Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 1:20

Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:

Second Address. Warning against Neglecting the Appeal of Wisdom. Chap. 1. Pro 1:20-33

20. crieth ] Rather, crieth aloud, R.V.

without ] Rather, in the street, R.V. The expression is sometimes used adverbially, without or abroad; but the parallelism here, in the broad places, points to the literal rendering.

There is perhaps a designed contrast between the secret enticing of sinners ( Pro 1:10) and the open call of Wisdom.

the streets ] Rather, the broad places, R.V.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Wisdom is personified. In the Hebrew the noun is a feminine plural, as though this Wisdom were the queen of all wisdoms, uniting in herself all their excellences. She lifts up her voice, not in solitude, but in the haunts of men without, i. e., outside the walls, in the streets, at the highest point of all places of concourse, in the open space of the gates where the elders meet and the king sits in judgment, in the heart of the city itself Pro 1:21; through sages, lawgivers, teachers, and yet more through life and its experiences, she preaches to mankind. Socrates said that the fields and the trees taught him nothing, but that he found the wisdom he was seeking in his converse with the men whom he met as he walked in the streets and agora of Athens.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Pro 1:20-23

Wisdom crieth without

The voice of true Wisdom

The Lord Jesus Christ is the true Wisdom which speaks to the sons of men.

The ancients were accustomed to speak of their religion as wisdom or philosophy, and therefore the Greeks represented Minerva as the goddess of wisdom, saying that she had proceeded from the brain of Jupiter.

I. The attitude which wisdom takes when she addresses the sons of men.

1. Her appeal is an open and public one.

2. Her proposals are of a varied description. She comes into the streets, where are all manner of enticing frivolities. In the chief places of concourse, where the multitudes assemble. In the opening of the gates, where commerce is carried on.

3. Her appeals are pathetic. She crieth.

II. The characters which wisdom addresses herself to. Simple ones; scorners; fools.

III. The promises which she makes. I will infuse My Spirit into you. (W. Barker.)

The fatal policy of drift

I. The message.

1. Eastern method of publication. She, beautiful personification of Wisdom, stands at the head of the noisy streets (R.V. margin). Our methods–the voice–the press, its powerful agency.

2. But the substance of wisdom is always the same, because human nature, life, and needs are the same. We still require higher guidance in our hurried life of to-day. Wisdom sees into the heart of things; seeks their essence; is not drawn aside by accidentals; and puts them in true proportions.

3. The Spirit of Wisdom. I will pour out My Spirit, etc. More a spirit than a science: not to be learnt by rules, but reveals itself to love. Ruskin says that no great painting can be produced unless the artist loves his subject. There must be a leaning that way. A boy who leans to science will make a better naturalist than one to whom slugs and insects are repulsive. So the spirit of wisdom is poured out as love upon the lover. It purifies thought, steadies life, and enriches the nature.

II. How treated. I have called, etc. She stands and cries: but the stream passes by engrossed and heedless, or turns to break a jest upon her. Simple ones, those who are as weather-vanes, light of head, and turned by every wind; shallow of heart, they live the easy life of hand to mouth. Scorners, the superior people, who know, dont you know, to whom earnestness is fanaticism, and devotion cant. Fools, to whom knowledge is a reproach, who stupidly go on their way, and resent interference, even for their good. But the excuses! Let my schemes come to completion, and then! When I have a bit more time! If a youth neglects learning a trade or profession, his life will be bound in shallows and miseries. To drift is fatal. But too often this counsel is set at nought.

III. The punishment of neglect. All through the day she has cried, and has been neglected or despised. The light begins to fade, the night comes, not of sleep, balmy sleep, but of wrath. Wisdom sadly leaves. The whirlwind begins to gather: the air trembles: the earth shudders. Most fearful of all is Gods laughter through the darkened heavens. (J. Feather.)

The cry of Wisdom

Evil-doers are not left without a warning. The warning is loud, public, authoritative. The wisdom of God is a manifold wisdom. While it centres bodily in Christ, and thence issues as from its source, it is reflected and re-echoed from every object and every event. Every law of nature, and every event in history, has a tongue by which Wisdom proclaims Gods holiness and rebukes mans sin. Wisdom speaks through mans conscience. It is not conscience proclaiming Gods anger against the mans evil that has power to make the man good. It is the conscience sprinkled with the blood of Christ that at once speaks peace and works purity.

I. Reproof of the simple who love simplicity. By the simple is meant that class of sinners whose leading characteristic is the absence of good rather than positive activity in evil. The root of bitterness has not shot forth in any form of outrageous vice, but it remains destitute of righteousness. The simple for time are always a numerous class; but the simple for eternity are a more numerous class still.

II. Reproof for the scorners who love scorning. This class meet the threatening realities of eternity, not by an easy indifference, but by a hardy resistance. Scorners may be found on both the edges of society. Poverty and riches become by turns a temptation to the same sin. Scorners love scorning. The habit grows by indulgence. It becomes a second nature. It becomes the element in which they live. Their scoffs are generally parrying strokes to keep convictions away. These smart sayings are the fence to turn aside certain arrows which might otherwise fix their tormenting barbs in the conscience. The scorner is not so bold a man as he appears to be.

III. Reproof for the fools who hate knowledge. Fools are those who have reached the very highest degrees of evil. They hate knowledge, and knowledge has its beginning in the fear of God. The emphatic no God of the fourteenth Psalm indicates, not the despair of a seeker who is unable to find truth, but the anger of an enemy who does not like to retain it. It is not a judgment formed in the fools understanding, but a passion rankling in his heart. (William Arnot, D. D.)

Wisdoms voice

I. A divine call.

1. The subject of the call.

2. The places in which it is given.

3. The manner in which it is addressed.

4. The persons to whom it is applied.

(1) The simple are those who are easily seduced, the thoughtless masses, who become the ready victims of evil-designing men.

(2) The scorners are those who ridicule sacred things.

(3) The fools who hate knowledge include both of the above classes.

II. An important exhortation–Turn you at My reproof.

1. The subject to which this exhortation refers. The great design of the gospel is to turn men from the error of their way.

(1) We are to turn in the exercise of true repentance.

(2) We are to turn with full purpose of heart.

(3) We are to turn without delay.

2. The inducement given in order to lead us to comply with this exhortation. The sinners inability to turn to God is not of the same nature as our inability to fly, which is a physical inability. To meet the moral inability, and to encourage those who are oppressed with a sense of it, the promise is given, I will pour oat My Spirit unto you. He is bestowed in order to change our hearts, to aid our infirmities, and to strengthen us with strength in our souls. It is also said, I will make known My words unto you.

(1) They will be made known to enlighten.

(2) To direct.

(3) To quicken.

(4) To console.

III. A solemn denunciation. Of the doom here denounced we have–

1. Its procuring cause. The disregard shown for, and the contempt cast upon, the Divine message. The act stretching out the hand is done–

(1) To command attention.

(2) To afford assistance.

(3) To confer a blessing.

(4) To make up a quarrel.

2. Its terrible nature. He who is shown as graciously promising and helping is now described as laughing at calamity and mocking at fears. And the woe will be aggravated by the consideration that mercy will be sought when seeking it will be unavailing. (Author of Footsteps of Jesus.)

Wisdoms warning

The Book of Proverbs is a jewel-case well filled with gems. This passage is a delightfully Oriental presentation of the truth of the call of God to the soul of man.

I. The call of wisdom.

1. By wisdom is meant the beneficent Divine energy.

2. This Divine energy comes into connection with man, and produces a reflection of itself in him.

3. The complete presentation of this Divine wisdom going forth for the enlightenment of men is found in Jesus Christ.

(1) This call is open.

(2) The offer made in the call is free.

(3) All classes of men are touched by this call.

(4) The call is urgent.

II. The results of the call of wisdom.

1. Refusal of Gods offer is possible, and consequences necessarily follow.

(1) The acceptance of sin puts man in the attitude of the rejection of God.

(2) When sinful man wants Gods wisdom as a refuge it is no longer available.

(3) Calamity comes upon those who reject the voice of the wisdom of God.

(4) The retribution that comes is largely internal.

2. It is possible for men to hear and obey Wisdoms voice. The result to the obedient is given thus.

(1) Part of it is safety.

(2) Out of this comes quietude.

This lesson has its full application in relation to Wisdom incarnate, even the Lord Jesus Christ. There are diverse consequences for those who answer this voice diversely. (D. J. Burrell, D. D.)

Heavenly wisdom

The Hebrew has wisdoms plural, as including all kinds of true wisdom.

I. Heavenly wisdom is worth the looking after. As things publicly cried and proclaimed are worth taking notice of.

II. This heavenly wisdom is to be found only in Jesus Christ. As the Son of God He knew the Fathers will from all eternity. God spake to Him before His incarnation. God gave Him the Spirit beyond measure. All wisdom that others have in heavenly things comes from Him.

III. God is very desirous that men should get heavenly wisdom. Therefore He cries loudly, earnestly, affectionately. As He gives natural light in creatures and arts, so He gives supernatural in revelations.

IV. This heavenly knowledge is offered to the meanest. It is preached in villages. To show that God is no respecter of persons. To bind men the more to God.

V. The way to this heavenly knowledge is plain and easy. It is cried about the streets; it is taught in all languages; it is taught by earthly similitudes as in parables abundantly. (Francis Taylor.)

She uttereth her voice in the streets.

The voices of the street

We are all ready to listen to the voices of nature–of the mountain, the sea, the storm, the star. How few learn anything from the voices of the noisy and dusty street. Learn–

I. That this life is a scene of toil and struggle. Can it be that passing up and down these streets on your way to work you do not learn anything of the worlds toil, and anxiety, and struggle?

II. That all classes and conditions of society must commingle. We sometimes culture a wicked exclusiveness. All classes of people are compelled to meet on the street. The democratic principle of the gospel recognises the fact that we stand before God on one and the same platform.

III. That it is a very hard thing for a man to keep his heart right and to get to heaven. Infinite temptations spring upon us from these places of public concourse.

IV. That life is full of pretension and sham. What subterfuge, what double-dealing, what two-facedness!

V. That the street is a great field for Christian charity. There are hunger, and suffering, and want, and wretchedness in the country; but these evils chiefly congregate in our great cities. On every street crime prowls, and drunkenness staggers, and shame winks, and pauperism thrusts out its hand, asking for alms. (T. De Witt Talmage.)

How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity?—

The simplicity of unregenerate men

I. I am to show in what respects every unregenerate sinner may be said to be a simple one. They may be very far from this character, in point of natural sagacity, acquired learning, and speculative knowledge of religious things. But, after all, they are really simple.

1. The unregenerate are simple, in that they are satisfied with slight, superficial apprehensions of God.

2. The unregenerate are simple, in their being satisfied with slight thoughts of sin.

3. They are simple, in that they are easily induced to mistake good and evil, to put the one for the other.

4. They are simple, as to believing the strength of sin in their own hearts. They do not think their hearts so corrupt and prone to iniquity as described in Jer 17:9.

5. In consequence of these things, they are easily seduced into sin, and led to entire apostasy from their former seeming faith and holiness.

6. They are simple, as to the ground on which they imagine their spiritual state to be good. They are surprised at the niceness and scrupulousness of the saints in this matter.

7. And as to the approaches of death and eternity: these steal upon them at unawares. The saints see death in its causes–the holiness of God, and the sinfulness of man.

II. This simplicity is loved by sinners. It is not a harmless weakness, but attended with deadly obstinacy.

1. They have a kind of happiness, notwithstanding of it, which suits their carnal taste.

2. This happiness depends on the continuance of their simplicity. For a little Divine wisdom would annihilate that dream, and make their present joys tasteless.

3. They have an aversion to that happiness which is truly Divine and holy.

4. Therefore, to part with this simplicity seems to them to be just the same thing as running into despair.

5. Therefore, either in the way of deceit or of violence, they resist the means of illumination.

III. What is implied in Gods observing the time that a sinner continues in this character?

1. It is founded in His omniscience.

2. And in His character as the Judge of all.

3. Because every act of sin in the heart hath its own malignity.

4. Every period of impenitence is an aggravation of all past sins.

5. God is unwearied in this observation (Isa 40:28).

6. This observation is recorded that the sinner himself may be brought to such an accurate remembrance of his sins as is necessary for his taking in a sense of Divine wrath (Psa 50:21). (J. Love, D.D.)

Scorners delight in their scorning.—

Delight in scorning

I shall arrange the matter of this scorning in different classes, so as to begin with the ultimate and fundamental objects of scorning, and gradually to come down to the more immediate, and those which are obvious to common observation.

I. Such things as relate to the Divine nature and character in general.

1. The infinite holiness of God.

2. The infinite justice of God.

3. All the natural excellences of the Divine nature. When these natural excellences of strength, wisdom, eternity, etc., are considered as clothed with the moral lustre of infinite holiness, justice, etc., their beauty is converted into gloom and horror to the sinner. He hates, and therefore derides them.

4. The mercy of God.

II. Such things as relate to the manifestation of the nature and character of God, in His way of saving sinners: because the glory of God, as above described, shines forth in this way.

1. The sovereign counsels, purposes, and compacts of the Three Persons in the Godhead concerning the salvation of sinners.

2. The solemn, holy, and glorious operations of the Godhead, in the actual procurement of salvation, in the incarnation and humiliation of the Second Person in the glorious Trinity. While the Redeemer was on earth, there was a multitude of sinners who poured out their hostile scorn upon Him, especially when He was upon the Cross (Psa 22:7, etc.).

3. The holy operations of the Spirit of God, in the Person of Christ, and in His people.

III. The manifestations of God, in the character and lives of His children. Here, the excellences of God are brought near to the eyes of natural men; and there are two reasons why the natural enmity is more exercised against the saints than directly against God.

1. They have more lively views of the holiness of the saints than they have of the holiness of God Himself.

2. Because there is greater appearance of impunity.

This enmity at the saints shows itself in derision.

1. At their sins. The wicked will give no quarter to the least sin in a child of God.

2. At their sinless infirmities.

3. At the success of their efforts to draw them into sin (Isa 29:21).

4. Nicknaming their graces, and then taking liberty to ridicule them.

5. The sorrows and joys of the saints.

6. The hopes and fears of the saints; for the same reasons as above.

7. The counsels and reproofs of the saints.

IV. Such things as relate to the pure and spiritual worship of God.

1. This is a combination of all the things already mentioned.

2. The spiritual substance of Divine worship is itself hateful to the sinner; and that considered both as an exercise of sanctified self-love and as springing from disinterested, voluntary love to God–particularly in this last view.

3. But the sinner frequently dares not to avow this; not from any want of enmity, but from a sneaking, cowardly dread of God. And therefore he fixes his ridicule upon the outside of the service of God. Here he nibbles, and plays off his sordid artillery.

V. The providence of God.

1. The external operations of the power and wisdom of God in the visible world, when considered by themselves, detachedly from His moral administration, are indeed the lowest of His works. There is least of what is peculiarly Divine apparent in them.

2. But if the external manifestations of God, in the creation, are considered as intimately connected with His moral character, then even the goodness of God therein appears under a gloom, if it be considered as leading on the sinner to repentance, under certification of double vengeance if he repent not, and as giving a low picture of his superior and sublime goodness as to moral things (Rom 2:4-5).

3. And, much more, external judgments. There seems nothing so material in sin as to justify external calamities. (J. Love, D. D.)

Nothing to replace the Christian religion

Lord Chesterfield being at supper with Voltaire and Madame C—- , the conversation turned on the affairs of England. I think, my lord, said the lady, that the Parliament of England consists of five or six hundred of the best informed and most sensible men in the kingdom. True, madam, they are generally supposed to be so. What, then, can be the reason they should tolerate so great an absurdity as the Christian religion? I suppose, madam, it is because they have not been able to substitute anything better in its stead; when they can, I doubt not but in their wisdom they will readily accept it.

Turn you at My reproof—

Turning from evil

1. What voices does Wisdom find in each generation? Parent-voice; teacher-voice; experience-voice; revelation-voice; Christs voice.

2. Where does Wisdom raise her voice? For them that have ears to hear, anywhere, everywhere.

3. What is the message which the voice delivers?

I. An assertion. You need to be turned. This is not the message we expect Wisdom to bring. She should say, Study. Seek good teachers. Think. Read. She does say, Turn; and so she reveals the one deep and universal need. Simple ones, turn from folly. Scorners, turn from the deceit of scorning. Fools, turn from your wilful, wicked ways. The first thing Wisdom would have us do is change. The first call of Christ, the true Wisdom, is, Repent.

II. A truth. You must turn yourselves. The call is based on our possession of will, and on the fact that we have hitherto made such misguided, such ruinous, choices with our wills. Wisdom calls for a new and different exercise of our will. There is a sense in which we cannot save ourselves; there is a sense in which nobody can save us but ourselves. We can shift it on nobodys shoulders. Therefore the Divine persuasions are, Choose; turn.

III. A duty. You ought to turn at once. Under the constraint of such gracious promises and persuasions. For Wisdom wins as well as calls. She promises to give her spirit, the love of knowledge, the joy of knowing, to all who will turn from selfish pleasures giddy ways. And Christ persuades and promises that He may win. He promises the life that now is, and the life that is to come.

1. Pardon.

2. Cleansing.

3. Healing.

4. Conscious sonship.

5. Love.

6. Joy unspeakable.

7. Heaven.

From dead-works–turn. From worldly pleasures–turn. From self-seekings–turn. From sin–turn. Let the call of Wisdom and of Christ ring in our ears wherever we go, in busy street, in quiet home, in bustling business, in lonely room. (Weekly Pulpit.)

Sinners admonished

Various are the means which the Lord employs to convince the wicked of the error of their ways, and bring them to a knowledge of Divine truth.

I. The reproofs He administers.

1. By the Scriptures, which contain the most pointed and salutary admonitions, sending us for instruction and reproof to–

(1) The works of creation;

(2) examples of impiety;

(3) the awful solemnities of death and the grave.

2. By ministers. They persuade men by the terrors of the Lord, and encourage them by the promises of the gospel.

3. By conscience. The internal and universal monitor; the witness to all our proceedings. It speaks with sovereign authority.

4. By providence. By–

(1) Pious parents;

(2) family connections;

(3) godly neighbours;

(4) by afflictions, and difficulties;

(5) by the death of our fellow-mortals.

II. The submission He requires. He invites return–

1. With penitent hearts. Genuine repentance includes–

(1) Conviction of sin;

(2) humiliation of soul;

(3) compunction of spirit;

(4) holy indignation and shame;

(5) humble confession to God.

2. With believing minds. By faith we–

(1) Credit the gospel;

(2) embrace the Saviour; and

(3) realise salvation.

3. With fervent devotion. We should call upon Him–

(1) Sincerely;

(2) humbly;

(3) confidently;

(4) fervently;

(5) diligently.

4. With prompt obedience. Religion requires an universal renunciation of the principles and habits of vice, and an entire devotedness to God, both of heart and life.

III. The encouragement He imparts. Pour out My Spirit. The participation of the Holy Ghost is an inestimable privilege, which includes every holy principle that He implants, and every gracious disposition which He requires. The Spirit of God is–

1. A convincing Spirit. He opens the eyes of our understanding; and He imparts a spiritual discernment (Joh 16:8-11).

2. A quickening Spirit. He removes the death of sin, and infuses the life of grace.

3. A comforting Spirit.

4. A sanctifying Spirit. He is called the Spirit of holiness. He sanctifies His people wholly, and preserves them blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1Th 5:23). (Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons.)

Hindrances to spiritual progress

I. God requires nothing more than man can do. The text requires men to do something; and it promises assistance only on the condition that they make use of some strength which it supposes them to possess. But it does not require of them that they should change their hearts or renew their natures. They are to turn at Gods reproof, and it is assumed that they might turn if they would. We enjoin on men that they set vigorously about the reforming what they know to be wrong, and the cultivating what they know to be right. The command of the text does not overrate the powers of those to whom it is addressed.

