quite false. Abiathar (ver. 6) was not "minister of the king's household " (Keil), but "master of the palace and household" (Thenius), chap. xviii. 3; 2 Kings xviii. 18; Isai. xxii. 15. This office did not exist under David; but was required by the larger and more splendid court of Solomon. Adoniram is the same as 2 Sam. xx. 24 and 1 Kings xii. 18, where he is called Adoram. He was not tithe-master (Luther), but overseer of the hirelings that had to overlook the public works, for D nowhere means vectigal or impost. Ewald and Thenius think the addition of the Sept.: Kai 'Emaß viòs Lào ¿ñì tñs natpias, original, but it is easy to see that it is a gloss. Ver. 7. Solomon had twelve officers. The wholly general expression D' (from to place, i. e., people in office), is made clearer by the word: the provided for, &c. Hence they were not YEμоveç Kai σTрarmol (Josephus), neither "court cooks" (Winer), but "chief rent-receivers " (Rosenmüller); whether they were regular chiefs or governors of provinces, the providing for the king being only a part of their office (Thenius), is uncertain. Probably their districts were not arranged with reference to the lands of the tribes, but to the fertility of the soil. Their number, twelve, has no relation to the twelve tribes, but to the twelve months of the year, in each of which one of them had to supply his quota. The list of the districts in vers. 8 to 19 is perhaps made with reference to the time of delivery, and makes no account of the geographical position. The proper names of five of the twelve officials are not given, but only their fathers' names. It is uncertain whether they bore those names with the prefix of Ben, as the Vulgate supposes (Benhur, Bendecar, &c.). Ben-abinadab (ver. 11) is scarcely a proper name. As these men have no further historical importance, it matters little about their names. Two sons-in-law of Solomon being among the latter was The and Abel-meholah still more soutl the birth-place of the prophet Elisha. Jokneam, according to 1 Chron. vi. 53, a levite town, the situation of which is doubtful, perhaps it was the same as Kibzaim (Josh. xxi. 22). The district must then have included the whole land of the tribe of Manasseh on this side (west of) Jordan. (6) Ramothgilead (ver. 13), a town of the levites beyond Jordan, in the tribe of Gad, which stretched northwards along the tribe of Manasseh, and southwards along that of Reuben (Josh. xxi. 38; Deut. iv. 43). Upon in of Jair, comp. Numb. xxxii. 41; Deut. iii. 14; Josh. xiii. 30. Our passage says as plainly as pos sible that they were in. the land of Gilead, but the country of Argob was in the land of Bashan. sixty fortified cities that belonged to the last can therefore not be identical with in (Keil), as Bashan is always made quite distinct from Gilead (Deut. iii. 10; Josh. xii. 5; xiii. 11; xvii. 1; 2 Kings x. 33; Mic. vii. 14), the translation: the "towns of Jair" is not correct either, "because: here does not mean to live, and the German: living in a given place does not signify vita but mansio" (Cassel, zu Richt., iii. 4). The land of Bashan with Argob lay northeast of that of Gilead. The brazen bars mean that the gates of the cities were protected with brass. (7) Mahanaim (ver. 14), a town beyond Jordan (2 Sam. xvii. 24-27), on the borders of the tribe of Gad and the further portion of Manasseh on the Jabbok (Josh. xxi. 38). We have no further infor mation about this district of Abinadab. (8) Naphtali (ver. 15), the region of the tribe of this name, was quite in the north of Palestine, on this side Jordan, west of Asher's inheritance and bordering, on its south, the tribe of Zebulon. (9) Asher's (ver 16) inheritance lay along the coast of the Meaiterranean, northward of the tribe of Issachar (Deut. xxxiii, 24 sq.). in niby must certainly bə understood as in (Luther), but Aloth, like Bealoth, is a quite unknown name, for the latter cannot be Bealoth in Judah (Josh. xv. 24). Thenius boldly conjectures by to the road leading to Tyre. (10) Issachar (ver. 17); its country lay on this side Jordan, between Zebulon ou the north and Manasseh on the south (Josh. xix. 17 sq.). (11) Benjamin (ver. 18); its inheritanco Ephraim and west of Judah). (3) Aruboth (ver. the south, and east of Dan (Josh. xviii. 