Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 7:4
Say unto wisdom, Thou [art] my sister; and call understanding [thy] kinswoman:
4. kinswoman ] Lit. known, i.e. acquaintance, or intimate friend, , LXX.; amica, Vulg. In the only two other places, however, in which the word occurs (Rth 2:1; Rth 3:2) it is used in the sense of kinsman. Comp. Job 17:14.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 4. Thou art my sister] Thou art my dearest friend, and I will treat thee as such.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
When other foolish young men seek wanton mistresses, whom they frequently call
sisters or
kinswomen, let wisdom be thy mistress; acquaint and delight thyself with her, and let her have the command of thy heart, and the conduct of thy life.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1-4. Similar calls (Pro 3:1-3;Pro 4:10, &c.).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Say unto wisdom, Thou art [my] sister,…. Intimately acquainted, greatly beloved, and highly delighted in: this may be understood both of the Gospel, the wisdom of God in a mystery, which men should be conversant with, be strongly affected to, and take delight and pleasure in; and of Christ, the essential Wisdom of God, and who stands in the relation of a brother to his people, and should be respected as such;
and call understanding [thy] kinswoman; or “kinsman” a; such Christ is in our nature, our “goel”, our near kinsman, partaker of the same flesh and blood, and therefore is not ashamed to call us brethren, nor should we be ashamed to call him kinsman: moreover, his Word and Gospel, and the understanding of it, should be familiar to us; it should be well “known” b by us, as the word used signifies, and dwell richly in us.
a “cognatum”, Piscator. b “Notam”, Montanus, Michaelis.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The subject-matter of this earnest warning are the admonitions of the teacher of wisdom, and through him of Wisdom herself, who in contrast to the world and its lust is the worthiest object of love, and deserves to be loved with the purest, sincerest love:
4 Say to wisdom: “Thou art my sister!”
And call understanding “Friend;”
5 That they may keep thee from the strange woman,
From the stranger who useth smooth words.
The childlike, sisterly, and friendly relationship serves also to picture forth and designate the intimate confidential relationship to natures and things which are not flesh and blood. If in Arabic the poor is called the brother of poverty, the trustworthy the brother of trustworthiness, and abu , um ( ), achu , ucht , are used in manifold ways as the expression for the interchangeable relation between two ideas; so (as also, notwithstanding Ewald, 273b, in many Hebr. proper names) that has there become national, which here, as at Job 17:14; Job 30:29, mediated by the connection of the thoughts, only first appears as a poetic venture. The figurative words of Pro 7:4 not merely lead us to think of wisdom as a personal existence of a higher order, but by this representation it is itself brought so near, that easily substitutes itself, Pro 2:3, in the place of . of Solomon’s address to the bride brought home is in its connection compared with Book of Wisdom 8:2. While the oth of by no means arises from abstr. uth , but achoth is derived from achajath , (as Rth 2:1, cf. , Pro 3:2), here by Mugrash , properly means acquaintance, and then the person known, but not in the superficial sense in which this word and the Arab. ma’arfat are used ( e.g., in the Arabic phrase quoted by Fleischer, kanna ashaab sarna m’aaraf – nous tions amis, nous en sommes plus que de simples connaissances ), but in the sense of familiar, confidential alliance. The infin. does not need for its explanation some intermediate thought to be introduced: quod eo conducet tibi ut (Mich.), but connects itself immediately as the purpose: bind wisdom to thyself and thyself to wisdom thus closely that thou mayest therewith guard thyself. As for the rest, vid., Pro 2:16; this verse repeats itself here with the variation of one word.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
4. My sister kinswoman Or familiar acquaintance; that is, respect, love, and cherish her. Cp. Job 17:14; Job 30:29; also, Psa 55:13; Psa 88:8.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Pro 7:4. Call understanding thy kinswoman Thy relation: The LXX have it, Make wisdom thy acquaintance. “Say to wisdom, Thou art my sister, my spouse, my beloved, my inclination. Give to her thy heart, that she may preserve thee from the snares of the strange woman.” The name of sister, is a name of friendship, used in scripture, between the husband and wife, and denotes the chaste love which he should have to wisdom. See the Canticles and Calmet.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Pro 7:4 Say unto wisdom, Thou [art] my sister; and call understanding [thy] kinswoman:
Ver. 4. Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister, ] q.d., If thou must needs have a lady to set thy love upon, let me commend a mistress to thee more amiable and affable than any that thou canst meet with, and that is heavenly wisdom. Say unto her, Thou art my sister, &c. Christ oft woos his spouse by this title, “My sister, my spouse.” As the nearest affinity is spouse, so the nearest consanguinity is sister. There are all bonds to knit us to Christ, there shall be all to knit Christ to us, if we fall in with wisdom; this is to become akin to Christ. Mat 12:50 And that is the truest nobility where God himself is top of the kin, and religion the root, in regard whereof all the rest (riches, retinue, &c.) are but shadows and shapes of nobleness.
Call understanding thy kinswoman,
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
sister. Compare Mat 12:50.
kinswoman = close friend (masc). Only other occurance. Rth 2:1, of Boaz.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Say: Pro 2:2-4, Pro 4:6-8
Thou: Job 17:14, Son 8:1, Mat 12:49, Mat 12:50, Luk 11:27, Luk 11:28
Reciprocal: Pro 1:2 – General Pro 4:1 – attend Pro 6:21 – General