Ephesians 6:1-3(v2)Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with a promise:…
Luke 2:52(v4)And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
John 14:21-24(v1)One who has my commandments and keeps them, that person is one who loves me. One who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love…
Proverbs 4:5(v1)Get wisdom. Get understanding. Don’t forget, and don’t deviate from the words of my mouth.
Deuteronomy 6:6-9(v1)These words, which I command you today, shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of…
Show all 64 cross-references
Proverbs 7:3(v3)Bind them on your fingers. Write them on the tablet of your heart.
2 Corinthians 3:3(v3)being revealed that you are a letter of Christ, served by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tablets…
1 Samuel 2:26(v4)The child Samuel grew on, and increased in favor both with Yahweh and also with men.
Psalms 119:16(v1)I will delight myself in your statutes. I will not forget your word.
Romans 14:18(v4)For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men.
Proverbs 1:8(v1)My son, listen to your father’s instruction, and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching:
Psalms 111:10(v4)The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom. All those who do his work have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!
Proverbs 4:10(v2)Listen, my son, and receive my sayings. The years of your life will be many.
Genesis 39:2-4(v4)Yahweh was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man. He was in the house of his master the Egyptian. His master saw that Yahweh was with…
Hebrews 10:16(v3)“This is the covenant that I will make with them: ‘After those days,’ says the Lord, ‘I will put my laws on their heart, I will also write…
Genesis 39:21(v4)But Yahweh was with Joseph, and showed kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.
Psalms 91:16(v2)I will satisfy him with long life, and show him my salvation.”
Acts 2:47(v4)praising God, and having favor with all the people. The Lord added to the assembly day by day those who were being saved.
Deuteronomy 11:18-21(v3)Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul. You shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall…
Psalms 119:34(v1)Give me understanding, and I will keep your law. Yes, I will obey it with my whole heart.
Psalms 119:93(v1)I will never forget your precepts, for with them, you have revived me.
Deuteronomy 8:1(v1)You shall observe to do all the commandments which I command you today, that you may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land…
Psalms 128:6(v2)Yes, may you see your children’s children. Peace be upon Israel.
Proverbs 9:11(v2)For by me your days will be multiplied. The years of your life will be increased.
Jeremiah 31:33(v1)“But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says Yahweh: “I will put my law in their inward…
Daniel 1:9(v4)Now God made Daniel find kindness and compassion in the sight of the prince of the eunuchs.
Psalms 119:11(vv1, 3)I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
Psalms 119:47-48(v1)I will delight myself in your commandments, because I love them. I reach out my hands for your commandments, which I love. I will meditate…
Proverbs 6:21(v3)Bind them continually on your heart. Tie them around your neck.
Malachi 2:6(v3)The law of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned…
Psalms 119:153(v1)Consider my affliction, and deliver me, for I don’t forget your law.
Romans 15:13(v2)Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Psalms 21:4(v2)He asked life of you and you gave it to him, even length of days forever and ever.
Hosea 4:6(v1)My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you may be no priest to…
Ephesians 5:1-2(v3)Be therefore imitators of God, as beloved children. Walk in love, even as Christ also loved us and gave himself up for us, an offering and…
Joshua 1:7-8(v4)Only be strong and very courageous. Be careful to observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you. Don’t turn…
Psalms 119:165(v2)Those who love your law have great peace. Nothing causes them to stumble.
Proverbs 1:9(v3)for they will be a garland to grace your head, and chains around your neck.
Proverbs 16:6(v3)By mercy and truth iniquity is atoned for. By the fear of Yahweh men depart from evil.
Ephesians 5:9(v3)for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth,
Exodus 13:9(v3)It shall be for a sign to you on your hand, and for a memorial between your eyes, that Yahweh’s law may be in your mouth; for with a strong…
Deuteronomy 4:9(v1)Only be careful, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes saw, and lest they depart from your heart all…
Deuteronomy 30:16-20(v1)For I command you today to love Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances, that…
Proverbs 20:28(v3)Love and faithfulness keep the king safe. His throne is sustained by love.
Psalms 25:10(v3)All the paths of Yahweh are loving kindness and truth to such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.
Psalms 119:176(v1)I have gone astray like a lost sheep. Seek your servant, for I don’t forget your commandments.
Proverbs 10:27(v2)The fear of Yahweh prolongs days, but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.
Deuteronomy 6:8(v3)You shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.
Job 5:26(v2)You will come to your grave in a full age, like a shock of grain comes in its season.
Jeremiah 17:1(v3)“The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond. It is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the…
Romans 5:1(v2)Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;
Deuteronomy 4:23(v1)Be careful, lest you forget the covenant of Yahweh your God, which he made with you, and make yourselves a carved image in the form of…
Psalms 34:11-14(v2)Come, you children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of Yahweh. Who is someone who desires life, and loves many days, that he may…
Proverbs 31:5(v1)lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the justice due to anyone who is afflicted.
Isaiah 32:17(v2)The work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever.
Hosea 4:1(v3)Hear Yahweh’s word, you children of Israel; for Yahweh has a charge against the inhabitants of the land: “Indeed there is no truth, nor…
1 Timothy 4:8(v2)For bodily exercise has some value, but godliness has value in all things, having the promise of the life which is now, and of that which…
Proverbs 3:16-17(v2)Length of days is in her right hand. In her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness. All her paths are peace.
Matthew 23:23(v3)“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law:…
2 Samuel 15:20(v3)Whereas you came but yesterday, should I today make you go up and down with us, since I go where I may? Return, and take back your…
Isaiah 57:19-21(v2)I create the fruit of the lips: Peace, peace, to him who is far off and to him who is near,” says Yahweh; “and I will heal them.” But the…
Micah 7:18-20(v3)Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity, and passes over the disobedience of the remnant of his heritage? He doesn’t retain his anger…
Romans 14:17(v2)for God’s Kingdom is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Isaiah 51:17(v1)Awake, awake! Stand up, Jerusalem, you who have drunk from Yahweh’s hand the cup of his wrath. You have drunken the bowl of the cup of…
64 distinct cross-references across this passage (65 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (27 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv2–3Long life is the blessing of God which he…
Long life is the blessing of God which he giveth to his, so far forth as it is expedient for them.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv1–4Pro 3:1 My son, forget not my law; but…
Pro 3:1 My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:
Ver. 1. My son, forget not.] We should be able to say to wisdom, as Coenis did to her Lady Antonia, Frustra, domina, iussisti: haec enim atque caetera omnia quae mihi imperas, ira semper in memoria habeo ut ex ea deleri non possint. {a} You need not, madam, bid me do your business, for I so remember your commands, as I need never be minded of them.
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Iussa sequi tam velle mihi, quam posse, necesse est,
I am ready, to my power, to do your pleasure.
But let thine heart keep.] As the ark kept the two tables; as the pot kept the hidden manna.
{a} Dio, in Respons.
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 Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv1–4My law; my doctrine or counsel; or the law…
My law; my doctrine or counsel; or the law of God, which might be called his law, as the gospel is called Paul’s gospel, 2Th 2:8, because delivered by him.
Keep my commandments, by diligent meditation and hearty affection.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry1710 · Public DomainOn v1We are here taught to live a life of…
We are here taught to live a life of communion with God; and without controversy great is this mystery of godliness, and of great consequence to us, and, as is here shown, will be of unspeakable advantage.
I. We must have a continual regard to God's precepts, Pro 3:1, Pro 3:2.
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1. We must, (1.) Fix God's law, and his commandments, as our rule, by which we will in every thing be ruled and to which we will yield obedience. (2.) We must acquaint ourselves with them; for we cannot be said to forget that which we never knew. (3.) We must remember them so that they may be ready to us whenever we have occasion to use them. (4.) Our wills and affections must be subject to them and must in every thing conform to them. Not only our heads, but our hearts, must keep God's commandments; in them, as in the ark of the testimony, both the tables of the law must be deposited.
2. To encourage us to submit ourselves to all the restraints and injunctions of the divine law, we are assured (Pro 3:2) that it is the certain way to long life and prosperity. (1.) It is the way to be long-lived. God's commandments shall add to us length of days; to a good useful life on earth, they shall add an eternal life in heaven, length of days for ever and ever, Psa 21:4. God shall be our life and the length of our days, and that will be indeed long life, with an addition. But, because length of days may possibly become a burden and a trouble, it is promised, (2.) That it shall prove the way to be easy too, so that even the days of old age shall not be evil days, but days in which thou shalt have pleasure: Peace shall they be continually adding to thee. As grace increases, peace shall increase; and of the increase of Christ's government and peace, in the heart as well as in the world, there shall be no end. Great and growing peace have those that love the law.
II. We must have a continual regard to God's promises, which go along with his precepts, and are to be received, and retained, with them (Pro 3:3): "Let not mercy and truth forsake thee, God's mercy in promising, and his truth in performing. Do not forfeit these, but live up to them, and preserve thy interest in them; do not forget these, but live upon them, and take the comfort of them. Bind them about thy neck, as the most graceful ornament." It is the greatest honour we are capable of in this world to have an interest in the mercy and truth of God. "Write to them upon the table of thy heart, as dear to thee, thy portion, and most delightful entertainment; take a pleasure in applying them and thinking them over." Or it may be meant of the mercy and truth which are our duty, piety and sincerity, charity towards men, fidelity towards God. Let these be fixed and commanding principles in thee. To encourage us to do this we are assured (Pro 3:4) that this is the way to recommend ourselves both to our Creator and fellow-creatures: So shalt thou find favour and good understanding. 1. A good man seeks the favour of God in the first place, is ambitious of the honour of being accepted of the Lord, and he shall find that favour, and with it a good understanding; God will make the best of him, and put a favourable construction upon what he says and does. He shall be owned as one of Wisdom's children, and shall have praise with God, as one having that good understanding which is ascribed to all those that do his commandments. 2. He wishes to have favour with men also (as Christ had, Luk 2:52), to be accepted of the multitude of his brethren (Est 10:3), and that he shall have; they shall understand him aright, and in his dealings with them he shall appear to be prudent, shall act intelligently and with discretion. He shall have good success (so some translate it), the common effect of good understanding.
III. We must have a continual regard to God's providence, must own and depend upon it in all our affairs, both by faith and prayer. 1. By faith. We must repose an entire confidence in the wisdom, power, and goodness of God, assuring ourselves of the extent of his providence to all the creatures and all their actions. We must therefore trust in the Lord with all our hearts (Pro 3:5); we must believe that he is able to do what he will, wise to do what is best, and good, according to his promise, to do what is best for us, if we love him, and serve him. We must, with an entire submission and satisfaction, depend upon him to perform all things for us, and not lean to our own understanding, as if we could, by any forecast of our own, without God, help ourselves, and bring our affairs to a good issue. Those who know themselves cannot but find their own understanding to be a broken reed, which, if they lean to, will certainly fail them. In all our conduct we must be diffident of our own judgment, and confident of God's wisdom, power, and goodness, and therefore must follow Providence and not force it. That often proves best which was least our own doing. 2. By prayer (Pro 3:6): In all thy ways acknowledge God. We must not only in our judgment believe that there is an over-ruling hand of God ordering and disposing of us and all our affairs, but we must solemnly own it, and address ourselves to him accordingly. We must ask his leave, and not design any thing but what we are sure is lawful. We must ask his advice and beg direction from him, not only when the case is difficult (when we know not what to do, no thanks to us that we have our eyes up to him), but in every case, be it ever so plain, We must ask success of him, as those who know the race is not to the swift. We must refer ourselves to him as one from whom our judgment proceeds, and patiently, and with a holy indifferency, wait his award. In all our ways that prove direct, and fair, and pleasant, in which we gain our point to our satisfaction, we must acknowledge God with thankfulness. In all our ways that prove cross and uncomfortable, and that are hedged up with thorns, we must acknowledge God with submission. Our eye must be ever towards God; to him we must, in every thing, make our requests known, as Jephthah uttered all his words before the Lord in Mizpeh, Jdg 11:11. For our encouragement to do this, it is promised, "He shall direct thy paths, so that thy way shall be safe and good and the issue happy at last." Note, Those that put themselves under a divine guidance shall always have the benefit of it. God will give them that wisdom which is profitable to direct, so that they shall not turn aside into the by-paths of sin, and then will himself so wisely order the event that it shall be to their mind, or (which is equivalent) for their good. Those that faithfully follow the pillar of cloud and fire shall find that though it may lead them about it leads them the right way and will bring them to Canaan at last.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv1–4My son, forget not my law,.... Or, "doctrine" (e);…
My son, forget not my law,.... Or, "doctrine" (e); the doctrine of Christ, the Gospel, and the several truths of it; which, being of the utmost moment and importance, should be kept in memory, and not let slip, or be in the least slighted and neglected; see Heb 2:1;
but let thine heart keep my commandments; as the ark, or chest, kept the two tables of the law put into it; it denotes a cordial affection for the commandments and ordinances of Christ, a hearty attention and obedience to them, and a constant and cheerful observance of them, flowing from love and gratitude to him, Joh 14:15.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv1, 3, 4An exhortation to be steadily religious, ver. 1-4. To…
An exhortation to be steadily religious, ver. 1-4. To trust God, ver. 5, 6. To fear him, ver. 7, 8. To honour him with our substance, ver. 9, 10. To bear affliction well, ver. 11-12. The praise of wisdom, ver. 13-20. The good effects of adhering to it, ver. 21-26. Caution, against uncharitableness, strife, envy; if we would avoid a curse and inherit a blessing, ver. 27-35.
My law - The law of God, which might be called his law, as the gospel is called Paul's gospel, 2Tim ii, 8, because delivered by him.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv1–4An exhortation to obedience, 1-4;
CHAPTER III
An exhortation to obedience, 1-4;
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trust in God's providence, 5, 6;
to humility, 7, 8;
to charity, 9, 10;
to submission to God's chastening, 11, 12.
The profitableness of wisdom in all the concerns of life,
13-26.
No act of duty should be deferred beyond the time in which it
should be done, 27, 28.
Brotherly love and forbearance should he exercised, 29, 30.
We should not envy the wicked, 31, 32.
The curse of God is in the house of the wicked; but the humble
and wise shall prosper, 33-35.
NOTES ON CHAP. III
Verse 1. My son] The preceptor continues to deliver his lessons.
Forget not my law] Remember what thou hast heard, and practise what thou dost remember; and let all obedience be from the heart: "Let thy heart keep my commandments."
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn v1Pro 3:1-4. My son, forget not my law —…
Pro 3:1-4. My son, forget not my law — My doctrine or counsel; but let thy heart keep, &c. — By diligent meditation and hearty affection. For length of days, &c. — God will add these blessings which he hath promised to the obedient, Deu 8:18; Deu 30:20; 1Ti 4:8. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee — That mercy and truth, which are man’s duty. Mercy denotes all benignity, charity, and readiness to do good to others; truth, or faithfulness, respects all those duties which we owe to God or man, on the principles of justice, and to which we are laid under special obligations by the rules of it. Bind them about thy neck — Like a chain, wherewith persons were wont to adorn their necks. Write them upon the table, &c. — In thy mind and heart, in which all God’s commands are to be received and engraven. So shalt thou find favour — That is, obtain acceptance, and good understanding — Whereby to know thy duty, and to discern between good and evil; in the sight of God and man — Grace or favour with God, and that understanding which is good in his sight, that is, which is really and truly good, and which will be acknowledged as such by all truly wise and good men.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv2–4Three words carry on the chain of blessings:
Three words carry on the chain of blessings:
(1) “Length of days” (see the Psa 91:16 note);
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(2) “Years of life,” i. e., of a life worth living (compare Psa 30:5; Psa 42:8);
(3) “Peace,” tranquility inward and outward, the serenity of life continuing through old age until death. Compare 1Ti 4:8.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Charles Bridges1846 · Public DomainOn vv1, 3THIS is not the stern language of command. It…
THIS is not the stern language of command. It is our Father’s voice in all the endearing persuasiveness of promise — My son — He had before instructed us to seek and search after wisdom, and set out before us its invaluable blessings. Now he calls us to bring it into practical exercise — Forget not my law. The willful forgetfulness of the heart (Pro 2:17 . Psa 9:17 ; Psa 10:4 ; Compare Pro 4:5 ; Deu 4:23 ; Psa 119:93, Psa 119:176 ), not the infirmity of the memory (for which a special, though we fear too much neglected, help, is provided) (Joh 14:26 ) is here implied. Let thine heart, like the ark of the testimony, be the keeping-place of my commandments. (Pro 4:4 . Deu 11:18 . Isa 51:7 ; with Eze 11:20 . Heb 9:4 .) And is not this the child’s desire — "O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes"? (Psa 119:6 ; Compare verses Psa 119:69, Psa 119:129 ), while his conscious helplessness takes hold of the covenant promise — "I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts." (Jer 31:33 .)
Indeed no laws, but God’s, bind the heart. All acceptable obedience begins here. The heart is the first thing that wanders from God; the first also that returns. Here is the vital principle. (Pro 4:23 . Rom 6:17 .) All religion without it is a mere name; and, however the professor may practice a thousand arts to put life into it, all must fail, "The root being as rottenness, the blossom goes up as the dust." (Isa 5:24 .) If every moment were filled up with deeds of benevolence, or external piety; yet, except the heart was quickened to keep the commandments, the voice of rebuke would be heard — "Who hath required this at your hand?" (Isa 1:11-12 .) "The inner man’s delight" (Rom 7:22 ) stamps the excellency upon the service. And this pleasure and perseverance in duty flow from a gracious change upon the heart. (See Eze 11:19 ; Eze 36:26-27 .)
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Herein also lies our interest, not less than our obligation. The reward of this hearty obedience (need we add — a reward of grace?) is a long and happy life — the highest earthly good. (Psa 34:12 ; compare verse Psa 34:16 ; Pro 4:10 ; Pro 9:11 ; Pro 10:27 ; Job 10:12 .) The wicked indeed live long, and the godly often "live out only half their days." The wicked die in outward comfort; the righteous in outward trouble. (Ecc 9:2 .) But length of days is the promise to the righteous; whether for earth or for heaven, as their Father deems fittest for them. In itself the promise, as regards this life, has no charm. To the ungodly it is a curse (Gen 4:11-15 . Isa 65:20 ); to the people of God a trial of faith and patience (Gen 27:46 ; Gen 47:9 . 1Ki 19:4 . Job 7:16 . Php 1:23-24 . Rev 22:20 ); to all a weariness. (Pro 15:15 . Psa 90:10 . Ecc 12:1 .) But peace added forms the sunshine of the toilsome way (Psa 119:165 . Isa 32:17 ; Isa 48:17-18 ): "peace with God through the blood of sprinkling" (Rom 5:1 . Eph 2:13-14 . Col 1:20 ); eternal peace in his home and in his bosom (Psa 37:37 . Isa 57:2 ); where all the fightings of the rebellious flesh, all the counter-strivings of a perverse and ungovernable will, shall have ceased for ever. "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they might have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gate into the city." (Rev 22:14 .)
Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs (1846) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn vv1–4My son. God speaks, or the master instructs his…
My son. God speaks, or the master instructs his disciple, ver. 21. (Calmet) --- We must remember and love instruction, and reduce it to practice. (Worthington)
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).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures1864 · Public DomainOn v14. Continuation of the exhibition of the salutary results…
4. Continuation of the exhibition of the salutary results of a devout and pious life
Pro_3:1-18
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1 My son, forget not my doctrine,
and let thy heart keep my commandments;
2 for length of days and years of life
and welfare will they bring to thee.
3 Let not love and truth forsake thee;
bind them about thy neck,
write them upon the tablet of thy heart;
4 so wilt thou find favor and good reputation
in the eyes of God and of men.
5 Trust in Jehovah with all thy heart,
and rely not on thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him,
and he will make smooth thy paths.
7 Be not wise in thine own eyes;
fear Jehovah and depart from evil.
8 Healing will then come to thy body
and refreshing to thy bones.
9 Honor Jehovah with thy wealth,
and with the best of all thine income;
10 so will thy barns be filled with plenty
and with new wine will thy vats overflow.
11 Jehovah’s correction, my son, despise not,
neither loathe thou his chastening;
12 for whom Jehovah loveth, him he chasteneth
and holdeth him dear, as a father his son.
13 Blessed is the man that hath found wisdom,
and he that attaineth understanding;
14 for better is its accumulation than the accumulation of silver,
and her gain (is better) than the finest gold.
15 More precious is she than pearls,
and all thy jewels do not equal her.
16 Long life is in her right hand,
in her left hand riches and honor.
17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
and all her paths (are paths) of peace.
18 A tree of life is she to those that lay hold upon her,
and he who holdeth her fast is blessed.
5. Description of the powerful protection which God, the wise Creator of the world, ensures to the pious
Pro_3:19-26
19 Jehovah hath with wisdom founded the earth,
the heavens (hath he) established by understanding;
20 by his knowledge were the floods divided,
and the clouds dropped down dew.
21 My son, never suffer to depart from thine eyes,
maintain (rather) thoughtfulness and circumspection;
22 so will they be life to thy soul
and grace to thy neck.
23 Then wilt thou go thy way in safety
and thy foot will not stumble.
24 When thou liest down thou wilt not be afraid,
and when thou liest down thy sleep is sweet.
25 Thou needst not fear from sudden alarm,
nor from the destruction of the wicked when it cometh.
26 For Jehovah will be thy confidence
and keep thy foot from the snare.
6. Admonition to benevolence and justice
Pro_3:27-35
27 Refuse not good to him to whom it is due,
when thine hands have power to do it.
28 Say not to thy neighbor: “Go and come again;”
or “to-morrow I will give it”—while yet thou hast it.
29 Devise not evil against thy neighbor
while he dwelleth securely by thee.
30 Contend with no man without cause,
when he did thee no evil.
31 Imitate not the man of violence
and choose none of his ways.
32 For an abhorrence to Jehovah is the deceiver,
but with the upright he maintaineth true friendship.
33 Jehovah’s curse dwelleth in the house of the wicked
but the home of the just he blesseth.
34 If he scorneth the scorners,
to the lowly he giveth grace.
35 Honor shall the wise inherit,
but shame sweepeth fools away.
GRAMMATICAL AND CRITICAL
Pro_3:6.—[The idea of the verb יְיַשֵּׁר is not that of guidance [E. V.: “shall direct thy paths”], but that of making straight (Stuart), or, perhaps, better still, making smooth (Fuerst, De W., Kamph.).—A.]
Pro_3:7-8.—[אַל־תְּהִי, the “dehortative” use of the Jussive, Bött., § 964,8; while in Pro_3:8 we have an example of the “desponsive” use—it shall be.—לְשָׁרֶּךָ. For the doubling of the ר by Dagesh see Bött., 392 c. He explains it as “mimetic for greater vigor.” Some texts carry this even into the succeeding ךְ § 885, A. Fuerst (Lex., sub verbo) pronounces it unnecessary to change the vocalization as proposed by some commentators and preferred by Zöckler, and agrees with Umbreit in his view of the meaning.—A.]
Pro_3:12.—In the ordinary rendering, “even as a father the son in whom he delighteth,” or “whom he holds dear” [which is the rendering, e.g., of the E. V., De Wette, Stuart, Noyes, Muensch.], יִרְצֶה is construed as in a relative clause. But then we should expect rather the perfect רָצָה; and there should have been in the first clause a comparative proposition of like construction with the one before us. The LXX, from which Heb_12:5 is literally quoted [a rendering which Holden adopts and defends], appears to have read יַכְאֵב instead of וּכֵאָב, for it translates the second clause by μαστιγοῖ δὲ πάντα υἰὸν ὅν παραδέχεται [scourgeth every son whom he receiveth]. This old variation, however, appears to owe its origin to the endeavor to secure a better parallelism. [Kamph. adopts a slightly different rendering, which makes the latter part of the clause relative, but makes the relative the subject and not the object of the verb, thus obviating the objection in regard to tense; and (dealeth) as a father (who) wisheth well to his son. The אֶת for אֶת at the beginning of the verse is explained by Bött., § 362, 3, as the result of assimilation to the subsequent אֶת—A.]
Pro_3:18.—In the Hebrew וְתֹמְכֶיהָ מְאֻשָּׁר the plural תֹּמְכִים is employed distributively, or, as it were, of undefined individuals, for which reason its predicate stands in the singular; comp. Gen_47:3; Num_24:9; Gesen., Lehrgeb., p. 713; Ewald, §309, a [Bött., §702, 8].
Pro_3:26.—The בְּ in בְּכִסְלֵךְ is the so-called בִּ essentiæ, which serves for the emphatic and strengthened introduction of the predicate, as, e.g., in בְּעֶזְרִי, Exo_18:4 (Gesen., Lehrgeb., 839; Ewald, Lehrb., 217 f.).
Pro_3:27.—“When thy hands have power to do it;” literally “when thy hands are for God.” “With this phrase compare יֵשׁ לְאֵל יָד Gen_31:29; Mic_2:1; or אֵין לְאֵל יָד, Deu_28:32; Neh_5:5. [The weight, both of lexicographical and exegetical authority, is, and, we think, plainly should be, against this view of the author. See, e.g., Gesen. and Fuerst; אֵל has assigned to it distinctly the signification “strength,” the abstract quality corresponding to the concrete, “the strong,” i.e., God. It belongs to the power=it is in the power]. Inasmuch as in these idioms the singular יַד always occurs, the K’ri reads in our passage also יָדְֽךָ, and the LXX for the same reason had translated ἡ χείρ σου [the translation being a free one; Frankel, Vorstudien zur Septuaginta, p. 239]. Yet there is no grammatical reason whatever for the change.
Pro_3:28.—[לְרֵעָיִךָ, K’thibh, another distributive plural, where the K’ri has a singular; see Bött., §§ 702, d—886, c.—A.]
Pro_3:30.—[Holden translates the last clause “surely he will return thee evil,” because the ordinary rendering “gives to the word גָּמַל the sense of doing or performing, which it seems never to bear, but always that of returning, requiting, recompensing” The primary import, however, seems to be to collect, to complete, which fact, together with the tense, justifies the almost entire unanimity which sustains the ordinary rendering.—A.]
EXEGETICAL
1. The close connection between this group of admonitions and chap. 2. appears at once externally in the resuming of the address “My son” (Pro_2:1), which recurs three times in chap. 3, Pro_3:1; Pro_3:11; Pro_3:21,—without, however, for that reason, introducing in each instance a new paragraph; for in Pro_3:11 at least the series of admonitions beginning in Pro_3:1 continues in its former tone without interruption (comp. especially Pro_3:9),—and again the new commencement in Pro_3:21 does not equal in importance that in Pro_3:19 sq., or that in Pro_3:27 sq.—Hitzig maintains that Pro_3:22-26 are spurious, inasmuch as the promise of reward which it contains, after the earlier briefer suggestions of virtue’s reward in Pro_3:4; Pro_3:6; Pro_3:8; Pro_3:10, seems tedious and disturbing;. inasmuch as their style of expression appears tame, prosaic, and even, in some degree, clumsy; inasmuch as there may be detected in them traces of a strange and later idiom (e.g., the חַיִּים וְחֵן [life and grace] in Pro_3:22; the שֹׁאָה [destruction] in Pro_3:25; the מִלֶּכֶד [from the snare] in Pro_3:26); and finally—the thing which appears in fact to have given the chief impulse to his suspicion—inasmuch as from the omission of these five verses there would result another instance of the decimal grouping of verses before we come again to the address to the “children” of wisdom in Pro_4:1, just as before the בְּנִי [my son] in Pro_3:11; Pro_3:21 was repeated in each case after ten verses. But since no kind of external testimony can be adduced in support of this assumption of an interpolation, while, on the other hand, a version as old as the LXX contains the verses entire, the suspicion appears to rest on grounds wholly subjective, and to be supported by reasonings that are only specious. This is especially true of the fact that there are in each instance ten verses between the first addresses, “my son,”—which loses all its significance when we observe that in chap. 1. the same address recurs at much shorter intervals,—that between the “my son” in Pro_2:1 and the first in the third chapter there are no less than 22 verses,—and that finally the paragraphs or “strophes” formed by the repetition of this address in the two following chapters (Pro_4:10 sq.; Pro_4:20 sq.; Pro_5:1 sq.) are by no means of equal length, and can be brought into uniformity only by critical violence (the rejection of Pro_4:16-17; Pro_4:27).—If we therefore cannot justify Hitzig’s endeavor to produce by the exclusion of several verses a symmetrical external structure for our chapter, i.e., a division of it into three equal strophes, we are also obliged to differ with him when he conceives of the contents as mainly admonitory, in contrast with the more descriptive character of chap. 2. For here as there we find admonitions, direct or indirect, to the securing and retaining of wisdom (Pro_3:1; Pro_3:3; Pro_3:5; Pro_3:7; Pro_3:9; Pro_3:11; Pro_3:21; Pro_3:27 sq.) alternating with delineations of the blessedness which becomes the portion of its possessors (Pro_3:4; Pro_3:6 b, 8, 10, 22 sq., 32 sq.), or with praises of wisdom itself (Pro_3:13 sq., 19 sq.). Especially are the commencement and conclusion of the chapter in close correspondence with those of chap. 2, and accordingly justify our conception of the general import of the proverbial discourses which it contains, as being a sort of continuation of the longer discourse which constitutes the preceding chapter. Only in two points do we find essentially new material introduced into the representation, which is now mainly admonitory and again chiefly descriptive,—viz., in Pro_3:19 sq., where the protecting and preserving power of wisdom is illustrated by a reference to God’s creative wisdom as the original source and model of all human wisdom,—and in Pro_3:27 sq., where in the place of the previous admonitions of a more general nature there appears a special admonition to love of one’s neighbor, as the sum and crown of all virtues. Therefore (with Delitzsch, comp. above, Introd., §15) at each of these points we begin a new section.
2. Continued representation of the salutary consequences of a wise and devout life. Pro_3:1-18.
Pro_3:1-2. Forget not my teaching.—The substance of this teaching (תּוֹרָה, as in Pro_1:8), or the enumeration of the individual commands (מִצְוֹת) of which it consists, begins with Pro_3:3.—Length of days, properly” extension of days” (אֹרֶךְ יָמִים) as in Psa_21:4), is a description of earthly prosperity as it is promised to wisdom for a reward. Comp. Exo_20:12; 1Ki_3:14. For that this long life is a happy one, a “living in the promised land” (Deu_4:40; Deu_5:30; Deu_6:2; Deu_11:9; Deu_22:7; Deu_30:16), an “abiding in the house of the Lord” and under His blessing (Psa_15:1; Psa_23:6; Psa_27:3),—this is plainly assumed. Comp. the parallel expression שָׁלוֹם [peace] in the second member, which here, as below in Pro_3:17, describes the safety which belongs only to the pious, the religious peace of mind of which the ungodly know nothing (Isa_48:22; Isa_57:21).
Pro_3:3-4. The first of the commandments announced in Pro_3:1, with the corresponding promise of reward.—Love and truth.—These ideas חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת which are very often associated, in our Book, e.g., in Pro_14:22; Pro_16:6; Pro_20:28,—are, when predicated of man, the designation of those attributes in which the normal perfection of his moral conduct towards his neighbor expresses itself. חֶסֶר, which, as a Divine attribute, is equivalent to mercy or grace, designates “the disposition of loving sympathy with others, which rests upon the feeling of brotherhood, the feeling that all men are of like nature, creatures of the same God.” This feeling, which is the prime factor in our moral life by which society is constituted, has for its natural basis the destitution and defencelessness of isolated man; from which springs the deeper necessity not only to augment power by mutual outward help, but also by the interchange of thoughts and emotions to effect a richer development of spiritual life, and to discern what in one’s own feeling is purely individual, and what is common and eternal” (Elster). אֱמֶת then designates inward truthfulness, the pectus rectum, the very essence of a true man opposed to all hypocrisy and dissimulation, the endeavor to mould every form into the closest possible correspondence with the nature of the thing, on which depends all the reliableness and security of life’s relations” (Elster, comp. Umbreit). The proofs of a life regulated by “love” and “truth,” and so of conduct toward one’s neighbor, as loving as it is true, a genuine ἀληθεύειν ἐν ἀγάπῃ [truth in love, Eph_4:15] are suggested in the following admonitory discourse in Pro_3:27 sq.—Bind them about thy neck—not as talismans and amulets, as Umbreit suggests, but simply as costly ornaments, which one wears upon the neck (comp. Pro_1:9; also Pro_7:3); or again as treasures which one will secure against loss, and therefore (if valued like a signet ring, Gen_38:18; Jer_22:24) wears attached to a chain about the neck. The latter explanation, to which Hitzig gives the preference, seems to be favored especially by Pro_6:21, and also by the analogy of the parallel expression “write upon the tablet of the heart,” i.e., thoroughly impress upon one’s self and appropriate the virtues in question (love and truth—not perchance the “commandments” mentioned in Pro_3:1, of which C. B. Michaelis and others here think without any good reason); comp. Jer_31:33; 2Co_3:3 [“To bind God’s law about the neck is not only to do it, but to rejoice in doing it; to put it on, and to exult in it as the fairest ornament.” Wordsw.].—So wilt thou find favor and good reputation—literally, “and so find,” etc. (וּמְצָא); the Imper. with ו consec. stands for an Imperf. (Ewald, Lehrb., 235); for “by the command the certainty that obedience will follow is promoted,” Hitzig. Comp. Pro_4:4; Pro_20:13; Gen_42:8; Isa_8:9; Isa_45:22. [Bött. calls this the “desponsive” imperative; see § 957, 6—A.].—“Find favor or grace” (מָצָא חֵן) as in Jer_31:2; 1Sa_2:26; Luk_2:52; only that in these passages, instead of “in the eyes of God” (i.e., according to God’s judgment, comp. Gen_10:9; 2Ch_30:22) the simpler phrase “with God” (אִם, παρά) is combined with the formula under discussion.—Good reputation.—Thus we translate, as Hitzig does, the expression שֵׂכֶל מוֹב, which below in Pro_13:15, as in Psa_111:10, conveys the idea of good understanding or sagacity [so the E. V., Bertheau, Kamph. render it in this passage also]; but here, as in 2Ch_30:20, denotes the judgment awarded to any one, the favorable view or opinion held concerning any one. [Fuerst, Van Ess, etc., prefer this rendering, while Gesen., De W., Stuart, Noyes, Muenscher translate “good success.”—A.]. With this interpretation the “finding favor” will have reference more to God, the “finding good opinion or favorable judgment” predominantly to men. [Kamph., however, insists that the idea is indivisible—universal favor.]
