Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 9:1
Wisdom hath built her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars:
1. seven pillars ] “Pillars form an important feature in Oriental architecture, partly perhaps as a reminiscence of the tent with its supporting poles, and partly also from the use of flat roofs, in consequence of which the chambers were either narrower, or divided into portions by columns.” Smith’s Dict. of Bible, Art. Pillar.
Here, however, it is better to suppose that the great banquet-hall is open all along the front, so as it were to invite entrance, the roof being supported by a row (‘seven’ is the usual symbol of completeness) of stately pillars. The magnificent hall in which the lords of the Philistines sat and watched Samson making sport in the court-yard outside, while on its flat roof no fewer than 3000 people were assembled, was constructed on this principle; the two central pillars of the colonnade forming a chief support of the roof (Jdg 16:25-30).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
A parable full of beauty, and interesting in its parallelism to the parables of our Lord Mat 22:3-4; Luk 14:16.
Seven pillars – The number is chosen as indicating completeness and perfection. God revealing Himself in nature, resting in His work, entering into covenant with human beings – these were the ideas conveyed by it.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Pro 9:1-6
Wisdom hath builded her house.
Wisdoms invitation
The Bible is fully of mystery, not merely in its doctrines, but also in the manner and in the language by which the truths of revelation are brought before us. In the personification of this passage, Wisdom is seen sympathising with man, caring for man, loving man, diffusing abroad amongst men the benefits of harmony, and of purity, and of eternal life.
I. The provision made by heavenly Wisdom for the spiritual wants of men. When Wisdom is here represented as having furnished her house, and built her dwelling, you have an idea, a correct conception of the Church of God. God is the builder of the Church, and the foundation is deep, broad, and wide, and altogether sufficient for the purposes of human salvation. Men are represented as living stones, quickened and animated, and hewn and fitted to occupy the position for which they are intended, cemented by Divine love, held in attraction to the foundation, and consequently held in relation to each other. In the passage the building is characterised by stability and durability. Seven pillars. Pillars, in Scripture, are emblems of strength, beauty, and durability. The number seven is indicative of perfection. Every pillar, every buttress, every support that Christianity needs the wisdom of God has provided. In the passages is the further idea of a gracious and adequate provision. She hath killed her killings. This is the idea of sacrifice. The idea of what is grateful and refreshing is likewise presented. She hath mingled her wine. Easterns mingled their wines in order, by the power of spices, to make them more attractive, and to strengthen their flavour. Then the table is furnished. Divine truth in its simplest and most complicated form–Divine truth that can guide, and purify, and train the spirit up for heaven–the truth that can make you free–the truth that can bless you with present happiness and eternal glory, is presented in the gospel. The provision of infinite love, then, is precisely adapted to your need.
II. The invitation presented to mankind to accept of this provision.
1. The parties employed to utter the invitation. When Wisdom, as the queen of heaven, spreads her table, she sends out her maidens. They are emblems of feebleness, purity, and attractiveness; and this is just the character of the messengers that were sent out by the Lord.
2. The persons to whom the invitation is directed. Here represented as being foolish, indiscreet, unwise, incompetent to guide their own affairs, incapable of obtaining that support and comfort which they need. Here is a correct idea of the ruined, the guilty, and the helpless condition of man. The gospel is preached to the ignorant, the guilty, and the wretched.
3. The scene of proclamation is described. It is made in the chief places of congress, at the opening of the gate, and the going in of the doors. This teaches us that the proclamation is to be made in the midst of large multitudes of people.
III. The consideration by which this invitation is enforced and pressed home upon attention. There is not the mere announcement of provision, not the mere proclamation of the fact, but an entreaty on the part of those who go out with the messages. Forsake the foolish and live. Life is valuable–all life is valuable. The life of religion, the life of God in the soul of man, is the highest form of life. There is an appeal in the text to the love of enjoyment. There is an appeal also to the love of wisdom. Have you obeyed the invitation? (Gearge Smith, D. D,)
The rival banquets
(with Pro 9:13-18):–
I. The resemblances between them are set forth in a very striking manner.
1. It is the same class of men that is invited. They are in both cases the simple, the void of understanding.
2. The invitations are similar in–
(1) Their universality;
(2) their publicity (Pro 9:8; Pro 14:1-35); and
(3) their urgency. Wisdom sends forth her messengers, and so, presumably, does Folly.
II. But the differences are no less marked.
1. In the banquets themselves. Wisdom has built her grand, substantial palace or temple (Pro 9:1), in virtue of her share in creation (Pro 8:30), and she has provided a satisfying, nourishing, and gladsome feast (Pro 9:2). Not so Folly. In consistency with her parasitic nature, it is not her own goods that she creates and prepares, but she invites to the abuse or illicit enjoyment of the goods God has already bestowed. Wisdom sits as a princess in her rightful home; Folly is hardly more than at the door of her house, which is not described.
2. In the inducements presented. These are not the feasts themselves, but additional commendations setting forth their relative advantages. In the one case satisfying and nourishing viands are offered, whose result is life; in the other, the thing presented is pleasure, and that which is to give it is only spoken of in a mysterious, allusive way. It is the illicit and secret enjoyment that is the charm. But if the Queen of Sheba declared that the half had not been told her of the true wisdom, how much of the truth is kept back in the promises and fair speeches of Folly! Those who are once within her house are to all intents and purposes dead men, and are as if they were already in the depths of Sheol! (St. J. A. Frere, M.A.)
Wisdoms house
I. What person is alluded to by the designation of Wisdom? (Pro 8:22-31). Here we have the eternity of Christ plainly set forth; His absolute Sovereignty saying, By Me kings reign and princes decree justice. He also assures us of His love: I love them that love Me, and those that seek Me early shall find Me. He also speaks of His extensive resources: Riches and honour are with Me, yea durable riches and righteousness.
II. The house which Wisdom has built.
1. An indestructible house. He formed, in the counsels of eternity, by unerring wisdom, a plan which no finite mind could have ever suggested, and which can admit of no improvement. We are thankful for a good plan, when we reflect that the permanence of a building is often, in some measure at least, dependent upon it. This building rests on the securest foundation–the three persons in the ever-blessed Trinity, the perfections of God, and the all-sufficient righteousness of the incarnate One. It reposes, not on the yielding sand of human merit or mortal workmanship, but on the Rock of Ages, which time cannot crumble or change. Not only is the foundation quite safe and immovable, but the superstructure is equally strong. In fact, it is perfectly invincible. She hath hewn her seven pillars. Pillars are used as the supports and ornaments of buildings, and the number seven is the symbol of perfection. We take the seven pillars to denote perfect strength and beauty. We next observe that Wisdoms house affords perfect security to its inhabitants. It is a fortress, a strong tower, a house of defence, a castle of safety, to those who enjoy the privilege of dwelling in it.
2. A house of instruction. It is emphatically the house of Wisdom. A school where the best lessons are taught, in the best possible mode of teaching, and by the best of all teachers.
3. A banqueting house (Pro 9:2). The Church of the living God is a banqueting-hall in which we have the gospel feast prepared and exhibited for all who have a spiritual appetite; and the invitation is freely and earnestly given to all, for there is plenty of room and an abundance of provisions. The entertainment is in reality a feast upon a sacrifice, and what is that sacrifice on which all who wish may feast but the sacrifice of Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world? (S. Waller.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER IX
Wisdom builds her house, makes her provision for a great feast,
calls her guests, and exhorts them to partake of her
entertainment, 14.
Different admonitions relative to the acquisition of wisdom,
7-12.
The character and conduct of a bad woman, 13-18.
NOTES ON CHAP. IX.
The same Wisdom speaks here who spoke in the preceding chapter. There she represented herself as manifest in all the works of God in the natural world; all being constructed according to counsels proceeding from an infinite understanding. Here, she represents herself as the great potentate, who was to rule all that she had constructed; and having an immense family to provide for, had made an abundant provision, and calls all to partake of it. This, says Calmet, is the continuation of the parable begun in the preceding chapter, where wisdom is represented as a venerable lady, whose real beauties and solid promises are opposed to the false allurements of PLEASURE, who was represented in the seventh chapter under the idea of a debauched and impudent woman. This one, to draw young people into her snares, describes the perfumes, the bed, and the festival which she has prepared. WISDOM acts in the same way: but, instead of the debauchery, the false pleasures, and the criminal connections which pleasure had promised, offers her guests a strong, well-built, magnificent palace, chaste and solid pleasures, salutary instructions, and a life crowned with blessedness. This is the sum and the substance of the parable; but as in the preceding part, so in this, men have produced strange creatures of their own brain, by way of explanation. One specimen of this mode of interpretation may suffice.
The house built by wisdom is the holy humanity of Jesus Christ; the seven pillars are the seven sacraments, or the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost, or the whole of the apostles, preachers, and ministers of the Church; the slain beasts are the sacrifice of Christ’s body upon the cross; and the bread and mingled wine are the bread and wine in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper! – FATHERS and DOCTORS.
If we have recourse to any other particulars than those given above in the summary of the chapter, let us follow the first part of the parable, where wisdom is represented as laying the plan of the creation; and then perhaps we may say with safety, that wisdom, having produced the grand ichnograph or ground plot of the whole, with all the requisite elevations and specifications of materials, comes to show us, in this part, that the whole has been constructed on this plan; and specifies the end for which this august building has been raised.
Verse 1. Wisdom hath builded her house] The eternal counsel of God has framed the universe.
She hath hewn out her seven pillars] Every thing has been so constructed as to exhibit a scene of grandeur, stability, and durableness.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Hath builded her house, for the reception and entertainment of her guests, as appears from the following passages. This house is opposed to the harlots house, mentioned Pro 7:8; and it is to be understood, either,
1. Of the heavenly house, or the palace of glory; or rather,
2. Of the church, which Christ, the Wisdom of the Father, hath erected and established in the world, in which this following feast is made, which is called Gods house, 1Ti 3:15; Heb 3:3,4.
Seven, i.e. many pillars; whereby is intimated both the beauty and the stability of the church. Pillars; prophets, and apostles, and ministers of holy things, which in Scripture are called pillars, as Gal 2:9, and elsewhere.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. house(compare Pr8:34).
heror, “its”(the house).
seven pillarsthenumber seven for many, or a sufficiency (Pr6:31).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Wisdom hath builded her house,…. Or “Wisdoms”: of which see Pr 1:20; Christ, the Wisdom of God, is meant, in whom and from whom all wisdom is. Various are the opinions concerning this house built by him. Some take it to be the whole circle of sciences, and the seven pillars to be the seven liberal ones, as Aben Ezra; though rather, as others, it may design the schools of the prophets, in which young men were trained up in the knowledge of divine and spiritual things. Some would have the whole universe to be meant, and the seven pillars to be the seven days of creation, as Jarchi; or the seven planets, as others: it is an odd notion of Grotius, that the human body is intended, with its five senses; and, to make up the number seven, adds the voice and memory: rather the human nature of Christ, which is a temple, a tabernacle, a house in which the Godhead dwells, is built by Wisdom, made without the hands of men; and then its seven pillars are the graces of the Spirit, by which it was supported and adorned; see
Isa 11:2; Some understand it of the temple of a regenerate man’s heart; in which God, Father, Son and Spirit, dwell. But there are two other senses, which bid fairest one of them to be right; either the heavenly glory, the house not made with hands, Christ’s Father’s house, in which are many mansions for his people; and which is a city whose builder and maker is God, and is prepared by Christ; and stands firm upon the promises of God, the person, blood, and righteousness of Christ, and the grace of the blessed Spirit: or rather the church of Christ on earth, the house of the living God, the pillar and ground of truth; this is built by Christ upon himself, the rock and foundation; the materials of it are true believers, precious and lively stones; built up a spiritual house, and a fit and suitable habitation for God through the Spirit. Such a house there was under the Old Testament, and such an one there is under the New; and which is continually building up by Christ by means of the word and ordinances, and will continue to the end of the world; see 1Ti 3:15;
she hath hewn out her seven pillars; ministers of the Gospel, compared to pillars for strength and stability, and for their being instrumental in supporting the interest and church of Christ; in allusion to the pillars in Solomon’s temple, Jachin and Boaz; see Ga 2:9. These are said to be “hewn”, being polished, beautified, and adorned with the gifts and graces of the Spirit by Christ, and thereby fitted for their work and service; and said to be “seven”, because there is a complete and sufficient number of them, which Christ has provided, and always will provide for his churches, as long as they continue in the world. Though it may be these seven pillars may denote in general the firmness and solidity of this spiritual building, the church, and the continuance of it by the power of God; or they may have respect to the seven states of the church in so many periods of time, to last to the end of all things, signified by the seven churches in the book of the Revelation; so Cocceius c.
c Vid. Lexic. Heb. col. 623.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The preceding discourse pronounces those happy who, having taken their stand at the portal of Wisdom, wait for her appearance and her invitation. There is thus a house of Wisdom as there is a house of God, Psa 84:11; and if now the discourse is of a house of Wisdom, and of an invitation to a banquet therein (like that in the parable, Matt 22, of the invitation to the marriage feast of the king’s son), it is not given without preparation:
1 Wisdom hath builded for herself an house,
Hewn out her seven pillars;
2 Hath slaughtered her beasts, mingled her wine;
Hath also spread her table;
3 Hath sent out her maidens; she waiteth
On the highest points of the city.
Pro 9:1 Regarding , vid., at Pro 1:20. It is a plur. excellentiae, which is a variety of the plur. extensivus. Because it is the expression of a plural unity, it stands connected (as for the most part also , Deus ) with the sing. of the predicate. The perfects enumerate all that Wisdom has done to prepare for her invitation. If we had a parable before us, the perf. would have run into the historical ; but it is, as the shows, an allegorical picture of the arrangement and carrying out of a present reality. Instead of there is , for the house is already in its origin represented as hers, and 1b is to be translated: she has hewn out her seven pillars (Hitzig); more correctly: her pillars, viz., seven (after the scheme , Gen 37:2); but the construction is closer. is, altogether like Exo 25:37, the accusative of the second object, or of the predicate after the species of verba , with the idea: to make something, turn into something, which take to themselves a double accusative, Gesen. 139, 2: excidit columnas suas ita ut septem essent . Since the figure is allegorical, we may not dispense with the interpretation of the number seven by the remark, “No emphasis lies in the number” (Bertheau). First, we must contemplate architecturally the house with seven pillars: “They are,” as Hitzig rightly remarks, “the pillars of the (porch) [ vid. Bachmann under Jdg 3:23, and Wetstein under Psa 144:12, where is used of the cutting out and hewing of wood, as of the cutting out and hewing of stone] in the inner court, which bore up the gallery of the first (and second) floors: four of these in the corners and three in the middle of three sides; through the midst of these the way led into the court of the house-floor the area.” But we cannot agree with Hitzig in maintaining that, with the seven pillars of chap. 8 and 9, the author looks back to the first seven chapters (Arab. abwab , gates) of this book; we think otherwise of the component members of this Introduction to the Book of Proverbs; and to call the sections of a book “gates, ,” is a late Arabico-Jewish custom, of which there is found no trace whatever in the O.T. To regard them also, with Heidenheim (cf. Dante’s Prose Writings, translated by Streckfuss, p. 77), as representing the seven liberal arts ( ) is impracticable; for this division of the artes liberales into seven, consisting of the Trivium (Grammar, Rhetoric, and Dialectics) and Quadrivium (Music, Arithmetic, Geometry, and Astronomy), is not to be looked for within the old Israelitish territory, and besides, these were the sciences of this world which were so divided; but wisdom, to which the discourse here refers, is wholly a religious-moral subject. The Midrash thinks of the seven heavens ( ), or the seven climates or parts of the earth ( ), as represented by them; but both references require artificial combinations, and have, as also the reference to the seven church-eras (Vitringa and Chr. Ben. Michaelis), this against them, that they are rendered probable neither from these introductory proverbial discourses, nor generally from the O.T. writings. The patristic and middle-age reference to the seven sacraments of the church passes sentence against itself; but the old interpretation is on the right path, when it suggests that the seven pillars are the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost. The seven-foldness of the manifestation of the Spirit, already brought near by the seven lamps of the sacred candelabra (the ), is established by Isa 11:2 ( vid., l.c.); and that Wisdom is the possessor and dispenser of the Spirit she herself testifies, Pro 1:23. Her Spirit is the “Spirit of wisdom;” but at the same time, since, born of God, she is mediatrix between God and the world, also the “Spirit of Jahve,” He is the “spirit of understanding,” the “spirit of counsel,” and the “spirit of might” (Isa 11:2); for she says, Pro 8:14, “Counsel is mine, and reflection; I am understanding, I have strength.” He is also the “spirit of knowledge,” and the “spirit of the fear of the Lord” (Isa 11:2); for fear and the knowledge of Jahve are, according to Pro 9:14, the beginning of wisdom, and essentially wisdom itself.
Pro 9:2 If thus the house of Wisdom is the place of her fellowship with those who honour her, the system of arrangements made by her, so as to disclose and communicate to her disciples the fulness of her strength and her gifts, then it is appropriate to understand by the seven pillars the seven virtues of her nature communicating themselves (apocalyptically expressed, the ), which bear up and adorn the dwelling which she establishes among men. Flesh and wine are figures of the nourishment for the mind and the heart which is found with wisdom, and, without asking what the flesh and the wine specially mean, are figures of the manifold enjoyment which makes at once strong and happy. The segolate n. verbale , which Pro 7:22 denoted the slaughtering or the being slaughtered, signifies here, in the concrete sense, the slaughtered ox; Michaelis rightly remarks that , in contradistinction to , is the usual word for mactatio extrasacrificialis . Regarding , vid., under Isa 5:22; it is not meant of the mingling of wine with sweet scents and spices, but with water (warm or cold), and signifies simply to make the wine palatable (as , temperare ); the lxx , is the name of the vessel in which the mixing takes place; they drank not , but , Rev 14:10. The frequently occurring phrase signifies to prepare the table (from , properly the unrolled and outspread leather cover), viz., by the placing out of the dishes ( vid., regarding , under Gen 22:9).
Pro 9:3 The verb , when a feast is spoken of, means to invite; , Pro 9:18 (cf. 1Sa 9:13, etc.), are the guests. the lxx translates , but certainly here the disciples are meant who already are in the service of Wisdom; but that those who are invited to Wisdom are thought of as feminine, arises from the tasteful execution of the picture. The invitation goes forth to be known to all far and wide, so that in her servants Wisdom takes her stand in the high places of the city. Instead of , Pro 8:2; Pro 1:21, there is used here the expression . We must distinguish the Semitic (= ganf ), wings, from = , to cover, and (= gaff or ganf ), the bark, which is derived either from or , Arab. jnf , convexus, incurvus et extrinsecus gibber fuit , hence originally any surface bent outwards or become crooked (cf. the roots cap , caf , , etc.), here the summit of a height (Fl.); thus not super alis (after the analogy of , after Suidas = ), but super dorsis (as in Lat. we say , and also viae ).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Invitation of Wisdom. | |
1 Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars: 2 She hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her wine; she hath also furnished her table. 3 She hath sent forth her maidens: she crieth upon the highest places of the city, 4 Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, 5 Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled. 6 Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding. 7 He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame: and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot. 8 Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. 9 Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning. 10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. 11 For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased. 12 If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.
Wisdom is here introduced as a magnificent and munificent queen, very great and very generous; that Word of God is this Wisdom in which God makes known his goodwill towards men; God the Word is this Wisdom, to whom the Father has committed all judgment. He who, in the chapter before, showed his grandeur and glory as the Creator of the world, here shows his grace and goodness as the Redeemer of it. The word is plural, Wisdoms; for in Christ are hid treasures of wisdom, and in his undertaking appears the manifold wisdom of God in a mystery. Now observe here,
I. The rich provision which Wisdom has made for the reception of all those that will be her disciples. This is represented under the similitude of a sumptuous feast, whence it is probable, our Saviour borrowed those parables in which he compared the kingdom of heaven to a great supper, Mat 22:2; Luk 14:16. And so it was prophesied of, Isa. xxv. 6. It is such a feast as Ahasuerus made to show the riches of his glorious kingdom. The grace of the gospel is thus set before us in the ordinance of the Lord’s supper. To bid her guests welcome, 1. Here is a stately palace provided, v. 1. Wisdom, not finding a house capacious enough for all her guests, has built one on purpose, and, both to strengthen it and to beautify it, she has hewn out her seven pillars, which make it to be very firm, and look very great. Heaven is the house which Wisdom has built to entertain all her guests that are called to the marriage-supper of the Lamb; that is her Father’s house, where there are many mansions, and whither she has gone to prepare places for us. She has hanged the earth upon nothing, there in it we have no continuing city; but heaven is a city that has foundations, has pillars. The church is Wisdom’s house, to which she invites her guests, supported by the power and promise of God, as by seven pillars. Probably, Solomon refers to the temple which he himself had lately built for the service of religion, and to which he would persuade people to resort, both to worship God and to receive the instructions of Wisdom. Some reckon the schools of the prophets to be here intended. 2. Here is a splendid feast got ready (v. 2): She has killed her beasts; she has mingled her wine; plenty of meat and drink are provided, and all of the best. She has killed her sacrifice (so the word is); it is a sumptuous, but a sacred feast, a feast upon a sacrifice. Christ has offered up himself a sacrifice for us, and it is his flesh that is meat indeed and his blood that is drink indeed. The Lord’s supper is a feast of reconciliation and joy upon the sacrifice of atonement. The wine is mingled with something richer than itself, to give it a more than ordinary spirit and flavour. She has completely furnished her table with all the satisfactions that a soul can desire-righteousness and grace, peace and joy, the assurances of God’s love, the consolations of the Spirit, and all the pledges and earnests of eternal life. Observe, It is all Wisdom’s own doing; she has killed the beasts, she has mingled the wine, which denotes both the love of Christ, who makes the provision (he does not leave it to others, but takes the doing of it into his own hands), and the excellency of the preparation. That must needs be exactly fitted to answer the end which Wisdom herself has the fitting up of.
II. The gracious invitation she has given, not to some particular friends, but to all in general, to come and take part of these provisions. 1. She employs her servants to carry the invitation round about in the country: She has sent forth her maidens, v. 3. The ministers of the gospel are commissioned and commanded to give notice of the preparations which God has made, in the everlasting covenant, for all those that are willing to come up to the terms of it; and they, with maiden purity, not corrupting themselves or the word of God, and with an exact observance of their orders, are to call upon all they meet with, even in the highways and hedges, to come and feast with Wisdom, for all things are now ready, Luke xiv. 23. 2. She herself cries upon the highest places of the city, as one earnestly desirous of the welfare of the children of men, and grieved to see them rejecting their own mercies for lying vanities. Our Lord Jesus was himself the publisher of his own gospel; when he had sent forth his disciples he followed them to confirm what they said; nay, it began to be spoken by the Lord, Heb. ii. 3. He stood, and cried, Come unto me. We see who invited; now let us observe,
(1.) To whom the invitation is given: Whoso is simple and wants understanding, v. 4. If we were to make an entertainment, of all people we should not care for, much less court, the company of such, but rather of philosophers and learned men, that we might hear their wisdom, and whose table-talk would be improving. “Have I need of madmen?” But Wisdom invites such, because what she has to give is what they most need, and it is their welfare that she consults, and aims at, in the preparation and invitation. He that is simple is invited, that he may be made wise, and he that wants a heart (so the word is) let him come hither, and he shall have one. Her preparations are rather physic than food, designed for the most valuable and desirable cure, that of the mind. Whosoever he be, the invitation is general, and excludes none that do not exclude themselves; though they be ever so foolish, yet, [1.] They shall be welcome. [2.] They may be helped; they shall neither be despised nor despaired of. Our Saviour came, not to call the righteous, but sinners, not the wise in their own eyes, who say they see (John ix. 41), but the simple, those who are sensible of their simplicity and ashamed of it, and him that is willing to become a fool, that he may be wise, 1 Cor. iii. 18.
(2.) What the invitation is. [1.] We are invited to Wisdom’s house: Turn in hither. I say we are, for which of us is there that must not own the character of the invited, that are simple and want understanding? Wisdom’s doors stand open to such, and she is desirous to have some conversation with them, one word for their good, nor has she any other design upon them. [2.] We are invited to her table (v. 5): Come, eat of my bread, that is, taste of the true pleasures that are to be found in the knowledge and fear of God. By faith acted on the promises of the gospel, applying them to ourselves and taking the comfort of them, we feed, we feast, upon the provisions Christ has made for poor souls. What we eat and drink we make our own, we are nourished and refreshed by it, and so are our souls by the word of God; it has that in it which is meat and drink to those that have understanding.
(3.) What is required of those that may have the benefit of this invitation, v. 6. [1.] They must break off from all bad company: “Forsake the foolish, converse not with them, conform not to their ways, have no fellowship with the works of darkness, or with those that deal in such works.” The first step towards virtue is to shun vice, and therefore to shun the vicious. Depart from me, you evil-doers. [2.] They must awake and arise from the dead; they must live, not in pleasure (for those that do so are dead while they live), but in the service of God; for those only that do so live indeed, live to some purpose. “Live not a mere animal-life, as brutes, but now, at length, live the life of men. Live and you shall live; live spiritually, and you shall live eternally,” Eph. v. 14. [3.] They must choose the paths of Wisdom, and keep to them: “Go in the way of understanding; govern thyself henceforward by the rules of religion and right reason.” It is not enough to forsake the foolish, but we must join ourselves with those that walk in wisdom, and walk in the same spirit and steps.
III. The instructions which Wisdom gives to the maidens she sends to invite, to the ministers and others, who in their places are endeavouring tot serve her interests and designs. She tells them,
1. What their work must be, not only to tell in general what preparation is made for souls, and to give a general offer of it, but they must address themselves to particular persons, must tell them of their faults, reprove, rebuke,Pro 9:7; Pro 9:8. They must instruct them how to amend–teach, v. 9. The word of God is intended, and therefore so is the ministry of that word, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness.
2. What different sorts of persons they would meet with, and what course they must take with them, and what success they might expect.
(1.) They would meet with some scorners and wicked men who would mock the messengers of the Lord, and misuse them, would laugh those to scorn that invite them to the feast of the Lord, as they did, 2 Chron. xxx. 10, would treat them spitefully, Matt. xxii. 6. And, though they are not forbidden to invite those simple ones to Wisdom’s house, yet they are advised not to pursue the invitation by reproving and rebuking them. Reprove not a scorner; cast not these pearls before swine, Matt. vii. 6. Thus Christ said of the Pharisees, Let them alone, Matt. xv. 14. “Do not reprove them.” [1.] “In justice to them, for those have forfeited the favour of further means who scorn the means they have had. Those that are thus filthy, let them be filthy still; those that are joined to idols, let them alone; lo, we turn to the Gentiles.” [2.] “In prudence to yourselves; because, if you reprove them,” First, “You lose your labour, and so get to yourselves shame for the disappointment.” Secondly, “You exasperate them; do it ever so wisely and tenderly, if you do it faithfully, they will hate you, they will load you with reproaches, and say all the ill they can of you, and so you will get a blot; therefore you had better not meddle with them, for your reproofs will be likely to do more hurt than good.”
(2.) They would meet with others, who are wise, and good, and just; thanks be to God, all are not scorners. We meet with some who are so wise for themselves, to just to themselves, as to be willing and glad to be taught; and when we meet with such, [1.] If there be occasion, we must reprove them; for wise men are not so perfectly wise but there is that in them which needs a reproof; and we must not connive at any man’s faults because we have a veneration for his wisdom, nor must a wise man think that his wisdom exempts him from reproof when he says or does any thing foolishly; but the more wisdom a man has the more desirous he should be to have his weaknesses shown him, because a little folly is a great blemish to him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour. [2.] With our reproofs we must give them instruction, and must teach them, v. 9. [3.] We may expect that our doing so will be taken as a kindness, Ps. cxli. 5. A wise man will reckon those his friends who deal faithfully with him: “Rebuke such a one, and he will love thee for thy plain dealing, will thank thee, and desire thee to do him the same good turn another time, if there be occasion.” It is as great an instance of wisdom to take a reproof well as to give it well, [4.] Being taken well, it will do good, and answer the intention. A wise man will be made wiser by the reproofs and instructions that are given him; he will increase in learning, will grow in knowledge, and so grow in grace. None must think themselves too wise to learn, nor so good that they need not be better and therefore need not be taught. We must still press forward, and follow on to know till we come to the perfect man. Give to a wise man (so it is in the original), give him advice, give him reproof, give him comfort, and he will be yet wiser; give him occasion (so the LXX.), occasion to show his wisdom, and he will show it, and the acts of wisdom will strengthen the habits.
IV. The instructions she gives to those that are invited, which her maidens must inculcate upon them.
1. Let them know wherein true wisdom consists, and what will be their entertainment at Wisdom’s table, v. 10. (1.) The heart must be principled with the fear of God; that is the beginning of wisdom. A reverence of God’s majesty, and a dread of his wrath, are that fear of him which is the beginning, the first step towards true religion, whence all other instances of it take rise. This fear may, at first, have torment, but love will, by degrees, cast out the torment of it. (2.) The head must be filled with the knowledge of the things of God. The knowledge of holy things (the word is plural) is understanding, the things pertaining to the service of God (those are called holy things), that pertain to our own sanctification; reproof is called that which is holy, Matt. vii. 6. Or the knowledge which holy men have, which was taught by the holy prophets, of those things which holy men spoke as they were moved by the holy Ghost, this is understanding; it is the best and most useful understanding, will stand us in most stead and turn to the best account.
2. Let them know what will be advantages of this wisdom (v. 11): “By me thy days shall be multiplied. It will contribute to the health of thy body, and so the years of thy life on earth shall be increased, while men’s folly and intemperance shorten their days. It will bring thee to heaven, and there thy days shall be multiplied in infinitum–to infinity, and the years of thy life shall be increased without end.” There is no true wisdom but in the say of religion and no true life but in the end of that way.
3. Let them know what will be the consequence of their choosing or refusing this fair offer, v. 12. Here is, (1.) The happiness of those that embrace it: “If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself; thou wilt be the gainer by it, not Wisdom.” A man cannot be profitable to God. It is to our own good that we are thus courted. “Thou wilt not leave the gain to others” (as we do our worldly wealth when we die, which is therefore called another man’s, Luke xvi. 12), “but thou shalt carry it with thee into another world.” Those that are wise for their souls are wise for themselves, for the soul is the man; nor do any consult their own true interest but those that are truly religious. This recommends us to God, and recovers us from that which is our folly and degeneracy; it employs us in that which is most beneficial in this world, and entitles us to that which is much more so in the world to come. (2.) The shame and ruin of those that slight it: “If thou scornest Wisdom’s proffer, thou alone shalt bar it.” [1.] “Thou shalt bear the blame of it.” Those that are good must thank God, but those that are wicked may thank themselves; it is not owing to God (he is not the author of sin); Satan can only tempt, he cannot force; and wicked companions are but his instruments; so that all the fault must lie on the sinner himself. [2.] “Thou shalt bear the loss of that which thou scornest; it will be to thy own destruction; thy blood will be upon thy own head, and the consideration of this will aggravate thy condemnation. Son, remember, that thou hadst this fair offer made thee, and thou wouldst not accept it; thou stoodest fair for life, but didst choose death rather.”
