then you will understand the fear of Yahweh, and find the knowledge of God.
For Yahweh gives wisdom. Out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.
He lays up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk in integrity,
that he may guard the paths of justice, and preserve the way of his saints.
Then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity and every good path.
For wisdom will enter into your heart. Knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
Discretion will watch over you. Understanding will keep you,
to deliver you from the way of evil, from the men who speak perverse things,
who forsake the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness,
who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the perverseness of evil,
who are crooked in their ways, and wayward in their paths,
to deliver you from the strange woman, even from the foreigner who flatters with her words,
who forsakes the friend of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God;
for her house leads down to death, her paths to the departed spirits.
None who go to her return again, neither do they attain to the paths of life.
So you may walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv5, 7, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18 This (saith he) is the true wisdom, to know…
This (saith he) is the true wisdom, to know and fear God.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv5–20 Pro 2:5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of…
Pro 2:5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
Ver. 5. Then shalt thou understand.] Then shalt thou be as those noble Romans were, {Rom 15:14} "full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish others"; in fine, well accomplished Christian, that hath Christian for his name, and Catholic for his surname, Such a Catholic as Augustine describeth when he saith, Boni Catholici sunt qui et fidem integram sequuntur et bonos mores. Those be good Catholics that believe well and live well. These be not those ancient Roman Catholics.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv5–20 Understand more perfectly and profitably; for that very seeking…
Understand more perfectly and profitably; for that very seeking and searching after it, Pro 2:4, supposed some understanding.
The fear of the Lord; which is the beginning of this wisdom, Pro 1:7.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v10 The scope of these verses is to show, 1.…
The scope of these verses is to show, 1. What great advantage true wisdom will be of to us; it will keep us from the paths of sin, which lead to ruin, and will therein do us a greater kindness than if it enriched us with all the wealth of the world. 2. What good use we should make of the wisdom God gives us; we must use it for our own guidance in the paths of virtue, and for the arming of us against temptations of every kind. 3. By what rules we may try ourselves whether we have this wisdom or no. This tree will be known by its fruits; if we be truly wise, it will appear by our care to avoid all evil company and evil practices.
This wisdom will be of use to us,
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I. For our preservation from evil, from the evil of sin, and, consequently, from the evil of trouble that attends it.
1. In general (Pro 2:10, Pro 2:11), "When wisdom has entire possession of thee, it will keep thee." And when has it an entire possession of us? (1.) When it has dominion over us. When it not only fills the head with notions, but enters into the heart and has a commanding power and influence upon that, - when it is upon the throne there, and gives law to the affections and passions, - when it enters into the heart as the leaven into the dough, to diffuse its relish there, and to change it into its own image - then it is likely to do us good. (2.) When we have delight in it, when knowledge becomes pleasant to the soul: "When thou beginnest to relish it as the most agreeable entertainment, and art subject to its rules, of choice, and with satisfaction, - when thou callest the practice of virtue, not a slavery and a task, but liberty and pleasure, and a life of serious godliness the most comfortable life a man can live in this world, - then thou wilt find the benefit of it." Though its restraints should be in some respects unpleasant to the body, yet even those must be pleasant to the soul. When it has come to this, with us, discretion shall preserve us and keep us. God keeps the way of his saints (Pro 2:8), by giving them discretion to keep out of harm's way, to keep themselves that the wicked one touch them not. Note, A principle of grace reigning in the heart will be a powerful preservative both against corruptions within and temptations without, Ecc 9:16, Ecc 9:18.
2. More particularly, wisdom will preserve us,
(1.) From men of corrupt principles, atheistical profane men, who make it their business to debauch young men's judgments, and instil into their minds prejudices against religion and arguments for vice: "It will deliver thee from the way of the evil man (Pro 2:12), and a blessed deliverance it will be, as from the very jaws of death, from the way in which he walks, and in which he would persuade thee to walk." The enemy is spoken of as one (Pro 2:12), an evil man, but afterwards as many (Pro 2:13); there is a club, a gang of them, that are in confederacy against religion, and join hand in hand for the support of the devil's kingdom and the interests of it. [1.] They have a spirit of contradiction to that which is good: They speak froward things; they say all they can against religion, both to show their own enmity to it and to dissuade others from it. They are advocates for Satan; they plead for Baal, and pervert the right ways of the Lord. How peevishly will profane wits argue for sin, and with what frowardness will they carp at the word of God! Wisdom will keep us either from conversing with such men or at least from being ensnared by them. [2.] They are themselves apostates from that which is good, and such are commonly the most malicious and dangerous enemies religion has, witness Julian (Pro 2:13): They leave the paths of uprightness, which they were trained up in and had set out in, shake off the influences of their education, and break off the thread of their hopeful beginnings, to walk in the ways of darkness, in those wicked ways which hate the light, in which men are led blindfold by ignorance and error, and which lead men into utter darkness. The ways of sin are ways of darkness, uncomfortable and unsafe; what fools are those that leave the plain, pleasant, lightsome paths of uprightness, to walk in those ways! Psa 82:5; Jo1 2:11. [3.] They take a pleasure in sin, both in committing it themselves and in seeing others commit it (Pro 2:14): They rejoice in an opportunity to do evil, and in the accomplishment and success of any wicked project. It is sport to fools to do mischief; nor is any sight more grateful to them than to see the frowardness of the wicked, to see those that are hopeful drawn into the ways of sin, and then to see them hardened and confirmed in those ways. They are pleased if they can discern that the devil's kingdom gets ground (see Rom 1:32), such a height of impiety have they arrived at. [4.] They are resolute in sin (Pro 2:15): Their ways are crooked, a great many windings and turnings to escape the pursuit of their convictions and break the force of them; some sly excuse, some subtle evasion or other, their deceitful hearts furnish them with, for the strengthening of their hands in their wickedness; and in the crooked mazes of that labyrinth they secure themselves from the arrests of God's word and their own consciences; for they are froward in their paths, that is, they are resolved to go on in them, whatever is said against it. Every wise man will shun the company of such as these.
