Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 15:24
The way of life [is] above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath.
24. above ] Rather, upward. Upward or downward the path of man must tend.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Above … beneath – The one path is all along upward, leading to the highest life. It rescues the wise from the other, which is all along downward, ending in the gloom of Sheol.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 24. The way of life is above to the wise] There is a treble antithesis here:
1. The way of the wise, and that of the fool.
2. The one is above, the other below.
3. The one is of life, the other is of death.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The way of life is above to the wise; the way or course which a wise man taketh to preserve and obtain life, is to place his heart, and treasure, and conversation in things above, and to manage all his affairs in this world with due respect and subserviency to the happiness of a better life.
From hell beneath; or, from the lowermost hell; not from the grave, as this word is elsewhere used, for no wisdom can prevent that; but from hell properly so called, as this word is elsewhere used, as hath been formerly observed.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
24. (Compare Col3:2). Holy purposes prevent sinning, and so its evils.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The way of life [is] above to the wise,…. Of “the way of life”; [See comments on Pr 10:17]; this is said to be “above”, or it tends “to [what is] above”; it leads to heaven and happiness above; the life itself it is the way of or to is above, it is hid with Christ in God; eternal life, glory, and happiness, is above; it is a house eternal in the heavens, an inheritance reserved there, and will be there enjoyed by the saints: the way to it is above; Christ is the way, and he is in heaven, at the Father’s right hand, through whom only men can come at this life; wherefore those who are in the way of it have their thoughts, their hearts, their affections and conversations, above, Mt 6:21. Faith, which deals with Christ the way, and by which men walk in him, is signified by soaring aloft, mounting up with wings as eagles, by entering within the vail, and dwelling on high, and by looking upwards, and at things unseen, and being the evidence of them. The Vulgate Latin version renders it, “the way of life is above the learned man”, or wise man; the man that has no other than natural learning and wisdom, this way of life and salvation by Christ lies out of his knowledge; it is what the most sagacious and penetrating man could never discover; it is hid from the wise and prudent, and revealed to babes; or this is only known to such who are truly wise unto salvation; it is plain to them, and they highly esteem it, and choose to walk in it; it is an “ascent to him that understands”, as the Syriac version renders it; it is a going up hill, it is an ascending upwards and heavenwards; such a man is continually looking upwards unto Christ, the author and finisher of his faith; pressing towards him, the mark for the prize; keeping his eye, not on things on earth, things temporal, which are seen here below, but on things above, things unseen, which are eternal in the heavens;
that he may depart from hell beneath; not from the grave, as “sheol” sometimes signifies: for wise men die as well as fools, and come to the grave, which is the house appointed for all living; even those who are in the way of life that is above do not escape death and the grave: but such are secured from everlasting ruin and destruction, from being destroyed soul and body in hell; they steer quite a different course and road from that; every step they take upwards carries them so far off from hell; which is the contrary way; the broad road of sin is the lower way, or what leads to hell and destruction beneath; the narrow way of faith in Christ is the upper way, and that leads to eternal life above.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Four proverbs of fundamentally different doctrines:
24 The man of understanding goeth upwards on a way of life,
To depart from hell beneath.