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
THE FEASTS OF WISDOM AND FOLLY CONTRASTED
(Pro 9:1-18)
The Feast of Wisdom
(Pro 9:1-6)
Verses 1-6 portray wisdom as having built a large and well constructed house to which she invites certain people for a feast:
1) The provisions for the feast are substantial, Vs. 2.
2) She has made a determined effort to invite guests, sending forth her servants, and going herself to the highest places to call out the invitation, Vs. 3; Mat 22:3-4; Luk 14:16-17; Luk 14:23.
3) Special appeal is made to the simple and those who lack understanding, Vs. 4.
4) The invitation is generous, without price; come, eat, drink, Vs. 5; Isa 55:1-2; Joh 6:27.
5) The invitation is for more than a feast, offering a new and better life, Vs. 6; Rth 1:16; Rth 2:11-12; Heb 11:31; Jos 6:25.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Pro. 9:1. Wisdom, in the plural, as in chap. Pro. 1:20, to express excellence and dignity.
Pro. 9:2. She hath mingled her wine. Some commentators understand the mingling to be with water, others with spices; both were customary among ancient orientals.
Pro. 9:7. Latter clause. Most commentators translate, he that rebuketh the wicked, it is his dishonour, or, it is a dishonour to him, i.e., to the wicked man.
Pro. 9:10. The Holy, generally understood to stand in apposition to Jehovah.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Pro. 9:1-12
WISDOMS FEAST
I. The house to which Divine Wisdom invites her guests is one which has cost time and labour in the preparation. Wisdom hath builded her house. The building of anything implies the expenditure of time and labour. When the eagle builds her nest and prepares a house for her yet unborn young she spends much time in her work and bestows much labour upon it. In the building of a house for human habitation, whether it be a palace or a cottage, time and care, and thought and labour must be given to the building. And so it is in mental building; when thoughts are to be gathered together and fashioned into a book, the gathering and the building involves the expenditure of mental labour and of many hours and days, and sometimes years, before the work is completed. And God has not departed from this rule in the works which He has wrought for the benefit of His creatures. The house which He has built for the habitation of man was not brought into its present form all at once. God did not create the heavens and the earth in one day or in a short period of time We read that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is (Exo. 20:2), and the record of the rocks confirms the testimony of revelation that the preparation of the earth for man was a work of time In creation Divine Wisdom builded her house. And what is true of creation is true also of redemption. The incarnation of the Son of God took place in the days of Tiberius Csar, but the process of building the plan of redemption had been going on for ages. In the Mosaic dispensation it was seen in outline. Its sacrifices were shadows of the house which God intended hereafter to build in the human nature of the man Christ Jesus. The temple of Herod was forty-six years in building (Joh. 2:20), but the temple of God was in course of preparation for more than forty-six generations before it was brought to completion in the Word made flesh (See Hebrews, chap. 9).
II. That which has been long in preparation is strong and enduring in character. It hath seven pillars. The snow-flake is not long in being formed and it is not long in duration. The bubble upon the stream is built in an instant, and passes away as quickly. But the coral island has taken many years and cost a million lives, to build it, and now it stands a rock in the midst of the ocean, and has become the home of man. All that is strong and lasting in the world has taken time in its formation. So is it in the refuge where that is found which will satisfy the soul of man. It was long ere it was completed, but it is a lasting edifice, built upon a sure foundation (Heb. 6:18-19).
III. The house which Wisdom has builded contains that which will satisfy human need. The soul-blessings which God offers to men are often compared to a feast (Isa. 25:6; Mat. 22:4). Here Wisdom is spoken of as having killed her beasts, mingled her wine, furnished her table.
1. It is plain that the human spirit needs a feast from the fact that God has spread the board. When the Lord Jesus furnished a table in the wilderness for the multitude it was to supply a manifest need. It was to meet Israels need that God fed them with manna in the wilderness. Mans spiritual nature must starve without the feast which Gods wisdom has prepared. The existence of the feast proves the existence of the need.
2. This feast is of the best quality. The man who prepares a feast for his guests prepares of his best. The feast prepared by a poor man will be the best at his command; the banquet of a king will be such as befits his rank and resources. The banquet to which Divine Wisdom invites her guests is furnished with the most costly provisions that even God has to give. Christ, who declares Himself to be meat and drink to the spirit of man (Joh. 6:51; Joh. 6:54; Joh. 6:56) is the best gift that God had to bestow upon manthe best food that Heaven could furnish.
3. Wisdoms feast is one in which there is variety. There is flesh, wine, and bread (Pro. 9:2; Pro. 9:5). The feasts of the rich and great consist of many different dishes, and the variety adds to the enjoyment of the guests. God has provided many different kinds of food to satisfy our bodily appetite. Although they are all adapted to the same end, viz., to the nourishment of the body, the difference in their composition and flavour adds much to mans enjoyment. The human spirit, like the human body, craves a variety in its food, and God has satisfied that craving. The revelation of God in Christ (in other words, the Gospel) reveals a great variety of spiritual truths upon which the spiritual nature of man can feed. There are things new and old in the Gospel treasury (Mat. 13:52). And new revelations of life and immortality will be brought to light throughout the coming ages, and the feeling of those who partake of the royal banquet will be like that of the ruler of the feast at Cana: Thou hast kept the good wine until now (Joh. 2:10).
IV. Those who invite to Wisdoms feast must be pure in character. The sending forth of maidens seems to convey this idea. Maidenhood is a type of purity. The character of the inviter must be in keeping with the nature of the invitation. If a man gives an invitation to the Gospel-feast, he will find that those whom he invites will look at the invitation through the glass of his character, and unless it is one through which the invitation can be favourably viewed, there will be little hope of his words proving effectual. Character and doctrine are inseparable. God intends the first to be a recommendation of the last. The invitation to Come, from the lips of the Lord Jesus, was mighty in its power, because the purity of His teaching was equalled by the purity of His life. The great power of the invitation to Wisdoms feast in the mouths of the first Christian teachers sprang from the character of those who gave the invitation (see 2Co. 1:2).
V. The means by which the guests are brought in. They are invited. There can be no compulsion in bringing men to the feast of Wisdom. No man can be compelled to partake of a feast. Persuasion can be used, and men can be induced to eat of it from a sense of need, but force is useless. A man may be placed at the board and kept there against his will, but the eating must ever be his own act. And so it is with the spiritual blessings which God has prepared for men. All the force that can be exercised is the force of persuasion. The first servants who went forth to invite men to the Gospel-feast were fully convinced that the weapon which they were to use was that of persuasion. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christs stead, be ye reconciled to God (2Co. 5:20). Knowing the terrors of the Lord we persuade men (2Co. 5:11).
VI. The publicity and general nature of the invitation. She crieth upon the highest places of the city. On this head see Homiletics on chaps. Pro. 1:20-21; Pro. 8:2-3.
VII. The different characters with whom Wisdoms servants meet in giving her invitation. They meet with the wise and just man (Pro. 9:9), and with the wicked, who are again classified as the simple (Pro. 9:4), and the scorners (Pro. 9:7). There is often a great difference in things of the same class and kind. All the fruit upon a tree may be bad, but all may not be equally bad. So among sinners are men of different degrees of sinfulness. There are the simplethose who are merely heedless of Divine teachings through a culpable ignorance and thoughtlessness, there are men so bad that they scorn all Gods invitations and set at nought His threatenings. This character is held up in Scripture as having reached the climax of iniquity. (See Homiletics on chap. Pro. 1:22). The just man (Pro. 9:9), is here synonymous with the wise man. He only is a wise man who has a worthy end which he sets himself to attain, and who uses the best means to attain that end. Hence the good or just man is the only truly wise man. He lays hold of all the means within his reach to increase his godliness, to get power to enable him to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk with God, and thus shows himself to be a member of the kingdom of the good which is the kingdom of the wise. He must be a just man, one who is upright in all his relations in life, one who will not knowingly leave undone his duty to his fellow-men. A man who is right in his relations towards God will not fail in his relations towards men. Simeon was a devont man, therefore he was a just man (Luk. 2:25), so was Cornelius (Act. 10:2; Act. 10:22). But these wise men are not all equally wise, and none are so wise that they cannot increase in wisdom, and therefore Wisdom sends forth her invitations to all, to the wise and just men as well as to the simple and the scorner.
VIII. The opposite effects of the invitation upon opposite characters. The scorner hates itthe wise man loves it (Pro. 9:8). When the sun shines upon a diseased eye it produces a sense of discomfort, but the same light falling upon a healthy eye gives a sensation of pleasure. The opposite feelings are the results of opposite conditions. The different receptions which are given to Gods invitations arise from the different spiritual conditions of the men who hear them. The man who loves darkness rather than light because his deeds are evil is pained when he receives Wisdoms invitation, because the very invitation condemns him. It is a rebuke to him (Pro. 9:7-8) for continuing to reject the feast for husks, for preferring to spend money upon that which is not bread and his labour upon that which satisfieth not. Hence he who thus reproveth a scorner gets to himself shame, and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot (Pro. 9:7). The preacher of the Gospel endures the shame of the cross when he delivers his message to such an one, but it meets with quite an opposite reception from the wise and just. A wise man because he is wise desires more wisdom. Those who know most about a good thing are those who desire to know more, and this desire prevents them from being offended with those who offer to give them more knowledge. Even if Wisdoms invitation takes the form of a rebuke (Pro. 9:8), the wise man, considering that the end of the rebuke is to do him good, loves the ambassador of Wisdom who administers it. When a sick man receives severe treatment from a physician, he accepts it patiently because he bears in mind the end in view, viz., his restoration to health. And this is the light in which all wise men regard Divine reproof, whether it comes directly from Himself in the form of providential dispensations, or through the medium of the lips of one of His servants. The message which is a savour of death to the scorner, is a savour of life to them.
IX. If the invitation is effectual, there will be a forsaking and a fearing. Forsake the foolish and live (Pro. 9:6). The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Pro. 9:10). A forsaking of the wrong path must go before the entrance into the right one, and a fear that we may go wrong will help to keep us in the right way. A wholesome dread of Gods displeasure will lead a man to repentance, which is but another name for a change in lifes end, and aims, and purposes. A conviction that he has been going in the wrong direction will cause him to lend a willing ear to those who invite him to set out on the right path; and the acceptance of the invitation is the beginning of a life of true wisdom, because it is the beginning of the only safe and satisfying course of life.
X. Whatever reception is given to the invitations of Divine Wisdom, God is above all human approbation. If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself; but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it (Pro. 9:12). The sun will go on shining, whatever men think or say about it. All the approbation of all the world will not add to the glory of the light that rules the day, and if men were to find fault with the manner in which it dispensed its light and heat, it would still hold on its way rejoicing, as a strong man to run a race. The children of Wisdom, who accept the Divine invitation, and fall in with Gods way of saving them, do not make God their debtor in any way. He would still be the moral Sun of the universe, if all mankind were to turn a deaf ear to His invitations, and all the praise of all the good in Heaven and earth cannot add one ray to the moral glory of His being. The scorn of the scorner cannot harm the God whose revelation he scorns, any more than a man could injure the wind that blows upon him by beating it. If men disapprove of Gods way of governing the world, or of His conditions of salvation, it cannot harm the Divine Being in any way. He is above all the approval or disapprovalall the rejection or acceptance of any finite creature. Eliphaz, the Temanite, spoke truly when he said, Can a man be profitable to God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself? Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous? Or is it gain to Him that thou makest thy ways perfect? (Job. 22:2-3). It therefore follows, as a matter of course, that the Divine plan of redemption has been devised solely out of regard to His creatures; that love is the only motive that prompts Him to multiply invitations and warnings; and that the sufferings which are entailed upon men by their rejection of His provisions spring from nothing selfish or arbitrary in the Divine character.
XI. The acceptance of the Divine invitation is an obedience to the lawful instinct of self-love. Self-love is often confounded with selfishness, but they are widely different. The principle of self-love is recognised as lawful and right throughout the Bible. God commands a man to love his neighbour as he loves himself, thereby laying down the principle that self-love is necessary and right. Our Saviour appeals to this Divinely-implanted instinct when He urges men to save their souls, because of the infinite profit which they will thereby gain (Mar. 8:36). And the fact that God has made self-love the standard whereby we are to measure our love to others, and that it is urged upon men as a motive by the Divine Son, at once places a great gulf between it and selfishness. Obedience to self-love leads men to obey Wisdoms invitation and thus to become truly wise themselves. Self-love leads men to desire to make the best of their existence, and no man can do this unless he accepts the call to the feast which Wisdom has prepared. The Hebrew nation thought they could get profit to themselves apart from acceptance of the Divine proposals. They persuaded themselves that they could do without Gods way of life, and that the feast which He had prepared could be neglected with impunity. But they found when too late that they had done themselves an eternal wrong by making light of the call of the kings servants. (See Mat. 22:14). But Wisdom is justified of her children, and although our Lord likens the men of that generation to children who neither dance to the sound of joyful music nor mourn to strains of lamentation (Luk. 7:31-35), there have always been some who have so regarded their real interest as to be willing guests of the Divine Inviter. Obeying His call they come into possession of a righteous character, the only attainment of real profit which can be gotten out of existence. It is the only end worth living for. The end of a true soldiers existence is not the keeping of his bodily life. That with him is quite a secondary consideration. Neither is it his happiness. These things are nothing to him in comparison with the attainment of a character for bravery and fidelity to his trust. And so with every man in Gods universe. Not ease and comfort, not fame or high position, but character is that only which will make existence really profitable, which will make it a gain to live. Happiness will, of necessity, follow godliness, but it is not the thing to be aimed at. The attainment of the highest earthly fame, or the amassing of vast riches, will not necessarily make a man a good companion for himself, and if he is not this, he has failed to draw true profit out of his existence. He may be a wise man according to mens judgment, but if he has failed to consult his own true self-interest, he is a fool. A position in heaven would be nothing to such a man if he could obtain it. The blessedness of the heavenly world springs from the holy character of those who inhabit it, and this can be obtained only by listening to Wisdoms voice, and so gaining that fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the holy, which is understanding (Pro. 9:10). If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself (Pro. 9:12); in other wordsthou thyself shall reap the first and principal benefit.
XII. The consequence of the rejection of Wisdoms invitation must be borne by him who rejects it. If thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it. If a man refuses to use the power which he possesses to walk, he will, in the course of time, lose the power of using his limbs. The man who will not listen to the promptings of self-love will stifle its voice. But though he may destroy self-love, he cannot destroy himself. That belongs to God alone. Man can make his existence into a terrible burden, can change that which God intended to be a blessing into a curse, and in this sense he can destroy himselfcan lose his soul; but he must live still, and bear the consequences of his choice. We can burn up the most costly articles and reduce them to black ashes, but no power of man can annihilate a single particle of the ashes. They exist still in some form or other. So men, by scorning Gods invitations, can blacken and spoil the existence which God has given them, but they cannot annihilate themselves. They must live and bear the self-imposed burden.
ILLUSTRATION OF Pro. 9:3
This may derive some illustration from a custom which Hasselquist noticed in Egypt, and which may seem to be ancient in that country. That it has been scarcely noticed by other travellers may arise from the fact that, although they may have seen the maidens on their way, they had not the means of knowing on what errand they were bound. He says that he saw a great number of women, who went about inviting people to a banquet in a singular, and, without doubt, in a very ancient manner. They were about ten or twelve, covered with black veils, as is customary in that country. They were preceded by four eunuchs; after them, and on the side, were Moors, with their usual walking staves. As they were walking, they all joined in making a noise, which, he was told, signified their joy, but which he could not find resembled a joyful or pleasing sound.Kitto.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro. 9:1. House among the Hebrews was an image of all well-being (Exo. 1:21). It means shelter. It means nurture. It means repose. It means the centre of all provision. It means the home of all convivial feasts. If Wisdom has built such a shelter for the lost, it means she has furnished for them every possible necessity. An Eastern house depended upon columns that were around a court. Samson put his hand upon such interior supports. If Wisdom has hewed out her seven pillars, it means that the provision she has made for the saints is absolutely secure. The very number seven betokens a perfect, because a sacred support; and we have but to ask upon what the Gospel rests in its eternal promises and in the righteousness of its Great Head, to settle the question as to these sacred pillars.Miller.
The Holy Spirithaving described in the foregoing chapter the office and work of Christ, as Creator, in the world of naturenow proceeds to describe His office and work in the world of grace. Solomon, the son of David, and the builder of the holy house at Jerusalem, here describes the operation of His own Divine Antitype, the Essential Wisdom, in building His house. The Son of God, having existed from eternity with the Father, in the fulness of time became Incarnate, building for Himself a human body, and also building for Himself a mystical bodythe Church universal. Wisdoms seven pillars represent the perfection and universality of Christs work in both respects.Wordsworth.
Pillars, and polished pillars. Anything is good enough to build a mud wall; but the churchs pillars are of marble, and those not rough but hewn; her safety is accompanied with beauty.Trapp.
If Wisdom dwell anywhere, herself must build the house; if she set up the pillars, herself must hew them. Nothing can be meet to entertain her which is not her own work. Nothing can be fit for Gods residence, which is not made fit by Gods influence.Jermin.
In the preceding chapter, Wisdom represented herself as manifest in all the works of God in the natural world; all being constructed according to the counsels of an infinite understanding. Here, she represents herself as the great potentate, who was to rule all that she had constructed; and having an immense family to provide for, had made an abundant provision, and calls all to partake of it.Adam Clarke.
Pro. 9:2. She hath mingled her wine, viz., with spices and other exhilarating ingredients, as was the custom in the East (Son. 8:2). Not with water which is the emblem of degeneracy. The wine mingled with aromatic spices is the exhilarating joy and comforts of the gospel (Isa. 55:1; Mat. 26:29).Fausset.
Does Christ give us His own flesh and blood, to nourish and refresh our souls? what grace, what comfort, what privilege will He withhold? He is most willing to communicate this provision to us.Lawson.
Gods favour and grace is always ready to be found when it is faithfully sought. Our faith can never make Him tardy in desiring that at the present which He cannot give till hereafter, or in being beforehand to demand that which His ability is behindhand to perform. The messengers say not in the Gospel, Be there at such a time, and in the meanwhile things shall be prepared, or, Go with me now, and dinner will be ready anon; but Come, for all things are now ready.Dod.
Christ provideth for His the best of the best; fat things full of marrow, wines on the lees (Isa. 25:6); His own flesh, which is meat indeed; His own blood, which is drink indeed; besides that continual feast of a good conscience, whereat the holy angels, saith Luther, are as cooks and butlers, and the blessed Trinity joyful guests. Mr. Latimer says that the assurance of salvation is the sweatmeats of this stately feast.Trapp.
Without asking what the flesh and wine specially mean, they are figures of the manifold enjoyment which makes at once strong and happy.Delitzsch.
Pro. 9:3. Her maidens. Sermons and providential strokes, the whole heraldry of the doctrine of salvation.Miller.
Wisdom being personified as a feminine word, fitly has maidens as her ministers here. May there not also be an intimation (as Gregory and Bede suggest) of the natural feebleness of the Apostles and other ministers of the Gospel who have their treasure in earthen vessels (2Co. 4:7), and also of the tender love which the preachers of the Gospel must feel for the souls of those to whom they are sent? The great Apostle of the Gentiles speaks of himself spiritually as a nurse and a mother.Wordsworth.
She, together with her maids, crieth; she puts not off all the business to them, but hath a hand in it herself. We are workers together with God, saith Paul.Trapp.
Pro. 9:4. Ignorance is not a cause that should stay men from hearing the Word of God, but rather incite them to it. Their necessity doth require it, for who hath more need of eye-salve than they whose eyes are sore? And who have more need of guides than they who have lost their sight and are become blind? And especially when the way is difficult and full of danger.Dod.
Pro. 9:5. Not for the first time, in John 6, or on the night of the Last Supper, had bread and wine been made the symbols of fellowship with eternal life and truth.Plumptre.
Indeed, to come is to eat; to come to Wisdom by attention is to eat of her instructions by receiving it into the soul.Jermin.
The invitation is free. So it is throughout the Bible. The blessings of salvation are the gift of God. They are offered to sinners with the freeness of Divine munificence. Not only may they be had without a price, but if they are to be had at all it must be without a price. This is one of their special peculiarities. In treating with our fellow-men in the communication of good, we make distinctions. From some, who can afford it, we take an equivalent; from others, who cannot, we take none. We sell to the rich, we give to the poor. In the present case there is no distinction. All are poor. All are alike poor; and he who presumes to bring what he imagines a price, of whatever kind, forfeits the blessings, and is sent empty away. The invitation, too, is universal; for all men, in regard to divine and spiritual things, are naturally inconsiderate and foolish, negligent and improvident of their best and highest interests. And it is earnest, repeated, importunate. Is not this wonderful? Ought not the earnestness and the importunity to be all on the other side? Should not we find men entreating God to bestow the blessings, not God entreating men to accept them? Wonderful? No, we may answer in the terms of the negro woman to the missionary when he put the question, Is not this wonderful? No, Massa, it be just like him. It is in the true style of infinite benevolence. But is it not wonderful that sinners should refuse the invitation? It is not in one view, and it is in another. It is not, when we consider their depravity and alienation from God. It is, when we think of their natural desire for happiness, and the manifest impossibility of the object of their desire being ever found, otherwise than by their acceptance of them.Wardlaw.
Pro. 9:7. The reproof given is duty discharged, and the retort in return is a fresh call to repentance for sin past, and a caution against sin to come.Flavel.
Here caution is given how we tender reprehension to arrogant and scornful natures, whose manner it is to esteem it for contumely, and accordingly to return it.Lord Bacon.
The three verses, 79, in their general preceptive form, seem somewhat to interrupt the continuity of the invitation which Wisdom utters. The order of thought is, however, this: I speak to you, the simple, the open ones, for you have yet ears to hear; but from the scorner or evil-doer of such, I turn away. The rules which govern human teachers, leading them to choose willing or fit disciples, are the laws also of the Divine Educator. So taken, the words are parallel to Mat. 7:2, and find an illustration in the difference between our Lords teaching to His disciples and to them that were without.Plumptre.
The passage is telling the consequences to the poor hardened man (see Critical Notes). Man is not like a thermometer, raised or sunken by every breath, but he is the subject of a change which makes a difference in moral influences. Without that change, instruction hardens him. With that change, it moves him and makes him better. Without the change the thermometer is always sinking; with the change it is rising all the time. This teaching is had in all forms in the New Testament. John says, I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you (1Jn. 2:12); his plain implication being, that it would be useless to write except for the grace of forgiveness. We hear of a savour of death unto death (2Co. 2:16); and Christ tells (Joh. 15:24) that if He had not come among them, and done the works that none other man did, they had not had sin.Miller.
Pro. 9:8. By which I do not understand that we are forbidden to preach to the impenitent, but that we are to contemplate two facts: first, that unless they are changed our preaching will make them worse, and, therefore, second, that though our preaching is a chosen instrument of the change itself, yet, if they are scornersi.e., if they are what our Saviour calls swine (Mat. 7:6), and He means by that, specially incorrigiblewe are not to scatter our pearls to them. We are not to intrude religion upon scoffers. We are to withhold the good seed to some extent (yet with infinite compassion for all,) for what may more reasonably be hoped to be the good and honest ground (Mar. 4:8).Miller.
We must distinguish between the ignorant and the wilful scorner. Paul did it ignorantly, in unbelief (1Ti. 1:13). His countrymen deliberately refused the blessing, and shut themselves out from the free offers of salvation.Bridges.
Pro. 9:9. Instruction may be given with advantage to the wise.
1. No truly wise man will account it impossible to make accessions to his wisdom. Such a man is not wise in his own conceit (Rom. 12:16). His entrance into this course is of too recent a date, and the efforts which he has made to gain wisdom too defective, to permit him to think his wisdom incapable of augmentation (Joh. 8:2). And
(2) every wise man, whatever be the nature of his wisdom, will wish it to be increased as much as possible (Pro. 18:15). Hence
(3), whatever instruction is given to him which is adapted to his character and circumstances, that is, which shows wherein he is defective, either in the end which he is pursuing, or in the manner of his pursuit, no matter by whom the instruction is given, he will account himself happy in having it, and will be the better for it.Sketches of Sermons.
Pro. 9:10. Men cannot begin to be wise except in holiness; unless it begins to be the fact that God is teaching a man, you cannot teach him.Miller.
The heart that is touched with the loadstone of Divine love trembles still with godly fear.Leighton.
The knowledge of the holy is the knowledge of all that is involved in hallowing Gods name; knowing experimentally all that tends to our sanctifying the Lord in our hearts and in life.Fausset.
Some of the true wisdom is a nucleus, round which more will gather. A little island once formed in the bed of a great river, tends continually to increase. Everything adds to its bulk. The floods of winter deposit soil on it. The sun of summer covers it with herbage and consolidates its surface. Such is wisdom from above once settled in a soul. It makes all things work together for good to its possessor.Arnot.
Pro. 9:12. As we are not aware that the mass of the impenitent actually scoff at religion, we must look at this word, so often selected by Solomon, as meaning that practical scorn, by which men, who profess to respect the Gospel, show it the practical contempt of their worldliness.Miller.
The principle involved in the parable of the talents (Matthew 25) is embodied in the first intimation. The talents are in the first instance not won by the servant, but given by the master. So wisdom is specifically the gift of God (Jas. 1:5). Those servants who use the talents well, are permitted to retain for their own use both the original capital and all the profit that has sprung from it: whereas he who made no profit is not allowed to retain the capital. Thus the Giver acts in regard to the wisdom which it is his own to bestow. The wisdom, with all the benefit it brings, is your own. Every instance of wise acting is an accummulation made sure for your own benefit. It cannot be lost. It is like water to the earth. The drop of water that trembled on the green leaf, and glittered in the morning sun, seems to be lost when it glitters in the air unseen; but it is all in safe keeping. It is held in trust by the faithful atmosphere, and will distil as dew upon the ground again, when and where it is needed most. Thus will every exercise of wisdom, though fools think it is thrown away, return into your own bosom, when the day of need comes round. Equally sure is the law that the evil which you do survives and comes back upon yourself. The profane word, the impure thought, the unjust transaction, they are gone like the wind that whistled past, and you seem to have nothing more to do with them. Nay, but they have more to do with you. Nothing is lost out of Gods world, physical or moral. When a piece of paper is consumed in the fire and vanishes in smoke, it seems to have returned to nothing. If it bore the only evidence of your guilt, you would be glad to see the last corner disappear before the officers of justice came in. All the world cannot restore that paper and read the dreaded lines again. The criminal breathes freely now no human tribunal can bring home his crime. But as the material of the paper remains undiminished in the mundane system, so the guilt which it recorded abides, held in solution, as it were, by the moral atmosphere which encircles the judgment-seat of God. Uniting with all of kindred essence that has been generated in your soul, it will be precipitated by a law, and when it falls, it will not miss the mark. Thou alone shalt bear it. Those who have not found refuge in the Sin-bearer must bear their own sin. Sins, like water, are not annihilated, although they go out of our sight. They fall with all their weight either on the sin-doer or on the Almighty Substitute. Alas for the man who is alone when the reckoning comes.Arnot.
A mans self is not that which he is for a short time and space, but that which he is for continuance, indeed for an endless continuance. And therefore that which we are in this life is not ourselves, but that which we shall be, that is ourselves. So that whosoever is wise for that time is wise for himself, and for that time we shall be wise if we be made so by the instruction of Eternal Wisdom.Jermin.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER 9
TEXT Pro. 9:1-9
1.
Wisdom hath builded her house;
She hath hewn out her seven pillars:
2.
She hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her wine;
She hath also furnished her table:
3.
She hath sent forth her maidens;
She crieth upon the highest places of the city:
4.
Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither:
As for him that is void of understanding, she saith to him
5.
Come, eat ye of my bread,
And drink of the wine which I have mingled.
6.
Leave off, ye simple ones, and live;
And walk in the way of understanding.
7.
He that correcteth a scoffer getteth to himself reviling;
and he that reproveth a wicked man getteth himself a blot.
8.
Reprove not a scoffer, lest he hate thee:
Reprove a wise man, and he will love thee.
9.
Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser:
Teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.
STUDY QUESTIONS OVER 9:1-9
1.
What are the seven pillars of wisdoms house (Pro. 9:1)?
2.
Does wisdom believe in mixed wine (Pro. 9:2)?
3.
Who are wisdoms maidens (Pro. 9:3)?
4.
Is wisdom beckoning the simple to sin like the harlot woman (Pro. 9:4)?
5.
What is her bread and her wine (Pro. 9:5)?
6.
Leave off what (Pro. 9:6)?
7.
Who gives such a righteous man a blot (Pro. 9:7)?
8.
What are the opposite results of reproving a scoffer and a wise man (Pro. 9:8)?
9.
Who profits from instruction (Pro. 9:9)?
PARAPHRASE OF 9:1-9
Pro. 9:1-6.
Wisdom hath built a palace supported on seven pillars, and has prepared a great banquet, and mixed the wines, and sent out her maidens inviting all to come. She calls from the busiest intersections in the city, Come, you simple ones without good judgment; come to wisdoms banquet and drink the wines that I have mixed. Leave behind your foolishness and begin to live; learn how to be wise.
Pro. 9:7-9.
If you rebuke a mocker, you will only get a smart retort; yes, he will snarl at you. So dont bother with him; he will only hate you for trying to help him. But a wise man, when rebuked, will love you all the more. Teach a wise man, and he will be the wiser; teach a good man, and he will learn more.
COMMENTS ON 9:1-9
Pro. 9:1. The same wisdom speaks here who spoke in the preceding chapter. There she represented herself as manifest in all the works of God in the natural worldall being constructed according to counsels proceeding from an infinite understanding. Here she represents herself as the great potentate who was to rule all that she had constructed; and having an immense family to provide for had made an abundant provision and calls all to partake of it. This is the continuation of the parable begun in the preceding chapter, where wisdom is represented as a venerable lady whose real beauties and solid promises are opposed to the false allurements of pleasure, who was represented in the seventh chapter under the idea of a debauched and impudent woman. This one, to draw young men into her snares, describes the perfumes, the bed, and the festival which she had prepared. Wisdom acts in the same way but instead of the debauchery, the false pleasures, and the criminal connections which pleasure had promised offers her guests a strong, well-built, magnificent palace, chaste and solid pleasures, salutary instructions, and a life crowned with blessedness (Clarke). Consider the contrast between the lady wisdom in Pro. 9:1-12 and the foolish woman of Pro. 9:13-18. Wisdom builds (Pro. 9:1), but immorality tears down. Both are inviting guests to come in (Pro. 9:3-5 and Pro. 9:14-17). Within their invitations both used the exact words at one point: Whose is simple, let him turn in hither: and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him… (Pro. 9:4 and Pro. 9:16). the wicked woman offers stolen waters and bread eaten in secret (Pro. 9:17), showing the illegitimacy of what she is offering while wisdom operates in legitimate wares and ways (in the open). The pleasure of sin is said to be sweet and pleasant (Pro. 9:17) while wisdom may impart some of its knowledge through reproof (Pro. 9:8). The guests of the immoral woman end in death (Pro. 9:18) while wisdom leads to life (Pro. 9:6). The seven pillars of wisdom may be the seven things mentioned in Jas. 3:17 concerning heavenly wisdom: (1) pure; (2) peaceable; (3) gentle; (4) easy to be entreated; (5) full of mercy and good fruits; (6) without variance; and (7) without hypocrisy, or seven may be used here as it so often is in the book of Revelation as an ideal number.
