My son, give me your heart; and let your eyes keep in my ways.
Parallel Translations
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My son, give me your heart; and let your eyes keep in my ways.
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My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.
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My son, give me thy heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.
Cross-references (15)
Passages linked to Proverbs 23:26 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 119:2 Blessed are those who keep his statutes, who seek him with their whole heart.
- Psalms 119:9-11 How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. With my whole heart, I have sought you. Don’t let me wander from your commandments. I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
- Deuteronomy 6:5 You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.
- Matthew 10:37-38 He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me isn’t worthy of me. He who doesn’t take his cross and follow after me, isn’t worthy of me.
- Proverbs 4:25-27 Let your eyes look straight ahead. Fix your gaze directly before you. Make the path of your feet level. Let all of your ways be established. Don’t turn to the right hand nor to the left. Remove your foot from evil.
- Proverbs 3:1 My son, don’t forget my teaching; but let your heart keep my commandments:
- Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life.
- 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 For the love of Christ constrains us; because we judge thus, that one died for all, therefore all died. He died for all, that those who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who for their sakes died and rose again.
- Ephesians 3:17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, to the end that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
- Proverbs 4:4 He taught me, and said to me: “Let your heart retain my words. Keep my commandments, and live.
- Psalms 107:43 Whoever is wise will pay attention to these things. They will consider the loving kindnesses of Yahweh.
- Hosea 14:9 Who is wise, that he may understand these things? Who is prudent, that he may know them? For the ways of Yahweh are right, and the righteous walk in them; But the rebellious stumble in them.
- Luke 14:26 “If anyone comes to me, and doesn’t disregard his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he can’t be my disciple.
- 2 Corinthians 8:5 This was not as we had expected, but first they gave their own selves to the Lord, and to us through the will of God.
- 2 Peter 1:19 We have the more sure word of prophecy; and you do well that you heed it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns, and the morning star arises in your hearts:
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (17 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Give thyself wholly to wisdom.
Give thyself wholly to wisdom.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Pro 23:26 My son, give me thine heart, and…
Pro 23:26 My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.
Ver. 26. My son, give me thy heart.] There is a strange strife, not of earthly, but of spiritual powers, after the possession of man’s heart; and through man’s transgression Satan hath gotten strong hold thereon. {Act 5:3 Luk 22:3} Once he strove about a dead man’s body; {Jdg 1:9} but doubtless his purpose was therein to have set up an idol for himself in the hearts of the living. If Satan can get the heart, he is safe; and so is Satan’s vicar. It was a watchword in Pope Gregory XIII’s time, in Queen Elizabeth’s days, My son, give me thy heart; be in heart a Papist, and then go to church, dissemble, do what ye will. Among the heathens, when the beast was cut up for sacrifice, the first thing the priest looked upon was the heart; and if the heart were naught, the sacrifice was rejected. As among the Jews Philo observeth, that the heart, and the horns, or brains were never offered with the sacrifices; for they are the fountains and secret cells wherein lurks, and out of which flows, all impiety. But whatever was in the type, this is in the truth. As the heart is by nature, the Lord will have none of it; yet till the heart be renewed and given to the Lord, he will accept nothing that can come from man. {Isa 29:13; Isa 66:3 Jer 42:20} Of the heart God seems to say to us, as Joseph did to his brethren concerning Benjamin, "Ye shall not see my face without it." {Gen 43:3} The heart is Christ’s bed of spices, {Son 6:2} wherein he delights, {Psa 51:17} and for which he wisheth, "O that there were such an heart," &c. {Deu 5:29}
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And let thine eyes observe my ways.] Look well to thy pattern, so fairly pencilled out unto thee; take true stitches out of this perfect sampler; take right strokes after this incomparable copy. The Hebrew here hath it, Let thine eyes run through my ways. Get a full prospect of them, and diligently peruse them. Fix and feed thine eyes upon the best objects, and restrain them from gazing upon forbidden beauties, lest they prove to be windows of wickedness, and loopholes of lust.
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 Give me thine heart; receive my counsels with thy…
Give me thine heart; receive my counsels with thy whole heart. Solomon speaking in God’s name and cause, requires the heart to be given to him.
Let thine eyes observe, let thy mind seriously and practically consider, my ways; either,
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1. The ways in which I have walked, my evil practices; take warning by my sad example. Or,
2. The ways which I prescribe to you; as the apostles called the gospel which they preached their gospel, 1Th 1:5; 2Th 2:8.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain My son, give me thine heart,.... These words are…
My son, give me thine heart,.... These words are not the words of Solomon to his son, for a greater than Solomon is here; besides, the claim and possession of the heart do not belong to a creature, but to God; but they are the words of Wisdom, or Christ, to everyone of his sons, the children the Father has given him in covenant; who are adopted through him, regenerated by his Spirit and grace, begotten by his word and ministers as instruments, and born and brought up in his church, and to whom he stands in the relation of the everlasting Father. The heart of a wicked man is little worth, and not worth having; Satan has the possession of it, and fills it, and influences and draws it at his pleasure; the world is set in it, and there is no room for any other; sensual lusts and pleasures, whoredom, wine, and new wine, take away the heart, Hos 4:11; and it is to those this exhortation is opposed, as appears from the following verses; and the sense is, give not thine heart to women, nor to wine, but to me. Christ should have the hearts and affections of his people, and he only; he is to be loved with the whole heart, sincerely, and above all things else; and it is a good man's heart he desires; a broken and a contrite heart is not despised by him, he binds it up; a heart purified by faith in his blood, a new heart and a new spirit, in which his laws are put and written; a heart to know him, fear him, love him, and believe in him: and as he requites the heart in the exercise of every grace, as faith, fear, and love; so in the performance of, every duty, which, without the heart, is of no avail; as in prayer, singing of praise, and hearing the word, and other religious services. And it is but reasonable service, that Christ should have the hearts of his children, since he stands in such near relations to them; as father, husband, friend, and brother; is all in all unto them; is so lovely a person himself, and has so loved them, and given himself, his life, his blood, his all, for them;
and let thine eyes observe my ways; the ways which Wisdom, or Christ, took in eternity and time, in order to bring about the salvation of his people; his steps in the covenant of grace, as their surety; his coming down from heaven to earth, to do the will of his Father; his going away from hence, by submitting to the accursed death of the cross, thereby making peace and reconciliation for sin; his ascension to heaven, and session at the right hand of God, where he ever lives to intercede for us; the various methods of his grace, in calling and visiting his people, supplying their wants, protecting their persons, and preserving them safe to his kingdom and glory: these should be observed, with attention and wonder, to the encouragement of faith, and for the magnifying of the riches of grace: also the ways which he prescribes and directs his children to walk in; as himself, who is the way to the Father, the way of life and salvation; the way of faith in him, the way of truth concerning hath; the way of holiness and righteousness he leads in; the ways of his commandments; the ways in which he himself walked; all which should be observed by the enlightened eyes of the understanding, and be imitated, and copied after, and walked in; respect should be had unto them all; they should be observed and kept, as they are directed to, and in faith and love, without depending on them. Some render the words, "let thine eyes run through my ways" (f): take a thorough and exact view of them. There is a letter transposed in the word rendered "observe", which occasions a different reading; "as is a man's heart, so are his eyes"; if his heart is to Christ, his eyes will be in his ways; and, where Christ's ways are not observed, the heart is not given to him.