11 sq.). (12) was between Ephraim on the north and Judah on 10) also does not appear elsewhere, probably a place Gilead (ver. 19) is used here for all the east-Jordan in the tribe of Judah, to which Sochoh in the south lands in general, but it could only apply to that must also have belonged (Josh. xv. 48). Hepher cannot be the town Gath-Hepher in Zebulon, but part which remained over after taking out the sixth only a southern district, probably west of Sochoh, and seventh districts, that is, the southern. The where a Canaanitish king had reigned before (Josh. kingdom of Sihon originally extended from the xii. 17). (4) Dor (ver. 11), a town on the Mediterra-river Jabbok in Manasseh to the river Arnon, nean, nine Roman miles north of Caesarea (Josh. xvii. 11). Naphat (i. e., heights) Dor is the hilly stretch of country towards the south of the town, and to this Thenius reckons the whole very fertile pasture-plain of Sharon to Joppa. (5) Megiddo, and close to it, in a southeasterly direction, Tuanach (ver. 12); two towns, that lie on the slope of the Carmel mountains, at the edge of the plain of Jezreel in the tribe of Manasseh. Beth-shean, on a straight line, east of Megiddo, where the plain of Jezreel ceases and that of the Jordan meadows begins. Zartanah lay near in a southerly direction, them, only shows that the list gives us a view of the civil offices during the middle period of his reign. Vers. 8-22. The son of Hur, in mount Ephraim. We give here only what is most necessary about the situations and nature of particular districts. Thenius. on this place, speaks at length of both. (1) Mount Ephraim, in Central Palestine, one of the most cultivated districts of all Palestine (Winer, R.- W.-B., s. v.). (2) Makaz (ver. 9) is named only here, but must belong, like Shaalbim, Bethshemesh and Elon, to the tribe of Dan (south of which empties itself into the Dead Sea (Numb. xxi. 24), and passed over the tribes of Gad and Reuben. Bashan lay northeast of Sihon (Numb. xxi. 33). The addition: an officer, &c., means: that although this district was perhaps the largest (probably because of the barrenness of the soil), it had only one officer. Ewald would insert 777 after, which is very incorrect, because instead of twelve officers, according to ver. 7, there would have been thirteen. The expression in ver. 20: as the sand which is by the sea, clearly refers to the promise in Gen. xxii. 17; xxxii. 12. For eat ing and drinking, &c., comp. 1 Sam. xxx. 16; v. 17. One must either add y before Prov. | half or ten Eng.) from the Mediterranean, formed (chap. the extreme southwesterly one. It does not neces sarily follow, from the expression: all the region v. 1) like the parallel passage in 2 Chron. ix. 26, or bear in mind the from the preceding passage, as dwelt on the east side of the Euphrates and wrote (land) beyond the river [i. e., west], that our author Keil does. Presents, a mild expression for tribute, there (see Introd. § 1), as is to be learned from as in 2 Sam. viii. 2-6; 2 Kings xvii. 3-4. Ezra iv. 10 sq.; the expression belonged to the time of banishment, but was retained after the regraphical signification, just for instance as the turn, and, as it seems, without regard to its geoexpression Gallia transalpina. Living under the vine and fig tree (2 Kings xviii. 31) describes the happy and blissful state of peace, but was not, however, taken from the description of Messiah's reign (Mic. iv. 4; Zach. iii. 10) (Ewald), but on the contrary was woven into the latter. From Dan to Beersheba, boundaries of Palestine north and east (Judges xx. 1; 1 Sam. iii. 20; 2 Sam. iii. 10). Vers. 22-25. And Solomon's provision, &c. Ver. 22. (called before) is the largest measure, and contains, according to Josephus, ten attic medimni [medimnus - nearly twelve gallons. -E. H.] which Böckh reckons at 19857.7 Paris cubic inches; however, it seems from exact calculations made by Thenius (in the Stud. u. Kritik, 1846, s. 73 sq.), that Josephus is wrong,* and that the measures only contained 10143 Paris cubic inches According to this, the 30+ 60 measures of meal make 171 bushels, from which 28,000 pounds of bread were baked. "If we allow two pounds of bread to each person, Solomon's court must have contained 14,000 people" (others compute them at only 10,000), a number which does not seem too great for the middle period of this reign. Let us think, for instance, of the great harem, the numerous servants, the body-guard, &c., and consider besides, that the families of all the court officials belonged to it, and that there were only payments in provisions. "If we take the flesh of a slaughtered ox to weigh 600 (according to the calculation of those who understood the matter), that of a cow 400, and that of a sheep 70 pounds," the total consumption of meat would be 21,000 