Pro. 9:2. In the preparation of her feast of good things, she had prepared her food and her beverage and had set the table. By mingled her wine is probably meant the mixing of the straight grape juice with the proper amount of water to make it a better tasting beverage (which the ancients among the Jews, Greeks, and Romans did). Since we are dealing with wisdom, the preceding seems more likely than that she added drugs to give it more potency.
Pro. 9:3. With everything ready she sends forth the maidens to call the guests to the feast. There have been times when maidens were employed to beckon the guests that the hour of banqueting had come.
Pro. 9:4. The wicked woman of Pro. 9:16 uses the same words in her invitation. Wisdom is pleased to call those who lack it, calling them to begin a life of wisdom. In a sense we all start simple.
Pro. 9:5. We are told in Pro. 4:5 to get wisdom, and this verse compares the gaining of wisdom as desirable and not miserable by using the figure of dining, something that people enjoy doing. For mingled wine see comments on Pro. 9:2.
Pro. 9:6. Put an end to living without wisdom; cease ignorance and folly. Adopt a new way: the way of understanding. All who make this change are glad they did.
Pro. 9:7. A triple parallel: correcteth and reproved; scoffer and Wicked man; and getteth to himself reviling and getteth himself a blot. A scoffer will neither appreciate your sincere intention to help him nor allow himself to see the correctness of what you are saying to him. Instead of straightening up as a result of your proper rebuke, he will say all manner of evil about you, and you (the innocent) end up with a blot.
Pro. 9:8. Reprove the wise but not the scoffer. The one will love you for it; the other will hate you. In harmony with this verse the Lord reproved Saul of Tarsus (Act. 9:4) and chastens His children (Heb. 12:6), but He teaches us not to cast our pearls before swinescoffers (Mat. 7:6).
Pro. 9:9. The same good qualities of the wise man who accepted rebuke in Pro. 9:8 show up in this verse and justify the time and effort that it takes to instruct him. As a result of your efforts he will be yet wiser and will increase in learning. This is satisfying to any instructor. Jesus parabolic teaching resulted in whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have abundance (Mat. 13:12).
TEST QUESTIONS OVER 9:1-9
1.
Cite some of the contrasts between the woman Wisdom and the wicked woman in this chapter?
2.
What three preparations are mentioned in Pro. 9:2?
3.
What was probably involved in wisdoms mixed wine (Pro. 9:2)?
4.
What phase of things is mentioned in Pro. 9:3?
5.
In a sense do we all begin life simple (Pro. 9:4)?
6.
What is gaining wisdom likened to doing in Pro. 9:5?
7.
What important change is called for in Pro. 9:6?
8.
Cite the triple parallel in Pro. 9:7.
9.
How does the New Testament follow the instructions found in Pro. 9:8?
10.
What is a teachers joy (Pro. 9:9)?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
IX.
(o). Fifteenth Discourse: the Invitations of Wisdom and Folly (Proverbs 9).
(1) Wisdom hath builded her housei.e., in preparation for the feast to which she is about to invite her guests. It is not an unusual custom in the Old Testament to describe intimate communion with God, and the refreshment which the soul of man thereby receives, under the figure of a festival. Thus in Exo. 24:11, when the elders of Israel were admitted to the vision of the Almighty, they did eat and drink. The same idea occurs frequently in the prophets also (as Isa. 25:6; Isa. 65:13; Zep. 1:7-8); and is brought out in the New Testament with great fulness in the parables of the great supper (Luke 14) and the marriage of the kings son (Matthew 22). Christ, the supreme Wisdom, has builded His house by taking mans flesh at His Incarnation, and thus rearing for Himself a temple of the Holy Ghost (Joh. 2:19); and also by building for Himself a spiritual house (1Pe. 2:5), the house of God, which is the church of the living God (1Ti. 3:15). (For references to the Fathers, see Bishop Wordsworth.) In the previous chapter Christs work as Creator was described; now He is set forth as Regenerator of mankind.
She hath hewn out her seven pillars.Suggestive of the sevenfold gifts of the Spirit (Isa. 11:2 Rev. 1:4), typified by the seven-branched candlestick of the Tabernacle (Exo. 25:37).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
WISDOM MAKETH A FEAST AND INVITETH GUESTS, Pro 9:1-12, The discourse on wisdom is continued, (Pro 9:1-12.)
This heavenly wisdom is never separated in thought for a moment from virtue and piety. Though not exactly identical with virtue and piety, inasmuch as it is more comprehensive, these qualities are included in it, and make a principal part of it. (Pro 9:10.) It was contrary to the royal preceptor’s idea that any man could be wise who neglected his obligations to God and man. (See note on Pro 1:7.) The personification of wisdom is still carried on, though she is not always made to speak in her own person, as at Pro 9:5-6. Folly, the opposite of wisdom, is also personified, as a dissolute woman. (Pro 9:13-18.)
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1. Wisdom , hhokmoth, literally, wisdoms, the plural of excellency, according to the Hebrew manner, (comp. Pro 1:20,) but the verbs and pronouns connected with it are in the singular, as usual, showing that, though the form is plural, the sense is singular.
Hath builded her house Compare Pro 14:1. Palace, rather than temple, in which she resides like a queen in royal state, carrying out the idea suggested in Pro 8:34.
Seven pillars Seven is probably used here, as often, as the mystical or complete number. The sentiment is that of the stability and beauty of the building.
Many, both among the ancients and moderns, fond of running out the allegory in every particular, have found in this “house” and its “seven pillars” a subject for the exercise of their ingenuity. But some, not satisfied with such general idea, have conjectured that the seven pillars were seven schools of the prophets then in existence: while others, again, considering Wisdom as identical with the Logos of the New Testament, have supposed that the building typified the Church, which is called God’s house, (1Ti 3:15; Heb 3:3-4,) in which the prophets, apostles, and ministers are pillars, (Gal 2:9,) and in which a feast of fat things is provided for all that will partake of it. Isa 25:6; and the parable, Mat 22:14; Luk 14:16-24. This much may be said concerning this application, that the principles involved are the same in both cases; and if these expositions are only used in an illustrative way, no great harm is done. But, inasmuch as they are altogether conjectural, they have no logical force when used dogmatically in support of any particular doctrine.
Miller, who spiritualizes every thing, gives us on Pro 9:2-3 a fair specimen of this allegorizing: “‘She has killed her’ killing; namely, Christ. ‘She has mingled her wine;’ namely, his atoning blood. She has, in every respect, a banquet, just as the strange woman offers her banquet. ‘She has spread her table;’ Christ and his cross not being efficient unless administered to men, she has established Churches and ordinances as the mere dishes and seats of the expected banquet. ‘She has sent forth her maidens;’ namely, sermons and providential strokes; the whole heraldry of the doctrine of salvation.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Preparation Of The Great Feast ( Pro 9:1-3 a).
‘Wisdom has built her house,
She has shaped (hewn out) her seven pillars,
She has killed her beasts,
She has mingled her wine,
She has also furnished her table,
She has sent forth her maidens.’
Wisdom has, of course, been around from the beginning of creation (Pro 8:23). She does not use a house built by another, but has built her own house, one which is large and spacious and built around seven pillars, especially shaped by wisdom herself. Seven is the number of divine perfection (something recognised throughout the Ancient Near East). Houses would normally, at the most, have three pillars, so that her house is a splendid one, large enough for all. It is divinely established. One of the aims is to bring out Woman Wisdom’s status. She is one to be looked up to and heeded. It was the norm for those in high places to set up such feasts and dispense lavish hospitality (compare 1Ki 4:22-23; Neh 5:17-18; Est 1:3-7; Dan 5:1).
There is no suggestion that a temple is in mind, and it should be noticed that the beasts for the feast were ‘killed’ not ‘slaughtered sacrificially’. The Hebrew word is distinctive and another word is used where ‘slaying in sacrifice’ is intended. This is a rich person’s feast, not a religious celebration. And the stated aim is not specifically to worship God, but to ‘live and walk in the way of understanding’ (Pro 9:6). It is a call to feast at Wisdom’s table, and partake of her wisdom.
All that is needed for a great feast has been prepared. Animals have been killed, wine has been mingled (probably with honey and spices. In Isa 1:22 wine mixed with water was seen as spoiled), the table has been prepared (tables were only found in the houses of the wealthy), all is now ready. And now the maidens are sent out to invite people to the feast (maidens because extensions of Woman Wisdom). They represent all who proclaim wisdom (including Solomon (Pro 5:1), fathers and mothers (Pro 1:8), and ‘the wise’ (Pro 1:6)). They are ‘maidens’ in comparison with ancient Woman Wisdom. These are pure maidens, inviting men to hear, in contrast with Woman Folly who can only invite men to bed.
Those who respond to wisdom will find themselves satiated with good things. They partake freely of her beasts and her mingled wine. They can ‘obtain wine and milk without money and without price’ (Isa 55:1). In Isaiah too they could ‘hear — and live’ (Isa 55:3).
It is tempting to see in this description a parallel with the words of Jesus, ‘Tell those who are bidden, behold I have made ready my dinner, my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready, come to the marriage feast’ (Mat 22:4). He may well have had this passage in mind when He gave the parable, for He was offering the greatest wisdom of all.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Appeal Of Woman Wisdom To The Naive ( Pro 9:1-6 ).
After making full and generous preparations Wisdom calls on the naive to respond to and partake of her feast. ‘The naive’ might be better translated as ‘the seduceable’, those still open to wisdom, but also open to scorning and to folly. They are those whose views have not yet been determined. Their aims are not yet fully formed. They have not yet fixed on the basis for their way of living, and may therefore easily stray into waywardness (Pro 1:32). They may on the one hand be seduced and become scorners or fools, or they may on the other hand heed wisdom and become wise. They are the opposite of ‘the shrewd’ who have thought things through (Pro 14:15) and are crowned with knowledge (Pro 14:18), which as we know from Pro 2:6 is ‘the knowledge of God’ or from Pro 9:10 is the knowledge of the Holy One. Thus the naive are in danger of ‘acquiring folly’ (Pro 14:18). This appeal is therefore directed to them. The appeal is constructed chiastically:
A Preparation of the great feast (Pro 9:1-3 a).
B Appeal to the naive and those lacking in understanding (Pro 9:3-4).
A Partaking of the great feast (Pro 9:5-6).
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
Wisdom’s Invitation to Dine – The invitation to dine is given in Pro 9:1-6. This invitation to the simple man and to the wise man given in Pro 9:1-6 stands in direct contrast to the invitation being given by the harlot in Pro 7:6-23; Pro 9:13-18.
Why is such a feast given at this part of the preparation. It is because the journey is about to begin in the next chapter. The meat is given to us so that we may find strength for the journey. This meat and drink is to abide in His Word so that we will have food for the entire journey. Note that this is figurative of partaking of the Lord Jesus Christ as seen in Joh 6:35, “And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”
Historical Background – Remember that the context, or historical setting, of chapters 1-9 is found in the court of the king, who is training young men to become the wise men of his kingdom, who will rule and reign in his provinces. Very often, the king would have a banquet for his wise men in order to show them his riches and power. We see this in the opening chapter of the book of Esther.
Est 1:3-4, “In the third year of his reign, he made a feast unto all his princes and his servants; the power of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the provinces, being before him: When he shewed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honour of his excellent majesty many days, even an hundred and fourscore days.”
Thus, it is very likely that banquets were held for these young men in order to send them off into their assigned provinces. In Uganda when a student graduates from the university, the parents give him or her a party. The best food is prepared and music is organized. These parents use this party as a stepping-stone, or as a transition, for that young person to find his place in society and start the long journey of serving others in their society.
Heavenly Food in the Old Testament – We can find a similar story of a man dining on heavenly food by looking at Elijah’s flight from Jezebel after the events that took place upon Mount Carmel. He fled into the wilderness and sat under a juniper tree wishing to die, but there an angel of the Lord fed him with angel’s food in order to strengthen himself for the journey that lay ahead.
The Banquet in the New Testament – The invitation in Pro 9:1-6 is ultimately an invitation to come to the marriage supper of the Lamb. The book of Proverbs will take us to this destination if we follow the path of wisdom. Then shall be fulfilled that prophecy found in the book of Revelation regarding the marriage of the Lamb receiving His bride. Note:
Rev 19:5-8, “And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.”
Prior to the marriage of the Lamb, we see that the great whore is cast down, with her invitation to dine.
Rev 19:1-4, “And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.”
Compare Pro 9:13-18, where the whore also gives man an invitation to dine. This passage is figurative of the great whore who will one day be cast down.
This invitation to a feast is also similar to the Parable of the Wedding Feast found in Mat 22:1-14. Note also the invitation from God to a backslidden Israel during the time of Isaiah:
Isa 55:1-3, “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.”
Pro 9:1 Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars:
Pro 9:1
Comments – A pillar represents something that supports and undergirds every area of our lives.
Comments – The number seven represents the divine intervention of God in the affairs of mankind throughout Scripture. It symbolizes the fact that God Himself, in His divine wisdom, has built this house, and not man. Many commentators say that “seven pillars” when used in Pro 9:1 probably denotes the concept of completeness, as seen in Pro 6:31. The wisdom of God, and of the Lord Jesus Christ, is sufficient for our salvation and sanctification. In Pro 9:1
Pro 6:31, “But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold ; he shall give all the substance of his house.”
If we look through the Scriptures for the concept of seven as it relates to wisdom, we do find seven spirits before the throne of God (Rev 1:4; Rev 4:5), which are called the seven spirits of God.
Rev 4:5, “And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.”
Rev 4:5, “And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.”
The number seven tells us that God designs and does the work. He does it by His Spirit, whose office is to impart unto us wisdom. Note:
Zec 4:6, “Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.”
Psa 127:1, “(A Song of degrees for Solomon.) Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.”
The seven pillars in Pro 9:1 tell us that it is God who builds the house by His Spirit; for it says, “Wisdom hath built her house”. We have a divine destiny and purpose, which is to build a house, or fulfill our destiny. This can only be done by divine wisdom, or, by being led by the Holy Spirit.
It may also suggest that there are seven aspects by which wisdom operates in our lives. The book of Proverbs opens with seven virtues that are summarized throughout the book in the word “wisdom”. This final call very likely refers to these opening virtues listed in Pro 1:2-6, which virtues are woven throughout the book.
Wisdom (H2451) 39 of 149 times in Proverbs
Instruction (H4148) 30 of 50 times in Proverbs
Understanding (H998) – 14 of 38 times in Proverbs
Wisdom (H7919) 13 of 63 times in Proverbs
Justice (H6664) 8 of 116 times in Proverbs
Judgment (H4941) 20 of 421 times in Proverbs
Equity (H4339) 5 of 19 times in Proverbs
It could mean that there are seven phases that divine wisdom takes us through on this journey in life. There is the Father’s foreknowledge consisting of predestination and calling. There is justification through Jesus Christ our Saviour. The process of sanctification by the Holy Spirit leads us through the process of indoctrination, divine service and perseverance, so that we can reach our final destination called glorification.
Or, we can easily find seven phases in the journey of preparation in chapters 1-9. Here is where the journey takes us:
1. We hear the call of wisdom (Pro 1:1-33)
2. How we answer the call of wisdom (Pro 2:1-22)
3. The Blessings of Wisdom (Pro 3:1-30)
4. Three Paths of Wisdom (Pro 4:1-27)
5. Three Paths of Destruction (Pro 5:1 to Pro 6:11)
6. The Characteristics of the wicked (Pro 6:12 to Pro 7:27)
7. The Characteristics of Wisdom (Pro 8:1-36)
Chapter 9 serves as the final call to walk in wisdom. Thus, we can consider the preparation period seen in chapters 1-9 to come in seven phases.
Peter Pett, in his work “The Use of Numbers in the Ancient Near East and In Genesis,” studies the use of numbers in the ancient world by looking at modern-day primitive tribes. He refers to the writings of the ancient Sumerians, which portrayed Sheol as having seven gates because this demonstrated their absolute impregnability. There was no way back from the underworld. The author of Proverbs may be telling us that seven pillars represents how wisdom is established by God and unchanging. Pett notes that when ancient people saw the number “seven” in literature, they did not thing as much of quantity in amount as they did the quality of the concept. [72] We see this concept in Hebrew literature with the qualitative plural, which is often used when speaking of God. His name is spelled in the plural and used with a singular verb.
[72] Peter Pett, “The Use of Numbers in the Ancient Near East and in Genesis,” [on-line]; accessed 3 August 2009; available from http://www.geocities.com/genesiscommentary/numbers.html; Internet.
Comments – Note that King Solomon set up two pillars in his Temple, and named them Jachin and Boaz.
1Ki 7:21, “And he set up the pillars in the porch of the temple: and he set up the right pillar, and called the name thereof Jachin: and he set up the left pillar, and called the name thereof Boaz, which means, established and strength.”
Peter, James and John were considered to pillars in the Church.
Gal 2:9, “And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.”
Paul told Timothy that the Church is the pillar and ground of truth.
1Ti 3:15, “But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.”
Pro 9:1 Comments – It is wisdom that has built her house and hewn out her seven pillars. This house was not made by the hands of man. This represents the fact that it is something that God had done as a part of His work of redemption. We find a similar description in Daniel when he interpreted the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar. In this dream stood a man with his head of gold, his breast and arms of silver, his belly and thighs of brass and his legs of iron and feet part iron and clay. But there came a stone cut without man’s hands, which struck the image and crushed it to powder. This stone represented a divine work of God in which man did not participate. So is the building of this house.
Pro 9:2 She hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her wine; she hath also furnished her table.
Pro 9:2
Son 8:2, “I would lead thee, and bring thee into my mother’s house, who would instruct me: I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate.”
Thus, spiced wine was the best that a host could offer his guests at a banquet. I once was invited to the office of the President’s wife in Uganda. As I waited for her to call me into her office, the ladies served me tea. But it was not ordinary tea. They had mingled spices with it to make it taste exceptional. So, does God prepare for us such food and drinks.
Pro 9:2 Comments – Meat and wine are eaten during times of feasts and weddings, and not normally for everyday use. The poor man lived on bread and water. But wisdom will give us God’s best every day that we serve Him and eat at His table.
Pro 9:3 She hath sent forth her maidens: she crieth upon the highest places of the city,
Pro 9:3
Isa 65:2, “I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;”
Pro 9:4 Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him,
Pro 9:5 Pro 9:5
If our primary calling is to walk in fellowship with God, then the size of our ministry on earth is secondary. One good example of this is seen in the testimony of Jimmy Swaggart. God does not measure a man by the size of his ministry, but by the size of his heart. When Jimmy Swaggart fell into sin, Alethia Fellowship Church was one of his partners, so this church was receiving his monthly ministry tapes during this period in his ministry. In a cassette tape immediately after his fall, he gave a testimony of how he told the Lord that he had failed. The Lord replied to him that he had not failed; rather the Lord had to get some things out of his life. [73] That word from God gave him the courage to go on in the midst of failure. You see, God was more pleased with Jimmy Swaggart living a godly life in fellowship with Him than preaching in great crusades while living in sin.
[73] Jimmy Swaggart, “Monthly Partner Cassette Tape,” (Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Jimmy Swaggart Ministries, February 1988), audiocassette.
Pro 9:6 Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.
Pro 9:6
Pro 1:17, “Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird. And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Food for the Journey Pro 9:1-18 gives us our final call for the journey by inviting us to dine at the table that wisdom has prepared for us. In this banquet we receive our calling, which is to eat the bread and the wine (Pro 9:5). We know that this bread and wine ultimately represent the broken body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ when He gave His life on Calvary, which gives us access to walk in fellowship with the Father. Thus, in Pro 9:5 we receive our divine calling, which is to walk in fellowship with the Father, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit for the Church, and under the Old Covenant, it is through the words of divine wisdom.
Therefore, in this final chapter of preparation, we will revisit the two types of wisdom that man can find in this life: the wisdom of God (Pro 9:1-12) and the wisdom of this world (Pro 9:13-18). These two types of wisdom are personified in this chapter as two women.
The journey is long, so wisdom now prepares food for this journey. This chapter gives the simple one an invitation to dine from the table of blessing prepared by wisdom (Pro 9:2), or to accept the invitation of the wisdom of this world, personified as the foolish woman (Pro 9:17). We can choose the table of blessings (Pro 9:1-5) or the trap of death (Pro 9:18).
This is the same call that Moses gave to the children of Israel as they were preparing for their journey into the Promised Land. They could choose life or death, blessing or cursing (Deu 30:19).
Deu 30:19, “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:”
Moses made this declaration because the children of Israel were about to embark upon a journey that they had never been on before (Jos 3:4).
Jos 3:4, “Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure: come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go: for ye have not passed this way heretofore .”
God wanted them to know that they could find the path of blessings if they would pursue His holy commandments, which represents the voice of wisdom.
Outline Here is a proposed outline:
1. Wisdom’s Invitation to Dine Pro 9:1-6
2. Fools Reject this Food Pro 9:7-8
3. Those Who Fear God Receive this Food Pro 9:9-12
4. Invitation From the Foolish Woman to Dine Pro 9:13-18
Divine Wisdom and Earthly Wisdom Contrasted in the New Testament – We will find a similar contrast of divine wisdom and earthly wisdom, though not personified, in several New Testament passages (1Co 2:4-7, Jas 3:13-18).
1Co 2:4-7, “And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men , but in the power of God. Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world , nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom , which God ordained before the world unto our glory:”
Jas 3:13-18, “Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above , but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.”
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
The Banquet of Wisdom
v. 1. Wisdom, v. 2. She hath killed her beasts, v. 3. She hath sent forth her maidens, v. 4. Whoso is simple, v. 5. Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine which I have mingled, v. 6. Forsake the foolish and live, v. 7. He that reproveth a scorner, v. 8. Reprove not a scorner, v. 9. Give instruction to a wise man, v. 10. The fear of the Lord Is the beginning of wisdom, v. 11. For by me, v. 12. If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
Pro 9:1-18
15. Fifteenth admonitory discourse, containing in a parabolic form an invitation of Wisdom (Pro 9:1-12), and that of her rival Folly (Pro 9:13-18). The chapter sums up in brief the warnings of the preceding part.
Pro 9:1
Wisdom was represented as having a house at whose portals persons waited eagerly for admission (Pro 8:34); the idea is further carried on. Wisdom hath builded her house. (For the plural form of khochmoth, “wisdom,” a plural of excellency, see on Pro 1:20.) As the “strange woman” in Pro 7:1-27. possessed a house to which she seduced her victim, so Wisdom is represented as having a house which she has made and adorned, and to which she invites her pupils. Spiritual writers see here two referencesone to Christ’s incarnation, when he built for himself a human body (Joh 2:19); and another to his work in forming the Church, which is his mystical body (1Pe 2:5). And the sublime language used in this section is not satisfied with the bare notion that we have here only an allegorical representation of Wisdom calling followers to her. Rather we are constrained to see a Divine intimation of the office and work of Christ, not only the Creator of the world, as in Pro 8:1-36; but its Regenerator. She hath hewn out her seven pillars. Architecturally, according to Hitzig and others, the pillars of the inner court are meant, which supported the gallery of the first story. Four of these were m the corners, three in the middle of three sides, while the entrance to the court was through the fourth side of the square. The number seven generally denotes perfection; it is the covenant number, expressive of harmony and unity generally, the signature of holiness and blessing, completeness and rest. So in the Apocalypse the whole Church is represented by the number of seven Churches (Rev 1:4, etc.; see on Pro 26:16). Wisdom’s house is said to be thus founded because of its perfection and adaptability to all states of men. But doubtless there is a reference to the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit, which rested upon the Christ (Isa 11:2, etc.), and which are the support and strength of the Church, being symbolized by the seven-branched candlestick in the temple.
Pro 9:2
She hath killed her beasts. So in the parable of the marriage of the king’s son (Mat 22:1-46; which is parallel to the present), the king sends his servants to notify the guests that the oxen and fatlings are killed, and all things are ready. Wisdom has stores of nourishment for understanding and affection; and Christ has offered himself as a Victim in our behalf, and now makes bounteous offers of grace, and especially has ordained the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper for the strengthening and refreshing of the soul. She hath mingled her wine; Septuagint, “She hath mixed () her wine in a bowl.” The wine which, untempered, was too luscious or too fiery to drink, was made palatable by a certain admixture of water, it was always so mixed at the Passover; and the ancient Christian Liturgies direct the mixture in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, doubtless from traditional use. Some, however, think that allusion is here made to the custom of adding drugs to wine in order to increase its potency. Among the Greeks, meant “wine without water,” and in Rev 14:10 we have , “undiluted wine mixed.” And probably in the text the notion is that the fluid for the guests’ delectation is properly prepared, that there may be no trouble when they arrive (see on Pro 23:30). She hath also furnished her table, by arranging the dishes, etc; thereon (Psa 23:5, “Thou preparest a table before me,” where the same verb, arak, is used; comp. Isa 21:5). Moralizing on this passage, St. Gregory says, “The Lord ‘killed the sacrifices’ by offering himself on our behalf. He ‘mingled the wine,’ blending together the cup of his precepts from the historical narration and the spiritual signification. And he ‘set forth his table,’ i.e. Holy Writ, which with the bread of the Word refreshes us when we are wearied and come to him away from the burdens of the world, and by its effect of refreshing strengthens us against our adversaries” (‘Moral,’ 17:43, Oxford transl.).
Pro 9:3
She hath sent forth her maidens, as in Mat 22:3, to call them that were bidden to the feast. The Septuagint has , “her servants,” but the Authorized Version is correct, and feminine attendants are in strict harmony with the rest of the apologue. By them are represented the apostles and preachers and ministers, who go forth to win souls for Christ. St. Gregory sees in their being called “maidens” an intimation that they are in themselves weak and abject, and are only useful and honoured as being the mouthpiece of their Lord (‘Moral.,’ 33.33). She crieth upon the highest places of the city, where her voice could best be heard, as in Pro 8:2; Mat 10:27. She is not satisfied with delegating her message to others; she delivers it herself. Septuagint, “calling with a loud proclamation to the cup ( );” Vulgate, Misit ancillas suas ut vocarent ad arcem et ad moenia civitatis, “She has sent her handmaids to invite to the citadel, and to the wails of the town.” On which rendering St. Gregory comments, “In that while they tell of the interior life, they lift us up to the high walls of the city above, which same walls, surely, except any be humble, they do not ascend” (‘Moral.,’ 17:43).
Pro 9:4-12
Here follows the invitation of Wisdom, urging the attendance of guests at the sumptuous banquet which she has prepared (comp. Rev 19:9).
Pro 9:4
Whose is simple, lot him turn in hither. This is a direct address to the imprudent and inexperienced (see on Pro 7:7), calling them to turn aside from the way on which they are going, and to come to her. Vulgate, si quis est parvulus veniat ad me, which reminds one of Christ’s tender words, “It is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish” (Mat 18:14). As for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him what follows (so Pro 9:16). Wisdom’s own speech is interrupted, and the writer himself introduces this little clause. She calls on the simple and the unwise, both as necessarily needing her teaching, and not yet inveterate in evil, nor wilfully opposed to better guidance. “The world by wisdom knew not God” and he “hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty, and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen” (1Co 1:21, 1Co 1:26, etc.; comp. Mat 11:25).
Pro 9:5
Come, eat ye of my bread. Wisdom now directly addresses the simple and the foolish (comp. Rev 22:17). And drink of the wine which I have mingled (see on Pro 9:2). Bread and wine represent all needful nourishment, as flesh and wine in Pro 9:2. So Christ says (Joh 6:51), “I am the living Bread which came down from heaven and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” Compare the invitation in Isa 55:1, “He, every one that thirsteth!” etc. The Fathers see here a prophecy of the gospel feast, wherein Christ gave and gives bread and wine as symbols of his presence (Mat 26:26, etc.).
Pro 9:6
Forsake the foolish, and live; Vulgate, relinquite infantiam; Septuagint, , “leave folly.” These versions take the plural (petaim) as equivalent to an abstract noun, which gives a good sense; but the plural is not so used in our book, so we must admit the rendering of the Authorized Version, “Quit the class, give up being of the category of fools,” or else we must take the word as vocative, “Leave off, ye simple ones” (Revised Version), i.e. quit your simplicity, your folly. And live (see on Pro 4:4). It is not a mere prosperous life on earth that is here promised, but something far higher and better (Joh 6:51, “If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever”). The LXX. saw something of this when they paraphrased the clause, “Leave ye folly, that ye may reign forever.” Go in the way of understanding. Leaving folly, stay not, but make real progress in the direction of wisdom. Septuagint, “Seek ye prudence, and direct understanding by knowledge.”
Pro 9:7-10
These verses form a parenthesis, showing why Wisdom addresses only the simple and foolish. She giveth not that which is holy unto dogs, nor casteth pearls before swine (Mat 7:6).
Pro 9:7
He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame. He who tries to correct a scorner (see on Pro 1:22 and Pro 3:34), one who derides religion, loses his pains and meets with ribald mockery and insult. It is not the fault of messengers or message that this should be, but the hardness of heart and the pride of the hearer make him despise the teaching and hate the teacher (Mat 24:9). He that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot; rather, he that reproveth a sinner, it is his blot. Such a proceeding results in disgrace to himself. This is not said to discourage the virtuous from reproving transgressors, but states the effect which experience proves to occur in such cases. Prudence, caution, and tact are needed in dealing with these characters. Evil men regard the reprover as a personal enemy, and treat him with contumely, and hence arise unseemly bickerings and disputes, injurious words and deeds. To have wasted teaching on such unreceptive and antagonistic natures is a shameful expenditure of power. St. Gregory thus explains this matter: “It generally happens that when they cannot defend the evils that are reproved in them, they are rendered worse from a feeling of shame, and carry themselves so high in their defence of themselves, that they take out bad points to urge against the life of the reprover, and so they do not account themselves guilty, if they fasten guilty deeds upon the heads of others also. And when they are unable to find true ones, they feign them, that they may also themselves have things they may seem to rebuke with no inferior degree of justice” (‘Moral.,’ 10.3, Oxford transl.).