(2.) From women of corrupt practices. The former lead to spiritual wickednesses, the lusts of the unsanctified mind; these lead to fleshly lusts, which defile the body, that living temple, but withal war against the soul. The adulteress is here called the strange woman, because no man that has any wisdom or goodness in him will have any acquaintance with her; she is to be shunned by every Israelite as if she were a heathen, and a stranger to that sacred commonwealth. A strange woman indeed! utterly estranged from all principles of reason, virtue, and honour. It is a great mercy to be delivered from the allurements of the adulteress, considering, [1.] How false she is. Who will have any dealings with those that are made up of treachery? She is a strange woman; for, First, She is false to him whom she entices. She speaks fair, tells him how much she admires him above any man, and what a kindness she has for him; but she flatters with her words; she has no true affection for him, nor any desire of his welfare, any more than Delilah had of Samson's. All she designs is to pick his pocket and gratify a base lust of her own. Secondly, She is false to her husband, and violates the sacred obligation she lies under to him. He was the guide of her youth; by marrying him she chose him to be so, and submitted herself to his guidance, with a promise to attend him only, and forsake all others. But she has forsaken him, and therefore it cannot be thought that she should be faithful to any one else; and whoever entertains her is partaker with her in her falsehood. Thirdly, She is false to God himself: She forgets the covenant of her God, the marriage-covenant (Pro 2:17), to which God is not only a witness, but a party, for, he having instituted the ordinance, both sides vow to him to be true to each other. It is not her husband only that she sins against, but her God, who will judge whoremongers and adulterers because they despise the oath and break the covenant, Eze 17:18; Mal 2:14. [2.] How fatal it will prove to those that fall in league with her, Pro 2:18, Pro 2:19. Let the sufferings of others be our warnings. Take heed of the sin of whoredom; for, First, The ruin of those who are guilty of it is certain and unavoidable, if they do not repent. It is a sin that has a direct tendency to the killing of the soul, the extinguishing of all good affections and dispositions in it, and the exposing of it to the wrath and curse of God and the sword of his justice. Those that live in forbidden pleasures are dead while they live. Let discretion preserve every man, not only from the evil woman, but from the evil house, for the house inclines to death; it is in the road that leads directly to eternal death; and her paths unto Rephaim, to the giants (so some read it), the sinners of the old world, who, living in luxury and excess of riot, were cut down out of time, and their foundation was overthrown with a flood. Our Lord Jesus deters us from sinful pleasures with the consideration of everlasting torments which follow them. Where the worm dies not, nor is the fire quenched. See Mat 5:28, Mat 5:29. Secondly, Their repentance and recovery are extremely hazardous: None, or next to none, that go unto her, return again. It is very rare that any who are caught in this snare of the devil recover themselves, so much is the heart hardened, and the mind blinded, by the deceitfulness of this sin. Having once lost their hold of the paths of life, they know not how to take hold of them again, but are perfectly besotted and bewitched with those base lusts. Many learned interpreters think that this caution against the strange woman, besides the literal sense, is to be understood figuratively, as a caution, 1. Against idolatry, which is spiritual whoredom. Wisdom will keep thee from all familiarity with the worshippers of images, and all inclination to join with them, which had for many ages been of such pernicious consequence to Israel and proved so to Solomon himself. 2. Against the debauching of the intellectual powers and faculties of the soul by the lusts and appetites of the body. Wisdom will keep thee from being captivated by the carnal mind, and from subjecting the spirit to the dominion of the flesh, that notorious adulteress which forsakes its guide, violates the covenant of our God, which inclines to death, and which, when it has got an undisturbed dominion, makes the case of the soul desperate.
II. This wisdom will be of use to guide and direct us in that which is good (Pro 2:20): That thou mayest walk in the way of good men. We must avoid the way of the evil man, and the strange woman, in order that we may walk in good ways; we must cease to do evil, in order that we may learn to do well. Note, 1. There is a way which is peculiarly the way of good men, the way in which good men, as such, and as far as they have really been such, have always walked. 2. It will be our wisdom to walk in that way, to ask for the good old way and walk therein, Jer 6:16; Heb 6:12; Heb 12:1. And we must not only walk in that way awhile, but we must keep it, keep in it, and never turn aside out of it: The paths of the righteous are the paths of life, which all that are wise, having taken hold of, will keep their hold of. "That thou mayest imitate those excellent persons, the patriarchs and prophets (so bishop Patrick paraphrases it), and be preserved in the paths of those righteous men who followed after them." We must not only choose our way in general by the good examples of the saints, but must also take directions from them in the choice of our particular paths; observe the track, and go forth by the footsteps of the flock. Two reasons are here given why we should thus choose: - (1.) Because men's integrity will be their establishment, Pro 2:21. It will be the establishment, [1.] Of their persons: The upright shall dwell in the land, peaceably and quietly, as long as they live; and their uprightness will contribute to it, as it settles their minds, guides their counsels, gains them the good-will of their neighbours, and entitles them to God's special favour. [2.] Of their families: The perfect, in their posterity, shall remain in it. They shall dwell and remain for ever in the heavenly Canaan, of which the earthly one was but a type. (2.) Because men's iniquity will be their destruction, Pro 2:22. See what becomes of the wicked, who choose the way of the evil man; they shall be cut off, not only from heaven hereafter and all hopes of that, but from the earth now, on which they set their affections, and in which they lay up their treasure. They think to take root in it, but they and their families shall be rooted out of it, in judgment to them, but in mercy to the earth. There is a day coming which shall leave them neither root nor branch, Mal 4:1. Let that wisdom then enter into our hearts, and be pleasant to our souls, which will keep us out of a way that will end thus.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv5–20 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord,....…
Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord,.... The grace of fear, and the exercise of it: which is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge, and is a treasure itself, Pro 1:7. By means of the Gospel the Lord works it in the hearts of his people by his Spirit; and by the same leads them into the riches of his special grace and "goodness", which they are influenced by to "fear", and the Lord for the sake of it: and particularly they are led hereby to the pardoning grace and mercy of God, which is with him, that he may "be feared"; and it is the Gospel which induces and encourages a true filial fear of God, by which men "depart from evil"; for that teaches them to deny all manner of sin, and to live a godly life and conversation: so that through a diligent search after the knowledge of the Gospel, and an attaining it, men come to have a spiritual, experimental, and practical understanding of the fear of God as a grace; and also, as it includes the whole worship of God, by means of Gospel light, they come to understand what sort of worship that is God is to be worshipped with; that it is pure, spiritual, and evangelical, suited to his nature and will: what the ordinances of divine service are; and that these are to be kept as they were delivered, and in the exercise of faith, from a principle of love, and with a view to the glory, of God, without trusting to them or depending on them for salvation. And this is the advantage arising from a diligent search after the doctrine of wisdom, or the Gospel, and a knowledge and understanding of it; and is used as an argument encouraging to it; and another follows;
and find the knowledge of God; such a knowledge of God as is not to be found by the light of nature, in the whole volume of the creatures, and in all the writings of the philosophers; no, nor in the law of Moses; for though much of God and his perfections may be seen and known by the things that are made, and much of the will of God by the law he gave; yet by neither of these is the knowledge of God in Christ, which is "life eternal". This only is to be found in the Gospel, and by means of it; here only it is brought to light; and through this men not only find it, but increase more and more in it: herein is a glorious display of his persons and perfections, of his counsels and purposes, of his covenant and promises, of his mind and will, with respect to doctrine and worship; and of the way of peace, life, and salvation, by Jesus Christ; which must serve greatly to engage and excite persons to a diligent search and pursuit after it. And all that is here said is designed to encourage a diligent search after divine things; for, as the poet (n) says, there is nothing so difficult but by searching may be found out.