II. God makes a gracious promise. We assume that the help of Gods Spirit is indispensable to our taking the first step, as well as the last, in the path of salvation. But our turning is the condition of our obtaining the Spirit. No men are altogether without the inward strivings of the Spirit. Because the Spirit is not acting apparently in a mans renewal, we may not assume that He is not acting. He may be engaged in preparatory work. Turn at Gods reproof, and you will receive the Spirit in its renovating power, and have the wisdom which is strength, and peace, and life, and immortality. (H. Melvill, B. D.)

I will pour out My Spirit unto you.—

The gift of the Spirit

Some take it for illumination only, and gifts of knowledge. So it agrees well with the words that follow, I will make known My words unto you. If ye hearken to My reproof I will tell you more of My mind. Ye shall know more of heavenly truths. Others take it for sanctifying gifts of the Spirit.

I. They that will turn to God shall not want the plentiful help of Gods spirit to direct them. They will pray for Gods Spirit. Encourage men to turn to God, for then they shall have His Spirit for their instructor, sanctifier, and comforter.

II. The spirit and the word must go together to guide. Both are joined in this verse. A lying spirit it must needs be that contradicts Gods plain Word. (Francis Taylor.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 20. Wisdom crieth] Here wisdom is again personified, as it is frequently, throughout this book; where nothing is meant but the teachings given to man, either by Divine revelation or the voice of the Holy Spirit in the heart. And this voice of wisdom is opposed to the seducing language of the wicked mentioned above. This voice is everywhere heard, in public, in private, in the streets, and in the house. Common sense, universal experience, and the law of justice written on the heart, as well as the law of God, testify against rapine and wrong of every kind.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Having expressed the counsels and invitations of folly and of wicked men, he now declareth the voice of wisdom. By the name of wisdom or wisdoms he seems to understand the wisdom or counsel of God revealed to the sons of men by his word. Which he calls wisdoms here, as also Pro 9:1, either to note the excellency of this wisdom beyond all other, as the greatest and chief of beasts is called behemoth or beasts, Job 40:15; or because it consisteth of a multitude of wise precepts; or because it hath been delivered to mankind at sundry times, and in divers manners, and by many persons, prophets and apostles, and especially by the Son of God, who is called the wisdom of God, Luk 11:49. And this wisdom is said to cry with a loud voice, to intimate both Gods earnestness in inviting sinners to repentance, and their inexcusableness if they do not hear such loud cries. Without, or abroad, or in the streets or open places, as many others render it, and as it is in the next clause. Not in corners and privily, as seducers persuade men to error or wickedness, being afraid of the light, but openly and publicly before all the world.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

20-33. Some interpreters regardthis address as the language of the Son of God under the name ofWisdom (compare Lu 11:49).Others think that wisdom, as the divine attribute specially employedin acts of counsel and admonition, is here personified, andrepresents God. In either case the address is a most solemn anddivine admonition, whose matter and spirit are eminently evangelicaland impressive (see on Pr 8:1).

Wisdomliterally,”Wisdoms,” the plural used either because of the unusualsense, or as indicative of the great excellency of wisdom (compare Pr9:1).

streetsor most publicplaces, not secretly.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Wisdom crieth without,…. Here the person instructing throughout this whole book is represented under the name of “Wisdom”; by which we are to understand not the attribute of divine wisdom displayed in the works of creation; nor the light of nature in man; nor the law of Moses given to the Israelites; nor the revelation of the divine will in general, as it is delivered out in the sacred Scriptures; nor the Gospel, and the ministry of it, in particular; but our Lord Jesus Christ; for the things spoken of Wisdom, and ascribed to it in this book, especially in the eighth and ninth chapters, show that a divine Person is intended, and most properly belong to Christ; who may be called “Wisdoms” b, in the plural number, as in the Hebrew text, because of the consummate and perfect wisdom that is in him; as he is a divine Person, he is “the Logos”, the Word and Wisdom of God; as Mediator, “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge [are] hid” in him, Col 2:3; and, as man, “the Spirit of Wisdom” rests upon him without measure, Isa 11:2. This, with what follows to the end of the chapter, is a prophecy of the ministry of Christ in the days of his flesh, and of the success of it; and of the calamities that should come upon the Jews for the rejection of him: and Wisdom is here said to “cry”, as Christ did, Joh 7:28; the word signifies to cry both in a sorrowful way, as Jesus did when he cried to Jerusalem, weeping over it, Mt 23:37; and in a joyful one, which well suits with the Gospel, as preached by him; a joyful sound expressed by piping, in opposition to John’s ministry, which was a mournful one, Mt 11:17; for crying here means no other than the preaching of the word; which is such a cry as that of heralds, when they publicly proclaim peace or war; so Wisdom or Christ, is said to “proclaim liberty to the captives”, and “the acceptable year of the Lord”, Isa 61:1. This cry was made “without” the city of Jerusalem, and without that part of the country which was properly called Jewry; Christ first preached in the land of Galilee; or this may mean the Gentile world, where Christ preached, though not in person, yet by his apostles, whom he sent into all the world to preach the Gospel to every creature;

she uttereth her voice in the streets: of the city of Jerusalem, and other places; nor is this contrary to Mt 12:19; which is to be understood of crying in a bawling and litigious way, of lifting up the voice in self-commendation, neither of which Christ did; and yet might cry and utter his voice in the streets, that is, publicly preach his Gospel there, as he did; and he also sent his servants into the streets and lanes of the city to call in sinners by the ministry of the word,

Lu 14:21; which perhaps may be meant of places in the Gentile world; nor is this sense to be excluded here; it may be figuratively understood of the public ministration of the word and ordinances in the church called the streets and broad ways of it, So 3:2.

b “sapientiae”, Montanus, Vatablus, Mercerus, Cocceius, Michaelis.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Looking to its form and vocalization, may be an Aramaizing abstract formation (Gesen.; Ew. 165, c; Olsh. 219, b); for although the forms and are of a different origin, yet in and such abstract formations lie before us. The termination uth is here, by the passing over of the u into the less obscure but more intensive o (cf. in the beginning and middle of the word, and at the end of the word), raised to oth , and thereby is brought near to the fem. plur. (cf. , Pro 14:1, sapientia , as our plur. of the neut. sapiens , ), approaching to the abstract. On the other hand, that is sing. of abstract signification, is not decisively denoted by its being joined to the plur. of the predicate (for here, as at Pro 8:3, is scarcely plur.; and if , Pro 24:7, is plur., as the numerical plur. may refer to the different sciences or departments of knowledge); but perhaps by this, that it interchanges with , Psa 49:4, cf. Pro 11:12; Pro 28:16, and that an abstract formation from (fem. of , ), which besides is not concrete, was unnecessary. Still less is = a singular, which has it in view to change into a proper name, for proof of which Hitzig refers to , Psa 78:15; the singular ending oth without an abstract signification does not exist. After that Dietrich, in his Abhandl. 1846, has shown that the origin of the plur. proceeds not from separate calculation, but from comprehension,

(Note: In the Indo-Germanic languages the s of the plur. also probably proceeds from the prep. sa ( sam) = . See Schleicher, Compend. der vergl. Gram. 247.)

and that particularly also names denoting intellectual strength are frequently plur., which multiply the conception not externally but internally, there is no longer any justifiable doubt that signifies the all-comprehending, absolute, or, as Bttcher, 689, expresses it, the full personal wisdom. Since such intensive plurals are sometimes united with the plur. of the predicate, as e.g., the monotheistically interpreted Elohim, Gen 35:7 (see l.c.), so may be plur. On the other hand, the idea that it is a forma mixta of (from ) and (Job 39:23) or , the final sound in ah opposes. It may, however, be the emphatic form of the 3rd fem. sing. of ; for, that the Hebr. has such an emphatic form, corresponding to the Arab. taktubanna , is shown by these three examples (keeping out of view the suspicion of a corruption of the text, Olsh. p. 452), Jdg 5:26; Job 17:16; Isa 28:3; cf. , Oba 1:13 (see Caspari, l.c.), an example of the 2nd masc. sing. of this formation. (with ) is a word imitative of sound (Schallwort), used to denote “a clear-sounding, shrill voice (thence the Arab. rannan , of a speaker who has a clear, piercing voice); then the clear shrill sound of a string or chord of a bow, or the clear tinkle of the arrow in the quiver, and of the metal that has been struck” (Fl.). The meaning of is covered by plateae (Luk 14:21), wide places; and , which elsewhere may mean that which is without, before the gates of the city and courts, here means the “open air,” in contradistinction to the inside of the houses.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

Wisdom’s Exhortations; Doom of Obdurate Sinners.

      20 Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:   21 She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,   22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?   23 Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.   24 Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;   25 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:   26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;   27 When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.   28 Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:   29 For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:   30 They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.   31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.   32 For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.   33 But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

      Solomon, having shown how dangerous it is to hearken to the temptations of Satan, here shows how dangerous it is not to hearken to the calls of God, which we shall for ever rue the neglect of. Observe,

      I. By whom God calls to us–by wisdom. It is wisdom that crieth without. The word is plural–wisdoms, for, as there is infinite wisdom in God, so there is the manifold wisdom of God, Eph. iii. 10. God speaks to the children of men by all the kinds of wisdom, and, as in every will, so in every word, of God there is a counsel. 1. Human understanding is wisdom, the light and law of nature, the powers and faculties of reason, and the office of conscience, Job xxxviii. 36. By these God speaks to the children of men, and reasons with them. The spirit of a man is the candle of the Lord; and, wherever men go, they may hear a voice behind them, saying, This is the way; and the voice of conscience is the voice of God, and not always a still small voice, but sometimes it cries. 2. Civil government is wisdom; it is God’s ordinance; magistrates are his vicegerents. God by David had said to the fools, Deal not foolishly, Ps. lxxv. 4. In the opening of the gates, and in the places of concourse, where courts were kept, the judges, the wisdom of the nation, called to wicked people, in God’s name, to repent and reform. 3. Divine revelation is wisdom; all its dictates, all its laws, are wise as wisdom itself. God does, by the written word, by the law of Moses, which sets before us the blessing and the curse, by the priests’ lips which keep knowledge, by his servants the prophets, and all the ministers of this word, declare his mind to sinners, and give them warning as plainly as that which is proclaimed in the streets or courts of judicature by the criers. God, in his word, not only opens the case, but argues it with the children of men. Come, now, and let us reason together, Isa. i. 18. 4. Christ himself is Wisdom, is Wisdoms, for in him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and he is the centre of all divine revelation, not only the essential Wisdom, but the eternal Word, by whom God speaks to us and to whom he has committed all judgment; he it is therefore who here both pleads with sinners and passes sentence on them. He calls himself Wisdom, Luke vii. 35.

      II. How he calls to us, and in what manner. 1. Very publicly, that whosoever hath ears to hear may hear, since all are welcome to take the benefit of what is said and all are concerned to heed it. The rules of wisdom are published without in the streets, not in the schools only, or in the palaces of princes, but in the chief places of concourse, among the common people that pass and repass in the opening of the gates and in the city. It is comfortable casting the net of the gospel where there is a multitude of fish, in hopes that then some will be enclosed. This was fulfilled in our Lord Jesus, who taught openly in the temple, in crowds of people, and in secret said nothing (John xviii. 20), and charged his ministers to proclaim his gospel on the housetop, Matt. x. 27. God says (Isa. xlv. 19), I have not spoken in secret. There is no speech or language where Wisdom’s voice is not heard. Truth seeks not corners, nor is virtue ashamed of itself. 2. Very pathetically; she cries, and again she cries, as one in earnest. Jesus stood and cried. She utters her voice, she utters her words with all possible clearness and affection. God is desirous to be heard and heeded.

      III. What the call of God and Christ is.

      1. He reproves sinners for their folly and their obstinately persisting in it, v. 22. Observe, (1.) Who they are that Wisdom here reproves and expostulates with. In general, they are such as are simple, and therefore might justly be despised, such as love simplicity, and therefore might justly be despaired of; but we must use the means even with those that we have but little hopes of, because we know not what divine grace may do. Three sorts of persons are here called to:– [1.] Simple ones that love simplicity. Sin is simplicity, and sinners are simple ones; they do foolishly, very foolishly; and the condition of those is very bad who love simplicity, are fond of their simple notions of good and evil, their simple prejudices against the ways of God, and are in their element when they are doing a simple thing, sporting themselves in their own deceivings and flattering themselves in their wickedness. [2.] Scorners that delight in scorning–proud people that take a pleasure in hectoring all about them, jovial people that banter all mankind, and make a jest of every thing that comes in their way. But scoffers at religion are especially meant, the worst of sinners, that scorn to submit to the truths and laws of Christ, and to the reproofs and admonitions of his word, and take a pride in running down every thing that is sacred and serious. [3.] Fools that hate knowledge. None but fools hate knowledge. Those only are enemies to religion that do not understand it aright. And those are the worst of fools that hate to be instructed and reformed, and have a rooted antipathy to serious godliness. (2.) How the reproof is expressed: “How long will you do so?” This implies that the God of heaven desires the conversion and reformation of sinners and not their ruin, that he is much displeased with their obstinacy and dilatoriness, that he waits to be gracious, and is willing to reason the case with them.

      2. He invites them to repent and become wise, v. 23. And here, (1.) The precept is plain: Turn you at my reproof. We do not make a right use of the reproofs that are given us for that which is evil if we do not turn from it to that which is good; for for this end the reproof was given. Turn, that is, return to your right mind, turn to God, turn to your duty, turn and live. (2.) The promises are very encouraging. Those that love simplicity find themselves under a moral impotency to change their own mind and way; they cannot turn by any power of their own. To this God answers, “Behold, I will pour out my Spirit unto you; set yourselves to do what you can, and the grace of God shall set in with you, and work in you both to will and to do that good which, without that grace, you could not do.” Help thyself, and God will help thee; stretch forth thy withered hand, and Christ will strengthen and heal it. [1.] The author of this grace is the Spirit, and that is promised: I will pour out my Spirit unto you, as oil, as water; you shall have the Spirit in abundance, rivers of living water, John vii. 38. Our heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to those that ask him. [2.] The means of this grace is the word, which, if we take it aright, will turn us; it is therefore promised, “I will make known my words unto you, not only speak them to you, but make them known, give you to understand them.” Note, Special grace is necessary to a sincere conversion. But that grace shall never be denied to any that honestly seek it and submit to it.

      3. He reads the doom of those that continue obstinate against all these means and methods of grace. It is large and very terrible, v. 24-32. Wisdom, having called sinners to return, pauses awhile, to see what effect the call has, hearkens and hears; but they speak not aright (Jer. viii. 6), and therefore she goes on to tell them what will be in the end hereof.

      (1.) The crime is recited and it is highly provoking. See what it is for which judgment will be given against impenitent sinners in the great day, and you will say they deserve it, and the Lord is righteous in it. It is, in short, rejecting Christ and the offers of his grace, and refusing to submit to the terms of his gospel, which would have saved them both from the curse of the law of God and from the dominion of the law of sin. [1.] Christ called to them, to warn them of their danger; he stretched out his hand to offer them mercy, nay, to help them out of their miserable condition, stretched out his hand for them to take hold of, but they refused and no man regarded; some were careless and never heeded it, nor took notice of what was said to them; others were wilful, and, though they could not avoid hearing the will of Christ, yet they gave him a flat denial, they refused, v. 24. They were in love with their folly, and would not be made wise. They were obstinate to all the methods that were taken to reclaim them. God stretched out his hand in mercies bestowed upon them, and, when those would not work upon them, in corrections, but all were in vain; they regarded the operations of his hand no more than the declarations of his mouth. [2.] Christ reproved and counselled them, not only reproved them for what they did amiss, but counselled them to do better (those are reproofs of instruction and evidences of love and good-will), but they set at nought all his counsel as not worth heeding, and would none of his reproof, as if it were below them to be reproved by him and as if they had never done any thing that deserved reproof, v. 25. This is repeated (v. 30): “They would none of my counsel, but rejected it with disdain; they called reproofs reproaches, and took them as an insult (Jer. vi. 10); nay, they despised all my reproof, as if it were all a jest, and not worth taking notice of.” Note, Those are marked for ruin that are deaf to reproof and good counsel. [3.] They were exhorted to submit to the government of right reason and religion, but they rebelled against both. First, Reason should not rule them, for they hated knowledge (v. 29), hated the light of divine truth because it discovered to them the evil of their deeds, John iii. 20. They hated to be told that which they could not bear to know. Secondly, Religion could not rule them, for they did not choose the fear of the Lord, but chose to walk in the way of their heart and in the sight of their eyes. They were pressed to set God always before them, but they chose rather to cast him and his fear behind their backs. Note, Those who do not choose the fear of the Lord show that they have no knowledge.

      (2.) The sentence is pronounced, and it is certainly ruining. Those that will not submit to God’s government will certainly perish under his wrath and curse, and the gospel itself will not relieve them. They would not take the benefit of God’s mercy when it was offered them, and therefore justly fall as victims to his justice, ch. xxix. 1. The threatenings here will have their full accomplishment in the judgment of the great day and the eternal misery of the impenitent, of which yet there are some earnests in present judgments. [1.] Now sinners are in prosperity and secure; they live at ease, and set sorrow at defiance. But, First, Their calamity will come (v. 26); sickness will come, and those diseases which they shall apprehend to be the very arrests and harbingers of death; other troubles will come, in mind, in estate, which will convince them of their folly in setting God at a distance. Secondly, Their calamity will put them into a great fright. Fear seizes them, and they apprehend that bad will be worse. When public judgments are abroad the sinners in Zion are afraid, fearfulness surprises the hypocrites. Death is the king of terrors to them (Job 15:21; Job 18:11, c.) this fear will be their continual torment. Thirdly, According to their fright will it be to them. Their fear shall come (the thing they were afraid of shall befal them); it shall come as desolation, as a mighty deluge bearing down all before it; it shall be their destruction, their total and final destruction; and it shall come as a whirlwind, which suddenly and forcibly drives away all the chaff. Note, Those that will not admit the fear of God lay themselves open to all other fears, and their fears will not prove causeless. Fourthly, Their fright will then be turned into despair: Distress and anguish shall come upon them, for, having fallen into the pit they were afraid of, they shall see no way to escape, v. 27. Saul cries out (2 Sam. i. 9), Anguish has come upon me; and in hell there is weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth for anguish, tribulation and anguish to the soul of the sinner, the fruit of the indignation and wrath of the righteous God,Rom 2:8; Rom 2:9. [2.] Now God pities their folly, but he will then laugh at their calamity (v. 26): “I also will laugh at your distress, even as you laughed at my counsel.” Those that ridicule religion will thereby but make themselves ridiculous before all the world. The righteous will laugh at them (Ps. lii. 6), for God himself will. It intimates that they shall be for ever shut out of God’s compassions; they have so long sinned against mercy that they have now quite sinned it away. His eye shall not spare, neither will he have pity. Nay, his justice being glorified in their ruin, he will be pleased with it, though now he would rather they should turn and live. Ah! I will ease me of my adversaries. [3.] Now God is ready to hear their prayers and to meet them with mercy, if they would but seek to him for it; but then the door will be shut, and they shall cry in vain (v. 28): “Then shall they call upon me when it is too late, Lord, Lord, open to us. They would then gladly be beholden to that mercy which now they reject and make light of; but I will not answer, because, when I called, they would not answer;” all the answer then will be, Depart from me, I know you not. This has been the case of some even in this life, as of Saul, whom God answered not by Urim or prophets; but, ordinarily, while there is life there is room for prayer and hope of speeding, and therefore this must refer to the inexorable justice of the last judgment. Then those that slighted God will seek him early (that is, earnestly), but in vain; they shall not find him, because they sought him not when he might be found, Isa. lv. 6. The rich man in hell begged, but was denied. [4.] Now they are eager upon their own way, and fond of their own devices; but then they will have enough of them (v. 31), according to the proverb, Let men drink as they brew; they shall eat the fruit of their own way; their wages shall be according to their work, and, as was their choice, so shall their doom be,Gal 6:7; Gal 6:8. Note, First, There is a natural tendency in sin to destruction, Jam. i. 15. Sinners are certainly miserable if they do but eat the fruit of their own way. Secondly, Those that perish must thank themselves, and can lay no blame upon any other. It is their own device; let them make their boast of it. God chooses their delusions, Isa. lxvi. 4. [5.] Now they value themselves upon their worldly prosperity; but then that shall help to aggravate their ruin, v. 32. First, They are now proud that they can turn away from God and get clear of the restraints of religion; but that very thing shall slay them, the remembrance of it shall cut them to the heart. Secondly, They are now proud of their own security and sensuality; but the ease of the simple (so the margin reads it) shall slay them; the more secure they are the more certain and the more dreadful will their destruction be, and the prosperity of fools shall help to destroy them, by puffing them up with pride, gluing their hearts to the world, furnishing them with fuel for their lusts, and hardening their hearts in their evil ways.

