Page:04.BCOT.KD.PoeticalBooks.vol.4.Writings.djvu/1453

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the Hebr. השׁקה (Hiph. of שׁקה, to drink); the infin. (Arab.) saqy means, to the obliterating of the proper signification, distribution, benefaction, showing friendship, but in the passage before us is to be explained after Job 21:24 (the marrow of his bones is well watered; Arnheim - full of sap) and Pro 15:30. Bertheau and Hitzig erroneously regard Pro 3:8 as the conclusion to Pro 3:7, for they interpret רפאות as the subject; but had the poet wished to be so understood, he should have written וּתהי. Much rather the subject is devotion withdrawn from the evil one and turned to God, which externally proves itself by the dedication to Him of earthly possessions.

Verses 9-10

Pro 3:9-10 Honour Jahve with thy wealth, And with the first-fruits of all thine increase: 10 Then shall thy barns be filled with plenty, And thy vats overflow with must.
It may surprise us that the Chokma, being separated from the ceremonial law, here commends the giving of tithes. But in the first place, the consciousness of the duty of giving tithes is older than the Mosaic law, Gen 28:22; in this case, the giving of tithes is here a general ethical expression. עשּׂר and מעשׂר do not occur in the Book of Proverbs; in the post-biblical phraseology the tithes are called חלק הגּבהּ, the portion of the Most High. כּבּד, as the Arab. waḳḳra, to make heavy, then to regard and deal with as weighty and solemn (opp. קלּל, to regard and treat as light, from קלל = Arab. hân, to be light). הון, properly lightness in the sense of aisance, opulency, forms with כּבּד an oxymoron (fac Jovam gravem de levitate tua), but one aimed at by the author neither at Pro 1:13 nor here. מן (in מהונך and 'מר, Pro 3:9) is in both cases partitive, as in the law of the Levitical tenths, Lev 27:30, and of the Challa (heave-offering of dough), Num 15:21, where also ראשׁית (in Heb 7:4, ἀκροθίνια) occurs in a similar sense, cf. Num 18:12 (in the law of the Theruma or wave-offering of the priests), as also תּבוּאה in the law of the second tenths, Deu 14:22, cf. Num 18:30 (in the law of the tenths of the priests).

Verse 10


With ו apodosis imperativi the conclusion begins. שׂבע, satisfaction, is equivalent to fulness, making satisfied, and that, too, richly satisfied; תּירושׁ ;deif also is such an accusative, as verbs of filling govern it, for פּרץ, to break through especially to overflow, signifies to be or become overflowingly full (Job 1:10). אסם (from אסם,