Pro_3:5-6. Trust in Jehovah with all thine heart, etc.: the fundamental principle of all religion, consisting in an entire self-commitment to the grace and truth of God, with the abandonment of every attempt to attain blessedness by one’s own strength or wisdom; comp. Psa_37:3 sq.; Psa_118:8-9; Jer_9:22.—Regard him. דָּעֵהוּ, strictly “take notice of him,” i.e., recognize Him as the unconditional controller over all thy willing and doing. Comp. the opposite: 1Sa_2:12, and in general for this pregnant use of the verb יָרַע Psa_1:6; Psa_37:18; Amo_3:2, etc.
Pro_3:7-8. Fear Jehovah and depart from evil (comp. Pro_14:16; Pro_14:6; Job_1:1; Job_28:28); an absolute contrast to the first clause of the verse; for he who fears God distrusts his own wisdom, when this perchance presents evil and wayward action as something agreeable and desirable (Gen_3:5).—Healing will then be (come) to thy body. Thus probably is the phrase רִפְאוּת תְּהִי to be explained, with Bertheau and Hitzig,—for to express the idea “healing is this to thy body,” (Umbreit, Ewald, Elster, and most of the elder commentators) רִפְאוּת הִיא would rather have been required.—Instead of לְשָׁרֶּךָ thy navel (which, according to Umbreit, here, unlike Eze_14:4; Son_7:3, is intended to be a designation of the whole body by a part of special physiological importance) it will probably be correct to read לְשׁרְךָ as a contraction of לִשְׁאֵרְךָ, or לִבְשָׂרֵךָ as i Pro_4:22. For translations as early as the LXX and Peshito express simply the idea “to thy body,” to which furthermore the parallel “to thy bones” corresponds better (comp. Pro_14:30; Mic_3:2) than to the very far-fetched expression “to thy navel.” —Refreshing to thy bones. שִׁקּוּי strictly irrigation, watering, then refreshing, invigoration; here in contrast with the. “languishing of the bones” (Psa_32:8; Psa_32:4), i.e., their drying up under a fever heat or an inward anguish of soul, e.g., the pangs of a troubled conscience. Comp. Job_21:24; Isa_58:11.
Pro_3:9-10, Honor Jehovah with thy riches. The מִן in מֵהוֹנֶךָ and the following phrase מֵדֵאשִׁית כָּל־תְּבוּאָחֶךָ is certainly not to be construed as partitive, as though God was to be honored with a part only of one’s wealth and of the first fruits of one’s increase (so e.g., Bertheau), but the preposition מִן here expresses the idea of a coming forth out of something, as in Psa_28:7; 2Ki_6:27. In opposition to the comparative idea which Ewald endeavors to bring out from the מִן (“more than thy wealth”) see Hitzig on this passage. With regard to the idea itself compare passages like Exo_23:19; Deu_18:4 sq.; Pro_28:8 sq.; Mal_3:10-12. That the offering in sacrifice the first fruits of the field and of the other revenues of one’s possessions or labors was not only enjoined by their law upon the people of God under the Old Testament, but that it was also practiced by other ancient nations as a usage connected with religious worship, appears from passages in classical authors, e.g., Diod. Sicul., I., Proverbs 14 : Plut. de Iside, p. 377; Pliny’s Hist. Nat., 18, 2. Comp. in general Spencer, Delegibus Hebræorum ritualibus, p. 713, sq. (“de primitiarum origine”). [Be not content with lipservice, but obey God’s law by making the prescribed oblation and by bringing also free-will offerings to Him.”—Wordsw. Our author’s notes, in their distinct recognition of the first fruits as required for and by Jehovah, are to be preferred to his version, which has the more general but less Jewish idea that “the best” should be given.—A.]—With new wine will thy vats overflow. יִפְרֹצוּ, literally: they will extend themselves, separate, swell up Comp. the use of the same verb פָּרַץ with reference to rapidly increasing flocks; Gen_30:20; Job_1:10.—Similar strong metaphors for the description of a rich abundance and the blessing of the harvest may be found, e.g., Joel 4:18; Amo_9:13; Lev_26:5.
Pro_3:11-12. Jehovah’s correction despise thou not. To the “despising” (מָאַם here as in the quite similar passage Job_5:17 [from which Wordsw. thinks our passage to be derived]), the “loathing” or “abhorring” (קוּץ) is evidently the climax. [In the E. V. generally this distinction between the two verbs is very fairly made; the prevailing rendering of the former being “despise, disdain, reject, refuse,” while that of the latter is “loathe, abhor.” In the present instance the rendering might easily be taken as an anti-climax.—A.].—And holds him dear as a father his son. For the general idea that God’s corrections are essentially nothing but revelations of His educating love and fatherly faithfulness, comp. in the Old Testament especially Deu_8:5; Psa_118:18; Lam_3:33 sq.
Pro_3:13-18. Enthusiastic praise of true wisdom, which is one with the fear of God.—Blessed is the man that hath found wisdom. The perfect מָצָא, who hath found, expresses the idea of permanent possession; the parallel imperfect יָפיק (from פּוּק, procedere; therefore, to bring forth, to bring to view, to bring to pass, comp. Pro_8:35; Pro_12:2; Pro_18:22) denotes a continually renewed and repeated attaining. The ἐκβάλλειν (“bring forth”) used of the scribe “instructed unto the kingdom of heaven,” Mat_13:52, cannot be compared directly with our expression, since הֵפִיק) clearly contains an idea synonymous and not one contrasted with מָצָא.—Better is her accumulation than the accumulation of silver. סַחְרָהּ does not, like the corresponding term פְרִי in the parallel passage, Pro_8:19, denote what wisdom, brings by way of gain, but the very act of gaining and acquiring (ἐμπορεύεσθαι, LXX). So with תְּבוּאָתָהּ, that which comes with and in herself, the gain which exists in herself. [The “merchandise” of the E. V. is unfortunately obscure and misleading].—Than the finest gold. חָרּוּץ signifies, according to most of the old interpreters, the finest and purest gold (Vulg.: aurum primum). The etymology leads, in the unmistakable identity of the root חרץ with that of the Greek χρυσός, at first only to the idea of clear or bright shining, gleaming or glittering (coruscare). Gold is therefore, on the ground of its brilliancy, named in the climax as a more precious possession than silver, to which in Pro_3:15 the “pearls” (instead of the K’thibh פְּנִיִּים we shall be constrained to give an unqualified preference to the K’ri פְּנִינִים, comp. Pro_8:11; Pro_20:15; Pro_31:10, etc.) supply the culmination in the series, and the generalizing term “all thy jewels” includes the three specified items with all similar articles of value. Comp. Pro_8:2; Job_28:18, where our verse recurs almost literally. In the latter passage (Job_28:15-19) besides silver, gold and pearls, various other gems, e.g., onyx, sapphire, coral, amber, topaz, etc., are mentioned as falling far below the value of wisdom. In the LXX there appear both in Pro_3:15 and in 16 amplifying additions, in respect to which Hitzig, while not regarding as original the double clause interpolated in Pro_3:15 between the two members: οὐκ ἀντιτάσσεται αὐτῇ οὐδὲυ πονηρόν. Εύ̓γνωστός ἐστιν πᾶσιν τοῖς ἐγγίζουσιν αὐτῇ [no evil thing competes with her. She is well known to all those that approach her], yet considers it as resting upon an interpolation that had already made its way into the Hebrew text. The supplement added to Pro_3:16 : ἐκ τοῦ στόματος αὐτῆς ἐκπορεύεται δικαιοσύνη, νόμον δέ καὶ έ̓λεον ἐπὶ γλώσσης φορεῖ [from her mouth proceedeth righteousness, law and mercy doth she bear upon her tongue] Heidenheim regards as the gloss of an Alexandrian Jew, who designed with it to oppose certain Pharisaic interpretations (?).—Long life is in her right hand, etc. Wisdom here appears personified, endowed with a human body and members,—and in Pro_3:16 at first in a general way, in Pro_3:17 so that she is represented as walking, in Pro_3:18 so that she appears standing like a tree, that dispenses shade and precious fruits. בִּימִינָהּ and בְּשְׂמֹאולָהּ in Pro_3:16 are at any rate not to be translated “at her right hand,” and “at her left hand” (so Luther and many old interpreters, conforming to Ps. 14:8; 45:9; 110:5), but “in her right and left hand,” in accordance with Psa_16:11; Isa_44:20, where the preposition בְּ expresses the same idea.—“Long life,” literally, “length of days,” as above, in Pro_3:2, from which passage the LXX has here repeated also the phrase “καὶ ἐτη ζωῆς.”—Riches and honor, as in Pro_8:18; Pro_22:4. “The blessings which wisdom offers are appropriately distributed between the hands, according to their essential difference. The right hand is regarded as the nearer; and that one live is the foundation for his becoming rich and honored, as health is a condition preliminary to the enjoyment of prosperity. Compare accordingly the arrangement in 1Ki_3:11-14” (Hitzig). [An over fanciful elaboration of the simple idea of the passage.—A.].—All her paths are (paths of) peace. שָׁלוֹם can be regarded as a genitive, in which case the construction is the same as in Psa_45:6 (according to the interpretation which is probably correct), Psa_30:7; Lev_6:3, etc.; comp. Gesenius, Gramm. § 121, 6; Naegelsbach, § 64, g.;—or as a nominative, “her paths are peace,” i.e., peaceable, peaceful, instead of strife and alarm offering pure peace and joy (so nearly all recent commentators, with the exception of Umbreit and Elster, who seem with good reason to prefer the former view). A tree of life wisdom is called in Pro_3:18, as in Pro_11:30 the “fruit of the righteous” is described by the same figurative expression, in Pro_13:12 the fulfilment of an ardent desire, and finally, Pro_15:4, “temperateness of the tongue.” The expression doubtless contains an allusion to the tree of life mentioned by Moses in Gen_2:9; Gen_3:22, although there the definite article stands before חַיִּים, because it was intended to designate the particular tree bearing this name in Paradise. The עֵץ הֵחַיִּים of Genesis and the עֵץ חַיִּים of Proverbs are therefore related to each other as the familiar ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου of the Gospels to the υἰὸς ἀνθρώπου without the article in Joh_5:27. Elster, without reason, attempts to deny altogether the reference to Gen_2:9, and to make the expression parallel with other figurative representations, like “fountain of life,” etc. In his observation that the figure of the tree in this passage is based upon the previous personification of wisdom, and that Sol. Son_7:9 is therefore to be compared, Hitzig is certainly right (comp. also passages like Isa_61:3; Jer_17:8; Psa_1:3; Psa_92:12). We must, however, regard as less pertinent the other proposition of the same commentator, according to which the tree of life in our passage corresponds not only with the tree of the same name in Paradise, but at the same time also with the tree of knowledge (Gen_3:3), and so exhibits the identity of the two trees of Paradise. For as a thoroughly practical demeanor, consisting in the fear of God and obedience (see Pro_1:7) the true wisdom of the Book of Proverbs unquestionably presents as complete a contrast to all assuming and “devilish” wisdom from beneath (Jam_3:15) as the tree of life in Paradise to that of knowledge.—And he who holds her fast is blessed. See critical notes. See also below. notes on Pro_15:22.
3. Description of the wisdom of God that created the world, as the mighty protector of him that fears God: Pro_3:19-26.—Jehovah hath with wisdom founded the earth, etc.. A connection undoubtedly exists between this allusion to the divine archetype of all human wisdom and what has been before said, so far forth as the paradisiacal tree of life of primitive time seems to have called to the mind of the author the creation of the world, and therefore afforded him occasion for the brief delineation of the creative wisdom of God that lies before us, of which the passage, Pro_8:22 sq., is only a fuller development (comp. also Job_28:12 sq.; Sir_24:2 sq.). Yet if the connection were really as close as it is commonly regarded (e.g., by Bertheau, who finds in Pro_3:19-20 the conclusion of the series of thoughts beginning in Pro_3:11; by Elster, who discerns here “in a certain sense a metaphysical confirmation of the foregoing;” and in general also by Hitzig, etc.), the demonstrative conjunction. כִּי (for) would unquestionably stand at the beginning of the 19th verse; this, however, is wanting both in the original text and in the older versions, and was first introduced by Luther. Therefore as the words stand, with an emphatic prefixing of the subject “Jehovah” (as at the commencement of many Psalms, e.g., Psalms 27; Psalms 97; Psalms 99, etc.), they are evidently designed not so much to serve as a continuation of representations already begun, as for the introduction of ideas essentially new,—and these new thoughts, are the promises contained in Pro_3:21-26, of the divine protection and blessing, of which the wise man, i.e., he who acts and walks in accordance with this divine wisdom, will infallibly have the full enjoyment. Furthermore, comp., with reference to the idea of the conformity of the practical, ethical wisdom of man with the absolute creative wisdom of God, the “Doctrinal and Ethical” notes.—With wisdom. בְּחָכְמָה, literally “through” wisdom, i.e., not merely with the manifestation of wisdom as an attribute of His, but by means of the personal, essential wisdom, as an independent, creative power indwelling in Him from eternity, comp. Pro_8:22 sq. In the same hypostatic sense, therefore, are also the interchangeable ideas of “understanding” תְּבוּנָה Pro_3:19 l.c., and “knowledge” דַּעַת in Pro_3:20, to be understood. [With this view of the author Bertheau agrees, so Trapp and some others of the old English expositors: Scott, Holden suggest it as possible; while Stuart, Muenscher and others, judging more correctly, we think, find here none of those personal attributes which are so conspicuous in chap. 8 and there so clearly shape the interpretation.—A.]. On Pro_3:19 comp. in addition Jer_10:12, and on Pro_3:20, Gen_1:6 sq.; Pro_2:6.—Did the seas divide. The perf. נִבְקָעוּ, “they have divided,” refers to the primary creative act of the division once for all of the masses of water above and beneath the firmament, Gen_1:6 sq., while the imperf., יִרְעֲפוּ, relates to the constantly repeated and still continued emptying of the clouds in rain, as a consequence of that sundering of the waters which belongs to the history of creation. [The E. V. loses this distinction and refers both to the present, “are”].
Pro_3:21-22. My son, never suffer to depart from thine eyes, etc. עַל יָלזֻוּ (for which, perhaps, in conformity with Pro_4:21 we ought to read יַלִּזוּ) signifies literally, “there must not escape, slip aside” (from לוּז) deflexit, a via declinavit). As subjects for the plural verb we usually find supplied from the preceding, especially from Pro_3:1 sq., the idea “my doctrines, my commands,” [as in the E. V. and the commentaries of Stuart, Muenscher and others]. But this is plainly quite too far-fetched. It is simpler, with Umbreit, Hitzig, etc., to conceive of the following hemistich, “thoughtfulness and circumspection,” as at the same time subjects of the verb in the first, and to explain their omission in the former clause to which they should properly have been attached, on the ground of the peculiar vivacity of the representation. This liveliness of expression can in some measure be preserved in our version by a “rather” after the verb of the second clause.—Maintain thoughtfulness and circumspection. The more uncommon תֻּשִׁיָה (comp. above Pro_2:7) stands here instead of חָכְמָה (wisdom) Pro_3:19, and also the less frequent מְזִמָּה instead of תְּכוּנָה which occurs there, in order to suggest the difference between the absolute wisdom and insight of God and the corresponding attributes of man. The LXX instead of the present order appear to have found the reverse, as they translate βουλὴν καὶ ἔννοιαν. Comp. Heidenheim (as above cited).—So will they be life to thy soul, etc. In reply to Hitzig’s disparagement of the genuineness of Pro_3:22-26, see remarks above, at the commencement of the exegesis. With respect to the thought of Pro_3:22 f. c., comp. above Pro_3:2; Pro_3:16; Pro_3:18; also. Pro_4:22; Pro_8:35, etc. For last clause comp. Pro_1:9; Pro_3:3.
Pro_3:23. Then wilt thou go thy way in safety. לָבֶטַח, in security, free from care, full of trust and good confidence, as below in Pro_3:29. [“Thou shalt ever go under a double guard, the ‘peace of God’ within thee (Php_4:7) and the ‘power of God’ without thee, (1Pe_1:5).”—Trapp.—For illustrations drawn from travellers’ experience near Jerusalem, see Thomson’s Land and Book, I., 109.—A.]. The simple בֶּטַח is used in the same way in Pro_10:9. For Pro_3:23 l. c. compare Psa_91:12, for the whole verse Pro_4:12.
Pro_3:24. When thou liest down. The imperf. תִּשְׁכַב in the first member probably designs to express the idea of “laying one’s self down to rest,” while the following perf. וְשָׁכַבְתָּ would designate the effect and consequence of this act, the reclining and sleeping. Thus most interpreters have correctly judged. Hitzig amends according to the LXX: אִם תֵּשֵׁב, if thou sittest, which is plainly needlessly arbitrary. For the thought comp. furthermore Pro_4:22; Deu_28:66.
Pro_3:25. Thou needest not fear from sudden alarm. אַל־תִּירָא literally fear thou not. Since however the אָז in Pro_3:23 still has its effect, the expression is not to be taken merely as an admonition, but at the same time as a description of the future condition (Ewald, Lehrbuch 310, a). [Bött. § 964, a, classes it with the “permissive negatives”].—Nor from the destruction of the wicked. שֹׁאַת רְשָׁעִים the old commentators unanimously regard as active; the onset of the wicked, the storm which they raise against the pious (procella quam impii excitant, Chr. B. Michaelis). So recently Hitzig, while nearly all other modern interpreters since Döderlein prefer the passive conception; the storm or destruction that will sweep away the wicked. A positive decision is probably not possible. Yet the parallel in Psa_35:8, seems to favor the latter view [which is adopted also by Stuart and Muenscher]. With reference to the subject compare further, for clause a, Psa_91:5; Pro_1:27; Pro_24:22; and for b, Job_5:21.
Pro_3:26. For Jehovah will be thy confidence: literally, will be in thy confidence, כֶּסֶל is here unquestionably trust, confidence, as in Job_8:14; Job_31:24; Psa_78:7. The signification “loins, side,” which the Vulgate has given to the expression (“Dominus erit in latere tuo”) and, in imitation of this, e.g., Ziegler, Muentinghe, etc., agrees indeed with passages like Job_15:27; Lev_3:4; Lev_3:10; Lev_15:4, etc., but not with the one before us.—And keep thy foot from the snare. The substantive לֶכֶד, snare—for which more usually מוֹקֵשׁ or פַּח—occurs only here, is not, however, for that reason necessarily to be regarded, as Hitzig would have it, as a sign of a later phraseology.
4. Admonition to benevolence and justice: Pro_3:27-35. A connection of this exhortation with some more specific point in the foregoing (with Pro_3:21 or Pro_3:20, e.g., as Hitzig suggests, assuming Pro_3:22-26 to be spurious) need not be attempted, since the whole of this brief section definitely enough distinguishes itself from the longer series of proverbial discourses, as an independent and peculiar whole.—Refuse not good to him that deserves it: literally, “hold not good back from its master,” i.e., from him to whom it belongs [“either by the law of equity or of charity,” Trapp,—“whether upon their deserving or upon their need,” Bp. Hall], him who is at the same time deserving and needy (LXX εὖ ποιεῖν ἐνδεῆ).
Pro_3:28. And yet thou hast it: literally, and it is yet with thee on hand, there is yet a store [there is with thee]. The LXX adds to this admonition to ready giving and to quick relief (according to the principle: bis dat qui cito dat, “he gives twice who gives quickly”), the words appropriate in themselves, “οὐ γὰρ οἶδας τί τέξεται ἡ ἐπιοῦσα” (for thou knowest not what the morrow shall bring forth), which, however, occur in their original place in Pro_27:1.
Pro_3:29. Devise not evil. The verb חָרַשׁ here as in Pro_6:14; Pro_6:18; Pro_12:20; Pro_14:22, expresses the idea of contriving, and that as a development of the idea of “forging” (Eze. 21:36) and not that of “ploughing” (as Ewald, following some older interpreters, maintains).
Pro_3:30. Without cause, Heb. חִנָּם, LXX, μάτην, comp. δωρεάν in Joh_15:25. What is meant by this “contending without cause” is made more apparent in the 2d member. In regard to the ethical significance of this precept comp. “Doctrinal and Ethical” notes, No. 3.
Pro_3:31. Emulate not the man of violence. For this signification of אַל־תְּקַנֵּא, which is found as early as the Vulgate (ne æmuleris hominem injustum), the strongest support is the parallel thought in the 2d member; while unquestionably in passages like Psa_37:1; Psa_73:3; Pro_24:1, the expression קִנֵּא בְּ denotes rather a “falling into a passion” about some one, a “being envious.” Yet comp. Pro_23:17, where the meaning plainly resembles that before us. [The difference among these expositors, we think, is more seeming than real. Thus Stuart renders, “Be not envious toward,” etc., and explains “do not anxiously covet the booty which men of violence acquire;” Muenscher renders, “Envy thou not the man,” etc., and explains, “Do not be offended by the success and prosperity,” etc., “so as to imitate,” etc.—A.]—And choose none of his ways. For תִּכְחַר the LXX [μηδὲ ζηλώσῃς) must have read תּתְחַר, a reading which Hitzig is disposed to accept as the original. But how easily could this change be introduced, following as a standard Psa_38:1, or Pro_24:19, where no doubt תִּתְחַר stands as the only appropriate reading!
Pro_3:32-35 supply a ground in the first instance for the counsels contained in Pro_3:27-31, but further in general for those of the whole chapter: thus Pro_3:35 in particular, by its contrasting the comprehensive terms “fool” and “wise,” reveals a far reaching breadth and compass in its reference, like the similar expressions at the close of the 1James , 2 d chapters.—An abhorrence to Jehovah is the deceiver.—נָלוֹז, properly the “perverse,” he who is deceitfully crooked and secret (comp. Pro_2:15), and so is in direct contrast with the “upright” or straightforward. [תּוֹעֵבָה, which in the E. V. is always translated by “abomination,” or some cognate term, is often used in other sacred books of idolatry. In the twenty or more passages in the Book of Proverbs in which the word is found it has this signification in no single instance. “It would seem,” says Wordsworth, in loc, “as if, when Solomon wrote the Proverbs, he regarded idolatry as a thing impossible. He therefore left out idolatry as the Greek Legislator omitted parricide from his code—as a thing too monstrous to be contemplated. And yet Solomon himself afterwards fell into idolatry,” etc.—A.].—With the upright he maintains true friendship.—Literally, “with the upright is his secret compact” (סוֹדוֹ), his intimacy, his confidential intimacy. Comp. Job_29:4; Psa_25:14.—Jehovah’s curse dwells in the house of the wicked.—Comp. the אָלָה, the cursing which, according to Zec_5:4, will take possession of the house of the wicked, and destroy it (in accordance with Deu_28:17 sq.); and for the term מְאֵרָה, Mal_2:2 (and Köhler on both passages).
Pro_3:34. If he scorneth the scorners.—To this hypothetical protasis the apodosis is not found in Pro_3:35, as Bertheau [and Stuart] hold, but immediately after, in the second clause of Pro_3:34. As in Job_8:20; Lam_3:32, there is an argumentum a contrario. Comp. our mode of constructing propositions, with “while on the one hand—so on the other.” For the sentiment of the 1st member, comp. Psa_18:26; for that of the whole verse the passages in the N. T. which cite freely from the LXX, 1Pe_5:5; Jam_4:6, and also above, Pro_1:26 sq.
Pro_3:35. Shame sweeps fools away.—מֵרִים קָלוֹן literally “shame lifts up,” i.e., in order to sweep away and destroy them: Comp. Eze_21:31; Isa_57:14, and the corresponding use of נָשָׂא, tollere= auferre; Isa_41:16; Job_27:21. The expression קָלוֹן, ignominia, properly levitas (lightness), at once reminds us directly of the familiar figure of chaff whirled away by the wind (Psa_1:4; Isa_17:3; Isa_29:5, etc.). Therefore we need not take מֵרִים as the predicate of כְּסִילִים (fools) and translate it by suscipiunt in the sense of “gather up,” “carry away,” as Hitzig does, following: the 70, Targ., Vatabl., and Rosenmueller [so Noyes, Muenscher, Wordsw., while De Wette, Stuart, etc., agree with cur author—A.]; although the distributive use of the participle in the singular instead of the plural, would have a. sufficient parallel in the passage already explained, Pro_3:18 b.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. “Wisdom is life and gives life.” This proposition, which finds its most pregnant utterance in Pro_3:18, and is formulated as a sort of Epitome of the whole chapter, is especially in the first admonitory discourse (Pro_3:1-18) expressed in manifold ways and exhibited in its bearing upon the most diverse relations, those of the present life first. Above all it is long life, to which walking in true wisdom aids (Pro_3:3-16), and this for this reason,—because such a course is the indispensable condition of physical as well as spiritual health,—or because, as Pro_3:8 expresses it, “the wise findeth health for his body and refreshing for his frame.” He who is truly wise aims infallibly at the needful temperance, and a prudent self-restraint in his physical and mental regimen, and thereby promotes health, his inward and outward well-being in the highest possible degree. He contributes by his obedient subjection to the Divine grace, to the emancipation of his noblest spiritual powers and capacities,—secures these as well as the functions of his bodily organization against morbid excitement or torpidity, and so develops generally his entire personal life, body, mind and spirit, to its normal harmony, and the most vigorous manifestation possible of its diverse and cardinal activities. He who has in this way become inwardly free through the fear of God and real wisdom in life, attains necessarily also to the confirmation of this his godlike freedom and vital power in connection with the phenomena of the outward natural life, as surely as the laws of the economy of nature are the same as those of the ethical sphere in the kingdom of God. He who is inwardly free becomes also naturally free. To him who has attained true mastery over himself there is soon restored dominion over the outward creation,—that heritage of the true children of God from Paradise,—at least in its essentials. And so outward prosperity is added in his experience to inward peace; God “smooths his paths” (Pro_3:6); fills his garners and cellars with abundance (Pro_3:10), makes him great through riches and honor (Pro_3:16), and guides him during this whole life in ways of delight, peace, and prosperity (Pro_3:17; comp. Pro_3:2; Pro_3:18). A thing, however, that rises far above all these external blessings, above gold, silver and all the treasures of the earth (see Pro_3:14-15), is the grace and favor which the wise man finds not only with men, but much more with God (Pro_3:4). This favor of God and of men,—i.e., not of all indiscriminately, but first and pre-eminently of the wise and devout, such as agree with God’s judgment, is evidently in the view of the poet the highest and most precious of the multiform blessings of wisdom which he enumerates. What, however, is this “favor with God and men,” the inseparable attendant and consequence of genuine wisdom (1Sa_2:26; Luk_2:52), what is this but the being a true child of God, the belonging to the fellowship of God and His people, the co-citizenship in the kingdom of truth and of blessedness?—We stand here manifestly at the point at which the eudæmonism of the author, in itself comparatively external and inclining to that which is partial and sensuous, joins hands with the true doctrine of Christianity,—where, therefore, the Old Testament doctrine of retributions predominantly earthly begins to be transformed into the super-sensual or spiritual realistic doctrine of the New Testament (Mat_5:10-12; Mat_19:28-30). For if to be a child of God and to stand in relations of grace appears as the chief value and most precious reward of wisdom, the goal of prosperity at which the lovers of this wisdom aim is far more a heavenly than an earthly one; and fellowship with God, obedient, loving dependence on Him, is then not merely the end, but at the same time the principle and motive for all the thought, effort and action of the wise. As a way to the attainment of this end no other whatsoever can come under consideration but that opened and pointed out by God himself—that is, the way of faith in the revelation of His grace. Believing self-devotion to the salvation which God bestows, which in the Old Testament is still essentially placed in the future, but in Christ as the Mediator of the New Testament, has become real and present, is there as well as here the condition of the attainment of wisdom, of progressive growth and strength in its possession, and finally of the enjoyment of the blessed reward. That our poet also walks in this path, that he is a representative of the “fides Veteris Testamenti,” that he belongs to that host of witnesses, exemplars of faith under the Old Testament, which is brought before us in Hebrews 9; this is incontrovertibly established by the way in which he speaks of the conditions of attaining to the blessed reward of wisdom, or of the practical demeanor of the wise man in its details. There we hear nothing of outward works of the law, of meritorious services, of the fulfilling of God’s will with one’s own strength or reason; but “trust in the Lord with all thine heart” is enjoined in emphatic contrast with “leaning upon one’s own prudence” (Pro_3:5); the being “wise in one’s own eyes” is put in significant contrast with the fear of God and the avoiding of all evil (Pro_3:7); yes, willing submission to God’s salutary correction, humble and grateful subjection even to the strict disciplinary regulations which His fatherly love finds it good to employ; this constitutes the substance of the dispositions and modes of action which are here prescribed (Pro_3:11-12; comp. Heb_12:5 sq.). With good reason did Melanchthon direct attention to the genuinely evangelical, and even profoundly Christian character of this admonition to the patient endurance of sufferings as wholesome disciplinary ordinances of God. He remarks on Pro_3:11-12 : “Here the whole doctrine of the cross is to be brought into view, and the distinction considered between Philosophy and the Gospel. Philosophy and human reason judge otherwise of the causes of death and of human calamities than does the voice of the Gospel.…. Christian and philosophic patience must also be distinguished.” And further, on Pro_3:13 sq.: “These praises of wisdom are rightly understood of revealed wisdom, i.e., of the word of God manifested in the Church, of the Decalogue and the Gospel. Nor yet is it strange that antiquity applied these praises to the person who is the Son of God, who is the revealer of the word resounding in the Church, and is efficient by this word, and in it shows forth what God is, and what is His will.” How far, furthermore, the point of view of our teacher of wisdom is removed from all possible Antinomian disparagements of positive moral requirements, how clearly, on the other hand, the wisdom that he teaches appears to be regulated by both factors of Divine revelation, law and gospel, shows itself from the emphatic prominence given to “love and truth” (חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת Pro_3:3; comp. the previous analysis of these two ideas on p. 61) as the chief manifestations of a spirit that fears God, and of a scrupulously dutiful course in intercourse with one’s neighbor. Love is, therefore, according to him, also, the fulfilling of the law (Rom_13:10; Gal_5:14), and indeed to such a degree that, according to his conception, the compliance with special prescriptions of the positive external ceremonial law, e.g., the ordinances which relate to the bringing of the offerings of first fruits (see above on Pro_3:9), must be to it an easy thing. With the proposition of Bruch, that our author found himself in a sort of free-thinking opposition to the positive prescriptions of the Mosaic ceremonial law (comp. Introd., § 15, note), this admonition to a conscientious devotion of the first fruits to Jehovah, plainly cannot be reconciled.
2. As wisdom alone ensures true joy in life and abiding prosperity, it also shows itself man’s most reliable protection (Pro_3:19-26), his defender and guardian in all the inward temptations as well as the outward dangers of this earthly life. And this essentially for this reason, because it consists in trusting devotion to the eternal and absolute wisdom of God, which most richly and gloriously manifests its exhaustless power, and its compassionate love and faithfulness, as formerly in the creation of the world, now also in its preservation and government. For he who loves wisdom is also loved by her.; and he who by walking in faith, love, and the fear of God, confesses himself here below a friend of the Divine word,—in his behalf does the eternal Word make confession above before the throne of the Heavenly Father.—For further remarks upon the relation to the Logos or the Son of God, of the Divine wisdom, which is here in Pro_3:19-20, for the first time, hypostatically presented in its quality as the power that created the world, see below on Pro_8:22 sq. (Doctrinal and Ethical comments). [As will be seen from the Exegetical notes on Pro_3:19, the best modern exegesis is not unanimous in applying this passage, like chap. 8, to the hypostatic wisdom. Our author’s remarks, therefore, however just in themselves, may be regarded as here out of place, so far forth as they involve the personality of wisdom—A.]
3. The conditions for the attainment of true wisdom and its blessing, which are again emphasized in the concluding verses (27–35), are comprehended in the single requirement of love to one’s neighbor as the fulfilling of the Divine law. As special manifestations of this love of our neighbor, we have made prominent, charitableness and constant readiness to give (27, 28), sincerity and an unfeigned frankness of disposition (29), peaceableness and placability (30), gentleness and abstinence from all violence (31), straightforward, honorable and upright deportment in one’s general transactions (32, 33), humility and the avoidance of all arrogant, frivolous and scornful demeanor (34).—These admonitions do not rise to the full moral elevation of the New Testament’s requisitions of love. Thus there is noticeably wanting here the demand of love to enemies, although not in Pro_25:21, and instead of this there is, it is true, no hatred of one’s enemy recommended (as in the casuistic ethics of the later Pharisaic Judaism, according to Mat_5:43), but yet a restriction of all dispute and controversy to one’s relations with an actual offender; see Pro_3:30. The specification of duties to one’s neighbor that is here presented is therefore related to one truly Christian, very much as the moral precepts which, according to Luk_3:10-14, John the Baptist gave to the multitude that followed him, if compared with that fulfilment of the law presented by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount as the standard for the conduct of the children of God under the New Testament (Mat_5:20-48). Let us observe also the fact, which is certainly not accidental, that all the moral precepts in our passage are given in the form of negative imperatives or warnings, while, e.g., in the Sermon on the Mount, in the concluding and admonitory chapters of Paul’s Epistles, and in general in most of the counsels of the New Testament, the positively admonitory and preceptive tone has a decided preponderance over the prohibitory.
HOMILETIC AND PRACTICAL
Homily on the entire chapter, starting with the central thought in Pro_3:18 : True wisdom as a tree of life,—considered 1) in the precious fruits which it bestows upon us (1–18);—2) in the solid ground in which it is rooted (19–26);—3) in the cultivation which we must bestow upon it by a loving and faithful integrity (27–35).—Comp. M. Geier’s analysis of the chapter, which, treating the four introductory verses as an exordium for the whole, finds prescribed in it three main classes of duties: 1) to God (5–26);—2) to our neighbor (27–30);—3) to ourselves (31–35).—So Starke: Solomon’s exhortation to the manifestation of that piety which flows from true wisdom, viz.: 1) of piety in itself (1–12);—2) of wisdom as its celestial source (13–26);—3) of love to our neighbors as its chief earthly fruit and result (27–35).
Pro_3:1-12. Melanchthon (on Pro_3:5-12, after treating the first four verses as an Introduction): Three precepts of divine Wisdom 1) Trust in God and fear of God (5–8);—2) the support of the ministry of the word by offerings and gifts (9,10);—3) patience under crosses and sufferings (11, 12, comp. above, p. 65).—Geier (on 5–18): Six cardinal duties to God: 1) confidence,—2) reverence,—3) humility,—4) honor,—5) patience,—6) zeal for wisdom.—Starke: An exhortation to true piety; and 1) a preliminary encouragement to attention (1–4);—2) the direct admonition to the manifestation of true piety, a) in confidence in God (5),—b) in a living knowledge of God (6),—c) in the fear of the Lord with a renouncing of one’s own wisdom (7, 8),—d) in the right payment of all gifts that are due (9, 10),—e) in the patient bearing of the cross (11, 12).—Calwer Handb.: The multiform blessings of a multiform wisdom; Pro_3:1-2 : long life, prosperity and peace;—3, Proverbs 4 : favor with God and men;—5, Proverbs 6 : a right guidance;—7, Proverbs 8 : even physical well-being;—9, Proverbs 10 : full garners and presses;—11, Proverbs 12 : grace from God also in trials and sufferings.
