, prudence and good conduct in life religious and moral, social, family, labor, economic, etc., then - sometimes - experimental observations of the course of life, deeds and destinies of man and the world; the word "parables" embraces or captures the whole set of questions of knowledge and life, presented to the observation and reflection of the ancient Jew - the theocrat, in his spiritual warehouse determined by the law of Moses and the peculiar nature of the Hebrew Old Testament history. The main meaning of the Jewish mashal: comparison, similarity, i.e. speech not with only literal meaning, but also with figurative meaning, speech in which the phenomenon, for example, of the moral world order is understood through comparison with the phenomenon of the physical world (cf. Eze 17: 2; Proverbs 24: 3; Proverbs 25:11). At the same time, the comparison takes unequal forms, from which different types of parables are obtained: 1) the parables are synonymous, the second half of the verse repeats the thought of the first, only in a slightly different form ( Proverbs 11:15, Proverbs 15:23 and etc.); 2) antithetical; in them the second hemistich expresses the reverse side of the truth given in the first line, or its direct opposite ( Proverbs 10: 1.4; Proverbs 18:14); 3) parabolic parables, combining elements of a synonymous and antithetical parable: they represent something similar in completely different kinds of phenomena, especially ethical and physical phenomena, and the first line of the verse represents some stroke from the pictures of nature, and the second - some kind of ethical truth, the first hemistich represents, so to speak, an allegorical picture, and the second - an explanatory signature to it (for example, Proverbs 11:22; Proverbs 25:11).

It follows from such an artificial form of parables that they by no means can be identified or approximated with folk proverbs, which are common among any people (among the Greeks: a collection of parables of the seven wise men, poets and Pythagoras; among the Romans - Cato, J. Caesar) , especially among the peoples of the ancient East, for example, among the Arabs (collections of parables, as works of folk wisdom, were known among the Arabs under the name Abu al-Fadl al-Maidani). On the contrary, in the collection of Solomon's parables, the experiments of just one or several wise men are given - to embrace the truths of religion or general wisdom as applied to possible many different special cases of life and express them in short, witty and easy-to-remember sayings (cf. 3 Kings 4:33), which, having no close logical connection with each other, are located only in external connection with each other.

Although it is indisputable that the "parables" are, in a sense, the product of the subjective creativity of the sage, the product of an independent exercise of the sage in the law, the thought of some Western biblical scholars that the wisdom of the Book of Proverbs has no connection with the religion of the people of God, even stands in contradictions with it: on the contrary, religion constitutes the basic ground of all the sayings of the book of Proverbs, the law of Moses is the basic assumption of all moral and other ideas of this book; divine revelation is the unchanging source of all the divinely enlightened wisdom of the sacred inflow. Hence, Solomon's parables differ from other Eastern parables precisely by their religious direction and the character of revelation imprinted on them, from which they flow, and as a result of this, by the character of purity, definiteness and infallibility, with which all relations of life are understood here and are raised to the knowledge of a person's purpose determined by God.

The totality of the sayings contained in the book of Proverbs constitutes the so-called "wisdom", Heb. hokmah. This wisdom, uttered by various sages, is an independent and independent Power, speaking through the sages, giving them and all the knowledge of the revealed truth ( Proverbs 29:18; « without a revelation from above, the people are not bridled, but he who keeps the law is blessed"). The entire teaching of the book of Proverbs is the word of Jehovah or the law of Jehovah; private, it comes from the person of the eternal Wisdom, who created the world ( Proverbs 8: 27-30; sn. Proverbs 3:19), and even before the creation of the world that was with God ( Proverbs 8: 22-26), always close to the sons of men ( Proverbs 8:31) in Israel, she deliberately preaches publicly in all places of public gatherings ( Proverbs 1: 20-21; Proverbs 8: 1-4), listening to the prayers of those who ask ( Proverbs 1:28), pouring out the spirit of wisdom on those who receive it ( Proverbs 1:23), in a word - personal or hypostatic Wisdom of God.

The essential nature of the wisdom taught in the Book of Proverbs, like all the so-called Chokmic sacred biblical writing (some psalms: Ps 36, Ps 49, Ps 72..., Book of Job, book. Ecclesiastes, book. Jesus son of Sirakhov), consists of two main features. This wisdom, firstly, is entirely based on a religious basis and is in its essence a true knowledge of God and reverence: “ the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord» ( Proverbs 1: 7); « the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, and the knowledge of the Holy One is reason» ( Proverbs 9:10). This wisdom, secondly, is primarily and mainly of a practical nature: while in the prophetic writings a lot of space is devoted to speeches about the fate of the people of God, about their beliefs, etc., in the book of Proverbs this entire theoretical element is only a basis, an assumption of all the judgments of the sacred writer, the main subject of his speech always forms the practical life of a theocratic society and its individual member under the guidance of Jehovah's law. There is the way of the Lord - and this way is a stronghold for the blameless, and fear for those who work iniquity ( Proverbs 10:29). The source of all true wisdom lies in Jehovah's law: “ The steps of man are directed from the Lord; How can a man know his way?» ( Proverbs 20:24). According to whether people follow the path of Jehovah or deviate from it, all humanity is divided into the wise and the foolish, that is, those who are inclined to accept the law of God and follow its path, - pious people, and - trying to put the will of God in place of the common will of God their partial will and thus violating the harmony of the world, people wicked and sinful (see, for example, Proverbs 10:23). At the same time, the inevitable, according to the judgment of God, the consequence of virtue is good and happiness, and wickedness and sin - all kinds of calamity (see, for example, Proverbs 12:21; Proverbs 21:18). From this basic principle flow all the numerous teachings of the book of Proverbs, embracing all the variety of life and everyday relationships of man. In general, the totality of the sayings of the Book of Proverbs is like a special moral legislation, parallel to the legislation of Moses. But if the books of Moses, by their very purpose as law-positive books, pay primary attention to the development of national forms of civil and religious life of the Jews, as an exclusively chosen people of God, then the legislation of the Book of Proverbs stands on a universal point of view (the whole book never mentions the name Israel) and sets the goal, along with the specific features of Biblical Jewry, to develop also the universal aspects of spiritual life, a general humanitarian direction towards truth and good. The concept of wisdom - in the sense of the book of Proverbs - is not limited to only religiosity, piety, piety, but embraces the life of a Jew - a theocrat in all its diversity, in all directions and in all respects, so, for example, the concept of wisdom must include: prudence, discernment, prudence , artistic talents and many others. Other similarities with respect to the prevailing legislative content with the books of the Law of Moses and differing in this from the historical and prophetic writings, the book of Proverbs has the similarity with the latter, that the moral element in it, like that of the prophets, decisively prevails over the liturgical, ritual, cult. But about any supposedly hostile attitude of the philosophy of the book of Proverbs to the law of Moses (which, for example, I. F. Bruch. Weisheitslehre der Hebrder. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Philos... Strassburg, 1851) is out of the question. On the contrary, the law of Moses in the moral legislation of the book. Proverbs found a new fulcrum, since the development of universal humane virtues was supposed to soften the harsh spirit of the people and dispose them to fulfill the commandments of the law, moreover, the book of Proverbs gives the solution of moral issues only in the spirit of the law. Correctly, therefore, the Jewish tradition (Midrash on the book of Songs 3: 2) asserted that Solomon, gradually passing from utterance to utterance, from comparison to comparison, in this way investigated the secrets of the Torah, and even that before Solomon no one understood properly words of the Torah According to Jewish tradition, cited by a pilgrim of the 4th century, Solomon wrote the book of Proverbs in one of the chambers of the temple. See prof. A. A. Olesnitsky. Old Testament Temple... SPb., 1889, p. 851.... If in Proverbs 21: 3.27 justice and good deeds are placed above sacrifice, then this is by no means a protest against the Mosaic Law (whose authority, on the contrary, is protected in every possible way in the book of Proverbs, cf. Proverbs 28: 9: « whoever deviates his ear from hearing the law, even prayer is an abomination"), But only an understanding of its meaning is the same as in all its power and repeatedly we find in the prophets (see. 1 Kings 15:22; Isa 1: 10-20; Os 6: 6). Since, according to the view of the book of Proverbs itself, to understand its instructions and advice are required: a well-known wisdom, developed meaning and a sense of human dignity, then the legislation of the book. Proverbs, like our moral Christian philosophy, were originally intended for the intelligentsia of the people, primarily for the rulers of the people themselves (as can be seen from many places in the book, its lessons were first and foremost edified by the heirs of Solomon).

Judging by the entire content of the book of Proverbs, as a doctrine of wisdom, as well as by the very inscription of the book, Proverbs 1: 2-6, in which it is called, among other things, wisdom and the words of the wise, should be considered the ancient title of the book, parallel to the generally accepted Proverbs, Heb. Michelet, other: "the book of wisdom or wisdom", Heb. Sefer Chokmah. With this name, this book was already known in the Hebrew tradition (in the Talmud see tosefta to Tr. Bava-Batra 14b), and from there this name passed into the Christian, ancient church tradition. Although Origen uses only the name "Proverbs" when transmitting Heb. Michelet in the Greek transcription Μισλώθ, but the more common title of our book among ancient church teachers was σοφία, ηανάρετος σοφία. So, St. Clement of Rome (1 Corinthians LVII, 3), citing the place Proverbs 1: 23-33, is expressed: οὕτος γὰρ λεγει ἡ ηανάρετος σοφία . Meliton of Sardis(at Eusebius of Caesarea, Church history IV, 26, §13) gives both titles of the book, as equally common: Σολομω̃νος παροιμὶαι, ἣ καὶ Σοφία ... According to the testimony of the church historian Eusebius ( Church history IV, 22, §9), not only quoted by him Meliton of Sardis, Egesippus and St. Irenaeus of Lyons, but all Christian antiquity called the parables of Solomon the all-perfect wisdom, ηανάρετος σοφία ( ὁ πα̃ς τω̃ν ἀρχαίων χορός ηανάρετος σοφία τὰς Σολομω̃νος παροιμι̃ας ἐκὰλουν ) and, according to Eusebius, this name came "from the unwritten Jewish tradition" ( ἓξ Ιουδαϊκἣς ἀγράφου παραδόσεος ). The title "Book of Wisdom" no doubt befits the book of Proverbs of Solomon than two non-canonical teaching books: "The Book of the Wisdom of Solomon" and "The Book of the Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach." And even in comparison with the two canonical books - the book of Job and the book of Ecclesiastes, usually reckoned among the Chokmician biblical writing, that is, containing the disclosure of the doctrine of wisdom - the book of Proverbs has the advantage of completeness, integrity and completeness of disclosing the doctrine of wisdom.

In the Greek, Slavic and Russian Bibles, as well as in the Vulgate, the book of Proverbs belongs to the seven sacred books - book. Job, Psalms, Proverbs of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom of Solomon and Wisdom of Jesus, son of Sirach, - which in their content are called teaching books ( Orthodox catechism) or wisdom, we learn more reason and true wisdom in them ( Preface to the first printed Slavic Bible), but in the form of their presentation they are poetic (Sts. Gregory the Theologian, Cyril of Jerusalem, John Damascene, etc.), that is, in a broad sense, poetic, particulars in their presentation everywhere representing the so-called parallelism of members (we talked about the types of this parallelism in the book of Proverbs).