The way of life is one, Pro 5:6; Psa 16:11 (where, notwithstanding the want of the article, the idea is logically determined), although in itself forming a plurality of , Pro 2:19. “A way of life,” in the translation, is equivalent to a way which is a way of life. , upwards (as Ecc 3:21, where, in the doubtful question whether the spirit of a man at his death goes upwards, there yet lies the knowledge of the alternative), belongs, as the parallel shows, to as virtual adj.: a way of life which leads upwards. And the of is that of possession, but not as of quiet possession (such belongs to him), but as personal activity, as in , he has a journey = he makes a journey, finds himself on a journey, 1Ki 18:27; for is not merely, as , Pro 13:14; Pro 14:27, the expression of the end and consequence, but of the subjective object, i.e., the intention, and thus supposes an activity corresponding to this intention. The O.T. reveals heaven, i.e., the state of the revelation of God in glory, yet not as the abode of saved men; the way of the dying leads, according to the O.T. representation, downwards into Shel; but the translations of Enoch and Elijah are facts which, establishing the possibility of an exception, break through the dark monotony of that representation, and, as among the Greeks the mysteries encouraged , so in Israel the Chokma appears pointing the possessor of wisdom upwards, and begins to shed light on the darkness of Shel by the new great thoughts of a life of immortality, thus of a (Pro 12:28) ( Psychologie, p. 407ff.), now for the first time becoming prominent, but only as a foreboding and an enigma. The idea of the Shel opens the way for a change: the gathering place of all the living on this side begins to be the place of punishment for the godless (Pro 7:27; Pro 9:18); the way leading upwards, , and that leading downwards, (Mat 7:13.), come into direct contrast.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
24 The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath.
The way of wisdom and holiness is here recommended to us, 1. As very safe and comfortable: It is the way of life, the way that leads to eternal life, in which we shall find the joy and satisfaction which will be the life of the soul, and at the end of which we shall find the perfection of blessedness. Be wise and live. It is the way to escape that misery which we cannot but see ourselves exposed to, and in danger of. It is to depart from hell beneath, from the snares of hell, the temptations of Satan, and all his wiles, from the pains of hell, that everlasting destruction which our sins have deserved. 2. As very sublime and honourable: It is above. A good man sets his affections on things above, and deals in those things. His conversation is in heaven; his way leads directly thither; there his treasure is, above, out of the reach of enemies, above the changes of this lower world. A good man is truly noble and great; his desires and designs are high, and he lives above the common rate of other men. It is above the capacity and out of the sight of foolish men.
| The Righteous and the Wicked Contrasted. | |
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
The Two Choices
Verse 24 emphasizes the two ways, the two choices open to man: the way chosen by the wise which goeth upward to life above, and the way that goeth downward to hell beneath, Pro 4:18-19; Pro 2:10-15; Php_3:20; Col 3:1-2. (Hell in Pro 15:24 refers to Sheol, the unseen world.)
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Pro. 15:24. The way of life is above, etc., rather An upward path of life, etc. Hell, Shel, as in Pro. 15:11.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro. 15:24
THE UPWARD AND THE DOWNWARD PATH
I. The existence of a place of retribution stated as a fact. The word Sheol, here and elsewhere translated hell, signifies first the place of all departed spirits, whether they be saints or sinners. Those who dwell in Sheol are those who have quitted the relations and conditions of time and sense, and who dwell in a world invisible to human eye. But the connection of the word here makes it necessary to understand it as having reference to a place of retribution. That there is such a place beyond death is suggested by analogy, and affirmed by the Word of God. In every city and centre of human life we find a place of retribution inhabited by those whose characters are supposed to merit such a dwelling. All nations upon the earth find it necessary to have their prisonsto have places in which to confine those whose crimes call for their separation from their more virtuous fellow-creatures. The existence of such places is as much a fact as the existence of men upon the earth. Hence we might have inferred that there was such a place for like characters in the world which is beyond our vision, but which men, both good and bad, are continually quitting this world to inhabit. The existence of such an abode seems to be imperatively demanded, when we consider that some of the worst of the human race never find their way to a prison in this world, and it seems a merciful proceeding towards the offenders themselves that their course should be arrested in another life. The Book of God tells us that there is such a placethat the dwelling of the devil and his angels is the destination of those who quit this world in a state of unforsaken and unforgiven sin (Mat. 25:41).
II. There is a hell of character as well as a hell of place. That which renders a serpent an object of abhorrence is the poison in its sting. That which makes hell, either in devils or men, is enmity against God. This is the fuel that feeds the undying flame that cannot be quenchedthis it is that constitutes the misery of the place of retribution. This mental hell has an existence in time as well as beyond it. Christ taught us that He considered such a disposition a mental Gehenna when He said, Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation (condemnation) of hell? (Mat. 23:33).