On Pro_3:1-4. Egard: See to it that on the tablet of thine heart nothing be found but the word of God and Jesus Christ. According to what is written on the tablet of thine heart, (2Co_3:3) will endless pain or eternal joy await thee, Mat_10:32-33.—On Pro_3:5-8. Hasius: It is a characteristic of true wisdom that one regards himself as simple; men who are wise in their own eyes are far removed from true wisdom.—Zeltner: Where true fear of God exists, there is also true humility of soul, and renunciation of self. Sir_1:17-18, etc.—[Pro_3:5. Trapp: They trust not God at all that do it not alone.—Arnot: Trust is natural to the creature, though trust in the Lord be against the grain to the guilty. God complains as much of a divided allegiance as of none. In cleaving to Christ the effort to reserve a little spoils all. The command to “trust” is encouraging as well as reproving. The genuine spirit of adoption may be best observed in little things.—R. M. M ‘Cheyne: Every enlightened believer trusts in a divine power enlightening the understanding; he therefore follows the dictates of the understanding more religiously than any other man.
Pro_3:8. Arnot: He who makes holiness happy in heaven, makes holiness healthful on earth.]—On Pro_3:9-10. Starke: We should above all things seek the kingdom of God, and share our means with those who labor in the word, and the extension of God’s kingdom; but not hold our goods for gain in order so to avoid God’s service. It is unbelief if one accounts that lost which he voluntarily devotes to churches and schools, and to the maintenance of the ministry of the word. Mat_10:42; 2Co_9:6; Gal_6:6, etc.—Zeltner: Thankfulness opens the fountain of the divine blessing, unthankfulness closes it.—Stöcker: Liberality toward the clerical office, considered 1) in and by itself,—2) according to the manner of its exercise,—3) in its reward.—[W. Bates: Charity is a productive grace, that enriches the giver more than the receiver. The Lord signs Himself our debtor for what is laid out for Him, and He will pay it with interest].—On Pro_3:11-12. Egard: God’s strokes are better than Satan’s kiss and love; God smites for life, Satan caresses for death.—J. Lange: The kingdom of God in this world is a kingdom of the cross; but all suffering tends evermore to the testing and confirmation of faith. 1Pe_1:6-7.—Berleb. Bible: God’s chastenings and corrections are no signs of anger, but of love; they are the pains which our healing and cure demand. Those who lie under the cross are often more acceptable to God, than those who taste and experience His dainties. He finds pleasure in our crosses and sufferings for this reason, because these are His remembrance and renewal of the sufferings of His Son. His honor is also involved in such a perpetuation of the cross in His members (Eph_3:13; Col_1:24, etc.) and it is this that causes Him this peculiar joy!
[Pro_3:11-12. Arnot: Let your heart flow down under trouble, for this is human; let it rise up also to God, for this is divine.—Trapp: He that escapes affliction may well suspect his adoption. God’s house of correction is His school of instruction.]
Pro_3:13-18. Egard: Silver, gold and pearls, serve and adorn the body only, wisdom, however, serves and adorns mainly the soul. As much as the soul is nobler than the body, so much is wisdom also nobler than all treasures. Beware lest thou with the children of this world look with delight upon the forbidden tree, and with them eat death from it. Beware lest thou choose folly instead of wisdom!—Stöcker: Whosoever desires to regain what our first parents squandered and lost by the fall, namely, eternal life—let him hold fast upon heavenly wisdom—i.e., God’s revealed word. This is a tree of life to all those who in true faith lay hold upon it.—Berleb. Bible: Solomon here testifies that wisdom even in Paradise nourished and supported men, and that the same is for this reason also in the restoration (the restitution of all things by Christ, Act_3:21) ordained for their spiritual maintenance. In this originates that most blessed condition of the new man, who gradually becomes again like and equal to the man of Paradise.—Wohlfarth: The tree of life of which we are to eat day by day is faith, love, hope. Faith is its trunk, hope its flowers, love its fruit.
[Pro_3:16-17. Arnot:—If the law were according to a simple calculation in arithmetic, “the holiest liver, the longest liver,” and conversely, “the more wicked the life the earlier its close;” if this, unmixed, unmodified, were the law, the moral government of God would be greatly impeded, if not altogether subverted. He will have men to choose goodness for His sake and its own; therefore a slight veil is cast over its present profitableness.—South (Pro_3:17): The excellency of the pleasure found in wisdom’s ways appears 1) in that it is the pleasure of the mind;—2) that it never satiates nor wearies;—3) that it is in nobody’s power, but only in his that has it.]
Pro_3:19-26. Stöcker:—Inasmuch as wisdom is so grand a thing that all was made and is still preserved by it, we are thence to infer that we also can be by it preserved for blessedness. We should hold dear the heavenly wisdom revealed to us in the word, and earnestly crave it, should learn to keep our eye upon God Himself, should entreat Him for all that we need, depend upon His omnipotence and faithful care, despond under no adversities, etc., etc.—[Bridges: (Pro_3:23) Habitual eyeing of the word keeps the feet in a slippery path].—Starke: He who orders his ways to please the Lord, can in turn depend upon His gracious oversight and protection.—Our unrest and fear spring mainly from an evil conscience; divine wisdom however keeps the conscience from heavy sins, and stays the heart on God.—Von Gerlach: The wisdom which God imparts to the man who hearkens for His voice is no other than that by which He founded the earth; the holy order, which forms, keeps, supports, holds together, develops into life, advances all. As now all that God has made is very good, each thing according to the law of the divine order that dwells in it, so in and for man all becomes good that conforms to this order.—Wohlfarth (on Pro_3:21-26): The holy rest of the pious. Little as the heart’s innocence, this fairest fruit of wisdom, can preserve and wholly free us from the sufferings which God suspends over us for our refining, so surely however does it turn away the worst and saddest consequences of sin, and ensures even amidst the storms of this life a rest that nothing can disturb.—[Pro_3:26. Arnot: It is the peace of God in the heart that has power to keep the feet out of evil in the path of life.]
Pro_3:27-35. Stöcker: The virtues of beneficence and patience are here developed after the method of the second table of the ten commandments; it is therefore taught how the believing Christian is in his relations to his neighbor to exercise himself in true charity, steadfast patience and forbearance.—Cramer (in Starke): When God richly bestows upon us spiritual treasures, ought it to be a great matter, if we to honor Him give alms from our temporal goods?—(On Pro_3:32 sq.); If an ungodly man rises in prosperity, look not upon his prosperity, but upon his end; that can easily deter you from imitating him.—Wohlfarth (on Pro_3:27-28): Thankfulness toward God requires beneficence toward one’s brethren.—Von Gerlach: Divine wisdom teaches the true communism,—makes all things common. According to true love earthly goods belong to “their lord” (Pro_3:27) i.e, to him who needs them.—[Pro_3:27. Arnot: The poor have not a right which they can plead and enforce at a human tribunal. The acknowledgment of such a right would tend to anarchy. The poor are placed in the power of the rich, and the rich are under law to God.
Pro_3:33. Arnot: In addition to the weight of divine authority upon the conscience, all the force of nature’s instincts is applied to drive it home.
Pro_3:34. Trapp: Humility is both a grace and a vessel to receive grace.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv2–4length . . . life--often promised as blessings (Psa…
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. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv1–4EXHORTATIONS TO OBEDIENCE AND THE HONOURING OF GOD, Pro_3:1-26.
EXHORTATIONS TO OBEDIENCE AND THE HONOURING OF GOD, Pro_3:1-26.
This chapter is a continuation of the moral teachings of the preceding ones. It is rich in precepts, counsels, and admonitions on various topics, all of grave importance. For the sake of a deeper impression the royal sage, like every good teacher, uses more or less repetition, with variation of expression and abundance of illustration.
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1. My son — The kindness and earnestness of manner is to be noted.
Forget not my law — Let it be a law to thee, and let thy heart carefully guard my precepts. Such is the spirit of the original, as if uttered in a tone of earnest paternal entreaty.
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 Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv1–41. law] or, teaching, R.V. marg. This is the…
1. law] or, teaching, R.V. marg. This is the primary meaning of the Heb. word Torah (see Pro_1:8 note, Pro_4:2, Pro_7:2), which is the common designation of the Law, in its Biblical sense.
Fourth Address. Chap. Pro_3:1-10
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Be obedient to my instruction, so shalt thou live long and prosper (Pro_3:1-4). Trust, not in thyself, but in God (Pro_3:5). Seek His direction (Pro_3:5-8): render Him His due (Pro_3:9-10): and (see Pro_3:12, note) submit to His fatherly correction (Pro_3:11-12).
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 Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv2–4(d) Fourth Discourse:—Exhortation to Various Virtues (Pro iii 1-18).
III.
(d) Fourth Discourse:—Exhortation to Various Virtues (Pro iii 1-18).
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(2) Long life.—That is, a life worth living, fit to be called “life”; whereas” length of days” only implies extension of life, the reward promised for obedience to parents.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv1–4Vers. 1-18. Fourth admonitory discourse. The third chapter introduces…
Vers. 1-18. Fourth admonitory discourse. The third chapter introduces us to a group of admonitions, and the first of these (vers. 1-18) forms the fourth admonitory discourse of the teacher. To all intents and purposes this is a continuation of the discourse in the preceding chapter, for inasmuch as that described the benefits, spiritual and moral, which follow from the pursuit of Wisdom, in promoting godliness and providing safety from evil companions, so this in like manner depicts the gain flowing from Wisdom, the happiness of the man who finds Wisdom, and the favour which he meets with both with God and man. The discourse embraces exhortations to obedience (vers. 1-4), to reliance on God (vers. 5, 6) against self-sufficiency and self-dependence (vers. 7, 8), to self-sacrificing devotion to God (vers. 9, 10), to patient submission to God"s afflictive dispensations (vers. 11, 12), and concludes with pointing out the happy gain of Wisdom, her incomparable value, and wherein that value consists (vers. 13-18). It is noticeable that in each case the exhortation is accompanied with a corresponding promise of reward (vers. 2, 4, 6, 8, 10), and these promises are brought forward with the view to encourage the observance of the duties recommended or enjoined. Jehovah is the central point to which all the exhortations converge. Obedience, trust, self-sacrificing devotion, submission, are successively brought forward by the teacher as due to God, and the persons in whom they are exhibited are truly happy in finding Wisdom. The transition in thought from the former to the latter part of the discourse is easy and natural. Obedience and trust are represented as bringing favour, guidance, and health in a word, prosperity. But God is not only to be honoured in times of prosperity, but also in adversity his loving hand is to be recognized; and in this submission to his will is true wisdom.
My son (b"ni) serves to externally connect this discourse with the preceding. Forget not my law. This admonition bears a strong resemblance to that in Pro_1:8, though the terms employed are somewhat different, torah and mits"oth here occupying the place respectively of musar and torah in that passage. My law (torathi), is literally, my teaching, or doctrine, from the root yarah, "to teach." The torah is the whole body of salutary doctrine, and designates "Law" from the standpoint of teaching. Forgetting here is not So much oblivion arising from defective memory, as a wilful disregard and neglect of the admonitions of the teacher. Thine heart (libekha); Vulgate, cor; LXX, kardia and so the sum total of the affections. Keep; yitstsor, from notsar, "to keep, or observe that which is commanded." The word is of frequent occurrence in the Proverbs, and appears about twenty-five times. My commandments (mits"othay); Vulgate, praecepta mea; LXX, ta rhmata mou ; i.e. my precepts. The Hebrew verb from which it is derived means "to command, or prescribe." The law and commandments here alluded to are those which immediately follow, from ver. 3 onwards. The three main ideas combined in this verse are remembrance, affection, and obedience. Remembering the law or teaching will depend, to a large extent, on the interest felt in that law; and the admonition to "forget not" is an admonition to give "earnest heed," so that the law or teaching may be firmly fixed in the mind. In using the words, "let thy heart keep," the teacher goes to the root of the matter. There may be a historical remembrance of, or an intellectual assent to, the commandments, but these are insufficient, for the keeping of the commandments must be based on the recognition of the fact that the affections of the heart are to be employed in the service of God, the keeping of the commandments is to be a labour of love. Again, the expression, "keep my commandments," implies, of course, external conformity to their requirements: we are "to observe to do them"; (Deu_8:1) but it implies, further, spiritual obedience, i.e. an obedience with which love is combined, (Deu_30:20) and which arises from the inward principles of the heart being in harmony with the spirit of the commandments (see Wardlaw).
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Vers. 1-4. Making the heart a treasury of good principles.
I THE TREASURE. Innumerable impressions are constantly being made upon our minds, and as constantly transferring themselves into memories. Frivolous thoughts, false notions, corrupt images, once harboured, take up their abode in the soul, and ultimately modify its Character to the likeness of themselves. It is most important for us to guard our memories from such things, and to fill them with more worthy stores. Consider, therefore, the best subjects for contemplation and memory.
1. The Law of God. Divine truth is the highest truth, the noblest theme of meditation, the supreme guide to conduct. Truth concerning our actions, the revealed will of God, is for us the most valuable Divine truth. Other forms of truth may please and help us, but this is essentially needful as a lamp to our feet. We can afford to lose sight of the stars if the harbour light shines clear on the waters over which we have to sail. This practical Divine truth not our dreams and fancies, but utterances of God"s will we are called to remember. Hence the importance of studying the Bible, which contains it. It is well for children to store their minds with passages of Scripture. These will afford strength in temptation, guidance in perplexity, comfort in sorrow.
2. Mercy and truth. "The letter killeth:" It is superstition that merely treasures up the words of Holy Writ, and repeats them parrot-like, as though a spell were to be wrought by the very utterance of them. The truth contained within these ancient words is what we need to recollect. And it is not the exact verbal bearing of the Law, but the wide-reaching principles underlying it, that Christians are called upon to treasure; not rules of sacrifice, but principles of mercy; not merely the prohibition, "Thou shalt not steal," but the higher precept, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
3. Christ. Christ is the Truth; he is the incarnation of mercy, our great exemplar, the visible manifestation of God"s will, the perfect Ideal of our life. If we are weary of reading dry legal rescripts, and fail in contemplating bare abstract truths, we have a better way of treasuring good principles, by cherishing the vision of Christ.
II THE TREASURY. This is the heart. It is not enough that the Law has been once for all revealed, that we come under it and under the institutions of the Church, that we treasure the Bible in our library, that we hear it read in hasty moments. Much superstition prevails on these points. People seem to think that there is a virtue in the mere act of reading a chapter from the Bible, and some seem to go through the task as a sort of penance, imagining that they thus score some points to their credit in heaven. The Bible is valuable to us only in so far as it influences us. To influence us it must be known and remembered. The Law graven on stone, locked in the ark, and hidden behind the thick curtains of the sanctuary, could do the people of Israel little good. It needed to be written on the fleshy tables of the heart. This involves:
1. An intelligent understanding of Divine truth, so that it comes to us, not as a mere string of words, but as clear ideas.
2. A good memory of it.
3. A love of it, so that it is treasured thoughtfully, and becomes part of our very being, moulding our character, colouring our thoughts and affections, and directing our conduct. It is not difficult to see that such a treasury of such treasure will secure favour with God and ultimately also favour with men.
HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON Vers. 1-10. Precepts and promises of wisdom.
I THE CONNECTION OF PRECEPT AND PROMISE.
1. Precept needs confirmation. We cannot but askWhy should we pursue this or that line of conduct in preference to another? Why should men be God-fearing, honest, chaste? We are rational creatures, not "dumb driven cattle," to be forced along a given road. We must have reasons; and it is to reason in us that the Divine reason ever makes appeal.
2. The confirmation is found in experience. This is the source of our knowledge; to it the true teacher must constantly refer for the verification of his principles, the corroboration of his precepts. The tone assumed by the teacher is indeed that of authority, but real authority always rests upon experience. Experience, in short, is the discovery and ascertainment of law in life. Precepts are its formulation.
3. The experience of the past enables the prediction of the future. Just; as we know the science of the astronomer, e.g., to be sound, because we find that he can predict with accuracy coming events, appearances of the heavenly bodies, eclipses, etc., so do we recognize the soundness of moral teaching by its power to forecast the future fates of men. Precepts are the deductions from the actual; promises the forecasts of that which, because it has been constant in the past, may be expected in the future. In science, in morality, in religion, we build on the permanence of law; in ocher words, on the constancy of the eternal God.
II PARTICULAR EXAMPLES OF THIS CONNECTION".
1. Obedience ensures earthly happin ess. (Vers. 1, 2) The connection is first stated generally. "Extension of days," or long life, is the one aspect of this happiness; inward peace of heart, denied to the godless, the other. (Isa_48:22 Isa_57:21) Prolongation of days, life in the good land, dwelling in the house of the Lord, are the peculiar Old Testament blessings. (Deu_4:40 Deu_5:33 Deu_6:2 Deu_11:9 Deu_22:7 Deu_30:16 Psa_15:1 Psa_23:6 Psa_27:4)
(1) The desire for long life is natural, and religion recognizes it.
(2) Without inward satisfaction, long life is no blessing.
(3) While the Old Testament promises formally cover the finite life only, they do not exclude the infinite. In God and faith in him the infinite is germinally contained.
2. Love and good faith ensure favour with God, good will with men. "Mercy," or "love;" the word denotes the recognition of kinship, fellowship in men, and the duty of kindness therein implied. "Truth," in the sense in which we speak of a true man; sincerity and rectitude, the striving to make the seeming and the being correspond to one another; the absence of hypocrisy. St. Paul gives the ideas, "dealing truly in love". (Eph_4:15) Let these virtues be bound about the neck, like precious objects, for the sake of security; let these commands be engraven in the only indelible way upon the heart. Let the mind be fixed and formed, and the result will be favour in the sight of God, and a "good opinion" in the minds of men. The two relations form a correlation. There is no true standing with God which does not reflect itself in the good opinion of good men; no worthy opinion of a man which does not furnish an index to God"s view of him. Both were united in the case of the youthful Jesus.
3. Trust in God ensures practical direction. (Vers. 5, 6)
(1) This trust must be whole-hearted. An exception to it destroys it, as one faulty link will cause the chain to break, one rotten plank the ship to leak, etc.
(2) The fallacy of confidence is when we separate the particular in our intelligence from the universal. This is intellectual egoism. There is a dualism in consciousness the private self-seeking intelligence, and the Divine mind in us.
(3) Trust is abandonment to the Divine mind, to the universal intelligence which carries us out of self.
(4) Such trust implies the "taking cognizance" of God in all we do. Of bad, unjust men, like Eli"s sons, it is said that they take no cognizance of Jehovah. (1Sa_2:12) To ask of every action not Is this what the generality of men would do in my position? but Is it what God would have me to do? Not Is it "natural"? but Is it Divine? Such a habit ensures practical direction. All our egarements and stumblings arise from following the isolated intelligence, which is a true guide only for immediate sensuous relations, cannot light us for life"s complex whole. Hence the way in which selfish and cunning people constantly outwit themselves, while the man who is set down by them as a fool for neglecting his own interests comes out safely in the long run.
4. Simple piety secures health. (Vers. 7, 8)
(1) Conceit is opposed to piety. This we have already seen. For what is conceit but the lifting of the merely individual into a false generality? In its extreme, the worship of self is a little god.
(2) Simple piety has a positive and a negative pole: positive, reverence for God; negative, aversion from evil. The pious man affirms and denies, both with all his might. His life is emphatic, includes an everlasting "Yes" and an everlasting "No"!
(3) Simple piety is the source of health.
(a) Physical. It tends to promote right physical habits. It certainly reacts against the worst disorders, viz. the nervous.
(b) Spiritual. It is in the mind what the sound nervous organization is in the body. The mind thus centrally right digests, enjoys, assimilates, the rich food which nature, books, and men afford.
5. Consecration of property ensures wealth. (Vers. 9, 10)
(1) Ancient custom commanded this. The consecration of the firstling of firstfruits was not confined to Israel. It was an ancient custom of the world generally. The part represents the whole, for all is God"s. There seems to be no objection to the private practice of the custom by Christians still. In any case, let it be recognized that property, in the legal sense, but an expression of convenience; that really our temporary possessions, along with ourselves, are the property of God. If this be not recognized, we merely consume them, or hoard them, do not use them.
(2) Plenty falls to the lot of the giver. The exceptions to the rule are apparent, and perhaps language does not suffice for their statement and elucidation. The rule is comprehensively true, and a comprehensive view is necessary for its application. Rich and poor are subjective terms. There is a rich poverty and a miserable affluence. The promise is only truly fulfilled in the man who feels he has abundance, and enjoys it. J.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON Vers. 1-4. Cherishing the truth.
We have here
I THE ESSENTIAL THING IMPLIED. It is implied that the Law of God has been heard and understood; also that it has been received as Divine, and taken as the true guide of life. The teacher or preacher has sometimes to assume this; but too often it is an assumption unjustified by the facts. When it is justified, there come
II TWO SPECIALLY VALUABLE VIRTUES INSISTED UPON. Mercy and truth (ver. 3) are to be exemplified.
1. Mercy, which includes
(1) compassion, or the pity one should show to the unfortunate and the suffering; and
(2) clemency, or a lenient view taken and a generous spirit shown in presence of error and wrong doing, particularly of injury done to ourselves.
2. Truth, which includes
(1) veracity in language;
(2) sincerity of heart;
(3) honesty and uprightness of action.
III A MATTER OF GREAT MOMENT ENFORCED. This is the cherishing of the truth by the spirit which has received it in the love of it. "My son, forget not my law; ... let thine heart keep," etc. (ver. 1); Bind them about thy neck; write them upon the tablet of thine heart" (ver. 3). If these precepts are to he duly carried out, and there is thus to be a continuance in well doing, and even a growth therein, then must there be:
1. The dwelling upon them by the mind; that must be a mental habit carefully cultivated.
2. The placing ourselves where they will be urged on our attention and commended to our affection (the sanctuary, the Lord"s table, the society of the holy, etc.).
3. The wise study of them as illustrated in the lives of the worthiest of our race.
4. The use of any and every means by which they will be seen by us to be the beautiful and blessed things they are. The children of Wisdom will not only receive gladly the truth of God, but they will cherish it carefully; they will water with diligent hand the plant which has been sown and which has sprung up in the soul. "Let not the workman lose what he has wrought." If we continue in the word of Christ, then are we his disciples indeed. (see Joh_8:31 Joh_15:9 Act_13:43)
IV A LARGE BLESSING PROMISED. (Vers. 2, 4) Under the Law, temporal blessings were more abundantly held in view; then the wise were promised long life, comfort, and human estimation, as well as the favour of God. Under the gospel, temporal prosperity takes the second place, spiritual and heavenly well being the first. But we may urge that conformity to the will of God as revealed in his Word:
1. Tends to bodily health and strength; if that does not secure it, assuredly disobedience will not.
2. Tends to secure a life of tranquillity. "Peace," as well as "length of days," it is likely to add; equanimity of mind and the comfort which is the consequence of right and kind behaviour.
3. Tends to win the esteem and the affection of our neighbours. "Favour in the sight of man.
4. Ensures the love and the blessing of Almighty God. C.
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 Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn vv1–4My son, forget not my law; but let thine…
Pro_3:1-35
My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments.
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Useful precepts and inspiring motives
I. To remember and keep in our hearts the things written in this book (Pro_3:1-2). Interest dictates to us the propriety of keeping Gods commandments.
II. To live in the exercise of mercy and truth (Pro_3:3), in every part of our intercourse with our fellow-creatures, however defective they may be in the practice of these virtues to us. As workers under the Spirit we are required to write the law of kindness and of truth upon the tables of our heart, by maintaining deep impressions of it, by meditating upon the peaceful motives that should excite us to that virtue, and by endeavouring, through the grace of Christ, to have our hearts habitually disposed to all those duties which are the natural fruits of love and integrity. God is well pleased, not only with the reverence and love which His people show to Himself, but with that generosity and mercy, that sincerity and faithfulness, which they evince to their fellow-men. To find in His children His true though imperfect image greatly delights the Deity. That understanding which is good in the sight of God and man is another fruit of the constant practice of mercy and truth.
III. To depend on God, and not on our own understanding (Pro_3:5). To trust in God is to depend on Him for bestowing on us every needful blessing, and preserving us from all evil. This dependence on God is to be exercised with all our hearts, our judgments being persuaded that God is the only and the all-sufficient object of confidence, and our souls resting with full satisfaction in His power and faithfulness. We must renounce every sublunary dependence; we must not make our own understanding a staff to our hearts.
IV. To be liberal in the service of God (Pro_3:9-10). Earthly substance is necessary for the use of our bodies, but we are called to make a nobler use of it than in the mere service of the outward man. We are to honour the Lord with it, making no use of any part of our increase till we have set apart a reasonable proportion of it for the service of God.
V. To behave aright under afflictive providences (Pro_3:11). We are warned against despising Divine rebukes, or fainting under them. The rebukes of providence are despised when persons regard not the supreme hand which afflicts, when they consider not the design of God in afflicting, or when, through stupidity of mind or hardness of heart, they neglect to comply with it. Afflictions may be despised when men do not value them as necessary and useful. Weariness under the Divine correction is another common fault, which we must avoid with care. Our hearts must not fret against the Lord, nor suffer reflecting thoughts to spring up, for God never exceeds the due measure in distressing us. No ingredient is poured into the cup of affliction, but by infinite wisdom and grace. Ever keep in mind who it is that afflicts us. Let all flesh keep silent before Him. He is a Father, and chastens us in love.
VI. To esteem wisdom, and earnestly pursue it (Pro_3:13-26). All the treasures of wisdom are hid in Christ, and He communicates the precious gift by His Word and Spirit. The excellency of wisdom appears in the gifts she bestows. She is a munificent princess, holding in both hands the richest presents, to be given to her servants. A happy life extended to old age is given to the lovers of wisdom, and riches and honour are given in the same sense as length of days. And religion is not less conducive to pleasure than it is to honour and wealth. It will readily be admitted that some of wisdoms ways are pleasant; but are they all so? There is peace and pleasure in repentance, which is sweetened by the apprehension of Gods mercy in Christ. There is pleasure in self-denial, for he that practises it knows that he is the true self-seeker. There is pleasure and peace in tribulations, because when they abound, consolations abound much more by Christ. There is peace in fighting the Lords battles. All the exercises, all the privileges, all the hopes of religion, are full of pleasure. Add the glory which belongs to wisdom, as it appears in creation and providence (Pro_3:19-20). No wisdom is sound but that which is taught by the Word of God, and approved by Him who is the author of wisdom. This sound wisdom makes us discreet and prudent, and guards us against that selfish cunning which has so often assumed its name. Safety is another of the great advantages which always attend wisdom. Walking in the ways of the Lord, we may banish those fears that would distress the soul. The Lord is a sure ground of confidence in the worst of times. Our proper exercise in such seasons is to trust in the Lord, and to pour out our hearts before Him, knowing that He will be a refuge for us. (G. Lawson.)
Religious impressions to be retained
Travellers tell us that the constant rubbing of the sand on Egyptian hieroglyphs removes every trace of colour, and even effaces the deep-cut characters from basalt rocks. So the unceasing action of multitudinous trifles will take all the bloom off your religion, and cause the name of the King cut on the tablets of your heart to be forgotten if you do not counteract them by constant, earnest effort.
Godliness
I. Godliness is associated with regard for law (Pro_3:1).
1. Appropriation. My law. Before we commend the Word of God to others we must receive it ourselves.
2. Instruction. Forget not. This implies that something has been taught.
3. Exhortation. Forget not. There are few things men so soon forget as Divine commands. The godly man is one who respects righteous law. He delights in the law of the Lord (Psa_1:2; Rom_7:22). The moral law is eternal, and must be regarded by all true followers of Christ. Obedience to it is not the ground of justification, but this is attained in the work of sanctification.
II. Godliness is associated with present advantages (Pro_3:2).
1. Intensity of life. Length of days. In the long run the longest day is the day that has the longest record of service for God.
2. Length of life. Long life. A blessing, say some, of the Jewish dispensation. A blessing, rather let us say, of all dispensations. Righteousness tendeth to life as much now as ever, and, other things being equal, he will live the longest who lives the best.
3. Serenity of life. Peace. Tranquillity continuing through all the years. The peace of the man who hearkens to God is like a river (Isa_48:18), getting broader and deeper as it gets nearer to the sea.
III. Godliness is associated with regard for the well-being of men. Mercy (R.V. margin, kindness) and truth (Pro_3:3). See here the bearing of a godly life upon the good of men. The mind of God is one of good-will toward men (Luk_2:14), and those who would be God-like must be of the same mind (Mat_5:45).
IV. Godliness is associated with faith in god (Pro_3:5). Trust in the Lord is the secret of safety (Pro_29:25), of happiness (Pro_16:20), and of spiritual prosperity (Pro_28:25).
V. Godliness is associated with the acknowledgment of God (Pro_3:6). This acknowledgment of God is to be--
1. Personal. Thy ways.
2. In all thy ways. Mans ways are many. Some walk in high places, some in lowly valleys. The way of some is in the sea, of others in the office, of others in the academy, of others in the senate. Some men walk in many ways. Abraham Lincoln was a rail-splitter, a storekeeper, a bargeman, a lawyer, a member of a State legislature, a Congressman, and President of the United States, but in all positions he acknowledged God. At the threshold of life he had, says one of his biographers, a profound trust in Providence; and when he left Springfield for Washington to take his place as President he said to his friends, Pray that I may receive that Divine assistance without which I cannot proceed.
3. In our own sphere. We need not go out of our way. The ordinary path of life will furnish all we ought to ask. The promise in the sixth verse suggests that we may acknowledge God by looking to Him for guidance, and it gives the assurance of Divine direction.
VI. Godliness is associated with humility (Pro_3:7). Be not wise in thine own eyes. Many, says Seneca, might have attained wisdom had they not thought they had attained it. The way to godliness is in the footsteps of Christ, and to follow in that path we must be meek and lowly in heart. VII. Godliness is associated with practical holiness (Pro_3:7-9).
1. The godly man will shun evil. Depart from evil. To depart may be rendered to turn aside. As men sometimes cut those they do not wish to see, so is evil to be cut. To go into the way of evil is to run a risk of falling into it.
2. Cultivate benevolence (Pro_3:9). Christian benevolence is substantial (substance, not merely good wishes); generous (first-fruits); God-honouring (honour the Lord). Those who with a right motive give of what God has given them acknowledge their indebtedness to Him and His ownership in what they possess.
VIII. Godliness is gain (Pro_3:10). Gain is not always godliness, but godliness is always gain in the highest sense. The giving of the first-fruits fills the barns. (H. Thorne.)
The earthly rewards of wisdom
We are taught to look for the fruit of righteousness in long life and prosperity, for the penalty of sin in premature destruction. We are accustomed to dwell on the promised joys of the future world as if godliness had no promise of the life which now is, and in so doing we take all life and colour from those expected blessings. The true view seems to be, the way of wisdom, the path of the upright, is so full of joy, so crowned with peace; the life of the children of the kingdom is so wisely and bountifully provided for; the inevitable pains and troubles which fall to their share are so transformed, that from this present good we can infer a future better, gathering hints and promises of what we shall be from the realised felicity of what we are. What are the immediate and apprehensible benefits of the life which is lived according to the dictates of heavenly wisdom?
I. The right life is a wholesome life, physically healthy. The body is a sacred trust, a temple of the Holy Ghost; to use it ill is to violate the trust and to defile the temple. The temperance of habit and orderliness of life which Wisdom requires of her children are the first conditions of vitality. Peace of mind, cheerfulness of temper, the transfer of all anxiety from the human spirit to the strong Spirit of God, are very favourable to longevity. Let no one think of measuring life only by days and years. Each day should be a full, rich day, unmarred by recollections, unshadowed by apprehensions. Each day is distinctly worth living. The life in God is undoubtedly a healthy life, nor is it the less healthy because the outward man has to decay, and mortality has to be swallowed up of life.
II. The right life requires fair dealing between man and man. The main economic principle of wisdom is this, that all legitimate trade is the mutual advantage of buyer and seller.
III. Wisdom commands not only justice, but generosity. She requires her children to yield the first-fruits of all their possessions to the Lord, and to look tenderly upon His poor. And the teaching of experience is that those who act upon this precept purchase to themselves a good possession.
IV. Look at the deeper, more spiritual results of right living. God is so much to men, that clear vision and strong action are utterly impossible apart from a humble dependence upon Him. The beginning of all wisdom is in the recognition of God, in personal submission to Him, in diligent obedience to all His directions. We do not at first see what is meant by trusting in the Lord with all our heart; we confuse it with that tepid, conventional relation to God which too frequently passes current for faith. They who do entirely renounce their own judgment, who, with their whole heart trusting Him, acknowledge Him in all their ways, find their lives running over with blessing, and become the means of incalculable good to the world and to themselves. It would not be easy to make plain or even credible to those who have never trusted in God how this guidance and direction are given. When a few years have been passed in humble dependence on God, it is then possible to look back and see with astonishing clearness how real and decisive the leadings of the Spirit have been. Our life, we find, is all a plan of God, and He conceals it from us, as if on purpose to evoke our trust, and to secure that close and personal communion which the uncertainty renders necessary. Some are suspicious of the Inward Light, as it is called. That may be because they do not trust the Lord with the whole heart. Wisdom calls for a certain absoluteness in all our relations to God, a fearless, unreserved, and constantly renewed submission of heart to Him. And while the external results of wisdom are great and marked, this inward result, which is the spring of them all, is more blessed than any. The supreme bliss of the heavenly wisdom is that it leads us into a detailed obedience to the law which is our life; it sets us under the immediate and unbroken control of God. To know the secret of the Lord, to walk in this world not guideless, but led by the Lord of life, to approach death itself not fearful, but in the hands of that Infinite Love for whom death does not exist, surely this is worth more than the gold and precious stones which belong only to the earth and are earthy. (R. F. Horton, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible1887 · Public DomainOn v1
CHAPTER 4
THE EARTHLY REWARDS OF WISDOM
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Pro_3:1-10
THE general teaching of these nine introductory chapters is that the "ways of Wisdom are pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." We are taught to look for the fruit of righteousness in long life and prosperity, for the penalty of sin in premature destruction. "The upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it. But the wicked shall be cut off from the land, and they that deal treacherously shall be rooted out of it." {Pro_2:21-22} The foolish "shall eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the backsliding of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto Wisdom shall dwell securely, and shall be quiet without fear of evil." {Pro_1:31-33} "By Wisdom thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased. If thou art wise, thou art wise for thyself; and if thou scornest, thou alone shall hear it." The ways of Folly have this legend written over the entrance-gate: "The dead are there; her guests are in the depths of Sheol." {Pro_9:12; Pro_9:18}
This teaching is summarized in the passage before us. "My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: for length of days, and years of life, and peace, shall they add to thee. Let not mercy and truth," those primary requirements of wisdom, "forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thy heart"; i.e., let them be an ornament which strikes the eye of the beholder, but also an inward law which regulates the secret thought. "So shalt thou find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man"; that is to say, the charm of thy character will conciliate the love of thy fellow creatures and of thy God, while they recognize, and He approves, the spiritual state from which these graces grow. "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not upon thine own understanding: in all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes; fear the Lord, and depart from evil: it shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones. Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first-fruits of all thy increase: so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy vats shall overflow with new wine." {Pro_3:1-10} The rewards of wisdom, then, are health and long life, the good-will of God and man, prosperity, and abundant earthly possessions. As our Lord would put it, they who leave house, or wife, or brethren, or parents, or children, for the kingdom of Gods sake, shall receive manifold more in this time, even of the things which they surrender, in addition to the everlasting life in the time to come. {Luk_18:29-30}
This is a side of truth which we frequently allow to drop out of sight, in order to emphasize another side which is considered more important. We are accustomed to dwell on the promised joys of the future world as if godliness had no promise of the life which now is, and in so doing we take all life and color from those expected blessings. The true view seems to be, the way of wisdom, the path of the upright, is so full of joy, so crowned with peace; the life of the children of the kingdom is so wisely and bountifully provided for; the inevitable pains and troubles which fall to their share are so transformed; that from this present good we can infer a future better, gathering hints and promises of what we shall be from the realized felicity of what we are.
