John Gill Commentary Proverbs 31

The words of King Lemuel
Not what were spoken by him, but what were spoken to him; or declaring what his mother said, as what follows shows; of this king we have no account elsewhere under this name.

Grotius thinks that King Hezekiah, whose mother Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah, whom he supposes to be a wise man, from whom she has learned much, instructed her son in the following manner; but gives no other reason for this conjecture but that this chapter follows the collection of proverbs made by the men of Hezekiah; but they are expressly said to be Solomon's, and the words of Agur more immediately follow them.

And besides Hezekiah does not appear ever to be addicted to the vices this prince was; much more probable is the conjecture of Bishop Patrick, that he was a prince of another country, perhaps in Chaldea, since a Chaldee word is three times used in his mother's address to him, and another word in a Chaldee termination; and he supposes his mother to be a Jewish lady, that taught her son the lessons herein contained.

But the general sense of Jewish and Christian writers is, that Solomon himself is meant; whose name Lemuel is either a corruption of his name Solomon, a fond pretty name his mother Bathsheba gave him when young, and he thought fit to write it just as his mother spoke it. Mothers often do give such broken names to their children in fond affection to them.

or it was another name of his, as it appears he had more than one; it signifies "to God", one that was devoted to him, as he was by his parents and by himself; or one that belonged to God, was his, as Solomon was; he was beloved of God, and therefore called Jedidiah, (2 Samuel 12:24 2 Samuel 12:25). One to whom God was a father, and he a son to him; and he was chosen and appointed by him to succeed his father David in the kingdom, (2 Samuel 7:13) (1 Chron. 28:5).

Hillerus ^F1 makes the word to signify "over against God", or "before the face of the first", or of God and was a type of the "angel of faces", or of God's presence, (Isaiah 63:9);

the prophecy that his mother taught him ;
either in his youth, or when he was come to the throne; to whom she had access, and with whom she used freedom; and particularly when she saw he was inclined to, or going into, the vices she cautions him against.

Her instruction is called a "prophecy", because she delivered it on a foresight of the sins her son would be tempted with, and liable to fall into. And this foresight was either through her natural sagacity, or under a spirit of prophecy; or rather it is so called, because any wise saying, or doctrine of moment and importance, and especially if it was by divine inspiration, was so called; see (Proverbs 30:1);

as Solomon tells us what his father David taught him, so here what his mother Bathsheba instructed him in; and it would have been well if he had taken the advice she gave him, and he gave to his son; see (Proverbs 4:3Proverbs 4:4) (1:8).

FOOTNOTES:

• F1: Onomastic. Sacr. p. 268.

What, my son ?
&c.] What shall I call you? though you are a king, can I address you in more suitable language, or use a more endearing appellative than this, and what follows? permit me, your mother, to speak to you as my son: and what shall I say to you? I want words, I want wisdom; O that I knew what to say to you, that would be proper and profitable; or what is it I am about to say to you? things of the greatest moment and importance, and therefore listen to me; and so the manner of speaking is designed to excite attention: or what shall I ask of you? no part of your kingdom, or any share in the government of it; only this favour, to avoid the sins unbecoming a prince, and to do the duty of a king, later mentioned. The Targum and Syriac version represent her as exclaiming, reproving, and threatening; as, Alas my son! is this the life you design to live, to give up yourself to wine and women? fie upon it, my son, is this becoming your birth, education, and dignity? is this the fruit of all the pains I have taken in bringing you up? consider the unbecoming part you are acting;

and what, the son of my womb ?
whom I bore in sorrow, brought forth in pain, and took so much care and trouble to bring up in a religious way, and form for usefulness in church and state? not an adopted son, but my own flesh and blood; and therefore what I say must be thought to proceed from pure affection to you, and solely for your good; see (Isaiah 49:15) ;

and what, the son of my vows ?
whom I asked of God, and promised to give up to him again, and did; for which reason she might call him Lemuel, as Hannah called her son Samuel, for a like reason, (1 Samuel 1:28) ; a son for whom she had put up many prayers, for his temporal and spiritual good; and on whose account she had made many vows, promises, and resolutions, that she would do so and so, should she be so happy as to bring him into the world, and bring him up to man's estate, and see him settled on the throne of Israel.

