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INDUSTRY AND CHEERFULNESS

So shall poverty come upon thee like a highwayman,
And want as an armed man.

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In the fifth section there occurs a group of several maxims together about the sluggard-'a proverb cluster,' as Mr. Moulton calls it.

The sluggard saith, 'There is a lion in the way;

A lion is in the streets.'

As the door turneth upon its hinges,

So doth the sluggard upon his bed.

If the sluggard put his hand unto the dish,

It is a trouble to him to bring it again to his mouth. The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit

Than seven men that can answer discreetly.

Another 'sonnet' on the sluggard will be quoted from the first section of the book later on.

$7. On cheerfulness.-Industry and cheerfulness go hand in hand. The sages' ideal of life is far from gloomy. They realized too the power of sympathy.

Heaviness in a man's heart boweth it down;

But a friendly word maketh it glad.

A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance:

But by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.

All the days of the miserable are evil :

But he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.

A friendly look rejoiceth the heart,

And happy tidings make the bones fat.

A merry heart bringeth good healing;
But a broken spirit drieth the bones.

The courage of a man will endure his sickness;
But a downcast spirit who can bear?

'His sickness.' Bodily maladies can be endured by courage, but there is no mind behind the mind to endure or grapple with its own depression. But perhaps we should translate 'But who can raise up a downcast spirit?' or possibly, 'But with a downcast spirit who can bear it ?' (i.e. sickness).

§ 8. Rich and poor.-The contrast between poor and rich often exercised the thoughts of the sages. Their experience did not let them ignore the troubles and trials of the poor, or the temptations

and meannesses of the rich. The virtue of benevolence is strongly emphasized, and occasionally a deeper note is sounded, as when the rich are reminded that one God has created all, and that before him the differences of station and of wealth fall utterly away.

There is that giveth freely, and yet increaseth;

And there is that spareth what is due, and yet becometh poorer.

The liberal soul shall be made fat;

And he that watereth shall himself be watered.
He that withholdeth corn, the people curse him;
But blessing is upon the head of him that selleth it.
He that trusteth in his riches shall fall:

But the righteous shall flourish as a leaf.
Much food is in the tillage of the poor:

But there is that is destroyed for want of justice.
The poor is hated even of his own neighbour:
But the lovers of the rich are many.

He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth;

But he that hath pity on the poor, happy is he.

He that oppresseth the poor revileth his Maker:

But he that hath mercy on the poor honoureth him. The poor useth entreaties;

But the rich answereth roughly.

Better is the poor that walketh in his integrity,

Than he that is perverse in lips and wealthy.

The rich man's wealth is his strong city,

And as a high wall in his own conceit.

He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord;
And that which he hath given will he pay him again.
Treasures got with a lying tongue

Are as vapour
driven to and fro, and snares of death.
Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor,
He also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.
A man in authority that oppresseth the needy

Is like a sweeping rain which bringeth no food.
He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth his substance,
Gathereth it for him who will pity the poor.

A faithful man shall abound with blessings:

But he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be unpunished.

RICHES AND POVERTY

He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack :

But he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse.
The righteous considereth the cause of the poor:
But the wicked understandeth not knowledge.
The poor and the oppressor meet together:
The Lord lighteneth the eyes of both.
The rich and poor meet together:

The Lord is the maker of them all.

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'Much food in the tillage of the poor.' The righteous poor shall prosper in the little which he has : injustice will destroy abundance. 'Snares of death.' Ill-gotten wealth will not last; it tends to the evil and ill-doing of those who have acquired it.

'Understandeth not knowledge': i.e. the knowledge of the just claims of the poor and the ordinances of the law.