III. There is the hell of confederation against God and goodness which is made up of individuals belonging both to the visible and the invisible worlds. Every kingdom has its place of central government, but its dominion may extend over many countries. The divisions made by mountains and seas do not make it any the less one kingdom. The centre of the kingdom which exists in the universe in opposition to the kingdom of God, has its seat of government in the unseen world, but it numbers among its subjects all who are at enmity with God and His children, whether in time or beyond it. Although the place of central government, the gates of hell (Mat. 16:18) is in Sheol, its influence is mighty upon the earth.
IV. That to escape from all these is the aim of the truly wise man. He desires to escape from retribution hereafter, and to be freed from the misery of being in opposition to God in the present life. He does this by obtaining a right relation to God and to His law. Our physical relationships have much to do with our physical well-beingto be in relation to those who are vicious or diseased is to be in a wrong relation so far as bodily health is concerned. Our social and political relations are most important to our comfort and well-being, and are more subject to our own will than are our physical relationships. We may be unwillingly related to an evil social or national law, but we may also stand in an antagonistic relation to a good law, and then the change of relationship is in our own hands. Every sinful man stands in a wrong relation to Gods holy and good law, and the aim of the wise man is to fall in with the conditions offered to him, by which he may come into right relationship to this law. These conditions are revealed to him in the Divine revelationby accepting the atonement of Christ, he is delivered from the guilt of his transgressions and so escapes the hell of retribution; by the same act, followed by a life of communion with the ascended Saviour, he is freed from all that makes hell within him, and escapes all the snares laid by the tempter for his spiritual ruin. This relationship with Him, who is the fountain of all moral and material life, places him in a new position in the universelifts him from the dominion of sin, which is death, into the kingdom of holiness, which is a way of life, because it leads to and prepares for a state beyond death, which is everlasting life of body, soul, and spirit.
V. Such a change of relationship is the beginning of moral climbing. The way of life is above, rather, leads upward. The change of relationship is but the first step in a new life. The place of halting to-day becomes the place of departure on the morrow, and each days journey places him upon a higher level and in a purer atmosphere. The wise mans first step is to depart from hell beneath, but his mere escape from retribution is not the whole of his aimhe is always in quest of an increase of love and joy and peace, of a deepening of all holy emotions and a strengthening of all holy habits. He goes from strength to strength (Psa. 84:7); his watchword is not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect (Php. 3:7).
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
All men are travellers, either to heaven above, or hell beneath. The writers of Scripture know nothing of a middle place. Our everlasting abode must be either in heaven or hell. Salvation from hell is the half of heaven. The threatenings of hell are a fence about the way to heaven, and whilst we are travelling in it they are of great use to make us serious and earnest in pursuing our course; for how is it possible that we can flee with too much speed from everlasting burnings, when our flight is directed, not like that of the manslayer, to a place of banishment, but to a world of happiness.Lawson.
The way of life is aboveof heavenly originthe fruit of the eternal counselsthe display of the manifold wisdom of God. Fools rise not high enough to discern it, much less to devise and walk in it. Their highest elevation is grovelling. God does not allow them even the name of life (1Ti. 5:6). Cleaving to the dust of earth they sink into the hell beneath. But the wise are born from above; taught from above; therefore walking above, while they are living upon earth. A soaring life indeed! The soul mounts up, looks aloft, enters into the holiest, rises above herself, and finds her resting-place in the bosom of her God. A most transcendant life! to be partaker of the Divine nature! (2Pe. 1:4). The life of God Himself (Eph. 4:18) in humble sublimity, ascending above things under the sun, above the sun himself.Bridges.
Let the words spoken in season (see comments on Pro. 15:23) be Lord, I believe, help Thou mine unbelief; and let the word be genuine, i.e., a turning from Sheol (the figure of the pitPsa. 9:17), and the mans joy is won. His path after that shall be upward perpetually.Miller.
