Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 23:23

Buy the truth, and sell [it] not; [also] wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.

23. buy sell it not ] Procure it at any cost: part with it on no consideration. Comp. Mat 13:44-45.

also ] Rather, even, or, yea. The things mentioned are not additions to, but elements of “the truth.” Comp. Mal 4:4, R.V.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Pro 23:23

Buy the truth, and sell it not.

A domestic homily on buying the truth

When the wise man counselled his pupil to buy the truth, he had the whole range of truth before his mind: truth in history, in science, in social economics, in morals, and in religion. It is a slander that revelation, or the religion which accepts revelation as its guide, seeks the shade of ignorance and demands to lead its devotees blindfolded through the universe. Revelation demands light, and ever more light. The words of the text are a warrant for all investigation that has truth for its object. But it more especially refers to moral and religious truth.

I. The truth is an eminently desirable possession. Truth is capable of becoming much more intimately and inseparably the possession of a man than any of those things which men usually call their possessions. The truth bought secures to men the great end of all possessions–blessedness. The truth restores conscience to an active and undisputed sovereignty, harmonises the will and the reason, and casts out the foreign elements which have disturbed the movements of the inner life.

II. It is our duty to secure the truth as our possession. Buy. Do not stand chaffering about it; promptly make it your own.

1. We must go in quest of it. A man must be assiduous, painstaking, persevering in his search. And he must be cautious.

2. We must approach Truth, and live with her, trustfully. The intellect may assent, while the soul remains sceptical, and stands aloof.

3. The truth must be obeyed. She enters the soul as a queen. She demands to dictate every action, to shape every plan, to control every feeling. There is, perhaps, no utterly conclusive evidence of what is strictly moral or religious truth, but that of the inward witness, which speaks in the soul of the man who is living in the truth; that is, cordially and spontaneously obeying it.

4. We must be ready to make sacrifice for the truth. Prejudices must be sacrificed. Tastes, appetites, and passions, which the truth cannot sanction, must be sacrificed. If we are to get and hold the truth we must search, trust, obey, and make sacrifice. (Alex. Hannay, D.D.)

Buying the truth

To be said of all truths, but especially of the highest.

I. How is truth bought? In one sense it is free as air, but in seeking and keeping it we make surrenders. Labour and search may need to be paid. Prejudice, pride of heart, illusions broken. Sins of heart and life forsaken. Esteem of friends and of the world may need to be parted with.

II. How truth may be sold. Not when it is communicated; thereby we buy more. But when it is not communicated, when it is betrayed from fear or allurement, when it is held in unrighteousness, selfishness, treachery, inconsistency, we sell the truth.

III. Why, when bought, it should never be sold. It has a value beyond all you can get for it. Its value grows the longer you keep it. It buys all other good things at last. When sold, it is hard to be bought back. (John Ker, D.D.)

Buy the truth, sell it not

I. Inquire what truth is. Of truths there are many kinds.

1. Those proper to the studies of great scholars.

2. Those concerning the preservation of our bodies.

3. Those concerning the making and executing of laws.

4. Those relating to husbandry, tillage, and business. The truth here is the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus.

II. The nature and quality of this merchandise. It containeth all those precepts and conclusions that concern the knowledge and service of God, and that conduce to virtue and integrity and uprightness of life. This truth is fit and proportionable to the soul of man, which is made capable of it. As it is fitted to all, so it is lovely and amiable in the eyes of all, even of those who will not buy it.

III. The truth must be bought. It will not be ours unless we lay out something and purchase it. We do not stumble on this truth by chance. If mens faith cost them more, they would make more use of it than they do.

IV. What is it to buy the truth? The price is yourselves. Ye must lay down yourselves at the altar of truth, and be offered up as sacrifice for it. You must offer up your understandings, your wills, and your affections. Give up your prejudices. Cast away all malice to the truth, all distasting of it, all averseness to it. What helps does the God of truth afford us for the obtaining of the truth?

1. Meditation, or fixing of our thoughts upon the truth.

2. Prayer, which draweth down grace.

3. Exercise and practice of those truths we learn. (A. Farindon, B.D.)

Buying the truth

Truth is but one, and it is in God, and of God; nay, it is God Himself. This truth is from Him conveyed into divers things, which are therefore termed true. The Word is the truth, because God is the author of it; because inspired men wrote it; because Christ confirmed it; and because the Spirit of Truth interprets it. Buying includes a desire of the commodity; a repairing to the place where it is set to sale; a skill to discern and know the goodness of it; giving a price proportionable to the value of it; and a storing of it up for necessary uses. (S. Hieron.)

The birthright of truth

I. Truth is a matter of purchase. Truth is, in itself, one, perfect, and eternal. To us it is a growing and increasing treasure. The truth we consider is that which has been delivered down to us through the Scriptures. We get truth by having the eye ever open to observe it; by reading, meditation, and conversation.

II. Truth must not be sold. Amongst other shrines at which we shall be tempted to sell the truth is–

1. The commercial spirit of the day. We are tempted by the mode in which the arrangements of the kingdom of Christ are compelled to make way for the arrangements of this world. This absorption of mind by the spirit of earthly gain gives little time for religious exercises, and breeds an inclination to extol certain business virtues.

2. Men sacrifice the truth on the altar of narrow-minded exclusiveness in the application of the privileges and blessings of truth. Truth is lost in sectarianism.

3. There is peril for truth in the spirit of rationalism that is abroad. (E. Monro.)

The price of truth

I. What it costs to know truth. By truth we mean, an agreement between an object and our idea of it. We want to know, What is moral truth? What is universal truth? To attain it, take seven precepts. Be attentive. Do not be discouraged at labour. Suspend your judgment. Let prejudice yield to reason. Be teachable. Restrain your avidity of knowing. In order to edify your mind, subdue your heart.

II. The worth and advantages of truth.

1. It will open to you an infinite source of pleasure.

2. It will fit you for the various employments to which you may be called in society.

3. It will free you from many disagreeable doubts about religion.

4. It will render you intrepid at the approach of death. (E. Monro)

The sale of truth

Sell not the truth means–

1. Do not lose the disposition of mind, the aptness to universal truth, when ye have acquired it.

2. It reproves those mercenary souls who trade with their wisdom and sell it, as it were, by the penny.

3. By selling may be understood, betraying truth. To betray truth is, through any sordid motive, to suppress, or to disguise, things of consequence to the glory of religion, the interest of a neighbour, or the good of society.

There are six orders of persons who may sell truth–

1. The courtier.

2. The indiscreet zealot.

3. The apostate.

4. The judge.

5. The politician.

6. The pastor. (E. Monro.)

Buy the truth

The meaning of the exhortation seems to be, that we should endeavour to acquire that happy disposition of soul which will make us give to every question the time and attention it deserves; to every proof its due force; to every difficulty its full weight; and to every advantage its true value. But this disposition cannot be had for nought; it must be acquired by attention and toil: it must be bought by the sacrifice of dissipation and of indolence. We can easily observe in what narrow bounds the mind of man is confined; how defective its powers are, and how limited their operations. If, therefore, when it is necessary to consider some combined proposition, we do not bestow upon it proportionable attention, we shall infallibly overlook some of its properties, and, consequently, our conclusion will be partial and absurd. This reasoning is confirmed by invariable experience: for every man may remember some things which have appeared false or true, certain or doubtful, according to the hurry or the attention with which he examined them. To acquire this habitual attention is commonly a toilsome work, and therefore demands the sacrifice of our indolence. The labour of the mind is evidently more wearisome than that of the body: for we may see the greatest part of mankind submitting without repugnance to the heaviest bodily toil, rather than suffer that which is mental. This labour, however, is surmountable; and, like all others, by custom, may be rendered easy. Exercise is therefore necessary to acquire the faculty of continued attention, which, when once acquired, will enable us to compare the most sublime ideas, and to investigate the most abstruse parts of knowledge. Then shall we reckon as nothing the sacrifices we have made; and the truth, when we have obtained it, will never be deemed too dear. It will open to us a fruitful source of pleasures; it will form us to fill with propriety our different employments; it will rid us of all troublesome scruples; and render us intrepid at the approach of death. The placid and serene pleasures of the intellect are beyond comparison sweeter than those which are excited merely by the gross organs of sense, or by the more turbulent passions of the soul. And if the pleasure of advancing in human knowledge be very great, as it is universally allowed to be, what charms must accompany the attainment of that knowledge which concerns the things of immortality! It is in retirement that our attention can exert its full force, and consider religion in all its views. Truth will enable us, besides, to fill with propriety the different employments to which we are called in society. A man who has cultivated his mind will distinguish himself in every station; and a man whose way of thinking is erroneous or futile, will in every station be pitied or despised. Truth will, moreover, free us from every importunate and troublesome scruple. To be tossed about with every wind of doctrine is a most violent situation; and yet it is a situation which none can avoid, except those who are seriously engaged in the study of truth, or those who are utterly insensible. Finally, the value of truth appears in the serenity which it procures at the approach of death. The famous story of Cato Uticensis is well known. Having resolved to quit this world, he wished much to be assured that there was another. For this purpose he read over attentively Platos book concerning the immortality of the soul; and the reasonings of that philosopher satisfied him so fully, that he died with the greatest tranquillity. He saw beyond the grave another Rome, where tyranny could have no dominion, where Pompey could be no more oppressed, and Caesar could triumph no more. So long as the soul fluctuates between light and darkness, between persuasion and doubt; so long as it has only presumptions and probabilities in favour of religion; it is nearly impossible to behold death without dread; but the Christian who is enlightened, confirmed, and strengthened, being raised above its power, is secure from all its terrors. If Cato the heathen could brave this terrible king, what would not Cato the Christian have done? (A. Macdonald.)