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(n) Terent. Heautont. Act. 4. Sc. 1.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv8, 9, 10, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20 Path of judgment - Righteous paths, judgment being here…
Path of judgment - Righteous paths, judgment being here put for righteousness. And keeping of paths may be put for keeping them in their paths.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv7, 9, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 Verse 7. He layeth up sound wisdom] תושיה tushiyah.…
Verse 7. He layeth up sound wisdom] תושיה tushiyah. We have met with this word in Job; see Job 5:12; Job 6:13; Job 11:6; Job 12:16. See especially Clarke's note on "Job 11:6", where the different acceptations of the word are given. Coverdale translates, "He preserveth the welfare of the righteous." It is difficult to find, in any language, a term proper to express the original meaning of the word; its seems to mean generally the essence or substance of a thing, THE thing itself - that which is chief of its kind. He layeth up WHAT IS ESSENTIAL for the righteous.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv6, 8, 10, 16, 18, 20 Pro 2:6-7. For the Lord giveth — Hebrew, יתן,…
Pro 2:6-7. For the Lord giveth — Hebrew, יתן, will give wisdom — Hath promised to give it, namely, to those that so seek it. Thus he teaches them not to ascribe any wisdom they might attain to their own abilities or industry, but only to God’s favour and blessing. Out of his mouth cometh knowledge, &c. — That is, from his word or appointment, and good will, as, the word of God, signifies, Deu 8:3. He layeth up sound wisdom — Hebrew, תושׁיה, literally, essence, or substance. Dr. Waterland renders it solid blessings. Solomon seems to mean, either, 1st, Solid and true felicity, opposed to the vain enjoyments of this world, which are said to have no substance or being, Pro 23:5, where it is asked, Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? Or, that true and substantial wisdom which is satisfactory and everlasting, opposed to worldly wisdom, which is but an empty shadow of wisdom, and perishes with us. He is a buckler to them that walk uprightly — To protect and save them from that destruction which shall befall all the ungodly. The clause is rendered by Houbigant, He is a defence for those who act with simplicity and candour; and by Schultens, A shield to those who walk in integrity.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 The promise. The highest blessedness is to know God…
The promise. The highest blessedness is to know God Joh 17:3. If any distinction between “the Lord” יהוה yehovâh and “God” אלהים 'elohı̂ym can be pressed here, it is that in the former the personality, in the latter the glory, of the divine nature is prominent.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Charles Bridges 1846 · Public Domain On vv7, 10, 12, 16, 20 Vanity (Ecc 1:18 ) and foolishness (1Co 3:19 )…
Vanity (Ecc 1:18 ) and foolishness (1Co 3:19 ) are the stamp on the wisdom of this world. Here is sound wisdom. It looks at things not in their notions, but in their proper substance. It is sound, because it is practical. It is indeed a hid treasure (Pro 2:4 ); so safe, that no spoiler can reach it; yet so free, that every sinner may have access to it. Yes; in the Son of God himself "are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." All these treasures in him are laid up for the righteous — made over to them. (Col 2:3 . 1Co 1:30 .) Oh let us draw upon this infinite treasure daily, hourly, for light to direct an upright walk. ’To those that are true and upright in heart, he will in his own good time reveal true and saving knowledge, and that sound spiritual wisdom, which shall make them eternally happy.’†1 Our faithful God is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. (Pro 30:5 . Psa 84:11 .) His wisdom covers us from that subtle sophistry, which would spoil us of our treasure. (Pro 22:12 .) The way of the saints is indeed fraught with danger; beset with temptation; yet is it safe (Pro 4:11 ; Pro 8:20 . Deu 33:26-29 . 1Sa 2:9 . Psa 37:23-24 ; Psa 56:9 ) — kept and preserved by Almighty power, even on the very edge of the enemy’s ground. (1Sa 25:39 ; 1Sa 27:1, with 1Sa 29:1-11 . 2Co 12:7-9 .)
Such also is the completeness of this godly privilege, that not only does it enlarge our knowledge of God (Pro 2:5 ), but it brings us to a full understanding of every practical obligation. Indeed that only is sound wisdom, that guides our feet into every good path; that "makes the man of God perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." (2Ti 3:15-17 .) The gracious wisdom that saves the soul, sanctifies the heart and life. (Tit 2:11-12 .)
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Footnotes
†1 Bishop Hall.
Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs (1846) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv7, 8, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19 Salvation. Protestants, "sound wisdom." Tushiya (Haydock) often occurs in…
Salvation. Protestants, "sound wisdom." Tushiya (Haydock) often occurs in this book, and is very comprehensive, (Calmet) denoting the substance (Haydock) of goodness, virtue, &c., Job v. 12.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 understand--or, "perceive intelligently."
understand--or, "perceive intelligently."
find--obtain.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 20 5. Then — When thou so seekest and searchest.
5. Then — When thou so seekest and searchest.
Shalt thou understand — Discern, comprehend, and attain to.
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Fear of the Lord — That true piety, of which the author speaks, and which is the highest of all knowledge.