The origin and composition of the book of Proverbs. The creator of parables in Proverbs 1: 1 called King Solomon. And Christian antiquity recognized the book of Proverbs as a single work of one Solomon, as the book of Psalms was known with the name of David. In favor of Solomon's authorship in relation to the book of Proverbs, both the external biblical evidence and the internal character of the inflowing wisdom of the book speak. Proverbs. By 3 Kings 4:32, Solomon spoke three thousand parables (and his song was a thousand and five), Jesus, the son of Sirachs, glorifying the wisdom of Solomon, among other things, calls out to him: “Your soul covered the earth, and you filled it with mysterious parables ... for songs and sayings, for parables and explanations the countries were amazed at you "( Ser 47: 17.19). Glory to the wisdom of Solomon, and according to the testimony of the 3rd book of Kings ( 3 Kings 4:34; Proverbs 10: 1-22: 16), spread very far, and his wisdom, serving as an object of surprise to the neighboring peoples, subsequently became their subject for all sorts of legends and fairy-tale works of poetry. True, those 3000 parables that, according to 3 Kings 4:32, said Solomon, cannot be identified with the canonical book of Proverbs, neither by their number, nor by their very nature and content, in the whole book of Proverbs there are no more than 915 verses; and therefore most of Solomon's 3000 parables could not enter the book of Proverbs; moreover, judging by 3 Kings 4:33, parables and the wisdom of Solomon in general, were expressed most of all in the knowledge of nature and its individual phenomena and the like; on the contrary, in the book of Proverbs there are no such parables, but vital practical and especially religious and moral motives prevail. It is not devoid, therefore, of significance to the assumption that only a certain, selected part of all the parables of Solomon, of a predominantly religious and moral character, entered the book of Proverbs. The inscription “Proverbs of Solomon” repeated three times in the Book of Proverbs ( Proverbs 1: 1; Proverbs 10: 1; Proverbs 25: 1) provides, in any case, important evidence for the origin of at least most of the book of Proverbs from Solomon. Some particular features and indications of the content of the book of Proverbs by their correspondence to the personality and circumstances of Solomon's life testify in favor of the origin of the book from him. Proverbs. Here, for example, the advice is very often repeated to avoid a dissolute woman and debauchery, in general to beware of hobbies for women ( Proverbs 5: 18.20; Proverbs 6: 24-35; Proverbs 9: 16-18; Proverbs 18:23). These tips remind the reader of the story of the fall of Solomon through women ( 1 Kings 11: 1-43): it is natural to see in these tips a warning against the same danger that the wise inflower himself was exposed to. In the book of Proverbs, further, a lot is said about royal power, about the benefits of the rule of a wise king ( Proverbs 28:16), the anointed of God and the herald of the truth of God ( Proverbs 21: 1; Proverbs 16: 10.12), mercy and truth ( Proverbs 20:28), about his anger on the wicked and about benefits for the righteous ( Proverbs 19:12; Proverbs 20: 2; Proverbs 22:11); about the rulers of the wise and foolish, about their advisers and the nature of their rule ( Proverbs 11: 11-14; Proverbs 14:28; Proverbs 25: 1-8; Proverbs 28: 2.15-16). And here you can see the fruit of the state experience of the wise Jewish king - Solomon, completely devoted to the rule of the people and experiencing both the light and dark sides of the king's ministry. Likewise, the testimony of the inflower about himself, as the beloved son of the father and mother, as the son whom the father carefully taught the law of God ( Proverbs 4: 3-4), exactly applies to Solomon: David taught Solomon how to keep the law. 1 Kings 3: 2(see comment to 1 Kings 3: 2).

But along with the indicated external and internal evidence of the origin of the book of Proverbs from Solomon, there is another series of data, also external, sometimes internal, the presence of which requires the limitation of Solomon's writing only to the known, even the most significant, part of the book. Namely, in the book of Proverbs, in addition to the general inscription at the beginning of the book Proverbs 1: 1, there are six other inscriptions, by which the book is divided into a somewhat unequal volume of character - sections, and some of these sections, apparently, do not belong to Solomon as a writer, but originated later than Solomon and from other persons. There is some indication of these other writers already at the beginning of the book. Proverbs 1: 6, where are mentioned " words of wise men and their riddles (dibre - hakamim vehidotam) "As one of the constituent parts of the content of the book of Proverbs. Then in Proverbs 10: 1 according to the Hebrew Masoretic text, and the Latin translation of bl. Jerome, as well as in the Russian synodal and archim. Macarius, there is an inscription. "Proverbs of Solomon": this inscription apparently marks a new period in the influx of Solomon's creativity, and a new section with Proverbs 10: 1 on Proverbs 22:16- noticeably different from the first section of the book Proverbs 1: 1-9: 1: if in the first section the doctrine of wisdom and motives for it is set out in a coherent periodic speech, then in the second section the inflower's speech is built in the form of short, aphoristic judgments on the principle of mostly antithetical parallelism. Many Western Biblical commentators (led by the famous Ewald), based on such aphoristic form of speech in the department Proverbs 10-22: 16, revered this section as the oldest part of the book of Proverbs, which belonged to the pen of Solomon himself, while the first section Proverbs 1-9 with its unusually planned development of thoughts, Western biblical exegesis is considered the latest part of the book, not only in character and content, but also chronologically close to the book of Jesus the son of Sirakhov. But the difference in the form of speech, in itself, does not give grounds to consider the first and second sections of the book to be of different times and belonging to different writers; the genius of Solomon naturally disposed of a variety of forms of expression of thoughts; staying on biblical ground, we must in any case acknowledge the whole part of the book Proverbs 1-22: 16 Solomon's work. The situation is different with the subsequent sections of the book. So, departments: third, Proverbs 22: 27-24: 22 and fourth, Proverbs 24: 23-34, judging by the inscriptions, belong to some unnamed sages; it is possible that these wise men were contemporaries of Solomon, even belonged to his school, such as those mentioned in 3 Kings 4:31 Efan, Eman, Khalkol and Darda. The fifth section of the book or the third main part of it form, Proverbs 25-29, "The parables of Solomon, which collected (Heb. Ge" tiku. LXX: ἐξεγράψαντο, Vulgate: transtulerunt) the men of Hezekiah the king of Judah "( Proverbs 29: 1), in which the prophet Isaiah is usually seen, as well as Eliakim, Shebna and Joach ( 4 Kings 18:26); Thus, this section contains parables, although they originate from Solomon, but received their real form only 300 years after Solomon - from the scientific collegium of the God-enlightened men of Hezekiah, who collected these parables from archival records (according to the reading of LXX) or even from oral tradition ... V Proverbs 30, according to the Hebrew inscription, are the parables of Agur, the son of Iakeev, to some Iphiel and Ukal ( Proverbs 30: 1). In the LXX, these names are transferred common nouns, which is why the meaning of the inscription Proverbs 30: 1 lost. Blessed. Jerome also transmits Heb. the inscription is common: Verba congregantis filii vomentis, and under the first one means Solomon, as the collector of wisdom, and under the second David, who regurgitated the word good ( Ps 44: 2). But the common noun understanding of the proper name of a person, moreover, having a patronymic ("Iakeeva"), is hardly permissible, Solomon, even in his allegorical name Ecclesiastes, is called the son of David ( Ekk 1: 1); it remains to see an unknown sage in Agura. Proverbs 31: 9 concludes the instruction of a certain king Lemuel, taught to him by his mother. This name is usually seen as the symbolic name of either Solomon (Blessed Jerome) or Hezekiah (Aben-Ezra, Prof. Olesnitsky). Proverbs 31: 10-31 conclude an alphabetically (acrostic) commendation to a virtuous wife. In view of the evidence 3 Kings 4:32 that Solomon wrote over 1000 songs, and the obvious similarity of the “song” to the virtuous wife with the undoubtedly Solomon's parables (for example, cf. Proverbs 31:10 and Proverbs 12: 4; Proverbs 11:16; Proverbs 14: 1; Proverbs 3:15; Proverbs 18:23; Proverbs 31:20 and Proverbs 19:17; Proverbs 22: 9; Proverbs 31:22 and Proverbs 7:16; Proverbs 31:30 and Proverbs 11:22; Proverbs 3: 4), it is natural to regard this praise as coming from Solomon, only its position at the end of the book, apparently, speaks for the later origin of this department.

Thus, from the inscriptions of the book - these self-testimonies of the book about itself - we learn that its writers were Solomon, Agur, Lemuel and some other, not named, sages. If, on the basis of a general inscription Proverbs 1: 1 the book of Proverbs is called the name of Solomon, then this inscription and this name are metonymy, since the name of wisdom has always combined, as now with us, the name of Solomon, the wisest of people; the book of Proverbs should or can be called Solomon's in the same sense as the entire Psalter was called and called David's, that is, in the sense of the predominant and most important authorship of Solomon in this area. The entire composition of the present book of Proverbs existed already by the time of King Hezekiah, the society of whose friends, according to the testimony Proverbs 25: 1, published the entire book of Proverbs, - according to the inaccurate expression of the Talmud (Bava-Batra, 15a), wrote the book of Proverbs, - more precisely, edited it, gave it a real look, giving it to those collected, perhaps by Solomon himself (the opinion of St. Cyril of Jerusalem and bliss. Jerome) Proverbs 1-24, the last seven chapters of the book, Proverbs 25-31, and brought here parables that were not included in the collection of Solomon himself. Fathers and teachers of the church, not attaching importance to the question of the origin of this edition of the book, saw and glorified in it the wisdom of Solomon. Indeed, the question of participating in its compilation along with Solomon and other writers is not at all reflected in the understanding of the book, as long as faith in the inspiration of the book is preserved.

The inspiration and canonical dignity of the book of Proverbs was opposed by separate voices among both Jews and Christians. The first were confused by the apparent contradiction of parables Proverbs 26: 4-5, and a plastic description of a dissolute wife, allegedly inappropriate in the holy book Proverbs 7: 10-27... Both of these objections were raised at the Jewish Council of Jamnia (c. 100 A.D.), but there they received a satisfactory resolution, and the book as a whole was recognized as canonical. In the Christian church, lonely voices were heard (in ancient times, for example, Theodore Mopsuyetsky. The apostolic men often cited the book of Proverbs as a divinely inspired Old Testament scripture (Apostle Barnabas, Epistle Ch. V, St. Clement of Rome, 1 Cor. Ch. XIV, XXI. Ignatius the God-bearer... Ephesians V, Polycarp of Smirnsky... Philip. ch. VI). In the apostolic canons (pr. 85) and in all the canonical conciliar calculus of the Orthodox Church, the book of Proverbs has always been placed among the 22 canonical books of the Old Testament.

The Christian Orthodox Church demonstrates its high respect for the book of Proverbs by the widespread use of readings from this book in church worship. Readings or paremias from this book are found in church services more often than from other Old Testament books: from the predominant use of the book of Proverbs in church services, in Greek. "Paremius", the last name became common for all, taken from the sacred books, church readings. Paremias from the Book of Proverbs are offered daily, except Saturdays and weeks, at Vespers of St. Forty days, as the best edifying reading in these days of fasting and repentance (during St. Proverbs 31: 8-31). Several readings of the paremias from the book. Proverbs laid down for the holidays (from Proverbs 3- July 10, August 1, September 13 and 14; from Proverbs 8- January 1 and March 25, from Proverbs 9- on feasts of the Mother of God, etc.) and on the days of the memory of saints, as if comparing the advice of wisdom with examples of piety, clearly represented by the life of the saints.

The purpose of the book of Proverbs of St. Gregory of Nyssa is talking: " just as the working people in bodily exercises in the school prepare themselves through this to carry out great toil in real struggles, so the inflow teaching seems to me to be a kind of exercise that teaches our souls and makes them flexible in spiritual exploits"(St. Gregory of Nyssa. Accuracy interpretations. on Eccl 1: 1). Two non-canonical teaching books had a similar goal and a similar character: the book of Jesus the son of Sirakhov and Prince. The wisdom of Solomon.