pounds, that is, one and a half pounds for each person; and "this is not reckoning the game and fowl for the king's table." There are similar accounts of expenditure at other oriental courts. According to an ancient author (Athen. Deipn., v. 10), Alexander found on a column at Persepolis a placard containing an account of the daily consumption at the court of Cyrus; from this list we give the following: 1,000 bushels of wheat of different qualities, the same of barley-meal, 400 sheep, 300 lambs, 100 oxen, 30 horses, 30 deer, 400 fat geese, 100 goslings, 300 pigeons, 600 small birds of various kinds, 3,750 gallons of wine, 75 gallons of fresh milk, and the same of sour milk. Besides this, there was a quantity of maize, that was gathered in single rations for the cattle. Tavernier reckons the number of sheep daily consumed in the seraglio of the Sultan, in his time, at 500, besides a number of fowls, and an immense quantity of butter and rice" (Philippson; comp. Rosenmüller, A. u. N. Morgenland, iii. s. 166). For (comp. Deut. xiv. 5) see Winer, R.-W.-B., i. 8. 494.77 only occurs here, and is variously interpreted; Kimchi thinks it means capons; Gesenius, geese; Thenius, guinea-hens; and Ewald, swans. The splendor of the court is accounted for by vers. 24 and 25. The extent of Solomon's dominion is defined according to the two towns named in vers. 24 and 25. Tiphsah, i. e., Thapsæus, was "a large and populous town on the west bank of the Euphrates; it was a place where armies crossed over that river, and a place for landing and shipping wares coming from or going to Babylon on the Euphrates" (Winer, ii. s. 612). While this town was the extreme northeasterly point, Gaza in the Philistines' land, about three miles (nine and a *See below, chap. v. ver. 7. does not mean פָּרָשִׁים Vers. 26-28. And Solomon had 40,000 stalls of horses, &c. In ver. 26 the description of the court appointments, which had been interrupted by the remarks in vers. 24 and 25, is continued. are horse-stalls, stables, mangers (Bochart: loculi in stabulis distincti). According to chap. x. 26, Solomon had 1,400 chariots; each of these was, as the representations on Egyptian and Assyrian monof these; the remaining 1,200 were reserves, for if uments show, drawn by two horses, making 2,800 one fell it was usual to attach a third horse (Xenophon, Cyrop., vi. 1–27). riders here, but saddle-horses in contrast with har nessed horses, as in 2 Sam. i. 6; Ezek. xxvii. 14. The opinion that Israel lived in peace (ver. 25) because Solomon had made great warlike prepara(Thenius, Keil), is quite a wrong one; the question tions (ver. 26) with which he protected his kingdom is not of war here, but to what the is refers, namely, the maintaining of harness- and saddlehorses, and the expenses of the court. In ver. 27, therefore, it is again said that the twelve officers who had to provide for the sustenance of all the persons in the court, had also to provide for this great number of horses; ver. 28 then gives the kind of provision the latter received, namely, barley and straw. Oats were not cultivated in the East, therefore barley was the usual food for horses; the poorer classes alone used it for bread also (Judges vii. 13, and Cassel on the place. Comp. Winer, I. s. 410). For see Esther viii. 10, 14. The coursers served to carry "the king's orders to the different districts" (Thenius). To the Sept., Vulgate, and Thenius supply as subject: the king, changed his residence, he did not travel about with which is certainly false, for if Solomon sometimes 16.000 horses (ver. 26). According to chap. x. 26, the horses were placed in different towns, into which the barley and straw were brought, as Kei says: "where they (barley and straw) should be, according as the horses were distributed about." Vers. 29-30. And God gave Solomon wisdom, &c. Hitherto the narrative treats of the organs by means of which the order and happy condition of Solomon's kingdom was conditioned, but now it turns to the head of the realm, the king himself, and remarks that in him which particularly distinguished him and qualified him to be the ruler, namely, the wisdom he had received from God. "While denotes more the entire spiritual con in dition, man designates sharpness of insight, but the ingenium capax is set forth" (Thenius), the talent to take up and comprehend all, even the most diversified objects of knowledge. Hence the addition: as the sand which is by the sea, which is a figurative description of an innumerable multitude (chap. iv. 20; Gen. xli. 49; xxxii. 