Knowledge of God — Divine knowledge, sanctified learning. This is the first instance where the word God occurs in parallelism with Jehovah. It occurs only eight times in the book, namely: in Pro_2:5; Pro_2:17; Pro_3:4; Pro_21:12; Pro_25:2; Pro_26:10; Pro_30:5; Pro_30:9. Comp. Pro_1:7; 1Ki_10:10; 1Ki_10:27; Job_28:28; Jer_41:8; Mat_13:14.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 6. For] Maurer rightly insists that this and two…
6. For] Maurer rightly insists that this and two following verses are not a parenthesis, but an integral part of the main argument; q.d. I said that by diligent search after wisdom thou shouldest attain to the fear of Jehovah and the knowledge of God; and I said so because that knowledge involves the true conception of God, as the Fountain of all wisdom, and the right attitude towards Him of reverent expectation, which like the prophet’s “golden pipes” (Zec_4:2) brings your earnest desire to receive into contact with His readiness to give. Comp. Jas_1:5.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18 (5) Find the knowledge of God.—It is the highest…
(5) Find the knowledge of God.—It is the highest of all gifts, even eternal life itself, to know God, the Giver of all good things. It was to bestow this knowledge upon man that Christ came into the world (Joh_17:3). He promises (Pro_14:21) the manifestation of Himself as the reward of obedience and love. And yet our highest knowledge of God in this life must be so imperfect, in comparison with the knowledge of Him hereafter, when we shall see Him “face to face” (1Co_13:12), that St. Paul. (Gal_4:9) describes our relation to Him now as better expressed by “being known of Him:” i.e., recognised, acknowledged by Him as His children, rather than by “knowing” Him.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv5–20 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord.…
Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord. Then (a), introducing the first apodosis, and answering to the conditional "if" of vers. 1, 3, 4. The earnest endeavour after Wisdom meets with its reward, and those that seek shall find: (cf. Mat_7:7) and thus an inducement is held forth to listen to the admonition of the teacher. Understand implies the power of discernment, but Zockler gives it the further moaning of taking to one"s self as a spiritual possession, just as "find" meaning primarily "to arrive at" conveys the idea of getting possession of (Mercerus). The fear of the Lord (hwOjy tary, yir"ath y"hovah); "the fear of Jehovah," as in Pro_1:7. As it is the beginning, so it is the highest form of knowledge and the greatest good. Elsewhere it is represented as a fountain of life. (Pro_15:27) All true wisdom is summed up in "the fear of the Lord." It here means the reverence due to him, and so comprises the whole range of the religious affections and feelings, which respond to various attributes of the Divine character as they are revealed, and which find their expression in holy worship. The knowledge of God ( td, daath Elohim); literally, the knowledge of Elohim. Not merely cognition, but knowledge in its wider sense. The two ideas of "the fear of the Lord" and "the knowledge of God" act reciprocally on each other. Just as without reverence of God there can be no knowledge of him in its true sense, so the knowledge of God will increase and deepen the feeling of reverence. But it is noticeable that the teacher here, as in Pro_9:10, where, however, it is "the knowledge of the holy" ( td, daath k"doshim), gives the chief place to reverence, and thus indicates that it is the basis of knowledge, which is its fruit and result. The relation here suggested is analogous to that which subsists between faith and knowledge, and recalls the celebrated dictum of Anselm: "Neque enim quaero intelligere ut credam; sed credo, ut intelligam." Elohim, here interchanged with Jehovah, is not of frequent occurrence in the Proverbs, as it is only found therein five times, while the predominating word which is used to designate the Deity is Jehovah. But it is difficult to draw any distinction between them here. Jehovah may refer more especially to the Personality of the Divine nature, while Elohim may refer to Christ"s glory (Plumptre). Bishop Wordsworth thinks that a distinction is made between the knowledge of Elohim and the knowledge of man which is of little worth.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 7, 11, 12, 16, 17, 20 Find the knowledge of God.
Pro_2:5
Find the knowledge of God.
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The benefits of religion
Religion, whether natural or revealed, has always the same beneficial influence on the mind. In youth, in health and prosperity, it awakens feelings of gratitude and sublime love, and purifies at the same time that which it exalts; but it is in misfortune, in sickness, in age, that its effects are more truly and beneficially felt; when submission is cherished in faith and humble trust in the Divine will, when duties become pleasures, undecaying sources of consolation, then it creates powers which were believed to be extinct, and gives a freshness to the mind which was supposed to have passed away for ever, but which is now renovated as an immortal hope. Its influence outlives all earthly enjoyments, and becomes stronger as the organs decay and the frame dissolves; it appears as that evening star of light in the horizon of life which we are sure is to become, in another season, a morning star, and to throw its radiance through the gloom and shadow of death. (Sir Humphrey Davey.)
Knowledge of God the result of revelation
I do not look to the Bible to teach me what I or my successors may some day find out by the use of observations and the inductive faculties; I go to the Bible to learn what I cannot find out for myself. Apart from revelation, what do I know about the world to come, about anything but what I can touch, taste, and handle? What hope have I for the future if I look only to nature? Nature tells me that when I die I shall probably be just like the dog, or horse, or any other animal. All immortal, none immortal, she seems to say. Therefore I must get light from revelation. I must even look to revelation for the motives which influence conduct, for personally I am not satisfied with these systems of ethics that are founded on utilitarian motives. I do not see how I can be said to have knowledge of God unless He in some way reveal Himself to me. (Prof. Bonney.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v12 "To deliver thee from the way of the evil…
CHAPTER 3
WISDOM AS THE GUIDE OF CONDUCT
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"To deliver thee from the way of the evil man…To deliver thee from the strange woman."- Pro_2:12-16
WISDOM is concerned, as we have seen, with the whole universe of fact, with the whole range of thought; she surveys and orders all processes of nature. We might say of her,
"She doth preserve the stars from wrong, And the most ancient heavens by her are fresh and strong."
But while she is occupied in these high things, she is no less attentive to the affairs of human life, and her delight is to order human conduct, not despising even the smallest detail of that which is done by men under the sun. Side by side with physical laws, indeed often intertwined with them, appear the moral laws which issue from the lively oracles of Wisdom. There is not one authority for natural phenomena, and another for mental and moral phenomena. As we should say now, Truth is one: Science is one: Law is one. The laws of the physical order, the laws of the speculative reason, the laws of practical life, form a single system, come from the sole mind of God, and are the impartial interests of Wisdom.
As the great authority on Conduct, Wisdom is pictured standing in the places where men congregate, where the busy hum of human voices and the rush of hurried feet make it necessary for her to lift up her voice in order to gain attention. With words of winsome wooing-"for wisdom shall enter into thy heart, and knowledge shall be pleasant unto thy soul" {Pro_2:10}-or with loud threats and stern declarations of truth -"the backsliding of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them" {Pro_1:32} -she tries to win us, while we are yet young, to her paths of pleasantness and her ways of peace. Her object is to deliver youth,
(1) from the evil man, and
(2) from the evil woman, or in the most comprehensive way "to deliver us from evil."
First of all, we may spend a few moments in noting the particular temptations to which men were exposed in the days when these chapters were written. There was a temptation to join a troop of banditti, and to obtain a living by acts of highway robbery which would frequently result in murder; and there was the temptation to the sin which we call specifically Impurity, a temptation which arose not so much from the existence of a special class of fallen women, as from the shocking looseness and voluptuousness of married women in well-to-do circumstances.
Society under the kings never seems to have reached anything approaching to an ordered security. We cannot point to any period when the mountain roads, even in the neighborhood of the capital, were not haunted by thieves, who lurked in the rocks or the copses, and fell upon passing travelers, to strip and to rob, and if need be to kill them. When such things are done, when such things are even recounted in sensational literature, there are multitudes of young men who are stirred to a debased ambition; a spurious glory encircles the brow of the adventurer who sets the laws of society at defiance; and without any personal entreaty the foolish youth is disposed to leave the quiet ways of industry for the stimulating excitement and the false glamour of the bandit life. The reckless plottings of the robbers are described in Pro_1:11-14. The character of the men themselves is given in Pro_4:16-17 : "They sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fail. For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence." The proverb in Pro_24:15 is addressed to such a one: "Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the habitation of the righteous; spoil not his resting-place."