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(f) "currant", Mercerus; "currere edomentur", Schultens.
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 Give me - Solomon here speaks in God's name.
Give me - Solomon here speaks in God's name.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 26. My son, give me thine heart] This…
Verse 26. My son, give me thine heart] This is the speech of God to every human soul; give thy affections to God, so as to love him with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength.
And let thine eyes observe my ways.] Be obedient to me in all things. My son, thou believest that I AM, and that I AM the Fountain of all good. Give me thy heart; it is I alone who can make thee happy. Observe my ways-follow me; do what is right in my sight. This exhortation contains three words: BELIEVE LOVE, OBEY! This is the sum of God's counsels to every child of man.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Pro 23:26. My son, give me thy heart —…
Pro 23:26. My son, give me thy heart — Receive my counsels with thy whole heart; for the heart being esteemed by the ancients the seat of the affections, Solomon may, accordingly, be properly understood as calling upon his disciples to embrace his doctrine and injunctions with the warmest affection, and to reduce them to practice without any reluctance or delay; and let thine eyes observe my ways — Let thy mind seriously and practically consider the ways which I prescribe to thee. Or, rather, God is here speaking by Solomon, and saying to every true child of his, Son, daughter, give me thy heart. Certainly the heart is that which God especially requires, and calls for from every one of us; whatever we give, if we do not give him our hearts, it will not be accepted: he must be the chief object of our love. Our thoughts must dwell upon him; and on him, as our chief good and highest end, our most fervent affections must be placed. We must not think to divide our hearts between him and the world: he will have the whole heart, or no part of it. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles Bridges 1846 · Public Domain Solomon here manifestly rises above himself, and speaks in…
Solomon here manifestly rises above himself, and speaks in the name and person of Divine Wisdom. (Pro 1:20 ; Pro 8:1 .) For who else could claim the gift of the heart — the work of his own hands, the purchase of his own blood? My son. Such is the relationship which God acknowledges; including every blessing which he can give, and all the obedience that he can claim. No obedience can be without the believing and practical acknowledgment of this relation — My son; not a stranger; not an enemy; not a slave, but a son! invited to return. An amnesty of the past, a perpetual jubilee of joy, awaits thee at thy Father’s house.
Many are the claimants for the heart. Heaven and hell contend for it. The world with its riches, honors, and pleasures; and science with its more plausible charms — cries — Give me thine heart. Nay, even Satan dares to put in a loud and urgent plea — "If thou wilt worship me, all shall be thine." (Luk 4:7 .) The loving Father calls — My son, give me thine heart. The answer too often is — ’I have no heart for God. It is engaged to the world. I cannot make up my mind to be religious, at least not yet.’ And so, even where there is no wickedness — nay, perhaps even some plausible semblance of piety, "the darling is given to the lion;" the heart to the murderer. Not one is naturally ready with the gift to him, who alone deserves it. A few only hearken in a moment of conviction; and then, not till they have proved to their cost the falsehood and disappointment of all other claimants.
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An honor indeed he puts upon his creatures, in condescending to receive as a gift, what is his most rightful debt, and what he might at any moment command for himself. But his call wakens his child to recollection and conscious dependence. It is the Father’s striving with his child’s will. It is the test of his child’s obedience. It is a pointed arrow of conviction to his conscience for willful resistance to his call; the only hindrance to his giving his heart being, that he has already given it to claimants infinitely unworthy of it. ’My guilt is damnable’ — exclaimed an humbled saint — ’in withholding my heart; because I know and believe his love, and what Christ has done to gain my consent — to what? — my own happiness.’†1
And yet this call to many is utterly without interest, as if it were to lay up a treasure in the clouds. To others it is rather like the funeral knell than a jubilee sound; as if we were called to surrender all our pleasures, instead of adding to them one of pre-eminent value and pervading influence. Indeed most truly is our happiness bound up in this gracious command. For what else can ’fill up the aching void’ within, but "the love of God shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost"? (Rom 5:5 .) Created objects only seem to widen the chasm. If our appetite is satisfied, it is but for a moment; while every irritation increases the general dissatisfaction. The heart, willfully remaining at a distance from God, can find its home only in a land of shadows. It grasps nothing solidly; while its incessant conflict with conscience is, "the troubled sea, which cannot rest." (Isa 57:20 .)
Little indeed is it thought, who demands the gift. It is claimed by the ever-blessed God, whose smile is heaven, whose frown is hell. To rise to a higher obligation — it is claimed by Him, whose love brought him from the throne of glory to the accursed cross; whose grace will cast out none that come to him; who will find a place for his bitterest enemies near to his heart; who will be to each of them all that a lost sinner, with an immortal soul, can need; who "is able to save to the uttermost;" who has saved countless myriads; who is ready — Sinner! ponder it well — to save thee.
But remember — he will never abate one atom of his full requisitions. He asks not for magnificent temples, costly sacrifices, pompous ceremonials, but for the spiritual worship of the heart.†2 ’He demands, not the hands, the feet, the tongue, the ears; but that which is the moving principle of all the members — the heart.’†3 Give that; — It is all he desires. Withhold it; — He rejects all besides. What the heart does not do, is as if it were not done at all. The cold formality of a lifeless faith is a dead, not "a living," not therefore a "reasonable" or acceptable, "service." (Rom 12:1 .) "How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me?" (Jdg 16:15 .) The man, who gives his heart to the world, rises above all his difficulties, persevering, resolved, successful. Never can we triumph over the hindrances of the gospel without those supports, known only in the full engagement of the heart to God.
Never will he dispense with this claim of the love of all our heart.†4 We must not deal with him as Lot’s wife, moving slowly forward, while the heart is behind;†5 or like Orpah, stopping at the very moment that the cross is to be borne.†6 Dream not of dividing the heart with the world.†7 He loves a broken heart. He spurns a divided heart. Satan will seem to be content with a part; because he knows that, as God will accept nothing less than all, the whole will thus fall to him. It is far beneath the Majesty of heaven to possess anything less than the throne (Mat 10:37 ); — a mean throne at best for the Almighty Sovereign of the universe. But his claims are paramount. And never are we truly our own, till we unreservedly acknowledge ourselves to be his. Indeed all false religions in the world are but vain substitutes for this plain and most happy duty. However plausible the show, if it does not lead the heart to God, it is fearful delusion. Whatever principles, practices, or society, turn our hearts from God — it is the highroad of ruin.