      4. He concludes with an assurance of safety and happiness to all those that submit to the instructions of wisdom ( v. 33): “Whoso hearkeneth unto me, and will be ruled by me, he shall,” (1.) “Be safe; he shall dwell under the special protection of Heaven, so that nothing shall do him any real hurt.” (2.) “He shall be easy, and have no disquieting apprehensions of danger; he shall not only be safe from evil, but quiet from the fear of it.” Though the earth be removed, yet shall not they fear. Would we be safe from evil, and quiet from the fear of it? Let religion always rule us and the word of God be our counsellor. That is the way to dwell safely in this world, and to be quiet from the fear of evil in the other world.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

In these verses WISDOM (wisdoms in margin) is personified and speaks to sinners in a call to repentance and a warning of the consequence of refusing the call.

Vs. 20-21 declare that wisdom calls in the various places mankind may be found, with the intent that all may hear, Isa 45:19; Mat 28:19-20.

Vs. 22 reveals that this call is addressed to all classes of sinners (compare 1Ti 2:4); (1) the SIMPLE, the unconcerned and thoughtless; (2) the SCORNERS, the self sufficient who treat the truth of God with contempt; Pro 9:7-8; Pro 13:10; Pro 15:12 and (3) the FOOLS, those who understand divine truth but hate it because ft forbids their evil practices, Pro 1:7; Pro 17:12.

Vs. 23 explains that wisdom’s call reproves existing sin and calls for a turning from such; with the promise that this will bring Holy Spirit guidance and understanding.

Vs. 24-32 warn of three fearful consequences of rejecting wisdom’s call:

(1) That there is a limit beyond which the call to repentance will not be extended, Vs. 26, 28; Psa 81:12; Gen 6:3; Gen 7:7; Gen 7:10; Gen 7:16; Pro 29:1.

(2) That a fearful awareness of this hopeless state will prompt belated appeals but such will receive no answer, Vs. 26, 27, 28.

(3) That fear will then overwhelm but the divine caller will only mock, Vs. 26, also Psa 2:4.

These statements should not be construed to mean that the LORD rejoices in the doom of the rejecters. Many Scriptures affirm that He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, see Eze 18:32; Eze 33:11; 1Ti 2:4; 2Pe 3:9. Pro 1:26 is expressed in the language of accommodation. Awareness by the rejecter of the eternal and unchangeable hopelessness of his doom will be as awesome and foreboding as if the LORD laughed and mocked.

Vs. 33 declares the security and assurance of those who hearken to the call of wisdom, Pro 3:24; Psa 25:12-13; Psa 112:7; Psa 37:28; Psa 89:28-36; Isa 53:3; Joh 5:24; Joh 10:27-29.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

CRITICAL NOTES.

Pro. 1:20. The word wisdom is in the plural form in the Hebrew.

Pro. 1:27. Desolation, or tempest.

Pro. 1:28. To seek early denotes earnestly. See ch. Pro. 8:17, Hos. 5:15. The person now changes from the second to the third, as though wisdom were increasing alienated (Miller).

Pro. 1:32. The turning away of the simple, i.e., their rejection of wisdom. Prosperity, Security, idle, easy rest.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPHPro. 1:20-23

THE CRY OF WISDOM

I. The wisdom of God is the voice of God.

1. The wisdom of God in nature, in the heavens which declare His glory and in the firmament which sheweth His handiwork is Divine speech which speaks loudly of eternal power and Godhead.

2. There is a voice of wisdom in the laws and economy of the old dispensation, although that voice gave sometimes but an indistinct sound concerning Divine mercy and judgment.
3. The wisdom of God as displayed in the plan of salvation by Christ is the loudest, the most persuasive and unmistakable voice of God.

II. Gods voice of Wisdom is an earnest voice. Wisdom crieth. The voice of the mother who thinks that her children are in danger rings upon the ear with no uncertain, theatrical sound. When the voice of Paul rang through the Philippian prison and fell upon the man who was about to destroy himself, it was a loud voice, because he was in earnest. God has to deal with his human children who are in danger, and therefore He speaks with earnestness when He says, Do thyself no harm. The voice of God in the human conscience sometimes speaks as loudly as the trump of Sinai. He said by His prophets in the days of old, Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways, for why will ye die, O house of Israel? (Eze. 33:11). The voice of Christ was an earnest voice. His death enforced the earnestness of the appeals which He uttered in His life. It proved the reality of His own and His Fathers desire that all should come to repentance. The voice of the Gospel ministry is an earnest voice. Those who have been baptised by the Spirit of God, beseech men to be reconciled to God (2Co. 5:20).

III. Gods voice of wisdom has been uttered where men could hear it. Wisdom uttereth her voice in the streets, in the chief places of concourse, in the gates. The merchant brings his silks and diamonds to the crowded cities, because in them he is most likely to find purchasers. The vendors of goods seek the broad thoroughfares, because there they find streams of human beings to whom they offer their wares. God has observed this method in offering His Divine wisdom to the sons of men. The highest wisdom of Godthe Gospelwas first proclaimed in the city of Jerusalem, at a time when there were gathered there men out of every nation under heaven (Act. 2:5). The apostles of Christ preached in the chief cities of the civilised world, in Corinth, Athens, Antioch, Ephesus, and Rome. And now the voice of wisdom cries in the principal centres of the population of the world. The fishermen spread their nets where most fish congregate, and the fishers of men are attracted to the places where most human souls are gathered.

IV. Gods voice of wisdom addresses all classes of sinners.

1. The simple ones. The unwary and those easily misled. Some men sin through ignorance or through the influence of others. As the unwalled garden is open to the foot of every dog that passes by, so the man who has no principle of his own to defend him is liable to have his soul entered and taken possession of by the first tempter who passes by.

2. The scorner. He is a sinner of a deeper dye. The child who is indifferent to his good fathers love and the attractions of his happy home is a sinner, but the son who mocks his parents and holds up their words to ridicule is certainly a greater sinner. The simple man denotes a sinner who is passive in the hands of evil, but the scorner is active against good. He is placed before us in Holy Scripture as one who has reached the climax of human iniquity (Psa. 1:1).

3. Fools are addressed. The man who would rather use means to increase his disease than seek to cure it, may very properly be called a fool. The blind man who chooses to remain blind when he might be healed is certainly a fool. And certainly this is an appropriate name for those who love moral darkness rather than light. He who hates the knowledge which would save him and prefers death to life is the most unwise man upon the face of Gods earth.

V. Although sinners may differ in degree, the same reproof and invitation are addressed to all. A rich man may be able to satisfy the wants of a hungry multitude, although all may not be equally hungry. If a physician possesses remedies which can heal men whose disease is deeply rooted, he will be able to cure those upon whom it has as yet a lighter hold. The voice of God to men offers but one way of satisfaction and soul-healing, viz., repentance. Turn ye at my reproof. And the gift of his spirit which accompanies repentance (Act. 2:38) is powerful to change the greatest sinner into a saint.

VI. The rejection of Wisdoms voice of invitation changes it to one of threatening. The refusal of the invitation to the Gospel feast shut out to retribution those who rejected it (Luk. 14:16). The space given for repentance will not last for ever. A time is here foretold when God will not hear them who have refused to hear him. Their cry for help will be treated as they once treated the earnest cry of wisdom. I will mock when your fear cometh.

VII. The blessed condition of those who accept Wisdoms invitation. The promises given under the Old Testament dispensation referred in a large degree to the present life. Dwelling safely here doubtless has its immediate reference to a home in Canaan, as in Isa. 1:19. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land. Yet the underlying principle is that God will take charge of the real interests of those who yield themselves to Himwho fall in with His plans for their real eternal good.

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS

Pro. 1:20. What was in the views of godly men, in Solomons days, an abstraction, became concrete when Christ was manifested on earth. The manifold character of this Divine wisdom (Isa. 11:2-3), and the multiplicity of the messengers of this wisdom of God in all ages of the Church accord with the plural form. (See Critical Notes.)Fausset.

The orientals used the plural form to denote the highest excellence. But wisdoms may be plural to denote wisdom in all forms, or all wisdoms in one; specially two forms of wisdomwisdom in a worldly sense, and wisdom in the spiritual sense which the natural man does not discern. Wisdom in both these senses unites in piety. The pious man has spiritual wisdom of which the sinner knows nothing; and fleshly or natural wisdom to avoid hell and to secure heaven, to provide for death and get ready for an eternal world, to a degree altogether superior to a fleshly nature.Miller.

After that Solomon hath brought in a godly father warning and instructing his sons, now he raiseth up, as it were, a matron or queen-mother provoking her children unto virtue.Muffet.

The words of men may be wise; but when God speaks, Wisdom itself addresses us.Lawson.

Perhaps some wide law of association connecting the purity and serenity of wisdom with the idea of womanhood, determines the character of the personification. Not in solitude, but in the haunts of men, through sages, lawgivers, and teachers, and yet more through life and its experiences, she preaches to mankind. Something of the same kind was present, we may believe, to Socrates when he said that the fields and the trees taught him nothing, but that he found the wisdom he was seeking in his converse with the men whom he met as he walked in the streets and agora of Athens. (Plato, Phdrus, p. 230.)Plumptre.

In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, Come unto me and drink. (Joh. 7:37.)Trapp.

In the Scriptures, Wisdom cried unto men. They testify of me, said Jesus. The prophets all spake of His coming. The sacrifice offered year by year, continually proclaimed aloud to each generation the guilt of men, and the way of mercy. The history of Israel, all the days of old, was itself Wisdoms perennial articulate cry of warning to the rebellious. The plains of Egypt and the Red Sea, Sinai and the Jordan, each had a voice, and all proclaimed in concert the righteousness and mercy that kissed each other in the counsels of God. And the things were not done in a corner. But the wisdom of God is a manifold wisdom. While it centres bodily in Christ, it is reflected and re-echoed from every object and every event. There is a challenge in the prophets, Oh earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord! The receptive earth has taken in that word, and obediently repeats it from age to age. He hath made all things for Himself. He serves Himself of criminals and their crimes. From many a ruined fortune, Wisdom cries, Remember the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy. From many an outcast in his agonies, as when the eagles of the valley are picking out his eyes, Wisdom cries, Honour thy father and mother, that thy days may be long. From many a gloomy scaffold Wisdom cries, Thou shalt not kill.Arnot.

Pro. 1:21. Wisdoms walk through the streets. The Lord and His Spirit follow us everywhere with monition and reminder.Langes Commentary.

In Pro. 1:10 sin was represented as trying to get in. Here wisdom is represented as trying to reach out. Sin is harmless unless it can get into the conscience. Wisdom is utterly helpless unless it begins with the flesh. One strives to get in, the others yearns to reach out. The natural man discerneth not the things of the spirit. She must begin, therefore, without. The impenitent can only hear natural reasons. The law is a schoolmaster. The terrors of death are applied by the Almighty to draw us nearer, within, and finally into the region that is spiritual. It is out of doors, therefore, that Wisdom must lift up her voice.Miller.

The voice of wisdom is heard everywhere. It sounds from the pulpit. From every creature it is heard (Job. 12:7-8). The word is in our very hearts, and conscience echoes the voice in our souls. Let us go where we will we must hear it, unless we wilfully shut our ears.Lawson.

In the Temple she crieth for holiness and reverence, in the gates she crieth for justice and equity, in the city she crieth for honesty and charity. Or else by accommodation we may thus take the words, the head is the chief place of concourse in man, where all the faculties do meet and all affairs are handled: the openings of the gate are the outward fences, the city is the heart, to all which wisdom strongly applieth her instructions. In the head she crieth for a right understanding, in the outward fences for watchfulness, in the heart for upright sincerity.Jermin.

Pro. 1:22. Men are always going to be wise, and, therefore, Wisdom plunges upon this very difficulty. You are going to repent; but when? And, as a still more imperative question, How long first? You are, perhaps, a grey old man, and your resolutions have been for fifty years.Miller.

Lovers of simplicity and haters of knowledge are joined together; for where there is a love of simplicity, there is a hatred of knowledge, where there is a love of vice there is a hatred of virtue.Jermin.

Scorners love scorning. The habit grows by indulgence. It becomes a second nature.Arnot.

These simplicians are much better than scorners, and far beyond those fools that hate knowledge. All sins are not alike sinful, and wicked men grow worse and worse.Trapp.

Pro. 1:23. The two things mentioned here are to be taken in connection with each other. The latter is the result of the formerthe former in order to the latter. There can be no plea, therefore, for continued ignorance. The Word of God is in possession, and the Spirit of God is in promise.Wardlaw.

When it is said: Turn, &c., could any essay to turn be without some influence of the Spirit? But that, complied with, tends to pouring forth a copious effusion not to be withstood.J. Howe.

When we turn at His reproof, He will pour out His Spirit; when He pours out His Spirit, we will turn at His reproof: blessed circle for the saints to reason in.Arnot.

Little as we might have expected it, the teaching of the Book of Proverbs anticipates the prophecy of Joel (Joe. 2:28) and the promise of our Lord (Joh. 14:26; Joh. 15:26.) Not the Spirit alone, with no articulate expression of truths received and felt: nor words alone, spoken or written, without the Spirit to give them life.Plumptre.

He that reproves and then directs not how to do better, is he that snuffs a lamp, but pours not in oil to maintain it.Trapp.

There are no words that can make known Wisdoms words but her own, and there is no one that can make known Wisdoms words but herself. She can, and here she saith: I will. And it is as she will, not as she can, and yet freely and fully too, whereof she saith: I will pour out.Jermin.

I. The reproof God administers. God reproves

(1) by the Scriptures;

(2) by ministers;

(3) by conscience;

(4) by Providence.

II. The submission He requires. Turn

(1) with penitent hearts;

(2) with believing minds;

(3) with prompt obedience.

III. The encouragements He imparts. The Spirit is

(1) convincing;

(2) quickening;

(3) comforting;

(4) sanctifying.Sketches of Sermons.

Pro. 1:24. It is an honour to be invited to the feast of an earthly prince; how much more to be bidden unto the banquet of the King of kings! And as the desiring of any to dinner or supper is a sign of love and goodwill in him that offereth this courtesy, so it is a point of great ungentleness and sullenness for a man, without just cause, to refuse so kind a proffer; for, in so doing, he sheweth that he maketh none account at all of him, who not only hath borne toward him a loving affection, but made declaration thereof in some sort, and gone about to seal it by certain pledges of friendship; yea, that which is yet more, he causeth him to lose the cost which he hath bestowed about provisions and entertainment, and his messengers to lose their pains and their travail. Then, when those who are bidden to the kingdom of God (Luk. 14:18) desire to be excused, how can this be but a great sin? but, when God shall not only call with His voice, but all day long stretch out His hand to a rebellious people, continuing His Word preached with all means pertaining thereunto; as the grace offered in this respect is doubled, so the sin of not profiting thereby is mightily increased.Muffet.

God called for a famine on the land, and was not refused; God called for a drought upon the land, and was not refused; and, no doubt, should God call any other of His creatures, they would not refuse to come unto Him, seeing those things which are not, when they are called, do come to God. Only man refuseth. Surely hence it is that the prophets of God do so often speak unto insensible things, as: Hear, O heavens: give ear, O earth. For it is not seldom that God calleth to men and is refused.Jermin.

Pro. 1:26. There is not in the Lord any such affection or disposition of mocking as in man; but when in the course of His providence He so worketh that He leaves the wicked to his misery, or maketh him a mocking stock to the world, He is said in the Scripture to scorn, or have them in derision (Psalms 2), because He dealeth as a man which scorneth.Muffet.

If God laugh, thou hast good cause to cry.Trapp.

There is, as has been said, a Divine irony in the Nemesis of history. It is, however, significant that in the fuller revelation of the mind and will of the Father in the person of the Son, no such language meets us. Sadness, sternness, severity there may be, but from first to last no word of mere derision.Plumptre.

Even I, not, I also, I, who have warned you so often, so tenderly, so earnestly.Stuart.

Pro. 1:27. Cataline was wont to be afraid at any sudden noise, as being haunted with the furies of his own evil conscience. So was our Richard the Third after the murder of his two innocent nephews, and Charles the Ninth of France after the Parisian massacre. These tyrants became more terrible to themselves than ever they had been to others.Trapp.

You cannot paint an angel upon light: so mercy could not be representedmercy could not be, unless there were judgment without mercy, a ground of deep darkness lying beneath, to sustain and reveal it.Arnot.

Here also the parallelism which we have traced before holds good. The coming of the Son of Man shall be as the lightning in its instantaneous flashing. And at that coming He will have to utter the same doom. Many shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able.Plumptre.

Pro. 1:28. Does the sinner ever cry, and not get answered? Does he ever seek diligently, and God laugh at him? The passage is the profoundest Gospel. A man has two ways of seeking, before he becomes a Christian, and after he becomes a Christian. Before he becomes a Christian he seeks from natural motives, otherwise he would be already spiritual. We cannot say that natural seeking has no promise. We think it has. A man can only start outside the camp to get in. The man who out of a deep sense of terror flies toward the wicket gate under that schoolmaster the law, will reach it if he keep on, and that by promise. If he begs God to make him spiritual and to give him the true motives of the kingdom with even a proper common spirit though it be under the terrors of escape, he draws nearer all the time to being spiritual. The light will at last break. If he keeps on in that way he will emerge some day into the light of the blessed. The action of common grace will merge into that which is saving. But if his motives are too carnal; if his state is mere terror; if his moral part has been so abused that it has passed the boundary which our text suggests; if there be the mere terror of the lost, and the mere selfishness, such as wakes up at the judgment day, we could easily understand that oceans of such tears would drift a man only farther off. They are only a more insidious carnality. The sum of the doctrine is, that natural motives may become instruments of conversion if we seek God early, but if we sin away the day of grace, no terror, however selfishly and therefore passionately expressed, can become a saving prayer to bring us any nearer to the Redeemer.Miller.

This was Sauls misery: The Philistines are upon me, and God will not answer me. This was Moabs curse (Isa. 16:12). This was the case of Davids enemies (Psa. 18:41). Even if God answer him at all, it is according to the idols of his heart (Eze. 14:3-4) with bitter answers, as in Jdg. 10:13-14. Or, if better, it is but as He answered the Israelites for quails and afterwards for a king; better have been without. Giftless gifts God gives sometimes.Trapp.

Pro. 1:29. Those who do not choose the fear of the Lord are condemned no less than those who hate it. Not to choose is virtually to dislike, and ends in positive hatred. (Mat. 12:30.) Men are free in choosing destruction, so that the blame rests wholly on themselves. Ye judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life. (Act. 13:46.)Fausset.

God will give them a reason of their punishment. No marvel if they who hate knowledge do not choose the fear of the Lord. For knowledge is the guide of election, and if the guide be bad the choice cannot be good. And to show the badness of the choice, there being many fears proposed to mans choice to which mans life is subject; to choose the fear of the Lord, freeth from all the rest; not to choose that, is to be a slave to all the rest.Jermin.

Pro. 1:30. There is not a word here of disability, it is all unwillingness. Point me to one passage in the Bible where sinners are represented as being condemned for not doing what they could not do. The blessed God is no such tantaliser. When, at any time, inability is spoken of, it is inability all of a moral nature, and resolves itself into unwillingness.Wardlaw.

Can it be that none of Gods counsel should be followed? Can it be that all his reproof should be despised? Yes; not to have a care of following all Gods counsel is to follow none: not to have a mind that regardeth all His reproof, is to despise all. As the wings of the living creature which Ezekiel saw, were joined together, so is the joining together of Gods commandments, our desire of yielding a general obedience unto them, that must carry us up to heaven.Jermin.