13; Ps. cxxxix. 18). Luther's translation, a comforted heart, is wrong. All the sons of the east, that is, not only those Arabians distinguished for their skill in proverbs, but all the tribes living to the east of Palestine (also the northeast), who were famous in any branch of knowledge (Jer. xlix. 28; Gen. xxix. 1; Numb. xxiii. 7; Job i. 3). Opposite these, in the west, was Egypt, the wisdom of which was almost proverbial in the ancient world (Isai. xix. 11; Acts vii. 22; Joseph., Antiq., viii. 2-5; Herodot., ii. 160). There were no other lands distinguished for wisdom in Solomon's time; the Greek learning only commenced 400 years later. rived his proverbs (parables) from all these things. of trees, and the hyssop the smallest and most inThe cedar is the largest, most beautiful, and useful wall is a particular kind of wall-moss (Thenius), significant plant. The hyssop which grows on the the other hyssop is a stem-formed plant, that grows to one or two feet high (comp. Winer, R.- W.-B., s. v.). The many kinds of beasts mean the whole animal kingdom, divided according to the manner of motion: four-footed (27), flying, creeping, and swimming (Gen. vi. 20; vii. 8). This passage can scarcely and animals, but only that he understood these submean that Solomon also wrote works on all plants jects and could "speak" of them. We need not had no significance for God's kingdom, should not suppose that such works, because they may have also have been preserved. Ver. 34. There came of all people, &c. The greatness and extent of Solomon's fame for wisdom Ver. 31. The sons of Mahol, not the poets be the type and model of all wisdom to his own peoare shown by the fact that he not only continued to (Luther), for in means as appell. dance, round ple; but is so regarded in the East, even at the dance (Ps. xxx. 12; cxlix. 3); but here it is a pro-im as knowing the languages of men and demons, present day. The Koran (Sur. xxvii. 17) praises per name. It must remain uncertain whether these four men were celebrated persons of more ancient of birds and ants; these all, it says, he could hold time, or whether they were contemporaries of Solo-intercourse with. The Turks still possess a work mon; we have no further information about them. Ethan and Heman, named in 1 Chron. xv. 17 and 19 among the musicians appointed by David, but it is scarcely to be supposed that the wisest men of the time were among them. The headings of Ps. lxxxviii. and lxxxix. are more likely to refer to our Heman and Ethan, as they are there called Ezrahites. All four names are close together 1 Chron. ii. 6: "the sons of Zerah (the sons of Judah); Zimri, and Ethan, and Calcol, and Dara; Grotius and Le Clerc believed them to be identical with these; as also Movers and Bertheau, more recently; but even if y777 is the same as , and Ezrach the same as Serach, the difficulty still remains that Chalcol and Darda are here named sons of Mahol, and that there is nowhere else any intimation of the wisdom of Zerach's sons. The rabbinical book Seder Olam (ed. Meyer, p. 52 sq.), alone says of them: "these were prophets that prophesied in Egypt." of seventy folio volumes, which is called the book of Suleiman, i. e., Solomon. The whole of the wisdom and secret learning of the East is connected with his name.-From all kings, certainly means, as Thenius maintains, that they sent ambassadors, who did him homage, or received more certain information about him; comp. the narrative, chap. x. HISTORICAL AND ETHICAL. 1. To represent Solomon's kingdom in its greatness and in its prosperous, well-ordered condition, is the plain design of this entire section, and upon this account the lists of officers, &c., which in themselves are dry, acquire a higher, historical (heilsgeschichtliche) signification. The period of the judges was the time of pubiic crudeness in which there was an absence of order, and of organic unity of the kingdom. The age of David was that of continuous wars and battles, in which indeed victory over all enemics at last came, and with it at the same time the beginning of a well-ordered condition; but not complete peace for the kingdom. This first came with Solomon's reign (1 Chron. xxii. 8, 9). The reign of Solomon is the result of all preceding conflicts and divine teachings. It is the kingdom of Israel in its highest maturity. To represent it as such, it needed the authentication which our section supplies, and which in like manner in the whole history of the kings does not occur again. At this highest reach this kingdom