and have no fellowship with one that is stronger and richer than thyself:
For what fellowship hath the kettle with the earthen pot?
this will smite, and that will be broken.
The rich man doth wrong, and he snorteth with anger,
the poor man is wronged, and he entreateth withal.
And again (xiii. 18)—
What peace hath the hyæna with the dog?
and what peace hath the rich man with the poor?
He is painfully conscious of the deserved humiliation of his country, and the only reason which he can urge why God should interpose is the assured prophetic word (xxxvi. 15, 16 = 20, 21). Elsewhere he ascribes all the evil of his time to the neglect of the Law (xli. 8), which, by a strong hyperbole, he almost identifies with personified Divine Wisdom (xxiv. 23; see above on Prov. viii.) Not however without a noble introduction leading up to and justifying this identification. In the true māshāl-style he describes how Wisdom wandered through the world seeking a resting-place,—
Then the Creator of all gave me a commandment,