And doth he ask his child for his heart; and will he refuse to give it? Does it open immediately to Satan and the world — yea — even before they knock? and is the beseeching Father to be excluded? Are there no "bands of love to draw"? (Hos 11:4 .) Out of what rock was it hewn, that it can be proof against the pleadings of Divine parental love? Canst thou not give it him? Surely hadst thou the will, thou wouldest have the power too. If thou hast the faintest will, at least shew though but the feeblest effort. Offer it, though but with a trembling hand. His hand will meet thine, and take it of thee. The happiest day of life is now arrived; a day, the recollection of which will never be tinged with one shade of regret.
If thou hast not done it, do it now. Let there be no half-giving. To hesitate — to delay — is to refuse. And why should you delay? Has Satan been so good a Master, that you are reluctant to leave him? Can you find a better friend than Him, who hath cared so long for you, than Him who hath died for you? Now then, with the help of the Divine Spirit, without whom this cannot be done — resolve, decide — once for all — for ever. But if thou hast done it, do it daily. He is still the same; still as deserving of your heart as ever. Thou canst not give it to him too soon or too often. The command does not hale us (as Saul haled his victims, Act 8:3 ) to the service of God. The citadel is not stormed, but it opens its gates. A principle of immortal energy constrains the heart; yet only by "making it willing." (Psa 110:3 .) The reluctancy is melted away, and by the power of love the heart is "compelled to come." (2Co 5:14 . Luk 14:23 .) What so free as a gift? And never is the will so free, as when it moves towards God. Weak as he is, yet the child can testify, that to give his heart is his first desire; that he never designs or intends anything less; that he longs for the consuming of every corruption, which hinders the full surrender. Oh my God! thy grace alone can enable me. I am ashamed of the gift. Nothing can be more unworthy. But because it is the purchase of thy death, and thou callest for it, it is thine own, it shall be thine. Take it then as it is. Make it what it is not. Keep it with thyself. Bind it so close to thee with the cords of love, that it may never cast a wishful look away from thee. Had I a thousand hearts, all should be thine. Thou alone canst fill it. Thou alone art worthy of it. Exalt thine own throne in it for ever.
Think how all hangs on this point. Give it; all the blessings of the gospel are yours. Refuse; you trample them under your feet; you live a life of base rebellion to your best friend, and of cruel madness to your own soul; you live without Christ; you will die without hope; accursed, lost for ever. The command of authority is an invitation of love — Dwell upon it. Think how right, how reasonable, how winning, how much it is beyond everything else, how much worth accepting in spite of every hindrance and objection. How much beyond every other joy is the delight of giving your heart to the tender compassionate love of your dying Savior! And then, having made him the object of your desires, the sum of all your wishes for happiness and for dependence; be determined to seek, and confident to find all in him, and resolute in rejecting every temptation to seek it elsewhere. Having therefore given your heart, let your eyes observe his ways. (Pro 4:23-25 .) ’Our heart given, gives all the rest. This makes eyes, ears, tongue and hands, and all, to be holy, as God’s peculiar.’†8 His word will be our rule;†9 His Providence our interpreter.†10 The heart, no longer divided, is now at full liberty for the service. The eyes, no longer wandering, like "the eyes of a fool, in the ends of the earth" (Pro 17:24 ), are now fixed upon an object supremely worthy, and abundantly satisfying.
Here also is our power of resistance to the gross seductions of the enemy (Pro 2:10-11, Pro 2:16 ) — "I have opened my mouth unto the LORD, and I cannot," I will not, go back.†11 He hath my heart, and he shall have it. So long indeed as we carry about us a body of sin and death, we need a continual supply of "the Spirit to mortify the deeds of the body."†12 But in our new atmosphere of heavenly light, the mask falls off from the allurements of sin. The strange woman appears frightful as a deep ditch, or, what is even more, a narrow pit, with no room to escape.†13 Mighty and strong men have fallen into it.†14 The tempter hides the danger, while she lays wait for the prey; and thus she successfully increases the transgressors among men.†15 Blessed be God! if while fleshly lusts "have destroyed their thousands and tens of thousands" (Pro 7:26 ), we have, by giving our heart to its Divine Lord, been enabled to abhor the temptation, and to ascribe to our faithful-keeping God the glory of our deliverance.
Footnotes:
†1 Adams’ Private Thoughts.
†2 Isa 66:1-2. Joh 4:23-24 .
†3 ’Non caput, non manum, non pedem, non cætera membra; sed omnium membrorum principium, radicem, et vitæ humanæ fontem, qui cor est, dari sibi Deus postulat.’ - Glass, Philolog. Sacr. lib. ii. pars i. Tract. ii. sect. iii.
†4 Mat 22:37.
†5 Gen 19:26.
†6 Rth 1:14.
†7 Mat 6:24.
†8 Leighton on 1Pe 2:4-5 .
†9 Pro 6:23. Psa 119:9-11, Psa 119:105 .
†10 Psa 107:43.
†11 Jdg 11:35. Compare Gen 39:9 .
†12 Rom 8:13. Gal 5:16 .
†13 Pro 22:14; Pro 2:19 .
†14 1Ki 11:1-8, with Neh 13:26 . Jdg 16:4-20 . ’He (Samson) broke the bonds of his enemies; but he could not break the bonds of his own lusts. He choked the lion; but he could not choke his own wanton love.’ Ambrose quoted by Jermin in loco.
†15 Pro 7:6, &c.; Pro 9:13-18 .
Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs (1846) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain A solemn warning against whoredom and drunkenness (Hos 4:11).
A solemn warning against whoredom and drunkenness (Hos 4:11).
give me--This is the address of that divine wisdom so often presented (Pro 8:1; Pro 9:3, &c.).
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heart--confidence.
observe--keep.
my ways--such as I teach you (Pro 3:17; Pro 9:6).
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 26. My son, give me thine heart — Some…
26. My son, give me thine heart — Some commentators understand this as simply the language of Solomon to his pupil: Give me thine affectionate attention, and observe my instructions; but others take it as the direct address of God to the soul of man, or of the Divine Hhokmah. So Clarke: “This is the speech of God to any human soul.” Muenscher: “Solomon would seem here to rise above himself, and to speak in the name and person of the Divine Wisdom.” As the writer gives us no intimation of any such change of speaker, and as the context scarcely justifies the supposition, I incline to the opinion that the writer is here speaking in his own proper person. Nevertheless, it is true that the words are very befitting the mouth of our Father who is in heaven; and, though Solomon in the old dispensation may not expressly represent him as speaking in such terms, the whole tenor of the new dispensation teaches us to regard Him as even saying to us, “My son, give me thine heart.” Zockler says: “The speaker here is evidently Wisdom personified, as in Pro_7:6; Pro_7:5.”
