Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 3:1
My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:
1. law ] or, teaching, R.V. marg. This is the primary meaning of the Heb. word Torah (see Pro 1:8 note, Pro 4:2, Pro 7:2), which is the common designation of the Law, in its Biblical sense.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Fourth Address. Chap. Pro 3:1-10
Be obedient to my instruction, so shalt thou live long and prosper ( Pro 3:1-4). Trust, not in thyself, but in God ( Pro 3:5). Seek His direction ( Pro 3:5-8): render Him His due ( Pro 3:9-10): and (see Pro 3:12, note) submit to His fatherly correction ( Pro 3:11-12).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Pro 3:1-35
My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments.
Useful precepts and inspiring motives
I. To remember and keep in our hearts the things written in this book (Pro 3:1-2). Interest dictates to us the propriety of keeping Gods commandments.
II. To live in the exercise of mercy and truth (Pro 3:3), in every part of our intercourse with our fellow-creatures, however defective they may be in the practice of these virtues to us. As workers under the Spirit we are required to write the law of kindness and of truth upon the tables of our heart, by maintaining deep impressions of it, by meditating upon the peaceful motives that should excite us to that virtue, and by endeavouring, through the grace of Christ, to have our hearts habitually disposed to all those duties which are the natural fruits of love and integrity. God is well pleased, not only with the reverence and love which His people show to Himself, but with that generosity and mercy, that sincerity and faithfulness, which they evince to their fellow-men. To find in His children His true though imperfect image greatly delights the Deity. That understanding which is good in the sight of God and man is another fruit of the constant practice of mercy and truth.
III. To depend on God, and not on our own understanding (Pro 3:5). To trust in God is to depend on Him for bestowing on us every needful blessing, and preserving us from all evil. This dependence on God is to be exercised with all our hearts, our judgments being persuaded that God is the only and the all-sufficient object of confidence, and our souls resting with full satisfaction in His power and faithfulness. We must renounce every sublunary dependence; we must not make our own understanding a staff to our hearts.
IV. To be liberal in the service of God (Pro 3:9-10). Earthly substance is necessary for the use of our bodies, but we are called to make a nobler use of it than in the mere service of the outward man. We are to honour the Lord with it, making no use of any part of our increase till we have set apart a reasonable proportion of it for the service of God.
V. To behave aright under afflictive providences (Pro 3:11). We are warned against despising Divine rebukes, or fainting under them. The rebukes of providence are despised when persons regard not the supreme hand which afflicts, when they consider not the design of God in afflicting, or when, through stupidity of mind or hardness of heart, they neglect to comply with it. Afflictions may be despised when men do not value them as necessary and useful. Weariness under the Divine correction is another common fault, which we must avoid with care. Our hearts must not fret against the Lord, nor suffer reflecting thoughts to spring up, for God never exceeds the due measure in distressing us. No ingredient is poured into the cup of affliction, but by infinite wisdom and grace. Ever keep in mind who it is that afflicts us. Let all flesh keep silent before Him. He is a Father, and chastens us in love.
VI. To esteem wisdom, and earnestly pursue it (Pro 3:13-26). All the treasures of wisdom are hid in Christ, and He communicates the precious gift by His Word and Spirit. The excellency of wisdom appears in the gifts she bestows. She is a munificent princess, holding in both hands the richest presents, to be given to her servants. A happy life extended to old age is given to the lovers of wisdom, and riches and honour are given in the same sense as length of days. And religion is not less conducive to pleasure than it is to honour and wealth. It will readily be admitted that some of wisdoms ways are pleasant; but are they all so? There is peace and pleasure in repentance, which is sweetened by the apprehension of Gods mercy in Christ. There is pleasure in self-denial, for he that practises it knows that he is the true self-seeker. There is pleasure and peace in tribulations, because when they abound, consolations abound much more by Christ. There is peace in fighting the Lords battles. All the exercises, all the privileges, all the hopes of religion, are full of pleasure. Add the glory which belongs to wisdom, as it appears in creation and providence (Pro 3:19-20). No wisdom is sound but that which is taught by the Word of God, and approved by Him who is the author of wisdom. This sound wisdom makes us discreet and prudent, and guards us against that selfish cunning which has so often assumed its name. Safety is another of the great advantages which always attend wisdom. Walking in the ways of the Lord, we may banish those fears that would distress the soul. The Lord is a sure ground of confidence in the worst of times. Our proper exercise in such seasons is to trust in the Lord, and to pour out our hearts before Him, knowing that He will be a refuge for us. (G. Lawson.)
Religious impressions to be retained
Travellers tell us that the constant rubbing of the sand on Egyptian hieroglyphs removes every trace of colour, and even effaces the deep-cut characters from basalt rocks. So the unceasing action of multitudinous trifles will take all the bloom off your religion, and cause the name of the King cut on the tablets of your heart to be forgotten if you do not counteract them by constant, earnest effort.
Godliness
I. Godliness is associated with regard for law (Pro 3:1).
1. Appropriation. My law. Before we commend the Word of God to others we must receive it ourselves.
2. Instruction. Forget not. This implies that something has been taught.
3. Exhortation. Forget not. There are few things men so soon forget as Divine commands. The godly man is one who respects righteous law. He delights in the law of the Lord (Psa 1:2; Rom 7:22). The moral law is eternal, and must be regarded by all true followers of Christ. Obedience to it is not the ground of justification, but this is attained in the work of sanctification.
II. Godliness is associated with present advantages (Pro 3:2).
1. Intensity of life. Length of days. In the long run the longest day is the day that has the longest record of service for God.
2. Length of life. Long life. A blessing, say some, of the Jewish dispensation. A blessing, rather let us say, of all dispensations. Righteousness tendeth to life as much now as ever, and, other things being equal, he will live the longest who lives the best.
3. Serenity of life. Peace. Tranquillity continuing through all the years. The peace of the man who hearkens to God is like a river (Isa 48:18), getting broader and deeper as it gets nearer to the sea.
III. Godliness is associated with regard for the well-being of men. Mercy (R.V. margin, kindness) and truth (Pro 3:3). See here the bearing of a godly life upon the good of men. The mind of God is one of good-will toward men (Luk 2:14), and those who would be God-like must be of the same mind (Mat 5:45).
IV. Godliness is associated with faith in god (Pro 3:5). Trust in the Lord is the secret of safety (Pro 29:25), of happiness (Pro 16:20), and of spiritual prosperity (Pro 28:25).
V. Godliness is associated with the acknowledgment of God (Pro 3:6). This acknowledgment of God is to be–
1. Personal. Thy ways.
2. In all thy ways. Mans ways are many. Some walk in high places, some in lowly valleys. The way of some is in the sea, of others in the office, of others in the academy, of others in the senate. Some men walk in many ways. Abraham Lincoln was a rail-splitter, a storekeeper, a bargeman, a lawyer, a member of a State legislature, a Congressman, and President of the United States, but in all positions he acknowledged God. At the threshold of life he had, says one of his biographers, a profound trust in Providence; and when he left Springfield for Washington to take his place as President he said to his friends, Pray that I may receive that Divine assistance without which I cannot proceed.
3. In our own sphere. We need not go out of our way. The ordinary path of life will furnish all we ought to ask. The promise in the sixth verse suggests that we may acknowledge God by looking to Him for guidance, and it gives the assurance of Divine direction.
VI. Godliness is associated with humility (Pro 3:7). Be not wise in thine own eyes. Many, says Seneca, might have attained wisdom had they not thought they had attained it. The way to godliness is in the footsteps of Christ, and to follow in that path we must be meek and lowly in heart. VII. Godliness is associated with practical holiness (Pro 3:7-9).
1. The godly man will shun evil. Depart from evil. To depart may be rendered to turn aside. As men sometimes cut those they do not wish to see, so is evil to be cut. To go into the way of evil is to run a risk of falling into it.
2. Cultivate benevolence (Pro 3:9). Christian benevolence is substantial (substance, not merely good wishes); generous (first-fruits); God-honouring (honour the Lord). Those who with a right motive give of what God has given them acknowledge their indebtedness to Him and His ownership in what they possess.
VIII. Godliness is gain (Pro 3:10). Gain is not always godliness, but godliness is always gain in the highest sense. The giving of the first-fruits fills the barns. (H. Thorne.)
The earthly rewards of wisdom
We are taught to look for the fruit of righteousness in long life and prosperity, for the penalty of sin in premature destruction. We are accustomed to dwell on the promised joys of the future world as if godliness had no promise of the life which now is, and in so doing we take all life and colour from those expected blessings. The true view seems to be, the way of wisdom, the path of the upright, is so full of joy, so crowned with peace; the life of the children of the kingdom is so wisely and bountifully provided for; the inevitable pains and troubles which fall to their share are so transformed, that from this present good we can infer a future better, gathering hints and promises of what we shall be from the realised felicity of what we are. What are the immediate and apprehensible benefits of the life which is lived according to the dictates of heavenly wisdom?
I. The right life is a wholesome life, physically healthy. The body is a sacred trust, a temple of the Holy Ghost; to use it ill is to violate the trust and to defile the temple. The temperance of habit and orderliness of life which Wisdom requires of her children are the first conditions of vitality. Peace of mind, cheerfulness of temper, the transfer of all anxiety from the human spirit to the strong Spirit of God, are very favourable to longevity. Let no one think of measuring life only by days and years. Each day should be a full, rich day, unmarred by recollections, unshadowed by apprehensions. Each day is distinctly worth living. The life in God is undoubtedly a healthy life, nor is it the less healthy because the outward man has to decay, and mortality has to be swallowed up of life.
II. The right life requires fair dealing between man and man. The main economic principle of wisdom is this, that all legitimate trade is the mutual advantage of buyer and seller.
III. Wisdom commands not only justice, but generosity. She requires her children to yield the first-fruits of all their possessions to the Lord, and to look tenderly upon His poor. And the teaching of experience is that those who act upon this precept purchase to themselves a good possession.
IV. Look at the deeper, more spiritual results of right living. God is so much to men, that clear vision and strong action are utterly impossible apart from a humble dependence upon Him. The beginning of all wisdom is in the recognition of God, in personal submission to Him, in diligent obedience to all His directions. We do not at first see what is meant by trusting in the Lord with all our heart; we confuse it with that tepid, conventional relation to God which too frequently passes current for faith. They who do entirely renounce their own judgment, who, with their whole heart trusting Him, acknowledge Him in all their ways, find their lives running over with blessing, and become the means of incalculable good to the world and to themselves. It would not be easy to make plain or even credible to those who have never trusted in God how this guidance and direction are given. When a few years have been passed in humble dependence on God, it is then possible to look back and see with astonishing clearness how real and decisive the leadings of the Spirit have been. Our life, we find, is all a plan of God, and He conceals it from us, as if on purpose to evoke our trust, and to secure that close and personal communion which the uncertainty renders necessary. Some are suspicious of the Inward Light, as it is called. That may be because they do not trust the Lord with the whole heart. Wisdom calls for a certain absoluteness in all our relations to God, a fearless, unreserved, and constantly renewed submission of heart to Him. And while the external results of wisdom are great and marked, this inward result, which is the spring of them all, is more blessed than any. The supreme bliss of the heavenly wisdom is that it leads us into a detailed obedience to the law which is our life; it sets us under the immediate and unbroken control of God. To know the secret of the Lord, to walk in this world not guideless, but led by the Lord of life, to approach death itself not fearful, but in the hands of that Infinite Love for whom death does not exist, surely this is worth more than the gold and precious stones which belong only to the earth and are earthy. (R. F. Horton, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER III
An exhortation to obedience, 1-4;
trust in God’s providence, 5, 6;
to humility, 7, 8;
to charity, 9, 10;
to submission to God’s chastening, 11, 12.
The profitableness of wisdom in all the concerns of life,
13-26.
No act of duty should be deferred beyond the time in which it
should be done, 27, 28.
Brotherly love and forbearance should he exercised, 29, 30.
We should not envy the wicked, 31, 32.
The curse of God is in the house of the wicked; but the humble
and wise shall prosper, 33-35.
NOTES ON CHAP. III
Verse 1. My son] The preceptor continues to deliver his lessons.
Forget not my law] Remember what thou hast heard, and practise what thou dost remember; and let all obedience be from the heart: “Let thy heart keep my commandments.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
My law; my doctrine or counsel; or the law of God, which might be called his law, as the gospel is called Pauls gospel, 2Th 2:8, because delivered by him.
Keep my commandments, by diligent meditation and hearty affection.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. law [and] commandmentsalldivine instructions (see on Ps 119:1and Ps 119:4).
let thine heart keeporsincerely observe (Pro 4:13;Pro 5:2).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
My son, forget not my law,…. Or, “doctrine” e; the doctrine of Christ, the Gospel, and the several truths of it; which, being of the utmost moment and importance, should be kept in memory, and not let slip, or be in the least slighted and neglected; see Heb 2:1;
but let thine heart keep my commandments; as the ark, or chest, kept the two tables of the law put into it; it denotes a cordial affection for the commandments and ordinances of Christ, a hearty attention and obedience to them, and a constant and cheerful observance of them, flowing from love and gratitude to him, Joh 14:15.
e “doctrinae meae”, Piscator, Michaelis; “institutionem meam”, Schultens; “doctrinam meam”, Cocceius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Communion Conferred by Wisdom. | |
1 My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: 2 For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee. 3 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: 4 So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man. 5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
We are here taught to live a life of communion with God; and without controversy great is this mystery of godliness, and of great consequence to us, and, as is here shown, will be of unspeakable advantage.
I. We must have a continual regard to God’s precepts, Pro 3:1; Pro 3:2.
1. We must, (1.) Fix God’s law, and his commandments, as our rule, by which we will in every thing be ruled and to which we will yield obedience. (2.) We must acquaint ourselves with them; for we cannot be said to forget that which we never knew. (3.) We must remember them so that they may be ready to us whenever we have occasion to use them. (4.) Our wills and affections must be subject to them and must in every thing conform to them. Not only our heads, but our hearts, must keep God’s commandments; in them, as in the ark of the testimony, both the tables of the law must be deposited.
2. To encourage us to submit ourselves to all the restraints and injunctions of the divine law, we are assured (v. 2) that it is the certain way to long life and prosperity. (1.) It is the way to be long-lived. God’s commandments shall add to us length of days; to a good useful life on earth, they shall add an eternal life in heaven, length of days for ever and ever, Ps. xxi. 4. God shall be our life and the length of our days, and that will be indeed long life, with an addition. But, because length of days may possibly become a burden and a trouble, it is promised, (2.) That it shall prove the way to be easy too, so that even the days of old age shall not be evil days, but days in which thou shalt have pleasure: Peace shall they be continually adding to thee. As grace increases, peace shall increase; and of the increase of Christ’s government and peace, in the heart as well as in the world, there shall be no end. Great and growing peace have those that love the law.
II. We must have a continual regard to God’s promises, which go along with his precepts, and are to be received, and retained, with them (v. 3): “Let not mercy and truth forsake thee, God’s mercy in promising, and his truth in performing. Do not forfeit these, but live up to them, and preserve thy interest in them; do not forget these, but live upon them, and take the comfort of them. Bind them about thy neck, as the most graceful ornament.” It is the greatest honour we are capable of in this world to have an interest in the mercy and truth of God. “Write to them upon the table of thy heart, as dear to thee, thy portion, and most delightful entertainment; take a pleasure in applying them and thinking them over.” Or it may be meant of the mercy and truth which are our duty, piety and sincerity, charity towards men, fidelity towards God. Let these be fixed and commanding principles in thee. To encourage us to do this we are assured (v. 4) that this is the way to recommend ourselves both to our Creator and fellow-creatures: So shalt thou find favour and good understanding. 1. A good man seeks the favour of God in the first place, is ambitious of the honour of being accepted of the Lord, and he shall find that favour, and with it a good understanding; God will make the best of him, and put a favourable construction upon what he says and does. He shall be owned as one of Wisdom’s children, and shall have praise with God, as one having that good understanding which is ascribed to all those that do his commandments. 2. He wishes to have favour with men also (as Christ had, Luke ii. 52), to be accepted of the multitude of his brethren (Esth. x. 3), and that he shall have; they shall understand him aright, and in his dealings with them he shall appear to be prudent, shall act intelligently and with discretion. He shall have good success (so some translate it), the common effect of good understanding.
III. We must have a continual regard to God’s providence, must own and depend upon it in all our affairs, both by faith and prayer. 1. By faith. We must repose an entire confidence in the wisdom, power, and goodness of God, assuring ourselves of the extent of his providence to all the creatures and all their actions. We must therefore trust in the Lord with all our hearts (v. 5); we must believe that he is able to do what he will, wise to do what is best, and good, according to his promise, to do what is best for us, if we love him, and serve him. We must, with an entire submission and satisfaction, depend upon him to perform all things for us, and not lean to our own understanding, as if we could, by any forecast of our own, without God, help ourselves, and bring our affairs to a good issue. Those who know themselves cannot but find their own understanding to be a broken reed, which, if they lean to, will certainly fail them. In all our conduct we must be diffident of our own judgment, and confident of God’s wisdom, power, and goodness, and therefore must follow Providence and not force it. That often proves best which was least our own doing. 2. By prayer (v. 6): In all thy ways acknowledge God. We must not only in our judgment believe that there is an over-ruling hand of God ordering and disposing of us and all our affairs, but we must solemnly own it, and address ourselves to him accordingly. We must ask his leave, and not design any thing but what we are sure is lawful. We must ask his advice and beg direction from him, not only when the case is difficult (when we know not what to do, no thanks to us that we have our eyes up to him), but in every case, be it ever so plain, We must ask success of him, as those who know the race is not to the swift. We must refer ourselves to him as one from whom our judgment proceeds, and patiently, and with a holy indifferency, wait his award. In all our ways that prove direct, and fair, and pleasant, in which we gain our point to our satisfaction, we must acknowledge God with thankfulness. In all our ways that prove cross and uncomfortable, and that are hedged up with thorns, we must acknowledge God with submission. Our eye must be ever towards God; to him we must, in every thing, make our requests known, as Jephthah uttered all his words before the Lord in Mizpeh, Judg. xi. 11. For our encouragement to do this, it is promised, “He shall direct thy paths, so that thy way shall be safe and good and the issue happy at last.” Note, Those that put themselves under a divine guidance shall always have the benefit of it. God will give them that wisdom which is profitable to direct, so that they shall not turn aside into the by-paths of sin, and then will himself so wisely order the event that it shall be to their mind, or (which is equivalent) for their good. Those that faithfully follow the pillar of cloud and fire shall find that though it may lead them about it leads them the right way and will bring them to Canaan at last.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
BENEFITS OF WISDOM
(Proverbs 3),
Solomon uses the “my son” preface 3 times in this chapter as he continues to show the benefits of wisdom.
Vs. 1 warns against the fleshly tendency to disregard wise instructions (Heb 2:1) and urges faithful obedience to his teaching. All fathers are commanded to so teach their children, Deu 4:9; Deu 6:6-7; Deu 31:13; Pro 22:16; Eph 6:4.
Vs. 2 declares a 3-fold promise to those who heed these instructions:
1) Length of days, prolonged life, Exo 20:10; Deu 5:16; Eph 6:2.
2) Long life, rather years of life (margin) such as described Psa 1:1-3.
3) Peace such as the wicked will never know, Psa 119:165; Isa 48:22; Job 21:30; Php_4:7; 1Ti 4:8.
Vs. 3 warns against forsaking mercy (loving kindness) and truth and emphasizes that those virtues are to be so inscribed upon the heart as to be reflected in the actions, Jer 31:33; 2Co 3:3.
Vs. 4 declares that such will result in favor with both God and man, Rom 14:18.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Pro. 3:1. Keep. This word, says Miller, primarily means to look hard at, and generally to keep watch over, as over a vineyard.
Pro. 3:2. Length of days, properly extension of days.
Pro. 3:3. Good understanding, or good success, good reputation. Some read good intelligence, i.e., thou shalt be esteemed before God and man as one of good understanding.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Pro. 3:1-4
BLESSINGS FROM THE REMEMBRANCE OF GODS COMMANDMENTS
I. The natural desire of a moral instructor. Every teacher desires that his pupil should remember his instructions, and unless that which has been given is remembered it is useless to carry him any further on. Memory holds a very important place in the formation of moral character. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the Gospel which I preached unto you; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you (1Co. 15:1-2). Paul likewise exhorts his son Timothy by means of his memory (2Ti. 1:6). See also Heb. 10:32; 2Pe. 1:15; 2Pe. 3:1, etc. Solomon knew that his son could only profit by his counsel so long as he remembered it.
II. When the memory does not retain moral teaching, it is a moral rather than an intellectual fault. Let thine heart keep my commandments. We find it difficult to forget where we love. If a child loves his father, he is not likely to forget his words. Christ reminded his disciples that they did not remember because their hearts were hardened (Mar. 8:17-18).
III. When the heart keeps the Divine Word, mercy and truth will not forsake the character. Where Gods precepts find a place of abode, there will likewise be found a merciful disposition towards men, and a truthful and sincere piety before God. If a tree has its roots in the waters, we know that its greenness will not fail: its leaf shall not wither. The freshness and beauty of the foliage is the necessary outcome of its roots dwelling in the stream. The mercifulness and the truthfulness of a mans character will be in proportion to his affection for, and consequent retention of, the words of God.
IV. The blessings which will accompany a remembrance of the Divine teaching.
1. Length of days. We may infer from this that, as a rule, long life is to be desired. The longer distance a pure river runs through a country, the greater the amount of blessing which it diffuses on its way to the ocean. The longer a man of mercy and truth lives, the more he is enabled to bless his fellow-creatures. A long life gives a man time to attain great knowledge of God, and thus enables him to glorify Him upon the earth. A long life is also to be desired because the peculiar experience of earth belongs to the present life only. When that is ended we have reason to believe that we shall enter upon an entirely new experience; that which belonged to earth will have passed away with our earthly life. It has often been remarked that a godly manner of life is favourable to length of days. Sin and anxious care tend to bring men to an early grave, while purity, and trust in a living and loving Father are promoters of bodily health.
2. Divine and human favour. The human ruler is favourable to those who make it their business to obey his commands. A wise and good father makes a difference in his treatment of those children who seek to please him and those who defy his authority. God is the Father, and consequently the rightful Ruler of men, and having made laws for the guidance of His children, it follows of necessity that those who seek to obey those laws must find favour with Him. He is in this sense a respecter of persons. He has respect to those who have respect unto His commandments (Psa. 119:6). Favour in the sight of man is also promised. The value of a mans favour depends upon a mans character. To find favour with some men would be to be known as an enemy of God (Jas. 4:4). It is written that Jesus increased in favour with God and man (Luk. 2:52). But we know that He found little favour with the rulers of the Jews. Therefore, these words must be taken to refer to the favour of those whose favour is worth having.
3. Peace (Pro. 3:2). Where the conscience and passions are at war there can be nothing but unrest, but when the conscience is reinforced by the Divine precepts, she rules, and the soul, as a consequence, enjoys peace. Peace must flow from the possession of Divine favour, and also from the consciousness of the good-will of good men.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro. 3:1. Here we advance another step. Not only is it necessary to renounce and shun evil (Pro. 1:10) and to listen to the voice of Wisdom and go in quest of her (Pro. 1:20; Pro. 2:1-4), but it is also requisite to hold her fast under trial and tribulation (Pro. 3:11), and to practise her rules by love to God and man (Pro. 3:9; Pro. 3:27; Pro. 3:30).Wordsworth.
My law. He who made us knows what is good for us. Submission to His will is the best condition for humanity. Our own will leads to sin and misery. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. Silently to forget Gods law is a much more common thing amongst us than blasphemously to reject it.Arnot.
Where love makes the impression, care locks it up. Philo saith, Thou forgettest Gods law, because thou forgettest thyself. For didst thou remember thine own condition, how very nothing thou art, thou couldst not forget His law whose excellency exceedeth all things; and therefore to fasten His law in our hearts, God saith no more than that it is my law, as if the strength of that reason were sufficient to strike them into us not to be forgotten.Jermin.
We should be able to say to Wisdom as Cnis did to her lady Antonia, You need not, madame, bid me do your business, for I so remember your commands, as I need never be reminded of them.Trapp.
The mental faculties have a close relation and a mutual dependence upon each other. There are, without doubt, original diversities in the power of memory. But memory depends greatly on attention, and attention depends not less upon the interest which the mind feels on the subject. He who feels no interest will not attend, and he who does not attend will not remember.Wardlaw.
Pro. 3:2. Length of days is the promise to the righteouswhether for earth or for heaven as their Father deems fittest for them. It itself, the promise, as regards this life, has no charm. But peace added forms the sunshine of the toilsomeway.Bridges.
The original is length of days and years of lives. They are lives which religion promiseth, one on earth, another in heaven: here such a long life as short days can make up, but there days shall be years: there shall be but one day, lengthened into eternity.Jermin.
Where is the consistency of promising long life to wisdom! Where is the truth of such an assurance? But certain grammatical endings give us immediate signs of another interpretation. The verb add is masculine; the words law and commandments are feminine. On the contrary, all are masculines among the nouns of the next clause. Unless there should be reason to do violence by an ungrammatical exception, the nouns should be the subjects rather than the objects of the verb. We translate therefore, For length of days, and years of life, and prosperity, shall make thee greater.Miller.
Such declarations are certainly not to be interpreted as a promise of long life in this world in every instance, as the result of obedience to Gods commands. There are promises to Israel of their days being prolonged in the land which are greatly mistaken when interpreted of the life of individuals; and as pledging in every case its prolongation to all the good. Such passages relate to the continued possession of the land of promise by the people, if they, in their successive generations, continued to serve God.Wardlaw.
Simple duration of life in itself to Jewish mind, a great gift of God. Years of life, i.e., of a life truly such, a life worth living, not the lingering struggle with pain and sickness (compare the use of life in Psa. 30:5; Psa. 42:8.Plumptre.
Pro. 3:3. There was such a similitude of nature between the twins of love that at once they wept, and at once they smiled; they fell sick together, and they recovered jointly. Such are these twins of grace. In policy, mercy without truth is a sweet shower dropping upon barren sands, quite spilt, and no blessing following it; truth without mercy is extreme right and extreme injury. Consider them toward God and heaven. A faith of mere protestation without good works, such is truth without mercy, and all the integrity of the heathen, all the goodness that Socrates could teach, such is mercy without truth.Bishop Hacket.
The neck is, in Solomons writings, the organ and symbol of obedience. To bind Gods law about the neck is not only to do it, but to rejoice in doing it; to put it on and exult in it as the fairest ornament.Wordsworth.
I. The matter to be recordedmercy and truth. These two, meeting and kissing in the Mediator, constitute the revealed character of God Himself; and He desires to see, as it were, a miniature of His own likeness impressed upon His children.
II. The tablet for receiving itthe human heart. The reference is obviously to the tables of stone. The tables were intended to be not a book only, but a type. An impress should be taken on our own hearts, that we may always have the will of God hidden within us.Arnot.
Let these graces be, as with God, in combination. The want of one buries the commendation of the other. Such a one is merciful to the poor, but there is no truth in him. Such a one is very just in his dealings, but he is as hard as a flint. Nor must these virtues be in occasional and temporary exercise. Let them not forsake thee.Bridges.
IntimatingI. Their forsaking us is more than our forsaking them. Our forsaking them may come of our weakness, but their forsaking us comes of our wilfulness and hardness of heart in not entertaining them. II. It sets out the easiness of the loss of them through our corruption. III. It sets forth our great need of them. IV. It intimates our great care and pains needful for the retaining of them. They are easily lost, but hardly kept. A hawk must be well tamed before he is let fly, else he will return no more. These graces must be as carefully kept as providently gotten, like riches. And they must both be kept together, else mercy may lie to do good, and truth may reveal without cause what may do hurt. Therefore join both as God does (Psa. 85:10).Francis Taylor.
Mercy and truth are dear sisters, blessed companions in God, sweet companions in man. Mercy loveth truth, truth loveth mercy, God loveth both; and if man love himself, he will do so likewise.Jermin.
These words correspond to the two tables of the law. Benevolence is at the bottom of the command, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and what is right is that great glory which we are to love in God.Miller.
Pro. 3:4. In other words, Thou shalt be favoured and truly prospered, God and man both bearing witness to thy well-directed efforts.Stuart.
He that shows mercy to men shall find mercy with God. and men love to be dealt truly and mercifully with themselves, even though they deal not so with others; especially they that get good by our merciful and just dealing will favour us.Francis Taylor.
This favour of God and men, i.e., not of all indiscriminately, but first and pre-eminently of the wise and devout, such as agree with Gods judgment, is evidently in the view of the poet the highest and most precious of the multiform blessings of wisdom which he enumerates. What, however, is this favour of God and men but the being a true child of God, the belonging to the fellowship of God and His people, the co-citizenship in the kingdom of truth and blessedness? We stand here manifestly at the point at which the Old Testament doctrine of retributions predominantly earthly begin to be transformed into the supersensual or spiritual realistic doctrine of the New Testament (Mat. 5:10-12; Mat. 19:28-30).Langes Commentary.
This promise is all one with that of the Apostle Paul, when, speaking of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, he saith, that he which in these things serveth Christ, pleaseth God and is acceptable to men (Rom. 14:18).
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER 3
TEXT Pro. 3:1-12
1.
My son, forget not my law;
But let thy heart keep my commandments:
2.
For length of days, and years of life,
And peace, will they add to thee.
3.
Let not kindness and truth forsake thee:
Bind them about thy neck;
Write them upon the tablet of thy heart:
4.
So shalt thou find favor and good understanding
In the sight of God and man.
5.
Trust in Jehovah with all thy heart,
And lean not upon thine own understanding:
6.
In all thy ways acknowledge him,
And he will direct thy paths.
7.
Be not wise in thine own eyes;
Fear Jehovah, and depart from evil:
8.
It will be health to thy navel,
And marrow to thy bones.
9.
Honor Jehovah with thy substance,
And with the first-fruits of all thine increase:
10.
So shall thy barns be filled with plenty,
And thy vats shall overflow with new wine.
11.
My son, despise not the chastening of Jehovah;
Neither be weary of his reproof:
12.
For whom Jehovah loveth he reproveth,
Even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.
STUDY QUESTIONS OVER 3:1-12
1.
Is remembering what parents said a part of obedience (Pro. 3:1)?
2.
How desirable are the blessings of obedience mentioned in Pro. 3:2?
3.
How would kindness and truth forsake one (Pro. 3:3)?
4.
What Bible persons were said to have the favor of both God and man (Pro. 3:4)?
5.
How would you relate the two statements of Pro. 3:5 to each other?
6.
How can we acknowledge God (Pro. 3:6)?
7.
What feelings does Pro. 3:7 reveal about those who are wise in their own eyes?
8.
Apply the illustrations in Pro. 3:8.
9.
Why does giving honor God (Pro. 3:9)?
10.
Should God be given the first of our paycheck or what is left over from it (Pro. 3:9)?
11.
What are vats (Pro. 3:10)?
12.
Where is Pro. 3:11 quoted in the New Testament?
13.
What motivates God to reprove (Pro. 3:12)?
PARAPHRASE OF 3:1-12
16.
My son, never forget the things Ive taught you. If you want a long and satisfying life, closely follow my instructions. Never forget to be truthful and kind. Hold these virtues tightly. Write them deep within your heart. If you want favor with both God and man, and a reputation for good judgment and common sense, then trust the Lord completely; dont ever trust yourself. In everything you do, put God first, and He will direct you and crown your efforts with success.
7, 8.
Dont be conceited, sure of your own wisdom. Instead trust and reverence the Lord, and turn your back on evil; when you do that, then you will be given renewed health and vitality.
9, 10.
Honor the Lord by giving Him the first part of all your income, and He will fill your barns with wheat and barley and overflow your vats with the finest wines.
11, 12.
Young man, do not resent it when God chastens and corrects you, for His punishment is proof of His love. Just as a father punishes a son he delights in to make him better, so the Lord corrects you.
COMMENTS ON 3:1-12
Pro. 3:1. In this and succeeding verses the material divides itself into 2-verse thoughts, the first verse giving the commandment and the second verse the promise or explanation. Check this for yourself. Too many children instead of not forgetting their parents law and keeping the commandments get it backwards: they keep forgetting what they were told. If one remembers his fathers instruction, his father should not have to keep reminding him of his duty. Remembering what one is told is a necessary part of obedience.
Pro. 3:2. The long life promised to the righteous is contrasted with the shorter life of the wicked as set forth over and over again in Psalms 37. That it is natural to want to live is seen in the fact that people seek to extend their lives by medical and surgical means. Peace meant even more to them because of the warring world in which they lived. The blessings that come to the obedient, then, are major in importance.
Pro. 3:3. Being kind and always telling the truth would especially make for the life of peace promised in Pro. 3:2 (as far as the individual was concerned). If one loves, he is kind (1Co. 13:4). Brotherly kindness is to be added to ones character (2Pe. 1:7; Eph. 4:32). Concerning truth, Pulpit Commentary says it is that absolute integrity of character, both in word and deed, which secures the unhesitating confidence of all. The son was to grace his life with them (bind them about thy neck), and he was to imbed them in the very fibre of his character (write them upon the tablet of thy heart). The heart is like a table or tablet on which can be written either good (2Co. 3:3) or bad (Jer. 17:1).
Pro. 3:4. Both God and man will approve and appreciate one who follows kindness and truth. Concerning having the favor of both God and man, notice these passages: The child Samuel grew on, and increased in favor both with Jehovah, and also with men (1Sa. 2:26); And Jesus advanced in favor with God and men (Luk. 2:52); He that herein serveth Christ is well-pleasing to God, and approved of men (Rom. 14:18). Mans greatest happiness is attained when he has the favor of God and the respect of his fellowmen.
Pro. 3:5. Other commands to trust Jehovah: Trust in Jehovah (Psa. 37:3); Commit thy way unto Jehovah; Trust also in him (Psa. 37:5). Trust means to rely upon, put confidence in. This we need to do toward God and not to suppose that we are self-contained and self-sufficient of ourselves. Man makes a grave mistake when he does not pray, does not commit his way to God, and does not depend upon God. So often, though, men turn earthly assets and strong-points into occasions of pride and as a result fail to think of God. Thus, Jer. 9:23-24 says, Thus saith Jehovah, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he hath understanding, and knoweth me. And 1Ti. 6:17 says, Charge them that are rich in this present world, that they be not highminded, nor have their hope set on the uncertainty of riches, but on God. See also Isa. 31:1; Psa. 20:7; Psa. 44:1-8; Psa. 118:8-9.
Pro. 3:6. This expression covers the whole area of lifes action…It guards against our acknowledging God in great crises and solemn acts of worship only…To acknowledge God is, therefore, to recognize in all our dealings and undertakings Gods overruling providence (Pulpit Commentary). Begin, continue and end every work, purpose, and device with God. Earnestly pray for His direction at the commencement; look for His continual support in the progress; and so begin and continue that all may terminate in His glory…The great sin of the human race is their continual endeavor to live independently of God (Clarke). Mans need of acknowledging God is well stated by Jeremiah in Jer. 10:23 : O Jehovah, I know that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. By praying at the outset of the day, we acknowledge that a good day is dependent upon Him. By thanking God before we eat, we acknowledge that He has made the possession of food possible. By praying before we begin a trip, we acknowledge that His help is important in making the trip safely. And there are many other such examples of acknowledging Him in all our various ways, which carries His promise to direct our paths.
Pro. 3:7. Rom. 12:16 similarly warns, Be not wise in your own conceits. Man doesnt have to possess very much knowledge, it seems, until it goes to his head: Knowledge puffeth up (1Co. 8:1). Instead of thinking how great we are, we should be thinking of how great God is and how small we are and as a result fear Him and depart from evil instead of proudly living in sin. Job was one who feared God, and turned away from evil (Job. 1:1). After enumerating some of mans sins in Rom. 3:10-17, the next verse (Pro. 3:18) seems to explain the whole matter: There is no fear of God before their eyes. Pro. 3:5-7 hang together: trust Jehovah (Pro. 3:5), acknowledge Him (Pro. 3:6), fear Him (Pro. 3:7) and dont lean on your own understanding (Pro. 3:5), dont be wise in your own eyes (Pro. 3:7).
Pro. 3:8. The results of obeying the parental instructions contained in Pro. 3:5-7 are contained in those verses and in the 3 that follow: God will direct your paths (Pro. 3:6); you will depart from evil (Pro. 3:7); it will be health to you (this verse). The marrow in ones bones plays a very important part in ones overall health. We may be ignorant of some lasting connection that the navel has with ones health after ones birth that it is spoken of so prominently. Could it here be used as a symbol of utter dependence upon God (raised in previous verses) that we must maintain in a spiritually healthy condition? Clarke explains the problem thus: The central region of the body is taken as the representative of all the vital organs.
Pro. 3:9. The injunctions also show that the honoring of God does not consist simply of lip-service, of humility and confidence in Him, but also of external worship, and incorporeal things (Pulpit Commentary). Yes, God can be honored with substance (Material gain) if it be presented in the right spirit and in proportion to ones material blessings. Other passages on giving God the first-fruits of the harvest: Exo. 23:19; Deu. 26:1-2. Just as the Lord claims the first day of each week as His day (Rev. 1:10; Act. 20:7; 1Co. 16:2), even so He claims the first portion of mans produce and earnings. Abels acceptable sacrifice was the firstlings and the fat of his flock (Gen. 4:4). People who spend and spend and spend out of their paychecks and then give something out of what is left to God are likely to dishonor rather than honor Him with their gift. Tithers always give of the first-fruits rather than of the left-overs!. Remember, too, that the first thing Noah did after the flood was not build a house for himself but an altar to God (Gen. 8:20); those who were scattered from Jerusalem are reported in their preaching the word rather than in their finding jobs for the support of themselves (Act. 8:1; Act. 8:4); and Jesus taught all of us to seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness before what we are going to eat, drink, or wear (Mat. 6:31-33).
Pro. 3:10. Man is concerned about his own things and often leaves God out of his life and concerns or subordinates Him to an inferior place (second, third or fourth place). Here God promises to give man what he wants (barns be filled with plenty…vats overflow) if he puts God first in his life. The vats were olive-oil vats or grape-juice vats. Similarly Deu. 28:8-12 says Jehovah will command the blessing upon thee in thy barns, and in all that thou puttest thy hand unto…And Jehovah will make thee plenteous for good…in the fruit of thy ground…Jehovah will open unto thee his good treasure the heavens, to give the rain of thy land in its season, and to bless all the work of thy hand. In Mal. 3:10-11 God promised agricultural blessings if they would honor Him with their tithes: Bring ye the whole tithe into the store-house…and prove me now herewith, saith Jehovah of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall be not room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast its fruit before the time in the field.
Pro. 3:11. Immediately after telling of all the joyous blessings that God sends, we have another blessing listed, a blessing of a different nature, a blessing in disguisechastening. Unlike the other blessings, it comes not because of obedience but disobedience; nor is it like other blessings, joyous at the time, but grievous, but it proves to be a blessing in the peaceful fruit that it brings to those who are corrected by it. All chastening seemeth for the present not to be joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yieldeth peaceable fruit unto them that have been exercised thereby, even the fruit of righteousness (Heb. 12:11); For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness (Heb. 12:10); We are chastened of the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world (1Co. 11:32). Our verse is similar to Job. 5:17 (Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: Therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty) and is quoted in Heb. 12:5-6. Solomon urges his son not to despise or belittle, not to disregard or misunderstand Gods chastening nor to be weary of it, for it will bring blessings (Psa. 94:12).
Pro. 3:12. Satan tempts us because he seeks our destruction (1Pe. 5:8), and wicked people persecute us because they hate us (Luk. 6:22), but God brings His hardship of chastening upon us because He loves us (this verse; Heb. 12:6; Rev. 3:19). His chastening is compared to the correction of our earthly parents (this verse; Deu. 8:5; Heb. 12:7-9). Solomon has to tell us that it is Gods love that causes Him to chasten. Peoples idea of love is not always right. The preacher who forcefully condemns sin and falsehood is accused of having an unloving attitude (Yet he is working to save people). The parent who corrects his children is criticized as harsh and unloving, but both God who corrects His children and parents who correct theirs do so because of love and concern (He that spareth the rod hateth his son; But he that loveth him chasteneth him betimesPro. 13:24).
TEST QUESTIONS OVER 3:1-12
1.
What about the child who says to his parent, I forgot that I was supposed to do that (Pro. 3:1)?
2.
What promises does Pro. 3:2 spell out for the obedient child?
3.
To what is the heart likened in Pro. 3:3?
4.
What two blessings come from being kind and always telling the truth (Pro. 3:4)?
5.
In what does man have a tendency to trust instead of God (Pro. 3:5)?
6.
What is the promise connected with acknowledging God in all our ways (Pro. 3:6)?
7.
What does man often allow his little bit of knowledge to do to him (Pro. 3:7)?
8.
What is the promise connected with fearing God and departing from evil instead of being wise in ones own conceit (Pro. 3:8)?
9.
Comment upon Pro. 3:9.
10.
What is the promise connected with giving God the first-fruits (Pro. 3:10)?
11.
In what sense is chastening also a blessing (Pro. 3:11)?
12.
Show how love is involved both in Gods chastening of His children and in earthly parents chastening of theirs (Pro. 3:12).
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
EXHORTATIONS TO OBEDIENCE AND THE HONOURING OF GOD, Pro 3:1-26.
This chapter is a continuation of the moral teachings of the preceding ones. It is rich in precepts, counsels, and admonitions on various topics, all of grave importance. For the sake of a deeper impression the royal sage, like every good teacher, uses more or less repetition, with variation of expression and abundance of illustration.
1. My son The kindness and earnestness of manner is to be noted.
Forget not my law Let it be a law to thee, and let thy heart carefully guard my precepts. Such is the spirit of the original, as if uttered in a tone of earnest paternal entreaty.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Introductory Exhortation Followed By The Requirement To Trust In YHWH, To Fear YHWH And To Honour YHWH ( Pro 3:1-10 ).
Solomon here speaks of wisdom and understanding in terms of ‘my torah — my commandments’. It is observance of these that will ensure longevity and wellbeing. In view of the Scriptural precedents for these words (Exo 24:12; Deu 30:10 ’; Jos 22:5 ; 1Ki 2:3; etc.) it is clear that Solomon see his wisdom as complementary to the Torah and therefore to YHWH’s covenant with Israel. It was that Torah which stressed the need for love for God and one’s neighbour (Deu 6:5; Lev 19:18), a stress that Solomon brings out here. His ‘son’ must ensure that observance of YHWH’s instruction is accompanied by covenant love and truth, for thereby he will find favour with both God and men. This is then followed by the injunctions to ‘trust in YHWH — fear YHWH — and honour YHWH’, for it is in association with YHWH that wisdom can be obtained and carried out in practise.
These first ten verses form a chiasmus:
A My son, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commandments, for length of days, and years of life, and peace (wellbeing), will they add to you (Pro 3:1-2).
B Do not let kindness and truth forsake you, bind them about your neck, write them upon the tablet of your heart, so will you find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man (Pro 3:3-4).
C Trust in YHWH with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding, in all your ways know him, and he will direct your paths (Pro 3:5-6).
B Do not be wise in your own eyes, fear YHWH, and depart from evil, it will be health to your navel, and marrow to your bones (Pro 3:7-8).
A Honour YHWH with your substance, and with the first-fruits of all your increase, so will your barns be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine (Pro 3:9-10).
Note that in A the actions called for will result in longevity and wellbeing, whilst the actions in the parallel will result in prosperity and plenty. In B the actions will produce spiritual wellbeing, as will the actions in the parallel. Central in C is the requirement to trust wholly in YHWH and to know Him in daily life.
Pro 3:1-2
‘My son, do not forget my law (torah),
But let your heart keep my commandments,
For length of days, and years of life,
And peace, will they add to you.’
Solomon calls on ‘my son’ to observe his instruction (torah) and commandments from ‘the heart’. The observance is to be inward, not just outward. A wholehearted obedience is called for.
The Hebrew words for ‘law’ and ‘commandments’ are so closely associated with YHWH’s covenant with Israel that that covenant could hardly not have been in Solomon’s mind. Indeed that it was so comes out in Pro 3:9. But here they are expressed in terms of Solomon’s wisdom teaching. Solomon sees himself as re-presenting the Torah. He can thus speak of ‘my instruction’ and ‘my commandments’ (compare Pro 1:7 ‘the torah of your mother’). The teaching of the Torah has become personalised. Solomon is re-expressing it (as Moses did in Deuteronomy).
We can compare in this regard how the covenant is assumed in Pro 3:9, has been mentioned in Pro 2:17, and is almost certainly in mind in Pro 6:23 where we read that ‘the commandment is a lamp and the Torah is a light’. Both commandment and torah are words regularly used of covenant requirements, e.g. Exo 24:12; Deu 30:10 ’; Jos 22:5 ; 1Ki 2:3; etc. Thus Solomon is here expressing his wisdom in terms of covenant obedience.
And the consequence of obedience to his instruction will be ‘length of days and years of life, and wellbeing’ (compare Pro 3:16; Pro 9:11). In Pro 10:27 the same is the consequence of the fear of YHWH. Thus Solomon’s teaching and the fear of YHWH are equated. They are to obey his teaching because they fear YHWH. In Exo 20:12 (compare Eph 6:3) a similar prolonging of day was promised to those who honoured father and mother, in other words responded to their authority and instruction (Pro 1:7). In Deu 4:40; Deu 5:33; Deu 6:2; Deu 11:8-9 such prolonging of days was promised to those who kept the statutes and commandments of YHWH and walked in His ways. Solomon thus also equated his teaching with the Torah.
‘And peace (wellbeing, prosperity).’ He will not only live long, but his life will prosper and be one of peace and security.
Pro 3:3-4
‘Do not let kindness and truth forsake you,
Bind them about your neck,
Write them upon the tablet of your heart,
So will you find favour and good understanding
In the sight (the eyes) of God and man.’
Along with obedience the young man is to hold firmly to ‘lovingkindness and truth’. He is to be compassionate (having chesed – covenant love) and honourable, without deceit. Indeed he is to bind compassion and truth about his neck, as ancient man bound his signet around his neck (Gen 38:18), so that they are revealed as his means of identification. And he is to write them on the tablet of his heart (compare Deu 11:18; Jer 31:31), so that they are permanent and living and an intrinsic part of him. These are to be the two virtues which mark him off as God’s man. In Pro 16:6 they are brought into close connection with the fear of YHWH. They are in complete contrast with the violence and deceit and false love of the ungodly (Pro 1:11-15; Pro 2:12-20). We can compare here the words of James in Jas 3:13-18.
And the consequence of doing this will be that he will be viewed with favour and appreciation by both God and man. He will be seen as a man of good repute whose heart is right. ‘In the eyes of’ may indicate that what they think of him shines forth from their eyes. Compare Pro 15:30. The unexpected use of ‘God’ rather than YHWH may indicate that the words ‘God and man’ echoed a recognised general saying.
A Threefold Charge – Trust In, Fear And Honour YHWH.
In true New Testament fashion Solomon now brings out that the emphasis is not to be simply on the young man observing Solomon’s commandments, but on his doing so because of his own personal response to God. It is this which differentiates a living faith from a dead legalism. The emphasis is on the fact that he is to ‘trust in’, ‘fear’ and ‘honour’ YHWH, revealing this by walking in the ways of His revealed wisdom. This is central to Solomon’s wisdom teaching, in total contrast to the wisdom teaching of other nations. Wisdom is to be followed because it is YHWH’s wisdom. It is YHWH Who is to be heeded and obeyed.
We have here the three aspects of the godly life. It commences with personal response to, and trust in God. This leads on to ‘fearing God’ and obeying Him on the one hand, and honouring and worshipping Him on the other.
Pro 3:5-6
‘Trust in YHWH with all your heart,
And do not rely on your own understanding,
In all your ways know him,
And he will direct (make straight) your paths.’
The young man is firstly to ‘trust in YHWH with all his heart’, and this will result in him having YHWH’s understanding (for he is not to rely on his own). The word for trust means ‘lean wholly on’ (compare Psa 22:10). YHWH is to be his full support and his sole source of understanding. His whole confidence is to be in Him. And he is to do so with all his inner self (his ‘heart’). This does, of course, include leaning on His revealed wisdom, but it is that wisdom as revealed to him by God Himself (Pro 2:6-8). YHWH and His wisdom are inextricably combined. He is not only to know wisdom, he is to know YHWH, and the word ‘know’ is a word of personal relationship (see Gal 4:9). It is because he knows YHWH that he appreciates YHWH’s true wisdom. In contrast he is not to lean on/rely on his own wisdom and understanding. For God’s ways are not man’s ways (Rom 11:33). However, if he walks in a personal relationship with YHWH (knows Him), it is YHWH who will guide him and direct his paths in the right way (literally ‘make straight your path’), largely through His wisdom and His word.
Pro 3:7-8
‘Do not be wise in your own eyes,
Fear YHWH, and depart from evil,
It will be health to your navel,
And marrow to your bones.’
Solomon secondly calls on the young man to ‘fear YHWH’, something which will make him wise (rather than relying on his own wisdom). Note how ‘fearing YHWH’ is contrasted with being worldly-wise. To fear YHWH results in having God’s wisdom and following it. It indicates submission to God and His wisdom and instruction, but with the emphasis not on wisdom but on YHWH. And the consequence of this will be that he will depart from all that comes short of good. For fearing God and following evil at the same time is simply not possible. In contrast are those who are wise in their own eyes. They follow their own ways. These have been depicted in Pro 1:11-14; Pro 2:12-15. They are also depicted in 1Co 1:20 to 1Co 2:5. They walk in wayward paths. They are inappreciative of God’s wisdom, and therefore of His truth.
However, if the young man does ‘fear YHWH’, responding to Him in loving obedience, (as a man fears his parents and responds to them – Lev 19:3), it will strengthen him within. The navel and the bones have in mind the inner man. To ancient man the navel was the means of entry of life. The bones were the inward part of the body representing the inner man (Pro 15:30; Pro 16:24; Psa 34:19-20; Psa 35:10). The marrow was what made the bones strong. So this is not promising health of body, although that may follow, but health of heart and mind, a healthy inward life.
Pro 3:9-10
Honour YHWH with your substance,
And with the first-fruits of all your increase,
So will your store-places be filled with plenty,
And your vats will overflow with new wine.’
Solomon thirdly calls on the young man to honour YHWH, to treat Him as of value. And in those days nothing revealed this more genuinely than a grateful and cheerful offering of men’s substance to Him in sacrifices and offerings, which included the willing offerings of the firstfruits (see 2Co 8:6-7). As with Abel the quality of the sacrifice was dependent on the attitude of heart of the sacrificer (he willingly gave of what he first received and of the fat portions. He did not grudge what he gave to God). Solomon is not here proposing a bargain with God, as if he were saying, ‘if we do this, He will do that’. He is rather calling on the young man to offer to God gladly and freely from his substance because his heart is right with God. But inevitably, because of what God is, it will result in full barns and overflowing vats of wine. For God is no man’s debtor.
The store-places would be pits and silos in the ground, or small rooms and sheds or larger storehouses above ground. The vats would be the lower pit of the wine-press in which the wine was collected, after it had first been trodden in the upper pit, and had flowed down a conduit into the lower pit. Such would be the quantity of grapes that the pit would overflow.