If we try to estimate the temporal blessings of wisdom we do not thereby deny the larger and more lasting blessings which are to come; while if we ignore these present joyful results we deprive ourselves of the surest evidence for the things which, though hoped for, are not yet seen.
We may, then, with much advantage try to estimate some of the immediate and apprehensible benefits of the life which is lived according to the dictates of heavenly wisdom.
(1) First of all, the right life is a wholesome life-yes, physically healthy. Obedience to the eternal moral laws brings "health to the navel," and that peculiar brightness which is like the freshness of dew. The body is a sacred trust, a temple of the Holy Ghost; to use it ill is to violate the trust and to defile the temple. The temperance of habit and orderliness of life which Wisdom requires of her children are the first conditions of vitality. They who seek health as the first consideration become valetudinarians and find neither health nor happiness; but they who diligently follow the law of God and the impulse of His Spirit find that health has come to them, as it were, by a side wind. The peace of mind, the cheerfulness of temper, the transfer of all anxiety from the human spirit to the strong Spirit of God, are very favorable to longevity. Insurance societies have made this discovery, and actuaries will tell you that in a very literal way the children of God possess the earth, while the wicked are cut off.
Yet no one thinks of measuring life only by days and years. To live long with the constant feeling that life is not worth living, or to live long with the constant apprehension of death, must be counted as a small and empty life. Now, it is the chief blessedness in the lot of the children of light that each day is a full, rich day, unmarred by recollections, unshadowed by apprehensions. Each day is distinctly worth living; it has its own exquisite lessons of cloud or sunshine, its own beautiful revelations of love, and pity, and hope. Time does not hang heavily on the hands, nor yet is its hurried flight a cause of vain regret; for it has accomplished that for which it was sent, and by staying longer could not accomplish more. And if, after all, God has appointed but a few years for His childs earthly life, that is not to be regretted; the only ground for sorrow would be to live longer than His wise love had decreed. "If God thy death desires," as St. Genest says to Adrien in Rotrous tragedy, "life has been long enow."
The life in God is undoubtedly a healthy life, nor is it the less healthy because the outward man has to decay, and mortality has to be swallowed up of life. From the standpoint of the Proverbs this wider application of the truth was not as yet visible. The problem which emerges in the book of Job was not yet solved. But already, as I think we shall see, it was understood that the actual and tangible rewards of righteousness were of incomparable price, and made the prosperity of the wicked look poor and delusive.
(2) But there is a second result of the right life which ordinary observation and common sense may estimate. Wisdom is very uncompromising in her requirement of fair dealing between man and man. She cannot away with those commercial practices which can only be described as devising "evil against thy neighbor," who "dwelleth securely by thee." {Pro_3:29} Her main economic principle is this, that all legitimate trade is the mutual advantage of buyer and seller; where the seller is seeking to dupe the buyer, and the buyer is seeking to rob the seller, trade ceases, and the transaction is the mere in-working of the devil. Wisdom is quite aware that by these ways of the devil wealth may be accumulated; she is not blind to the fact that the overreaching spirit of greed has its rich and splendid reward; but she maintains none the less that "the curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked; but He blesseth the habitation of the righteous." {Pro_3:33}
It is a very impressive experience to enter the house of a great magnate whose wealth has been obtained by questionable means. The rooms are beautiful; works by the great masters shed their radiance of eternal truth from the walls; the library gleams with the well-bound books of moralists and religions teachers. The sons and daughters of the house are fair and elegant; the smile of prosperity is in every curtained and carpeted room, and seems to beam out of every illuminated window; and yet the sensitive spirit cannot be rid of the idea that "the curse of the Lord is in the house."
On the other hand, the honorable man whose paths have been directed by the Lord, no matter whether he be wealthy or merely in receipt, as the result of a lifes labor, of his "daily bread," has a blessing in his house. Men trust him and honor him. His wealth flows as a fertilizing stream, or if it run dry, his friends, who love him for himself, make him feel that it was a good thing to lose it in order to find them. In proportion as the fierce struggle of competition has made the path of fair dealing more difficult, they who walk in it are the more honored and loved. Nowhere does Wisdom smile more graciously or open her hand to bless more abundantly, than in the later years of a life which has in its earlier days been exposed, and has offered a successful resistance, to the strong temptations of unrighteous gain.
(3) Further, Wisdom commands not only justice, but generosity. She requires her children to yield the first-fruits of all their possessions to the Lord, and to look tenderly upon His poor. "Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it. Say not unto thy neighbor, Go, and come again, and tomorrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee." {Pro_3:27-28} And the teaching of experience is that those who act upon this precept purchase to themselves a good possession. The main value of the Mammon of unrighteousness is, as our Lord says, to make to ourselves friends with it, friends who shall receive us into the everlasting habitations. The money we spend upon our own pleasures, and to promote our own interests, is spent and gone; but the money given with an open hand to those poor children of God, to whom it is strictly due, is not spent at all, but laid up in the most secure of banks. There is no source of joy in this present world to be compared with the loving gratitude of the poor whom you have lovingly helped. Strangely enough, men will spend much to obtain a title which carries no honor with it, forgetting that the same money given to the needy and the suffering purchases the true honor, which gives the noblest title. For we are none of us so stupid as to think that the empty admiration of the crowd is so rich in blessing as the heartfelt love of the few.
But in enumerating these external results of right living we have only touched incidentally upon the deeper truths which lie at the root of it. It is time to look at these.
God is necessarily so much to men, men are necessarily so completely bereft without Him, that clear vision and strong action are utterly impossible apart from a humble dependence upon Him. The beginning of all wisdom is, as we have seen, in the recognition of God, in personal submission to Him, in diligent obedience to all His directions. This appears, before we reflect, to be a mere truism; when we have reflected, it proves to be a great revelation. We do not at first see what is meant by trusting in the Lord with all our heart; we confuse it with that tepid, conventional relation to God which too frequently passes current for faith. We do not readily apprehend what is implied in acknowledging God in all our ways; we suppose that it only means a general professing and calling ourselves Christians. Consequently, many of us who believe that we trust in the Lord, yet lean habitually and confidently upon our own understanding, and are even proud of doing so; we are wise in our own eyes long after our folly has become apparent to everyone else; we resent with a vehemence of righteous indignation any imputation upon the soundness of our judgment. The very tone of mock humility in which we say, "I may be wrong, but" shows that we are putting a case which seems to us practically impossible. Consequently, while we think that we are acknowledging God in all our ways, He does not direct our paths; indeed, we never gave Him an opportunity. From first to last we directed them ourselves. Let us frankly acknowledge that we do not really believe in Gods detailed concern with the affairs of the individual life; that we do not, therefore, commit our way with an absolute surrender into His hand; that we do not think of submitting to His disposal the choice of our profession, the choice of our partner in life, the choice of our place of residence, the choice of our style of living, the choice of our field of public service, the choice of our scale of giving. Let us confess that we settled all these things in implicit and unquestioning reliance upon our own understanding.
I speak only in wide and fully admitted generalities. If Christians as a whole had really submitted their lives in every detail to God, do you suppose that there would be something like fifty thousand Christian ministers and ten times that number of Christian workers at home, while scarcely a twentieth of that number have gone out from us to labor abroad? If Christians had really submitted their lives to God, would there have been these innumerable wretched marriages-man and wife joined together by no spiritual tie, but by the caprice of fancy or the exigencies of social caste? If Christians had really asked God to guide them, meaning what they said, would all the rich be found in districts together, while all the poor are left to perish in other districts apart? If Christians had really accepted Gods direction, would they be living in princely luxury while the heathen world is crying for the bread of life? Would they be spending their strength on personal aims while the guidance of social and political affairs is left in the hands of the self-interested? Would they be giving such a fragment of their wealth to the direct service of the Kingdom of God?
We may answer very confidently that the life actually being lived by the majority of Christian people is not the result of God directing their paths, but simply comes from leaning on their own understanding. And what a sorrowful result!
But in the face of this apostasy of life and practice, we can still joyfully point to the fact that they who do entirely renounce their own judgment, who are small in their own eyes, and who, with their whole heart trusting Him, acknowledge Him in all their ways, find their lives running over with blessing, and become the means of incalculable good to the world and to themselves. It would not be easy to make plain or even credible, to those who have never trusted in God, how this guidance and direction are given. Not by miraculous signs or visible interpositions, not by voices speaking from heaven, nor even by messages from human lips, but by ways no less distinct and infinitely more authoritative, God guides men with His eye upon them, tells them, "This is the way; walk ye in it," and whispers to them quite intelligibly when they turn to the right hand or the left. With a noble universality of language, this text says nothing of Urim or Thummim, of oracle or seer, of prophet or book: "He shall direct thy paths." {Pro_3:6} That is enough; the method is left open to the wisdom and love of Him who directs. There is something even misleading in saying much about the methods; to set limits to Gods revelations, as Gideon did, is unworthy of the faith which has become aware of God as the actual and living Reality, compared with whom all other realities are but shadows. Our Lord did not follow the guidance of His Father by a mechanical method of signs, but by a more intimate and immediate perception of His will. When Jesus promised us the Spirit as an indwelling and abiding presence He clearly intimated that the Christian life should be maintained by the direct action of God upon the several faculties of the mind, stimulating the memory, quickening the perception of truth, as well as working on the conscience and opening the channels of prayer. When we wait for signs we show a defect of faith. True trust in our Heavenly Father rests in the absolute assurance that He will make the path plain, and leave us in no uncertainty about His will. To doubt that He speaks inwardly and controls us, even when we are unconscious of His control, is to doubt Him altogether.
When a few years have been passed in humble dependence on God, it is then possible to look back and see with astonishing clearness how real and decisive the leadings of the Spirit have been.
There were moments when two alternatives were present, and we were tempted to decide on the strength of our own understanding; but thanks be to his name, we committed it to Him. We stepped forward then in the darkness; we deserted the way which seemed most attractive, and entered the narrow path which was shrouded in mist. We knew He was leading us, but we could not see. Now we see, and we cannot speak our praise. Our life, we find, is all a plan of God, and He conceals it from us, as if on purpose to evoke our trust, and to secure that close and personal communion which the uncertainty renders necessary.
Are you suspicious of the Inward Light, as it is called? Does it seem to open up endless possibilities of self-delusion? Are you disgusted with those who follow their own willful way, and seek a sanction for it by calling it the leading of God? You will find that the error has arisen from not trusting the Lord "with the whole heart," or from not acknowledging Him "in all ways." The eye has not been single, and the darkness therefore has been, as our Lord declares that it would be, dense. {Mat_6:22} The remedy is not to be found in leaning more on our own understanding, but rather in leaning less. Wisdom calls for a certain absoluteness in all our relations to God, a fearless, unreserved, and constantly renewed submission of heart to Him. Wisdom teaches that in His will is our peace, and that His will is learnt by practical surrender to His ways and commandments.
Now, is it not obvious that while the external results of wisdom are great and marked, this inward result, which is the spring of them all, is more blessed than any? The laws which govern the universe are the laws of God. The Stoic philosophy demanded a life according to Nature. That is not enough, for by Nature is meant Gods will for the inanimate or non-moral creation. Where there is freedom of the will, existence must not be "according to Nature," but according to God; that is to say, life must be lived in obedience to Gods laws for human life. The inorganic world moves in ordered response to Gods will. We, as men, have to choose; we have to discover; we have to interpret. Woe to us if we choose amiss, for then we are undone. Woe to us if we do not understand, but in a brutish way follow the ordinances of death instead of the way of life.
Now, the supreme bliss of the heavenly wisdom is that it leads us into this detailed obedience to the law which is our life; it sets us under the immediate and unbroken control of God. Well may it be said, "Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies." {Pro_3:13-15} And yet rubies are very precious. I learn that the valley in Burmah where the most perfect rubies in the world are found is situated four thousand five hundred feet above the sea level, in a range of mountainous spurs about eighty miles due north of Mandalay; but owing to the difficult nature of the intervening ground, the valley can only be reached by a circuitous journey of some two hundred miles, which winds through malarious jungles and over arduous mountain passes. An eminent jewellers firm is about to explore the Valley of Rubies, though it is quite uncertain whether the stones may not be exhausted. Wisdom is "more precious than rubies, and none of the things thou canst desire are to be compared unto her."
To know the secret of the Lord, to walk in this world not guideless, but led by the Lord of life, to approach death itself not fearful, but in the hands of that Infinite Love for whom death does not exist, surely this is worth more than the gold and precious stones which belong only to the earth and are earthy. This wisdom is laden with riches which cannot be computed in earthly treasures; "she is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her." {Pro_3:18} The creation itself, in its vast and infinite perfections, with all its aeonian changes, and all the mysterious ministries which order its details and maintain its activities, comes from that same wisdom which controls the right human life. The man, therefore, who is led in the ways of wisdom, trusting wholly to God, is in harmony with that great universe of which he forms an intelligent part: he may lie down without being afraid; he may walk securely without stumbling; no sudden fear can assail him; all the creatures of God are his sisters and his brothers; even Sister Death, as St. Francis used to say, is a familiar and a friend to him.
We have been dwelling upon the outward results of Heavenly Wisdom-the health, the prosperity, the friends, the favor with God and man which come to those who possess her. We have been led to seek out the secret of her peace in the humble surrender of the will to its rightful Lord. But there is a caution needed, a truth which has already occurred to the author of this chapter. It is evident that while Wisdom brings in her hand riches and honor, {Pro_3:16} health to the navel, and marrow to the bones, {Pro_3:8} it will not be enough to judge only by appearances. As we have pondered upon the law of Wisdom, we have become aware that there may be an apparent health and prosperity, a bevy of friends, and a loud-sounding fame which are the gift not of Wisdom, but of some other power. It will not do, therefore, to set these outward things before our eyes as the object of desire; it will not do to envy the possessors of them. {Pro_3:31} "The secret of the Lord is with the upright," and it may often be that they to whom His secret has become open will choose the frowns of adversity rather than the smile of prosperity, will choose poverty rather than wealth, will welcome solitude and contumely down in the Valley of Humiliation. For it is an open secret, in the sweet light of wisdom it becomes a self-evident truth, that "whom the Lord loveth He reproveth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth." {Pro_3:12}
There is, then, a certain paradox in the life of wisdom which no ingenuity can avoid. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, but we may not seek them because they are pleasant, for other ways are pleasant too, or seem to be so for a while. All her paths are peace, but we do not enter them to gain peace, for the peace comes often under the stress of a great conflict or in the endurance of a heavy chastening. A thousand temporal blessings accompany the entrance into the narrow way, but so far from seeking them, it is well-nigh impossible to start on the way unless we lose sight and care of them altogether. The Divine Wisdom gives us these blessings when we no longer set our hearts on them, because while we set our hearts on them they are dangerous to us. Putting the truth in the clearest light which has been given to us, the light of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are called upon to give up everything in order to seek first the Kingdom of Heaven, and when we are absorbed in that as our true object of search everything is given back to us a hundredfold; we are called upon to take up our cross and follow Him, and when we do so He bears the cross for us; we are called upon to take His yoke upon us and to learn of Him, and immediately we take it-not before-we find that it is easy. The wise, loving only wisdom, find that they have inherited glory; the fools, seeking only promotion, find that they have achieved nothing but shame. {Pro_3:35}
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 Commentary1892 · Public DomainOn v1Pro_3:1. Keep. This word, says Miller, primarily means to…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Pro_3:1. Keep. This word, says Miller, primarily means to look hard at, and generally to keep watch over, as over a vineyard.
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Pro_3:2. Length of days, properly “extension of days.”
Pro_3:3. Good understanding, or “good success,” “good reputation.” Some read “good intelligence,” i.e., thou shalt be esteemed before God and man as one of good understanding.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Pro_3:1-4
BLESSINGS FROM THE REMEMBRANCE OF GOD’S COMMANDMENTS
I. The natural desire of a moral instructor. Every teacher desires that his pupil should remember his instructions, and unless that which has been given is remembered it is useless to carry him any further on. Memory holds a very important place in the formation of moral character. “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the Gospel which I preached unto you; … by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you” (1Co_15:1-2). Paul likewise exhorts his son Timothy by means of his memory (2Ti_1:6). See also Heb_10:32; 2Pe_1:15; 2Pe_3:1, etc. Solomon knew that his son could only profit by his counsel so long as he remembered it.
II. When the memory does not retain moral teaching, it is a moral rather than an intellectual fault. “Let thine heart keep my commandments.” We find it difficult to forget where we love. If a child loves his father, he is not likely to forget his words. Christ reminded his disciples that they did not “remember” because their hearts were hardened (Mar_8:17-18).
III. When the heart keeps the Divine Word, mercy and truth will not forsake the character. Where God’s precepts find a place of abode, there will likewise be found a merciful disposition towards men, and a truthful and sincere piety before God. If a tree has its roots in the waters, we know that its greenness will not fail: “its leaf shall not wither.” The freshness and beauty of the foliage is the necessary outcome of its roots dwelling in the stream. The mercifulness and the truthfulness of a man’s character will be in proportion to his affection for, and consequent retention of, the words of God.
IV. The blessings which will accompany a remembrance of the Divine teaching.
1. Length of days. We may infer from this that, as a rule, long life is to be desired. The longer distance a pure river runs through a country, the greater the amount of blessing which it diffuses on its way to the ocean. The longer a man of “mercy and truth” lives, the more he is enabled to bless his fellow-creatures. A long life gives a man time to attain great knowledge of God, and thus enables him to glorify Him upon the earth. A long life is also to be desired because the peculiar experience of earth belongs to the present life only. When that is ended we have reason to believe that we shall enter upon an entirely new experience; that which belonged to earth will have passed away with our earthly life. It has often been remarked that a godly manner of life is favourable to “length of days.” Sin and anxious care tend to bring men to an early grave, while purity, and trust in a living and loving Father are promoters of bodily health.
2. Divine and human favour. The human ruler is favourable to those who make it their business to obey his commands. A wise and good father makes a difference in his treatment of those children who seek to please him and those who defy his authority. God is the Father, and consequently the rightful Ruler of men, and having made laws for the guidance of His children, it follows of necessity that those who seek to obey those laws must find favour with Him. He is in this sense a respecter of persons. He has respect to those who “have respect unto His commandments” (Psa_119:6). Favour in the sight of man is also promised. The value of a man’s favour depends upon a man’s character. To find favour with some men would be to be known as an enemy of God (Jas_4:4). It is written that Jesus increased “in favour with God and man” (Luk_2:52). But we know that He found little favour with the rulers of the Jews. Therefore, these words must be taken to refer to the favour of those whose favour is worth having.
3. Peace (Pro_3:2). Where the conscience and passions are at war there can be nothing but unrest, but when the conscience is reinforced by the Divine precepts, she rules, and the soul, as a consequence, enjoys peace. Peace must flow from the possession of Divine favour, and also from the consciousness of the good-will of good men.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro_3:1. Here we advance another step. Not only is it necessary to renounce and shun evil (Pro_1:10) and to listen to the voice of Wisdom and go in quest of her (Pro_1:20; Pro_2:1-4), but it is also requisite to hold her fast under trial and tribulation (Pro_3:11), and to practise her rules by love to God and man (Pro_3:9; Pro_3:27; Pro_3:30).—Wordsworth.
“My law.” He who made us knows what is good for us. Submission to His will is the best condition for humanity. Our own will leads to sin and misery. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.… Silently to forget God’s law is a much more common thing amongst us than blasphemously to reject it.—Arnot.
Where love makes the impression, care locks it up.… Philo saith, “Thou forgettest God’s law, because thou forgettest thyself.” For didst thou remember thine own condition, how very nothing thou art, thou couldst not forget His law whose excellency exceedeth all things; and therefore to fasten His law in our hearts, God saith no more than that it is my law, as if the strength of that reason were sufficient to strike them into us not to be forgotten.—Jermin.
We should be able to say to Wisdom as Cœnis did to her lady Antonia, “You need not, madame, bid me do your business, for I so remember your commands, as I need never be reminded of them.”—Trapp.
The mental faculties have a close relation and a mutual dependence upon each other. There are, without doubt, original diversities in the power of memory. But memory depends greatly on attention, and attention depends not less upon the interest which the mind feels on the subject. He who feels no interest will not attend, and he who does not attend will not remember.—Wardlaw.
Pro_3:2. Length of days is the promise to the righteous—whether for earth or for heaven as their Father deems fittest for them. It itself, the promise, as regards this life, has no charm.… But peace added forms the sunshine of the toilsomeway.—Bridges.
The original is “length of days and years of lives.” They are lives which religion promiseth, one on earth, another in heaven: here such a long life as short days can make up, but there days shall be years: there shall be but one day, lengthened into eternity.—Jermin.
Where is the consistency of promising long life to wisdom! Where is the truth of such an assurance? But certain grammatical endings give us immediate signs of another interpretation. The verb “add” is masculine; the words “law” and “commandments” are feminine. On the contrary, all are masculines among the nouns of the next clause. Unless there should be reason to do violence by an ungrammatical exception, the nouns should be the subjects rather than the objects of the verb. We translate therefore, “For length of days, and years of life, and prosperity, shall make thee greater.”—Miller.
Such declarations are certainly not to be interpreted as a promise of long life in this world in every instance, as the result of obedience to God’s commands. There are promises to Israel of their days being prolonged in the land which are greatly mistaken when interpreted of the life of individuals; and as pledging in every case its prolongation to all the good. Such passages relate to the continued possession of the land of promise by the people, if they, in their successive generations, continued to serve God.—Wardlaw.
Simple duration of life in itself to Jewish mind, a great gift of God. “Years of life,” i.e., of a life truly such, a life worth living, not the lingering struggle with pain and sickness (compare the use of “life” in Psa_30:5; Psa_42:8.—Plumptre.
Pro_3:3. There was such a similitude of nature between the twins of love that at once they wept, and at once they smiled; they fell sick together, and they recovered jointly. Such are these twins of grace. In policy, mercy without truth is a sweet shower dropping upon barren sands, quite spilt, and no blessing following it; truth without mercy is extreme right and extreme injury. Consider them toward God and heaven. A faith of mere protestation without good works, such is truth without mercy, and all the integrity of the heathen, all the goodness that Socrates could teach, such is mercy without truth.—Bishop Hacket.
The neck is, in Solomon’s writings, the organ and symbol of obedience. To bind God’s law about the neck is not only to do it, but to rejoice in doing it; to put it on and exult in it as the fairest ornament.—Wordsworth.
I. The matter to be recorded—mercy and truth. These two, meeting and kissing in the Mediator, constitute the revealed character of God Himself; and He desires to see, as it were, a miniature of His own likeness impressed upon His children.
II. The tablet for receiving it—the human heart. The reference is obviously to the tables of stone. The tables were intended to be not a book only, but a type. An impress should be taken on our own hearts, that we may always have the will of God hidden within us.—Arnot.
Let these graces be, as with God, in combination. The want of one buries the commendation of the other. “Such a one is merciful to the poor, but there is no truth in him.” “Such a one is very just in his dealings, but he is as hard as a flint.” Nor must these virtues be in occasional and temporary exercise. “Let them not forsake thee.”—Bridges.
Intimating—I. Their forsaking us is more than our forsaking them. Our forsaking them may come of our weakness, but their forsaking us comes of our wilfulness and hardness of heart in not entertaining them. II. It sets out the easiness of the loss of them through our corruption. III. It sets forth our great need of them. IV. It intimates our great care and pains needful for the retaining of them. They are easily lost, but hardly kept. A hawk must be well tamed before he is let fly, else he will return no more. These graces must be as carefully kept as providently gotten, like riches. And they must both be kept together, else mercy may lie to do good, and truth may reveal without cause what may do hurt. Therefore join both as God does (Psa_85:10).—Francis Taylor.
Mercy and truth are dear sisters, blessed companions in God, sweet companions in man. Mercy loveth truth, truth loveth mercy, God loveth both; and if man love himself, he will do so likewise.—Jermin.
These words correspond to the two tables of the law. Benevolence is at the bottom of the command, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour,” and what is right is that great glory which we are to love in God.—Miller.
Pro_3:4. In other words, “Thou shalt be favoured and truly prospered, God and man both bearing witness to thy well-directed efforts.”—Stuart.
He that shows mercy to men shall find mercy with God.… and men love to be dealt truly and mercifully with themselves, even though they deal not so with others; especially they that get good by our merciful and just dealing will favour us.—Francis Taylor.
This favour of God and men, i.e., not of all indiscriminately, but first and pre-eminently of the wise and devout, such as agree with God’s judgment, is evidently in the view of the poet the highest and most precious of the multiform blessings of wisdom which he enumerates. What, however, is this favour of God and men but the being a true child of God, the belonging to the fellowship of God and His people, the co-citizenship in the kingdom of truth and blessedness? We stand here manifestly at the point at which the Old Testament doctrine of retributions predominantly earthly begin to be transformed into the supersensual or spiritual realistic doctrine of the New Testament (Mat_5:10-12; Mat_19:28-30).—Lange’s Commentary.
This promise is all one with that of the Apostle Paul, when, speaking of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, he saith, “that he which in these things serveth Christ, pleaseth God and is acceptable to men” (Rom_14:18).
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.
The Sermon Bible1900 · Public DomainOn v1Pro 3:5-6
Pro 3:5-6
(with Pro 27:1)
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I. The precept, "Lean not unto thine own understanding" is one in which, with advancing years, we are well disposed to acquiesce. One who has grown older, and who has really profited by the experience of life, must often have found cause to revise his own judgments. In this world of change and sorrow experience soon teaches us the lesson, "Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth." Sudden reverses overtake the most prosperous; the most sagacious make blunders, through which their inferiors discover with pleased surprise that these wise men were, after all, not so much wiser than themselves.
II. The result of such experience might seem to be general distrust of the powers of the human intellect, but happily the exigencies of life save us from the danger of any unreasonable scepticism. We must act, and it is continually necessary for us to decide between different courses of action. As experience convinces us of the weakness of our understanding, our liability to go wrong notwithstanding all the light it gives us, we should all be glad if there could be supplied us any way of arriving at our belief which we might safely trust without the necessity of leaning on our own understanding. It is thus that the claim of the Roman Catholic Church to infallibility has been willingly admitted by multitudes.
III. When we want to know what is meant by wisdom and understanding in the Book of Proverbs we can find no better commentary than the saying in the Book of Job: "The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding." This, then, is what the writer of this part of the Book of Proverbs means to say in the words of the text. Be not deceived by any suggestions of the human heart which would lead you to fancy that God’s precepts are not wise, and that you can find happiness in any ways which are not the ways of holiness. The words of the text convey no injunction to us to put out the candle of the Lord within us, that reason which supplies the light whereby we must walk; but only an injunction to us to hold fast the best conclusion which true wisdom furnishes—namely, the conviction that it must be a vain search to look for happiness in any way but this.
IV. The truth that we know not what a day may bring forth seems to give a most disheartening view of human life. We have the burden cast on us of directing our own way while yet the light by which to guide it is denied us. This is the truth which removes all sadness from the reflection that we know not what shall be on the morrow, that while a man’s heart deviseth his way, it is the Lord who directeth his steps. Though the path which we tread may be dark and gloomy, we can walk it with courage if we feel that we have our Father and our Saviour with us. The Psalmist found it so long since when he said, "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me."
G. Salmon, Non-Miraculous Christianity, p. 153.
References: Pro 3:5.—R. M. McCheyne, Additional Remains, p. 142; Preacher’s Monthly, vol., i., p. 102; W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 116. Pro 3:5, Pro 3:6.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xii., p. 33.
Pro 3:6
A characteristic of the Old Testament Scriptures, which results from the genius of the Hebrew language, is specially observable in the Book of Proverbs. Instead of the copious, versatile, precise, and in so many respects unrivalled, instrument which the Greek wields when expressing his thought, the Hebrew writer has at command a language possessing by comparison only a few and simple words. But of these, many are words of the widest range and applicability. They are words containing depth below depth of meaning. The text furnishes us with a sample of this almost untranslatable pregnancy and power of Hebrew speech. The English word "acknowledge" represents only one of the many meanings which are to be found, upon reflection, in the original word. This word, originally identical with εἰδεῖν and videre, came to signify that which results from sight, unless the sense be imperfect or the understanding impaired, namely, knowledge. It exhibits knowledge at all its stages of growth. As used in the passage before us it describes nothing less comprehensive than the whole action of man’s spiritual being when face to face with the eternal God. It is irresistibly implied that to know God truly, to have a full sight of God before the soul, is something more than mere head-knowledge, that it is knowledge in act. It is, in short, to be out of heart with self, to distrust self, to abase and crush and forget self; we are sensible of the presence of a Being who discovers to self its insignificance or its pollution. The text thus includes, besides much else, such specific exhortations as that of St. Peter, "Be clothed with humility."
I. Not long since the question was discussed, whether a virtue can ever die. Certainly particular relative excellences do characterise particular races, epochs, stages of social progress. They appear; they shine forth; they wane and fall back into obscurity; they vanish outright. Doubtless there are forms of virtuous action suited to human life at one stage of its development which do not fully express or answer to its wants and aspirations at another. But the question does not concern the mere modification of the outward expression of a virtue; if practical applications may vary imperishable principles must live. The opinion which views intellectual submission as a dead virtue, could hardly ascribe any strong vitality to the grace of humility. If humility is dying out, this is because the idea of God has been impoverished or impaired in the thought of our day. Humility is but the sincere acknowledgment in thought, in language, in action, of the first and most commanding of all facts; it is the sincere acknowledgment of God.
II. Theoretically speaking, humility must of course be right. But look, you say, to its practical effect. Does it interfere more or less with activity and success in life? Is it secretly hostile to the claims and efforts of vigorous and cultivated intellect? After all, what is humility? Humility is not a μικροψυχία. On the contrary, the Christian is the genuine μεγαλόψῦχος; he is pre-eminently the man of large soul and noble instincts. Humility is not a want of enterprise, a subtle resource of idleness. The force which is apparently forfeited by the destruction of self-reliance in the character is more than recovered when the soul rests in perfect trustfulness on the strong arm of God. The Christian’s humility is in reality the cause of his mental energy.
III. Humility is indispensable to the true life of the soul. No man ever went to heaven without learning humility on this side of the grave. (1) Without humility—that is to say, the victory of truth in the soul—no soul ever really turned to God. (2) Without humility religious progress is impossible. (3) Without humility no soul that was turned to God, and is learning to serve Him, is for a moment safe.
H. P. Liddon, University Sermons, 1st series, p. 139.
I. You can acknowledge God in your play, by recognising that it is He who gives it, by thanking Him for it, and by remembering that He is near you when you are at it. It would not make you less happy to remember this, but far more happy. Only, it would repress many a wicked word, many an angry thought, many an ungentle and ungenerous deed. If all children remembered it a new sunshine would fall on the pavement, and a new joy ring in the voices there.
II. Do you acknowledge God in your work? He expects you to do so. How is He to be acknowledged? (1) By recognising that He has given you your work to do, and expects you to do it well; (2) by praying about your lessons, asking God to assist you to overcome your defects.
III. Boys and girls always have companions. Friendship will be one of the largest as well as sweetest parts of your life. There can be none in which it is more important to acknowledge God, that He may direct your paths.
IV. Thoughts of the future. Without God, however brave and strong you be, you will stumble and fall. Is Christ your Saviour and your Friend? He comes to you now, and at the outset of your career offers to accompany you. Will you not welcome Him and clasp Him to your heart with bands of triple steel? "In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths."
J. Stalker, The New Song, p. 118.
References: Pro 3:6.—J. M. Charlton, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xvii., p. 324; New Manual of Sunday School Addresses, p. 5.
Pro 3:7-8
I. The text may be paraphrased and expanded thus: God has taught you by various ways—by your own experience and that of others; above all, by the warnings of conscience and the voice of revelation—what is right and what is wrong. Do not set yourself above this teaching, or think to be wiser than your Maker. Presume neither to cavil at nor neglect those unchanging laws by which the Almighty has separated good from evil, and appointed to each their just recompense of reward. Fear the Lord, for that is the beginning of true wisdom, and not this fancied enlightenment on which you pride yourself,—fear the Lord and depart from evil.
II. Notice some familiar instances of the temptation which we incur to be wise in our own eyes, and of the evil into which we fall if we yield to it. (1) On many things the stamp of good or evil is so indelibly planted that no sane man can presume to question it. Who could think murder praiseworthy, or prayer a vice? But there are other things on which the mark, though visible to a faithful scrutiny, is not so patent; or, to vary the figure, between the acknowledged territories of the two principles is a borderland which needs wary walking, lest we pass over before we know it to the enemy. The humble man will avoid that doubtful district if he can; if compelled to enter it, he will walk circumspectly, trusting very little to his own discernment, and greatly anxious to be guided in the right path. Not so he that is wise in his own eyes. This borderland is his favourite resort. (2) It is a common delusion that we can become good and religious when we will. There is a law which is written in the history of a thousand misguided lives, that when habits of sin are once formed they are not lightly broken through; and that, instead of its being an easy thing to turn from the world to God, every added year, aye week, of rebellion, makes it more difficult, till at last, long before we are called to our account, it becomes with some men, humanly speaking, impossible. (3) The devil has his proverbs as well as Solomon, and among the devil’s proverbs there is none perhaps more common or more wicked than this, that—"young men must sow their wild oats." Facts are clean against this vile assertion, for four-fifths of the men who have been pure and holy in later years have been holy and pure in their youth; and the law that "evil communications" are not a preliminary of sanctity, but "corrupt good manners," is a law of the moral world which this proverb wilfully ignores.