Pro 9:8
Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee (see the last note, and comp. Pro 15:12, and note there). There are times when reproof only hardens and exasperates. “It is not proper,” says St. Gregory, “for the good man to fear lest the scorner should utter abuse at him when he is chidden, but lest, being drawn into hatred, he should be made worse” (‘Moral.,’ 8.67). “Bad men sometimes we spare, and not ourselves, if from the love of those we cease from the rebuking of them. Whence it is needful that we sometimes endure keeping to ourselves what they are, in order that they may learn in us by our good living what they are not” (ibid; 20:47, Oxford transl.). Rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. So Psa 141:5, “Let the righteous smite me, it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me, it shall be as oil upon the head; let not my head refuse it” (comp. Pro 19:25; Pro 25:12; Pro 27:6).
Pro 9:9
Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser. The Hebrew is merely “give to the wise,” with no object mentioned; but the context suggests “instruction,” even though, as in Pro 9:8, it takes the form of rebuke. Vulgate and Septuagint, “Give an opportunity to a wise man, and he will be wiser” (comp. Mat 13:12; Mat 25:29). To make the best use of all occasions of learning duty, whether they present themselves in a winning or a forbidden shape, is the part of one who is wise unto salvation (see Pro 1:5, and note there). Teach a just man, and he will increase in learning. Wisdom being a moral and not merely an intellectual, quality. there is a natural interchange of “wise” and “just,” referring to the same individual, in the two clauses. Vulgate, festinabit accipere; Septuagint, “Instruct a wise man, and he shall have more given him.” The wise are thus rewarded with larger measures of wisdom, because they are simple, humble, and willing to learn, having that childlike spirit which Christ commends (Mat 18:3).
Pro 9:10
Wisdom returns to the first apothegm and principle of the whole book (Pro 1:7). Without the fear of God no teaching is of any avail. The knowledge of the holy is understanding. The word translated “the holy” is , a plural of excellence (see on Pro 30:3) like Elohim, and equivalent to “the Most Holy One,” Jehovah, to which it answers in the first hemistich. God is called “Holy, holy, holy” (Isa 6:3), in his threefold nature, and as majestic beyond expression. The only knowledge worth having, and which is of avail for the practical purposes of life, is the knowledge of God (see on Pro 2:5). Septuagint, “The counsel of the holy () is understanding,” with the explanatory clause; “for to know the Law is the character of good thought.” This occurs again at Pro 13:15, though in the Hebrew in neither place.
Pro 9:11
The parenthetical explanation being concluded, in which Wisdom has intimated why it is useless to appeal to the scorner and tile wilful sinner, she now resumes the direct address interrupted at Pro 9:7, presenting a forcible reason for the advice given in Pro 9:6, though there is still some connection with Pro 9:10, as it is from the wisdom that comes from the fear of the Lord that the blessings now mentioned spring. For by me thy days shall be multiplied (see Pro 3:2, Pro 3:16; Pro 4:10, where long life is promised as a reward for the possession and practice of wisdom). The same result is attributed to the fear of God (Pro 10:27; Pro 14:27, etc.). In Pro 9:6 the address is in the plural; here it is singular. A similar interchange is found in Pro 5:7, Pro 5:8 (where see note).
Pro 9:12
If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself. A transition verse. Wisdom will bring thee good; as thou hast laboured well, so will be thy reward (1Co 3:8). The LXX. (Syriac and Arabic), with the idea of perfecting the antithesis, adds, , “My son, if thou art wise for thyself, thou shalt be wise also for thy neighbours”which contains the great truth that good gifts should not be selfishly enjoyed, but used and dispensed for the advantage of others (Gal 6:6). In support of our text we may quote Job 22:2, “Can a man be profitable unto God? Surely he that is wise is profitable unto himself.” But if thou scornest, thou alone shalt hear it; i.e. atone for it, bear the sin, as it is expressed in Num 9:13, “Forevery man shall bear his own burden” (Gal 6:5). Thus Wisdom ends her exhortation. Septuagint, “If thou turn out evil, thou alone shalt bear () evils.” And then is added the following paragraph, which may possibly be derived from a Hebrew original, but seems more like a congeries made up from other passages, and foisted by some means into the Greek text: “He that stayeth himself on lies shepherdeth winds, and himself pursueth flying birds; for he hath left the ways of his own vineyard, and hath gone astray with the wheels of his own husbandry; and he goeth through a waterless desert, and over a land set in thirsty places, and with his hands he gathereth unfruitfulness.”
Pro 9:13-18
This section contains the invitation of Folly, the rival of Wisdom, represented under the guise of an adulteress (Pro 2:16; Pro 5:3, etc.; Pro 6:24, etc.; 7.).
Pro 9:13
I foolish woman; literally, the woman of folly, the genitive being that of apposition, so that this may well be rendered, in order to make the contrast with Wisdom more marked, “the woman Folly.” She is regarded as a real person; and between her and Virtue man has to make his choice. Is clamorous; turbulent and animated by passion (as Pro 7:11), quite different from her calm, dignified rival. She is simple; Hebrew, “simplicity,” in a bad sense; she has no preservative against evil, no moral fibre to resist temptation. And knoweth nothing which she ought to know. Ignorance is the natural accompaniment of Folly: in this case it is wilful and persistent; she goes on her way reckless of consequences. Septuagint, “A woman foolish and bold, who knows not shame, comes to want a morsel.”
Pro 9:14
She sitteth at the door of her house. She, like Wisdom, has a house of her own, and imitates her in inviting guests to enter. She does not send forth her maidens; she does not stand in the streets and proclaim her mission. Vice has an easier task; all she has to do is to sit and beckon and use a few seductive words. Her house is not supported by seven pillars, built on the grace of God and upheld by the gifts of the Holy Spirit. like that of Wisdom (Pro 9:1); it is an ordinary habitation of no stately proportions. but its meanness impedes not the uses to which she puts it, her own charms causing her victims to disregard her environments. On a seat in the high pluses of the city. Her house is in the highest and most conspicuous part of the city, and she sits before her door in reckless immodesty, plying her shameful trade (comp. Gen 38:14; Jer 3:2). The mimicry of her rival again appears, for Wisdom “crieth upon the highest places of the city” (Pro 9:3).
Pro 9:15
To call passengers who go right on their ways. With shameless effrontery she cries to all that pass by, she addresses her solicitations to persons who are going straight on their way, thinking nothing of her, having no idea of deviating from their pursued object. As they walk in the path of right and duty, she tries to turn them aside. Septuagint, “Calling to herself () those that pass by and are keeping straight in their ways.” The Fathers find here a picture of the seductions of heretical teaching, which puts on the mask of orthodoxy and deceives the unwary. Wordsworth notes that, in the Apocalypse, the false teacher bears some emblems of the Lamb (Rev 13:11). All false doctrine retains some element of truth, and it is because of this admixture that it procures adherents and thrives for a time.
Pro 9:16, Pro 9:17
These verses contain the invitation which Vice, in imitation of Virtue, and assuming her voice and manner, offers to the wayfarers.
Pro 9:16
Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither. She uses the very same words which Wisdom utters (Pro 9:4). The latter had addressed the simple because they were inexperienced and undecided, and might be guided aright; the former now speaks to them because they have not vet made their final choice, can still be swayed by lower considerations, and may be led astray. Such persons find it hard to distinguish between the good and the evil, the false and the true, especially when their sensual appetite is aroused and sides with the temptress. No marvel is it that such are easily deceived; for we are told that, under certain circumstances, Satan transforms himself into an angel of light (2Co 11:14). That wanteth understanding. This is the other class addressed by Wisdom, and which Folly now solicits, urging them to follow her on the path of pleasure, promising sensual enjoyment and security.
Pro 9:17
This is what she says: Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. The metaphor of “stolen waters” refers primarily to adulterous intercourse, as to “drink waters out of one’s own cistern” (Pro 5:15, where see note) signifies the chaste connection of lawful wedlock. Wisdom offered flesh and wine to her guests; Folly offers bread and water. Wisdom invites openly to a well furnished table; Folly calls to a secret meal of barest victuals. What the former offers is rich and satisfying and comforting; what Vice gives is poor and mean and insipid. Yet this latter has the charm of being forbidden; it is attractive because it is unlawful. This is a trait of corrupt human nature, which is recognized universally. Thus Ovid, ‘Amor.,’ Pro 3:4, Pro 3:17
“Nitimur in vetitum semper, cupimusque negata;
Sic interdictis imminet aeger aquis.’
Things easily attained, the possession of which is gotten without effort or danger or breach of restraint, soon pall and cease to charm. To some minds the astuteness and secrecy required for success have an irresistible attraction. Thus St. Augustine relates (‘Conf.,’ 2.4) how he and some companions committed a theft, not from want and poverty, nor even from the wish to enjoy what was stolen, but simply for the pleasure of thieving and the sin. They robbed a pear tree by night, carried off great loads, which they flung to the pigs, and their only satisfaction was that they were doing what they ought not (“dum tamen fieret a nobis, quod eo liberet quo non liceret”). Septuagint, “Taste ye to your pleasure secret bread, and sweet water of theft.” Where water is a precious commodity, as in many pets of Palestine, doubtless thefts were often committed, and persons made free with their neighbor’s tank when they could do so undetected, thus sparing their own resources and felicitating themselves on their cleverness. On the metaphorical use of “waters” in Holy Scripture, St. Gregory says, “Waters are sometimes wont to denote the Holy Spirit, sometimes sacred knowledge, sometimes calamity, sometimes drifting peoples, sometimes the minds of those following the faith.” He refers to these texts respectively: Joh 7:38, etc.; Ec Joh 15:3; Psa 69:1; Rev 17:15 (“the waters are peoples”); Isa 22:20; and he adds, “By water likewise bad knowledge is wont to be designated, as when the woman in Solomon, who bears the type of heresy, charms with crafty persuasion, saying, ‘Stolen waters are sweet'” (‘Moral.,’ 19.9).
Pro 9:18
The deluded youth is supposed to be persuaded by the seductions of Folly and to enter her house. The writer, then, in a few weighty words, shows the terrible result of this evil compliance. But he knoweth not that the dead are there (see on Pro 2:18 and Pro 7:27). There are none “there,” in her house, who can be said to be living, they are rephaim, shadowy ghosts of living men, or else demons of the nether world. The Septuagint and Vulgate, with a reference to Gen 6:4, translate and gigantes. Her guests are in the depths of hell (sheol); Septuagint, “He knows not that giants perish at her side, and he meets with a trap of hell.” The terrible warning may profitably be repeated more than once, It is like Christ’s awful saying, three times enunciated, “Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched”. The LXX. has another paragraph at the end of this verse, which has no counterpart in the Hebrew: “But start away, delay not in the place, nor put thy name [‘eye,’ al.] by her; for thus shalt thou pass over () strange water; but abstain thou from strange water, and of a strange spring drink not, that thou mayest live long, and years of life may be added to thee.”
HOMILETICS
Pro 9:1-5
The banquet of wisdom
I. THE BANQUET HOUSE.
1. It is substantial. A house, not a mere tent. The feast of wisdom is no brief repast, rarely enjoyed, It is a lasting delight, a frequent refreshment always ready.
2. It is magnificent. Seven pillars are hewn out for the house. It is fitting that the house of God should be more beautiful than a man’s dwelling. He who enters into the habitation of God’s thoughts will find it beautiful and glorious. There is nothing mean about Divine truth. It is all large, noble, magnificent. He who comes into communion with is will find himself in no poor hovel. He will be in a palace of splendour, with which the material grandeur of marble columns, delicate tracery, etc; cannot vie.
II. THE PROVISION. Rich and abundantslaughtered beasts, spiced wine, a well furnished table. Nothing looks more sordid than poor fare in splendid apartments. This shad not be seen in the house of Divine wisdom, but, on the contrary, enough for all, and that of the best quality. No thoughts are so full nor so rich as the thoughts of revelation. There is variety here as in the viands of the banquet. And “all things are ready.” The table is spread. It waits for the guests. While we are praying for light, the light is shining about us. God has revealed his truth. Christ, the Light of the world, has appeared among us. The feast of the truths of the glorious gospel of the, blessed God is ready for all who will come and share in its bounties.
III. THE INVITATION. The maidens are sent forthnot one, but manythat the message may go to all quarters. They cry in the highest places of the city, that the message may have the greatest publicity, may spread over the widest area, may reach all classes. This is the character of the call of God to us in his truth. He seeks us before we seek him. He has already sought us. The gospel is preached, proclaimed as by heralds; and this gospel contains the invitation to the rich banquet of Divine truth.
IV. THE GUESTS. “The simple;” “him that lacketh understanding.” So in our Lord’s parable, “the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind” are called (Luk 14:21). The whole need not the physician; the full need not the feast. They who are satisfied with their own knowledge will not sit humbly at the feet of a Divine revelation. It is they who feel themselves to be foolish, who acknowledge their ignorance and grope dimly after the light, who will be able to enjoy the banquet of wisdom; and these people are specially invited. The heathen, the illiterate, the weak-minded, are all called to receive the saving truth of Christ.
V. THE SATISFACTION. “Eat of my bread, and drink of the wine,” etc.
1. Divine truth is nourishing. “By every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live” (Deu 8:3). Christ, the “Word,” is the Bread of life.
2. Divine truth is a source of joy. At the banquet there is wine that maketh glad the heart of man. The gospel offers no prison fare. It kills the fatted beast. It gives winespiced wine, things of pleasure and luxury. Yet the pleasure is not enervating; the gospel wine is not harmfully intoxicating. How much better this banquet than the injurious and really less pleasing least of folly (Pro 9:13-18)!
Pro 9:8
Reproof
I. HOW TO GIVE REPROOF. The duty of reproving is one of the most difficult and delicate ever attempted. The people who are most rash in adventuring upon it too often fall into the greatest blunders, while those who are really fitted to undertake it shrink from the attempt. The mere utterance of a protest is generally worse than useless. It only raises anger and provokes to greater obstinacy. Unless there is some probability of convincing a man of the wrongness of his conduct, there is little good in administering rebukes to him. It is not the duty of any man to raise up enemies without cause. We should all seek, as far as in us lies, to live peaceably with all men. Of course, it may he incumbent upon us sometimes so to act that we shall provoke opposition. Jesus Christ could have avoided the enmity of the Jews, but only by unfaithfulness to his mission. Where we are in the way of our mission, or when any duty will be accomplished or any good done, we must not shrink from rousing antagonism. To do so is cowardice, not peaceableness. But if no good is done, we may only bring a nest of hornets about our heads by our indiscretion. Let us understand that while we are never to sanction evil doing, we are only called to rebuke it when the rebuke will not be certainly rejected; then we must risk insult for the sake of righteousness. The practical point, then. is that we consider the character of a man before attempting to rebuke him, and that we be not so anxious to protest against sin as to counsel the sinner and guide him to better ways. If he is in a hard, scornful mood, we had better wait for a more fitting opportunity. If he is too strong for us, we shall only injure the cause of right by attempting to grapple with him. Weak champions of Christianity have often only hurt themselves, discredited their cause, and afforded a triumph to powerful opponents by their rash encounters. In all cases to reprove well requires wisdom, tact, simplicity, humanity.
II. HOW TO RECEIVE REPROOF. He who hates the reprover will become himself a scorner; the wise man will love the reprover. Our manner of accepting merited reproof will therefore be a test of our character. Thus viewed, may not the text class many of us with the scorners, though we had little suspected where our true place was to be found? It is too common for a man to reject all reproof with rage. Not inquiring whether the accusation is true, he unjustly regards it as an attack upon himself, as a personal insult. There may be fault with the reproververy often there is. But a wise man will not shelter himself behind that. Granting that the method of reproof was unwise, harsh, offensive; still, was there no ground for any reproof? To be angry at all reproof is to be one of the worst of scornersto scorn right and truth. For the conscientious man will not dare to reject appeals to his conscience; he will feel bound to listen to them, no matter how unwelcome the voice that speaks them. He will desire to be free from faults. Should he not, therefore, thank those people who show them to him? If he loves goodness, he ought to lore those whose advice will help him to remove the greatest hindrances to attaining it. If he hates sin as the disease of his soul, he should accept reproof as medicine, and treat the reprover as a valuable physician.
Pro 9:9
An open mind
There are two classes of minds that seem to be armour proof against the invasion of new light. One contains those people who, to use the phraseology of the Roman Catholic Church, are in a state of “invincible ignorance.” The other contains the much more numerous people who know just enough to feel s pride of superiority to their fellows, and who wrap themselves up in the infallibility of self-conceit. To these persons Pope’s often misapplied maxim may be fairly appropriated –
“A little knowledge is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.”
The truly wise man will be the first to see the limits of his knowledge and the infinite night of ignorance with which the little spot of light that he has as yet gained is surrounded. Having drunk of the wells of truth, he will have found his thirst not slaked, but stimulated; he will be a philosopher, a lover of wisdom. Such a man will have an open mind.
I. CONSIDER THE CHARACTERISTICS OF AN OPEN MIND.
1. It is not an empty mind. A man may be prepared to receive fresh light without abandoning the light he already possesses. The seeker after truth need not be a sceptic. There may be many things clearly seen and firmly grasped in the mind of one who is ready to welcome all new truth.
2. It is not a weak mind. If a man is not a bigot, he need not be like a shuttlecock, driven about by every wind of doctrine. He will sift truth. He will consider new ideas calmly, impartially, judicially.
3. An open mind is willing to receive truth from any quarter. It may come from a despised teacher, from rival, from an enemy. The open mind will not exclaim, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?”
4. An open mind is ready to receive unpleasant truth. The new light may threaten to interfere with the vested interests of ancient beliefs, it may expose the folly of long cherished crotchets, it may unsettle much of one’s established convictions, it may reveal truths which are themselves unpalatable, or it may wound our pride by exposing our errors. Still, the open mind will receive it on one conditionthat it is genuine truth.
5. Such characteristics must be based on wisdom and justice. It is the wise man and the just who is ready to receive instruction. No small amount of practical wisdom is requisite for the discernment of truth amidst the distractions of prejudice. Justice is a more important characteristic. Indeed, it is one of the fundamental conditions of truth seeking. Science and philosophy would progress more rapidly, and theology would be less confused by the conflicts of bitter sectaries, if men could but learn to be fair to other inquirers, and to take no exaggerated views of the importance of their own notions.
II. THE ADVANTAGES OF AN OPEN MIND.
1. The open mind will attain most truth. Truth is practically infinite. But our knowledge of it varies according as we are able to attain to a large and yet a discriminating receptivity. To the nut its shell is its universe. The man who locks himself up in the dungeon of prejudice will never see anything but his own prison walls.
2. Every attainment in knowledge prepares the way for receiving more knowledge. It intensifies the desire of possessing truth. Thus the inquirer may say
“The wish to knowthat endless thirst,
Which ev’n by quenching is awak’d,
And which becomes or blest or curst
As is the fount whereat ’tis slak’d
Still urged me onward, with desire
Insatiate, to explore, inquire.”
But not only is the thirst thus stimulated. Future knowledge grows upon past experience. Knowledge is not an endless level plain, to reach one district of which we must leave another. It is more like a great building, and as we rise from story to story, we gain new treasures by mounting on those previously possessed. The more we know, the easier is it to increase knowledge. This applies to religious as well as to secular things. Prophets and devout people were the first to welcome the advent of the Light of the world (see Luk 2:25-38). The more the Christian knows, the more wilt he be able to see of new spiritual truths. Thus he will come to welcome instruction with thankfulness.
Pro 9:12
True self-interest
It is the duty of the Christian to bear his brother’s burden, and the duty of every man to love his neighbour as himself; it is also the privilege of the saint to lose his life for Christ’s sake, and to “spend and be spent” in the service of man. But there still remains a right and lawful, and even an obligatory, regard to self-interest. For one thing, if a man’s own heart and life are wrong, his work in the world must be wrong also.
I. HE IS NOT TRULY WISE WHOSE OWN SOUL IS NOT SAFE.
1. He may know the truth. The wisdom that can unravel many mysteries is his. He has searched into the deep truths of revelation. A diligent reader of the Bible, he is well acquainted at least with the words that God teaches. But he has never regarded the practical bearing of all this truth. It has been to him but a shadow. Then his own soul may be wrecked, though the way to The haven is clear.
2. He may enlighten others. Perhaps he is a preacher of the gospel, and is able to hold up the torch to many a wayfarer. He is even urgent in pressing the truth upon his hearers. Or he is a champion for the defence of the truth, arguing vehemently with unbelievers. But all the while he never applies this truth to his own case. Saving others, he is himself a castaway (1Co 9:27). The pilot leads the imperilled mariners home, but is drowned himself. Surely this is the height of folly!
II. HE WHO IS TRULY WISE WILL PROFIT BY HIS WISDOM.
1. He will see the necessity of applying truth to himself. This will be a part of his wisdom. We are all sadly tempted to delude ourselves into a false sense of security, and we need light and guidance to show us our danger and our course of safety. It is a mark of God-given wisdom to choose that course.
2. He will recognize the practical bearings of truth. It will do little good to regard one’s self only as a sort of example to which certain truths are attached. Mere self-examination of the most lucid and honest character will not save our souls. We have to go a step further, and act according to the knowledge that we gain in the light of God’s truth.
3. He will find the application of wisdom directly helpful. When a man does not hold aloof from it as from some curiosity only to be inspected, but embraces the truth of Christ, taking it home to his own heart, he discovers that it is a saving truth. By the personal reception of this Divine wisdom he reaches the way of salvation. Above all, when we remember that Christ is “the Wisdom of God,” we may see that for a man to receive that wisdom, i.e. to receive Christ, is to be wise for himself, because Christ brings the light of God’s truth, and Christ’s presence is the source of sure salvation.
Pro 9:17
Stolen waters.
A fatal fascination, arising out of its very lawlessness, attaches itself to sin. Illicit pleasures are doubly attractive just because they are illicit. Let us consider the secret of these evil charms.
I. THE PROVOCATION OF RESTRAINTS. There are many things which we do not care to have so long as they are within our reach, but which are clothed with a sudden attractiveness directly they are shut out from us. If we see a notice, “Trespassers will be prosecuted,” we feel an irritating restraint, although we have had no previous desire to enter the path that it blocks. Innumerable fruits grew in Eden, but the one forbidden fruit excited the greatest longing of appetite. Advertisers sometimes head their placards with the words, “Don’t read this!”judging that to be the best way to call attention to them. If you say, “Don’t look!” everybody is most anxious to look. To put a book in an index expurgatorius is the surest means of advertising it.
II. THE VALUE GIVEN BY DIFFICULTY OF ACQUISITION. We value little what we can buy cheaply. Rarity raises prices. If we have been to great labour and have run heavy risks in obtaining anything, we are inclined to measure the worth of it by what it has cost us. Many designs of sin are only achieved with great difficulty. They involve terrible dangers. When once accomplished, they are the more valued for this. The pleasures of adventure, the Englishman’s peculiar delights of the chase, are enlisted in the cause of wickedness.
“All things that are,
Are with more spirit chased than enjoyed.”
III. THE SENSE OF POWER AND LIBERTY. If you have gained your end in spite of law and authority, there is a natural elation of triumph about it. When you have succeeded in breaking bounds, you taste the sweets of an illicit liberty.
IV. THE ENJOYMENT OF SECRECY. To some minds there is a peculiar charm about this. To them especially “bread eaten in secret is pleasant.” Let it be all open and above board, let it he of such a nature that one would have no objection to the world knowing it, and the pleasure loses its most pungent element. The air of mystery, the sense of superiority in doing what those about one little suspect, become elements in the pleasures of sin. But surely the highest natures must be too simple and frank to feel the force of such inducements to sin!
V. THE FASCINATION OF WICKEDNESS. Pure, naked evil will attract on its own account. There is a charm in absolute ugliness. Some men really seem to love sin for its own sake. A wild intoxication, a mad passion of conscious guilt, instils a fatal sweetness into stolen waters. But it is the sweetness of a deadly poison, the euthanasia of crime.
All these horrible charms of sin need to be guarded against. We must not trust to our own integrity; it is not proof against the fatal fascinations of temptation. To resist them we must be fortified with the love of higher joys, fed with the wholesome food of the banquet of wisdom (see Pro 9:1-5), attracted by the beauty of holiness, and above all, led to the pure and nourishing delights of the gospel feast by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON
Pro 9:1-6
Wisdom’s banquet; or, the call to salvation
I. THE FIGURATIVE REPRESENTATION. Wisdom was termed, in Pro 8:30, a “workmistress,” in reference to the structure of the physical world. Here she whose delight is in men and human life is represented as the builder, i.e. the founder of moral and social order. The seven pillars denote grandeur, and, at the same time, sacredness. Her home is a temple. Religion is “the oldest and most sacred tradition of the race” (Herder); and it contains within it art, science, polityall that makes human life stable, rich, and beautiful. Preparation has been made for a feast. The ox has been slain, the spiced wine has been mixed (Isa 5:22; Pro 23:30), the table set forth. Her servant has been sent forth, and her invitation has been freely made known on all the heights of the city. It is an invitation to the simple, the ignorant, the unintelligent, of every degree.
II. THE SPIRITUAL CONTENTS. These receive a richer unfolding in the gospel (Mat 22:1-14; Luk 14:16-24). Instead of the practical personification of wisdom, we have the living presence of Christ, “the Wisdom of God.” Instead of the abstract, the concrete; for an ideal conception, a real Example and a present Object of faith. Instead of the splendid palace temple, on the other hand, we have the thought of the kingdom of God, or the Church, resting on its foundations of apostolic truth. To the provisions of the table correspond the rich spiritual nourishment derivable from Christ, his Word and workthe true Bread sent down from heaven. To the invitation of Wisdom, the call to salvation by Christ.
1. The New Testament echoes the Old, and the gospel is essentially the same in every way.
2. The gospel of Christ is the unfolding, expansion, enrichment, of the ancient spiritual lore.
3. The relation of the Divine to the human remains constant; it is that of supply to want, knowledge to ignorance, love and light to sorrow and darkness.
4. The invitation to the kingdom of heaven is free and general, conditioned by nothing except the need of its blessings.J.
Pro 9:7-9
Warnings against refusal
So, in connection with the preceding section, we may take these words.
I. EVERY REFUSAL OF WISDOM IMPLIES THE PREFERENCE OF THE OPPOSITE. It implies that the associations of folly are more congenial than those of sound sense (Pro 9:6), which is a preference of death to life, in its effect.
II. THE SCOFFING HABIT IS AN INDICATION OF FOLLY. (Pro 9:7.) Under the general head of fools come scoffers and wicked men of every degree. The cynic may prefer to speak of evil men and actions as fools and folly“worse than a crime, a blunder”and he utters more truth in this than he intends.
III. THE SCOFFER IS ABUSIVE, AND THIS IS SIGNIFICANT OF HIS TEMPER. (Pro 9:7, Pro 9:8; comp. Exo 5:16; Psa 115:7.)
1. He neither has nor desires to have self-knowledge, and therefore hates the teacher who holds the mirror up to nature, and makes him see himself as he is.
2. He is the foil to the wise man, who is thankful for corrections, because he is set upon improvement and progress; and therefore loves the correcter, holding him creditor of his thanks, and recognizing the loyalty of the band which wounds.
3. The great distinction of the wise man from the fool is that the former has indefinite capacity of progress; the latter, qua fool, none.
4. As there is an indissoluble connection between folly and wickedness, so are wisdom and rectitude at one (Pro 9:9).J.
Pro 9:10-12
Recurrence to first principles
Life is made up of circles. We are ever coming back to whence we started. As history repeats itself, so must morality and religion. The shining points of wisdom appear and reappear with the regularity of the heavenly bodies. The vault of heaven has its analogue in the star-besprinkled vault of the moral relations. Iteration and repetition of first principles are constantly necessary, ever wholesome, peculiarly characteristic of Semitic thought. Wherever life is bounded to a small circle of interests, the same truths must be insisted on “over and over again.”
I. RELIGION A FIRST PRINCIPLE.
1. Religion characterized. The fear of Jehovah. In other words, reverence for the Eternal One. We may unfold the definition, but can we substitute a better for it? It is a relation to the eternal and unseen, to a supersensual order, as opposed to that which is visible and transient. It is deep-seated in feeling. Reverence is the ground tone in the scale of religious feeling; we descend from it to awe and terror, or rise to joy and ecstasy. It is a relation, not to ourselves, or a projection of ourselves in fancy, but to a personal and holy Being.
2. Its connection with intelligence firmly insisted on. It is the beginning, or root principle, of wisdom, and “acquaintance with the Holy is true insight” (Pro 9:10). The question, often discussed, whether religion is a matter of feeling, knowledge, or will, arises from a fallacy. We may distinguish these functions in thought; but in act they are one, because the consciousness is a unity, not a bundle of things, a collocation of organs. In feeling we know, in knowledge we feel, and from this interaction arise will, acts, conduct. Hence so far as a man is soundly religious, he is likewise soundly intelligent. In the truest conception religion and wisdom are identical.
II. WISDOM A FIRST PRINCIPLE. (Pro 9:11.) Here we come down from the region of speculation to that of practical truth.
1. The “will to live” is the very spring of our activity.
2. Only second to it in original power is the wish to be well, i.e. to have fulness, energy of life, consciousness. The extensive form of this wish is naturally the earlier, the more childliketo enjoy many years, to live to a green old age, etc. The intensive form is later, and belongs to the more reflective stage of the mind. “Non vivere, sed valere, est vita” (Martial). ‘Tis “more life and fuller that we want” (Tennyson). “One hour of glorious life is worth an age without a name.” This view comes more home to the modern mind than to that of the monotonous East, where the like fulness of interest was not possible. We say, “Better twenty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay.”
III. PERSONALITY A FIRST PRINCIPLE. (Pro 9:12.)
1. We have a distinct individual consciousness. “I am I, and other than the things I touch.” I know what my acts are as distinguished from my involuntary movements, my thoughts as distinct from the passive reflection of perceptions and phantasies unbegotten of my will.
2. Our wisdom or folly is our own affair, both in origin and consequences. We begot the habit, and must reap as we sow, bear the brunt of the conflict we may have provoked.
3. Neither our wisdom can enrich nor our folly impoverish God (Job 22:2, Job 22:3; Job 35:6-9; Rom 11:35; Rev 22:11, Rev 22:12).
(1) It is a solemn thought; the constitution of our being reveals the decree of God, and may be thus interpreted: “Let him alone!” We are not interfered with. We are suffered to develop in the air and sun. Woe to us if we pervert the kindly gifts of God, and turn his truth into a lie!
(2) “Take heed to thyself.” The effects of our acts may extend to others, but we cannot make others answer for them in the end.J.
Pro 9:13-18
The invitation of Folly
The picture to be taken in contrast with that at the beginning of the chapter.
I. THE TEMPER OF FOLLY.
1. She is excitable and passionate (Pro 9:13), and may be fitly imaged as the harlot, the actress and mask of genuine feeling.