In these words we have a clear reference to offerings as stipulated in the Torah. Having God’s wisdom will result in obedience to the requirements of the Torah. Solomon’s wisdom did not replace the Torah, it supported it.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Prologue To The Book ( Pro 1:8 to Pro 9:18 ).
It was common throughout the 3rd to the 1st millenniums BC for collections of wisdom saying to have a prologue preparing for the ‘sayings’ that would follow. Those sayings would then be introduced by a subheading. Proverbs thus follows the usual precedent in having such a prologue in Pro 1:8 to Pro 9:18, followed by general sayings in Pro 10:1 ff headed by a subheading (Pro 10:1). It was also common for such a prologue to be addressed to ‘my son’, or similar, with constant references being made to ‘my son’ throughout the prologue. And this is interestingly a feature of Proverbs 1-9, where it occurs fifteen times. One difference, however, lies in the fact that the ‘son’ was usually named in other wisdom literature, something which does not occur in Proverbs. Indeed, in Proverbs ‘my son’ is sometimes replaced by ‘sons’ (Pro 4:1; Pro 5:7; Pro 7:24; Pro 8:32). It is addressed to whoever will hear and respond.
The Prologue consists of ten discourses, and divides into two. It commences with five discourses, each of which follows a similar pattern, an opening appeal followed by two further subsections, and closing with a contrast between the righteous and the unrighteous, the wise and the foolish. We can compare how there are five ‘books’ to the Torah, and five books of Psalms. Five is the covenant number. Each of the subsections is in the form of a chiasmus.
From chapter 6 onwards the pattern changes. Initially we find a description of three types, whom we could describe as the naive, the foolish, the wicked (Pro 6:1-19), and this is followed by Pro 6:20 to Pro 9:18 which are centred on the contrast between the seductive power of the strange woman, and the uplifting power of woman wisdom, all continually urging the young man to turn from the enticements of the world and choose wisdom.
The prologue may be analysed as follows;
The Five Discourses.
1). Discourse 1. Addressed To ‘My Son’. Those Who Seek To Walk In The Fear Of YHWH Will Listen To The Instruction Of Godly Authority, And Will Avoid The Enticements Of Sinners Motivated By Greed. Wisdom Is Then Depicted As Crying Out To Be Heard, Longing For Response, Promising Inculcation Of Her Own Spirit, And Warning Of The Consequences Of Refusal (Pro 1:8-33).
2). Discourse 2. Addressed To ‘My Son’. The Source Of True Wisdom Is YHWH, And Those Who Truly Seek Wisdom Will Find YHWH Himself, And He Will Then Reveal His Wisdom To Them. This Wisdom That God Gives Them Will Then Deliver Them From All Who Are Evil, Both From Men Who Have Abandoned The Right Way, And From The Enticements Of Immoral Women (Pro 2:1-22).
3). Discourse 3. Addressed To ‘My Son’. The Young Man Is To Trust In YHWH, To Fear YHWH And To Honour YHWH, And In View Of Their Great Value Is To Find YHWH’s Wisdom And Obtain Understanding Which Will Be His Protection And Will Through YHWH’s Chastening Activity Restore Him To Man’s First Estate. In View Of Them He Is To Observe A Series Of Practical Requirements Which Will Result In Blessing For The Wise (Pro 3:1-35).
4). Discourse 4. Addressed to ‘Sons’. Wisdom And Understanding Are To Be Sought And Cherished, For They Produce Spiritual Beauty, and Lead Those Who Respond Unto The Perfect Day (Pro 4:1-19).
5). Discourse 5. Addressed To ‘My Son’ (and later ‘Sons’). He Is To Avoid The Enticements Of The Strange Woman Whose Ways Lead To Death, And Rather Be Faithful To His True Wife (Pro 4:20 to Pro 5:23).
A Description Of Three Contrasting Failures.
6). Discourse 6. The Naive, The Fool And The Scorner Illustrated. The First Addressed To ‘My Son’ Is A Call To Avoid Acting As A Surety For Others, The Second Addressed To ‘You Sluggard’, Is A Call To Shake Off Laziness, And The Third, Unaddressed, Concerns A Worthless Person And A Troublemaker (Pro 6:1-19).
A Contrast Between The Strange Seductive Woman And The Pure Woman Wisdom.
Discourse 7. Addressed To ‘My Son’. He Is Urged To Observe The Commandment And The Torah Of Father And Mother, Avoiding The Enticement Of The Adulterous Woman, And Being Aware Of The Wrath Of The Deceived Husband (Pro 6:20-35).
Discourse 8. Addressed To ‘My Son’. After Appealing To Him To Observe His Words Solomon Vividly Describes The Wiles Of A Prostitute And Warns ‘Sons’ Against Her (Pro 7:1-27).
Discourse 9. The Call of Ms Wisdom As The One Who Seeks Response, Gives Men True Instruction, Ensures Good Government, Enriches Men Physically and Spiritually, Was Present With God During Creation, And Blesses Men And Brings Them Into Life So That They Find God’s Favour (Pro 8:1-36).
Discourse 10. The Appeal Of Woman Wisdom Contrasted With The Allure Of Woman Folly (Pro 9:1-18).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
A General Summary of Wisdom’s Blessings Pro 3:1-2 give us the blessings of wisdom in a nutshell. When we sow by diligently obeying God’s Word (Pro 3:1), we reap a harvest of manifold blessings (Pro 3:2). These blessings will be discussed in more depth in Pro 3:3-10. A good illustration of a man in the Scriptures that was blessed in all of these areas of his life is Abraham (Gen 24:1).
Gen 24:1, “And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things.”
Pro 3:1 My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:
Pro 3:1
Comments – Even though we have known God’s Word, we can become distracted and caught up with the cares of this world. Therefore, this command is given to remind us to keep God’s Word hidden within our hearts.
Comments – If we will stay on the course that wisdom has instructed us, it will produce good results for us. We have heard the call of wisdom in chapter one. We have learned to answer that call in chapter two. We will learn in chapter three that God’s blessings are certain to those who stay on course. Too often believers give up because they lack the patience and endurance to see their hopes manifested. In the Parable of the Sower, only one type of soil saw the results of the labour of the sower. Thus, we may conclude that only one out of four really see results from their journey of faith in God’s promises of blessings.
Pro 3:1 “but let thine heart keep my commandments” Word Study on “keep” – Gesenius says the Hebrew word ( ) (H5341) means, “to watch, to keep,” and “(1) to defend, to preserve, (2) to keep, to observe, (3) to keep, i.e. to hide.”
Comments – This word is used in at least two shades of meaning:
1. To preserve, so as not to forget or lose them.
2. To comply with or do them.
Comments – We are to serve the Lord from our heart, and not to be seen by men. Note that in Luk 11:37-54, Jesus dines with a Pharisee and rebukes him for his hypocrisy. Our Lord accused the Pharisees of being hypocrites (play actors) because they sought the praise of men. Do not serve the Lord to be seen by men, but from a pure heart (See Mat 6:1-8).
The Pharisees could keep the Law in such a way as to appear good, while they sought to please one another, but God wants a man’s devotion to come from his heart, in sincerity, seeking to please God out of love. Even in church work, we can be out to please man and not God (Col 3:23-24).
Col 3:23-24, “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. “
Pro 3:1 Comments – The implication of Pro 3:1 is the need for diligence in keeping God’s commandments as a condition for His blessings to come in one’s life. We see this same statement made in Deu 28:1-2.
Deu 28:1-2, “And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.”
Pro 3:2 For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.
Pro 3:2
(1) “For length of days” The Hebrew literally says, “years of life.” This refers to an abundant life, so as not to die before a ripe old age or a “long life.” Note:
Joh 10:10, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life , and that they might have it more abundantly .”
Pro 9:11 gives a similar meaning to this phrase.
Pro 9:11, “For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased.”
(2) “and long life” This phrase refers to how long we will live on this earth. Note other Scriptures where God promises a long life:
Psa 90:10, “ The days of our years are threescore years and ten ; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.”
Psa 91:16, “With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.”
Pro 4:10, “Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many .”
Pro 9:11, “For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased .”
Pro 10:27, “The fear of the LORD prolongeth days : but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.”
Ecc 7:17, “Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time ?”
Eph 6:1-3, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth .”
1Ti 4:8, “For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is , and of that which is to come.”
(3) “and peace” – It means to be at rest, even in the midst of the storms of life. Note:
Joh 14:27, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
Pro 3:2 “shall they add to thee” Word Study on “shall they add” Strong says the Hebrew word “shall they add” ( ) (H3254) means, “to add, augment.” The Enhanced Strong says it is used 213 times in the Old Testament, being translated in the KJV as, “ more 70, again 54, add 28, increase 16, also 6, exceed 4, put 4, further 4, henceforth 4, Song of Solomon 2, continued 2, give 2, misc 17.”
Comments – This pronoun refers to the law and commandments of God. Thus, it is God’s Word that it able to add abundance to our lives.
Pro 3:2 Scripture References – Note a similar verse:
Isa 48:16-19, “Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me. Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go. O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea: Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me.”
Pro 3:2 Comments – Pro 3:2 is a summary of the blessings of wisdom, both spiritually, mentally, physically, and financially. It describes the health, the long life, the prosperity and the peace of mind and heart that wisdom brings to those who hearken unto its voice.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Wisdom’s Blessings Pro 3:1-2 give a brief, general summary of the blessings of wisdom. These two verses tell us that by wisdom, we can have a better quality of life. Pro 3:3-12 then give to us a more specific description of the blessings of wisdom, such as favor in relationships (Pro 3:3-4), knowing God’s will (Pro 3:5-6), health (Pro 3:7-8), prosperity (Pro 3:9-10), and correction (Pro 3:11-12).
Pro 3:3-4 deal with how to walk in love and truth in order to have quality relationships. These verses deal with the heart of a man, his spirit. Pro 3:5-6 deal with carnal reasoning. These verses deal with the soul of a man. Pro 3:7-8 deal with physical health, which is our body. Thus, the three-fold make up of a man is addressed in the proper order, the spirit, the soul and the body. This is the same order that is followed in 1Th 5:23, “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Note that the spirit, or heart, of a man is addressed first, because this is the most important part of man’s make-up. Walking in love is the most important aspect of wisdom. Each aspect of wisdom is given in its order of priority. This is why prosperity in Pro 3:9-10 is given last, because it holds a lower priority of achievement in God’s eyes. It is better to have a pure heart, or even good health, than riches. However, prosperity is God’s will when a man’s life is in order, both in spirit, soul and body. Creflo Dollar says that wealth is the offspring of wisdom. [59] This passage in Pro 3:1-12 proves this to be the case. Finally, the spirit is discussed first in this passage of Scripture because we are to be more spirit conscience than flesh conscience.
[59] Creflo Dollar, Changing Your World (College Park, Georgia: Creflo Dollar Ministries), on Trinity Broadcasting Network (Santa Ana, California), television program.
If Pro 3:3-4 deal with the heart of man, then Pro 3:5-6 deal with the mind and understanding of man. Pro 3:7-8 deal with the physical man. Pro 3:9-10 deal with finances. Pro 3:11-12 deal with chastisement, which God gives to keep our walk balanced with Him as He blessings us in our heart, mind, body and finances.
In addition, we see the law of sowing and reaping in all of these verses. When we sow by diligently obeying God’s Word (Pro 3:1), we reap a harvest of manifold blessings (Pro 3:2). We sow in the spirit realm in order to reap right relationships (Pro 3:3-4). We sow in the soulish realm in order to have a sound mind for making right decisions (Pro 3:5-6). We sow in the physical realm to reap good health (Pro 3:7-8). We sow in the material realm in order to reap material prosperity (Pro 3:9-10). Gal 6:8 illustrates the fact that we can sow either in the spirit realm or in the carnal, fleshly realm.
Gal 6:8, “For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”
A careful examination of Pro 3:27-34 will reveal to us how it is related to this passage in Pro 3:1-12. Pro 3:27-28 serves as an illustration of Pro 3:9 by telling us how to give to those with genuine needs. This is how we are to honor the Lord with our substance. Pro 3:29-30 serves as an illustration of Pro 3:7 by telling us not to get into strife with our neighbour. We are to “depart from evil”, or “depart from strife”. We know that people who are wise in their own eyes tend towards strife. Pro 3:31-32 serves as an illustration of Pro 3:5 by telling us not to follow the path of the oppressor, but to find the secret counsel of the Lord when making decisions. Pro 3:33-34 serves to illustrate Pro 3:3 by teaching us to walk with a humble heart and not allow pride to bring us into scorn towards others. For in humility, we are able to show mercy to others and to walk in the truth of God’s Word.
Outline Here is a proposed outline:
1. A General Summary of Wisdom’s Blessings Pro 3:1-2
2. Wisdom and Its Blessings in Relationships Pro 3:3-4
3. Wisdom and its blessings in Decision-making Pro 3:5-6
4. Wisdom and its blessings in Health Pro 3:7-8
5. Wisdom and its Blessings in Prosperity Pro 3:9-10
6. Wisdom and its Blessings in Chastisement Pro 3:11-12
The Promises – Note these promises found in Pro 3:1-10:
1. Favour with God and man (Pro 3:4)
2. God directing our lives through our decisions (Pro 3:6)
3. Health (Pro 3:8)
4. Prosperity (Pro 3:10)
The Priority of these Blessings – Note the order of God’s blessings in our lives. After summarizing the fullness of God’s blessings in Pro 3:1-2, this passage then tells us how God blesses us because of a pure heart (Pro 3:3-4), then how blessings come with a renewed mind (Pro 3:5-6), then how God blesses us with a long life (Pro 3:7-8), then He blesses us financially (Pro 3:9-10). God knows that as we grow in each of these areas we will need times of correction and chastisement (Pro 3:11-12).
In this passage of Scripture God places these blessings in the order of their priority. It is more important to have a pure heart than to have financial prosperity. The world seeks the prosperity first, and leaves off their spiritual well-being. But works in our lives to develop a pure heart, so that we can hear and obey His word with sound decisions in our live, so that we can walk in a path of uprightness that will give us a long life, so that we can learn how to prosper financially. Thus, we will be given proverbs later in the book that will tell us of this priority. For example, Pro 15:16 tells us that a pure heart that fears the Lord is more important than material wealth.
Pro 15:16, “Better is little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble therewith.”
We can see in Pro 22:1 that a man’s character takes priority over riches. The name of a person represents his character. It is through the soul, which is made up of the mind, the will and the emotions, that the character of a man is expressed.
Pro 22:1, “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold.”
Pro 13:11 tells us that wealth is to follow hard work, and is not to be gained in vain and evil ways. Thus, our physical well-being takes priority over wealth.
Pro 13:11, “Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase.”
Therefore, wealth takes a lower priority than our spiritual, mental, and physical well-being.
Trusting in the Lord – Once we get our hearts right with the Lord (Pro 3:3-4), we can then learn how to trust Him to meet our needs. If we will learn to trust in the Lord (Pro 3:5-6) it will bring us into prosperity (Pro 3:9-10). The Lord said to Kenneth Copeland, “If you can transfer your trust to Me, I can transfer my goods to you.” [60]
[60] Kenneth Copeland, Believer’s Voice of Victory (Kenneth Copeland Ministries, Fort Worth, Texas), on Trinity Broadcasting Network (Santa Ana, California), television program, 16 September 2000.
When you trust the Lord in every area of your life, it brings health (Pro 3:7-8) and prosperity (Pro 3:9-10). Abraham, Job and King David are examples for us today of those who qualified for the fullness of God’s blessings.
Gen 25:8, “Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people.”
Job 42:17, “So Job died, being old and full of days.”
1Ch 29:28, “And he died in a good old age, full of days, riches, and honour: and Solomon his son reigned in his stead.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Blessings of Answering the Call of Wisdom (This passage parallels Solomon’s great wisdom and wealth) – Once we receive the call from wisdom in chapter 1, we are shown how to find it in chapter 2. Therefore, in chapter 3, we will learn what happens to us when we answer the call of wisdom. If we find a parallel to this passage in the life of Solomon, we will find it in the great wisdom and wealth that he acquired as the king of Israel as a result of following the principles laid down in chapters 1 and 2. Solomon started his journey as a king being young and tender (chapter1). He then asked God for a hearing heart (chapter 2). As a result, he found not only wisdom, but the blessings of peace and abundance and wealth that comes with wisdom (chapter 3).
As a summary of chapter three, we see that the path of wisdom will lead us into spiritual, mental, physical and material blessings (Pro 3:1-18). If God uses wisdom to determine the destiny of His creation (Pro 3:19-20), so do our choices determine our own destiny (Pro 3:21-26) as we learn to walk in wisdom with our neighbour in order to bring us to our eternal destiny (Pro 3:27-35).
Therefore, this passage of Scripture gives us the manifold aspects of wisdom. It is like the light that reflects through a beautiful diamond. A diamond has many different sides that reflect different colors of the rainbow. A diamond is able to show us the many different colors of light. Yet, each color reflected from this diamond is a part of the same light beam. In comparison, wisdom has many different colors, or dimensions. When placed together, this passage shows us divine wisdom that is perfect and complete, and able to make our lives whole in every aspect. Complete wisdom is learning to apply all of these verses to our lives, so that the blessings of God will be evident in every area of life. Only then will we be able to fulfill the eternal destiny that God has created us for as a part of His overall plan for His eternal creation.
Outline – Note the following outline:
1. The blessings of wisdom expounded Pro 3:1-12
a) Summary to its blessings Pro 3:1-2
b) Wisdom and its blessings in relationships (spiritual) Pro 3:3-4
c) Wisdom and its blessings in decision-making (mental) Pro 3:5-6
d) Wisdom and its blessings in health (physical) Pro 3:7-8
e) Wisdom and its blessings in prosperity (financial) Pro 3:9-10
f) Wisdom and its blessings in chastisement Pro 3:11-12
2. The priority of wisdom Pro 3:13-15
3. A summary of the blessings of wisdom Pro 3:16-18
4. The eternal power of wisdom Pro 3:19-20
5. Thru wisdom, man decides his destiny Pro 3:21-26
6. Wisdom towards our neighbors Pro 3:27-34
7. Wisdom brings us from God’s wrath into His glory Pro 3:35
The Commands and Promises – We can see a series of commands and promises in Pro 3:1-35.
Commandment Promise
1. Pro 3:1 – Learn and keep commandments Pro 3:2 – Life and Peace
2. Pro 3:3 – Walk in love Pro 3:4 – Favor
3. Pro 3:5-6 a – Trust God’s ways Pro 3:6 b – Guidance
4. Pro 3:7 – Fear God Pro 3:8 – Health
5. Pro 3:9 – Giving Pro 3:10 – Receiving
6. Pro 3:11 – Endure chastisement Pro 3:12 – Why? – God’s love Pro 3:13-20 deal with the value and blessings of wisdom
7. Pro 3:21 – Keep God’s Word Pro 3:22-24 – Life and peace
8. Pro 3:25 – Do not fear Pro 3:26 – Why? God is with us
God’s Plan for Prosperity – In Pro 3:1-2 of this chapter, we are given a general summary of the blessings of wisdom. In Pro 3:3-12, we are given specific blessings of wisdom. Pro 3:15-18 give a second, more expanded summary of the blessings of wisdom.
One parallel passage that we find in the New Testament to the teaching found in this chapter is 3Jn 1:2.
3Jn 1:2, “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.”
The Lord wants us to walk in His blessings. The Lord once spoke to Norvel Hayes and told him that people are rewarded in two ways if they will serve the Lord; they will receive health and prosperity in this life. [58] We must seek the Lord instead of seeking the prosperity. In other words, Jesus said that we are to seek the kingdom of God first and all these blessings will pursue us.
[58] Norvel Hayes, “Sermon,” Word of Faith Family Church, Dallas, Texas 1989-90; Norvel Hayes, Financial Dominion: How To Take Charge Of You Finances (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Harrison House, c1986), 9-17.
Mat 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
This is why Pro 3:1-2 says that the Commandments of the Lord will “add” these blessings to us. That is, they will come to us, and we will not have to pursue them. Our job is to pursue the Lord and His Word. This is what is meant in Deu 28:1-2 when it says that “all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee.”
Deu 28:1-2, “And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.”
The Eternal Power of Wisdom – Note the progression of events in chapter 3. A person learns God’s Word, yields his heart in trust, begins living by the Word, need correcting by God’s Word, receives the blessings of God’s Word, and after walking in God’s word for years, eventually sees the eternal faithfulness and power of God’s Word:
Pro 3:1-4 – Learning God’s Word
Pro 3:5-6 – Trusting in God’s Word
Pro 3:7-10 – Living God’s Word
Pro 3:11-12 – Being Corrected by God’s Word
Pro 3:13-18 – The Blessings of God’s Word
Pro 3:19-20 – The Eternal Power of God’s Word
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
God the Father’s Foreknowledge: Calling Us to Our Journey (Preparation for the Journey) Most scholars consider Proverbs 1-9 to be a discourse, or a tribute, to wisdom. This section serves as an introduction to Solomon’s collection of wise, pithy sayings that follows. This introductory material is a preparation for being able to understand the rest of the book. Its underlying emphasis is the divine calling that God gives to every human being. Therefore, we find the statement of wisdom “crying out,” “uttering her voice” and “calling” used repeatedly throughout this section of Proverbs.
In these first nine introductory chapters, wisdom is personified as a person speaking in the feminine gender. Just as an artist sketches an outline of a painting, then splashes colors upon the canvas, until a beautiful painting emerges, so in these chapters of Proverbs does wisdom begin to reveal itself verse by verse (as an artist reveals a picture color by color) until chapter 8, when wisdom is seen as an intimate part of God and His creation. Wisdom is personified as a person speaking because man would be incapable of understanding his experiences in life without divine wisdom being given to him. This impartation is done in the person of the Holy Spirit. Wisdom is personified as a woman because the Hebrew word translated as “wisdom” is in the feminine gender.
These chapters contrast the table of blessings (Pro 9:1-6) with the trap of death (Pro 1:17-19, Pro 9:18). The wise man chooses wisdom’s table of blessings. In contrast, the fool chooses the trap of death, supposing that it is a table of blessing. Studying this introduction is a necessary preparation for finding one’s way through the rest of the book of Proverbs. Thus, a drama immediately unfolds in the introduction, revealing to us how wisdom sets a man free, but the trap of death ensnares its victims in the strongholds of sin. These strongholds do not turn its captives loose until it completes its assignment of death. In contrast, wisdom leads a man into his rightful place of glory and honor above God’s creation (Pro 3:35, Pro 31:30), and into submission to his Creator.
This section of Proverbs is actually a call to follow the path of wisdom, in which wisdom presents his arguments for choosing the path of wisdom over the path of the fool. God calls mankind to righteousness in this present Church age through the convicting power of the Holy Spirit that has been sent upon the earth, who convicts the world of sin righteousness and judgment (Joh 16:7-11); but prior to this age God called mankind to righteousness through wisdom, which testified from Creation (Rom 1:19-23), and from society. We see in these chapters that wisdom is a path that is to be diligently followed. Wisdom is a decision that is made on a daily basis, and these daily decisions will determine our destiny, both in this life and in the life to come. This book of wisdom contrasts the wise man with the fool throughout the book. As we will see in Proverbs, every decision that we make is either a wise decision, or a foolish one. Every decision affects our eternal destiny. This section begins with a call to follow wisdom (Pro 1:7-9), and ends by explaining how every human being decides between destinies, heaven or hell (Pro 9:1-18).
In the path of wisdom, there are many dangers. It is for this reason these nine chapters give us many warnings against the evil man and the adulteress, even before the real journey begins. The path of wisdom is narrow and easily missed. All of us have fallen off this path at one time or another in our lives. This book of Proverbs was written by King Solomon, considered the wisest person that has ever lived. Yet, even he fell off this path of wisdom because he allowed pride to blind his vision and dull his hearing. This gives us an indication of how narrow is this path to follow.
Pride is an attitude of the heart. It is the very reason that Solomon fell into idolatry. It is the root cause of every man’s failure. It comes clothed in many forms, such as false humility and it clothes itself in man-made titles of honour, such as “honorable, his lordship, his excellence, his grace, cardinal, pope, etc.” For example, the Pope in Rome carries the title of “His Holiness”. These nine chapters open and close with Pro 1:7; Pro 9:10, which reveal the secret of avoiding failure, which is caused by pride. We are told that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Pro 1:7 and Pro 9:10). This fear keeps us from falling off the path of wisdom.
This introductory material in Proverbs 1-9 makes up almost one third of the book. Why is this introduction to Proverbs so lengthy relative to the overall length of the book? It is because the preparation for our journey in life is also lengthy. Solomon was taught for many years before he took the throne as king of Israel. Good training takes time and a good education does not come quickly. The degree that a person receives a secular education usually determines the height of his career. In comparison, the degree that a person becomes rooted and grounded in the Word of God will determine the height of that person’s ministry. You must take the time to receive this introductory training in the first nine chapters of Proverbs before you are ready for the journey. The better we are able to understand the introduction of the book of Proverbs, the better we will be able to understand the rest of its teachings.
For hundreds of years in western civilization, a theological education was a part of a well-rounded education. All students learned the classical languages of Hebrew, Greek and Latin in order to study theological literature. The children of Israel were also to give each child a theological education. Solomon received such an education. Therefore, we can see this introduction to Proverbs as the theological training that everyone should go through in preparation for the journey in life.
One further note is worth mentioning about chapters 1-9. Upon reading, we must ask the question as to why this lengthy introduction in Proverbs spends so much time describing and warning the readers about the harlot. Perhaps because this is the one area that trapped and deceived Solomon, the wisest man that ever lived. This is the area that Solomon knows many of the young men he is training for leadership positions in the kingdom will be tempted. In addition, in a figurative sense, such spiritual adultery represents a believer who chooses to love the things of this world above his love for God.
Outline Here is a proposed outline:
1. The Call of Wisdom to Young & Tender Pro 1:7-33
2. Answering Wisdom’s Call (A Hearing Heart) Pro 2:1-22
3. The Blessings of Wisdom Pro 3:1-35
4. Three Paths of Wisdom Pro 4:1-27
5. Three Paths of Destruction Pro 5:1 to Pro 6:11
6. Characteristics of the Evil People Pro 6:12 to Pro 7:27
7. Characteristics of Wisdom Pro 8:1-36
8. Wisdom’s Final Call (Food for the Journey) Pro 9:1-18
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Obedience, Faith, and Liberality Urged
v. 1. My son, forget not my law, v. 2. for length of days and long life and peace, v. 3. Let not mercy and truth, v. 4. So shalt thou find favor, v. 5. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, v. 6. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, v. 7. Be not wise in thine own eyes, v. 8. It shall be health to thy navel, v. 9. Honor the Lord with thy substance, v. 10. so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, v. 11. My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, v. 12. for whom the Lord loveth He correcteth,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
Pro 3:1-18
4. Fourth admonitory discourse. The third chapter introduces us to a group of admonitions, and the first of these (Pro 3:1-18) forms the fourth admonitory discourse of the teacher. To all intents and purposes this is a continuation of the discourse in the preceding chapter, for inasmuch as that described the benefits, spiritual and moral, which follow from the pursuit of Wisdom, in promoting godliness and providing safety from evil companions, so this in like manner depicts the gain flowing from Wisdom, the happiness of the man who finds Wisdom, and the favour which he meets with both with God and man. The discourse embraces exhortations to obedience (Pro 3:1-4), to reliance on God (Pro 3:5, Pro 3:6) against self-sufficiency and self-dependence (Pro 3:7, Pro 3:8), to self-sacrificing devotion to God (Pro 3:9, Pro 3:10), to patient submission to God’s afflictive dispensations (Pro 3:11, Pro 3:12), and concludes with pointing out the happy gain of Wisdom, her incomparable value, and wherein that value consists (Pro 3:13-18). It is noticeable that in each case the exhortation is accompanied with a corresponding promise of reward (Pro 3:2, Pro 3:4, Pro 3:6, Pro 3:8, Pro 3:10), and these promises are brought forward with the view to encourage the observance of the duties recommended or enjoined. Jehovah is the central point to which all the exhortations converge. Obedience, trust, self-sacrificing devotion, submission, are successively brought forward by the teacher as due to God, and the persons in whom they are exhibited are truly happy in finding Wisdom. The transition in thought from the former to the latter part of the discourse is easy and natural. Obedience and trust are represented as bringing favour, guidance, and healthin a word, prosperity. But God is not only to be honoured in times of prosperity, but also in adversity his loving hand is to be recognized; and in this submission to his will is true wisdom.
Pro 3:1
My son (b’ni) serves to externally connect this discourse with the preceding. Forget not my law. This admonition bears a strong resemblance to that in Pro 1:8, though the terms employed are somewhat different, torah and mits’oth here occupying the place respectively of musar and torah in that passage. My law (torathi), is literally, my teaching, or doctrine, from the root yarah, “to teach.” The torah is the whole body of salutary doctrine, and designates “Law” from the standpoint of teaching. Forgetting here is not So much oblivion arising from defective memory, as a wilful disregard and neglect of the admonitions of the teacher. Thine heart (libekha); Vulgate, cor; LXX; and so the sum total of the affections. Keep; yitstsor, from notsar, “to keep, or observe that which is commanded.” The word is of frequent occurrence in the Proverbs, and appears about twenty-five times. My commandments (mits’othay); Vulgate, praecepta mea; LXX; ; i.e. my precepts. The Hebrew verb from which it is derived means “to command, or prescribe.” The law and commandments here alluded to are those which immediately follow, from verse 3 onwards. The three main ideas combined in this verse are remembrance, affection, and obedience. Remembering the law or teaching will depend, to a large extent, on the interest felt in that law; and the admonition to “forget not” is an admonition to give “earnest heed,” so that the law or teaching may be firmly fixed in the mind. In using the words, “let thy heart keep,” the teacher goes to the root of the matter. There may be an historical remembrance of, or an intellectual assent to, the commandments, but these are insufficient, for the keeping of the commandments must be based on the recognition of the fact that the affections of the heart are to be employed in the service of God, the keeping of the commandments is to be a labour of love. Again, the expression, “keep my commandments,” implies, of course, external conformity to their requirements: we are “to observe to do them” (Deu 8:1); but it implies, further, spiritual obedience, i.e. an obedience with which love is combined (Deu 30:20), and which arises from the inward principles of the heart being in harmony with the spirit of the commandments (see Wardlaw).
Pro 3:2
Length of days (orek yamim); Vulgate, longitudo dierum. The expression is literally “extension of days,” and signifies the prolongation of life, its duration to the appointed limita meaning which is brought out in the LXX. , “length of days,” the Greek word being used, not of existence, but of the time and course of life. It occurs again in Pro 3:16, and also in Job 12:12 and Psa 21:4. “Length of days” is represented as a blessing in the Old Testament, depending, however, as in the present instance, on the fulfilment of certain conditions. Thus in the fifth commandment it is appended to the honouring of parents (Exo 20:12), and it was promised to Solomon, at Gibeon, on the condition that he walked in the way, statutes, and commandments of God (1Ki 3:14). The promise of prolongation of life is not to be pressed historically as applying to every individual case, but is to be taken as indicating the tendency of keeping the Divine precepts, which, as a rule, ensure preservation of health, and hence “length of days.” Long life (vush’noth khayyim); literally, years of life; Targum Jonathan, Vulgate, Syriac, and Arabic, anni vitae; LXX; . The Authorized Version scarcely serves to bring out the sense of the original, as there is practically no difference in meaning between “length of days” and “long life? The idea conveyed in the expression, “years of life,” is that of material prosperity. The thought of an extended life is carried on from the preceding expression, but it is amplified and described. The years of life will be many, but they will be years of life in its truest sense, as one of true happiness and enjoyment, free from distracting cares, sickness, and other drawbacks. The Hebrew plural, khayyim, “lives,” is equivalent to the Greek expression, , “a life worth while living” (cf. Plat; ‘Apol.,’ 38, A). To the Israelitish mind, the happiness of life consisted in “dwelling in the land” (Deu 4:40; Deu 5:30, etc.), and “abiding in the house of the Lord” (Psa 15:1; Psa 23:6; Psa 27:3) (Zockler). The conjecture that the plural, khayyim, signifies the present and the future life, is unfounded. The scope of the promise before us is confined to the present stage of existence, and it is negatived also by the similar use of the plural in Pro 16:5, “In the light of the king’s countenance is life (khayyim),“ where khayyim cannot possibly refer to the future life. Khayyim stands for life in its fulness. “Godliness” has indeed, as St. Paul wrote to Timothy, “promise of the life that now is, aud of that which is to come” (1Ti 4:8). Peace (shalom). The verb shalam, from which the substantive shalom is derived, signifies “to be whole, sound, safe,” and hence “peace” means internal and external contentment, and tran-quillity of mind arising from the sense of safety. In Pro 16:17 the ways of Wisdom are designated peace. While, on the one hand, peace is represented by the psalmist as the possession of those who love God’s Law (Psa 119:165), on the other, it is denied the wicked (Isa 48:22; Isa 57:21). Shall they add to thee; i.e. shall the precepts and commands bring (Zockler) or heap upon (Muffet) thee.
Pro 3:3
Mercy and truth (khesed vermeth); properly, love and truth; Vulgate, misericordia et veritas; LXX; . With this verse begin the commandments which are alluded to in Pro 3:1. The Hebrew khesed has to be understood in its widest sense, though the Vulgate and the LXX. confine it to one aspect of its meaning, viz. that which refers to the relation of man to man, to the pity evoked by the sight of another’s misfortunes, and to ahnsgiving. The radical meaning of the word is “ardent desire,” from the root khasad, “to eagerly or ardently desire.” Delitzsch describes it as “well affectedness.” Predicated of God, it indicates God’s love and grace towards man; predicated of man, it signifies man’s love toward s God, i.e. piety, or man’s love towards his neighbour, i.e. humanity. Where this mercy or love is exhibited in man it finds expression in
(1) mutual outward help;
(2) forgiveness of offences;
(3) sympathy of feeling, which leads to interchange of thought, and so to the development of the spiritual life (see Elster, in loc.).
The word carries with it the ideas of kindlim as, benignity (Targum, benignitas), and grace (Syriac, gratia). Truth (emeth); properly, firmness, or stability, and so fidelity in which one performs one’s promise. Truth is that absolute integrity of character, beth in word and deed, which secures the unhesitating confidence of all (Wardlaw). Umbreit and Elster designate it as inward truthfulness, the pectus rectum, the very essence of a true man. As khesed excludes all selfishness and hate, so emeth excludes all hypocrisy and dissimulation. These two virtues are frequently combined in the Proverbs (e.g. Pro 14:22; Pro 16:16; Pro 20:28) and Psalms (e.g. Psa 25:10; Psa 40:11; Psa 57:4-11; Psa 108:5; Psa 138:2), and, when predicated of man, indicate the highest normal standard of moral perfection (Zockler). The two ideas are again brought together in the New Testament phrase, , “to speak the truth in love” (Eph 4:15). There seems little ground for the remark of Salasius, that “mercy” refers to our neighbours, and “truth” to God. Each virtue, in fact, has a twofold referenceone to God, the other to man. The promise in verse 4, that the exercise of these virtues procures favour with God and man, implies this twofold aspect. Bind them about thy neck; either
(1) as ornaments worn about the neck (Gejerus, Zockler); or
(2) as amulets or talismans, which were worn from a superstitious notion to ward off danger (Umbreit and Vaihinger); or
(3) as treasures which one wears attached to the neck by a chain to guard against their loss (Hitzig); or
(4) as a signet, which was carried on a string round the neck (Delitzsch). The true reference of the passage seems to lie between (1) and (3). The latter adapts itself to the parallel expression, “Write them on the tablet of thine heart,” and also agrees with Pro 6:21, “Tie them about thy neck,” the idea being that of their careful preservation against loss. The former meaning, however, seems preferable. Mercy and truth are to be ornaments of the character, to be bound round the neck, i.e. worn at all times (comp. Pro 1:9, “For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thine head, and chains about thy neck.” See also Gen 41:42; So Gen 1:10; Gen 4:9; Eze 16:11). The imagery of the binding is evidently taken from Exo 13:9 and Deu 6:8, and is suggestive of the tephillim, or phylacteries. Write them upon the table of thine heart; i.e. inscribe them. mercy and truth, deeply there, impress them thoroughly and indelibly upon thine heart, so that they may never be forgotten, and may form the mainspring of your actions. The expression implies that the heart is to be in entire union with their dictates. The table (luakh) was the tablet expressly prepared for writing by being polished, corresponding to the , the writing table of Luk 1:63, which, however, was probably covered with wax. The inscription was made with the stylus. The same word is used of the tables of stone, on which the ten commandments were written with the finger of God, end allusion is in all probability here made to that fact (Exo 31:18; Exo 34:28). The expression, “the tables of the heart,” occurs in Pro 7:3; Jer 17:1 (cf. 2Co 3:3); and is used by AEschylus, ‘Pro.,’ 789, , “the tablets of the heart.” This clause is omitted in the LXX.
Pro 3:4
So shalt thou find (vum’lsa); literally, and find. A peculiar use of the imperative, the imperative kal (m’tsa) with vav consecutive () being equivalent to the future, “thou shalt find,” as in the Authorized Version. This construction, where two imperatives are joined, the former containing an exhortation or admonition, the second a promise made on the condition implied in the first, and the second imperative being used as a future, occurs again in Pro 4:4; Pro 7:2, “Keep my commandments, and live;” Pro 9:6, “Forsake the foolish, and live;” Pro 20:13, “Open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread”. Delitzsch calls this “an admonitory imperative;” Bottcher, “the desponsive imperative.” Compare the Greek construction in Menander, , for , “Know that this you will do.“ Find (matza); here simply “to attain,” “obtain,” not necessarily implying previous search, as in Pro 17:20. Favour (khen). The same word is frequently translated “grace,” and means the same thing; Vulgate, gratia; LXX; . For the expression, “to find favour” (matsa khen), see Gen 6:8; Exo 33:12; Jer 31:2; comp. Luk 1:30, .” For thou hast found favour [or, ‘grace’] with God.” spoken by Gabriel to the Virgin. Good understanding (sekel tov); i.e. good sagacity, or prudence. So Delitzsch, Bertheau, Kamph. A true sagacity, prudence, or penetrating judgment will be adjudicated by God and man to him who possesses the internal excellence of love and truth. The Hebrew sekel is derived from sakal, “to act wisely or prudently,” and has this intellectual meaning in Pro 13:15; Psa 111:10 (see also 1Sa 25:3 and 2Ch 30:22). The Targum Jonathan reads, intellectus et benignitas, thus throwing the adjective into a substantival form; the Syriac, intellectus simply. Ewald, Hitzig, Zockler, and others, on the other hand, understand sekel as referring to the judgment formed of any one, the favourable opinion or view which is entertained of hint by others, and hence take it as reputation, or estimation. The man who has love and truth will be held in high esteem by God and man. Our objection to this rendering is that it does not seem to advance the meaning of the passage beyond that of “favour.” Another, mentioned by Delitzsch, is that sekel is never used in any other sense than that of intellectus in the Mishle. The marginal reading, “good success,” i.e. prosperity, seems inadmissible here, as the hiph. has’kil, “to cause to prosper,” as in Pro 17:8; Jos 1:7; Deu 29:9, does not apply in this instance any more than in Psa 111:10, margin. In the sight of God and man (b’eyney elohim v’adam); literally, in the eyes of Elohim and man; i.e. according to the judgment of God and man (Zockler); Vulgate, coram Deo et hominibus. A simpler form of this phrase is found in 1Sa 2:26, where Samuel is said to have found favour with the Lord, and also with men. So in Luk 2:52 Jesus found favour “with God and man ( )” (comp. Gen 10:9; Act 2:47, Rom 14:18). The two conditions of favor and sagacity, or prudence, are not to be assigned respectively to God and man (as Ewald and Hitzig), or that finding favour has reference more to God, and being deemed prudent refers more to man. The statement is universal. Both these conditions will be adjudged to the man who has mercy and truth by God in heaven and man on earth at the same time (see Delitszch). The LXX; “after favour,” instead of the text, reads, “and provide good things in the sight of the Lord and men,” quoted by St. Paul (2Co 8:21).
Pro 3:5
Trust in the Lord (b’takh el yehovah); literally, trust in Jehovah. Entire reliance upon Jehovah, implied in the words, “with all thine heart,” is here appropriately placed at the head of a series of admonitions which especially have God and man’s relations with him in view, inasmuch as such confidence or trust, with its corresponding idea of the renunciation of reliance on self, is, as Zockler truly remarks, a “fundamental principle of all religion.” It is the first lesson to be learnt by all, and no less necessary for the Jew than for the Christian. Without this reliance on or confidence in God, it is impossible to carry out any of the precepts of religion. Batakh is, properly, “to cling to,” and so passes to the meaning of “to confide in,” “to set one’s hope and confidence upon.” The preposition el with Jehovah indicates the direction which the confidence is to take (cf. Psa 37:3, Psa 37:5). Lean (tishshaen); Vulgate, innitaris; followed by el, like b’takh, with which it is very similar in meaning. Shaan, not used in kal, in hiph. signifies “to lean upon, rest upon,” just as man rests upon a spear for support. Its metaphorical use, to repose confidence in, is derived from the practice of kings who were accustomed to appear in public leaning on their friends and ministers; cf. 2Ki 5:18; 2Ki 7:2, 2Ki 7:17 (Gesenius). The admonition does not mean that we are not to use our own understanding (binab), i.e. form plans with discretion, and employ legitimate means in the pursuit of our ends; but that, when we use it, we are to depend upon God and his directing and overruling providence (Wardlaw); cf. Jer 9:23, Jer 9:24. “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,” etc. The teacher points out not only where we are to rely, but also where we are not to rely.
Pro 3:6
In all thy ways. This expression covers the whole area of life’s actionall its acts and undertakings, its spiritual and secular sides, no less than its public and private, It guards against our acknowledging God in great crises and solemn acts of worship only (Plumptre). Acknowledge (daehu); Vulgate, cogita; LXX; . The Hebrew verb yada signifies “to know, recognize.” To acknowledge God is, therefore, to recognize, in all our dealings and undertakings, God’s overruling providence, which “shapes our ends, rough hew them as we will.” It is not a mere theoretical acknowledgment, but one that engages the whole energies of the soul (Delitzsch), and sees in God power, wisdom, providence, goodness, and justice. This meaning is conveyed by the Vulgate cogitare, which is “to consider” in all parts, “to reflect upon.” David’s advice to his son Solomon is, “Know thou (ola) the God of thy father.” We may well acknowledge Jehovah; for he “knoweth the way of the righteous” (Psa 1:6). Acknowledging God also implies that we first ascertain whether what we are about to take in hand is in accordance with his precepts, and then look for his direction and illumination (Wardlaw). And he shall direct thy paths (v’hu y’yashsher or’khotheyka); i.e. he himself shall make them straight, or level, removing all obstacles out of the way; or they shall, under God’s direction, prosper and come to a successful issue; they shall be virtuous, inasmuch as deviation into vice will be guarded against, and happy, because they are prosperous. The pronoun v’hu is emphatic, “he himself;” Vulgate, et ipse. Yashar, piel. is “to make a way straight,” as in Pro 9:15; Pro 15:21; Pro 11:5. Cf. the LXX. , “to cut straight” (see on Pro 11:5). God here binds himself by a covenant (Lapide). This power is properly attributed to God, for “it is not in man to direct his steps” (Jer 10:23).
Pro 3:7
Be not wise in thine own eyes. This admonition carries on the thought from the preceding verses (5, 6), approaching it from a different direction. It is a protest against self-sufficiency, self-conceit, and self-reliance. It says, in effect, “Trust in the Lord, do not trust in yourself.” Wisdom, as Michaelis remarks, is to trust in God; to trust in yourself and in your own wisdom is unwisdom. God denounces this spirit: “Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!” (Isa 5:21), because such a spirit leads to the prohibited self-dependence, and is inconsistent with “the tear of the Lord.” The precept of the text is reiterated by St. Paul, especially in Rom 12:16, “Be not wise in your own conceits” (cf. 1Co 8:8; Gal 6:3). It commends humility. The diligent search for Wisdom is commanded. The great hindrance to all true wisdom is the thought that we have already attained it (Plumptre). In thine own eyes; i.e. in thine own estimation; arbitrio tuo. Fear the Lord, and depart from evil. The connection of this with the first part of the verse becomes clear upon reflection. “The fear of the Lord” is true wisdom (Job 28:28; Pro 1:7). Fear the Lord, therefore, because it is the best corrective of one’s own wisdom, which engenders arrogance, pride, presumption of mind, which, moreover, is deceptive and apt to lead to sin. The fear of the Lord has this other advantagethat it leads to the departure from evil (Pro 16:6) It is the mark of the wise man that he fears the Lord, and departs from evil (Pro 14:16). These precepts form the two elements of practical piety (Delitzsch), an eminent example of which as Job (Job 1:1).
Pro 3:8
It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones. A metaphorical expression, denoting the complete spiritual health which shall follow from fearing the Lord and departing from evil. Health, (riph’uth); properly, healing; LXX; ; Vulgate, sanitas; so Syriac and Arabic. The Targum Jonathan has medicina, “medicine,” as the margin. The root rapha is properly “to sew together,” and the secondary meaning, “to heal,” is taken from the healing of a wound by sewing it up. Delitzsch, however, thinks riph’uth is not to be taken as a restoration from sickness, but as a raising up from enfeebled health, or a confirming of the strength which already exists. There shall be a continuance of health. Gesenius translates “refreshment.” To thy navel (l’shor’rekha); Vulgate, umbilico tuo; so Targum Jonathan. Shor is “the navel,” here used synecdochically for the whole body, just as “head” is put for the whole man (Jdg 5:30), “mouth” for the whole person speaking (Pro 8:13), and “slow bellies” for depraved gluttons (Tit 1:12) (Gejerus, Umbreit). The idea is expressed in the LXX; Syriac, and Arabic by “to thy body” ( ; corpori tuo). The navel is here regarded as the centre of vital strength. For the word, see So Pro 7:2; Eze 16:4. This is the only place in the Proverbs where this word is found. Gesenius, however, takes shor, or l’shor’rekha, as standing col. lectively for the nerves, in which, he says, is the seat of strength, and translates accordingly, “Health (i.e. refreshment) shall it be to thy nerves.” Marrow (shik’kuy); literally, watering or moistening, as in the margin; Vulgate, irrigatio. Moistening is imparted to the bones by the marrow, and thus they are strengthened: “His bones are moistened with marrow” (Job 21:24). Where there is an absence of marrow the drying up of the bones ensues, and hence their strength is impaired, and a general debility of the system sets inthey “wax old” (Psa 32:3). The effect of a broken spirit is thus described: “A broken spirit drieth up the bones” (Pro 17:22). The physiological fact here brought forward is borne witness to by Cicero, ‘In Tusc.:’ “In visceribus atque medullis omne bonum condidisse naturam” (cf. Plato). The meaning of the passage is that, as health to the navel and marrow to the bones stand as representatives of physical strength, so the fear of the Lord, etc; is the spiritual strength of God’s children.
Pro 3:9
Honour the Lord with thy substance, etc. An exhortation to self-sacrificing devotion by the appropriation and use of wealth to the service of Jehovah. With thy substance (mehonehka); Vulgate, de tua substantia; LXX; . Hon, properly “lightness,” is “opulence,” “wealth,” as in Pro 1:13. The min in composition with hon is not partitive, as Delitzsch and Berthean take it, but signifies “with” or “by means of,” as in Psa 38:7; Isa 58:12; Eze 28:18; Oba 1:9. The insertion of by the LXX. limits the wealth to that which is justly acquired, and so guards against the erroneous idea that God is honoured by the appropriation to his use of unlawful wealth or gain (Plumptre). The Israelites “honoured Jehovah with their substance” when they contributed towards the erection of the tabernacle in the wilderness, and later when they assisted in the preparations for the building of the temple, and in the payment of tithes. The injunction may undoubtedly refer to tithes, and is in accordance with the requirement of the Mosaic Law on that and other points as to oblations, free will offerings, etc.; but it has a wider bearing and contemplates the use of wealth for all pious and charitable purposes (see Pro 14:31). The word maaser, “tithe,” does not occur in the Proverbs. With the firstfruits (mereshith); Vulgate, de primitiis. So Targum Jonathan, Syriac, and Arabic. The law of the firstfruits is found in Exo 22:29; Exo 23:19; Exo 34:20; Le Exo 23:10; Num 18:12 : Deu 18:4; Deu 26:1-3. The firstfruits were presented by every Israelite to the priests, in token of gratitude and humble thankfulness to Jehovah, and consisted of the produce of the land in its natural state, or prepared for human food (Maclear, ‘Old Test. Hist.,’ bk. 4, c. 3, a). The “firstfruits” also carried with it the idea of the best. The custom of offering the firstfruits of the field and other revenues as a religious obligation was observed by ancient pagan nations. Some of the ancient commentators find in this verse an argument for the support of the ministry. It is well known that the priests “lived of the sacrifice,” and were “partakers of the altar,” and as their support by these means tended to the maintenance of Divine worship, so those who supported them were in the highest degree “honoring God.” The injunctions also show that the honouring of God does not consist simply of lip service, of humility and confidence in him, but also of external worship, and in corporeal things. They are not peculiar to Israel, but are binding on all. They oppose all selfish use of God’s temporal gifts, and lead to the thought that, in obeying them, we are only giving back to God what are his own. “The silver and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts” (Hag 2:1-23 :28).
“We give thee but thine own,
Whate’er the gift may be;
All that we have is thine shine,
A trust, O Lord, from thee.”
(Day’s ‘Psalter.’)
Pro 3:10
So shall thy barns be filled with plenty. The promise held out to encourage the devotion of one’s wealth to Jehovah’s service, while supplying a motive which at first sight appears selfish and questionable, is in reality a trial of faith. Few persons find it easy to realize that giving away will increase their store (Wardlaw). The teacher is warranted in bringing forward this promise by the language of Moses in Deu 28:1-8, whine, among other things, he promises that Jehovah will command a blessing upon the “storehouses” and industry of those who honour God. The principle is otherwise expressed in Pro 11:25, “The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth shall be also watered himself;” and it is exemplified in Hag 1:3-11; Hag 2:15, Hag 2:19; Mal 3:10-12, and in the New Testament in Php 4:14-19; 2Co 9:6-8. Thy barns; asameykha, the only form in which asam, “a storehouse,” “barn,” or “granary,” occurs. The Hebrew asam is the same as the Latin horreum (Vulgate) and the Greek (LXX.). With plenty (sava); Vulgate, saturitas; i.e. fulness, abundance, plenty. The root sava is “to become satisfied,” and that richly satisfied. This expression and the following, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine, depict the greatest abundance. Thy presses (y’kaveykhu). The word here translated “presses” is, strictly speaking,” vats” or “reservoirs,” into which the must from the wine press flowed. The wine press consisted of two parts, the gath (equivalent to the Latin torcularium, torculum, or torcular; Greek, , Mat 21:33), into which the grapes were collected from the surrounding vineyard, and there trodden underfoot by several persons (Neh 13:15 : Isa 63:3; Lam 1:15), whose movements were regulated by singing or shouting (Isa 16:10; Jer 48:33), as among the Greeks and Egyptians; and the yekev, used here, which was a trough of corresponding size, dug into the ground, or cut out of a rack, at a lower level, to receive the must. The yekev corresponded with the Greek , mentioned in Mar 12:1-44 :l, and the Latin lacus (Ovid, ‘Fasti,’ 5.888; Pliny, ‘Epist.,’ 9.20; ‘Colum. de Rust.,’ 12.18): Cajeterus, indeed, reads, lacus torcularii. The word yekev is, however, used for the wine press itself in Job 24:11 and 2Ki 6:27. Shall burst out (yiph’rotsu); literally, they shall extend themselves; i.e. shall overflow. Parats, “to break,” is here used metaphorically in the sense of “to be redundant,” “to overflow” (cf. 2Sa 5:20). It is employed intransitively of a people spreading themselves abroad, or increasing, in Gen 28:14; Exo 1:12. New wine (tirosh); Vulgate, Arabic, and Syriac, vino; LXX; ; properly, as in the Authorized Version, “new wine;” Latin, mustum (see Deu 33:28; Isa 36:17; Isa 55:1).