The rebukes of the prophets-Isaiah, Micah, Jeremiah-may have a wider application, but they seem at any rate to include this highwaymans life. "Your hands are full of blood" is the charge of Isaiah; and {Isa_1:15} again, "Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity." {Isa_59:7} "They build up Zion with blood," says Micah indignantly. {Mic_3:10} Jeremiah cries with still more vehemence to his generation, "Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the innocent poor": {Jer_2:34} and again, "But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it." {Jer_22:17}
We are to conceive, then, the young and active men of the day constantly tempted to take these unhallowed paths which seemed to promise wealth; the sinners were always ready to whisper in the ears of those whose life was tedious and unattractive, "Cast in thy lot among us; we will all have one purse." The moral sense of the community was not sufficiently developed to heartily condemn this life of iniquity; as in the eighteenth century among, ourselves, so in Israel when this book was written, there existed in the minds of the people at large a lurking admiration for the bold and dashing "gentlemen of the way."
The other special temptation of that day is described in our book with remarkable realism, and there is no false shame in exposing the paths of death into which it leads. In Pro_5:3-20 the subject is treated in the plainest way: "Her latter end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on Sheol." It is taken up again in Pro_6:24-35 : "Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? or can one walk upon hot coals and his feet not be scorched?" The guilty man who has been betrayed by the glitter and beauty, by the honeyed words and the soft entreaties, "shall get wounds and dishonor, and his reproach shall not be wiped away."
Pro_7:5-27 a most vivid picture is drawn of the foolish youth seduced into evil; there he is seen going as an ox to the slaughter, as one in fetters, "till an arrow strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life." And the Introduction closes with a delineation of Folly, which is obviously meant as a counterpart to the delineation of Wisdom in Pro_1:20, etc. {Pro_9:13-18} The miserable woman sits at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city; with seductive words she wins the foolish passers-by to enter her doors: "The dead are there; her guests are in the depths of Sheol."
It is a temptation which in many varying forms has always beset human life. No small part of the danger is that this evil, above all others, grows in silence, and yet seems to be aggravated by publicity. The preacher cannot speak plainly about it, and even writers shrink from touching the subject. We can, however, be thankful that the book, which is Gods book rather than mans, knows nothing of our false modesty and conventional delicacy: it speaks out not only boldly, but minutely; it is so explicit that no man who with a prayerful heart will meditate upon its teachings need fall into the pitfall-that pitfall which seems to grow even more subtle and more seductive as civilization advances, and as the great cities absorb a larger proportion of the population; or if he fail he can only admit with shame and remorse, "I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof. Neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me. I was well-nigh in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly." {Pro_5:12-14}
In the second place, we must try to look at these temptations in the light of our own day, in order that we may listen to the voice of wisdom, not in the antiquarian, but rather in the practical spirit. The second temptation exists amongst us almost unchanged, except that the vast accumulation and concentration of vice in great cities has provided that mournful band of women whom a great moralist has designated the Vestal Virgins of Humanity, consecrated to shame and ruin in order to preserve unsullied the sacred flame of the domestic altar. The result of this terrible development in evil is that the deadly sin has become safer for the sinner, and in certain circles of society has become recognized as at any rate a venial fault, if not an innocent necessity. It is well to read these chapters again with our eye on the modern evil, and to let the voice of Wisdom instruct us that the life is not the less blighted because the body remains unpunished, and vice is not the less vicious because, instead of ruining others for its gratification, it feeds only on those who are already ruined. If the Wisdom of the Old Testament is obscure on this point, the Wisdom of the New Testament gives no uncertain sound. Interpreting the doctrine of our book, as Christians are bound to do, by the light of Christ, we can be left in no doubt, that to all forms of impurity applies the one principle which is here applied to a specific form: "He doeth it that would destroy his own soul." "His own iniquities shall take the wicked, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sin." {Pro_6:32 and Pro_5:22}
But with regard to the first of the two temptations, it may be urged that in our settled and ordered society it is no longer felt. "We are not tempted to become highwaymen, nor even to embark on the career of a professional thief." We are disposed to skim lightly over the warning, under the impression that it does not in any way apply to us. But stop a moment! Wisdom spoke in the first instance direct to the vice of her day, but she gave to her precepts a more general coloring, which makes it applicable to all time, when she said, "So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; it taketh away the life of the owners thereof." {Pro_1:19} The specific form of greediness described in this first chapter may have become obsolete among decent and respectable people; but that greed of gain which showed itself then in a particular form is alive today. Dressed in a different garb, it presents temptations of a slightly different order; but the spirit is the same, the issue, the fatal issue, is the same. It is a melancholy fact that in the most progressive and civilized communities the greed of gain, instead of dying out, becomes aggravated, acquires a dominant influence, and sways men as the master passion. The United States, a country so bountiful to her children that a settled peace might be supposed to pervade the life of men who can never be in fear of losing the necessaries, or even the comforts, of life, are inflamed with a fierce and fiery passion. Society is one perpetual turmoil; life is lived at the highest conceivable pressure, because each individual is seeking to gain more and ever more. In our own country, though society is less fluid, and ancient custom checks the action of disturbing forces, the passion for gain becomes every year a more exacting tyranny over the lives of the people. We are engaged in a pitiless warfare, which we dignify by the name of competition; the race is to the swift, and the battle to the strong. It becomes almost a recognized principle that man is at liberty to prey upon his fellow man. The Eternal Law of Wisdom declares that we should treat others as we treat ourselves, and count the interests of others dear as our own; it teaches us that we should show a tender consideration for the weak, and be always ready, at whatever cost, to succor the helpless. But competition says, "No; you must try rather to beat the weak out of the field; you must leave no device untried to reduce the strength of the strong, and to divert into your own hands the grist which was going to your neighbors mill." This conflict between man and man is untempered by pity, because it is supposed to be unavoidable as death itself. In a community so constituted, where business has fallen into such ways, while the strong may hold their own with a clean hand, the weaker are tempted to make up by cunning what they lack in strength, and the weakest are ground as the nether millstone. The pitilessness of the whole system is appalling, the more so because it is accepted as necessary.
The bandit life has here emerged in a new form. "Come, let us lay wait for blood," says the Sweater or the Fogger, "let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause; let us swallow them up alive as Sheol, and whole as those that go down into the pit." The Bandit is an outcast from society, and his hand is turned against the rich. The Sweater is an outcast from society, and his hand is turned against the poor. By "laying wait" he is able to demand, from weak men, women, and children, the long hours of the day for unceasing toil, and the bitter hours of the night for hunger and cold, until the gaunt creatures, worn with weariness and despair, find a solace in debauchery or an unhallowed rest in death.
Now, though the temptation to become a sweater may not affect many or any of us, I should like to ask, Are there not certain trades or occupations, into which some of us are tempted to enter, perfectly honeycombed with questionable practices? Under the pretext that it is all "business," are not things done which can only be described as preying upon the innocence or the stupidity of our neighbors? Sometimes the promise is, "We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil." {Pro_1:13} Sometimes the simple object is to escape starvation. But there is the miserable temptation to sacrifice probity and honor, to stifle compassion and thought, in order to bring into our own coffers the coveted wealth. And is there not, I ask, a similar temptation lurking in a thousand haunts more or less respectable-a temptation which may be described as the spirit of gambling? The essence of all gambling, whether it be called speculative business or gaming, in stock and share markets or in betting clubs and turf rings, is simply the attempt to trade on the supposed ignorance or misfortune of others, and to use superior knowledge or fortune for the purpose, not of helping, but of robbing them. It may be said that we do it in self-defense, and that others would do the same by us; yes, just as the bandit says to the young man, "We do not want to injure the traveler yonder; we want his purse. He will try to shoot you; you only shoot him in self-defense." It is the subtlety of all gambling that constitutes its great danger. It seems to turn on the principle that we may do what we like with our own; it forgets that its object is to get hold of what belongs to others, not by honest work or service rendered, but simply by cunning and deception.
It is, then, only too easy to recognize, in many varied shapes of so-called business and of so-called pleasure, "the ways of those who are greedy of gain." Wisdom has need to cry aloud in our streets, in the chief place of concourse, in the city, in exchanges and marts. Her warning to the young man must be explicit and solemn: "My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not." The bandit life still has its attractions, though its methods are changed; it plays upon the idle imagination: it promises freedom from laborious and distasteful toil; but it says nothing of the ways of death into which it leads.
Now, in the third place, we come to the protest of Divine Wisdom against these evil ways in which men are tempted to walk. They are, she says, folly of the most egregious kind. There may be an apparent success or a momentary gratification: "precious substance may be amassed, and houses may be filled with spoil"; but the people who are betrayed into these wicked courses "shall be cut off from the land." {Pro_2:22} They "lay wait for their own blood"; greed "taketh away the life of the owner thereof"; {Pro_1:19} and as for the strange woman, that flattereth with her words, "none that go unto her return again." {Pro_2:19}
It needs but a clear vision or a little wise reflection to see the destructive tendency of Evil. It is the commonest fact of experience that where "vice goes before, vengeance follows after." Why do men not perceive it? There is a kind of fatuity which blinds the eyes. The empty-headed bird sees the net spread out before its eyes; {Pro_1:17} many of its fellows have already been caught; the warning seems obvious enough, but it is all "in vain": eager to get the bait-the dainty morsel lying there, easy obtainable - the foolish creature approaches, looks, argues that it is swifter and stronger than its predecessors, who were but weaklings! it will wheel down, take the food, and be gone long before the flaps of the net can spring together. In the same way the empty-headed youth, warned by the experience of elders and the tender entreaties of father and mother, assured that these ways of unjust gain are ways of ruin, is yet rash enough to enter the snare in order to secure the coveted morsel. And what is the issue? Setting at naught all the counsel of Wisdom, he would none of her reproof. {Pro_1:25} A momentary success led to wilder infatuation, and convinced him that he was right, and Wisdom was wrong; but his prosperity destroyed him. Soon in the shame of exposure and the misery of remorse he discovers his mistake. Or, worse still, no exposure comes; success continues to his dying day, and he leaves his substance to his heirs; "he eats of the fruits of his own way, and is filled with his own devices," {Pro_1:31-32} but none the less he walks in the ways of darkness-in paths that are crooked and perverse-and he is consumed with inward misery. The soul within is hard, and dry, and dead; it is insensible to all feelings except feelings of torture. It is a life so dark and wretched, that when a sudden light is thrown upon its hidden secrets men are filled with astonishment and dismay, that such things could exist underneath that quiet surface.
Finally, note these two characteristics of the Divine Wisdom:
(1) she is found in her fullness only by diligent seekers; and
(2) rejected, she turns into the most scornful and implacable foe.
She is to be sought as silver or hidden treasure is sought. The search must be inspired by that eagerness of desire and passion of resolve with which avarice seeks for money. No faculty must be left unemployed: the ear is to be inclined to catch the first low sounds of wisdom; the heart is to be applied to understand what is heard; the very voice is to be lifted up in earnest inquiry. It is a well-known fact that the fear of the Lord and the knowledge of God are not fruits which grow on every wayside bush, to be plucked by every idle passer-by, to be dropped carelessly and trodden under foot. Without seriousness and devotion, without protracted and unflagging toil, the things of God are not to be attained. You must be up betimes; you must be on your knees early; you must lay open the book of Wisdom, pore over its pages, and diligently turn its leaves, meditating on its sayings day and night. The kingdom of God and His righteousness must be sought, yes, and sought first, sought exclusively, as the one important object of desire. That easy indifference, that lazy optimism-"it will all come right in the end"-that habit of delay in deciding, that inclination to postpone the eternal realities to vanishing shadows, will be your ruin. The time may come when you will call, and there will be no answer, when you will seek diligently, but shall not find. Then in the day of your calamity, when your fear cometh, what a smile of scorn will seem to be on Wisdoms placid brow, and around her eloquent lips! What derision will seem to ring in the well-remembered counsels which you rejected. {Pro_1:24-31} O tide in the affairs of men! O tide in the affairs of God! We are called to stand by death-beds, to look into anguished eyes which know that it is too late. The bandit of commercial life passes into that penal servitude which only death will end; what agony breaks out and hisses in his remorse! The wretched victim of lust passes from the house of his sin down the path which inclines unto death; how terrible is that visage which just retains smirched traces that purity once was there! The voice rings down the doleful road, "If I had only been wise, if I had given ear, wisdom might have entered even into my heart, knowledge might have been pleasant even to my soul!"
And wisdom still cries to us, "Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you."
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv6, 12 Pro_2:7. Sound wisdom. Miller translates this word “something stable.”…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Pro_2:7. Sound wisdom. Miller translates this word “something stable.” It is used but twelve times in Scripture; in Job_5:12, it is translated “enterprise,” but the rendering given here would well fit the context there; and so in every other case. That walk uprightly, literally “the walkers of innocence.”