Pro. 1:31. Their miserable end is the fruitnot of Gods way, but of their own. His plan, His device for them, was a plan of salvation.Wardlaw.

If a man plants and dresses a poisonous tree in his garden, it is just that he should be obliged to eat the fruit. If our vine is the vine of Sodom, and our clusters the clusters of bitterness, we must leave our complaint on ourselves, if we drink till we are drunken, and fall, and rise no more.Lawson.

The sinners sin is its own punishment (Isa. 3:9-11. Hell is not an arbitrary punishment, like human penalties, which have no necessary connection with the crimes, but a natural development of the seed and the bud (Isa. 59:4; Gal. 6:8). Filled with their own devicesi.e. filled even to loathing, which is the final result of the pleasures of sin. They did eat, and were well filled; for He gave them their own desire; but while the meat was yet in their mouths, the wrath of God came upon them (Psa. 78:29). Mens own desires fulfilled are made their sorest plagues (Psa. 106:11).Fausset.

Bad will it be for them that shall eat of it; and yet due will it be to them to eat of it, because it is their own. It is not said they shall gather the fruit of their ways, which were some expression of their misery, but they shall eat it, it shall enter into them, and be made, as it were, their very substance. This it is that filleth up the misery, and that the filling is of their own devices, that it is, that maketh it be pressed down.Jermin.

Pro. 1:32. When Jeshurun waxed fat, he kicked (Deu. 32:15). Thus the objection is met, that sinners often prosper now. Yes, replies wisdom; but that very prosperity proves their curse, and accelerates the judgment of God. It is they who are settled on their lees that say in their heart, The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil (Zep. 1:12)Fausset.

Prosperity ever dangerous.

1. Because every foolish or vicious person is either ignorant or regardless of the proper ends and rules for which God designs the prosperity of those to whom He sends it.
2. Because prosperity, as the nature of man now stands, has a peculiar force and fitness to abate mens virtues and heighten their corruptions.
3. Because it directly indisposes them to the proper means of amendment and recovery.South.

Because they are fools, they turn Gods mercies to their own destruction; and because they prosper, they are confirmed in their folly.Baxter.

When sinners are moved a little by wisdom, and turn away, it is deadly; it is worse than if they had never listened. Prosperity or tranquillity (see Critical Notes). The mere doing nothing of impenitent men is carrying them downward.Miller.

Bernard calls prosperity a mercy that he had no mind to. What good is there in having a fine suit with the plague in it. A man may miscarry upon the soft sands as soon as upon the hard rocks.Trapp.

Not outward prosperity, but the temper which it too often produces; the easy going indifference to higher truths is that which destroys.Plumptre.

Pro. 1:33. He shall enjoy genuine security. His mind will enjoy unmoved tranquillity amidst all the turmoils and all the vicissitudes of this life (Php. 4:6-7). And he shall be quiet from the fear of ultimate evil. The season of the impenitent sinners last alarm shall be to him the season of peace, and hope, and joy.Wardlaw.

Be it so, that some fits of fear, like grudgings of an ague, in the midst of fiery temptations, begin sometimes to cause the faithful to quake a little, yet the grace of Gods Spirit will drive them out in time, and put them all to flight in such manner at the end, that instead of timorousness, stoutness; of unquietness, peace; of bashfulness, boldness; of shrinking, triumph will arise. O, the valiant courage and unterrified heart of the Christian knight and spiritual champion, who is furnished with the whole armour of God (Ephesians 6), and fighteth under the banner of Divine wisdom, his renowned lady and mistress!Muffet.

1. Temporally.
2. Mentally.
3. Spiritually.

4. Eternally. (Isa. 26:3; Isa. 33:15-16; Jer. 23:6; Deu. 33:12; Deu. 33:28.Fausset.

His ark is pitched within and without; tossed, it may be, but not drowned: shaken, but not shivered.Trapp.

Eternal life, secure in the world to come, casts a bright beam of hope across, sufficient to quiet the anxieties of a faint and fluttering heart in all the dangers of the journey through.Arnot.

There is no dwelling but in heaven; hell is a prison; earth is a pilgrimage. In Heaven there be many mansions, wherein every room is the lodging of quietness, the walls whereof are safety, the gates security, and all fear of evil shut out for ever.Jermin.

CRITICAL NOTES.

Pro. 1:2. Incline. To sharpen or prick the ear, like an animal.

Pro. 1:5. God. Elohim. One of five instances in the book in which God is thus designated, the appellation Jehovah occurring nearly ninety times. In explaining the all but universal use of Jehovah as the name of God in the Proverbs, while it never occurs in Ecclesiastes, Wordsworth says: When Solomon wrote the book of Proverbs he was in a state of favour and grace with Jehovah, the Lord God of Israel; he was obedient to the law of Jehovah; and the special design of that book is to enforce obedience to that law.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

TEXT Pro. 1:20-33

20.

Wisdom crieth aloud in the street;

She uttereth her voice in the broad places;

21.

She crieth in the chief place of concourse;

At the entrance of the gates,
In the city, she uttereth her words:

22.

How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity?

And scoffers delight them in scoffing,
And fools hate knowledge?

23.

Turn you at my reproof:

Behold, I will pour out my spirit upon you;
I will make known my words unto you,

24.

Because I have called, and ye have refused;

I have stretched out my hand, and no man hath regarded.

25.

Be ye have set at nought all my counsel,

And would none of my reproof:

26.

I also will laugh in the day of your calamity;

I will mock when your fear cometh;

27.

When your fear cometh as a storm,

And your calamity cometh on as a whirlwind;
When distress and anguish come upon you.

28.

Then will they call upon men, but I will not answer;

They will seek me diligently, but they shall not find me.

29.

For that they hated knowledge,

And did not choose the fear of Jehovah.

30.

They would none of my counsel,

They despised all my reproof.

31.

Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way,

And be filled with their own devices.

32.

For the backsliding of the simple shall slay them,

And the careless ease of fools shall destroy them.

33.

But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell securely,

And shall be quiet without fear of evil.

STUDY QUESTIONS OVER 1:20-33

1.

How does wisdom cry (Pro. 1:20)?

2.

What does concourse mean (Pro. 1:21)?

3.

Are the simple ones, scoffers, and fools different groups or the same group under different words (Pro. 1:22)?

4.

Is Pro. 1:23 speaking of inspiration?

5.

What is the antecedent of I, my, and me from Pro. 1:24 to the end of the chapter?

6.

What does set at nought mean (Pro. 1:25)?

7.

Will such a day as pictured in Pro. 1:26 come to the foolish?

8.

How serious will things become for the foolish (Pro. 1:27)?

9.

What sad news does Pro. 1:28 bear?

10.

They should have …………….. knowledge instead of hated it (Pro. 1:29)?

11.

The fear of Jehovah is something to be …………… (Pro. 1:29)?

12.

Pro. 1:30 is a restatement of what previous verse?

13.

What is the meaning of eat in Pro. 1:31?

14.

Find three parallel expressions in the two statements of Pro. 1:32.

15.

What contrast belongs to those who will listen (Pro. 1:33)?

PARAPHRASE OF 1:20-33

Pro. 1:20-28.

Wisdom shouts in the streets for a hearing. She calls out to the crowds along Main Street, and to the judges in their courts, and to everyone in all the land. You simpletons! she cries, how long will you go on being fools? How long will you scoff at wisdom and fight the facts? Come here and listen to me! Ill pour out the spirit of Wisdom upon you, and make you wise. I have called you so often but still you wont come. I have pleaded, but all in vain. For you have spurned my counsel and reproof. Some day youll be in trouble, and Ill laugh! Mock me, will you?-Ill mock you! When a storm of terror surrounds you, and when you are engulfed by anguish and distress, then I will not answer your cry for help. It will be too late though you search for me ever so anxiously.

Pro. 1:29-33.

For you closed your eyes to the facts and did not choose to reverence and trust the Lord, and you turned your back on me, spurning my advice. That is why you must eat the bitter fruit of having your own way, and experience the full terrors of the pathway you have chosen. For you turned away from meto death; your complacency will kill you, Fools! But all who listen to me shall live in peace and safety, unafraid.

COMMENTS ON 1:20-33

Pro. 1:20. From here to the end of the chapter (yes, and on beyond that) wisdom is personified as talking, teaching, crying, watching, and turning a deaf ear to peoples cries when suffering from refusing her. Virtue itself is usually represented as a woman; so is wisdom here (note the her). Other verses that have wisdom crying or speaking: Pro. 8:1; Pro. 8:3-4; Pro. 8:6-7. Our verse tells of wisdom uttering her voice and crying aloud in the street and the broad places. Their streets were very narrow. Where two streets met, they made a broad place (see Mar. 11:4). Actually wisdom speaks everywhere if people will but listen. What have you learned today from life?

Pro. 1:21. The chief place of concourse is translated at the head of the multitudes (Youngs Literal) and at the head of the thronged ways (American Bible Union Version). The entrance of the gates would be where people entered or left the city and where legal transactions were conducted (Rth. 4:1-11). In the city would be where people lived. Pro. 1:20-21 shows that wisdom spoke to the ancients from every place (the street, the broad places, the chief place of concourse, the entrance of the gates, and in the city). Today wisdom also speaks to us from many places: it speaks from the juvenile court (on child-rearing;, from the curse of alcholicism (asking, Was Prohibition a failure after all?), from tobacco-statistics, etc. What do tobacco statistics say? Dont smoke! Wisdom tells us it is a foolish habit (look at the effect upon your health); it is a wasteful habit (in outlay of money and in costs in minutes of life when added together; it is a bad habit (bad breath, spreading foul smell wherever one goes, causing others to cough from smoke, etc.).

Pro. 1:22. There are those who love simplicity (ignorance), some who delight in scoffing at the truth and at righteousness and at those who hold them, and some who hate knowledge. Wisdom, God, parents, and godly people cannot help wondering, How much longer will such people live that way?

Pro. 1:23. The very question, How long…will ye love simplicity…delight in scoffing…hate knowledge? of Pro. 1:22 was itself a reproof to those addressed, the hope being to get them to turn or change. The height of wisdom which men have sometimes scoffed at and hated is Inspired Wisdom found within the Word of God. The language, I will pour out my spirit, sounds like a parallel prediction with Joe. 2:28, which was fulfilled in Gods sending the Holy Spirit to inspire the apostles and prophets of New Testament times. Old Testament writers often jumped in such long-range prophecies without elaboration and sometimes without a close topic-connection with its surroundings. Thus, we take this to be a prediction of New Testament inspiration.

Pro. 1:24. Wisdom again speaks. A pause may be imagined, and seems to be implied between this and the preceding verses (22 and 23), when the address passes into a new phasefrom that of invitation and promise to that of judgment and stern denunciation (Pulpit Commentary). Other passages on God calling and speaking but men refusing to hearken: Isa. 65:12; Isa. 66:4; Jer. 7:13; Zec. 7:11.

Pro. 1:25. Set at nought means to treat as nothing. Men who reject Gods counsel (His instructions, commandments, and prohibitions) usually do not listen to His reproof (correction of their ways) either. This verses last statement is also found in Pro. 1:30. Luk. 7:30 says, The Pharisees and the lawyers rejected for themselves the counsel of God, being not baptized of him (John the Baptist). Why do men act as if they know more than God? Or, as if they dont have to bow down to God? Whatever the reason, it is both wrong and ruinous!

Pro. 1:26. That such a day of calamity is coming for the wicked is rightfully assumed. It is coming! Those who lack the fear of Jehovah and the wisdom that it brings (Pro. 1:7) will finally end up in a fear that they cannot escape! The terrific nature of the punishment of the wicked is marked by a succession of terms all of terrible importcalamity, fear, desolation, destruction, distress and anguish (Pro. 1:26-27) (Pulpit Commentary). Wisdom here (and Jehovah in Psa. 2:4) is represented as laughing and mocking when such deserved calamity comes. Actually judgment will but return mens laughing and mocking upon them.

Pro. 1:27. What can be more fearful than overpowering storms in nature? These are used to depict the fear, distress, and anguish that will come upon those who have refused to follow wisdoms counsel. All of this was unforeseen when they were scoffing and refusing to listen to sound instruction.

Pro. 1:28. Now they will turn by the hardships that come upon them even though they wouldnt turn in obedience to Pro. 1:23. When men begin to reap the results of their own foolish choices, it does very little good to cry to God in the day of judgment! Other passages on His not listening to them and their cries: Job. 27:9; Isa. 1:15; Jer. 11:11; Jer. 14:12; Eze. 8:18. Oh, the desperation of calling when no one will answer! Had they sought God and wisdom diligently, they would have found a rich reward (Heb. 11:6).

Pro. 1:29. The reasons for their calamities are here given: they had hated knowledge, and this helped bring the downfall of the Northern Kingdom (My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou has rejected knowledge, I will also reject theeHos. 4:6), and they did not choose the fear of Jehovah (Job said the wicked say to God, Depart from us; For we desire not the knowledge of thy waysJob. 21:14). Pro. 1:22 also spoke of their hating knowledge.

Pro. 1:30. Further reasons for their calamities: they had refused Gods way (counsel) and had despised all the reproof He had sent them because of their disobedient ways. This verse is a restatement of Pro. 1:25.

Pro. 1:31. Just as Gal. 6:7 says people will reap what they have sown, so this verse says the wicked will eat what they have planted (Pro. 1:22); in judgment God will laugh, God will mock (Pro. 1:26). When we are punished, the blameworthiness lies not with God, but with us sinners (Pulpit Commentary).

Pro. 1:32. The simple referred to in Pro. 1:22 are here pictured as backslidingas fools they will return to their folly (as a dog that returneth to his vomit, So is a fool that repeateth his follyPro. 26:11; If, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the last state is become worse with them than the first…It has happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog turneth to his own vomit again, and the sow that had washed to wallowing in the mire2Pe. 2:20-22). For careless ease destroying one, consider the Rich Fool of Luk. 12:19-20 : I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, be merry. But God said unto him, Thou foolish one, this night is thy soul required of thee). The beginning of sin is confidence (Pro. 1:13); the end of sin is destruction (this verse).

Pro. 1:33. In contrast to the wicked this verse sets forth the security of the righteous who have hearkened to wisdom: The world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever (1Jn. 2:17); What man is he that feareth Jehovah? He shall be instructed in the way that he shall choose. His soul shall dwell at ease; And his seed shall inherit the land (Psa. 25:12-13); He shall never be moved; The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance. He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: His heart is fixed, trusting in Jehovah (Psa. 112:6-7). Evil here is used in the sense of trouble.

STUDY QUESTIONS OVER 1:20-33

1.

What is wisdom as personified busy doing (Pro. 1:20)?

2.

What are some of the places where wisdom is crying today (Pro. 1:21)?

3.

What question was raised in Pro. 1:22?

4.

In Pro. 1:23 what was wisdom trying to get the disobedient to do?

5.

Cite a passage where God called, but they did not listen (Pro. 1:24).

6.

What is the difference between counsel and reproof (Pro. 1:25)?

7.

Why will wisdom laugh and mock in the day of the foolish peoples calamities (Pro. 1:26)?

8.

How is the fear that comes upon the disobedient pictured (Pro. 1:27)?

9.

Will these who once mocked in time call (Pro. 1:28)?

10.

What reasons are given in Pro. 1:29-30 for their destruction?

11.

According to Pro. 1:31 their judgment will only visit what upon them?

12.

In what other verse are fools and backsliding put together (Pro. 1:32)?

13.

On what subject does the chapter close (Pro. 1:33)?

THE HUMAN TONGUE

Of all the subjects that can be named, the subject of the tongue is one that needs to be considered the most. This important part of our bodies can get so far out of line at times, and the terrible havoc that the tongue has done cannot be completely recorded. On the other hand, the good that has been done through words is likewise inestimable.
Exclusive of Proverbs, when preachers go to the Bible to prepare messages on the tongue, the book of James, the book of Ephesians, and the book of Matthew are among the chief sources of material. But, Proverbs discusses this subject more fully than any other book of the Bibleso much that all the material found elsewhere in the Bible does not nearly equal the material found alone in it.

FROM THE 7th CHAPTER

The writer tells of a sad scene that he once beheld: For at the window of my house I looked through my casement, and beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding, passing through the street near her corner and he went the way to her house, in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night: and, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot and subtil of heart…She caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him, I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows. Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee (Pro. 1:6-15), and the following verses show her enticing words, I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt. I have perfumed by bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves (Pro. 1:16-18). Then she goes on to assure him that he need not fear about her husband coming home: For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey: he hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed (Pro. 1:19-20). Oh the sadness in the next verses: With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him. He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life (Pro. 1:21-23). What is the lesson? Listen to the next verses: Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth. Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths. For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her. Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(b) Second Discourse:Wisdom Addresses her Despisers (Pro. 1:20-33).

(20) Wisdom.The form of the Hebrew term (chokhmth) has been taken for an abstract singular noun, but probably it is the plural of chokhmah (Pro. 1:2), signifying the multiform excellences of wisdom. It is possible that Solomon may have originally meant in this passage only to describe, in highly poetic language, the influence and work in their generation of those in whom the fear of the Lord dwells. So, too, many of the Psalms (Psalms 45, for example), in the first instance it would seem, are intended to describe the excellence of some earthly saint or king, yet they are completely fulfilled only in the Son of man, the ideal of all that is noblest and best in man. And thus the description of Wisdom in her manifold activity, as represented in Proverbs 1, 8, 9, so closely corresponds to the work of our Lord, as depicted in the New Testament, that from the earliest times of Christianity these passages have been held to be a prophecy of Him; and there is good reason for such a view. For a comparison of Luk. 11:49 (Therefore also said the wisdom of God, Behold, I send, &c.) with Mat. 23:34 (where He says, Behold, I send) would seem to show that He applied the title to Himself. St. Paul in like manner speaks of Him as the Wisdom of God (1Co. 1:24); says He has been made unto us wisdom (1Co. 1:30); and that in Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom (Col. 2:3). For passages from the Fathers embodying this view, see references in Bishop Wordsworth on this chapter.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

THE EXHORTATION, INVITATION, AND WARNINGS OF WISDOM, Pro 1:20-33.

20, 21. Having thus admonished his pupil of the dangers of yielding to the seducing invitations of rapacious and violent men, and shown him the wickedness, folly, and fearful results of such a course of life, he now exhorts him, on the other hand, to listen to the voice of WISDOM, which he personifies and represents as crying earnestly and persistently in his ears, pressing upon him her counsels, and urging her admonitions.

Wisdom crieth without , ( hhokmoth,) a plural, but with a verb singular, a poetic form, perhaps, but one by which the Hebrews sometimes expressed the greatness or excellence of a thing, or gave intensity to the subject: (so with the name Elohim, (God,) which is commonly thus used; as much as to say:) The voices of Wisdom are heard all abroad, but especially in the crowded marts of men, in the streets, in the public squares, or in the openings, or spaces about the gates, which were great places of concourse and of business; the courts were also held there.

In the city In every part of it.

She uttereth her words Among all classes of men. You need not ask, Where shall I find Wisdom? Open your eyes and see her, your ears and hear her. She is preaching aloud all the time, from every text. the wisdom of the wise, the folly of fools, the righteousness of the righteous, and the wickedness of the wicked; from the character and conduct of all sorts of men, and from the consequence of their actions. Hear, see, and profit by all you meet with amid the busy, bustling throngs. Be taught even by the follies of mankind, for wise men learn more from fools than fools learn from the wise.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Wisdom Is Depicted As Crying Out In Longing That People Will Respond To Her Words And Gain From What She Offers ( Pro 1:20-23 ).

Wisdom is now personified as a woman crying out to people to respond to her words. She is in direct contrast to the woman who cries out to young men seeking to lead them astray (Pro 2:1-19; Pro 7:8-27) whose name is Folly (Pro 9:13-18). See also Pro 5:3-11; Pro 6:24-35. Thus God’s Wisdom is to be the palliative to immoral yearnings. The one who listens to His wisdom will not be led astray.