Buy the truth

I. The value and importance of truth. Were it a matter of equal and unavailing indifference whether we embraced truth or error, what advantages could be derived from the culture of education, from the progress of learning, or the discoveries of knowledge? Were this maxim once admissible, the untutored heathen, and the enlightened Christian would be completely on a level. Were truth of no importance to the security, the welfare, and the happiness of mankind, what occasion is there for the deep researches of philosophers, for the ardent zeal of theologians, and for the wearisome labours of the real student? But in the awful concerns of religion, where the salvation of the soul is at stake, the value and importance of truth rises in an infinite proportion!

II. In what manner we must buy it. Solomon does not intimate in my text at what rate we must buy the truth, because we cannot buy it too dear. We may be said, then, to buy the truth when we devote our earthly riches to the attainment and diffusion of Christian knowledge. For it has been well remarked, Riches should be employed for the getting knowledge rather than knowledge for the getting riches. We also buy the truth when we pay attention to the means of obtaining it. Thus, when we diligently search the Holy Scriptures, and make them our chief study, when we pray to God in secret, and when we strictly regard the ordinances of the gospel, we then bestow some pains to know the truth.

III. The danger and guilt of selling it. (John Grose, M.A.)

The practical value of opinions

There is hardly anything so plain in respect to human duty, that a wrong state of moral feeling may not cause it to be doubted, or even to be denied. It is an every-day occurrence to hear the value of truth disputed. The usual form is this–It is no matter what a man believes if his life is only right. The assertion sounds familiar and trite, yet on examination it will appear to be one of the most glaring and self-evident of falsehoods. To act right without knowledge is hardly less a practicable thing than to see without the proper organs. Consider what is necessary to be done in order to prove the position true that it is no matter what a man believes on religious subjects if his life be right. It must be shown either–

1. That there are no certain truths pertaining to religion; or else–

2. That these truths have no necessary connection with the conduct of men; or–

3. That the consequences of their conduct, whether right or wrong, will be the same. Our conclusion is, that it is not to be expected that the conduct, the lives of men, will be materially better than their opinions; by opinions understanding the actual living convictions of their minds. It is therefore an imperative duty to set a high value upon truth in our religious thinking. Religious opinions should not only be firmly fixed; they should also be right opinions. (R. Palmer, D.D.)

Buy the truth, and sell it not

In every subject there is a truth somewhere. The original of truth–the mould in which it is all first cast–must be the mind of God. But, how do these great archetypes of the mind of God reach and impress themselves upon the mind of man? First, God has given us revelation to be their reflector. But because the most important truth of all truths to us is how a sinner can be saved–how a just God can forgive a rebel–therefore, as Christians, we generally call the gospel the truth. And well it deserves the name! But the teaching of one who had a right to speak, from the largest experience, perhaps, that any man had, is, that truth is hard to get and difficult to retain. Buy the truth, and sell it not. And what is the cost of truth? You must get out of the littlenesses and narrownesses of party feeling. You must go high enough to have large views of things. Next, you must feel and act as an infant in intellect, being conscious of weakness and ignorance–even in your strongest point; willing to be taught. Whatever your talent may be, you can never purchase truth but by fag. There must be a real expenditure of hard work. And you must build up carefully, accurately, systematically; taking nothing for granted. And your prayers must not be easy, common-place things. But now, I would suppose that the contract is complete, and that, with the necessary expenditure–much effort and much prayer–you have bought the truth,–some truth–little it may be, but real and genuine. Let me give you a caution. Truth is a precious treasure. But where there is, a treasure there the robbers will come! And they will come very deceptively. Not by force, but by artifice. And they will pretend to buy. But the bargain is ruinous! For it is one thing to buy, and it is another thing to sell; and men often will give us very little for that for which we have given a great deal! It will be a bad bargain if you sell truth at any price. But many things will lure you. It may be a little love of making an excitement, which will tempt you to exaggerate the truth; and if you exaggerate it, you have well-nigh lost it. Or it may be a love of popularity, which makes you wish to please every one with whom you are, and therefore to accommodate your views to everybody; and you pare off a little on the one side, and you add a little on the other side, till the whole shape and character is changed, and the truth comes out no truth at all. Or it may happen that truth, which you feel to be truth, stands in the way of your worldly interest, and you are tempted to sacrifice it on the altar of fame or mammon. Or the prejudices of your social position, or your professional ideas, lead you to view and present truth under such a medium as shall altogether misrepresent and well-nigh pervert it. Or mere indolence may creep over you, and you may give away to carelessness what you once obtained by so great an outlay! And it often takes as much to keep truth as it does to get it. A little worldliness, a little frittering of pleasures, will enervate the very fibre of truth. And still more and more solemnly, one vice can emasculate all truth. If a man continue in sin, the truth must go. (J. Vaughan, M.A.)

Bartering for eternity

Some of the characteristics of a wise spiritual merchant.

1. He will not neglect to take an account of stock.

2. He will be on his guard against burglars.

3. He will watch the state of the markets.

4. He will be careful to get a profit out of everything that passes through his hands.

5. He will not take any unnecessary risks. (T. De Witt Talmage, D.D.)

The preciousness of the truth

This statement is not to be understood in a literal or commercial sense. Following the figure that is here used, see–

I. That the truth ought to be carefully examined. No wise man buys an article without looking very closely into it. There is no good thing but has its counterfeits and imitations. The article we are here advised to purchase is admitted to be the most valuable of all things, and it is therefore the last thing that should be taken on trust. That it is liable to be perverted and debased we all know. The great Teacher did not require His hearers to take His declarations upon trust. He courted and even demanded inquiry. The principle of private judgment may be abused.

II. The truth has to be appraised. A careful estimate of its value has to be formed. It is offered only on one condition–the sacrifice, or at least the free surrender of all we have.

III. To complete the transaction we must close with the terms on which article is offered. The truth is a system of doctrine and discipline, which needs to be carefully studied, thoroughly grasped, and diligently improved.

IV. The truth can never be sold, except at a serious loss. It may be sold or sacrificed–

1. From a spirit of mere cowardice.

2. From a feeling of false charity and selfish complaisance.

3. By being accommodated to what is called the spirit of the age. (Walter M. Giloray, D.D.)

The important purchase and prohibited sale

I. The commodity recommended. The truth.

1. There is doctrinal truth.

2. There is experimental truth.

3. There is practical truth.

II. The counsel given. Buy the truth. To obtain the truth we must–

1. Come to the mart of truth.

2. Sacrifice the hindrances to truth.

3. Employ the means truth recommends.

III. Let this purchase be urged by several considerations.

1. From your absolute need of it.

2. From the free and easy mode of its acquisition.

3. From its essential worth. When possessed it must be retained.

IV. By whom is the truth sold.

1. By the mercenary minister.

2. By the temporising professor.

3. By the false speaker.

4. By the flatterer.

5. By the backslider.

V. Reasons why we should not sell the truth. (J. Burns, D.D.)

The cost of religion

The Bible contains the truth which we have to buy. He that has a religion that has cost him nothing has a religion that is worth nothing. You cannot be religious without some sacrifice. It costs less in early than in later life. (E. Birch, M.A.)

