4. If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee] To the picture of the boastful self-assertion of the fool is appended as a contrast, that of the self-effacement of the wise. The scene brought before us is that of a statesman, or minister, whose advice runs counter to that of the ruler. The “spirit,” what we should call the “temper,” of the latter “rises up” against the former. What shall the adviser do? His natural impulse is to “leave his place,” i. e. either to cut short his interview, or, resign his office. He won’t be slighted, will not put up with contradiction. That, however, is precisely what the wise of heart will not do. Yielding, i. e. the temper of conciliation (the Hebrew noun is literally the healing, or the healthy, mood of mind) puts to rest, or puts a stop to, great offences. The history of all nations, our own included, presents manifold instances of both modes of action, sometimes, as in the case of Chatham’s behaviour to George III., in the same statesman at different times, sometimes in the attitude of rival statesmen towards the same sovereign. Interpreters after their manner, seeing either the golden or the silver side of the shields, have referred the last words either to the angry acts of the ruler, or to the sins of rebellion in the minister. It can scarcely be questioned, however, that the proverb includes both. The maxim has its parallel in our English proverb, “Least said is soonest mended.”

Verses 4-7. - Section 12. Illustration of the conduct of wisdom under capricious rulers, or when fools are exalted to high stations. Verse 4. - If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee. "Spirit" (ruach) is here equivalent to "anger," as Judges 8:3; Proverbs 29:11. The idea seems to be that a statesman or councilor gives wise advice to a monarch, which the latter takes in bad part, and shows strong resentment against the person who offered it. Now, when a man knows himself to be in the right, and yet finds his counsel rejected, perhaps with scorn and reproach added, he is naturally prone to feel sore, and to show by some overt act his sense of the ill treatment which he has received. But what says wisdom? Leave not thy place (makom); i.e. position, pest, office. Do not hastily resign the situation at court to which you have been appointed. Some, not so suitably, take the expression, "leave thy place," figuratively, as equivalent to "give way to anger, renounce the temper which becomes you, lose your self-possession." But Wright, from the analogous use of matstsale and maamad in Isaiah 22:19, confirms the interpretation which we have adopted. Compare the advice in Ecclesiastes 8:3, where, however, the idea is rather of open rebellion than of a resentment which shows itself by withdrawal. Origen ('De Princip.,' 3:2) explained "the spirit of the ruler" to be the evil spirit; and Gregory, commenting on this passage, writes ('Moral.,' 3:43), "As though he had said in plain words, 'If thou perceivest the spirit of the tempter to prevail against thee in aught, quit not the lowliness of penitence;' and that it was the abasement of penitence that he called 'our place,' he shows by the words that follow, 'for healing [Vulgate] pacifieth great offences.' For what else is the humility of mourning, save the remedy of sin?" (Oxford transl.). For yielding pacifieth great offenses. Marpe, "yielding," is rendered "healing" by the versions. Thus ἴαμα (Septuagint); euratio (Vulgate). But this translation is not so suitable as that of Symmachus, σωφροσύνη, "moderation." The word is used in the sense of" gentleness," "meekness," in Proverbs 14:30; Proverbs 15:4; and the gnome expresses the truth that a calm, conciliating spirit, not prone to take offence, but patient under trying circumstances, obviates great sins. The sins are those of the subject. This quiet resignation saves him from conspiracy, rebellion, treason, etc., into which his untempered resentment might hurry him. We may compare Proverbs 15:1 and Proverbs 25:15; and Horace, 'Cam.,' 3. 3, "Justum et tenacem propositi virum," etc.

"The man whose soul is firm and strong,
Bows not to any tyrant's frown,
And on the rabble's clamorous throng
In proud disdain looks coldly down."

(Stanley.) They who regard the "offenses" as those of the ruler explain them to mean oppression and injustice; but it seems plain from the run of the sentence that the minister, not the monarch, is primarily in the mind of the writer, though, of course, it is quite true that the submission of the former might save the ruler from the commission of some wrong. Ecclesiastes 10:4This verse shows what is the wise conduct of a subject, and particularly of a servant, when the anger of the ruler breaks forth: "If the ill-humour of the ruler rise up against thee, do not leave thy post; for patience leaves out great sins." Luther connects Ecclesiastes 10:4 and Ecclesiastes 10:3 by "therefore;" for by the potentate he understands such an one as, himself a fool, holds all who contradict him to be fools: then it is best to let his folly rage on. But the מושׁל is a different person from the סכל; and מק אל־תּנּח does not mean, "let not yourself get into a passion," or, as he more accurately explains in the Annotationes: "remain self-possessed" (similarly Hitzig: lose not thy mental state of composure), but, in conformity with תלך ... אל, Ecclesiastes 8:3, "forsake not the post (synon. מצּב and מעמד, Isaiah 22:19, cf. 23) which thou hast received." The person addressed is thus represented not merely as a subject, but officially as a subordinate officer: if the ruler's displeasure (רוּח, as at Judges 8:3; Proverbs 29:11) rises up against him (עלה, as elsewhere; cf. אף, Psalm 73:21; or חמה, 2 Samuel 11:20), he ought not, in the consciousness that he does not merit his displeasure, hastily give up his situation which has been entrusted to him and renounce submission; for patience, gentleness (regarding מרפּא, vid., Proverbs 12:18) 'גּד ... 'ין.

This concluding clause of the verse is usually translated: "It appeaseth (pacifieth) great sins" (lxx καταπαύσει, Symm. παύσει). The phrase (חמה) אף הניח is not to be compared, for it signifies quieting by an exhausting outbreak; on the contrary, יניח in the passage before us must signify quieting, as the preventing of an outbreak (cf. Proverbs 15:1). It appears more correct to render הנּיח in both cases in the sense of ἐᾶν, missum facere: to leave great sins is equals not to commit them, to give up the lust thereto; for hinniahh signifies to let go, to leave off, e.g., Jeremiah 14:9; and to indulge, Esther 3:8, here as at Ecclesiastes 7:18; Ecclesiastes 11:6, "to keep the hands from something." The great sins cannot certainly be thought of as those of the ruler; for on his part only one comes into view, if indeed, according to the old legal conception, it could be called such, viz., cruel proceeding with reference to him who wilfully withdraws from him, and thus proves his opposition; much rather we are to think of the great sins into which he who is the object of the ruler's displeasure might fall, viz., treason (Ecclesiastes 8:2), insubordination, self-destruction, and at the same time, since he does not stand alone, or make common cause with others who are discontented, the drawing of others into inevitable ruin (Ecclesiastes 8:3). All these sins, into which he falls who answers wrath with wrath, patience avoids, and puts a check to them. The king's anger is perhaps justified; the admonition, however, would be otherwise expressed than by 'l-tnch mq', if it were not presupposed that it was not justified; and thus without meta'basis eis a'llo ge'nos an I-section follows the reflection regarding wise deportment as over against the king's displeasure, a section which describes from experience and from personal observation the world turned upside down in the state.

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