It is quite clear from what follows that Wisdom is speaking on behalf of God. To the writer she is not only wisdom, she is God’s wisdom (Pro 2:6). This will especially come out in chapter 8. Thus she not only reproves, but also conveys her own spirit to those who will listen. But to those who refuse to listen she can only offer judgment, and mock them because they are suffering the consequences of their refusal. However, then it will be too late to call upon wisdom. She will not hear. And because they have refused to choose the fear of YHWH, and rejected His wisdom, they will suffer the consequences. In contrast those who have responded to God’s wisdom and have chosen the ‘fear of YHWH’, will live in quiet without fear of evil coming on them. Wisdom and the will of YHWH go hand in hand. There is nothing secular about this wisdom.

Pro 1:20-21

‘Wisdom cries aloud in the street,

She utters her voice in the broad places (public squares),

She cries in the chief place of concourse, at the entrance of the gates,

In the city, she utters her words.’

Wisdom, in other words, to the writer, God’s word to men which men should respond to in the fear of YHWH, is now personified. She cries out to the ordinary man in the street, she utters her voice to the ordinary man in the public squares, and she even makes herself known to those who sit in judgment in the gateway of the city, in the chief place of hubbub and discussion, where people meet to talk. The whole city hears her words. The gateway included the open space leading through the gate, and the rooms to each side used for storage, record keeping and the meeting together of principle men of the city (see Rth 4:1-3).

We note here that in Solomon’s view wisdom was for all. His words were not just intended for a small group of academics, or for an individual. They were intended to be heard by the masses.

Pro 1:22-23

‘How long, you naive ones, will you love naivety?

And scorners delight themselves in scorning,

And fools hate knowledge?

Turn you at my reproof.’

She calls on the unresponsive to become responsive, and in the process divides them into three groups, the naive, the scoffers and the fools. Note the intensity of response which is involved. They ‘love’ naivety. They ‘delight in’ (‘covet’) scoffing. They ‘hate’ knowledge. These factors possess and rule their lives. These contrast with ‘love’ for God (Deu 6:5) or for His instruction (Psa 119:27), ‘delight in’ His word (Psa 19:10), and ‘hating’ sin (Psa 97:10). Men must choose one or the other.

The naive, or ‘simple ones’, are those who go on heedless of God’s words, ignoring wisdom, not because they are antagonistic, but simply because they are drifting through life and following their own way. They ‘love’ their naivete. They cling on to it fervently. It frees them from responsibility. But they are easily led astray (Pro 7:7; Pro 9:16).

The scorners (compare Psa 1:1) are those who openly mock God’s wisdom. They prefer their own wisdom. They feel themselves superior. And so they take great delight in their mockery, and in rejecting His Wisdom. They ‘covet’ their scoffing.

The fools behave like those who are mad. They know God’s wisdom, but deliberately go against it for their own benefit. They ‘say in their hearts, there is no God’ (Psa 14:1), and behave as though there is not, not because they do not believe in Him, but because they find it more convenient to ignore Him. They ‘hate’ the truth for they know that if they heed God’s wisdom they will be unable to do what they want to do. Their businesses or their personal lives will be affected. They are not stupid. They are often highly intelligent. But their response to God is superficial, thus demonstrating what fools they are

So God’s wisdom, the way of the fear of YHWH (Pro 1:29), calls on all men and women for their response, and pleads with them to turn from their present ways at her reproof.

Pro 1:23

‘Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you,

I will make known my words to you.’

And she points out that what she offers is worth having. She will ‘pour out’ her spirit on them, like the heavy rains of winter which will produce fruitfulness, working in their hearts a true appreciation of her, and giving them the motivation to follow her. She will imbue them with her own ‘spirit’ and make her words known to them. Thus her words are living and active. Her spirit will activate their spirits. This is none other than God Himself active in men’s lives through His wisdom. In other words her hope is that they will cry out, ‘create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me’ (Psa 51:10), and ‘teach me to do your will, for you are my God, your Spirit is good, lead me in the land of uprightness’ (Psa 143:10).

And she will make known her words to them, giving them understanding and a true knowledge of God, and making it known within them (Pro 2:5). This makes clear that she is God’s wisdom, for in the end, as the writer tells us, it is YHWH Who gives this wisdom, knowledge and understanding (Pro 2:6).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Wisdom Is Depicted As Crying Out To Be Heard, Longing For Response, Promising Inculcation Of Her Own Spirit, And Warning Of The Consequences Of Refusal ( Pro 1:20-33 ).

We have here the first of the wisdom passages, where Wisdom herself speaks, crying out to be heard and warning of the consequences of refusal. But Wisdom is essentially God’s Wisdom. Consider especially Pro 3:19-20; Pro 8:22-31. Thus when Wisdom speaks, God speaks.

The passage conveys its ideals chiastically:

A Wisdom cries out to those who will hear (Pro 1:20-21).

B The failings of the naive, scorners and fools are described (Pro 1:22).

C Men are to turn at her reproof and receive her poured out spirit and have made known to them her words of wisdom (Pro 1:23).

D Wisdom called and they refused (Pro 1:24-25).

E Wisdom will laugh in the day of their calamity, (at the folly lying behind their coming calamities), and will mock when their fear comes (Pro 1:26).

E For their fear will come like a storm and their calamity like a whirlwind (Pro 1:27).

D They will call but she will not answer (Pro 1:28).

C Men scorn her reproof, and eat the fruit of their own way and are filled with their own devices (Pro 1:29-31).

B The naive and fools will be destroyed for their failings (Pro 1:32).

A Those who hear and respond to wisdom will enjoy peace and security (Pro 1:33).

Note the chiastic arrangement, A paralleling A, B paralleling B, and so on. Central to the chiasmus is that Wisdom will mock the so-called wisdom of those who will undoubtedly suffer calamities and experience their fear, because of their refusal to heed her. For this fear and these calamities (note the reversal) will come like a storm and a whirlwind. It is quite clear elsewhere that these calamities are seen as coming from the hand of YHWH (Pro 3:25-26; Pro 3:33; Pro 10:3; Pro 12:2; Pro 15:3), a constant message of the Old Testament.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Call of Wisdom Pro 1:20-33 gives us the call of wisdom. Keep in mind that the book of Proverbs is written both to the simple and to the wise, both to the sinner and to the child of God. Wisdom not only calls us to salvation, but wisdom keeps calling in order to keep us on the path of salvation.

The very tone of Pro 1:20-33 reveals God’s love and patience to a disobedient people. God takes every opportunity to speak openly to His people (Pro 1:20-21). This is because it is not His desire to bring judgment (Pro 1:22-23), so He gives people an opportunity and time to repent (Pro 1:25). When He does bring judgment, as upon Sodom and Gomorrah, it was not without prior warnings (Pro 1:25-33). When this divine judgment comes, it then serves as an example so others will not follow the same rebellious path.

Jud 1:7, “ Even as Sodom and Gomorrha , and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example , suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”

Therefore, God pronounces the crime (Pro 1:24-25 and Pro 1:30) twice. Then He declares the judgment twice (Pro 1:26-27 and Pro 1:31-32). He states that this judgment will be sure and without mercy (Pro 1:28).

Wisdom’s Cry – The Hebrew word “wisdom” ( ) (H2454) is used only five times in the Old Testament (Psa 49:3, Pro 1:20; Pro 9:1; Pro 14:1; Pro 24:7). Its more common form is ( ) (H2451), which occurs 149 times in the Scriptures. Both of these words come from the same verb stem ( ) (H2449), which means, “to be wise” ( Strong).

Psa 49:3, “My mouth shall speak of wisdom ; and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding.”

Pro 1:20, “Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:”

Pro 9:1, “ Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars:”

Pro 14:1, “Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.”

Pro 24:7, “ Wisdom is too high for a fool: he openeth not his mouth in the gate.”

Matthew Henry notes that the plural form of this rare verb is used in Pro 1:20, which denotes the infinite wisdom of God, as well as His manifold wisdom (Eph 3:10). [54] We hear wisdom in the streets, where we see common men display their manifold characters (Pro 1:20). Wisdom is displayed in the noisy conversations of people (Pro 1:21 a), in the civil laws of our government (Pro 1:21 b) and in the daily business transactions (Pro 1:21 c). Thus, wisdom can be found anywhere if we will just listen, in the private, government and business sectors of any society.

[54] Matthew Henry, Proverbs, in Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, New Modern Edition, Electronic Database (Seattle, WA: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1991), in P.C. Study Bible, v. 3.1 [CD-ROM] (Seattle, WA: Biblesoft Inc., 1993-2000), notes on Proverbs 1:20-33.

Eph 3:10, “To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God ,”

God spoke to His people on many occasions and in divers ways (Heb 1:1). He spoke to the patriarchs by dreams. He spoke to Moses face to face. He spoke to the nation of Israel from a fiery mountain and then by the written Law. He then spoke to them by His prophets and by divine judgment when they ignored His prophets. He spoke through the Psalms and by proverbs and by parables. He spoke by signs and wonders. He spoke to Balaam by the mouth of a donkey. Finally, He spoke to His people and to us by the recorded history in Scripture. In every way manner God speaks to His people because of His great love for us.

Heb 1:1, “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,”

In wisdom there is no darkness. Rather, wisdom’s cry in the open places and in the streets tells us that everyone one has access to the voice of wisdom. These verses teach us that wisdom has cried out to all of us and made itself available to everyone, even the most simple. There is no ear of mankind that has not heard this call. Jesus said, “many are called, but few are chosen”. In other words, many people will hear the call of God, but few will choose to pursue Him.

Note that Pro 1:21 restates Pro 1:20. They literally say the same thing, which is that wisdom does not hid in the dark, but walks unashamedly in the light. One reason for this double statement is that a matter or a truth is confirmed in the mouth of two or three witnesses. Here we have a double testimony of the openness with which wisdom walks. Another example of this double statement is found in Galatians when Paul places a curse upon anyone who preaches contrary to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Gal 1:8-9, “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again , If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.”

Wisdom cries publicly with no reason to hide. God never spoke to His people Israel in secret.

Isa 45:19, “ I have not spoken in secret , in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.”

Neither did Jesus Christ hide His wisdom from the public.

Joh 18:20, “Jesus answered him, I spake openly to the world ; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said nothing.”

Jesus Christ also tells us to proclaim the wisdom of the Gospel openly.

Mat 10:27, “What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.”

As Jesus taught openly in the Temple, so does wisdom cry in the hearing of all the people. People of wisdom have the freedom to speak openly. Wicked people have to speak in the dark in order to hide their wicked deeds. Contrast the hidden secrets of the wicked with the openness of divine wisdom.

Pro 1:11, “If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:”

Wisdom cries out in the busiest places in society. She cries out in the crowded streets. She lifts up her voice in the major places where people meet and in the gates of the city. This is because wisdom speaks through other people and because it touches every aspect of our lives and every place we go. It speaks through situations around you. Life itself becomes a classroom, and wisdom is the teacher. Thus, in the book of Proverbs, we are shown different types of people in order to learn divine wisdom. Listen, and you will hear.

Wisdom is also seen in public places because it is available for all. In other words, it is not exclusive to the well-educated. There are many people who could not get a good education as a youth. Yet, they became successful in life because they learned much wisdom.

Wisdom invites people to feast on her riches, which are listed in Pro 9:1-6. Those riches are bread and wine. We know that this ultimately is a reference to the sacrificial crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ, when He gave his body and shed His blood on Calvary.

Pro 1:20  Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:

Pro 1:20 “Wisdom…she” – Comments – Since wisdom is a feminine noun in Hebrew, the word is personified as a woman. However, wisdom is not just personified. She also communicates with her hearers as does a close friend openly talk to another friend from the heart. Wisdom is the voice of the Holy Spirit, speaking to our hearts daily, sometimes to encourage, sometimes to correct (Pro 9:8), but always for our well-being. Her rebukes will always contain a condition of promise and hope.

Pro 9:8, “Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.”

Pro 1:21  She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,

Pro 1:21 Comments – The judges and city elders declared decrees of the court in the gates of these ancient cities. Thus, wisdom was often heard in these places as elders and wise men interpreted the laws of Moses. It is the place where a bystander could hear the cry for reform and repentance from those being judged. It is the place where the prophets of Israel stood and proclaimed the Word of the Lord. Isaiah, Jeremiah and many others stood there.

Pro 1:22  How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?

Pro 1:22 “How long” Comments – We hear God’s patience in these words. This phrase implies that God will patiently call people to repentance over a prolonged period of time. God says, “How long will you stay naive? How long will you scorn my ways? How long will you hate my knowledge?” At some point in time, however, the Lord will bring judgment against those who are stubborn in heart. Note a proverb that deals with this divine truth:

Pro 29:1, “He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.”

Also, God also stretched out his hands continually to a backslidden nation during the time of Isaiah before He finally destroyed it.

Isa 65:2, “I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;”

Pro 1:23  Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.

Pro 1:23 “Turn you at my reproof” – Comments – This statement sounds like John the Baptist preaching. The words “turn you” mean, “you turn back” ( Strong). Thus, the idea of a journey is implied in the turning back. The fool can change his direction in life if he so chooses.

Pro 1:23 “I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.” – Comments – This sounds like Jesus’ promise of the Holy Spirit. I believe that the personification of Wisdom in the book of Proverbs is prophetic of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to the Church in the Church age. The Spirit of God will speak to us and guide us daily. He will warn us of things to come and urge us into a path of safety. This is why bad things happen to good people. Because even good people can ignore the voice of the Holy Spirit and walk out from under God’s divine protection.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The Invitation of Wisdom

v. 20. Wisdom, the essence of divine knowledge and true understanding, as set forth throughout the Book of Proverbs, crieth without, on the street, in public places, not ashamed of her teaching, but openly seeking the welfare of all; she uttereth her voice in the streets, on the principal thoroughfares;

v. 21. she crieth in the chief place of concourse, where there are crowds of people in noisy surging, in the openings of the gates, where market was held in Oriental cities, which served as their public square; in the city, on the inner side of the gates, she uttereth her words, saying,

v. 22. How long, ye simple ones, inexperienced and ingenuous people, easily influenced by temptation, will ye love simplicity and the scorners delight in their scorning, their open denial and rejection of the truth, and fools, who consider themselves above instruction, hate knowledge?

v. 23. Turn you at my reproof, from the evil and perverse way which they were then following. Behold, I will pour out my Spirit unto you, in abundant fullness and refreshing power; I will make known my words unto you, for the Spirit of the Lord is given in and through His Word. There is a pause here, as though wisdom were waiting for the simple, the scorners, and the fools to accept her invitation. But no answer being forthcoming, a stern rebuke is added.

v. 24. Because I have called, and ye refused, paying no attention to the kind invitation; I have stretched out My hand, in a gesture of eager beseeching, and no man regarded;

v. 25. but ye have set at naught all My counsel, refusing to make use of it and to follow it, and would none of My reproof, absolutely declining to consider it,

v. 26. I also will laugh at your calamity, in holy mockery at their distress; I will mock when your fear cometh, when terror would overwhelm. them;

v. 27. when your fear cometh as desolation, like a tempest sweeping every thing before it, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you, their oppressing and cramping effect being the result of men’s refusing to accept the precepts of true wisdom.

v. 28. Then shall they call upon Me, praying for wisdom to meet the emergency in which they would find themselves, but I will not answer; they shall seek Me early, with the rising of the dawn, with great diligence, but they shall not find Me, Cf Amo 8:11-13.

v. 29. For that they hated knowledge, when it was offered to them, and did not choose the fear of the Lord, the basis and source of all true wisdom;

v. 0. they would none of My counsel, did not yield to its kind insistence; they despised all My reproof,

v. 31. therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, experiencing the evil consequences of their foolish and wicked action, and be filled with their own devices, get their fill of their evil planning even to the point where it sickens them.

v. 32. For the turning away of the simple, when they turned away from discipline and forsook wisdom, shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools, their carnal security, their idle, easy rest, which renders them too proud to seek understanding, shall destroy them; for a man’s rejection on the part of God is the consequence either of his rejection of the Word or his indifference to its teaching.

v. 33. But whoso hearkeneth unto Me, yielding a glad obedience, shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil, at ease and without fear in the midst of dangers threatening on all sides. Such is the quiet security of the believers, since it is grounded, not in their own wisdom and understanding, but in the eternal wisdom of God, the everlasting Word.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Pro 1:20. Wisdom crieth without, &c. Wisdom elevates her voice in the streets. She uttereth forth her voice in the public places. Schultens and Calmet. Solomon opposes the voice of wisdom and her agreeable invitations to the seducing discourse of sinners. “The latter lay snares for you in secret; they conceal themselves the better to deceive. Wisdom, on the contrary, lifteth up her voice in the streets and public places; she does not invite to murders, to violence, to injustice, to crimes commonly fatal to those who commit them; but to God, and to the highest good: She discovers the ways which lead to the extremest misery, in order to avoid it; she recals men from their errors, and threatens them with ruin if they despise her.” By saying that wisdom lifts up her voice in the public places, Solomon prevents the poor excuse of those who would ask, where shall they find this wisdom? She is every where: all that surrounds us preaches up to us this wisdom. We need only open our eyes and ears. Do you behold evil, scandal, disorder? avoid doing it. Do you hear good discourses, do you see good examples? hear, imitate, and profit by them: the wise learn much more from fools, says Cato, than fools learn from the wise.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

DISCOURSE: 753
THE NEED OF ATTENDING TO GODS GRACIOUS INVITATIONS

Pro 1:20-31. Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: she crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you. I will make known my words unto you. Because I have called, and ye refused: I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: they would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.

TO expostulate with men respecting their evil ways, to point out the consequences of persisting in them, to urge the necessity of a speedy and thorough conversion to God, and to enforce the address with affectionate entreaties and encouraging assurances, is stigmatized as the effervescence of a heated imagination, the offspring of a weak enthusiastic mind. But, however it be foolishness with men, it is wisdom in the sight of God. No expostulations, entreaties, promises, or threatenings can be delivered with greater energy or affection than those in the text; yet God calls them the voice, not of folly and enthusiasm, but of wisdom; and, whatever we may think of them, they will be found to be the words of truth and soberness. We are now in the chief place of concourse, and it is wisdom itself, or God under the name of Wisdom, that now addresses us. The substance of the address may be comprehended under two general observations:

I.

To those who receive his invitations, God will be exceeding gracious

Nothing can be more tender than the expostulation before us
[The words are addressed not merely to the simple, but to those who love simplicity; not only to the ignorant, but to them that hate knowledge; not only to those who are destitute of religion, but who delight to scoff at it. What can we suppose that God should say to such daring transgressors? What, but to denounce the heaviest judgments? But he is God and not man, and therefore he speaks to them as God, in terms of inconceivable love and mercy; How long will ye love your evil and destructive ways? Will not the past time suffice to have followed them? Have they been so pleasant or profitable that ye will forego all the happiness of heaven for them? or, if ye intend to turn away from them, have ye fixed the period of your conversion? How long do you intend to persist? Till the time of sickness, and the hour of death? or till some more convenient season? Ah! turn you at my reproof; let the words of a Father and a Friend prevail with you: do not attempt to justify your actions; or to extenuate your guilt: you see clearly enough that your conduct is indefensible: turn, turn from it without delay]
The promises, with which the expostulation is enforced, add greatly to its weight
[A consciousness both of weakness and of ignorance often contributes to keep men under the power of their sinsA thought arises in their minds, I know not how to turn; I know not how to obtain either the pardon of my sins, or victory over my lusts. But God obviates at once all such discouraging reflections. He says in effect, Are your corruptions insuperable by any efforts of your own? I will pour out my Spirit to sanctify you throughout. Are you at a loss how to obtain my favour? I will make known to you the words of life; I will reveal my Son in your heart; I will shew you the efficacy of his atonement, and make you wise unto salvation through faith in him. Thus does he silence their objections, and dissipate their fears: Behold, what manner of love is this! surely we should not hear of it but with wonder; we should not receive its overtures, but with grateful adoration]
But God will not always strive with man. On the contrary,

II.