The nature and importance of truth

I. What truth is. By truth, I mean a right apprehension of all those things which tend to promote the happiness of mankind. This includes the idea of all virtuous and religious obligations. Truth, in its utmost latitude, relates to a variety of things which are matters of mere speculation only; and these may afford some pleasure to men of deep thought and learning. But that truth which is the object of all mens concern has a more immediate respect to happiness. And this consists in a right knowledge of religion and virtue. This shines in practice more than in speculation. Other truths may please the ear, and soothe the fancy; but this improves the judgment, and mends the heart.

II. We should use all proper means to obtain the knowledge of truth. It is absolutely requisite that a man should first know, before he can rightly do, what is good; and therefore if the soul of man be ignorant of truth, it must at the same time be destitute of virtue; and if it be destitute of virtue, it is utterly incapable of happiness. Nor is the search after truth less pleasant than profitable. For, in the course of our inquiry, we must contemplate God, nature, and ourselves. In contemplating the Divine Being, what a spacious field of pleasure lies open to the mind! What noble transports must the soul feel from a view of Him, who is the fountain of perfection; in whom dwells beauty, knowledge, truth, wisdom, virtue, and all moral excellence! In the contemplation of nature, we see as it were in perspective an infinite variety of beautiful appearances, and relations of things to each other; all which serve to fill the mind with the most pleasing ideas of beauty, order, and harmony. And in the survey of ourselves we may observe a curious machine consisting of various springs and movements, each of which contributes some pleasure or advantage either to ourselves or others. Again, truth is the most beautiful, as well as pleasant. For all beauty is truth. Thus, in architecture true proportions make the beauty of a building. In music, true measures make the beauty of harmony; and in poetry, which deals so much in fable, truth still is the foundation: for all fiction is no longer pleasing than while it bears a resemblance with truth. And so, in like manner, the beauty of actions, affections, and characters arises from honesty and moral truth. For what can be more beautiful than just sentiments, graceful actions, regular passions, and agreeable behaviour? Thus nature itself leads to virtue, and truth has a kind of moral magic in it which charms irresistibly. Who, then, would refuse at any rate to purchase the knowledge of truth, which is so pleasant, so beautiful, so advantageous? But in this honest way of merchandising truth, and in all our researches after it, great care must be taken that we are not imposed upon either by ignorant or designing men. Falsehood often courts us under the appearance of truth, as some sort of glittering stones will counterfeit true diamonds. Thus, among some professors of Christianity, superstition counterfeits the name of religion, and many idle ceremonies pass current instead of pure substantial virtue. To prevent this, we should study human nature, and the nature of God, so far as He is discovered to us by the light of reason and revelation.

III. When by our faithful endeavours we have gained the truth the text suggests to us, we should upon no consideration part with it. Buy the truth, and sell it not. If truth be of so great importance as to have virtue, religion, and even happiness depend upon it, what wise man would ever part with it? For can any equivalent be given for the loss of it? And why should we exchange a greater for a lesser good? In our journey through this world we meet with many rugged ways and difficulties. But truth will lead us safely through all into the wished-for haven. All worldly goods are imperfect and of short duration; but truth is eternal in its original, and will never fail to give complete satisfaction to all who persevere in it. But you will ask, When may we be said to part with the truth? We part with it whenever we let any interest, prejudice, or passion prevail over us, contrary to the dictates of right reason. As, therefore, we value our greatest interest, let us honestly endeavour to know the truth; and let us apply ourselves to all proper means for this purpose, such as reading, conversation, and prayer to God. The same honest diligence which is used in learning other arts and sciences will bring us to the knowledge of all that truth which is necessary for any to know. And God requires no more of us than what our respective capacities and opportunities will allow. (N. Ball.)

The merchandise of truth

I. The valuable commodity requisite for human life. Truth is that commodity which feeds the moral life.

1. It is of universal comprehension.

2. It is of common necessity and fitness.

3. It is a thing of common end in life.

4. It is the crown and complement of life.

II. The commerce of truth.

1. One compartment in the market of truth is acquaintance and fair dealing with ourselves.

2. Communion with the Father of our spirit.

3. Study of the works and words of God.

4. Acquaintance with humanity.

5. Christian means and provision.

Truth is cheap at any cost. One condition in the pursuit of truth is a high and holy motive. Another is right use of our powers and opportunities. A third is seeking and following the best. A fourth is submission to the Divine will. Another is perseverance; and another faith.

III. The conservative Duty. It is easy in the sale, but difficult to buy. Nothing can compensate for its absence. The sale of truth always means an unjust bargain. (T. Hughes.)

Truth should be purchased, but never sold

I. The truth is a precious thing. Buy the truth. What is truth? It is reality. In contradistinction to all that is fictitious and false.

1. Reality in relation to the chief good. What a number of false theories there are concerning human dignity and human happiness. Truth is the reality of these.

2. Reality in relation to personal conduct. There are hollow men, sham men. Truth makes men real. Brings their conceptions into perfect accord with eternal facts, and their personal conduct into perfect accord with their conceptions. Christ is embodied truth. The preciousness of this truth may be estimated by the influence it has exerted on the race. Intellectual truth is precious, moral truth is more precious, redemptive truth is more precious than all.

II. Truth to be obtained must be purchased. It can only be purchased by–

1. Study.

2. Devotion.

3. Labour.

4. Self-surrender.

III. Truth once purchased should never be sold. Sell it not. Truth can be sold. Judas sold it. It can be sold for power, for fame, for worldly pleasure, etc. Sell it not. If you sell it, you sell your moral usefulness. You sell your self-respect. You sell your power of conscience. You sell your dignity. Hold it as Daniel, Stephen, and Paul held it. (Homilist.)

The highest commerce

I. The importance of acquiring the truth.

1. We should make diligent search for it.

2. We should be willing to sacrifice and surrender all for it.

3. Again, truth must be obeyed in order to be made our own.

II. The importance of retaining the truth. Sell it not. We should not part with it.

1. Because of its intrinsic value.

2. Because it does not rise and fall in value like other things. The markets of this world are for ever fluctuating, etc. Truth is ever the same.

3. Because it can be appropriated or made our own as nothing else can. A mans life (well-being) consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. Worldly goods are of no value to a man when the last hour comes. But true religion will go with him into adversity, into affliction, and will comfort him even in death. (D. Morgan.)

Truth cannot be disposed of without injury

Truth is not like a watch-seal, which a man can dispose of without any injury to his character. It is a vital element of character, and thus of happiness; and he who barters it for anything, will soon realise that he has not only sacrificed the greater for the less, but given up the chief thing in human nobility and joy. (T. Carlyle.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 23. Buy the truth] Acquire the knowledge of God at all events; and in order to do this, too much pains, industry, and labour cannot be expended.

And sell it not] When once acquired, let no consideration deprive thee of it. Cleave to and guard it, even at the risk of thy life. Coverdale translates: “Labour for to get the treuth; sell not awaye wissdome.”

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

Buy the truth; purchase it upon any terms, spare no pains nor cost to get it. The truth; the true and saving knowledge of Gods mind and will concerning your salvation, and the way that leads to it.

Sell it not; do not forget it nor forsake it for any worldly advantages, as ungodly men frequently do.

Understanding; whereby you may love and practise the truth known and received.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

23. Buyliterally, “get”(Pr 4:5).

truthgenerally andspecially as opposed to errors of all kinds.