E. H. Bradby, Sermons at Haileybury, p. 232.
References: Pro 3:7, Pro 3:8.—W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 121. Pro 3:9.—J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes, 2nd series, p. 98; W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 123.
Pro 3:11
I. Affliction acts as a dyke against the overflow of evil; it incessantly restrains and thrusts it back. Sin finds its limit in suffering; passion strikes against pain as a fatal bourne, where it perishes; lust is quenched in disgust; and death is there to say to the raging waves of our dissolute passions, "Thus far shall ye go and no farther." Thus far; namely, to that gravestone against which evil always dashes itself at last.
II. Suffering is not a blessing simply because it acts as a restraint; but also, and especially, because it acts as a preparative. It is a bridle, but also a spur, urging us towards the Cross, (1) An infinite suffering, an unlimited obedience,—such was the Cross. At this cost heaven and earth were reconciled, and salvation was consummated. But it was in our name that the great work of that hour of atonement was performed, and we can derive benefit from it only as we ratify it. He only will be saved who unites himself to Christ, not with a view of offering again a sacrifice which was perfected in itself, but in order to make it his own by an earnest acceptance and a living faith. Grace employs every means to bring us to this, and of all conceivable means none can be more efficacious than suffering. Hence the important part which it plays in the work of our personal redemption. (2) Thus suffering, under the influence of grace, fills up the infinite distance between man and the Cross. Through the direct action of grace, suffering had prepared the way for Christ in the old world, by attacking not merely the individual but also the lost race of men, whom it had mercilessly and unceasingly pursued from religion to religion, from illusion to illusion; and it was through a wasted world, reduced to the condition of a desert, that the road was made which was to lead to Him. Ever since the Redeemer came among men, and called to them from His Cross, suffering has been His great prophet and forerunner; but suffering modified, mingled with blessing, as befits a pardoned world, but yet traversing the earth with the axe of John the Baptist. We must recognise even in its most distressing manifestations the infinite love which seeks to save our souls at all costs.
E. De Pressense. The Mystery of Suffering, p. 34.
References: Pro 3:11, Pro 3:12.— J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes, 2nd series, p. 86; W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 126; R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. i., p. 88.
Pro 3:12
(with 1Co 15:55)
In the case of a saint, his afflictions and death fall to be considered: (1) as they have a respect to himself, and (2) as they have a respect to his neighbours and friends.
I. As they have a respect to himself. (1) The design of a saint’s afflictions may be to rebuke him for backsliding, and not seldom for spiritual sloth and dulness of heart, with a view of recalling him from his wanderings, or arousing him from his lethargy. (2) A saint may be making commendable progress and yet be visited with affliction, that his graces may be advanced to a higher degree of excellence—the Lord designing for His servant a station of peculiar glory in His heavenly kingdom. (3) Affliction and death are frequently commissioned as preventives of evil. (4) That which often strikes us as mysterious is, perhaps, resolvable on the principle that God removes some of His saints when their graces are most vigorous, and shine with the brightest lustre, before they decline; so that His government may be justified in advancing them to a higher place of honour in the kingdom, than it would have been fit to assign them, had they entered eternity in a state of declension.
II. It is frequently the interests of his friends even more than the interests of the saint himself, which the Lord designs to advance by the particular time and manner of his death. He may be a spiritually prosperous saint, cultivating his talents and opportunities with assiduity and zeal; but they may need correction and quickening, preservation from evil; and the requisite and most suitable discipline is dispensed to them by means of his afflictions.
III. Practical reflections. (1) Let us be thankful for death. (2) In reference to afflictions which do not proceed the length of death, as we would be saved their infliction, let us submit to the more gentle discipline of the remonstrances of the Spirit of God, excited within our consciences. (3) As we fear the death of our friends, let us be careful of our own ways. (4) As we desire that our own lives be prosperous and prolonged, let us be earnest and faithful in the training of our children, and in the admonition of our friends. (5) Let us diligently prepare for the death of our friends. (6) Let us prepare ourselves for our own death. (7) Let us examine ourselves of the improvement which we have made or are making of the death of our friends, and prepare to give them a satisfactory account of it.
W. Anderson, Discourses, 2nd series, p. 40.
References: Pro 3:13.—W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 134. Pro 3:13-20.—R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. i., p. 101. Pro 3:14, Pro 3:15.—W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, p. 136. Pro 3:16.—Ibid., p. 139.
Pro 3:17
(with Joh 16:33)
I. Religion, regarded as a theory of a perfect state, is right in pronouncing itself a way of pleasantness and a path of peace. If a man could but walk perfectly in the way of religion he would be perfectly happy. But man is not born into an ideal state, into a perfect state even; on the contrary, he is born further from his nature than any other creature on earth. God did not make men perfect. He made them pilgrims after perfection.
II. Men are born with all the faculties of reason, but not with knowledge. That they are to find. Men are born with social natures, but not with social loves and refinements of experience. These they are to work out. Men are born with moral sense, but not with knowledge of its fruits, its inspirations, its various experiences. It is the business of their life to find out these things. To teach all this vast lore of experience God has established five schools: (1) the school of the family; (2) the school of the material world; (3) the school of civil society; (4) the school of business; (5) the school of the Church.
III. It is in the light of such a development that we can see the relation between joy and sorrow in the Christian scheme. Sorrow is that conflict which every person experiences as he is endeavouring to learn. It is the incident of growth from a lower to a higher state. Suffering is God’s regent of the universe, saying, "The way is a way of pleasantness, and all its paths are peace:" and therefore when you suffer it is because you are out of the way.
If this be so, I remark: (1) The search for the origin of evil is a mistaken search in the direction in which men are looking for it. Evil is nothing in the world but a part of the Divine system by which we are to be unfolded. (2) We see the true and proper meaning of self-denial. It is a higher faculty, making a lower one keep down and know its place. (3) We see the foreshadowings of the Cross in human life. (4) We see love suffering in life. (5) There is but one way out of suffering, and that way is upward. All other ways are adjourning it, or preparing for its recurrence in even greater measure.
H. W. Beecher, Sermons, 2nd series, p. 271.
Pro 3:17
There is a certain exclusiveness about this expression which stands out into a necessary emphasis; strong in the first, stronger in the second, clause of the sentence. For of many things it may be said, that some of their "ways" are "pleasant," though some be bitter; and of a very few things indeed, perhaps, it might be said that their "paths" are sometimes "peace." But of nothing in the whole world save one—the life of a real child of God—could it ever be spoken so broadly, so universally, so absolutely.
I. In this high peace, then, notice that there is a distinction drawn which is not without its special signification. It is the ways which are pleasant, and the paths which are peace. Now the way is always larger and broader than the path. And the meaning may be this: The more general and public things in religion—things which all see and know—these are pleasant; but the things which retire back and are most unfrequented, and which very few either see or guess, all these are "peace."
II. Wisdom’s way is: (1) a high way. It is always reaching up out of littlenesses; it ranges at loftier levels, it has the world at its feet. (2) Wisdom’s way always has one fixed mark. For that it steers. It throws lesser things aside as it goes, and it goes straight and earnest to a goal, and that goal is the glory of God. (3) Wisdom’s way is a way of usefulness. It always puts usefulness first—before pleasure, before profit. (4) To go in wisdom’s way is to go in sweet fellowship. They who walk there walk hand in hand. It is full of sympathies, it is a road which lies in the communion of all saints, and all love all in wisdom’s way. (5) Above all, Christ is there. They walk with Jesus, they lean on Jesus, they are satisfied with Jesus, and they shall travel on and reign with Jesus, in that city where they go.
III. Let us leave the wider track, and go down to one or two of the more secluded "paths." (1) There is a going out in a man’s heart from its deepest places to Christ. He tells Jesus something which has long been a hidden burden in his mind. And in the little path of that secret confession there is a peace which no words can tell. (2) It is a very small path that faith takes, but the "peace passeth understanding." (3) Shame, sorrow, parting, death, lie in the same wisdom’s path. Jesus’ path lay just the same, through shame, through death. And wisdom’s path and Jesus’ path are both one; and both are peace.
J. Vaughan, Sermons, 1867, p. 77.
References: Pro 3:17.—J. Vaughan, Children’s Sermons, 1875, p. 278; W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 142. Pro 3:19, Pro 3:20.—Ibid., p. 144. Pro 3:21-35.—R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. i., p. 113. Pro 3:26.—W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, p. 147. Pro 3:27, Pro 3:28.—Ibid., p. 152.
Pro 3:32
I. Consider the intimacy between God and man implied in this promise. To whom is it that we open our confidence, and explain our most secret purposes and objects? It is not to the stranger, of whom perhaps we know nothing but his mere name and title; not to those who have already slighted and injured us; not to the passing acquaintance, between whom and ourselves there is no bond closer than that of a formal courtesy; but to those we love and who love us; those with whom we have had long and familiar acquaintance, and in whom, through constant intercourse, we have learned to place confidence. Thus it is in regard to God and the soul. He gives milk for babes; broad simple truths, conveyed in His Holy Word, as clearly as human language can express them; and when these are received, then He leads the believer on to a further and higher knowledge. Thus there arises a personal, familiar intercourse, a spiritual intimacy, an individual knowledge of experience between the soul and God. Not little is the dignity, nor poor the communion, nor scant the privilege, contained in this promise, "His secret is with the righteous."
II. Look at the nature and blessedness of the secret revealed. (2) It includes a clear knowledge of God’s being and of the revelation of His will. (2) The secret of God includes the full saving comprehension of the Gospel of His dear Son. (3) Another secret of God is the sweetness of His comforting peace.
E. Garbett, The Soul’s Life, p. 16.
References: Pro 3:33.—W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 158. Pro 3:33-35.—E. Johnson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. x., p. 40. Pro 3:34.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. iii., p. 10. 3—Parker, Pulpit Analyst, vol. i., pp. 421, 481. Pro 4:1-13.—R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. i., p. 126. Pro 4:2.—New Manual of Sunday School Addresses, p. 142. Pro 4:3, Pro 4:4.—E. H. Bradby, Sermons at Haileybury, p. 150.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren1905 · Public DomainOn v1Pro 3:1 - Pro 3:10.
Proverbs
THE SECRET OF WELL-BEING
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Pro 3:1 - Pro 3:10.
The first ten verses of this passage form a series of five couplets, which enforce on the young various phases of goodness by their tendency to secure happiness or blessedness of various sorts. The underlying axiom is that, in a world ruled by a good Being, obedience must lead to well-being; but while that is in the general true, exceptions do occur, and good men do encounter evil times. Therefore the glowing promises of these verses are followed by two verses which deal with the explanation of good men’s afflictions, as being results and tokens of God’s fatherly love.
The first couplet is general in character. It inculcates obedience to the precepts of the teacher, and gives as reason the assurance that thereby long life and peace will be secured. True to the Old Testament conception of revelation as a law, the teacher sets obedience in the forefront. He is sure that his teaching contains the sufficient guide for conduct, and coincides with the divine will. He calls, in the first instance, for inward willing acceptance of His commandments; for it is the heart, not primarily the hands, which he desires should ‘keep’ them. The mother of all graces of conduct is the bowing of the will to divine authority. The will is the man, and where it ceases to lift itself up in self-sacrificing and self-determining rebellion, and dissolves into running waters of submission, these will flow through the life and make it pure. To obey self is sin, to obey God is righteousness. The issues of such obedience are ‘length of days . . . and peace.’
Even if we allow for the difference between the Old and the New Testaments, it remains true that a life conformed to God’s will tends to longevity, and that many forms of sin do shorten men’s days. Passion and indulged appetites eat away the very flesh, and many a man’s ‘bones are full of the sin of his youth.’ The profligate has usually ‘a short life,’ whether he succeeds in making it ‘merry’ or not.
‘Peace’ is a wide word, including all well-being. Ease-loving Orientals, especially when living in warlike times, naturally used the phrase as a shorthand expression for all good. Busy Westerns, torn by the distractions and rapid movement of modern life, echo the sigh for repose which breathes in the word. ‘There is no joy but calm,’ and the sure way to deepest peace is to give up self-will and live in obedience.
The second couplet deals with our relations to one another, and puts forward the two virtues of ‘loving-kindness and truth’-that is truth, or faithfulness-as all-inclusive. They are the two which are often jointly ascribed to God, especially in the Psalms. Our attitude to one another should be moulded in God’s to us all. The tiniest crystal has the same facets and angles as the largest. The giant hexagonal pillars of basalt, like our Scottish Staffa, are identical in form with the microscopic crystals of the same substance. God is our Pattern; goodness is likeness to Him.
These graces are to be bound about the neck, perhaps as an ornament, but more probably as a yoke by which the harnessed ox draws its burden. If we have them, they will fit us to bear one another’s burdens, and will lead to all human duties to our fellows.
These graces are also to be written on the ‘table of the heart’; that is, are to be objects of habitual meditation with aspiration. If so, they will come to sight in life. He who practises them will ‘find favour with God and man,’ for God looks with complacency on those who display the right attitude to men; and men for the most part treat us as we treat them. There are surly natures which are not won by kindness, like black tarns among the hills, that are gloomy even in sunshine, and requite evil for good; but the most of men reflect our feelings to them.
‘Good understanding’ is another result. It is ‘found’ when it is attributed to us, so that the expression substantially means that the possessors of these graces will win the reputation of being really wise, not only in the fallible judgment of men, but before the pure eyes of the all-seeing God. Really wise policy coincides with loving-kindness and truth.
The remaining couplets refer to our relations to God. The New Testament is significantly anticipated in the pre-eminence given to trust; that is, faith. Nor less significant and profound is the association of self-distrust with trust in the Lord. The two things are inseparable. They are but the under and upper sides of one thing, or like the two growths that come from a seed-one striking downwards becomes the root; one piercing upwards becomes the stalk. The double attitude of trust and distrust finds expression in acknowledging Him in all our ways; that is, ordering our conduct under a constant consciousness of His presence, in accordance with His will, and in dependence on His help.
Such a relation to God will certainly, and with no exceptions, issue in His ‘directing our paths,’ by which is meant that He will be not only our Guide, but also our Roadmaker, showing us the way and clearing obstacles from it. Calm certitude follows on willingness to accept God’s will, and whoever seeks only to go where God sends him will neither be left doubtful whither he should go, nor find his road blocked.
The fourth couplet is, in its first part, in inverted parallelism with the third; for it begins with self-distrust, and proceeds thence to ‘fear of the Lord,’ which corresponds to, and is, in fact, but one phase of, trust in Him. It is the reverent awe which has no torment, and is then purest when faith is strongest. It necessarily leads to departing from evil. Morality has its roots in religion. There is no such magnet to draw men from sin as the happy fear of God, which is likewise faith. Whoever separates devoutness from purity of life, this teacher does not. He knows nothing of religion which permits association with iniquity. Such conduct will tend to physical well-being, and in a deeper sense will secure soundness of life. Godlessness is the true sickness. He only is healthy who has a healthy, because healed, soul.
The fifth couplet appears at first as being a drop to a lower region. A regulation of the Mosaic law may strike some as out of place here. But it is to be remembered that our modern distinction of ceremonial and moral law was non-existent for Israel, and that the command has a wider application than to Jewish tithes. To ‘honour God with our substance’ is not necessarily to give it away for religious purposes, but to use it devoutly and as He approves.
Christianity has more to say about the distribution, as well as the acquisition, of wealth, than professing Christians, especially in commercial communities, practically recognise. This precept grips us tight, and is much more than a ceremonial regulation. Many causes besides the devout use of property tend to wealth in our highly artificial state of society. The world tries to get it by shrewdness, unscrupulousness, and by many other vices which are elevated to the rank of virtues; but he who honours the Lord in getting and spending will generally have as much as his true needs and regulated desires require.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow1909 · Public DomainOn v1The Blessings of Obedience and of Chastisement
The Blessings of Obedience and of Chastisement
The first and third divisions, 1-10, 21-35, are exhortations to good conduct and promises of consequent blessing. The second, 11-20, declares the profitableness of divine chastening and the value of wisdom.
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1. Law] or 'direction.' The teacher speaks as one having authority.
3. Mercy] RM 'kindness.' He is to retain kindness and faithfulness, as he would the signet-ring which hangs from his neck by a cord (Gen_38:18; Son_8:6), or as the phylacteries on arm and forehead: cp. Exo_13:9; Deu_6:8; Deu_11:18.
5. We are easily misled by passion and sin. 'Thanks to our wisdom, we should, once for all, refrain from being clever.'
8. For navel read 'flesh,' as at Pro_4:22. This change only requires the addition of a single letter, and it gives us the pair,' flesh and bones,' which in biblical language make up the body (Gen_29:14; 2Sa_5:1, etc.). The drying up of the bones is a figure of extreme distress (Pro_17:22; Psa_32:3-4): hence the word 'moistening' (RM) here.
9. To honour is to pay the dues (Isa_43:28; Dan_11:38; 1Ti_5:7).
10. Presses] i.e. 'vats.'
11, 12. Bp. Andrewes prayed: 'From Thine anger, and yet more from Thy ceasing to be angry, good Lord, deliver us.'
15. Rubies] here, and at Pro_20:15; Pro_31:10, more probably, 'red coral.' The finest red coral has always been very costly.
18. A tree of life] a figure derived from Genesis 3 : see also Eze_47:12; Pro_11:30; Pro_13:12; Pro_15:4.
19. It is an additional reason for esteeming her, that creation could not have been accomplished without her.
20. The depths, etc.] i.e. the subterranean storehouses from which fountains and rivers were supposed to be derived.
24. Not affrighted by horrible dreams (Job_7:14).
29. Securely] i.e. without suspicion.
32. Secret] 'counsel' or 'friendship' (RM): they belong to His 'Privy Council' (Gen_18:17; Job_19:19; Job_29:4; Psa_25:14; Psa_55:14; Amo_3:7).
35. Joseph, Daniel, Ezra, Mordecai are examples.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein1922 · Public DomainOn v11. The call and promise of wisdom (Pro 3:1-10)
CHAPTER 3
1. The call and promise of wisdom (Pro 3:1-10)
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2. Happy is the man that findeth wisdom (Pro 3:11-20)
3. Promise and instruction (Pro 3:21-25)
Pro 3:1-10. The call to obedience is followed by promise. The promise is like all the promises to an earthly people “for length of days and long life”. Here are some blessed exhortations loved and cherished by all His people (Pro 3:5-7). How happier, and more fruitful the children of God would be if they obeyed constantly this instruction: “in all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.”
Pro 3:11-20. Pro 3:1-12 are quoted in Heb 12:1-29. The man who findeth wisdom, that is, who knows the Lord, is happy. If we look upon wisdom as personified in the Lord Jesus Christ we can read “His ways are pleasantness, and all His paths are peace. He is a tree of life to them that lay hold on Him, and happy is every one that retaineth Him” (Pro 3:17-18).
Pro 3:21-34. The words of the Lord kept are life to the soul, grace to the neck; they insure safety; they protect and keep by day and by night. Each verse has a blessed meaning. This chapter ends with the promise that the wise shall inherit glory while the promotion of fools will be shame.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann1924 · Public DomainOn v1Obedience, Faith, and Liberality Urged
Obedience, Faith, and Liberality Urged
v. 1. My son, forget not my law, the teaching of wisdom; but let thine heart keep my commandments, sincerely observing all instructions of God’s Word;
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v. 2. for length of days and long life and peace, literally, "years of life and peace," shall they add to thee, earthly prosperity and happiness following the application of knowledge gained from the divine Law.
v. 3. Let not mercy and truth, both on the part of men and on the part of God, forsake thee, loving sympathy and companionship being one of the prime factors in our moral life; bind them about thy neck, like a costly chain or necklace, from which was suspended tile seal-ring; write them upon the table of thine heart, the emphasis being both upon the inward motives and upon tile outward expression and adornment in the way of virtues.
v. 4. So shalt thou find favor, gracious acceptance, and good understanding, good reputation, good success, in the sight of God and man, the good opinion on the part of men corresponding to the favorable judgment on the part of God, and both serving for the success of the believer. This being a gracious gift on the part of God, the godly person is warned:
v. 5. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, committing oneself entirely to the grace and faithfulness of Jehovah, and lean not unto thine own understanding, in false and blameworthy self-confidence.
v. 6. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, by reposing one’s trust in Him and relying entirely upon His wisdom, and He shall direct thy paths, for the benefit and well-being of His child.
v. 7. Be not wise in thine own eyes, puffed up with an imagined superiority on account of possible greater learning, since the wisdom of this world is not essential before God; fear the Lord, such reverence for Jehovah serving to set aside one’s own wisdom, and depart from evil, this course being natural in the case of a child of God, to whom all wickedness is undesirable and loathsome.
v. 8. It shall be health to thy navel, considered as the center of the entire body, and marrow to thy bones, refreshing the entire organism with vigor and strength; for such is the effect of a good conscience and of an honest endeavor to serve the Lord in faith.
v. 9. Honor the Lord with thy substance, with the riches which one enjoys as His blessing, repaying Him from tile gifts granted by Him, and with the first-fruits of all thine increase, the yield of one’s work and the harvest of one’s land, for mere lip-service is not sufficient, the Lord demanding tangible evidence of the faith which His children profess to possess;
v. 10. so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, as a reward of God’s gracious favor and fatherly kindness, and thy presses, rather, the vats where the wine was stored, shall burst out with new wine, overflowing with rich abundance by the blessing of God, with which He would acknowledge the willingness of His children. But the opposite also holds true: As we should not forget the Lord in days of plenty, so we should not be estranged from Him in evil days.
v. 11. My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, the correction which He deals out in the school of life; neither be weary of His correction, regarding it with loathing and aversion;
v. 12. for whom the Lord loveth He correcteth, and so the person subject to His discipline thereby receives a proof of His love; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth, or, "holds him dear as a father his son, in whose case tile lack of discipline is rightly referred to a want of fatherly love. Cf Job 5:17; Heb 12:5-6.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv1, 3General Information:
General Information:
The writer speaks as a father teaching his child using poetry. (See: Parallelism)
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do not forget my commands
The word "commands" can be translated as a verb. AT: "do not forget what I command you" (See: Abstract Nouns)
keep my teachings in your heart
This phrase says in positive terms what the previous phrase says in negative terms. Here the word "heart" represents the mind. The word "teachings" can be translated as a verb. AT: "always remember what I teach you" (See: Parallelism and Metonymy and Abstract Nouns)
length of days and years of life
These two phrases share similar meanings and refer to living a long life. AT: "a long life" (See: Doublet)
GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv2–3 Long life is the blessing of God which he…
Long life is the blessing of God which he giveth to his, so far forth as it is expedient for them.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–4 Pro 3:1 My son, forget not my law; but…
Pro 3:1 My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:
Ver. 1. My son, forget not.] We should be able to say to wisdom, as Coenis did to her Lady Antonia, Frustra, domina, iussisti: haec enim atque caetera omnia quae mihi imperas, ira semper in memoria habeo ut ex ea deleri non possint. {a} You need not, madam, bid me do your business, for I so remember your commands, as I need never be minded of them.
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Iussa sequi tam velle mihi, quam posse, necesse est,
I am ready, to my power, to do your pleasure.
But let thine heart keep.] As the ark kept the two tables; as the pot kept the hidden manna.
{a} Dio, in Respons.
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 vv1–4 My law; my doctrine or counsel; or the law…
My law; my doctrine or counsel; or the law of God, which might be called his law, as the gospel is called Paul’s gospel, 2Th 2:8, because delivered by him.
Keep my commandments, by diligent meditation and hearty affection.
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 v1 We are here taught to live a life of…
We are here taught to live a life of communion with God; and without controversy great is this mystery of godliness, and of great consequence to us, and, as is here shown, will be of unspeakable advantage.
I. We must have a continual regard to God's precepts, Pro 3:1, Pro 3:2.
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1. We must, (1.) Fix God's law, and his commandments, as our rule, by which we will in every thing be ruled and to which we will yield obedience. (2.) We must acquaint ourselves with them; for we cannot be said to forget that which we never knew. (3.) We must remember them so that they may be ready to us whenever we have occasion to use them. (4.) Our wills and affections must be subject to them and must in every thing conform to them. Not only our heads, but our hearts, must keep God's commandments; in them, as in the ark of the testimony, both the tables of the law must be deposited.
2. To encourage us to submit ourselves to all the restraints and injunctions of the divine law, we are assured (Pro 3:2) that it is the certain way to long life and prosperity. (1.) It is the way to be long-lived. God's commandments shall add to us length of days; to a good useful life on earth, they shall add an eternal life in heaven, length of days for ever and ever, Psa 21:4. God shall be our life and the length of our days, and that will be indeed long life, with an addition. But, because length of days may possibly become a burden and a trouble, it is promised, (2.) That it shall prove the way to be easy too, so that even the days of old age shall not be evil days, but days in which thou shalt have pleasure: Peace shall they be continually adding to thee. As grace increases, peace shall increase; and of the increase of Christ's government and peace, in the heart as well as in the world, there shall be no end. Great and growing peace have those that love the law.
II. We must have a continual regard to God's promises, which go along with his precepts, and are to be received, and retained, with them (Pro 3:3): "Let not mercy and truth forsake thee, God's mercy in promising, and his truth in performing. Do not forfeit these, but live up to them, and preserve thy interest in them; do not forget these, but live upon them, and take the comfort of them. Bind them about thy neck, as the most graceful ornament." It is the greatest honour we are capable of in this world to have an interest in the mercy and truth of God. "Write to them upon the table of thy heart, as dear to thee, thy portion, and most delightful entertainment; take a pleasure in applying them and thinking them over." Or it may be meant of the mercy and truth which are our duty, piety and sincerity, charity towards men, fidelity towards God. Let these be fixed and commanding principles in thee. To encourage us to do this we are assured (Pro 3:4) that this is the way to recommend ourselves both to our Creator and fellow-creatures: So shalt thou find favour and good understanding. 1. A good man seeks the favour of God in the first place, is ambitious of the honour of being accepted of the Lord, and he shall find that favour, and with it a good understanding; God will make the best of him, and put a favourable construction upon what he says and does. He shall be owned as one of Wisdom's children, and shall have praise with God, as one having that good understanding which is ascribed to all those that do his commandments. 2. He wishes to have favour with men also (as Christ had, Luk 2:52), to be accepted of the multitude of his brethren (Est 10:3), and that he shall have; they shall understand him aright, and in his dealings with them he shall appear to be prudent, shall act intelligently and with discretion. He shall have good success (so some translate it), the common effect of good understanding.
III. We must have a continual regard to God's providence, must own and depend upon it in all our affairs, both by faith and prayer. 1. By faith. We must repose an entire confidence in the wisdom, power, and goodness of God, assuring ourselves of the extent of his providence to all the creatures and all their actions. We must therefore trust in the Lord with all our hearts (Pro 3:5); we must believe that he is able to do what he will, wise to do what is best, and good, according to his promise, to do what is best for us, if we love him, and serve him. We must, with an entire submission and satisfaction, depend upon him to perform all things for us, and not lean to our own understanding, as if we could, by any forecast of our own, without God, help ourselves, and bring our affairs to a good issue. Those who know themselves cannot but find their own understanding to be a broken reed, which, if they lean to, will certainly fail them. In all our conduct we must be diffident of our own judgment, and confident of God's wisdom, power, and goodness, and therefore must follow Providence and not force it. That often proves best which was least our own doing. 2. By prayer (Pro 3:6): In all thy ways acknowledge God. We must not only in our judgment believe that there is an over-ruling hand of God ordering and disposing of us and all our affairs, but we must solemnly own it, and address ourselves to him accordingly. We must ask his leave, and not design any thing but what we are sure is lawful. We must ask his advice and beg direction from him, not only when the case is difficult (when we know not what to do, no thanks to us that we have our eyes up to him), but in every case, be it ever so plain, We must ask success of him, as those who know the race is not to the swift. We must refer ourselves to him as one from whom our judgment proceeds, and patiently, and with a holy indifferency, wait his award. In all our ways that prove direct, and fair, and pleasant, in which we gain our point to our satisfaction, we must acknowledge God with thankfulness. In all our ways that prove cross and uncomfortable, and that are hedged up with thorns, we must acknowledge God with submission. Our eye must be ever towards God; to him we must, in every thing, make our requests known, as Jephthah uttered all his words before the Lord in Mizpeh, Jdg 11:11. For our encouragement to do this, it is promised, "He shall direct thy paths, so that thy way shall be safe and good and the issue happy at last." Note, Those that put themselves under a divine guidance shall always have the benefit of it. God will give them that wisdom which is profitable to direct, so that they shall not turn aside into the by-paths of sin, and then will himself so wisely order the event that it shall be to their mind, or (which is equivalent) for their good. Those that faithfully follow the pillar of cloud and fire shall find that though it may lead them about it leads them the right way and will bring them to Canaan at last.
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 vv1–4 My son, forget not my law,.... Or, "doctrine" (e);…
My son, forget not my law,.... Or, "doctrine" (e); the doctrine of Christ, the Gospel, and the several truths of it; which, being of the utmost moment and importance, should be kept in memory, and not let slip, or be in the least slighted and neglected; see Heb 2:1;
but let thine heart keep my commandments; as the ark, or chest, kept the two tables of the law put into it; it denotes a cordial affection for the commandments and ordinances of Christ, a hearty attention and obedience to them, and a constant and cheerful observance of them, flowing from love and gratitude to him, Joh 14:15.
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(e) "doctrinae meae", Piscator, Michaelis; "institutionem meam", Schultens; "doctrinam meam", Cocceius.
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 vv1, 3, 4 An exhortation to be steadily religious, ver. 1-4. To…
An exhortation to be steadily religious, ver. 1-4. To trust God, ver. 5, 6. To fear him, ver. 7, 8. To honour him with our substance, ver. 9, 10. To bear affliction well, ver. 11-12. The praise of wisdom, ver. 13-20. The good effects of adhering to it, ver. 21-26. Caution, against uncharitableness, strife, envy; if we would avoid a curse and inherit a blessing, ver. 27-35.
My law - The law of God, which might be called his law, as the gospel is called Paul's gospel, 2Tim ii, 8, because delivered by him.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1–4 An exhortation to obedience, 1-4;
CHAPTER III
An exhortation to obedience, 1-4;
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trust in God's providence, 5, 6;
to humility, 7, 8;
to charity, 9, 10;
to submission to God's chastening, 11, 12.
The profitableness of wisdom in all the concerns of life,
13-26.
No act of duty should be deferred beyond the time in which it
should be done, 27, 28.
Brotherly love and forbearance should he exercised, 29, 30.
We should not envy the wicked, 31, 32.
The curse of God is in the house of the wicked; but the humble
and wise shall prosper, 33-35.
NOTES ON CHAP. III
Verse 1. My son] The preceptor continues to deliver his lessons.
Forget not my law] Remember what thou hast heard, and practise what thou dost remember; and let all obedience be from the heart: "Let thy heart keep my commandments."
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 v1 Pro 3:1-4. My son, forget not my law —…
Pro 3:1-4. My son, forget not my law — My doctrine or counsel; but let thy heart keep, &c. — By diligent meditation and hearty affection. For length of days, &c. — God will add these blessings which he hath promised to the obedient, Deu 8:18; Deu 30:20; 1Ti 4:8. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee — That mercy and truth, which are man’s duty. Mercy denotes all benignity, charity, and readiness to do good to others; truth, or faithfulness, respects all those duties which we owe to God or man, on the principles of justice, and to which we are laid under special obligations by the rules of it. Bind them about thy neck — Like a chain, wherewith persons were wont to adorn their necks. Write them upon the table, &c. — In thy mind and heart, in which all God’s commands are to be received and engraven. So shalt thou find favour — That is, obtain acceptance, and good understanding — Whereby to know thy duty, and to discern between good and evil; in the sight of God and man — Grace or favour with God, and that understanding which is good in his sight, that is, which is really and truly good, and which will be acknowledged as such by all truly wise and good men.
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 vv2–4 Three words carry on the chain of blessings:
Three words carry on the chain of blessings:
(1) “Length of days” (see the Psa 91:16 note);
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(2) “Years of life,” i. e., of a life worth living (compare Psa 30:5; Psa 42:8);
(3) “Peace,” tranquility inward and outward, the serenity of life continuing through old age until death. Compare 1Ti 4:8.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Charles Bridges 1846 · Public Domain On vv1, 3 THIS is not the stern language of command. It…
THIS is not the stern language of command. It is our Father’s voice in all the endearing persuasiveness of promise — My son — He had before instructed us to seek and search after wisdom, and set out before us its invaluable blessings. Now he calls us to bring it into practical exercise — Forget not my law. The willful forgetfulness of the heart (Pro 2:17 . Psa 9:17 ; Psa 10:4 ; Compare Pro 4:5 ; Deu 4:23 ; Psa 119:93, Psa 119:176 ), not the infirmity of the memory (for which a special, though we fear too much neglected, help, is provided) (Joh 14:26 ) is here implied. Let thine heart, like the ark of the testimony, be the keeping-place of my commandments. (Pro 4:4 . Deu 11:18 . Isa 51:7 ; with Eze 11:20 . Heb 9:4 .) And is not this the child’s desire — "O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes"? (Psa 119:6 ; Compare verses Psa 119:69, Psa 119:129 ), while his conscious helplessness takes hold of the covenant promise — "I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts." (Jer 31:33 .)
Indeed no laws, but God’s, bind the heart. All acceptable obedience begins here. The heart is the first thing that wanders from God; the first also that returns. Here is the vital principle. (Pro 4:23 . Rom 6:17 .) All religion without it is a mere name; and, however the professor may practice a thousand arts to put life into it, all must fail, "The root being as rottenness, the blossom goes up as the dust." (Isa 5:24 .) If every moment were filled up with deeds of benevolence, or external piety; yet, except the heart was quickened to keep the commandments, the voice of rebuke would be heard — "Who hath required this at your hand?" (Isa 1:11-12 .) "The inner man’s delight" (Rom 7:22 ) stamps the excellency upon the service. And this pleasure and perseverance in duty flow from a gracious change upon the heart. (See Eze 11:19 ; Eze 36:26-27 .)