They, who despise his invitations, shall be given up to final impenitence and ruin

The contempt too generally poured upon the mercy of God, is awful in the extreme
[One would suppose that such invitations and promises could not fail of producing the desired effect. But, alas, the reception they meet with is such as God himself represents it: men refuse to obey his calls; when he stretches out his hands to them with parental tenderness and importunate entreaties, they will not regard him; they set at nought his counsel; they despise his reproof; they hate even to hear of their duty, and determine, whatever be the consequence, that they will not perform it. The zeal and earnestness of his ministers are made a subject of profane ridicule; and the dictates of wisdom are laughed at as the effusions of folly and fanaticism. We appeal to the consciences of all respecting these things. Who that has made any observations on the world around him, or on what passes in his own heart, must not attest that these things are so? Yes; we are all guilty: This has been our manner from our youth. Some have been more open and notorious, and others more secret and reserved, in their oppositions to Gods will; but all have opposed it, and, if divine grace have not slain our enmity, we are opposing it still: the deliberate sentiment of every unregenerate man is like theirs of old, As for the word which thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee [Note: Jer 44:16.].]

But such conduct, if persisted in, will one day meet a suitable reward
[As God cannot be deceived, so neither will he be mocked: if he have a day of grace, so has he also a day of vengeance; and that day is hastening on apace. However secure the sinner may think himself, there is an hour of desolation, and of consequent distress and anguish coming upon him. Perhaps it may come in this life; on a dying bed he may be filled with terror and remorse; and though, like Judas, he may confess his sin, or, like Esau, pray for a revocation of his sentence, his prayers may be cast out, and God laugh at his calamity. Often does God threaten this, and often has he executed his threatening; Go to your gods whom ye have chosen, said he to his people of old; let them deliver you; for I will deliver you no more [Note: He has threatened it, Mic 3:4. Jer 2:27-28; and he has executed it, Zec 7:11-13. Jdg 10:13-14.]. So now does he often suggest to the mind of an awakened, but unconverted sinner, What will the world do for you now? What will your pleasures, your riches, or your honours profit you in this day of my wrath? What do you think of the seed which you have been sowing, now you begin to reap the fruit thereof? But if God deal not with us thus in this world, most assuredly he will in the world to come. That will indeed be an hour of distress and anguish when these despisers of mercy shall stand at the tribunal of their Judge: and oh! how will he then laugh at their calamity! how will he mock at all their fear and terror! You would not believe my word: now see whether it be true or not. You would not be persuaded that I would ever vindicate my insulted Majesty: What do you think of that matter now? You despised me, and said, Depart from me; I desire not the knowledge of thy ways! You shall have your request: I will depart from you; and you too shall depart from me: depart, accursed, into everlasting fire: and though you should pray to all eternity for a mitigation of your pain, you shall never have so much as a drop of water to cool your tongue.

Would to God that men would realize these things, and be persuaded to believe that God is true! But whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, we must declare what God has spoken: and, however an ignorant world may deride it as folly, we will aver it to be the counsel of true wisdom, and the declaration of an unerring God.]

Application
1.

Let all adore the divine goodness

[Which of us must not plead guilty to the charge of despising God? Which of us has not persevered in a course of disobedience to him in spite of all his messages of mercy; and that too, not for days merely, but for months and years? Yet has God exercised forbearance towards us; and at this very instant renews to us his gracious invitations. Let us consider how many thousands have been cut off in their sins, while we are yet spared to hear the tidings of salvation: and let the patience and long-suffering of God lead us to repentance. Let us magnify him for such distinguished favours; and turn to him to-day, while it is called to-day, lest he swear in his wrath that we shall never enter into his rest.]

2.

Let all tremble at the divine justice

[Though God be so full of compassion, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and live, yet is he a just and sin-avenging God: he will by no means clear the guilty [Note: Exo 34:7.]. He sometimes repays the wicked to their face even in this life; but there is a day which he has appointed for the full display of his own righteousness; a day, wherein he will render to every man according to his deeds; to those, who have sought for immortality, eternal life; but to the despisers of his truth, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish [Note: Rom 2:6-9.]. Let us then get our minds impressed with this thought, that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God [Note: Heb 10:31.]: and let us instantly comply with his invitations here, that we may be partakers of his promises in a better world.]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

These verses are introduced with great beauty after the former. Having in some measure prepared the heart for receiving instruction, by turning up the fallow ground, to sow in righteousness. Christ is here introduced in his gracious office, as calling upon the sinner, wounded under a sense of sin, to look unto him and to be saved. Hos 10:12 ; Isa 45:22 . I do not think it necessary to detain the Reader with a long commentary on the several parts of this divine sermon; for if (as I pray the Lord may be the case) the Lord the Holy Ghost be our Teacher, it is his gracious office to take of the things of Jesus and skew them to us. And under his teaching it will not be difficult to find Jesus in every part of it. Joh 16:14 . I must not, however, omit one observation in this place, because it is important. The word here translated, wisdom, is in the original, in the plural number wisdoms. I do not positively presume to say, wherefore it is so; but I venture to believe, that as wisdom is a well-known office-character of Jesus, as the Christ; that is in united natures of God and wan in one Person; it was intended to convey to the church, that Christ is in the abstract, all wisdoms in one; for in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Col 2:3 . And I am the more inclined to this opinion, because the sacred writers, in their reference to Jesus, seem to delight in plurals. We have a beautiful example of this kind in the first Psalm. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, etc. The man here spoken of, can be no other than Christ, for very obvious reasons, as I have shewn in the commentary on that part of scripture. For none among the fallen sons of men can be said with truth to be blessed, but in him. But what I particularly request the Reader to observe with me now is, that the word translated in that psalm blessed, is also in the plural number, and implying all blessedness in one. And Christ is all this; for as blessedness doth not consist in one good thing, but a thorough and complete blessedness takes in all, so Christ and Christ alone is this: and He that is wisdom, being the essential source and fountain of all wisdom to all the different streams of it, is no less the whole sum and substance of blessedness in giving existence to it in all the distributions of it among his creatures. Reader! I pray you pause over the thought! And think what an infinite mind must our Jesus possess, since every portion of knowledge, and intellect, and wisdom, is derived from Him who is in himself wisdoms. Conceive, if possible, what blessedness in all the fullness of infinity, must constitute Him, who is our Christ, in whom all nations of the earth can alone be blessed! Psa 72:17 . And Reader! do indulge me with adding one thought more for your meditation on this sweet subject, as well as my own. If Jesus be thus wisdoms and blessedness in the full aggregate of both, to the total exclusion of every other, but as derived from him; think what unspeakable felicity must it be to be interested in him, yea, to be a part in him, by virtue of our union with him, as the Head of his church, and consequently entitled to all such proportions both of wisdom and blessedness as shall be for his glory, and his church’s happiness! For we do not come to him to give us wisdom only, but for himself to be our wisdom; not only to give us blessedness, but himself to be our blessedness; and thus not only to bring us to the everlasting enjoyment of both; but to be himself the sum and substance of both, in being our wisdom, blessedness, and portion forever. Oh! the unspeakable blessedness of Christ, well may we cry out with the apostle, Now thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. 2Co 9:15 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

The Complaint of Wisdom

Pro 1:20-33

Wisdom now turns from her children and addresses those who despise her. The address extends from the 20th verse to the 23rd. Wisdom in this address is personated; it has been considered that the word in the plural number represents the varied and all but innumerable excellences of true and just understanding. Even if we take the personation as highly poetical, this need not divest the speech of such merits as can be tested by reason and experience. If in the first instance Wisdom is here to be regarded as signifying the highest intellectual sagacity combined with anxious moral discrimination, yet the highest form of the thought is only fulfilled in him who is in very deed the wisdom of God. A comparison of Luk 11:49 with Mat 23:34 almost shuts us up to the conclusion that Jesus Christ applied these words to himself. The Apostle Paul says that Jesus Christ has been made unto us wisdom, and that in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom. The description of Wisdom as uttering a loud cry in public, and making all the streets resound with her exclamation, represents the depth and poignancy of her solicitude. Christianity cannot see men rushing down to the chamber of death without uttering a protest and proclaiming a gospel. Wisdom should not enclose herself within her own sanctuary, and shut her eyes to the real facts of actual life as it is to be seen “on the streets,” and in the hiding-places of sin and shame. Jesus Christ went abroad amongst men and made himself acquainted with the actual condition of the people. When he came near the city he wept over it. When he saw the multitudes he had compassion upon them. The Church is not to be the quiet and sacred home in which Christianity enjoys itself, but is to represent the refreshment and the strengthening which the Church requires in order to qualify her to deal with the depravity, the ignorance, the squalor, and the despair of the people at large. Wisdom urges herself forward until she attains a position in the chief places of concourse, even in the openings of the gates, and at the very centre of the city. Wisdom is an evangelist. Wisdom is not afraid of being contaminated by the pollution which it seeks to heal. Wisdom is assured that her counsels are necessary for the elevation of humanity, and the whole direction and happy completion of the purposes of human life. The attitude in which Wisdom is represented in this passage is the attitude in which the Church should constantly find herself. Wisdom is aggressive. Not only does she declare her own excellence, she seeks by zealous importunity to draw others to her shrine, that obeying her instructions they may become blessed with freedom and inspired with hope.

Wisdom first addresses the simple ones; that is, men who are open to good influences or impressions, but also to those that are evil. The Proverbs, according to the fourth verse, were intended to give subtilty to the simple. Then she proceeds to address the scorners, asking them why they delight in their scorning. The scorners are to be regarded as men who hold in contempt all holy things, and actually congratulate themselves upon their skill in so doing, “A scorner seeketh wisdom, and findeth it not: but knowledge is easy unto him that understandeth,” proud, arrogant men, who imagine that they cannot be instructed, and who pour their contemptuous criticisms upon men who seek the nobler life. Then Wisdom proceeds to address fools, men who hate knowledge, men of debased mind, who are all but incapable of high thinking, and who live with stolid content within the circle of their own ignorance. It has been noticed that, bad as is the condition of the simple, the scornful, and the foolish, Wisdom does not despair of reclaiming them from the error of their ways. It is not the part of divine wisdom to leave men where they are, uttering over them words of helplessness and despair. God insists that even the worst may be converted, and those who are farthest astray may be brought penitently to the altars they have forsaken. This is a high and fascinating distinction of the blessed gospel of grace. It comes out into the highways and the hedges; it eats with publicans and sinners; it calls to them that are afar off, and assures those who are hardest of heart that love waits to welcome and to pardon them. Observe further that all these descriptions are to be taken in their moral as well as in their intellectual sense. Men have not only gone astray in their minds, they have committed treason in their hearts, and because their hearts are corrupt the whole estate of manhood has been overthrown and laid desolate.

Wisdom is not content with criticising the condition of the simple, the scornful, and the foolish, she proceeds to make a great offer to those who have most completely turned their back upon all her charms and claims. Her words are, “Behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.” This is the first great act of Wisdom namely, the gift of a new spirit. Thus Wisdom deals radically with the awful circumstances which excite her solicitude. She does not propose to create a new environment that is to say, to alter circumstances here and there so as the more thoroughly to please the eye, or gratify any of the senses. She aims at the renewal of the spirit; not at mere amendment, but at the substitution of the Divine Spirit for the spirit of selfishness and worldliness. It must be God’s light that destroys men’s darkness. The earth can only be warmed by the sun, and brought out of winter bondage by the graciousness of the heavens. As the earth never leads herself out of winter into summer, but is always taken upon that upward and enchanting journey by the action of the sun, so the heart of man never finds a way for itself into true and enduring liberty, but is conducted from bondage into freedom by the direct action of the Spirit of God. Not only will the Spirit be given as a new energy, but instruction will be added “I will make known my words unto you.” These words cannot be made known to any man who has the wrong spirit, “If any man love me, I will manifest myself unto him.” Divinest things are hidden from the wise and prudent, and are revealed unto babes. “If any man will do God’s will, he shall know of the doctrine.” Look now upon the whole picture, and see if it be not marked with the highest dignity and the most assuring tenderness. Even as a picture this description ought to arrest attention and awaken gratitude. According to the lines thus portrayed, men have gone astray from light, and truth, and love, and have involved themselves in all manner of evil thinking and evil doing; so much so that God is no longer in their thoughts, and the whole purpose of life is given up either to intellectual scorning or to moral putrefaction. To a world thus lost Wisdom goes forth as from the sanctuary of heaven, the very temple and throne of light, and, whilst condemning the state in which the world is found, she offers a new spirit and a new will, and does so with the infinite enthusiasm of love. This is not a mere offer, it is an act of importunity; it is not a proposal given with the air of an ultimatum, the proposition represents anxiety, concern, even agony. Wisdom has gone forth to win a conquest, or to retire as with a broken heart. When Jesus Christ offers men rest, the disappointment which will follow their neglect cannot but fill him with the intensest grief. Wisdom does not adopt the tone of curt argument, as one who would say to others, You are wrong, and I alone am right. Wisdom cries, she lifts up her voice in the street, she yields herself to the inspiration of a generous passion; she does not intend to return to her rest at night until the whole city has been filled with the music of her all-including gospel.

“Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: they would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil” ( Pro 1:24-33 ).

The action now changes. We are to think of Wisdom having made her offer, and having been refused by those to whom she addressed herself. Mercy now gives place to judgment. The day of persuasion is limited. We may form some conception of the range and intensity of the speech of mercy when we consider the blackness and completeness of the judgment which follows refusal. If to understand man’s sin we may have to look at God’s mercy, so to understand God’s mercy we may often have to look at God’s judgments. When all heaven is black with thunder, because of the violence which is found in the earth, we may form some conception of the nature of the violence by the blackness of the thunder which threatens it. Whatever may be the doom which awaits the sinner, whatever theory of the future may be adopted by speculative thinkers, no man can peruse the Bible without being made to feel that the penalty which follows sin is appalling, not only beyond expression, but beyond imagination. It may be that Calvary can only be fully explained by perdition. The Son of God did not die to save men simply from the sleep of unconsciousness, or from the insignificant ruin of oblivion. Men should tread the sacred ground which relates to the future of sin with trembling feet. He who makes light of the doom of the sinner makes light of the whole priesthood of Jesus Christ. Whatever may be the speculative truth, it is not too much to say that the evangelical conception of law involves a very glorious conception of the work which Jesus Christ came to accomplish.

Notice that Wisdom can only “call.” It is for the sinner to say whether he will accept or refuse. Wisdom says, “I have called,” and then she adds, with mournful pathos, “ye refused.” This is a vivid statement of a great philosophical thought; the action of the human will is a mystery which has never been fully explained, but it is everywhere recognised in the volume of revelation. Jesus Christ said, “Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.” Even when the Saviour addressed men who came to him with the utmost humility, he said to them, “What will ye?” On the last day of the feast he offered to give water to the thirsty, but it was for the thirsty to say whether they would accept the gracious overture. Herein is the mystery of human nature; it is so weak as to be consumed before the moth, and yet so great that it can deny its God and reject his love. But the action does not rest at this point: an offer has been made and rejected, voices of reconciliation and pardon have been disregarded; beyond this there is an action exceeding all others in melancholy Wisdom will laugh at the calamity of the sinner, and mock when fear comes upon the bad man. Surely beneath all the poetry in which this future is represented there is the very spirit of philosophy and justice. The reason is given for the terrible judgment The action on the divine side is in no sense arbitrary; even whilst the judgment burns as an oven it condescends to give a reason for its intensity. Observe the word “because” in the 24th verse, after that word comes a statement of the reasons upon which God proceeds. What we have to ask is whether the impeachment itself is correct. Have we in very deed refused the offers of Wisdom, have we disregarded the command of God, have we set at nought all the divine counsel, have we rejected all the holy reproof of the Lord? If we decide these inquiries in the affirmative, then the rest will proceed inevitably, irresistibly! So long as the offer is made our strength to accept it is recognised; but when that offer is rejected our only strength is to go forward to evil and ruin, to be driven before a righteous judgment into the punishment which awaits impurity and disobedience. Who can dwell upon the words “laugh” and “mock”? They need not be taken literally and thus become limited in their significance, or made to assume aspects which may be supposed to be unworthy of the Sovereign of the universe. They are poor signs of the reality of what God will do. He will act as if he laughed, and as if he mocked. There is a time predicted when men shall call unto the rocks and unto the mountains to fall on them and hide them from the face of the Lamb; but rocks and mountains have never been on the side of the sinner, all nature in her silent processes has ever been the servant and the ally of God. Nor does the action end even at this point. Let us see how the action now stands: first, Wisdom has called; secondly, men have refused; thirdly, judgment has ensued; and now, fourthly, those who have been condemned make suit unto the God they have despised. “Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me.” Jesus Christ distinctly points out that there is a time when the door will be shut, and men will stand without, saying, “Lord, Lord, open unto us;” but he will answer, “I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” All the meaning of this, who shall adequately reveal? These are not matters for intellectual speculation; may they never be matters of actual experience! We cannot, however, but be struck with the careful manner in which reasons are always given for this outcome of evil courses. Hear how the indictment proceeds: “They hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: they would none of my counsels: they despised all my reproof therefore”! If men will not plough the earth, or cast in the seed, or take advantage of the opportunities created by the sun, in harvest they shall beg, and in winter they shall be desolate. Does any one complain of the arbitrariness of the course of nature? Do not men instantly sit in judgment upon those who have allowed the seasons to pass by without availing themselves of the opportunities offered? Instantly the spirit of criticism arises and declares that nature has been outraged, that law has been dishonoured, and that only suffering can follow. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God; it is also a fearful thing to fall into the hands of neglected nature. The divine economy of the universe is one. A sacred unity binds together all worlds, all laws, all souls, all destinies. Surely he is a scorner and a fool who undertakes to live a life apart from that economy, and who supposes that, having detached himself from the central power, he can create a rival throne, and sway with success a competitive sceptre. “Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die?”

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

Pro 1:20 Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:

Ver. 20. Wisdom. ] Heb., Wisdoms: that is, the most absolute and sovereign wisdom, the Lord Jesus, “in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,” Col 2:3 who also “is made unto us of God wisdom, righteousness,” &c. 1Co 1:30

Crieth without. ] The Hebrew word signifies often to shout for joy. Psa 81:2 Lev 9:24 Christ surely cried sweetly, “the roof of his mouth was like the best wine that goeth down sweetly”; Son 7:9 “with a desire did he desire” our salvation, though he well knew it should cost him so very dear. Luk 22:15

She uttereth her voice. ] Verbis non solum desertis, red et exertis. “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.” Joh 7:37

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Proverbs

WISDOM’S CALL

Pro 1:20 – Pro 1:33 .

Our passage begins with a striking picture. A fair and queenly woman stands in the crowded resorts of men, and lifts up a voice of sweet entreaty-authoritative as well as sweet. Her name is Wisdom. The word is in the plural in the Hebrew, as if to teach that in this serene and lovely form all manifold wisdoms are gathered and made one. Who then is she? It is easy to say ‘a poetical personification,’ but that does not add much to our understanding. It is clear that this book means much more by Wisdom than a human quality merely; for august and divine attributes are given to her, and she is the co-eternal associate of God Himself. Dwelling in His bosom, she thence comes forth to inspire all human good deeds, to plead evermore with men, to enrich those who listen to her with choicest gifts. Intellectual clearness, moral goodness, religious devotion, are all combined in the idea of Wisdom as belonging to men.

The divine source of all, and the correspondence between the human and the divine nature, are taught in the residence of this personified Wisdom with God before she dwelt with men. The whole of the manifold revelations, by which God makes known any part of His will to men, are her voice. Especially the call contained in the Old Testament revelation is the summons of Wisdom. But whether the writer of this book had any inkling of deeper truth still, or not, we cannot but connect the incomplete personification of divine Wisdom here with its complete incarnation in a Person who is ‘the power of God and the wisdom of God,’ and who embodies the lineaments of the grand picture of a Wisdom crying in the streets, even while it is true of Him that ‘He does not strive nor cry, nor cause His voice to be heard in the streets’; for the crying, which is denied to be His, is ostentatious and noisy, and the crying which is asserted to be hers is the plain, clear, universal appeal of divine love as well as wisdom. The light of Christ ‘lighteth every man that cometh into the world.’

The call of Wisdom in this passage begins with remonstrance and plain speech, giving their right names to men who neglect her voice. The first step in delivering men from evil-that is, from foolish-courses is to put very clearly before them the true character of their acts, and still more of their inclinations. Gracious offers and rich promises come after; but the initial message of Wisdom to such men as we are must be the accusation of folly. ‘When she is come, she will convict the world of sin.’