According to the composition of its content, the book of Proverbs, as already mentioned, presents three main parts, and the second and third parts have some additions. The first part is a collection of exhortatory speeches embraced by the first nine chapters 1-9: it is par excellence the book of Wisdom, portrayed as the highest good and the only worthy object of human aspirations. Part One can be subdivided into three sections, with three chapters each; the first section contains: negative and positive incentives to wisdom ( Proverbs 1), properties of wisdom and good fruits and its consequences for human life ( Proverbs 2), and private discoveries of wisdom in relation to God and neighbors ( Proverbs 3); in the second section ( Proverbs 4-6) more often and in more detail sets forth the motives for gaining wisdom and the requirements it presents to man (. part of the book is made up of the parables of Solomon, which were collected and written into the book by the friends of Hezekiah, the king of Judah ( Proverbs 25-29); it is dominated by political parables (about the king and his government and the like) and practical (in relation to civil and public life). The book's conclusion consists of two additions to Solomon's parables ( Proverbs 30-31): a) the parable of a certain Agur, in a very artificial and intricate form that teaches true wisdom and its implementation ( Proverbs 30); and b) the instructions of the mother of Lemuel the king ( Proverbs 31: 1-9) and praise to a virtuous wife ( Proverbs 31: 10-31).

A) For a general introduction to the book of Proverbs, see the “Review of the Book of Proverbs of Solomon” in the synopsis of St. Athanasius the Great of Alexandria(Christ. Read. 1841, part 4, p. 355 ff.) And St. John Chrysostom(Conversations on various passages of Holy Scripture, Russian translation. SPb., 1861, p. 537 ff.); extraction of patristic material about the book of Proverbs can be read in the book. prof. A. A. Olesnitsky. Information from the works of St. oo. and teaches. churches... SPb., 1894, p. 67 et seq.). Scholarly research on the Book of Proverbs - Russians: 1) the same prof. A. A. Olesnitsky... The Book of Proverbs of the Solomonovs and its latest critics (Trudy Kievsk. Spiritual. Academy 1883, №№ 11-12); 2) Bishop Michael. Bible Science. Old Testament Teaching Books... Tula, 1900, p. 86 ff; and 3) Prof. P. A. Yungerov. The origin of the book of Proverbs(Orthodox interlocutor, 1906, October, p. 161 et seq.). - B) study guides: Kh. M. Ordy († bishop Irenaeus), Kiev, 1871; D. Afanasyeva, Stavropol, 1888, and others. Deserves the attention of Russian. translation (from Hebrew) of the book. Job made by Archim. Makariy (Glukharev) M. 1861. Interpretation for most of the book. The parable was presented by the late Reverend. Bishop Vissarion (Nechaev) in his " Interpretation on paremias", Vol. II (ed. 2, St. Petersburg, 1894). From foreign commentaries on the book of Proverbs we will name: J. Mercerius (Genf. 1573), F. Umbreit [Umbreit] (Heidilberg. 1826), E. Berteau (Leipzig. 1847), F. Hitzig (Zürich 1858), F. Keil- Delitzsch (1873), H. Ewald (1867), J. Lange - O. Zöckler (1867), the latest: W. Frankenberg (in Nowack's Handkommentar) (Götting, 1898). , for example, in the midrasch of this book, see Der Midrasch Mischle, Übertr. v. A. Wünsche. Leipz. 1885, in part in D. Jsraelitische Bibel, III (1859) v. L. Philippson.

See "Understanding the Bible."

The third section of the Old Testament sacred books is made up of the "teaching" books in the Greco-Slavic Bible, of which five - Job, the Psalter, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs are recognized as canonical, and two - the Wisdom of Solomon and the Wisdom of Jesus the son of Sirach The modern order of teaching books in the Greco-Slavic Bible is somewhat different from the ancient one. It is in the Sinai Codex that they are arranged in this form: Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, Job; in the Vatican list for the book. The Song of Songs follows Job and further the Wisdom of Solomon and Sirach. non-canonical. In contrast to this, in the Hebrew Bible, the last two, as well as all non-canonical ones in general, are not at all available, the first five do not bear the name "teaching", do not form a special section either, but together with the books: Ruth, Lamentations of Jeremiah, Esther, Daniel, Ezra Nehemiah, the first and second Chronicles, are counted among the so-called "ketubim", "hagiographers", - "holy scriptures." The name “ketubim”, which became the technical designation of the third part of Scripture among the Talmudic rabbis, was replaced in antiquity by others, indicating the teaching nature of its constituent works. So, Josephus Flavius's modern teaching books, besides Job, are known under the name “ other books containing hymns to God and the rules of life for people"(Against Appio I, 4); Philo calls them "hymns and other books by which knowledge and piety are built and perfected" (On the contemplative life), and the author of the 2nd Maccabean book - " τὰ του̃ Δαυιδ καὶ ἐπιστολὰς βασιλέων περὶ ἀναθεμάτων "-" the books of David and the letters of the kings about the offerings "(2:13). The name “τὰ του̃ Δαυιδ” is identical with the Gospel title of the teaching books of the psalms ”(“ it is fitting for all those written in the law of Moses to die and the prophet and psalms about me ”; Luke 24:44), and this last, according to Gefernik's testimony, took place among the rabbis. Among the fathers and teachers of the church, who, according to the LXX translation, allocate teaching books to a special section, they also do not bear their modern name, but are known as "poetical". So they call them Cyril of Jerusalem(4th offensive word), Gregory the Theologian(Σύταγμα. Ράκκη, IV, p. 363), Amphilochius of Iconium(Ibid. P. 365), Epiphanius of Cyprus and John Damascene ( An Accurate Statement of the Orthodox Faith... IV, 17). However, already Leonty Byzantine(VI century) calls them "teaching" - "παραινετικά" (De Sectis, actio II. Migne. T. 86, p. 1204).

Given the didactic nature of the entire Holy Scripture, the assimilation of only some of the books of the name "teaching" indicates that they were written with the special purpose of teaching, enlightening, showing how one should think about a certain subject, how it should be understood. This goal, as applied to religious and moral truths, is indeed pursued by teaching books. Their view, the main point of view on the teaching of faith and piety is the same as in the law; its peculiarity lies in the desire to bring the divinely revealed truth to the understanding of man, to bring him with the help of various considerations to the consciousness that it should be represented exactly this way and not otherwise. by the conviction of the one to whom it is given, who thought and reflected about it, it is expressed as truth not only because it is revealed in the law, as truth, but also because it completely agrees with the thought of a person, has already become, as it were, his own property, his own thought ... By bringing the revealed truths closer to human understanding, teaching books, indeed, "improve consciousness and piety." And as for examples of such coverage of them, they are primarily observed in the book. Job. Its main position, the question of the relationship of God's truth to human truth, is interpreted by the author from the point of view of its acceptability for human consciousness. Initially doubting divine justice, Job finds himself, as a result of conversations, believing in the inflexibility of divine truth. Objective position: "God is just" is raised to the degree of personal subjective conviction. The book is distinguished by a similar character. Ecclesiastes. Its purpose is to instill in man the fear of God ( Job 12:13), encourage them to keep the commandments of God. The means for this is, on the one hand, the explanation of the position that everything that distracts a person from God, leading to His oblivion, - various worldly goods do not constitute true happiness for a person, and therefore one should not indulge in them, and on the other, the disclosure of that truth that keeping the commandments gives him real good, since it leads to the bliss after death given for a good life - this everlasting good. Likewise, and Prince. The parable contains reflections on the foundations of overt religion, law and theocracy and their influence on the formation of the mental, moral and civic life of Israel. The result of this reflection is the position that only the fear of the Lord and the knowledge of the Holy One constitute true, calming mind and heart, wisdom. And since various rules of religious and moral activity serve as an expression of this kind of wisdom, they are based on the conviction in the agreement of frank truth with the requirements of the human spirit.

Revealing the divinely revealed truth from the side of its agreement with the understanding of man, teaching books are indicators of the spiritual development of the Jewish people under the leadership of the law. In the person of his best representatives, he was not only a passive creature in relation to the revealed truths, but more or less pondered them, assimilated them, that is, brought them into agreement with their inner convictions and beliefs. Plunging his heart and thought into the realm of revelation, he either represented the objects of his contemplation in learning, for the development of religious knowledge and the advancement of the purity of morality required by the law, as we see in the book. Job, Ecclesiastes, Proverbs and some psalms (78, 104, 105, etc.), or noted, expressed the impression that this contemplation made on his heart, in the lyrical form of religious feelings and heartfelt reflections (Psalms). The fruit of the God-enlightened reflection on the divine revelation given to the Jewish people in the law, teaching books are predominantly subjective in nature, in contrast to the objective presentation of the truths of faith and piety in the law and the objective description of the life of the Jewish people in history books. Another difference between teaching books is their poetic form with its characteristic feature - parallelism, defined by researchers of Jewish poetry as the ratio of one verse to another. This is a kind of rhyme of thought, the symmetry of an idea, usually expressed two or sometimes three times in different terms, sometimes synonymous, sometimes opposite. In accordance with the different relationship of verses, parallelism is synonymous, antithetical, synthetic and rhyme. The first kind of parallelism occurs when parallel members correspond to each other, expressing the same meaning in equivalent terms. Examples of such parallelism are Ps 113- “When Israel left Egypt, the house of Jacob (from among) a foreign nation, Judas became His holiness, Israel was His possession. The sea saw it and ran, Jordan returned back, mountains jumped like sheep, and hills like lambs. " Antithetic parallelism consists in the correspondence of two members to each other through the opposite of expressions or feelings. “Sincere are reproaches from a lover, and false are the kisses of a hater. A well-fed soul tramples on a honeycomb, but a hungry soul all bitter is sweet ”( Proverbs 27: 6-7). “Some in chariots, others in horses, but we boast in the name of our Lord our God. They hesitated and fell, but we got up and stand straight ”( Ps 19: 8-9). Parallelism is synthetic when it consists only in the similarity of construction or measure: words do not correspond to words and members of a phrase to members of a phrase, as equivalent or opposite in meaning, but the turnover and form are the same; subject corresponds to subject, verb to verb, adjective to adjective, and the size is the same. “The law of the Lord is perfect, it strengthens the soul; the revelation of the Lord is true, makes wise the simple; the commands of the Lord are righteous, gladden the heart; the fear of the Lord is pure, enlightens the eyes "( Ps 18). Parallelism is, finally, sometimes just apparent and consists only in a certain analogy of construction or in the development of thought in two verses. In these cases, it is purely rhyming and lends itself to endless combinations. Each member of parallelism in Jewish poetry composes a verse consisting of a combination of iambs and trochees, and the most common verse of the Jews is heptasillabic, or seven syllables. Poems of this type are written in the book. Job ( Job 3: 1-42: 6), the whole book of Proverbs and most of the psalms. There are also verses of four, five, six and nine syllables, sometimes alternating with verses of various sizes. Each verse is, in turn, a part of the stanza, the essential property of which is that it contains a single, or main, thought, the full disclosure of which is given in the aggregate of its constituent verses. However, in some cases, two different thoughts are combined in one stanza, then one and the same thought develops and continues beyond this limit.

We don't often hear about 31 parables about men, but there is relevance in it for them, who have ears to hear. Sometimes, when we are familiar with a passage from Scripture, indifference and arrogance hover next to us. But we must not let these two obsessive hucksters steal our Bible understanding and present Proverbs 31 as a chapter that only addresses women and their ministry.

And we need to reject the perception of Proverbs 31 as the 31st point of the system of criteria for evaluating a potential spouse. Paul reminds us that all Scripture is beneficial to all believers, equipping us for all good works for the glory of God (2 Tim. 3: 16-17). Thus, Proverbs 31 bears fruit for all believers. So what is he like, the Proverbs 31 man? He has three qualities.