Pro 3:11
My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord. The teacher, in Pro 3:11 and Pro 3:12, passes to another phase of life. The thought of prosperity suggests the opposite one of adversity. Abundant prosperity shall flow from honouring Jehovah, but he sometimes and not unfrequently sends affliction, and, indeed, without this life would be incomplete. The object of the exhortation is, as Delitzsch states, to show that, as in prosperity God should not be forgotten, so one should not suffer himself to be estranged by days of adversity. Submission is counselled on the ground that, when Jehovah afflicts, he does so in the spirit of love, and for good. The “chastening” and “correction,” though presenting God in an attitude of anger, are in reality not the punishment of an irate God. The verse before us is evidently copied from Job 5:17, “Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth, therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty;” and the whole passage is cited again in the Epistle to the Hebrews (Heb 12:5, Heb 12:6). It has been said that Job 5:11 expresses the problem of the Book of Job, and verse 12 its solution (Delitzsch). Despise not (altimas); Vulgate, ne abjicias; LXX; . The verb mass is first “to reject,” and then “to despise and contemn.” The Targum Jonathan puts the thought in a stronger form, ne execreris, “do not curse.” They despise the chastening of Jehovah who, when they see his hand in it, do not humbly and submissively bow, but resist and become refractory, or, as it is expressed in Pro 19:3, when their “heart fretteth against the Lord.” Job, notwithstanding his bitter complaints, was on the whole, and in his better moments, an example of the proper state of mind under correction (see Job 1:21; Job 2:10). Jonah, in treating contemptuously the procedure of God, is an exemplification of the contrary spirit, which is condemned implicitly in the text (Wardlaw). Chastening (musar); i.e. correction not by reproof only, as in Pro 6:23 and Pro 8:30; but by punishment also. as in Pro 13:24; Pro 22:15. The meaning here is expressed by the LXX. , which is “instruction by punishment,” discipline, or schooling (cf. Vulgate, disciplina). Neither be weary (al-takots); i.e. do not loathe, abhor, feel disgust nor vexation towards. The expression, “do not loathe,” is a climax to the other, “despise not.” It represents a more deeply seated aversion to Jehovah’s plans. Gesenius takes the primary meaning of kuts to be that of vomiting. The word before us certainly denotes loathing or nausea, and is used in this sense by the Israelites in their complaints against God and against Moses in Num 21:5 (cf. Gen 27:46). The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, in quoting the passage, adopts the LXX. reading, , “nor faint;” Vulgate, ne deficias, i.e. “do not give way to despondency.” Correction. This word, like musar above, has a twofold meaning of either punishment or chastening, as in Psa 73:14; or reproof, as in Pro 1:23; Pro 25:1-28 :30; Pro 5:12; Pro 27:5; Pro 29:15, where it also occurs. It is here used in the former sense. To loathe the correction of Jehovah is to allow it to completely estrange us from him. We faint under it when, by dwelling on or brooding over, or bemoaning the trial, the spirit sinks to faintness. To faint at correction ignores the belief in the truth that “all things work together for good to them that love God.”
Pro 3:12
In this verse the motive for submissiveness to Jehovah’s corrections is brought forward. They are corrections, but they are the corrections of love. One of the most touching relationships of life, and that with which we are most familiar, viz. that of father and son, is employed to reconcile us to Jehovah’s afflictive dispensations. A comparison is drawn. God corrects those whom he loves after the same manner as a father corrects (“correcteth” has to be understood from the first hemistich) the son whom he loves. The idea of the passage is evidently taken from Deu 8:5, “Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee.” The idea of the paternal relationship of God to mankind is found elsewhere (Jer 31:9; Mal 2:10), and especially finds expression in the Lord’s prayer. When the truth of this passage is learned, we shall be drawn to, rather than repelled from, God by his corrections. The gracious end of earthly trials is expressed in Heb 12:6, Heb 12:2; cf. Rom 5:3-5; 2Co 4:17 (Wardlaw). “These gracious words (Heb 12:1-29.) are written in Holy Scripture for our comfort and instruction; that we should patiently and with thanksgiving bear our heavenly Father’s correction, whensoever by any manner of adversity it shall please his gracious goodness to visit us” (see Visitation Office). Even as a father the son in whom he delighteth (vuk’av eth-ben yir’tseh); literally, even as a father the son be delighteth in. Various renderings have been given to this passage.
(1) Delitzsch, De Wette, et al; agree with the Authorized Version, and take vav, as explicative, and yir’tseh, “in whom he delighteth,” as a relative sentence. The is used in this explanatory sense in 1Sa 28:3. The relative usher, “whom,” is omitted in the original, according to the rule that the relative is omitted, especially in poetry, where it would stand as a pronoun in the nominative or accusative case (comp. Psa 7:16, “And he falls into the pit (which) he made;” and Pro 5:13). We have the same elision of the relative in the English colloquial expression, “the friend I met”.
(2) Hitzig and Zockler translate, “and holds him dear as a father his son.” This, though grammatically correct, does not preserve the parallelism. It serves only to expand the idea of love, whereas the predominant idea of the verse is that of correction, to which love is an accessory idea (see Delitzsch). For similar parallels, see Deu 8:5 as before, and Psa 103:13. In the comparison which is instituted, yir‘tseh, “in whom he delighteth,” corresponds with eth asher ye’hav yehovah, “whom the Lord loveth,” and not with yokiah, “correcteth.”
(3) Kamph translates, “and (dealeth) as a father (who) wisheth well to his son.” This is substantially the same as the Authorized Version, except that in the relative sentence “son” is made accusative after yir’tseh, here translated, “wisheth well to,” and the emitted relative (asher) is placed in the nominative instead of the accusative case.
(4) The variation in the LXX; , “and scourgeth every son whom he rcceiveth,” cited literally in Heb 12:5, evidently arises from the translators having read , (yakev), “he scourgeth” for (vuk’av), “even as a father.” It will be seen that this alteration could be easily effected by a change in the Masoretic pointing.
(5) The Vulgate renders, et quasi pater in filio complacet sibi. He delighteth; yir’tseh is from ratsah, “to be delighted” with any person or thing.
Pro 3:13-18
The teacher here enters upon the last part of this discourse. In doing so, he reverts to his main subject, which is Wisdom, or the fear of the Lord (see Pro 3:7 and Pro 1:7), and pronounces a panegyric upon her, comparing her, as in Job 28:1-28; with treasures whose value she exceeds, and showing wherein that value consists, viz. in the gifts which she confers on man.
Pro 3:13
Happy is the man (ash’rey adam); literally, blessings of the man. The plural of “excellence” used here, as in Job 5:17, to raise the sense. The man who has found Wisdom is supremely blessed. Beds connects this blessedness immediately with God’s chastisements in the preceding verse. So Delitzsch. That findeth (matsa); properly, hath found. “The perfect expresses permanent possession, just as the imperfect, yaphik, denotes a continually renewed and repeated attaining” (Zockler). The Vulgate also uses the perfect, invenit, “hath found;” LXX; , “who found”the aorist. The man that getteth understanding (adam yaphik t’vunah); literally, the man that draweth out understanding, as in the margin. Yaphik is the hiph. future or imperfect of puk, the primary meaning of which is educere, “to draw out,” “to bring forth.” This verb is used in two widely different senses. In the first place, it is equivalent to “bring forth” or “draw out” in the sense of imparting, as in Isa 58:10, “If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry,” i.e. impart benefits to them; and Psa 145:13, “That our garners may be full, affording all manner of store,” i.e. yielding, giving out, presenting for our benefit. Its second sense is that of attaining, drawing out from another for one’s own use. In this sense it occurs in Pro 8:35; Pro 12:2; Pro 18:22, where it is rendered “obtain.” The latter sense is the one that suits the present passage, and best agrees with the corresponding matsa. The man is blessed who draws forth, i.e. obtains, understanding from God for himself. The Vulgate renders, qui affluit prudentia, “who overflows with understanding,” or, has understanding in abundance; LXX; , equivalent to “who saw.”
Pro 3:14
The merchandise (sakh’rah); Vulgate, acquisitio; LXX; . The gain arising from trading in wisdom is better than that which arises from trading in silver. Sakh’rah is the gain or profit arising from merchandise, i.e. from trading. It denotes the act itself of gaining. The root sakrah, like the Greek , signifies “to go about for the sake of traffic,” i.e. to trade. There may be an allusion here, as in Pro 2:4, to the new commerce (Plumptre). The gain thereof (t’vuathah); i.e. the gain existing in, and going along with, Wisdom herself; gain, therefore, in a different sense from that indicated in sakh’rah. Gesenius takes it as “gain resulting from Wisdom,” as in Pro 8:19 and Isa 23:3. The word is used of the produce of the earth, the idea apparently embodied in the Vulgate fructus. In this case there may be a reference to Isa 23:18, where Wisdom is said to be a “tree of life.” The LXX. omits the latter clause of this verse. The sense is, “The possession of Wisdom herself is better than fine gold.” Fine gold (karuts); Vulgate, aurum purum; Syriac, aurum purissimum. Kharuts is the poetic word for gold, so called, either
(1) from its brilliancy, and then akin to the Greek (Curtius); or
(2) from its being dug up, from the root kharats, “to cut into or dig up, to sharpen.” It evidently means the finest and purest gold, and is here contrasted with silver (keseph). The word is translated “choice gold” in Pro 8:10; “gold” simply in Pro 16:16; “yellow gold” in Psa 68:13; and “fine gold” in Zec 9:3. In the Version Junii et Tremellii it appears as effosum aurum, “gold dug up,” i.e. gold in its native, unalloyed state. The Targum Jonathan understands it of “molten gold” (aurum conflatum).
Pro 3:15
Rubies (Khetib, p)niyim; Keri, p)ninim). No unanimous opinion has been arrived at as to the real signification of the word here translated “rubies.” The majority of the rabbins (among them Rashi), and Bochart, Hartman, Bohlen, Lee on Job 38:18, and Zockler, render it “pearls.” Its meaning seems to lie between this and “corals,” the rendering adopted by Michaelis, Gesenius, and Delitzsch (following Fleischer), who says that the Hebrew p)ninim corresponds with the Arabia word whose root idea is “shooting forth,” and means “a branch.” The peculiar branching form in which corm is found favours this opinion, which is strengthened by the passage in Lam 4:7, where we get additional information as to color, “They [the Nazarites] were more ruddy in body than rubies,” a description of which would apply to “coral,” but is scarcely applicable to “pearls.” The various versions suggest the further idea that p)ninim was a descriptive word used to denote precious stones in general. The LXX. renders, “She is more precious than precious stones ( ).“ So the Targum Jonathan, Syriac, and Arabic. The Vulgate renders. “She is more precious than all riches (cunctis opibus).“ The word p)ninim only occurs here (Keri) and in Pro 8:11; Pro 20:15; Pro 31:10; and in Job and Lamentations as above. This passage, as well as Pro 8:11, which is an almost literal repetition of it, are imitations of Job 28:18. The identification of p)ninim with “pearls” may have suggested our Lord’s parable of the pearl of great price (Mat 13:45, Mat 13:46). All the things thou canst desire (kal-khaphatseyka); literally, all thy desires. Here everything in which you have pleasure, or all your precious things; LXX; ; Vulgate, omnia, quae desiderantur. The comparison, which has risen from the less to the more valuable, culminates in this comprehensive expression. There is nothing, neither silver, gold, precious stones, nor anything precious, which is an equivalent (shavah) to Wisdom in value. How it shows, when everything is put before us to choose from, that, like Solomon at Gibeon, we should prefer wisdom (1Ki 3:11-13)! In the second half of this verse the LXX. substitutes, “No evil thing competes with her; she is well known to all that approach her.”
Pro 3:16
The remaining three verses (16-18) state in what respects Wisdom is incomparable in value. Length of days; orek yamim, as in Pro 3:2. Wisdom is here represented as holding in her right hand that which is previously promised to obedience. Length of days is the blessing of blessings, the condition of all prosperity and enjoyment, and hence is placed in the right hand, the chief place, for among the Hebrews and other Oriental nations, as also among the Greeks the right hand was regarded as the position of highest honour (Psa 110:1-7.l; 1Ki 2:19; 1 Macc 10:63; Mat 22:24); cf. Psa 16:11. in which the psalmist says of Jehovah, “In thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore.” The two hands, the right and the left, signify the abundance of Wisdom’s gifts. Riches and honour stand here for prosperity in general. The same expression occurs in Pro 8:8, where riches are explained as “durable riches.” A spiritual interpretation can, of course, be given to this passagelength of days being understood of eternal life; riches, of heavenly riches; and honour, not “the honour that cometh of men,” but honour conferred by God (1Sa 5:1-12 :44; Joh 12:26); see Wardlaw, in loc. The thought of the verse is, of course, that Wisdom not only holds these blessings in her hands, but also confers them on those who seek her. The LXX. adds, “Out of her month proceedeth righteousness; justice and mercy she beareth upon her tongue;” possibly suggested by Pro 8:3. The words of the teacher remind us of the saying of Menander, , “He who excels in prudence possesses all things.”
Pro 3:17
Ways of pleasantness (dar’key noam); Vulgate, viae pulchrae; LXX; . Wisdom’s ways are those in which substantial delight may be found. They are beautiful and lovely to look upon, and afford happiness. All her paths are peace (v)kal-n)thivo-theyah shalom); literally, as in the Authorized Version. “Peace,” shalom, is not genitive as “pleasantness.” The character of peace is stamped upon her paths, so that in speaking of Wisdom’s paths we speak of peace. She brings tranquillity and serenity and blessedness. Her paths are free from strife and alarm, and they lead to peace. (On the distinction between “ways” and “paths”the more open and the more private walkssee Pro 2:15.)
Pro 3:18
A tree of life (ets-khayyim); Vulgate, lignum vitae; LXX; . This expression obviously refers to “the tree of life” (ets-hakayyim), which was placed in the midst of the garden of Eden, and conferred immortality on those who ate of its fruit (Gen 2:9; Gen 3:22). So Wisdom becomes equally life giving to those who lay hold on her, who taste of her fruit. She communicates life in its manifold fulness and richness (so the plural “lives” indicates) to those who seize her firmly. What is predicated of Wisdom here is predicated in other passages (Pro 11:30; Pro 13:12; Pro 15:4) of the fruit of the righteous, the fulfilment of desire, and a wholesome tongue. Each of these, the teacher says, is “a tree of life.” Elster denies that there is any reference to “the tree of life,” and classes the expression among those other figurative expressionsa “fountain of life,” in Pro 13:4 and Pro 14:27, and a “well of life.” in Pro 10:11; but if it be once admitted that there is such a reference, and it be remembered also that Wisdom is the same as “the fear of the Lord,” the point insisted on in the Proverbs and in Job, it seems difficult to deny that the teacher has in view the blessed immortality of which the tree of life in Paradise as the symbol. In this higher sense the term is used in the Revelation (Rev 2:7; Rev 22:2, Rev 22:14). Wisdom restores to her worshippers the life which was lost in Adam (Cartwright). It is remarkable that the imagery here employed is confined to these two hooks. After the historical record in Genesis, no other sacred writers refer to the tree of life. Old ecclesiastical writers saw in the expression a reference to Christ’s redeeming work. “The tree of life is the cross of Christ,” lignum vitae crux Christi (quoted by Delitzsch). The symbol, Plumptre remarks, entered largely into the religious imagery of Assyria, Egypt, and Persia. To them that lay hold upon (lammakhazikim, hiph. participle); Vulgate, his, qui apprehenderint; LXX; . The Hebrew verb (khazak), “to tie fast,” is in hiph. with (be),“ to take hold of,” “to seize any one.” Happy is every one that retaineth her. In the original, the participle, “they retaining her” (tom’keyah), is plural, and the predicate, “happy” or “blessed” (m’ushshar), is singular. The latter is used distributively, and the construction is common (cf. Pro 15:22). The Authorized Version aptly renders the original. The necessity for “retaining” as well as “laying hold” of Wisdom is pointed out. The verb (tamak) is “to hold fast something taken.” Such will be blessed who hold Wisdom tenaciously and perseveringly.
Pro 3:19-26
5. Fifth hortatory discourse. Wisdom, the creative power of God, exhibited as the protection of those who fear God. The teacher in this discourse presents Wisdom under a new aspect. Wisdom is the Divine power of God, by which he created the world, and by which he sustains the work of his hands and regulates the operations of nature. This eminence of Wisdom, in her intimate association with Jehovah, is made the basis of a renewed exhortation to keep Wisdom steadily in view. The elevated thought that Wisdom has her source in Jehovah might seem in itself an adequate and sufficient reason for the exhortation. But another motive is adduced intimately bound up with this view of Wisdom. Jehovah becomes the ground of confidence and the protection in all conditions of life of those who keep Wisdom.
Pro 3:19
The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth. The emphatic position of the word Jehovah, “the Lord,” at the beginning of the sentence (cf. Psa 27:1-14; Psa 97:1-12; Psa 99:1-9), as well as the nature of the discourse, indicates a new paragraph. The description of the creative Wisdom of Jehovah may have been suggested to the mind of the teacher by the mention of the tree of life, in Pro 3:18 (Zockler); but the connection between this and the preceding passage has to be sought for in something deeper. The scope of the teacher is to exhibit, and so to recommend, Wisdom in every respect, and after showing her excellence in man, he now brings her forward as the medium of creation, and hence in her relation to God. By wisdom (b’kokhmah); Vulgate, sapientia; LXX; . It is evident that Wisdom is here something more than an attribute of Jehovah. “By Wisdom” means “by, or through, the instrumentality of Wisdom.” While the corresponding and parallel expressions, “understanding,” “knowledge,” militate against the idea of an hypostatizing of Wisdom, i.e. assigning to Wisdom a concrete and objective personality, yet the language is sufficiently strong, when we connect this passage with Pro 1:1-33 and Pro 8:1-36, to warrant our regarding Wisdom as something apart from yet intimately connected with Jehovah, as an active agency employed by him, and hence this description may. be looked upon as an anticipation of that which is more fully developed in Pro 8:1-36; where the characteristics which are wanting here are there worked out at length. The rabbins evidently connected the passage before us, as well as Pro 1:1-33 and Pro 8:1-36, with Gen 1:1, by rendering bereshith, “in the beginning.” by bekokhmah, “by Wisdom.” Our Lord identifies himself with the Divine Sophia, or Wisdom (Luk 11:49). And the language of St. John, “All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made” (Joh 1:3), which assigns to the Logos, or Word of God, i.e. Christ, the act of creation (cf. Joh 1:10, and especially the language of St. Paul, in Col 1:16), argues in favour of the view of some commentators who understand Wisdom to refer to the Second Person of the Trinity. The Logos was understood by Alexandrian Judaism to express the manifestation of the unseen God, the Absolute Being, in the creation and government of the world; and the Christian teachers, when they adopted this term, assigned to it a concrete meaning as indicating the Incarnate Word (see Bishop Lightfoot, in Col 1:15). For the passage, see Psa 33:6; Psa 104:24; Psa 136:5; and especially Jer 10:12, “He hath established the world by his wisdom,” etc.; Jer 51:55; Ec 24:2, seq. Hath founded (yasod); Vulgate, fundavit; LXX; . The same verb is used in Job 38:4; Psa 24:2; Psa 78:69, of the creation of the earth by God. While the primary meaning of yasad is “to give fixity to,” “to lay fast,” that of konen, rendered “he hath established,” is “to set up,” “to erect,” and so “to found,“ from kun, or referring to the Arabic and Ethiopic cognate root, “to exist,” “to give existence to.” The marginal reading, “prepared,” corresponds with the LXX. . The Vulgate is stabilivit, “he hath established.”
Pro 3:20
By his knowledge the depths are broken up. This is usually taken to refer to that primary act in creation, the separation of the waters from the earth, when “the waters were gathered together unto their own place,” as recorded in Gen 1:9. So Munster, Zockler, Wardlaw. But it seems better to understand it (as Mercerus, Lapide, Delitzsch, and Authorized Version) of the fertilization of the earth by rivers, streams, etc; which burst forth from the interior of the earth. In this sense the correspondence is preserved with the second hemistich. where the atmospheric influence is referred to as conducing to the same end. The teacher passes from the creation to the wonderful means which Jehovah employs through Wisdom to sustain his work. The depths (t’homoth); Vulgate, abyssi; LXX; , are here “the internal water stores of the earth” (Delitzsch), and not the depths of the ocean, as in Pro 8:24, Pro 8:27, Pro 8:28, and in Gen 1:2. Are broken up (niv’kau); properly, were broken up, niph. perfect of baka,
(1) to cleave asunder,
(2) to break forth, as water, in Isa 35:6.
The perfect describes a past act, but one that is still continuing in effect. Cf. Vulgate eruperunt, “they burst forth;” LXX; , aorist 2 passive of , “to burst forth,” Targum, rupti sunt; and Syriac, ruptae sunt. The idea of division or separation is present, but it is not the predominant idea. There seems to be no allusion here either to the Deluge (Beds), nor to the cleaving of the waters of the Red Sea (Gejerus), though both of these historical events were undoubtedly well known to the teacher. And the clouds drop down the dew. The clouds (sh’khakim) are properly the ether, the higher and colder regions of the atmosphere, and then “the clouds,” as in Psa 77:15, which are formed by the condensation of vapours drawn by solar influence from the surface of the earthseas, rivers, etc. The singular shakhak signifies “dust,” and. secondly “a cloud,” evidently from the minute particles of moisture of which a cloud is composed. Drop down (yir’aphu, kal future of raaph, used as a present or imperfect); LXX; , “let flow.” The clouds discharge their contents in showers, or distil at evening in refreshing dew. Modern science agrees with the meteorological fact here alluded to, of the reciprocal action of the heavens and the earth. The moisture drawn from the earth returns again “to water the earth, that it may bring forth and bud, to give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater” (Isa 55:10). Dew; tal, here used not only of dew, but of rain in gentle and fructifying showers. The Arabic word signifies “light rain;” LXX; , “dew.“ Moses, in describing the blessing of Israel, says, “His heavens shall drop down dew” in the same sense (De 38:28; cf. Job 36:28). The fertilization of the earth is ordered by the Divine Wisdom.
Pro 3:21
My son, let not them depart from thine eyes. After the description of the power of Wisdom exhibited in creating and sustaining the earth, the exhortation to keep Wisdom steadily before the eyes, and the promises of Divine protection, appropriately follow. Since Wisdom is so powerful, then, the teacher argues, she is worthy of being retained and guarded, and able to protect. Let them not depart (al-yaluzu); i.e. “let them not escape or slip aside from your mind (cf. Vulgate, ne effluant haec ab oculis ruts). They are to be as frontiers between your eyes, as a ring upon your finger. Yaluzu, from luz, “to bend aside,” defiectere, a via declinare, which see in Pro 2:15, ought probably to be written yellezu, on the analogy of the corresponding passage in Pro 4:21. The LXX. renders absolutely , “do not thou pass by,” from , “to flow by,” “to pass by, recede” (cf. Heb 2:1, “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to these things, lest at any time we should let them slip ( ),” quoted probably from the LXX. of this passage). The Targum Jonathan reads ne vilescat, “let it,” i.e. wisdom, “not become worthless.” Them, included in the verb yaluzu of which it is subject in the original, is to be referred either to “sound wisdom and discretion” of verse 21bso Gejerus, Cartwright, Geier, Umbreit, Hitzig, Zockter, Plumptre (a similar trajection occurs in Deu 32:5, and is used, as here, to give vividness to the description): or to “wisdom, understanding, knowledge,” of the preceding versesso Delitzsch and Holden. The first view in every way seems preferable, and it is no objection to it that “sound wisdom” (tushiyyah) and “discretion” (m)yimmah) are feminine, while the verb “depart” (yaluzu) is masculine. The Syriac reads, “Let it not become worthless (ne vile fit) in thine eyes to keep my doctrine and my counsels.” Keep sound wisdom and discretion. Keep; n‘zor, kal imperative of natsar, “to watch, guard.” For “sound wisdom” (tushiyyah), see Pro 2:7. Here used for “wisdom” (kokhmah), as “discretion” (m’zimmah) for “understanding” (t’vunah), to contrast the absolute wisdom and insight of God with the corresponding attributes in man (see Zockler, in loc.). They belong to God, but are conferred on those who seek after Wisdom, and are then to be guarded as priceless treasures. The Vulgate reads, custodi legem et consilium; and the LXX; , “guard my counsel and thought.”
Pro 3:22
So shall they he life to thy soul, and grace to thy neck. So shall they be (n’yikva); and they shall be. The “soul” and “neck” stand for the whole man in his twofold nature, internal and external. Life is in its highest and widest sense given to the soul (see Pro 2:16, Pro 2:18; Pro 4:22; Pro 8:35), and favour is conferred on the man, i.e. he becomes acceptable to his neighbours, if he has wisdom. The latter expression is very similar to Pro 1:9, where the same promise is expressed, “grace” (hon) being equivalent to “ornament of grace” (liv’yath hon). Others understand “grace to thy neck” (hon l’garg’ grotheyka), as gratia guttturis, in the sense of “grace of the lips,” as in Psa 45:3 and Pro 22:11, that is, as the grace of speaking, power of eloquent and effective utterance (Gejerus, Bayne, Lapide). It is better to take it as referring to the adornment of the personal character, and so by metonymy of the favour and kindness which it procures.
Pro 3:23
Then shall thou walk in thy way safely. The first of the promises of protection, which follow from Pro 3:23-26. He who keeps “sound wisdom and discretion” shall enjoy the greatest sense of security in all situations of life. Safely (lavetakh); either in confidence, as Vulgate fiducialiter, i.e. confidently, because of the sense of security (cf. LXX; , and Pro 3:26); or in security: the adverb lavetakh is equivalent to betakh in Pro 1:30 and Pro 10:9. The allusion is obvious. As he who is accompanied by an escort proceeds on his way in safety, so you protected by God will pass your life in security; or, as Trapp, “Thou shalt ever go under a double guard, ‘the peace of God’ within thee (Php 4:7), and the ‘power of God’ without thee (1Pe 1:5).” And thy foot shall not stumble; literally, and thou shall not strike thy foot. Stumble in the original is thiggoph, 2 singular kal future of nagaph, “to smite, strike against with the foot.” So in Psa 91:12. The Authorized Version, however, correctly gives the sense. The LXX; like the Authorized Version, makes “foot” the subject, , “(That) thy foot may not stumble.” For a similar assurance, see Pro 4:12. The meaning is: You will not stumble, because you will be walking in the way of wisdom, which is free from stumbling blocks (Lapide). You will not fall into sin.
Pro 3:24
When thou liest down thou shalt not be afraid. This is beautifully illustrated by what David says in Psa 4:8, “I will both lay me down in peace and sleep: for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety.” No fear is to be apprehended where Jehovah is Protector (see Psa 3:5, Psa 3:6; Psa 46:1-3; Psa 91:1-5; Psa 121:5-8). When, (im) is rendered “if” by the Vulgate, LXX; Targum Jonathan. Thou liest down; tish’kav, “thou shalt lie down,” kal future, like shakavta, kal perfect, in the corresponding hemistich, is from shakav, “to lie down,” specially to lay one’s self down to sleep, as in Gen 19:4; Psa 3:6. Vulgate, si dormieris; cf. Pro 6:22, “when thou sleepest” , b‘shok‘b‘ka‘. The LXX. rendering, “if thou sittest” (), arises from reading (teshev) for (tish’kav) Yea, thou shalt lie down; b’shok’b’ta, as before, with] prefixed, equivalent to the future, as in the Authorized Version; LXX; . Shall be sweet; arvah, from arav, “to be sweet,” or “pleasant,” perhaps “well mixed,” as arev, equivalent to “to mix.” Thy sleep shall be full of pleasing impressions, not restless, as in Deu 28:66 and Job 7:4, but sweet, because of the sense of safety, and from confidence in God, as well as from a good conscience (cf. Job 11:18, “Thou shalt take thy rest in safety,” from which the idea is probably taken).
Pro 3:25
Be not afraid; al-tirah, is literally “fear thou not,” the future with al preceding being used for the imperative in a dehortative sense, as in Gen 46:3; Job 3:4, Job 3:6, Job 3:7; Vulgate, ne paveas. Others, however, render, as the LXX; , “Thou shalt not be afraid,” in the sense of a promise. The verb yare, from which tirah, is here followed by min, as in Psa 3:7; Psa 27:1, and properly means “to be afraid from or before” some person or thing. Sudden; pithom, an adverb used adjectively (cf. like use of adverb khinnam in Pro 26:2). Fear (pakhad); as in Pro 1:16, the object which excites terror or fear, as any great disaster. The desolation of the wicked (shoath r’shaim) may be taken either
(1) as the desolation made by the violence of the wicked, the desolation or strum which they raise against the righteous; or
(2) the desolation which overtakes the wicked, the desolating vengeance executed upon them (so Doderlein, Lapide, Stuart, Muensch; Delitzsch, Wardlaw). The latter is probably the right interpretation, and agrees with the threatening language of Wisdom against her despisers, in Pro 1:27, where shdath also occurs. Iu the desolation which shall overwhelm the wicked he who has made Wisdom his guide shall be undismayed, for the Lord is his confidence. The passage was probably suggested by Pro 5:21, “Neither shalt thou be afraid of desolation when it cometh.” Lee, in loc. cit; says the places are almost innumerable where this sentiment occurs. Compare the fearlessness of the man of integrity and justice, in Horace
“Si fractus illabatur orbis,
Impavidum ferient ruinae.”
(Horace, ‘Od.,’ 3.3, 7, 8.)
“Let Jove’s dread arm with thunders rend the spheres,
Beneath the crush of worlds undaunted he appears.”
(Francis’s Trans.)
Pro 3:26
Thy confidence (v’kis’leka); literally, as thy confidence. Kesel, primarily “loin” or “flank,” as in Le Pro 3:14; Pro 10:15; Job 15:27, is apparently used here in its secondary meaning of “confidence,” “hope,” as in Job 8:14; Job 31:24; Psa 78:7. The (v’) prefixed is what is usually termed the essentiae, or pleonasticum (equivalent to the Latin tanquam, “as”), and serves to emphasize the connection between the predicate “thy confidence” and the subject “Jehovah”. Jehovah shall be in the highest sense your ground and object of confidence. Delitzsch describes kesel as confidence in the presence of evil: Jehovah in the presence of the “sudden fear,” and of “the desolation of the wicked,” the evils and calamities which overwhelm the wicked, shall be thy confidence. The sense of his all-encircling protection will render you undismayed. The meaning given to kesel as “foolhardiness” (Psa 49:14) and “folly” (Ecc 7:25). and the connection of kesel with k)silim in Pro 1:22, comes from the root idea kasal, “to be fleshly, or fat,” the signification of which branches out on the one side into strength and boldness, and on the other into languor and inertness, and so folly or confidence in self (Schultens, i.e.). The Talmudic rendering of the Rabbi Salomon approximates to this meaning, “and the things in which you seemed to be foolish (desipere videbaris) he will be at once present with you.” Others, as Ziegler, Muentinghe, gave kesel its primary meaning, and translate, “Jehovah shall be as thy loins,” the loins being regarded as the emblem of strength. Jehovah shall be your strength. But kesel does not appear to have this local application here. Wherever it is used in this sense, as in Job and Leviticus cited above, there is something in the context to point it out as a part of the body. Compare, however, the Vulgate. in latere suo, “in thy side or flank.” The LXX. renders, , “over all thy ways.” From being taken (millaked); Vulgate, ne capiaris, “lest thou be taken.” The meaning is, Jehovah will be your protection against all the snares and traps which the impious lay for you. Leked, “a being taken,” is from lakad, “to take or catch animals” in a net or in snares. It only occurs here in the Proverbs. Its unusual appearance, together with other reasons, not tenable, however, has led Hitzig to reject verses 22-26 as an interpolation.
The LXX. reads, , pavorem. , in Plato, Aristotle, and Plutarch, is used subjectively, and means “any vehement emotion.” The word only occurs once in the New Testament in 1Pe 3:6, , where it is evidently quoted from the passage before us, in an objective sense, and designates some external cause of terror (cf. Authorized Version, “and be not afraid with any amazement;” see also Book of Common Prayer: ‘Solemnization of Matrimony,’ ad fin).
Pro 3:27-35
6. Sixth admonitory discourse. In this discourse the teacher still carries on his object, which is to demonstrate the conditions upon which true wisdom and happiness are to be attained. The discourse differs from the preceding in consisting of detached proverbs, and may be divided into two main sectionsthe first (Pro 3:27-30) enjoining benevolence, that love to one’s neighbour which is the fulfilling of the Law; the second warning against emulating the oppressor and associating with him, because of the fate of the wicked (Pro 3:31-35). It is observable that all the maxims have a negative form, and thus present a striking contrast to the form adopted by our Lord in the Sermon on the Mount (Mat 5:1-48.), and to the admonitions at the close of St. Paul’s Epistles. In one instance in particular (Pro 3:30), the teaching does not reach the high moral standard of the gospel (see Delitzsch and Lange).
Pro 3:27
Withhold not good from them to whom it is due. This precept indicates the general principle of beneficence, and not merely, as the words at first sight seem to imply, restitution (as Cajet.). We are to do good to those who are in need or deserving of it, whenever we have the means and opportunity. From them to whom it is due (nib’alayv); literally, from its owner, from baal, dominus, “lord” or owner of a thing. Cf. Pro 16:22, “Prudence is a fountain of life to its owner (b’alayv);” Pro 1:19; Pro 17:8; and also Ecc 8:8; Ecc 7:12;in all of which passages proprietorship in the thing or quality mentioned is expressed. The owners of good are those to whom good is due or belongs either by law or by morality, whether by desert or need. The latter qualification is the one emphasized in the LXX, , “Abstain not from doing good to the needy.” So the Arabic pauperi. The Targum and Syriac put the precept in more general terms, “Cease not to do good,” without indicating in particular anyone who is to be the recipient of the good. But the Jewish interpreters generally (e.g. Ben Ezra) understand it of the poor, egentibus. The Vulgate puts an entirely different interpretation on the passage: Noli prohibere benefacere eum qui potest; si vales, et ipse benefac, “Do not prohibit him who can from doing good; if you are able, do good also yourself.” It thus implies that we are to put no impediment in the way of any one who is willing to do good to others, and enjoins the duty on ourselves also. Good (tov); i.e. “good“ under any form, any good deed or act of beneficence. The principle brought forward in this passage is that what we possess and is seemingly our own is in reality to be regarded as belonging to others. We are only stewards of our wealth. In the power of thine hand (lel yad’yka); literally, in the power of thine hands. For the dual, yad’yka, the Keri substitutes the singular, yad’ka, to harmonize it with the similar expression, lel yadi, “in the power of thy hand,” which occurs in Gen 31:27; Deu 28:32; Neh 5:5; Mic 2:1. But there is no grammatical need for the emendation. Both the LXX. and Targum employ the singular, “thy hand.” Power (el); here “strength” in the abstract. Usually it means “the strong,” and is so used as an appellation of Jehovah. though, as Gesenius says, those little understand the phrase who would render el here “by God.” The prefixed to el indicates the condition. The meaning of the phrase is, “While it is practicable, and you have the opportunity and means of doing good, do it.” Do not defer, but do good promptly. The passage receives a remarkable illustration in the language of St. Paul, “While we have opportunity, let us do good unto all men” (Gal 6:10).
Pro 3:28
The precept of this and that of the preceding verse are very closely related. The former precept enjoined the general principle of benevolence when we have the means; this carries on the idea, and is directed against the postponement of giving when we are in a position to give. In effect it says, “Do not defer till tomorrow what you can do today.” This “putting off” may arise from avarice, from indolence, or from insolence and contempt. These underlying faults, which are incompatible with neighbourly good wilt, are condenmed by implication. Unto thy neighbour; l’reayka, “to thy friends,” the word being evidently used distributively. Reeh is “a companion” or “friend” (cf. Vulgate, amico tuo; Syriac, sodali tuo), and generally any other person, equivalent to the Greek , “neighbour.” The Authorized Version correctly renders “come again,” as shav is not merely “to return,” but to return again to something (so Delitzsch); cf. Vulgate, revertere; and as the words, “tomorrow I will give thee,” show. The LXX. adds, “For thou knowest not what the morrow may bring forth,” probably from Pro 17:1. If viewed in respect of the specific claims which servants have for work done, the precept is a re-echo of Le Pro 29:13 and Deu 24:15. In illustration of the general scope of the passage, Grotius quotes, “A slow-footed favour is a favour without favour.” Seneca says in the same spirit, “Ingratum est beneficium quod diu inter manus dantis haesit,” “The benefit is thankless which sticks long between the hands of the giver” (Seneca, ‘Benef.,’ Deu 1:2); cf. also Bis dat qui cito dat.
Pro 3:29
Devise not evil against thy neighbour. This precept is directed against abuse of confidence. Devise not evil (al takharosh raah). The meaning of this expression lies between “fabricating evil” and “ploughing evil.” The radical meaning of kharash, from which takharosh, is “to cut into,” “to inscribe” letters on a tablet, cognate with the Greek , “to cut into.” But it is used in the sense of “to plough” in Job 4:18, “They that plough iniquity (khar’shey aven),“ and Psa 129:3, “The ploughers ploughed (khar’shim khar’shim) upon my back” (cf. Hos 10:13). This also appears from the context to be the meaning in Pro 6:14. With these we may compare such expressions as “to plough a lie” ( , rendered in the Authorized Version, “Devise not a lie”); see Pro 7:12, and “to sow iniquity,” Pro 22:8a cognate figure. “To plough evil” is to devise evil, to prepare for it, just in the same way as a ploughman prepares the land for sowing. In this sense the verb is understood by the older commentators and by Ewald and Delitzsch. On the other hand, the verb may be used in its other signification, “to fabricate,” and hence “to contrive.” The noun kharash is an artificer of iron, etc. (Exo 35:35; Deu 27:15). “To fabricate evil” is, of course, as the Authorized Version “to devise evil.” The LXX; , from , “to build,” inclines to this sense. The Vulgate, ne moliaris, does not clear up the point, though moliri, usually “to contrive,” is used by Virgil, ‘Georg.,’ 1.494, “moliri terrain,” of working or tilling the ground. The verb also occurs in Pro 6:19; Pro 12:20; Pro 14:22. Seeing he dwelleth securely by thee; i.e. as the Vulgate, cure ille in te habet fiduciam, “when he has confidence in thee;” so the LXX.; or, as the Targum and Syriac, “when he dwells with thee in peace.” To dwell (yashar) is in Psa 1:1 “to sit with any one,” i.e. to associate familiarly with him (cf. Psa 26:4, Psa 26:5); but it also has the meaning , “to dwell,” and the participle yoshev, here used; in Gen 19:23 : Jdg 6:21, means “an inhabitant, a dweller.” Securely (lavetah); i.e. with full trust (see on Jdg 6:23). Devising evil against a friend is at any time reprehensible, but to do so when he confides in and is altogether unsuspicious of you, is an act of the greatest treachery, and an outrage on all law. human and Divine. It implies dissimulation. It is the very sin by which “the devil beguiled Eve through his subtlety” (Wardlaw).
Pro 3:30
The meaning of the precept in this verse is clear. We are nat to strive or quarrel with a man unless he has first given us offence. So Le Clerc, “Nisi injuria prior lacessiverit.” The admonition is directed against those who, from spite, jealousy, or other reasons, “stir up strife all the day long” with those who are quiet and peaceable. Strive. The Keri here reads tariv for the Khetib taruv, but without any change of meaning. The verb ruv, from which taruv, is “to strive or contend with the hand and with blows,” as in Deu 33:7; or with words, as in Psa 103:9 (cf. the Vulgate, ne contendas; and the LXX, , “Do not exercise enmity,” from the unusual . Ruv is here followed by (im), as in Job 9:3; Job 40:2; and Gen 26:30 Its forensic sense, “to contend with in law,” does not strictly apply here, though the precept may be taken as discouraging litigation (Lapide). Without cause (khinnam); LXX; , equivalent to , in Joh 15:25; Vulgate, frustra; further explained in the concluding clause (see on Pro 1:17). If he have done thee no harm. The phrase, gumal raah, is to bring evil upon any one (Schultens). The verb gamal signifies “to do, to give, to show to any one.” Holdea renders, “Surely he will return thee evil,” in the sense that unprovoked attack ensures retaliation.]gut this is to ignore the negative force of im-lo, “if not.” The verb sometimes means “requiting,” but not in the passage before us, nor in Pro 11:17; Pro 31:12. The Vulgate renders as the Authorized Version, Cum ipse tibi nihil mali fecerit. It is to be remarked that this precept falls below the moral standard of the New Testament teaching (see Mat 5:39-41; Rom 12:17-21; 1Co 6:6-8), and of the example of our Lord, of whom it was predicted that “When he was reviled, be reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not” (see Isa 53:1-12).
Pro 3:31
Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways. The thought of strife in the preceding verse leads to that of oppression, and the precept is directed against fellowship with those who outrage the general law of benevolence and justice, Envy not; i.e. as Stuart, “Do not anxiously covet the booty which men of violence acquire.” Success and wealth may follow from severity and extortion, but the man who acquires prosperity by these means is not to be envied even by the victim of his oppression (for the verb, see Pro 23:17; Pro 24:1, Pro 24:19). The oppressor (ish khamas); literally, a man of violence. The expression occurs in Pro 14:29; Psa 18:41, and in its plural form, ish khamamim, “man of violences,” in 2Sa 22:49; Psa 140:1, Psa 140:4. The man of violence is one who “grinds the faces of the poor,” and whose conduct is rapacious, violent, and unjust. And choose none of his ways; literally, and choose not all his ways, i.e. with a view to acquire the same wealth, greatness, and power. The LXX. renders this verse, “Do not acquire the hatred of evil men, neither be jealous of their ways,” evidently from having taken tiv’khar, “choose,” in the second hemistich, for tith’khan, “be jealous.”
Pro 3:32
This verse gives the reason for the previous warning. The oppressor is here included under the more general term, “the froward.” The froward; naloz, hiph. participle from luz, “to bend aside,” and hence a perverted or wicked man, one who turns aside from the way of uprightness, a transgressor of the Law (cf. LXX; ); and so the opposite of “the righteous,” y’sharim, “the upright,” those who pursue the path of justness, or the straightforward. Abomination (toevah); i.e. an abhorrence, something which, being impure and unclean (cf. LXX; ), is especially abhorrent to Jehovah. In some passages it is connected with idolatry, as in 1Ki 14:24 and 2Ki 23:13, but is never used in this sense in the Proverbs, where it occurs about twenty times (see Pro 28:9; Pro 21:27; Pro 11:1, Pro 11:20, etc.). The passage shows that prosperity and worldly success are not always a true measure of Divine favour. His secret (sodo); Vulgate, sermocinatio. Here sod probably means “familiar intercourse,” as in Job 29:4 and Psa 25:14; and hence the special favour with which Jehovah regards the upright, by revealing to them what he conceals item others, or his friendship (compare what our Lord says in Joh 15:14, Joh 15:15). Dathe translates “probis vero est familiaris.” Gesenius says sod properly means “a couch,” or triclinium on which people recline; but Delitzsch derives it from the root sod, “to be firm,” “compressed,” and states that it therefore means properly “a being together, or sitting together.” The LXX. eontinues the “froward man” () as the subject, and renders, “Every transgressor is impure before God, and does not sit together with ( ) the just.”
Pro 3:33
The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked. From Pro 3:33 to the end of the discourse the contrast is continued between the condition of the wicked and the just, the scornful and the lowly, the wise and the fools. In the verse before us a further reason is given why the prosperity of the wicked is not enviable. The curse of Jehovah dwells in and rests upon his house. The curse; m’erah, from arav, “to curse.” This word only occurs five times in the Old Testament once in Deuteronomy, twice in Proverbs (here and in Pro 28:27), and twice in Malachi. The nature of the curse may be learned from Deu 28:20, where it is the infliction of temporal misfortunes ending with the “cutting off” of the wicked (see Psa 37:22). It is a hovering evil, the source of constant misfortune. LXX; . Cf. “the cursing” (alah) against thieves and swearers in Zec 5:4. But he blesseth the habitation the just. The contrast to the former, as in Deu 28:2-6. He blesseth; i.e. both temporarily and spiritually. Blessing does not exclude affliction, but “trials” are not “curses” (Wardlaw). Both the LXX. and the Vulgate render, “But the habitations of the just shall be blessed,” the LXX. having read the pual future (y’vorak), “they shall be blessed,” for the piel future (y’varik), “he shall bless,” of the text. The habitation; naveh, from navah, “to sit down,” “to dwell.” A poetic and nomad (Fleischer) word usually understood of a small dwelling is tugurium, the shepherd’s hut or cottage, “the sheepcote” of 2Sa 7:8. The LXX. , and tho Vulgate hubitaculam, favour the suggestion of Gejerus, that a contrast is here made between the large house or palace (bayith) of the wicked and the small dwelling of the just. In Pro 21:20 and Pro 24:15 the word is rendered “dwelling.”
Pro 3:34
Surely he scorneth the scorners; literally, if with regard to the scorners he scorneth (im lalletsim hu yalits); i.e. he repays scorn with scorn; or, as Rabbi Salomon, “He renders to them so that they fall in their own derision (reddit ipsis ut in sua derisione corruant).“ He renders their schemes abortive. He resists them. The scorners (letsim) are those who treat with scoffing regard the precepts and truths of God; the arrogant, proud, insolent, here placed in contrast with “the lowly.” Vulgate, derisores; LXX; , “the overbearing.” The for (l’ha), prefixed to letsim, signifies “with regard to,” as in Job 32:4 (cf. Psa 16:3, “With regard to the saints (lik’ddshim), in them only I delight”). But he giveth grace unto the lowly; or, on the other hand, the prefixed to laanayim, “to the lowly,” having that antithetical force here as in Job 8:20. The lowly (anayyim); Vulgate, mansueti; LXX; ; properly, “the afflicted,” with added notion of submission and lowly demeanour, and hence the meek, gentlethe gentle towards man, and the abased and lowly before God. St. James (Jas 4:6) quotes the LXX. of this passage, “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.” With the exception of substituting for (cf. 1Pe 5:5), our Lord’s parable of the Pharisee and publican illustrates the teaching of this verse (Luk 18:9-14).
Pro 3:35
The wise shall inherit glory. Pro 11:2 indicates that “the wise” here are to be identified with “the lowly” of the preceding verse. Inherit; succeed to it as a matter of course by hereditary right as sons. Heirship implies sonship. Glory (kavod); or, honour; not merely earthly distinction and splendour, the glory of man, but the “glory of God.” But shame shall be the promotion of fools; or, as margin, shame exalteth the fools. The rendering of the original, vuk‘silim merim kalon, depends upon the meaning to be given to merim, the hiph. participle of rum, hiph. “to lift up, exalt;” and whether the plural, k’silim, in a distributive sense, as in Pro 11:18, or kalon, is the subject. Various interpretations have been given of the passage.
(1) The Vulgate renders, stultorum exaltatio ignominia; i.e. as in the Authorized Version, “shame exalts fools.” They “glory in their shame” (Php 2:19); or shame renders them conspicuous as warning examples (Ewald); or, as Dathe explains it, “Stulti infamia sunt famosi,” “Fools become famous by infamy;” or as Rabbi Levi, “Shame exalts them as into the air, and makes them vanish away.”
(2) The LXX. renders, , i.e. “Fools exalt shame, prize what others despise” (Plumptre).
(3) Umbreit, Bertheau, Zockler, render, “Shame sweeps fools away,” i.e. lifts them up in order to sweep away and destroy them (cf. Isa 57:14).
(4) The true rendering seems to be given by Michaelis, “Fools carry away shame” as their portion. So the Targum, Delitzsch, Hitzig, Wordsworth. They look for “promotion.“ They attain such as it is, but the end of their attainments is “shame and everlasting contempt.” As the wise inherit glory, so fools get as their portion shame and ignominy.
HOMILETICS
Pro 3:1-4
Making the heart a treasury of good principles
I. THE TREASURE. Innumerable impressions are constantly being made upon our minds, and as constantly transferring themselves into memories. Frivolous thoughts, false notions, corrupt images, once harboured, take up their abode in the soul, and ultimately modify its Character to the likeness of themselves. It is most important for us to guard our memories from such things, and to fill them with more worthy stores. Consider, therefore, the best subjects for contemplation and memory.
1. The Law of God. Divine truth is the highest truth, the noblest theme of meditation, the supreme guide to conduct. Truth concerning our actions, the revealed will of God, is for us the most valuable Divine truth. Other forms of truth may please and help us, but this is essentially needful as a lamp to our feet. We can afford to lose sight of the stars if the harbour light shines clear on the waters over which we have to sail. This practical Divine truthnot our dreams and fancies, but utterances of God’s willwe are called to remember. Hence the importance of studying the Bible, which contains it. It is well for children to store their minds with passages of Scripture. These will afford strength in temptation, guidance in perplexity, comfort in sorrow.
2. Mercy and truth. “The letter killeth:” It is superstition that merely treasures up the words of Holy Writ, and repeats them parrot-like, as though a spell were to be wrought by the very utterance of them. The truth contained within these ancient words is what we need to recollect. And it is not the exact verbal bearing of the Law, but the wide-reaching principles underlying it, that Christians are called upon to treasure; not rules of sacrifice, but principles of mercy; not merely the prohibition, “Thou shalt not steal,” but the higher precept, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
3. Christ. Christ is the Truth; he is the incarnation of mercy, our great exemplar, the visible manifestation of God’s will, the perfect Ideal of our life. If we are weary of reading dry legal rescripts, and fail in contemplating bare abstract truths, we have a better way of treasuring good principles, by cherishing the vision of Christ.
II. THE TREASURY. This is the heart. It is not enough that the Law has been once for all revealed, that we come under it and under the institutions of the Church, that we treasure the Bible in our library, that we hear it read in hasty moments. Much superstition prevails on these points. People seem to think that there is a virtue in the mere act of reading a chapter from the Bible, and some seem to go through the task as a sort of penance, imagining that they thus score some points to their credit in heaven. The Bible is valuable to us only in so far as it influences us. To influence us it must be known and remembered. The Law graven on stone, locked in the ark, and hidden behind the thick curtains of the sanctuary, could do the people of Israel little good. It needed to be written on the fleshy tables of the heart. This involves:
1. An intelligent understanding of Divine truth, so that it comes to us, not as a mere string of words, but as clear ideas.