was, upon the one side, the fulfilment of the divine promise (Gen. xxii. 17, and Exod. iii. 17 sq.; cf. with chap. iv. 20, and chap. v. 5), and, upon the other side moreover, it was itself a proniise, an historical prophecy, a σkia Tāv μehóvrov. As the whole Old Testament economy in its sensuousness and outwardness points beyond itself, to the New Testament in its spiritu Ver. 33. He spake of trees, &c. His wisdom ality and inwardness, so especially is Solomon's was not only in spiritual, religious, and social mat-kingdom the type of the Messiah's. What the ters, and displayed in doctrine and poetry, but in natural things, the entire kingdoms of plants and animals. Josephus is wrong in saying that he de Ver. 32. And he spake three thousand proverbs, &c. Prov. i. 1-6 explains what proverbs are and what their use is. He spake is as much as: he originated them. The fixed number, 3,000, certainly shows that they were written down and collected, possibly only in part, or possibly not at all, by himself. Unfortunately, the greater number of these proverbs are lost; for if we admit that all those in the biblical book of Proverbs were composed by Solomon, yet there are only 915 verses in the book, and these are not all proverbs. There | remains still less of the thousand and five songs. It is doubtful if Canticles be one of those. The lxxiid and exxviith Psalms have Solomon's name at the beginning, and there is no real reason to doubt the genuineness of the heading; many think | he was the author of the cxxxiid Psalm; Ewald thinks he wrote only the iid Psalm. former is karà cápka, the latter is karà vεīμɑ, For the delineation of the latter, the prophets borrowed words from the delineation of the former in our section here (Mich. iv. 4; Zach. iii. 10. Cf. | words which form the title of Solomon's proverbs: above, on chap. i.). 2. The great expensiveness of Solomon's household is brought into the closest connection with the happiness, the prosperity and peace of the whole people (chap. iv. 20, and v. 5). It is hence an entire perversion when recent writers sever one passage from the connection, and cite that expensiveness among the things with which the people under Solomon were burdened, and which by and by had excited dissatisfaction and restlessness (Ewald, Gesch. Isr., iii. s. 376; Duncker, Gesch. des Alterthums, i. s. 389). In absolute states, namely, in the ancient oriental, the king is the nation in person. The splendor of the royal household represents the splendor of the entire people. Far from being a sign of the oppression of the people, it shows rather their happiness and prosperity. The account does not say: the king lived in luxury while the people were poor and felt oppressed, but: as the people, so the king, and as the king, so the people; both were satisfied and enjoyed prosperity and peace. 3. The delineation of Solomon's wisdom follows immediately the delineation of the outward and material well-being of the kingdom, and shows in this connection that as Solomon was the representative of this well-being, so also from him, in consequence of special divine endowment, a rich, higher spiritual life, such as hitherto had not been, proceeded, and poured itself like a stream over the whole land (Eccles. xlvii. 14 sq.). "All may be ready in a given time and people," says Eisenlohr (das Volk Isr., ii. s. 110), "for a spiritual elevation and living action, but one only has the mind and the power for it. Hence we cannot set sufficiently high the influence of the creative personality of the highly-gifted king Solomon." And Ewald observes (Gesch. Isr., iii. s. 350), "so there was for the people in this noble time a new age also for science, poetry, and literature, whose rich fruits continued long after the sensuous wealth and superabundance which this time brought, together with the powers of the nation, had melted away." It was just this high condition of spiritual culture which procured for the king, and indirectly for the people, great authority, and which attracted men from all neighboring lands to hear this "wisdom." But also in the connection in which the material and the spiritual well-being of the people are brought together, there is a reference to the truth that for the glory of a king there must be something more than greatness, power, wealth, quiet, or "eating and drinking and amusements," and that where there is not spiritual culture and a higher life, where, for the furtherance of material interests, spiritual interests are thrust aside or neglected, the thought of