Three qualities of a Proverbs 31 man:

1. He values ​​his wife as a treasure.

Prov 31:10: “Who will find a virtuous wife? its price is higher than pearls "

This wise husband does indeed compare his wife with other women and even with rare gems, but every time he discovers the same result: she is amazing. "You have surpassed them all" he proclaims. (Prov 31:29). When he clearly sees how amazing his wife is, he sees her just like God. She is precious.

A wise husband never humiliates his wife, does not offend her, does not make an object for jokes. After all, she is too precious for cheap ridicule. A husband who fears the Lord believes and lives in accordance with the fact that his wife is much more valuable than a truck filled with diamonds. She is a real rarity, and therefore her value is exalted above all things that moth and rust will destroy. A man must be in love with his wife. It's much more interesting than satellite TV, touchdowns, or a beautiful golf shot.

Men who find more joy in digging in the garage, tinkering with their hobbies, hanging out with friends, working late into the night than being with the wife of their youth show that their heart's value system is defective.

Wise is the man who sees his wife as a living and breathing testimony of God's mercy to him. Prov 18:22: "Whoever has found a good wife has found good and received grace from the Lord." Husbands who want to live for the glory of Christ must ask themselves a few critical questions: Is my wife precious to me? Does she feel how much I love her? Does she understand how dear she is to me because, after God himself, it is her that I love most of all? Is it obvious?

2. The man from parable 31 creates conditions for prosperity.

Proverbs 31:11: "the heart of her husband is sure of her, and he will not be left without profit"

What is undoubtedly in 31 parables is how fertile, productive and active this woman is. She buys fields, makes goods for the market, takes care of everyone in the house. She is so adventurous because her husband is not a dictator. There is no room for a messiah complex in marriage.

This husband trusts his wife; he does not suspect her, does not treat her ideas cynically. A wise man supports, encourages and does not control her in every little thing. There is a difference between gospel leadership and carnal control. A man cannot keep everything under his personal control if he lives with Christ crucified.

The woman from parable 31 goes and buys fields without her husband. I picture this lovely couple talking before starting their day: “Darling, I think I'll go look at some fields today, maybe even buy one. What do you think about this?" and how he answers: “Forward, dear. I trust you."

I heard about a man who insisted that he had to approve a shopping list for a week before his wife went to the store. This is ridiculous. Understandably, discuss what you need to buy for the week and discuss the budget, but let her go about her business. Even as I type these lines, my wife in another room is choosing a new dishwasher and stove for the kitchen, and I do not know which one she will choose. I trust her. She knows our budget and the needs of our family. Go ahead honey.

3. The man from 31 parables is the inspirer.

Proverbs 31: 28-29: "The children get up and bless her, - the husband, and praises her:" There were many virtuous wives, but you surpassed them all. "

This is an amazing house. It is a safe environment, a place of inspiration, an atmosphere of love. There is a gospel atmosphere in this house. Children who have not learned the secret paths of selfishness from adults grow up and inspire their mother. What does the husband do? He joins in the veneration of his precious chosen one. “There are many beautiful women in the world, dear, but you are the best. How good you are! " It is real, it is sincere, and it is godly.

The man from the 31 parables is looking for how to inspire his wife, works to surpass her in reverence (Rom. 12:10). No one has ever felt overly respected, and a wise husband surrounds his wife with encouragement and gratitude, who is worthy of it. I doubt that most husbands - if not most believers - are inclined to encourage others. Let's change that today (1 Thess. 5:11).

Don't miss the fun!

When was the last time you did something spontaneous, exercising some kind of affectionate act to encourage your wife? A wise husband seeks opportunities to affirm, thank, and honor his precious wife. He, like the Messiah, nourishes and cherishes his bride (Eph. 5:29)

The mega-grace that we receive in the Gospel gives us strength and vision and heart to edify one another (Eph. 4:29). Brothers, it is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us (Gal. 2:20). After all, the Proverbs 31 man is alive and well in heaven, guiding us, guiding us, empowering us, and making us his image. The Proverbs 31 man isn't just a graceful way to portray a husband - it's the way of Christ. He is happy about his bride. He calls us, walks with us, and fills us with His Spirit. Jesus Christ is the man of Proverbs 31 in the flesh. Let's draw close to Him, and He will draw close to us, and then we and our homes will never be the same.

Every time I read the book of Proverbs 31, I felt thrilled. I so wanted to understand what it meant then, many centuries ago, to be this woman ... And which one? And what does that mean today? One day, I began to pray and think and seek understanding about this passage ...

Proverbs 31: 10-31 A Hymn to a Woman ...
10 Who will find a virtuous wife? its price is higher than pearls;
11 The heart of her husband is confident in her, and he will not be without profit;
12 She repays him good, and not evil, all the days of her life.
13 She gets wool and flax, and willingly works with her own hands.
14 She, like merchant ships, gets her bread from afar.
15 She rises still at night, and distributes food in her house and items for her maids.
16 She thinks about the field, and gets it; from the fruit of his hands he plants a vineyard.
17 She girdles her loins with strength, and strengthens her arms.
18 She feels that her occupation is good, and her lamp does not go out at night.
19 She stretches out her hands to the spinning wheel, and her fingers take hold of the spindle.
20 She opens her hand to the poor, and gives her hand to the needy.
21 She is not afraid of the cold for her family, because her whole family is dressed in double clothes.
22 She makes carpets for herself; fine linen and purple are her clothes.
23 Her husband is known at the gate, when he sits with the elders of the earth.
24 She makes bedspreads and sells and delivers belts to the Phoenician merchants.
25 Strength and beauty are her clothes, and she cheerfully looks at the future.
26 She opens her mouth with wisdom, and gentle instruction is on her tongue.
27 She oversees the household in her house and does not eat the bread of idleness.
28 The children get up and bless her; the husband praises her:
29 "There were many virtuous wives, but you surpassed all of them."
30 Preciousness is deceiving and beauty is vain; but a woman who fears the Lord is worthy of praise.
31 Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let them glorify her at the gate of her works.

Those who have been reading the Bible for some time have known this passage from the Old Testament. The phrase “woman from Proverbs 31 chapter” has already become stable for us…. But who is she - this woman? How can we understand what the author is so glorifying? What makes it special?

In the Hebrew original, this passage is an acrostic, that is, each next line begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet in order. You can find similar examples in the book of Psalms.
Most likely, these words are not a story about any particular woman. However, some rabbis believe that this passage praises Sarah.

In ancient Israel, women represented the most unprotected stratum of society, so our amazing caring God, with many commandments, reminded his men how to take care of women, these weak vessels. About Us.
The choice of a wife was very important at that time. The Jew in everything depended on his wife - not only he, but also the next generation - his children. The man had his own business, he did not do housework or cooking, except in special cases - remember Jacob and Esau. And a woman, on the contrary, had to master not only women's business affairs, but also had to be ready to take on the functions of her husband when he went to war. And it so happened that the husband never returned, and then - if there was no patron relative - she had to perform two duties: female and male, until the older sons grew up ... The further Israel retreated from God, the less chance there was to find a relative - patron saint, because all children born of this union had to continue the family of a deceased man, bear the name of the deceased husband of the mother and receive his inheritance, and not be considered the sons of their blood father.
In the Old Testament we read that it was a special blessing to have sons, because the daughter would have to be given to someone else's house, but the son - not only stayed with his father and mother, he also brought his wife to the house. When the groom said that he was going to prepare a place to live for himself and his young wife, it was not about buying a new plot and building a new house! No, in the promised land there were limited land plots, originally divided between the tribes of Israel under Joshua. The groom most often made an extension to his parents' house. Let's look at the meaning of some of the words in the first verse of this hymn and think a little about the role of women in ancient Israel. I am sure that we will be able to find a lot of useful and interesting things for ourselves.
10 Who will find virtuous wife? … ..
Virtuous? What is this word? How to understand it?
Strong's Bible Dictionary gives this translation:
חיל [hail] 1. strength, power, ability;
2. wealth, property;
3. dignity, nobility;
4. courage, bravery, valor;
5. army, horde.
In order to better know the meaning of a word, you need to determine in what context it is used. especially when we want to understand what meaning was put into this word by people who wrote about it almost 2,700 years ago!
So, our word, which is used in the original, is here translated as "virtuous", but elsewhere in the Old Testament it is used not only in this sense:
In total, this word and its roots with it are found 228 times in the Old Testament. Quite often - isn't it? And only in two cases do they refer to women! (I will give the corresponding words in Russian from the Bible in the synodal translation in brackets)
When it comes to the woman in the book of Proverbs -
Prov 12: 4 Hail (The Virtuous) a wife is a crown for her husband; but shameful is like rot in his bones.
Prov 31:10 Who will find hail (virtuous) wife? its price is higher than pearls;
Prov 31:29 „there were many wives hail (virtuous), but you have surpassed all of them. "
And also when Boaz addresses Ruth:
Ruth 3:11 So, my daughter, do not be afraid, I will do to you everything that you have said; for at all the gates of my people they know that you are a woman hail(virtuous);
Interestingly, a little higher is the word used to describe Boaz himself:
Ruth 2: 1 Naomi had a relative by her husband, a man of great hail(noble), of the tribe of Elimelech, his name is Boaz.
It is used as a characteristic of several more personalities known to us:
Father of the future first king of Israel:
1 Samuel 9: 1 There was one of the sons of Benjamin, his name was Kis, the son of Abiel, the son of Tseron, the son of Behorath, the son of Athi, the son of a certain Benjamite, a man hail (noble) .
The future second king of Israel - David:
1Ki 16:18 Then one of his servants said, Behold, I saw Jesse's son of Bethlehem, who knew how to play, a man hail (brave) and warlike, and prudent in speech and visible by himself, and the Lord is with him.
The infamous Gideon from the small tribe of Benjamin ..
Judgment 6:12 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him (to Gideon) and said to him: The Lord is with you, hail (husband strong)!
And even - in relation to God and the power that He gives:
Hab. 3:19 Lord God– hail (strength) mine: He will make my feet like those of a deer and to my heights he will raise me!
It seems to me that already at this stage, such a description of a woman begins to arouse interest. It's only the beginning!
The same word is used as a noun when it comes to strength:
2Ki.22: 33 God Girdles Me hail (by force), arranges for me the right path;
2 Kings 22:40 You gird me hail (by force) for war, and you cast down those who rise up against me before me;
Num 24:18 Edom will be ruled, Seir will be ruled by his enemies, and Israel will show hail (force) my!
Psalm 60:12 (59-14) With God we will show hail (force) He will overthrow our enemies.
Psalm 119: 16 (117-16) The right hand of the Lord is high, the right hand of the Lord works hail (force)!