2. A good memory of it.
3. A love of it, so that it is treasured thoughtfully, and becomes part of our very being, moulding our character, colouring our thoughts and affections, and directing our conduct. It is not difficult to see that such a treasury of such treasure will secure favour with God and ultimately also favour with men.
Pro 3:5, Pro 3:6
Divine guidance
I. THE NEED OF DIVINE GUIDANCE. Several considerations force this upon us; e.g.:
1. The complexity of life. The longer we live, the more do we feel the profound mystery that touches us on every side. Innumerable avenues open out to us. Innumerable claims are made upon us. Conflicting duties perplex us. We feel as autumn leaves before the driving winds. We are helpless to choose and follow the right.
2. Our ignorance of the future. Like Columbus, we set our sails to cross unknown seas. We know not what a day will bring forth, yet we must boldly face the next day, and plan for many a day in advance. Our whole life must be arranged with respect to the future. We live in the future. Yet the future is hidden from us. How needful, then, to be guided on to that unknown land by One who sees the end from the beginning!
3. The claims of duty. We need a guide if we have only our own interests to consider. Much more is this the case when we are called to serve God. We are not free to choose our own path, even if we have light to do so. The servant must learn the will of his master before he can know what he is to do. Our prayer should be not so much that God should guide us safely, as that he should show us his way.
II. THE CONDITION OF DIVINE GUIDANCE. This is trust. The lower animals are guided by God through unconscious instincts. But having endowed us with a higher nature, God has given to us the dangerous privilege of a larger liberty, and the serious responsibility of voluntarily choosing or rejecting his guidance. But then he vouchsafes this great help on the simplest of all conditions. We have not to deserve it, to attain to it by any skill or labour, but simply to trust with the most childlike faith. Consider what this involves.
1. Self-surrender. “Lean not to thine own understanding.” We sometimes pray for God’s guidance insincerely. We want him to guide us into our own way. But his guidance is useless when we should go the same way without it. It is only when human wisdom diverges from Divine wisdom that we are called expressly to follow the latter; we do so unconsciously under easier circumstances. This does not mean, however, that we are to stultify our intellect; we must rather seek God’s Spirit to enlighten itnot lean to our understanding, but to God for the strengthening of that understanding.
2. Whole-hearted faith. “Trust in God with all thine heart.” It is useless to have certain faint opinions about the wisdom of God. Every thought, affection, and desire must be given over to his direction; at least, we must honestly aim at doing this. The more completely we trust the more surely will God guide us,
3. Active faith. God guides, but we must follow his directions. The traveller is not carried up the mountain by his guide; he follows of his own will. It is vain for us to pray for a Divine leading unless we consent to follow the directions indicated to us.
III. THE METHOD OF DIVINE GUIDANCE.
1. Through our own conscience. Conscience is our natural guide. It is not, therefore, the less Divine; for God is the Author of our nature. Conscience, clear and healthy, is the voice of God in the soul. But conscience is liable to corruption with the rest of our nature. Hence the need of prayer for the gift of the Holy Spirit to purify, enlighten, and strengthen it.
2. Through inspired teaching. God guides one man through his message to another. Prophets and apostles are messengers of Divine guidance. We need such direction outside our own consciences, especially in our present imperfect condition, or we may mistake the echoes of old prejudices and the promptings of self-interest for voices of God. God’s word in the Bible is “a lamp to our feet.”
3. Through the disposition of events. God guides us in his overruling providence, now closing dangerous ways, now opening up new paths.
Pro 3:9, Pro 3:10
Consecrated property
I. WE CAN HONOUR GOD WITH OUR PROPERTY. It is not to be supposed that because religion is a wholly spiritual power it has no bearing on material things. Our religion is a mockery unless it affects the way in which we spend our money, as well as all other concerns of life. Property can be consecrated to God by being spent in conscious obedience to his will and by being used for the promotion of his glory, as in the maintenance of worship, the extension of missions, the relief of the poor, the sick, the widow and orphan.
II. GOD HAS CLAIMS UPON OUR PROPERTY.
1. It originally came from him. He created the materials and powers of nature. He gave to us our faculties. We sow the seed, but God gives the increase.
2. It is only lent to us for a season. Till recently it was not ours; soon we must leave it. While we have it, it is a talent to be used in our great Master’s service, and for which we shall have to give an account. Rich men will be called to a Divine audit, where all their wealth will be reckoned and their method of spending it apprised. But so also will the poor; for we are all answerable for the use we make of our possessions, whether they be much or little. The one talent must be accounted for as well as the five talents.
III. OUR WHOLE PROPERTY SHOULD BE CONSECRATED TO GOD. It was all given to us by God. We shall have to give account of the use we make of all of itof the substance or capital and of the increase or yearly income. We cannot compound for the abuse of the larger part of our goods by sacrificing to God a small proportion of them. If we give a tithe of our possessions to God, we do not thereby receive a dispensation to give the rest to Mammon. Is the mendicant friar, then, the typical Christian? No. An enlightened Christianity will teach us how to consecrate our possessions to God, while retaining the control of them. We are to be stewards, not beggars.
IV. THE BEST OF OUR PROPERTY SHOULD BE MORE DIRECTLY OFFERED TO THE SERVICE OF GOD. While all we have should be held sacred to God, some should be spent on objects that plainly involve self-sacrifice, and that manifestly concern the kingdom of heaven. We must not make the lofty thought of the consecration of all our property an excuse for low selfishness in spending the whole on ourselves. God expects the best. He should have the firstfruits; his claims should be recognized before all others. People often give to religious objects what they think they can spare after satisfying all other calls. They should give to these first, and see afterwards what is spared for more selfish things.
V. IT IS WELL TO DISPOSE OF OUR PROPERTY ON A CERTAIN METHOD. People who give to religious and philanthropic objects on a system of setting apart a certain portion of their income for such purposes, find that they can thus give most readily and justly. It is for each to settle in his own conscience and before God according to what proportion he should give. One may find a tithe too much, considering his duty to his family etc. Another may find it far too little, considering his ease and affluence and the needs of the world.
VI. THIS CONSECRATION OF PROPERTY TO GOD BRINGS A BLESSING ON THE OWNER. If it is not always rewarded with temporal riches, it is repaid in better treasurespleasures of sympathy and benevolence and the smile of God.
Pro 3:11, Pro 3:12
Chastening
I. GOD CHASTENS HIS CHILDREN WITH SUFFERING. All suffering is not chastening. Some trouble is the pruning of branches that already bear fruit, in order that they may bring forth more fruit (Joh 15:2). But when it meets us in our sins and failings, it is to be regarded as a Divine method of correction. It is not then the vengeance of a God simply concerned with his own outraged anger; before this we should tremble with alarm. It is not the chance product of the unconscious working of brute forces; such a materialistic explanation of suffering might well induce blank despair. The teaching of revelation is that suffering comes with a purpose, and that the purpose is our own good; it is a rod to chasten us for our faults, that we may be led to forsake them, and a pruning knife to fit us for larger fruitfulness.
II. THE MOTIVE WITH WHICH GOD CHASTENS HIS CHILDREN IS FATHERLY LOVE.
1. God must be angry with us for our sin. His anger, however, is not the fruit of malignant hatred, but the expression of grieved love. For love can be angry, nay, sometimes must be, if it is pure and strong. The weak kindliness which is a stranger to indignation at wrong doing is based on no deep affection.
2. If God chastens in love, it is for our own good. Weak love seeks the present pleasure of its objects; strong love aims at the highest welfare, even though this involve misunderstandings and temporary estrangement.
3. God‘s paternal relation with us is the ground of his chastening in love. We do not reel called upon to correct in strange children the faults for which we chastise our own family. The very love we bear to our children rouses indignation at conduct which we should scarcely heed in others. True love is not blind to the faults of those who are loved, it is rather rendered keen sighted by sorrowful interest. Hence we may take the chastening as a proof of the love and Fatherhood of God. If we were not children, God would not thus put us to pain. Instead of regarding trouble as a proof that God has deserted us, we should see in it a sign that God is owning us and concerning himself with our welfare. The worst curse a man can receive is to be deserted by God and left unchecked in pursuit of folly and sin (Heb 12:8).
III. TO RIGHTLY RECEIVE DIVINE CHASTENING WE MUST NEITHER DESPISE IT NOR GROW WEARY OF IT. The good it will do to us depends on the reception we give it. Like other graces, the grace of correction may be received in vain, may be abused to our own hurt. We must not be satisfied, therefore, with the mere fact that we are being chastened. Two evils must be avoided.
1. Despising chastening. Cynical indifference and stoical hardness will render the chastening inefficacious. We must open our hearts to receive it. It blesses the broken heart. The very sorrow it induces is of the essence of its healing grace.
2. Growing weary of chastening. This is the opposite failing. We may despair, complain, show impatience, and rebel. Then the chastening loses its utility. The right reception is evidently to feel its grievousness, but to submit humbly and to seek to learn its bitter but wholesome lessons. The two all-essential thoughts, that suffering is for our own good, and that it is sent in love and is a proof of God’s fatherly care for our welfare, should help us neither to be indifferent to it nor to rebel against it, but thus humbly to accept it.
Pro 3:13-20
More precious than rubies.
We must bear in mind that the wisdom here commended to us is not mere knowledge, science, philosophy. It has two important characteristics. First, it is religious; it is based on the fear of God. Second, it is practical; it assumes the direction of human conduct. It is the knowledge of Divine truth, and the application of it to life. Why is this to be accounted most precious?
I. WISDOM IS VALUABLE ON ACCOUNT OF ITS OWN INHERENT QUALITIES. (Pro 3:13-15.) Paper money is worthless unless it can be exchanged for something else; but gold coins have a value of their own. If they are not used in the purchase of other things, the precious metal is valuable, and can be fashioned into objects of use and beauty. Wisdom is like solid specie. If she brings nothing else, she is a treasure in herself. While men are asking what advantages will religion give them, they should see that she is “the pearl of great price,” for which all other good things may be sold, and yet the profit remain heavily on the side of him who purchases her. This is an inward treasure, a possession of the soul. It has many advantages over material treasures.
1. It is exalted and elevating. Its character is pure, and it raises those who possess it. There are earthly treasures that defile by contact with them, and others that materializemake a man hard, worldly, ignoble.
2. It is satisfying. A man cannot live on gold, but on bread alone. There are desires of the soul that money and food do not quiet. Books, pictures, music, all works of art, all triumphs of civilization, leave a void unfilled. It is the mission of the thoughts of God in the soul to fill this void.
3. It is never wearying. Many things that never satisfy soon satiate. We are not full, yet we turn away with disgust, having had enough of them. The sea is beautiful, but the sailor grows tired of the endless monotony of waves. Divine wisdom never tires us. It is infinite, endlessly varied, eternally fresh, It is true that we may become wearied of religious occupations, religious books, etc. But then we have the imperfections of the human embodiment of wisdom to annoy us.
4. It is secure. No thief can steal it. No moth nor rust can consume it. The thief may take a man’s jewels, but never his inner treasure. He may be stripped of property, home. choicest possessions, and left to bare beggary; yet if he have precious thoughts of God in his heart, no thief can touch them. They are a safe, an eternal possession.
II. WISDOM IS VALUABLE BECAUSE IT MINISTERS TO OUR EARTHLY WELFARE. (Pro 3:16-18.) The temporal advantages of religion are here described with that prominence and positiveness which are characteristic of the Old Testament, and of the Book of Proverbs in particular. We have learnt to see more limitations upon these things, and, at the same time, we have had revealed to us much larger spiritual and eternal beatitudes than those of the Jewish faith. But we may make the mistake of ignoring the truth contained in the old view. There are earthly advantages in religion. It has promises for this life as well as for that to come.
1. Length of days. Many good people die young; many bad men grow hoary in sin. It’ it were not so, we should lose the discipline that comes by our having to walk by faith. But on the whole, wisdom tends to length of days by preserving the constitution sound and healthy. A wise way of living falls in with the laws of health. Reckless folly saps the energies of life, induces disease, decrepitude, premature old age and death.
2. Ways of pleasantness and peace. The road is pleasant as well as the end. Religion may bring a cross, but she also brings grace for bearing it. All her rewards are not reserved for the future. There is a peace of God that passeth all understanding, which the world can neither give nor take away, and which will make the wilderness of tim saddest life blossom like the rose.
3. A tree of life. Length of days is a poor blessing unless the life preserved is worth living. What boon would it be to an exile in Siberia, a convict on Dartmoor, a paralytic in an infirmary? Long existence without a source of worthy life is the curse of the Wandering Jew, not the blessing of eternal life. Wisdomi.e. Divine truth, religionsupplies fruits for holy sustenance and leaves for the healing of the nations. To know God is eternal life (Joh 17:8).
III. WISDOM IS VALUABLE BECAUSE IT IS A LINK OF CONNECTION BETWEEN MAN AND GOD. (Verses 19, 20.) Our heart is restless till it finds rest in God. All our highest life, all our deepest peace, all our truest thought, all our noblest effort, all our purest joy, depend on our union in and with God. But wisdom is an essential Divine attribute. By it God first created the earth and the heavens (verse 13). By it he now controls all things ever. 20). The wisdom of God is reflected in nature. All our knowledge is just the reflection of this wisdom; it is thinking into the thoughts of God; thus it is a communion with him. Spiritual knowledge brings us nearest to God, who is Spirit. Christ as the incarnate “Word,” by whom all things were made, and the Wisdom of God, is our Mediator, and unites us to God.
Pro 3:27, Pro 3:28
Dilatoriness in the payment of just debts
I. THIS DILATORINESS IN MORALLY CULPABLE, AND MOST INJURIOUS TO SOCIETY. Through thoughtlessness in some cases, through deliberate meanness in others, many people postpone the payment of their just debts as long as possible, though they have the money by them, and are perhaps turning it to account for their own advantage. Such needless delay of justice should be regarded as a moral offence. A sad laxity prevails in this matter. It is said that preachers direct their admonitions respecting the business habits of the day too much to one side of the case. The tradesman is accused of greed, dishonesty, deceit, while little is said of the conduct of the customer. But here is an instance where the failing, nay, the sin, lies with the buyer. Most of us little know how much the trading classes suffer from delay and difficulty in calling in the money that is owing to them; how often they pinch themselves and stiffer in silence for fear of losing a customer by giving offence in too much pressing for payment, knowing that the common selfishness of others will readily lead them to court the patronage of the offended client. This delay is grossly unjust to more conscientious people who pay promptly, and yet are made to suffer from the high prices necessitated by the bad debts and postponed payments of others. It is also a direct temptation to those shifty practices which all of us deprecate when we meet with them in trade, Feeling that he cannot recoup himself readily in the regular way, the tradesman is tempted to try some less straightforward method for making his business, thus heavily handicapped, to some extent profitable. A new moral tone is requisite in this matter. People should see that to delay to execute justice is to commit injustice. Time is as valuable as coins. He who robs a man of time is a thief, and should wear the brand of a thief.
II. THE REMEDY FOR THIS DILATORINESS MUST BE FOUND IN A FULLER RECOGNITION OF THE CLAIMS OF HUMAN BROTHERHOOD. It is not enough to prove the abstract justice of prompt payment. The selfishness which withholds it will find some casuistic excuse for further delay. This selfishness, which is at the root of the evil, must be overcome. The spirit of Cain is dishonest as well as murderous. We are too ready to treat those with whom we have merely business dealings according to art entirely different code from that which controls our conduct with our friends. Commercial rules are so much more lax than social laws. The mere business relation is too often robbed of all human consideration, treated from a purely selfish standpoint, almost on a principle of enmity, as though it belonged to a state of war. Does a mart cease to be our brother because we buy and sell with him? When he was a stranger, we felt some tie of common humanity with him. After we have entered into relations of mutual convenience, is the tie broken, and does he become as a heathen and a publican? We must remember that it is our “neighbour” who claims just payment; and are we not required to love our neighbor as ourselves? The golden rule of Christ, that we must do to others as we would that they should do to us, must be applied to business, or we have no right to profess ourselves to be Christians.
HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON
Pro 3:1-10
Precepts and promises of wisdom
I. THE CONNECTION OF PRECEPT AND PROMISE.
1. Precept needs confirmation. We cannot but askWhy should we pursue this or that line of conduct in preference to another? Why should men be God-fearing, honest, chaste? We are rational creatures, not “dumb driven cattle,” to be forced along a given road. We must have reasons; and it is to reason in us that the Divine reason ever makes appeal.
2. The confirmation is found in experience. This is the source of our knowledge; to it the true teacher must constantly refer for the verification of his principles, the corroboration of his precepts. The tone assumed by the teacher is indeed that of authority, but real authority always rests upon experience. Experience, in short, is the discovery and ascertainment of law in life. Precepts are its formulation.
3. The experience of the past enables the prediction of the future. Just; as we know the science of the astronomer, e.g; to be sound, because we find that he can predict with accuracy coming events, appearances of the heavenly bodies, eclipses, etc; so do we recognize the soundness of moral teaching by its power to forecast the future fates of men. Precepts are the deductions from the actual; promises the forecasts of that which, because it has been constant in the past, may be expected in the future. In science, in morality, in religion, we build on the permanence of law; in ocher words, on the constancy of the eternal God.
II. PARTICULAR EXAMPLES OF THIS CONNECTION‘.
1. Obedience ensures earthly happiness. (Pro 3:1, Pro 3:2.) The connection is first stated generally. “Extension of days,” or long life, is the one aspect of this happiness; inward peace of heart, denied to the godless, the other (Isa 48:22; Isa 57:2). Prolongation of days, life in the good land, dwelling in the house of the Lord, are the peculiar Old Testament blessings (Deu 4:40; Deu 5:33; Deu 6:2; Deu 11:9; Deu 22:7; Deu 30:16; Psa 15:1; Psa 23:6; Psa 27:4).
(1) The desire for long life is natural, and religion recognizes it.
(2) Without inward satisfaction, long life is no blessing.
(3) While the Old Testament promises formally cover the finite life only, they do not exclude the infinite. In God and faith in him the infinite is germinally contained.
2. Love and good faith ensure favour with God, good will with men. “Mercy,” or “love;” the word denotes the recognition of kinship, fellowship in men, and the duty of kindness therein implied. “Truth,” in the sense in which we speak of a true man; sincerity and rectitude, the striving to make the seeming and the being correspond to one another; the absence of hypocrisy. St. Paul gives the ideas, “dealing truly in love“ (Eph 4:15). Let these virtues be bound about the neck, like precious objects, for the sake of security; let these commands be engraven in the only indelible wayupon the heart. Let the mind be fixed and formed, and the result will be favour in the sight of God, and a “good opinion” in the minds of men. The two relations form a correlation. There is no true standing with God which does not reflect itself in the good opinion of good men; no worthy opinion of a man which does not furnish an index to God’s view of him. Both were united in the case of the youthful Jesus.
3. Trust in God ensures practical direction. (Pro 3:5, Pro 3:6.)
(1) This trust must be whole-hearted. An exception to it destroys it, as one faulty link will cause the chain to break, one rotten plank the ship to leak, etc.
(2) The fallacy of confidence is when we separate the particular in our intelligence from the universal. This is intellectual egoism. There is a dualism in consciousnessthe private self-seeking intelligence, and the Divine mind in us.
(3) Trust is abandonment to the Divine mind, to the universal intelligence which carries us out of self.
(4) Such trust implies the “taking cognizance” of God in all we do. Of bad, unjust men, like Eli’s sons, it is said that they take no cognizance of Jehovah (1Sa 2:12). To ask of every action notIs this what the generality of men would do in my position? butIs it what God would have me to do? NotIs it “natural”? butIs it Divine? Such a habit ensures practical direction. All our garements and stumblings arise from following the isolated intelligence, which is a true guide only for immediate sensuous relations, cannot light us for life’s complex whole. Hence the way in which selfish and cunning people constantly outwit themselves, while the man who is set down by them as a fool for neglecting his own interests comes out safely in the long run.
4. Simple piety secures health. (Pro 3:7, Pro 3:8.)
(1) Conceit is opposed to piety. This we have already seen. For what is conceit but the lifting of the merely individual into a false generality? In its extreme, the worship of self is a little god.
(2) Simple piety has a positive and a negative pole: positive, reverence for God; negative, aversion from evil. The pious man affirms and denies, both with all his might. His life is emphatic, includes an everlasting “Yes” and an everlasting “No”!
(3) Simple piety is the source of health.
(a) Physical. It tends to promote right physical habits. It certainly reacts against the worst disorders, viz. the nervous.
(b) Spiritual. It is in the mind what the sound nervous organization is in the body. The mind thus centrally right digests, enjoys, assimilates, the rich food which nature, books, and men afford.
5. Consecration of property ensures wealth. (Pro 3:9, Pro 3:10.)
(1) Ancient custom commanded this. The consecration of the firstling of firstfruits was not confined to Israel. It was an ancient custom of the world generally. The part represents the whole, for all is God’s. There seems to be no objection to the private practice of the custom by Christians still. In any case, let it be recognized that property, in the legal sense, but an expression of convenience; that really our temporary possessions, along with ourselves, are the property of God. If this be not recognized, we merely consume them, or hoard them, do not use them.
(2) Plenty falls to the lot of the giver. The exceptions to the rule are apparent, and perhaps language does not suffice for their statement and elucidation. The rule is comprehensively true, and a comprehensive view is necessary for its application. Rich and poor are subjective terms. There is a rich poverty and a miserable affluence. The promise is only truly fulfilled in the man who feels he has abundance, and enjoys it.J.
Pro 3:11, Pro 3:12
Patience in affliction
Well does this lesson contrast with the preceding picture of prosperity and opulence.
I. THE RELIGIOUS VIEW OF SUFFERING.
1. It is not a dark doom, a cruel fate, a Blind necessity of things. Such were the ideas of the heathen.
2. Its cause may be known. This is ever a great solaceto be persuaded that our troubles lie in the reason of things, that nothing is chance or caprice.
3. That cause is in the Divine mind and will. The power of God is manifested in our suffering; we are but as the clay on the potter’s wheel. Still more the love of God is manifested in our suffering. There is always some mitigation accompanying it. “It might have been worse” may be said of every pain. It serves as the foil to set off some greater good. “The ring may be lost, but the finger remains,” as the Spanish proverb says.
4. The object or final cause of suffering. Purification from inward evil; correction of faults. The mind grows of itself; the schoolmaster can do little more than point out and correct faults. So with life’s education from the religious point of view. And the most fertile minds need most; the discipline of suffering. The pruning knife is not applied to the puny plant; languid minds are the least touched by affliction. In these adjustments, love is still revealed.
5. Suffering must be viewed under the analogy of the parental and filial relation. Let these words once become clear, Father, son, in their application to God’s relation to us, and ours to him, and the theory of suffering is mastered (comp. Deu 8:5; Psa 118:18; Lam 3:31-33).
II. THE RELIGIOUS TEMPER UNDER SUFFERING.
1. Humility. No indignant questioning, scornful recalcitration, proud efforts of stoical fortitude. These will but defeat or delay the end. The medicine benefits not if the patient sets his mind against it as unneeded.
2. Patient endurance. Perseverance in a passive, receptive, attitude is far more difficult than perseverance in activity. We haste to snatch at good. But God is never in haste. His processes are slow. And to receive their benefit we must learn the wisdom of the word “wait.” While we are thus waiting, things are not at a standstill; God is working, producing a spiritual shape out of the passive material.
“Maker, remake, complete,
I trust what thou shalt do!”
(R. Browning’s noble poem, ‘Rabbi Ben Ezra.’)
J.
Pro 3:13-18
Wisdom the best investment
I. WISDOM COMPARABLE WITH THE MOST PRECIOUS THINGS. Silver, gold, precious stones, everything eagerly coveted and warmly prized by the senses and the fancy, may illustrate the worth of the pious intelligence. Every object in the world of sense has its analogy in the world of spirit. The worth of the ruby is due to the aesthetic light in the mind of the observer. But wisdom is the light in the mind itself.
II. WISDOM INCOMPARABLE WITH ALL PRECIOUS THINGS. For by analogy only can we put wisdom and precious minerals side by side, on the principle that mind is reflected in matter. But on the opposite principle, that mind is diverse from matter, rests the incomparableness of wisdom. Mere matter can breed nothing; spiritual force only is generative. When we talk of “money breeding money,” we use a figure of speech. It is the mind which is the active power.
III. WISDOM MAY BE VIEWED AS THE BEST LIFE INVESTMENT. All the objects which stimulate human activity to their pursuit are derivable from this capital. Life in health and ample and various enjoyment, riches and honour, pleasure and inward peace; blessings that neither money nor jewels can purchase, are the fruit, direct or indirect, of the cultivation of the spiritual field of enterprise, the whole-hearted venture on this Divine speculation, so to say. For religion’s a speculation; faith is a speculation in the sense that everything cannot be made certain; some elements in the calculation must ever remain undefined. (For further, see the early part of the chapter; and on Pro 3:17, South’s ‘Sermons,’ vol. 1, Pro 3:1) The summary expression, “a tree of life,” seems to symbolize all that is beautiful, all that is desirable, all that gives joy and intensity to living (comp. Pro 13:12; Pro 15:4).J.
Pro 3:19, Pro 3:20
Wisdom the principle of the creation
Perhaps the mention of the tree of life has reminded the writer of the early account of the creation in Gen 1:1-31, it. He thus traces the visible world and its order to its spiritual root in the mind of God. He gives a brief sketch of the construction of the cosmos, according to the ancient mode of thought. Both heaven and earth are fixed and made fast; and the water masses divided into those above and those below the “firmament;” the consequence of which is the gushing forth of the clouds in rain. The modern scientific knowledge of the world may be used to impart a rich context to these simple conceptions of the early imagination.
I. THE WORLD IS AN ORDER. The Greeks expressed this idea in the beautiful word “cosmos.” It includes symmetry, beauty, variety, harmony, adaptation of means to ends. To recognize these in the visible world is an intellectual delight, and a motive to the purest reverence.
II. THIS ORDER IS REDUCIBLE TO A UNITY. Formerly we looked Upon the world as a collection of independent forces. Science showed us the correlation, interdependence, interaction of these forces. Now she has risen to the grand conception of the unity of all force; and thus arrives at the same goal with religious thought.
III. THAT UNITY OF FORCE IS GOD. It is often forgotten that the generalizations of science are but logical distinctionscause, law, force, etc. What are these without Being, Personality, as their ground? Empty names. Religion fills these forms with life, and where the scientific man speaks of law, she bows before the living God.
IV. SCIENCE AND RELIGION ARE AT ONE. When we talk of their opposition, we are using a figure of speech. What they represent, these names, is two different directions of the spiritual activity of man. What needs to be cured is narrowness and partialism on the side of both scientific and religious men. For there is no real cleft in the nature of our knowledge. All genuine knowledge is essentially a knowledge of God, of the Infinite revealed in and through the finite.J.
Pro 3:21-26
Confidence and the sense of security in the ways of God
In rich variation the religious habit of mind is presented. What has been spoken of as worthy to be hung about the neck as precious is now referred to as to be kept continually before the eyes of the mind. The designation of wisdom or its attributes is also varied, viz. “thoughtfulness and circumspection” (Pro 3:21). In the next, former modes of statement recur (comp. Pro 3:3, sqq.).
I. RELIGION STRENGTHENS AND STEADIES THE PERCEPTION. (Pro 3:23.) Perfect unconsciousness of danger, as in the child, the somnambulist, etc; is often seen to be a condition of security in walking in dangerous places. And so may the mind be unconscious of danger through the full enfolding in God. But better is the safe step which is given by the perfect knowledge both of danger and the resources against it. This is found in religion. We know what is against us, still more who is for us, and so pass on with head erect and footstep firm.
II. RELIGION CONTROLS THE IMAGINATION. (Pro 3:24, Pro 3:25.) The insdefinable in space and time continually besets the fancy, and, especially in certain temperaments, fills it with images of gloom and terror. The timid heart forebodes some sudden “tempest of the wicked,” some onrush of malice and violence out of the dark. What a chapter of “imaginary terrors” could be filled from the experience of many such a one! But faith re, titles the imagination, preoccupying it with the thought of the almighty Defender (compare the beautiful Psa 91:1-16.).J.
Pro 3:27, Pro 3:28
Promptitude in good actions
I. NEGATIVE UNKINDNESS. (Pro 3:27.)
1. It consists in withholding good which it is in our power to impart.
2. It is analogous to the refusal repay a just debt. Kindness is the “due” of our fellow men. This does not imply the giving to every beggar or borrower. No act is required which, under the show of kindness, involves no real benefit to another or actually involves an injustice to ourself or another. We must carry these precepts to the light of the heart and of the discriminating intelligence. Speaking generally, sullenness, unsociability, extreme taciturnity, self-absorption, are forms of the sin.
II. PROCRASTINATION CONDEMNED. (Pro 3:28.) Remember:
1. That to give promptly is to give twice; that the deferred gift loses its bloom; that unnecessary delay is a fraud on the time and temper of others; that of everything we intend to do we had best make the beginning at once, which, the Roman poet says, is “half the deed.”
2. To defer a duty till tomorrow may be to defer it forever. A lost opportunity of doing good is a sad sting in the memory. These negative warnings infer the positive lesson of promptitude.
(1) Now is the acceptable time for ourselves and our own salvation.
(2) It may also be the acceptable time for others’ salvation. How admirable to be one of those who, amidst whatever pressure, can find time to listen, to comfort, to help their brethren, today, at once!J.
Pro 3:29-31
Odious passions
Let them he held up in the clear exposure of Wisdom, that their very mention may suggest their hideousness.
I. MALICE AND ITS DEVICES. (Pro 3:29.) Literally, “Forge not ill against thy neighbour.”
1. Malice, like love, is all-inventive. But as the devices of the latter are the very instruments of progress and good, so those of the former are perniciousburglar’s tools, cunning instruments of torture.
2. Directed against unsuspecting objects, malice is truly Satanic, an inspiration from hell. We have to beware of indulgence in curiosity about our neighbours; it is seldom free from some taint of malice in thought, which may pass over at any moment into action. Something in our neighbour’s life may rebuke us and rouse the latent passion. How near are the angel and the devil to one another in the heart!
II. UNPROVOKED CONTENTIOUSNESS. (Pro 3:30.) In other words, quarrelsomeness. The vicious habit and disposition to “pick quarrels,” to invent occasions for faultfinding, for the exercise of pugnacity, and so on. The man of whom it is said that if left alone in the world he would fight with his own shadow. Let him contend with his own vices, of which this temper is a symptom, and expend his pugnacity upon the evils of society. There are men before whose presence all the sleeping germs of wrath start up into chaotic life. Could they but see themselves as others see them!
III. ENVY OF THE WICKED GREAT. (Pro 3:31.) As emulation of the virtuous great is a noble passion, this, the reverse side of it, is correspondingly base. Imitation, again, is a powerful passion, the source of “fashion.” The pure spirit knows nothing of fashion as such; and immoral fashion, born of mere imitation, it must avoid and. denounce.
1. Every passion has its obverse and its reverse, its good and its evil side; malice may be turned to benevolence; idle quarrelsomeness to noble pugnacity; immoral envy to pure emulation.
2. Religion intensifies, purifies, directs, the passions to noble ends.J.
Pro 3:32-35
The discernment of Jehovah
This is a leading thought of the Old Testament. In ordinary life, in civilized times, the character of individuals is concealed from us by the intermixtures of society and the complexity of its interests. Even in village life it is difficult to classify people; but God distinguishes in
I. HIS VIEW OF INDIVIDUAL CHARACTER.
1. He abominates the perverse, the crooked, twisted, deceitful character. All in the spirit must be compared with that ideal geometrical rectitude of form, so to speak, which is the truth of his Being.
2. With the upright he “maintains good friendship” (Pro 3:32), or “is in secret alliance” (Job 29:4; Psa 25:14). To enjoy the friendship of discerning minds, what greater privilege can there be? To live on such terms with God is the privilege of the true soul.
II. HIS PROVIDENTIAL ADMINISTRATION. “His curse dwells in the house of the wicked.” A fatality of evil clings to him and his. But Jehovah blesses the tent of the righteous. He scoffs at the scoffer, but gives to the lowly grace (comp. Jas 4:6; 1Pe 5:5). The wise under this administration inherit glory, while ignominy carries away the fools.
1. These are, in the mode of their presentation, generalized or abstract truths, and as such must be understood. The study of apparent exceptions, even the admission of them, is foreign to this phase of Oriental thought. It was the presence of exceptions, insoluble to ancient thought, which excited the doubt and grief of Job and some of the psalmists.
2. While the truth must be stated, from the exigencies of language, in this sharp polar antithesis, actual human character is found, with all its merits and shades, in the intermediate region.
3. The subtle intermixtures of good and evil in human character, recognized by modern thought, defy complete analysis. We must suspend our judgment in particular cases, leaving all to him who brings to light the hidden things of darkness; conscious that there must be great “reversals of human judgment” upon the character of man (see Mozley’s sermon on this subject).J.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON
Pro 3:1-4
Cherishing the truth
We have here
I. THE ESSENTIAL THING IMPLIED. It is implied that the Law of God has been heard and understood; also that it has been received as Divine, and taken as the true guide of life. The teacher or preacher has sometimes to assume this; but too often it is an assumption unjustified by the facts. When it is justified, there come
II. TWO SPECIALLY VALUABLE VIRTUES INSISTED UPON. Mercy and truth (Pro 3:3) are to be exemplified.
1. Mercy, which includes
(1) compassion, or the pity one should show to the unfortunate and the suffering; and
(2) clemency, or a lenient view taken and a generous spirit shown in presence of error and wrong doing, particularly of injury done to ourselves.
2. Truth, which includes
(1) veracity in language;
(2) sincerity of heart;
(3) honesty and uprightness of action.
III. A MATTER OF GREAT MOMENT ENFORCED. This is the cherishing of the truth by the spirit which has received it in the love of it. “My son, forget not my law; let thine heart keep,” etc. (Pro 3:1); Bind them about thy neck; write them upon the tablet of thine heart” (Pro 3:3). If these precepts are to he duly carried out, and there is thus to be a continuance in well doing, and even a growth therein, then must there be:
1. The dwelling upon them by the mind; that must be a mental habit carefully cultivated.
2. The placing ourselves where they will be urged on our attention and commended to our affection (the sanctuary, the Lord’s table, the society of the holy, etc.).
3. The wise study of them as illustrated in the lives of the worthiest of our race.
4. The use of any and every means by which they will be seen by us to be the beautiful and blessed things they are. The children of Wisdom will not only receive gladly the truth of God, but they will cherish it carefully; they will water with diligent hand the plant which has been sown and which has sprung up in the soul. “Let not the workman lose what he has wrought.” If we continue in the word of Christ, then are we his disciples indeed (see Joh 8:31; Joh 15:9; Act 13:43).
IV. A LARGE BLESSING PROMISED. (Pro 3:2, Pro 3:4.) Under the Law, temporal blessings were more abundantly held in view; then the wise were promised long life, comfort, and human estimation, as well as the favour of God. Under the gospel, temporal prosperity takes the second place, spiritual and heavenly well being the first. But we may urge that conformity to the will of God as revealed in his Word:
1. Tends to bodily health and strength; if that does not secure it, assuredly disobedience will not.
2. Tends to secure a life of tranquillity. “Peace,” as well as “length of days,” it is likely to add; equanimity of mind and the comfort which is the consequence of right and kind behaviour.
3. Tends to win the esteem and the affection of our neighbours. “Favour in the sight of man.”
4. Ensures the love and the blessing of Almighty God.C.
Pro 3:5, Pro 3:6, Pro 3:7 (first part)
Self-distrust and trust in God
If we would realize God’s thought concerning us, we shall
I. CHERISH A DEEP DISTRUST OF OURSELVES. We are not to “lean unto our own understanding,” or to “be wise in our own eyes” (Pro 3:5, Pro 3:7).
1. We shall certainly have a sense of our own insufficiency if we weigh our own human weakness; if we consider how little we know of
(1) human nature generally; and of
(2) our own hearts in particular; of
(3) the real character and disposition of those connected with us; of
(4) the whole circle of law by which we are surrounded on every side; of
(5) the events which are in the (even) near future; of
(6) the ultimate effect of our decisions on our circumstances and our character.
2. So also if we consider the disastrous results that have followed presumption in this matter. How often have we seen men, confident of their own capacity, staking everything on their own judgment, and miserably disappointed with the issue! Men of this spirit, who carry self-reliance (which is a virtue) to an exaggerated and false assurance of their own sagacity, not only dig a deep grave for their own happiness, but usually involve others also in their ruin. Neither in
(1) the affairs of this life, nor
(2) in the larger issues of the spiritual realm, should we lean all the weight of our own and of others’ prosperity on our own poor finite understanding.
II. LOOK DEVOUTLY UPWARD. We are to maintain:
1. A whole-hearted trust in God (Pro 3:5). A profound assurance that
(1) he is regarding us;
(2) he is divinely interested in our welfare;
(3) he will see that we have all we need, and go in the way in which it is best for us to walk.
2. A continual acknowledgment (Pro 3:6). We are to acknowledge God
(1) by referring everything to him in our own heart;
(2) by consulting and applying his will as revealed in his Word;
(3) by praying for and expecting his Divine direction; so shall we acknowledge him “in all our ways.”
This trust and acknowledgment are inclusive and not exclusive of our own individual endeavour. We are to think well, to consult wisely, to act diligently, and then to trust wholly. Whoso does the last without the first is guiltily and daringly presumptuous; whoso does the first without the last is guiltily irreverent and unbelieving.
III. RECKON CONFIDENTLY ON DIVINE DIRECTION. “He shall direct thy paths” (Pro 3:6). As a very little child, left alone in the streets of a great city, can but wander aimlessly about, and will surely fail of reaching home, so we, lost in the maze of this seething, struggling, incomprehensible worldworld of circumstance and world of thoughtcan but make vain guesses as to our true course, and are certain to wander far from the home of God. What the shrewdest and cleverest of men most urgently and sorely need is the guiding hand of a heavenly Father, who, through all the labyrinths of life, past all the by paths of error and evil, will conduct us to truth, righteousness, wisdom, heaven. If we trust him wholly, and acknowledge him freely and fully, we may confidently expect that he will
(1) lead our feet along the path of outward life;
(2) guide our minds into the sanctuary of heavenly truth;
(3) help our souls up the ennobling heights of holiness;
(4) direct our steps to the gates of the city of God; and
(5) finally welcome us within its “golden streets.”C.
Pro 3:7
(second part), 8.A three-linked chain. We have
I. PIETY. “Fear the Lord.” It is the faculty which distinguishes the meanest man from the noblest brute, which raises our race immeasurably above the next below it. Man can fear God. He can
(1) recognize his Maker;
(2) bow down in lowly but manly reverence before God;
(3) render to him the gratitude of a heart mindful of his many mercies;
(4) subject his will to the will Divine;
(5) order his life according to the written Word.
II. MORALITY. “Depart from evil.” The outcome of piety is morality.
1. The morality which rests not on the basis of piety (the fear of the Lord) is on an insecure foundation. Change of circumstance, of friends, of fashions, may blow it down.
2. The morality which depends on the “thou shalt” and “thou shalt not” of the Supreme is safe against all the winds that blow. For the dark hour of powerful temptation there is no such barrier against sin and ruin as the conviction, “How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” For the bright hour of obligation there is no such animating incitement as “that Christ may be magnified in me.” The third link in this heaven-forged chain is
III. HEALTH. “It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.” Sickness of body may be the portion of the best of men or women. Some are born to suffer until they die and pass to the blessed country where the inhabitant will never say, “I am sick.” But the constant tendency of piety and its invariable accompaniment morality is to give
(1) health and strength of bodily frame; the pure blood, the clear eye, the strong muscle, the steady nerve, the “green old age.” It regularly gives
(2) an active mind; and it necessarily imparts
(3) a soul that is “in health” (3Jn 1:2). The man who fears God and departs from evil is the man who is fitted and is likely to have the largest show of vigorous, robust, healthy life in all its forms.G.
Pro 3:9, Pro 3:10
The Divine responsiveness
There are two ways in which God blesses usunconditionally and conditionally. We receive very much from him in virtue of his originating and spontaneous goodness. We may, if we will, receive much from him also as the result of his faithful response to our appeal. The text suggests to us the truth, which has manifold illustrations, that if we take toward him the attitude which he desires us to assume, he will visit us with appropriate and corresponding blessings.
I. IF WE LOVE HIM, HE WILL LOVE US. True, indeed, it is that “we love him because he first loved us” (1Jn 4:19), his own Divine beneficence is the source of all human affection; but it is also true that “if a man love me (Christ), he will keep my words, and my Father will love him” (Joh 14:23). Our love of God, of Jesus Christ, will meet with a large response in the outpouring of Divine affection toward us. God will love us with the fulness of parental, rejoicing love.
II. IF WE TRUST HIM, HE WILL TRUST US. Those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thus become his sons (Joh 1:12), are the objects of his Divine trust. God does not prescribe, to his reconciled children the hours, places, forms, methods, and means of service. He leaves these to the promptings of the filial spirit, to the decision of the understanding which has been consecrated to him. He makes known to us his will, that he should be served and his creatures blessed and saved; then be trusts us to put out our energies in all wise ways to fulfil his purpose. His treatment of us is in response to our attitude towards him.
III. IF WE HONOUR HIM, HE WILL HONOUR US. (1Sa 2:30.)
IV. IF WE GIVE OF OUR SUBSTANCE TO HIM, HE WILL ENRICH US. This is the illustration which our text supplies (see Deu 26:1-19.). The children of Israel were encouraged to bring of their firstfruits and to present them unto the Lord, and to expect that, if they gave thus to God, he would give, in like way, to them, enlarging and enriching them (Mal 3:10-12). And not only were they taught thus to look on gifts of piety, but also of charity; these should be repaid by the observing and responsive Lord (Pro 19:17). It may be asked how far we may go in anticipating like rewards at the hand of God now. And the answer is:
1. We are not to expect that God will enrich us in substance irrespective of other conditions (2Th 3:10). This would be a premium on idleness and imprudence. It will always be “the hand of the diligent that will make rich.”
2. But labour and frugality being understood, the man who “seeks first the kingdom of God,” who “acknowledges him in all his ways” (Pro 3:6), and who liberally gives to his cause (specially remembering his “little ones”his poor), may look for large blessings at his hand. At least sufficiency now (Mat 6:33; Php 4:19), and glorious abundance soon and forever (Joh 14:13, Joh 14:14; Joh 16:9).C.
Pro 3:11, Pro 3:12
Wrong views of affliction, and the right one
Sorrow is a very large ingredient in the cup of human life. It begins so early and lasts so long; it lies so near the surface and it strikes so deep into our nature; it is so certain that we shall meet with it before long, and so likely that we may renew our acquaintance with it very soon, that they must be unwise indeed who do not prepare for its coming, and they must be losers indeed who do not know how to treat it when it knocks at their door. There are
I. MANY MISTAKES WE MAY MAKE ABOUT IT.
1. We may treat it thoughtlessly; we may “despise the chastening of the Lord” (Pro 3:11). We may allow ourselves to have “the sorrow of the world,” of which Paul speaks (2Co 7:10); i.e. we may decline to consider what it means; content ourselves with the sullen thought that we have something that we must endure as best we can, not attempting to discover whence it comes or what it means.
2. We may conclude that it is only accidental. This is another way of “despising the chastening of the Lord.” We may take that view which is intellectually the most easy and spiritually the most barren, and refer our trouble to the “course of events;” we may recognize no guiding hand, we may decide, with off-handed readiness, that we are the unhappy victims of unkind circumstances, and go on our way “grinding our teeth” with impatient spirit.
3. We may he crushed under the weight of it. We may (to use the words in Heb 12:5) “faint when we are rebuked.” We may suffer a spiritual collapse, may meet affliction with an unreadily spirit of prostration, and, instead of bending bravely beneath the yoke and bearing it, break down utterly and miserably.
4. We may repine under long continuance of it. We may “be weary” of God’s correction. Sometimes, when affliction is long continued, men feel that either God has nothing to do with them at all, or that he is not regarding their prayer, or that he is punishing them above that which they are able to bear, and they repine; they are weary in their spirit, querulous in their tone, perhaps positively complaining in their speech. But there is
II. THE ONE RIGHT WAY IN WHICH TO TAKE IT. And that is to accept it as the correction of fatherly kindness. “For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth,” etc. (Pro 3:12).
1. We may be God’s unreconciled children, and he is seeking to win us to himself.
2. Or we may have returned to him, but reed fatherly correction. He may be rebuking us for some departure from his will. He may be desirous of removing the spirit of pride or of selfishness, or of worldliness, and of leading us along paths of humility, self-surrender, spirituality. Certainly he is seeking our truest welfare, our highest good, our lasting joy. Let each afflicted heart askWhat is the lesson the Father wishes me to learn?C.
Pro 3:13-26
Wisdom’s inestimable worth
Here are found many strong recommendations of heavenly wisdom, and we might adopt the thirteenth verse as a refrain to each one of them: “Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.”
I. POSSESSORS OF IT, WE ARE SHAREHOLDERS WITH GOD HIMSELF. (Pro 3:19, Pro 3:20.) Only by wisdom could the Divine Founder of all visible things make them what they are. His wonder workings in the heavens above and on the earth beneath, in sun and star, in grain and grass, in coal and iron, in rain and dew,all are the product of Divine wisdom.
II. POSSESSORS OF IT, WE HAVE A WELL BEING THAT ENDURES. “Length of days is in her right hand” (Pro 3:16). “She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her” (Pro 3:18). They who fear God are more likely than others to “be satisfied with long life” (Psa 91:16). For the secret of strength is with those who are obedient to law; but though they should die before old age, yet
(1) so long as life lasts their well being will continue, and
(2) when their earthly life is taken, their heritage is in the everlasting life beyond, where there is “length of days” indeed.
III. IT IS THE SOURCE OF GENUINE ESTEEM. “In her left hand honour” (Pro 3:16). It may, indeed, be that the children of wisdom are disregarded or even despised. But that is the painful exception to the rule. The rule is, everywhere and in every age, that those who consult God’s will in the guidance of their life are honoured of their brethren, enjoy the esteem of the worthiest of their neighbours, live and die in the fragrance of general regard.
IV. IT IS THE ONE SECURITY AGAINST SIN. (Pro 3:23.) How many are “the stumblers,” those who trip and fall as they ascend or descend the hill of life! And how serious, sometimes, are these falls! Character, reputation, joy, the light of other hearts, the happiness of the home,all gone through the one false step! We have urgent need of some security. In what shall this be found? Not in hedgings and fencings which will take away every possible danger, but in the wisdom of the wise, which will teach us where to go and how to tread the path of life, in the “wisdom which is from above.”
V. IT GUARANTEES THE GUARDIANSHIP OF GOD, AND THUS ENSURES CONFIDENCE AND PEACE. (Pro 3:24-26.) There are those whose life is full of slavish fear; by day they dread the evils which assail the wicked, by night the perils of the darkness. But he who keeps God’s Word enjoys the guardianship of his Almighty arm. “The Lord is his confidence;” his days are spent in quietness and calmness, and “his sleep is sweet” (Psa 112:7).
VI. IT IS THE PERENNIAL SPRING OF PEACE AND JOY. (Pro 3:17, Pro 3:18.) Other sources of gratification are to be found, but some of them do not carry the sanction of conscience, some of them are out of the reach of the lowly, others are only open to the learned or the favoured; most, if not all of them, are short-lived, and become of less worth as they are more frequently employed. The wisdom which comes from God and which leads to him, which makes the human spirit the friend and follower of the Son of God, brings a “peace which passes all understanding,” the “peace of God,” and “joys which through all time abide.”
VII. IT IS THE REALIZATION OF HUMAN LIFE. Wisdom is a “tree of life” (Pro 3:18); wisdom and discretion “shall be life unto our soul” (Pro 3:22). Any existence which is not illumined, ennobled, sanctified, beautified (Pro 3:22, “grace to thy neck”), by these, is something less than life in the sight of God. Only with these and by these do we attain to a state of being which the Wise One who sees things as they are recognizes as the life of man.
Wherefore:
1. Count it worth while to secure this heavenly wisdom at all costs whatsoever (Pro 3:14, Pro 3:15). Its value cannot be estimated in gold; the price of wisdom is above rubies (Job 28:18). Nothing is to be compared with it. Part, if necessary, with the largest fortune to obtain it (Mar 10:21; Pro 23:23).
2. Take care to cherish and retain it (Pro 3:24). Let the must precious pearl fall, hut hold this with a hand that will not unclasp.C.
Pro 3:27-32
Four valuable virtues
There are some graces which, though not of the first importance, are yet far from being unimportant. Many men so fashion their lives that while, upon the whole, they are rightly reckoned among the wise and good, they are much less happy, less honoured, and less useful than they might become if they heeded a few small things. If we had regard to some of the minor moralities which we are apt to neglect, there would be less friction and more beauty in our lives than is now seen of God and felt of man.
I. PUNCTUALITY IS THE PAYMENT OF THAT WHICH IS DUE. (Pro 3:27, Pro 3:28.) These dues may be
(1) the wages of the workman;
(2) the debt contracted with the tradesman;
(3) the sum promised to the relative or friend.
This may be denied, even when it could be easily rendered, through an “avaricious reluctance” to part with money or a culpable disregard of other men’s necessities and claims. Such default is not worthy of a godly, a Christian man.
II. CONSCIENTIOUSNESS TOWARDS OUR FRIENDS. (Pro 3:29.) Too many men are inclined to abuse the confidence their kindred or friends’ put in them, or the generosity they are prepared to show them. Such men draw unscrupulously on the trust or the bounty of others. It is a serious departure from perfect rectitude, and should be disallowed to themselves by all who fear God and would follow Christ. Those who “dwell securely by us,” who have confided in us, are those whom every principle of honest self-respect demands that we should treat with scrupulous integrity.
III. PEACEABLENESS OF SPIRIT. (Pro 3:30.) The lives of many are embittered by the quarrelsomeness of their neighbours. Offence, never intended, is taken, bitter words are spoken, a hostile attitude is assumed, all friendly relations are broken off, malicious insinuations are thrown out; in fact, “there is war between the house” of this man and that man, when there is positively nothing on which to found a complaint. A very small allowance of charity would cure this evil spirit, if only taken in time. Charity would hide a multitude of sins in the sense of preventing them altogether, if men would but attribute kind motives to their neighbours, or inquire sufficiently before they condemn, or even wait a while before they strike, to see if there is no other and better way of arranging a dispute. If it be possibleand it very often is possible, when men imagine it is notwe should “live peaceably with all men” (Rom 12:18).
IV. FREEDOM FROM FRETTING ENVY. Many good men are, upon the whole, what God would have them to be, and they have from him all that they can reasonably ask at his hand; their well being is such as to constitute the condition of thankfulness and joy. Yet the cup of their life is made bitter and unpalatable because they are envious of the successful oppressor (Pro 3:31); they “fret themselves because of evil doers,” and are envious against the workers of iniquity (Psa 37:1, Psa 37:8; Psa 73:3). They think, perhaps, that if bad men are as prosperous as they seem to be, they (the good) ought to be far more successful than they find themselves to be. Surely this is both sinful and foolish.
1. It is discontentment with God’s arrangement, and a querulous challenging of his administration of human affairs.
2. It is forgetfulness of the fact that God’s severest anger rests on the oppressor, and that he is therefore the last man to be envied; he is “abomination to the Lord” (Pro 3:32). Would we change places with him?
