Ver. 1. Cast thy bread.] Thine own well gotten goods. Alms must not be given, said a martyr, until it have sweat in a man’s hand. “Let him labour, working with his hands,” saith the apostle, “that he may have to give to him that needeth.” (Ephesians 4:28) And the bountiful man giveth of his bread to the poor, saith Solomon. (Proverbs 22:9) God hateth to have ex rapina holocaustum, a sacrifice of things got by rapine and robbery; (Amos 2:8) “With such sacrifices God is not well pleased.” Wherefore, if thou hast of thine own, give; if not, better for thee to gratify none than to grate upon any, saith Augustine. When our Henry III (an oppressing prince) had sent a load of frieze to the friar minors to clothe them, they returned the same with this message, that he ought not to give alms of what he had rent from the poor, neither would they accept of that abominable gift. The Hebrew word signifying alms signifies properly justice, to intimate that the matter of our alms should be goods justly gotten. Hence also the Jews call their alms box Kuphashel tsedaka, the chest of justice. Into this box or basket, if thou cast but bread (so it be thy bread), brown bread, such as thou hast, and then wait for the Lord, when he will return from the wedding with a full hand, thou shalt be fed supernae mensae copiosis deliciis, as one saith, with the abundant dainties of the heavenly table. Upon the waters.] Heb., Upon the face of the waters, where it may seem clearly cast away; as seed sown upon the sea, or a thing thrown down Avon, as we say, no profit or praise to be had by it. Or upon the waters, i.e., upon strangers (if necessary) whom we never saw, and are never likely to see again. Or, “upon the waters,” i.e., upon such as being hunger bitten, or hardly bestead, do water their plants, being fed “with bread of tears.” [as Psalms 80:5] To this sense Munster renders the words thus, Mitte panem tuum super facies aquas, sc., emittentes, Cast thy bread upon faces watered with tears; or, “upon the waters,” upon the surface of the waters, that it may be carried into the ocean, where the multitude of waters is gathered together; so shall thine alms, carried into heaven, be found in the ocean of eternity, where there is a confluence of all comforts and contentments. Or, lastly, “upon the waters,” i.e., in loca irrigua, upon grounds well watered—moist and fertile soil, such as is that by the river Nile, where they do but throw in the seed, and they have four rich harvests in less than four months; or as that in the land of Shinar (where Babel was founded, Genesis 11:1-9), that returns, if Herodotus and Pliny may be believed, the seed beyond credulity. For thou shalt find it after many days.] Thou shalt “reap in due time, if thou faint not”: slack not, withdraw not thy hand, as Ecclesiastes 11:6. Mitre panem, &c., et in verbo Domini promitto tibi, &c., saith one; Cast thy bread confidently, without fear, and freely, without compulsion; cast it, though thou seem to cast it away; and I dare promise thee, in the name and word of the Lord, Nequaquam infrugifera apparebit beneficentia, that thy bounty shall be abundantly recompensed into thy bosom. “The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth shall be watered himself.” (Proverbs 11:25) [See Trapp on “Pr 11:25”] See also my Common Place of Alms. Non pereunt sed parturiunt pauperibus impensa, That which is given to the poor is not lost, but laid up. Not getting, but giving, is the way to wealth. (Proverbs 19:17) Abigail, for a small present bestowed on David, became a queen, whereas churlish Nabal was sent to his place. Acts and Mon., fol. 765. A kind of coarse woollen cloth, with a nap, usually on one side only; now esp. of Irish manufacture. Daniel’s Hist., 168. הקדצ.—Buxtorf. Εις υδωρ οπιειν. Blunt’s Voyage, p. 37. Herod., lib. i. c. 193; Plin., lib. vi. c. 26. Greg. Thaum.
Ver. 2. Give a portion to seven, and also to eight.] A portion— i.e., a good deal, a fair proportion—to a good many; as B. Hooper did to his board of beggars, whom he fed every day by course, serving them by four at a mess, with whole and wholesome food. Or give a portion, i.e., a part, such as thou canst well part with, not stretching beyond the staple, lest ye mar all, while “others are eased, and you burdened, but by an equality,” &c. (2 Corinthians 8:13,14) Give to him that asketh, saith our Saviour (Luke 6:30) -scil., according to his necessity, and thine ability. Give with discretion. (Psalms 112:5) Have a special respect to the family of faith, (Galatians 6:10) those “excellent ones of the earth,” in whom was David’s “delight.” (Psalms 16:3) The Jews, from this text, grounded a custom of giving alms to seven poor people every day, or to eight at utmost, if they saw cause. But here is a finite number put for an infinite, as when Christ bade Peter forgive his brother “seventy times seven times,” and as (Micah 5:5) “seven shepherds and eight principal men” signify so many shepherds, both teachers and rulers, as shall sufficiently feed the flock of Christ, and defend it from enemies. For thou knowest not what evll shall be upon the earth.] Therefore lay in lustily; or rather, lay out liberally, and so lay up for a rainy day. Thou mayest be soon shred of thy goods, and as much need other men’s mercy as they now need thine. Sow, therefore, while thou hast it, that thou mayest “reap again in due season.” “Water, that thou mayest be watered again.” (Proverbs 11:25) “Lay up for thyself a good foundation against the time to come.” (1 Timothy 6:18) Lay out thy talent; work while the tool is in thine hand. Make friends with thy mammon. Say not, as one rich churl did, when requested to do somewhat toward his minister’s maintenance, The more I give, the less I have. Another answered that he knew how to bestow his money better. A third old man said, I see the beginning of my life, but I see not my latter; I may come to want that which I now give. Thou mayest do so, saith Solomon here, and by thy tenacity thou art very likely to do so; but wilt thou know, O man! how thou mayest prevent this misery, and not feel what thou fearest “Give a portion to seven,” &c. Part, therefore, freely with that which thou art not sure to keep, that thou mayest gain that which thou art sure never to Lose.”he that giveth to the poor shall not lack.” (Proverbs 28:27) Acts and Mon., fol. 1368.