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

Buy the truth, and sell [it] not,…. Evangelical truth, the word of truth, the Gospel of salvation, which comes from the God of truth; has Christ, who is the truth, for the stem and substance of it; men are directed and led into it by the Spirit of truth; the whole matter of it is truth; truth, in opposition to the law, that was typical and shadowy; to the errors of false teachers, to everything that is fictitious, or another Gospel; and to that which is a lie, for no lie is of the truth: there are several particular doctrines of the Gospel which are so called; those which respect the knowledge of one God, and three Persons in the Godhead; the deity and sonship of Christ, his incarnation and Messiahship, salvation alone by him, a sinner’s justification by his righteousness, and the resurrection of the dead; the whole of which is truth, and is an answer to Pilate’s question,

Joh 18:38; and this men should “buy”, not books only, as Aben Ezra interprets it, such as explain and confirm truth, though these should be bought; and especially the Bible, the Scriptures of truth; yet this does not reach the sense of the text: nor is it merely to be understood of persons supporting the Gospel ministry with their purses, by which means truth is preserved, propagated, and continued: no price is set upon it, as being above all; it should be bought or had at any rate, let the expense be what it will: “buying” it supposes a person to have some knowledge of it, of the excellency, usefulness, and importance of it; and shows that he sets a value upon it, and has a high esteem for it: it is to be understood of his using all means and taking great pains to acquire it; such as reading the word, meditating upon it, attending on the public ministry, and fervent and frequent prayer for it, and a greater degree of knowledge of it; yea, it signifies a person’s parting with everything for it that is required; as with his former errors he has been brought up in, or has imbibed; with his good name and reputation, being willing to be accounted a fool or a madman, and an enthusiast, or anything for the sake of it; and even with life itself, when called for; and such a man will strive and contend for it, stand fast in it, and hold it fast, and not let it go, which is meant by “selling” it; truth is not to be sold upon any account, or for any thing whatever; it is not to be slighted and neglected; it should not be parted with neither for the riches, and honours, and pleasures of this life, nor for the sake of a good name among men, nor for the sake of peace, nor for the avoiding of persecution; it should he abode by, and not departed from, though the greater number is against it, and they the riots, the wise, and learned; and though it may be traduced as novel, irrational, and licentious, and be attended with affliction;

[also] wisdom, and instruction, and understanding; that is, buy these also, and sell them no; “wisdom” is to be prized above everything; it is the principal thing, and should be got; all means should he used to obtain it; it may be bought without money; it should be asked of God, who gives it liberally, and, being had, should be held fast: the “instruction” the Scriptures give, the instruction of the Gospel, the instruction of Wisdom, should be valued above gold and silver, and diligently sought after; should be laid fast hold on and not parted with: “understanding” of divine and spiritual things is to be gotten; happy is the man that gets it; and above all gettings this should be got, and all means made rise of to improve and increase it. The Targum, Syriac, and Vulgate Latin versions, connect these with the word sell only, thus, “buy the truth, and sell not wisdom, and instruction, and understanding”; but as buying and selling both refer to truth, so likewise to these also. The whole verse is wanting in the Septuagint and Arabic versions.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(23) Buy the truth, and sell it not.The truth is here described under the three heads of wisdom, self-discipline, and understanding. (See above, on Pro. 1:2.) All these are to be obtained from God (Jas. 1:5), who gives to every man liberally, without money and without price (Isa. 55:1). (Comp. Rev. 3:18, and the treasure and pearl of great price of Mat. 13:44-46.)

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

23. Buy the truth Acquire it by paying the necessary price earnest search, diligent pursuit, careful study, time, money, whatever is requisite to the obtaining of it.

Sell it not Never part with it at any price. “Buy,” or get, or acquire, is also to be understood before the other terms of the verse. Buy wisdom, and discipline, and discernment. Compare Pro 4:5; Pro 4:7; Pro 16:16; Mat 13:46.

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

v. 23. Buy the truth, not minding the hard labor and sacrifice required to gain it, and sell it not, since it is precious beyond all riches of the world; also wisdom and instruction and understanding, these synonyms including both the knowledge in itself and its application in all situations of life.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

DISCOURSE: 805
BUYING THE TRUTH

Pro 23:23. Buy the truth; and sell it not.

THE rich variety of metaphors contained in the Holy Scriptures gives an endless diversity to the most simple truths: and the commonness of those metaphors brings home to our minds the deepest truths, with a clearness that cannot be misinterpreted, and a force that cannot be withstood. The idea of buying and selling is familiar to every mind; so familiar, that many would be offended at the application of it to the concerns of the soul. But we should not affect a squeamishness which the Inspired Writers did not feel; except, indeed, in reference to subjects which, though not offensive to Jewish ears, the refinement of modern ages has justly deemed indelicate. Permit me then, without offence, to shew you,

I.

What it is that is here commended to us

Truth, abstractedly considered, is of great value; and the acquisition of it in science and philosophy is counted worthy of the most laborious researches. In astronomy, for instance, the ascertaining of the motion and mutual relation of the heavenly bodies is justly regarded as a rich recompence for a whole life of labour. But this is not the truth of which my text speaks: for that, once gained, remains with us: whereas the truth which is here commended to us may be sold as well as bought.

The truth here referred to is the Gospel
[The Gospel was revealed to Abraham, as well as unto us; and it was made yet more fully known to Moses and the Israelites; though, from their not mixing faith with it, it did not profit them. On us it shines in its meridian splendour: it exhibits to us a Saviour, even, our incarnate God, living and dying for sinful men; and marks our path to heaven so plainly, that a way-faring man, though a fool, cannot err therein ]
This truth is of incalculable importance to every child of man
[There is much truth which the philosopher alone can appreciate or understand. But the truth, as it is in Jesus, may be understood by all. It is not by strength of intellect that its wonders are discerned, but by a spiritual perception, which God alone can impart [Note: 1Co 2:14.]; and which he often does impart to babes and sucklings, whilst he withholds it from the wise and prudent [Note: Mat 11:25-26.]. And to every human being it is of equal importance: none can be saved without it, and by it every creature in the universe may be saved. Our blessed Lord has assured us of this: Ye shall know the truth; and the truth shall make you free [Note: Joh 8:32.]. Nothing but that will impart freedom: but that will make us free indeed; delivering us from all the guilt we have ever contracted, and from all the bondage under which we have groaned. Let us only receive the truth in the love of it, and we shall he brought by it into the glorious liberty of the children of God.]

This view of the truth may prepare us for,

II.

The advice given us in relation to it

Buy the truth
[It must be purchased: freely as it is given, I say again, it must be purchased: it must be bought with, labour, and with the sacrifice of every thing that can stand in competition with it. The fruits of the earth, though given us entirely by God through the genial influence of the heavens, must be sought and laboured for: nor can we hope to obtain the fruits of the Spirit without similar exertions. Solomon tells us, that, notwithstanding it is the Lord who giveth knowledge, we must cry after it, and lift up our voice for it, and seek it as silver, and search for it as for hid treasures: and that then only can we understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God [Note: Pro 2:3-6.].

Nor is it less necessary that we be ready to part with all earthly interests in order to secure it. Our Lord compares the Gospel salvation to a treasure hid in a field, and to a pearl of preat price: which whosoever finds, should go and sell all that he has and purchase it [Note: Mat 13:44-46.]. If, like the Rich Youth in the Gospel, we refuse to part with all, we never can possess the salvation of God. St. Paul is our pattern in this respect. He possessed more of what was really valuable than any unconverted man ever did before him: but what things were gain to me, says he, those I counted loss for Christ: yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. Nor does he give this as a sentiment which he was ready to maintain, but as one which he had already carried into effect: for whom, adds he, I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung that I may win Christ [Note: Php 3:7-8.]. And it is worthy of observation, that amongst the things which he despised thus, are to be reckoned, not his temporal interests only, but his own carnal wisdom and his legal righteousness [Note: Php 3:9.] which, to a man of Pharisaic habits, are far more dear than all the world besides. After his example, then, we must renounce all that is pleasing to flesh and blood, and take Christ for our Wisdom, our Righteousness, our Sanctification, and our complete Redemption.]

2.

Sell it not

[We shall be continually tempted to part with it: but we must hold fast what we have, that no man may take our crown. We must never, after having once put our hand to the plough, look back again. In seasons of prosperity we may be lulled asleep; and Satan may rob us of our prize. And in times of persecution we may be intimidated, and draw back through fear. But nothing, however terrible, should move us. We should be ready, not only to be bound, but also to die, at any time, and in any manner, for the name of the Lord Jesus. If called to suffer for his sake, we must rejoice that we are counted worthy of so high an honour: yea, we must even leap for joy, because we are thereby rendered conformable to Christ, and because God is glorified in us. We must be faithful unto death, if ever we would obtain a crown of life.]