3. It overlooks the fact that the righteous man is enjoying the friendship of Godsurely an advantage that immeasurably outweighs the wealth or honour which the oppressor has stolen. “The secret of the Lord” is with him. He is God’s trusted servant, Christ’s intimate friend (see Psa 25:14; Joh 15:14, Joh 15:15; Joh 14:23).C.
Pro 3:33-35
The height of well-being and the depth of ill-being
The issues of righteousness and unrighteousness are here very broadly stated. These verses indicate to us the long and large results of wisdom on the one hand and of folly on the other.
I. THOSE WHOM GOD FAVOURS AND THAT WHICH HE APPORTIONS THEM. There are three epithets by which they are here characterized; they are called “the just,” “the lowly,” and “the wise.” In those whom God loves and means to bless there are found
(1) the spirit of humility,they are conscious of their own demerit and unworthiness;
(2) the spirit of wisdom,they are in the attitude of inquiry towards God, desirous of knowing his truth and doing his will; and
(3) the spirit of conscientiousness,they are the “just,” wishful to do that which is right toward their fellows, to act honestly, fairly, considerately, in the various relations they sustain. These God loves, and on them he will bestow his Divine benediction.
1. He will give them “grace”his own royal favour and that which draws down upon them the genial and gracious regard of men.
2. He will bless them in their home life. He “blesseth the habitation of the just.” He will give them purity, love, honour, affection, peace, joy in their most intimate relations; so that their homes shall be blessed. He will be known as the “God of the families of Israel.”
3. And He will give them exaltation in the end. “The wise shall inherit glory.” “Unto the upright there will arise light in the darkness.” Present gloom shall give place to glory, either now on this side the grave, or hereafter in “that world of light.”
II. THOSE WITH WHOM GOD IS DISPLEASED AND HIS AWFUL MALEDICTIONS ON THEM. These are also thrice characterized here; they are “the wicked,” “the scorners,” “fools.” These are they who
(1) in their folly reject the counsel of God; who
(2) in their guilt yield themselves up to sin in its various forms; who
(3) in their arrogance scoff at all sacred thingsthe “scorners;” this is the last and worst development of sin, the treatment of things holy and Divine with flippant irreverence. These God regards with Divine disapproval; them he strongly condemns and visits with fearful penalty.
1. His wrath is on themselves. He “scorneth the scorners.” “He that sitteth in the heavens laughs” at them, he “has them in derision” (Psa 2:4). His feeling toward them and his power over them are such that they have reason to apprehend overthrow and ruin at any hour (see Psa 73:19, Psa 73:20).
2. His curse is on their house (Pro 3:33). They may expect that in their domestic relations they will have, as in fact they do have, saddest occasions of sorrow and remorse.
3. His hand is against their hope. They may be anticipating great things for themselves in the future, their castles are high and strong in the air, their hope is great; but “lo! sudden destruction,” the wind of heaven blows, and all is brought into desolation. God touches their fine structure with his finger, and it is in ruins. “Shame is the promotion of fouls.”C.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Pro 3:1. My son, forget not my law In this chapter Solomon continues to press obedience to the precepts of wisdom, from a consideration of its benefits, which he speaks of more largely than in the foregoing chapter. See Pro 3:9-12. After which he returns to the general exhortation, Pro 3:13 advising every one to learn the doctrine delivered by God, and to be obedient; not to be so foolish as to prefer their own wisdom or craft before it. Solomon has composed this book with great address. Direct precepts, and moral instructions, proposed in a dogmatic manner, might weary; he diversifies his subjects and his persons, to relieve the attention of his disciple. Sometimes it is God, sometimes it is wisdom, sometimes it is Solomon himself, who speaks. He varies by a hundred different and agreeable ways a matter in itself extremely serious and important, and consequently demanding application and attention of mind. Here God himself appears to speak: My son, forget not my law. It is a great part of wisdom to continue faithfully and strongly attached to the law of God. Hence must be drawn all the instructions of wisdom. The law, in this place, may also signify the lessons and the precepts which the wise man gives to his disciple, whom he affectionately calls his son. (See Pro 3:21.) But the two following verses alluding immediately to the Mosaic law, it seems more probable that that law is meant. See Exo 20:12. Deu 5:16; Deu 6:8 and Calmet.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
4. Continuation of the exhibition of the salutary results of a devout and pious life
Pro 3:1-18
1My son, forget not my doctrine,
and let thy heart keep my commandments;
2for length of days and years of life
and welfare will they bring to thee.
3Let not love and truth forsake thee;
bind them about thy neck,
write them upon the tablet of thy heart;
4so wilt thou find favor and good reputation
in the eyes of God and of men.
5Trust in Jehovah with all thy heart,
and rely not on thine own understanding.
6In all thy ways acknowledge him,
and he will make smooth thy paths.
7Be not wise in thine own eyes;
fear Jehovah and depart from evil.
8Healing will then come to thy body
and refreshing to thy bones.
9Honor Jehovah with thy wealth,
and with the best of all thine income;
10so will thy barns be filled with plenty
and with new wine will thy vats overflow.
11Jehovahs correction, my son, despise not,
neither loathe thou his chastening;
12for whom Jehovah loveth, him he chasteneth
and holdeth him dear, as a father his son.
13Blessed is the man that hath found wisdom,
and he that attaineth understanding;
14for better is its accumulation than the accumulation of silver,
and her gain (is better) than the finest gold.
15More precious is she than pearls,
and all thy jewels do not equal her.
16Long life is in her right hand,
in her left hand riches and honor.
17Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
and all her paths (are paths) of peace.
18A tree of life is she to those that lay hold upon her,
and he who holdeth her fast is blessed.
5. Description of the powerful protection which God, the wise Creator of the world, ensures to the pious
Pro 3:19-26
19Jehovah hath with wisdom founded the earth,
the heavens (hath he) established by understanding;
20by his knowledge were the floods divided,
and the clouds dropped down dew.
21My son, never suffer to depart from thine eyes,
maintain (rather) thoughtfulness and circumspection;
22so will they be life to thy soul
and grace to thy neck.
23Then wilt thou go thy way in safety
and thy foot will not stumble.
24When thou liest down thou wilt not be afraid,
and when thou liest down thy sleep is sweet.
25Thou needst not fear from sudden alarm,
nor from the destruction of the wicked when it cometh.
26For Jehovah will be thy confidence
and keep thy foot from the snare.
6. Admonition to benevolence and justice
Pro 3:27-35
27Refuse not good to him to whom it is due,
when thine hands have power to do it.
28Say not to thy neighbor: Go and come again;
or to-morrow I will give itwhile yet thou hast it.
29Devise not evil against thy neighbor
while he dwelleth securely by thee.
30Contend with no man without cause,
when he did thee no evil.
31Imitate not the man of violence
and choose none of his ways.
32For an abhorrence to Jehovah is the deceiver,
but with the upright he maintaineth true friendship.
33Jehovahs curse dwelleth in the house of the wicked
but the home of the just he blesseth.
34If he scorneth the scorners,
to the lowly he giveth grace.
35Honor shall the wise inherit,
but shame sweepeth fools away.
GRAMMATICAL AND CRITICAL
Pro 3:6.[The idea of the verb is not that of guidance [E. V.: shall direct thy paths], but that of making straight (Stuart), or, perhaps, better still, making smooth (Fuerst, De W., Kamph.).A.]
Pro 3:7-8.[, the dehortative use of the Jussive, Btt., 964,8; while in Pro 3:8 we have an example of the desponsive useit shall be.. For the doubling of the by Dagesh see Btt., 392 c. He explains it as mimetic for greater vigor. Some texts carry this even into the succeeding 885, A. Fuerst (Lex., sub verbo) pronounces it unnecessary to change the vocalization as proposed by some commentators and preferred by Zckler, and agrees with Umbreit in his view of the meaning.A.]
Pro 3:12.In the ordinary rendering, even as a father the son in whom he delighteth, or whom he holds dear [which is the rendering, e.g., of the E. V., De Wette, Stuart, Noyes, Muensch.], is construed as in a relative clause. But then we should expect rather the perfect ; and there should have been in the first clause a comparative proposition of like construction with the one before us. The LXX, from which Heb 12:5 is literally quoted [a rendering which Holden adopts and defends], appears to have read instead of , for it translates the second clause by [scourgeth every son whom he receiveth]. This old variation, however, appears to owe its origin to the endeavor to secure a better parallelism. [Kamph. adopts a slightly different rendering, which makes the latter part of the clause relative, but makes the relative the subject and not the object of the verb, thus obviating the objection in regard to tense; and (dealeth) as a father (who) wisheth well to his son. The for at the beginning of the verse is explained by Btt., 362, 3, as the result of assimilation to the subsequent A.]
Pro 3:18.In the Hebrew the plural is employed distributively, or, as it were, of undefined individuals, for which reason its predicate stands in the singular; comp. Gen 47:3; Num 24:9; Gesen., Lehrgeb., p. 713; Ewald, 309, a [Btt., 702, 8].
Pro 3:26.The in is the so-called essenti, which serves for the emphatic and strengthened introduction of the predicate, as, e.g., in , Exo 18:4 (Gesen., Lehrgeb., 839; Ewald, Lehrb., 217 f.).
Pro 3:27.When thy hands have power to do it; literally when thy hands are for God. With this phrase compare Gen 31:29; Mic 2:1; or , Deu 28:32; Neh 5:5. [The weight, both of lexicographical and exegetical authority, is, and, we think, plainly should be, against this view of the author. See, e.g., Gesen. and Fuerst; has assigned to it distinctly the signification strength, the abstract quality corresponding to the concrete, the strong, i.e., God. It belongs to the power=it is in the power]. Inasmuch as in these idioms the singular always occurs, the Kri reads in our passage also , and the LXX for the same reason had translated [the translation being a free one; Frankel, Vorstudien zur Septuaginta, p. 239]. Yet there is no grammatical reason whatever for the change.
Pro 3:28.[, Kthibh, another distributive plural, where the Kri has a singular; see Btt., 702, d886, c.A.]
Pro 3:30.[Holden translates the last clause surely he will return thee evil, because the ordinary rendering gives to the word the sense of doing or performing, which it seems never to bear, but always that of returning, requiting, recompensing The primary import, however, seems to be to collect, to complete, which fact, together with the tense, justifies the almost entire unanimity which sustains the ordinary rendering.A.]
EXEGETICAL
1. The close connection between this group of admonitions and chap. 2. appears at once externally in the resuming of the address My son (Pro 2:1), which recurs three times in chap. 3, Pro 3:1; Pro 3:11; Pro 3:21,without, however, for that reason, introducing in each instance a new paragraph; for in Pro 3:11 at least the series of admonitions beginning in Pro 3:1 continues in its former tone without interruption (comp. especially Pro 3:9),and again the new commencement in Pro 3:21 does not equal in importance that in Pro 3:19 sq., or that in Pro 3:27 sq.Hitzig maintains that Pro 3:22-26 are spurious, inasmuch as the promise of reward which it contains, after the earlier briefer suggestions of virtues reward in Pro 3:4; Pro 3:6; Pro 3:8; Pro 3:10, seems tedious and disturbing;. inasmuch as their style of expression appears tame, prosaic, and even, in some degree, clumsy; inasmuch as there may be detected in them traces of a strange and later idiom (e.g., the [life and grace] in Pro 3:22; the [destruction] in Pro 3:25; the [from the snare] in Pro 3:26); and finallythe thing which appears in fact to have given the chief impulse to his suspicioninasmuch as from the omission of these five verses there would result another instance of the decimal grouping of verses before we come again to the address to the children of wisdom in Pro 4:1, just as before the [my son] in Pro 3:11; Pro 3:21 was repeated in each case after ten verses. But since no kind of external testimony can be adduced in support of this assumption of an interpolation, while, on the other hand, a version as old as the LXX contains the verses entire, the suspicion appears to rest on grounds wholly subjective, and to be supported by reasonings that are only specious. This is especially true of the fact that there are in each instance ten verses between the first addresses, my son,which loses all its significance when we observe that in chap. 1. the same address recurs at much shorter intervals,that between the my son in Pro 2:1 and the first in the third chapter there are no less than 22 verses,and that finally the paragraphs or strophes formed by the repetition of this address in the two following chapters (Pro 4:10 sq.; Pro 4:20 sq.; Pro 5:1 sq.) are by no means of equal length, and can be brought into uniformity only by critical violence (the rejection of Pro 4:16-17; Pro 4:27).If we therefore cannot justify Hitzigs endeavor to produce by the exclusion of several verses a symmetrical external structure for our chapter, i.e., a division of it into three equal strophes, we are also obliged to differ with him when he conceives of the contents as mainly admonitory, in contrast with the more descriptive character of chap. 2. For here as there we find admonitions, direct or indirect, to the securing and retaining of wisdom (Pro 3:1; Pro 3:3; Pro 3:5; Pro 3:7; Pro 3:9; Pro 3:11; Pro 3:21; Pro 3:27 sq.) alternating with delineations of the blessedness which becomes the portion of its possessors (Pro 3:4; Pro 3:6 b, 8, 10, 22 sq., 32 sq.), or with praises of wisdom itself (Pro 3:13 sq., 19 sq.). Especially are the commencement and conclusion of the chapter in close correspondence with those of chap. 2, and accordingly justify our conception of the general import of the proverbial discourses which it contains, as being a sort of continuation of the longer discourse which constitutes the preceding chapter. Only in two points do we find essentially new material introduced into the representation, which is now mainly admonitory and again chiefly descriptive,viz., in Pro 3:19 sq., where the protecting and preserving power of wisdom is illustrated by a reference to Gods creative wisdom as the original source and model of all human wisdom,and in Pro 3:27 sq., where in the place of the previous admonitions of a more general nature there appears a special admonition to love of ones neighbor, as the sum and crown of all virtues. Therefore (with Delitzsch, comp. above, Introd., 15) at each of these points we begin a new section.
2. Continued representation of the salutary consequences of a wise and devout life. Pro 3:1-18.
Pro 3:1-2. Forget not my teaching.The substance of this teaching (, as in Pro 1:8), or the enumeration of the individual commands () of which it consists, begins with Pro 3:3.Length of days, properly extension of days ( ) as in Psa 21:4), is a description of earthly prosperity as it is promised to wisdom for a reward. Comp. Exo 20:12; 1Ki 3:14. For that this long life is a happy one, a living in the promised land (Deu 4:40; Deu 5:30; Deu 6:2; Deu 11:9; Deu 22:7; Deu 30:16), an abiding in the house of the Lord and under His blessing (Psa 15:1; Psa 23:6; Psa 27:3),this is plainly assumed. Comp. the parallel expression [peace] in the second member, which here, as below in Pro 3:17, describes the safety which belongs only to the pious, the religious peace of mind of which the ungodly know nothing (Isa 48:22; Isa 57:21).
Pro 3:3-4. The first of the commandments announced in Pro 3:1, with the corresponding promise of reward.Love and truth.These ideas which are very often associated, in our Book, e.g., in Pro 14:22; Pro 16:6; Pro 20:28,are, when predicated of man, the designation of those attributes in which the normal perfection of his moral conduct towards his neighbor expresses itself. , which, as a Divine attribute, is equivalent to mercy or grace, designates the disposition of loving sympathy with others, which rests upon the feeling of brotherhood, the feeling that all men are of like nature, creatures of the same God. This feeling, which is the prime factor in our moral life by which society is constituted, has for its natural basis the destitution and defencelessness of isolated man; from which springs the deeper necessity not only to augment power by mutual outward help, but also by the interchange of thoughts and emotions to effect a richer development of spiritual life, and to discern what in ones own feeling is purely individual, and what is common and eternal (Elster). then designates inward truthfulness, the pectus rectum, the very essence of a true man opposed to all hypocrisy and dissimulation, the endeavor to mould every form into the closest possible correspondence with the nature of the thing, on which depends all the reliableness and security of lifes relations (Elster, comp. Umbreit). The proofs of a life regulated by love and truth, and so of conduct toward ones neighbor, as loving as it is true, a genuine [truth in love, Eph 4:15] are suggested in the following admonitory discourse in Pro 3:27 sq.Bind them about thy necknot as talismans and amulets, as Umbreit suggests, but simply as costly ornaments, which one wears upon the neck (comp. Pro 1:9; also Pro 7:3); or again as treasures which one will secure against loss, and therefore (if valued like a signet ring, Gen 38:18; Jer 22:24) wears attached to a chain about the neck. The latter explanation, to which Hitzig gives the preference, seems to be favored especially by Pro 6:21, and also by the analogy of the parallel expression write upon the tablet of the heart, i.e., thoroughly impress upon ones self and appropriate the virtues in question (love and truthnot perchance the commandments mentioned in Pro 3:1, of which C. B. Michaelis and others here think without any good reason); comp. Jer 31:33; 2Co 3:3 [To bind Gods law about the neck is not only to do it, but to rejoice in doing it; to put it on, and to exult in it as the fairest ornament. Wordsw.].So wilt thou find favor and good reputationliterally, and so find, etc. (); the Imper. with consec. stands for an Imperf. (Ewald, Lehrb., 235); for by the command the certainty that obedience will follow is promoted, Hitzig. Comp. Pro 4:4; Pro 20:13; Gen 42:8; Isa 8:9; Isa 45:22. [Btt. calls this the desponsive imperative; see 957, 6A.].Find favor or grace ( ) as in Jer 31:2; 1Sa 2:26; Luk 2:52; only that in these passages, instead of in the eyes of God (i.e., according to Gods judgment, comp. Gen 10:9; 2Ch 30:22) the simpler phrase with God (, ) is combined with the formula under discussion.Good reputation.Thus we translate, as Hitzig does, the expression , which below in Pro 13:15, as in Psa 111:10, conveys the idea of good understanding or sagacity [so the E. V., Bertheau, Kamph. render it in this passage also]; but here, as in 2Ch 30:20, denotes the judgment awarded to any one, the favorable view or opinion held concerning any one. [Fuerst, Van Ess, etc., prefer this rendering, while Gesen., De W., Stuart, Noyes, Muenscher translate good success.A.]. With this interpretation the finding favor will have reference more to God, the finding good opinion or favorable judgment predominantly to men. [Kamph., however, insists that the idea is indivisibleuniversal favor.]
Pro 3:5-6. Trust in Jehovah with all thine heart, etc.: the fundamental principle of all religion, consisting in an entire self-commitment to the grace and truth of God, with the abandonment of every attempt to attain blessedness by ones own strength or wisdom; comp. Psa 37:3 sq.; Psa 118:8-9; Jer 9:22.Regard him. , strictly take notice of him, i.e., recognize Him as the unconditional controller over all thy willing and doing. Comp. the opposite: 1Sa 2:12, and in general for this pregnant use of the verb Psa 1:6; Psa 37:18; Amo 3:2, etc.
Pro 3:7-8. Fear Jehovah and depart from evil (comp. Pro 14:16; Pro 14:6; Job 1:1; Job 28:28); an absolute contrast to the first clause of the verse; for he who fears God distrusts his own wisdom, when this perchance presents evil and wayward action as something agreeable and desirable (Gen 3:5).Healing will then be (come) to thy body. Thus probably is the phrase to be explained, with Bertheau and Hitzig,for to express the idea healing is this to thy body, (Umbreit, Ewald, Elster, and most of the elder commentators) would rather have been required.Instead of thy navel (which, according to Umbreit, here, unlike Eze 14:4; Son 7:3, is intended to be a designation of the whole body by a part of special physiological importance) it will probably be correct to read as a contraction of , or as i Pro 4:22. For translations as early as the LXX and Peshito express simply the idea to thy body, to which furthermore the parallel to thy bones corresponds better (comp. Pro 14:30; Mic 3:2) than to the very far-fetched expression to thy navel. Refreshing to thy bones. strictly irrigation, watering, then refreshing, invigoration; here in contrast with the. languishing of the bones (Psa 32:8; Psa 32:4), i.e., their drying up under a fever heat or an inward anguish of soul, e.g., the pangs of a troubled conscience. Comp. Job 21:24; Isa 58:11.
Pro 3:9-10, Honor Jehovah with thy riches. The in and the following phrase is certainly not to be construed as partitive, as though God was to be honored with a part only of ones wealth and of the first fruits of ones increase (so e.g., Bertheau), but the preposition here expresses the idea of a coming forth out of something, as in Psa 28:7; 2Ki 6:27. In opposition to the comparative idea which Ewald endeavors to bring out from the (more than thy wealth) see Hitzig on this passage. With regard to the idea itself compare passages like Exo 23:19; Deu 18:4 sq.; Pro 28:8 sq.; Mal 3:10-12. That the offering in sacrifice the first fruits of the field and of the other revenues of ones possessions or labors was not only enjoined by their law upon the people of God under the Old Testament, but that it was also practiced by other ancient nations as a usage connected with religious worship, appears from passages in classical authors, e.g., Diod. Sicul., I., Proverbs 14 : Plut. de Iside, p. 377; Plinys Hist. Nat., 18, 2. Comp. in general Spencer, Delegibus Hebrorum ritualibus, p. 713, sq. (de primitiarum origine). [Be not content with lipservice, but obey Gods law by making the prescribed oblation and by bringing also free-will offerings to Him.Wordsw. Our authors notes, in their distinct recognition of the first fruits as required for and by Jehovah, are to be preferred to his version, which has the more general but less Jewish idea that the best should be given.A.]With new wine will thy vats overflow. , literally: they will extend themselves, separate, swell up Comp. the use of the same verb with reference to rapidly increasing flocks; Gen 30:20; Job 1:10.Similar strong metaphors for the description of a rich abundance and the blessing of the harvest may be found, e.g., Joel 4:18; Amo 9:13; Lev 26:5.
Pro 3:11-12. Jehovahs correction despise thou not. To the despising ( here as in the quite similar passage Job 5:17 [from which Wordsw. thinks our passage to be derived]), the loathing or abhorring () is evidently the climax. [In the E. V. generally this distinction between the two verbs is very fairly made; the prevailing rendering of the former being despise, disdain, reject, refuse, while that of the latter is loathe, abhor. In the present instance the rendering might easily be taken as an anti-climax.A.].And holds him dear as a father his son. For the general idea that Gods corrections are essentially nothing but revelations of His educating love and fatherly faithfulness, comp. in the Old Testament especially Deu 8:5; Psa 118:18; Lam 3:33 sq.
Pro 3:13-18. Enthusiastic praise of true wisdom, which is one with the fear of God.Blessed is the man that hath found wisdom. The perfect , who hath found, expresses the idea of permanent possession; the parallel imperfect (from , procedere; therefore, to bring forth, to bring to view, to bring to pass, comp. Pro 8:35; Pro 12:2; Pro 18:22) denotes a continually renewed and repeated attaining. The (bring forth) used of the scribe instructed unto the kingdom of heaven, Mat 13:52, cannot be compared directly with our expression, since ) clearly contains an idea synonymous and not one contrasted with .Better is her accumulation than the accumulation of silver. does not, like the corresponding term in the parallel passage, Pro 8:19, denote what wisdom, brings by way of gain, but the very act of gaining and acquiring (, LXX). So with , that which comes with and in herself, the gain which exists in herself. [The merchandise of the E. V. is unfortunately obscure and misleading].Than the finest gold. signifies, according to most of the old interpreters, the finest and purest gold (Vulg.: aurum primum). The etymology leads, in the unmistakable identity of the root with that of the Greek , at first only to the idea of clear or bright shining, gleaming or glittering (coruscare). Gold is therefore, on the ground of its brilliancy, named in the climax as a more precious possession than silver, to which in Pro 3:15 the pearls (instead of the Kthibh we shall be constrained to give an unqualified preference to the Kri , comp. Pro 8:11; Pro 20:15; Pro 31:10, etc.) supply the culmination in the series, and the generalizing term all thy jewels includes the three specified items with all similar articles of value. Comp. Pro 8:2; Job 28:18, where our verse recurs almost literally. In the latter passage (Job 28:15-19) besides silver, gold and pearls, various other gems, e.g., onyx, sapphire, coral, amber, topaz, etc., are mentioned as falling far below the value of wisdom. In the LXX there appear both in Pro 3:15 and in 16 amplifying additions, in respect to which Hitzig, while not regarding as original the double clause interpolated in Pro 3:15 between the two members: . [no evil thing competes with her. She is well known to all those that approach her], yet considers it as resting upon an interpolation that had already made its way into the Hebrew text. The supplement added to Pro 3:16 : , [from her mouth proceedeth righteousness, law and mercy doth she bear upon her tongue] Heidenheim regards as the gloss of an Alexandrian Jew, who designed with it to oppose certain Pharisaic interpretations (?).Long life is in her right hand, etc. Wisdom here appears personified, endowed with a human body and members,and in Pro 3:16 at first in a general way, in Pro 3:17 so that she is represented as walking, in Pro 3:18 so that she appears standing like a tree, that dispenses shade and precious fruits. and in Pro 3:16 are at any rate not to be translated at her right hand, and at her left hand (so Luther and many old interpreters, conforming to Ps. 14:8; 45:9; 110:5), but in her right and left hand, in accordance with Psa 16:11; Isa 44:20, where the preposition expresses the same idea.Long life, literally, length of days, as above, in Pro 3:2, from which passage the LXX has here repeated also the phrase .Riches and honor, as in Pro 8:18; Pro 22:4. The blessings which wisdom offers are appropriately distributed between the hands, according to their essential difference. The right hand is regarded as the nearer; and that one live is the foundation for his becoming rich and honored, as health is a condition preliminary to the enjoyment of prosperity. Compare accordingly the arrangement in 1Ki 3:11-14 (Hitzig). [An over fanciful elaboration of the simple idea of the passage.A.].All her paths are (paths of) peace. can be regarded as a genitive, in which case the construction is the same as in Psa 45:6 (according to the interpretation which is probably correct), Psa 30:7; Lev 6:3, etc.; comp. Gesenius, Gramm. 121, 6; Naegelsbach, 64, g.;or as a nominative, her paths are peace, i.e., peaceable, peaceful, instead of strife and alarm offering pure peace and joy (so nearly all recent commentators, with the exception of Umbreit and Elster, who seem with good reason to prefer the former view). A tree of life wisdom is called in Pro 3:18, as in Pro 11:30 the fruit of the righteous is described by the same figurative expression, in Pro 13:12 the fulfilment of an ardent desire, and finally, Pro 15:4, temperateness of the tongue. The expression doubtless contains an allusion to the tree of life mentioned by Moses in Gen 2:9; Gen 3:22, although there the definite article stands before , because it was intended to designate the particular tree bearing this name in Paradise. The of Genesis and the of Proverbs are therefore related to each other as the familiar of the Gospels to the without the article in Joh 5:27. Elster, without reason, attempts to deny altogether the reference to Gen 2:9, and to make the expression parallel with other figurative representations, like fountain of life, etc. In his observation that the figure of the tree in this passage is based upon the previous personification of wisdom, and that Sol. Son 7:9 is therefore to be compared, Hitzig is certainly right (comp. also passages like Isa 61:3; Jer 17:8; Psa 1:3; Psa 92:12). We must, however, regard as less pertinent the other proposition of the same commentator, according to which the tree of life in our passage corresponds not only with the tree of the same name in Paradise, but at the same time also with the tree of knowledge (Gen 3:3), and so exhibits the identity of the two trees of Paradise. For as a thoroughly practical demeanor, consisting in the fear of God and obedience (see Pro 1:7) the true wisdom of the Book of Proverbs unquestionably presents as complete a contrast to all assuming and devilish wisdom from beneath (Jam 3:15) as the tree of life in Paradise to that of knowledge.And he who holds her fast is blessed. See critical notes. See also below. notes on Pro 15:22.
3. Description of the wisdom of God that created the world, as the mighty protector of him that fears God: Pro 3:19-26.Jehovah hath with wisdom founded the earth, etc.. A connection undoubtedly exists between this allusion to the divine archetype of all human wisdom and what has been before said, so far forth as the paradisiacal tree of life of primitive time seems to have called to the mind of the author the creation of the world, and therefore afforded him occasion for the brief delineation of the creative wisdom of God that lies before us, of which the passage, Pro 8:22 sq., is only a fuller development (comp. also Job 28:12 sq.; Sir 24:2 sq.). Yet if the connection were really as close as it is commonly regarded (e.g., by Bertheau, who finds in Pro 3:19-20 the conclusion of the series of thoughts beginning in Pro 3:11; by Elster, who discerns here in a certain sense a metaphysical confirmation of the foregoing; and in general also by Hitzig, etc.), the demonstrative conjunction. (for) would unquestionably stand at the beginning of the 19th verse; this, however, is wanting both in the original text and in the older versions, and was first introduced by Luther. Therefore as the words stand, with an emphatic prefixing of the subject Jehovah (as at the commencement of many Psalms, e.g., Psalms 27; Psalms 97; Psalms 99, etc.), they are evidently designed not so much to serve as a continuation of representations already begun, as for the introduction of ideas essentially new,and these new thoughts, are the promises contained in Pro 3:21-26, of the divine protection and blessing, of which the wise man, i.e., he who acts and walks in accordance with this divine wisdom, will infallibly have the full enjoyment. Furthermore, comp., with reference to the idea of the conformity of the practical, ethical wisdom of man with the absolute creative wisdom of God, the Doctrinal and Ethical notes.With wisdom. , literally through wisdom, i.e., not merely with the manifestation of wisdom as an attribute of His, but by means of the personal, essential wisdom, as an independent, creative power indwelling in Him from eternity, comp. Pro 8:22 sq. In the same hypostatic sense, therefore, are also the interchangeable ideas of understanding Pro 3:19 l.c., and knowledge in Pro 3:20, to be understood. [With this view of the author Bertheau agrees, so Trapp and some others of the old English expositors: Scott, Holden suggest it as possible; while Stuart, Muenscher and others, judging more correctly, we think, find here none of those personal attributes which are so conspicuous in chap. 8 and there so clearly shape the interpretation.A.]. On Pro 3:19 comp. in addition Jer 10:12, and on Pro 3:20, Gen 1:6 sq.; Pro 2:6.Did the seas divide. The perf. , they have divided, refers to the primary creative act of the division once for all of the masses of water above and beneath the firmament, Gen 1:6 sq., while the imperf., , relates to the constantly repeated and still continued emptying of the clouds in rain, as a consequence of that sundering of the waters which belongs to the history of creation. [The E. V. loses this distinction and refers both to the present, are].
Pro 3:21-22. My son, never suffer to depart from thine eyes, etc. (for which, perhaps, in conformity with Pro 4:21 we ought to read ) signifies literally, there must not escape, slip aside (from ) deflexit, a via declinavit). As subjects for the plural verb we usually find supplied from the preceding, especially from Pro 3:1 sq., the idea my doctrines, my commands, [as in the E. V. and the commentaries of Stuart, Muenscher and others]. But this is plainly quite too far-fetched. It is simpler, with Umbreit, Hitzig, etc., to conceive of the following hemistich, thoughtfulness and circumspection, as at the same time subjects of the verb in the first, and to explain their omission in the former clause to which they should properly have been attached, on the ground of the peculiar vivacity of the representation. This liveliness of expression can in some measure be preserved in our version by a rather after the verb of the second clause.Maintain thoughtfulness and circumspection. The more uncommon (comp. above Pro 2:7) stands here instead of (wisdom) Pro 3:19, and also the less frequent instead of which occurs there, in order to suggest the difference between the absolute wisdom and insight of God and the corresponding attributes of man. The LXX instead of the present order appear to have found the reverse, as they translate . Comp. Heidenheim (as above cited).So will they be life to thy soul, etc. In reply to Hitzigs disparagement of the genuineness of Pro 3:22-26, see remarks above, at the commencement of the exegesis. With respect to the thought of Pro 3:22 f. c., comp. above Pro 3:2; Pro 3:16; Pro 3:18; also. Pro 4:22; Pro 8:35, etc. For last clause comp. Pro 1:9; Pro 3:3.
Pro 3:23. Then wilt thou go thy way in safety. , in security, free from care, full of trust and good confidence, as below in Pro 3:29. [Thou shalt ever go under a double guard, the peace of God within thee (Php 4:7) and the power of God without thee, (1Pe 1:5).Trapp.For illustrations drawn from travellers experience near Jerusalem, see Thomsons Land and Book, I., 109.A.]. The simple is used in the same way in Pro 10:9. For Pro 3:23 l. c. compare Psa 91:12, for the whole verse Pro 4:12.
Pro 3:24. When thou liest down. The imperf. in the first member probably designs to express the idea of laying ones self down to rest, while the following perf. would designate the effect and consequence of this act, the reclining and sleeping. Thus most interpreters have correctly judged. Hitzig amends according to the LXX: , if thou sittest, which is plainly needlessly arbitrary. For the thought comp. furthermore Pro 4:22; Deu 28:66.
Pro 3:25. Thou needest not fear from sudden alarm. literally fear thou not. Since however the in Pro 3:23 still has its effect, the expression is not to be taken merely as an admonition, but at the same time as a description of the future condition (Ewald, Lehrbuch 310, a). [Btt. 964, a, classes it with the permissive negatives].Nor from the destruction of the wicked. the old commentators unanimously regard as active; the onset of the wicked, the storm which they raise against the pious (procella quam impii excitant, Chr. B. Michaelis). So recently Hitzig, while nearly all other modern interpreters since Dderlein prefer the passive conception; the storm or destruction that will sweep away the wicked. A positive decision is probably not possible. Yet the parallel in Psa 35:8, seems to favor the latter view [which is adopted also by Stuart and Muenscher]. With reference to the subject compare further, for clause a, Psa 91:5; Pro 1:27; Pro 24:22; and for b, Job 5:21.
Pro 3:26. For Jehovah will be thy confidence: literally, will be in thy confidence, is here unquestionably trust, confidence, as in Job 8:14; Job 31:24; Psa 78:7. The signification loins, side, which the Vulgate has given to the expression (Dominus erit in latere tuo) and, in imitation of this, e.g., Ziegler, Muentinghe, etc., agrees indeed with passages like Job 15:27; Lev 3:4; Lev 3:10; Lev 15:4, etc., but not with the one before us.And keep thy foot from the snare. The substantive , snarefor which more usually or occurs only here, is not, however, for that reason necessarily to be regarded, as Hitzig would have it, as a sign of a later phraseology.
4. Admonition to benevolence and justice: Pro 3:27-35. A connection of this exhortation with some more specific point in the foregoing (with Pro 3:21 or Pro 3:20, e.g., as Hitzig suggests, assuming Pro 3:22-26 to be spurious) need not be attempted, since the whole of this brief section definitely enough distinguishes itself from the longer series of proverbial discourses, as an independent and peculiar whole.Refuse not good to him that deserves it: literally, hold not good back from its master, i.e., from him to whom it belongs [either by the law of equity or of charity, Trapp,whether upon their deserving or upon their need, Bp. Hall], him who is at the same time deserving and needy (LXX ).
Pro 3:28. And yet thou hast it: literally, and it is yet with thee on hand, there is yet a store [there is with thee]. The LXX adds to this admonition to ready giving and to quick relief (according to the principle: bis dat qui cito dat, he gives twice who gives quickly), the words appropriate in themselves, (for thou knowest not what the morrow shall bring forth), which, however, occur in their original place in Pro 27:1.
Pro 3:29. Devise not evil. The verb here as in Pro 6:14; Pro 6:18; Pro 12:20; Pro 14:22, expresses the idea of contriving, and that as a development of the idea of forging (Eze. 21:36) and not that of ploughing (as Ewald, following some older interpreters, maintains).
Pro 3:30. Without cause, Heb. , LXX, , comp. in Joh 15:25. What is meant by this contending without cause is made more apparent in the 2d member. In regard to the ethical significance of this precept comp. Doctrinal and Ethical notes, No. 3.
Pro 3:31. Emulate not the man of violence. For this signification of , which is found as early as the Vulgate (ne muleris hominem injustum), the strongest support is the parallel thought in the 2d member; while unquestionably in passages like Psa 37:1; Psa 73:3; Pro 24:1, the expression denotes rather a falling into a passion about some one, a being envious. Yet comp. Pro 23:17, where the meaning plainly resembles that before us. [The difference among these expositors, we think, is more seeming than real. Thus Stuart renders, Be not envious toward, etc., and explains do not anxiously covet the booty which men of violence acquire; Muenscher renders, Envy thou not the man, etc., and explains, Do not be offended by the success and prosperity, etc., so as to imitate, etc.A.]And choose none of his ways. For the LXX [ ) must have read , a reading which Hitzig is disposed to accept as the original. But how easily could this change be introduced, following as a standard Psa 38:1, or Pro 24:19, where no doubt stands as the only appropriate reading!
Pro 3:32-35 supply a ground in the first instance for the counsels contained in Pro 3:27-31, but further in general for those of the whole chapter: thus Pro 3:35 in particular, by its contrasting the comprehensive terms fool and wise, reveals a far reaching breadth and compass in its reference, like the similar expressions at the close of the 1James , 2 d chapters.An abhorrence to Jehovah is the deceiver., properly the perverse, he who is deceitfully crooked and secret (comp. Pro 2:15), and so is in direct contrast with the upright or straightforward. [, which in the E. V. is always translated by abomination, or some cognate term, is often used in other sacred books of idolatry. In the twenty or more passages in the Book of Proverbs in which the word is found it has this signification in no single instance. It would seem, says Wordsworth, in loc, as if, when Solomon wrote the Proverbs, he regarded idolatry as a thing impossible. He therefore left out idolatry as the Greek Legislator omitted parricide from his codeas a thing too monstrous to be contemplated. And yet Solomon himself afterwards fell into idolatry, etc.A.].With the upright he maintains true friendship.Literally, with the upright is his secret compact (), his intimacy, his confidential intimacy. Comp. Job 29:4; Psa 25:14.Jehovahs curse dwells in the house of the wicked.Comp. the , the cursing which, according to Zec 5:4, will take possession of the house of the wicked, and destroy it (in accordance with Deu 28:17 sq.); and for the term , Mal 2:2 (and Khler on both passages).
Pro 3:34. If he scorneth the scorners.To this hypothetical protasis the apodosis is not found in Pro 3:35, as Bertheau [and Stuart] hold, but immediately after, in the second clause of Pro 3:34. As in Job 8:20; Lam 3:32, there is an argumentum a contrario. Comp. our mode of constructing propositions, with while on the one handso on the other. For the sentiment of the 1st member, comp. Psa 18:26; for that of the whole verse the passages in the N. T. which cite freely from the LXX, 1Pe 5:5; Jam 4:6, and also above, Pro 1:26 sq.
Pro 3:35. Shame sweeps fools away. literally shame lifts up, i.e., in order to sweep away and destroy them: Comp. Eze 21:31; Isa 57:14, and the corresponding use of , tollere= auferre; Isa 41:16; Job 27:21. The expression , ignominia, properly levitas (lightness), at once reminds us directly of the familiar figure of chaff whirled away by the wind (Psa 1:4; Isa 17:3; Isa 29:5, etc.). Therefore we need not take as the predicate of (fools) and translate it by suscipiunt in the sense of gather up, carry away, as Hitzig does, following: the 70, Targ., Vatabl., and Rosenmueller [so Noyes, Muenscher, Wordsw., while De Wette, Stuart, etc., agree with cur authorA.]; although the distributive use of the participle in the singular instead of the plural, would have a. sufficient parallel in the passage already explained, Pro 3:18 b.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. Wisdom is life and gives life. This proposition, which finds its most pregnant utterance in Pro 3:18, and is formulated as a sort of Epitome of the whole chapter, is especially in the first admonitory discourse (Pro 3:1-18) expressed in manifold ways and exhibited in its bearing upon the most diverse relations, those of the present life first. Above all it is long life, to which walking in true wisdom aids (Pro 3:3-16), and this for this reason,because such a course is the indispensable condition of physical as well as spiritual health,or because, as Pro 3:8 expresses it, the wise findeth health for his body and refreshing for his frame. He who is truly wise aims infallibly at the needful temperance, and a prudent self-restraint in his physical and mental regimen, and thereby promotes health, his inward and outward well-being in the highest possible degree. He contributes by his obedient subjection to the Divine grace, to the emancipation of his noblest spiritual powers and capacities,secures these as well as the functions of his bodily organization against morbid excitement or torpidity, and so develops generally his entire personal life, body, mind and spirit, to its normal harmony, and the most vigorous manifestation possible of its diverse and cardinal activities. He who has in this way become inwardly free through the fear of God and real wisdom in life, attains necessarily also to the confirmation of this his godlike freedom and vital power in connection with the phenomena of the outward natural life, as surely as the laws of the economy of nature are the same as those of the ethical sphere in the kingdom of God. He who is inwardly free becomes also naturally free. To him who has attained true mastery over himself there is soon restored dominion over the outward creation,that heritage of the true children of God from Paradise,at least in its essentials. And so outward prosperity is added in his experience to inward peace; God smooths his paths (Pro 3:6); fills his garners and cellars with abundance (Pro 3:10), makes him great through riches and honor (Pro 3:16), and guides him during this whole life in ways of delight, peace, and prosperity (Pro 3:17; comp. Pro 3:2; Pro 3:18). A thing, however, that rises far above all these external blessings, above gold, silver and all the treasures of the earth (see Pro 3:14-15), is the grace and favor which the wise man finds not only with men, but much more with God (Pro 3:4). This favor of God and of men,i.e., not of all indiscriminately, but first and pre-eminently of the wise and devout, such as agree with Gods judgment, is evidently in the view of the poet the highest and most precious of the multiform blessings of wisdom which he enumerates. What, however, is this favor with God and men, the inseparable attendant and consequence of genuine wisdom (1Sa 2:26; Luk 2:52), what is this but the being a true child of God, the belonging to the fellowship of God and His people, the co-citizenship in the kingdom of truth and of blessedness?We stand here manifestly at the point at which the eudmonism of the author, in itself comparatively external and inclining to that which is partial and sensuous, joins hands with the true doctrine of Christianity,where, therefore, the Old Testament doctrine of retributions predominantly earthly begins to be transformed into the super-sensual or spiritual realistic doctrine of the New Testament (Mat 5:10-12; Mat 19:28-30). For if to be a child of God and to stand in relations of grace appears as the chief value and most precious reward of wisdom, the goal of prosperity at which the lovers of this wisdom aim is far more a heavenly than an earthly one; and fellowship with God, obedient, loving dependence on Him, is then not merely the end, but at the same time the principle and motive for all the thought, effort and action of the wise. As a way to the attainment of this end no other whatsoever can come under consideration but that opened and pointed out by God himselfthat is, the way of faith in the revelation of His grace. Believing self-devotion to the salvation which God bestows, which in the Old Testament is still essentially placed in the future, but in Christ as the Mediator of the New Testament, has become real and present, is there as well as here the condition of the attainment of wisdom, of progressive growth and strength in its possession, and finally of the enjoyment of the blessed reward. That our poet also walks in this path, that he is a representative of the fides Veteris Testamenti, that he belongs to that host of witnesses, exemplars of faith under the Old Testament, which is brought before us in Hebrews 9; this is incontrovertibly established by the way in which he speaks of the conditions of attaining to the blessed reward of wisdom, or of the practical demeanor of the wise man in its details. There we hear nothing of outward works of the law, of meritorious services, of the fulfilling of Gods will with ones own strength or reason; but trust in the Lord with all thine heart is enjoined in emphatic contrast with leaning upon ones own prudence (Pro 3:5); the being wise in ones own eyes is put in significant contrast with the fear of God and the avoiding of all evil (Pro 3:7); yes, willing submission to Gods salutary correction, humble and grateful subjection even to the strict disciplinary regulations which His fatherly love finds it good to employ; this constitutes the substance of the dispositions and modes of action which are here prescribed (Pro 3:11-12; comp. Heb 12:5 sq.). With good reason did Melanchthon direct attention to the genuinely evangelical, and even profoundly Christian character of this admonition to the patient endurance of sufferings as wholesome disciplinary ordinances of God. He remarks on Pro 3:11-12 : Here the whole doctrine of the cross is to be brought into view, and the distinction considered between Philosophy and the Gospel. Philosophy and human reason judge otherwise of the causes of death and of human calamities than does the voice of the Gospel.. Christian and philosophic patience must also be distinguished. And further, on Pro 3:13 sq.: These praises of wisdom are rightly understood of revealed wisdom, i.e., of the word of God manifested in the Church, of the Decalogue and the Gospel. Nor yet is it strange that antiquity applied these praises to the person who is the Son of God, who is the revealer of the word resounding in the Church, and is efficient by this word, and in it shows forth what God is, and what is His will. How far, furthermore, the point of view of our teacher of wisdom is removed from all possible Antinomian disparagements of positive moral requirements, how clearly, on the other hand, the wisdom that he teaches appears to be regulated by both factors of Divine revelation, law and gospel, shows itself from the emphatic prominence given to love and truth ( Pro 3:3; comp. the previous analysis of these two ideas on p. 61) as the chief manifestations of a spirit that fears God, and of a scrupulously dutiful course in intercourse with ones neighbor. Love is, therefore, according to him, also, the fulfilling of the law (Rom 13:10; Gal 5:14), and indeed to such a degree that, according to his conception, the compliance with special prescriptions of the positive external ceremonial law, e.g., the ordinances which relate to the bringing of the offerings of first fruits (see above on Pro 3:9), must be to it an easy thing. With the proposition of Bruch, that our author found himself in a sort of free-thinking opposition to the positive prescriptions of the Mosaic ceremonial law (comp. Introd., 15, note), this admonition to a conscientious devotion of the first fruits to Jehovah, plainly cannot be reconciled.
2. As wisdom alone ensures true joy in life and abiding prosperity, it also shows itself mans most reliable protection (Pro 3:19-26), his defender and guardian in all the inward temptations as well as the outward dangers of this earthly life. And this essentially for this reason, because it consists in trusting devotion to the eternal and absolute wisdom of God, which most richly and gloriously manifests its exhaustless power, and its compassionate love and faithfulness, as formerly in the creation of the world, now also in its preservation and government. For he who loves wisdom is also loved by her.; and he who by walking in faith, love, and the fear of God, confesses himself here below a friend of the Divine word,in his behalf does the eternal Word make confession above before the throne of the Heavenly Father.For further remarks upon the relation to the Logos or the Son of God, of the Divine wisdom, which is here in Pro 3:19-20, for the first time, hypostatically presented in its quality as the power that created the world, see below on Pro 8:22 sq. (Doctrinal and Ethical comments). [As will be seen from the Exegetical notes on Pro 3:19, the best modern exegesis is not unanimous in applying this passage, like chap. 8, to the hypostatic wisdom. Our authors remarks, therefore, however just in themselves, may be regarded as here out of place, so far forth as they involve the personality of wisdomA.]
3. The conditions for the attainment of true wisdom and its blessing, which are again emphasized in the concluding verses (2735), are comprehended in the single requirement of love to ones neighbor as the fulfilling of the Divine law. As special manifestations of this love of our neighbor, we have made prominent, charitableness and constant readiness to give (27, 28), sincerity and an unfeigned frankness of disposition (29), peaceableness and placability (30), gentleness and abstinence from all violence (31), straightforward, honorable and upright deportment in ones general transactions (32, 33), humility and the avoidance of all arrogant, frivolous and scornful demeanor (34).These admonitions do not rise to the full moral elevation of the New Testaments requisitions of love. Thus there is noticeably wanting here the demand of love to enemies, although not in Pro 25:21, and instead of this there is, it is true, no hatred of ones enemy recommended (as in the casuistic ethics of the later Pharisaic Judaism, according to Mat 5:43), but yet a restriction of all dispute and controversy to ones relations with an actual offender; see Pro 3:30. The specification of duties to ones neighbor that is here presented is therefore related to one truly Christian, very much as the moral precepts which, according to Luk 3:10-14, John the Baptist gave to the multitude that followed him, if compared with that fulfilment of the law presented by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount as the standard for the conduct of the children of God under the New Testament (Mat 5:20-48). Let us observe also the fact, which is certainly not accidental, that all the moral precepts in our passage are given in the form of negative imperatives or warnings, while, e.g., in the Sermon on the Mount, in the concluding and admonitory chapters of Pauls Epistles, and in general in most of the counsels of the New Testament, the positively admonitory and preceptive tone has a decided preponderance over the prohibitory.
HOMILETIC AND PRACTICAL
Homily on the entire chapter, starting with the central thought in Pro 3:18 : True wisdom as a tree of life,considered 1) in the precious fruits which it bestows upon us (118);2) in the solid ground in which it is rooted (1926);3) in the cultivation which we must bestow upon it by a loving and faithful integrity (2735).Comp. M. Geiers analysis of the chapter, which, treating the four introductory verses as an exordium for the whole, finds prescribed in it three main classes of duties: 1) to God (526);2) to our neighbor (2730);3) to ourselves (3135).So Starke: Solomons exhortation to the manifestation of that piety which flows from true wisdom, viz.: 1) of piety in itself (112);2) of wisdom as its celestial source (1326);3) of love to our neighbors as its chief earthly fruit and result (2735).
Pro 3:1-12. Melanchthon (on Pro 3:5-12, after treating the first four verses as an Introduction): Three precepts of divine Wisdom 1) Trust in God and fear of God (58);2) the support of the ministry of the word by offerings and gifts (9,10);3) patience under crosses and sufferings (11, 12, comp. above, p. 65).Geier (on 518): Six cardinal duties to God: 1) confidence,2) reverence,3) humility,4) honor,5) patience,6) zeal for wisdom.Starke: An exhortation to true piety; and 1) a preliminary encouragement to attention (14);2) the direct admonition to the manifestation of true piety, a) in confidence in God (5),b) in a living knowledge of God (6),c) in the fear of the Lord with a renouncing of ones own wisdom (7, 8),d) in the right payment of all gifts that are due (9, 10),e) in the patient bearing of the cross (11, 12).Calwer Handb.: The multiform blessings of a multiform wisdom; Pro 3:1-2 : long life, prosperity and peace;3, Proverbs 4 : favor with God and men;5, Proverbs 6 : a right guidance;7, Proverbs 8 : even physical well-being;9, Proverbs 10 : full garners and presses;11, Proverbs 12 : grace from God also in trials and sufferings.
On Pro 3:1-4. Egard: See to it that on the tablet of thine heart nothing be found but the word of God and Jesus Christ. According to what is written on the tablet of thine heart, (2Co 3:3) will endless pain or eternal joy await thee, Mat 10:32-33.On Pro 3:5-8. Hasius: It is a characteristic of true wisdom that one regards himself as simple; men who are wise in their own eyes are far removed from true wisdom.Zeltner: Where true fear of God exists, there is also true humility of soul, and renunciation of self. Sir 1:17-18, etc.[Pro 3:5. Trapp: They trust not God at all that do it not alone.Arnot: Trust is natural to the creature, though trust in the Lord be against the grain to the guilty. God complains as much of a divided allegiance as of none. In cleaving to Christ the effort to reserve a little spoils all. The command to trust is encouraging as well as reproving. The genuine spirit of adoption may be best observed in little things.R. M. M Cheyne: Every enlightened believer trusts in a divine power enlightening the understanding; he therefore follows the dictates of the understanding more religiously than any other man.