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Herein also lies our interest, not less than our obligation. The reward of this hearty obedience (need we add — a reward of grace?) is a long and happy life — the highest earthly good. (Psa 34:12 ; compare verse Psa 34:16 ; Pro 4:10 ; Pro 9:11 ; Pro 10:27 ; Job 10:12 .) The wicked indeed live long, and the godly often "live out only half their days." The wicked die in outward comfort; the righteous in outward trouble. (Ecc 9:2 .) But length of days is the promise to the righteous; whether for earth or for heaven, as their Father deems fittest for them. In itself the promise, as regards this life, has no charm. To the ungodly it is a curse (Gen 4:11-15 . Isa 65:20 ); to the people of God a trial of faith and patience (Gen 27:46 ; Gen 47:9 . 1Ki 19:4 . Job 7:16 . Php 1:23-24 . Rev 22:20 ); to all a weariness. (Pro 15:15 . Psa 90:10 . Ecc 12:1 .) But peace added forms the sunshine of the toilsome way (Psa 119:165 . Isa 32:17 ; Isa 48:17-18 ): "peace with God through the blood of sprinkling" (Rom 5:1 . Eph 2:13-14 . Col 1:20 ); eternal peace in his home and in his bosom (Psa 37:37 . Isa 57:2 ); where all the fightings of the rebellious flesh, all the counter-strivings of a perverse and ungovernable will, shall have ceased for ever. "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they might have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gate into the city." (Rev 22:14 .)
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 vv1–4 My son. God speaks, or the master instructs his…
My son. God speaks, or the master instructs his disciple, ver. 21. (Calmet) --- We must remember and love instruction, and reduce it to practice. (Worthington)
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).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 4. Continuation of the exhibition of the salutary results…
4. Continuation of the exhibition of the salutary results of a devout and pious life
Pro_3:1-18
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1 My son, forget not my doctrine,
and let thy heart keep my commandments;
2 for length of days and years of life
and welfare will they bring to thee.
3 Let not love and truth forsake thee;
bind them about thy neck,
write them upon the tablet of thy heart;
4 so wilt thou find favor and good reputation
in the eyes of God and of men.
5 Trust in Jehovah with all thy heart,
and rely not on thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him,
and he will make smooth thy paths.
7 Be not wise in thine own eyes;
fear Jehovah and depart from evil.
8 Healing will then come to thy body
and refreshing to thy bones.
9 Honor Jehovah with thy wealth,
and with the best of all thine income;
10 so will thy barns be filled with plenty
and with new wine will thy vats overflow.
11 Jehovah’s correction, my son, despise not,
neither loathe thou his chastening;
12 for whom Jehovah loveth, him he chasteneth
and holdeth him dear, as a father his son.
13 Blessed is the man that hath found wisdom,
and he that attaineth understanding;
14 for better is its accumulation than the accumulation of silver,
and her gain (is better) than the finest gold.
15 More precious is she than pearls,
and all thy jewels do not equal her.
16 Long life is in her right hand,
in her left hand riches and honor.
17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
and all her paths (are paths) of peace.
18 A tree of life is she to those that lay hold upon her,
and he who holdeth her fast is blessed.
5. Description of the powerful protection which God, the wise Creator of the world, ensures to the pious
Pro_3:19-26
19 Jehovah hath with wisdom founded the earth,
the heavens (hath he) established by understanding;
20 by his knowledge were the floods divided,
and the clouds dropped down dew.
21 My son, never suffer to depart from thine eyes,
maintain (rather) thoughtfulness and circumspection;
22 so will they be life to thy soul
and grace to thy neck.
23 Then wilt thou go thy way in safety
and thy foot will not stumble.
24 When thou liest down thou wilt not be afraid,
and when thou liest down thy sleep is sweet.
25 Thou needst not fear from sudden alarm,
nor from the destruction of the wicked when it cometh.
26 For Jehovah will be thy confidence
and keep thy foot from the snare.
6. Admonition to benevolence and justice
Pro_3:27-35
27 Refuse not good to him to whom it is due,
when thine hands have power to do it.
28 Say not to thy neighbor: “Go and come again;”
or “to-morrow I will give it”—while yet thou hast it.
29 Devise not evil against thy neighbor
while he dwelleth securely by thee.
30 Contend with no man without cause,
when he did thee no evil.
31 Imitate not the man of violence
and choose none of his ways.
32 For an abhorrence to Jehovah is the deceiver,
but with the upright he maintaineth true friendship.
33 Jehovah’s curse dwelleth in the house of the wicked
but the home of the just he blesseth.
34 If he scorneth the scorners,
to the lowly he giveth grace.
35 Honor shall the wise inherit,
but shame sweepeth fools away.
GRAMMATICAL AND CRITICAL
Pro_3:6.—[The idea of the verb יְיַשֵּׁר is not that of guidance [E. V.: “shall direct thy paths”], but that of making straight (Stuart), or, perhaps, better still, making smooth (Fuerst, De W., Kamph.).—A.]
Pro_3:7-8.—[אַל־תְּהִי, the “dehortative” use of the Jussive, Bött., § 964,8; while in Pro_3:8 we have an example of the “desponsive” use—it shall be.—לְשָׁרֶּךָ. For the doubling of the ר by Dagesh see Bött., 392 c. He explains it as “mimetic for greater vigor.” Some texts carry this even into the succeeding ךְ § 885, A. Fuerst (Lex., sub verbo) pronounces it unnecessary to change the vocalization as proposed by some commentators and preferred by Zöckler, and agrees with Umbreit in his view of the meaning.—A.]
Pro_3:12.—In the ordinary rendering, “even as a father the son in whom he delighteth,” or “whom he holds dear” [which is the rendering, e.g., of the E. V., De Wette, Stuart, Noyes, Muensch.], יִרְצֶה is construed as in a relative clause. But then we should expect rather the perfect רָצָה; and there should have been in the first clause a comparative proposition of like construction with the one before us. The LXX, from which Heb_12:5 is literally quoted [a rendering which Holden adopts and defends], appears to have read יַכְאֵב instead of וּכֵאָב, for it translates the second clause by μαστιγοῖ δὲ πάντα υἰὸν ὅν παραδέχεται [scourgeth every son whom he receiveth]. This old variation, however, appears to owe its origin to the endeavor to secure a better parallelism. [Kamph. adopts a slightly different rendering, which makes the latter part of the clause relative, but makes the relative the subject and not the object of the verb, thus obviating the objection in regard to tense; and (dealeth) as a father (who) wisheth well to his son. The אֶת for אֶת at the beginning of the verse is explained by Bött., § 362, 3, as the result of assimilation to the subsequent אֶת—A.]
Pro_3:18.—In the Hebrew וְתֹמְכֶיהָ מְאֻשָּׁר the plural תֹּמְכִים is employed distributively, or, as it were, of undefined individuals, for which reason its predicate stands in the singular; comp. Gen_47:3; Num_24:9; Gesen., Lehrgeb., p. 713; Ewald, §309, a [Bött., §702, 8].
Pro_3:26.—The בְּ in בְּכִסְלֵךְ is the so-called בִּ essentiæ, which serves for the emphatic and strengthened introduction of the predicate, as, e.g., in בְּעֶזְרִי, Exo_18:4 (Gesen., Lehrgeb., 839; Ewald, Lehrb., 217 f.).
Pro_3:27.—“When thy hands have power to do it;” literally “when thy hands are for God.” “With this phrase compare יֵשׁ לְאֵל יָד Gen_31:29; Mic_2:1; or אֵין לְאֵל יָד, Deu_28:32; Neh_5:5. [The weight, both of lexicographical and exegetical authority, is, and, we think, plainly should be, against this view of the author. See, e.g., Gesen. and Fuerst; אֵל has assigned to it distinctly the signification “strength,” the abstract quality corresponding to the concrete, “the strong,” i.e., God. It belongs to the power=it is in the power]. Inasmuch as in these idioms the singular יַד always occurs, the K’ri reads in our passage also יָדְֽךָ, and the LXX for the same reason had translated ἡ χείρ σου [the translation being a free one; Frankel, Vorstudien zur Septuaginta, p. 239]. Yet there is no grammatical reason whatever for the change.
Pro_3:28.—[לְרֵעָיִךָ, K’thibh, another distributive plural, where the K’ri has a singular; see Bött., §§ 702, d—886, c.—A.]
Pro_3:30.—[Holden translates the last clause “surely he will return thee evil,” because the ordinary rendering “gives to the word גָּמַל the sense of doing or performing, which it seems never to bear, but always that of returning, requiting, recompensing” The primary import, however, seems to be to collect, to complete, which fact, together with the tense, justifies the almost entire unanimity which sustains the ordinary rendering.—A.]
EXEGETICAL
1. The close connection between this group of admonitions and chap. 2. appears at once externally in the resuming of the address “My son” (Pro_2:1), which recurs three times in chap. 3, Pro_3:1; Pro_3:11; Pro_3:21,—without, however, for that reason, introducing in each instance a new paragraph; for in Pro_3:11 at least the series of admonitions beginning in Pro_3:1 continues in its former tone without interruption (comp. especially Pro_3:9),—and again the new commencement in Pro_3:21 does not equal in importance that in Pro_3:19 sq., or that in Pro_3:27 sq.—Hitzig maintains that Pro_3:22-26 are spurious, inasmuch as the promise of reward which it contains, after the earlier briefer suggestions of virtue’s reward in Pro_3:4; Pro_3:6; Pro_3:8; Pro_3:10, seems tedious and disturbing;. inasmuch as their style of expression appears tame, prosaic, and even, in some degree, clumsy; inasmuch as there may be detected in them traces of a strange and later idiom (e.g., the חַיִּים וְחֵן [life and grace] in Pro_3:22; the שֹׁאָה [destruction] in Pro_3:25; the מִלֶּכֶד [from the snare] in Pro_3:26); and finally—the thing which appears in fact to have given the chief impulse to his suspicion—inasmuch as from the omission of these five verses there would result another instance of the decimal grouping of verses before we come again to the address to the “children” of wisdom in Pro_4:1, just as before the בְּנִי [my son] in Pro_3:11; Pro_3:21 was repeated in each case after ten verses. But since no kind of external testimony can be adduced in support of this assumption of an interpolation, while, on the other hand, a version as old as the LXX contains the verses entire, the suspicion appears to rest on grounds wholly subjective, and to be supported by reasonings that are only specious. This is especially true of the fact that there are in each instance ten verses between the first addresses, “my son,”—which loses all its significance when we observe that in chap. 1. the same address recurs at much shorter intervals,—that between the “my son” in Pro_2:1 and the first in the third chapter there are no less than 22 verses,—and that finally the paragraphs or “strophes” formed by the repetition of this address in the two following chapters (Pro_4:10 sq.; Pro_4:20 sq.; Pro_5:1 sq.) are by no means of equal length, and can be brought into uniformity only by critical violence (the rejection of Pro_4:16-17; Pro_4:27).—If we therefore cannot justify Hitzig’s endeavor to produce by the exclusion of several verses a symmetrical external structure for our chapter, i.e., a division of it into three equal strophes, we are also obliged to differ with him when he conceives of the contents as mainly admonitory, in contrast with the more descriptive character of chap. 2. For here as there we find admonitions, direct or indirect, to the securing and retaining of wisdom (Pro_3:1; Pro_3:3; Pro_3:5; Pro_3:7; Pro_3:9; Pro_3:11; Pro_3:21; Pro_3:27 sq.) alternating with delineations of the blessedness which becomes the portion of its possessors (Pro_3:4; Pro_3:6 b, 8, 10, 22 sq., 32 sq.), or with praises of wisdom itself (Pro_3:13 sq., 19 sq.). Especially are the commencement and conclusion of the chapter in close correspondence with those of chap. 2, and accordingly justify our conception of the general import of the proverbial discourses which it contains, as being a sort of continuation of the longer discourse which constitutes the preceding chapter. Only in two points do we find essentially new material introduced into the representation, which is now mainly admonitory and again chiefly descriptive,—viz., in Pro_3:19 sq., where the protecting and preserving power of wisdom is illustrated by a reference to God’s creative wisdom as the original source and model of all human wisdom,—and in Pro_3:27 sq., where in the place of the previous admonitions of a more general nature there appears a special admonition to love of one’s neighbor, as the sum and crown of all virtues. Therefore (with Delitzsch, comp. above, Introd., §15) at each of these points we begin a new section.
2. Continued representation of the salutary consequences of a wise and devout life. Pro_3:1-18.
Pro_3:1-2. Forget not my teaching.—The substance of this teaching (תּוֹרָה, as in Pro_1:8), or the enumeration of the individual commands (מִצְוֹת) of which it consists, begins with Pro_3:3.—Length of days, properly” extension of days” (אֹרֶךְ יָמִים) as in Psa_21:4), is a description of earthly prosperity as it is promised to wisdom for a reward. Comp. Exo_20:12; 1Ki_3:14. For that this long life is a happy one, a “living in the promised land” (Deu_4:40; Deu_5:30; Deu_6:2; Deu_11:9; Deu_22:7; Deu_30:16), an “abiding in the house of the Lord” and under His blessing (Psa_15:1; Psa_23:6; Psa_27:3),—this is plainly assumed. Comp. the parallel expression שָׁלוֹם [peace] in the second member, which here, as below in Pro_3:17, describes the safety which belongs only to the pious, the religious peace of mind of which the ungodly know nothing (Isa_48:22; Isa_57:21).
Pro_3:3-4. The first of the commandments announced in Pro_3:1, with the corresponding promise of reward.—Love and truth.—These ideas חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת which are very often associated, in our Book, e.g., in Pro_14:22; Pro_16:6; Pro_20:28,—are, when predicated of man, the designation of those attributes in which the normal perfection of his moral conduct towards his neighbor expresses itself. חֶסֶר, which, as a Divine attribute, is equivalent to mercy or grace, designates “the disposition of loving sympathy with others, which rests upon the feeling of brotherhood, the feeling that all men are of like nature, creatures of the same God.” This feeling, which is the prime factor in our moral life by which society is constituted, has for its natural basis the destitution and defencelessness of isolated man; from which springs the deeper necessity not only to augment power by mutual outward help, but also by the interchange of thoughts and emotions to effect a richer development of spiritual life, and to discern what in one’s own feeling is purely individual, and what is common and eternal” (Elster). אֱמֶת then designates inward truthfulness, the pectus rectum, the very essence of a true man opposed to all hypocrisy and dissimulation, the endeavor to mould every form into the closest possible correspondence with the nature of the thing, on which depends all the reliableness and security of life’s relations” (Elster, comp. Umbreit). The proofs of a life regulated by “love” and “truth,” and so of conduct toward one’s neighbor, as loving as it is true, a genuine ἀληθεύειν ἐν ἀγάπῃ [truth in love, Eph_4:15] are suggested in the following admonitory discourse in Pro_3:27 sq.—Bind them about thy neck—not as talismans and amulets, as Umbreit suggests, but simply as costly ornaments, which one wears upon the neck (comp. Pro_1:9; also Pro_7:3); or again as treasures which one will secure against loss, and therefore (if valued like a signet ring, Gen_38:18; Jer_22:24) wears attached to a chain about the neck. The latter explanation, to which Hitzig gives the preference, seems to be favored especially by Pro_6:21, and also by the analogy of the parallel expression “write upon the tablet of the heart,” i.e., thoroughly impress upon one’s self and appropriate the virtues in question (love and truth—not perchance the “commandments” mentioned in Pro_3:1, of which C. B. Michaelis and others here think without any good reason); comp. Jer_31:33; 2Co_3:3 [“To bind God’s law about the neck is not only to do it, but to rejoice in doing it; to put it on, and to exult in it as the fairest ornament.” Wordsw.].—So wilt thou find favor and good reputation—literally, “and so find,” etc. (וּמְצָא); the Imper. with ו consec. stands for an Imperf. (Ewald, Lehrb., 235); for “by the command the certainty that obedience will follow is promoted,” Hitzig. Comp. Pro_4:4; Pro_20:13; Gen_42:8; Isa_8:9; Isa_45:22. [Bött. calls this the “desponsive” imperative; see § 957, 6—A.].—“Find favor or grace” (מָצָא חֵן) as in Jer_31:2; 1Sa_2:26; Luk_2:52; only that in these passages, instead of “in the eyes of God” (i.e., according to God’s judgment, comp. Gen_10:9; 2Ch_30:22) the simpler phrase “with God” (אִם, παρά) is combined with the formula under discussion.—Good reputation.—Thus we translate, as Hitzig does, the expression שֵׂכֶל מוֹב, which below in Pro_13:15, as in Psa_111:10, conveys the idea of good understanding or sagacity [so the E. V., Bertheau, Kamph. render it in this passage also]; but here, as in 2Ch_30:20, denotes the judgment awarded to any one, the favorable view or opinion held concerning any one. [Fuerst, Van Ess, etc., prefer this rendering, while Gesen., De W., Stuart, Noyes, Muenscher translate “good success.”—A.]. With this interpretation the “finding favor” will have reference more to God, the “finding good opinion or favorable judgment” predominantly to men. [Kamph., however, insists that the idea is indivisible—universal favor.]
Pro_3:5-6. Trust in Jehovah with all thine heart, etc.: the fundamental principle of all religion, consisting in an entire self-commitment to the grace and truth of God, with the abandonment of every attempt to attain blessedness by one’s own strength or wisdom; comp. Psa_37:3 sq.; Psa_118:8-9; Jer_9:22.—Regard him. דָּעֵהוּ, strictly “take notice of him,” i.e., recognize Him as the unconditional controller over all thy willing and doing. Comp. the opposite: 1Sa_2:12, and in general for this pregnant use of the verb יָרַע Psa_1:6; Psa_37:18; Amo_3:2, etc.
Pro_3:7-8. Fear Jehovah and depart from evil (comp. Pro_14:16; Pro_14:6; Job_1:1; Job_28:28); an absolute contrast to the first clause of the verse; for he who fears God distrusts his own wisdom, when this perchance presents evil and wayward action as something agreeable and desirable (Gen_3:5).—Healing will then be (come) to thy body. Thus probably is the phrase רִפְאוּת תְּהִי to be explained, with Bertheau and Hitzig,—for to express the idea “healing is this to thy body,” (Umbreit, Ewald, Elster, and most of the elder commentators) רִפְאוּת הִיא would rather have been required.—Instead of לְשָׁרֶּךָ thy navel (which, according to Umbreit, here, unlike Eze_14:4; Son_7:3, is intended to be a designation of the whole body by a part of special physiological importance) it will probably be correct to read לְשׁרְךָ as a contraction of לִשְׁאֵרְךָ, or לִבְשָׂרֵךָ as i Pro_4:22. For translations as early as the LXX and Peshito express simply the idea “to thy body,” to which furthermore the parallel “to thy bones” corresponds better (comp. Pro_14:30; Mic_3:2) than to the very far-fetched expression “to thy navel.” —Refreshing to thy bones. שִׁקּוּי strictly irrigation, watering, then refreshing, invigoration; here in contrast with the. “languishing of the bones” (Psa_32:8; Psa_32:4), i.e., their drying up under a fever heat or an inward anguish of soul, e.g., the pangs of a troubled conscience. Comp. Job_21:24; Isa_58:11.
Pro_3:9-10, Honor Jehovah with thy riches. The מִן in מֵהוֹנֶךָ and the following phrase מֵדֵאשִׁית כָּל־תְּבוּאָחֶךָ is certainly not to be construed as partitive, as though God was to be honored with a part only of one’s wealth and of the first fruits of one’s increase (so e.g., Bertheau), but the preposition מִן here expresses the idea of a coming forth out of something, as in Psa_28:7; 2Ki_6:27. In opposition to the comparative idea which Ewald endeavors to bring out from the מִן (“more than thy wealth”) see Hitzig on this passage. With regard to the idea itself compare passages like Exo_23:19; Deu_18:4 sq.; Pro_28:8 sq.; Mal_3:10-12. That the offering in sacrifice the first fruits of the field and of the other revenues of one’s possessions or labors was not only enjoined by their law upon the people of God under the Old Testament, but that it was also practiced by other ancient nations as a usage connected with religious worship, appears from passages in classical authors, e.g., Diod. Sicul., I., Proverbs 14 : Plut. de Iside, p. 377; Pliny’s Hist. Nat., 18, 2. Comp. in general Spencer, Delegibus Hebræorum ritualibus, p. 713, sq. (“de primitiarum origine”). [Be not content with lipservice, but obey God’s law by making the prescribed oblation and by bringing also free-will offerings to Him.”—Wordsw. Our author’s notes, in their distinct recognition of the first fruits as required for and by Jehovah, are to be preferred to his version, which has the more general but less Jewish idea that “the best” should be given.—A.]—With new wine will thy vats overflow. יִפְרֹצוּ, literally: they will extend themselves, separate, swell up Comp. the use of the same verb פָּרַץ with reference to rapidly increasing flocks; Gen_30:20; Job_1:10.—Similar strong metaphors for the description of a rich abundance and the blessing of the harvest may be found, e.g., Joel 4:18; Amo_9:13; Lev_26:5.
Pro_3:11-12. Jehovah’s correction despise thou not. To the “despising” (מָאַם here as in the quite similar passage Job_5:17 [from which Wordsw. thinks our passage to be derived]), the “loathing” or “abhorring” (קוּץ) is evidently the climax. [In the E. V. generally this distinction between the two verbs is very fairly made; the prevailing rendering of the former being “despise, disdain, reject, refuse,” while that of the latter is “loathe, abhor.” In the present instance the rendering might easily be taken as an anti-climax.—A.].—And holds him dear as a father his son. For the general idea that God’s corrections are essentially nothing but revelations of His educating love and fatherly faithfulness, comp. in the Old Testament especially Deu_8:5; Psa_118:18; Lam_3:33 sq.
Pro_3:13-18. Enthusiastic praise of true wisdom, which is one with the fear of God.—Blessed is the man that hath found wisdom. The perfect מָצָא, who hath found, expresses the idea of permanent possession; the parallel imperfect יָפיק (from פּוּק, procedere; therefore, to bring forth, to bring to view, to bring to pass, comp. Pro_8:35; Pro_12:2; Pro_18:22) denotes a continually renewed and repeated attaining. The ἐκβάλλειν (“bring forth”) used of the scribe “instructed unto the kingdom of heaven,” Mat_13:52, cannot be compared directly with our expression, since הֵפִיק) clearly contains an idea synonymous and not one contrasted with מָצָא.—Better is her accumulation than the accumulation of silver. סַחְרָהּ does not, like the corresponding term פְרִי in the parallel passage, Pro_8:19, denote what wisdom, brings by way of gain, but the very act of gaining and acquiring (ἐμπορεύεσθαι, LXX). So with תְּבוּאָתָהּ, that which comes with and in herself, the gain which exists in herself. [The “merchandise” of the E. V. is unfortunately obscure and misleading].—Than the finest gold. חָרּוּץ signifies, according to most of the old interpreters, the finest and purest gold (Vulg.: aurum primum). The etymology leads, in the unmistakable identity of the root חרץ with that of the Greek χρυσός, at first only to the idea of clear or bright shining, gleaming or glittering (coruscare). Gold is therefore, on the ground of its brilliancy, named in the climax as a more precious possession than silver, to which in Pro_3:15 the “pearls” (instead of the K’thibh פְּנִיִּים we shall be constrained to give an unqualified preference to the K’ri פְּנִינִים, comp. Pro_8:11; Pro_20:15; Pro_31:10, etc.) supply the culmination in the series, and the generalizing term “all thy jewels” includes the three specified items with all similar articles of value. Comp. Pro_8:2; Job_28:18, where our verse recurs almost literally. In the latter passage (Job_28:15-19) besides silver, gold and pearls, various other gems, e.g., onyx, sapphire, coral, amber, topaz, etc., are mentioned as falling far below the value of wisdom. In the LXX there appear both in Pro_3:15 and in 16 amplifying additions, in respect to which Hitzig, while not regarding as original the double clause interpolated in Pro_3:15 between the two members: οὐκ ἀντιτάσσεται αὐτῇ οὐδὲυ πονηρόν. Εύ̓γνωστός ἐστιν πᾶσιν τοῖς ἐγγίζουσιν αὐτῇ [no evil thing competes with her. She is well known to all those that approach her], yet considers it as resting upon an interpolation that had already made its way into the Hebrew text. The supplement added to Pro_3:16 : ἐκ τοῦ στόματος αὐτῆς ἐκπορεύεται δικαιοσύνη, νόμον δέ καὶ έ̓λεον ἐπὶ γλώσσης φορεῖ [from her mouth proceedeth righteousness, law and mercy doth she bear upon her tongue] Heidenheim regards as the gloss of an Alexandrian Jew, who designed with it to oppose certain Pharisaic interpretations (?).—Long life is in her right hand, etc. Wisdom here appears personified, endowed with a human body and members,—and in Pro_3:16 at first in a general way, in Pro_3:17 so that she is represented as walking, in Pro_3:18 so that she appears standing like a tree, that dispenses shade and precious fruits. בִּימִינָהּ and בְּשְׂמֹאולָהּ in Pro_3:16 are at any rate not to be translated “at her right hand,” and “at her left hand” (so Luther and many old interpreters, conforming to Ps. 14:8; 45:9; 110:5), but “in her right and left hand,” in accordance with Psa_16:11; Isa_44:20, where the preposition בְּ expresses the same idea.—“Long life,” literally, “length of days,” as above, in Pro_3:2, from which passage the LXX has here repeated also the phrase “καὶ ἐτη ζωῆς.”—Riches and honor, as in Pro_8:18; Pro_22:4. “The blessings which wisdom offers are appropriately distributed between the hands, according to their essential difference. The right hand is regarded as the nearer; and that one live is the foundation for his becoming rich and honored, as health is a condition preliminary to the enjoyment of prosperity. Compare accordingly the arrangement in 1Ki_3:11-14” (Hitzig). [An over fanciful elaboration of the simple idea of the passage.—A.].—All her paths are (paths of) peace. שָׁלוֹם can be regarded as a genitive, in which case the construction is the same as in Psa_45:6 (according to the interpretation which is probably correct), Psa_30:7; Lev_6:3, etc.; comp. Gesenius, Gramm. § 121, 6; Naegelsbach, § 64, g.;—or as a nominative, “her paths are peace,” i.e., peaceable, peaceful, instead of strife and alarm offering pure peace and joy (so nearly all recent commentators, with the exception of Umbreit and Elster, who seem with good reason to prefer the former view). A tree of life wisdom is called in Pro_3:18, as in Pro_11:30 the “fruit of the righteous” is described by the same figurative expression, in Pro_13:12 the fulfilment of an ardent desire, and finally, Pro_15:4, “temperateness of the tongue.” The expression doubtless contains an allusion to the tree of life mentioned by Moses in Gen_2:9; Gen_3:22, although there the definite article stands before חַיִּים, because it was intended to designate the particular tree bearing this name in Paradise. The עֵץ הֵחַיִּים of Genesis and the עֵץ חַיִּים of Proverbs are therefore related to each other as the familiar ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου of the Gospels to the υἰὸς ἀνθρώπου without the article in Joh_5:27. Elster, without reason, attempts to deny altogether the reference to Gen_2:9, and to make the expression parallel with other figurative representations, like “fountain of life,” etc. In his observation that the figure of the tree in this passage is based upon the previous personification of wisdom, and that Sol. Son_7:9 is therefore to be compared, Hitzig is certainly right (comp. also passages like Isa_61:3; Jer_17:8; Psa_1:3; Psa_92:12). We must, however, regard as less pertinent the other proposition of the same commentator, according to which the tree of life in our passage corresponds not only with the tree of the same name in Paradise, but at the same time also with the tree of knowledge (Gen_3:3), and so exhibits the identity of the two trees of Paradise. For as a thoroughly practical demeanor, consisting in the fear of God and obedience (see Pro_1:7) the true wisdom of the Book of Proverbs unquestionably presents as complete a contrast to all assuming and “devilish” wisdom from beneath (Jam_3:15) as the tree of life in Paradise to that of knowledge.—And he who holds her fast is blessed. See critical notes. See also below. notes on Pro_15:22.
3. Description of the wisdom of God that created the world, as the mighty protector of him that fears God: Pro_3:19-26.—Jehovah hath with wisdom founded the earth, etc.. A connection undoubtedly exists between this allusion to the divine archetype of all human wisdom and what has been before said, so far forth as the paradisiacal tree of life of primitive time seems to have called to the mind of the author the creation of the world, and therefore afforded him occasion for the brief delineation of the creative wisdom of God that lies before us, of which the passage, Pro_8:22 sq., is only a fuller development (comp. also Job_28:12 sq.; Sir_24:2 sq.). Yet if the connection were really as close as it is commonly regarded (e.g., by Bertheau, who finds in Pro_3:19-20 the conclusion of the series of thoughts beginning in Pro_3:11; by Elster, who discerns here “in a certain sense a metaphysical confirmation of the foregoing;” and in general also by Hitzig, etc.), the demonstrative conjunction. כִּי (for) would unquestionably stand at the beginning of the 19th verse; this, however, is wanting both in the original text and in the older versions, and was first introduced by Luther. Therefore as the words stand, with an emphatic prefixing of the subject “Jehovah” (as at the commencement of many Psalms, e.g., Psalms 27; Psalms 97; Psalms 99, etc.), they are evidently designed not so much to serve as a continuation of representations already begun, as for the introduction of ideas essentially new,—and these new thoughts, are the promises contained in Pro_3:21-26, of the divine protection and blessing, of which the wise man, i.e., he who acts and walks in accordance with this divine wisdom, will infallibly have the full enjoyment. Furthermore, comp., with reference to the idea of the conformity of the practical, ethical wisdom of man with the absolute creative wisdom of God, the “Doctrinal and Ethical” notes.—With wisdom. בְּחָכְמָה, literally “through” wisdom, i.e., not merely with the manifestation of wisdom as an attribute of His, but by means of the personal, essential wisdom, as an independent, creative power indwelling in Him from eternity, comp. Pro_8:22 sq. In the same hypostatic sense, therefore, are also the interchangeable ideas of “understanding” תְּבוּנָה Pro_3:19 l.c., and “knowledge” דַּעַת in Pro_3:20, to be understood. [With this view of the author Bertheau agrees, so Trapp and some others of the old English expositors: Scott, Holden suggest it as possible; while Stuart, Muenscher and others, judging more correctly, we think, find here none of those personal attributes which are so conspicuous in chap. 8 and there so clearly shape the interpretation.—A.]. On Pro_3:19 comp. in addition Jer_10:12, and on Pro_3:20, Gen_1:6 sq.; Pro_2:6.—Did the seas divide. The perf. נִבְקָעוּ, “they have divided,” refers to the primary creative act of the division once for all of the masses of water above and beneath the firmament, Gen_1:6 sq., while the imperf., יִרְעֲפוּ, relates to the constantly repeated and still continued emptying of the clouds in rain, as a consequence of that sundering of the waters which belongs to the history of creation. [The E. V. loses this distinction and refers both to the present, “are”].
Pro_3:21-22. My son, never suffer to depart from thine eyes, etc. עַל יָלזֻוּ (for which, perhaps, in conformity with Pro_4:21 we ought to read יַלִּזוּ) signifies literally, “there must not escape, slip aside” (from לוּז) deflexit, a via declinavit). As subjects for the plural verb we usually find supplied from the preceding, especially from Pro_3:1 sq., the idea “my doctrines, my commands,” [as in the E. V. and the commentaries of Stuart, Muenscher and others]. But this is plainly quite too far-fetched. It is simpler, with Umbreit, Hitzig, etc., to conceive of the following hemistich, “thoughtfulness and circumspection,” as at the same time subjects of the verb in the first, and to explain their omission in the former clause to which they should properly have been attached, on the ground of the peculiar vivacity of the representation. This liveliness of expression can in some measure be preserved in our version by a “rather” after the verb of the second clause.—Maintain thoughtfulness and circumspection. The more uncommon תֻּשִׁיָה (comp. above Pro_2:7) stands here instead of חָכְמָה (wisdom) Pro_3:19, and also the less frequent מְזִמָּה instead of תְּכוּנָה which occurs there, in order to suggest the difference between the absolute wisdom and insight of God and the corresponding attributes of man. The LXX instead of the present order appear to have found the reverse, as they translate βουλὴν καὶ ἔννοιαν. Comp. Heidenheim (as above cited).—So will they be life to thy soul, etc. In reply to Hitzig’s disparagement of the genuineness of Pro_3:22-26, see remarks above, at the commencement of the exegesis. With respect to the thought of Pro_3:22 f. c., comp. above Pro_3:2; Pro_3:16; Pro_3:18; also. Pro_4:22; Pro_8:35, etc. For last clause comp. Pro_1:9; Pro_3:3.
Pro_3:23. Then wilt thou go thy way in safety. לָבֶטַח, in security, free from care, full of trust and good confidence, as below in Pro_3:29. [“Thou shalt ever go under a double guard, the ‘peace of God’ within thee (Php_4:7) and the ‘power of God’ without thee, (1Pe_1:5).”—Trapp.—For illustrations drawn from travellers’ experience near Jerusalem, see Thomson’s Land and Book, I., 109.—A.]. The simple בֶּטַח is used in the same way in Pro_10:9. For Pro_3:23 l. c. compare Psa_91:12, for the whole verse Pro_4:12.
Pro_3:24. When thou liest down. The imperf. תִּשְׁכַב in the first member probably designs to express the idea of “laying one’s self down to rest,” while the following perf. וְשָׁכַבְתָּ would designate the effect and consequence of this act, the reclining and sleeping. Thus most interpreters have correctly judged. Hitzig amends according to the LXX: אִם תֵּשֵׁב, if thou sittest, which is plainly needlessly arbitrary. For the thought comp. furthermore Pro_4:22; Deu_28:66.
Pro_3:25. Thou needest not fear from sudden alarm. אַל־תִּירָא literally fear thou not. Since however the אָז in Pro_3:23 still has its effect, the expression is not to be taken merely as an admonition, but at the same time as a description of the future condition (Ewald, Lehrbuch 310, a). [Bött. § 964, a, classes it with the “permissive negatives”].—Nor from the destruction of the wicked. שֹׁאַת רְשָׁעִים the old commentators unanimously regard as active; the onset of the wicked, the storm which they raise against the pious (procella quam impii excitant, Chr. B. Michaelis). So recently Hitzig, while nearly all other modern interpreters since Döderlein prefer the passive conception; the storm or destruction that will sweep away the wicked. A positive decision is probably not possible. Yet the parallel in Psa_35:8, seems to favor the latter view [which is adopted also by Stuart and Muenscher]. With reference to the subject compare further, for clause a, Psa_91:5; Pro_1:27; Pro_24:22; and for b, Job_5:21.
