HAYDOCK CATHOLIC BIBLE COMMENTARY ON THE OLD TESTAMENT

PROVERBS 13

CHAPTER XIII.

Ver. 1. Doctrine. Or he gives proof of his good education, (C.) and excites even his father to advance in piety. Ven. Bede. --- Sept. "is obedient to his father; but the disobedient son is in destruction." H.

Ver. 2. Mouth. In reward of his good speeches. C. --- Sept. "of justice the good man eateth; but the souls of the lawless perish before the time." C. xii. 13.

Ver. 3. Hath. Heb. "who openeth his lips inconsiderately, is lost. Judg. xi. 35. H.

Ver. 4. Willeth not. Heb. "hath not." He only desires riches, or to be converted, and will not labour. C. xxi. 25. Eccli. v. 8.

Ver. 5. Confounded. The detractor is like swine, stirring up dirt. S. Chrys. 32. ad Pop. --- The liar is not believed, even when he speaks the truth. Aristot.

Ver. 6. Sinner. Sym. "draweth on sin." Virtue is the best safeguard.

Ver. 7. Riches. Such was S. Paul. 2 Cor. vi. 10. Some affect to be rich, while others are never satisfied. Semper avarus eget. Lazarus was very rich in God's sight.

Ver. 8. Reprehension. Or is not able to defend himself, like the rich. C. --- He is not exposed so much to great revolutions. Bayn.

Ver. 9. Out. They are hated as well as their offspring. C.

Ver. 10. Contentions. As none will yield. M. --- Heb. "only by pride cometh contention." Prot. --- "Pride is the mother of all sects." S. Aug.

Ver. 11. Haste. Heb. "by vanity," and injustice. Those who become rich on a sudden fall under suspicion, as a Roman objected to Sylla, who had inherited nothing. Plut. --- By little. Heb. "he that gathereth by labour, (Sept. piety) shall increase." Prot. H.

Ver. 12. Hope. Sept. "(the just shews mercy and lends) better is he who begins heartily to assist, than he who promises and leads to hope. For a bad (Grabe substitutes good) desire is a tree of life." --- Soul. Prot. "maketh the heart sick." H. --- The pain increases in proportion to our eager desire. Calvin maintains, that the souls of the blessed are not yet in heaven, but hope: and of course he would establish a sort of purgatory for them. H.

Ver. 13. Come. To defend what he has asserted, or to pass for a liar. Heb. "shall be destroyed by it." Mont. H. --- Those who despise God's order shall perish. --- Deceitful, &c. This is not in Heb. nor in some of the Lat. edit. C. --- Sept. "to the deceitful son nothing shall be good. But the ways of the wise servant shall prosper, and his paths shall be made straight." C. xiv. 15. H.

Ver. 14. That. Sept. "but the fool is slain in the snare." H.

Ver. 15. Grace. God assists those who strive to be well instructed. C.

Ver. 17. Of the. Heb. "a wicked ambassador." A king generally chooses people like himself. M. --- Sept. have read melec. "A rash king shall," &c.

Ver. 18. To him. Heb. "destroy discipline," so that the most wretched are often noted for immorality. Sept. "instruction takes away poverty," as "the whole earth supports the man that has a trade," tecnion, according to the Greek proverb. C.

Ver. 19. That is. Sept. "of the pious, but the works of the impious are far from knowledge." H.

Ver. 20. Become. Sept. "be known." A person's disposition may be seen by the company which he frequents.

Ver. 22. Heirs. This was more observable under the old law: yet we often seem the distress to which the unjust are exposed. De male quÃ¦sitis non gaudet tertius hÃ¦res. C.

Ver. 23. Fathers. Heirs often lose their property by their misconduct. Heb. and (H.) Chal. read, "of the poor," who till their land better than those who have too large farms. M. --- Nature requires but little. C. --- Sept. "the just shall spend many years in affluence: but the unjust are cut off at once." H.

Ver. 24. Betimes. God has always treated his friends in this manner, to preserve them from sin, or to increase their reward. C.