A reference to heaven as the final limit of this upward movement of the life of the righteous is so far indirectly included as the antithesis to the upward, the hell beneath (hell downwards, hell to which one tends downward), suggests a hopeless abode in the dark kingdom of the dead as the final destination of the sinners course of life. Therefore, we have here again the idea of future existence and retribution (comp. Pro. 11:7; Pro. 14:32).Langes Commentary.
On the summit of one of those distant mountainsupon whose snowy tops, as they throw back the sunlight, we can look from our Eastern coastthere trickles forth a silvery spring. Near the source there is a slight obstruction in the way of the flow of the streamlet, and the waters are divided right and left. Part trickles down the mountain side towards a river, and thence are borne on to the limitless sea. Part goes the other side, and is lost, ere long, midst the thirsty sands, that are never satiated. Thus divergent are mans two pathsthe shining and the dark one; thus dissimilar their course in lifetheir close at death. And these two paths are the only ones leading out into eternity. And when we seek in spiritual union and communion with our Maker the noblest exercise of the souls faculties and powers, and there comes to the heart peace, sure and certain, because depending upon the inviolable Word of God, and love springing from the outwellings of the Divine love, and hope reaching into the eternal world, and grasping there at blissful immortality and joy ineffable, and prepared of Godoh! then even the foregleamings of these things, reserved for us, or else already the heritage of the soullight up a path so shining that earths glare and glitter fade, in comparison, wholly out of sight. For into eternity itself do these divergent paths lead. The soul, in choosing the one or the other here, is choosing for the life to come, as well as for the life that now is.Bishop Perry.
The wise man goes a higher way than his neighbour, even in his common businesses, because they are done in faith and obedience. He hath his feet where other mens heads are; and, like a heavenly eagle, delights himself in high-flying. Busied he may be in mean, low things, but not satisfied in them as adequate objects. A wise man may sport with children, but that is not his business. Wretched worldlings make it their work to gather wealth, as children do to tumble a snow-ball; they are scattered abroad throughout all the landas those poor Israelites were (Exo. 5:12)to gather stubble, not without an utter neglect of their poor souls. But what, I wonder, will these men do when death shall come with a writ of habeas corpus, and the devil with a writ of habeas animam?. Oh, that they that have their hands elbow-deep in the earth, that are rooting and digging in it, as if they would that way dig themselves a new and nearer way to hell!oh, that these greedy moles would be warned to flee from the wrath to come, to take heed of hell beneath, and not sell their souls to the devil for a little pelf.Trapp.
The difference between an earthly man and a heavenly man is thisthat the way of an earthly man is under his feet, and the way of a heavenly man is over his head. A fool doth not conceive what this upper way can be, but to the wise man it is the plain way of life. He knoweth that it is by the fall of man that he walketh so low, and he considereth that unless he change his way, and, though against his nature, do make his way above, by having his conversation in heaven, even while his habitation is on the earth, his sin will be sure to thrust him lower still even to the pit of death. Take heed, therefore, of the ways of the earth, they are the way to hell. From whence to keep thee, be sure to keep aloft by fixing thine heart on Christ, who is the way of life, and now is set down in the highest places.Jermin.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(24) The way of life is above to the wise.These words sound like a faint echo of such passages as Php. 3:20; Col. 3:1-2, though the writers meaning may only have been that the wise man who fears the Lord (Pro. 1:7) is rewarded with long life on earth (Pro. 3:16), and escapes death and hell (Pro. 2:18-19). Comp. Isa. 38:18-19.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
24. The way of life is above (or upward) to the wise Or, prudent.
That he may depart Or, because of his departing.
From hell beneath Sheol, from the infernal world. The path of life to the wise is upward in order to avoid the under world, but if sheol means only the grave, or the state of the dead, how could the wise man, any more than the fool, avoid it? For this one event happeneth to them all; for “how dieth the wise man as the fool?” Ecc 2:15-16. See also Pro 11:7; Pro 14:32.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
v. 24. The way of life is above to the wise,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Pro 15:24. The way of life is above to the wise Or, The way of life to the wise is above.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Pro 15:24 The way of life [is] above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath.