Pro 3:8. Arnot: He who makes holiness happy in heaven, makes holiness healthful on earth.]On Pro 3:9-10. Starke: We should above all things seek the kingdom of God, and share our means with those who labor in the word, and the extension of Gods kingdom; but not hold our goods for gain in order so to avoid Gods service. It is unbelief if one accounts that lost which he voluntarily devotes to churches and schools, and to the maintenance of the ministry of the word. Mat 10:42; 2Co 9:6; Gal 6:6, etc.Zeltner: Thankfulness opens the fountain of the divine blessing, unthankfulness closes it.Stcker: Liberality toward the clerical office, considered 1) in and by itself,2) according to the manner of its exercise,3) in its reward.[W. Bates: Charity is a productive grace, that enriches the giver more than the receiver. The Lord signs Himself our debtor for what is laid out for Him, and He will pay it with interest].On Pro 3:11-12. Egard: Gods strokes are better than Satans kiss and love; God smites for life, Satan caresses for death.J. Lange: The kingdom of God in this world is a kingdom of the cross; but all suffering tends evermore to the testing and confirmation of faith. 1Pe 1:6-7.Berleb. Bible: Gods chastenings and corrections are no signs of anger, but of love; they are the pains which our healing and cure demand. Those who lie under the cross are often more acceptable to God, than those who taste and experience His dainties. He finds pleasure in our crosses and sufferings for this reason, because these are His remembrance and renewal of the sufferings of His Son. His honor is also involved in such a perpetuation of the cross in His members (Eph 3:13; Col 1:24, etc.) and it is this that causes Him this peculiar joy!
[Pro 3:11-12. Arnot: Let your heart flow down under trouble, for this is human; let it rise up also to God, for this is divine.Trapp: He that escapes affliction may well suspect his adoption. Gods house of correction is His school of instruction.]
Pro 3:13-18. Egard: Silver, gold and pearls, serve and adorn the body only, wisdom, however, serves and adorns mainly the soul. As much as the soul is nobler than the body, so much is wisdom also nobler than all treasures. Beware lest thou with the children of this world look with delight upon the forbidden tree, and with them eat death from it. Beware lest thou choose folly instead of wisdom!Stcker: Whosoever desires to regain what our first parents squandered and lost by the fall, namely, eternal lifelet him hold fast upon heavenly wisdomi.e., Gods revealed word. This is a tree of life to all those who in true faith lay hold upon it.Berleb. Bible: Solomon here testifies that wisdom even in Paradise nourished and supported men, and that the same is for this reason also in the restoration (the restitution of all things by Christ, Act 3:21) ordained for their spiritual maintenance. In this originates that most blessed condition of the new man, who gradually becomes again like and equal to the man of Paradise.Wohlfarth: The tree of life of which we are to eat day by day is faith, love, hope. Faith is its trunk, hope its flowers, love its fruit.
[Pro 3:16-17. Arnot:If the law were according to a simple calculation in arithmetic, the holiest liver, the longest liver, and conversely, the more wicked the life the earlier its close; if this, unmixed, unmodified, were the law, the moral government of God would be greatly impeded, if not altogether subverted. He will have men to choose goodness for His sake and its own; therefore a slight veil is cast over its present profitableness.South (Pro 3:17): The excellency of the pleasure found in wisdoms ways appears 1) in that it is the pleasure of the mind;2) that it never satiates nor wearies;3) that it is in nobodys power, but only in his that has it.]
Pro 3:19-26. Stcker:Inasmuch as wisdom is so grand a thing that all was made and is still preserved by it, we are thence to infer that we also can be by it preserved for blessedness. We should hold dear the heavenly wisdom revealed to us in the word, and earnestly crave it, should learn to keep our eye upon God Himself, should entreat Him for all that we need, depend upon His omnipotence and faithful care, despond under no adversities, etc., etc.[Bridges: (Pro 3:23) Habitual eyeing of the word keeps the feet in a slippery path].Starke: He who orders his ways to please the Lord, can in turn depend upon His gracious oversight and protection.Our unrest and fear spring mainly from an evil conscience; divine wisdom however keeps the conscience from heavy sins, and stays the heart on God.Von Gerlach: The wisdom which God imparts to the man who hearkens for His voice is no other than that by which He founded the earth; the holy order, which forms, keeps, supports, holds together, develops into life, advances all. As now all that God has made is very good, each thing according to the law of the divine order that dwells in it, so in and for man all becomes good that conforms to this order.Wohlfarth (on Pro 3:21-26): The holy rest of the pious. Little as the hearts innocence, this fairest fruit of wisdom, can preserve and wholly free us from the sufferings which God suspends over us for our refining, so surely however does it turn away the worst and saddest consequences of sin, and ensures even amidst the storms of this life a rest that nothing can disturb.[Pro 3:26. Arnot: It is the peace of God in the heart that has power to keep the feet out of evil in the path of life.]
Pro 3:27-35. Stcker: The virtues of beneficence and patience are here developed after the method of the second table of the ten commandments; it is therefore taught how the believing Christian is in his relations to his neighbor to exercise himself in true charity, steadfast patience and forbearance.Cramer (in Starke): When God richly bestows upon us spiritual treasures, ought it to be a great matter, if we to honor Him give alms from our temporal goods?(On Pro 3:32 sq.); If an ungodly man rises in prosperity, look not upon his prosperity, but upon his end; that can easily deter you from imitating him.Wohlfarth (on Pro 3:27-28): Thankfulness toward God requires beneficence toward ones brethren.Von Gerlach: Divine wisdom teaches the true communism,makes all things common. According to true love earthly goods belong to their lord (Pro 3:27) i.e, to him who needs them.[Pro 3:27. Arnot: The poor have not a right which they can plead and enforce at a human tribunal. The acknowledgment of such a right would tend to anarchy. The poor are placed in the power of the rich, and the rich are under law to God.
Pro 3:33. Arnot: In addition to the weight of divine authority upon the conscience, all the force of natures instincts is applied to drive it home.
Pro 3:34. Trapp: Humility is both a grace and a vessel to receive grace.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
The same subject is continued in this chapter as in the former; but with additional arguments. Here are many earnest exhortations to the exercise of the graces of the Holy Spirit, and the sad effects of a contrary conduct fully set forth.
Pro 3:1-4 My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
It was one of the great blessings of the covenant, that the Lord undertook to write his law in the minds and hearts of his people in the last days, whereby they should know him. And hence Solomon describes in these verses the blessing of such a state, and the comforts arising out of it. Jer 31:31-34 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Self-reliant Or God-reliant?
Pro 3:5-6
No one who reads the book of Proverbs can fail to see that its maxims are of the utmost value. We should truly be the poorer without its pithy, practical sayings, which bear upon almost every phase of life.
How much we need to remember the verses that I read as our text.
I. It is Often Considered a Fine Thing to be Self-Reliant. Many men boast that they rely only on themselves. A man will point with pride to his prosperous business and say, ‘I worked all that up by myself from nothing’. Self-reliance is very good up to a certain point. It is all right if it does not make us forget God, from Whom all good things come, and in Whom we live and move and have our being. The man who trusts in God does not become slack and careless. He knows that if he is trusting in God for help in his daily work he must put forth his best energies in order to be worthy of God’s help. When we trust in God we are, as it were, admitting Him into partnership with ourselves. It therefore becomes necessary to try to live up to our high position. I want you to think of this as a message from God to you in the height of your prosperity, it may be, when all is going well with you. After all there is not much to be said for the man who only pretends to trust in God when he is in adversity, and as it were so far in a corner that he cannot help himself. It may be that he learns his lesson at such a time, and by finding what God can do for him then, learns to trust Him at all times. The trust that honours God, and which He desires, is that which is accorded to Him at all times, in the time of prosperity quite as much as in the time of adversity, for though we may not feel the need of His help then so much as we do in the time of adversity, it is quite true that our times of prosperity are just the times when we are tempted to forget God, and think we can do without Him.
We need to bear in mind the next verse.
II. Those who have not Really Tried it, sometimes Think that to have God always in our Minds must make them Dull and Weary. They think that it is all very well for Sundays or for times of prayer, but to acknowledge God at all times, to be thinking constantly of Him, to be continually consulting Him, this they imagine would rob life of its freedom and its brightness. What a mistake they make! It is only when we take God into our lives that we are able to enjoy life to its fullest extent. For when we do that, we look at the world in a new light. Everything is transformed because it becomes to us part of God’s world. The beauties of nature are a thousand times more lovely when we see God’s handiwork in them, and there is a new attraction in our fellow-men, when we realize that they are children of the same heavenly Father as ourselves.
III. You need not Hold Back because you are afraid, if you try to act up to the exhortation of our text, and acknowledge God in everything, that you will be deprived of happiness and your life made gloomy. No, your joys will be multiplied a thousandfold, and you will have God’s help in your work in times of difficulty and perplexity as well. And how much of our life is of this latter nature. We can see so little of what is before us that we often know not what to do. We are uncertain what course to take or what plans to make. But if it is our habit to acknowledge God in everything, to seek His guidance and to trust in Him, we have the assurance of His Word that ‘we shall not be disappointed’.
References. III. 6. J. R. Crookes, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxxiii. 1908, p. 170. III. 7, 8. W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven for Life on Earth, p. 89. III. 9. Ibid. p. 91. III. 9, 10. J. Silvester, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxix. 1906, p. 245. III. 11, 12. W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven for Life on Earth, p. 93. III. 11-24. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Esther, Job, Proverbs, etc., p. 88. III. 13-15. W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven for Life on Earth, p. 99. III. 13, 19. G. A. Chadwick, The Intellect and the Heart, p. 154. III. 14. C. Perren, Revival Sermons in Outline, p. 252. III. 16, 17. W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven for Life on Earth, p. 102. III. 19, 20. Ibid. p. 105. III. 26. Ibid. p. 107. III. 27, 28. Ibid. p. 111. III. 28. S. A. Tipple, The Admiring Guest, p. 122. III. 33. W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven for Life on Earth, p. 116.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
The Programme of Life
Pro 3
There is a tenderness peculiar to the paternal voice; if its tones are apparently harsher than those of the maternal appeal, yet they tremble with as true a pathos. There are few more subduing sights than that of the father instructing the child in the ways of wisdom. He adopts no cold and formal method of communication. His ministry is full of the heart’s fondest love. He speaks not as a mere hireling, but with an affection unconstrained, profound, immeasurable.
This is a father’s voice. Mark the persuasiveness of the father’s method; there is no attempt to drive the young soul into the way of wisdom. The method is one of affectionate remonstrance and allurement. The method is in harmony with the purpose, and the purpose is in full accord with the spontaneity, the dignity, and self-control of man’s mental and moral constitution. Men may be driven to despair; they cannot be whipped into joy. Let the religious parent then copy this method; let him know that strength loses nothing by gentleness, and that judgment is sublimated by mercy. There is a family piety which is family crucifixion; compulsion takes the place of persuasion, and the Father in heaven is only known as exceeding in terror the father on earth. This ought not so to be. Religion should be expressed in the tenderest tones, attired in the most attractive garb, surrounded by the most alluring fascinations. Religion thus taught will be a perpetual joy in the recollection of the child. In days to come he will say, “I delight in the law of God after the inward man.” “My delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law do I meditate day and night!” That which is a pleasure in youth will be a delight in old age. “Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight.” All other joys fail, but this increases into rapture. “I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved.” “I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.” “O how I love thy law! it is my meditation all the day.” Blessed are such memories! Much depends on the father’s method; let that be right, and the blessing will be abundant as the showers that water the earth.
“For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee” ( Pro 3:2 ).
Reward must follow goodness. We are not taught to be good for the sake of the reward; in fact, it is impossible to make hope of reward the motive of goodness. It is not goodness; it is self-seeking. It is natural, however, that the good man should have all that God deems best for him. “No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.” All possible limitations of this promise are really only variations of method, not changes of nature. By discipline God refines the taste, enlarges the capacity, and simplifies the motive; and thus discipline itself does the winter’s work in our nature, in preparation for the golden and prolific summer. The winter may be harsh, but May plants the most beautiful flowers in soil which has been held fast in the grip of frost. “0 fear the Lord, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him.” “My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Goodness marches onward, inspired by promises which fill the heart with the joy of assured victory. “He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.” “Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God.”
“Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: so shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man” ( Pro 3:3-4 ).
Mercy and truth are the great pillars and ornaments of man. Strength and beauty make up the fulness of perfection. Strength is stern, it is softened by beauty; beauty is frail, it is dignified by strength. Every man should be anxious about truth; but truth should tend towards mercy. The perfect man combines both. We lose nothing by gentleness. The mighty oak looks well when swaying in response to the rocking winds.
This wise father advises his son to make mercy and truth his ornaments “bind them about thy neck.” The figure is beautiful, and has had a Christian adaptation—“Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering.” This is the abiding decoration. It brightens as time passes; it is rendered more valuable by long use.
Not only spiritual but social blessings are promised to the obedient son. “So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.” In the long run the good man gets his right place, and wields his right influence. “The expectation of the wicked shall perish.” The success of the bad man is apparent, not real; it is a glittering but an insubstantial prize. “The eyes of the wicked shall fail, and they shall not escape, and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost.”
Character, in proportion to its depth, compass, and intensity, requires time for its full exposition and establishment. The politic man may find short cuts to popularity, but the profoundly earnest man takes nothing for which he cannot return a fair equivalent. If he works long without recognition, his recognition will be the more valuable when it is accorded. The young man has here a programme which cannot fail. There is a miserable and vile saying, that “honesty is the best policy.” No man can possibly be honest who works only for politic ends the policy vitiates the honesty. Let young men look well to their moral foundations, and how cold soever, or stormy, the winds which blow around them, their standing-place shall not be shaken.
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Pro 3:5 , Pro 3:6 .)
There is a self-reliance that is wisdom; there is a self-reliance that is presumption. Where there is self-reliance towards man, it is good and most praiseworthy; where there is self-reliance towards God, it is practical blasphemy. This direction of the wise father shows the individuality of divine oversight. God directs each man as if he were the only man to be directed. “O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” There is a solemn responsibility attaching to the fact that we may have God as a directing Father. The matter is not one of mere speculation, however hopeful, but of positive revelation. “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.” “I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight.”
The communication of suggestion to the mind is a most subtle yet interesting and important question. The springs of the mind are divinely touched, the vigour of the understanding is increased, and the eye quickened to unusual penetration, by influences beyond our control, though within the wide sphere of our prayers. Why should not ideas be directly communicated from the divine mind, as directly as when the prophet heard and saw the intimations of God in the ancient time? If the devil can tempt, why cannot God inspire, suggest, and direct? “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not.” This is pre-eminently the age of the Spirit. All God’s service towards man seems to move through the mental and spiritual sphere. The visible miracle has disappeared. The fleshly ministry is at an end. Now we have ideas, emotions, kindlings of genius, and a spirit of philanthropy such as the world never saw. What the hand once did the mind does now. God burns in the bush whose eaves have healing virtue, and the God of the living reveals methods of healing. God stands at the junction of roads and says, “This is the way;” he tells the toiling labourer where to cast the net, and, by controlling or affecting the operations of the mind, he shows the Church “greater works” than the miracles which struck an age with panic or thrilled a world with grateful wonder. Then let us know our ignorance, tremble in our weakness, and flee to heaven for direction, strength, and all comfort of the soul. “My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” In so far as this charge touches our experience, let us fall humbly before the Lord and beseech him to pardon our self-dependence. “Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God.”
“Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones. Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine” ( Pro 3:7-10 ).
This is a continuation of the same idea. Goodness has a happy effect upon the body, upon the circumstances, upon the whole man. Its result is altogether excellent, without defect or blemish of any kind. How stupendous the folly, as well as the sin, of those who seek prosperity elsewhere than in a right relation towards God! He is deemed insane who lights a taper in presence of the summer sun that he may shed light upon his way; but how mad is he who sets his own ignorance against the counsel of the most High! “Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!”
The wise father now calls his “son” to honour the Lord with the firstfruits of all his increase, and promises that giving shall be getting “So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.” No man can “serve God for nought,” but the man who serves him for sake of the reward shall perish in expectation. To every faithful servant God’s promise is true: “The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” We should soon be richer if we made ourselves poorer by generous service. “Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.”
It is to be borne in mind still that this exhortation is addressed to a young man, one who has life before him, all its perilous hazards, or fortunate speculations; he is to give as he gets, to make an instant, grateful, and abundant recognition of God’s mercy. God is to have the “first;” whoever is kept waiting, God is to be promptly and liberally acknowledged. “He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.” When youthful Christians make this their rule there will be an overflowing blessing poured throughout all the churches. God waits for this! He has greater gifts in reserve, but he tarries for man. “Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” The promise transcends our unworthy faith. We receive it with doubting. The most compulsive motive almost fails to move us. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” If this voice fail, we know not what trumpet can awake the dead.
“My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his correction: for whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth” ( Pro 3:11-12 ).
There is hardly a heart that will not understand the meaning of “chastening,” but many hearts fail to connect the word “chastening” with the word “Lord,” and some who acknowledge the connection misinterpret the purpose of the union. The course of human life is a course of “chastening.” Among the child’s earliest experiences are those of pain, restraint, rebuke, correction. Throughout the educational period the same experiences prevail. The mercantile, the professional, the domestic circles, all have their ordeals. It is to be understood, therefore, that “chastening” is not a word confined to the vocabulary of religion. The shadow falls everywhere; summer has its shadow as well as winter. A survey of human society will show the observer that “chastening” seems to be unequally distributed. The rod is not administered to all uniformly, periodically, and with common measure. The eyes of the wicked stand out with fatness, they have more than heart could wish; while many a godly man is tottering under an intolerable burden, or smarting with anguish which he cannot express. How is this? His chastening is not atheistic: it is “the chastening of the Lord.” The divine sculptor is using a sharp chisel; the heavenly Father is employing a heavy rod; the severe refiner sits over a glowing furnace. Thus “chastening” is taken out of the heart-chilling region of atheism, and set down in the midst of the very household of God. There is a “chastening” that hath on it no superscription; but there is also a chastening which is written within and without by the finger divine.
One impressive idea of the text is that there is a possibility of treating godly chastisement in an ungodly spirit. It may be “despised,” or it may be endured with impatience. Jeremiah complains in this strong language: “Thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.” In this case the godly chastisement was received in an ungodly spirit. Thus chastisement is hard to endure. It fails of its purpose. Instead of moving the spirit to lofty aspiration, or subduing it to penetential tears, it touches the flesh only, and thus it is as if healing medicine intended to be imbibed should be merely thrown upon the surface of the body. There are preparations intended to be taken, and preparations intended to be applied. Reverse the intention, and how absurd or terrible the result! It is even so with God’s chastening: it is intended for the spirit, yet it may be arrested at the body; the smart of the flesh should tell upon the slumbering or rebellious spirit. It was thus that the Psalmist accepted “the chastening of the Lord,” “Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.” “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.”
The first word “despised” is severe; let it be assumed, then, that it contains no indictment against us; can we say as much of the second word “weary”? Many hearts strong enough not to “despise” are yet weak enough to become weary and impatient. “Ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” God’s purpose requires time for its exposition and realisation, and we require patience to abide its complete unfoldment “Let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” We know the victories of patience in various departments of service. Patience has accomplished what the most overwhelming strength could never effect. Look at a piece of sculpture: patience, not muscular force, curved the lips, moulded the eyelids, softened the lines into easy gracefulness, and made the rough stone beautiful as death if not palpitant as life; So with delicate machinery, so with refined painting; and so, indeed, with the trifling matter of perfect ornamentation and completeness of dress “perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” Why, then, be impatient under the discipline of God? “I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” We are then to be patient until we be “perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” Here is a bride partially adorned for the holy altar, but in her impatience she has neglected one article of attire; she is not “perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” Let God clothe us with the garments fit for his redeemed and sanctified creatures! He may take a long time, but the beauty will be perfect and immortal.
The lesson of the text is that we are not to receive godly chastisement in an ungodly spirit “If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?” We are at liberty, indeed, according to holy example, to pray for a modification of divine displeasure: “O Lord, correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing.” “O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.” God knoweth our frame, and he will temper the wind to the shorn lamb. “I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made.” We may, then, pray God to help us under his heavy hand: “Have mercy upon me, O Lord; for I am weak: O Lord, heal me; for my bones are vexed.”
All passages which connect the Fatherhood of God with the fatherhood of man, for the purpose of elucidating the divine intent in relation to our race, are most important. This is an example “Even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.” We interpret, in some degree, the divine through the human. “As a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee.” There are unfatherly fathers, men who are lower than the “natural brute beasts made to be taken and destroyed;” yet, as a rule, fatherhood among men is synonymous with love, trust, care, sympathy, and defence. God takes up all these ideas and gives them infinite expansion. Yet, as the good father maintains discipline, so God chastens his children. “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.” It is remarkable, too, that chastening is but temporary, love is eternal. “Though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.” If he forsake his people, it is but for a “small moment;” when he gathers them it is with everlasting kindness. Weeping endures for a night, joy cometh in the morning!
This exhortation respecting “chastening” is addressed to one who is young in life “my son.” The young should lay their account with discipline. “It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.” The young tree will not escape the pruning-knife. We cannot conceive any man of mature years unthankful for the hardships of his early life: they opened his nature; they gave him lessons in lore which the schools cannot teach; they showed him human nature in its most inviting and most repulsive aspects, and through his very weakness he learned how to value strength. In great cities young men are exposed to great changes of circumstances; a fortune may be lost or won in a very short time. Some men have been driven hard; they have been pressed, as it were, by a hotly-pursuing enemy, and have retreated before his pitiless and devastating power. There is a word in the text for such. In reality, the pursuer may be no enemy. “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.” If you accept godly discipline in a godly spirit your sorrow shall be turned into joy. “Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.” Where discipline is sent as a punishment it is not to be complained of. “Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?” If the knife probe deeply, it is because the wound is deep and the danger great. We are to guard the spirit lest we give way to despair, being swallowed up of over much sorrow. All God’s chastening is sent “that we might be partakers of his holiness.” We should, then, rather invite discipline than reject it. “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
It is generally supposed, especially by the young, that there is no trial except sorrow, arising from poverty, bereavement, sickness, disappointment, and the like. The truth is that wealth is a temptation; prosperity is beset with danger; summer brings as deadly diseases as winter. “How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!” “Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” We see, then, that it is not so short a distance from the sunny hill of prosperity to the heavenly city as we had imagined. “They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.” Wealth has trials peculiar to itself. “The care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word.”
I tremble for many when the wave of prosperity returns. They will trust in uncertain riches rather than in the living God. Sensual enjoyments will override spiritual duties. The lights will flare in the dazzling saloons long after midnight has sounded its solemn stroke. Sensuous Paris will rule mercantile England. Ladies will endeavour to outshine one another in the number and brilliance of their diamonds, in the gorgeousness and splendour of their attire. The sanctity of family life will be sacrificed to the glare and pomp of public display. Men, goaded by a mad ambition, will run to the very verge of their means; many will go beyond their resources in the indulgence of a spirit of rivalry; little children will be hurried through the sweet simplicities of childhood, and be sophisticated by the most miserable notions which can prevail in the human mind; all that is simple in enjoyment, all that is trustful in intercourse, all that is candid in friendship, may be supplanted by a chicanery and hypocrisy which may make honest men tremble, and devout men perish in despair.
Under such circumstances there is much to be done by wealthy men whose trust is in the living God. They can wield the powerful influence of a good example: they can feed the hungry, clothe the naked, sympathise with those who are enduring “the chastening of the Lord.” They are called upon by the corruption, the extravagance, the sensuousness of the age to witness a good confession before men. The devil must not have all his own way. We are right only in so far as we resist the tendency towards the state of things just described. The picture we have drawn is suggested by the accounts we read, from time to time, of the doings of fashionable society. We may not go so far, but we may be moving in the same direction. We should turn our foot from the path, and find our joys elsewhere. Better far, beyond all that tongue can tell, to be meekly enduring “the chastening of the Lord,” than to be dancing around the alluring whirlpool into whose bottomless depths unnumbered thousands have sunk, and out of whose seething waters no soul was ever rescued.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
XIX
THE INSTRUCTION OF WISDOM
Pro 1:1-3:35
We learn, in general, from the salutation, Pro 1:1-6 :
1. The general author of the book, especially that Solomon was the father of this kind of literature;
2. The manifold use of proverbs, or the manifold purpose of the book.
The manifold purpose of the book, as set forth in the salutation, is: to know wisdom; to discern words; to receive instruction; to give prudence, knowledge, and discretion; and to understand a proverb.
The author’s text for this division (Pro 1:1-9 ) is Pro 1:7 : The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge; But the foolish despise wisdom and instruction,
“Fear” here means childlike reverence and “instruction” means discipline, or correction.
The foundation maxims of wisdom are parental reverence and obedience: My son, hear the instruction of thy father, And forsake not the law of thy mother: For they shall be a chaplet of grace unto thy head, And chains about thy neck. Pro 1:8-9 .
There is a warning in Pro 1:10-19 against robbery caused by greed of gain. The times reflected here are the different times in the history of Israel from the Judges to the time of Christ. Thompson’s The Land and The Book. gives a fine description of the conditions here referred to. There are two striking figures of speech in Pro 1:12-17 , one describing the greediness of sinners and the other representing the craftiness of the trapper, meaning the wiles of the devil.
In Pro 1:20-33 we have personified wisdom’s appeal and the folly of rejecting it. And analysis of this paragraph is as follows:
1. Wisdom’s method (Pro 1:20 ff.): she cries aloud. She is not esoteric but exoteric. She teaches not in secret but openly. She does not carry on through a secret society but, like Jesus and Paul, she teaches “publicly, and from house to house.”
2. Wisdom’s appeal (Pro 1:22-23 ): she gives reproof and exhorts the simple ones, the scoffers and fools to turn and heed. In Pro 1:23 we have a promise of the spirit’s illumination which is later given and enlarged upon by Isaiah (Isa 32:15 ) and Joel (Joe 2:28 ).
3. Wisdom’s rejection and the result (Pro 1:24-32 ) ; she had called and stretched out her hand, but they did not regard, therefore she will turn the deaf ear to all their signals of distress when their storm of calamity comes like a whirlwind.
4. Wisdom’s encouragement (Pro 1:33 ); she gives a ray of hope to those who heed her call and offers them a quiet, peaceful, and secure dwelling place.
The meaning of “simple ones,” “scoffers,” and “fools” (Pro 1:22 ), is as follows: “simple” here means unwary; “scoffers” refers to a class of defiant and cynical freethinkers in contrast with the “wise” referred to so often in the Wisdom Literature; “fools” signifies heavy, dull, gross fellows. This enumeration covers the field: the “simple,” from whom recruits are too easily drawn to the army of evil; “scoffers,” the proud leaders of the host; “fools,” the rank and file of the host. Pro 1:23 of this passage is, undoubtedly, the germ of Isa 44:3 and Joe 2:28 , and the fulfilment of which is Joh 7:37 and Act 2:33 .
Pro 1:31 reminds us of Gal 6:7 : “Be not deceived, God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.”
The teaching of Pro 2 is that wisdom must be sought as one would seek silver or hid treasures, expressed in synonymous parallelism mainly. The characteristics of the seeker of wisdom are a willingness and desire to know, accompanied by devotion, to which may be added diligence and persistency (Pro 2:1-4 ).
The results of finding such wisdom are expressed in Pro 2:5-20 , which are the understanding of the fear of Jehovah, the finding of the knowledge of God who gives wisdom to the upright, who also is a shield and guard to his saints, then the understanding of righteousness and justice, the pleasure of knowledge, the deliverance from evil ways and perverse men who forsake right paths to walk in darkness, and deliverance from the strange and wicked woman who has forsaken her friends, forgotten her God, and whose house leads to death from which there is no recovery.
There is a great and encouraging prophecy given in Pro 2:21-22 . It is the final triumph of the righteous over the wicked. The righteous who possess the divine wisdom here described may walk in the ways of good men and dwell safely in the land, but the wicked are doomed to defeat and final banishment.
The subject of Pro 3 is the cultivation of wisdom as the best thing to adjust all our relations toward God and man. A brief outline of this chapter is:
1. Our duty to God (Pro 3:1-12 ).
2. The happy state of them that have wisdom (Pro 3:13-26 ).
3. Man’s duty to his fellow man (Pro 3:27-35 ).
According to Pro 3:1-12 , our duties to God are to remember his law and keep his commandments; to walk in the ways of kindness and truth; to trust in Jehovah implicitly and acknowledge him always; to be not conceited but fear Jehovah; to honor Jehovah with our substance, and not to despise the chastening of Jehovah nor be weary of his correction, since it all comes as an expression of his love for us as his children.
It is interesting to note here the New Testament use made of Pro 3:11-12 . Paul quotes these verses in Heb 12:5-6 to enforce his argument on the chastening of the Lord being a proof of his love for his people. Here the author of Hebrews calls this passage in Proverbs an “exhortation, which reasoneth with you as with sons” and then shows the superiority of God’s chastening over the chastening of our earthly parents who chasten us as it seemed good to them, but God chastens his children for their good. This shows the unmistakable meaning and application of Pro 3:11-12 .
According to the second division of this analysis, we find that the value of wisdom is beyond all comparison with earthly attainments or things, and produces a happiness far more enduring than the most valuable things of time; she is better than silver, more precious than rubies and beyond comparison with anything that the human heart can desire, since she holds in her hand lengths of days, riches and honor; her ways are pleasant and her paths are peace; she is a tree of life and a perpetual source of happiness; by her Jehovah wrought his mighty works and she is to be kept as a source of life and grace; she helps to walk straight, takes away fear and gives sweet sleep; she takes away sudden fear of the desolation of the wicked since her possessors are believers in Jehovah and their feet are being kept by him.
According to the last section of this chapter, our duties to our fellow man and God’s attitude toward the wicked and the righteous are set forth. The righteous are commanded to pay what they owe when it is possible for them to do it and not to put off their neighbors one day when they can attend to it at once. Then they are commanded to plan no evil against their neighbor and to avoid all responsibility for strife and envy, since the wicked are abominable to Jehovah and his curse rests upon them, while his blessing and grace are with the righteous. The last verse contrasts the wise and the foolish. One is reminded here of our Lord’s parable of the ten virgins. Pro 3:34 is quoted by James (Jas 4:6 ) and Peter (1Pe 5:5 ) to show God’s attitude toward both the proud and the humble. They both say, “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.”
QUESTIONS
1. What do we learn, in general, from the salutation, Pro 1:1-6 ?
2. What is the manifold purpose of the book as set forth in the salutation?
3. What is the author’s text for this division (Proverbs 1-9) and what is the meaning of “fear,” and “instruction”?
4. What is the foundation maxims of wisdom?
5. What is the warning in Pro 1:10-19 , what time does this passage reflect and what striking figures of speech used here?
6. What is the warning in Pro 1:20-33 , and what is a brief analysis of this section?
7. What is the meaning of “simple ones,” “scoffers,” and “fools,” Pro 1:22 ?
8. Of what scripture is Isa 1:23 the germ and what scriptures show their fulfilment?
9. Of what New Testament scripture does Pro 1:31 remind us?
10. What is the teaching of Pro 2 and what kind of parallelism is most prominent in this chapter?
11. What must be the characteristics of the seeker of wisdom?
12. Give a summary of the results of finding such wisdom.
13. What is the great and encouraging prophecy given in Pro 2:21-22 ?
14. What is the subject of Pro 3 ?
15. Give a brief outline of this chapter.
16. According to Pro 3:1-12 what are our duties to God and what New Testament use of Pro 3:11-12 ?
17. According to the second division of this analysis, what is the value of wisdom and what does she offer to those who seek her?
18. According to the last section of this chapter, what are our duties to our fellow man and what is God’s attitude toward the wicked and the righteous, and what is New Testament use of Pro 3:34 ?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Pro 3:1 My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:
Ver. 1. My son, forget not. ] We should be able to say to wisdom, as Coenis did to her Lady Antonia, Frustra, domina, iussisti: haec enim atque caetera omnia quae mihi imperas, ira semper in memoria habeo ut ex ea deleri non possint. a You need not, madam, bid me do your business, for I so remember your commands, as I need never be minded of them.
Iussa sequi tam velle mihi, quam posse, necesse est,
I am ready, to my power, to do your pleasure.
But let thine heart keep.
a Dio, in Respons.
Proverbs Chapter 3
The opening chapters set out moral wisdom in the fear of Jehovah as the true and sure preservative in a world of self-will and its evils of violence and corruption. Redemption is not introduced any more than a new nature, but the duty primarily for the Israelite of subjection to divine instruction, with the consequent establishment in the land when the wicked perish out of it.
In verses 1-4 there is still more ample exhortation as well as admonition, that the discipline might issue in the happiest and most fruitful results.
“My son, forget not my teaching, but let thy heart keep my commandments: for length of days and years of life and peace shall they add to thee. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the tablet of thy heart; and thou shalt find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.” vv. 1-4.
We thus learn how far the Old Testament was from casting the people of God on the sentiments, emotions, or reasonings of their own hearts. It was but an imperfect, or at least partial, revelation. “For the law made nothing perfect.” The first man was under process of trial; the Second had not yet appeared. There were dealings of God and testings of man; revelations from God, but not yet God revealed. For the Son of God had not come nor given us an understanding that we might know Him that is True.
Yet even in the days when faith waited for its Object and His work, and the best blessing then lay in promise, the heart was formed by the positive teaching afforded, and trained in the observance of commandments which came from God. They might come through a parent; and such no doubt was the due order in Israel, as it has been marked from their father Abraham, as Jehovah deigned to express His pleasure in his commanding his children and his household, that they might keep the way of Jehovah, to do justice and judgment. But what gave divine value was that it was His teaching, and that the commandments enjoined were His. This alone sanctifies – obeying God, obeying His Word, the effect and proof of love, when any are in relationship with God. Nor do we forget but remember what we love and value.
So the Lord puts it in His matchless way to His disciples. “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me; and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself unto him.” Joh 14:21 . What a contrast with dark superstition, forbidden to have His commandments through fear of making an ill use of them, and shut up to a sinful director, and to its tradition nobody knows whence, both human and precarious at best! What a contrast with the yet darker sin, which denies the authority of God to every scripture, and thereby would deprive His words of spirit and life!
Even a Jew was not so bereft of blessing. He was called not to forget what he had been taught, and his heart to observe commandments which were Jehovah’s only through Moses or any other that communicated them. What a blessed picture Luk 2 sets before us of the Lord, thus obedient in the early days of His sojourn, subject to Joseph and Mary in Nazareth, yet conscious of a higher relationship and so occupied with His Father’s things! And blessed were the fruits. Even then truly, as He said afterward, He kept His Father’s commandments and abode in His love. So here it is written for the obedient Israelites, “length of days, and long life, and peace shall they add to thee.”
But this is far from all. As we know that “grace and truth came by Jesus Christ,” the Israelite was exhorted to cherish confidence in mercy, or loving-kindness, and truth. Let them “not forsake thee,” is the word. He was entitled to believe and count on them habitually and evermore. “Bind them about thy neck, write them upon the tablet of thy heart.” What ornament can compare with them? What inward lesson so cheering and invigorating! “And thou shalt find favour and good understanding [if this last be the shade of sense here meant] in the sight of God and man.”
So we see in our perfect pattern. Our Lord assuredly found in His unequalled path of subjection “favour” with God and man, as we are told. Whether the word often rendered “good understanding” is not modified here, as sometimes elsewhere, may be questioned. But as it stands, it was a good and welcome stamp of divine approval through devotedness to God’s will, without either self-seeking or men-pleasing. Happy, when as here, it comes as the answer without as well as on high, to grace and truth written on the heart! Now too one word, Christ, expresses all; and the Spirit of the living God is given to us who believe, that He may be written truly and deeply on those tablets of flesh, our hearts. How rich the grace wherein we stand! For we all, contemplating with unveiled face the glory of the Lord, are being changed into the same image from glory to glory as by the Lord the Spirit.
Confidence in God, and in the relationship He forms for us with Him, is the fruit of faith. It is the next call here, and it is found ever the sure answer of His grace. It ought to be still more easy for the Christian, seeing that how many soever be the promises of God, in Christ is the Yea; wherefore also through Him is the Amen unto the glory of God through us. This is just as it should be for the saints passing through a wilderness world. If all were fulfilled in us, the changed state of glorification would be incompatible with the needed trial. But that they are fulfilled in Him, that in Him is the Yea, is the ground of peace and joy and comfort; and victory for us is exactly what the God of all grace meant that we should have in the fullest measure by the Holy Ghost given to us. For we have in Christ’s redemption the remission of our sins, and only await His coming for adoption, the redemption of our bodies, having already the Spirit of the Son sent into our hearts crying, Abba, Father. What a power of deliverance from leaning upon our own understanding!
“Trust in Jehovah with all thy heart, and lean not unto thine own discernment; in all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall make straight thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes; fear Jehovah, and depart from evil; it shall be health for thy navel, and moisture for thy bones.” vv. 5-8.
Worthily does the chapter open with the call to trust in Jehovah. As He, He only, is God, so was He the God of the fathers, the God of Israel. How blessed for the Israelite that he had Him to trust in! that He even demanded his trust! He was in no way exhorted to trust himself. He was but a creature whose breath is in his nostrils; what is he to be accounted of? It was wise to have done with man to lean on, wiser still to trust in Jehovah. Yes, He was and is the eternal God, merciful, gracious, slow to wrath, great in goodness and truth, keeping His goodness to thousands of generations, pardoning iniquity, transgression, and sin, yet holding no guilty one as innocent, but visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the sons and on the sons of sons, on the third and on the fourth generation. Not that this is His language to the Christian or the Church, but just His declaration of Himself to Moses the mediator for Israel, that they should know His governing character and principles.
Yes, it was good and right to trust in Jehovah with all the heart, and to lean not on one’s own discernment, as the tempter always advises to ruin, sorrow, and shame. This is the divine counsel for the heart. But the Israelite needed also to “acknowledge Him” in all his ways. And the heart if loyal would prompt to honour Him thus. For practical inconsistency is a burden to the upright; and it is due to Jehovah to own Him where He is apt to be ignored or forgotten in each detail of walk, and in them all. Nor was it even without present fruit, for He could not be unmindful, who never slumbers or sleeps. “And He shall make straight thy paths.” He is Lord of all, no less than He is the Eternal, and concerns Himself with every obstacle and difficulty for such as would walk unswervingly according to His will.
The great danger for all, though for some of thought and experience more than others, is to seek counsel from within. Yet experience should have taught the reflecting a less flattering tale. All Scripture re-echoes what is here written, “Be not wise in thine own eyes.” The bait of Satan was to become so, and man has ever coveted it. How blessed when we learn our folly and find an incomparably better wisdom open to us! Certainly to the Christian, to them that are called both Jews and Greeks, the crucified Christ preached to us is God’s power and God’s wisdom. What they counted foolishness is wiser than men; and what looked the extremity of weakness is stronger than men. Of God are we in Christ Jesus, who from God was made to us wisdom and all things. Well may we glory in Him.
But there is a word for conscience as well as heart, and none the less now, but more when, having been purged once for all, we have no more conscience of sins. “Fear Jehovah, and depart from evil.” Was there ever true fear of Him without pardon? Certainly Psa 130:4 makes clear that there is pardon with Him that He may be feared. Without it, what can the fear be but servile and tainted? This nerves the soul to “depart from evil.” We hate it, because He hates it; and such doubtless it is in itself, intrinsically evil. We turn away from what the serpent commands, trembling at His word. A son honours his father, a servant his master. His honour, His fear, are no longer light things to us. And the effect is wholesome and blessed. “It shall be health for thy navel, and moisture for thy bones.” The boast of altruism might perhaps in a way suit an angel, not a sinner nor a saint. We need to be blessed that we may be a blessing to others; we need and have God in Christ the Lord and Saviour. We love Him because He first loved us. Is it a wonder that all then goes on well? How sad when it is not so!
Read Job 1:1-8 ; Job 2:3 and think what pleasure God takes in him that fears Himself and abstains from evil. He knew all the while the weak point and danger for Job; but Satan failed to reach it by his hostile measures. Jehovah did through Job’s friends, though they were beyond comparison more faulty than Job, and indebted to his intercession to shield them from His dealing according to their folly, wise as they had thought themselves.
Prosperity and chastening are treated, each in the next pair of verses respectively. Let us hear the wise king, inspired now with the best wisdom for man on earth, and first in view of earthly blessing on the due recognition of the living God.
“Honour Jehovah with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase; so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy vats shall overflow with new wine.” vv. 9, 10.
Jehovah is precisely that designation of God which He gave to Israel that they might learn His ways and bear witness to Him in His earthly government. Things are sadly changed now, for His people played Him false, went after strange gods, and rejected His Anointed. But He abides the same, and will arise and have mercy on Zion; and when He does, the nations shall fear His name, and all the kings of the earth His glory. But when things looked fair, and Judah and Israel were many, and the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones; and cedars as sycamores for abundance, this was the word: “honour Jehovah with thy substance, and with the first-fruits of thine increase.” It is always morally true, though then when the reality of direct divine judgment was being shown, the result was unfailing: “so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy vats shall overflow with new wine.” The rejection of Christ brought in the revelation of heavenly hopes for believers, and sufferings, persecutions, etc., with better spiritual blessings even while they were here. The text speaks of normal results for the earth, and Israel on it.
But, man being as he is, there is another side, which brings out divine goodness yet more strikingly. “His eyes behold, his eyelids try the children of men.” Still more closely bearing on us, we read that “the eyes of Jehovah are upon the righteous, and his ears are toward their cry. The face of Jehovah is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth”; as on the other hand, “Jehovah is nigh to those that are of a broken heart and saveth those that be of a contrite spirit.” Hence the need and the blessing of His ways with our ways.
“My son, despise not the instruction of Jehovah, neither be weary of his chastisement; for whom Jehovah loveth he chasteneth, even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.” vv. 11, 12.
There is, as always, another and more intimate kind of divine government, and this wholly independent of the public state of things. It was true when Solomon reigned and wrote; it is only more fully disclosed and deeply known under the gospel. There is ever a government of souls, and here it is stated with all simplicity. How affectionate the call! “My son, despise not the instruction of Jehovah, neither be weary of his chastisement.” For these are the snares of the enemy – either to make light of His training on the one hand, or on the other to sink under His reproof, as if He dealt hardly with us.
The epistle to the Hebrews (Heb 12:5 , Heb 12:6 ) appropriates this ancient order, and applies it to the Christian now, pointing out the love which acts unfailingly when we fail, as we too often do. Nor is the blessed object less which the Father of spirits has toward us; for it yields peaceable fruit in those thus exercised, though for the present it seems not joyous but grievous. There is therefore no ground in it for despondency, but the best reason for the lame that they be not turned out of the way, but rather be healed.
The first epistle of Peter (1Pe 1:15-17 ) is no less plain. “As he who called you is holy, be ye also holy in all manner of living; because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy. And if ye call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to the work of each, pass the time of your sojourn in fear.” It is now that the Father judges His children in the love that will make us hate our every inconsistency; for His grace has through Christ and His work exempted us from that future judgment which is appointed for all that believe not, and walk in evil and darkness (Joh 5:23-28 ).
Even more explicit is the word in 1Co 11:29-32 . The Apostle explains that in the sickness and death that fell on not a few saints at Corinth, the Lord was judging those who did not discern or discriminate themselves, but walked carelessly, even as to the Lord’s supper. But when thus judged now, “we are chastened [or, disciplined] of the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.” It is a present moral dealing which might go as far as cutting off; but even so, it was His chastisement in love, that the saints should not share the world’s condemnation, as all unbelievers must.
The reason given in our text and cited in the New Testament bears out fully the love from which present chastening flows. “For whom Jehovah loveth he chasteneth, even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.” It is not always however because of evil done; His chastening may be to guard us from evil. It may be preventive, as well as corrective. Shall we not, as children confiding in Him, accept it with thanksgiving? We have the distinct proof of His love. Let us never doubt, but believe and bow.
But chastening or discipline is far from all, proof though it be of Jehovah’s love. There is positive blessing to reap, and of a high order.
“Blessed [is] the man [that] findeth wisdom, and the man [that] getteth understanding. For the gain thereof [is] better than the gain of silver, and her revenue than fine gold. She [is] more precious than rubies, and all the things thou canst desire are not equal to her. Length of days [is] in her right hand, in her left hand riches and honour. Her ways [are] ways of pleasantness, and all her paths [are] peace. She [is] a tree of life to them that lay hold on her; and blessed [is] he that retaineth her. Jehovah by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding he established the heavens. By his knowledge the depths were broken up, and the skies drop down the dew.” vv. 13-20.
It is God, we are told in a later revelation, that gives liberally to all, and without reproach. Yet He will be asked for it; not that any one adds to Him, or that He is beholden to man’s hand. But He cannot deny Himself; and this it would be, if one found wisdom or got understanding elsewhere. The blessing comes through dependence on Him. Who of mankind knew this better than Solomon himself? Did not God say to him, “Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies, but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment; behold, I have done according to thy word.” Nor is there another means; and “blessed” indeed is he that proves afresh that God is true and faithful, as He ever is. Even the beloved Son, when He in grace deigned to become man, even Jesus, so walked here below from tender years, and increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man. He received all as man from His Father.
If it was so with the Jew before Jehovah, is the blessedness less now that the Son of God is come, and has given us an understanding to know Him that is true? Is He less accessible, or less gracious, now that He is revealed as Christ’s Father and our Father, His God and our God? Has He not abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, and this of the highest character and largest hope, in accordance with our calling and inheritance? And if for the greatest things, does this kind of blessing fail for the least things day by day? How true that the gain thereof is better than the gain of silver, and the revenue than fine gold. Surely we can say that the wisdom that comes down from above is more precious than rubies, and that all the things one can desire are not equal to the rich boon of divine favour.
Willingly do we bow to Jehovah’s promise of wisdom to the Israelite, of “length of days” to be in her right hand, and of “riches and honour” in her left hand. He that died and rose again has brought us deeper grace and shown us a yet more excellent way; so that what things were gain, one has in one’s measure counted loss for Christ, and it may be, as it surely ought to be, to count all things loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus the Lord – to count them dung that one may win Him and be found in Him in that heavenly glory where He is, renouncing all righteousness save what is through the faith of Him, the righteousness which is of God by faith. This is indeed Christian privilege – that we may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death, if by any means, no matter how trying the way, one might attain unto the resurrection from among the dead, as Paul knew pre-eminently.
Not only is such experimental wisdom as the Apostle expresses in Philippians alien to all that flesh and blood values, but it rises unspeakably higher than all that was or could be revealed of old, as for instance in the Proverbs, or even the Psalms. It awaited the presence of the Son of God, the work of redemption, and the sending down of the Holy Spirit from the glorified Head. The wisdom and the understanding, of which this book treats, remain ever for man on the earth; and Jehovah will doubtless thus bless His people looking to Him for these good gifts in the day of power and glory; for the word He has spoken cannot fail, but shall stand everlastingly. But man’s evil, and the Jews’ in particular, has given occasion for God to bring “some better thing” in every way. Of this we see the basis and substance and exemplar in Christ crucified, risen, and set in the highest glory, quite above all Old Testament expectations. And we know that “the wisdom of God in a mystery” is not confined to His heavenly and universal exaltation, but in God’s sovereign purpose embraces us too who have believed in Him since the cross. It is the hidden wisdom, as the Apostle adds (1Co 2:7 ), which God ordained before the world unto our glory; but a glory which now calls for, not length of days on earth, or riches or honour, but fellowship with Christ’s sufferings, “always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.” It is just Christianity in contrast with all before, and its hope for the heavens in the day when the earth also shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah as the waters cover the sea.
Still, whether the wisdom be of the general kind for the earth, or of that higher and heavenly kind which we now know in Christ, we can truly say that “her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.” When our Lord tasted rejection, and sufferings, the Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief beyond all, nonetheless was it His to say, “The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage”! It is ours thus to follow Him, living on account of Him, as He on account of the Father; but it can only be by making Him our constant food (Joh 6:57 ). So here wisdom is said to be “a tree of life to them that lay hold on her; and blessed is he that retaineth her.” How much more can we boast of what He is to our souls by faith! The oracle before us can add, “Jehovah by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding he established the heavens; by his knowledge the depths were broken up, and the skies drop down the dew” – blessed witness of His multifarious wisdom and unlimited understanding, as His knowledge directed the devastation of the deluge, and orders the kindly refreshings of a peaceful night. The one word, Christ, recalls to us heights and depths more wondrous far.
If Jehovah manifested wisdom, understanding, and knowledge in creation, and in its least things as well as the greatest, how vain in all to forego the quest, or the means open to them from on high!
“My son, let them not depart from thine eyes; keep true counsel and discretion: so shall they be life to thy soul, and grace to thy neck. Then shalt thou walk in thy way securely, and thy foot shall not stumble. When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid, but thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet. Be not afraid of sudden fear, nor of the desolation of the wicked when it cometh; for Jehovah shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.” vv. 21-26.
Change is a snare to the young especially; hence Jehovah’s wise ways were no more to depart from their eyes than they were to be wise in their own eyes; life inwardly, honour outwardly, would follow; the walk would be secure, the foot stumble not. Nor would the night bring fear, but sweet sleep. Nor would alarm surprise when the storm falls on the wicked, for Jehovah is the confidence against all snares and terrors.
“Withhold not good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thy hand to do it. Say not unto thy neighbour, Go and come again, and tomorrow I will give, when thou hast it by thee. Devise not evil against thy neighbour, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee. Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm. Envy not the man of violence, and choose none of his ways. For the perverse [is] an abomination to Jehovah; but his secret [is] with the upright. The curse of Jehovah [is] in the house of the wicked; but he blesseth the habitation of the righteous. He indeed scorneth the scorners; but he giveth grace to the lowly. The wise shall inherit glory; but shame shall be the promotion of fools.” vv. 27- 35.
The heart is deceitful as well as suspicious in a world of evil. Hence the importance of the simplehearted integrity which confiding in Him gives. He that gives (exhorted the Apostle) in simplicity, which is liberality. The lack of looking to Jehovah brings crookedness in dealing with man; the bowels of compassion are closed. The same lack may be even mischievous, and quarrelsome, instead of, if possible, as far as depends on us, living peaceably with all. And why envy the violent man, or choose any of his short-cuts? All these ways are turned aside from God’s will, which alone is good, acceptable, perfect, and which alone makes happy him who learns it in Christ. The perverse is an abomination to Jehovah, as His secret is with the upright. “Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I do?” So His curse is not only on the person, but on the house of the wicked, as He blesses the habitation of the righteous. Neither wealth can avert the one, nor poverty prevent the other.
Yet there is an evil even lower, and never did it abound so much as now in these closing days. Scorn or mocking is prevalent, and self reigns unblushingly in contempt of all that is good and noble and generous, as well as holy and true. But “He indeed scorneth the scorners,” as surely as “He giveth grace to the lowly.” The wise shall understand, as Daniel assures; but, further, “the wise shall inherit glory,” whereas “shame shall be the promotion of the foolish,” whatever the deception of present appearances or of such as trust them. “Judge not according to sight [said the Lord], but judge righteous judgment.”
Proverbs
THE SECRET OF WELL-BEING
Pro 3:1 – Pro 3:10 The first ten verses of this passage form a series of five couplets, which enforce on the young various phases of goodness by their tendency to secure happiness or blessedness of various sorts. The underlying axiom is that, in a world ruled by a good Being, obedience must lead to well-being; but while that is in the general true, exceptions do occur, and good men do encounter evil times. Therefore the glowing promises of these verses are followed by two verses which deal with the explanation of good men’s afflictions, as being results and tokens of God’s fatherly love.