Let thine eyes observe — Rather, delight in, my ways.
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 26. observe] This is the corrected Heb. text to…
26. observe] This is the corrected Heb. text to be read. The written text is, delight in, R.V. text.
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 (26) My son, give me thine heart.—For that is…
(26) My son, give me thine heart.—For that is the one gift alone worthy of acceptance which man can offer to God, and the only one which God will accept; an offering which man endeavours to keep for himself, substituting for it alms, unreal prayers, outward observances of religion, and obedience in matters of little moment. (Comp. Mat_22:37.)
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 Vers. 26-28. A hexastich, in which Wisdom herself is…
Vers. 26-28. A hexastich, in which Wisdom herself is the speaker, and warns against unchastity.
Give me thine heart. Do not waste thy powers and affections on evil objects, but set thy soul with all its best faculties on me, Wisdom, who alone can satisfy its desires and aspirations. There is an eloquent passage in a tract that has gone by St. Bernard"s name, though not written by him ("Epist. de Reg. Vitae Spirit.," 2:1604, Mab.), which is worth quoting: "Cor nostrum nihil dignius perficere potest, quam ut ei se restituat a quo factum est: et hoc a nobis Dominus expetit dicens, "Fili, da mihi cor tuum." Tunc siquidem cor hominum Deo datur, quando omnia cogitatio terminatur in eum, gyrat et circumflectitur super eum, et nihil vult possidere praeter eum. Sicque colligato sibi animo, eum diligit, ut sine ipso amarus sit omnis amor. Nec aliud dixerim cor Domino dare, quam ipsum captivare in omni obsequium ejus, et ita voluntati ejus ex toto supponere, ut nihil aliud velit, quam quod noverit eum velle." Let thine eyes observe my ways; keep closely to the paths of virtue which I teach thee, especially the path of purity, as the next verse shows. Vulgate, Vias meas custodiant; Septuagint, Emareitwsan . This is the reading of the Keri, hnrxOTi the Khetib, which Delitzsch and others prefer, reads hnxrTi, "delight in" my ways.
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Our Father"s claim.
I GOD CLAIMS NOTHING LESS THAN THE HEART.
1. Some offer belief of the intellect. It is well to understand truth and to believe in that which is revealed about God. We may give many thoughts to God; but these, without the heart, will not satisfy him.
2. Some offer external service. This is claimed by God, but only as the fruit of a loving heart. Given in hard, mechanical work, without love or devotion, it is worthless in the sight of God.
3. Some offer money, sacrifices, worship. All such things are acceptable only as growing out of the heart. In heartless worshippers these are but mockery., and are rejected by God.
4. God"s true children must give their hearts. They must give themselves, their inmost being, their very lives, thoughts, affections, desires.
II THE HEART IS CLAIMED BY GOD ABOVE ALL.
1. The world tries to claim it. Some men are enchained in its fascinations, and so withdrawn from God.
2. Sin endeavours to ensnare it. If it is not a divine possession, it will be held by sin. It cannot be detached. It will be given to evil if not to God.
3. Self hopes to hold it. In selfishness men would retain their hearts, their love and devotion, for their own interests. Yet in doing so their hearts harden, shrink, and perish.
4. God has the supreme claim on the heart. We must not be satisfied with devotion to the Church or with good will towards men. The first duty is to love the Lord our God with all our heart. He mast be first.
III THE HEART MUST BE WHOLLY GIVEN TO GOD. We must not be content to love God half-heartedly. We must give our heart to God, and give it wholly, if we would satisfy his claim.
1. Give it in affection. This means a supreme surrender of our heart"s love to God.
2. Give it in devotion. God expects loyal service, not merely the adoration of the lips or the work of the hands, but the consecration of the very soul and life and being to him.
3. Give it in trust. If one truly gives his heart to God, it is put in a safe place, to be guarded from harm and sin. God is the safest treasury for man"s most precious treasure. When the heart is entrusted to God, he will not betray it; its affection and devotion will lead it not to desire evil; it will be in a sanctuary amid the storms and battles of life.
IV GOD CLAIMS THE HEART OF HIS SON BECAUSE HE IS A FATHER. This is a family claim. The call, My son, justifies the claim, "Give me thine heart.
1. The claim rests on the obligation of the filial tie. A young man may freely choose or refuse a particular person to be his friend. But he is not thus free in regard to his father. He owes duty and love to a father. God is represented by Malachi as saying, "A son honoreth his father... if then I be a Father, where is mine honour?". (Mal_1:6)
2. The claim is strengthened by the love of God. He is a good Father; he does not ask his son to do what he has not done himself. God first gives his heart to his child, and then seeks the child"s heart in return.
V THE HEART MUST BE GIVEN VOLUNTARILY TO GOD. God is Lord of all, and he has a right to enforce universal obedience. But he cares not for loveless, compulsory service. Therefore he condescends to wait for willing devotion, and to ask for the heart of his son.
1. Perhaps the heart is not yet given to God. God seeks what he has not received.
2. The heart can only be given by decision of will. We shall remain away from God unless we decide to respond to the call of our Father, and freely offer him our hearts.
Vers. 26-28. The harlot"s true character.
I IT IS DANGEROUS AND PERNICIOUS. (Vers. 27, 28) It may be compared to a deep pit or to a narrow and deep well, out of which, if one falls therein, there is no easy escape. Or to a fell robber lying in wait for the unwary and the weak.
II THE TRUE RESOURCE OF SAFETY. This is in the heart given up to God (ver. 26). If that heart be already polluted, he can wash it and make it clean. But he who yields his heart to the prince of this world becomes the enemy of God and of his eternal wisdom. J.
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 My son, give Me thine heart.
Pro_23:26
My son, give Me thine heart.
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The heart a gift for God
I. Love prompts this request of wisdom.
1. Only love seeks after love. We care not to be loved by those whom we do not love. When God asks human love it is because God is love. It is an instance of infinite condescension that God should say, My son, give Me thine heart. The Great Benefactor becomes Himself the petitioner. It must be because of the great love of God that He condescends to put Himself into such a position.
2. It can only be supreme love which leads wisdom to seek after the heart of such poor things as we are. Wisdom must be of a most condescending kind. Only infinite love would come a-wooing to such hearts as ours. For what has God to gain? He is too great for us to make Him greater, too good for us to make Him better, too glorious for us to make Him more illustrious. He can gain nothing--we gain everything by the gift. Yet He does gain a son.
II. Wisdom persuades us to obey this loving request. To take our hearts and give them up to God is the wisest thing that we can do.
1. Many others crave our hearts, and our hearts will surely go one way or the other. It is well to guard your heart with all the apparatus that wisdom can provide.
2. Wisdom urges to immediate decision, because it is well to have a heart at once occupied and taken up by Christ.
III. Let us be wise enough at once to attend to this admonition of wisdom. When? At once. How? Freely. Do it thoroughly. You cannot give Christ a piece of a heart, for a heart that is halved is killed. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The heart for God
Here thou art a giver, God the petitioner, thy heart the gift which He claimeth by the name of a son. Once God required offerings and sacrifices which men were unwilling to give, because it was a dear service of God; but now He saith that the heart is more than all burnt-offerings and sacrifices. Thy alms to the poor, thy counsel to the simple, thy inheritance to thy children, thy tribute to Caesar, but thy heart to God. Not a piece of thy heart, not a room in thy heart, but thy heart. Some have a double heart, but God acknowledgeth only one heart. God doth not require the heart as though He required no more but the heart. The heart carrieth the whole man with it. There is much strife for the possession of mans heart. Unless we feel that we owe it to God we shall but give it against our will. The wise man, picking out the heart for God, spake as though he would set out the pleasantest, and fairest, and easiest way to serve Him, without any grudging or toil or weariness. Touch but the first link, all the rest will follow; so set the heart a-going, and it is like the poise of a clock, which turns all the wheels one way. Gods requiring the heart showeth that all the things of this world are not worthy of it, or even a piece of it. We should serve God for Himself, and not for ourselves, as he which gives his heart doth all for love. God challengeth the heart by the name of a Son. Therefore now ask your hearts whose they are, and how they are moved with these words. What shall become of hearts when He who craves them now shall judge them hereafter? (H. Smith.)
The Divine request
I. The nature of this request. Heart is another term for soul, or the immortal part of man. The soul of man possesses certain powers or faculties, by which he is enabled to reason, judge, remember, choose, determine, and perform all the acts of rationality. To render the heart to God is--
1. To give the understanding to know and contemplate the Divine perfections. The understanding is the leading faculty in the human soul.
2. To offer Him the will. Every man possesses a self-determining power.
3. To surrender the affections to Him. This giving of the heart must be done, in an entire dependence on Divine aid; promptly, cheerfully, entirely, perpetually.
II. The reasons for complying with the request.
1. Gratitude.
2. Fidelity. You have promised to do it, resolved to do it.
3. Justice. Every human being is emphatically the property of the Most High. God is the absolute, unalienable proprietor of all. In demanding your heart He asks for that to which He alone has right.
4. Safety. This depends on being in the holy keeping of God.
5. Self-interest. Here your duty and interest go hand in hand. Inferences:
(1) That nothing will be acceptable with God where the heart is withheld.
(2) That God uses all conceivable methods to induce men to give Him their hearts.
(3) Everything in religion, on the part of man, must be voluntary. (R. Treffry.)
Gods appeal to man
I. The human heart is not by nature in Gods possession. This fact is sustained--
1. By mans actions. Mans actions in his unregenerated state prove that his heart is not under the control of the Divine. Man in this condition has no sympathy with the truths, realities, principles, and pleasures of the blessed gospel of God.
2. By the experience of the good of all ages.
3. By the testimony of Gods Word.
II. God desires possession of the human heart. This desire of God--
1. Is founded on judicial ground. It is only right that God should have the heart. We are not our own; He who made us has an inalienable right to all we have and are. He bought us with the precious blood of Christ.
2. Is founded on filial relation--My son, give Me thine heart. God and man are near relations; man is the offspring of the Divine.
3. Is founded on Gods love to man. Gods love to man prompted Him to make this appeal. He desires his heart that He may enlighten it with His Spirit, cleanse it with the blood of His Son.
III. God desires a willing possession of the human heart--My son, give Me thine heart. God says, Give Me thine heart wholly, voluntarily, unreservedly, gratefully, and believingly.
1. That God does not exercise compulsion on mans will-- Give Me thine heart. God recognises mans free agency.
2. The dignity of man recognised by God. Mans consent is necessary.
3. The glory of the Divine character. If God would compel man to serve Him and surrender to Him his heart, his service would not render any glory to God; the service would be void of virtue. (J. O. Griffiths.)
Gods request and mans duty
Take the words as those of a greater than Solomon.
I. Why does God make any request of man? God loves a voluntary offering, a willing surrender from such a creature as man. A man is able to disobey. God is pleased when man yields Him a hearty and willing obedience.
II. What is the request God makes of men. Give Me thine heart. Heart is another name for the affections, and the affections are as essential a part of every man as his intellect or his will. God says, Give Me thy supreme love. Here is a demand which few men comply with, which none in their natural state comply with. Men will give God everything except their hearts. This is a request concerning which some people stand in doubt whether they ought to comply with it.
III. Why does God make this request of man?
1. Because the heart is the most valuable thing we have.
2. Where the heart is given, everything else will follow.
3. The heart can never be happy until it is given to God. So that God makes this request not for any selfish reason, but in the greatest goodness, and the most God-like loving-kindness.
IV. How does God make this request of man? In various ways. He does it by all the comforts of our present life. He does it by experience of the sorrows of life. In the Cross of Jesus this request is uttered. (Francis Tucker, B.A.)
Giving the heart
I. The command.
1. Its nature. Thy heart--the centre of thought and life.
2. Its extent. Includes the will, strength, love.
3. Its reasonableness.
II. The obstacles.
1. Its singularity.
2. The tendency of human nature--to flee from, instead of drawing nigh to Him.
3. The worlds temptations.
4. The influence of Satan.
III. Encouragements.
1. Gods love.
2. Gods invitation.
3. Our desolate condition.
IV. Helps.
1. Earnestness.
2. Carefulness.
3. Jealous regard.
4. Prayer, and the means of grace. (Homilist.)
The Divine requisition
I. Explain the text.
1. Men do not naturally give their hearts to God.
2. God will not force us to comply with the demand.
3. To give the heart implies--
(1) That we heartily renounce all that God has forbidden.
(2) A hearty belief in the fulfilment of all the promises.
(3) That we seek and cleave to God constantly as our portion.
II. Enforce the text.
1. It is just and right.
2. Our interest requires it.
III. Now, what answer will you give my Lord to the text?
1. Oh, say some, I gave it long since. I am only sorry I did not give it before, and sorry I have so often backslidden in heart; but to whom shall I go?
2. Yes, says another, I desire and endeavour to do it; but what a struggle for life! Do not despair; lift it up as thou art able, and if darkness endure for a night, joy shall come in the morning; the Lord is nigh thee; He can loosen thy heart. Look up--the day of redemption draweth nigh.
