(4) One other embedded proverb occurs in a passage of _Ezekiel_ (12^{21, 22}): _And the word of the Lord came unto me saying, “Son of man, what is this proverb that ye have in the land of Israel saying_, =The days are prolonged, and every= =vision faileth=?” Other lands besides Israel have echoed those despairing words. It is hard not to feel in a city-settlement that “the days are prolonged”; hard in a half-filled church not to wonder if “every vision faileth.” But a true man will still hold to the instinct that somehow his hopes are certainties, and will make answer with Israel’s prophet thus: _Tell them therefore, “Thus saith the Lord God: I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say unto them, ‘The days are at hand, and the fulfilment of every vision.’”_ A man who finds himself without confidence in God or man might save himself from pessimism by a study of the intellectual, moral and spiritual achievements of the Hebrew prophets.[32] Looking back on Jewish history it is manifest that the spiritual longings of these great personalities were realised to a wonderful extent and in ways impossible for themselves or their contemporaries to perceive or anticipate. Things did work together for good to those Jews who sought to discover the will of God and, despite perplexity and hardship, refused to abandon their imperfect but advancing faith. Thus even the Exile, apparently the dissolution of Israel’s life, proved to be the very means of its preservation and subsequent extension to a position of world-wide influence. No one who has realised on the one hand the overwhelming difficulties against which the prophets had to contend, the frankness with which they faced the naked facts, their own agonising struggle of soul against doubt and despair, and on the other side the ultimate vindication of their faith; no one with that knowledge clear before him will find it easy wholly to despair of men, or to cast from him for ever the hope of God. * * * * * Besides these few incidental proverbs, the pre-exilic literature of the Old Testament fortunately has preserved occasional glimpses of the _makers of proverbs_ in Israel, and to these we now turn. We shall then be prepared to study the special development of Jewish proverbs which furnishes the chief interest of our subject. It will be convenient first to set down the evidential passages consecutively, and afterwards to consider their significance. (_a_) The narrative in _2 Samuel_ 14^{1^{ff}} relating the stratagem by which Joab succeeded in reconciling King David to his son Absalom begins thus: _Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king’s heart was towards Absalom. And Joab sent to Tekoa and fetched thence_ =a wise woman=.