The first couplet is general in character. It inculcates obedience to the precepts of the teacher, and gives as reason the assurance that thereby long life and peace will be secured. True to the Old Testament conception of revelation as a law, the teacher sets obedience in the forefront. He is sure that his teaching contains the sufficient guide for conduct, and coincides with the divine will. He calls, in the first instance, for inward willing acceptance of His commandments; for it is the heart, not primarily the hands, which he desires should ‘keep’ them. The mother of all graces of conduct is the bowing of the will to divine authority. The will is the man, and where it ceases to lift itself up in self-sacrificing and self-determining rebellion, and dissolves into running waters of submission, these will flow through the life and make it pure. To obey self is sin, to obey God is righteousness. The issues of such obedience are ‘length of days . . . and peace.’
Even if we allow for the difference between the Old and the New Testaments, it remains true that a life conformed to God’s will tends to longevity, and that many forms of sin do shorten men’s days. Passion and indulged appetites eat away the very flesh, and many a man’s ‘bones are full of the sin of his youth.’ The profligate has usually ‘a short life,’ whether he succeeds in making it ‘merry’ or not.
‘Peace’ is a wide word, including all well-being. Ease-loving Orientals, especially when living in warlike times, naturally used the phrase as a shorthand expression for all good. Busy Westerns, torn by the distractions and rapid movement of modern life, echo the sigh for repose which breathes in the word. ‘There is no joy but calm,’ and the sure way to deepest peace is to give up self-will and live in obedience.
The second couplet deals with our relations to one another, and puts forward the two virtues of ‘loving-kindness and truth’-that is truth, or faithfulness-as all-inclusive. They are the two which are often jointly ascribed to God, especially in the Psalms. Our attitude to one another should be moulded in God’s to us all. The tiniest crystal has the same facets and angles as the largest. The giant hexagonal pillars of basalt, like our Scottish Staffa, are identical in form with the microscopic crystals of the same substance. God is our Pattern; goodness is likeness to Him.
These graces are to be bound about the neck, perhaps as an ornament, but more probably as a yoke by which the harnessed ox draws its burden. If we have them, they will fit us to bear one another’s burdens, and will lead to all human duties to our fellows.
These graces are also to be written on the ‘table of the heart’; that is, are to be objects of habitual meditation with aspiration. If so, they will come to sight in life. He who practises them will ‘find favour with God and man,’ for God looks with complacency on those who display the right attitude to men; and men for the most part treat us as we treat them. There are surly natures which are not won by kindness, like black tarns among the hills, that are gloomy even in sunshine, and requite evil for good; but the most of men reflect our feelings to them.
‘Good understanding’ is another result. It is ‘found’ when it is attributed to us, so that the expression substantially means that the possessors of these graces will win the reputation of being really wise, not only in the fallible judgment of men, but before the pure eyes of the all-seeing God. Really wise policy coincides with loving-kindness and truth.
The remaining couplets refer to our relations to God. The New Testament is significantly anticipated in the pre-eminence given to trust; that is, faith. Nor less significant and profound is the association of self-distrust with trust in the Lord. The two things are inseparable. They are but the under and upper sides of one thing, or like the two growths that come from a seed-one striking downwards becomes the root; one piercing upwards becomes the stalk. The double attitude of trust and distrust finds expression in acknowledging Him in all our ways; that is, ordering our conduct under a constant consciousness of His presence, in accordance with His will, and in dependence on His help.
Such a relation to God will certainly, and with no exceptions, issue in His ‘directing our paths,’ by which is meant that He will be not only our Guide, but also our Roadmaker, showing us the way and clearing obstacles from it. Calm certitude follows on willingness to accept God’s will, and whoever seeks only to go where God sends him will neither be left doubtful whither he should go, nor find his road blocked.
The fourth couplet is, in its first part, in inverted parallelism with the third; for it begins with self-distrust, and proceeds thence to ‘fear of the Lord,’ which corresponds to, and is, in fact, but one phase of, trust in Him. It is the reverent awe which has no torment, and is then purest when faith is strongest. It necessarily leads to departing from evil. Morality has its roots in religion. There is no such magnet to draw men from sin as the happy fear of God, which is likewise faith. Whoever separates devoutness from purity of life, this teacher does not. He knows nothing of religion which permits association with iniquity. Such conduct will tend to physical well-being, and in a deeper sense will secure soundness of life. Godlessness is the true sickness. He only is healthy who has a healthy, because healed, soul.
The fifth couplet appears at first as being a drop to a lower region. A regulation of the Mosaic law may strike some as out of place here. But it is to be remembered that our modern distinction of ceremonial and moral law was non-existent for Israel, and that the command has a wider application than to Jewish tithes. To ‘honour God with our substance’ is not necessarily to give it away for religious purposes, but to use it devoutly and as He approves.
Christianity has more to say about the distribution, as well as the acquisition, of wealth, than professing Christians, especially in commercial communities, practically recognise. This precept grips us tight, and is much more than a ceremonial regulation. Many causes besides the devout use of property tend to wealth in our highly artificial state of society. The world tries to get it by shrewdness, unscrupulousness, and by many other vices which are elevated to the rank of virtues; but he who honours the Lord in getting and spending will generally have as much as his true needs and regulated desires require.
My son. See note on Pro 2:1.
keep = watch, guard. See note on Pro 4:23.
Chapter 3
Chapter 3 continues to
My son, forget not my law; but let your heart keep my commandments: For length of days, long life, peace, shall they add to thee ( Pro 3:1-2 ).
Now these are the three. And we get now into some couplets here. He gives sort of a word, and then he tells you what the result of it will be. And to keep the commandment in your heart, it will grant to you the length of days, long life, peace will they add to thee. Now the next little statement:
Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about your neck; write them on the table of your heart ( Pro 3:3 ):
What? Mercy and truth.
So will you find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man ( Pro 3:4 ).
So you see the results of writing the laws of mercy and truth upon your heart.
Trust in the LORD with all your heart; lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him ( Pro 3:5-6 ),
And the result will be:
he will direct your path ( Pro 3:6 ).
How can I know the will of God? A question so often asked. Three steps. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Two: lean not to your own understanding. Three: in all your ways acknowledge Him. The result? He shall direct your path.
Now the next word of exhortation:
Be not wise in your own eyes: fear the LORD, depart from evil ( Pro 3:7 ).
And the result:
It will be health to thy body, and marrow to thy bones ( Pro 3:8 ).
You’ll be healthy. “Fear the LORD, depart from evil.”
The next exhortation:
Honor the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all of your increase ( Pro 3:9 ):
The result:
So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses ( Pro 3:10 )
That would be the winepresses.
shall burst out with new wine ( Pro 3:10 ).
Now there is a basic law, and I’m not talking about the Ten Commandments or the law given by Moses, just a basic law of God as we speak of laws. We speak of laws of nature, or the law of magnetism, the law of gravity, the law of electricity, the various laws of nature. They’re just there. We’ve studied them. We’ve been able to formulize them and understand them that they work. We don’t always know why they work, but we know they work. We know that they are just basic laws of nature that they work. There’s a cause and effect.
Now, in the same token there are basic spiritual laws that God has established that have a cause and effect kind of a thing just like any other law that is operating in our natural world around us. And there is a law of God concerning giving. And though we cannot understand exactly how it works, yet it does work. Now, I don’t have to understand how electricity works to benefit from electricity. Even so, I don’t have to understand how the laws of God work as far as giving to benefit from them.
Now here the law of God is stated, “Honor the Lord with your substance, and with the firstfruits of your increase.” I believe that the firstfruits belong to God. The first thing that comes out of my salary or my wages were it ever, is earmarked for the Lord. If I’ve sold a piece of property, the increase, the firstfruits of it I give to God of the increase. Honoring God with your substance. Now this law is stated throughout the Bible many places and is illustrated in many places.
In Malachi, we read, “Will a man rob God? You say, ‘Well, wherein have we robbed God?’ And God said, ‘In your tithes and in your offerings. Now prove Me and see if I will not pour out unto you a blessing which you cannot contain'” ( Mal 3:8 , Mal 3:10 ). God challenges you to test this law. Jesus said, “Give, and it shall be given unto you; measured out, pressed down, running over, shall men give unto your bosom” ( Luk 6:38 ). Paul the apostle said that if we sow sparingly, we will reap sparingly; but if we sow bountifully, we’re going to reap bountifully ( 2Co 9:6 ). “In whatever measure you mete, it’s going to be measured to you again” ( Mat 7:2 ), the law of God.
I cannot tell you how it works. All I can do is affirm for you that it does work. God honors that law of giving. And so here is Solomon exhorting his son, “Honor the Lord with your substance and with the firstfruit of all of your increase.” What will the result be? “Your barns will be filled with plenty. Your presses shall burst out with new wine.”
The next exhortation is:
My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction: For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delights ( Pro 3:11-12 ).
In Hebrews this passage or this proverb is quoted. “My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord.” Now in Hebrews, he adds, “For He chastens every son that He receives and if a person isn’t chastened of the Lord” ( Heb 12:6 ). If you can get by with evil, then you better be very concerned. Because if you’re a child of God, He’s not going to let you get by with evil.
Now a lot of times if we venture into something that we know is wrong and we get caught, then we get real upset with God. “How come they can do it and they can get by with it? I do it and I get caught, you know. Not fair!” If you can do it and get by with it, then you’re in a dangerous place. That’s an indication you’re not a true son of God. God only chastens his sons. So the chastening process of God in my life is always a very comforting process, because at least it proves that I’m His son. He’s not going to let me get by with it. Thank You, Father. So, don’t despise the chastening of the Lord; don’t be weary with His correction. For whom the Lord loveth He corrects.”
Happy is the man that finds wisdom, and the man that gets understanding: For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, the gain is better than gold. She is more precious than rubies: and all of the things that you can desire are not to be compared unto wisdom and understanding ( Pro 3:13-15 ).
Oh, that we would really gain wisdom and understanding of God, of God’s will, of life.
Length of days is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are the ways of pleasantness, all of her paths are peace ( Pro 3:16-17 ).
Oh, the benefit of rich and the riches that come from wisdom and understanding.
She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retains her ( Pro 3:18 ).
So all of these things that we count as important: pleasantness, peace, life, happiness. These things all come to the person who has gained wisdom and understanding. Now as he extols wisdom and tells of its effects and results.
The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding he established the heavens. By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew. My son, let not them depart from your eyes: keep sound wisdom and discretion: So shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace unto thy neck. Then shall you walk in the way safely, and your foot shall not stumble. When you lie down, you will not be afraid: yea, you will lie down, and your sleep shall be sweet. Be not afraid of sudden fear [or sudden terror], that comes upon the wicked ( Pro 3:19-25 ).
When the day of judgment and terror comes, you don’t need to be afraid. You can have that confidence, I’m a child of God.
For the LORD shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken ( Pro 3:26 ).
When the day of calamity comes upon the wicked, we do not need to fear.
Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do it ( Pro 3:27 ).
This is stated by the New Testament also, “To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, it is evil” ( Jas 4:17 ). You have the capacity to do good and you fail to do it, that’s just as much a sin as some overt act of sin. There are sins of failing to do the right thing, just as there are sins of doing the wrong thing. There are sins of omission, omitting to do that which is right or good.
Say not to your neighbor, Go, and come again to-morrow, and I will give it to you; when it’s by your side ( Pro 3:28 ).
In other words, don’t forestall or put him off.
Devise not evil against your neighbor, seeing that he’s dwelling securely by you. Strive not with a man without cause, if he hasn’t done you any harm ( Pro 3:29-30 ).
Don’t go looking for a fight and just getting into trouble.
Envy not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways. For the perverse is an abomination to the LORD: but God’s secret is with the righteous. The curse of the LORD is in the house of the wicked: but he blesses the dwelling place of the just. Surely he scorns the scorners: but he gives grace unto the lowly ( Pro 3:31-34 ).
“Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift thee up” ( Jas 4:10 ). “He that exalteth himself shall be abased; he that humbleth himself shall be exalted” ( Mat 23:12 ). All of these really come, they’re the expression of the same truth. “Surely He scorneth the scorners, but He gives grace to the lowly.”
The wise shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the promotion of fools ( Pro 3:35 ). “
Pro 3:1-10
Pro 3:1-10
DeHoff recognized three divisions in this chapter: “(1) a call to complete commitment (Pro 3:1-10), (2) the happiness and blessing of those who trust in God (Pro 3:11-20), and (3) the confidence and security of those who walk with God (Pro 3:21-35).” Halley noted that the big words in the chapter are: “Kindness, Truth, Long Life, Peace, Trust in God, Honoring God with our Substance, Prosperity, Security, Happiness, and Blessing.” It is a supremely superb and beautiful chapter indeed!
A CALL TO COMPLETE COMMITMENT
Pro 3:1-10
“My son, forget not my law;
But let thy heart keep my commandments:
For length of days, and years of life,
And peace will they add to thee.
Let not kindness and truth forsake thee;
Bind them about thy neck;
Write them upon the tablet of thy heart:
So shalt thou find favor and good understanding
In the sight of God and man.
Trust in Jehovah with all thy heart,
And lean not upon thine own understanding:
In all thy ways acknowledge him,
And he will direct thy paths.
Be not wise in thine own eyes;
Fear Jehovah, and depart from evil:
It will be health to thy navel,
And marrow to thy bones.
Honor Jehovah with thy substance,
And with the first-fruits of all thine increase:
So shall thy barns be filled with plenty,
And thy vats shall overflow with new wine.”
“My son, forget not my law” (Pro 3:1). Harris wrote that, “These words are not to be pressed as a reference to Moses’ law”; but we believe that the word [~torah] (the Hebrew word which is translated law) here could hardly refer to anything else. The same writer admitted that there is probably an allusion to Exo 20:12 in the following verse; and Walls pointed out that, “The reference to first-fruits in Pro 3:9 points back to the Mosaic Law in Deuteronomy 26, where the worshipper was commanded to bring each year as an offering to God the first-fruits of his fields and flocks.” “There are definite reflections of the Book of Genesis in Pro 3:19-20. Also, as Kidner wrote, “The term [~torah] as used here is the Jewish name for the Pentateuch.
We have often pointed out that practically the whole Bible from the end of Deuteronomy to Malachi is written in the shadow of the Law of Moses, the nearest thing to an exception to that being the Book of Job. There is certainly nothing in the Book of Proverbs that diminishes that conviction.
“Length of days, years of life, and peace” (Pro 3:2). “These are the blessings that come of right living. Some profess not to believe this, but it is true. See Christ’s promise (Mar 10:30). In spite of exceptions, this is the divine law; and whenever there are variations from it, they are clue to the element of chance that happens to all men (Ecc 9:11), to divine chastening, to the devices of Satan, to the exercise by wicked men of the freedom of their will, or to the curse that rests upon the earth “for Adam’s sake.” The most obvious proof of this is the fact that the material prosperity of every nation on earth is directly related to the degree of their acceptance of Christianity. Just take a look at the wretched squalor of those countries where God’s Word is not honored!
“Let not kindness and truth forsake thee” (Pro 3:3). The KJV reads “mercy and truth,” and the RSV reads “loyalty and faithfulness.” Neither of the more recent versions is any improvement over the King James in this passage. Cook noted that, “Mercy shuts out all selfishness and hate, and that truth shuts out all falsehood, hypocrisy and deceit.
“Write them upon the tablet of thy heart” (Pro 3:3). This is simply a metaphor that means, “Whatever you do, do not forget the commandments of the Lord.” The literalizing of such passages as this resulted in the phylacteries worn by the Pharisees.
“Favor … in the sight of God and man” (Pro 3:4). This verse brings to mind Luk 2:52, where it is said that Jesus increased in favor with God and men. Christian character blesses and beautifies human personality; and the people who live godly lives are instinctively loved, trusted, and favored by their fellow mortals. The devil’s caricature of a godly person as “a disagreeable old sour-puss” is a malicious and ridiculous exaggeration.
“Trust in Jehovah with all thy heart … etc.” (Pro 3:5-6). Any preacher of the gospel can identify with the words of McGee on this passage. “In any religious service where people are invited to quote favorite passages of scripture, these verses are invariably quoted. These beautiful lines deserve the loving appreciation that has been lavished upon them.
“In all thy ways acknowledge him” (Pro 3:6). “Not merely in acts of solemn worship, or in great crisis only, but in all thy ways, acknowledge the Lord. Many people turn to God, acknowledge him by their prayers and supplications in times of great anxiety, distress or danger; but the true servant of God continually acknowledges God, without intermission, during long years that may progress evenly without emergency or crisis, doing so as a constant way of life, never deviating from the constant worship on Lord’s Days.
“Be not wise in thine own eyes” (Pro 3:7). “The great hindrance to all true wisdom is the conceit that one has already attained it. This same warning is given repeatedly in Proverbs. “He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool” (Pro 28:26). True wisdom is found only in the Lord and in his holy word. “True confidence cannot be placed in one’s own ability to think and act; the fear (and obedience) of Jehovah is the real basis of confidence.
The world boasts many men who are allegedly wise; “But we cannot be truly wise unless we renounce all dependence upon our own wisdom and become fools, depending fully upon the Lord.” Something like this is what Jesus meant when he said, “Let a man deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Mat 16:24). Isaiah wrote, “Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes” (Pro 5:21); and the same precept was advocated by Paul, “Be not wise in your own conceits” (Rom 12:16).
“It will be health to thy navel” (Pro 3:8). Here we have another ridiculous emendation in the RSV that gives us the word flesh instead of navel. If translators would stop trying to tell us “what the Holy Spirit was trying to say,” and give us what he actually said, it would greatly expedite Biblical interpretation. As Adam Clarke stated it, “There is no better translation of the Hebrew word here than navel. The meaning of this is that, “Just as the umbilical cord (of which the navel is a part) is the only source of life and growth for the unborn child, so also that wisdom that comes from God is the only source of life and growth for God’s servant.
“Honor Jehovah with your substance” (Pro 3:9). This means simply, “Don’t forget to give to God’s work as the Scriptures command.” “The word first-fruits in this same verse recalls Deu 28:4; Deu 26:2; and Amo 6:6. The promise in Pro 3:10 agrees with Deu 28:8 and Mal 3:10-12. Thus we have further confirmation of the truth that the entire Old Testament from Deuteronomy to Malachi carries countless reflections of the Pentateuch.
“So shall thy barns be filled with plenty …” (Pro 3:10). See under Pro 3:2 above, for a discussion of the prosperity that God promises his faithful. The passage cited above by Tate from the Book of Malachi is another Old Testament witness to the same truth. Wilson cited Pro 3:9-10 here as an example of the parallelism in Proverbs in which the first clause is elaborated in succeeding lines that extend or explain the meaning. Of course, there are far more wonderful blessings that result from the faithful service of God than material prosperity. “The remaining verses in the chapter carry the reminder of better prizes than prosperity.
Pro 3:1. In this and succeeding verses the material divides itself into 2-verse thoughts, the first verse giving the commandment and the second verse the promise or explanation. Check this for yourself. Too many children instead of not forgetting their parents law and keeping the commandments get it backwards: they keep forgetting what they were told. If one remembers his fathers instruction, his father should not have to keep reminding him of his duty. Remembering what one is told is a necessary part of obedience.
Pro 3:2. The long life promised to the righteous is contrasted with the shorter life of the wicked as set forth over and over again in Psalms 37. That it is natural to want to live is seen in the fact that people seek to extend their lives by medical and surgical means. Peace meant even more to them because of the warring world in which they lived. The blessings that come to the obedient, then, are major in importance.
Pro 3:3. Being kind and always telling the truth would especially make for the life of peace promised in Pro 3:2 (as far as the individual was concerned). If one loves, he is kind (1Co 13:4). Brotherly kindness is to be added to ones character (2Pe 1:7; Eph 4:32). Concerning truth, Pulpit Commentary says it is that absolute integrity of character, both in word and deed, which secures the unhesitating confidence of all. The son was to grace his life with them (bind them about thy neck), and he was to imbed them in the very fibre of his character (write them upon the tablet of thy heart). The heart is like a table or tablet on which can be written either good (2Co 3:3) or bad (Jer 17:1).
Pro 3:4. Both God and man will approve and appreciate one who follows kindness and truth. Concerning having the favor of both God and man, notice these passages: The child Samuel grew on, and increased in favor both with Jehovah, and also with men (1Sa 2:26); And Jesus advanced in favor with God and men (Luk 2:52); He that herein serveth Christ is well-pleasing to God, and approved of men (Rom 14:18). Mans greatest happiness is attained when he has the favor of God and the respect of his fellowmen.
Pro 3:5. Other commands to trust Jehovah: Trust in Jehovah (Psa 37:3); Commit thy way unto Jehovah; Trust also in him (Psa 37:5). Trust means to rely upon, put confidence in. This we need to do toward God and not to suppose that we are self-contained and self-sufficient of ourselves. Man makes a grave mistake when he does not pray, does not commit his way to God, and does not depend upon God. So often, though, men turn earthly assets and strong-points into occasions of pride and as a result fail to think of God. Thus, Jer 9:23-24 says, Thus saith Jehovah, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he hath understanding, and knoweth me. And 1Ti 6:17 says, Charge them that are rich in this present world, that they be not highminded, nor have their hope set on the uncertainty of riches, but on God. See also Isa 31:1; Psa 20:7; Psa 44:1-8; Psa 118:8-9.
Pro 3:6. This expression covers the whole area of lifes action…It guards against our acknowledging God in great crises and solemn acts of worship only…To acknowledge God is, therefore, to recognize in all our dealings and undertakings Gods overruling providence (Pulpit Commentary). Begin, continue and end every work, purpose, and device with God. Earnestly pray for His direction at the commencement; look for His continual support in the progress; and so begin and continue that all may terminate in His glory…The great sin of the human race is their continual endeavor to live independently of God (Clarke). Mans need of acknowledging God is well stated by Jeremiah in Jer 10:23 : O Jehovah, I know that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. By praying at the outset of the day, we acknowledge that a good day is dependent upon Him. By thanking God before we eat, we acknowledge that He has made the possession of food possible. By praying before we begin a trip, we acknowledge that His help is important in making the trip safely. And there are many other such examples of acknowledging Him in all our various ways, which carries His promise to direct our paths.
Pro 3:7. Rom 12:16 similarly warns, Be not wise in your own conceits. Man doesnt have to possess very much knowledge, it seems, until it goes to his head: Knowledge puffeth up (1Co 8:1). Instead of thinking how great we are, we should be thinking of how great God is and how small we are and as a result fear Him and depart from evil instead of proudly living in sin. Job was one who feared God, and turned away from evil (Job 1:1). After enumerating some of mans sins in Rom 3:10-17, the next verse (Pro 3:18) seems to explain the whole matter: There is no fear of God before their eyes. Pro 3:5-7 hang together: trust Jehovah (Pro 3:5), acknowledge Him (Pro 3:6), fear Him (Pro 3:7) and dont lean on your own understanding (Pro 3:5), dont be wise in your own eyes (Pro 3:7).
Pro 3:8. The results of obeying the parental instructions contained in Pro 3:5-7 are contained in those verses and in the 3 that follow: God will direct your paths (Pro 3:6); you will depart from evil (Pro 3:7); it will be health to you (this verse). The marrow in ones bones plays a very important part in ones overall health. We may be ignorant of some lasting connection that the navel has with ones health after ones birth that it is spoken of so prominently. Could it here be used as a symbol of utter dependence upon God (raised in previous verses) that we must maintain in a spiritually healthy condition? Clarke explains the problem thus: The central region of the body is taken as the representative of all the vital organs.
Pro 3:9. The injunctions also show that the honoring of God does not consist simply of lip-service, of humility and confidence in Him, but also of external worship, and incorporeal things (Pulpit Commentary). Yes, God can be honored with substance (Material gain) if it be presented in the right spirit and in proportion to ones material blessings. Other passages on giving God the first-fruits of the harvest: Exo 23:19; Deu 26:1-2. Just as the Lord claims the first day of each week as His day (Rev 1:10; Act 20:7; 1Co 16:2), even so He claims the first portion of mans produce and earnings. Abels acceptable sacrifice was the firstlings and the fat of his flock (Gen 4:4). People who spend and spend and spend out of their paychecks and then give something out of what is left to God are likely to dishonor rather than honor Him with their gift. Tithers always give of the first-fruits rather than of the left-overs!. Remember, too, that the first thing Noah did after the flood was not build a house for himself but an altar to God (Gen 8:20); those who were scattered from Jerusalem are reported in their preaching the word rather than in their finding jobs for the support of themselves (Act 8:1; Act 8:4); and Jesus taught all of us to seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness before what we are going to eat, drink, or wear (Mat 6:31-33).
Pro 3:10. Man is concerned about his own things and often leaves God out of his life and concerns or subordinates Him to an inferior place (second, third or fourth place). Here God promises to give man what he wants (barns be filled with plenty…vats overflow) if he puts God first in his life. The vats were olive-oil vats or grape-juice vats. Similarly Deu 28:8-12 says Jehovah will command the blessing upon thee in thy barns, and in all that thou puttest thy hand unto…And Jehovah will make thee plenteous for good…in the fruit of thy ground…Jehovah will open unto thee his good treasure the heavens, to give the rain of thy land in its season, and to bless all the work of thy hand. In Mal 3:10-11 God promised agricultural blessings if they would honor Him with their tithes: Bring ye the whole tithe into the store-house…and prove me now herewith, saith Jehovah of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall be not room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast its fruit before the time in the field.
STUDY QUESTIONS – Pro 3:1-10
1. Is remembering what parents said a part of obedience (Pro 3:1)?
2. How desirable are the blessings of obedience mentioned in Pro 3:2?
3. How would kindness and truth forsake one (Pro 3:3)?
4. What Bible persons were said to have the favor of both God and man (Pro 3:4)?
5. How would you relate the two statements of Pro 3:5 to each other?
6. How can we acknowledge God (Pro 3:6)?
7. What feelings does Pro 3:7 reveal about those who are wise in their own eyes?
8. Apply the illustrations in Pro 3:8.
9. Why does giving honor God (Pro 3:9)?
10. Should God be given the first of our paycheck or what is left over from it (Pro 3:9)?
11. What are vats (Pro 3:10)?
As the former address had to do with the search for wisdom, this, in view of the value of if is an appeal to cultivate wisdom. The appeal consists of a declaration of its essence (verses Pro 3:1-10), a description of its excellence (verses Pro 3:11-20), and a declaration of the safety which it brings (verses Pro 3:21-35).
The essence of wisdom consists in a determined devotion to the things of wisdom. The inspiration of this is next described as life lived in relation to Jehovah. Perfect trust in Him, perpetual dependence on Him, and worshipful devotion expressed in actual giving, these are of the very essence of wisdom and are to be expressed in the devotion already referred to. No wealth is equal to such wisdom, and the very chastenings of God are precious as they are conducive to gaining it. The excellence of wisdom is proven by the pleasantness and peace it brings to man, and by the fact that Jehovah’s works are wrought by it. The safety of the soul who keeps wisdom is seen in absence of stumbling and of fear, in the attitude of beneficence to the needy; in absence of envy of the evil; and in abiding blessedness in the secret, the blessing, the grace, and the glory of Jehovah.
the Results of Trusting Jehovah
Pro 3:1-12
How replete with helpful instruction on the policy of life is this paragraph! The young of both sexes are invited to be merciful in their judgments or dealings, and faithful in the discharge of their responsibilities or duties. These are two prime qualifications for a right attitude toward God and man.
The perplexed are bidden to distrust their own understanding and to trust in God for guidance. If you do not see your way, wait till God reveals it. Notice the repeated word all-all thine heart, all thy ways. A thread reaching from our person to the ground may impair our perfect insularity. The business man is urged to honor God, as Abraham did, when returning laden with booty from his conflict with the freebooting kings, Gen 14:23. The suffering are urged to look beyond their pain and sorrow to the hand that chastens, Pro 3:11-12. These precious words are endorsed by later Scriptures. See Heb 12:5-6 and Rev 3:19. We can never forget the tender assurance of Job 5:18-19. There is no chance in life; accept all as by Gods appointment or permission.
Proverbs 3
The exhortation of Pro 3:1 is important to all of us. Many see long life as an evidence of the special blessing of the Lord. Let thine heart keep my commandments, is a much needed admonition.
3:1-2
These verses speak of far more than submission to duty. They suggest loving devotion to the will of God. The Psalmist said, Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee (Psa 119:11). And Ezra prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments (Ezr 7:10). This preparation of the heart of man is truly from the Lord. It is sadly lacking in many who profess the truth while their outward ways testify otherwise. Love is the motivation for true service to the Lord. If ye love me, keep my commandments (Joh 14:15) are Jesus words; and He goes even deeper when He says, If a man love me, he will keep my words (Joh 14:23). This is the heart that delights to follow Gods ways when His mind is revealed.
3:3-4
Lovingkindness will commend the truth, but an acrimonious, judging spirit will turn the timid away. Both lovingkindness and truth are to be bound around the neck, in this way displayed in the sight of man; they should be written on the heart, thus finding favor with God.
The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ (Joh 1:17). The law was truth, but it was truth without grace. Since truth with grace has come by Jesus Christ the believer is exhorted to be speaking the truth in love (Eph 4:15). Speaking the truth is a one word participle in the original. J. N. Darby suggested coining a word to express it-truthing. the word implies more than merely speaking the truth. It suggests being characterized by the truth; but all must be in love. A hard and fast intolerant spirit makes the truth like a series of legal enactments. This spirit is harshly critical of those who differ and thus is far removed from the Spirit of truth.
3:5-6
These verses hold both a solemn admonition and precious assurance for all who would be guided in the way of peace. He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool (Pro 28:26), but happy is the man whose trust is in the Lord. Self-confidence is like leaning on a broken reed. God has given His Word to guide in every detail of life so our sanctification might be by the truth. It is therefore inexcusable to lean on our own poor finite intelligence.
If we acknowledge Him in all our ways, He who is faithful has promised to direct our paths. If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light (Mat 6:22).
3:7-8
To be wise in our own eyes is the very opposite of not leaning on our own understanding. Where the Lord is truly feared, evil will be hated. Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity (2Ti 2:19). So strength and freshness will characterize the soul. It is impossible to have fellowship with God while walking in that which His word condemns. The path of blessing is the path of obedience. If He has spoken, the submissive soul will not stay to question but obey implicitly.
3:9-10
The Lord becomes the object of the heart that has departed from evil. He is not merely given first place. It is a poor thing when Christ only has the first place in the soul. He must have all if one is to walk with Him in holy joy and unhindered communion. The Israelite brought the first fruits as an acknowledgment of Jehovahs sole ownership of the land of Canaan. He had said, The land shall not be sold for ever; for the land is mine (Lev 25:23). So, by honoring God with his substance, the believer gladly admits that all is the Lords to be used as He directs.
But God in His great goodness pledges that a steward who honors Him will not lack in barn or wine press. Many a saint goes on in comparative poverty because of his indifference to the principle here laid down. All comes from God; yet He graciously receives from His redeemed and delights to be the greatest giver. No one will find Him in their debt.
3:11-12
These words form the text for the apostles exhortation in Hebrews 12 on the Lords discipline. The writer of Hebrews expounded them by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost; so we turn to that precious portion of the Word. We need not trust our own thoughts, however much we seek to be subject to Scripture, when we have the mind of the Spirit fully revealed.
After having traced the path of faith through the pages of the Old Testament, the apostle admonished us to lay aside everything that would hinder our progress. This enables us to overcome sin that attacks our steps while we run with patience the race set before us. Christ Himself is called faiths author and perfecter (Heb 12:2, niv). God would have the heart occupied with Him whose own path of shame and suffering is over and who is now set down at the right hand of the throne of God. To consider him is the antidote for weariness and faintness (3).
The apostle goes on to show that trial and difficulty must not be considered a strange thing. All are but a part of our discipline. He cites the passage we have now come to in the book of Proverbs. The difference of wording results from his quoting from the Septuagint, the Greek version generally in use at that time. My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loyeth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. (Heb 12:5-6)
In the book of Job a similar verse is found, credited to Eliphaz the Temanite, Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty (Job 5:17).
It is not a new truth that the Lord exercises discipline among His saints. In fact, it is because they are His own that He does chasten. This word does not necessarily mean punish, though chastening is often directly retributive. But the primary meaning suggests discipline. God is a God of order. His family must be under His discipline. Therefore the apostle says, If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? (Heb 12:7) Affliction is not an evidence that the heart of God is not towards me. All is part of that discipline which an all-wise Father sees to be necessary. In fact, if I am not the subject of this disciplinary training, I am not one of His at all! But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all [that is, all sons] are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons(8).
Nor is the Lords discipline selfish or uncertain as ours often is in regard to our own households.
We have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure [or, as seemed good to them]; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness (Heb 12:9-10).
Earthly parents do not always have the direct good of their children in view when they discipline them. Often we may be motivated more by the disturbance of our personal comfort than by the childs need of correction! In such a case we chasten after our own pleasure. Our God and Father never deals this way with us. He always has our good before Him. Even so, no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby (Heb 12:11).
May God give us grace neither to faint beneath His chastening as though it were some strange thing nor to despise it, ignoring the Lords sovereignty. May we rather be exercised by it so we may bear the peaceable fruits of righteousness and be partakers of His holiness.
3:13-18
Men will brave untold dangers and exhaust human ingenuity in their search for precious metals and sparkling jewels; but treasures of far greater value can be found by following Wisdoms ways. She offers length of days, riches, and honor to those who find her. Coupled with these, she gives what earthly treasures often detract from: peace and quietness of soul. The ways of Wisdom are the ways of Christ-the paths on which the Word of God guides the feet of the obedient soul. Such ways are indeed ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace(17). To find true wisdom is to feed on the tree of life. The pleasures that worldly men enjoy cannot be compared with the pleasures of Wisdoms ways.
3:19-20
Surely it is immeasurable grace that the One who upholds all things by the word of His power concerns Himself with the steps of His creatures. He offers us that wisdom by which He founded the earth to guide us on our pilgrim pathway. The Word of God is but another expression of this wisdom that spoke worlds into existence, and it is written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope (Rom 15:4).
3:21-24
Someone has said, It is not enough that one hold the truth, if the truth hold not him. We must take hold of what God has revealed so that it controls the heart and life. Thus, to keep sound wisdom and discretion helps one lay hold on what is really life. Wisdom and discretion ornament the neck with grace and guide the disciple in the way of truth so that his foot will not stumble. Rest and refreshment also become the portion of all who esteem the Word of God above all the thoughts of men.
3:25-26
Only the obedient soul can lay hold of the precious promises of Scripture. The willful and disobedient have no such right. Those who walk obediently do not need to fear disaster or the ruin of the wicked. Jehovah will be their confidence and will keep them safe.
3:27-28
To owe no one anything but love is a command that is binding on every child of God (Rom 13:8). To withhold anothers due when able to pay shows that covetousness is in the heart and is gaining control over the life. The poor look forward to payments to supply the necessities of life. Real suffering results when these payments are needlessly deferred by those more materially blessed. This often leads to bitterness and hatred. Such conduct on the part of a Christian is in every way to be deplored. Money owed to another is not mine. To use it for my own purposes is dishonest. Gods eye sees every such action, and He has said, Be sure your sin will find you out! (Num 32:23)
3:29
The abuse of trust is an abominable thing in the sight of the holy God. Misplaced confidence has ruined many. What a dreadful testimony when the one who has abused that confidence professes to be a Christian! This hypocrisy furthers skepticism in the unbeliever and ruins the influence that the faithful might have had.
3:30
Even if someone has harmed me, Christ said, I say unto you, That ye resist not evil (Mat 5:39). Under law, it was a sin to strive with another without adequate ground; but under grace I am to deal with my debtors as God has dealt with me.
3:31-35
Asaph was envious of the prosperity of the wicked until he went into the sanctuary of the Lord. There he was given to understand their end. Then his heart was grieved, and he admitted his folly (Psalm 73). Seeking to satisfy their souls with the evanescent things of earth, the wicked remain ignorant of the counsels of Jehovah, which are known only to the righteous. Their end will be anything but enviable, for the curse of the Lord is in their houses, and He scorns their haughty pretensions. His blessing abides on the habitation of the just, and He giveth grace unto the lowly. Those who are content to abase themselves and walk in the steps of Christ will be despised by those who are wise in their own conceit. But the humble will inherit true glory at last, when the false glitter of worldly fame has faded away forever, and shame shall be the promotion of fools.
Pro 3:5-6
(with Pro 27:1)
I. The precept, “Lean not unto thine own understanding” is one in which, with advancing years, we are well disposed to acquiesce. One who has grown older, and who has really profited by the experience of life, must often have found cause to revise his own judgments. In this world of change and sorrow experience soon teaches us the lesson, “Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” Sudden reverses overtake the most prosperous; the most sagacious make blunders, through which their inferiors discover with pleased surprise that these wise men were, after all, not so much wiser than themselves.
II. The result of such experience might seem to be general distrust of the powers of the human intellect, but happily the exigencies of life save us from the danger of any unreasonable scepticism. We must act, and it is continually necessary for us to decide between different courses of action. As experience convinces us of the weakness of our understanding, our liability to go wrong notwithstanding all the light it gives us, we should all be glad if there could be supplied us any way of arriving at our belief which we might safely trust without the necessity of leaning on our own understanding. It is thus that the claim of the Roman Catholic Church to infallibility has been willingly admitted by multitudes.
III. When we want to know what is meant by wisdom and understanding in the Book of Proverbs we can find no better commentary than the saying in the Book of Job: “The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.” This, then, is what the writer of this part of the Book of Proverbs means to say in the words of the text. Be not deceived by any suggestions of the human heart which would lead you to fancy that God’s precepts are not wise, and that you can find happiness in any ways which are not the ways of holiness. The words of the text convey no injunction to us to put out the candle of the Lord within us, that reason which supplies the light whereby we must walk; but only an injunction to us to hold fast the best conclusion which true wisdom furnishes-namely, the conviction that it must be a vain search to look for happiness in any way but this.
IV. The truth that we know not what a day may bring forth seems to give a most disheartening view of human life. We have the burden cast on us of directing our own way while yet the light by which to guide it is denied us. This is the truth which removes all sadness from the reflection that we know not what shall be on the morrow, that while a man’s heart deviseth his way, it is the Lord who directeth his steps. Though the path which we tread may be dark and gloomy, we can walk it with courage if we feel that we have our Father and our Saviour with us. The Psalmist found it so long since when he said, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.”
G. Salmon, Non-Miraculous Christianity, p. 153.
References: Pro 3:5.-R. M. McCheyne, Additional Remains, p. 142; Preacher’s Monthly, vol., i., p. 102; W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 116. Pro 3:5, Pro 3:6.-Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xii., p. 33.
Pro 3:6
A characteristic of the Old Testament Scriptures, which results from the genius of the Hebrew language, is specially observable in the Book of Proverbs. Instead of the copious, versatile, precise, and in so many respects unrivalled, instrument which the Greek wields when expressing his thought, the Hebrew writer has at command a language possessing by comparison only a few and simple words. But of these, many are words of the widest range and applicability. They are words containing depth below depth of meaning. The text furnishes us with a sample of this almost untranslatable pregnancy and power of Hebrew speech. The English word “acknowledge” represents only one of the many meanings which are to be found, upon reflection, in the original word . This word, originally identical with and videre, came to signify that which results from sight, unless the sense be imperfect or the understanding impaired, namely, knowledge. It exhibits knowledge at all its stages of growth. As used in the passage before us it describes nothing less comprehensive than the whole action of man’s spiritual being when face to face with the eternal God. It is irresistibly implied that to know God truly, to have a full sight of God before the soul, is something more than mere head-knowledge, that it is knowledge in act. It is, in short, to be out of heart with self, to distrust self, to abase and crush and forget self; we are sensible of the presence of a Being who discovers to self its insignificance or its pollution. The text thus includes, besides much else, such specific exhortations as that of St. Peter, “Be clothed with humility.”
I. Not long since the question was discussed, whether a virtue can ever die. Certainly particular relative excellences do characterise particular races, epochs, stages of social progress. They appear; they shine forth; they wane and fall back into obscurity; they vanish outright. Doubtless there are forms of virtuous action suited to human life at one stage of its development which do not fully express or answer to its wants and aspirations at another. But the question does not concern the mere modification of the outward expression of a virtue; if practical applications may vary imperishable principles must live. The opinion which views intellectual submission as a dead virtue, could hardly ascribe any strong vitality to the grace of humility. If humility is dying out, this is because the idea of God has been impoverished or impaired in the thought of our day. Humility is but the sincere acknowledgment in thought, in language, in action, of the first and most commanding of all facts; it is the sincere acknowledgment of God.
II. Theoretically speaking, humility must of course be right. But look, you say, to its practical effect. Does it interfere more or less with activity and success in life? Is it secretly hostile to the claims and efforts of vigorous and cultivated intellect? After all, what is humility? Humility is not a . On the contrary, the Christian is the genuine ; he is pre-eminently the man of large soul and noble instincts. Humility is not a want of enterprise, a subtle resource of idleness. The force which is apparently forfeited by the destruction of self-reliance in the character is more than recovered when the soul rests in perfect trustfulness on the strong arm of God. The Christian’s humility is in reality the cause of his mental energy.
III. Humility is indispensable to the true life of the soul. No man ever went to heaven without learning humility on this side of the grave. (1) Without humility-that is to say, the victory of truth in the soul-no soul ever really turned to God. (2) Without humility religious progress is impossible. (3) Without humility no soul that was turned to God, and is learning to serve Him, is for a moment safe.
H. P. Liddon, University Sermons, 1st series, p. 139.
I. You can acknowledge God in your play, by recognising that it is He who gives it, by thanking Him for it, and by remembering that He is near you when you are at it. It would not make you less happy to remember this, but far more happy. Only, it would repress many a wicked word, many an angry thought, many an ungentle and ungenerous deed. If all children remembered it a new sunshine would fall on the pavement, and a new joy ring in the voices there.
II. Do you acknowledge God in your work? He expects you to do so. How is He to be acknowledged? (1) By recognising that He has given you your work to do, and expects you to do it well; (2) by praying about your lessons, asking God to assist you to overcome your defects.
III. Boys and girls always have companions. Friendship will be one of the largest as well as sweetest parts of your life. There can be none in which it is more important to acknowledge God, that He may direct your paths.
IV. Thoughts of the future. Without God, however brave and strong you be, you will stumble and fall. Is Christ your Saviour and your Friend? He comes to you now, and at the outset of your career offers to accompany you. Will you not welcome Him and clasp Him to your heart with bands of triple steel? “In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.”
J. Stalker, The New Song, p. 118.
References: Pro 3:6.-J. M. Charlton, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xvii., p. 324; New Manual of Sunday School Addresses, p. 5.
Pro 3:7-8
I. The text may be paraphrased and expanded thus: God has taught you by various ways-by your own experience and that of others; above all, by the warnings of conscience and the voice of revelation-what is right and what is wrong. Do not set yourself above this teaching, or think to be wiser than your Maker. Presume neither to cavil at nor neglect those unchanging laws by which the Almighty has separated good from evil, and appointed to each their just recompense of reward. Fear the Lord, for that is the beginning of true wisdom, and not this fancied enlightenment on which you pride yourself,-fear the Lord and depart from evil.
II. Notice some familiar instances of the temptation which we incur to be wise in our own eyes, and of the evil into which we fall if we yield to it. (1) On many things the stamp of good or evil is so indelibly planted that no sane man can presume to question it. Who could think murder praiseworthy, or prayer a vice? But there are other things on which the mark, though visible to a faithful scrutiny, is not so patent; or, to vary the figure, between the acknowledged territories of the two principles is a borderland which needs wary walking, lest we pass over before we know it to the enemy. The humble man will avoid that doubtful district if he can; if compelled to enter it, he will walk circumspectly, trusting very little to his own discernment, and greatly anxious to be guided in the right path. Not so he that is wise in his own eyes. This borderland is his favourite resort. (2) It is a common delusion that we can become good and religious when we will. There is a law which is written in the history of a thousand misguided lives, that when habits of sin are once formed they are not lightly broken through; and that, instead of its being an easy thing to turn from the world to God, every added year, aye week, of rebellion, makes it more difficult, till at last, long before we are called to our account, it becomes with some men, humanly speaking, impossible. (3) The devil has his proverbs as well as Solomon, and among the devil’s proverbs there is none perhaps more common or more wicked than this, that-“young men must sow their wild oats.” Facts are clean against this vile assertion, for four-fifths of the men who have been pure and holy in later years have been holy and pure in their youth; and the law that “evil communications” are not a preliminary of sanctity, but “corrupt good manners,” is a law of the moral world which this proverb wilfully ignores.
E. H. Bradby, Sermons at Haileybury, p. 232.
References: Pro 3:7, Pro 3:8.-W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 121. Pro 3:9.-J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes, 2nd series, p. 98; W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 123.
Pro 3:11
I. Affliction acts as a dyke against the overflow of evil; it incessantly restrains and thrusts it back. Sin finds its limit in suffering; passion strikes against pain as a fatal bourne, where it perishes; lust is quenched in disgust; and death is there to say to the raging waves of our dissolute passions, “Thus far shall ye go and no farther.” Thus far; namely, to that gravestone against which evil always dashes itself at last.
II. Suffering is not a blessing simply because it acts as a restraint; but also, and especially, because it acts as a preparative. It is a bridle, but also a spur, urging us towards the Cross, (1) An infinite suffering, an unlimited obedience,-such was the Cross. At this cost heaven and earth were reconciled, and salvation was consummated. But it was in our name that the great work of that hour of atonement was performed, and we can derive benefit from it only as we ratify it. He only will be saved who unites himself to Christ, not with a view of offering again a sacrifice which was perfected in itself, but in order to make it his own by an earnest acceptance and a living faith. Grace employs every means to bring us to this, and of all conceivable means none can be more efficacious than suffering. Hence the important part which it plays in the work of our personal redemption. (2) Thus suffering, under the influence of grace, fills up the infinite distance between man and the Cross. Through the direct action of grace, suffering had prepared the way for Christ in the old world, by attacking not merely the individual but also the lost race of men, whom it had mercilessly and unceasingly pursued from religion to religion, from illusion to illusion; and it was through a wasted world, reduced to the condition of a desert, that the road was made which was to lead to Him. Ever since the Redeemer came among men, and called to them from His Cross, suffering has been His great prophet and forerunner; but suffering modified, mingled with blessing, as befits a pardoned world, but yet traversing the earth with the axe of John the Baptist. We must recognise even in its most distressing manifestations the infinite love which seeks to save our souls at all costs.
E. De Pressense. The Mystery of Suffering, p. 34.
References: Pro 3:11, Pro 3:12.- J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes, 2nd series, p. 86; W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 126; R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. i., p. 88.
Pro 3:12
(with 1Co 15:55)
In the case of a saint, his afflictions and death fall to be considered: (1) as they have a respect to himself, and (2) as they have a respect to his neighbours and friends.
I. As they have a respect to himself. (1) The design of a saint’s afflictions may be to rebuke him for backsliding, and not seldom for spiritual sloth and dulness of heart, with a view of recalling him from his wanderings, or arousing him from his lethargy. (2) A saint may be making commendable progress and yet be visited with affliction, that his graces may be advanced to a higher degree of excellence-the Lord designing for His servant a station of peculiar glory in His heavenly kingdom. (3) Affliction and death are frequently commissioned as preventives of evil. (4) That which often strikes us as mysterious is, perhaps, resolvable on the principle that God removes some of His saints when their graces are most vigorous, and shine with the brightest lustre, before they decline; so that His government may be justified in advancing them to a higher place of honour in the kingdom, than it would have been fit to assign them, had they entered eternity in a state of declension.
II. It is frequently the interests of his friends even more than the interests of the saint himself, which the Lord designs to advance by the particular time and manner of his death. He may be a spiritually prosperous saint, cultivating his talents and opportunities with assiduity and zeal; but they may need correction and quickening, preservation from evil; and the requisite and most suitable discipline is dispensed to them by means of his afflictions.
III. Practical reflections. (1) Let us be thankful for death. (2) In reference to afflictions which do not proceed the length of death, as we would be saved their infliction, let us submit to the more gentle discipline of the remonstrances of the Spirit of God, excited within our consciences. (3) As we fear the death of our friends, let us be careful of our own ways. (4) As we desire that our own lives be prosperous and prolonged, let us be earnest and faithful in the training of our children, and in the admonition of our friends. (5) Let us diligently prepare for the death of our friends. (6) Let us prepare ourselves for our own death. (7) Let us examine ourselves of the improvement which we have made or are making of the death of our friends, and prepare to give them a satisfactory account of it.
W. Anderson, Discourses, 2nd series, p. 40.
References: Pro 3:13.-W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 134. Pro 3:13-20.-R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. i., p. 101. Pro 3:14, Pro 3:15.-W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, p. 136. Pro 3:16.-Ibid., p. 139.
Pro 3:17
(with Joh 16:33)
I. Religion, regarded as a theory of a perfect state, is right in pronouncing itself a way of pleasantness and a path of peace. If a man could but walk perfectly in the way of religion he would be perfectly happy. But man is not born into an ideal state, into a perfect state even; on the contrary, he is born further from his nature than any other creature on earth. God did not make men perfect. He made them pilgrims after perfection.
II. Men are born with all the faculties of reason, but not with knowledge. That they are to find. Men are born with social natures, but not with social loves and refinements of experience. These they are to work out. Men are born with moral sense, but not with knowledge of its fruits, its inspirations, its various experiences. It is the business of their life to find out these things. To teach all this vast lore of experience God has established five schools: (1) the school of the family; (2) the school of the material world; (3) the school of civil society; (4) the school of business; (5) the school of the Church.
III. It is in the light of such a development that we can see the relation between joy and sorrow in the Christian scheme. Sorrow is that conflict which every person experiences as he is endeavouring to learn. It is the incident of growth from a lower to a higher state. Suffering is God’s regent of the universe, saying, “The way is a way of pleasantness, and all its paths are peace:” and therefore when you suffer it is because you are out of the way.
If this be so, I remark: (1) The search for the origin of evil is a mistaken search in the direction in which men are looking for it. Evil is nothing in the world but a part of the Divine system by which we are to be unfolded. (2) We see the true and proper meaning of self-denial. It is a higher faculty, making a lower one keep down and know its place. (3) We see the foreshadowings of the Cross in human life. (4) We see love suffering in life. (5) There is but one way out of suffering, and that way is upward. All other ways are adjourning it, or preparing for its recurrence in even greater measure.
H. W. Beecher, Sermons, 2nd series, p. 271.
Pro 3:17
There is a certain exclusiveness about this expression which stands out into a necessary emphasis; strong in the first, stronger in the second, clause of the sentence. For of many things it may be said, that some of their “ways” are “pleasant,” though some be bitter; and of a very few things indeed, perhaps, it might be said that their “paths” are sometimes “peace.” But of nothing in the whole world save one-the life of a real child of God-could it ever be spoken so broadly, so universally, so absolutely.
I. In this high peace, then, notice that there is a distinction drawn which is not without its special signification. It is the ways which are pleasant, and the paths which are peace. Now the way is always larger and broader than the path. And the meaning may be this: The more general and public things in religion-things which all see and know-these are pleasant; but the things which retire back and are most unfrequented, and which very few either see or guess, all these are “peace.”