3. Yes, says another--my heart? Do you desire that? Ask for my money, my tongue, my voice, my feet, my hands, anything and everything but that. It is otherwise engaged. My Master has not left a power in my commission to compromise it; He will not take aught else.
4. Yes, says another, by His help I will; it is right. I cannot be safe without, and it is kind He seeks it. But when? Tomorrow--to-night is impossible; in a very short time I will. I doubt thou wilt perish for ever! (J. Summerfield, M.A.)
The surrender of the heart to God
I. The reason why the surrender of the heart is indispensably required.
1. Nothing less is worthy the acceptance of Him who knows the most hidden purposes of the mind.
2. God alone can satisfy the heart.
3. None but God can renew or sanctify the heart, and thereby prepare it for the holiness of heaven.
II. In what manner this necessary command can be complied with.
III. The happy effects that will follow from a prompt and universal obedience. The morality of the gospel is founded on the basis of gratitude and the efficacious principle of love to God. A sense of His pardoning love and favour will be the completion of our wishes, the source of our joys, and the very foretaste of heaven. (John Grose, M.A.)
On giving the heart to God
I. What is meant by giving God our heart. Give Me all thine affections. Let Me be their object, let Me be the centre where they all meet. Give Me thy hope, thy fear, thy joy, thy desire, thy love, thy delight. Hate that which I hate; love what I command; desire what I promise. Rejoice in hope of My favour; fear My wrath; delight to do My will. Let all the powers of thy mind, under the influence of these affections, be given to Me. Let thine understanding be employed in comprehending and admiring My works, and ways; thy conscience in approving and disapproving according to My holy will; thy will in yielding an implicit conformity to Mine; thy memory in retaining the instructions and consolations of My Word.
II. How reasonable it is to give God our heart. If a fellow-creature is entitled to our affections because of his moral excellences, how much more God, who possesses these excellences in infinite perfection!
III. How blessed it is to give God our heart.
IV. How important it is to give God our heart. Without giving the heart to God all our works are only varnished sins, splendid vices, pleasing abominations. And further, it is the giving of the heart to God that prepares us for a better world.
V. How we may be enabled to give God our heart. (Miles Jackson.)
The surrender of the heart to God
God is to exercise lordship over all the capacities and volitions of the soul; over all our spiritual, moral, and intellectual powers.
I. The nature, extent, and reasonableness of this command. It implies a clear and enlightened understanding of the things of God, especially the gospel method of salvation. The command is reasonable in view of the relations of God to us.
II. Difficulties in making this surrender. Such as affect the young. Temptations of young manhood. Trials and evils of school experience. Entering business. Forms of recreation. Directions:
1. Be in earnest.
2. If you have given God your heart take care what goes in and what comes out of it.
3. Look well to whom beside you give any share of your heart.
4. Beware of carelessness in secret devotion.
5. Keep up attendance on holy ordinances. (Daniel Moore, M.A.)
The gift of the heart to God (to young men)
The heart is never truly ours until we have given it away. Until we have put it in some hand, or laid it upon some altar, we never fully realise its possession, never feel its power, never know its capacities, never understand how profound are its wants, nor how sublime are its aspirations. No man can live an earnest, social, or spiritual life, and keep his heart unto himself. And sooner or later the heart will be given either to some purpose, or to some object, or to some idol, or to God. Because of this necessity in the heart to belong to some object, the clamour for it is great. The applicants positively throng up the path of life. Fashion is there, and Pleasure is there, and Fame is there, and Knowledge is there, and all that fascination and subtlety and loud-sounding promises can do they import into their appeals. But a voice of tenderness and authority speaks to us from above, My son, give Me thine heart. This appeals to us by the simple majesty of right. Gods right to the heart lies in this--
1. He created that heart. And His request tells us at once of Gods right and of mans freedom.
2. He has bestowed, and is bestowing, continually upon it His care. Home and friendships, and the myriad bright hopes of life, testify that we have a Father in our God. God has been watching over your life, arranging with His wisdom and forethought and love the interests of your soul, and for all this care and anxious fatherhood, He asks this return, My son, give Me thine heart.
3. He has provided redemption for it. We are not our own, we are bought with a price. In asking for the heart God asks for that which controls the life--for your love, your supreme love, your undivided love. God does not want your service without your heart. Reasons why your heart should be given to God now:
(1) Because God alone can justify it.
(2) Because of the ten thousand snares which it will save you.
(3) Because the longer the gift is delayed the less probable is it that it will be ever given at all. Let it be a definite act; on your part a solemn consecration. (Henry Wonnacott.)
God requires the heart
I. The relation. My son. He speaks here, and not to a stranger--to a son (Eph_2:19). A son, not a slave. A son; thou wert not always so (Eph_2:1-4; Eph_2:13; 1Jn_3:2). A son; therefore, in a way of gratitude and mutual affection, give thy heart to thy Father.
II. The manner of yielding up the heart to God. It is here expressed by a way of giving.
1. Give it cheerfully (2Co_9:7).
2. Presently (2Co_6:2; Heb_4:7).
3. Give it; do not lend it only. Many lend their hearts under a sermon, like those in Eze_33:32. God is pleased to call that a gift which indeed is a debt (Rom_8:12; Rom_12:1).
III. To whom the heart must be given.
1. Not to the creature (Mat_10:37).
2. Not to the world (2Ti_4:10; 1Jn_2:15).
3. Not to Satan (Eph_2:2).
4. Not to sin (chap. 1:10).
5. Give it to Him who gave Himself for thee (Gal_2:20).
IV. The gift itself. The heart.
1. Not the outward man only, not the body only: God dwells not so much in these temples as in broken and contrite spirits. He doth not here ask for the shell, but the kernel; not for the casket, but for the jewel.
2. Not in appearance, but in reality.
3. Not a part, but the whole. God is like the true mother (1Ki_3:26).
4. Give thine heart, i.e., all the powers and faculties of thy soul.
To conclude:
1. Because it is His due. He is the maker, the purchaser (1Co_6:20); the spouse (Hos_2:19).
2. It is pleasing and acceptable to Him. He asks it; it is all thou canst give Him. It is a comprehensive gift. He that gives the heart will give all things (Rom_8:32).