2. She is irrational, and knows not what is what. True love is not blind, either as to self or its objects.
3. She is like the harlot again in her shamelessness (Pro 9:14). Folly does not mind exposure, and rushes on publicity.
4. She is solicitous of company (Pro 9:15). Must have partners in guilt, and companions to keep her in countenance. Fools cannot be happy in solitude, cannot enjoy the sweet and silent charms of nature. Wisdom finds good both in the forest and the city, in the cloister or amidst the “busy hum of men.”
5. Folly is gregarious. Wherever there is a crowd, there is something foolish going on (Pro 9:16). It may be safely said of habitual gatherings in taverns and such places, “mostly fools.” The wise man goes apart to recover and strengthen his Individuality; the fool plunges into the throng to forget himself.
6. Folly is sly and secretive (Pro 9:17). The secret feast is here the illicit pleasure (cf Pro 30:20). The fact that people like what they ought not to like all the more because they ought not, is a complex phenomenon of the soul. The sweetness of liberty recovered is in it, and forms its good side. Liberty adds a perfume and spice to every pleasure, no matter what the pleasure may be. Augustine tells how he robbed an orchard as a boy, admitting that he did not want the pears, and arguing that it must therefore have been his depravity that led him to find pleasure in taking them! In the same way one might prove the depravity of the jackdaw that steals a ring. Let us repudiate the affectation of depravity, a great “folly” in its way; and rather draw the wholesome lesson that the love of liberty, of funin short, of any healthy exercise of energy, needs direction. The instinct for privacy and liberty gives no less zest to legitimate than to illicit pleasures.
II. THE END OF FOLLY. (Pro 9:18.)
1. It is represented under images of darkness and dread. Shadows, “children of death,” dead men, departed ghosts, hover about the dwelling of Folly and the persons of her guests. And these, while even they sit at her table amidst feasting and mirth, are already, in the eyes of Wisdom the spectator, in the depths of hell. Thus the shadows of coming ill “darken the ruby of the cup, and dim the splendour of the scene.”
2. The indefinable is more impressive in its effect than the definable. As e.g. Burke has felicitously shown in his treatise on ‘The Sublime and Beautiful.’ The obscure realities of the other world, the mysterious twilight, the chiaro-oscuro of the imagination: in this region is found all that fascinates the mind with hope or terror. If it be askedWhat precisely will be the doom of the wicked, the bliss of the righteous? the answer isDefinite knowledge has not been imparted, is impossible, and would have less effect than the vague but positive forms in which the truth is hinted.
3. The indefinable is not the less certain. It is the definite which is contingent, uncertain. Our life is a constant becoming from moment to moment. This of its nature is as indefinable as the melting of darkness into day, or the reverse.J.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON
Pro 9:1-6
The Divine invitation
Wisdom invites the sons of men to a feast. Christ, “the Wisdom of God,” is inviting us all to partake of eternal life. A feast may well be regarded as the picture and type of life at its fullest. It combines so many of the best features of human lifebounty generously offered and graciously accepted, nourishment, enjoyment, social intercourse, intellectual and spiritual as well as bodily gratification. In the gospel of Christ there is offered to us life at its very fullestDivine, eternal. We are invited by Eternal Wisdom to partake thereof, to “lay hold” thereupon. These verses suggest to us
I. THE COMPLETENESS OF THE DIVINE PREPARATION. (Pro 9:1, Pro 9:2.) The house is built, the full number of pillars hewn, the beasts killed, the wine mingled, the table set out. Everything is arranged and executed; nothing is forgotten or omitted. Every guest will find that which he needs. How complete is the preparation which God has made for us in the gospel of grace and life! The whole of the Old Testament may be said to be a part of the history of his preparation. All his dealings with his ancient people, and his control of the heathen nations, were leading up to the one great issuethe redemption of mankind by a life-giving Saviour. The New Testament continues the same account; the birth, the ministry, the life, the sorrows, the death, the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, the evangelizing work and the interpretive letters of the apostles, form the last part of the Divine preparation. And now everything is complete. The house is built, the table is spread, the wine outpoured. There is nothing which a guilty, sorrowing, striving, seeking soul can hunger or thirst for which it will not find at this heavenly feast. Mercy, full reconciliation, unfailing friendship, comfort, strength, hope, joy in God, everlasting life,everything is there.
II. THE GRACIOUSNESS OF THE INVITATION. (Pro 9:3, Pro 9:4.) Wisdom sends “her maidens” and “cries upon the highest places of the city.” She charges those to speak who are likeliest to be listened to, and to utter her invitation where it is surest to be heard. Moreover, she does not restrict her call to those who may be said to be her own children (Mat 11:19); on the other hand, she addresses herself specially to those who are strange to hereto “the simple,” to “him that wanteth understanding,” In the gospel of the grace of God:
1. It is the gracious Lord himself who speaks to us, and in the most winning way. It is he himself who says, “Come unto me;” “If any man thirst,” etc.; “I am the Bread of life,” etc.
2. He has, in his providence and grace, caused the message of mercy to be sounded where all can hear it”upon the highest places of the city.”
3. He calks all men to his bountiful board, specially those who are in the greatest need (Luk 14:21-23; Mat 9:12, Mat 9:13).
III. THE CHARACTER OF THE MESSAGE. (Pro 9:5, Pro 9:6.) Wisdom calls those who hear her messengers to forsake folly, to walk in righteousness, and thus to enter into life. The Wisdom of God himself calls those who hear his voice to:
1. Turn from their iniquity, turning away from the fellowship of the unholy as well as from the practice of sin.
2. Enter into closest fellowship with him himself; thus eating of the bread and drinking of the water of life; thus walking in the way of truth, holiness, love, wisdom; thus “going in the way of understanding.”
3. Partake with him the life which is Divine and eternallife for God, life in God, life with God forever.C.
Pro 9:7-9
The penalty and promise of instruction
It is not only the function of the minister of Christ to “reprove, rebuke, and exhort” (2Ti 4:2); the “man of God” is to be so furnished from Scripture as to be able to administer “reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness” (2Ti 3:16.17). But instruction, especially when it takes the form of correction, has its penalty as well as its recompense.
I. THE PENALTY OF INSTRUCTION. (Pro 9:7, Pro 9:8). It is in the heart of the wise to rebuke iniquity. Those who are upright and true, who hate evil even as God hates it, are stirred to a holy indignation when they behold the dark and shameful manifestations of sin, and remonstrance rises to their lips. It is as “fire in their bones” until they have “delivered their soul.”
2. Rebuke is often decidedly advantageous. It not, only relieves the mind of the godly speaker, but it shames those who should be made to blush for their deeds. Even when it fails to impress the principal defaulter, the arch-criminal, it may produce a wholesome influence on the minds of those who witness it. A burning flame of righteous wrath will sometimes consume much unrighteousness.
3. Nevertheless, it is true that the wise must count on the contrary being the result. It may be that remonstrance will be thrown away, that it will come to nothing but shame on the part of him that reprovesa “blot on the page,” and nothing but provocation to him that is rebuked, inciting him to hatred (Pro 9:8). The likelihood must be reckoned, and the wise must act accordingly. If there is hope of doing good, some risk may well be run. All interposition is not here discountenanced. Good men must use their discretion. There is a time to speak, using the language of strong and even severe reproach. On the ether handthis is the truth of the textthere is a time to be silent, to leave abandoned and guilty men to be condemned of God. Reproach would be lost upon them; it would only come back with a severe rebound, and wound the speaker (see Mat 7:6).
II. THE PROMISE OF INSTRUCTION. (Pro 9:8, Pro 9:9.)
1. There are those in whom is the spirit of docility. They are ready to learn. Of these are the young. Our Lord commended the spirit of childhood partly for this reason, viz. that it is the spirit of docility. It has openness of mind, eagerness of heart to receive instruction. Of these, also, are those in whom the spirit of wisdom dwells, but who have fallen into error.
2. Instruction in these cases will be well repaid. If we rebuke a wise man, a man who is essentially good but accidentally wrong, we shall meet with appreciation: “he will love us.” If we impart instruction to those already wise, we shall add to their excellency (Pro 9:9). So that intelligent, well timed instruction will do two things.
(1) It will restore the erringa most valuable and admirable action, on which the best of men may truly congratulate themselves.
(2) It will multiply the power of the good. It will add knowledge and wisdom to those who are already wise; it will make good men better, happier, worthier, in themselves; it will also make them more influential for good in the sphere in which they move. This, then, is the threefold lesson of the text:
1. Know when to be silent under provocation.
2. Speak the word of reproach in season.
3. Communicate knowledge to all who will welcome it.C.
Pro 9:10, Pro 9:11
Digging deep rising high, lasting long
(See homilies on Pro 1:7 and Pro 3:1-4.) The fact that we meet with the opening sentence of the text in no less than three other places (Job 27:1-23 :28; Psa 111:10; Pro 1:7), gives to it a peculiar significance. It indicates that the Divine Author of the Bible would impress deeply on our minds the truth
I. THAT ON THE FEAR OF GOD, AS ON A SOLID ROCK, ALL HUMAN WISDOM RESTS. Nothing which a man can have in his outward circumstances or in his mind will compensate for the absence of this principle from the soul. He may have every conceivable advantage in his surroundings; he may have all imaginable shrewdness, dexterity, cleverness, acuteness of intellect; but if everything be not based on the fear of the living God, his character must be fatally incomplete, and his life must be a deplorable mistake. Reverence of spirit, devotion of habit, the obedience of the life,-this is the solid ground on which all wisdom rests. Let a man be ever so learned or so astute, if this be absent Wisdom itself writes him down a fool.
II. THAT SACRED TRUTH IS THE LOFTIEST AND WORTHIEST SUBJECT OF HUMAN STUDY. It is well worth our while to give our careful and continuous thought to scientific, economical, historical, political truth. These will repay our study; they will enlarge our mind and heighten our understanding. But worthy as they are, they yield in importance to the truth which is sacred and, in an especial sense, Divine. To “understand and know God,” who he is, what is his character, what are the conditions of his abiding love; to know man, who and what he is, what constitutes the real excellence and nobility of human character, what are the perils which threaten and what the habits which elevate it; to know the “path of life,” the way back to God, to holiness, to heaven;this is wisdom indeed. The knowledge of the holy is understanding. All other learning is slight in comparison with this supreme attainment.
III. THAT THE SERVICE OF GOD IS INSEPARABLY CONNECTED WITH THE LASTING WELL–BEING OF MAN. (Pro 9:11.)
1. Obedience to Jehovah would have given a prolonged and enduring life to the Jewish nation in their own favoured land. Conformity to Divine Law, the practice of truth, purity, uprightness, simplicity of life and manners,these will go far to ensure long life to any nation now.
2. Obedience to Divine Law, especially to one commandment (Exo 20:12), gave good hope of longevity to the children of the Law (Pro 9:11; Pro 3:2, Pro 3:16). Piety and virtue now have promise of life and health. The sober, the pure, the diligent, those mindful of God’s will, are likely to have their days multiplied and the years of their life increased.
3. To the true servants of Christ, who are faithful unto death, there is assured a “crown of life” (Rev 2:10).C.
Pro 9:12
Wisdom and folly
In this short verse we have some valuable thoughts suggested respecting both wisdom and folly.
I. THE DISINTERESTEDNESS OF WISDOM. If any one should urge against the claims of Wisdom that they are very high, urgent, oppressive, that God’s commandment is “exceeding broad;” if it be asked by the young, “Why fling these shadows on our path? why weigh us down with these responsibilities?” it may well be replied by Wisdom, “Your services are not necessary to me. ‘If I were hungry, I would not tell thee,’ etc.; if I plead with you, it is for your sake. You have need of my voice and my control; apart from me you cannot be blessed, you cannot realize the end of your being. I can do well without your devotion, but you cannot do without my favour. If you are wise, you will be wise for yourself.”
II. THE INALIENABLE CHARACTER OF WISDOM AS A POSSESSION. The wise man in the Book of Ecclesiastes laments that riches are things which a wise man may take much trouble to gather, but he does not know who may scatter them. A man may be laborious and frugal, but not for himself; all the good may go to others who come after him. Thus is it with various acquisitions. Men no sooner gain them than they leave them behind for others; e.g. the hero, his glory; the student, his learning; the conqueror or discoverer, the territory he has gained or found. But if a man is wise, he is wise for himself as well as for others; he has a prize of which no accident will rob him, and which death itself will not take from his hands. Once his, it is his foreverit is an inalienable possession.
III. THE PROFOUND NATURE OF TRUE WISDOM. There is a very shallow philosophy which assumes the name of wisdom, which invites us to stake everything on securing a comfortable and prosperous career in this world, leaving out of account the supreme realities of our obligations to God, our duty to our own spiritual and immortal nature, our responsibilities to other souls. This superficial and false teaching overlooks the fundamental fact that a man is more than his means, that ourself is greater than our circumstances, that it is a poor profit to gain a world and lose a soul, that if we are wise we shall be wise for ourselves.
IV. THE STARTING POINT OF TRUE WISDOM. Some are speaking with indignation, not insincere, against so much insistence on a man’s seeking his own salvation. They say it is only a refined selfishness. It may be true that there are Christian teachers who enlarge on this aspect disproportionately; but it must ever remain a truth of great prominence that a man’s first duty to God is the duty he owes to himself. First, because his own soul is his primary and chief charge; and, secondly, because he can do little or nothing for the world till his own heart is right. If a man, therefore, will be wise, he must first be wise for himself.
V. THE FATE OF FOLLY. “If thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.” This does not mean that only the sinner bears the consequences of his guiltthat is deplorably untrue; sin is widespreading and far-reaching in its evil consequencesit circulates and it descends. The passage means that the foolish man will have to bear alone the condemnation of his folly; every man that lives and dies impenitent must “bear his own burden” of penalty. The remorse and self-reproach of the future none will be able to divide; it must be borne by the sinner himself. There is One that once bore our transgressions for us, and will bear them away unto the land of forgetfulness now.C.
Pro 9:13-18
The truth about sin
Solomon, having told us of the excellency of Wisdom, and of the blessings she has to confer on her children, now bids us consider the consequences of listening to sin, when she, the foolish woman, utters her invitation. We learn
I. THAT SIN IN ITS LATER DEVELOPMENTS IS A VERY ODIOUS THING. What a painful and repulsive picture we have here of the foolish woman, who, though utterly ignorant and unworthy (Pro 9:13), assumes a conspicuous position in the city, places herself “on a seat in the high places,” speaks with a “clamorous” voice, and, herself unaddressed, calls aloud to those who are going on their way! When we present the scene to our imagination, we instinctively shrink from it as repelling and odious. All sin is hateful in the sight of God; to him it is “that abominable thing” (Jer 44:4). And to all the pure in heart it is also, though not equally, repulsive. In its later stages and final developments it is simply and thoroughly detestable.
II. THAT TEMPTATION TO SIN BESETS THE UNWARY AS WELL AS THE EVIL MINDED. Folly addresses herself to “passengers who go right on their ways” (Pro 9:15). There are those who go wilfully and wantonly in the way of temptation. They seek the company of the profane, the attentions of the immoral. These walk into the net, and are ensnared. Then there are others who have no thought of evil in their heart; they are not “purposing to transgress;” but as they pass right on their way, the temptress throws her net at if not over them, that she may entangle them. The path of human life is beset with spiritual perils; it is necessary to be prepared against all forms of evil. We must not only be upright in intention, but wary and well armed also. “Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary,” etc. (1Pe 5:8).
III. THAT TO UNSANCTIFIED HUMAN NATURE SIN IS SOMETIMES A TERRIBLY SEDUCTIVE THING. “The foolish woman,” though she is said to “know nothing,” yet knows enough to say truly, “Stolen waters are sweet,” etc. (Pro 9:17). It is useless, because it is false, to deny that vice has its pleasures. Lasciviousness, revelry, avarice, usurpation, have their delights; and there is a peculiar pleasure in snatching unlawful gratifications rather than in accepting those which are honourable. When our nature is unregenerated and unsanctified, when passion is at its height, when in the soul there is the ardour and energy of youth, vice has powerful attractions. The young may well provide themselves against the dark hour of temptation with “the whole armour of God,” or they may not be able to stand victorious.
IV. THAT THOSE WHO HAVE ABANDONED THEMSELVES TO SIN ARE IN THE EMBRACE OF RUIN. “He knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell’ (Pro 9:18). Not only is it true
(1) that those who yield themselves to guilty passion are on the high road to ultimate perdition; but it is also true
(2) that they are already in the depth of ruin. They are “dead while they live” (1Ti 5:6); they are “in the depths of hell” (text). To be sacrificing manhood or womanhood on the altar of an unholy pleasure, or an immoral gain, or an enslaving lamination; to be sinning continually against God, and to be systematically degrading our own soul to be falling lower and lower in the estimation of the wise until we become the object of their pity or their scorn;this is ruin. No need to wait for judgment and condemnation; the guests of sin are in the depths of hell. If near the door, if on its step, if in its hall, “escape for thy life” (see Wardlaw, in loc.).C.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Pro 9:1. Wisdom hath builded her house This is a most splendid allegory, says Schultens, in which Wisdom is conceived as a queen, sitting in her royal palace, and inviting mortals to a banquet, plentifully furnished with the richest dainties, that they may be fed with celestial delights for a blessed immortality. This parable gains great light from that of the nuptial feast, delivered by our Saviour, Matthew 22. Many of the ancient fathers applied this to the church, and to our Saviour’s human nature, who himself styles his body a holy house, or temple; perhaps in allusion to this fine allegory. See Joh 2:19. Various have been the endeavours of commentators to apply every circumstance in this description; but it has been well observed, that whoever would do so will find themselves in a great error, and quite ignorant of the nature of parabolical writings; for parables may be compared to historical paintings, which are intended to convey a general idea, which is to be gathered from the collective body of images, not from any particular figure: the minute circumstances are to be considered only as heightenings of the piece; but the conclusion, or general maxim, is to be drawn from the scope, and assemblage of the whole. This is a continuance of the parable begun in the former chapter, says Calmet; where Wisdom is represented to us as a venerable woman, whose real beauties and solid promises are opposed to the delusions of Pleasure; who in the 7th chapter is painted under the idea of a debauched and impudent woman. She, to entice young persons to her snares, gives a description of the perfumes, the bed, the feast, which she has prepared for them. Wisdom, to engage disciples, does the same thing; but, instead of debauchery, false pleasures, and vice, which Voluptuousness promises them, Wisdom offers to her guests a solid and magnificent dwelling of sweet but chaste delights, of salutary instructions, and a happy life.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
15. Allegorical exhibition of the call of men to the possession and enjoyment of true wisdom, under the figure of an invitation to two banquets
Pro 9:1-18
a) The banquet of wisdom: Pro 9:1-12
1Wisdom hath builded her house,
she hath hewn out her seven pillars.
2hath slaughtered her beasts, spiced her wine,
hath also spread her table;
3hath sent out her maidens; she inviteth
on the highest points (summits of the high places) of the city:
4Whosoever is simple, let him come hither !
Whoso lacketh understanding, to him she saith:
5Come, eat of my bread
and drink of the wine I have mixed!
6Forsake the simple, and live,
and walk in the way of understanding.
7He who correcteth a scorner draweth upon himself insult,
and he who rebuketh the wicked, it is his dishonor.
8Reprove not the scorner lest lie hate thee;
admonish the wise and he will love thee.
9Give to the wise and he becometh yet wiser,
instruct the upright and he learneth yet more.
10The beginning of wisdom is the fear of Jehovah,
and knowledge of the Holy (one) is understanding.
11For by me will thy days become many,
and the years of thy life will increase.
12Art thou wise, thou art wise for thyself,
and if thou scornest thou alone shalt bear it.
b) The banquet of Folly: Pro 9:13-18
13A simple woman (and) clamorous,
is Folly, and knoweth nothing whatsoever.
14She sitteth at the door of her house
enthroned in the high places of the city,
15to invite the wayfarers
who go straight on their ways:
16Whosoever is simple let him come hither!
whoso lacketh understanding to him she saith:
17Stolen waters are sweet,
and bread taken in secret is pleasant,
18and he knoweth not that the dead are there,
in the depths of hell (the lower world) her guests.
GRAMMATICAL AND CRITICAL
Pro 9:3. [Bttcher cites as illustrating a peculiar Hebrew idiom by which the emphatic plural of generic designations of persons, places and things is used for the singular with an indefinite article, which the Hebrew lacked, and only in its later periods began to supplement by the numeral. He would therefore translate on one of the high places of the city. See Ausfhrt. Lehrb., 702, d.].
Pro 9:4. [, an example of the consultive use of the Jussive form (see Btt. 964, 2), which under the influence of the succeeding word retains the u vowel ( 956, g,1132, 3), the ordinary Jussive being Perf. consec. employed, as it sometimes is in the lively discourse of oratory and poetry, without the connective , B. 974].
Pro 9:9. [ ,, examples of Jussive with consec., in the consecutive-affirmative sense, as giving an assured result. Btt. 964, a.].
Pro 9:13. [ is regarded by Bttcher also as an indefinite, quidquid or quidquam, ( 899, ), as it is by Gesenius and Fuerst. Gesen. however finds a different shade of meaning in the verb, and translates and careth for nothing].
Pro 9:16. [, an example of the Perf. consec. in the sense of the Fiens solitum, the future with the idea of customary action. Btt. 981, B. .].
EXEGETICAL
1. Pro 9:1-3. Wisdom hath builded her house. The figure of the building of a house which is readily suggested by the appellation director of the work in Pro 8:30, appropriately provides for a transition from the description of the agency of eternal Wisdom in the creation of the world, to that here symbolized as an invitation to a banquet,her activity among men, summoning and morally instructing them. Comp. Pro 14:1.The designation of Wisdom () is the same as in Pro 1:20.Hath hewn out her seven pillars. This hewing out of pillars suggests the splendor of the completed building. The sevenfold number represents this as a sacred work; for seven stands here, as it so frequently does in the Old and New Testaments, as a sacred number (comp. my article Siebenzahl in Herzogs Theol. Real-Encycl., XIV. 353 sq.). The house of the celestial Wisdom is by this peculiar and emblematic description represented, as it were, in advance, as a temple, and the banquet offered in it as a sacred sacrificial meal. Special significance in the seven pillars, e.g., in connection with the seven attributes of the higher wisdom enumerated in Jam 3:17; or the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit referred to in Rev 1:4; Rev 1:12 sq.; Pro 3:1; Pro 4:5; Pro 5:6, etc. (Vitringa, C. B. Michaelis, J. Lange, Von Gerlach, etc.), or the seven principia deductiva Ethices divin (according to S. Bohlius, comp. remarks above, p. 74, note), or finally, the first seven chapters of the Book of Wisdom now before us,all this is indicated by nothing whatever in the context, and is therefore wholly arbitrary. The suffix in , since is usually masc., seems to refer to Wisdom as the subject of the proposition,her, not its seven pillars.
Pro 9:2. Hath slaughtered her beasts. Notwithstanding the sacred character of the banquet, is still not to be necessarily translated her victims, but signifies that which is slaughtered, slain animals in general. There is probably no reference to Pro 7:14.The mixing of the wine seems not to refer to a mere mixing of wine with water, but to the preparation of a strong spiced wine with myrrh, etc.; comp. Isa 5:22; Pro 23:30, etc.
Pro 9:3. She inviteth on the highest points of the city, i.e., so that her servants must ascend the highest elevations of the city (not specifically the roofs of palaces), from which their calls of invitation to the banquet are most widely heard. Hitzig singularly translates on the bare elevations of the city, because in Exo 21:3-4, and according to the Arabic, means naked, unclothed (?).Furthermore the maidens sent forth, the servants of Wisdom, correspond to the servants by whom the Lord in the Gospel (Luk 14:16 sq.; Mat 22:1 sq.) has the guests invited to his banquet.
2. Pro 9:4-12. Whosoever is simple let him come hither! etc. On account of the similarity of this verse to Pro 9:16, which contains the words of Follys invitation, and on account of the summons to eat bread (Pro 9:5) which does not agree with the mention of the slain beasts in Pro 9:2, Hitzig pronounces Pro 9:4-5 spurious. But it is very significant and pertinent that Wisdoms invitation appears clothed in the same words as that of Folly (comp. the analogous verbal repetitions in Christs parables and didactic narratives, e.g., Mat 25:20; Mat 25:22; Luk 5:6; Luk 5:9; Luk 16:6-7, etc.); and to eat bread stands here as in Pro 4:7, and indeed frequently (e.g., Gen 3:19; Lev 26:5; Deu 29:6; Jdg 19:5; 1Sa 2:36, etc.), by synecdoche for the partaking of food, the taking a meal in general. [The allegorical view of this passage as held, e.g., by Wordsw., and in his Commentary supported by ample use of the Church Fathers, may be illustrated by the supposed reference of Pro 9:5 to the Body of Christ, the Living Bread, and the mystery of His blood, by which we are refreshed at His Holy Table. A.].The destitute of understanding, to him she saith. Before the there is to be supplied from the 1st member the pronoun ,literally, therefore who is destitute of understanding, to him she saith. The discourse accordingly here (and in the 2d member of Pro 9:15) falls back from the style of recital to that of description.
Pro 9:6. Forsake the simple. It will be easiest to take this phrase in its literal sense. For the verses following give this very counsel, not to keep company longer with the simple, with fools and scorners, because these are still incorrigible. The old versions and most modern commentators [as e.g., ST., N., M.] regard the noun as abstract (equivalent to the sing. in Pro 1:22, or the abstract derivative in Pro 9:13), and therefore translate Forsake simplicity, let your simplicity go. [As Trapp, in his pithy way expresses it: No coming to this feast in the tattered rags of the old Adam; you must relinquish your former evil courses and companies]. But such a signification of this plural is attested by no example whatsoever. Just as unadvisable is it to construe the verb absolutely, by which Hitzig reaches the translation, Cease, ye simple, etc.; for in Jer 18:14, the verb is construed not absolutely, but rather with ; and the connection with what follows at least decidedly favors our explanation, which is supported by Umbreit also among ethers of the later expositors.
Pro 9:7. He who correcteth the scorner draweth upon himself insult. Usually the connection with Pro 9:4-6 is so conceived as if Wisdom were here, (in Pro 9:7-10) explaining her conduct in inviting especially the simple; she is supposed to turn to these alone, for the reason that if she wished to invite the scornful and wicked also she would only expose herself to indignities, and yet would effect nothing. But against this view of the course of thought may be urged decidedly, the warning and admonitory tone of Pro 9:8-9, and the didactic nature of Pro 9:10, which make it easy to find expressed in Pro 9:7 also the spirit of dissuasion, and so to regard Pro 9:7-10 as an argument in support of the demand embodied in the 1st clause of Pro 9:6, to avoid further intercourse with the simple, scorners, villains, etc. A comparison with Pro 1:22 shows that under the simple may be included very readily mockers, the violent, etc., as belonging to the same category; so does also the name simplicity () which is below, in Pro 9:13, directly given to the personification of Folly. Abandon intercourse with such persons is therefore Wisdoms admonition, for you gain from it nothing but insult, hate and contempt; forsake the camp of the simple () and come over into that of the wise (), whose watchword is the fear of God and knowledge of the Holy; so will you find abundance of happiness and blessing.Hitzig, whose conception of the 1st clause of Pro 9:6 makes the recognition of this as the true connection of thought, from the first impossible, summarily rejects Pro 9:7-10 as a later interpolation. But if in fact the if thou scornest in the 2d clause of Pro 9:12 suggested this interpolation, the verses introduced would both in form and substance have been essentially different. And in the form in which the passage has come down in the manuscripts Hitzigs hypothesis of an interpolation here again finds no kind of support.And he who rebuketh a wicked man to him it is a shame. The word (his fault or shame) cannot be dependent on the verb () of the first clause which is associated with [he taketh to himself his shame], but must be regarded as a predicate: this is to him shame, such action is his disgrace. Comp. Ecc 5:16; Psa 115:7.
Pro 9:9. Give to the wise and he becometh wiser. Comp. Pro 1:5, which passage although expressing an idea like that before us, must not for that reason be regarded as derived from this (in opposition to Hitzig). [Lord Bacon (Adv. of Learning, Book II.) says, Here is distinguished the wisdom brought into habit, and that which is but verbal and swimming only in conceit; for the one upon the occasion presented is quickened and redoubled, the other is amazed and confused]. With Pro 9:10 comp. Pro 1:7; Pro 2:5. Corresponding with the Knowledge of God in the latter passage we have here knowledge of the holy, i.e. not knowledge of the holy [in plural] (LXX, Vulgate, and most Catholic expositors), but of the Holy [in singular, des Heiligen], i.e. of God. Comp. further for this plur. majest. Pro 30:3 and Hos 12:1. [See still further examples of the use of participial plurals in the same way in Isa 54:5; Psa 121:5; Ecc 12:1, etc., Ewald, Lehrb., 178, b, Btt., 701, Green, 202.With regard to the interpretation compare Dr. J. Pye Smith (Script. Test, to the Messiah, I., 311): According to the usual construction of Hebrew poetry, the plural epithet the Holy must be understood in apposition with Jehovah in the former half of the distich. So H., St. M., and N.A.]
Pro 9:11-12 are not to be regarded as taking up the discourse after the alleged digression in Pro 9:7-10, and attaching themselves to the words of invitation in Pro 9:4-6 to justify them (Bertheau, Hitzig), but give the reason for the general affirmation in Pro 9:10, which had been added as a peculiarly strong motive to the acceptance of Wisdoms invitation. The address in the singular has therefore nothing remarkable in it; it simply follows Pro 9:8-9).By me will thy days become many, etc. Comp. similar promises of long life, Pro 3:2; Pro 4:10. [For the use of this 3d pers. plural see the grammars generally, e.g. Ges., 134, 3; Green, 243, 2, b, but more fully Btt., 935, 6].Art thou wise, thou art wise to thyself. The same thought is found somewhat more fully developed in Job 22:2-3; Job 35:6-9; comp. also Rom 11:35; Rev 22:11-12.If thou scornest thou alone shalt bear it. Comp. Num 9:13; Jer 7:19; Job 34:31, and also the Latin dictum of Petronius, Sibi quisque peccat. The LXX offer in Pro 9:12; Pro 9:1 st clause, the fuller reading thou shalt be wise for thyself and for thy neighbor ( ) which is surely the result of interpolation, like the addition which they append to Pro 9:10 ( ). The longer additions also of three verses each, which they with the Syriac and Arabic translators exhibit after Pro 9:12 and Pro 9:18, hardly rest upon a genuine original text that was before them, although they may readily be rendered back into Hebrew (see Hitzigs attempts at this, pp. 86 and 88), and therefore very probably date from pre-Alexandrian times.
