Historical chapter commentary
Verse 1. Reproach. True friendship resembles charity, and bears all things. 1 Corinthians 13:4. Hebrew now reads Thave, “desire;” instead of Thuane, occasion, or “pretext,” which must have been in the copies of the Septuagint and Vulg. Calmet.—Prot. “through desire, a man having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom.” The solitary seeks heaven. Bible.
Verse 2. Heart. Conformable to his passions. Calmet.—Hebrew “unless to lay open his heart.” He wishes to appear wise, and to justify his wicked designs. Bible.
Verse 3. Contemneth both God and man. Lu. 18:4. Hebrew “is contemned” in his turn. Calmet.—He is like a man abandoned by the physician. Op. Imp. in Matt. Hom. 40.
Verse 4. Man, who is just and wise. His advice deserves attention. Calmet. 20:5.
Verse 6. Quarrels. Hebrew “blows.” Septuagint “death;” (verse 7) which are the usual consequences of quarrels.
Verse 8. Tongued. Hebrew “caluminator.” He pretends to wish well to those of whom he speaks, or else to guard the company against deceit. Calmet.—“If the devil be upon the detractor’s tongue, he is in the ears of those who pay attention to him.” S. Fran. de Sales.—Fear, and so forth is in the Septuagint above. The Vulg. retains both this and the new version of S. Jerom.
Verse 9. Brother. Like him, as both end in poverty. Calmet. 10:4 and 12:11.
Verse 10. Name. Essence, or protection of God. The rich depends on his own wealth.
Verse 13. Heareth the end of the question. Calmet. 1:5.
Verse 14. Infirmity of the flesh. Matthew 26:41.—That is. Theodot. “is wounded, who shall support?”
Verse 16. Princes. He easily finds access by showing submission. Calmet.
Placatur donis Jupiter ipse suis. Ovid.
Verse 17. Him. To see that he act with sincerity.
Verse 18. Lot. Calmet. 16:33. Septuagint “silence.” Calmet.—But Grabe substitutes “lot.” Bible.
Verse 19. Judgments of many are more deserving of credit. Hebrew “a brother offended, is like a strong place, and their quarrels,” and so forth The are not easily reconciled. Civil wars are most terrible. Calmet.
Verse 20. Satisfied. Those who are guarded in their words get employment. Bible. Calmet. 12:14.
Verse 21. Love it, and speak well or ill, shall receive accordingly. Matthew 12:37.
Verse 22. Good wife. Good is not in Hebrew but should be understood, as it is expressed in Septuagint of Complut. ( Calmet.) and Alex. Bible.—He that, and so forth occurs not in Hebrew Sixtus V. and so forth But it is found in Septuagint and Arabic. The Syriac omits the last sentence.—Wicked. Saint Augustine had frequently asserted that a divorce was only of counsel: but this he retracted, when he reflected on this text. Ret. i. 19.—The Hebrews, Athenians, and Romans, followed the same practice with adulteresses. Selden, Ux. iii. 16. Dem. in Neæram, and so forth—Hermas (past. i. 4.) prescribes that the penitent shall be received again, but not often. In cae of divorce, the fathers still permit not a second marriage, that the parties may be reconciled. They enjoin the husband to put away only such as are incorrigible. Saint Augustine Adul. ii. 3. Calmet.
Verse 24. Brother. The ties of nature are not so strong as those of friendship. Calmet.—Hebrew “a man that hath friends must shew himself friendly; and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” Prot. Bible.—Ut ameris ama. Mart.