In these proverbs ethical teaching jostles against satiric reflection upon the seamy sides of human character. The satire is a little cheap. The sacrifice of the poor for his neighbour is truer to facts than the 'hatred' imputed to him by the sages. But they never falter in their fundamental belief that in the long run it is well with the righteous, and with the righteous only. What did they mean by well' Sometimes they meant outward prosperity, and here their assurance occasionally jars upon us. For we realize that true well-being is inward, dependent upon ourselves rather than upon outward circumstance; moreover, we are well aware that the righteous are by no means always 'healthy and wealthy,' and that much goodness and much adversity often go hand in hand. We know too that by adversity goodness is strengthened and ripened, so that without storm and stress mankind would never have risen to the fullness of its stature. Its divine capacities would never have shown themselves. Fairweather goodness is not the most heroic. But at the same time we, too, are sure that society and the state do in the long run prosper by righteousness and justice and by these alone, and it is perhaps because we cling to the hope of a better life and a higher development for the human spirit after death (a hope which had not yet been granted to our sages) that we are less anxious to maintain, in the face of facts, a correspondence between outward circumstance and inward desert, and no less ready to see the good of earthly sorrow than its seeming injustice and its actual misery.

§ 9. Justice and righteousness.-As in the days of the prophets, so too in the days of the sages, justice is the fundamental virtue of human society.

He that justifieth the guilty, and he that condemneth the righteous,

Even they both are an abomination to the Lord.

A bribe is as a precious stone in the eyes of him that hath it;
Whithersoever he turneth, he prospereth.

A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosom
To pervert the ways of judgement.
A man's gift maketh room for him,

And bringeth him before great men.

He that is first in his cause seemeth just;

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But his neighbour cometh and searcheth him out.
To have respect of persons in judgement is not good.
He that saith unto the wicked, Thou art righteous,'
Him shall the peoples curse, nations shall abhor him:
But to them that rebuke him shall be delight,

And a good blessing shall come upon them.

'Out of the bosom': i. e. secretly, out of the folds of his cloak. First in his cause': i.e. the plaintiff in his suit. Audi alteram partem.

Justice is to the Hebrew only another aspect of righteousness. Let us, then, hear what the sages have to say of righteousness and its results.

Treasures of wickedness profit nothing:

But righteousness delivereth from death.
The memory of the righteous is a blessing:
But the name of the wicked will rot.

The expectation of the righteous endeth in gladness:
But the hope of the wicked shall perish.

The righteous shall never be moved:

But the wicked shall not inherit the earth.

The innocence of the upright shall guide them :

But the crookedness of transgressors shall destroy them. The righteousness of the spotless maketh his way plain : But the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness. The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them: But the faithless are caught in their own desire. By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted: But it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.

In the way of righteousness is life:

But the way of wickedness leadeth to death.

'LOVE COVERETH ALL SINS'

In the house of the righteous is much treasure e:
But in the revenues of the wicked is destruction.
He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house;
But he that hateth gifts shall live.
Better is a little with righteousness

Than great revenues without justice.
The wicked flee when no man pursueth:
But the righteous are bold as a lion.

He that concealeth his sins shall not prosper:

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But whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. In the transgression of an evil man there lieth a snare for him : But the righteous can run and rejoice.

The memory of the righteous is a blessing.' Famous words in Hebrew literature: Zecher tzadik librachah. The name and memory of the righteous will be held in grateful recollection even after his death. Such is the literal meaning. But it was expanded to denote the fine idea that the memory of the righteous is a blessing by being an exemplar and a beacon light, by stirring people up from age to age to imitate noble lives of high endeavour and lofty deed.

'By his own wickedness.' A line of great meaning and wide significance. Not external is the ruin that in the long run must befall wickedness. It contains within itself the causes of its own decay: it brings about its own dissolution.

§ 10. On forgiveness.-The contents of righteousness included forgiveness. We may note an aspiring conception of morality in the maxims which follow.

Whoso rewardeth evil for good,

Evil shall not depart out of his house.

The discretion of a man maketh him long suffering:
And it is his glory to pass over a transgression.

Say not thou, I will recompense evil;

Wait on the Lord, and he shall save thee.

Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me;
I will render to the man according to his work.
Hatred stirreth up strifes:

But love covereth all sins.

Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth,

And let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth. Lest the Lord see it, and it displease him,

And he turn away his wrath from him.

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