FRIEND. The name of Friend is taken in Scripture for our neighbour in general, he with whom we have no contest. Thou shalt love thy Friend, that is to say, thy neighbour, thy brother, as thyself. And in another place, Whoso killeth his neighbour ignorantly, whom he hated not in time past, but the iron of whose hatchet shall fly off and kill his Friend, &c. And again, When Deut. xxiii. 24, 25.thou comest into thy neighbour’s vineyard, then thou mayst eat grapes thy fill: and when thou comest into the standing corn of thy Friend, then thou mayst pluck the ears with thine hand, &c. Where you see Friend and Neighbour are synonymous1.
By the Friend is meant also the Favourite of a Prince. Hushai was the Friend, the Favourite of David. Zabud the son of Nathan was Solomon’s Friend. 1 Kings iv. 5.Ahuzzah was the particular Friend of Abimelech King of Gerar. The Saints are called the Friends of God; but this title was given principally to Abraham. The Mahometans generally call him by this name; and they term the city of Hebron, where they believe his tomb to be, the city of the Friend of God. The Friend of the Wisd. vii. 27. James ii. 23.bridegroom, is the bride-man; he who does the honours of the wedding, and leads his Friend’s Spouse to the nuptial bed. St. Judith viii. 22.John Baptist, with respect to Jesus Christ and his Church, was the Friend of the Bridegroom. The word Friend, as it is applied to either man or woman, is taken likewise in a good and bad sense, to denote those persons whose affection to each other is allowable and lawful, and those sometimes who love and court one another in an unlawful and impure manner; mulier Hos. iii. 1.dilecta amico, a courtizan.
We may observe the qualities of a true Friend in Prov. xvii. 17. A Friend loveth at all times, and a Brother is born for adversity: and xviii. 24. There is a Friend that sticketh closer than a Brother. And in the book of Ecclesiasticus, Chuse your Friends discreetly; for there are some who are so in prosperity only; and others who are but companions at the table: but a faithful Friend is an inestimable treasure: gold and silver, and all that is most valuable, are nothing in comparison of him: he is a present from God to those who fear him. Ecclus. vi. 5, 6, 7, &c. And chap. ix. 10. Forsake not an old Friend; for the new is not comparable to him: a new Friend is like new wine; when it is old, thou shalt drink it with pleasure, &c.
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Footnotes
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Translators’ note. The original רעdoes indeed signify amicus and proximus, so that the French translation which renders it some- times Friend, and at other times again Neighbour, may be justified. But the Greek Interpreters explain it only by the word πλησίον*, and our* English translators in like manner by that of Neighbour only. So that the Author’s ob- servation is not applicable to our Bibles. ↩