Many times it is used in the form of a noun and is translated as "army", with your permission I will not give these cases. There are about 100 different places in the Scriptures.
Another frequent reference is “capable, brave, courageous”
Moreover, it is used both in relation to someone about whom we know that God favors him, and about those who were enemies of God's people - that is, this characteristic in itself does not bear any color. The quality of "brave" "strong" "capable" can describe both good and bad.
Joshua 10: 7 Jesus went out of Gilgal himself, and with him all the people capable of war, and all the men hail (brave).
Judgment 3:29 And at that time they killed about ten thousand Moabites, all healthy and hail (strong) ,and nobody ran away.
When God speaks to the leaders of the people or the military leaders whom He has chosen to lead His people to victory, He gives the following instructions:
Gen 47: 6 the land of Egypt is before you; make thy father and thy brothers dwell in the best place of the land; let them live in the land of Goshen; and if you know what is between them hail (capable) people, put them overseers of my cattle.
Moses' father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, advises about the same people, so that they lighten the burden of leadership over the people for Moses.
Ex 18:21, behold, of all the people of the people hail (capable) those who fear God, truthful people, who hate greed, and set them over him as chiefs of thousands, chiefs of hundreds, chiefs of fifty and chiefs of ten;
In general, if we talk about what kind of people the leaders of the Israeli people chose for important tasks, then these were people who could be characterized by this very word:
Joshua 8: 3 Jesus and all the people capable of war stood up to go to Ai, and Jesus chose thirty thousand people hail (brave) and sent them at night,
Judgment 18: 2 And the sons of Dan sent out of their seed five men, men hail (strong), from Zorah and Estaol, to examine the land and recognize it, and they said to them: Go, recognize the land. They came to Mount Ephraim to the house of Micah and spent the night there.
1 Samuel 14:52 And there was a bitter war against the Philistines during all the time of Saul. And when Saul saw any man strong and hail (militant), took him to him.
3Ki 1:52 And Solomon said, If he be a man hail (honest), then not a single hair of his will fall to the ground; if guile is found in him, he will die.
1 Chronicles 5:24 And these are the heads of their families: Ether, Ishii, Eliel, Azriel, Jeremiah, Godavia, and Jagdiel, men hail (powerful) eminent men, heads of their families.
1 Chronicles 12: 8 And from the Gadites they went over to David into the fortification, into the wilderness, the people hail (courageous), warlike, armed with a shield and a spear; the faces of lions are their faces, and they are swift as chamois on the mountains.
Such is the information for thought for us.

Imagine this woman being characterized by such a unique word! The word used to refer to a woman outside the Book of Proverbs only once! Moreover, the book of Proverbs was written by King Solomon, who was the great-grandson of Ruth!
Looking at Ruth, we can understand what this character is. Indeed, in other cases, all we learn about this characteristic is that, in addition to Ruth and the wife from the parables, this word was used to describe the brave, courageous, powerful, strong MEN who were able to take responsibility for themselves, who were chosen for certain tasks. This word describes strength!
Definitely, is this a weak woman? She works day and night, making plans, thinking up profitable acquisitions for the family, managing her household, while the husband can devote himself to solving the spiritual problems of his community ...
(from right to left:) אשת חיל מי ימצא
Ayses hail mi emtsu? - Who will find a strong woman?

So! Who will find it? Who is not afraid to lead a strong woman? Worthy, courageous, brave, virtuous ... God will immensely bless such a daredevil. She will not only be able to follow him in silence or in fear, but she will be able to become a helper in the image and likeness of the One about whom David spoke - the Lord is my helper (Ezer)!
We can be strong at times with our strength, but if we want to follow Ruth's example, we need to learn to take strength from God.
Ruth. There is famine in the home country of her husband and his father. Her father-in-law does not want to submit to God and takes the family away to look for a better land, fertile fields, although all that God wants them to seek is Him, the Lord ... Imagine a woman who married a weak man. I'm not saying that her husband was generally a weak person, but he was definitely weak in faith - he chose a wife not from the people of Israel. This already says something.
In a foreign land, all the men of their family die. Ruth learns about God from Naomi. Naomi is another weak-minded woman who is trying to send her daughters-in-law to Moab. Orpah (the second daughter-in-law) leaves ... And only the perseverance of Ruth herself brings her to the people of God. It’s like you would refuse to invite a relative to a meeting where you can learn about Christ, but he or she decided to persecute you, so both of you reached the hall where the sermon was taking place ... Even in the tenth part, this does not reflect the position of Ruth.
Next, Ruth takes care of Naomi. Naomi is clearly suffering - she even decided to change her name from Pleasant (Naomi) to Bitter (Mara). She returns home, to her native land, where she once gave birth to sons - it was an honor! where she was, perhaps, was happy with her husband ... She is returning ... Look at the reputation of Ruth, who had every chance to be rejected, to remain a stranger, because they looked at her askance, but she worked and worked ... it took a lot of strength.

Ruth is so a daughter-in-law who is better than seven sons for a mother-in-law!- say Naomi among the people! A woman, strong, capable, worthy, who is worth seven men (remember, it was in sons, in men that was the main wealth of the Jewish family of the Old Testament). And each of us can become just such a woman if we take power from God. If we submit to Him. Let us decide to seek Him. We will be strong in His power; we will be courageous.

Ruth went through suffering: she became part of a family of strangers, she lost her husband. She could have chosen an easier way - to get married again in her native land, because she is still young, but she is looking for God. She does not know the customs of Israel, so she obeys her mother-in-law in everything and as a result finds mercy from the Lord. Not only as a Moabite woman joining God's people, but as a woman worthy of emulation. Moreover, she becomes the progenitor (grandmother) of King David, her great-grandson is Solomon, but the most wonderful thing is that she is mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus Christ our Lord.
A modern translation of the Biblical texts offers us this verse as follows:
Very hard to find perfect woman ...
Indeed, it is difficult. But it’s even more difficult to be such a woman. I want to support all women. The woman from Proverbs 31 is the one who has a meek word of wisdom on her lips, but not only! This is a woman who is clothed with strength and dignity. Who has faith and joyfully meets every new day of her life, because her hope is in God. She is strong, brave, courageous and worthy, and the price such women are above pearls.

Photo:millstones of the first century, Capernaum, Israel, 2008; at the Temple Wall, Jerusalem, Israel, 2098

• Noted

I enjoy the world from the Creator and His generous gifts, looking for answers to questions about life, soul, fullness and love. Why am I writing? Who am I writing for? First of all, because I cannot do otherwise, this is how I breathe out - with a text, a song, an image ... I breathe out all that Love that I have been given to breathe in every day ... this is my fullness of life

28.12.2013

Matthew Henry

Interpretation of the books of the Old Testament. Proverbs

CHAPTER 31

Some believe that this chapter was added to the parables of Solomon because it was written by the same author, considering King Lemuel to be King Solomon; others, since it has the same essence, although it was written by a different author named Lemuel. But be that as it may, it is a prophecy, and, therefore, was written by Lemuel at the direction of God and the inspiration sent from above; he clothed her in the form in which she is presented, while his mother dictated her content. Sounds here

(I.) An admonition to Lemuel, the young prince, to beware of the sins to which he will be tempted, and to fulfill the duties to which he is called (vv. 1-9).

(II) A description of a virtuous woman, especially referring to the mother and mistress of the family, which Lemuel's mother writes not as a praise of herself, although there is no doubt that this is her true portrait, but either as an instruction to her daughters, as the previous verses were an appeal to her son, or as an instruction to a son in choosing a wife. She should be chaste and modest, diligent and thrifty, diligent for her husband, attentive to her family, reasonable in conversation and raising children, and most importantly, diligently doing her duty to God. If he finds such a wife, she will make him happy (vv. 10-31).

Verses 1-9

Many commentators believe that Lemuel is Solomon. This name means "man made for God" or "dedicated to God"; it fits well with the glorious name which was divinely appointed to Solomon (2 Sam. 12:25) —Jedidia, the beloved of the Lord. It is believed that Lemuel is a beautiful, gentle and loving name by which his mother called him, and he valued his mother's strong affection for himself so much that he was not ashamed to call himself that name. Rather, one could conclude that in this parable Solomon tells us the instruction that his mother taught him, as before (Prov. 4: 4) - what his father taught him. But some believe (and this connection is not impossible) that Lemuel was a prince of some neighboring country, whose mother was a daughter of Israel, possibly from the house of David, and taught him these good lessons. Note:

(1) It is the duty of mothers, like fathers, to instruct their children about what is good, so that they can do right, and what is evil, so that they avoid it. This should be done when they are young and sensitive and most of the time are under the supervision of their mother, and she has the opportunity to soften and shape their mind and not let it slip away.

(2) Even kings need guidance; the greatest husband is less than the smallest ordinance of God.

(3.) Those who have reached maturity should often recall the good instruction they received when they were still children for their own warning, the edification of others, and the glory of those who taught them in their youth.

In the teachings of this mother (queen), note:

I. The admonition of the young prince, with the help of which she takes possession of him, arouses his interest and awakens his attention to what is going to say (v. 2): “What, my son? What should I tell you? " She speaks like a person pondering what advice to give him and what words to choose to convince him - so she worries about his well-being! Or her words can be understood: "What are you doing?" This appears to be an accusatory question. When he was young, she noticed that he was too passionate about women and wine, and therefore felt it necessary to reprimand him and speak harshly. “What, my son! Are you going to lead a similar lifestyle? Didn't I teach you anything better? I must denounce you, denounce you severely, and you must correctly perceive my words, for

(1) You came from me, you are the son of my womb, and therefore I say, because I have the power and feelings of a parent, and I cannot be suspected of ill will. You are a part of me. I carried you with sorrow, and in response to all the suffering that I experienced with you, I only need one thing: that you are wise and good - and then I will be rewarded enough.

(2) You are dedicated to my God; you are the son of my vows, the son for whom I prayed to God that He would give you to me, and then promised to return to Him. So I did (just as Samuel was the son of Anna's vows). I often prayed to God that He would give you grace as my son (Ps. 71: 1), and how could a son, for whom so much prayed, fail? Can all my hopes about you fail to come true? " Our children, consecrated by baptism to God, with whom we are in the covenant and to whom we ourselves are consecrated, may well be called the children of our vows; it can be a good petition with which we turn to God in prayer for them, as well as a good conversion during the teaching that we present to them. We can say that they are baptized, children of our vows, and that they endanger themselves if they break the bonds that they held in infancy.

II. She warns him against two destructive sins - the sin of uncleanness and drunkenness, which will undoubtedly destroy him if he begins to indulge them.

1. Against impurity (v. 3): "Give not your strength to women - to other people's wives." He should not be soft and effeminate and spend with women the time that should be spent on acquiring knowledge and settling a business, just as he should not waste his mind (which is the strength of the soul) and the time that should be devoted to state affairs on courting and courtesy. ... “Avoid especially fornication, adultery and lusts, which waste bodily strength and bring dangerous diseases. Do not give your ways, your feelings and life to the destroyers of kings, who destroyed many and shook even the kingdom of David himself (the story of Uriah). Let the suffering of others serve as a warning to you. " Such behavior dishonors kings and makes them base. Are those who are themselves slaves to their own lusts fit to rule over others? This makes them unfit for responsible affairs and fills the royal court with the worst and lowest animals. Kings, by subjecting themselves to this kind of temptation, thereby cater to their own whims and take responsibility for this sin, and therefore they must double their guard; and if they want to protect their people from an unclean spirit, then they themselves must be an example of perfection. Less significant people should also apply this to themselves. No one should give their strength to the one who destroys souls. 2. Against drunkenness (v. 4.5). He should not drink wine and strong drink excessively and sit drunk, as in the days of our king, when the princes were heated to illness with wine (Hos. 7: 5). Whatever temptation he might be from the wonderful quality of the wine or the charm of the company, he must give it up and be sober when he thinks about it.

(1.) That it is indecent for a king to be a drunkard. While some may call it social activity and entertainment, it is not for kings, Lemuel, not for kings! Such freedom is not for them, since it degrades their honor and disgraces their crown, making the head that wears it into disarray. Something that temporarily deprives them of their human appearance is doing them a disservice. Can we then say, "They are gods"? no, they are worse than creatures that perish. All Christians are made kings and priests of God and should be so. Not Christians, not Christians drink wine; in doing so, they demean their dignity; such behavior is not befitting of the heirs of the kingdom and of the spiritual priests (Lev. 10: 9).