II. Wisdom’s way is: (1) a high way. It is always reaching up out of littlenesses; it ranges at loftier levels, it has the world at its feet. (2) Wisdom’s way always has one fixed mark. For that it steers. It throws lesser things aside as it goes, and it goes straight and earnest to a goal, and that goal is the glory of God. (3) Wisdom’s way is a way of usefulness. It always puts usefulness first-before pleasure, before profit. (4) To go in wisdom’s way is to go in sweet fellowship. They who walk there walk hand in hand. It is full of sympathies, it is a road which lies in the communion of all saints, and all love all in wisdom’s way. (5) Above all, Christ is there. They walk with Jesus, they lean on Jesus, they are satisfied with Jesus, and they shall travel on and reign with Jesus, in that city where they go.
III. Let us leave the wider track, and go down to one or two of the more secluded “paths.” (1) There is a going out in a man’s heart from its deepest places to Christ. He tells Jesus something which has long been a hidden burden in his mind. And in the little path of that secret confession there is a peace which no words can tell. (2) It is a very small path that faith takes, but the “peace passeth understanding.” (3) Shame, sorrow, parting, death, lie in the same wisdom’s path. Jesus’ path lay just the same, through shame, through death. And wisdom’s path and Jesus’ path are both one; and both are peace.
J. Vaughan, Sermons, 1867, p. 77.
References: Pro 3:17.-J. Vaughan, Children’s Sermons, 1875, p. 278; W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 142. Pro 3:19, Pro 3:20.-Ibid., p. 144. Pro 3:21-35.-R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. i., p. 113. Pro 3:26.-W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, p. 147. Pro 3:27, Pro 3:28.-Ibid., p. 152.
Pro 3:32
I. Consider the intimacy between God and man implied in this promise. To whom is it that we open our confidence, and explain our most secret purposes and objects? It is not to the stranger, of whom perhaps we know nothing but his mere name and title; not to those who have already slighted and injured us; not to the passing acquaintance, between whom and ourselves there is no bond closer than that of a formal courtesy; but to those we love and who love us; those with whom we have had long and familiar acquaintance, and in whom, through constant intercourse, we have learned to place confidence. Thus it is in regard to God and the soul. He gives milk for babes; broad simple truths, conveyed in His Holy Word, as clearly as human language can express them; and when these are received, then He leads the believer on to a further and higher knowledge. Thus there arises a personal, familiar intercourse, a spiritual intimacy, an individual knowledge of experience between the soul and God. Not little is the dignity, nor poor the communion, nor scant the privilege, contained in this promise, “His secret is with the righteous.”
II. Look at the nature and blessedness of the secret revealed. (2) It includes a clear knowledge of God’s being and of the revelation of His will. (2) The secret of God includes the full saving comprehension of the Gospel of His dear Son. (3) Another secret of God is the sweetness of His comforting peace.
E. Garbett, The Soul’s Life, p. 16.
References: Pro 3:33.-W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 158. Pro 3:33-35.-E. Johnson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. x., p. 40. Pro 3:34.-Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. iii., p. 10. 3-Parker, Pulpit Analyst, vol. i., pp. 421, 481. Pro 4:1-13.-R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. i., p. 126. Pro 4:2.-New Manual of Sunday School Addresses, p. 142. Pro 4:3, Pro 4:4.-E. H. Bradby, Sermons at Haileybury, p. 150.
CHAPTER 3
1. The call and promise of wisdom (Pro 3:1-10)
2. Happy is the man that findeth wisdom (Pro 3:11-20)
3. Promise and instruction (Pro 3:21-25)
Pro 3:1-10. The call to obedience is followed by promise. The promise is like all the promises to an earthly people for length of days and long life. Here are some blessed exhortations loved and cherished by all His people (Pro 3:5-7). How happier, and more fruitful the children of God would be if they obeyed constantly this instruction: in all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.
Pro 3:11-20. Pro 3:1-12 are quoted in Heb 12:1-29. The man who findeth wisdom, that is, who knows the Lord, is happy. If we look upon wisdom as personified in the Lord Jesus Christ we can read His ways are pleasantness, and all His paths are peace. He is a tree of life to them that lay hold on Him, and happy is every one that retaineth Him (Pro 3:17-18).
Pro 3:21-34. The words of the Lord kept are life to the soul, grace to the neck; they insure safety; they protect and keep by day and by night. Each verse has a blessed meaning. This chapter ends with the promise that the wise shall inherit glory while the promotion of fools will be shame.
forget: Pro 1:8, Pro 4:5, Pro 31:5, Deu 4:23, Psa 119:93, Psa 119:153, Psa 119:176, Hos 4:6
let: Deu 4:9, Deu 6:6-9, Deu 8:1, Deu 30:16-20, Psa 119:11, Psa 119:16, Psa 119:34, Psa 119:47, Psa 119:48, Isa 51:17, Jer 31:33, Joh 14:21-24
Reciprocal: Num 15:39 – remember Deu 6:2 – thy days Deu 11:18 – ye lay up Deu 26:13 – forgotten Deu 32:46 – General Deu 32:47 – General Jos 1:8 – thou shalt 1Ki 2:3 – prosper 1Ch 28:8 – keep Psa 32:8 – instruct Psa 40:8 – yea Psa 103:18 – remember Psa 119:141 – yet do Psa 119:165 – Great Pro 2:1 – hide Pro 3:21 – let Pro 4:4 – Let Pro 7:1 – My son Pro 10:17 – the way Pro 19:16 – keepeth the Pro 22:17 – and hear Pro 28:7 – keepeth Luk 8:15 – keep Joh 17:6 – they Rom 12:2 – good 1Co 15:2 – keep in memory 1Th 2:11 – as 1Th 5:21 – hold Heb 12:5 – ye have forgotten
Lest We Forget
Pro 3:1-12
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
The Book of Proverbs speaks several times of the danger of forgetting God and His Commandments. We are firmly convinced that herein is a danger that we all need to consider with care. We will consider several warnings about forgetting, that are to be found in Deuteronomy and in the Psalms.
1. Forget not His Covenant (Deu 4:23-31). God never forgets His pledges to His people. It is interesting to study His Covenant to Abraham concerning his seed. Abraham may often have despaired, and thought himself forgotten, but in the end all was fulfilled.
Deu 4:31 emphasizes that God will not forget His Covenant which He sware unto their fathers, that He would bring them back. For this cause we are today seeing God turning once more toward His people.
2. Forget not His Commandments (Deu 8:11-19). How true to life is the Word of God. He says, “Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses,” etc., etc., then thy heart be lifted up and thou forget the Lord thy God.
In the times of need we draw nigh to God; then, in the times of our bounty, we often become self-centered, and glory in the works of our own hands, saying, “My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.”
3. Forget not wherein we sinned (Deu 9:7-12). After we have sinned, repented, and been forgiven, we sometimes fail to remember the stumblingblock where we left the Lord. God would remind us of our sins lest we forget, and fall again at the same place.
Sin number one was bad enough; but to sin again in the same way demonstrates a rebellious and forgetful spirit.
4. Forget not His works (Psa 78:7-11). How wonderful are the works of God, which He has wrought in our behalf! He had done much for Israel. And He commanded Israel that they should tell His wondrous doings unto their children, that they should not forget the Lord and His wonderful works.
Israel, however, soon failed to remember God’s deliverances and His wondrous blessings, which He had wrought for them. They kept not His Covenant, they refused to walk in His Law, and they “forgat His works, and His wonders that He had shewed them.” They even tempted the Lord their God in their hearts; they were lead away by their lusts; they turned back, and limited the Holy One of Israel; yea; they tempted God and dealt unfaithfully.
5. Forget not His benefits (Psa 103:1-5). Instead of forgetting, we are called upon to bless the Lord. Here is the way our Psalm reads: “Bless the Lord, O ray soul, and forget not all His benefits.” Then the Psalmist goes on to enumerate his benefits.
1.”Who forgiveth all thine iniquities.”
2.”Who healeth all thy diseases.”
3.”Who redeemeth thy life from destruction.”
4.”Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies.”
5.”Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things.”
6.Who reneweth thy youth as the eagle’s.
7.Who executeth righteousness, and judgment for the oppressed.
6. Forget not Jerusalem (Psa 137:1-6). There are some who will immediately object that we have no call to remember Jerusalem. Well, the Psalmist did not so feel about it. He said, “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth.”
We are just as sure that God has not forgotten Jerusalem. He has kept her in His heart during all of the days of her wanderings, and He will yet remember her with mercies.
Let us, then, also pray for Jerusalem, for, “They shall prosper that love thee.”
I. THE BLESSING OF KEEPING HIS LAW (Pro 3:1-2)
1. The admonition, “Forget not My Law.” The word “Law” may, by some, be ruled out of this dispensation of grace. And so far as salvation by the works of the Law is concerned, it has no place, and never did have a place in the economy of God. We are saved by grace, through faith, and not of works.
We suggest, however, that the word “Law” in our text has a very wide significance. It means the words of God covering the will of God, given for our good. His “Law” includes not only rules of conduct, but also rules covering every phase of life.
2. The Call: Let thine heart keep My Commandments. God asks for more than a mere legal keeping of His Law. He wants a heartfelt and heart-appreciative keeping. It is not enough to do His will; but, in all we do, to do heartily; to do it with joy and gladness. The reason for this part of God’s Word is made known in the next statement, Deu 4:2 :
3. The promise: “For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.” Now we learn how beneficent are the laws and Commandments of our God. God does not command in order to display His authority. He does not demand as a demigod would demand, only for his own good. He makes His laws and gives His commands for the good of His people.
Think of the blessings which obedience brings:
(1) There is length of days and long life. This is one of the blessings of obedience. It is not merely that the keeping of God’s laws will cause God to work a miracle in granting long life to the obedient as a reward; but also that obedience to His laws has a natural assurance of long life. We, personally, have no doubt that it is physically beneficial to obey God, and that God, in making laws, accordingly had our length of days in mind.
(2) There is peace. Disobedience to God’s laws brings misery and unhappiness. Obedience brings length of days and peace, withal.
Let us, therefore, follow the things that make for peace.
II. A DELIGHTFUL ORNAMENT FOR THE NECK (Pro 3:3-4)
1. The twin sisters, mercy and truth. These two graces will form a chain of greatest price, and will prove an ornament in which God will, Himself, rejoice.
Mercy is that grace in life that shows kindness even to the undeserving. If we see mercy forsaking us, and leaving us filled with harshness and bitterness, let us beware.
Truth is the opposite of error. Christ said “I am the Truth.” Some men live in so much of error that they cry, like Pilate, “What is truth?” If we follow after the spirit of antichrist, we will find that truth will forsake us, and God will give us over to the believing of a lie.
2. Mercy and truth should adorn our necks and warm our hearts. We should bind them to us, and write them on the tables of our hearts. If we find ourselves afraid of truth, and shunning mercy, we are to be pitied, indeed.
In this word the Proverbs are in line with many Scriptures. Read Second and Third John, and you will discover how vital truth is to the saint. John writes, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” In First John we are taught, in chapter 4, how to discern between the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Then in chapter 3, we read: “Hereby we know that we are of the truth.”
It is the same with mercy. If we have the spirit of God we will have the spirit of mercy. Mercy is also set forth in John’s Epistle when he speaks of our shutting up our bowels of compassion.
James tells us that the wisdom from above is full of mercy. He also tells us, “For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.”
3. Truth and mercy will cause us to find favor in both the sight of God and of men. Even men of the world, and, above all, men of God, will praise those who walk after truth and follow after mercy. God will grant favor to such, for He is Mercy and He is Truth, Following error and showing judgment may give us a sway among devil-deluded men, but not so with true men and with God, where favor is most worth while.
III. A CALL TO PERFECT TRUST (Pro 3:5)
1. A call to heartfelt trust. Here, hidden away in the Book of Proverbs, we have found a very vital statement of evangelical faith. Faith is trust. Faith is more than trust, it is heartfelt trust.
The Holy Spirit emphasized this when He said to the eunuch, “If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.” The Holy Spirit said a similar thing when he wrote by Paul, “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness.” The only difference is that in Proverbs the word “trust” is used, while in the New Testament the word is “believe.”
In Bible terminology, faith, trust, and believe, all are the expressions of a heart affiance, and confidence that brings salvation.
2. A call to trust in the Lord. Proverbs does not merely say, “Trust with all thy heart,” but it says, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart.” It is not a trust in man, nor a trust in the statement of creed; it is trust in the Lord. The Lord is worthy of trust because He is ever true; and He is Truth. He is worthy of trust because He is faithful to all of His promises. He never fails His own. He is worthy of trust because He is, Himself, our Sacrifice for sin, our Saviour.
3. A call to trust, as against leaning to our own understanding. Be we as wise as Solomon, or be we as well versed in knowledge as he, we dare not set our own understanding up against anything that God has spoken.
Take the story of creation as it is written, and believe God against the words of any man. If you ask what is the province of our mind, we reply it is for this, that it may be renewed by the Holy Ghost.
Trust in the Lord and lean upon Him, and not upon our own understanding.
IV. THE KEY TO DIVINE GUIDANCE (Pro 3:6)
1. Deu 4:6 is a postscript to Deu 4:5. Deu 4:5 said, “Lean not unto thine own understanding”; Deu 4:6 says, “In all thy ways acknowledge Him.” Surely if we are leaning upon our own wisdom, or upon our own understanding, we will not acknowledge Him.
Here is the source of many life failures. We begin early to assert our own “think-sos,” and “feel-sos,” against our parents’; and, later on, we take up the same attitude against our God.
How often do some little two-year-olds, resent the will of their parents! Some will even slap their mother, or make a drive at their father.
This is sadly true in adults, many of them; they will not hear the voice of God, and, if they hear, they will not heed. They deliberately refuse God’s will and way, and turn to their own.
The Spirit in Isa 53:1-12 put it this way: “We have turned every one to his own way.” John, in the Spirit, put it thus: “Sin is the transgression of the Law.” To transgress is to go across. It is, simply stated, no more than plain contrariness. It is taking our own way as against God’s.
2. Our verse gives the positive path to Divine guidance. Here it is: “Acknowledge Him.” How can God direct the path of anyone who refuses to acknowledge Him?
If God tells one who is not ready to acknowledge the Lord, to do this or that, He is merely wasting His energy. God cannot guide the unyielded spirit.
Here is the way it is written in Rom 12:1-21 : “Present your bodies a living sacrifice * * be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind”; then what? “That ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
So it is also in Proverbs:
“Trust in the Lord”; “Lean not unto thine own understanding”; “In all thy ways acknowledge Him”; then what? “And He shall direct thy paths.”
V. A WARNING AGAINST SELF-WISDOM (Pro 3:7)
1. “Be not wise in thine own eyes.” Here is an admonition that is certainly worth while. Self-conceit is a most dreadful disease. It goes far toward making one obnoxious in the eyes of others. God has said, “Not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think.”
Pride of self-wisdom is just as evil as any other pride. It is the high look, and the thing which exalts itself, that God will bring low. “The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down.” “The day of the Lord of Hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one. that is lifted up.”
2. “Depart from evil.” This second admonition is also greatly needed. Many youths take pleasure in playing with sin. They like to play with a serpent, or a viper. Some go so far as to say that every young person must have his or her fling. They imagine that youth is the time for folly, and for the sowing of wild oats. If that be true, then full growth is the place for the harvesting of every evil deed. It is written: “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” If we sow to the wind, we shall reap the whirlwind; thus we reap even more than we sow.
Let no one imagine that there is some fairy with a magical wand to change the evil fruitage of youth. God has made unerring laws to cover the wages of social, and of other sins. Evil will pass down, in its physical effects, unto the third and the fourth generation.
3. “Depart from evil. It shall be health * *, marrow to thy bones.” This is true to experience. He who shuns every evil way, and every evil fleshly desire, will find that it will mean much toward physical health and strength. Evil saps every physical power that tends to stalwart manhood or womanhood.
If you want health in old age, have sobriety in your youth. If you sow to the flesh, you will pay for every seed which you sow, in physical and mental and spiritual suffering.
VI. THE LAWS OF GIVING AND RECEIVING (Pro 3:9-10)
1. Giving unto the Lord of the first fruits. Our verse reads: “Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase.”
Surely we have found one way at least in which we may give honor to the Lord. We may honor Him in our giving. We may particularly honor Him in giving Him of our first fruits. To him who would give God the sick, or the lame, or the thing which is polluted, God says, “A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a Father, where is Mine honour? and if I be a Master, where is My fear?” So real giving does give honor to the Lord.
Real giving also means first-fruit giving. In this grace, as in every other phase of Christian living, Christ must be first. It is not for us to first retain for ourselves certain blessings, and then to give to God what is left over. Before we use anything for self, we must take out the first fruits for God.
If we follow the injunction of Elijah, when he said to the woman, “Make me thereof a little cake first,” we shall do well. If we do as the Corinthians did, and first give ourselves to the Lord, we will have no trouble in the proper and Scriptural method of “giving our substance.”
2. Receiving from the Lord His bounties. Our verse, Pro 3:10, says, “So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.” The Spirit of God does not make this promise of assured bounties with the thought of inveigling saints into the giving of their first fruits unto God. He says this as an encouragement to obedience, to be sure; but He is emphasizing that God will not allow any of His servants to outgive Him.
“A man there was (though some may count him mad),
The more he cast away, the more he had.”
Of course he did have more, because he was only “casting it away” so far as human eyes go. In the sight of God he was laying up treasures in Heaven, and at the same time gaining increased earthly harvests down here. For my part I will continue giving to the Lord, knowing that He will receive it with joy; even as I receive with joy all that He so bountifully gives me.
VII. THE BLESSINGS OF CHASTISEMENT (Pro 3:11-12)
1. The Lord chasteneth us as sons. There is a great deal of difference between the chastening of a slave and of a son. We are sons. We are not only sons, but we are sons well beloved in the sight of the Lord. The Master may chasten His slave for the master’s good, more than for the slave’s good. The whip is used in order to create a fear in the heart of the slave, that will force him to faithful service. The son is chastened for his own good.
In the Book of Hebrews where the Holy Spirit quotes the words of Proverbs, He enlarges upon them, with this statement: “He (chasteneth us) for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness.”
It is true that no chastening for the present time seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: “Nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”
2. The Lord chasteneth whom He loveth. We must not think for one moment that, when we are corrected by the Divine hand, we are cast off as despised and rejected. Not at all. God’s corrections are a sign of His love. Not only that, but He corrects us because He delighteth in us.
Some parents may imagine that they should never correct their children or chasten them. Such a conception is altogether contrary to a properly directed love. If we want our children to grow up in sin and willfulness, we need but to leave them to their own way. God chastens us because He wants to bring us back into the place of righteousness and true holiness.
Let us, therefore, not despise His chastenings, neither let us weary of His corrections. If we receive not the chastening of the Lord, we know that we are not sons, but bastards. True sonship means a faithful and a wise child-training, and true fatherhood will be sure to exert this corrective training.
AN ILLUSTRATION
The following words from Miss Havergal are right in line with the spirit of thankfulness that should grip us all for God’s goodness! to us.
All God’s goodness to us is humbling. The more He does for us, the more ready we are to say, “I am not worthy of the least of all Thy mercies, and of all the truth, which Thou hast showed unto Thy servant.” The weight of a great answer to prayer seems almost too much for us. The grace of it is “too wonderful” for us. It throws up in such startling relief the disproportion between our little, poor, feeble cry, and the great shining response of God’s heart and hand that we can only say: “Who am I. O Lord God, that thou hast brought me hitherto? Is this the manner of man, O Lord God?” But it is more humbling still, when we stand face to face with great things which the Lord has done for us and given us, which we never asked at all, never even thought of asking-royal bounty, with which not even a prayer had to do. It is so humbling to get a view of these, that Satan tries to set up a false humility to hinder us from Standing still and considering how great things the Lord has done for us; thus he also contrives to defraud our generous God of the glory due unto His Name. For, of course, we do not praise for what we will not recognize. Let us try to baffle this device today, and give thanks for the overwhelming mercies for which we never asked.-Frances R. Havergal.
Pro 3:1-4. My son, forget not my law My doctrine or counsel; but let thy heart keep, &c. By diligent meditation and hearty affection. For length of days, &c. God will add these blessings which he hath promised to the obedient, Deu 8:18; Deu 30:20; 1Ti 4:8. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee That mercy and truth, which are mans duty. Mercy denotes all benignity, charity, and readiness to do good to others; truth, or faithfulness, respects all those duties which we owe to God or man, on the principles of justice, and to which we are laid under special obligations by the rules of it. Bind them about thy neck Like a chain, wherewith persons were wont to adorn their necks. Write them upon the table, &c. In thy mind and heart, in which all Gods commands are to be received and engraven. So shalt thou find favour That is, obtain acceptance, and good understanding Whereby to know thy duty, and to discern between good and evil; in the sight of God and man Grace or favour with God, and that understanding which is good in his sight, that is, which is really and truly good, and which will be acknowledged as such by all truly wise and good men.
Pro 3:2. Length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee. The premature death denounced against the profligate, and the victims of the harlot, shall be far from thy dwelling. The truth of this promise, of frequent occurrence in the sacred writings, is demonstrated by the longevity of many scripture characters; and eternal life, by way of apposition, is understood.
Pro 3:3. Bind them about thy neck. As vain persons decorate their bodies with gems and ornaments, so the pious youth should decorate his mind with the real ornaments of divine wisdom: so shall he inherit the favour of God and man, health of body and every spiritual blessing.
Pro 3:5. Lean not to thy own understanding. Simply follow the divine word, and rest the issues with the Lord. On a thousand occasions carnal reason is opposed to acts of faith. Shall I, said Nabal, take my meat which I have dressed for my servants, and give it to the son of Jesse? Alas, had it not been for the vigorous prudence of his wife, before the morning light he would have lost both his life and his meat. Let us acknowledge God, and he will direct our way.
Pro 3:8. It shall be health to thy navel, as in Pro 3:2. Our learned traveller, Sir John Chardin says, this comparison is taken from plasters, ointments, oils, and frictions, which are used in the east on the belly and stomach in most maladies. In the villages, being ignorant of making decoctions and potions, and of the proper doses, they generally have recourse to external applications.
Pro 3:9. Honour the Lord with thy substance. Chaldaic, thy mammon, money and worldly goods. The deep stain of original sin is so profound, and the consequent outbreakings of wickedness are so great, that unless law and order be enforced, and virtue nourished by instruction and devotion, society is utterly lost. He therefore who gives ministers their just and liberal remuneration shall find a full requital from the Lord; he will fill their laythes and barns with grass and corn: Pro 3:10.
Pro 3:11. My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord. His corrections are paternal. Ordinary afflictions are often the effects of negligence, or of irregularity; others are constitutional, and some are special, as incidents, acute fevers, and epidemic diseases. But all are of the Lord, and our concern is to make a good use of them, for examination, for prayer, and for holiness.
Pro 3:12. As a father the son in whom he delighteth. The LXX render this latter clause, And scourgeth every son whom he receiveth: and thus it is quoted by St. Paul. Heb 12:6.
Pro 3:13. Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, the divine tutoress, that he may be taught of God. Her adornings are pure, peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruit. Augustine has said justly, that Christ, Mississe vicariam vim Spiritus Sancti, qui credentes agas, hath sent in his place the Holy Spirit, which actuates the soul of believers. No man can acquire divine wisdom without a divine influence.
Pro 3:15. She is more precious than rubies. Exo 28:15. Gems are the decorations of earthly courts, but wisdom adorns the mind, and heaven alone can estimate its worth. It is a crown of long life here, and of glory hereafter: Pro 3:16.
Pro 3:17. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, unfolding new discoveries, and opening heaven in the heart. The pleasure of contemplating the perfections of God in his works and ways, the pleasure of meditating on the person and offices of Christ, the pleasure of piety, and devotion, of studying the scriptures, and tracing an immortal hope, whose earnests are felt in the heart; the pleasure of doing good, and from the noble principle of divine love, and even the pleasure of suffering for righteousness sake, from a consciousness that afflictions are productive of good; are all of them exquisite, and pour a torrent of peace and divine enjoyment into the soul. Whereas the pleasures of sin are low, mean, and sensual, tending to disgust, to misery and corruption. Happy then, thrice happy is the man, who findeth wisdom, and retains her in his heart.
Pro 3:28. Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and to-morrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee. God having dealt bountifully with us, we should be bountiful to our needy neighbour. If he shall come to beg or borrow, let us give him what he wants, and give it now, provided we can do it with prudence, always remembering that the cheerful grace with which a favour is done, is more than the favour itself. Thus the God of charity requires all his servants to be distinguished by a noble, liberal and believing mind.
Pro 3:30. Strive not with a man without cause. Hebrews al toroob, be not litigious. Go not to law with thy neighbour on light and trivial occasions: better to bear a light injury than incur a heavy expense. Suits at law excite bad feelings, because the party that does wrong despises the bar of amicable equity.
Pro 3:34. He scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the lowly. The words are quoted by St. Peter, 1Pe 5:5, and by St. Jas 4:6, as they stand in the LXX, viz. God resisteth the proud: but giveth grace to the humble.
Pro 3:1-10. Fourth Discourse.The sage exhorts the young man to heed his oral instruction (torah), and to trust in Yahweh, fear Him, and honour Him in the prescribed manner of firstfruits. It is interesting to find torah used in its earlier prophetic sense of oral instruction, without reference to its later sense of the whole body of legislation represented by the Pentateuch. The torah of the wise man represents not his own individual authority, but the accumulated wisdom of experience. The torah of the prophet, although delivered in the name of Yahweh, represents ultimately the accumulated moral consciousness of the nation; while the torah of the priestin its later form at leastrepresents the traditional and inherited ritual, the prescribed method of the cultus. Hence the primary idea of torah is the same in all three forms. (See pp. 121, 620, Deu 1:5*, and for a fuller discussion, Law in HDB.) The traditional view of the moral government of the universe, challenged so passionately in Job, is here accepted as axiomatic; the reward of fearing Yahweh is material prosperity and long life, there is no outlook into the future.
Pro 3:8. navel: read flesh or body (LXX and Peshitta).
Pro 3:11 f. A comment, possibly by a later hand, on the meaning of misfortune. It represents the beginning of the problem discussed so fully in Job, and it offers the same solution as Eliphaz (Job 5:17 f.) and Elihu, a solution rejected by Job as inadequate. Chastisement could not be regarded as a proof of Gods love until the belief in a future life with God, where its results should appear, had been established. Indeed, the pressure of the moral problem helped largely to establish the belief in ethical and individual immortality. (See art. on Immortality in DAC; cf. also Sir 2:1-6, Pss. of Solomon Pro 13:8 f.)
Pro 3:12. as a father: LXX (Heb 12:6) reads scourges, probably representing the presumably correct reading afflicts, as in Job 5:18.
Pro 3:13-18. Couplets in praise of wisdom, possibly a continuation of Pro 3:1-10, but probably a separate fragment of a poem in praise of wisdom. It and Pro 3:19 f. are closely related to the hymn in praise of wisdom in Pro 3:8, and may represent an excerpt from an earlier recension of it.
Pro 3:15. Repeated in a slightly modified form in Pro 8:11.
Pro 3:19 f. A comment on the place of Wisdom in creation, expanded in Pro 8:23-31*. See Pro 3:13-18*.
Pro 3:21-26. Another fragment on the blessings of wisdom addressed by the sage to the young man. The connexion is clearly broken, them (Pro 3:21 a) having no antecedent, since Pro 3:21-26 is not a continuation of Pro 3:19 f. If, however, the order of Pro 3:21 a and Pro 3:21 b be inverted, the sense may be restored.depart: Heb. difficult. LXX reads slip away, perhaps the source of slip away in Heb 2:1.
Pro 3:29-35. Detached exhortations and maxims totally differing in style from the rest of Pro 3:1-9, and more closely resembling the maxims of Pro 10:1 to Pro 22:16. The connecting thread is the conception of kindliness to ones neighbour as a fundamental part of morality which underlies much of the Code of the Covenant and the parallel portions of D and H.
Pro 3:27. for them to whom it is due: a forced rendering; Heb. is lit. from its owners. LXX has from the needy, Peshitta omits. Read perhaps from thy neighbours.power: lit. God (et), illustrating the primitive conception attaching to the word (cf. Gen 31:29, Deu 28:32).
Pro 3:32. secret: Heb. implies intimate association (cf. Psa 25:14; Psa 55:14).
Pro 3:34. Neither RV nor RVm is satisfactory. Read with the scorners he shews himself scornful (Psa 18:26). LXX is quoted in Jas 4:6, 1Pe 5:5.
Pro 3:35 b. promotion is the Heb. verb to exalt or to remove (as Isa 57:14). Shame exalts fools, i.e. makes them notorious, is possible but forced. An attractive emendation is fools change their glory into shame (cf. Hos 4:7). Pro 14:18 may give the original text, fools await shame.
4. Divine promises and human obligations 3:1-12
This section is mainly about peace as a benefit of wise living, but it concludes with another appeal to seek wisdom.
The fruit of peace 3:1-10
The trust of the wise son (Pro 3:5-6) comes from heeding sound teaching (Pro 3:1-4), and it leads to confident obedience (Pro 3:7-9).
"Teaching" (Pro 3:1, Heb. torah) means "law" or, more fundamentally, "instruction" or "direction." Here the context suggests that the teachings of the parents are in view rather than the Mosaic Law, though in Israel their instruction would have rested on the Torah of God.
"Where it [torah] occurs unqualified (Pro 28:9; Pro 29:18) it is clearly the divine law (it is also the Jewish term for the Pentateuch); but my law, ’thy mother’s law’ (Pro 1:8), etc., refer to the present maxims and to the home teachings, based indeed on the law, but not identical with it." [Note: Kidner, p. 63.]
Pro 3:3 pictures devotion to kindness and truth (cf. Deu 6:8-9, which says that God’s law should receive the same devotion). "Kindness" or "love" translates the Hebrew word hesed, which refers to faithfulness to obligations that arise from a relationship. [Note: Ross, p. 916. Cf. Nelson Glueck, Hesed in the Bible, p. 55.] "Truth" or "faithfulness" (Heb. ’emet) refers to what one can rely on because it is stable. [Note: Moses Stuart, A Commentary on the Book of Proverbs, p. 167.] Together they may form a hendiadys: true kindness or faithful love. "Repute" (Pro 3:4) connotes success, as in Psa 111:10. "Trust" and "lean" (Pro 3:5) are very close in meaning. Trusting means to put oneself wholly at the mercy of another (cf. Jer 12:5 b; Psa 22:9 b). Leaning is not just reclining against something but relying on it totally for support.
"In the final analysis all government, all economics, all currency and banking, all institutions and all marriages, all relationships between people, are fundamentally governed by trust. Without trust, society deteriorates into paranoia, the feeling that everybody is out to get you." [Note: Larsen, p. 12.]
"There are two sides to the matter of trust. There is the decision of trust and the habit of trust. The first is called ’commitment;’ the second is called ’trust.’ Trust follows commitment, not always right away, but it begins there. In the middle of our fears we make a decision to trust. This does not immediately bring the habit of trust, but if we will muster the courage to commit our way to God we shall soon learn to trust." [Note: Ibid., p. 14.]
"Acknowledge" (Pro 3:6) means to be aware of and have fellowship with God, not just to tip one’s hat to Him. It includes obeying God’s moral will as He has revealed it. The promise (Pro 3:6 b) means that God will make the course of such a person’s life truly successful in God’s eyes. This is a promise as well as a proverb, and it refers to the totality of one’s life experience. It does not guarantee that one will never make mistakes.
How can we tell if a proverb is a promise as well as a proverb? We can do so by consulting the rest of Scripture. If a proverb expresses a truth promised elsewhere in Scripture, we know that we can rely on it being absolutely true. A proverb is by definition a saying that accurately represents what is usually true, not what is true without exception. For example, the proverb "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" teaches that eating fruit regularly will help keep you healthy. It is not a promise that if you will eat an apple every day you will never get sick and have to go to a doctor. Proverbs are slices of life that picture what life is usually like. In the case of Pro 3:5-6 we have the repetition of a promise made numerous times in Scripture that people who trust God will experience His guidance through life (cf. Hebrews 11; et al.). In our attempt to "handle accurately the word of truth" (2Ti 2:15) we must carefully distinguish proverbs that restate promises from those that do not and are only proverbs. Failure to distinguish proverbs from promises has led to confusion and disappointment for many readers of this genre.
"The individual proverbs must be interpreted and applied within the context of the whole book and, indeed, of the whole Bible. They are not divine promises for the here and now, but true observations that time will bear out." [Note: Tremper Longman III and Raymond B. Dillard, An Introduction to the Old Testament, p. 276.]
Pro 3:7-10 suggest some of the ways that God will reward the commitment of Pro 3:5-6. Pro 3:7 a gives the converse of Pro 3:5 a, and Pro 3:7 b restates Pro 3:6 a (cf. Rom 12:16). This is the act of acknowledging God in all one’s ways.
"No wise man is ever arrogant." [Note: Larsen, p. 25.]
Pro 3:8 describes personal invigoration poetically.
"Scripture often uses the physical body to describe inner spiritual or psychical feelings." [Note: Ross, p. 917. Cf. A. R. Johnson, The Vitality of the Individual in the Thought of Ancient Israel, pp. 67-68.]
Pro 3:9 applies the principle of acknowledging God to the financial side of life.
"To ’know’ God in our financial ’ways’ is to see that these honour Him." [Note: Kidner, p. 64.]
"The tragedy with many people is not that they don’t claim to have God in their lives, but that, while they claim to have Him, they still don’t trust Him. The most significant telltale symptom of this lack of trust is that they never get around to honoring the Lord with their substance. We’ve got to make sure that the family has security; and we don’t add to the security by whopping off a hunk of it and putting it in the offering plate, unless we really believe that God is our security." [Note: Larsen, p. 31.]
The prospect of material reward (Pro 3:10) was a promise to the godly Israelite (cf. Deu 28:1-14; Mal 3:10). Christians should recognize this verse as a proverb, rather than a promise, since the Lord has revealed that as Christians, we should expect persecution for our faith rather than material prosperity (2Ti 3:12; Heb 12:1-11).
CHAPTER 4
THE EARTHLY REWARDS OF WISDOM
Pro 3:1-10
THE general teaching of these nine introductory chapters is that the “ways of Wisdom are pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.” We are taught to look for the fruit of righteousness in long life and prosperity, for the penalty of sin in premature destruction. “The upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it. But the wicked shall be cut off from the land, and they that deal treacherously shall be rooted out of it.” {Pro 2:21-22} The foolish “shall eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the backsliding of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto Wisdom shall dwell securely, and shall be quiet without fear of evil.” {Pro 1:31-33} “By Wisdom thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased. If thou art wise, thou art wise for thyself; and if thou scornest, thou alone shall hear it.” The ways of Folly have this legend written over the entrance-gate: “The dead are there; her guests are in the depths of Sheol.” {Pro 9:12; Pro 9:18}
This teaching is summarized in the passage before us. “My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: for length of days, and years of life, and peace, shall they add to thee. Let not mercy and truth,” those primary requirements of wisdom, “forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thy heart”; i.e., let them be an ornament which strikes the eye of the beholder, but also an inward law which regulates the secret thought. “So shalt thou find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man”; that is to say, the charm of thy character will conciliate the love of thy fellow creatures and of thy God, while they recognize, and He approves, the spiritual state from which these graces grow. “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not upon thine own understanding: in all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes; fear the Lord, and depart from evil: it shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones. Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first-fruits of all thy increase: so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy vats shall overflow with new wine.” {Pro 3:1-10} The rewards of wisdom, then, are health and long life, the good-will of God and man, prosperity, and abundant earthly possessions. As our Lord would put it, they who leave house, or wife, or brethren, or parents, or children, for the kingdom of Gods sake, shall receive manifold more in this time, even of the things which they surrender, in addition to the everlasting life in the time to come. {Luk 18:29-30}
This is a side of truth which we frequently allow to drop out of sight, in order to emphasize another side which is considered more important. We are accustomed to dwell on the promised joys of the future world as if godliness had no promise of the life which now is, and in so doing we take all life and color from those expected blessings. The true view seems to be, the way of wisdom, the path of the upright, is so full of joy, so crowned with peace; the life of the children of the kingdom is so wisely and bountifully provided for; the inevitable pains and troubles which fall to their share are so transformed; that from this present good we can infer a future better, gathering hints and promises of what we shall be from the realized felicity of what we are.
If we try to estimate the temporal blessings of wisdom we do not thereby deny the larger and more lasting blessings which are to come; while if we ignore these present joyful results we deprive ourselves of the surest evidence for the things which, though hoped for, are not yet seen.
We may, then, with much advantage try to estimate some of the immediate and apprehensible benefits of the life which is lived according to the dictates of heavenly wisdom.
(1) First of all, the right life is a wholesome life-yes, physically healthy. Obedience to the eternal moral laws brings “health to the navel,” and that peculiar brightness which is like the freshness of dew. The body is a sacred trust, a temple of the Holy Ghost; to use it ill is to violate the trust and to defile the temple. The temperance of habit and orderliness of life which Wisdom requires of her children are the first conditions of vitality. They who seek health as the first consideration become valetudinarians and find neither health nor happiness; but they who diligently follow the law of God and the impulse of His Spirit find that health has come to them, as it were, by a side wind. The peace of mind, the cheerfulness of temper, the transfer of all anxiety from the human spirit to the strong Spirit of God, are very favorable to longevity. Insurance societies have made this discovery, and actuaries will tell you that in a very literal way the children of God possess the earth, while the wicked are cut off.
Yet no one thinks of measuring life only by days and years. To live long with the constant feeling that life is not worth living, or to live long with the constant apprehension of death, must be counted as a small and empty life. Now, it is the chief blessedness in the lot of the children of light that each day is a full, rich day, unmarred by recollections, unshadowed by apprehensions. Each day is distinctly worth living; it has its own exquisite lessons of cloud or sunshine, its own beautiful revelations of love, and pity, and hope. Time does not hang heavily on the hands, nor yet is its hurried flight a cause of vain regret; for it has accomplished that for which it was sent, and by staying longer could not accomplish more. And if, after all, God has appointed but a few years for His childs earthly life, that is not to be regretted; the only ground for sorrow would be to live longer than His wise love had decreed. “If God thy death desires,” as St. Genest says to Adrien in Rotrous tragedy, “life has been long enow.”
The life in God is undoubtedly a healthy life, nor is it the less healthy because the outward man has to decay, and mortality has to be swallowed up of life. From the standpoint of the Proverbs this wider application of the truth was not as yet visible. The problem which emerges in the book of Job was not yet solved. But already, as I think we shall see, it was understood that the actual and tangible rewards of righteousness were of incomparable price, and made the prosperity of the wicked look poor and delusive.
(2) But there is a second result of the right life which ordinary observation and common sense may estimate. Wisdom is very uncompromising in her requirement of fair dealing between man and man. She cannot away with those commercial practices which can only be described as devising “evil against thy neighbor,” who “dwelleth securely by thee.” {Pro 3:29} Her main economic principle is this, that all legitimate trade is the mutual advantage of buyer and seller; where the seller is seeking to dupe the buyer, and the buyer is seeking to rob the seller, trade ceases, and the transaction is the mere in-working of the devil. Wisdom is quite aware that by these ways of the devil wealth may be accumulated; she is not blind to the fact that the overreaching spirit of greed has its rich and splendid reward; but she maintains none the less that “the curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked; but He blesseth the habitation of the righteous.” {Pro 3:33}
It is a very impressive experience to enter the house of a great magnate whose wealth has been obtained by questionable means. The rooms are beautiful; works by the great masters shed their radiance of eternal truth from the walls; the library gleams with the well-bound books of moralists and religions teachers. The sons and daughters of the house are fair and elegant; the smile of prosperity is in every curtained and carpeted room, and seems to beam out of every illuminated window; and yet the sensitive spirit cannot be rid of the idea that “the curse of the Lord is in the house.”
On the other hand, the honorable man whose paths have been directed by the Lord, no matter whether he be wealthy or merely in receipt, as the result of a lifes labor, of his “daily bread,” has a blessing in his house. Men trust him and honor him. His wealth flows as a fertilizing stream, or if it run dry, his friends, who love him for himself, make him feel that it was a good thing to lose it in order to find them. In proportion as the fierce struggle of competition has made the path of fair dealing more difficult, they who walk in it are the more honored and loved. Nowhere does Wisdom smile more graciously or open her hand to bless more abundantly, than in the later years of a life which has in its earlier days been exposed, and has offered a successful resistance, to the strong temptations of unrighteous gain.
(3) Further, Wisdom commands not only justice, but generosity. She requires her children to yield the first-fruits of all their possessions to the Lord, and to look tenderly upon His poor. “Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it. Say not unto thy neighbor, Go, and come again, and tomorrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee.” {Pro 3:27-28} And the teaching of experience is that those who act upon this precept purchase to themselves a good possession. The main value of the Mammon of unrighteousness is, as our Lord says, to make to ourselves friends with it, friends who shall receive us into the everlasting habitations. The money we spend upon our own pleasures, and to promote our own interests, is spent and gone; but the money given with an open hand to those poor children of God, to whom it is strictly due, is not spent at all, but laid up in the most secure of banks. There is no source of joy in this present world to be compared with the loving gratitude of the poor whom you have lovingly helped. Strangely enough, men will spend much to obtain a title which carries no honor with it, forgetting that the same money given to the needy and the suffering purchases the true honor, which gives the noblest title. For we are none of us so stupid as to think that the empty admiration of the crowd is so rich in blessing as the heartfelt love of the few.
But in enumerating these external results of right living we have only touched incidentally upon the deeper truths which lie at the root of it. It is time to look at these.
God is necessarily so much to men, men are necessarily so completely bereft without Him, that clear vision and strong action are utterly impossible apart from a humble dependence upon Him. The beginning of all wisdom is, as we have seen, in the recognition of God, in personal submission to Him, in diligent obedience to all His directions. This appears, before we reflect, to be a mere truism; when we have reflected, it proves to be a great revelation. We do not at first see what is meant by trusting in the Lord with all our heart; we confuse it with that tepid, conventional relation to God which too frequently passes current for faith. We do not readily apprehend what is implied in acknowledging God in all our ways; we suppose that it only means a general professing and calling ourselves Christians. Consequently, many of us who believe that we trust in the Lord, yet lean habitually and confidently upon our own understanding, and are even proud of doing so; we are wise in our own eyes long after our folly has become apparent to everyone else; we resent with a vehemence of righteous indignation any imputation upon the soundness of our judgment. The very tone of mock humility in which we say, “I may be wrong, but” shows that we are putting a case which seems to us practically impossible. Consequently, while we think that we are acknowledging God in all our ways, He does not direct our paths; indeed, we never gave Him an opportunity. From first to last we directed them ourselves. Let us frankly acknowledge that we do not really believe in Gods detailed concern with the affairs of the individual life; that we do not, therefore, commit our way with an absolute surrender into His hand; that we do not think of submitting to His disposal the choice of our profession, the choice of our partner in life, the choice of our place of residence, the choice of our style of living, the choice of our field of public service, the choice of our scale of giving. Let us confess that we settled all these things in implicit and unquestioning reliance upon our own understanding.
I speak only in wide and fully admitted generalities. If Christians as a whole had really submitted their lives in every detail to God, do you suppose that there would be something like fifty thousand Christian ministers and ten times that number of Christian workers at home, while scarcely a twentieth of that number have gone out from us to labor abroad? If Christians had really submitted their lives to God, would there have been these innumerable wretched marriages-man and wife joined together by no spiritual tie, but by the caprice of fancy or the exigencies of social caste? If Christians had really asked God to guide them, meaning what they said, would all the rich be found in districts together, while all the poor are left to perish in other districts apart? If Christians had really accepted Gods direction, would they be living in princely luxury while the heathen world is crying for the bread of life? Would they be spending their strength on personal aims while the guidance of social and political affairs is left in the hands of the self-interested? Would they be giving such a fragment of their wealth to the direct service of the Kingdom of God?
We may answer very confidently that the life actually being lived by the majority of Christian people is not the result of God directing their paths, but simply comes from leaning on their own understanding. And what a sorrowful result!
But in the face of this apostasy of life and practice, we can still joyfully point to the fact that they who do entirely renounce their own judgment, who are small in their own eyes, and who, with their whole heart trusting Him, acknowledge Him in all their ways, find their lives running over with blessing, and become the means of incalculable good to the world and to themselves. It would not be easy to make plain or even credible, to those who have never trusted in God, how this guidance and direction are given. Not by miraculous signs or visible interpositions, not by voices speaking from heaven, nor even by messages from human lips, but by ways no less distinct and infinitely more authoritative, God guides men with His eye upon them, tells them, “This is the way; walk ye in it,” and whispers to them quite intelligibly when they turn to the right hand or the left. With a noble universality of language, this text says nothing of Urim or Thummim, of oracle or seer, of prophet or book: “He shall direct thy paths.” {Pro 3:6} That is enough; the method is left open to the wisdom and love of Him who directs. There is something even misleading in saying much about the methods; to set limits to Gods revelations, as Gideon did, is unworthy of the faith which has become aware of God as the actual and living Reality, compared with whom all other realities are but shadows. Our Lord did not follow the guidance of His Father by a mechanical method of signs, but by a more intimate and immediate perception of His will. When Jesus promised us the Spirit as an indwelling and abiding presence He clearly intimated that the Christian life should be maintained by the direct action of God upon the several faculties of the mind, stimulating the memory, quickening the perception of truth, as well as working on the conscience and opening the channels of prayer. When we wait for signs we show a defect of faith. True trust in our Heavenly Father rests in the absolute assurance that He will make the path plain, and leave us in no uncertainty about His will. To doubt that He speaks inwardly and controls us, even when we are unconscious of His control, is to doubt Him altogether.
When a few years have been passed in humble dependence on God, it is then possible to look back and see with astonishing clearness how real and decisive the leadings of the Spirit have been.
There were moments when two alternatives were present, and we were tempted to decide on the strength of our own understanding; but thanks be to his name, we committed it to Him. We stepped forward then in the darkness; we deserted the way which seemed most attractive, and entered the narrow path which was shrouded in mist. We knew He was leading us, but we could not see. Now we see, and we cannot speak our praise. Our life, we find, is all a plan of God, and He conceals it from us, as if on purpose to evoke our trust, and to secure that close and personal communion which the uncertainty renders necessary.
Are you suspicious of the Inward Light, as it is called? Does it seem to open up endless possibilities of self-delusion? Are you disgusted with those who follow their own willful way, and seek a sanction for it by calling it the leading of God? You will find that the error has arisen from not trusting the Lord “with the whole heart,” or from not acknowledging Him “in all ways.” The eye has not been single, and the darkness therefore has been, as our Lord declares that it would be, dense. {Mat 6:22} The remedy is not to be found in leaning more on our own understanding, but rather in leaning less. Wisdom calls for a certain absoluteness in all our relations to God, a fearless, unreserved, and constantly renewed submission of heart to Him. Wisdom teaches that in His will is our peace, and that His will is learnt by practical surrender to His ways and commandments.
Now, is it not obvious that while the external results of wisdom are great and marked, this inward result, which is the spring of them all, is more blessed than any? The laws which govern the universe are the laws of God. The Stoic philosophy demanded a life according to Nature. That is not enough, for by Nature is meant Gods will for the inanimate or non-moral creation. Where there is freedom of the will, existence must not be “according to Nature,” but according to God; that is to say, life must be lived in obedience to Gods laws for human life. The inorganic world moves in ordered response to Gods will. We, as men, have to choose; we have to discover; we have to interpret. Woe to us if we choose amiss, for then we are undone. Woe to us if we do not understand, but in a brutish way follow the ordinances of death instead of the way of life.
Now, the supreme bliss of the heavenly wisdom is that it leads us into this detailed obedience to the law which is our life; it sets us under the immediate and unbroken control of God. Well may it be said, “Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies.” {Pro 3:13-15} And yet rubies are very precious. I learn that the valley in Burmah where the most perfect rubies in the world are found is situated four thousand five hundred feet above the sea level, in a range of mountainous spurs about eighty miles due north of Mandalay; but owing to the difficult nature of the intervening ground, the valley can only be reached by a circuitous journey of some two hundred miles, which winds through malarious jungles and over arduous mountain passes. An eminent jewellers firm is about to explore the Valley of Rubies, though it is quite uncertain whether the stones may not be exhausted. Wisdom is “more precious than rubies, and none of the things thou canst desire are to be compared unto her.”
To know the secret of the Lord, to walk in this world not guideless, but led by the Lord of life, to approach death itself not fearful, but in the hands of that Infinite Love for whom death does not exist, surely this is worth more than the gold and precious stones which belong only to the earth and are earthy. This wisdom is laden with riches which cannot be computed in earthly treasures; “she is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.” {Pro 3:18} The creation itself, in its vast and infinite perfections, with all its aeonian changes, and all the mysterious ministries which order its details and maintain its activities, comes from that same wisdom which controls the right human life. The man, therefore, who is led in the ways of wisdom, trusting wholly to God, is in harmony with that great universe of which he forms an intelligent part: he may lie down without being afraid; he may walk securely without stumbling; no sudden fear can assail him; all the creatures of God are his sisters and his brothers; even Sister Death, as St. Francis used to say, is a familiar and a friend to him.
We have been dwelling upon the outward results of Heavenly Wisdom-the health, the prosperity, the friends, the favor with God and man which come to those who possess her. We have been led to seek out the secret of her peace in the humble surrender of the will to its rightful Lord. But there is a caution needed, a truth which has already occurred to the author of this chapter. It is evident that while Wisdom brings in her hand riches and honor, {Pro 3:16} health to the navel, and marrow to the bones, {Pro 3:8} it will not be enough to judge only by appearances. As we have pondered upon the law of Wisdom, we have become aware that there may be an apparent health and prosperity, a bevy of friends, and a loud-sounding fame which are the gift not of Wisdom, but of some other power. It will not do, therefore, to set these outward things before our eyes as the object of desire; it will not do to envy the possessors of them. {Pro 3:31} “The secret of the Lord is with the upright,” and it may often be that they to whom His secret has become open will choose the frowns of adversity rather than the smile of prosperity, will choose poverty rather than wealth, will welcome solitude and contumely down in the Valley of Humiliation. For it is an open secret, in the sweet light of wisdom it becomes a self-evident truth, that “whom the Lord loveth He reproveth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.” {Pro 3:12}
There is, then, a certain paradox in the life of wisdom which no ingenuity can avoid. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, but we may not seek them because they are pleasant, for other ways are pleasant too, or seem to be so for a while. All her paths are peace, but we do not enter them to gain peace, for the peace comes often under the stress of a great conflict or in the endurance of a heavy chastening. A thousand temporal blessings accompany the entrance into the narrow way, but so far from seeking them, it is well-nigh impossible to start on the way unless we lose sight and care of them altogether. The Divine Wisdom gives us these blessings when we no longer set our hearts on them, because while we set our hearts on them they are dangerous to us. Putting the truth in the clearest light which has been given to us, the light of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are called upon to give up everything in order to seek first the Kingdom of Heaven, and when we are absorbed in that as our true object of search everything is given back to us a hundredfold; we are called upon to take up our cross and follow Him, and when we do so He bears the cross for us; we are called upon to take His yoke upon us and to learn of Him, and immediately we take it-not before-we find that it is easy. The wise, loving only wisdom, find that they have inherited glory; the fools, seeking only promotion, find that they have achieved nothing but shame. {Pro 3:35}
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary