Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/4_400.lzh/4_491.TXT

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word tvomen, and Jarchi interprets it to this sense; but
the Targum renders it, strange things; and so many
others: a drunken man, through the lunges and yapours
that ascend into his brain, fancies he sees strange sights;
he sees things double; imagines that he sees trees
walk, and many such-like absurd and monstrous things.
And thine heart shall utter perverse things; or the
mouth, from the abundance of the heart, and imagi-
nation of it, shall utter things contrary to sense and
reason, contrary to truth and righteousness, contrary
to chastity and good manners, contrary to their own
honour and credit, contrary to God and men; the
mouth then utters all that is in ttie heart, which it at
other times conceals. It may Iiave a particular respect
to the unchaste, filthy, and obscene words, uttered to
strange womcn, into whose conipany nien fall when in
liquor.
Vet. 34. Yea, thou shall be as he that lieth down in the
midst of the sea, &c.'] Not in the open sea, and the
waves of it, there fluctuating and tossed about; nor in
an island encompassed by sea; but in a ship at sea,
a drunken man reels and tumbles about, just as a ship
does at sea; hence the motions and agitations of it, and
of the men in it, are compared to the reeling and stag-
gering of a drunken man, Psal. evil. 26, e7. Or as he
that lieth upon the top of a mast: where the motion is
the greatest. Or all this may be expressive of the
dangcrs which a drunkhrd is exposed unto, and of his
stupidity and insensibility; for though he is in as great

danger as one in the circumstances described, in a
storm at sea, yet is not sensible of' it; which agrees
with what follows.
Vet. 35. They have stricken me, slnlt thou say, and 1
was not sick, &c.] Orgrieved not {x}; or was not wounded
or skin-broken {y}; see Jet. v. 3. The drunken man is
here represented as saying, that though Iris compa-
nions, with whom he quarrelled and fought in his
drunken frolics, beat him very much, yet he was not
sensible of the pain and smart; and it had left no sick-
hess nor disorder upon hi,n; he did not find himself
much the worse for it. The!t have beaten me; as with
hamtners {z}; battered and bruised him terribly, laying
very hard and heavy strokes upon him; and I felt it
not; or knew it not {a}; did not perceive it, was not sen-
sible · of it, when the blows were given, or who gave
them; and thus feeling no more, and coming off so
well, as he thinks, he is so far fi'om being reclaimed
from this vice, that he is more strengthened in it, and
desirous of it. When shall I awake ? I will seek it yet
again: that is, the wine and his boon companions,
though he has been so used. So the Vulgate Latin
version, when shall I awake, and again find wines ? being
heavy with sleep through intemperance, and yet
thirsty, is desirous of shaking off his sleep, that he may
get to drinking again, and add drunkenness to thirst,
l)eut. xxix. 19. so the Septuagint version, "when
"will it be morning, that going I may seek with whom
"I may meet ?"

Ver. 1. Be not thou envious against evil men, &c.]
Or, men of evil {b}. Such who are addicted to evil, and
given up to it, whose principles and practices are bad;
such as are before described in the preceding chapter;
'gluttons and drunkards, men given to women and wine:
envy not their present prosperity, or seeming pleasure
they have in the gratification of their sensual appetites;
since woe and sorrow, wounds and strife, now attend
them, and poverty and want will follow them; as well
as everlasting ruin and destruction will be their portion
hereafter; see the note on ch. xxiii. 17. and compare
with this ver. 21, 27, 29, 32. Neither desire to be with
them; to be in their company; to have any conversation
and fellowship with 'them, which is very infectlous,
dangerous, and pernicious; nor even to be in the same
state, condition, and circumstances they are in; much
less to do as they do, and imitate them in their sinful
courses; as you would not choose to be with them in
hell hereafter, do not desire to be with them here.
Vet. 2. For their heart studieth destruction, &c.] To
others; to good men, that separate from them, and
reprove them, or are in their way; or any ways hinder
 them in the prosecution of their wicked designs; as
Itaman's heart studied the destruction of the Jews: or
their hearts study to draw men into their destructive
methods of living, and therefore should be shunned
and avoided. Moreover, their hearts study destruction
to themselves; they study what they shall eat and
drink, which they pursue to intemperance; and how
they shall compass their lewd designs, and which issue
in their ruin; destruction and misery are in all the
ways they devise and walk in. And their lips talk of
mischief; which they study in their hearts against
others; as are their hearts, so are their lips; out of the
abundance of the wickedness of their hearts their
mouths speak mischievous things; and which, though
they design for others, oftentimes fall upon themselves.
Ver. 3. Through wisdom is a house bttilded, &c.] A.
family is built up, furnished and supplied with the
necessaries and conveniences of life, and brought into
flourishing and prosperous circumstances, by wise and
prudent management, by diligence and industry,
through the blessing of God upon them, without taking
such methods as evil men do.. 'Fhe house of God, the
church of the living God, is built by Wisdom, that is,
by Christ; on a good tbundation, a rock, upon himself,
against which the gates of hell can never prevail; see
oh. ix. 1. Every good man's house, himself, Iris soul,
and the eternal salvation of it, are built on the same;
and he is a wise man that builds Iris house through
wisdom; that builds on the foundation of the apostles
and prophets, the one and only foundation which God


{x} \^ytylx lb\^ non dolui, Tigurine version, Michaelis.
{y} Schultens Orig. Heb. l. 1. c. 9. s. 20.
{z} \^ynwmlh\^ contuderunt me, velut malleis, Michaelis, so Grotius.
{a} \^ytedy lb\^ non cognovi, Pagninus, Montanus; non novi, Cocceius.
{b} \^her yvnab\^ viros mali, Baynus, Piscator, Michaelis.