(2) About the bad consequences of this (v. 5): “So that when they get drunk, they do not lose their mind and memory, so that they do not forget the law according to which they must govern; and instead of using their power to do good, they did not harm, lest the judgments of all the oppressed be transformed and added to them suffering. In the Book of Isaiah, there is a sad complaint about priests and prophets who stagger from wine and go astray from strong drink (Is 28: 7). In the case of kings, the result is just as bad, for when they are drunk or intoxicated with the love of wine, they cannot help but pervert the judgment. Judges must have clear heads, which is impossible for those who often experience dizziness and are unable to clearly judge the most common things.

III. To the advice to do good, which she gives him.

1. He should use his wealth for good. Great men should not think that they have abundance just to use it to take care of the flesh and indulge its lusts, so that they can more freely satisfy their inclinations. No, we must use him to help the grieved (v. 6, 7). “You have wine or strong drink at your disposal; so instead of doing harm to yourself, do good to others; may it be received by those who need it. " Those who have enough should not only give bread to the hungry and water to the thirsty, but give strong drink to the one who perishes because of illness or pain, and wine to the grieving or grieved soul, for it is intended to cheer and revive the spirit so that the heart rejoices (as they do when in this there is a need), and not to grieve and oppress the spirit (as happens when this is not necessary). We must deny ourselves sensual pleasures in order to be able to help others in need, and rejoice at seeing our surplus and delicacies given to those for whom they will truly be a great favor, and not leave them at our own disposal, causing real harm to ourselves. The perishing must drink rationally, and then it will be a means to revive their extinguished spirit; they will forget their poverty for a while and will no longer remember their suffering, so it will be easier for them to bear their burden. The Jews say that these words are the basis of the custom of giving stupefying wine to condemned prisoners going to execution, as was the case with our Savior. But the purpose of this verse is to show that wine is a healing agent and therefore should be used when needed, not for fun; and it should be used by those who need medicine, like Timothy, who was advised to drink a little wine, but only for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments (1 Timothy 5:23). 2. Thanks to his strength, knowledge and for the sake of his own interests, he must do good deeds, with compassion, courage and attention to administer justice (Article 8.9).

(1.) He himself must examine the affairs of his subjects who are in the courts, investigate the actions of judges and executors in order to support those who are doing their duty rightly, and remove those who are careless or disagreeable.

(2) In all the questions presented to him, he must judge with truth and without fear in the face of a person boldly pass a just judgment: "Open your mouth, which symbolizes the freedom of speech, which should be enjoyed by rulers and judges when passing judgment." Some believe that only wise people should be encouraged to open their mouths, since the mouth of a fool is always open and full of words.

(3) In a special way, he should consider himself the patron of trampled innocence. Perhaps the lower authorities do not have enough jealousy and tenderness to defend the affairs of the poor and the beggar; therefore the king himself must intervene and act as a lawyer

Those who were unfairly sentenced to death, like Naboth; those sentenced to death in order to satisfy the wickedness of a particular person or party. This is a very suitable situation for the king to intercede in order to protect the innocent blood.

Those against whom unjust acts have been committed in order to deceive themselves into their rights, as they are poor and destitute and cannot stand up for themselves due to lack of money to pay for advice. In such cases, kings should be the protectors of the poor. Especially

Those who are speechless and do not know how to speak in their own defense, either out of fear, or because of weakness, or because of an excessively long speech by the prosecutor or a strong fear of the court. It is noble to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves, who are absent or who lack words or who are too fearful. Our law tells the judge to make recommendations to the prisoner.

Verses 10-31

This description of a virtuous wife shows what kind of wives women should be and what kind of wives husbands should choose. This passage consists of twenty-two verses, each of which begins with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet, like some psalms, suggesting that this passage is not part of the lesson mother Lemuel was taught to him, but simply a poem written by someone else's hand and , perhaps frequently repeated among pious Jews, which, for the sake of ease of reading, was compiled in alphabetical order. Its abbreviated text is found in the New Testament (1 Tim. 2: 9,10; 1 Pet. 3: 1-6), where wives are instructed to follow this description of a virtuous wife; wives should be wise and virtuous, and this is especially emphasized, as it helps to maintain religiosity in families and is passed on to posterity; everyone understands that this will result in wealth and well-being in the home. Whoever wants to prosper must ask for discretion for his wife. Here is presented:

I. General question indicating a search for such (v. 10), where notice

(1) on the person about whom the inquiry is being made: this is a virtuous wife - a strong woman (literally), who, although she is a weak vessel, is strong in wisdom, grace and fear of God; the same word is used to describe the character of virtuous judges (Ex. 18:21). These should be people who are capable, fit for the cause to which they are called, people who are truthful and fearful of God. Then follows: a virtuous wife is a spiritual woman who controls her spirit and knows how to control other people, pious and hardworking, a good helper for her husband. In contrast to this power, we read about the weary heart of an unbridled harlot (Ezek.16:30). A virtuous wife is a determined woman who, upholding good principles, is firm and loyal to them, and who will not be intimidated by the winds and clouds that accompany any part of her duties.

(2) How difficult it is to come across this: "Who will find her?" This implies that virtuous wives are rare, and that many who appear to be so are not; who thought he had found a virtuous wife was deceived - it turned out that it was Leah, and not Rachel, as he had expected. But the one who wants to marry should look for such a wife diligently, with all his questions pay attention to this quality and beware of being seduced by beauty, cheerful character, wealth or origin, good clothes or the ability to dance, for, possessing these qualities, a woman can be unvirtuous, although there are many truly virtuous wives who do not have these advantages.

(3.) The indescribable value of such a wife and the honor that should be given to her by her possessor. He must demonstrate this by his gratitude to God, his kindness and respect for her, and never think that he has done too much for her. Its price is higher than pearls and expensive clothes with which empty women adorn themselves. The less common such virtuous wives are, the more they should be valued.

II. A detailed description of such a wife and her superior qualities.

1. She is very hardworking, striving to earn the appreciation and love of her husband. A godly person will be godly in everything. If a virtuous woman marries, she will be a virtuous wife and will try to please her husband (1 Cor. 7:34). Although she herself is a spiritual woman, her attraction is to her husband: to know his thoughts in order to adjust to him; she will want him to dominate her.

(1) She behaves in such a way that he can completely confide in her. He trusts her chastity, since she does not give the slightest reason to suspect her of dishonesty and does not arouse jealousy. She cannot be called gloomy or withdrawn, but modest and serious; her appearance and behavior are indicative of her virtue; the husband knows about this, and therefore the heart of her husband is confident in her; he is calm and makes her calm. He trusts her behavior and believes that in all companies she will speak and behave prudently and far-sightedly and will not cause any damage or censure to his reputation. He is convinced that she is loyal to his interests, will never betray his plans and has no interests on the side. When he travels abroad on public affairs, he can entrust her with all household chores and be calm, as if he was there himself. A good wife is one who can be trusted, and a good husband is one who leaves affairs to a wife who can manage in his place.

(2) It contributes to his satisfaction and well-being, and therefore he will not be left without a profit; he does not need to be calculating and economical in a foreign country, as those whose wives are proud and wasteful at home. She manages his affairs so well that he is always ahead of others and has so much property that he is not tempted to rob his neighbors. With such a wife, he considers himself so happy that he does not envy the richest people in this world. He does not need their wealth, he has enough with such a wife. Blessed is the couple who experience such satisfaction in each other!

(3.) She considers it her constant task to reward him with good, and is afraid of harming him even through inattention (v. 12). She demonstrates her love to him not by a stupid manifestation of feelings, but by a prudent manifestation of tenderness, adapting to his character, trying not to contradict him, to say good, not bad words, especially when he is in a bad mood, learning to make his life easier and provide what is good for him in sickness and health, visiting him with zeal and tenderness when he is unwell; never, for any good in the world, she will not do anything that will damage his personality, family, property or reputation. This is the concern of all the days of her life: not only at the beginning of her married life, not only from time to time, when she is in a good mood, but constantly; and she does not tire of doing good for him. She rewards him with good, not only all the days of his life, but her own too. If she outlives him, she will continue to repay him with good, taking care of his children, condition, good name and other deeds left after him. We read about the mercy shown not only to the living, but also to the dead (Ruth 2:20).

(4.) She contributes to his good reputation in the world (v. 23): her husband is known at the gate as having a good wife. From his wise advice and reasonable conduct of affairs, it becomes clear that he has a reasonable helper for his soul, through communication with whom he improves himself. His joyful appearance and good mood indicate that he has a good wife at home, for the disposition of those who do not have one becomes embittered. Moreover, judging by his clean and neat clothes, by the fact that all the things around him are decent and beautiful, we can conclude that he has a good wife at home who takes care of his clothes.

2. She is one of those who make an effort in fulfilling her duties and finds pleasure in it. This part of her character is described in particular detail.

(1.) She does not like to sit idle and does not eat the bread of idleness (v. 27). Although she does not need to work for bread (having a fortune to live on), at the same time, she does not eat it idly, because she knows that none of us was sent into this world to be a bum; knows that when we have nothing to do, the devil will soon find something to do with us, and that the one who does not work should not eat. Some eat and drink, because they do not know what to do with themselves, and believe that for aimless visits it is necessary to arrange social events. They eat the bread of idleness, to which she has no inclination, since she does not make such visits and does not arrange idle receptions for idle talk.

(2) She seeks to use all the time so that it is not lost. When the daylight fades, she does not believe that it is time to rest, as those who work in the fields are forced to do (Psalm 103: 23), but now does housework behind closed doors by candlelight, which prolongs the day; her lamp does not go out even at night (v. 18). It is a great mercy to have a lamp to make up for the lack of daylight, and a duty that we can fulfill with this advantage. We're talking about artfully done work that smells like a lamp.

(3.) She rises at night (v. 15) and gives the servants breakfast, so that they can cheerfully go to work at dawn of the day. She is not one of those who waste time playing cards or dancing until midnight, until the morning, and then go to bed until noon. No, the virtuous wife loves her work more than rest or play, she worries to be on the path of her duty every hour of the day; she gets more true joy in distributing food in her house early in the morning than those who won money, especially those who lost it at cards during the night. Those who have a family to take care of should not be too fond of their bed in the morning.

(4) She occupies herself with the work that suits her. This is not an occupation in science or government affairs or agriculture, but a woman’s occupation: “She gets wool and flax where you can buy the best quality and at the best price; she has on hand a considerable amount of both, to weave woolen and linen cloth (v. 13). But she uses all this not only to give work to the poor, which is also very good of her, but she herself willingly works with her own hands; she works with advice or pleasure in her hands (literally). She does the job cheerfully and nimbly, using not only her hands, but her mind as well, and continues to work tirelessly. She stretches out her hands to the spinning wheel or to the spinning machine, and her fingers take hold of the spindle (v. 19); she does not consider this work to be a restriction of her freedom or a humiliation of her dignity or an occupation incompatible with her position. Here the spinning wheel and spindle are mentioned as her glory, while the jewelry of the daughters of Zion was considered their shame (Isa. 2:18 ff.).

(5) She applies all her strength to work and, while working, does not engage in trifles (v. 17): "She girdes her loins with strength and strengthens her muscles." She is engaged not only in sedentary work or the one where fingers skillfully perform the task (there is work that can hardly be distinguished from idleness), but, if the opportunity arises, she does work that requires all her strength, knowing that this is a way to have more.

3. All the work she does is profitable through her prudent management. She doesn't work all night for nothing; no, she feels that her occupation is good (v. 18); she realizes that her work is profitable, and this encourages her to keep working. She understands that she herself can make things better and cheaper than they can be bought; through observation, she comes to the conclusion that the work she is doing gives the best profit, and begins to do it more diligently.

