[48] See p. 174 and 198. Of the _Book of Proverbs_ Toy remarks that “if for the name Jehovah we substitute ‘God,’ there is not a paragraph or a sentence which would not be as suitable for any other people as for Israel” (_Proverbs_, p. xxi.) [49] The Jews seem to have had an unusual aptitude for confining themselves to particular points of view. Mark to what an extent the Prophets ignore the Priests, and the Priests the Prophets. This makes it less surprising to find that the Proverbialists should ignore both. [50] Further reference may be made to Delitzsch, _Jewish Artisan Life in the time of Christ_, and also Büchler, _Der galilaische ‘Am-ha-’ Arets des zweiten Jahrhunderts_. Some of the trades then reckoned ignoble seem by no means so to us; for example, tanners, weavers, and hairdressers were particularly despised. One Rabbi quaintly remarks: “Ass-drivers are mostly wicked, camel-drivers mostly honest, sailors mostly pious, the best of physicians is destined for Gehenna, and the most honourable of butchers is a partner of Amalek.” [51] It is good to feel that, whatever the Christian centuries have not yet achieved for the regeneration of society, the “poor man’s neighbour” has redeemed his reputation from this terrible charge. [52] Cp. Matt. 6^{11}, _Give us this day our daily bread_. [53] Lyman Abbott, _Life and Literature of the Ancient Hebrews_, p. 278. [54] _i.e._, his slanders, which scorch his victims. [55] Compare the unintentionally funny passage in E. 31^{12ff}. _If thou sittest at a great man’s table, be not greedy at it, nor say, “What a lot of things are on it!”... Stretch not your hand wheresoe’er your glance wanders, nor thrust yourself forward into the dish. Eat like a man_ [_i.e_., do not gnaw or gobble as an animal would do] _what is set before thee, and do not bolt your food, lest you be loathed. Be first to leave off for the sake of good manners, and be not insatiate lest you offend._ Cp. E. 8 which also treats of “How to behave.” [56] The Hebrew text of the first two lines is uncertain. [57] Theophrastus, _Characters_ (Jebb’s translation), pp. 82, 83. [58] In Hebrew, _Pethāīm_. [59] Hebrew, _Lētsīm_. [60] Sometimes the whole point of a saying lies in the use of different terms. Thus Pr. 17^{21} seems merely redundant in the R.V., “He that begetteth a fool doeth it to his sorrow; and the father of a fool hath no joy.” But the “fool” of the first clause is in the Hebrew _Kesīl_, a coarse fool, and the “fool” of the second is _Nabal_; _i.e._, to have the first as a son will involve some regrets, but the second robs his father of all joy. [61] Horton, _Proverbs_ (Expositor’s Bible), p. 347. [62] See below, ch. X., p. 184f.