Pro_3:26. For Jehovah will be thy confidence: literally, will be in thy confidence, כֶּסֶל is here unquestionably trust, confidence, as in Job_8:14; Job_31:24; Psa_78:7. The signification “loins, side,” which the Vulgate has given to the expression (“Dominus erit in latere tuo”) and, in imitation of this, e.g., Ziegler, Muentinghe, etc., agrees indeed with passages like Job_15:27; Lev_3:4; Lev_3:10; Lev_15:4, etc., but not with the one before us.—And keep thy foot from the snare. The substantive לֶכֶד, snare—for which more usually מוֹקֵשׁ or פַּח—occurs only here, is not, however, for that reason necessarily to be regarded, as Hitzig would have it, as a sign of a later phraseology.
4. Admonition to benevolence and justice: Pro_3:27-35. A connection of this exhortation with some more specific point in the foregoing (with Pro_3:21 or Pro_3:20, e.g., as Hitzig suggests, assuming Pro_3:22-26 to be spurious) need not be attempted, since the whole of this brief section definitely enough distinguishes itself from the longer series of proverbial discourses, as an independent and peculiar whole.—Refuse not good to him that deserves it: literally, “hold not good back from its master,” i.e., from him to whom it belongs [“either by the law of equity or of charity,” Trapp,—“whether upon their deserving or upon their need,” Bp. Hall], him who is at the same time deserving and needy (LXX εὖ ποιεῖν ἐνδεῆ).
Pro_3:28. And yet thou hast it: literally, and it is yet with thee on hand, there is yet a store [there is with thee]. The LXX adds to this admonition to ready giving and to quick relief (according to the principle: bis dat qui cito dat, “he gives twice who gives quickly”), the words appropriate in themselves, “οὐ γὰρ οἶδας τί τέξεται ἡ ἐπιοῦσα” (for thou knowest not what the morrow shall bring forth), which, however, occur in their original place in Pro_27:1.
Pro_3:29. Devise not evil. The verb חָרַשׁ here as in Pro_6:14; Pro_6:18; Pro_12:20; Pro_14:22, expresses the idea of contriving, and that as a development of the idea of “forging” (Eze. 21:36) and not that of “ploughing” (as Ewald, following some older interpreters, maintains).
Pro_3:30. Without cause, Heb. חִנָּם, LXX, μάτην, comp. δωρεάν in Joh_15:25. What is meant by this “contending without cause” is made more apparent in the 2d member. In regard to the ethical significance of this precept comp. “Doctrinal and Ethical” notes, No. 3.
Pro_3:31. Emulate not the man of violence. For this signification of אַל־תְּקַנֵּא, which is found as early as the Vulgate (ne æmuleris hominem injustum), the strongest support is the parallel thought in the 2d member; while unquestionably in passages like Psa_37:1; Psa_73:3; Pro_24:1, the expression קִנֵּא בְּ denotes rather a “falling into a passion” about some one, a “being envious.” Yet comp. Pro_23:17, where the meaning plainly resembles that before us. [The difference among these expositors, we think, is more seeming than real. Thus Stuart renders, “Be not envious toward,” etc., and explains “do not anxiously covet the booty which men of violence acquire;” Muenscher renders, “Envy thou not the man,” etc., and explains, “Do not be offended by the success and prosperity,” etc., “so as to imitate,” etc.—A.]—And choose none of his ways. For תִּכְחַר the LXX [μηδὲ ζηλώσῃς) must have read תּתְחַר, a reading which Hitzig is disposed to accept as the original. But how easily could this change be introduced, following as a standard Psa_38:1, or Pro_24:19, where no doubt תִּתְחַר stands as the only appropriate reading!
Pro_3:32-35 supply a ground in the first instance for the counsels contained in Pro_3:27-31, but further in general for those of the whole chapter: thus Pro_3:35 in particular, by its contrasting the comprehensive terms “fool” and “wise,” reveals a far reaching breadth and compass in its reference, like the similar expressions at the close of the 1James , 2 d chapters.—An abhorrence to Jehovah is the deceiver.—נָלוֹז, properly the “perverse,” he who is deceitfully crooked and secret (comp. Pro_2:15), and so is in direct contrast with the “upright” or straightforward. [תּוֹעֵבָה, which in the E. V. is always translated by “abomination,” or some cognate term, is often used in other sacred books of idolatry. In the twenty or more passages in the Book of Proverbs in which the word is found it has this signification in no single instance. “It would seem,” says Wordsworth, in loc, “as if, when Solomon wrote the Proverbs, he regarded idolatry as a thing impossible. He therefore left out idolatry as the Greek Legislator omitted parricide from his code—as a thing too monstrous to be contemplated. And yet Solomon himself afterwards fell into idolatry,” etc.—A.].—With the upright he maintains true friendship.—Literally, “with the upright is his secret compact” (סוֹדוֹ), his intimacy, his confidential intimacy. Comp. Job_29:4; Psa_25:14.—Jehovah’s curse dwells in the house of the wicked.—Comp. the אָלָה, the cursing which, according to Zec_5:4, will take possession of the house of the wicked, and destroy it (in accordance with Deu_28:17 sq.); and for the term מְאֵרָה, Mal_2:2 (and Köhler on both passages).
Pro_3:34. If he scorneth the scorners.—To this hypothetical protasis the apodosis is not found in Pro_3:35, as Bertheau [and Stuart] hold, but immediately after, in the second clause of Pro_3:34. As in Job_8:20; Lam_3:32, there is an argumentum a contrario. Comp. our mode of constructing propositions, with “while on the one hand—so on the other.” For the sentiment of the 1st member, comp. Psa_18:26; for that of the whole verse the passages in the N. T. which cite freely from the LXX, 1Pe_5:5; Jam_4:6, and also above, Pro_1:26 sq.
Pro_3:35. Shame sweeps fools away.—מֵרִים קָלוֹן literally “shame lifts up,” i.e., in order to sweep away and destroy them: Comp. Eze_21:31; Isa_57:14, and the corresponding use of נָשָׂא, tollere= auferre; Isa_41:16; Job_27:21. The expression קָלוֹן, ignominia, properly levitas (lightness), at once reminds us directly of the familiar figure of chaff whirled away by the wind (Psa_1:4; Isa_17:3; Isa_29:5, etc.). Therefore we need not take מֵרִים as the predicate of כְּסִילִים (fools) and translate it by suscipiunt in the sense of “gather up,” “carry away,” as Hitzig does, following: the 70, Targ., Vatabl., and Rosenmueller [so Noyes, Muenscher, Wordsw., while De Wette, Stuart, etc., agree with cur author—A.]; although the distributive use of the participle in the singular instead of the plural, would have a. sufficient parallel in the passage already explained, Pro_3:18 b.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. “Wisdom is life and gives life.” This proposition, which finds its most pregnant utterance in Pro_3:18, and is formulated as a sort of Epitome of the whole chapter, is especially in the first admonitory discourse (Pro_3:1-18) expressed in manifold ways and exhibited in its bearing upon the most diverse relations, those of the present life first. Above all it is long life, to which walking in true wisdom aids (Pro_3:3-16), and this for this reason,—because such a course is the indispensable condition of physical as well as spiritual health,—or because, as Pro_3:8 expresses it, “the wise findeth health for his body and refreshing for his frame.” He who is truly wise aims infallibly at the needful temperance, and a prudent self-restraint in his physical and mental regimen, and thereby promotes health, his inward and outward well-being in the highest possible degree. He contributes by his obedient subjection to the Divine grace, to the emancipation of his noblest spiritual powers and capacities,—secures these as well as the functions of his bodily organization against morbid excitement or torpidity, and so develops generally his entire personal life, body, mind and spirit, to its normal harmony, and the most vigorous manifestation possible of its diverse and cardinal activities. He who has in this way become inwardly free through the fear of God and real wisdom in life, attains necessarily also to the confirmation of this his godlike freedom and vital power in connection with the phenomena of the outward natural life, as surely as the laws of the economy of nature are the same as those of the ethical sphere in the kingdom of God. He who is inwardly free becomes also naturally free. To him who has attained true mastery over himself there is soon restored dominion over the outward creation,—that heritage of the true children of God from Paradise,—at least in its essentials. And so outward prosperity is added in his experience to inward peace; God “smooths his paths” (Pro_3:6); fills his garners and cellars with abundance (Pro_3:10), makes him great through riches and honor (Pro_3:16), and guides him during this whole life in ways of delight, peace, and prosperity (Pro_3:17; comp. Pro_3:2; Pro_3:18). A thing, however, that rises far above all these external blessings, above gold, silver and all the treasures of the earth (see Pro_3:14-15), is the grace and favor which the wise man finds not only with men, but much more with God (Pro_3:4). This favor of God and of men,—i.e., not of all indiscriminately, but first and pre-eminently of the wise and devout, such as agree with God’s judgment, is evidently in the view of the poet the highest and most precious of the multiform blessings of wisdom which he enumerates. What, however, is this “favor with God and men,” the inseparable attendant and consequence of genuine wisdom (1Sa_2:26; Luk_2:52), what is this but the being a true child of God, the belonging to the fellowship of God and His people, the co-citizenship in the kingdom of truth and of blessedness?—We stand here manifestly at the point at which the eudæmonism of the author, in itself comparatively external and inclining to that which is partial and sensuous, joins hands with the true doctrine of Christianity,—where, therefore, the Old Testament doctrine of retributions predominantly earthly begins to be transformed into the super-sensual or spiritual realistic doctrine of the New Testament (Mat_5:10-12; Mat_19:28-30). For if to be a child of God and to stand in relations of grace appears as the chief value and most precious reward of wisdom, the goal of prosperity at which the lovers of this wisdom aim is far more a heavenly than an earthly one; and fellowship with God, obedient, loving dependence on Him, is then not merely the end, but at the same time the principle and motive for all the thought, effort and action of the wise. As a way to the attainment of this end no other whatsoever can come under consideration but that opened and pointed out by God himself—that is, the way of faith in the revelation of His grace. Believing self-devotion to the salvation which God bestows, which in the Old Testament is still essentially placed in the future, but in Christ as the Mediator of the New Testament, has become real and present, is there as well as here the condition of the attainment of wisdom, of progressive growth and strength in its possession, and finally of the enjoyment of the blessed reward. That our poet also walks in this path, that he is a representative of the “fides Veteris Testamenti,” that he belongs to that host of witnesses, exemplars of faith under the Old Testament, which is brought before us in Hebrews 9; this is incontrovertibly established by the way in which he speaks of the conditions of attaining to the blessed reward of wisdom, or of the practical demeanor of the wise man in its details. There we hear nothing of outward works of the law, of meritorious services, of the fulfilling of God’s will with one’s own strength or reason; but “trust in the Lord with all thine heart” is enjoined in emphatic contrast with “leaning upon one’s own prudence” (Pro_3:5); the being “wise in one’s own eyes” is put in significant contrast with the fear of God and the avoiding of all evil (Pro_3:7); yes, willing submission to God’s salutary correction, humble and grateful subjection even to the strict disciplinary regulations which His fatherly love finds it good to employ; this constitutes the substance of the dispositions and modes of action which are here prescribed (Pro_3:11-12; comp. Heb_12:5 sq.). With good reason did Melanchthon direct attention to the genuinely evangelical, and even profoundly Christian character of this admonition to the patient endurance of sufferings as wholesome disciplinary ordinances of God. He remarks on Pro_3:11-12 : “Here the whole doctrine of the cross is to be brought into view, and the distinction considered between Philosophy and the Gospel. Philosophy and human reason judge otherwise of the causes of death and of human calamities than does the voice of the Gospel.…. Christian and philosophic patience must also be distinguished.” And further, on Pro_3:13 sq.: “These praises of wisdom are rightly understood of revealed wisdom, i.e., of the word of God manifested in the Church, of the Decalogue and the Gospel. Nor yet is it strange that antiquity applied these praises to the person who is the Son of God, who is the revealer of the word resounding in the Church, and is efficient by this word, and in it shows forth what God is, and what is His will.” How far, furthermore, the point of view of our teacher of wisdom is removed from all possible Antinomian disparagements of positive moral requirements, how clearly, on the other hand, the wisdom that he teaches appears to be regulated by both factors of Divine revelation, law and gospel, shows itself from the emphatic prominence given to “love and truth” (חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת Pro_3:3; comp. the previous analysis of these two ideas on p. 61) as the chief manifestations of a spirit that fears God, and of a scrupulously dutiful course in intercourse with one’s neighbor. Love is, therefore, according to him, also, the fulfilling of the law (Rom_13:10; Gal_5:14), and indeed to such a degree that, according to his conception, the compliance with special prescriptions of the positive external ceremonial law, e.g., the ordinances which relate to the bringing of the offerings of first fruits (see above on Pro_3:9), must be to it an easy thing. With the proposition of Bruch, that our author found himself in a sort of free-thinking opposition to the positive prescriptions of the Mosaic ceremonial law (comp. Introd., § 15, note), this admonition to a conscientious devotion of the first fruits to Jehovah, plainly cannot be reconciled.
2. As wisdom alone ensures true joy in life and abiding prosperity, it also shows itself man’s most reliable protection (Pro_3:19-26), his defender and guardian in all the inward temptations as well as the outward dangers of this earthly life. And this essentially for this reason, because it consists in trusting devotion to the eternal and absolute wisdom of God, which most richly and gloriously manifests its exhaustless power, and its compassionate love and faithfulness, as formerly in the creation of the world, now also in its preservation and government. For he who loves wisdom is also loved by her.; and he who by walking in faith, love, and the fear of God, confesses himself here below a friend of the Divine word,—in his behalf does the eternal Word make confession above before the throne of the Heavenly Father.—For further remarks upon the relation to the Logos or the Son of God, of the Divine wisdom, which is here in Pro_3:19-20, for the first time, hypostatically presented in its quality as the power that created the world, see below on Pro_8:22 sq. (Doctrinal and Ethical comments). [As will be seen from the Exegetical notes on Pro_3:19, the best modern exegesis is not unanimous in applying this passage, like chap. 8, to the hypostatic wisdom. Our author’s remarks, therefore, however just in themselves, may be regarded as here out of place, so far forth as they involve the personality of wisdom—A.]
3. The conditions for the attainment of true wisdom and its blessing, which are again emphasized in the concluding verses (27–35), are comprehended in the single requirement of love to one’s neighbor as the fulfilling of the Divine law. As special manifestations of this love of our neighbor, we have made prominent, charitableness and constant readiness to give (27, 28), sincerity and an unfeigned frankness of disposition (29), peaceableness and placability (30), gentleness and abstinence from all violence (31), straightforward, honorable and upright deportment in one’s general transactions (32, 33), humility and the avoidance of all arrogant, frivolous and scornful demeanor (34).—These admonitions do not rise to the full moral elevation of the New Testament’s requisitions of love. Thus there is noticeably wanting here the demand of love to enemies, although not in Pro_25:21, and instead of this there is, it is true, no hatred of one’s enemy recommended (as in the casuistic ethics of the later Pharisaic Judaism, according to Mat_5:43), but yet a restriction of all dispute and controversy to one’s relations with an actual offender; see Pro_3:30. The specification of duties to one’s neighbor that is here presented is therefore related to one truly Christian, very much as the moral precepts which, according to Luk_3:10-14, John the Baptist gave to the multitude that followed him, if compared with that fulfilment of the law presented by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount as the standard for the conduct of the children of God under the New Testament (Mat_5:20-48). Let us observe also the fact, which is certainly not accidental, that all the moral precepts in our passage are given in the form of negative imperatives or warnings, while, e.g., in the Sermon on the Mount, in the concluding and admonitory chapters of Paul’s Epistles, and in general in most of the counsels of the New Testament, the positively admonitory and preceptive tone has a decided preponderance over the prohibitory.
HOMILETIC AND PRACTICAL
Homily on the entire chapter, starting with the central thought in Pro_3:18 : True wisdom as a tree of life,—considered 1) in the precious fruits which it bestows upon us (1–18);—2) in the solid ground in which it is rooted (19–26);—3) in the cultivation which we must bestow upon it by a loving and faithful integrity (27–35).—Comp. M. Geier’s analysis of the chapter, which, treating the four introductory verses as an exordium for the whole, finds prescribed in it three main classes of duties: 1) to God (5–26);—2) to our neighbor (27–30);—3) to ourselves (31–35).—So Starke: Solomon’s exhortation to the manifestation of that piety which flows from true wisdom, viz.: 1) of piety in itself (1–12);—2) of wisdom as its celestial source (13–26);—3) of love to our neighbors as its chief earthly fruit and result (27–35).
Pro_3:1-12. Melanchthon (on Pro_3:5-12, after treating the first four verses as an Introduction): Three precepts of divine Wisdom 1) Trust in God and fear of God (5–8);—2) the support of the ministry of the word by offerings and gifts (9,10);—3) patience under crosses and sufferings (11, 12, comp. above, p. 65).—Geier (on 5–18): Six cardinal duties to God: 1) confidence,—2) reverence,—3) humility,—4) honor,—5) patience,—6) zeal for wisdom.—Starke: An exhortation to true piety; and 1) a preliminary encouragement to attention (1–4);—2) the direct admonition to the manifestation of true piety, a) in confidence in God (5),—b) in a living knowledge of God (6),—c) in the fear of the Lord with a renouncing of one’s own wisdom (7, 8),—d) in the right payment of all gifts that are due (9, 10),—e) in the patient bearing of the cross (11, 12).—Calwer Handb.: The multiform blessings of a multiform wisdom; Pro_3:1-2 : long life, prosperity and peace;—3, Proverbs 4 : favor with God and men;—5, Proverbs 6 : a right guidance;—7, Proverbs 8 : even physical well-being;—9, Proverbs 10 : full garners and presses;—11, Proverbs 12 : grace from God also in trials and sufferings.
On Pro_3:1-4. Egard: See to it that on the tablet of thine heart nothing be found but the word of God and Jesus Christ. According to what is written on the tablet of thine heart, (2Co_3:3) will endless pain or eternal joy await thee, Mat_10:32-33.—On Pro_3:5-8. Hasius: It is a characteristic of true wisdom that one regards himself as simple; men who are wise in their own eyes are far removed from true wisdom.—Zeltner: Where true fear of God exists, there is also true humility of soul, and renunciation of self. Sir_1:17-18, etc.—[Pro_3:5. Trapp: They trust not God at all that do it not alone.—Arnot: Trust is natural to the creature, though trust in the Lord be against the grain to the guilty. God complains as much of a divided allegiance as of none. In cleaving to Christ the effort to reserve a little spoils all. The command to “trust” is encouraging as well as reproving. The genuine spirit of adoption may be best observed in little things.—R. M. M ‘Cheyne: Every enlightened believer trusts in a divine power enlightening the understanding; he therefore follows the dictates of the understanding more religiously than any other man.
Pro_3:8. Arnot: He who makes holiness happy in heaven, makes holiness healthful on earth.]—On Pro_3:9-10. Starke: We should above all things seek the kingdom of God, and share our means with those who labor in the word, and the extension of God’s kingdom; but not hold our goods for gain in order so to avoid God’s service. It is unbelief if one accounts that lost which he voluntarily devotes to churches and schools, and to the maintenance of the ministry of the word. Mat_10:42; 2Co_9:6; Gal_6:6, etc.—Zeltner: Thankfulness opens the fountain of the divine blessing, unthankfulness closes it.—Stöcker: Liberality toward the clerical office, considered 1) in and by itself,—2) according to the manner of its exercise,—3) in its reward.—[W. Bates: Charity is a productive grace, that enriches the giver more than the receiver. The Lord signs Himself our debtor for what is laid out for Him, and He will pay it with interest].—On Pro_3:11-12. Egard: God’s strokes are better than Satan’s kiss and love; God smites for life, Satan caresses for death.—J. Lange: The kingdom of God in this world is a kingdom of the cross; but all suffering tends evermore to the testing and confirmation of faith. 1Pe_1:6-7.—Berleb. Bible: God’s chastenings and corrections are no signs of anger, but of love; they are the pains which our healing and cure demand. Those who lie under the cross are often more acceptable to God, than those who taste and experience His dainties. He finds pleasure in our crosses and sufferings for this reason, because these are His remembrance and renewal of the sufferings of His Son. His honor is also involved in such a perpetuation of the cross in His members (Eph_3:13; Col_1:24, etc.) and it is this that causes Him this peculiar joy!
[Pro_3:11-12. Arnot: Let your heart flow down under trouble, for this is human; let it rise up also to God, for this is divine.—Trapp: He that escapes affliction may well suspect his adoption. God’s house of correction is His school of instruction.]
Pro_3:13-18. Egard: Silver, gold and pearls, serve and adorn the body only, wisdom, however, serves and adorns mainly the soul. As much as the soul is nobler than the body, so much is wisdom also nobler than all treasures. Beware lest thou with the children of this world look with delight upon the forbidden tree, and with them eat death from it. Beware lest thou choose folly instead of wisdom!—Stöcker: Whosoever desires to regain what our first parents squandered and lost by the fall, namely, eternal life—let him hold fast upon heavenly wisdom—i.e., God’s revealed word. This is a tree of life to all those who in true faith lay hold upon it.—Berleb. Bible: Solomon here testifies that wisdom even in Paradise nourished and supported men, and that the same is for this reason also in the restoration (the restitution of all things by Christ, Act_3:21) ordained for their spiritual maintenance. In this originates that most blessed condition of the new man, who gradually becomes again like and equal to the man of Paradise.—Wohlfarth: The tree of life of which we are to eat day by day is faith, love, hope. Faith is its trunk, hope its flowers, love its fruit.
[Pro_3:16-17. Arnot:—If the law were according to a simple calculation in arithmetic, “the holiest liver, the longest liver,” and conversely, “the more wicked the life the earlier its close;” if this, unmixed, unmodified, were the law, the moral government of God would be greatly impeded, if not altogether subverted. He will have men to choose goodness for His sake and its own; therefore a slight veil is cast over its present profitableness.—South (Pro_3:17): The excellency of the pleasure found in wisdom’s ways appears 1) in that it is the pleasure of the mind;—2) that it never satiates nor wearies;—3) that it is in nobody’s power, but only in his that has it.]
Pro_3:19-26. Stöcker:—Inasmuch as wisdom is so grand a thing that all was made and is still preserved by it, we are thence to infer that we also can be by it preserved for blessedness. We should hold dear the heavenly wisdom revealed to us in the word, and earnestly crave it, should learn to keep our eye upon God Himself, should entreat Him for all that we need, depend upon His omnipotence and faithful care, despond under no adversities, etc., etc.—[Bridges: (Pro_3:23) Habitual eyeing of the word keeps the feet in a slippery path].—Starke: He who orders his ways to please the Lord, can in turn depend upon His gracious oversight and protection.—Our unrest and fear spring mainly from an evil conscience; divine wisdom however keeps the conscience from heavy sins, and stays the heart on God.—Von Gerlach: The wisdom which God imparts to the man who hearkens for His voice is no other than that by which He founded the earth; the holy order, which forms, keeps, supports, holds together, develops into life, advances all. As now all that God has made is very good, each thing according to the law of the divine order that dwells in it, so in and for man all becomes good that conforms to this order.—Wohlfarth (on Pro_3:21-26): The holy rest of the pious. Little as the heart’s innocence, this fairest fruit of wisdom, can preserve and wholly free us from the sufferings which God suspends over us for our refining, so surely however does it turn away the worst and saddest consequences of sin, and ensures even amidst the storms of this life a rest that nothing can disturb.—[Pro_3:26. Arnot: It is the peace of God in the heart that has power to keep the feet out of evil in the path of life.]
Pro_3:27-35. Stöcker: The virtues of beneficence and patience are here developed after the method of the second table of the ten commandments; it is therefore taught how the believing Christian is in his relations to his neighbor to exercise himself in true charity, steadfast patience and forbearance.—Cramer (in Starke): When God richly bestows upon us spiritual treasures, ought it to be a great matter, if we to honor Him give alms from our temporal goods?—(On Pro_3:32 sq.); If an ungodly man rises in prosperity, look not upon his prosperity, but upon his end; that can easily deter you from imitating him.—Wohlfarth (on Pro_3:27-28): Thankfulness toward God requires beneficence toward one’s brethren.—Von Gerlach: Divine wisdom teaches the true communism,—makes all things common. According to true love earthly goods belong to “their lord” (Pro_3:27) i.e, to him who needs them.—[Pro_3:27. Arnot: The poor have not a right which they can plead and enforce at a human tribunal. The acknowledgment of such a right would tend to anarchy. The poor are placed in the power of the rich, and the rich are under law to God.
Pro_3:33. Arnot: In addition to the weight of divine authority upon the conscience, all the force of nature’s instincts is applied to drive it home.
Pro_3:34. Trapp: Humility is both a grace and a vessel to receive grace.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2–4 length . . . life--often promised as blessings (Psa…
length . . . life--often promised as blessings (Psa 21:4; Psa 91:16).
peace--includes prosperity (Psa 125:5).
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add--abound to thee.
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 vv1–4 EXHORTATIONS TO OBEDIENCE AND THE HONOURING OF GOD, Pro_3:1-26.
EXHORTATIONS TO OBEDIENCE AND THE HONOURING OF GOD, Pro_3:1-26.
This chapter is a continuation of the moral teachings of the preceding ones. It is rich in precepts, counsels, and admonitions on various topics, all of grave importance. For the sake of a deeper impression the royal sage, like every good teacher, uses more or less repetition, with variation of expression and abundance of illustration.
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1. My son — The kindness and earnestness of manner is to be noted.
Forget not my law — Let it be a law to thee, and let thy heart carefully guard my precepts. Such is the spirit of the original, as if uttered in a tone of earnest paternal entreaty.
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 vv1–4 1. law] or, teaching, R.V. marg. This is the…
1. law] or, teaching, R.V. marg. This is the primary meaning of the Heb. word Torah (see Pro_1:8 note, Pro_4:2, Pro_7:2), which is the common designation of the Law, in its Biblical sense.
Fourth Address. Chap. Pro_3:1-10
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Be obedient to my instruction, so shalt thou live long and prosper (Pro_3:1-4). Trust, not in thyself, but in God (Pro_3:5). Seek His direction (Pro_3:5-8): render Him His due (Pro_3:9-10): and (see Pro_3:12, note) submit to His fatherly correction (Pro_3:11-12).
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 vv2–4 (d) Fourth Discourse:—Exhortation to Various Virtues (Pro iii 1-18).
III.
(d) Fourth Discourse:—Exhortation to Various Virtues (Pro iii 1-18).
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(2) Long life.—That is, a life worth living, fit to be called “life”; whereas” length of days” only implies extension of life, the reward promised for obedience to parents.
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 vv1–4 Vers. 1-18. Fourth admonitory discourse. The third chapter introduces…
Vers. 1-18. Fourth admonitory discourse. The third chapter introduces us to a group of admonitions, and the first of these (vers. 1-18) forms the fourth admonitory discourse of the teacher. To all intents and purposes this is a continuation of the discourse in the preceding chapter, for inasmuch as that described the benefits, spiritual and moral, which follow from the pursuit of Wisdom, in promoting godliness and providing safety from evil companions, so this in like manner depicts the gain flowing from Wisdom, the happiness of the man who finds Wisdom, and the favour which he meets with both with God and man. The discourse embraces exhortations to obedience (vers. 1-4), to reliance on God (vers. 5, 6) against self-sufficiency and self-dependence (vers. 7, 8), to self-sacrificing devotion to God (vers. 9, 10), to patient submission to God"s afflictive dispensations (vers. 11, 12), and concludes with pointing out the happy gain of Wisdom, her incomparable value, and wherein that value consists (vers. 13-18). It is noticeable that in each case the exhortation is accompanied with a corresponding promise of reward (vers. 2, 4, 6, 8, 10), and these promises are brought forward with the view to encourage the observance of the duties recommended or enjoined. Jehovah is the central point to which all the exhortations converge. Obedience, trust, self-sacrificing devotion, submission, are successively brought forward by the teacher as due to God, and the persons in whom they are exhibited are truly happy in finding Wisdom. The transition in thought from the former to the latter part of the discourse is easy and natural. Obedience and trust are represented as bringing favour, guidance, and health in a word, prosperity. But God is not only to be honoured in times of prosperity, but also in adversity his loving hand is to be recognized; and in this submission to his will is true wisdom.
My son (b"ni) serves to externally connect this discourse with the preceding. Forget not my law. This admonition bears a strong resemblance to that in Pro_1:8, though the terms employed are somewhat different, torah and mits"oth here occupying the place respectively of musar and torah in that passage. My law (torathi), is literally, my teaching, or doctrine, from the root yarah, "to teach." The torah is the whole body of salutary doctrine, and designates "Law" from the standpoint of teaching. Forgetting here is not So much oblivion arising from defective memory, as a wilful disregard and neglect of the admonitions of the teacher. Thine heart (libekha); Vulgate, cor; LXX, kardia and so the sum total of the affections. Keep; yitstsor, from notsar, "to keep, or observe that which is commanded." The word is of frequent occurrence in the Proverbs, and appears about twenty-five times. My commandments (mits"othay); Vulgate, praecepta mea; LXX, ta rhmata mou ; i.e. my precepts. The Hebrew verb from which it is derived means "to command, or prescribe." The law and commandments here alluded to are those which immediately follow, from ver. 3 onwards. The three main ideas combined in this verse are remembrance, affection, and obedience. Remembering the law or teaching will depend, to a large extent, on the interest felt in that law; and the admonition to "forget not" is an admonition to give "earnest heed," so that the law or teaching may be firmly fixed in the mind. In using the words, "let thy heart keep," the teacher goes to the root of the matter. There may be a historical remembrance of, or an intellectual assent to, the commandments, but these are insufficient, for the keeping of the commandments must be based on the recognition of the fact that the affections of the heart are to be employed in the service of God, the keeping of the commandments is to be a labour of love. Again, the expression, "keep my commandments," implies, of course, external conformity to their requirements: we are "to observe to do them"; (Deu_8:1) but it implies, further, spiritual obedience, i.e. an obedience with which love is combined, (Deu_30:20) and which arises from the inward principles of the heart being in harmony with the spirit of the commandments (see Wardlaw).
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Vers. 1-4. Making the heart a treasury of good principles.
I THE TREASURE. Innumerable impressions are constantly being made upon our minds, and as constantly transferring themselves into memories. Frivolous thoughts, false notions, corrupt images, once harboured, take up their abode in the soul, and ultimately modify its Character to the likeness of themselves. It is most important for us to guard our memories from such things, and to fill them with more worthy stores. Consider, therefore, the best subjects for contemplation and memory.
1. The Law of God. Divine truth is the highest truth, the noblest theme of meditation, the supreme guide to conduct. Truth concerning our actions, the revealed will of God, is for us the most valuable Divine truth. Other forms of truth may please and help us, but this is essentially needful as a lamp to our feet. We can afford to lose sight of the stars if the harbour light shines clear on the waters over which we have to sail. This practical Divine truth not our dreams and fancies, but utterances of God"s will we are called to remember. Hence the importance of studying the Bible, which contains it. It is well for children to store their minds with passages of Scripture. These will afford strength in temptation, guidance in perplexity, comfort in sorrow.
2. Mercy and truth. "The letter killeth:" It is superstition that merely treasures up the words of Holy Writ, and repeats them parrot-like, as though a spell were to be wrought by the very utterance of them. The truth contained within these ancient words is what we need to recollect. And it is not the exact verbal bearing of the Law, but the wide-reaching principles underlying it, that Christians are called upon to treasure; not rules of sacrifice, but principles of mercy; not merely the prohibition, "Thou shalt not steal," but the higher precept, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
3. Christ. Christ is the Truth; he is the incarnation of mercy, our great exemplar, the visible manifestation of God"s will, the perfect Ideal of our life. If we are weary of reading dry legal rescripts, and fail in contemplating bare abstract truths, we have a better way of treasuring good principles, by cherishing the vision of Christ.
II THE TREASURY. This is the heart. It is not enough that the Law has been once for all revealed, that we come under it and under the institutions of the Church, that we treasure the Bible in our library, that we hear it read in hasty moments. Much superstition prevails on these points. People seem to think that there is a virtue in the mere act of reading a chapter from the Bible, and some seem to go through the task as a sort of penance, imagining that they thus score some points to their credit in heaven. The Bible is valuable to us only in so far as it influences us. To influence us it must be known and remembered. The Law graven on stone, locked in the ark, and hidden behind the thick curtains of the sanctuary, could do the people of Israel little good. It needed to be written on the fleshy tables of the heart. This involves:
1. An intelligent understanding of Divine truth, so that it comes to us, not as a mere string of words, but as clear ideas.
2. A good memory of it.
3. A love of it, so that it is treasured thoughtfully, and becomes part of our very being, moulding our character, colouring our thoughts and affections, and directing our conduct. It is not difficult to see that such a treasury of such treasure will secure favour with God and ultimately also favour with men.
HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON Vers. 1-10. Precepts and promises of wisdom.
I THE CONNECTION OF PRECEPT AND PROMISE.
1. Precept needs confirmation. We cannot but askWhy should we pursue this or that line of conduct in preference to another? Why should men be God-fearing, honest, chaste? We are rational creatures, not "dumb driven cattle," to be forced along a given road. We must have reasons; and it is to reason in us that the Divine reason ever makes appeal.
2. The confirmation is found in experience. This is the source of our knowledge; to it the true teacher must constantly refer for the verification of his principles, the corroboration of his precepts. The tone assumed by the teacher is indeed that of authority, but real authority always rests upon experience. Experience, in short, is the discovery and ascertainment of law in life. Precepts are its formulation.
3. The experience of the past enables the prediction of the future. Just; as we know the science of the astronomer, e.g., to be sound, because we find that he can predict with accuracy coming events, appearances of the heavenly bodies, eclipses, etc., so do we recognize the soundness of moral teaching by its power to forecast the future fates of men. Precepts are the deductions from the actual; promises the forecasts of that which, because it has been constant in the past, may be expected in the future. In science, in morality, in religion, we build on the permanence of law; in ocher words, on the constancy of the eternal God.
II PARTICULAR EXAMPLES OF THIS CONNECTION".
1. Obedience ensures earthly happin ess. (Vers. 1, 2) The connection is first stated generally. "Extension of days," or long life, is the one aspect of this happiness; inward peace of heart, denied to the godless, the other. (Isa_48:22 Isa_57:21) Prolongation of days, life in the good land, dwelling in the house of the Lord, are the peculiar Old Testament blessings. (Deu_4:40 Deu_5:33 Deu_6:2 Deu_11:9 Deu_22:7 Deu_30:16 Psa_15:1 Psa_23:6 Psa_27:4)
(1) The desire for long life is natural, and religion recognizes it.
(2) Without inward satisfaction, long life is no blessing.
(3) While the Old Testament promises formally cover the finite life only, they do not exclude the infinite. In God and faith in him the infinite is germinally contained.
