Pro 18:18 18 The lot allayeth contentions, And separateth between the mighty,i.e., erects a partition wall between them - those contending (הפריד בּין, as at 2Ki 2:11, cf. Arab. frḳ byn); עצוּמים are not opponents who maintain their cause with weighty arguments (עצּמות, Isa 41:21), qui argumentis pollent (vid., Rashi), for then must the truth appear in the pro et contra; but mighty opponents, who, if the lot did not afford a seasonable means of reconciliation, would make good their demands by blows and by the sword (Fl.). Here it is the lot which, as the judgment of God, brings about peace, instead of the ultima ratio of physical force. The proverb refers to the lot what the Epistle to the Heb; Heb 6:16, refers to the oath, vid., at Pro 16:33. Regarding מדינים and its altered forms, vid., p. 145.