Pro 9:13-18. A simple woman, clamorous, [violently excited] is Folly. The abstract , simplicity, foolishness (see above remarks on Pro 9:7) is here plainly the subject, and designates the personified Folly, the exact opposite of Wisdom in Pro 9:1. With this subject is associated and prefixed as the main predicate, the appellation woman of folly, i.e., simple woman; the clamorous, boisterous is in turn an attribute of this predicate, and describes the passionately excited, wanton desire of the foolish woman represented as an adulteress, just as in Pro 7:11, with which delineation that before us has a general and doubtless intentional correspondence.And knoweth nothing whatever. In this way in accordance with Job 13:13, this phrase of the Masoretic text () must unquestionably be interpreted, Utter ignorance (comp. Joh 11:49, ye know nothing at all) would accordingly be what is here asserted of Folly. But perhaps Hitzig is right, according to the LXX ( , who knoweth not shame) in reading instead of (the disappearance of the two consonants might easily have been occasioned by the false reading ), and therefore in translating and knoweth no shame, which agrees admirably with the boisterous of the 1st clause.
Pro 9:14. She sitteth at the door of her house, like harlots who watch for passers by; comp. Jer 3:2; Gen 38:14, and the conduct of the adulteress described in Pro 7:10 sq.Seated in the high places of the city. The place thus described is not the same as that in the 1st clause, but some other, farther removed from the door of the house. The harlot is therefore quite like the one in Pro 7:10 sq., represented as running irregularly this way and that and often changing her place. In this, however, the representation accords with that in Pro 9:3; as Wisdom so also Folly sends forth her call of invitation from elevated places of the city (comp. also Pro 8:2). A real throne as her seat, which she has erected under the open air, and which, in contrast to the bald, uncovered heights (?) mentioned in Pro 9:3, is supposed to be covered with tapestry (Hitzig), is certainly not intended; but the throne is here metaphorical; a lofty throne of the city (Umbreit) is a figurative and probably an ironical representation of a specially high place on which the wanton harlot has stationed herself, and therefore is as it were enthroned.
Pro 9:15. Who go straight on their ways, and therefore quiet, unwary travellers who take no thought of circuits or by-paths. The expression is doubtless to be taken literally, and yet not without a secondary moral significance.
Pro 9:17. Stolen waters are sweet, etc. Plainly words of Folly, and not of the author (Ewald, Bertheau), or even of one who has been assailed and ensnared by Follys allurements (Elster): for the suggestion of the attraction and charm of forbidden pleasures appears most appropriately in the mouth of the beguiler. Comp. Umbreit on this passage. Instead of wine (Pro 9:5) water is here mentioned as the ingredient of the feast, probably with reference to the waters mentioned in Pro 5:15.Bread of secrecy, i.e. not simply bread secretly enjoyed, but also unjustly gained: an image of the forbidden enjoyment on which the adulterer seizes (comp. Pro 30:20).
Pro 9:18. And he knoweth not, i.e. the foolish victim who heeds her call and enters her house (comp. Pro 8:22).That the dead (shades) are there, i.e. children of death, who are surely moving on toward the horrors of the lower world, and therefore even now, while the body still lives, are tenants of the lower world (, comp. Pro 2:18), or dead (thus quite correctly according to the sense, Luther [the English version, etc.]: comp. Mat 8:22; Eph 2:1, etc.).In the depths of hell her guests; literally, in the depths (not as Umbreit and Ewald would read in the valleys) of Sheol her invited ones. Therefore although in the house of Folly and to be found at her banquet those ensnared by her are in truth already in hell. For that house as a throat of hell reaches down to it (comp. Pro 2:18; Pro 7:27), is as it were only a station on the way of these sinners, which leads surely and irresistibly down to hell. Thus, and doubtless correctly, Hitzig, in opposition to others who make this language only anticipative. As to the three verses which the LXX supply after Pro 9:18 see above on Pro 9:12.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL, HOMILETIC AND PRACTICAL
The prototypical relation of the contents of this chapter to our Lords parables founded on banquets (Mat 22:1-14; Luk 14:16-24) is evident, and therefore its special importance to the doctrine of the call to salvation. What peculiarly characterizes the representation before us is, however, the twofold banquet to which invitation is given, and the correspondent resemblances and differences no the two feasts with their accompaniments. In both instances, at Wisdoms feast as well as that of Folly, it is the simple, i.e. the great mass of the unrenewed, the children of this world, those indeed needing but not yet partaking the divine salvation, to whom the call goes forth. It also goes in both cases (Pro 9:4; Pro 9:16) with the same words of invitation, and under quite similar conditions,that is, in such a way that those to be invited are laid hold upon in the street, and at once taken into the house comp. Mat 22:9; Luk 14:21). With these analogies which are found mainly at the beginning of the acts compared, how great are the differences, how fearful the contrasts! In the former case it is a splendid palace with its columns, a holy temple of God, in which the feast occurs; in the latter a common house, a harlots abode, built over an entrance to the abyss of hell! In the first the entertainer, represented as the princely occupant of a palace, remains quietly at home, while her servants take charge of the invitations; in the last the common woman goes out herself on the streets and high places of the city, that sitting in the attire of a harlot (comp. Pro 7:10), with the open heavens as a canopy above her, she may craftily and shamelessly attract as many as may be affected and ensnared by the contagion of her wanton lust! In the former instance it is simple words of God that make up the inviting testimony, words that in part with a literal exactness agree with the gracious calls of mercy and love with which the Son of Man once called sinners to repentance (comp., for example, Pro 9:5 with Joh 6:35, Pro 9:7-8 with Mat 7:6; Pro 9:9 with Mat 13:12; Pro 9:6; Pro 9:11-12 with Mat 11:28-30); in the latter it is a Satanic voice of temptation that is heard, setting forth with the boldest effrontery as a commendable principle to which we should conform our lives, the well-known we ever strive for the forbidden, and desire the denied (nitimur in vetitum semper cupimusque negata)! comp. Pro 9:17 with Mat 4:3; Mat 4:9; Rom 1:32, etc.
In the homiletic treatment of the passage as a whole it will be appropriate to set in the clearest light this parallelism of the banquets that are compared, with their special resemblances and contrasts; in some such way as this then: The friends of the kingdom of heaven and the friends of this world; or, The call of Christ to His Church, and the enticement of Satan to the service of sin; or, The feast of death, etc. Comp. Stcker: Christs wisdom and humanity (); Antichrists folly and destructiveness.Starke:A lesson on the founding of the church of the Messiah, and the collection of its members: 1) The founding of the Church by the work of redemption (Pro 9:1-2). 2) The invitation to the enjoyment of the blessings of Christs salvation in the Church; and in particular: a) How Christ invites to the enjoyment of these blessings of His salvation (Pro 9:3-6); b) How this invitation is foolishly despised by many men, and the allurements of sin preferred to it.Wohlfarth:The cross-roads; while wisdom calls us to the way of virtue and offers herself as our guide on it, at the same time the pleasure of this world calls and offers everything imaginable to draw it itself earths pilgrims of all races, ages and conditions.
Single passages. On Pro 9:1-6. Stcker:(Sermon on Christmas eve); Christs friendliness and condescension, as it appears 1) from the founding of His Church and its maintenance by seven pillars, i.e. by the apostles endowed with the manifold gifts of the Holy Ghost (Pro 9:1); 2) from His costly work of redemption in His own sacrificial death (Pro 9:2); by the institution of the means of grace in His Word and Sacrament (Pro 9:2-3); 4) from the gracious invitation to partake of all this (Pro 9:4 sq.).
On Pro 9:7-8. Cramer:In the office of the Christian ministry the function of discipline must also be especially maintained. It does not, however, produce uniform fruits; some reform, some are and continue scorners.[Pro 9:7. Flavel:What we fear might turn to our benefit. The reproof given is duty discharged; and the retort in return is a fresh call to repentance for sin past, and a caution against sin to come.
Pro 9:7-9. Arnot:Reproofhow to give it and how to take it. There should be jealousy for the Lords honor, and compassion for mens souls like a well-spring ever in the heart; and then the outgoing effort should be with all the wisdom of the serpent and the harmlessness of the dove. For rightly receiving reproof the rule is, be more concerned to get the benefit of the reproof than to wreak vengeance on the reprover.]
On Pro 9:7-12. Calwer Handbuch; Reflections on the reception which Wisdoms invitation finds among men; mockers answer it with derision; wise, i.e. God-fearing men, and such as continue in sanctification grow not only in wisdom, but also in outward prosperity: the gain is in every case ours, as the loss is the scorners.On Pro 9:11-12. Hasius:Wisdom and virtue lose nothing by being reviled and defamed; he, however, inevitably loses who makes sport of them.[T. Adams:Wisdom is the mother of abstinence, and abstinence the nurse of health; whereas voluptuousness and intemperance (as the French proverb hath it) dig their own grave with their teeth.]
On Pro 9:13-18. Starke:If the temptation of Satan and his agents is so strong so much the more needful is it to try the spirits whether they be of God, and to beseech God that He will guide us in the right way. Alas! to many men in consequence of their corrupted taste in spiritual things there is more relish in the bread of vice and in draughts from the impure sloughs of the world, than in what is offered to them on the table of Jesus grace.Berleburg Bible:The more faithfully one serves the world, the more he allows himself to be led by corrupt reason and gives ear to the fascinating voice of temptation, the more enamored he is of the deceitful harlot, so much the deeper will he sink into the lowest depths of hell …. Who would prefer hell to heaven! who would go after death that may attain life![Pro 9:17. Trapp:Many eat that on earth that they digest in hell.Arnot:When you have tasted and seen that the Lord is gracious, the foolish woman beckons you toward her stolen waters, and praises their sweets in vain: the new appetite drives out the old]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
DISCOURSE: 772
WISDOMS FEAST
Pro 9:1-6. Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars: she hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her wine; she hath also furnished her table: she hath sent forth her maidens: she crieth upon the highest places of the city, Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled: forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.
IN the New Testament, parables abound. In the Old Testament, they are comparatively rare. But this comes commended to us by peculiar authority, in that our blessed Lord repeatedly borrowed it, if I may so speak, and adopted it on different occasions, for the elucidating of the truths which he wished to convey [Note: See Mat 22:1-4. Luk 14:16-17.]. In order to unfold it to you, I shall notice separately,
I.
The feast prepared
In the Holy Scriptures, the term Wisdom is generally used to signify true religion: but sometimes it is a name given to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is, with good reason, supposed to be characterized by it in the chapter that precedes my text [Note: Pro 8:1; Pro 8:22-31.], and who, I think, is intended by it in the parable before us. He is the Wisdom of God [Note: 1Co 1:24.]; and in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge [Note: Col 2:3.]: and, beyond all doubt, he is the person who, in the parables which he himself has founded on this, both furnishes the feasts and sends forth the invitations [Note: See Notea.].
By Wisdom,
1.
The banqueting-house is built
[Solomon elsewhere speaks of a banqueting-house, where he had been wont to meet his Saviour [Note: Son 2:4.]: and such buildings have been raised by the great and opulent in all ages, for the entertainment of their guests. This edifice, which was built by Wisdom, was supported by seven pillars; which I suppose to intimate, that it was constructed with perfect stability, and adorned with the perfection of beauty. And what is this banqueting-house, but the ordinances of divine grace, which are appointed altogether for the setting forth of this feast, and for the accommodation of all who attend upon it? In them there is room for all: and God will not fail, when they are attended as they ought to be, to manifest himself in the midst of them.]
2.
The feast, too, is prepared
[The beasts, the sacrifices, are killed; and the wine, for the purpose of rendering its flavour more exquisite, is mingled. The entertainment is, in reality, a feast upon a sacrifice. And what is that sacrifice on which the whole world may feast, but the sacrifice of Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world? Precisely such a feast was the passover, which Hezekiah kept unto the Lord. He kept it for the space of fourteen days; during which time not less than two thousand bullocks and seventeen thousand sheep were sacrificed, and all Judah were feasted [Note: 2Ch 30:22-26.]. But the Lord Jesus Christ, the true Passover, is sacrificed for all, and will afford an ample feast for all, not for a limited time only, but through the endless ages of eternity. As for the wine, which is so essential to a feast, what is that but the consolations of the Spirit, of which all shall partake who eat of this divine repast? For Christs body is meat indeed, and his blood is drink indeed [Note: Joh 6:55.]: and in the ordinances of divine grace, both the one and the other are offered to every child of man. In fact, this is the very feast which the Prophet Isaiah spoke of as to be established under the Christian dispensation: In this mountain shall the Lord of Hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined [Note: Isa 25:6.]: and in the ministration of the gospel is this now set forth more amply than if all the beasts upon the mountains were slain for us, or the cattle upon a thousand hills.]
Let me, then, without further delay, announce to you,
II.
The invitation given
For the preserving of the propriety of the parable, Wisdom, as a Queen, is said to send forth her maidens. But Christ, whom wisdom represents, sends forth his Ministers to call men to the feast.
The persons invited are, the simple, and those who want understanding
[This, I grant, is a humiliating description; and it seems to designate the poor only and the ignorant. But, permit me to say, that it comprehends those also who stand the highest in their own estimation for wisdom and prudence. For who, in the whole universe, betray their folly more than those who seek to fill their belly with the husks that the swine eat of, whilst in their Fathers house they might find bread enough and to spare? Yet this is the very state to which the learned, no less than the illiterate, reduce themselves, whilst seeking their happiness in the world rather than in God, and in the perishing vanities of time and sense rather than in the substantial blessings of eternity. I appeal to all of you, whether this be not the conduct of all by nature, and whether experience do not prove to all the folly of it? This is well represented in Scripture, as filling our belly with the east wind [Note: Job 15:2.]: and I ask of all, whether such conduct do not merit the imputation east upon it in my text? I ask, too, whether, to persons of this character, the invitation be not most fitly sent? You cannot but confess, however successful you may have been in your pursuit of earthly objects, in the fulness of your sufficiency you have been in straits [Note: Job 20:22.].]
To you, then, is the invitation given
[To you, says Wisdom, Come and eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled. Your past conduct has involved you in guilt and misery; both of which shall be removed by partaking of the feast provided for you. The sacrifice of Christ was expressly offered as an atonement for your sins; and if you partake of it in faith, your iniquities shall all be blotted out as a morning cloud. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, says our blessed Lord, hath eternal life [Note: Joh 6:54.]: yes, he has both a title to it, and the very beginning of it in his soul. As for the wine that is mingled for you, not all the wine in Lebanon can afford you such consolation and refreshment as the Holy Spirit will to those who receive his gracious communications.
But, of course, you must forsake those habits which you have hitherto indulged, and separate yourselves from those associates who would divert you from Wisdoms ways. For, what fellowship can righteousness have with unrighteousness, or what communion can light have with darkness? There is a necessity for you to come out from the ungodly and be separate, if you would have God for your father, and enjoy the privilege of his sons and daughters [Note: 2Co 6:14-18.]. The whole course of your life must be changed: you must not only forsake the foolish, but go also in the way of understanding, approving yourselves worthy disciples of our blessed Lord. In fact, your whole taste must be changed: you cannot savour the things of the flesh and of the Spirit too [Note: Rom 8:5.]: you cannot serve God and Mammon too [Note: Mat 6:24.]; or be the friends of the world and of Jehovah too [Note: Jam 4:4.]. If you come to the Gospel-feast, you must affect only the things which are above [Note: Col 3:1-2.], on which you shall feast in the presence of your God for ever and ever [Note: Mat 26:29.].]
Application
[Let me now address myself to you, my beloved Brethren. I am sent as Wisdoms servant, as the minister of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, with a message of mercy to every one of you. And let it not be offensive to you to be addressed under the character of those who are here invited. You surely will not deny, that you have sought your happiness in the world, rather than in God. Even though you were the greatest philosophers in the universe, this charge would be as applicable to you as to the meanest of mankind. And, if at this present moment you feel averse to range yourselves under the humiliating term here accorded to you, be assured the time is not far distant when you will designate yourselves by this name with bitter emphasis, and, contrasting yourselves with the Lords guests, will exclaim, We fools, counted their life madness, and their end to be without honour: but how are they numbered with the children of God, and their lot is among the saints! Therefore have we erred from the way of truth [Note: Wisd. 5:46.]. Let me entreat you now to humble yourselves before God, and to welcome, as especially suited to your state, the invitation which I now bring you. But that I may be sure to address you in Wisdoms own words, I will adopt the language of an inspired prophet: Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk, without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which satisfieth not? (Here are proofs enough of your folly.) Hearken diligently unto me; and eat ye that which is good; and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live [Note: Isa 55:1-3.]. You will find, at the close of the chapter from whence my text is taken, that folly also has her messengers: A foolish and abandoned woman will cry, Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: for stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he knoweth not that the dead are there, and that her guests are in the depths of hell [Note: ver. 1318.]. Yes, these invitations are soon and widely followed; whilst the invitations of Wisdom are scornfully rejected. Truly this is greatly to be lamented; and bitter will be the consequences to those who persist in their folly. Accept the invitations that are gratifying to flesh and blood, and nothing but everlasting destruction awaits you: but accept that which now in Wisdoms name I deliver, and you shall live: forsake the foolish, and live. Fain would I prevail with you, my Brethren, ere it be too late, and the door of her banqueting-house be shut against you. I have it in commission to compel you to come in [Note: Luk 14:23.]. O, resist me not, but let me by holy importunity prevail; that so the blessings of salvation may be yours, when the contemners of our message are wailing in everlasting darkness and despair.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
CONTENTS.
In this chapter we have set before us the very different proposals of wisdom and folly. And we are shewn no less, how certainly the former leads to happiness, and the latter to misery.
Pro 9:1-6 Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars: She hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her wine; she hath also furnished her table. She hath sent forth her maidens: she crieth upon the highest places of the city, Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled. Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.
We must still behold Christ under the office character of Wisdom, proclaiming grace and a fulness of blessings to his church and people. The house here said to be built with seven pillars, and the feast here said to be furnished, and the invitation sent forth for guests with the blessedness of those who accept thereof, and are made the partakers of it; these are plain representations of the gospel fulness, and the infinite mercy provided for poor sinners in Jesus. The house which Jesus hath built in the body of his temple, is the whole church at large; and the seven pillars spoken of, whether intended as an indefinite number to represent the whole, or referring by any allusion to what is said of the seven spirits which are said to be before the throne, the sense is the same. The Holy Ghost hath explained the whole of this subject to the church, when saying by his servant Paul, that it is built upon the foundation of the apostles, and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone, in whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord. Eph 2:20-21 . And that Christ, the Wisdom-Mediator hath prepared and built the whole, the Holy, Ghost confirmed, when drawing a comparison between Moses as a servant in his house, and Christ as the Lord of this house; and determining the glory of Christ therefrom as proving his Godhead by having built all things. Heb 3:3-4 . Perhaps by the seven pillars may be intended to represent the seven-fold gifts of the Holy Ghost. Rev 1:4 . And we know that the whole gospel is uniformly represented throughout the Bible, under the similitude of a rich feast. Jesus hath prepared it, and it is he which giveth it. He hath mingled it also. For here is his body broken, and his blood shed; his flesh being meat indeed, and his blood drink indeed, to all that partake. And it is mingled as the paschal feast, which was typical of it set forth; for it is received by faith with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. A whole unleavened Christ into a broken, leavened, contrite heart. The righteousness, peace, and, joy, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, are the blessed food of the soul, received, and lived upon by faith; when the poor sinner is made to see and feel his need, and turns in at wisdom’s gracious invitation to the rich table. Isa 25:6-8 ; Exo 12:7 ; Exo 12:12 ; 1Co 5:7-8 . The servants sent forth to call in the guests correspond to the gospel call by the ministers, and the plentiful means adopted to bring in the objects, for whom both the house and the feast are prepared: namely, the poor and the needy, the wretched and the miserable. Luk 14:16-24
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Wisdom and Folly
Pro 9
Two women make their appeal in this chapter. One is Wisdom, the other is the foolish woman. So the broad distinction between wisdom and folly is consistently sustained. There are no half-wise people, no half-foolish people; the virgins are wise or foolish, bad or good, angels from heaven or spectres from hell.
Wisdom has a festival prepared. We have seen in Exo 24 that when the elders of Israel were favoured with the vision of the Almighty “they did eat and drink.” To the animal man these are but bodily exercises; to the spiritual man they are sacramental acts. When the Saviour would represent the glory and abundance of his house he spreads a banquet, sets forth the marriage of the king’s son, prepares a supper, and sends forth messengers to say that all things are ready. If our interpretation of the latter part of the eighth chapter is correct, Christ may be regarded as Creator, and in this chapter he is the Sustainer of mankind. Men are to eat his flesh and drink his blood. He is the bread of life sent down from heaven. He is the answer to the world’s hunger. All the details as to the feast of Wisdom would seem to be but so many anticipations of the parables and appeals of Jesus Christ. The idea of “building her house” runs through the Christian writings. “Upon this rock I will build my church;” “Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets;” “Built up a spiritual house.” We may speak of the house of Wisdom as we speak of the house of God. It is a sanctuary, a home, a centre of union, a bond and symbol of friendship. The invitation of Wisdom is the invitation of Christ: “Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.” All we have to do is to go; we take with us nothing but our hunger; the feast is Christ’s, the invitation is Christ’s, the house is Christ’s; the hunger alone is ours, and a blessed hunger it is if we feel that only Christ can satisfy it. Wisdom mingles the wine and flavours it with choice spices, and sends forth invitations rich with the music of hospitality: “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price,” come and do what otherwise would be impossible; claim as a right what is given as a grace, and treat as a purchase what is bestowed as a gift.
But to do all this there must be an abandonment of past preferences and associations “Forsake the foolish and live.” No man can live in both houses. “Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” To leave folly is the first step towards wisdom. But there must be progress, the soul cannot live on negatives. Hence the sixth verse continues: “Go in the way of understanding.” Emancipation must be followed by education. When God calls souls away from the house of bondage he does not leave them houseless and homeless wanderers, to do the best they can for themselves. Observe how the divine commandment runs: “Come out from among them,” that is the first thing to be done; but does the text end there? Far from it; it goes on to say, “and I will receive you and be a Father unto you:” thus the commandment ends in a gospel; the sacrifice is followed with benediction, rest, and heaven itself.
“Madam Folly” is introduced in Exo 24:13 . “She is simple, and knoweth nothing.” She affects simplicity. She can simper well. See, how winsome she is; how guileless, how gentle is her voice; how benignant her countenance. Take care, young unsuspecting soul. In her breast she hides the fire of hell! She is intent on working the ruin of thy life. “She hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her.” Her look is blasphemy. Her sigh is a desire for blood. “As the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.” Alas! the best exhortations are often lost when the heart wanders after things forbidden. Nothing but the grace of God can quench the flames of lust. “Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.” The world does not go wrong for want of bitter experience and pungent testimony. “I find more bitter than death the woman, whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands as bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her.” So said the wise man. Who will sell his soul for momentary gratification? Who will leap after a bubble and fall into hell? Alas! we see the right, and yet the wrong pursue. This is the tragedy of human life! This, too, is an aspect of its divinity, for it is that man is so Godlike that he can be lost. Mystery of mysteries is it that man should tempt man! Here it is the woman who tempts. Eve never dies, nor can she die as a tempter until the seducing serpent dies. But if it is woman who tempts, it is also woman who represents the beauty and nobleness of wisdom. Remember both aspects of the woman-life, nor fail to do the mother of the world justice, whether in censure or in eulogy.
Between Wisdom and Wanton there is another person, curiously, but perhaps not illogically, introduced. That other person is the Scorner. “He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame;” “Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee;” “If thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.” Is the scorner one who is travelling from Wisdom’s house to the house of the foolish woman? Is he affecting contempt, or really feeling it? Does not scorn sometimes conceal fear? Young souls should beware of a flippant tone, for flippancy opens the heart-door to many intruders. Veneration gives steadiness to character, and is in very deed the seal of dignity. He who jests with things divine will soon trifle with things human. Account for it as we may, the scoffer never wins the confidence even of those who laugh at his sneers. The buffoon has no friends. When they want to be amused they may make use of him; but when they come face to face with the realities of life they shut him out of their regard and trust. He who scorns the poor shall come to penury that no man will pity. He who scorns wisdom shall “be buried with the burial of an ass.” “Judgments are prepared for scorners.” Blessed is the man that sitteth not in the seat of the scornful. Thus Wisdom speaks to the sons of men. Would to God they would hear and fear and turn unto the Lord!
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
XXI
THE INSTRUCTION OF WISDOM (CONTINUED)
Pro 8:1-9:18
The subject of Proverbs 8-9, wisdom personified and contrasted with Pro 7 , is aptly stated by Perowne, thus:
The personification of Wisdom in this chapter is highly suggestive. Already in the opening verses of the Book (Pro 1:20-33 ) Wisdom has been personified, has “uttered her voice,” as here she utters it, “in the street” and “in the chief places of concourse,” and has pleaded, as here she pleads, with the sons of men. But here the fair impersonation, following closely upon the vivid picture of the immediately foregoing section, presents itself to us in striking and designed contrast to the dark form that passed before us there. Not lurking furtively at the corners of the streets, in the deepening twilight; not leading astray with swift and stealthy footsteps and beguiling with whispered subtleties, but with free and open grace, “in the top of high places by the way,” in the sight of men, and with voice clear and melodious as a clarion-call does she utter forth her appeal (Pro 8:1-3 ). She speaks (Pro 8:4-36 ). While she addresses herself to every child of man, the “simple” and “fools” are specially invited to profit by her instruction (Pro 8:4-5 ). All her speech is plain and open, and needs only an intelligent ear to understand it (Pro 8:6-9 ). The treasures she offers are above all price, and such as even kings may covet (Pro 8:10-11 ). Telling us who she is and what she has to offer us (Pro 8:12-21 ), she goes on to affirm that her claim to attention is no less than that she is the eternal Possession and Fellow of Jehovah Himself, His joy and Counsellor in the creation and ordering of the universe, and that from the beginning her “delights were with the sons of men.” (Pro 8:22-31 ). Therefore, on premises such as these, she pleads with us yet again, as her children, that we refuse not the blessedness which she offers (Pro 8:32-36 ).
Why, we ask ourselves, does not the wise Teacher, having in mind to draw away his sons from the seduction of vice by subjecting them to the mightier attractions of virtue, set over against the abandoned woman of his first picture the pure and faithful wife, with her charm of holy love, as the subject of his second picture. Why does he not counsel his scholars, as indeed he does elsewhere (Pro 8:15-19 ), to find in God’s holy ordinance the true remedy for the pleasures of sin which the temptress offers them? Because, in the first place, he would lead them higher, and commend to them a yet worthier object of supreme affection, an object which at once includes and surpasses all pure and lawful objects of human devotion. . . . And then also because through the Spirit of God which was his in him, the ideal of comprehensive Wisdom which his mind formed took personal shape, and stood before him as the embodiment of all human virtue and perfection, a prophecy and a promise, such as had been vouchsafed to the bodily senses of others, a “preluding of the Incarnation”.
In Pro 8 we hear wisdom calling on top of the high places, at the crossroads and at the entrances of the city (Pro 8:1-3 ) ; she calls men, simple, and foolish, as well as the wise (Pro 8:4-5 ) ; her claim as to plainness of speech is that her sayings are excellent, righteous, and plain to him that understands (Pro 8:6-9 ); the treasures which she offers are instruction and knowledge which are more valuable than silver, gold, or rubies (Pro 8:10-11 ); what wisdom is and what she gives is found in Pro 8:12-21 ; her august claims are that she was in the beginning with Jehovah and was his great delight (Pro 8:22-31 ); her consequent appeal, then, was to heed her call, be wise and live (Pro 8:32-36 ).
Pro 9 , with which the Introduction to the book of Proverbs concludes, consists of two parts, in which wisdom personified (w. 1-12) and folly (vv. 13-18) represented by a vicious woman are set once more in vivid contrast to each other, con-tending for the adherence of the children of men. Each has her house to receive them (Pro 9:1 ; Pro 9:14 ), each her feast spread for them (Pro 9:2 ; Pro 9:17 ), each her invitation, couched, in part, at least, in identical terms (Pro 9:4 ; Pro 9:16 ), which she utters forth in the high places of the city (Pro 9:3 ; Pro 9:14 ). The balance and symmetry of these two parts are not, however, artistically preserved. Moral earnestness overpowers literary skill. The picture of wisdom (Pro 9:1-5 ) is followed by her prolonged address (Pro 9:7-12 ), for which the companion picture (Pro 9:13-17 ) has to wait, the section being closed by a single note of warning from the teacher himself (Pro 9:18 ).
The picture of wisdom in Pro 9:1-5 is the picture of a hostess, building her house, preparing her feast, sending out her invitations, and urging all classes to come and dine with her. This reminds us of the parable of the gospel feast as given by our Lord.
The meaning of the “seven pillars” of Pro 9:1 is significant. “Pillars form an important feature in Oriental Architecture, partly perhaps as a reminiscence of the tent with its supporting poles and partly also from the use of flat roofs, in consequence of which the chambers were either narrower, or divided into portions by columns.” Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible, Art. “Pillar.” Here, however, it is better to suppose that the great banquet hall is open all along the front, so as it were to invite entrance, the proof being supported by a row (“seven” is the usual symbol of completeness) of stately pillars. The magnificent hall in which the lords of the Philistines sat and watch-ed Samson make sport in the courtyard outside, while on its flat roof no fewer than 3,000 people were assembled, was construct-ed on this principle; the two central pillars of the colonnade forming a chief support of the roof (Jdg 16:25-30 ).
To paraphrase Pro 9:6 , it would read somewhat as follows: “Come to a decision; your present neutral position is not tenable. Your choice lies between wisdom and the scorner. Therefore, break altogether with the scorner and the wicked man, and become the guest of wisdom.” Compare 2Co 6:17 ; 2Co 7:1 .
The thought expressed in Pro 9:7-9 is equal to that of Mat 7:6 , which gives the same thought exactly, thus: “Give not that which is holy to the dogs, neither cast your pearls before the swine, lest haply they trample them under their feet, and turn and rend you.”
There is a principle enunciated in Pro 9:10 , a promise in Pro 9:11 and a warning in Pro 9:12 , viz: the principle of getting wisdom and understanding, the promise of long life and the warning against scorning lest he bear the penalty alone.
The description of the foolish woman is found in Pro 9:13 . She is here described as clamorous, simple, and a know-nothing. Her methods and inducement are given in Pro 9:14-17 . She sits at the door (or stands at the window) of her house and calls them that pass by, but only the simple heed her call, to whom she says her proverb: Stolen waters are sweet, And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.
The final warning as to the results of yielding to her is given in Pro 9:18 . The poor, ignorant dupes do not know that under her house are the bodies of dead men whose spirits have been hurled into hell. We are here reminded of those hell holes in Paris, France, where many disappeared by means of the trapdoor, never to be seen again, of the case of one Mrs. Gunness who buried her scores, or the case of many roadhouses in modern times which are veritable traps of hell.