Address
1.

Examine whether you have the truth set before you

[In purchasing any commodity, you endeavour to ascertain that it is good and genuine. And so must you do in relation to the Gospel. You must not take any thing for granted. You have a touchstone, by which you must try whatever is offered to you for sale, St. Paul speaks of a false Gospel, as finding an extensive currency in the Galatian Church [Note: Gal 1:6-7.]; and such a Gospel is but too often commended to us at this day. Examine, then, what ye hear; and bring it all to the test of Gods blessed word. The salvation which we offer you, is that which Christ purchased for us on the cross; a salvation altogether by grace and through faith Christ. It is that, and that only, that we call on you to buy. And our counsel is that which is given to every one of you by our Lord himself: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see [Note: Rev 3:18.]. Ascertain, I say, that this is the very truth of God; and then hesitate not to buy it, though at the price of all that you possess.]

2.

Inquire whether any who have bought it ever repented of their purchase

[I know, indeed, that you may find stony-ground hearers in every place where the Gospel is preached; yea, and many a Demas too. But the former are persons who never had the root of grace within them; and the latter carry back with them into the world a self-condemning conscience, that will embitter their whole lives. Could you ask of Moses, whether he now regrets, or ever did regret, the having sacrificed all the treasures of Egypt for that apparently worthless portion, the reproach of Christ; or, could you consult the myriads who came out of great tribulation, and who loved not their lives unto death; would you find one amongst them all that thought he had ever paid too dear for this heavenly prize? No: there is no such thought in heaven; nor is there any such feeling upon earth amongst the faithful followers of the Lamb. Be not ye afraid, then, to pay the price demanded of you: for, as the gain of the whole world would be a poor matter in exchange for the soul; so the sacrifice of life itself will be found to have been unworthy of a thought, when the glory purchased by it shall have been accorded to you.]

3.

Lose not the opportunity that is now afforded you

[What would millions that are now in the eternal world give, if they could have but one more offer of that salvation which they once despised? And soon you yourselves also will be filled with bitter regret, if you close not with the offer now made to you Say not that you are poor, and cannot pay the price: for you are invited to buy it without money and without price [Note: Isa 55:1.]. O that I might but prevail upon you, ere it be too late! Refuse not, with Herod, to give up your Herodias; nor, with Agrippa, to become altogether Christians: but now forsake all for Christ; and expect, both in this world and the next, a rich and glorious equivalent [Note: Luk 18:28-30.].]

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

Pro 23:23 Buy the truth, and sell [it] not; [also] wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.

Ver. 23. Buy the truth and sell it not. ] Every parcel of truth is precious, as the filings of gold, as the bezar stone, when beaten, are carefully looked to and preserved. “Hold fast the faithful word,” as with both hands. Tit 1:9 “Strive together for the faith of the gospel.” Php 1:27 Be zealous for it; Jdg 1:3 , Either live with it, or die for it. As we have received it as a legacy from our forefathers (who sealed it with their blood, and paid dear for it), so we must transmit it to our posterity pure and entire, whatever it stands us in. They were so religious that they would not exchange a letter or syllable of the faith wherewith Christ had be trusted them. a So zealous in buying the truth, that they would give five marks and more for a good book – and that was more money than ten pound is now. Some gave a load of hay for a few chapters of St James or of St Paul in English, sitting up all night in reading and hearing, &c. b What a deal of charge was the Queen of Sheba at for Solomon’s wisdom! The wise merchant for the pearl of price! Jerome and Reuchlin for their Hebrew learning! Pro singulis horis singulos aureos numerabant. Reuchlin gave a crown an hour to the Jew that read to him. Jerome ventured his life to visit by night to a Jewish doctor. See Mat 13:44 .

a Arii . Nestorii .

b Acts and Mon., fol. 756.

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

wisdom. Hebrew. chakmah. See note on Pro 1:2. Not the same word as in verses: Pro 23:4, Pro 23:8.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

The Buying and Selling of the Truth

Buy the truth, and sell it not;

Yea, wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.Pro 23:23

1. Buy the truth, and sell it not. Wedged in between warnings against the evil effects that attend gluttony and drunkenness come these startling words, a ray of sheer idealism, which lights up the whole page. Here are no calculations of profit as it is understood in the market-place and the counting-house; here is no commendation of virtue on the ground that experience shows it to pay better in the long run than its opposite, nor the spirit which declares honesty to be the best policy,a maxim which might have been penned by any convicted pickpocket,but truth is praised for its own sake as a supreme possession, to be acquired and not to be parted with on any consideration; it is like that pearl of great price which a merchant found, and in exchange for which he gave all that he had.

2. Shakespeare has told us that all the worlds a stage, and all the men and women merely players. It would have been much more true to say that all the world is a market, and all the men and women buyers and sellers. Every day is a market-day, and every evening brings its balance-sheet to us: things bought and things sold, with the net gain, or, it may be, loss. Foolish people are always selling the better things for the worse; while the wise buy the more precious and enduring things, at the cost of that which they can more easily part with. The foolish sell the substance for the shadow, and the wise sell the shadow for the substance; that is the main difference between the two.

I

A Thing of Value

The Truth.

Buy the truth, and sell it not; yea, wisdom, and instruction, and understanding. The second clause gives the sphere in which truth moves, or the three properties which appertain to it. These are: wisdom, practical knowledge; instruction, moral culture and discipline; and understanding, the faculty of discernment.

1. First, then, the treasure set before us here as worth obtaining is the truth. The truth has a perpetual charm for every soul that is true. Over all souls she wields a mystic power; all must bow to her authority, whether they love her or not. She has a Divine right to command, to direct, to judge, to condemn and to acquit. She is the only possessor of such a right. There is, indeed, no authority that can make itself felt by man save that which comes to him in the guise of truth. The truth is not merely intellectual but moral and practical as well. To seek truth wherever she may be found, to follow truth wherever she leads, to do truth whatever the consequences, may be said to sum up the whole duty of man. Therefore, whatsoever things are true may well be the primary subjects of our thought and meditation and practice.

Let no promise of reward, however great, tempt you from that generous and uncalculating loyalty to truth which holds that any sacrifice made on its altar is worth making, that nothing which is purchased at the cost of truth is worth the prize. If you are called to the office of a teacher or preacher of truthand what vocation can be higher?see that it is the truth as you yourself have learned to see it, and not somebody elses truth, that you give your fellows. The secret of success in the communication of truth, as in all true success in life, is to be yourself, as the secret of failure is concealment and repression of ones own selfhoodthe seeming to be what one is not. The life of imitation, as Plato said, is the life of evil. The good life, the true life, is always original. Such fidelity to truth you will find to be its own reward, as unfaithfulness is its own penalty. To sell the truth is to arrest the movement of your intellectual life, to kill the faculty of further insight. To cherish the truth you know is to keep the eyes of your mind open to the larger vision of truth which the future has in store for you, to remain a seeker, and therefore a finder, of truth in all the days to come. Be loyal to your convictions, at whatever cost; beware of disloyalty to truth.1 [Note: J. Seth, Graduation Address to Students.]

2. There are three kinds of truth. That is to say, truth is to be sought in three different spheres of life.

(1) First there is civil truth, which exists and prevails in all the civil business of societythe truth which man speaks to man: Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour. This is the truth that is so highly thought of, and so valued, both in public and in private life, as it is so indispensable to the due discharge of the duties of life; and so great is considered the insult of affixing upon man the imputation of speaking contrary to truth that life is often risked to repel the charge; and not only that, but is frequently sacrificed to wipe away the stain. This does not seem to be the truth spoken of in the text, although, perhaps, it is part of it. It extends from it, as the branch from the tree; it flows from it, as the streamlet from the fountain; but it is not altogether it.