(1.) She prepares all that is necessary and useful for her family (v. 14). Neither the merchant ships nor Solomon's fleet brought in more profits than her occupations. Are they bringing in foreign goods as efficiently as they export their own? She does the same with the fruits of her labors. She provides herself with what her land does not produce, if there is an opportunity for this, exchanging it for her commodity, and thus obtains her bread from afar. This does not mean that she appreciates this product more, since it was brought from afar, but if she needs it, then, no matter how far it is produced, she knows how to get it.

(2) She acquires land by multiplying the estates belonging to the family (v. 16): "She thinks about the field and acquires it." She thinks about the benefits for her family and about the profit that this field will bring to her, and therefore buys it; or, rather, it must be understood as follows: no matter how much she thinks about it, she will never buy it, without first considering whether it is worth her money, whether she can raise such an amount to buy it, whether she has good rights to it will get whether the soil meets the relevant characteristics and whether it has the money at its disposal to pay for it. Many have ruined themselves by buying without thinking, but those who want to buy at a bargain should think before buying. She also plants a vineyard from the fruit of her hands; she does not go into debt in order to save more money, but saves as much as possible from the profits from her household. People should not spend money on excesses until, thanks to God who blessed their hard work, they receive more than expected and can afford it. The fruit of the vineyard will undoubtedly be doubly sweeter when it is the result of honest labor.

(3) She makes her home well and has good clothes for herself and her family (v. 22): "She makes carpets for herself to hang in the rooms, and can use them at her own discretion, since she made them herself." Her own clothes are expensive and beautiful: they are made of fine linen and purple to match her position. Although she is not so frivolous as to devote much time to clothes, making dressing up a favorite pastime and judging herself by clothes, she nevertheless has expensive clothes and puts them on. The elder's clothing worn by her husband is made by her; it looks and wears better than any purchased one. She also has warm clothes for her children and livery for servants. She does not need to be afraid of the cold of the most severe winter, since she and her family are provided with clothing that protects well from the cold, which is the main function of clothing; her whole family is dressed in purple — robust and winter-appropriate clothing, but rich and beautiful at the same time. They are all dressed in double clothes (Russian transl.), That is, they have a change of clothes for winter and summer.

(4) She trades with foreign countries, doing more than is necessary for her and her family, so when her family is well provided for, she sells veils and belts to merchants (Article 24), who take them to Tire, to the international fair. or to another trading city. Families who sell more than they buy are more likely to prosper; likewise, the kingdom flourishes by selling the goods it produces. It is not shameful for those who produce goods of excellent quality, sell excess, trade and send ships by sea.

(5) She puts it aside and looks cheerfully at the future, since she has enough in store for her family, her children have a good inheritance. Those who make efforts in the prime of life will enjoy and rejoice in this in old age, remembering their labors and reaping their fruits.

4. She worries about her family and all her affairs, distributes food in her house (v. 15) - to each of it a part in due time, so that none of the servants has a reason to complain about poor maintenance or a plight. She also gives the lesson (share of work, as well as food) to her maids; all of them should know their business and have their own task. She is good at observing the household in her house (v. 27): she monitors the behavior of the servants in order to control and correct what has been done wrong, to oblige them to behave with dignity and fulfill their duty to God and others, as well as to her, like Job , who removed wickedness far from his tabernacle, and David, who did not allow the wicked to be in his house. She does not interfere with the problems of other families, believing that it is good enough for her to look after her home.

5. She charities the poor (v. 20), since she is disposed not only to acquire, but also to give; she often serves the poor with her own hand, and does so voluntarily, willingly, and generously, opening her outstretched hand. She helps not only her poor neighbors and those living nearby, but reaches out her hand to the needy, who is at a distance, as she is looking for opportunities to do good and communicate, which indicates good housekeeping, as well as about everything else that she does.

6. As someone who knows how to work, she is reasonable and obligatory in all her conversations, and not talkative, picky or quarrelsome. No, she opens her mouth with wisdom; when she speaks, she has a definite goal and achieves it wisely; by her every word you can judge how skillfully she controls herself with the help of the principles of wisdom. She not only assesses herself sensibly, but also gives prudent advice to others; at the same time, she does not usurp power, like a dictator, but speaks with friendly affection and an amiable air: in her language is the law of mercy (English transl.); all her words are governed by this law. The law of love and mercy is written on her heart, but it manifests itself in words; if we are brotherly loving to each other with tenderness, then this will manifest itself in gentle expressions. He is called the law of mercy, as he rules over everyone with whom she communicates. Her wisdom and kindness give commanding authority to everything she says; they command respect and compliance. What power the right words have! In her language, the law of grace, or mercy (read by some), implying the word and law of God, about which she loves to talk with children and servants. She is filled with pious religious conversations and wisely manages them, which shows how her heart is filled with the blessings of another world, while her hands are working for it.

7. Complementing and crowning her character is that she is a wife who fears the Lord (v. 30). She has many wonderful qualities, but she also has the one that is only needed. She is truly pious, in all her actions she is guided by the principles of conscience and respect for God; and these qualities are given more preference than beauty and prettiness, which are deceptive and vain. This is the opinion of wise and pious people, who do not evaluate themselves or others by them. Beauty will not present anyone to God, and it is not some definite indication of wisdom and piety, but deceived many husbands who, according to these characteristics, chose wives. Within a pleasant and beautiful body there may be a wicked tainted soul; moreover, many because of their beauty have experienced temptations that have ruined their virtue, honor, and their precious souls. Even the most outstanding beauty fades and is therefore deceptive and vain. The disease will stain and spoil it in a short time; thousands of accidents can blow away this flower in its prime; age will undoubtedly dry her up, and death and the grave will consume her. The fear of God that reigns in the heart is the beauty of the soul; God delights in such a soul, and in His eyes it is of great value. The fear of God will last forever and will challenge death itself, devouring the beauty of the body, but at the same time will perfect the beauty of the soul.

III. The bliss of this virtuous wife.

1. From her chastity she receives comfort and satisfaction (v. 25): “Strength and beauty are her clothes, which she puts on and which she likes. In it, she appears before the world, introducing herself to him. She likes her own firmness and constancy of reason, her spirit is able to endure many trials and tribulations that even a wise and virtuous woman can face in this world; and these are her clothes, not only for protection, but also for decency. She behaves respectfully with everyone and enjoys it, so she looks cheerfully into the future. As she grows old, she will remember with consolation that in her youth she was not idle and was not useless. On the day of her death, she will be pleased to think that she lived for a good purpose. Moreover, she cheerfully looks into the future and will receive a reward for her piety with a fullness of joy and bliss forever.

2. She is a great blessing to her relatives (v. 28).

(1) The children stand up and take her place, they call her blessed. They say good words to her, and they themselves are her praise. They are ready to give her the highest praise; they pray for her and bless God for having such a good mother. This is a debt that they must give her, and part of the honors that, according to the fifth commandment, should be given to a father and mother, and a good father and a good mother should be given double honors.

(2.) Her husband considers himself fortunate to have such a wife, and takes every opportunity to praise her as the best of women. When a husband and wife give each other worthy praise, this should not be considered indecent, but only a praiseworthy example of conjugal love.

3. She speaks well of all the neighbors, like Ruth, about whom all the people knew that she was a virtuous woman (Ruth 3:11). Virtue will receive its praise (Phil. 4: 8). And for a woman who fears the Lord, praise is from God (Rom. 2:29) and from people. Shown here,

(1.) That her praise would be extraordinary (v. 29): "There were many virtuous wives." Virtuous wives are like gems, but they are not as rare as stated earlier (v. 10). There were many of them, but no one can compare with this one. Who will find one like her? She surpassed all of them. Note, A godly person should strive to surpass others in virtue. Many daughters in the father's house and in the position of an unmarried woman were virtuous, but a good wife, if she is virtuous, is superior to all of them; in her place, she can do more good than they in their own. Or, as some explain this passage, a man cannot have a house with his good daughters as well-equipped as he can with a good wife.

(2.) No one can dispute her praise without conflicting (v. 31). Some are praised more than they deserve, but those who praise her give her out of the fruit of her hands; they give her what she honestly earned and what rightfully belongs to her; she will be treated unjustly if she is not praised. Note, Those are praiseworthy whose fruits of the hands are praiseworthy. The tree is known by its fruits, so if the fruits are good, then the tree can deserve good words in its address. If the children are executive, respect her and lead her as they should, then by doing so they give her from the fruit of her hands; she reaps the benefits of caring for them and believes she has been well repaid. In this way, children should learn to honor their parents and honor their families (1 Timothy 5: 4). But if people are unjust, then deeds will speak for themselves: and they will glorify her at the gate of her deeds openly before people.

She allows herself to be praised for her deeds and does not please people in order to gain their praise. Women who love to be praised are not truly virtuous.

She will be glorified by her deeds; if relatives and neighbors are silent, then her good deeds will glorify her. The widows glorified Serna most of all when they showed them the shirts and dresses she made for the poor (Acts 9:39).

The least that can be expected from neighbors so that they will allow her works to glorify her and not hinder them. Do good and you will receive praise (Rom. 13: 3); and let us not enviously say or do anything to belittle her, but through her, enter into holy rivalry. Let not our lips utter censure against those who have the praise of the truth itself. This closes a mirror for the ladies, which they like to open and with which they dress; and if they do the same, their adornment will be worthy of praise, honor and glory at the appearance of Jesus Christ.

Interpretation of Prov. 31: 6,7 "Give strong drink to the perishing and wine to the grieved soul."

QUESTION FROM NINA
How to understand these texts correctly? They clearly contradict Biblical teaching if taken literally. "Give strong drink to the perishing and wine to the grieved soul; let him drink and forget his poverty and remember no more of his suffering" Proverbs 31: 6-7

Prov. 31: 6 Give strong drink to the perishing and wine to the grieved soul;

Yes, indeed, the text you quoted can be perceived as permission from God to consume alcohol. However, there are many that show the Lord's purely negative attitude towards drinking. As I have written more than once, in answers to and in the book, the Bible cannot contradict itself. That is, God cannot carry the opposite teaching through His different messengers.

If you look closely at this text, it becomes clear that it cannot be understood directly, that is, literally. Think, is it a man when "He drinks and forgets his poverty and remembers no more of his suffering"? Of course not! You can forget about the problem only for a short time by drinking too much alcohol.

But in practice, a person often justifies his desire to drink by the presence of such life circumstances. That is, in reality, alcohol does not help either the rich or the poor, or even those who have serious problems, but on the contrary makes a person's life worse, bringing with it addiction and other serious consequences. This means that God could not give such advice.

But if you remember that a person often justifies his craving for drinking by the desire to forget about problems, everything will fall into place. Then in the parable we can see a completely different meaning. The mother tells her son that he is a serious person burdened with responsibility. Therefore, he cannot drink, even looking for some kind of excuse for himself, in order to sap his mind. Then, with a certain irony and regret, she cites as a negative example of people who, unfortunately, seek comfort and comfort in wine, and not in God.

But in order to convince you of such an interpretation, let's take a closer look at the text of Proverbs 31 from the very beginning.

1 Words of Lemuel the king. The admonition that his mother taught him:

Where does the whole book of Proverbs begin? C instruction from father to son. And it ends - with the instructions of the mother - to the son. Realizing that the book of Proverbs is in general the instruction of God - to us people - to His children, this moment seems important. After all, God represents Himself not only as our Father, as is commonly believed, but also as a caring mother.

Who is King Lemuel? Do we find in the list of the kings of Israel and Judah a king with the name Lemuel? No. But the Bible contains a complete list of kings. So, it matters how the name Lemuel is translated: taught; accustomed; student.

