ancients,” which shows that it must have long been in use among the Israelites. In 2 Samuel xx. 18 another proverb, which seems likewise to have been long current among the people, is preserved: “They were wont to speak in old time, saying, ‘They shall surely ask counsel at Abel’”; this was uttered by a “wise woman.” With deeper observation and reflection more subtle thoughts came to be expressed in this form. “The Israelites, like all other peoples, must have reflected more or less, from the moment when they attained a settled civilization, on general questions of life. The lowest form of such reflection appears in popular proverbs and fables, which express, usually in a one-sided and superficial way, the result of the ordinary common-sense experience and observation.”[304] As a general rule, however, the few examples of proverbs which we find in the earlier books of the Old Testament reflect a relatively somewhat advanced type, and what is especially interesting about them is that they appear not infrequently to have been made on the spur of the moment; this is the case with the proverb in 1 Samuel x. 12: “Is Saul among the prophets?” which is said to have “become a proverb.” Another saying the form and rhythm of which marks it out as a proverb is: “The blind and the lame shall not come into the house” (2 Sam. v. 8, R.V. marg.); the fact that this is prefaced by the words, “Wherefore they say,” also points to its having been a popular proverb. These, and similar proverbs, though originally composed in reference to some particular occurrence, became applicable in course of time in a more general way. The proverb, for example, “Is Saul among the prophets?” might be described as the _converse_ of the modern proverb: “Birds of a feather flock together”; or, again, the proverb: “They shall surely ask counsel at Abel,” may well have become a popular way of expressing the truth that if you want guidance you must seek it at the right quarter. A later and more advanced type of proverb is uttered by the prophet Hosea (viii. 7): “They sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind”; another is quoted in Jeremiah xxxi. 29 and Ezekiel xviii. 2 in the words: “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” The simplest form of proverb was thus the earliest type of “Wisdom” among the Israelites, as it was among other peoples. But the content of a proverb easily lent itself, in the minds of the more reflective, to expansion, and thus by degrees were formed fables and parables whereby truths were illustrated and brought home to the minds of men. One of the earliest fables—the exact application of which in its present context is not quite easy to determine—is preserved in Judges ix. 8-15: