Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 9:3
She hath sent forth her maidens: she crieth upon the highest places of the city,
Wisdom and the foolish woman Pro 9:13 speak from the same places and to the same class – the simple, undecided, wavering, standing at the diverging point of the two paths that lead to life or death.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Pro 9:3-4
Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither.
The choice of wisdom
Life is reduced to an alternative; there is clearly marked out for us all, at the beginning of our life, that all is one thing or the other, wisdom or folly. To these two voices, all the noise and tumult of life, and all the diverse voices in your own souls, may be reduced. They are all either the call of the wisdom of God, or they are the call of folly, sense, and sin. Let me counsel you, then–
I. To choose. The curse of men–and of young people especially–is that they drift into passions and habits before they know where they are. But it is a low and discreditable thing for men, old or young, that they should be the creatures and sport of the mere circumstances around them. All your life should have in it the deliberation and the resolve of a calm, settled choice. 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. There are two courses in life. There are but two. The two are utterly irreconcilable and discordant. You cannot have them both. Then be men, and choose.
II. Choose wisdom.
1. Look at these two personified claimants–Wisdom and Folly. Wisdom is closely connected with uprightness of heart. It is both an intellectual and a moral excellence. Wisdom has rectitude for an essential part of it, the fibre of its very being is righteousness and holiness. This wisdom is not only an attribute of the human soul. We rise to righteousness. If a man would be wise, it must be with a wisdom that was in God before it is in him. Our prayer should be, In Thy wisdom make us wise. A further step has to be taken. Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. There, in that living person, is the highest embodiment of all wisdom. All which is not of God is the foolish woman. All which does not inhere in Christ, and appeal to us through and from Him, is that clamorous and persistent voice which leads us all astray, if we listen to it. The world and sense–these are her grossest forms. But there are less offensive forms besetting us all.
III. Choose now. Wisdom appeals to conscience. Folly appeals only to the sense of pleasure and the desire for its gratification. Both ask for your decision now. There is a strange tendency to put off decision. But it is an awful risk for a man to run. 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 that you live takes away some of the power of resolving, and takes away some motive to resolve. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 3. She hath sent forth her maidens] The wisdom of God has made use of the most proper means to communicate Divine knowledge to the inhabitants of the earth; as a good and gracious Creator wills to teach them whence they came, how they are supported, whither they are going, and for what end they were formed. It is a custom to the present day, in Asiatic countries, to send their invitations to guests by a company of females, preceded by eunuchs: they go to the doors of the invited, and deliver their message.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Her maidens; her servants, to invite the guests; ministers of the word, whom he calls maidens, partly for the decency of the parable; for wisdom being compared to a great princess, was fit to be attended upon by maidens; and partly to show that God by his word did work sweetly, though strongly, and did allure and draw rather than drive sinners to repentance.
Upon the highest places: either upon the tops of the houses, which were flat; or rather, from such high seats as those from which judges delivered their sentences, and officers made proclamations, for the conveniency of the peoples better hearing.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. maidensservants to invite(compare Psa 68:11; Isa 40:9).
highest placesridgesof heights, conspicuous places.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
She hath sent forth her maidens,…. Not moral virtues, or good works, which subserve the interest of Christ and religion, adorn the Gospel and its professors; nor the liberal arts and sciences, said to be handmaids to divinity; nor angels, ministering spirits to Christ; but the ministers of the Gospel, who being so called does not suppose or encourage women’s preaching; but have the name to keep up the decency of the parable, and the propriety of the allegory: for since Wisdom is represented as a lady, a princess or queen, it is proper that her attendants should be maidens, or that she should employ such in inviting her guests; as Rebekah, Pharaoh’s daughter, Esther, and others, are said to have their maidens to wait upon them: and besides, it very fitly expresses the character of Gospel ministers; as that they are the servants of Christ, followers of him, obsequious to him, humble and modest, incorrupt in doctrine, pure in conversation, and whose voice is soft, pleasant, and delightful: being not the rough voice of the law, but the still, small, musical voice of the Gospel; a voice of love, grace, and mercy; of peace, pardon, and righteousness, liberty, life, and salvation; very charming, alluring, and drawing. These Christ has a property in; he chooses and calls them, and fits them for his service; and they give up themselves to him, and willingly engage in it. And these he “sends forth”: from him they have their mission and commission to preach the Gospel; to invite persons to the Gospel feast, to partake of the provisions he has made: he sends them forth publicly into the world, into all places where his people are, into the streets and lanes; yea, to the hedges and highways, to invite, and even to compel them to come in. And this supposes superiority in him, and authority given to them;
she crieth upon the high places of the city; this is to be understood of the preaching of the Gospel, both by Christ himself in person, in the city of Jerusalem, in the temple, and other public places; and by his ministers, and by him speaking in them there or elsewhere; and which is not a mere whisper, but a cry, a proclamation made aloud, and to be delivered with fervency and earnestness: the “city” may mean the church of God, and the “highest places” the ordinances thereof; and may in general denote the publicness of them; which are in the church, as the wings or pinnacles of the higher parts or buildings of a city are in that, as the word l signifies.
l “super alas”; Montanus, so Ben Melech; “super pinnis”, Piscator, Amama; “in pinnnaculis”: Cocceius; “super convexitatibas”, Schultens.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(3) She hath sent forth her maidens.Wisdom being here described under the figure of a woman, is properly represented as attended by her maidens, whom she sends forth to summon the guests. But the King (Matthew 22) despatches His servants for the same work, viz., His prophets and wise men and scribes (Mat. 23:34), whom from age to age He sends forth as His messengers.