The three designations of men in Pro 1:22 are probably arranged so as to make a climax. First come ‘the simple,’ or, as the word means, ‘open.’ There is a sancta simplicitas , a holy ignorance of evil, which is sister to the highest wisdom. It is well to be ignorant as well as ‘innocent of much transgression’; and there is no more mistaken and usually insincere excuse for going into foul places than the plea that it is best to know the evil and so choose the good. That knowledge comes surely and soon enough without our seeking it. But there is a fatal simplicity, open-eared, like Eve, to the Tempter’s whisper, which believes the false promises of sin, and as Bunyan has taught us, is companion of sloth and presumption.

Next come ‘scorners,’ who mock at good. A man must have gone a long way down hill before he begins to gibe at virtue and godliness. But the descent is steep, though the distance is long; and the ‘simple’ who begins to do what is wrong will come to sneer at what is right.

Then last comes the ‘fool,’ the name which, in Proverbs, is shorthand for mental stupidity, moral obstinacy, and dogged godlessness,-a foul compound, but one which is realised oftener than we think. A great many very superior intellects, cultivated ladies and gentlemen, university graduates, and the like, would be unceremoniously set down by divine wisdom as fools; and surely if account is taken of the whole compass and duration of our being, and of all our relations to things and persons seen and unseen, nothing can be more stupid than godlessness, however cultured. The word literally means coarse or thick, and may suggest the idea of stolid insensibility as the last stage in the downward progress.

But note that the charge is directed, not against deeds, but dispositions. Perverted love and perverted hatred underlie acts. The simple love simplicity, preferring to be unwarned against evil; the scorner finds delight in letting his rank tongue blossom into speech; and the false direction given to love gives a fatal twist to its corresponding hate, so that the fool detests ‘knowledge’ as a thief the policeman’s lantern. You cannot love what you should loathe, without loathing what you should love. Inner longings and revulsions settle character and acts.

Pro 1:23 passes into entreaty; for it is vain to rouse conscience by plain speech, unless something is offered to make better life possible. The divine Wisdom comes with a rod, but also with gifts; but if the rod is kissed, the rewards are possessed. The relation of clauses in Pro 1:23 is that the first is the condition of the fulfilment of the second and third. If we turn at her reproof, two great gifts will be bestowed. Her spirit within will make us quick to hear and receive her words sounding without. Whatever other good follows on yielding to the call of divine Wisdom and the remaining early chapters of Proverbs magnificently detail the many rich gifts that do follow, chief of all are spirits swift to hear and docile to obey her voice, and then actual communications to purged ears. Outward revelation without prepared hearts is water spilt upon rock. Prepared hearts without a message to them would be but multiplication of vain longings; and God never stultifies Himself, or gives mouths without sending meat to fill them. To the submissive spirit, there will not lack either disposition to hear or clear utterance of His will.

But now comes a pause. Wisdom has made her offers in the crowded streets, and amid all the noise and bustle her voice has rung out. What is the result? Nothing. Not a head has been turned, nor an eye lifted. The bustle goes on as before. ‘They bought, they sold,’ as if no voice had spoken. So, after the disappointed waiting of Wisdom, her voice peals out again, but this time with severity in its tones. Note how, in Pro 1:24 – Pro 1:25 , the sin of sins against the pleading Wisdom of God is represented as being simple indifference. ‘Ye refused,’ ‘no man regarded,’ ‘set at nought,’ ‘would none of’-these are the things which bring down the heavy judgments. It does not need violent opposition or black crime to wreck a soul. Simply doing nothing when God speaks is enough to effect destruction. There is no need to lift up angry arms in hostility. If we keep them hanging listless by our sides, it is sufficient. The gift escapes us, if we simply keep our hands shut or held behind our backs. Alas, for ears which have not heard, for seeing eyes which have not seen because they loved evil simplicity and hated knowledge!

Then note the terrible retribution. That is an awful picture of the mocking laughter of Wisdom, accompanying the rush of the whirlwind and the groans of anguish and shrieks of terror. It is even more solemn and dreadful than the parallel representations in Psa 2:1 – Psa 2:12 , for there the laughter indicates God’s knowledge that the schemes of opponents are vain, but here it figures pleasure in calamities. Of course it is to be remembered that the Wisdom thus represented is not to be identified with God; but still the imagery is startling, and needs to be taken along with declarations that God has ‘no pleasure in the death of the sinner,’ and to be interpreted as indicating, with daring anthropomorphism, the inevitable character of the ‘destruction,’ and the uselessness of appeals to the Wisdom once despised. But we joyfully remember that the Incarnate Wisdom, fairer than the ancient personification, wept over the city which He knew must perish.

Pro 1:28 – Pro 1:31 carry on the picture of too late repentance and inevitable retribution. They who let Wisdom cry, and paid no heed, shall cry to her in their turn, and be unnoticed. They whom she vainly sought shall vainly seek for her. Actions have their consequences, which are not annihilated because the doers do not like them. Thoughts have theirs; for the foolish not only eat of the fruit of their ways or doings, but are filled with their own devices or counsels. ‘Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.’ That inexorable law works, deaf to all cries, in the field of earthly life, both as regards condition and character; and that field of its operation is all that the writer of this book has in view. He is not denying the possibility of forgiveness, nor the efficacy of repentance, nor is he asserting that a penitent soul ever seeks God in vain; but he is declaring that it is too late to cry out for deliverance from consequences of folly when the consequences have us in their grip, and that wishes for deliverance are vain, though sighs of repentance are not. We cannot reap where we have not sowed. We must reap what we have. If we are such sluggards that we will ‘not plough in winter by reason of the cold,’ we shall ‘beg in harvest and have nothing.’

But though the writer had probably only this life in view, Jesus Christ has extended the teaching to the next, when He has told of those who will seek to enter in and not be able. The experience of the fruits of their godlessness will make godless men wish to escape eating the fruits-and that wish shall be vain. It is not for us to enlarge on such words, but it is for us all to lay them to heart, and to take heed that we listen now to the beseeching call of the heavenly Wisdom in its tenderest and noblest form, as it appeared in Christ, the Incarnate Word.

Pro 1:32 – Pro 1:33 generalise the preceding promises and warnings in a great antithesis. ‘The backsliding [or, turning away] of the simple slays them.’ There is allusion to Wisdom’s call in Pro 1:23 . The simple had turned, but in the wrong direction-away from and not towards her. To turn away from heavenly Wisdom is to set one’s face toward destruction. It cannot be too earnestly reiterated that we must make our choice of one of two directions for ourselves-either towards God, to seek whom is life, to find whom is heaven; or away from Him, to turn our backs on whom is to embrace unrest, and to be separate from whom is death. ‘The security of fools,’ by which is meant, not their safety, but their fancy that they are safe, ‘destroys them.’ No man is in such danger as the careless man of the world who thinks that he is all right. A traveller along the edge of a precipice in the night, who goes on as if he walked a broad road and takes no heed to his footing, will soon repent his rashness at the bottom, mangled and bruised. A man who in this changing world fancies that he sits as a king, and sees no sorrow, will have a rude wakening. A moment’s heed saves hours of pain.

The alternative to this suicidal folly is in listening to Wisdom’s call. Whoever does that will ‘dwell safely,’ not in fancied but real security; and in his quiet heart there need be no unrest from feared evils, for he will have hold of a charm which turns evils into good, and with such a guide he cannot go astray, nor with such a defender be wounded to death, nor with such a companion ever be solitary. If Christ be our Light, we shall not walk in darkness. If He be our Wisdom, we shall not err. If He be our Life, we shall never see death. If He is our Good, we shall fear no evil.

Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

(20-33) (Note the Extended Alternation in these verses).

21. The Call made.

Expostulation of Wisdom with the simple.

Promise to hearers.

25. The Call made.

Expostulation of Wisdom with refusers.

Promise to hearers.

Wisdom. Hebrew. chokmah. See note on Pro 1:2.

without. The emphasis is on the publicity of her call.

streets = open or broad places, especially about the city gates (Deu 13:16), or open squares. Gen 19:2. Jdg 19:15, Jdg 19:20; 2Ch 29:4, &c.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Pro 1:20-33

Pro 1:20-33

WISDOM (PERSONIFIED) CRIES OUT WARNING; BUT MEN HEED IT NOT

“Wisdom crieth aloud in the street.

She uttereth her voice in the broad places;

She crieth in the chief place of concourse;

At the entrance of the gates,

In the city she uttereth her words:

How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity?

And scoffers delight them in scoffing,

And fools hate knowledge?

Turn you, at my reproof:

Behold, I will pour out my spirit upon you;

I will make known my words unto you.

Because I have called, and ye have refused;

I have stretched out my hand, and no man hath regarded;

But ye have set at naught all my counsel,

And would none of my reproof:

I also will laugh in the day of your calamity;

I will mock when your fear cometh;

When your fear cometh as a storm,

And your calamity cometh as a whirlwind;

When distress and anguish come unto you.

Then will they call upon me, but I will not answer;

They will seek me diligently, but they shall not find me.

For that they hated knowledge,

And did not choose the fear of Jehovah,

They would none of my counsel,

They despised all my reproof.

Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way,

And be filled with their own devices.

For the backsliding of the simple shall slay them,

And the careless ease of fools shall destroy them.

But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell securely,

And shall be quiet without fear of evil.”

“I will pour out my spirit upon you” (Pro 1:23). Jamieson suggested that there is a reference here to the spirit of Christ, that is, the Holy Spirit; and there are a number of considerations that support this view. (1) Paul has told us that Christ is indeed “our wisdom” (1Co 1:30); and (2) the Hebrew word here indicating the personification of Wisdom is “a plural noun,” suggesting the doctrine of the Trinity. The fact of that noun’s being feminine does not support this idea; but (3) as Cook pointed out, “The teaching of the Divine Wisdom is essentially the same as that of the Divine Word (Joh 7:38-39), namely, repentance and conversion. That is what she calls the simple to do.

“I also will laugh in the day of your calamity … mock when your fear cometh” (Pro 1:26). Scholars stress that in the New Testament, while there is certainly, “Sadness, sternness and severity, there is found no word of mere derision”; and, while this is true enough, the New Testament leaves no doubt whatever that there shall eventually come to the wicked a “point of no return,” a time when too late shall be written upon all human efforts and all remorse (Mat 25:10; Mat 25:30), when the unprepared shall at last find that “the door is shut.” “These words should not be interpreted as a cynical indifference to human condemnation, but as the eventual vindication of Wisdom in the face of repeated and insolent rejection.

Pro 1:20. From here to the end of the chapter (yes, and on beyond that) wisdom is personified as talking, teaching, crying, watching, and turning a deaf ear to peoples cries when suffering from refusing her. Virtue itself is usually represented as a woman; so is wisdom here (note the her). Other verses that have wisdom crying or speaking: Pro 8:1; Pro 8:3-4; Pro 8:6-7. Our verse tells of wisdom uttering her voice and crying aloud in the street and the broad places. Their streets were very narrow. Where two streets met, they made a broad place (see Mar 11:4). Actually wisdom speaks everywhere if people will but listen. What have you learned today from life?

Pro 1:21. The chief place of concourse is translated at the head of the multitudes (Youngs Literal) and at the head of the thronged ways (American Bible Union Version). The entrance of the gates would be where people entered or left the city and where legal transactions were conducted (Rth 4:1-11). In the city would be where people lived. Pro 1:20-21 shows that wisdom spoke to the ancients from every place (the street, the broad places, the chief place of concourse, the entrance of the gates, and in the city). Today wisdom also speaks to us from many places: it speaks from the juvenile court (on child-rearing;, from the curse of alcholicism (asking, Was Prohibition a failure after all?), from tobacco-statistics, etc. What do tobacco statistics say? Dont smoke! Wisdom tells us it is a foolish habit (look at the effect upon your health); it is a wasteful habit (in outlay of money and in costs in minutes of life when added together; it is a bad habit (bad breath, spreading foul smell wherever one goes, causing others to cough from smoke, etc.).

Pro 1:22. There are those who love simplicity (ignorance), some who delight in scoffing at the truth and at righteousness and at those who hold them, and some who hate knowledge. Wisdom, God, parents, and godly people cannot help wondering, How much longer will such people live that way?

Pro 1:23. The very question, How long…will ye love simplicity…delight in scoffing…hate knowledge? of Pro 1:22 was itself a reproof to those addressed, the hope being to get them to turn or change. The height of wisdom which men have sometimes scoffed at and hated is Inspired Wisdom found within the Word of God. The language, I will pour out my spirit, sounds like a parallel prediction with Joe 2:28, which was fulfilled in Gods sending the Holy Spirit to inspire the apostles and prophets of New Testament times. Old Testament writers often jumped in such long-range prophecies without elaboration and sometimes without a close topic-connection with its surroundings. Thus, we take this to be a prediction of New Testament inspiration.

Pro 1:24. Wisdom again speaks. A pause may be imagined, and seems to be implied between this and the preceding verses (22 and 23), when the address passes into a new phase-from that of invitation and promise to that of judgment and stern denunciation (Pulpit Commentary). Other passages on God calling and speaking but men refusing to hearken: Isa 65:12; Isa 66:4; Jer 7:13; Zec 7:11.

Pro 1:25. Set at nought means to treat as nothing. Men who reject Gods counsel (His instructions, commandments, and prohibitions) usually do not listen to His reproof (correction of their ways) either. This verses last statement is also found in Pro 1:30. Luk 7:30 says, The Pharisees and the lawyers rejected for themselves the counsel of God, being not baptized of him (John the Baptist). Why do men act as if they know more than God? Or, as if they dont have to bow down to God? Whatever the reason, it is both wrong and ruinous!

Pro 1:26. That such a day of calamity is coming for the wicked is rightfully assumed. It is coming! Those who lack the fear of Jehovah and the wisdom that it brings (Pro 1:7) will finally end up in a fear that they cannot escape! The terrific nature of the punishment of the wicked is marked by a succession of terms all of terrible import-calamity, fear, desolation, destruction, distress and anguish (Pro 1:26-27) (Pulpit Commentary). Wisdom here (and Jehovah in Psa 2:4) is represented as laughing and mocking when such deserved calamity comes. Actually judgment will but return mens laughing and mocking upon them.

Pro 1:27. What can be more fearful than overpowering storms in nature? These are used to depict the fear, distress, and anguish that will come upon those who have refused to follow wisdoms counsel. All of this was unforeseen when they were scoffing and refusing to listen to sound instruction.

Pro 1:28. Now they will turn by the hardships that come upon them even though they wouldnt turn in obedience to Pro 1:23. When men begin to reap the results of their own foolish choices, it does very little good to cry to God in the day of judgment! Other passages on His not listening to them and their cries: Job 27:9; Isa 1:15; Jer 11:11; Jer 14:12; Eze 8:18. Oh, the desperation of calling when no one will answer! Had they sought God and wisdom diligently, they would have found a rich reward (Heb 11:6).

Pro 1:29. The reasons for their calamities are here given: they had hated knowledge, and this helped bring the downfall of the Northern Kingdom (My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou has rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee-Hos 4:6), and they did not choose the fear of Jehovah (Job said the wicked say to God, Depart from us; For we desire not the knowledge of thy ways-Job 21:14). Pro 1:22 also spoke of their hating knowledge.

Pro 1:30. Further reasons for their calamities: they had refused Gods way (counsel) and had despised all the reproof He had sent them because of their disobedient ways. This verse is a restatement of Pro 1:25.

Pro 1:31. Just as Gal 6:7 says people will reap what they have sown, so this verse says the wicked will eat what they have planted (Pro 1:22); in judgment God will laugh, God will mock (Pro 1:26). When we are punished, the blameworthiness lies not with God, but with us sinners (Pulpit Commentary).

Pro 1:32. The simple referred to in Pro 1:22 are here pictured as backsliding-as fools they will return to their folly (as a dog that returneth to his vomit, So is a fool that repeateth his folly-Pro 26:11; If, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the last state is become worse with them than the first…It has happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog turneth to his own vomit again, and the sow that had washed to wallowing in the mire-2Pe 2:20-22). For careless ease destroying one, consider the Rich Fool of Luk 12:19-20 : I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, be merry. But God said unto him, Thou foolish one, this night is thy soul required of thee). The beginning of sin is confidence (Pro 1:13); the end of sin is destruction (this verse).

Pro 1:33. In contrast to the wicked this verse sets forth the security of the righteous who have hearkened to wisdom: The world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever (1Jn 2:17); What man is he that feareth Jehovah? He shall be instructed in the way that he shall choose. His soul shall dwell at ease; And his seed shall inherit the land (Psa 25:12-13); He shall never be moved; The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance. He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: His heart is fixed, trusting in Jehovah (Psa 112:6-7). Evil here is used in the sense of trouble.

STUDY QUESTIONS Pro 1:20-33

1. How does wisdom cry (Pro 1:20)?

2. What does concourse mean (Pro 1:21)?

3. Are the simple ones, scoffers, and fools different groups or the same group under different words (Pro 1:22)?

4. Is Pro 1:23 speaking of inspiration?

5. What is the antecedent of I, my, and me from Pro 1:24 to the end of the chapter?

6. What does set at nought mean (Pro 1:25)?

7. Will such a day as pictured in Pro 1:26 come to the foolish?

8. How serious will things become for the foolish (Pro 1:27)?

9. What sad news does Pro 1:28 bear?

10. They should have …………….. knowledge instead of hated it (Pro 1:29)?

11. The fear of Jehovah is something to be …………… (Pro 1:29)?

12. Pro 1:30 is a restatement of what previous verse?

13. What is the meaning of eat in Pro 1:31?

14. Find three parallel expressions in the two statements of Pro 1:32.

15 What contrast belongs to those who will listen (Pro 1:33)?

Prologue and Warnings – Pro 1:1-33

Open It

1. Who is the wisest person you know?

2. What makes a person foolish or wise?

3. Who is someone you feared growing up?

Explore It

4. Who wrote this section of Proverbs? (Pro 1:1)

5. Why did Solomon write Proverbs? (Pro 1:1-7)

6. What three types of individuals are mentioned by Solomon? (Pro 1:1-7)

7. Where does wisdom come from? (Pro 1:7)

8. About what sort of enticements did Solomon warn us? (Pro 1:8-19)

9. What happens to those who pursue ill-gotten gain? (Pro 1:19)

10. How did Solomon describe wisdom? (Pro 1:20-21)

11. How did Solomon describe the simple person, the mocker, and the fool? (Pro 1:22)

12. How does wisdom treat those who reject her? (Pro 1:24-27)

13. What is the result of not accepting wisdom? (Pro 1:28-32)

14. What is the result of accepting wisdom? (Pro 1:33)

Get It

15. How is the fear of the Lord the beginning of knowledge?

16. What does it mean to fear the Lord?

17. What type of knowledge and discipline do fools despise?

18. What are the benefits of living wisely?

19. What are the consequences of living foolishly?

20. How does your life-style reflect your acceptance or rejection of wisdom?

21. Why and how do people reject wisdom?

22. When and why have you been tempted to pursue ill-gotten gain?

23. Why do you agree or disagree with the principle that both the wise and the fool reap what they sow?

Apply It

24. What is one thing you can do this week to seek wisdom?

25. What negative influence (person or thing) can you remove from your life this week?

26. What change in your life-style can you make to avoid being enticed by evil?

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

the Call of Wisdom

Pro 1:20-33

The word Wisdom and the description of her standing atthe head of the noisy streets-see Pro 1:21, r.v., margin-remind us of our Lord, who, as the Word of God, stood and cried, Joh 7:37. It is a remarkable picture of the world as it is today. The streets filled with traffickers, with the bawling of wares, with the crowds of idle sightseers, and amid it all the ringing appeal of Christ to the heart of man! But the scorners deride and mock, while fools hate the speaker and threaten his life. Yet there is no crowded thoroughfare in the world from which the Spirit of God is absent. See Mat 22:1-10.

