[¹] Hebrew the strength.
AH, then, who is really wise, and who knows how to solve the enigma of this matter? that wisdom of humanity which enlightens his face, for the haughty face is detestable.
[♦]VIII. (1.) Who is as the wise? (the LXX., rendering ad sensum, translate τίς οἶδεν σοφούς, ‘who knows wise men or things?’ which E. and X. alter to σοφίαν, ‘wisdom.’ ‘Who is as the wise?’ or, as מי stands first, ‘ah, who is really wise?’ There is a double meaning here——a lamentation over his own failure, and a natural reflection on the superior wisdom of the Wise One, or, as we should write, the Omniscient) and who (‘and who too’) knows a solution (פשר occurs Daniel ii. 4, 5, 6, etc., but in that prophet only, and is used to signify the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, hence LXX. λύσις) of a reason: (who then is so wise that he knows how to solve the matter, or give it its true interpretation? The answer follows) that wisdom of a man enlightens (but as חכמה follows חכם, it rises into importance, ‘that wisdom of a man which enlightens’) his countenance (there is a manifest allusion here to Proverbs xvi. 15, and the meaning of ‘enlightens his face’ is, ‘gives him favour or satisfaction’), but the strength of his face (which has the meaning of sternness or wilfulness, see Deuteronomy xxvii. 50) is hated (the Masorets propose the alteration from יְשֻׁנֶא to יְשֻׁנֶּה; but this was because they did not understand the context; the LXX. render ἀναιδὴς [♠]προσώπῳ αὐτοῦ μισηθήσεται, ‘but a man of shameless countenance will be hated,’ and also the Syriac, but strictly ישנא is impersonal, ‘one hates.’ The meaning then, read in the light of Proverbs xvi. 15, evidently is, that obstinacy is that which a king hates, and of course a fortiori the Divine King).
[♦] “VII.” replaced with “VIII.”
[♠] “προσώπου” replaced with “προσώπῳ”
2 I counsel thee to keep the king’s commandment, and that in regard of the oath of God.
As for me, a royal word observe, and upon reasoning about the Divine decree, do not hasten.