Verses 1-27

Sundry Observations. Agriculture

4. Envy] a husband's jealousy is meant (Song of Solomon 8:6).

5, 6. Men 'hide' (RV) love when they refrain from telling a friend his faults. An enemy will be 'profuse' (RV) in deceitful kisses: Judas kissed Jesus much (Matthew 26:49; RM).

7. The Spartan king told the tyrant Dionysius that the broth was nothing without the seasoning of fatigue and hunger.

8. 'East, West, hame's best.'

9. Sweetness of disposition is desirable when it arises, not from mere emotion, but from a settled purpose of the soul.

14. Early and loud demonstrativeness is not stable. 'Evening words are not like to morning.'

16. The RV makes this difficult v. mean that he is attempting the impossible.

17. The solitary grows dull. 'The best mirror is an old friend.' The Greek proverb is, 'One man, no man.'

19. Judge another by yourself.

21. Estimate him by the reputation he wins. The Russian proverb is, 'A man's reception is according to his coat; his dismissal according to his sense.'

22. 'Heaven and earth fight in vain against a dunce.' 'Fools grow without watering.'

23-27. A homily in praise of careful attention to the flocks and herds. The writer is not disposed to depreciate agriculture, as some of the later Jewish proverb-makers were. One of these says, 'Lay out your money in trade, and you will have flesh and wine daily; lay it out in land, and you. will have but a bare subsistence.'

24. Riches and honour (the crown) are fleeting: attention to field and flock are profitable.

26. Sell your stock, and with the proceeds buy clothing and land.