She crieth upon the highest places of the cityso that all may hear. (Comp. our Lords command to proclaim His message upon the housetops, Mat. 10:27).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. Sent forth her maidens , her young women. Wisdom being personified as a woman, a queen, it is fitting that her attendants should also be women.
She crieth That is, by her maidens. Hasselquist says, that at Alexandria (Egypt) he saw, on one occasion, ten or twelve women going about the city inviting people to a banquet by a peculiar cry or noise. The office of announcing and celebrating glad tidings among the Hebrews, says Bishop Lowth, belonged peculiarly to the women. On occasion of any great victory or other joyful event, the women went forth with music song, and dance, to celebrate the occurrence. So did Miriam and “all the women,” after the passage of the Red Sea. Exo 15:20-21. So Jephthah’s daughter. Jdg 11:34. So, after David’s victory over Goliath, it is said “that the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of music; and the women answered one another as they played, [in alternate chorus:]
“Saul has slain his thousands,
And David his ten thousands.”
In Psa 68:11, the word rendered “those publishing it,” , ( hambhasseroth,) is a feminine plural participle, and might be translated, female heralds of good news. The same word in the singular is also used.
Isa 40:9, is rendered by Lowth, “O daughter, that bringest glad tidings.” All these passages recognise the fact that to women belonged, by custom, the proclamation of joyful news. To women, also, was it first given to proclaim the gospel of the resurrection. Luk 24:1, seq.; Joh 20:17-18.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Appeal To The Naive And Those Lacking In Understanding ( Pro 9:3-4 ).
The emphasis now moves to Wisdom’s call to the naive, and to ‘those who are void of understanding’, that is, those who have not yet responded to Wisdom. .
She cries on the highest places of the city,
“Whoever is naive, let him turn in here,”
As for him who is void of understanding,
She says to him,
Wisdom’s appeal is to the naive and those lacking in understanding. It is made on the highest places of the city, which is probably where her house is (otherwise she could not say, ‘turn in here’), and it is therefore heard by all. And it is an open invitation to all. All who will may come. Her desire is that they might ‘turn in here’.
(It will be noted that the divisions we have made are not fully satisfactory. The writer did not, of course, divide it up like this. But our purpose is to bring out the ongoing of the themes and their structure).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Pro 9:3. She hath sent forth her maidens The maidens of Wisdom, says Calmet, are the apostles and first preachers of the gospel, who invite all people to the study of wisdom, to the faith of Jesus Christ, and to the practice of holiness and virtue. Upon the highest places of the city, we may read, Upon the tops of the highest places, &c. Calmet supposes, that the sacred writer refers here to the tops of the houses, conformably to what our Saviour says, Mat 10:27. What ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the house-tops.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Pro 9:3 She hath sent forth her maidens: she crieth upon the highest places of the city,
Ver. 3. She hath sent forth her maidens. ] So ministers are called – in prosecution of the allegory, for it is fit that this great lady should have suitable attendants – to teach them innocence, purity, and sedulity as maidens, keeping the word in sincerity, and not adulterating and corrupting it, as vintners oft do their wines, or hucksters their wares. Hence Isaiah also putteth the prophets and evangelists in the feminine gender, Mebashereth Isa 52:7
She crieth upon, &c.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
sent forth her maidens. An Eastern custom. In N.T. the invitation was carried by menservants (Mat 22:3. Luk 14:17).
maidens = or young persons (masculine or feminine) Hebrew. na’ar.
she crieth: or, each to cry.
highest places. Compare 1Sa 10:5, 1Sa 10:10, &c.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
sent: Mat 22:3, Mat 22:4, Mat 22:9, Luk 11:49, Luk 14:17, Luk 14:21-23, Rom 10:15, 2Co 5:20, 2Co 5:21
she crieth: Pro 9:14, Pro 1:20-23, Pro 8:1-3, Joh 7:37, Joh 18:20
Reciprocal: Pro 1:21 – General Jer 17:19 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Pro 9:3. She hath sent forth her maidens Her servants, to invite the guests, namely, the ministers of the word of God, whom he calls maidens, for the decency of the parable; for Wisdom being compared to a great princess, it was fit she should be attended on by maidens. She crieth upon the highest places Upon the tops of the houses, (which were flat,) conformably to what our Lord says, Mat 10:7, What ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. Or, from such high seats and places as those from which judges delivered their sentences, and officers made proclamations for the convenience of the peoples better hearing.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
9:3 She hath sent forth her {d} maidens: she crieth upon the highest places of the city,
(d) Meaning, true preachers, who are not infected with man’s wisdom.