Ver. 24. The way of life is above to the wise. ] He goes a higher way than his neighbour, even in his common businesses, because they are done in faith and obedience. He hath his feet where other men’s heads are, and, like a heavenly eagle, delights himself in high flying. Busied he may be in mean, low things, but not satisfied in them as adequate objects. A wise man may sport with children, but that is not his business. Domitian spent his time in catching flies, and Artaxerxes in making hafts for knives; but that was the baseness of their spirits. Wretched worldlings make it their work to gather wealth, as children do to tumble a snowball; they are scattered abroad throughout all the land – as those poor Israelites were Exo 5:12 to gather stubble – not without an utter neglect of their poor souls. But what, I wonder, will these men do when death shall come with a writ of habeas corpus, You may have the body, and the devil with a writ of habeas animam, you may have the soul – when the cold grave shall have their bodies, and hot hell hold their souls? Oh that they that have their hands elbow deep in the earth, that are rooting and digging in it, as if they would that way dig themselves a new and a nearer way to hell! oh that these greedy moles, these insatiate muckworms, would be warned to flee from the wrath to come, to take heed of hell beneath, and not sell their souls to the devil for a little pelf, as they say Pope Sylvester did for seven years’ enjoyment of the popedom! Oh that they would meditate every day a quarter of an hour, as Francis Xaverius counselled John king of Portugal, on that divine sentence, “What shall it profit a man to win the whole world, and lose his own soul?” He should be a loser by the sale of his soul; he should be – that which he so much feared to be – a beggar, begging in vain, though but for a drop of cold water to cool his tongue.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
above = upward.
the wise = a skilful one. Hebrew. sakal. See note on Pro 1:2.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Pro 15:24
Pro 15:24
“To the wise, the way of life goeth upward, That he may depart from Sheol beneath.”
There are many of these proverbs that carry strong intimations of life beyond death, and this is another. Only those whom God redeems shall, in any real sense, depart from Sheol, “Whither all footsteps tend, whence none depart.
Pro 15:24. The wise choose the way that leads to life rather than destruction (Sheol): Enter ye in by the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many are they that enter in thereby. For narrow is the gate, and straitened the way, that leadeth unto life, and few are they that find it (Mat 7:13-14). Wisdom makes the decision now that will end right later: If thy hand cause thee to stumble, cut it off: it is good for thee to enter into life maimed, rather than having thy two hands to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire (Mar 9:43). Are you pressing on the upward way? Are you gaining new heights every day?
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
hell
Heb. “Sheol,” (See Scofield “Hab 2:5”)
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
way: Pro 6:23, Psa 16:11, Psa 139:24, Jer 21:8, Mat 7:14, Joh 14:6
above: Phi 3:20, Col 3:1, Col 3:2
that: Pro 2:18, Pro 5:5, Pro 7:27, Pro 9:8, Pro 23:14
Reciprocal: Psa 10:5 – thy judgments Psa 71:19 – Thy righteousness Pro 8:9 – General Pro 13:14 – to Pro 24:7 – too Pro 28:5 – General Isa 14:9 – from Luk 16:23 – in hell
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Pro 15:24. The way of life is above to the wise The way which a wise man takes to preserve and obtain spiritual and eternal life, is to place his heart, treasure, and conversation in things above; and to manage all his affairs in this world with due respect and subserviency to the happiness of another world; that he may depart from hell beneath Or, from the lowest hell; not from the grave, as this word is sometimes used, for no wisdom can preserve from that, but from hell, properly so called, as this word elsewhere signifies, as has been before observed.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Everyone goes to Sheol (the grave) eventually (except believers who experience translation at the Rapture and do not die). However, the wise avoid Sheol as long as they can by being wise. Living wisely tends to prolong life.
"We may at least say that the language [of this proverb] anticipates what later Scripture will clearly teach about the ultimate destination of the way of life." [Note: Ross, p. 999.]