QUESTIONS
1. What is the subject of Proverbs 8-9, and what is the contrast here with Pro 7 ?
2. What is the deeper significance of this passage?
3. Where does wisdom call?
4. Whom does she call?
5. What is her claim as to plainness of speech?
6. What are the treasures which she offers?
7. What is wisdom and what does she give?
8. What are her august claims?
9. What, then, is her consequent appeal?
10. Of what does Pro 9 consist and what are the parallels between its parts?
11. What is the picture of wisdom here?
12. What is the meaning of the “seven pillars” of Pro 9:1 ?
13. What is the meaning of Pro 9:6 ?
14. What is the thought expressed in Pro 9:7-9 ?
15. What is the principle enunciated in Pro 9:10 , what is the promise in Pro 9:11 and what is the warning in Pro 9:12 ?
16. What is the description of the foolish woman?
17. What are her methods and what inducement does she offer?
18. What is the final warning as to the results of yielding to her?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Pro 9:1 Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars:
Ver. 1. Wisdom. ] Heb., Wisdoms, in the plural; and this, either honoris causa, for honour’s sake, or else by an ellipsis, as if the whole of it were “wisdom of wisdoms,” as “the song of songs,” for a most excellent song. Son 1:1 Junius renders it, Summa sapientia. Highest wisdom. See Trapp on “ Pro 1:20 “
Hath builded her house.
She hath hewn out her seven pillars
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Proverbs Chapter 9
In the beginning of chapter 9, it is not wisdom in eternal relations, or in founding and building up the earth, preparing the heavens, and imposing on the sea the decree that the waters pass not the prescribed limits, yet withal delighting in the sons of men. Here the fruit of these delights appears. Wisdom acts among men.
“Wisdom hath built her house; she hath hewn out her seven pillars; she hath slaughtered her slaughtering [or, sacrifice], she hath mingled her wine, she hath also furnished her table. She hath sent forth her maidens; she crieth upon the summits of the high places of the city, Whoso [is] simple, let him turn in hither. To him that is void of understanding she saith, Come, eat ye of my bread, and drink of the wine I have mingled. Forsake follies [or, simplicities] and live, and go in the way of understanding.” vv. 1-6.
We had wisdom’s cry in the preceding chapter – her active testimony that her voice might be heard. Here we have much more, for Jehovah strenuously and elaborately adopted means for the well-being and true enjoyment of man, so ready to turn aside and perish in the ways of the destroyer.
Hence, and in Israel when in possession of the land under Solomon it was above all conspicuous, that Jehovah drew public attention to His commandments as the sole wisdom and condition of blessing on the earth. This is what Moses yearned for, as their entrance there approached, that the surrounding peoples might say, Verily this great nation is a wise and understanding people; for what great nation is there that hath God near to them, as Jehovah our God is in everything we call upon Him for? And what great nation is there that hath righteous statutes and ordinances, as all this law which I set before you this day?
Only more is said in Solomon’s day, and by the king in this Book where wisdom is personified so admirably by the Spirit who had the Son of God in view. And who so well could introduce the figure of wisdom’s house as he who was given to build the house for Jehovah’s name! a settled place for Him to abide in forever? Yet how much the past or the present says to the contrary! as indeed Jehovah warned was to be because of their apostasy, even to a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
“Wisdom hath built her house.” Nowhere on earth was there a suited habitation. She could find no dwelling, but has prepared one for herself; for wisdom had to promote the entire life and the most intimate relations and the habits of every day. Hence the necessity for “her house,” to which she liberally invites. “She hath hewn her seven pillars.” There is a completeness of support exhibited in no other, and due to the divine aim herein sought.
Then the provision is no less bountiful. “She hath slaughtered her slaughtering, she hath mingled her wine, she hath furnished her table.” How could it be otherwise if divine love undertake to entertain worthily of God? There is no more intelligible or common figure of communion than that which is expressed by eating and drinking under the same hospitable roof. So the Lord repeatedly set forth the welcome of grace in the gospel; so He signifies our feeding on Himself by faith to life eternal; so He instituted His supper for our habitual remembrance of Himself till He come. It is presented here that His people might know the pleasure Jehovah took in their enjoyment of wisdom as He revealed it.
But there is more. “She hath sent forth her maidens, she crieth upon the summits of the high places of the city, Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither.” Wisdom had her messengers, who are fitly represented as maidens whom she dispatched on the errand of loving-kindness. But she spares no pains personally; for there she stands on the loftiest vantage ground, whence she may invite. And who are the objects of her appeal? Not the rich or great; not the wise or prudent; but whoso is simple, let him turn in hither.” God is ever the giving God when truly known. He may test man for a special purpose; but as God loves a cheerful giver, so is He the most liberal of all Himself; and so wisdom here makes known. “To him that is void of understanding she saith, Come, eat ye of my bread, and drink of the wine that I have mingled.” In the world that is, such generous unselfish love is unknown and hence the need and value of reiterated welcome.
Still in the same world admonition is requisite, and the word follows, “Forsake simplicities [or follies] and live; and go in the way of intelligence.” Wisdom does not admit of inconsistency. If received notwithstanding our folly, it is that we may become wise according to a wisdom above our own; and this is truly to “live” where all else is death, and, as living, to walk in the way of intelligence, looking up to Him who is above, and not as the beasts that look down and perish.
How blessed for us that to those that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom! And how fitting that he who was of old endowed with wisdom beyond all others should be the one to reveal in the Old Testament Him who is that Wisdom in His own eternal Person!
Chapter 9 began with wisdom, or the wise woman; the Holy Spirit turns aside to point out how disappointing it is to instruct the scorner – a very aggravated form of evil, though increasingly common as Christendom hastens in its unbelief and moral ruin to judgment.
“He that correcteth a scorner getteth to himself shame; and he that reproveth a wicked [man], a blot to himself. Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee; reprove a wise [man], and he will love thee. Impart to a wise [man], and he will become yet wiser; teach a righteous [man], and he will increase learning. The fear of Jehovah [is] the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy [is] understanding. For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and years of life shall be added to thee. If thou art wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself; and [if] thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear [it].” vv. 7-12.
Every scripture, we know, is not more surely God-inspired than profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for discipline that is in righteousness; but we need wisdom to apply it. Faith needs not only the Word, but the God who gave it, to direct the heart and mouth livingly; and for this we have by grace the Holy Spirit’s guidance. So the Apostle commended those who watched over souls to God, as well as to the word of His grace. While the simple and unintelligent are invited, the foolish must be shunned and the way of understanding followed. Then freely we are warned against meddling with the scorner. To correct such! is vain; they willingly put on you shame. Let them alone, said the Lord to the disciples. You may only gain a blot in reproving a wicked person. They have a deeper need – to be born again. Where no life is, hatred is the result. There is no wisdom in reproving a scorner, more than in giving that which is holy to the dogs or in casting pearls before the swine. The upshot may be that they will trample the misdirected word under their feet, and turn and rend you.
Now the Christian has the gospel to urge on the heedless but this is the glad tidings of what God has done in Christ for him, wicked as he may be, to bring him to Himself. Thus all is harmonious. Correction and reproof are for those who have an ear to hear, that they walk not inconsistently with their profession. Hence we are told here to “reprove a wise man, and he will love thee.” A wise man may not always pursue the path of wisdom; he may need reproof. A fool is one who never hears, though always ready to find fault. A wise man listens and weighs; when he recognizes what is of God, he will love you.
Another thing which distinguishes wisdom is the appreciation of what is good and helpful. Egoism is necessarily unwise and evil, because man is sinful, and God is unknown and untrusted. It is self-satisfied and refuses to learn, having no distrust of its own dark, selfish, and sinful state. On the other hand, “impart to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser, teach a righteous man, and he will increase learning.” It is not the great that are wise, nor does age of itself understand judgment. Every good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation nor shadow of turning. Dependence on God is our only right attitude habitually, and hearing from one another what approves itself to our consciences as His truth; for we are members of one another; and He despiseth not any, let him be ever so lowly. But He hateth the proud and will punish the scorner.
The secret of it all is plain. “The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom; and the knowledge of the Holy is understanding.” Creature intelligence is of no value for the soul, for eternity, for relationship with God. It begins, and must begin with fearing Him, the True and the Good, the Righteous and the Holy. There is repentance no less than faith, and therefore trembling at His Word, the direct reverse of judging it and trusting in self, justifying ourselves instead of God. But growth belongs to life in our present condition; and growth is by the right knowledge of God, who has communicated it in His Word for this purpose. The Christian readily knows why “Holy” should be in the plural, without allowing that it means “holy things.” The knowledge of such things is not the intelligence that grows from the enlarging knowledge of God.
The pious Jew addressed looked for long life here below, through divine favour. As things were, much might come in to modify this, as we see in Josiah and many another. But when divine principles have their just and unimpeded result, every word will be fulfilled, as when Christ reigns over all the earth. We Christians have a far different calling new, and look for a higher glory. Nevertheless, we can say and do believe that piety is profitable for everything, having promise of life – of the present one, and of that to come.
It remains true also that “if thou art wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself; and if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.” God remains in changeless majesty; but in His righteous judgment, each shall bear his own burden, and reap as he sows, from the flesh corruption, from the Spirit life everlasting.
In full contrast with wisdom, and quite distinct from the scorner, is “the foolish woman.” Here we have the picture of herself and her ways, her guests, and their end. Only we must not think that the folly in question means a feeble intellect, but rather the absence of care or thought, of heart or conscience, toward God, which Satan fosters in benighted man. “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God,” and therefore neither seeks nor calls on Him. This at the last is antichrist. Here it is “the foolish woman,” the state of things that entices, fleshly corruption rather than the haughty antagonist that sets it up.
“The foolish woman [is] clamorous; senseless (or, simplicity), and knoweth nothing. And she sitteth at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city, to call those that pass by who go right on their ways. Whoso [is] simple, let him turn in hither. And to him that is void of understanding she saith, Stolen waters are sweet, and the bread of secrecy is pleasant. But he knoweth not that the dead [are] there, [that] her guests [are] in the depths of Sheol.” vv. 13-18.
Wisdom pleads for Jehovah and therefore in the true interests of man, no less than for the divine glory. The foolish woman is zealous only for the indulgence of sinful pleasure, regardless of all consequences. Yet it is remarkable how similar are the thoughts and words the Holy Spirit uses in speaking of each. Not that wisdom is “clamorous” as is folly; but she does cry and put forth her voice, for understanding is hers,
and the immense value she has to communicate from God and for Him, no less than to man. She does not sit on a seat or throne at the door of her house. But she yet more than folly stands in the top of high places by the way, a cheerful giver, who knows the ample resources for all that come. Not so the foolish woman. What house had she built? No pillars had she hewn out. She had neither beasts to kill, nor had she mingled wine, nor furnished her table, like wisdom with a heart delighting in good and in doing good where need abounded and dangers are without end and evil without measure.
Wisdom had her maidens to send forth, as she herself cried; for she was earnest to win for Jehovah and warn from Him, and sought the highest places of the city. Folly had no such maidens, any more than the generous provision of wisdom. Maidens indeed! She might well be ashamed and blush if she could before maidens, as they would assuredly blush for her words and ways. Yet both are represented as making appeal in terms of strong resemblance, but how opposite their wish and aim! “Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither” (vv. 4 and 16). And it is to be remarked, that the foolish woman in particular addresses her call to those that pass by, who go right on their ways. What malicious pleasure to lead such astray!
The difference comes out strongly in what wisdom, as compared with folly, says to him that is void of understanding. “Come, eat ye of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled. Forsake follies, and live; and go in the way of understanding.” All was open, sound, holy, and unselfish on wisdom’s part. How sinister the speech of the foolish woman! “Stolen waters are sweet, and pleasant is the bread of secrecy.” But the appeal of wisdom needs grace to make it palatable; her rival’s invitation is just suited to the dark heart of man as he is. He enjoys what is prohibited, and can only be snatched guilefully or by cunning; he suspects what is given freely, and cannot understand the greatest good as a matter of grace. Wisdom’s gifts are therefore distrusted and despised; folly’s call to stolen waters is as sweet to fallen nature as to drink them, and the bread of secrecy is as pleasant in prospect as to the taste.
How solemn when the curtain is drawn enough to let us see the dread reality! “But he knoweth not that the dead (or departed, shades) [are] there; that her guests [are] in the depths of Sheol.” As the language about wisdom rose in the chapter before into a living and glorious person, an incomparable object of delight to Jehovah, and with no less incomparable delight of love going out to the sons of men, so here chapter 9 ends with a more awful view than is at all usual in the Old Testament of the lot that befalls those that lend their ear, and follow the tempting words of the foolish woman. What a contrast with leaving off folly and going on the way of intelligence!
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
Wisdom. Plural as in Pro 1:20; Pro 9:1, and Pro 14:1.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Chapter 9 continues in its praise of wisdom.
Wisdom hath built her house, she has hewn out the seven pillars: She has killed her beasts; she has mingled her wine; and she has furnished her table. And she has sent forth her maidens: and she cries upon the highest places of the city, Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: as for him that wanteth understanding, she says to him, Come, and eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled. Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding ( Pro 9:1-6 ).
In other words, wisdom is inviting everybody to come and partake of her. That is why David said to Solomon, “Hey, son, wisdom’s the principal thing. Get wisdom.” Now Solomon’s saying, “Wisdom is inviting people. I prepared a banquet. I’ve prepared for you. Come and partake of me.” And now he says in verse Pro 9:7 ,
He that reproves a scorner will be mocked ( Pro 9:7 ):
If you have a scorner and you reprove him, what is he going to do? He’s going to turn right around and mock you. He’s not going to receive it.
and he that rebukes a wicked man [going to get smashed in the nose]. So reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: but if you rebuke a wise man, he will love you for it ( Pro 9:7-8 ).
So if you rebuke someone and he punches you in the nose, you know he’s wicked. If he loves you for it, you know he’s a wise man. One of the proverbs says, “A fool hateth instruction.”
So give instruction to the wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom ( Pro 9:9-10 ):
Now this sounds very much like verse Pro 9:6 of chapter 1 where after Solomon introduces Proverbs and tells you what a proverb is and what the purpose of proverbs are, he begins with the first proverb declaring, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” ( Pro 1:6 ). Now he says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” And it sounds like these are parallel statements, but there’s a vast difference between the two. And the difference lies not in the difference between wisdom and knowledge, but the difference between the word beginning in the Hebrew that is translated in both places beginning. They are two different Hebrew words with two different meanings.
After telling what a proverb is and what the purpose of proverbs are, to gain understanding and to know the way of righteousness and so forth, he then declared, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” The word in verse Pro 9:6 of chapter 1 is a Hebrew word which means “the sum total of knowledge.” All knowledge is encompassed in the fear of the Lord. In other words, if a man doesn’t fear the Lord, he’s dumb, stupid. The fear of the Lord is really the sum of knowledge.
The word beginning here is the Hebrew word for primary or commencement, the starting place. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” the starting place for wisdom. It’s the sum total of knowledge but it’s the starting place of wisdom. Now the difference between wisdom and knowledge is that knowledge will give you facts. Wisdom will direct you to the correct action in lieu of these facts.
There are a lot of people that have a lot of knowledge, but they don’t have much wisdom. They may have a lot of facts. They may have a lot of knowledge stored up in their head, but they’re absolutely dumb when it comes to their actions. I am constantly amazed at what dumb things smart men do. Men who have their Ph.D.s and all of this vast knowledge, and yet they don’t have any wisdom. They’re just off their rockers.
The government keeps a group of men that are almost humanoids. And they sit day after day at these desks in these think tanks, and these guys when they start shaving, just shave all the way, you know. Their heads are bare and big heads, and they just sit there at the desk day after day after day just sitting, and the government pays them royally for this. And they are thinking in these far out abstract concepts. And they may sit there for a month and never say a word to anybody. You can walk in, walk around. They don’t even recognize that you’re there. And yet, they come up with these outlandish, far out concepts. Pretty soon after several months, they’ll go up the board and start writing out formulas and all these kind of stuff, designs. And then the government has other men who have to take these formulas and designs and see if they’ll really work.
We have a friend who was in the second phase, and he told us about these little humanoids almost that sit there at their desks, and of these wild kind of concepts. How that they are thinking about how to transmit brainwave patterns from the outsides so that people can see without eyes. You know, just by the transmitting of brainwave patterns that go across the place so they get the illusion of sight and so forth, though they don’t have eyes. Or transmit the sound in without the hearing apparatus, normal hearing apparatus; you’ll be able to hear. And all these kind of things that they are actually working on and developing and trying to create. Far out kind of concepts.
Now these guys have a lot of knowledge, but they don’t have much wisdom. This friend of mine was telling me that quite often they’ll be stuck, because, he said, they cannot, many of them cannot add a simple column of figures. Their minds are too complex to deal with simple math. And of course, they don’t have any family life. I mean, they just live an isolated kind of existence in their own sort of in their own minds, and they are just trained to get into themselves and into their own minds and concepts. Far out kind of stuff.
So knowledge is having an accumulation of facts. Wisdom is knowing what to do with them. The proper use of knowledge or the application of knowledge. So the importance of wisdom. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning,” that’s the starting place of wisdom.
Last chapter we read, “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil” ( Pro 8:13 ). Fear of the Lord. The word fear bugs some people because we have in our minds the concept of a phobia. But the word translated fear is not a phobia type of fear. But it is that kind of awe and reverential fear as we really think about God, His greatness, His power, who He is. Just that awe that comes over you. So that fear of the Lord, desiring to do what God would have me to do. Love what God loves. Hate what God hates. That desire recognizing who God is. To seek to please Him, that’s what the fear of the Lord is about. That’s the beginning of wisdom.
and the knowledge of the Holy is understanding ( Pro 9:10 ).
We are living in a day and age when we have so confused the issue of good and evil, right and wrong. That people really don’t know what is right or what is wrong. We have the Situation Ethics. And now more recently, this value clarification where there is the denial of any kind of universal base of good or truth or right. It’s all relative to the situation. But understanding the knowledge of the holy, that which is holy, that which is pure, that’s what understanding is about. It’s understanding God and what He has declared.
Wisdom is still speaking and it says.
For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased. If you be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it. A foolish woman is clamorous ( Pro 9:11-13 ):
He evidently knew much, a lot about women. He had enough wives to have quite an understanding. No doubt in the law of averages, you have a thousand wives you’re going to have some really weird ones, contentious ones and everything else. And he’ll get to them later on. “A foolish woman is clamorous.”
she is simple, she doesn’t know anything. For she sits at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city, to call the passengers who go right on their ways: Whoso is simple, let him turn in to her: and as for him that wants understanding, she says to him, [Hey] stolen waters are sweet, bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he doesn’t know that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell ( Pro 9:13-18 ). “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Pro 9:1-6
Pro 9:1-6
This chapter concludes the first division of Proverbs. “It gives a brief summary of the warnings in the previous chapters. Some scholars label it as “the fifteenth admonitory discourse, but we have paid little attention to these rather arbitrary divisions. This chapter could easily be divided into two separate discourses; and this is true of several of the others.
“The previous warnings are here summarized in the form of a picture of two women, Wisdom and Folly, each inviting men to a banquet.
THE INVITATION OF WISDOM
Pro 9:1-6
“Wisdom hath builded her house;
She hath hewn out her seven pillars:
She hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her wine;
She hath also furnished her table:
She hath sent forth her maidens;
She crieth upon the highest places of the city:
Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither:
As for him that is void of understanding, she saith to him,
Come, eat ye of my bread.
And drink of the wine that I have mingled.
Leave off, ye simple ones, and live;
And walk in the way of understanding.”
“Wisdom hath builded her house … hewn out her seven pillars” (Pro 9:1). These words stress the infinite preparation and experience that lie behind the true wisdom of God, as revealed in the Bible. “The allegorical interpretations of the seven pillars are numberless, but we have not found any which we are willing to accept. “The seven pillars were an ordinary architectural feature of the times introduced here as the usual appendage of a house. It may be assumed that a house with seven pillars was a magnificent dwelling. “In ancient Nineveh, Sennacherib’s new year festival house, discovered in recent years, had seven pillars.
“She hath killed her beasts … mingled her wine … furnished her table” (Pro 9:2). The RSV has mixed instead of mingled. “The parable of the Great Supper (Matthew 22; Luke 14) may perhaps be modeled on this passage. “There is an evident connection between them.
What is meant by Wisdom having mixed her wine? The truth might not be very welcome to liquor-soaked America, but the truth is that the more enlightened ancients did not drink undiluted wine. Harris noted that, “The book of 2Maccabees declares that wine undiluted with water was thought to be distasteful. Especially, “The Greeks used diluted wine; and that usage became general, especially among the Hebrews. Rabbi Eliezer even forbade the saying of the table-blessing over undiluted wine. The proportion of the mixture that was water was large, only about one fourth to one third of the mixture being wine. The wine of the Last Supper may be described as a sweet, red, fermented wine rather highly diluted.
This does not mean that the sinners of ancient times diluted their wine. Drunkenness was a common sin, and the wine that usually caused it was not diluted. The significant thing, however, is that Wisdom diluted hers! There was also an ancient custom of mingling certain spices with wine, thus enhancing the taste of it and making it even more potent. This is thought to be mentioned in Isa 5:22. However, Keil insisted that even in that passage, “The reference is to mingling wine with water. Toy pointed out that, “What sort of mixing is here intended is uncertain. We think it is certain. Wisdom would certainly not have doctored up her wine with any kind of drugs and spices to make it more powerful. She would have diluted it with water.
“She crieth from the highest places of the city” (Pro 9:3). The contrast is between the appeal of Wisdom from the most prominent places on earth and that of the clandestine, secret, under-cover-of-darkness operations of Folly, the vice described in the previous chapter.
“Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither” (Pro 9:4). The simple here are ALL MEN in that phase of life in which vital and permanent choices are to be made. There is no reference here to the feeble minded or the handicapped. It is the great paradox of human life that the choices and decisions that determine destiny come at quite an early time, that time which all mankind passes through, and during which, “Ye simple ones” is the proper address.
“Come, eat ye of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled” (Pro 9:5). Toy, who was so crassly literal in his interpretation of that firm (“solid dome”) sky back in Pro 8:28 had no trouble seeing the figurative nature of this passage, of which he wrote, “The invitation here is figurative. We also find here other overtones which speak to us of that Greater Wisdom who is Christ. “This passage is parallel to the higher teaching of the holy Gospels (Joh 6:27; Mat 26:26). He who has been made “The Wisdom of God to us (1Co 1:24; 1Co 1:30) also invites those who love him to “Eat of this bread … and drink of this cup.”
Pro 9:1. The same wisdom speaks here who spoke in the preceding chapter. There she represented herself as manifest in all the works of God in the natural world-all being constructed according to counsels proceeding from an infinite understanding. Here she represents herself as the great potentate who was to rule all that she had constructed; and having an immense family to provide for had made an abundant provision and calls all to partake of it. This is the continuation of the parable begun in the preceding chapter, where wisdom is represented as a venerable lady whose real beauties and solid promises are opposed to the false allurements of pleasure, who was represented in the seventh chapter under the idea of a debauched and impudent woman. This one, to draw young men into her snares, describes the perfumes, the bed, and the festival which she had prepared. Wisdom acts in the same way but instead of the debauchery, the false pleasures, and the criminal connections which pleasure had promised offers her guests a strong, well-built, magnificent palace, chaste and solid pleasures, salutary instructions, and a life crowned with blessedness (Clarke). Consider the contrast between the lady wisdom in Pro 9:1-12 and the foolish woman of Pro 9:13-18.
Wisdom builds (Pro 9:1), but immorality tears down. Both are inviting guests to come in (Pro 9:3-5 and Pro 9:14-17). Within their invitations both used the exact words at one point: Whose is simple, let him turn in hither: and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him… (Pro 9:4 and Pro 9:16). the wicked woman offers stolen waters and bread eaten in secret (Pro 9:17), showing the illegitimacy of what she is offering while wisdom operates in legitimate wares and ways (in the open). The pleasure of sin is said to be sweet and pleasant (Pro 9:17) while wisdom may impart some of its knowledge through reproof (Pro 9:8). The guests of the immoral woman end in death (Pro 9:18) while wisdom leads to life (Pro 9:6). The seven pillars of wisdom may be the seven things mentioned in Jas 3:17 concerning heavenly wisdom: (1) pure; (2) peaceable; (3) gentle; (4) easy to be entreated; (5) full of mercy and good fruits; (6) without variance; and (7) without hypocrisy, or seven may be used here as it so often is in the book of Revelation as an ideal number.
Pro 9:2. In the preparation of her feast of good things, she had prepared her food and her beverage and had set the table. By mingled her wine is probably meant the mixing of the straight grape juice with the proper amount of water to make it a better tasting beverage (which the ancients among the Jews, Greeks, and Romans did). Since we are dealing with wisdom, the preceding seems more likely than that she added drugs to give it more potency.
Pro 9:3. With everything ready she sends forth the maidens to call the guests to the feast. There have been times when maidens were employed to beckon the guests that the hour of banqueting had come.
Pro 9:4. The wicked woman of Pro 9:16 uses the same words in her invitation. Wisdom is pleased to call those who lack it, calling them to begin a life of wisdom. In a sense we all start simple.
Pro 9:5. We are told in Pro 4:5 to get wisdom, and this verse compares the gaining of wisdom as desirable and not miserable by using the figure of dining, something that people enjoy doing. For mingled wine see comments on Pro 9:2.
Pro 9:6. Put an end to living without wisdom; cease ignorance and folly. Adopt a new way: the way of understanding. All who make this change are glad they did.
STUDY QUESTIONS – Pro 9:1-6
1. What are the seven pillars of wisdoms house (Pro 9:1)?
2. Does wisdom believe in mixed wine (Pro 9:2)?
3. Who are wisdoms maidens (Pro 9:3)?
4. Is wisdom beckoning the simple to sin like the harlot woman (Pro 9:4)?
5. What is her bread and her wine (Pro 9:5)?
6. Leave off what (Pro 9:6)?
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
The last address is a contrast between wisdom and folly. Each is personified as a woman calling to youth. Wisdom has builded her house, and spread her feast in the high places of the city. She calls to a feast of life. Folly in the garb of the evil woman sits at the door of her house, also in the high places of the city. She also calls to a feast, but it is the feast of death.
Between the two descriptions there is a passage revealing the fact that the effect produced will depend on the attitude of those who hear (verses Pro 9:7-11). The man who scorns, gets shame, and it is useless to reprove him. What, then, is this first wisdom that expresses itself in willingness to learn, and gains yet greater wisdom? It is the fear of Jehovah and the knowledge of the Holy One. In every city, on every street, by every door of opportunity, these two voices of wisdom and folly are appealing to men. To obey the call of wisdom is to live. To yield to the clamor of folly is to die, How shall we discern between the voices? By making the fear of Jehovah the central inspiration of life. By yielding the being at its deepest to Him for correction and guidance.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
Two Contrasted Invitations
Pro 9:1-18
There is an age-long competition between Wisdom and Folly, Virtue and Vice. The palace of Wisdom is very attractive-well built and well furnished. It is reared upon seven well-hewn marble pillars, in a quadrangular form, the entrance being left wide-open. An eternal mansion, it is stable and beautiful. Great preparations are made for the feast, which is open to all-in striking contrast to the private supper to which Vice allures the unwary youth. The beautiful owner also sends forth her maidens into the public thoroughfares to give free invitations to all who will accept them. See Mat 22:1, etc.
Only to the simple or child-hearted, and not to the scorner, is the invitation addressed. Wisdom lets the scorner pass, because a word to him would only recoil on herself, and would add to his wickedness. To scoff at things which are holy and scorn the divine power is to risk the sin that is never forgiven. Such is the man who enters the feast without the wedding garment.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Proverbs 9
A final contrast between Wisdom and Folly is described in this chapter. The figure of the previous chapter is still used. Wisdom is likened to a prudent woman inviting the traveler to enter her home, where true knowledge is given to all who sincerely seek it. Folly takes her stand in a similar way, urging all to turn in to her. She offers the pleasures of sin for a season to those who yield to her entreaties.
9:1-2
The Word of God as a whole, and Proverbs in particular, is Wisdoms temple. Abundant provision has been made for the instruction and blessing of those who enter. All that man requires for his guidance through the mazes of his life on earth can be found here. A well-furnished table is spread before all who desire spiritual sustenance and cheer. Millions have feasted there, yet the supply is still inexhaustible.
9:3-6
Nor does Wisdom wait for men to seek her out. In the present dispensation of grace God is using His ambassadors to beseech men to be reconciled to Himself; He does not wait until they begin to pray, but actually condescends to implore them to turn from their sin to His beloved Son. So, here, the handmaids of Wisdom are found in public places, entreating those who lack true character to turn in and partake of the bread that strengthens and the wine that cheers. The happy man who obeys the gracious invitation and forsakes the way of the foolish lays hold of true life.
9:7-9
Only the truly exercised will heed the call of Wisdom. It is useless to plead with the empty, pompous, and self-satisfied scorner. He pursues his own way until the judgment he ridiculed falls at last, and he is crushed beneath it.
The more shallow and empty a man is, the less willing he is to listen to godly counsel; whereas, the truly wise are glad to learn from any who can correct and instruct. As a rule, the less a man knows, the more he thinks he knows. The more he really does know, the more he realizes his ignorance and his limitations. Hence the value of godly counsel from those who seek to be exercised by Gods Word. Reproof will only be wasted on the scorner. He will delight in ridiculing all who endeavor to turn him from his folly, however pure their motives.
These three verses would seem to be parenthetical, explaining the reason why the invitation of Wisdoms maidens meets with such opposite responses.
9:10-12
In these verses we read the continued call of Wisdom. The scorner may idly boast of advanced knowledge because he is free from godly restraint. But true wisdom can only be found in the fear of the Lord and true understanding in the knowledge of holy things. (The word holy is in the plural.) This alone makes for what is really life. Apart from the knowledge of God, life is mere existence at best, with eternal darkness beyond it.
Men do not put God in their debt by answering the call of Wisdom, as though they were condescending to do so. If they are wise, it is for their own advantage-not His. He is seeking their happiness and blessing. God finds joy in the gladness of His children; nevertheless, it is for their own good that men should heed the call of Wisdom.
Nor will God be the loser if the scorner persists in his senseless and foolhardy course. Both in this life and the next, the folly of this foolish one will be made known to himself and others.
9:13-18
The unhappy contrast to the call of Wisdom is described in the rest of the chapter. Folly also has her temple, and many are devoted to her. Men are so ready to give heed to Folly that she does not need anyone to entreat them to enter her house. She is represented as sitting at the entrance, enticing passersby to turn in to her abode of sin and shame. Many guests enter but few return: for her house is but an entryway to the pit. The dead are there; and her guests are in the depths of hell (18). Illicit pleasures charm for a time and ensnare the simple. Yet in the end the anguished soul must bow in bitterness that will never be alleviated. He will be forced at last to confess his dreadful mistake of turning from the call of Wisdom to seek the deceitful allurements of Folly.
One who tried the way of Folly wrote before he died:
My days are in the yellow leaf;
The flowers and fruits of love are gone;
The worm, the canker, and the grief
Are mine alone.
(Byron)
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Pro 9:1
If the Wisdom spoken of by Solomon be none other than Christ, the house of Wisdom must be the spiritual house which Christ builds-His Church. This house is described as being strong and stable. Wisdom hath hewn out her seven pillars. Seven is the number constantly used in the Bible to typify perfection or completeness: and the meaning is, that the building rests on so many and such strong pillars that, once erected, it will never fall.