Truth is the very bond of society, without which it must cease to exist, and dissolve into anarchy and chaos. A household cannot be governed by lying; nor can a nation. Sir Thomas Browne once was asked, Do the devils lie? No, was his answer; for then even hell could not subsist. No considerations can justify the sacrifice of truth, which ought to be sovereign in all the relations of life. Of all mean vices, perhaps lying is the meanest. It is in some cases the offspring of perversity and vice, and in many others of sheer moral cowardice. There was no virtue that Dr. Arnold of Rugby laboured more sedulously to instil into young men than the virtue of truthfulness, as being the manliest of virtues, as indeed the very basis of all true manliness. He designated truthfulness as moral transparency, and he valued it more highly than any other quality. When lying was detected, he treated it as a great moral offence; but when a pupil made an assertion, he accepted it with confidence. If you say so, that is quite enough; of course I believe your word. By thus trusting and believing them, he educated the young in truthfulness; the boys at length coming to say to one another: Its a shame to tell Arnold a liehe always believes one.2 [Note: S. Smiles, Character, 206.]

(2) There is a second kind of truthphilosophical truth, or an inquiry into the causes of nature, which is drawn and gathered from observation of the works of God, and which those who rank high in the learned world aim at possessing to such an extent that in quest of it they spare neither trouble, time, toil, nor expense. They sail to foreign climes, traverse distant lands

Scorn delights, and live laborious days;

but if the discoveries which they make be found, on experiment, to be contrary to truth, then they are constrained to suffer a sort of degradation in their character, as men of literature and science, and to come down from the elevated station which they had occupied before. This does not, either, seem to be the truth spoken of in the text.

What is there within the circle of human possessions which has had its value so extolled by the most gifted of men as Truth? There is an admitted nobility in the love of it, a high distinction in the search for it. To admit this is to acknowledge the importance of science and philosophy; and from the exceeding worth of truth philosophy receives its high distinction. However laboriously and cautiously reached, philosophic doctrines are of no value except in so far as they are capable of being verified. There are no dogmas, whether scientific, philosophic, or theologic, which have a right to live on any other condition than the acknowledgment of their truth. Popular error holds its place only on account of the absence of scientific criticism, which is the expression of intellectual activity. The strength, beauty, and value of truth are most clearly recognized when all society is stirred to interest in the whole range of inquiry, and in the critical testing of dogmas of all sorts. The love of truth is the true philosophic spirit; search after it is the philosophers task.1 [Note: Henry Calderwood.]

(3) There is a third kind of truth,moral or spiritual truth,the truth which regards God as a Sovereign, and man as an immortal, accountable being; the truth as it is in Jesus, which truth is gathered in all its fulness, purity, and excellence, only from the Scriptures, the Word of God.

The truth here meant is that which St. Augustine calleth legem omnium artium, et artem omnipotentis Artificis, a law to direct all arts, an art taught by Wisdom itself, by the Maker of all things. It teacheth us to love God with all our hearts, to believe in Him, and to lead upright lives. It killeth in us the root of sin, it extinguisheth all lusts, it maketh us tread under foot pleasure and honour and wealth; it rendereth us deaf to the noise of this busy world, and blind to that glaring pomp which dazzleth the eyes of others. Hc preunte seculi fluctus calcamus: It goeth before us in our way, and through all the surges of this present world it bringeth us to the vision and fruition of Him who is Truth itself.1 [Note: A. Farindon, Sermons, ii. 379.]

Phillips Brooks refused to give the intellect in man the supremacy when taken by itself. In speaking of the Person of Christ, he asks the questions: How does Christ compare in intellectual power with other men? How did He estimate the intellect? Was His intellect sufficient to account for the unique position He holds in the worlds history as the mightiest force that has controlled the development of humanity? He finds the answer by turning to the Fourth Gospel, which gives us most that we know about the mind of Jesus. It is the intellectual Gospel, because there is one constantly recurring wordtruth, which is distinctly a word of the intellect. But in the Fourth Gospel, in every instance, it is employed in a sense different from that of the schools. In its scholastic use it is detached from life and made synonymous with knowledge. But knowledge is no word of Jesus. With information for the head alone, detached from its relations to the whole nature, Jesus has no concern. Truth was something which set the whole man free. It was a moral thing, for he who does not receive it is not merely a doubter, but a liar. Truth was something which a man could be, not merely something which a man could study and measure by walking around it on the outside. The objective and the subjective lose themselves in each other. Truth can be known only from the inside; it is something moral, something living, something spiritual. It is not mere objective unity; it must have in it the elements of character. To this end was I born, says Jesus, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.2 [Note: A. V. G. Allen, Phillips Brooks: Memories of His Life, 321.]

II

The Way to Obtain It

Buy the Truth.

The truth cannot be purchased with money. The highest things are not marketable; they are like the wine and milk of which Isaiah wrotewithout money and without price. The power of money, though enormously great, is limited, and does not yet control the whole field human and Divine. You cannot buy brains and genius, however much money you have; or the poets vision, the artists touch, the ear for music, the gift of song. You cannot buy a good name, a stainless reputation, an easy conscience, or a pair of honest eyes. You cannot buy a big manly heart, or the faith of a little child. You cannot buy happiness; above all things, it runs away from the possessor of millions. You cannot buy a good mans trust or a good womans love; still less can you buy self-respect, or the right to pray, or a place in Christs living Church and the inheritance of His saints.

All the best things are given away. Do we realize what a ghost and travesty of possession lurks in the act of purchase? You can buy a book of poems: the soft bindings are yours, the gilt edges are yours, the hand-made paper is yours, but not the poetry. No man was ever rich enough to buy a poem. If it is his, he must have it as the unpurchasable gift of God to his soul. And as surely as you cannot buy a poem, so you cannot buy a home, or a happy hour, or a good conscience, or a rich hope. Trite old story, yes, but we must go on telling it till the vital truth it implies has fashioned the practices of the world. And it can, for the positive side of this teaching is the doctrine of graceGods mercy for the undeserving, His treasure for the poor, His fulness for the empty. The wealth of our lives is the love that brings the vision beautiful and welds men heart to heart, the sympathy that gives insight, the faith and hope that enrich the spirit, the morning joy of Jesus in the souls of them that crown Him and the lives of them that serve Him.1 [Note: P. C. Ainsworth, The Pilgrim Church, 56.]

1. In one aspect the truth is always seeking to reach us. All truth is of the nature of revelation. But just as there must be eyes formed to behold the objects in the world around us, so there must be an inner eye that looks out for and seeks to read the revelation. The revelation is not wholly in the objects, but also in what they indicate. Science describes the objects, but the mind seeks the truth that they reveal. Sometimes the truth comes to us, dawns upon us, shines on us, without any conscious effort of our own or immediate seeking on our part:

Think ye mid all this mighty sum

Of things for ever speaking,

That nothing of itself will come,

But we must still be seeking?

This is intuition; but it does not come miraculously; there has been a long preparation for it in the race and often also in the individual.

A modern philosophical writer (Eucken), with much knowledge of past endeavours after the truth, tells us that we must seek it in a new way. We must seek it, primarily, not without but within ourselves, not as a matter of the intellect merely, or of any one or more faculties alone, but of the life, as something belonging to a higher and wider Life which is seeking to realize itself in us. No doubt what is thus said is true. But it implies a distinction or contrast between the actual and the ideal, and that there is a faculty in man capable of perceiving the ideal. In what other way could we possibly know what the higher and wider Life moves us to? The ideal, however, is not a mere intellectual perception; there is also a sense or feeling of what is true and good, and an attraction that draws us upward towards itself. That there is a higher Life seeking to live in us, Christianity also teaches.1 [Note: W. L. Walker, The True Christ, 18.]

One of the most interesting parts of the Pilgrims Progress is that in which Christian and Faithful come to Vanity Fair, crowded with merry people, all engaged in buying trifles. That which did not a little amuse the merchants was that these pilgrims set very light by their wares, they cared not so much as to look upon them: and if they called upon them to buy, they would put their fingers in their ears and cry, Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity. One chanced mockingly, beholding the carriage of the men, to say unto them, What will ye buy? But they, looking gravely upon him, said, We buy the truth. 2 [Note: J. Jeffrey, The Way of Life, 254.]