a glorious condition cannot be entertained. Solomon himself says (Prov. iii. 13, 14): "Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold." 4. The wisdom of the East and of Egypt is not so much below that of Solomon in its outward circumference (extensive), as in its most inward, characteristic being (intensive). While the former, in its deepest ground, rests upon the identification of the world with God, and at last discharges itself in pantheism, and, in consequence, is deprived almost wholly of the ethical element, this proceeds from the principle which is expressed in the "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction" (Prov. i. 7; cf. with chap. ix. 10). "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; and the knowledge of the holy is understanding." (Comp Umbreit, Commentar über die Spr. Sal. Einleit., s 1-65.) It rests upon the knowledge of the one God of heaven and earth, who hath chosen Israel and made with them a covenant, i. e., has revealed himself to them through His word, viz., “the Law." Consequently it is essentially monotheistic, ethical, and, therefore, practical. It does not exclude the knowledge of nature, for which Solomon was also renowned (ver. 13); but the latter is only true and right when it rests upon the former, and is permeated by it. In so far the wisdom of Solomon stood unrivalled throughout the whole of the ancient Orient, and was like an oasis in the desert to which men from all the neighboring countries made pilgrimages, a radiating light which attracted all involuntarily who loved light rather than darkness. "Only forth from the soil of the spirit watered by the spring of religious faith can the tree of wisdom grow strong, and spread out its branches into all regions of life" (Umbreit, a. a. O., s. 5). But as Solomon's kingdom refers generally to that of the Messiah (see above), so especially does Solomon's wisdom (monotheistic-legal) point to the wisdom of Him who is greater than Solomon (xii. 42), who is the light of the world, and to whom all kings both from the West and the East shall come, and upon whom all the heathen shall call (Ps. lxxii. 10, 11 · Isai. lx. 1–3). HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL. Chap. iv. The Kingdom of Solomon a type of the Messiah's (1) in its greatness and extent; (2) in its prosperity and peace; (3) in his wisdom and knowledge.-Chap. iv. 1 to chap. v. 1. WÜRT. SUMM.: Fortunate is the government where all goes orderly. Their eyes shall look around after the faithful in the land, and pious subjects are loved and esteemed; but false people and liars, and those of a perverse heart, who have proud ways and haughtiness, and who calumniate others secretly and maliciously, it will not have nor endure about it, but will clear away and destroy after the example of David (Ps. cx.).-A well-ordered state constitution is the condition of the growth and prosperity of every kingdom; but all ordinances and institutions avail nothing when requisite and proper persons are wanting for their administration and execution. To select such, and to entrust them with different administrative offices, is the first and most difficult task of a ruler. Happy the prince to whom God grants the grace to find the right persons, who can counsel him and deserve his confidence (Eccles. x. 2-5).-STARKE: As a court, where it is beset with flatterers, backbiters, carous ers, &c., generally goes down, so also it prospers, on the other hand, when pious servants are there.-— Chap. iv. 20. STARKE: Not the multitude of a people causes a scarcity in the land, but the wickedness and avarice of men.-Food and drink and amusement are a gift of God (Eccles. iii. 13), when used in the fear of God (Eccles. xi. 9) and with thanksgiving (1 Cor. x. 31; Col. iii. 17); but they become sin when, in the gift, the giver is forgotten, the belly made a god of, and serves the lust of the flesh. Chap. iv. 21.-CRAMER: The kingdom of Christ is still far greater. He rules from one end of the sea to the other, from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof (Zach. ix. 10). All kings shall call upon Him: all the heathen shall serve Him (Ps. lxxii. 8-10). [E. HARWOOD: Chap. iv. vers. 4-5. Comp. 1 Chron. xxii. 7-10. David, the man of action; Solomon, the man of rest. The man of active life usually has more conspicuous virtues and more conspicuous faults than the man of rest. David proposed to build the house-the man of action was the founder: Solomon carried the plans of his father into execution. David was the founder: Solomon the builder.] Chap. iv. 22.