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Pro_2:8. (Heb.) so as that “He may keep,” or protect the paths, etc., i.e. He manifests Himself as a shield that He may cause the upright to keep the paths of judgment (Fausset). 9 ver., Righteousness, etc., the same three words used in chap. Pro_1:3 (see Notes). Every or “the whole” path. 10 ver. When. Rather “if” or “because.” This verse is antecedent to the consequence expressed in Pro_2:11. Heart, “the seat of desire, the starting point for all personal self-determination” (Lange).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Pro_2:6-11
GOD AS A GIVER AND MAN AS A RECEIVER
I. The fact stated—that God gives. The nature of the good is to give. God is the best of all beings, therefore He is the greatest giver.
1. The kindness of God is manifested in the character of His gifts.
2. The resources of God are revealed in the abundance of His gifts. The character and disposition of men are made known by what they give and by how they give. God’s gifts are “good and perfect,” and are given ungrudgingly (Jas_1:5-17). But men’s resources are not always equal to their desires to give. But God is rich, not only in mercy, but in power; He has given up to Himself in the gift of His Son, in whom dwell all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and beyond whom the Father Himself cannot give.
II. Some of His gifts enumerated.
1. Wisdom. Sound wisdom. Real wisdom as opposed to that which is only a sham (see “Critical Notes”). The serpent—the devil—possesses cunning, but not real wisdom. Our first parents were led astray by believing a lie—the fruit of following the tempter’s guidance was unsoundness of body and soul. The results of this “wisdom of the serpent” proved its falsity. God gives the true wisdom. He gives men the truth. A knowledge of the truth about themselves, about Him (Pro_2:6), brings stability of character—leads men into the right way of life (Pro_2:9)—and thus tends to peace and blessedness of soul.
2. He gives protection by giving true wisdom. “He is a buckler,” etc. (Pro_2:7). When Abraham undertook to deliver Lot from the hands of his enemies, the skill with which he planned and carried out the attack (Gen_14:14) showed his wisdom. After the victory God came to him and said, “Fear not, Abraham. I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward” (Gen_15:1). How had God just proved himself to be his shield? Not by sending a legion of angels to deliver him, but by giving him the wisdom by which he had defended himself. This is how He is a buckler to His children. He preserveth the way of His saints” (Pro_2:8) by giving them wisdom and grace to “understand” and keep “every good path” (Pro_2:9).
III. Man as a receiver of God’s gifts.
1. This wisdom and protection is only given to those who fulfil certain conditions. Wisdom is for the righteous, the buckler for them that walk uprightly, preservation for his saints. These terms must be regarded as relative, as we shall see presently; but the fact that God has “laid up” His “wisdom,” implies that it must be sought. God had laid up a store of wisdom for Joseph’s guidance-when Pharaoh summoned him from the prison, even as Joseph afterwards stored up corn for the needy people; but in both instances the gifts had to be sought for (Gen_41:16). Daniel had wisdom laid up for him, but he had to ask for the wisdom kept in store for him (Dan_2:18).
2. This best gift of God must be received into man’s best place. The knowledge which God gives must enter the heart, the affections—thus it will be pleasant to the soul (Pro_2:10). He who holds the rudder guides the vessel. There may be many important positions in a fortified city, but he who holds the highest place commands all the rest. Understanding the word heart here to mean the affections, the heart commands the man. The will, and even the conscience to an extent, are wheeled about by the affections. They are the rudder of the man; they are the key to the position in the town of Man-soul.
3. Man, by thus receiving God’s gifts, attains a relative perfection. The “understanding” of every good way implies a walking in them. Those who receive God’s wisdom “walk uprightly”—are “saints.” The man who has long followed any profession may be said to be a perfect master of his business, of his handicraft. This does not imply that he can go no further—can attain to nothing higher. The Apostle Paul speaks of an absolute and a relative perfection. He had attained to the last but not to the first (Php_3:12-15). To know what we ought to strive after and to choose the right way, is the relative perfection, which leads on to that which is absolute and entire.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro_2:6. One may, indeed, by natural knowledge, very readily learn that God is a benevolent being; but how He becomes to a sinner the God of love, this can be learned only from the mouth of God in the Holy Scriptures.—Lange.
Pro_2:1-5 teach plainly that a man may get “light,” and that there are steps to it like money-getting; and yet hardly have the words left his lips before Solomon guards them: “Jehovah gives wisdom”—and guards them in a striking way, for he says: “For,” that is, the fact that it is the gift of God is the reason it can be proceeded so hopefully after by man.—Miller.
Solomon knew this by experience. The “for” gives the reason why he who is anxious to have wisdom should learn to know and worship God.—Fausset.
Every beam of reason in men is communicated from the wisdom of God (1Jn_1:9). The simplest of the mechanical arts cannot be acquired unless men are taught of God. How, then, can we be expected to understand the mystery of the Divine will without light from the Father of lights.—Lawson.
Pro_2:7. We are ill keepers of our own goodness and wisdom: God, therefore, is pleased to lay it up for us,—and that it may be safe, Himself is the buckler and safeguard of it.… In this life, he that walketh, although he walk uprightly, and seeing evil, shuns it, yet may receive hurt behind, where backbiters too frequently make their assaults. Wherefore, as he walketh to God before him, so God walketh after him, and even there, where they cannot help themselves, He will be a buckler to His servants.… But learn also that the buckler shows that they who will live uprightly must strive and fight.—Jermin.
Heb., substance, reality (see “Critical Notes”): that which hath a true being in opposition to that which hath not.—Trapp.
He layeth up that which is essential for the righteous.—A. Clarke.
The righteousness of our conduct contributes to the enlightenment of our creed. The wholesome reaction of the moral on the intellectual is clearly intimated here, inasmuch as it is to the righteous that God imparteth wisdom.—Chalmers.
“He lays up” or “hides away.”
1. That the wicked may not find it.
2. That the righteous may have to dig to get it (the verb is the same as that from which “hid treasures” is derived in Pro_2:4).
3. That it may be safe from the evil one.—Miller.
He walks uprightly who lives with the fear of God as his principle, and the Word of God as his rule, and the glory of God as his end.—Wardlaw.
The most dreadful enemies of those who walk uprightly are those who endeavour to turn aside the way of their paths; but against these enemies God defends, for He keepeth the paths of wisdom and righteousness.—Lawson.
Pro_2:8. Well may they walk uprightly that are so strongly supported. God’s hand is ever under his; they cannot fall beneath it—Trapp.
“Paths of judgment” or “justice” are here, by the substitution of the abstract for the concrete expression, paths of the just, and therefore synonymous with “the way of His saints.”—Lange’s Commentary.
We have certain vicarious rights. One is, to come out all well at last. Another is, that all things shall work together for our good. Another is, that we shall grow up into Christ, increasing day by day. To realise each and all is required of God. The track this takes Him into for all is, as to each man, His path of judgment. Each such path He must walk in strictly. To do so, He must watch the saints.—Miller.