I. The first pillar is that of Faith, which rests the most directly upon the foundation of all-that Rock which is Christ.
II. The second pillar is that of Hope. Despair is a deadly element in the spiritual house. There is no greater traitor in our camp than he who cries, “All is lost.”
III. The pillar of Love binds the whole building together, “the very bond of peace and of all virtues.” If faith be the foundation-stone on which the building rests, and hope the soaring tower which points to heaven, love is the porch by which all must enter, and without which they are intruders, who have climbed up some other way.
IV. There is the pillar of Discretion: the spirit which knows what to say and what not to say, what to do and what to leave undone. We are often discredited with the world because we lack this pillar in our building.
V. There is the pillar of Sacrifice. There is no room for drones in the hive, no place in the house for those who have not helped to build it, or are not helping to make it serve the purpose for which it was built.
VI. There is the pillar of Truthfulness. As a matter of eventual success, no less than of Christian duty, we must renounce the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
VII. The last pillar is that of Memory. Not only is the Church built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, we are surrounded also by a great cloud of witnesses, of all nations and kindreds and peoples and tongues-a multitude which no man can number, who form the unbroken line of our spiritual ancestry. We must not cut ourselves off from these. The memories of the past belong to the Church, as much as the hopes of the future.
A. Blomfield, Sermons in Town and Country, p. 260.
References: Pro 9:1-5.-Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xxii., p. 80; C. Kingsley, Discipline and other Sermons, p. 11; Outline Sermons to Children, p. 70.
Pro 9:1-6
The marriage supper for the king’s son.
I. The house. The frame is set up from everlasting, well-ordered in all things, and sure. The tried Foundation is the Lord our Righteousness. The seven pillars indicate, in Oriental form, that its supports and ornaments are perfect in strength and beauty.
II. The feast prepared. The provisions of God’s house are wholesome, various, plentiful. Whatever the covenant provides, the true Church diligently sets forth in the ordinances before the people.
III. The inviting messenger. These are the ambassadors whom Christ employs to carry the message of His mercy to their brethren.
IV. The invited guests. The message is specially addressed to the simple. Those who are conscious of ignorance are ever most ready to learn the wisdom from above.
V. The argument by which the invitation is supported is: (1) positive, “Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine which I have mingled;” and (2) negative, “Forsake the foolish and live.” The grand turning-point is to get the prodigal to break off from that which destroys him.
W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 209.
Reference: Pro 9:1-18.-R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. i., p. 207.
Pro 9:3-4, Pro 9:16
I. Choose. Here is the manliness of manhood, that a man has a reason for what he does, and has a will in doing it. Be the masters and lords of the circumstances in which you stand. Put your heel on temptations if they come to you. Remember there is the alternative, the one thing or the other, and it becomes you to make up your mind, to resolve, to know why you have done so, and to act because and as you have resolved.
II. Choose wisdom. There are the two claimants that are standing wooing your affections: Wisdom, on the one side; and this “foolish woman,” the embodiment and impersonation of Folly, on the other. (1) At first sight, on a cursory reading of the earlier chapters of this Book of Proverbs, it may seem as if all that was meant by wisdom was a shrewd earthly common-sense and worldly prudence; while folly, on the other hand, may seem to be mere ignorance and want of understanding. But look a little closer, and you will see that the wisdom spoken of in all these chapters is closely connected, not only with clearness of the well-furnished head, but with uprightness of the heart. (a) The wisdom that he speaks about is wisdom that has rectitude for an essential part of it, the fibre of its very being a righteousness and holiness. If a man would be wise it must be with a wisdom that was in God before it is in him. (b) The true wisdom is no mere quality, but a living person; her voice is the voice of Christ, our Brother, our Sacrifice, and our Lord. (2) Mark the manner of these appeals and the consequences of listening to them. The wisdom of our text appeals to conscience. Folly appeals only to the sense of pleasure and desire of gratification. Severe and pure though the beauty of wisdom is, yet “her ways are ways of pleasantness, and her paths are peace.” “All the things thou canst desire” are not to be compared with what she has to bestow.
III. Choose Christ now. There is no more dark remembrance to a Christian man than the early days when he put off decision. Every day that you live makes it less likely that you will choose. Every day that you live makes it harder for you to choose aright. Every day adds to the heap of wasted hours that you will carry regretfully with you to your graves, if ever you give the trust of your spirits, the love of your hearts, the obedience of your lives to Christ Jesus at all.
A. Maclaren, Sermons Preached in Manchester, p. 304.
References: Pro 9:5.-J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes, 3rd series, p. 48. Pro 9:7.-Preacher’s Monthly, vol. viii., p. 183. Pro 9:7-9.-W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 213.
Pro 9:10
I. Nothing can prosper long that runs its head against any of the great walls of the universe. Life is known by its manifestations; no one has ever seen it. And no one ever sees the invisible barriers that close like a prison round the living, whenever they violate the laws of life. There arc unseen, pitiless limits existing-walls of adamant, against which the waves of human passion and human folly dash, and break, and are shattered without mercy, even though every drop be a life, and every life be dashed to pieces in hopeless agony in the vain endeavour to go its own way, and set its own will as the judge what that way shall be. There is an eternal march of judgment, which they who choose can see. And calm, and clear, and pitiless on every side, amidst the noise of ignorant self-will, the clash of blinded passion, and wisdom blinder still, the voiceless warning strikes upon the world; and the great prison walls close in on those who will have it so.
II. It may be said: “These are but words; what proof is there of this invisible, everlasting wall of doom, and of the unseen executioners, God’s secret police, that arrest the guilty and the careless, self-indulgent fools?” I answer: “Take any form of vice you like, give it power, give it wealth, and then-wait a few years and see what comes of it. Watch the curse day by day, and hour by hour, walking by the victim’s side; watch him dragged from bad to worse; stand in his dreary home when the last scene comes,-and doubt no more of God’s great prison walls on earth.”
III. But it is equally true that the great laws of life act for good to those who follow them. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” God has not only set His prison walls that punish, and appointed His secret police of vengeance that avenge; but He has also set within the broad space of the world the protecting walls of the fold of Christ, the happy home of those who follow Him, where His sheep go in and out, and find pasture.
E. Thring, Uppingham Sermons, vol. ii., p. 358.
References: Pro 9:10.-Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. ix., p. 156. Pro 9:12.-W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 219. Pro 9:13-18.-Ibid., p. 221. Pro 10:1.-Ibid., p. 229. Pro 10:4.-Ibid., p. 234. Pro 10:1-5.-R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. i., p. 219.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
CHAPTER 9
1. The invitation of Wisdom (Pro 9:1-12)
2. The contrast with Folly. (Pro 9:13-18)
Pro 9:1-12. The first section of Proverbs closeth with a contrast of Wisdom and Folly, both personified. The one, our Lord, the other under the symbol of a foolish woman. Wisdom sends forth her invitation after her house is built and the feast is spread. It reminds us of the parable of the great supper (Luk 14:1-35). Here too is the gracious invitation, Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine which I have mingled.
Pro 9:13-18. Folly too has her house and sitteth in the door on a seat in the high places of the city to call to her victims. She invites to the stolen waters, so sweet to the natural man, to eat bread in secret places, equally pleasant. But what is the end? The dead are there; … her guests are in the depths of hell. The foolish woman is the world with its lusts.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
Wisdom: The infinite and eternal Wisdom of God, which has so framed the universe as to exhibit a scene of grandeur and stability, and made ample provision for the innumerable beings by which it is inhabited.
builded: Mat 16:18, 1Co 3:9-15, Eph 2:20-22, 1Ti 3:15, Heb 3:3-6, 1Pe 2:5, 1Pe 2:6
pillars: 1Ki 7:2, 1Ki 7:3, 1Ki 7:6, 1Ki 7:21, Gal 2:9, Rev 3:12
Reciprocal: Pro 8:1 – General Pro 24:3 – wisdom Isa 25:6 – make Zep 1:7 – he hath Mat 22:3 – sent Mat 22:4 – Behold Luk 11:49 – the wisdom Luk 14:16 – A certain Luk 14:17 – his Joh 2:10 – but
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Pro 9:1. Wisdom, &c. Wisdom here, under a most splendid allegory, is represented as a queen, sitting in her royal palace, and inviting mortals to a banquet, plentifully furnished with the richest dainties, that they may be fed with celestial delights for a blessed immortality. Various have been the endeavours of commentators to apply every circumstance in this description; but it has been well observed, that whoever would do so, will find themselves in a great error, and quite ignorant of the nature of parabolical writings; for parables may be compared to history paintings, which are intended to convey a general idea, which is to be gathered from the collective body of images, not from any particular figure; the minute circumstances are to be considered only as heightenings of the piece; but the conclusion or general maxim is to be drawn from the scope and assemblage of the whole: see Schultens and Dodd. Hath builded her house For the reception and entertainment of her guests; she hath hewn out her seven pillars That is, many pillars, the number seven being put for any perfect number. Hereby the beauty and stability of the building are signified. Or, perhaps, it is to be understood of the erection of a portico, in which the banquet was to be prepared. This house is opposed to the harlots house, mentioned Pro 7:8, and was considered by many of the ancient fathers, as it has also been by many modern commentators, as representing the church, which Christ, the Wisdom of the Father, hath erected and established in the world, which is termed Gods house, (1Ti 3:15; Heb 3:3-4,) in which the prophets, apostles, and ministers of religion are pillars, (Gal 2:9,) and in which a feast of fat things is provided for all that will partake of it: see Isa 25:6, and especially the parables, Mat 22:1-14, and Luk 14:16-24, which greatly illustrate this allegory of Solomon.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Pro 9:1. Wisdom hath builded her house. This chapter opens with a sublime allegory. We see the princess, the mother of angels and men, enthroned in her temple, the church which is the pillar and ground of truth. 1Ti 3:15. It presents a front of seven pillars, a favourite and mystical number in the Hebrew sanctuary. She prepares a royal festival, and invites a world to be her guests. She stands in every form of grace; she spreads her hands and cries in all high places, inviting the misguided and the poor to eat of her bread and drink of her wine. Oh, vile is the heart, perverse is the mind, which, for a moment, lingers or delays! See how the world run in myriads to feasts: and shall the feast of wisdom be slighted by fools, that know not what they do? How long, alas, shall scorners hate the man that would make them wise?
Pro 9:2. She hath mingled her wine. It was usual with the ancients to mix their wine with water in various proportions; generally two parts wine to three parts water. Wisdom is represented as so doing. The Hebrew word masac also signifies wine mixed with the lees, which was turbid and intoxicating. They also mixed the wine with spices and with drugs, both to flavour it, and to give it a stupifying effect. This was the cup of the strange woman, whose guests are in the depths of hell: Pro 9:18.
Pro 9:10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; words of frequent occurrence, which mark their excellence. The fear of the Lord is to depart from evil; to say in temptation, How shall I do this wickedness, and sin against God! The fear of the Lord marks piety of the highest degree. The deceased prophet feared the Lord. 2 Kings 4. Obadiah feared the Lord greatly from his youth. 1 Kings 18. Religion always begins with wisdom.The knowledge of the Holy, Hebrews Kadoshim, the Holy One, is understanding. That man only is wise who makes God his portion, and his hope: yea, he who glories in being called a fool by the world, sacrificing unhallowed interests for the bright rewards of the world to come.
Pro 9:13. A foolish woman is clamorous. The LXX, A foolish woman is bold, wanting bread, and devoid of shame. Here is another allegory, full of dark shades. She calls to passengers, and like the syrens, allures the unwary to destruction.
Pro 9:17. Stolen waters are sweet. The feast of the harlot, who beguiles the unwary by saying, I have peace-offerings at home, and the good man is gone a journey. But by and bye the gall operates in his belly; a guilty conscience, an angry God, a body wasting with disease, a character abhorred by the chaste, and hell prepared for the soul. The thief also must disgorge his prey, and be refused admission to glory.
Pro 9:18. He knoweth not that the dead are there, the rephaim, who seized the daughters of the poor, and filled the earth with violence and crimes. Gen 6:4. And that her guests, all who followed the course of criminal indulgence, are in the depths of hell.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Proverbs 9. The Invitations of Wisdom and Folly Contrasted.This section closes with a couple of graphic pictures of Wisdom and Folly personified, each bidding for the attention of the passers-by with offers of hospitality. The two pictures, each consisting of six stanzas, are now separated by six stanzas of unconnected proverbs (Pro 9:7-12).
Pro 9:1-6. Wisdoms Invitation.The parable of the Great Supper in Matthew 22 and Luke 14 may perhaps be modelled on this passage. Wisdoms house, with its seven pillars, her preparations for the feast, and her message of invitation are described. The appointments imply a city life and setting to the scene, but whether Jewish or Greek is not determined by the details. The pillars, viands, and messengers naturally offer themselves to allegorical interpretations, and commentators from Rashi to Hitzig have revelled in the opportunity (see ICC and other commentaries).
Pro 9:7-12. Disconnected aphorisms, apparently inserted by a later scribe, either to separate the two pictures of Wisdom and Folly, or (so Toy) because this was a convenient place for the preservation of this small collection, though the convenience is not entirely apparent.
Pro 9:7-9. The results of instruction given to the scoffer and to the wise man respectively. It is wasted on the scoffer, but bears fruit and increase in the wise.
Pro 9:10-12. The beginning of wisdom, its benefits, and the responsibility it brings.
Pro 9:13-18. The Companion Picture of Folly and her Invitation.
Pro 9:13. The Heb. is obscure and uncertain. Literally it can only be rendered the woman of folly is boisterous, simplicity, and knows not what. Toy reads Folly is loud and seductive, she knows no shame. Obviously the stanza forms a contrast to the quiet forethought of Wisdom in Pro 9:1. Folly offers to the fool those delights, described in detail in Pro 9:7, which lead to the inevitable fate so repeatedly pointed out.
Pro 9:15. right: there is no implication of moral rectitude, but simply a reference to those who are passing by along the highroad.
Pro 9:18. dead: read shades (cf. Pro 2:18*). For the juxtaposition of Rephaim and Sheol, cf. Isa 14:9.
LXX has several additional stanzas in this chapter, after Pro 9:12 amplifying the idea of responsibility and the consequences of neglect of wisdom, and after Pro 9:18 giving an exhortation to avoid follys invitation. Both are probably from the pen of a scribe, and illustrate well the possibility and the motive of similar additions in Job and Ec.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
9:1 Wisdom hath built her {a} house, she hath hewn out her {b} seven pillars:
(a) Christ has prepared him a Church.
(b) That is, many chief supports and principal parts of his Church, as were the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, pastors and teachers.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
C. Wisdom and folly contrasted ch. 9
This chapter contrasts wisdom and folly in a very symmetrical structure. Pro 9:1-6 correspond to Pro 9:13-18 remarkably. This chiastic form of presentation sets off the central verses (Pro 9:7-12) as the most important in the chapter.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
1. Wisdom’s feast 9:1-6
The parallel between wisdom’s invitation and the one Jesus Christ extended to everyone to come to His feast illustrates the connection between wisdom and responding positively to God’s Word (Mat 22:1-14; Luk 14:15-24). The "seven pillars" (Pro 9:1) may represent a typical banquet pavilion, or they may be an allusion to the cosmos (cf. Pro 8:22-31) that God made in seven days. Some of the ancients envisioned the world as resting on seven pillars. Possibly the seven pillars refer to seven sections of text in chapters 2-7. [Note: Patrick W. Skehan, Studies in Israelite Poetry and Wisdom, pp. 9-14.] "Seven" to the Jews indicated perfection. Wisdom’s invitation (Pro 9:5) sounds like a gospel invitation (cf. Joh 6:51; Joh 6:55). The parallel between wisdom and walking in God’s ways (godliness) is again clear in this pericope.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
CHAPTER 10
TWO VOICES IN THE HIGH PLACES OF THE CITY
Pro 9:1-18, Pro 20:14 with Proberbs 3, and Pro 20:16 with Pro 4:1-27
AFTER the lengthened contrast between the vicious woman and Wisdom in chapters 7 and 8, the introduction of the book closes with a little picture which is intended to repeat and sum up all that has gone before. It is a peroration, simple, graphic, and beautiful.
There is a kind of competition between Wisdom and Folly, between Righteousness and Sin, between Virtue and Vice; and the allurements of the two are disposed in an intentional parallelism; the coloring and arrangement are of such a kind that it becomes incredible how any sensible person, or for that matter even the simple himself, could for a moment hesitate between the noble form of Wisdom and the meretricious attractions of Folly. The two voices are heard in the high places of the city; each of them invites the passers-by, especially the simple and unsophisticated-the one into her fair palace, the other into her foul and deadly house. The words of their invitation are very similar: “Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: as for him that is void of understanding, she saith to him:” but how different is the burden of the two messages! Wisdom offers life, but is silent about enjoyment; Folly offers enjoyment, but says nothing of the death which must surely ensue.
First of all we will give our attention to the Palace of Wisdom and the voices which issue from it, and then we will note for the last time the features and the arts of Mistress Folly.
The Palace of Wisdom is very attractive; well-built and well furnished, it rings with the sounds of hospitality; and, with its open colonnades, it seems of itself to invite all passers-by to enter in as guests. It is reared upon seven well-hewn marble pillars, in a quadrangular form, With the entrance side left wide open. This is no shifting tent or tottering hut, but an eternal mansion, that lacks nothing of stability, or completeness, or beauty. Through the spacious doorways may be seen the great courtyard, in which appear the preparations for a perpetual feast. The beasts are killed and dressed: the wine stands in tall flagons ready mixed for drinking: the tables are spread and decked. All is open, generous, large, a contrast to that unhallowed private supper to which the unwary youth was invited by his seducer. {Pro 7:14} There are no secret chambers, no twilight suggestions and insinuations: the broad light shines over all; there is a promise of social joy; it seems that they will be blessed who sit down together at this board. And now the beautiful owner of the palace has sent forth her maidens into the public ways of the city: theirs is a gracious errand; they are not to chide with sour and censorious rebukes, but they are to invite with winning friendliness; they are to offer this rare repast, which is now ready, to all those who are willing to acknowledge their need of it. “Come, eat ye of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled.” {Pro 9:5}
We were led to inquire in the last chapter how far our Lord identified Himself with the hypostatic Wisdom who was speaking there, and we were left in some doubt whether He ever consciously admitted the identity; but it is hardly a matter of doubt that this passage was before His mind when He spoke His parable of the Wedding Feast. And the connection is still more apparent when we look at the Greek version of the LXX, and notice that the clause “sent forth her bond-servants” is precisely the same in Pro 9:3 and in Mat 22:3. Here, at any rate, Jesus, who describes Himself as “a certain king,” quite definitely occupies the place of the ancient Wisdom in the book of Proverbs, and the language which in this passage she employs He, as we shall see, in many slight particulars made His own.
Yes, our Lord, the Wisdom Incarnate, has glorious ideas of hospitality; He keeps open house; His purpose is to call mankind to a great feast; the “bread and the wine” are prepared; the sacrifice which furnishes the meat is slain. His messengers are not commissioned with a mournful or a condemnatory proclamation, but with good tidings which they are to publish in the high places. His word is always, Come. His desire is that men should live, and therefore He calls them into the way of understanding. {Pro 9:6} If a man lacks wisdom, if he recognizes his ignorance, his frailty, his folly, if he is at any rate wise enough to know that he is foolish, well enough to know that he is sick, righteous enough to know that he is sinful, let him approach this noble mansion with its lordly feast. Here is bread which is meat indeed; here is wine which is life-giving, the fruit of the Vine which God has planted.
But now we are to note that the invitation of Wisdom is addressed only to the simple, not to the scorner. {Pro 9:7} She lets the scorner pass by, because a word to him would recoil only in shame on herself, bringing a blush to her queenly face, and would add to the scorners wickedness by increasing his hatred of her. Her reproof would not benefit him, but it would bring a blot upon herself, it would exhibit her as ineffectual and helpless. The bitter words of a scorner can make wisdom appear foolish, and cover virtue with a confusion which should belong only to vice. “Speak not in the hearing of a fool; for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.” {Pro 23:9} Indeed, there is no character so hopeless as that of the scorner; there proceeds from him, as it were, a fierce blast, which blows away all the approaches which goodness makes to him. Reproof cannot come near him; {Pro 13:1} he cannot find wisdom, though he seek it; {Pro 14:6} and as a matter of fact, he never seeks it. {Pro 15:12} If one attempts to punish him it can only be with the hope that others may benefit by the example; it will have no effect upon him. {Pro 19:25} To be rid of him must be the desire of every wise man, for he is an abomination to all, {Pro 24:9} and with his departure contention disappears. {Pro 22:10} They that scoff at things holy, and scorn the Divine Power, must be left to themselves until the beginnings of wisdom appear in them-the first sense of fear that there is a God who may not be mocked, the first recognition that there is a sanctity which they would do well at all events to reverence. There must be a little wisdom in the heart before a man can enter the Palace of Wisdom; there must be a humbling, a self-mistrust, a diffident misgiving before the scorner will give heed to her invitation.
There is an echo of this solemn truth in more than one saying of the Lords. He too cautioned His disciples against casting their pearls before swine, lest they should trample the pearls under their feet, and turn to rend those who were foolish enough to offer them such treasure. {Mat 7:6} Men must often be taught in the stern school of Experience, before they can matriculate in the reasonable college of Wisdom. It is not good to give that which is holy to dogs, nor to display the sanctities of religion to those who will only put them to an open shame. Where we follow our own way instead of the Lords, and insist on offering the treasures of the kingdom to the scorners, we are not acting according to the dictates of Wisdom, we get a blot for that goodness which we so rashly offer, and often are needlessly rent by those whom we meant to save. It is evident that this is only one side of a truth, and our Lord presented with equal fullness the other side; it was from Him we learnt how the scorner himself, who cannot be won by reproof, can sometimes be won by love; but our Lord thought it worthwhile to state this side of the truth, and so far to make this utterance of the ancient Wisdom His own.
Again, how constantly He insisted on the mysterious fact that to him that hath shall be given, and from him that hath not shall be taken what he hath, precisely in the spirit of this saying: “Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.” The entrance into the kingdom, as into the house of Wisdom, is by humility. Except a man turn, and become as a little child, he cannot enter. Wisdom is only justified of her children: until the heart is humble it cannot even begin to be wise; although it may seem to possess a great deal, all must be taken away, and a new beginning must be made-that beginning which is found in the fear of the Lord, and in the knowledge of the Holy. {Pro 9:10}
The closing words in the invitation of Wisdom are entirely appropriate in the lips of Jesus, and, indeed, only in His lips could they be accepted in their fullest signification. There is a limited sense in which all wisdom is favorable to long life, as we saw in chapter 3, but it is an obvious remark, too, that the wise perish even as the fool; one event happens to them both, and there appears to be no difference. But the Incarnate Wisdom, Jesus Christ, was able to say with a broad literalness, “By Me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased.” With Him the outlook widened; He could speak of a new life, of raising men up at the last day; He could for the first time give a solution to that constant enigma which has puzzled men from the beginning, How is it that Wisdom promises life, and yet often requires that her children should die? How is it that the best and wisest have often chosen death, and so to all appearance have robbed the world of their goodness and their wisdom? He could give the answer in the glorious truth of the Resurrection; and so, in calling men to die for Him, as He often does, He can in the very moment of their death say to them with a fullness of meaning, “By Me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased.”
And then how entirely is it in harmony with all His teaching to emphasize to the utmost the individual choice and the individual responsibility. “If thou art wise, thou art wise for thyself: and if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.” There can be no progress, indeed no beginning, in the spiritual life, until this attitude of personal isolation is understood. It is the last result of true religion that we live in others; but it is the first that we live in ourselves: and until we have learnt to live in ourselves we can be of no use by living in others. Until the individual soul is dealt with, until.it has understood the demands which are made upon it, and met them, it is in no position to take its rightful place as a lively stone in the temple of God, or as a living member in the body of Christ. Yes, realize this searching assurance of Wisdom, let us say, rather, of Christ: if you are like the wise virgins in the parable, it is for your own everlasting good, you shall enter into the hall with the Bridegroom; but if you are like the foolish virgins, no wisdom of the wise can avail you, no vicarious light will serve for your lamps; for you there must be the personal humiliation and sorrow of the Lords “I know you not.”
If with scornful indifference to your high trust as a servant of the Master you hide your talent, and justify your conduct to yourself by pleading that the Master is a hard man, that scorn must recoil upon your own head; so far from the enlarged wealth of the others coming to meet your deficiencies, the misused trifle which you still retain will be taken from you and given to them. Men have sometimes favored the notion that it is possible to spend a life of scornful indifference to God and all His holy commandments, a life of arrogant self-seeking and bitter contempt for all His other creatures, and yet to find oneself at the end entirely purged of ones contempt, and on precisely equal terms with all pious and humble hearts; but against this notion Wisdom loudly exclaims; it is the notion of Folly, and so far from redeeming the folly, it is Follys worst condemnation: for surely Conscience and Reason, the heart and the head, might tell us that it is false; and all that is sanest and wisest in us concurs in the direct and simple assurance, “If thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.”
Such is the invitation, and such the warning of Wisdom; such is the invitation, and such the warning, of Christ. Leave off, ye simple ones, and live. After all, most of us are not scorners, but only very foolish, easily dazzled with false lights, easily misled with smooth utterances which happen to chime in with our own ignorant prejudices, easily seduced into by-paths which in quiet moments we readily acknowledge to be sinful and hurtful. The scorners are but a few; the simple ones are many. Here is this gracious voice appealing to the simple ones, and with a winsome liberality inviting them to the feast of Wisdom.
At the close of verse 12 (Pro 9:12) the LXX give a very interesting addition, which was probably translated from a Hebrew original. It seems to have been before our Lords mind when He drew the description of the unclean spirit walking through waterless places, seeking rest and finding none. {Mat 12:43} The passage is a figurative delineation of the evils which result from making shams and insincerities the support of life, in place of the unfailing sureness and available strength of wisdom; it may be rendered thus: “He who makes falsehood his support shepherds the winds, and will find himself pursuing birds on the wing; for it means leaving the paths of his own vineyard, and wandering over the borders of his own husbandry; it means walking through a waterless wilderness, over land which is the portion of the thirsty; he gathers in his hands fruitlessness.” What a contrast to the spacious halls and the bountiful fare of Wisdom! A life based upon everlasting verities may seem for the time cold and desolate, but it is founded upon a rock, and not a barren rock either, for it sends forth in due course corn, and wine, and oil. The children in that house have bread enough and to spare. But when a man prefers make-believe to reality, and follows the apparently pleasant, instead of the actually good, what a clutching of winds it is! What a chase after swift-vanishing birds of joy! The wholesome ways, fruitful, responsive to toil, are left far behind; and here soon is the actual desert, without a drop of water to cool the lips, or a single fruit of the earth which a man can eat. The deluded soul consumes his substance with harlots, and he gathers the wind. The ways of vice are terrible; they produce a thirst which they cannot quench; and they fill the imagination with torturing images of well-being which are farther removed from reality by every step we take. Wisdom bids us to make truth our stay, for after all the Truth is the Way and the Life, and there is no other way, no other life.
And now comes the brief closing picture of Folly, to which again the LXX give a short addition. Folly is loud, empty-headed as her victims, whom she invites to herself, not as Wisdom invites them, to leave off their simplicity, but rather as like to like, that their ignorance may be confirmed into vice, and their simplicity into brutishness. She has had the effrontery to build her house in the most prominent and lofty place of the city, where by good rights only Wisdom should dwell. Her allurements are specially directed to those who seem to be going right on in their wholesome ways, as if she found her chief delight, not in gratifying the vicious, but in making vicious the innocent. Her charms are: poor and tawdry enough; seen in the broad sun-light, and with the wholesome air all round her, she would be revolting to every uncorrupted nature; her clamorous voice would sound strident, and her shameless brow would create a blush of shame in others; she naturally therefore seeks to throw a veil over herself and a glamour over her proposals; she suggests that secrecy and illicitness will lend a charm to what in itself is a sorry delight. It is clandestine, therefore it is to be sweet; it is forbidden, therefore it is to be pleasant. Could anything be more sophistical? That which owes its attraction to the shadows of the night must obviously be intrinsically unattractive. It is an argument fit only for the shades of the lost, and not for those who breathe the sweet air and behold the sun. Her house is indeed haunted with ghosts, and when a man enters her portal he already has his foot in hell. Well may the LXX add the vehement warning, “Spring away from her clutches; do not linger in the place; let her not have thy name, for thou wilt traverse anothers waters; from anothers waters hold aloof, from anothers fountains do not drink, in order that thou mayest live long, and add to thy years of life.”
And now, before leaving this subject, we must briefly remark the great change and advance which Christ has brought into our thought of the relation between the two sexes. This Book of Wisdom is a fair illustration of the contempt in which woman was held by the wise men of Israel. One would suppose that she is the temptress, and man is the victim. The teacher never dreams of going a step backward, and asking whose fault it was that the temptress fell into her vicious ways. He takes no note of the fact that women are first led astray before they lead others. Nor does he care to inquire how the men of his day ruined their women by refusing to them all mental training, all wholesome interest and occupation, shutting them up in the corrupting atmosphere of the seraglio, and teaching them to regard the domestic sphere, and that only in its narrowest sense, as the proper limit of their thought and affection. It was reserved for the Great Teacher, the Incarnate Wisdom Himself, to redress this age-long injustice to woman, by sternly holding up to men the mirror of truth in which they might see their own guilty hearts. It was reserved for him to touch the conscience of a city woman who was a sinner, and to bring her from her clamorous and seductive ways to the sweetness of penitential tears, and the rapturous love which forgiveness kindles. It is He, and not the ancient Wisdom, who has turned the current of mens thoughts into juster and kindlier ways on this great question. And thus it is that the great Christian poet represents the archangel correcting the faulty judgment of man. Adam, speaking with the usual virtuous indignation of the stronger sex in contemplation of the soft vision of frail women presented to his eyes, says:-
“O pity and shame, that they, who to live well
Entered so fair, should turn aside to tread
Paths indirect, or in the midway faint!
But still I see the tenor of mans woe
Holds on the same, from woman to begin.”
The correction is the correction of Christ, though Michael is the speaker:-
“From mans effeminate slackness it begins,” Said the angel, “who should better hold his place, By wisdom and superior gifts received.”
Our Lord draws no such pictures as these in the book of proverbs; they have their value; it is necessary to warn young men against the seductions which the vices of other men have created in womans form; but He prefers always to go to the root of the matter; He speaks to men themselves; He bids them restrain the wandering eye, and keep pure the fountains of the heart. To that censorious Wisdom which judges without any perception that woman is more sinned against than sinning He would oppose His severe command to be rid of the beam in ones own eye, before making an attempt to remove the mote from anothers. It is in this way that He in so many varied fields of thought and action has turned a half-truth into a whole truth by going a little deeper, and unveiling the secrets of the heart; and in this way He has enabled us to use the half-truth, setting it in its right relation to the whole.