The two results that divide the hearers are set forth in words that are always receiving verification. The day of calamity, when banks suspend payment, and the boldest speculators lose heart, breaks suddenly on the worldling. He has no hiding-place, no second line of defense, no spiritual treasure; and is like a drowning sailor in a tempestuous sea. But Wisdom is justified of all her children, for they dwell safely. See Pro 1:33 and Luk 7:35.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Wisdom: Heb. Wisdoms, that is, excellent wisdom, Mat 13:54, Luk 11:49, 1Co 1:24, 1Co 1:30, Col 2:3

crieth: Pro 8:1-5, Pro 9:3, Joh 7:37

Reciprocal: Psa 25:8 – teach Psa 49:1 – Hear Son 3:2 – the streets Jer 2:2 – cry Jer 7:2 – Stand Jer 17:19 – General Jer 19:2 – and proclaim Jer 35:14 – rising Mat 10:27 – that preach Mat 13:19 – and understandeth Mat 22:9 – General Mar 2:13 – and all Luk 8:8 – He that Luk 14:21 – Go Joh 6:59 – in the Joh 12:44 – cried Act 17:17 – daily

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Wisdom’s Call

Pro 1:20-33

INTRODUCTORY WORDS

1. Where the voice of Wisdom is heard. Wisdom doth not speak alone among the wise. She doth not sound forth her voice alone in cloistered circles, where the sanctified meet to discuss the ways of righteousness. Mark the force of, these words:

1.”Wisdom crieth without.”

2.Wisdom “uttereth her voice in the streets.”

3.Wisdom “crieth in the chief place of concourse.”

4.Wisdom crieth “in the openings of the gates.” (5) Wisdom uttereth her words in the city.

Here is something worthy of note. God seems to be saying, let Wisdom sound forth her call where the people congregate. Let all men know the folly of sin, and the beauty of holiness. Let no one be left untouched, untold, unwarned, unled.

We might put it in the way of the New Testament call to world-preaching of the Gospel.

1.Go to thine own house and show what God hath done.

2.Go to the byways and hedges.

3.Go to the next towns also.

4.Go to the streets and lanes of the city.

5.Go to the end of the earth, all nations.

6.Go to every creature.

Surely the more Satan seeks to hide our message of love and light and life, the more abundantly must we sound it forth.

Wisdom, like the Gospel, and the Gospel, like Wisdom, must give its call everywhere. It is all wrong for saints to closet the sound of the gospel story within the heavy walls of the sanctuary; that does not aid the wayfaring man, the people of the street. We must carry Christ to the ones without; we must utter our voice on the street. Let the “nice people” call us “Salvationists,” what do we care? We will obey our Lord. We must sound the call in the chief places of concourse, in the opening of the gates, and everywhere the masses congregate.

2. Why Wisdom raises her voice.

(1) True wisdom has an interest in the lives of others. Have we had a kindness shown? We should pass it on. What have we, that we did not receive? Then, if we are recipients of something, shall we not share our blessings? How can we whose souls are lighted with wisdom from above, stand still and see the unwary carried on into the pitfalls which the ungodly have made for the youth of our land?

(2) True wisdom sees the danger in the way, and knows the only hope of salvation from them all. It is for this cause that Wisdom crieth in the streets. Shall the one who sees the house afire refrain from crying out to those who sleep within? Shall the one who sees the sorrow, the shame, the wreckage of sin, refrain a warning voice?

He who thinks only of himself and of his own, is an ingrate and has not the love of God in his heart. Suppose I am safe and sheltered: shall I therefore care nothing for the safety of others?

When Jesus saw the multitudes He had compassion upon them. He said on one occasion, “Give ye them to eat”; on another occasion He said, “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.” He made Himself a Covert from the storm, and the Shadow of a great Rock in a weary land. Let us go and do likewise.

3. Wisdom holds a tremendous responsibility. It is written: “If the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned: * * his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.”

Again it is written: “If thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; * * thou hast delivered thy soul.” Thus God doth hold us responsible for a true testimony, O Church of God, what wilt thou say in the day of judgment, if the wicked charge thee for their doom? Let us cease to cry, with wicked Cain, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

I. A QUESTION THAT SHOULD BE ANSWERED (Pro 1:22)

Here is the question that each young man and young woman needs to ponder and to answer: “How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?”

1. Shall we refuse Wisdom’s call? Shall we reject Wisdom’s warning? Shall Wisdom call unto us in vain?

Does a flowery path, perfumed with the odors of the apothecary always lead to realms of bliss? Does a cup, merely because it stirreth itself, and showeth itself red, alway at the last, bear blessings? Nay! Satan is a master in painting roseate pictures, and in promising a false glory. He can put mirages in a young man’s sky. Remember the old adage, “All is not gold that glitters.”

Stop! Look! Listen! There is danger ahead. Heed the cry of Wisdom and turn and live.

2. How long will the youth of the land refuse to hear? Do you say you must have your fling; you must taste the sweets of the world’s ways? Think you it will be easy to stop when once you are entangled in a yoke of carnal bondage.

How long will you play with fire? How long will you leave the Saviour standing outside the door of your heart, and pleading to enter? How long? How long? It cannot be safe to go your way. The river is running swifter, and daily it grows wider-even the river you must cross to reach the Master’s side. Satan’s power is increasing, his grip is tightening.

With all of our hearts we call upon the unsaved to turn to the Lord; hear ye His voice and walk in His ways!

II. A GRACIOUS PROMISE TO POUR OUT HIS SPIRIT (Pro 1:23)

1. There is the call to turn to the Lord. It comes from God Himself. It breathes forth the willingness of the Lord to save. It seems to say, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but would that all should turn and repent.”

How many are the loving and earnest calls of the Lord. “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord.” “Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God.” “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.”

These are only a few of the Lord’s calls to sinners to turn unto Him, They are as if one were drowning, and a hand were reached out to save; they are as if one were being dragged down by an enemy into some horrible pit, and a rescuer stood by to deliver. All of this makes the way of the sinner so inexcusable. It is not as though the wicked were in a helpless and hopeless estate, with none to save. Not so. The lover of their soul stands ready to save.

2. There is the promise of the Spirit.” I will pour out My Spirit unto you.” How gracious is this assurance, The Spirit is, in truth, the Spirit of wisdom and of the knowledge of Him. To the sinner walking in the ways of death, there comes not only a sure deliverance, but also One, even the Spirit, who will come in to illumine the heart in the things of God.

3. There is a second promise. “I will make known My words unto you.” The way of sinning is a way foreign to the good Word of God. Those who forsake their way and their thought, will be given God’s Word, which will lead them into God’s way and thoughts.

Dear child of God, do not forget to read frequently the blessed Word of God. Keep the sacred Word ever with you. Let it be your daily meditation. Search its pages by day and by night. Let it dwell in you richly, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, strengthening you, and admonishing you in the things of God.

Let the Word be to you more than gold, yea, than fine gold; let it be to you sweeter than the honey and the honeycomb.

III. WHEREIN LOVE AND MERCY PLEAD (Pro 1:24)

1. “I have called.” How many are the calls of Jehovah. Every word of God is a great big “Come” of invitation to the sinner.

“Come unto Me, it is the Master’s voice,

The loving heart of God bids thee rejoice.”

“Come; for all things are now ready.” The supper is prepared, the feast is spread, the invitation is given, “Come and dine.” “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.” “Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” “If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink.” “Whosoever will let him come.”

2. “I have stretched out My Hand.” This is more than “Come.” This is “Come,” with a tender and loving urge. One would think that a mere invitation would be more than enough to get any sinner started toward God, and Home, and Life. But no; God must take the place of a suppliant, and stretch out His hands.

Consider a disobedient and a gainsaying people, like Israel, and yet, unto just such a people we read that God says, “All day long I have stretched forth My hands.” It is all expressed in one verse, “How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings.” Such is the heart of God toward those who are hastening their way into the nets which Satan has spread.

3. “My hands.” What a graphic picture! The hands stand for helpfulness, succor, rescue. When Peter was sinking beneath the waves of Galilee, he cried, “Lord, save me.” Then Christ stretched forth His hand and took Peter’s hand. Think of Jairus’ daughter as she lay dead: “He * * took her by the hand, and the maid arose.”

Thus our key verse bears a call of love, “I have stretched out My hand.” Praise God for the helping hand, the outstretched hand of our Lord.

IV. WHEREIN LOVE AND MERCY ARE REFUSED (Pro 1:24-25)

1. “Ye refused.” Here is the attitude of the unsaved sinner in a nutshell, simply but forcefully stated. “Ye refused.” Pro 1:10 reads: “My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.” However, instead of saying no to sinners, the son is saying no to the Saviour.

Here is the way the Holy Spirit sums it up in another Scripture: “And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.” What happened? “And they all with one consent began to make excuse, * * [saying], I pray thee have me excused.” That was no more than a polite way of refusing.

It is still true, even as Christ said, “Ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life.”

2. “No man regarded.” The depth of sin deepens. Here is more than a refusal-here is a shut ear; a blank refusal; a hardhearted refusal; a rebuff; a brutal disregard. The voice which pleads means nought to them. They can sit by without regard. It is as though one were crying and they stopped their ears, closed their eyes, with no sense of pity or care.

3. “Ye have set at nought all My counsel.” This is no light matter. The Word of the Lord is forever settled in Heaven. Heaven and earth may pass away, but His Word shall not pass away. The man, therefore, who makes light of the counsels of God, and rejects His Word is the more guilty.

4. Ye “would none of my reproof.” The warnings of God are thrown to the winds, as altogether unbelievable. Reproof is made a matter for jest. There is no hell, no punishment for sin; no judgment, no anything.

V. REWARD THEM ACCORDING TO THEIR WORKS (Pro 1:26-27)

1. “I also will laugh.” “I will mock.” There is an eternal principle in the judgments of God, Did they laugh? They will be laughed at. Did they mock? They shall be mocked. Did they kill with the sword? They shall be killed with the sword. “How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her.”

Here is a verse that sums it all up: “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” It seems very smart to the sinner to laugh at God. It will be quite another thing to be laughed at; it seems funny to mock God, and it draws the applause of the godless in this age of Christ rejection; it will be another matter, in the day of judgment, to be mocked.

2. When the tables are turned. “When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.”

It may not be pleasant to consider-but it is a part of Wisdom’s words-there is a time coming when they that laugh now, will mourn and weep. There is a time coming when they who rejoice in sin, shall weep and wail in their miseries.

We have seen, with our own eyes, more than one man, who, in health and worldly prosperity, mocked God and laughed at salvation; yet, in the hour of death he pleaded for mercy, and found it not.

The sinner often has a perverted idea of the love and goodness of God, He thinks that he can mock away his day of grace, and that in the hour of distress or death, he can command the Spirit to hasten and save.

“I will mock,” is, indeed, in the Old Testament, but it is written for our admonition upon whom the end of the ages is come. Besides, all Scripture is written for reproof, and for correction. Thus we feel free in pressing this one home.

VI. THE TIME WHEN FEAR COMETH (Pro 1:27-28)

1. This age is the age of mercy. God does not now render His wrath. As men go about in their evil way, taking His Name in vain, mocking His very existence, ridiculing His Spirit’s call, criticizing His Word. God remains “silent, so far as punishment is concerned. There is coming, however, a day of wrath and judgment; and for this the wicked are treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God.

2. The day of wrath will be a day of fear for the wicked. How graphically does the Word speak: “The great day of His wrath is come and who shall be able to stand?” In that day the wicked will fear. So will they fear as they stand before the Great White Throne. Fear, distress, and anguish will all come upon them.

3. In the day of their fear they will call on the Lord. Here are the words of our key verses:

(1) “Then shall they call upon Me, but I will not answer.”

(2) “They shall seek Me early, but they shall not find Me.”

Think you that there may be a second chance-another opportunity after death-another altar call to sinners to repent? Never! No, such will never be. The wicked may call, but God will not hear. They may seek, but they cannot find.

4. In the day of their fear, the tables will be turned. God once called, and they refused; God stretched out His hand and they would not regard: now they call, and God will not hear; they stretch out their hands and He will not regard.

If the sinner wants to be saved, let him seek the Lord while He may be found, and call upon Him while He is near. Let him come while love still pleads.

VII. GOD’S REASONS FOR HIS JUDGMENTS (Pro 1:29-33)

1. God displays the refusal of the wicked

(1) They hated knowledge. The way of truth they might have known. It was cried forth on the streets; in the chief places of concourse it was heard; in the gates it was made known. They, however, refused knowledge because they hated it.

(2) They did not choose the fear of the Lord, They seemed to say, Who is this Lord that we should obey His voice? They said, Your wisdom is folly. They professed themselves to be wise, too wise to hear the voice of the true Wisdom; therefore they became fools, and changed the glory of Christ and of God into an image made like unto birds and beasts. They did not like to retain God in their knowledge, therefore God gave them up.

(3) They would none of Wisdom’s counsel, and despised her reproof. They flaunted every word of Heavenly wisdom. Its warnings they cast aside. They trusted in their own counsel. They knew more than God knew. They cast His reproof off as foolish pratings.

2. God states the reasons for His judgments.

(1) They shall eat of the fruit of their own way. They, so to speak, prepared their own judgment, and are now about to eat of the harvest of the seed which they themselves sowed. It is for this cause that God wrote: “The wages of sin is death.”

God’s judgments are stored up by the sinners who reject Him. They make their doom. Each sinner receives no more than the rewards of his own deeds.

(2) They shall be filled with own devices. No man in hell can say, “God did it.” They are the ones who did it. God gave them only what they themselves prepared. It was their own turning away that slew them; it was their own following after the promised prosperity of fools that destroyed them.

3. A final word of assurance. How marvelously do the last words of our chapter sound forth: “But whoso hearkeneth unto Me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.” Now, therefore, is the time to hearken and to believe. If now we hearken, then we shall not fear.

AN ILLUSTRATION

The same Wisdom which pleads is the Wisdom that passes the sentence of death.

A young man was once driving a two-horse buggy down the crowded streets of a large city when suddenly the horses, taking fright, got beyond his control, and there he sat not knowing at what moment he might be hurled to instant death, for which he knew that he was utterly unprepared. Just as a catastrophe appeared inevitable, a stranger sprang in front of the flying horses and clutching at their bridles, at imminent risk to himself, held on to them until the frightened animals stopped, and the young man was able to jump out and thank his benefactor for having saved his life.

Some months after, this same young man stood in a felon’s dock, charged with the crime of willful murder, of which the jury had just found him guilty. Before pronouncing sentence, the judge asked the prisoner if he had anything to plead in extenuation of his crime. Instead of giving a direct answer, the prisoner, looking intently at the judge, said, “Sir, don’t you remember me? Don’t you recall the occasion when you stopped two runaway horses in this city and saved the young man’s life who was driving them?” “Yes,” said the judge, “I’m not likely to forget that incident.” “Well,” went on the prisoner, “I’m that young man.” “Ah,” replied the judge after a pause, “I recognize you now; but what has that got to do with your crime and its punishment?” “Sir,” pleaded the prisoner with his very soul in his voice, “you saved my life then; won’t you spare it now?” For a moment tense silence fell upon the court; presently it was broken by the voice of the judge. “Prisoner at the bar,” he said, “I am here in only one capacity, to administer justice; and,” he added solemnly, “when I saved your life then I was your saviour; now I am your judge.” And he condemned the guilty man to death.-E. G. Carre.

Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water

Pro 1:20. Wisdom crieth, &c. Having shown the counsels and invitations of folly and of wicked men, he now declares the voice of wisdom. The Hebrew word , rendered wisdom here, is in the plural number, and is literally wisdoms. It was probably intended to include various kinds, or, rather, all the kinds of Wisdom 1 st, The works of creation, (see on Psa 19:1-6,) the light and law of nature, the dispensations of divine providence, the human understanding, are wisdom, Job 38:36. By these God speaks to the children of men, and reasons with them; the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, and wherever men go they may hear a voice behind them saying, This is the way; and the voice of conscience is the voice of God, and not always a small, still voice; but sometimes it cries aloud. 2d, Human laws, and the institutions of civil governments, when they do not contradict, but accord with, the divine law, and especially when they enjoin and encourage obedience to it, and punish the disobedient, are the voice of wisdom crying without; even in the opening of the gates, and in the places of concourse, where courts were kept, where the judges sat, and where the wisdom of the nation called the wicked to repent and reform. In a still higher degree, 3d, Divine revelation is wisdom. All its doctrines, its precepts, its promises, its threatenings, are the dictates of infinite wisdom; and where this is published and made known to any people in their own language, and more especially when it is declared, explained, and enforced by Gods ministers, whether in churches, chapels, private houses, or in the open air, there wisdom cries without, and utters her voice in the streets. 4th, Above all, Christ is wisdom, even the wisdom and word of God incarnate, for in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and he was, and is, the centre and source of all divine revelation; the person in whom all its doctrines, precepts, and promises are yea and amen. And he, in the days of his flesh, continually cried without, and uttered his voice in the streets. Of him, therefore, Solomons words may with great propriety be interpreted, whether he directly intended to prophesy of him and his personal ministry or not, especially considering that the original words are expressed in the future time, thus: Wisdom shall cry without: she shall utter her voice in the streets Or, in open and broad ways or places, as , signifies. Wisdom, understood in any or all these senses, is said to cry, or speak with a loud voice, to intimate both Gods earnestness in inviting sinners to repentance, and their inexcusableness if they do not hear such loud cries: and she is said to cry without, or abroad, in opposition to the seducing discourses and efforts of sinners, who lay snares for persons in secret, who conceal themselves and their intentions, and address men in corners and privily, being afraid of and shunning the light, that they may the better deceive and seduce men to error and wickedness. On the contrary, wisdom lifteth up her voice in the streets; for she does not invite to murders, to violence, to injustice, to crimes, commonly fatal to those who commit them; but to God, and to the highest good. She discovers the ways which lead to extreme misery, in order that men may avoid them; she recalls men from their errors and sins, and threatens them with ruin if they despise her. Again, by saying that wisdom lifts up her voice in public places, Solomon prevents the poor excuse made by those who ask, Where shall we find this wisdom? He answers, She is everywhere: all that surrounds you preaches to you this wisdom. You need only open your eyes and ears, and you see and hear her. Do you behold evil, scandal, disorder? Avoid doing it. Do you hear good discourses; do you see good examples? Hear, imitate, and profit by them; the wise learn much more from fools, says a heathen, than fools learn from the wise. See Schultens and Calmet.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

1:20 {q} Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the {r} streets:

(q) This wisdom is the eternal word of God.

(r) So that no one can pretend ignorance.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

2. Wisdom’s appeal 1:20-33

This is one of several passages in Proverbs where the writer personified wisdom. Her call comes to people in the market, in the hustle and bustle of life, not in the seclusion of the home or sanctuary (cf. Pro 1:8). [Note: See Phyllis Trible, "Wisdom Builds a Poem: The Architecture of Proverbs 1:20-33," Journal of Biblical Literature 94 (1975):509-18.]

"To whom does Wisdom speak? To three classes of sinners: the simple ones, the scorners (scoffers, mockers, NIV), and the fools (Pro 1:22). The simple are naive people who believe anything (Pro 14:15) but examine nothing. They’re gullible and easily led astray. Scorners think they know everything (Pro 21:24) and laugh at the things that are really important. While the simple one has a blank look on his face, the scorner wears a sneer. Fools are people who are ignorant of truth because they’re dull and stubborn. Their problem isn’t a low IQ or poor education; their problem is a lack of spiritual desire to seek and find God’s wisdom. Fools enjoy their foolishness but don’t know how foolish they are! The outlook of fools is purely materialistic and humanistic. They hate knowledge and have no interest in things eternal." [Note: Wiersbe, p. 26.]

It is clear here that people have a choice about which way they will go. Their lives are to a large measure the result of their choices. The fool is one by his own fault, not by fate (Pro 1:30-31). [Note: Kidner, p. 60.] Wisdom laughs at the fool’s calamity (Pro 1:26), not because she is hard-hearted but because it is so absurd to choose folly (Pro 1:26).

"The figure of laughing reveals the absurdity of choosing a foolish way of life and being totally unprepared for disaster." [Note: Ross, p. 910.]

Pro 1:32-33 contrast the ultimate destruction of the unresponsive with the peaceful condition of the responsive.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)