Historical chapter commentary
Verse 1. These. Solomon wrote 3,000, and we have only 915 verses extant. Calmet.—The rest perhaps shewed his genius, but were less useful. Tostat. in 3 Kennicott. iv. 9.—Men. Isaias, Sobna, and so forth Calmet.—Out of other records, ( Menochius.) or “translated” into a language better understood. Carthus. Bayn.
Verse 2. Speech. The Scriptures will denounce the truth to them, and shew them how to reign with justice. We must adore the mysteries of God; but are allowed to examine the secret designs of princes.
Verse 3. Unsearchable. Their counsellors must not betray their secrets. Tobit 12:7. The greatest enterprises depend on secrecy.
Verse 5. Justice. The wicked in a kingdom resemble rust on silver. Calmet.
Verse 6. Glorious, or a boaster. Bible.—We must not seek the first places. Lu. 14:10.
Vive sine invidiâ, mollesque inglorius annos
Exige; amicitias et tibi junge pares. Ovid. Trist. iii. 4.
Verse 8. Not. Septuagint “repent when thy friend may reproach thee.” Bible.—Friend. A word spoken in haste may expose him to ridicule.
Verse 9. Stranger. It sometimes happens that friends fall out; but if either disclose the secret of the other, he will be deemed infamous. Calmet. Jos. con. Ap. 2.—Saint Ambrose says of his brother Satyrus, “though we had all things in common, yet the secret of our friends was not so.”
Verse 10. Grace, and so forth is no in Hebrew Compl. S. Jerom, and so forth But it is in the Septuagint “favour and friendship may give liberty; which keep thou for thyself, that thou mayst not be exposed to great shame. But guard thy ways unchangeably.” Bible.—Avoid quarrels.
Verse 11. Time, (Symmachus) “on its wheels,” (Heb.) flowing smoothly, ( Calmet.) or “according to his two faces, is apples of gold in network of silver. The Scriptures have a double sense. The exterior one leads to that sense which is interior, and more excellent. Maimonid. Parkhurst, p. 366.—Gold, oranges.—Beds. On such the kings of Parthia slept, and these metals were very common under Solomon, 3 Kennicott. 10:27. Esther 1:6. Calmet.—Mont. renders mascioth “transparent cases.” Prot. “pictures of silver.”
Verse 12. Bright. Hebrew chali cathem, “an ornament of fine gold,” (Mont. Prot. Bible.) may probably denote a collar or ring. The eastern nations wore rings fixed at the top of the ears, and under the nose. Some were so large that they put their meat through them. The Scripture often alludes to these customs, which are so different from ours. Song of Songs 7:1.
Verse 13. Harvest. In June and July, when the heat was most intense, people of quality had snow from Libanus to mix with what they drank. Jeremiah 18:14. Calmet.
Verse 15. Hardness. Hebrew and Septuagint “bones.” Bible.
Verse 16. Up. We must moderate the sensual appetite, ( Menochius.) and even the study of wisdom, which is compared to honey. Calmet. 24:13. Romans 12:3. Eccle. 7:17. Calmet.—We must not be too familiar, verse 17. Ven. Bede. Cajet.
Verse 17. Having. Hebrew “being tired of thee.” No man is so perfect, but he will manifest some defect, and become importunate. Calmet.
Nulli te facias nimis sodalem. Mart.
Verse 20. And. Prot. “as he that taketh away a, and so forth and as vinegar … to a heavy heart.” Bible.—The former sentence may be joined with the preceding, as it is improper to deprive a person of his garment, no less than to trust in the faithless; though some would suppose ( Calmet.) that this conduct, as well as the mixing of vinegar with nitre, is no less absurd than to attempt to relieve by music those who are extremely afflicted. Sirach 22:6. Tirinus.—But Solomon does not speak of such, but only of those who are “heavy;” and we know that music has wonderful efficacy in relieving them, (1 Kennicott. 16:17) in like manner as this mixture serves to cleanse the skin and garments, (Jeremiah 2:22. Calmet.) and to purify the ears, when they are deafish. Pliny xxxi. 10. Vales. lx.—As a, and so forth is not in Hebrew Saint Jerome and so forth Calmet.—The Chal. has the latter part, ( Bible.) “grief tries the heart, as fire does silver. As the worm eats wood, so folly,” and so forth Calmet.
Verse 22. Coals of charity; (Saint John Chrysostom in Rom. xii. 20) or, if he prove obstinate, his punishment will be the greater. Geier.—The former sense is more received. Calmet.
Verse 23. Rain; (Sym. Prot.) or marginal note, “bringeth forth rain.” Bible.—But S. Jerom, who live in the country, knew that this wind was rather dry; and therefore he has abandoned the Septuagint raiseth the clouds.” Job 37:9. Joel 2:20. Sirach 18:23. The countries north of Palestine were not calculated to produce vapours and rain, which came rather from the south. Calmet.—Tongue. If the hearers would shew their displeasure, detractors would soon be reduced to silence. Saint Jerome ad. Rust. Saint Bernard
Verse 24. It is. Calmet. 21:9. Sixtus V. does not insert this verse here.
Verse 25. Tidings. Hebrew and Septuagint The Vulg. seems rather to speak of a “good messenger.” Homer said that a good messenger honoured the business most. Pind. Pyth. viii. Calmet.
Verse 26. Falling into disgrace, or sin, occasions the wicked to exult, as if there were no God or religion. Calmet.
Verse 27. Majesty, that is of God. For to search into that incomprehensible Majesty, and to pretend to sound the depths of the wisdom of God, is exposing our weak understanding to be blinded with an excess of light and glory, which hit cannot comprehend. Challoner.—When the Church proposes to us any mystery, we have only to believe. Hebrew “but it is glorious to sound their glory,” and see where the wicked end, that we may not envy them. Calmet. 3:31. Psalms 36:7. Calmet.—Prot. “so for men to search their own glory, is not glory,” but a sin. Bible.—“It is not good to eat too much honey,” (Chal.) or to sound the glorious words of God and wisdom, or the mysteries of religion. Septuagint “But it is right to reverence glorious speeches,” ( Calmet.) with esteem and humility. Cat. Græc.
Verse 28. Speaking. He lays himself open to every attack. Calmet. 29:11.