Give not your strength unto women
Strength of body, which is weakened by an excessive use of venery ^F2 with a multiplicity of women; see, (Proverbs 5:9) ; and strength of mind, reason, and wisdom, which is impaired by conversation with such persons; whereby time is consumed and lost, which should be spent in the improvement of knowledge: or "your riches", as the Septuagint and Arabic versions, your substance, which harlots devour, and who bring a man to a piece of bread, as the prodigal was, (Proverbs 6:26) (Luke 15:30) ; and even drain the coffers of kings and princes;

nor your ways to that which destroyeth kings ;
do not give your mind to take such courses, and pursue such ways and methods, as bring ruin on kings and kingdoms, as conversation with harlots does; see (Proverbs 7:26) . Some think the design of this advice is to warn against any ambitious views of enlarging his dominions by invading neighbouring countries, and making war with neighbouring kings, to the ruin of them; but the former sense seems best. The Targum is, ``nor your ways to the daughters of kings.''

Solomon was given to women, who proved very pernicious to him, (1 Kings 11:1–5) . Some render it, "which destroyeth counsel" ^F3 ; for whoredom weakens the mind as well as the body.

FOOTNOTES:

• F2: "Venus enervat vireis", Avienus.
• F3: Don Joseph apud Schindler. col. 990.

[It is] not for kings, O Lemuel
It is not fit for them, it is very unbecoming them; it is dishonourable to them, to such as Lemuel was, or was likely to be; or far be it from kings, let no such thing be done by them, nor by you; [it is] not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink ;

it is lawful for kings to drink wine in a moderate manner, and for princes, counsellors, and judges, to drink strong drink; meaning not such as is made of malt, which in those times was not used; but of honey, dates, pomegranates, and such like things; but then it was very unbecoming for either of them to drink any of these to excess; it is very disgraceful to any man to drink immoderately, to make a beast of himself, and much more a king or judge, who, of all men, ought to be grave and sober; both that they may perform their office well, and maintain the grandeur and dignity of it, which otherwise would become useless and despicable, yea, pernicious, as follows.

Solomon, notwithstanding this advice, gave himself unto wine as well as women, (Ecclesiastes 2:3) . The Targum is, ``take care of kings, O Lemuel, of kings who drink wine, and of princes that drink strong drink.'' So the Syriac version, keep no company with them, nor follow their example; see (Ecclesiastes 10:17) (Hosea 7:5) ;

The last clause may be rendered, "nor for princes [to say], where is strong drink" ^F4 ? where is it to be had? where is the best? as drunkards do; which is according to the marginal reading; but the "Cetib", or writing, is (wa) , "or" ^F5 ; but some render it as a noun, "the desire of strong drink" ^F6 : it does not become princes to covet it.

FOOTNOTES:

• F4: (rkv ya) "ubi sechar?" Montanus, Vatlablus; "ubi (est) sicera?", Cocceius, Michaelis; so Ben Melech.
• F5: (rkv wa) "siceram", Cocceius, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Gussetius. p. 20. Schultens.
• F6: "Nunc vino pellite curas", Horat. Carmin, l. 1. Ode 7. v. 31. "Tu spem reducis" ib. l. 3. Ode 21. v. 17.

Lest they drink, and forget the law
The law of God by Moses, which the kings of Israel were obliged to write a copy of, and read over daily, to imprint it on their minds, that they might never forget it, but always govern according to it, (Deuteronomy 17:18Deuteronomy 17:19); or the law of their ancestors, or what was made by themselves, which through intemperance may be forgotten; for this sin stupefies the mind and hurts the memory, and makes men forgetful; and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted;
a king on the throne, or a judge on the bench, drunk, must be very unfit for his office; since he must be incapable of attending to the cause before him, of taking in the true state of the case; and, as he forgets the law, which is his rule of judgment, so he will mistake the point in debate, and put one thing for another; and "change" ^F7 and alter, as the word signifies, the judgment of the afflicted and injured person, and give the cause against him which should be for him; and therefore it is of great consequence that kings and judges should be sober.

A certain woman, being undeservedly condemned by Philip king of Macedon, when drunk, said, ``I would appeal to Philip, but it shall be when he is sober;'' which aroused him; and, more diligently examining the cause, he gave, a more righteous sentence ^F8.

FOOTNOTES:

• F7: (hnvy) "mutet", Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Mercerus, Cocceius, Gejerus, Michaelis; "demutet", Schultens.
• F8: Valer. Maxim l. 6. c. 2. extern. 1.