-As, by divine providence and ordering, there are always different conditions, high and low, rich and poor, so their manner of life cannot be the same, but must be conformable to the rank and position which has been assigned to every one by God. The household of a prince who stands at the head of a great and distinguished people ought not, indeed, give to the people the bad example of extravagant show, luxury, and riot; but it must, in abundance and splendor, surpass every private establishment, and ought not to appear needy and impoverished. Ver. 24, 25 (chap. iv. ver. 20). The Blessings of Peace. (1) Wherein they consist; (2) to what they oblige. Peace nourishes: disturbance consumes. Only in peace, not in war, does a nation attain to well-being, therefore should we offer prayer and supplication for kings and all in authority, &c. (1 Tim. ii. 2). Happy the land where goodness and truth are met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other (Ps. lxxxv. 10). May the eternal God grant us, during our life, an heart ever joyous, and give us noble peace! It must be regarded as an unspeakable blessing of God when, under the protection of a wise and righteous government, every one in the nation, even the least, can remain in the undisturbed possession of his property, and can enjoy the fruits of his industry in the bosom of his family. Ver. 29-34. The Wisdom of Solomon. (1) Its origin, ver. 29 (Prov. ii. 6; Dan. ii. 21, 6); (2) its greatness (ver. 30 sq.); (3) its result (ver. 34).Ver. 29. Not every one receives from God an equal measure of spiritual endowment; but every one is obliged, with the gift he has received, to dispose of it faithfully, and not to allow it to be fallow (Luke xii. 48; Matt. xxv. 14-29). In the possession of high spiritual endowment and of much knowledge, man is in danger of over-estimating himself, of be coming proud and haughty, hence the highlygifted Solomon himself says: "Trust in the Lord" &c. (Prov. iii. 5, 6). Not to elevate one's self above others, but in order to serve them, does God bestow special gifts of the Spirit (1 Peter iv. 10).— Ver. 30. Heathen wisdom, great as it may be in earthly things, understands nothing of divine, heavenly things, and is therefore far below the wisdom whose beginning is the fear of the personal, living God, who has revealed himself in His word. This wisdom alone yields true, good, and abiding fruit (Jas. iii. 15, 17).-Ver. 32. All those who have received special gifts of spirit and understanding, act inexcusably and sin grievously when, instead of giving God the honor, and of appiying them to the good of their fellow-men, they promote, by doctrine and treatise, forgetfulness of God and unbelief, and the love of the world, and the lusts of the flesh, or gross or refined immorality (Eccles. xii. 9; Jer. ix. 23, 24). The glory which is obtained in the world through bad books, is shame and disgrace before Him who demands account of every idle word.-Ver. 33. STARKE: Far better would it befit lords and princes to find their enjoyment in study rather than to seek satisfaction in dramas, plays, and in immoderate drinking. A man may be able to speak of all possible things, and, at the same time, be without wisdom, for this does not consist in varied knowledge and widespread acquirements, but in recognition of the truth which purifies the heart and sanctifies the will. Observation and investigation of nature is only of the right kind, and fraught with blessing, when it leads to the confession of Ps. civ. 24; xcii. 6, 7.— Mark what the man who was wiser than all the men of his generation declares as the final result of all his wisdom and research: It is all vanity! Fear God, and keep His commandments (Eccles. i. 2; xii. 8, 13).-Ver. 34. To Solomon came from all nations people to hearken unto his wisdom; but to Him who is greater than Solomon, the wise men of to-day will not listen (1 Cor. i. 19–21).— How many travel over land and sea to seek gold and silver, but stir neither hand nor foot to find the wisdom and knowledge of the truth, which lie close at hand, and are better than gold and silver (Prov. viii. 11; xxiv. 14; Job xxviii. 18). It is not enough for a wise prince that his people eat, drink, and make merry, and dwell in safety, each one beneath his own vine and fig-tree (chap. iv. 20; v. 5); but he aims likewise at this, that spiritual education, science, and recognition of the truth should be extended and fostered, for this brings more consideration than power or wealth. |