3. All performances without the heart will be rejected (Amo_5:21-22).
4. Give thine heart to God: if it be a hard heart, He will make it new (Deu_30:6; Eze_36:26). (T. Hannam.)
First give the heart to God, and then delight will follow
Would it not be much more natural to reverse the order? First, learn to delight in Gods ways, and the more we rejoice in them the more easily we may learn to love Him, to give Him our heart. So it would seem love will grow out of delight. But how wise is Gods order! First the heart, then delight. For the second is, in reality, only possible when the first has been accomplished. Thousands strive to find pleasure in the ways of God, but because they have not yet given their heart to Him, because they still go their own ways, and God crosses those ways again and again, they only get as far as to bow their heads in a kind of dull resignation under some Divine visitation; but they never delight in all Gods ways; they never attain to a comforting hope which even in dark days does not cast away its confidence, and which has so great a reward. Oh, examine thyself, whence comes it that thou hast so often murmured at Gods ways, hast felt thyself hardly dealt with, and couldst not forgive Him that He did not lead thee by another way, that He took this away from thee and left that, when thou wouldst have chosen the contrary? It comes from this--thou hast not given thy whole heart to God! Only when thy heart shall rest in Him, and in His peace, will it be contented with all His dispensations. (T. Christlieb, D.D.)
Giving the heart to God a reasonable duty
Mankind are reasonable creatures, and the religion which God enjoins upon them is a reasonable service. But it has always been found extremely difficult to reason with men upon religious subjects. God here speaks with paternal affection and authority.
I. Explain the precept in the text.
1. It implies the exercising of love to God. To love, and to give the heart, signify the same thing.
2. It implies loving God for what He is in Himself. Men may love God for His favours, without loving His true character.
3. It implies loving God supremely. He is the Supreme Being, He possesses supreme natural, and moral excellences; and to love Him for these is to love Him supremely.
II. The reasonableness of complying with this Divine injunction. Consider--
1. That we are the offspring of God.
2. He is infinitely worthy of the love of all mankind.
3. The conduct, as well as the character, of God makes giving Him our hearts reasonable.
4. This will afford us the highest happiness that we are capable of enjoying.
5. There is really nothing to hinder us from thus giving our hearts. Improvement:
(1) It is reasonable that all men should be really religious.
(2) Not reasonable to think hardly of God if He rejects services when hearts are withheld.
(3) It is reasonable to exhort men to exercise supreme love to God immediately.
(4) Every scheme of religion which keeps hearts from God is unreasonable.
(5) It is most unreasonable to withdraw hearts from God when they have once been given. (N. Emmons, D.D.)
The hearts of young people demanded for God
The subject to consider is not the giving of your hearts to God, in opposition to hypocrisy and mere devotion, but the giving your hearts, that is, yourselves, to Him, preferably to all other competitors for your affection. Many will be courting your youthful affections, and endeavouring to engage your hearts to them--the world, the flesh, the devil, vain and wicked companions.
I. Who has the greatest claim to your hearts? Consider the equity and reasonableness of the demands of God, your Creator and Redeemer. Contrast with the pretensions of the devil, the world or the flesh.
II. Where may you bestow your hearts with the greatest advantage?
1. Suppose that the world and the flesh are able, at present, to make good their specious promises, what will come when the transitory pleasures are passed away?
2. Even with regard to this life, the advantage is far from being so much on their side as they would make you believe. The insinuations that religion will make you unhappy are mere calumnies that stand confuted by a thousand experiences to the contrary. The devil, the world, and the flesh promise you indeed riches, honour, and abundance of pleasures, but they promise what it is not in their power to give.
Motives urging to the immediate surrender of the heart to God are--
1. This will be particularly acceptable to God and the Redeemer.
2. It will be singularly comfortable and advantageous to yourselves.
3. If you refuse God your hearts now, perhaps hereafter it will be too late to offer them.
4. Consider what the refusal of your hearts to God implies in it.
5. Think how you will answer your refusal at the great day. (John Oakes.)
The gift of the heart
If we would have any of our offerings find favour in the eyes of God our hearts must go with them. It is the heart which is challenged and demanded; withhold that, and you withhold all. The wise man uses the word heart in its fullest sense. Sometimes it only denotes some one particular faculty of the soul, the understanding or the will or the affections. Here it includes the whole mind, spirit, and soul. All these the Lord claims. This is a very comprehensive claim. The best way to comply with it is to identify God with everything which will bear contact with Him. Nothing will bear this contact but what He has constructed and ordained. A life thus controlled and regulated would be indeed a blessed and a model life. Nothing could take one whose life was thus regulated by surprise. God demands your heart that He may enlighten, convince, pardon, sanctify, keep, dignify, and save you. We press for this surrender on the ground of right, for your heart belongs to Him who challenges the surrender; on the ground of reason, for your heart was formed for Him who claims it; on the ground of gratitude, for no other has such claims on you. We might press it on the ground of self-interest. God is ready to take possession if you are ready to yield. Then give your heart to Him humbly, believingly, unreservedly, cheerfully, irrevocably. (A. Mursell.)
The gift for God
(to the young):--
I. What it means to give God our hearts.
II. Why we should give our hearts to God.
1. Because He has the best right to them.
2. Because He can make the best use of them. He can make them new. He can make them clean. He can make them happy. (R. Newton, D.D.)
A gift God asks
(to the young:--
I. God asking something. God who is continually giving to us all, is here asking for something.
II. From whom he asks it. Not from any one great, but from us.
III. What he asks. We could not give Him the things we have, for they are His already. He asks for yourself.
IV. Why he asks it. This you may learn from the name He gives you. My son. You are even by nature precious to God. (C. A. Salmond, M.A.)
Heart in religion
In this text God speaks to man and asks for his heart.
I. The Divine request.
1. Sincerity. A man is said to be sincere when he engages his heart in any work. And God asks for sincerity. He will not be satisfied with a bare profession.
2. Earnestness. When a man is in earnest about anything we say his heart is in it. So when God asks for the heart He means us to be in earnest. He hates indifference.
3. Entire devotion. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, etc.
4. Delight. Whatever a man engages his heart in he is said to delight in. Some men set their heart upon earthly things, and find in them their chief delight.
II. The nature of the request. My son, give Me.
1. It is an affectionate request. All Gods wooing breathes forth an air of affectionate regard for the welfare of man.
2. It is a reasonable request. (Homilist.)
Characteristics of a great love
1. It likes to be with the object of its affection.
2. There is the presence of a desire to serve the object of its affection. Love is tireless in ministry. It is always giving itself away.
3. It desires union with its object in thought, if not in body. Love never journeys unaccompanied by love.
4. The chief characteristic of love is its unselfishness. Is your love for God unselfish, or do you love Him only as a means of securing His favour? Your duty is to set yourself to apprehend God. To know Him is to love Him, and your not loving Him shows that you do not know Him. The question which concerns your highest happiness, here and hereafter, is not touching technicalities of creed, of ceremony, of intellectual interpretation of selected passages out of Gods Word. The supreme question is, Do you love God? (W. H. H. Murray.)