He is not the guardian of the broad way—the way of the world and of sin. That way Satan superintends, “the god of this world”—doing everything in his power, by all his various acts of enticement and intimidation, to keep his wretched subjects and victims from leaving it.—Wardlaw.
He preserveth the way of His saints both from being drawn out of that way, and from all evil while they walk in it.—Jackson.
If men will not keep their bounds, God will keep His. There is a right way for the saints to walk in.
1. Because else it were worse living in God’s kingdom than in any other kingdom. For all kingdoms have rules of safety and of living.
2. God would be in a worse condition than the meanest master of a family. He would have no certain service.—Francis Taylor.
Pro_2:9. Not as standing in speculation, but as a rule of life. Knowledge is either apprehensive only, or effective also. This differs from that as much as the light of the sun, wherein is the influence of an enlivening power, from the light of torches.—Trapp.
Not only does it enlarge our knowledge of God, but it brings us to a full understanding of every practical obligation.—Bridges.
Good signifies,
1. That which is just and right.
2. That which is profitable.
3. That which is pleasing.
4. That which is full and complete (Gen_15:15).… Men must grow from knowledge of some good duties to knowledge of others. They must go on till they know every good path.—Francis Taylor.
Pro_2:10. Another picture of the results of living unto the Lord. Not that only to which it leads a man, but that from which it saves him, must be brought into view. Here, as before, there is a gradation in the two clauses. It is one thing for wisdom to find entrance into the soul, another to be welcomed as a “pleasant guest.”—Plumptre.
Spiritual joy mortifies sin. His mouth hankers not after homely provision that hath lately tasted of delicate sustenance. Pleasure there must be in the ways of God because therein men let out all their souls into God, the foundation of all good, hence they so infinitely distaste sin’s tasteless fooleries.—Trapp.
It was to open thus thy heart for wisdom that Christ’s heart was open upon the cross; it was to make an entrance for wisdom into thy heart that the spear entered into the heart of thy Saviour. And what though wisdom enter thy heart at a breach, a wound? It is this that must heal thee and make thee sound.—Jermin.
Here only has it any life or power. While it is only in the head it is dry, speculative, barren.… Before it was the object of our search; now, having found it, it is our pleasure.—Bridges.
It is pleasure that can compete with pleasure. It is joy and peace in believing that can overcome the pleasures of sin.… A human soul, by its very constitution, cannot be frightened into holiness. It is made for being won, and won it will be, by the drawing on this side or the drawing on that.—Arnot.
Pro_2:11. The man who has let knowledge come into his heart does but watch afterwards as he does in common walking: “discretion” or “reflection” will keep him straight.—Miller.
Men are subject to many dangers till they get Wisdom
1. Their reputation is in danger.
2. Their goods and estates are in danger.
3. Their body and life are in danger.
4. The soul is in danger of eternal misery. Therefore sin is called folly, and wicked men that go to hell are chronicled as fools all over this book.—Francis Taylor.
Though the heart of man by nature be a rebellious fort, so that wisdom at first must enter it by a kind of force, yet, being entered, it makes itself pleasant, and keeps and preserves the soul which kept her out.—Jermin.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v5 Also; Pro 3:7, (See Scofield "Psa 19:9").
fear
Also; Pro 3:7, (See Scofield "Psa 19:9").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v10 Wisdom Preserves from Folly
Wisdom Preserves from Folly
v. 10. When wisdom entereth into thine heart, not as a transient guest, but for the purpose of making it a permanent residence, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul, affording the only genuine pleasure and satisfaction,
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v. 11. discretion shall preserve thee, that is, proper reflection, a careful consideration, will serve to keep the prudent from foolish steps, understanding shall keep thee, enabling one to judge rightly in any given situation,
v. 12. to deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from wicked conduct, from the man that speaketh froward things, uttering perverse and malicious speeches;
v. 13. who, that is, such people in general, leave the paths of uprightness, where their conduct was in agreement with the Word and will of God, to walk In the ways of darkness, being habitually active in the pursuit of wickedness;
v. 14. who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness, the maliciousness and deceitfulness, of the wicked;
v. 15. whose ways are crooked, literally, "who with respect to their ways are crooked," and they froward, full of malice and deceit, in their paths;
v. 16. to deliver thee from the strange woman, the unknown, foreign, unattached, her existence and way of conduct being full of dangers to youth, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words, making use of wanton speeches,
v. 17. which forsaketh the guide of her youth, her lawful husband, and forgetteth the covenant of her God, which demands purity and chastity from every woman.
v. 18. For her house inclineth unto death, sinking down to destruction, and her paths unto the dead, the shadowy forms of those who dwell in the kingdom of the dead, said, in this case, of everlasting damnation.
v. 19. None that go unto her return again, being swallowed up by the destruction which is her punishment, neither take they hold of the paths of life, they forfeit their chance to reach the ways of life once more. Over against the temptation from such wicked men and wanton women is placed the companionship of godly people.
v. 20. That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, following their conduct, and keep the paths of the righteous, that being the object of this admonition.
v. 21. For the upright shall dwell in the land, enjoying earthly prosperity, as the blessing of the Lord, and the perfect shall remain in it.
v. 22. But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, utterly destroyed, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it, this punishment being all the greater in the case of the Israelites because their land was the Land of Promise and a removal from it was equivalent to total rejection by the Lord. But the same facts, in substance, apply to men at this time, and therefore the warning of wisdom should be heeded most carefully.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv6, 9, 11, 14, 16, 18, 20 from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding
from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding
Here "mouth" represents Yahweh himself or what he says. AT: "from Yahweh comes knowledge and understanding" or "Yahweh tells us what we need to know and understand" (See: Synecdoche)
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He stores up sound wisdom for those who please him
Yahweh teaching wisdom to people is spoken of as if wisdom were an item that Yahweh stores and gives to people. AT: "He teaches what is truly wise to those who please him" (See: Metaphor)
sound
"dependable"
he is a shield for those
Yahweh being able to protect his people is spoken of as if he were a shield. AT: "God protects those" (See: Metaphor)
who walk in integrity
A person behaving with integrity is spoken of as if they were walking in integrity. AT: "who behave with integrity" or "who live their lives as they should" (See: Metaphor)
he guards the paths of justice
Possible meanings are 1) justice itself is spoken of as if it were a path. AT: "God makes sure that people act justly" or 2) a person's life is spoken of as if it were a path. AT: "God protects those who act justly" (See: Metaphor)
preserve the way of those
A person's life is spoken of as if it were a way or road. AT: "protect those" (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
Yahweh
wise
shield
walk
integrity
just
faithful
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv5, 6, 7, 10, 12, 16, 17, 18, 20 2:5 The quest for true wisdom leads to God.…
2:5 The quest for true wisdom leads to God. Wisdom is impossible without fear of the Lord (1:7).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.