[387] Prov. xxvii. 21: "The fining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, and a man for the mouth of his praise." This somewhat obscure aphorism is most simply explained thus:—A man should make his conscience a kind of furnace, in which he tries all the laudatory things which are said of him, accepting only the refined and pure metal which results from such a test, and rejecting the dross. This is simpler than, with Delitzsch, to explain, "a man is tested by the praise which is bestowed upon him as silver and gold are tested in the fire."
[388] Prov. xiii. 10.
[389] Prov. xxviii. 26.
[390] Prov. xi. 2.
[391] Prov. xii. 15b.
[392] Prov. xvi. 20.
[393] Prov. xv. 31, 33.
[394] Prov. xvii. 2.
[395] This is an addition of the LXX. to xiii. 13, and may represent an original Hebrew text. For the idea cp. Eccles. x. 25, "Unto the servant that is wise shall they that are free do service."
[396] Prov. xiii. 10.