For in the multitude of dreams and many words [there are] also [divers] vanities: but fear thou God.
Ver. 7. For in the multitude af dreams, and in many words,] i.e., As in the multitude of dreams, so in many words, &c. There may be some matter in some of either; but neither of them wants their vanities. Dreams are of various sorts. See Trapp on " Gen 20:3 " Epicurus judged them all vain. The Telmisenses nulla somnia evacuabant, saith Tertullian, a made no dreams to be vain. But that some dreams are divine, some diabolical, and some natural, Peculiare solarium naturalis oraculi, as one speaketh, good symptoms and indications of the natural constitution, no wise man ever doubted. That of the philosopher b hath a truth in it, Iustum ab iniusto non somno, sed somnio discerni, that a good man may be distinguished from a bad, though not by his sleep, yet by his dreams in his sleep.
But fear thou God.] And so eschew this evil of fond babbling (in God's service especially), which is no less a vanity than plain doting, and procures Divine displeasure. Deum siquis parum metuit, valde contemnit. c He that fears not God's wrath is sure to feel it. Psa 90:11
a Tertul., De Anima, c. 46.
b Aristot. Ethic.
c Fulgent.