2. What is meant, then, by saying that the truth has to be boughtBuy the truth, and sell it not; yea, wisdom, and instruction, and understanding? The highest things have to be bought, not with moneyindeed, they are above price; but you cannot have them without cost, expenditure, sacrifice. To buy is to give up something that you value in exchange for something that you desire more, covet more, and perhaps need more. It is right, then, to say that all good and Divine things must be bought. Our great Master likened the Kingdom of Heaven to a merchantman seeking goodly pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it. And the Apostle Paul, quite in the spirit of that parable, declared that he had suffered the loss of all things to win Christthat is, he had sold all the other things to buy Christ, and got Him cheap at that sacrifice.

(1) We have all to buy what this writer calls wisdom, for it can be gained only in the school of experience, and the fees in that school are high. Wisdom is never inherited, never bequeathed or transmitted from father to son. Everyone has to buy it for himself in a dear market. This writer, in the preceding verse, counts the father happy who begetteth a wise child; but that is impossible. His child may grow up into a wise man, but he is never born wise. A man may be born clever, talented, a genius, a poet; he may be born rich, heir to an estate, a title, or a throne; but he is never born wise. He has to buy wisdom at a big price. Some of our young people may be a great deal smarter than their fathers, much more up-to-date, as they say, and, by virtue of their superior education, far more knowing in book matters. But they cannot, in the nature of things, be quite as wise as their fathers, unless, indeed, the fathers are mentally deficient; and even then, there is at least a probability that the sons will take after them; because wisdom can be acquired only in the rough and painful school of experience. The buying of wisdom writes wrinkles and furrows on our faces, and heavy lines of care on our poor hearts. We buy wisdom with many a rebuff, humbling, and disappointment, with costly blunders and heartache, sad hours, and sometimes a bit of heart-break. We are buying wisdom all our lives, and often it comes to us only as the end approaches. That is the pathos of life. We often wish that we could have the wisdom sooner, before the twilight creeps on. It would make our lives so much happier and more useful; but it comes only in time to use the greater part of it in the higher service, where, no doubt, it will be needed. Well might this writer say: Buy wisdom. We have all to buy it.

On November 15, Principal Tulloch gave his opening lecture at St. Marys College. My record of the day says really very splendid. These brilliant addresses were discourses on some ecclesiastical or theological topic, which had become matter of current interest. And a few days after they had been read in St. Marys College, you might often find them in some Review or Magazine. But they were always stimulating: as the prelections of a humdrum professor never could be. And a special pathos was sometimes in them, if Tulloch was at the time in one of those dark moods of which Mrs. Oliphants biography most truly tells. Well I remember the audible hush, once, when the Principal looked up from his lecture (he always sat to lecture) and said, as last words, Gentlemen, you will not fully understand these things till you have been taught them by experience or till your lot has been plowed by the furrows of sorrow. Somehow, what Tulloch said always got home wonderfully. Adaptation was perfect.1 [Note: A. K. H. Boyd, Twenty-Five Years of St. Andrews, i. 126.]

(2) It is equally certain that we have to buy character, reputation, and an honoured and trusted name. There is no market in the world where these can be picked up cheap. You can buy a tawdry reputation, a short-lived popularity or notoriety, at a very costless price, just as you can buy sham jewels for a few coppers from any pedlar in the streets. But to win a name which will keep its white, stainless honour through the wear and tear of years; to win the enduring respect of good men (and there is no other respect worth a straw); to win the daily and the final Well done of the Great Judgethat is never a costless business. It means the persistent climbing of the rugged hill of duty; it means the daily fight with temptation; the daily treading down of self-indulgent ease; the daily sacrifice in the service of friends and fellow-men; and the constant plodding on in the straight path, swerving not to right or left through evil repute and good. If we cannot face that music and endure that discipline, we shall never win the prize. The good and honoured name does not drop into our lap as a gift of fortune. It must be dearly bought.

Turn your energies towards your moral cultivation. In doing so you will accumulate imperishable riches. All that your worldly care can bring will be the doubtful possession of riches of doubtful value. In the possession of the moral wealth of a noble and disciplined character, you possess that which can neither wither nor be stolen. What we have we must leave at the threshold of the grave. What we are goes with us into the other world. Riches will drop from our dying hand into the grasp of others. Character passes with us into the presence of God. Character is everything. This, rather than worldly riches, is the true end of life. The perfecting of this is the true purpose of God in life.1 [Note: Bishop W. Boyd Carpenter.]

(3) We must also buy the higher and richer experiences of the Christian life. Some people talk smoothly, and even glibly, about the life of holiness, the higher life, as if it could be reached easily by a simple act of trust. It is not to be attained in that way. It means sacrifice. The higher life always means giving up things we like and love for the sake of God and our fellow-men. The religion which costs us nothing in time, thought, labour, or money, is not worth picking up in the streets. Most people pay as much for their religion as it is worth, especially if they pay very little, because in that case it is worth so little. The Bible cannot be Gods book to us, full of rich teaching and comfort, unless we take the trouble to read it often and prayerfully. We cannot understand the helpfulness and mighty power of prayer unless we steal time from our manifold engagements, to commune with God in prayer. We cannot enjoy the communion of saints unless we sacrifice our petty prides, snobberies, and mighty regard for class-distinctions. We cannot realize the sweets of Divine forgiveness unless we renounce our grudges, unreasonable dislikes, and our own unwillingness to forgive; and we cannot have Christ as our Companion and Comforter unless every day we try to do not our own will but His. Every advance towards the higher life involves sacrifice. It costs nothing to descend; it is always costly to ascend.

Never fear to let go, he says in his philosophical notes; It is the only means of getting better things,self-sacrifice. Let go; let go; we are sure to get back again. How science teaches the lesson of morals, which is ever, Give up, give up; deny yourself,not this everlasting getting; deny yourself, and give, and infinitely more shall be yours; but givenot bargaining; give from love, because you must. And if the question will intrude, What shall I have, if I give up this? relegate that question to faith, and answer, I shall have God. In my giving, in my love, God, who is Love, gives Himself to me. 2 [Note: Life and Letters of James Hinton, 206.]

3. The price we have to pay often amounts to the hearts blood. It is not only truth in the sense of knowledge that we want, but, above all, truth, in action, in our relationships to each other, in our relation to God; and for such truth we pay no less a price than life itselfnot by laying it down in one act of renunciation, but by making it one continuous act of dedication. We must practise what is by no means easyan entire and resolute candour with ourselves, a strict scrutiny of our own motives; we must exercise an untiring watchfulness over the springs of conduct; we must, in one word, buy the truth by being true in thought and word and deed. Right opinions are very good and are worth having, but right opinions by themselves have never yet saved a soul. We do not buy saving truth by paying a stipulated amount across a celestial counter once, and then carrying it away with us; we have to keep on paying, day by day, hour by hour, and the price is nothing less than lifegentle, upright, courageous, equitable, dutiful, generous, forgiving. That alone is the true life, and we have not only to know the truth, but to live it.

There is no story of modern times that shows such a perfect blending of courage, serenity, and self-consecration to truth as the life of Bishop Colenso, the pioneer of the scientific study of the Old Testament in the English-speaking world. He had everything to gain by keeping his unorthodox conclusions to himself, and everything to lose by making them public; he had, after all, only to keep quiet on this one topic, full as his life was of other interests; but I do not think it ever occurred to him to shield himself or to save his career in the Church by cowardly silence. You remember his own account of the circumstances which first turned his mind to Old Testament criticism: While translating the story of the Flood, I have had a simple-minded but intelligent native look up and ask, ls all that true? Do you really believe that all this happened sothat all the beasts and birds and creeping things upon the earth, large and small, from hot countries and cold, came thus by pairs and entered into the ark with Noah? And did Noah gather food for them all, for the beasts and birds of prey, as well as for the rest? My heart answered in the words of the prophet, Shall a man speak lies in the name of the Lord? I dared not do so. Reckless and malicious attacks, virtual deposition from his office, a general boycott followed, but could not deter him from following along the path he believed, and rightly believed, to be the true one. I trust, he wrote, that I duly reverence both the Church and the Bible. But the truth is above both; and the one thing that pained him was to see how little love of truth there was among those from whom he had hoped most. Well, he bore the obloquy, the isolation, the loss inflicted upon him by bigotry, and to-day the views for which he suffered are those of educated people everywhere; but it was he and such as he who paid the price of truth, and the least we can do is to cherish the possessions they bought at such a cost.1 [Note: J. Warschauer, The Way of Understanding, 97.]