The heart given to God
I. Consider the question of right and justice. God demands you for Himself; the Lord Jesus Christ claims your heart. In opposition to them are ranged sin and Satan, the world and the flesh, the vain, the worldly, and the profligate. Can you hesitate as to the justice of these opposing claims? Behold, saith God, My hands have made thee and fashioned thee. My visitation hath since preserved thy soul in life. Thou hast lived on the provisions of My bounty. Thou hast indeed provoked Me with thy sins, yet have I borne with thee. Nay, I have sent My only begotten Son to redeem and save thee. Hear, also, the Lord Jesus Christ urge His claim upon you. I left the bosom of My Father, and united Myself to flesh and blood, that I might suffer and die for thee, when thou wast lost beyond recovery by any human power. And now what are the pretensions which the devil, the world, and the flesh can make to your affections that will admit for one moment to be set against these powerful claims? What have they done; what can they do for you? They deceive, they ensnare, they corrupt, they defile, they trouble, they ruin you; but they neither will nor can promote your real good.
II. Consider on whom you may bestow them with the greatest advantage. And here I must confess that the world and the flesh have more to say for themselves than under the former head. Right and title they have none at all; but they promise you much in the way of interest and advantage. Under their guidance, they tell you, you will enjoy a life of pleasure and ease, free from the restraints of religion; you will have unbounded liberty of conduct, and withhold your eyes from no joy; whereas religion is an irksome and melancholy service.
1. I will suppose, for the sake of argument, that the world and the flesh are able to make good all their promises. Delightful prospect! Yes, but how long is it to last? You are to enter into another world, and to appear at the bar of God, there to give an account of your conduct. Had you given your hearts to God, He would now have opened the kingdom of heaven to you, and given you a share in its everlasting pleasures. Your choice has been different, and you now reap the fruits of it. Is it, then, worth while to purchase the short-lived pleasures of sin at so dear a rate as this?
2. Supposing, therefore, that the world and the flesh were able to make good those promises by which they estrange your hearts from God, even then it would be the height of madness to listen to them. But this is far from being the case. On the contrary, the ways of religion will be found to be eminently ways of pleasantness, as well as its end peace. There is nothing truly desirable, even in this life which the servants of God are not as likely to partake of as any other persons whatsoever. Religion is friendly to health, and, generally speaking, to reputation. The idea, therefore, that religion tends to make men unhappy is a mere calumny. The truth is, the devil, the world, and the flesh promise you what it is not in their power to give. For even the good things of this life are distributed by the providence of God, and without His leave you cannot enjoy the meanest comfort. But if you give your hearts to God, He will certainly bestow as much of those things upon you as His wisdom knows to be best for you. Since, then, the cause of piety has thus plainly the advantage, you will be inexcusably blind to your own interest if you give not your hearts to God. Thus, if God spare your lives, you will be fitted to be eminently useful in the world; or if you die at an early age, you will be prepared to meet death, and to bid it welcome. Consider what the refusal of your hearts to God implies. You in effect say, I dislike His service; I disown His title to me; I can place my affections on better objects; I desire to have nothing to do with God. This is the plain language of your conduct. (Christian Observer.)
And let thine eyes observe My ways.--
Observation
Observation is the earliest preceptor of infants, and the grown-up mans every-day guide. The infant learns to prattle, and to utter those sounds so endearing to its parents, by hearing those around it repeat them; it observes the sounds, and imitates them. We cannot learn from nature except by observation. She has indeed a voice which speaks loudly and continuously to the ears of all who will listen. She has a school in which all who will may learn. It was observation in Newton which led to the discovery of the laws of gravitation. He observed the apple fall, and reasoned on it. But, had he not observed the falling body, he might never have discovered what is so useful for us to know. It was observation on the part of Galvanis wife which led to the knowledge of galvanism and electricity. She observed the legs of some frogs to twitch, on which her husband was experimenting. She marked the fact and the result was the discovery of that useful and all-pervading agency, electricity. The value of the discovery has of late been more forcibly impressed on us by the successful laying of the Atlantic telegraph, by which distant countries, separated by seas of vast extent and great depth, are brought into almost momentary connection. It was observation which led to the discovery of glass. Sand and flint were accidentally melted together on the seashore, and the result was a transparent substance which we call glass, and which in cold countries like our own is so invaluable in lighting our homes, while the chilly air is kept outside. It was observation on the part of the architect, Smeaton, which led to the successful building of the Eddystone lighthouse. Two buildings had been previously erected on that fatal rock; the one was burnt, and the other blown down. He observed that the form of the oak-tree seemed the strongest in nature. He acted on this, and built the lighthouse after the model of an oak-trees trunk. Its continuance for so many years proves the truth of his deduction. (Church of England Magazine.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain v. 26. My son, give Me thine heart, Wisdom…
v. 26. My son, give Me thine heart, Wisdom herself here pleading with the young person to be devoted to her at all times, and let thine eyes observe My ways, following the conduct, the principles, and the rules of life which are prescribed by true wisdom, as summarized in the Word of God.
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 General Information:
General Information:
These verses continue the "thirty sayings" (Proverbs 22:20).
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give me your heart
The word "heart" is a metonym for what a person thinks and decides to do. Possible meanings are 1) "pay careful attention" or 2) "trust me completely." (See: Metonymy)
let your eyes observe
The eyes are a synecdoche for the whole person. AT: "observe" or "look carefully at" (See: Synecdoche)
prostitute ... immoral woman
There are two types of sexually immoral women. The "prostitute" is unmarried, "another man's wife" is married. Together they form a merism for any kind of sexually immoral woman. (See: Merism)
a prostitute is a deep pit
The word "pit" is a metaphor for what happens to men who sleep with prostitutes. AT: "sleeping with a prostitute is like falling into a deep pit" (See: Metaphor)
prostitute
Here the word refers to any unmarried woman who engages in sexual activity, not only those who do so for money.
deep pit ... narrow well
These are two places easy to fall into and hard to get out of, the "pit" because it is "deep" and the "well" because it is "narrow."
an immoral woman is a narrow well
Doing evil for which one will be punished is spoken of as falling into a narrow place from which one cannot escape. AT: "Sleeping with another man's wife is like falling into a narrow well" (See: Metaphor)
well
a hole in the ground that people have dug to get to water
lies in wait
stays hidden, ready to attack when a victim approaches
the treacherous
This nominal adjective can be translated as an adjective or verb. AT: "treacherous people" or "those who harm others by deceiving them" (See: Nominal Adjectives)
translationWords
son
heart
prostitute
pit
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 23:26-28 Saying 17: Falling for a promiscuous woman is…
23:26-28 Saying 17: Falling for a promiscuous woman is a trap, not a source of benefit. Proverbs repeatedly emphasizes avoiding sexual relations outside of marriage (see ch 5; 6:20-35; 7:1-27).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.