You can check me out by looking at the Internet site with a word-by-word translation of the Bible from the Masoretic original in Hebrew. Website biblezoom.ru

Do you know how the word Ecclesiastes is translated? This is the preacher

Obviously, King Solomon called himself Ecclesiastes the preacher and Lemuel the disciple. There is a lot of evidence for this, besides the fact that there were no kings with such names. In particular, in the 9th verse of the 2nd chapter of Ecclesiastes it is written that Ecclesiastes was the richest king of Israel. And we know that it was Solomon. And also that he is the son of David. So, it is obvious that in both cases the author of the text is Solomon.

It can be seen that in the book of Ecclesiastes Solomon preaches - to share experiences, therefore he calls himself Ecclesiastes a preacher. And in Proverbs 31 chapter Solomon is presented as a disciple - taught by his mother, therefore he calls himself Lemuel - a disciple. Read on

2 what, my son? what, son of my womb? what, son of my vows?

If Lemuel is Solomon, then accordingly Solomon's mother is Bathsheba, whom God made a vow that her son would be king. That is, in the 31st chapter of Proverbs, we will read how Solomon recalls how his mother warned him - his son - against the two most serious threats: wine and women.

What is the mother talking to her son here? Do not get carried away by women, that is, be monogamous. The fascination with women has ruined many people in power. And as we know, it was women who killed Solomon. This is written in 1 Kings 11 chapter.

3Ki.11: 3 And he had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines; and his wives perverted his heart.

Now we will read texts 4 to 7 and parse them:

7 Let him drink and forget his poverty and remember no more of his suffering.

Today there is a lot of speculation regarding these texts. And there are many interpretations of them. Let's look at a common misconception first.

Many believe that in these verses God allowed the grieving soul to drink alcohol, that is, when a person has some kind of problem. And naturally, supposedly, people who are not burdened with power can drink. Is this what these texts are about? Let's figure it out together and read texts 4 and 5 again.

4 It is not for kings, Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, and it is not for princes to drink strong drink.

5 lest when they get drunk they forget the law and turn the judgment of all the oppressed.

What are the reasons for the prohibition to drink alcohol to princes and kings named by the mother, or rather God, on whose behalf the mother speaks :?

1) So that because of alcohol they do not forget the rules and regulations;

2) So that they do not lose justice in protecting those who are oppressed;

Hence the question: is it only kings and princes who should remember the law and rules? Are only kings and princes supposed to be just and protect those who are weaker than them?

The answer is obvious: all sane people should remember the law, be fair and somehow help those in need. Remember that a similar ban on alcohol was sounded against priests in Leviticus 10:10. And the priests, as you know, besides serving in the tabernacle, also taught the people the law. So here we are talking about the fact that alcohol reduces the responsibility of a person. That is, the mother in Proverbs refers not only to kings and princes, but to people who have any responsibility. For example, managers are responsible for subordinates, parents are responsible for children, grandmothers for grandchildren. Every capable person can find to whom or what to attach his responsibility.

So, after analyzing the reasons for the prohibition of alcohol (1. A person forgets the rules; 2) a person loses justice and does not protect those whom he can protect) ... We can only draw one conclusion - all people should not drink, since we all should not forget the rules and here everyone has a certain responsibility.

Now let's read texts 6 and 7

6 Give strong drink to the perishing and wine to the grieved of the soul;

7 Let him drink and forget his poverty and remember no more of his suffering.

As we figured out, people who are responsible for other people or some areas of life should not drink. And the rest means you can?

Look at the word give... Is this permission? This is not permission, but instruction - a command, in the imperative mood of the verb. Is it really here that God orders to GIVE alcohol to the perishing and grieved souls ?!

I repeat: Is it really a loving caring God gives an order to drink alcohol to the perishing and grieved soul? Give!

Perhaps God cares and wants alcohol to help them? Do you have an experience when alcohol helped some dying and grieved soul to forget poverty and not remember more about his suffering? Who has such a positive experience with alcohol help ?!

I don’t need to tell such a tale. I have many friends and relatives who have suffered from wine. Some have lost their family, some have lost their freedom, and some have lost their lives ... Alcohol has not helped anyone yet. I myself used to drink and tried to relieve stress with alcohol, drown in grief. But it didn't help me, and it only got worse. In the morning, a hangover was added to the grief, and the continuation of attempts to drown the grief in wine led to binge drinking and introduced into a terrible depression. So really God did not know about this and gave such a command: Give alcohol to a dying and grieved soul?! NO! I am sure that God could not not know or forget about it. Moreover, in the Bible, God warns many times about the various harmful effects of alcohol. Remember at least the book of Proverbs 23, where it is written: "Do not look at the wine, how it turns red, how it sparkles in the bowl, how it is looked after evenly!"

And now I propose to look at the 31st chapter of Proverbs from a different angle. This instruction is given by the mother to the son - the king. Let's imagine for a moment that her son is not a king, but a simple carpenter who does not have people under his control. Would she really say: give wine for my son, since he has no power and no money !? Of course not! What kind of mother could give such instruction to her own son ?! This means that God did not want to say with these texts that the leaders should not drink wine, but ordinary people can drink!

So the appeal "It is not for kings and princes to drink wine" applies not only to leaders, but to every adequate person.

So what then does the phrase mean let me drink wine, if, as we figured out, she cannot urge the perishing and grieved soul to drink alcohol, because this simply will not help them, but harm them, which means that neither mother nor God could give such instruction.

Options for the interpretation of the perishing in Proverbs 31: 6,7 and allegedly helping him from wine

The word "perishing" from the original can be translated - perishing, lost, disappearing, disappearing, exterminated, destroyed ...

Therefore, some believe that give wine to the lost refers to those who are going to be executed. In fact, in some states, suicide bombers were given alcohol before being executed.

And some believe that it is talking about the principle of wine as medicine. Many people believe in the medicinal properties of alcohol. It is even customary for us to drink alcohol FOR HEALTH! Today, the medical research corps is divided into two camps. Some believe that 30 grams a day is okay. The latter are sure that alcohol, which is essentially a narcotic poison - ethanol, is harmful in any quantity.

Is alcohol in small amounts good for the body?

Note that the first ones who advocate alcohol speak only about 30 grams, and not about 100 grams, since they also know the negative harmful effects of alcohol on the human body. An analogy can be made here - snake venom is also used for medicinal purposes, but this is done only when certain serious diseases and in minimal doses. But try taking a little snake venom every day for a lifetime. What will be good or bad for your body from this?

Sometimes alcohol is justified by the fact that the fact that wine is good for health is known, again in small quantities. I specifically researched this question and found scientific evidence that proves that positive properties from wine are related not with alcohol, but with grapes, from which the wine is made. Here's a quote:

“French researchers from the University. Louis Pasteur have demonstrated the high protective effect of grape juice on the cardiovascular system and believe that it can have the same effect as red wine, only without the NEGATIVE EFFECTS of alcohol. "

Grapes contain flavonoids, resveratrol, polyphenols, which increase the amount of good cholesterol, reduce the risk of atherosclerosis, and help lower high blood pressure.

And alcohol itself has no medicinal properties!

Perhaps Proverbs 6,7 is talking about helping alcoholic wine to the dying?

Also 6 and 7 of the 31st chapter of Proverbs, where it is written give wine sometimes perceived as a principle of hospice. This is when a person dying of an incurable disease is given a drug for pain relief, and alcohol is a real drug that can relieve pain.

Execution and hospice options would have been possible had it not been for the specific effects of alcohol in verse 7:

will drink and forget his poverty and will not remember suffering

Should alcohol before execution or in hospice help to forget poverty or not to remember suffering? It seems to me that this description does not sound like an execution or a hospice. Forgetting poverty and not remembering suffering just well describes a person who drowns his alleged problems in wine.

So, if we are not talking about hospice and not about execution, then to whom God gave the order: give wine!

The answer is simple. God, like the mother on behalf of whom we are speaking here, could not give such a command to anyone: give wine... Let's read further 8 and 9 texts of the 31st chapter of Proverbs.

8 Open your mouth for the mute and for the protection of all orphans.

9 Open your mouth to justice, and to the cause of the poor and needy.

What is it about? The mother tells her son to intercede for orphans and others in need. Now let's remember, text 5

5 so that when they get drunk they will not forget the law and did not turn the courts of all the oppressed.

We see that in the 5th text we are talking about the same thing as in the 8th and 9th. The mother tells her son not to drink alcohol to protect those in need. That is, texts 4, 5, 8 and 9 speak about the same thing - about human responsibility, protection and assistance to those in need. And between these texts inserted 6 and 7 verses that say Give wine to the perishing and grieved soul... Is this a coincidence? Of course not!

Obviously, the 4th, 5th, 8th and 9th texts are a single phrase, where the MAIN THOUGHT is about the dangers of alcohol and the importance of human responsibility! And verses 6 and 7, where it says "give wine", cannot contradict the phrase inside which they are. That is, 6 and 7 verses are not a separate instruction of God to people and mother Lemuel, but a part of the whole replica from 4 to 9 texts,

That is, give the call - this is not an instruction and permission to drink alcohol, but simply a NEGATIVE illustration from mother to son. Today this technique is widespread and it is called ANTI MOTIVATION... This is when people are shown drunkards lying in the mud, black lungs of a smoker or liver with cerosis from alcohol. And here the mother, turning to her son, makes an illustration ANTIMOTIVATION that her son should be responsible and cannot act like lost people who go to ruin and drown their supposed sorrows in wine. By the way, it is no coincidence that the word perishing in many other places in the Book of Prichti is used in relation to the wicked.

Let us remember how the mother began to appeal to Lemuel?

3 Give not to women your strength, nor your ways to destroyers of kings.

That is, the mother began by instructing her son not to be carried away by women. Then she warned him not to drink wine, and then she went back to the women again.

10 Who will find a virtuous wife? its price is higher than pearls;

20 She opens her hand to the poor, and gives her hand to the needy.

And here Solomon's mother again talks about helping those in need. She used to say that her son, the king and prince, should be responsible in this matter. And here you can see that a virtuous wife should also take care of those in need. This once again confirms that the ban on alcohol applies not only to responsible men, but to all people on whose shoulders any responsibility rests, including women.

30 Preciousness is deceiving and beauty is vain; but a woman who fears the Lord is worthy of praise.

In verse 30 we see the main virtue of a virtuous wife. The mother draws the attention of her son that when choosing a wife, he should be guided not only by her beauty, but most importantly by her relationship with God. The mother clearly sets priorities - the most important thing in a woman is a God-fearing life!

Of course, this does not only apply to women. It is no coincidence that the book of Proverbs ends with this conclusion. The same Solomon in the role of preacher Ecclesiastes ends his book of Ecclesiastes with a similar conclusion and admonition:

Eccl. 12:13 Let us hear the essence of everything: fear God and keep His commandments, because this is everything for man; 14 For God will bring every deed to judgment, and every secret, whether good or bad.

We talked a lot about wine today. It is also worth remembering that earlier it was grape juice - unfermented wine that people could bring along with bread to the altar. As we know, the turtle doves, lambs, calves, bread and wine offered on the altar in the temple for the sins of people symbolized the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ on Calvary. Therefore, of course, the blood of Christ shed for us is symbolized not by alcoholic wine containing poison, but by pure healthy grape juice. Taking grape juice at the Supper, we remember the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ shed for us, and when we eat the bread, we remember His broken Body for us.

Bible Interpretation: GIVE SICKER to the perishing and wine to the grieved SOUL; let him drink and forget his poverty and remember no more about his suffering (Prov. 31: 6,7)