III

The Folly of Bartering It

Sell it not.

What does selling the truth mean? It means giving up that which we know to be right for some pleasure or advantage in this world. Every temptation is a persuasion to sell the truth. The devil says, If you will give up this or that good habit or good resolution, I will give you this or that pleasure. Moses, when he was come to years, chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt.

When Ahab came to Naboth to procure from him his vineyard, Give me, saith he, thy vineyard, and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it; or I will give thee the worth of it in money (1Ki 21:2). See here three mighty temptersthe king, money, and commodity; whereof which is the strongest, it is hard to determine: the weakest of them prevaileth with most men. Notwithstanding, Naboth holdeth out against them all: The Lord forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee.2 [Note: A. Farindon, Sermons, ii. 431.]

1. It is hard to buy the truth, and easy to sell it. It is always easy to sell the best and highest things. In the ordinary market the rule is the other way: it is easy to buy, and hard to sell. Everybody welcomes the buyer and meets him with respectful salutes; but the seller is often sent off with a churlish No. In the moral and spiritual market, however, it is hard to buy and easy to sell. There are always numerous buyers bidding against each other in their eagerness to buy what we are prepared to sell. It is easy to sell ones spiritual birthright for a morsel of meat. There are scores of Jacobs lying in wait ready to help us to that transaction. It is easy to sell our principles and convictions for some paltry bribe, some pecuniary or social advantage. It is easy to sell our veracity or our honesty, to make people think more highly of us, or to secure additional gain. It is easy for young men to sell all their chances in this world and the world to come for the excitements of the drink-shop, the betting-ring, and the lewdnesses of the streets. It is easy for young fools to sell the Bible, the faith, and all the truths for which the martyrs died, just to gain the cheap reputation of being modern, up-to-date, independent free-thinkers, and that other fools may pat them on the back and tell them how clever they are. And it is easy to sell the last rewarding sentence of the Great Judge and King for the paltry toy, the painted gewgaws of the prince of this world.

2. When we sell the truth we always make a bad bargain, just as in buying the truth we always make a good bargain. In all other bargains, the gain of one party is loss to the other, but in this bargain there is only gain and no loss at all; the buyer gains, and yet no seller loses. So the sale of the truth is of all bargains the worst and the most foolish. For in other sales, although somebody may lose, yet somebody gains. But when the truth is sold, there is nothing but mere loss; no man is, no man can be, the better for the sale of the truth:

Vendentem tantum deserit et minuit:

Only the seller grows the worse; there is no buyer grows the better.

Man parted with the truth of God in the garden of Eden, when he believed the lies of the devil, and disobeyed the strict injunction of his Maker. Then was the truth lost, then was it sold, and with it man lost the dignity of his naturethe brightness of his future hopes and prospects, and the peace and happiness of his mind. The command had been of the simplest natureThou shalt not eat of it, neither shalt thou touch it, lest thou die. But the disobeying of that simple command entailed consequences the most terrible; he did eat, and the great poet of England sketches the result, even to inanimate nature, in a picture, perhaps, not at all overdrawn:

Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her seat,

Sighing through all her works, gave signs of woe

That all was lost.

Sky loured, and, muttering thunder, some sad drops

Wept at completing of the mortal sin

Original.

And what did man get in return for his sale of the truth? He got a dark and clouded intellect, an alienated and corrupted heart, and a soul dead in trespasses and sin. He got all the misery, wretchedness, and woe that have been since blighting earth, and earths fairest scenes, and which still appear in the dark prospective opening of eternity; and he got the beauteous work of creation, that had hitherto lain smiling under the sunshine of Heavens blessing, blasted by the withering curse of the Great Eternal.1 [Note: J. Gregg, The Life of Faith, 76.]

3. The man who cannot see the priceless value of truth is always capable of selling it. That is the logic of history. That is the tragedy of materialism. Judas sold his honour, his place in the brotherhood, the great trust of his life, and the very love of God. Men little think what impiety, treachery, and shame lurk beneath the materialistic appraisement of life. This is peculiarly a peril of the city. Those who till the soil and wait in field and garden for Gods sunshine and His rain have all about them a sacrament of the priceless things. But those who dwell in the city, amid so much that is artificial, so much that is not easily suggestive of the unseen sources and spiritual values of life, may perhaps think themselves in special danger of judging earthly judgments. But, after all, whether a man drive a ploughshare or drive a bargain, there is but one way of escape from the peril of the earthly view and the earthly valuationa peril never far from the hearts of the children of men. And that is in the evangel of the grace of God.

Art has fought in vain with the coarse and stubborn materialism of the world. stheticism, with its eclectic discipleship and its demand for a measure of intellectual refinement, has never been able to make the plea for the priceless a real factor in the life of a workaday world. Only Christ can do that. In His cross He has revealed life to us as the priceless gift of God to every humble, lowly, penitent, and obedient heart.

Nothing in my hand I bring,

Simply to Thy cross I cling.

If once a man has come empty-handed to the mercy of God in Christ; if day by day he stretches out these same empty hands to the Giver of life; if his heart has tasted of the fulness awaiting him beyond the voices of the market and the pledges of the worldthen beauty and truth and love and all the spiritual reality of life are his, and the basal plea for the priceless is for ever wakened and answered in his soul.1 [Note: P. C. Ainsworth, The Pilgrim Church, 59.]

The state of perfect love, expressing itself in perfect rightness of thought and deed, may be unattainable on earth, but nothing lower than the search for this ideal can satisfy the yearnings of a soul such as was Florence Nightingales. She had the Hunger for Righteousness. The crown of righteousness! she wrote to Miss Nicholson (May 1846). That word always strikes me more than anything in the Bible. Strange that not happiness, not rest, not forgiveness, not glory, should have been the thought of that glorious mans mind, when at the eve of the last and greatest of his labours; all desires so swallowed up in the one great craving after righteousness that, at the end of all his struggles, it was mightier within him than ever, mightier even than the desire of peace. How can people tell one to dwell within a good conscience, when the chief of all the apostles so panted after righteousness that he considered it the last best gift, unattainable on earth, to be bestowed in Heaven?2 [Note: Sir Edward Cook, The Life of Florence Nightingale, i. 51.]

Literature

Farindon (A.), Sermons, ii. 373.

Greenhough (J. G.), in Great Texts of the Old Testament, 19.

Gregg (J.), Sermons and Lectures, 67.

James (F. H.), in Voyseys Sermons, xv. (1892), No. 42.

Jeffrey (J.), The Way of Life, 252.

Moody (A.), Buy the Truth, 11.

Neale (J. M.), Sermons for Children, 15.

Smellie (A.), In the Hour of Silence, 81.

Vaughan (J.), Sermons (Brighton Pulpit), New Ser., xii. (1876), No. 967.

Vaughan (J.), Sermons to Children, v. 160.

Walker (W. L.), The True Christ, 9.

Warschauer (J.), The Way of Understanding, 88.

Christian World Pulpit, lxxiv. 133 (E. J. Miller); lxxxiv. 145 (W. B. Carpenter).

Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible

Buy: Pro 2:2-4, Pro 4:5-7, Pro 10:1, Pro 16:16, Pro 17:16, Job 28:12-19, Psa 119:72, Psa 119:127, Isa 55:1, Mat 13:44, Mat 13:46, Phi 3:7, Phi 3:8, Rev 3:18

sell: Mat 16:26, Act 20:23, Heb 11:26, Rev 12:11

Reciprocal: Job 28:13 – knoweth Psa 90:12 – that Psa 119:31 – stuck Pro 2:4 – thou Pro 4:13 – Take Pro 8:10 – General Pro 18:15 – General Jer 5:1 – that seeketh Mar 10:21 – sell Joh 17:6 – they 1Co 15:2 – keep in memory Gal 5:1 – Stand Eph 5:17 – understanding 1Th 5:21 – hold 2Ti 1:13 – Hold 2Ti 4:7 – I have kept Tit 1:9 – Holding 1Jo 2:24 – abide

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

23:23 Buy {k} the truth, and sell [it] not; [also] wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.

(k) Spare no cost for truths sake, neither depart from it for any gain.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes