CRITICAL NOTES.—
Lemuel. This Hebrew word signifies “For God,” or “belonging to God,” and is regarded by most commentators as a proper name. The prophecy. Delitzsch, Stuart, and many other Hebrew scholars render this word as a proper name, and read “The words of Lemuel, king of MASSA, which his mother taught him.” Miller reads the verse, “Words in respect to the Seed-of-God, a king; a prophecy in agreement with which his mother disciplined him,” and, as in the preceding chapter, applies it to Christ.
Proverbs 31:2. What, etc. “An impassioned exclamation expressing inward emotion.” (Zöckler.) “The question,” says Delitzsch, “which is at the same time a call, is like a deep sigh from the heart of a mother concerned for the welfare of a son.”
Proverbs 31:3. The second clause reads literally “nor thy ways to destroy kings,” and hence some understand it as a warning against warlike rapacity and lust of conquest, but, as Delitzsch remarks, this does not stand well as the parallel to the warning in the first clause.
Proverbs 31:4. Strong drink. (See on chap. Proverbs 20:1.)
Proverbs 31:5. Any of the afflicted. Literally “The sons of want.”
Proverbs 31:8. Such as are appointed to destruction. Literally “Children of leaving,” generally understood to mean orphans. The twenty-two verses following form an alphabetical song, each verse beginning with the several letters of the Hebrew alphabet arranged in consecutive order.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Proverbs 31:1-9
DIVINE COMMANDS FROM A MOTHER’S LIPS
I. Two considerations made it obligatory upon Lemuel to attend to this counsel of his mother.
1. She was inspired to utter it. However we may translate the word here rendered prophecy (see Critical Notes), its place in the Holy Scriptures gives to it the authority of a message from God. The words are not merely the results of a tender and wise mother’s own observation and experience, but they are the utterances of a spirit under the special influence of the Holy Ghost. Although, therefore, his mother’s love, and, doubtless, her holy example, ought to have been very powerful incentives to attention and obedience, his obligation was increased tenfold by the conviction he must have had that God spoke to him through her lips.
2. He was a king. If men in every station of life are bound to keep the paths of purity and charity, much more is it the duty of one in a high place—the influence of whose actions stretch so far beyond his immediate surroundings, and who holds in his hand the destinies of so many beside his own. Because Lemuel had been called by God to a throne, what he was and what he did concerned not a few people only, but a nation, and this reflection ought to have added great weight to his mother’s words.
II. The first and indispensable duty of a ruler is to rule himself. Every man is a little kingdom made up of many different and sometimes opposing forces—of inclinations towards the earthly, the sensual, and even the devilish, and of aspirations towards the heavenly, the spiritual, and the godlike. There are lawful desires which, satisfied in a lawful manner, may lead to much enjoyment and blessing, but which, if allowed to rule the man, or even to have any share in the government of the life, will degrade and may almost brutalise him. Bodily appetites have their place in the constitution of man, but it was never intended that they should be satisfied by breaking the moral law; and when they lead to this, moral anarchy has set in, and moral ruin is not far off. The two great sins of the body against which Lemuel is here warned have in all ages shown how man can turn blessings into curses by abusing and mis-using them, and the Word of God and human history unite in proclaiming the truth that the Divine intention is perverted when the body rules the man and not the man the body. Every man is bound to be king of himself, and one who aspires to be a king over others and is yet a slave to his own unlawful passions will bring upon himself the curse of man and the judgment of God. On this subject see also on chap. Proverbs 6:24-35, page 89, and chap. Proverbs 23:29-35, page 673.
III. The obligation next in order is succour of the needy. In former Chapter s we have considered the obligation which God lays upon every man to consider the cause of the poor and afflicted. (See on chaps. Proverbs 14:20, page 370, and chap. Proverbs 24:11, page 180.) As we remarked at the outset, duties which men owe to their fellow-men multiply and become binding in proportion to opportunities. The king of ancient times was but another name for one whose direct influence over his subjects was greater than that of monarchs in our day. His word was law, and the power of life and death was often in his hand alone, and if he exercised self-denial and gave of his substance to those in want, he might often by his individual action entirely change the condition of half his subjects. The relations of society have changed since then, and kings have no longer so exclusively the power for good or ill, but their influence is still very great, and if it is all exerted in favour of benevolence and justice, and they live lives of self-denial and active compassion on behalf of others, they will come up to the ideal picture here drawn for their imitation.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Proverbs 31:2. There was a threefold cord of maternal love which this parent was wont to employ, and which remained in its form as well as its power in the memory of her son. “My son” is the outmost and uppermost aspect of the relation. This is a bond set in nature, felt by the parties, and obvious to all. On this she leans first when she makes an appeal to his heart. But at the next step she goes deeper in. She recalls the day of his birth. She goes back to that hour when nature’s greatest sorrow is dispelled by nature’s gladdest news, “A man-child is born into the world.” By the pains and joys of that hour she knits the heart of her son to her own, and thereby increases her purchase upon the direction of his life. But still one step farther back can this mother go. He is the “son of her vows.” Before his birth she held converse, not with him for God, but with God for him.—Arnot.
Proverbs 31:4. It is not for kings to admit within their dominions anyone that is stronger than themselves, and able to overthrow them. It is not for kings to harbour anyone within their dominions that is false unto them, and ready to betray them: much more it is not for kings to admit within themselves any immoderate quantity of wine, which soon proveth too strong for them, and quickly with shame overthroweth them.—Jermin.