2. Love and good faith ensure favour with God, good will with men. "Mercy," or "love;" the word denotes the recognition of kinship, fellowship in men, and the duty of kindness therein implied. "Truth," in the sense in which we speak of a true man; sincerity and rectitude, the striving to make the seeming and the being correspond to one another; the absence of hypocrisy. St. Paul gives the ideas, "dealing truly in love". (Eph_4:15) Let these virtues be bound about the neck, like precious objects, for the sake of security; let these commands be engraven in the only indelible way upon the heart. Let the mind be fixed and formed, and the result will be favour in the sight of God, and a "good opinion" in the minds of men. The two relations form a correlation. There is no true standing with God which does not reflect itself in the good opinion of good men; no worthy opinion of a man which does not furnish an index to God"s view of him. Both were united in the case of the youthful Jesus.
3. Trust in God ensures practical direction. (Vers. 5, 6)
(1) This trust must be whole-hearted. An exception to it destroys it, as one faulty link will cause the chain to break, one rotten plank the ship to leak, etc.
(2) The fallacy of confidence is when we separate the particular in our intelligence from the universal. This is intellectual egoism. There is a dualism in consciousness the private self-seeking intelligence, and the Divine mind in us.
(3) Trust is abandonment to the Divine mind, to the universal intelligence which carries us out of self.
(4) Such trust implies the "taking cognizance" of God in all we do. Of bad, unjust men, like Eli"s sons, it is said that they take no cognizance of Jehovah. (1Sa_2:12) To ask of every action not Is this what the generality of men would do in my position? but Is it what God would have me to do? Not Is it "natural"? but Is it Divine? Such a habit ensures practical direction. All our egarements and stumblings arise from following the isolated intelligence, which is a true guide only for immediate sensuous relations, cannot light us for life"s complex whole. Hence the way in which selfish and cunning people constantly outwit themselves, while the man who is set down by them as a fool for neglecting his own interests comes out safely in the long run.
4. Simple piety secures health. (Vers. 7, 8)
(1) Conceit is opposed to piety. This we have already seen. For what is conceit but the lifting of the merely individual into a false generality? In its extreme, the worship of self is a little god.
(2) Simple piety has a positive and a negative pole: positive, reverence for God; negative, aversion from evil. The pious man affirms and denies, both with all his might. His life is emphatic, includes an everlasting "Yes" and an everlasting "No"!
(3) Simple piety is the source of health.
(a) Physical. It tends to promote right physical habits. It certainly reacts against the worst disorders, viz. the nervous.
(b) Spiritual. It is in the mind what the sound nervous organization is in the body. The mind thus centrally right digests, enjoys, assimilates, the rich food which nature, books, and men afford.
5. Consecration of property ensures wealth. (Vers. 9, 10)
(1) Ancient custom commanded this. The consecration of the firstling of firstfruits was not confined to Israel. It was an ancient custom of the world generally. The part represents the whole, for all is God"s. There seems to be no objection to the private practice of the custom by Christians still. In any case, let it be recognized that property, in the legal sense, but an expression of convenience; that really our temporary possessions, along with ourselves, are the property of God. If this be not recognized, we merely consume them, or hoard them, do not use them.
(2) Plenty falls to the lot of the giver. The exceptions to the rule are apparent, and perhaps language does not suffice for their statement and elucidation. The rule is comprehensively true, and a comprehensive view is necessary for its application. Rich and poor are subjective terms. There is a rich poverty and a miserable affluence. The promise is only truly fulfilled in the man who feels he has abundance, and enjoys it. J.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON Vers. 1-4. Cherishing the truth.
We have here
I THE ESSENTIAL THING IMPLIED. It is implied that the Law of God has been heard and understood; also that it has been received as Divine, and taken as the true guide of life. The teacher or preacher has sometimes to assume this; but too often it is an assumption unjustified by the facts. When it is justified, there come
II TWO SPECIALLY VALUABLE VIRTUES INSISTED UPON. Mercy and truth (ver. 3) are to be exemplified.
1. Mercy, which includes
(1) compassion, or the pity one should show to the unfortunate and the suffering; and
(2) clemency, or a lenient view taken and a generous spirit shown in presence of error and wrong doing, particularly of injury done to ourselves.
2. Truth, which includes
(1) veracity in language;
(2) sincerity of heart;
(3) honesty and uprightness of action.
III A MATTER OF GREAT MOMENT ENFORCED. This is the cherishing of the truth by the spirit which has received it in the love of it. "My son, forget not my law; ... let thine heart keep," etc. (ver. 1); Bind them about thy neck; write them upon the tablet of thine heart" (ver. 3). If these precepts are to he duly carried out, and there is thus to be a continuance in well doing, and even a growth therein, then must there be:
1. The dwelling upon them by the mind; that must be a mental habit carefully cultivated.
2. The placing ourselves where they will be urged on our attention and commended to our affection (the sanctuary, the Lord"s table, the society of the holy, etc.).
3. The wise study of them as illustrated in the lives of the worthiest of our race.
4. The use of any and every means by which they will be seen by us to be the beautiful and blessed things they are. The children of Wisdom will not only receive gladly the truth of God, but they will cherish it carefully; they will water with diligent hand the plant which has been sown and which has sprung up in the soul. "Let not the workman lose what he has wrought." If we continue in the word of Christ, then are we his disciples indeed. (see Joh_8:31 Joh_15:9 Act_13:43)
IV A LARGE BLESSING PROMISED. (Vers. 2, 4) Under the Law, temporal blessings were more abundantly held in view; then the wise were promised long life, comfort, and human estimation, as well as the favour of God. Under the gospel, temporal prosperity takes the second place, spiritual and heavenly well being the first. But we may urge that conformity to the will of God as revealed in his Word:
1. Tends to bodily health and strength; if that does not secure it, assuredly disobedience will not.
2. Tends to secure a life of tranquillity. "Peace," as well as "length of days," it is likely to add; equanimity of mind and the comfort which is the consequence of right and kind behaviour.
3. Tends to win the esteem and the affection of our neighbours. "Favour in the sight of man.
4. Ensures the love and the blessing of Almighty God. C.
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 vv1–4 My son, forget not my law; but let thine…
Pro_3:1-35
My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments.
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Useful precepts and inspiring motives
I. To remember and keep in our hearts the things written in this book (Pro_3:1-2). Interest dictates to us the propriety of keeping Gods commandments.
II. To live in the exercise of mercy and truth (Pro_3:3), in every part of our intercourse with our fellow-creatures, however defective they may be in the practice of these virtues to us. As workers under the Spirit we are required to write the law of kindness and of truth upon the tables of our heart, by maintaining deep impressions of it, by meditating upon the peaceful motives that should excite us to that virtue, and by endeavouring, through the grace of Christ, to have our hearts habitually disposed to all those duties which are the natural fruits of love and integrity. God is well pleased, not only with the reverence and love which His people show to Himself, but with that generosity and mercy, that sincerity and faithfulness, which they evince to their fellow-men. To find in His children His true though imperfect image greatly delights the Deity. That understanding which is good in the sight of God and man is another fruit of the constant practice of mercy and truth.
III. To depend on God, and not on our own understanding (Pro_3:5). To trust in God is to depend on Him for bestowing on us every needful blessing, and preserving us from all evil. This dependence on God is to be exercised with all our hearts, our judgments being persuaded that God is the only and the all-sufficient object of confidence, and our souls resting with full satisfaction in His power and faithfulness. We must renounce every sublunary dependence; we must not make our own understanding a staff to our hearts.
IV. To be liberal in the service of God (Pro_3:9-10). Earthly substance is necessary for the use of our bodies, but we are called to make a nobler use of it than in the mere service of the outward man. We are to honour the Lord with it, making no use of any part of our increase till we have set apart a reasonable proportion of it for the service of God.
V. To behave aright under afflictive providences (Pro_3:11). We are warned against despising Divine rebukes, or fainting under them. The rebukes of providence are despised when persons regard not the supreme hand which afflicts, when they consider not the design of God in afflicting, or when, through stupidity of mind or hardness of heart, they neglect to comply with it. Afflictions may be despised when men do not value them as necessary and useful. Weariness under the Divine correction is another common fault, which we must avoid with care. Our hearts must not fret against the Lord, nor suffer reflecting thoughts to spring up, for God never exceeds the due measure in distressing us. No ingredient is poured into the cup of affliction, but by infinite wisdom and grace. Ever keep in mind who it is that afflicts us. Let all flesh keep silent before Him. He is a Father, and chastens us in love.
VI. To esteem wisdom, and earnestly pursue it (Pro_3:13-26). All the treasures of wisdom are hid in Christ, and He communicates the precious gift by His Word and Spirit. The excellency of wisdom appears in the gifts she bestows. She is a munificent princess, holding in both hands the richest presents, to be given to her servants. A happy life extended to old age is given to the lovers of wisdom, and riches and honour are given in the same sense as length of days. And religion is not less conducive to pleasure than it is to honour and wealth. It will readily be admitted that some of wisdoms ways are pleasant; but are they all so? There is peace and pleasure in repentance, which is sweetened by the apprehension of Gods mercy in Christ. There is pleasure in self-denial, for he that practises it knows that he is the true self-seeker. There is pleasure and peace in tribulations, because when they abound, consolations abound much more by Christ. There is peace in fighting the Lords battles. All the exercises, all the privileges, all the hopes of religion, are full of pleasure. Add the glory which belongs to wisdom, as it appears in creation and providence (Pro_3:19-20). No wisdom is sound but that which is taught by the Word of God, and approved by Him who is the author of wisdom. This sound wisdom makes us discreet and prudent, and guards us against that selfish cunning which has so often assumed its name. Safety is another of the great advantages which always attend wisdom. Walking in the ways of the Lord, we may banish those fears that would distress the soul. The Lord is a sure ground of confidence in the worst of times. Our proper exercise in such seasons is to trust in the Lord, and to pour out our hearts before Him, knowing that He will be a refuge for us. (G. Lawson.)
Religious impressions to be retained
Travellers tell us that the constant rubbing of the sand on Egyptian hieroglyphs removes every trace of colour, and even effaces the deep-cut characters from basalt rocks. So the unceasing action of multitudinous trifles will take all the bloom off your religion, and cause the name of the King cut on the tablets of your heart to be forgotten if you do not counteract them by constant, earnest effort.
Godliness
I. Godliness is associated with regard for law (Pro_3:1).
1. Appropriation. My law. Before we commend the Word of God to others we must receive it ourselves.
2. Instruction. Forget not. This implies that something has been taught.
3. Exhortation. Forget not. There are few things men so soon forget as Divine commands. The godly man is one who respects righteous law. He delights in the law of the Lord (Psa_1:2; Rom_7:22). The moral law is eternal, and must be regarded by all true followers of Christ. Obedience to it is not the ground of justification, but this is attained in the work of sanctification.
II. Godliness is associated with present advantages (Pro_3:2).
1. Intensity of life. Length of days. In the long run the longest day is the day that has the longest record of service for God.
2. Length of life. Long life. A blessing, say some, of the Jewish dispensation. A blessing, rather let us say, of all dispensations. Righteousness tendeth to life as much now as ever, and, other things being equal, he will live the longest who lives the best.
3. Serenity of life. Peace. Tranquillity continuing through all the years. The peace of the man who hearkens to God is like a river (Isa_48:18), getting broader and deeper as it gets nearer to the sea.
III. Godliness is associated with regard for the well-being of men. Mercy (R.V. margin, kindness) and truth (Pro_3:3). See here the bearing of a godly life upon the good of men. The mind of God is one of good-will toward men (Luk_2:14), and those who would be God-like must be of the same mind (Mat_5:45).
IV. Godliness is associated with faith in god (Pro_3:5). Trust in the Lord is the secret of safety (Pro_29:25), of happiness (Pro_16:20), and of spiritual prosperity (Pro_28:25).
V. Godliness is associated with the acknowledgment of God (Pro_3:6). This acknowledgment of God is to be--
1. Personal. Thy ways.
2. In all thy ways. Mans ways are many. Some walk in high places, some in lowly valleys. The way of some is in the sea, of others in the office, of others in the academy, of others in the senate. Some men walk in many ways. Abraham Lincoln was a rail-splitter, a storekeeper, a bargeman, a lawyer, a member of a State legislature, a Congressman, and President of the United States, but in all positions he acknowledged God. At the threshold of life he had, says one of his biographers, a profound trust in Providence; and when he left Springfield for Washington to take his place as President he said to his friends, Pray that I may receive that Divine assistance without which I cannot proceed.
3. In our own sphere. We need not go out of our way. The ordinary path of life will furnish all we ought to ask. The promise in the sixth verse suggests that we may acknowledge God by looking to Him for guidance, and it gives the assurance of Divine direction.
VI. Godliness is associated with humility (Pro_3:7). Be not wise in thine own eyes. Many, says Seneca, might have attained wisdom had they not thought they had attained it. The way to godliness is in the footsteps of Christ, and to follow in that path we must be meek and lowly in heart. VII. Godliness is associated with practical holiness (Pro_3:7-9).
1. The godly man will shun evil. Depart from evil. To depart may be rendered to turn aside. As men sometimes cut those they do not wish to see, so is evil to be cut. To go into the way of evil is to run a risk of falling into it.
2. Cultivate benevolence (Pro_3:9). Christian benevolence is substantial (substance, not merely good wishes); generous (first-fruits); God-honouring (honour the Lord). Those who with a right motive give of what God has given them acknowledge their indebtedness to Him and His ownership in what they possess.
VIII. Godliness is gain (Pro_3:10). Gain is not always godliness, but godliness is always gain in the highest sense. The giving of the first-fruits fills the barns. (H. Thorne.)
The earthly rewards of wisdom
We are taught to look for the fruit of righteousness in long life and prosperity, for the penalty of sin in premature destruction. We are accustomed to dwell on the promised joys of the future world as if godliness had no promise of the life which now is, and in so doing we take all life and colour from those expected blessings. The true view seems to be, the way of wisdom, the path of the upright, is so full of joy, so crowned with peace; the life of the children of the kingdom is so wisely and bountifully provided for; the inevitable pains and troubles which fall to their share are so transformed, that from this present good we can infer a future better, gathering hints and promises of what we shall be from the realised felicity of what we are. What are the immediate and apprehensible benefits of the life which is lived according to the dictates of heavenly wisdom?
I. The right life is a wholesome life, physically healthy. The body is a sacred trust, a temple of the Holy Ghost; to use it ill is to violate the trust and to defile the temple. The temperance of habit and orderliness of life which Wisdom requires of her children are the first conditions of vitality. Peace of mind, cheerfulness of temper, the transfer of all anxiety from the human spirit to the strong Spirit of God, are very favourable to longevity. Let no one think of measuring life only by days and years. Each day should be a full, rich day, unmarred by recollections, unshadowed by apprehensions. Each day is distinctly worth living. The life in God is undoubtedly a healthy life, nor is it the less healthy because the outward man has to decay, and mortality has to be swallowed up of life.
II. The right life requires fair dealing between man and man. The main economic principle of wisdom is this, that all legitimate trade is the mutual advantage of buyer and seller.
III. Wisdom commands not only justice, but generosity. She requires her children to yield the first-fruits of all their possessions to the Lord, and to look tenderly upon His poor. And the teaching of experience is that those who act upon this precept purchase to themselves a good possession.
IV. Look at the deeper, more spiritual results of right living. God is so much to men, that clear vision and strong action are utterly impossible apart from a humble dependence upon Him. The beginning of all wisdom is in the recognition of God, in personal submission to Him, in diligent obedience to all His directions. We do not at first see what is meant by trusting in the Lord with all our heart; we confuse it with that tepid, conventional relation to God which too frequently passes current for faith. They who do entirely renounce their own judgment, who, with their whole heart trusting Him, acknowledge Him in all their ways, find their lives running over with blessing, and become the means of incalculable good to the world and to themselves. It would not be easy to make plain or even credible to those who have never trusted in God how this guidance and direction are given. When a few years have been passed in humble dependence on God, it is then possible to look back and see with astonishing clearness how real and decisive the leadings of the Spirit have been. Our life, we find, is all a plan of God, and He conceals it from us, as if on purpose to evoke our trust, and to secure that close and personal communion which the uncertainty renders necessary. Some are suspicious of the Inward Light, as it is called. That may be because they do not trust the Lord with the whole heart. Wisdom calls for a certain absoluteness in all our relations to God, a fearless, unreserved, and constantly renewed submission of heart to Him. And while the external results of wisdom are great and marked, this inward result, which is the spring of them all, is more blessed than any. The supreme bliss of the heavenly wisdom is that it leads us into a detailed obedience to the law which is our life; it sets us under the immediate and unbroken control of God. To know the secret of the Lord, to walk in this world not guideless, but led by the Lord of life, to approach death itself not fearful, but in the hands of that Infinite Love for whom death does not exist, surely this is worth more than the gold and precious stones which belong only to the earth and are earthy. (R. F. Horton, D. D.)
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 v1
CHAPTER 4
THE EARTHLY REWARDS OF WISDOM
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Pro_3:1-10
THE general teaching of these nine introductory chapters is that the "ways of Wisdom are pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." We are taught to look for the fruit of righteousness in long life and prosperity, for the penalty of sin in premature destruction. "The upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it. But the wicked shall be cut off from the land, and they that deal treacherously shall be rooted out of it." {Pro_2:21-22} The foolish "shall eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the backsliding of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto Wisdom shall dwell securely, and shall be quiet without fear of evil." {Pro_1:31-33} "By Wisdom thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased. If thou art wise, thou art wise for thyself; and if thou scornest, thou alone shall hear it." The ways of Folly have this legend written over the entrance-gate: "The dead are there; her guests are in the depths of Sheol." {Pro_9:12; Pro_9:18}
This teaching is summarized in the passage before us. "My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: for length of days, and years of life, and peace, shall they add to thee. Let not mercy and truth," those primary requirements of wisdom, "forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thy heart"; i.e., let them be an ornament which strikes the eye of the beholder, but also an inward law which regulates the secret thought. "So shalt thou find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man"; that is to say, the charm of thy character will conciliate the love of thy fellow creatures and of thy God, while they recognize, and He approves, the spiritual state from which these graces grow. "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not upon thine own understanding: in all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes; fear the Lord, and depart from evil: it shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones. Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first-fruits of all thy increase: so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy vats shall overflow with new wine." {Pro_3:1-10} The rewards of wisdom, then, are health and long life, the good-will of God and man, prosperity, and abundant earthly possessions. As our Lord would put it, they who leave house, or wife, or brethren, or parents, or children, for the kingdom of Gods sake, shall receive manifold more in this time, even of the things which they surrender, in addition to the everlasting life in the time to come. {Luk_18:29-30}
This is a side of truth which we frequently allow to drop out of sight, in order to emphasize another side which is considered more important. We are accustomed to dwell on the promised joys of the future world as if godliness had no promise of the life which now is, and in so doing we take all life and color from those expected blessings. The true view seems to be, the way of wisdom, the path of the upright, is so full of joy, so crowned with peace; the life of the children of the kingdom is so wisely and bountifully provided for; the inevitable pains and troubles which fall to their share are so transformed; that from this present good we can infer a future better, gathering hints and promises of what we shall be from the realized felicity of what we are.
If we try to estimate the temporal blessings of wisdom we do not thereby deny the larger and more lasting blessings which are to come; while if we ignore these present joyful results we deprive ourselves of the surest evidence for the things which, though hoped for, are not yet seen.
We may, then, with much advantage try to estimate some of the immediate and apprehensible benefits of the life which is lived according to the dictates of heavenly wisdom.
(1) First of all, the right life is a wholesome life-yes, physically healthy. Obedience to the eternal moral laws brings "health to the navel," and that peculiar brightness which is like the freshness of dew. The body is a sacred trust, a temple of the Holy Ghost; to use it ill is to violate the trust and to defile the temple. The temperance of habit and orderliness of life which Wisdom requires of her children are the first conditions of vitality. They who seek health as the first consideration become valetudinarians and find neither health nor happiness; but they who diligently follow the law of God and the impulse of His Spirit find that health has come to them, as it were, by a side wind. The peace of mind, the cheerfulness of temper, the transfer of all anxiety from the human spirit to the strong Spirit of God, are very favorable to longevity. Insurance societies have made this discovery, and actuaries will tell you that in a very literal way the children of God possess the earth, while the wicked are cut off.
Yet no one thinks of measuring life only by days and years. To live long with the constant feeling that life is not worth living, or to live long with the constant apprehension of death, must be counted as a small and empty life. Now, it is the chief blessedness in the lot of the children of light that each day is a full, rich day, unmarred by recollections, unshadowed by apprehensions. Each day is distinctly worth living; it has its own exquisite lessons of cloud or sunshine, its own beautiful revelations of love, and pity, and hope. Time does not hang heavily on the hands, nor yet is its hurried flight a cause of vain regret; for it has accomplished that for which it was sent, and by staying longer could not accomplish more. And if, after all, God has appointed but a few years for His childs earthly life, that is not to be regretted; the only ground for sorrow would be to live longer than His wise love had decreed. "If God thy death desires," as St. Genest says to Adrien in Rotrous tragedy, "life has been long enow."
The life in God is undoubtedly a healthy life, nor is it the less healthy because the outward man has to decay, and mortality has to be swallowed up of life. From the standpoint of the Proverbs this wider application of the truth was not as yet visible. The problem which emerges in the book of Job was not yet solved. But already, as I think we shall see, it was understood that the actual and tangible rewards of righteousness were of incomparable price, and made the prosperity of the wicked look poor and delusive.
(2) But there is a second result of the right life which ordinary observation and common sense may estimate. Wisdom is very uncompromising in her requirement of fair dealing between man and man. She cannot away with those commercial practices which can only be described as devising "evil against thy neighbor," who "dwelleth securely by thee." {Pro_3:29} Her main economic principle is this, that all legitimate trade is the mutual advantage of buyer and seller; where the seller is seeking to dupe the buyer, and the buyer is seeking to rob the seller, trade ceases, and the transaction is the mere in-working of the devil. Wisdom is quite aware that by these ways of the devil wealth may be accumulated; she is not blind to the fact that the overreaching spirit of greed has its rich and splendid reward; but she maintains none the less that "the curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked; but He blesseth the habitation of the righteous." {Pro_3:33}
It is a very impressive experience to enter the house of a great magnate whose wealth has been obtained by questionable means. The rooms are beautiful; works by the great masters shed their radiance of eternal truth from the walls; the library gleams with the well-bound books of moralists and religions teachers. The sons and daughters of the house are fair and elegant; the smile of prosperity is in every curtained and carpeted room, and seems to beam out of every illuminated window; and yet the sensitive spirit cannot be rid of the idea that "the curse of the Lord is in the house."
On the other hand, the honorable man whose paths have been directed by the Lord, no matter whether he be wealthy or merely in receipt, as the result of a lifes labor, of his "daily bread," has a blessing in his house. Men trust him and honor him. His wealth flows as a fertilizing stream, or if it run dry, his friends, who love him for himself, make him feel that it was a good thing to lose it in order to find them. In proportion as the fierce struggle of competition has made the path of fair dealing more difficult, they who walk in it are the more honored and loved. Nowhere does Wisdom smile more graciously or open her hand to bless more abundantly, than in the later years of a life which has in its earlier days been exposed, and has offered a successful resistance, to the strong temptations of unrighteous gain.
(3) Further, Wisdom commands not only justice, but generosity. She requires her children to yield the first-fruits of all their possessions to the Lord, and to look tenderly upon His poor. "Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it. Say not unto thy neighbor, Go, and come again, and tomorrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee." {Pro_3:27-28} And the teaching of experience is that those who act upon this precept purchase to themselves a good possession. The main value of the Mammon of unrighteousness is, as our Lord says, to make to ourselves friends with it, friends who shall receive us into the everlasting habitations. The money we spend upon our own pleasures, and to promote our own interests, is spent and gone; but the money given with an open hand to those poor children of God, to whom it is strictly due, is not spent at all, but laid up in the most secure of banks. There is no source of joy in this present world to be compared with the loving gratitude of the poor whom you have lovingly helped. Strangely enough, men will spend much to obtain a title which carries no honor with it, forgetting that the same money given to the needy and the suffering purchases the true honor, which gives the noblest title. For we are none of us so stupid as to think that the empty admiration of the crowd is so rich in blessing as the heartfelt love of the few.
But in enumerating these external results of right living we have only touched incidentally upon the deeper truths which lie at the root of it. It is time to look at these.
God is necessarily so much to men, men are necessarily so completely bereft without Him, that clear vision and strong action are utterly impossible apart from a humble dependence upon Him. The beginning of all wisdom is, as we have seen, in the recognition of God, in personal submission to Him, in diligent obedience to all His directions. This appears, before we reflect, to be a mere truism; when we have reflected, it proves to be a great revelation. We do not at first see what is meant by trusting in the Lord with all our heart; we confuse it with that tepid, conventional relation to God which too frequently passes current for faith. We do not readily apprehend what is implied in acknowledging God in all our ways; we suppose that it only means a general professing and calling ourselves Christians. Consequently, many of us who believe that we trust in the Lord, yet lean habitually and confidently upon our own understanding, and are even proud of doing so; we are wise in our own eyes long after our folly has become apparent to everyone else; we resent with a vehemence of righteous indignation any imputation upon the soundness of our judgment. The very tone of mock humility in which we say, "I may be wrong, but" shows that we are putting a case which seems to us practically impossible. Consequently, while we think that we are acknowledging God in all our ways, He does not direct our paths; indeed, we never gave Him an opportunity. From first to last we directed them ourselves. Let us frankly acknowledge that we do not really believe in Gods detailed concern with the affairs of the individual life; that we do not, therefore, commit our way with an absolute surrender into His hand; that we do not think of submitting to His disposal the choice of our profession, the choice of our partner in life, the choice of our place of residence, the choice of our style of living, the choice of our field of public service, the choice of our scale of giving. Let us confess that we settled all these things in implicit and unquestioning reliance upon our own understanding.
I speak only in wide and fully admitted generalities. If Christians as a whole had really submitted their lives in every detail to God, do you suppose that there would be something like fifty thousand Christian ministers and ten times that number of Christian workers at home, while scarcely a twentieth of that number have gone out from us to labor abroad? If Christians had really submitted their lives to God, would there have been these innumerable wretched marriages-man and wife joined together by no spiritual tie, but by the caprice of fancy or the exigencies of social caste? If Christians had really asked God to guide them, meaning what they said, would all the rich be found in districts together, while all the poor are left to perish in other districts apart? If Christians had really accepted Gods direction, would they be living in princely luxury while the heathen world is crying for the bread of life? Would they be spending their strength on personal aims while the guidance of social and political affairs is left in the hands of the self-interested? Would they be giving such a fragment of their wealth to the direct service of the Kingdom of God?
We may answer very confidently that the life actually being lived by the majority of Christian people is not the result of God directing their paths, but simply comes from leaning on their own understanding. And what a sorrowful result!
But in the face of this apostasy of life and practice, we can still joyfully point to the fact that they who do entirely renounce their own judgment, who are small in their own eyes, and who, with their whole heart trusting Him, acknowledge Him in all their ways, find their lives running over with blessing, and become the means of incalculable good to the world and to themselves. It would not be easy to make plain or even credible, to those who have never trusted in God, how this guidance and direction are given. Not by miraculous signs or visible interpositions, not by voices speaking from heaven, nor even by messages from human lips, but by ways no less distinct and infinitely more authoritative, God guides men with His eye upon them, tells them, "This is the way; walk ye in it," and whispers to them quite intelligibly when they turn to the right hand or the left. With a noble universality of language, this text says nothing of Urim or Thummim, of oracle or seer, of prophet or book: "He shall direct thy paths." {Pro_3:6} That is enough; the method is left open to the wisdom and love of Him who directs. There is something even misleading in saying much about the methods; to set limits to Gods revelations, as Gideon did, is unworthy of the faith which has become aware of God as the actual and living Reality, compared with whom all other realities are but shadows. Our Lord did not follow the guidance of His Father by a mechanical method of signs, but by a more intimate and immediate perception of His will. When Jesus promised us the Spirit as an indwelling and abiding presence He clearly intimated that the Christian life should be maintained by the direct action of God upon the several faculties of the mind, stimulating the memory, quickening the perception of truth, as well as working on the conscience and opening the channels of prayer. When we wait for signs we show a defect of faith. True trust in our Heavenly Father rests in the absolute assurance that He will make the path plain, and leave us in no uncertainty about His will. To doubt that He speaks inwardly and controls us, even when we are unconscious of His control, is to doubt Him altogether.
When a few years have been passed in humble dependence on God, it is then possible to look back and see with astonishing clearness how real and decisive the leadings of the Spirit have been.
There were moments when two alternatives were present, and we were tempted to decide on the strength of our own understanding; but thanks be to his name, we committed it to Him. We stepped forward then in the darkness; we deserted the way which seemed most attractive, and entered the narrow path which was shrouded in mist. We knew He was leading us, but we could not see. Now we see, and we cannot speak our praise. Our life, we find, is all a plan of God, and He conceals it from us, as if on purpose to evoke our trust, and to secure that close and personal communion which the uncertainty renders necessary.
Are you suspicious of the Inward Light, as it is called? Does it seem to open up endless possibilities of self-delusion? Are you disgusted with those who follow their own willful way, and seek a sanction for it by calling it the leading of God? You will find that the error has arisen from not trusting the Lord "with the whole heart," or from not acknowledging Him "in all ways." The eye has not been single, and the darkness therefore has been, as our Lord declares that it would be, dense. {Mat_6:22} The remedy is not to be found in leaning more on our own understanding, but rather in leaning less. Wisdom calls for a certain absoluteness in all our relations to God, a fearless, unreserved, and constantly renewed submission of heart to Him. Wisdom teaches that in His will is our peace, and that His will is learnt by practical surrender to His ways and commandments.
Now, is it not obvious that while the external results of wisdom are great and marked, this inward result, which is the spring of them all, is more blessed than any? The laws which govern the universe are the laws of God. The Stoic philosophy demanded a life according to Nature. That is not enough, for by Nature is meant Gods will for the inanimate or non-moral creation. Where there is freedom of the will, existence must not be "according to Nature," but according to God; that is to say, life must be lived in obedience to Gods laws for human life. The inorganic world moves in ordered response to Gods will. We, as men, have to choose; we have to discover; we have to interpret. Woe to us if we choose amiss, for then we are undone. Woe to us if we do not understand, but in a brutish way follow the ordinances of death instead of the way of life.
Now, the supreme bliss of the heavenly wisdom is that it leads us into this detailed obedience to the law which is our life; it sets us under the immediate and unbroken control of God. Well may it be said, "Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies." {Pro_3:13-15} And yet rubies are very precious. I learn that the valley in Burmah where the most perfect rubies in the world are found is situated four thousand five hundred feet above the sea level, in a range of mountainous spurs about eighty miles due north of Mandalay; but owing to the difficult nature of the intervening ground, the valley can only be reached by a circuitous journey of some two hundred miles, which winds through malarious jungles and over arduous mountain passes. An eminent jewellers firm is about to explore the Valley of Rubies, though it is quite uncertain whether the stones may not be exhausted. Wisdom is "more precious than rubies, and none of the things thou canst desire are to be compared unto her."
To know the secret of the Lord, to walk in this world not guideless, but led by the Lord of life, to approach death itself not fearful, but in the hands of that Infinite Love for whom death does not exist, surely this is worth more than the gold and precious stones which belong only to the earth and are earthy. This wisdom is laden with riches which cannot be computed in earthly treasures; "she is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her." {Pro_3:18} The creation itself, in its vast and infinite perfections, with all its aeonian changes, and all the mysterious ministries which order its details and maintain its activities, comes from that same wisdom which controls the right human life. The man, therefore, who is led in the ways of wisdom, trusting wholly to God, is in harmony with that great universe of which he forms an intelligent part: he may lie down without being afraid; he may walk securely without stumbling; no sudden fear can assail him; all the creatures of God are his sisters and his brothers; even Sister Death, as St. Francis used to say, is a familiar and a friend to him.
We have been dwelling upon the outward results of Heavenly Wisdom-the health, the prosperity, the friends, the favor with God and man which come to those who possess her. We have been led to seek out the secret of her peace in the humble surrender of the will to its rightful Lord. But there is a caution needed, a truth which has already occurred to the author of this chapter. It is evident that while Wisdom brings in her hand riches and honor, {Pro_3:16} health to the navel, and marrow to the bones, {Pro_3:8} it will not be enough to judge only by appearances. As we have pondered upon the law of Wisdom, we have become aware that there may be an apparent health and prosperity, a bevy of friends, and a loud-sounding fame which are the gift not of Wisdom, but of some other power. It will not do, therefore, to set these outward things before our eyes as the object of desire; it will not do to envy the possessors of them. {Pro_3:31} "The secret of the Lord is with the upright," and it may often be that they to whom His secret has become open will choose the frowns of adversity rather than the smile of prosperity, will choose poverty rather than wealth, will welcome solitude and contumely down in the Valley of Humiliation. For it is an open secret, in the sweet light of wisdom it becomes a self-evident truth, that "whom the Lord loveth He reproveth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth." {Pro_3:12}
There is, then, a certain paradox in the life of wisdom which no ingenuity can avoid. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, but we may not seek them because they are pleasant, for other ways are pleasant too, or seem to be so for a while. All her paths are peace, but we do not enter them to gain peace, for the peace comes often under the stress of a great conflict or in the endurance of a heavy chastening. A thousand temporal blessings accompany the entrance into the narrow way, but so far from seeking them, it is well-nigh impossible to start on the way unless we lose sight and care of them altogether. The Divine Wisdom gives us these blessings when we no longer set our hearts on them, because while we set our hearts on them they are dangerous to us. Putting the truth in the clearest light which has been given to us, the light of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are called upon to give up everything in order to seek first the Kingdom of Heaven, and when we are absorbed in that as our true object of search everything is given back to us a hundredfold; we are called upon to take up our cross and follow Him, and when we do so He bears the cross for us; we are called upon to take His yoke upon us and to learn of Him, and immediately we take it-not before-we find that it is easy. The wise, loving only wisdom, find that they have inherited glory; the fools, seeking only promotion, find that they have achieved nothing but shame. {Pro_3:35}
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 v1 Pro_3:1. Keep. This word, says Miller, primarily means to…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Pro_3:1. Keep. This word, says Miller, primarily means to look hard at, and generally to keep watch over, as over a vineyard.
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Pro_3:2. Length of days, properly “extension of days.”
Pro_3:3. Good understanding, or “good success,” “good reputation.” Some read “good intelligence,” i.e., thou shalt be esteemed before God and man as one of good understanding.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Pro_3:1-4
BLESSINGS FROM THE REMEMBRANCE OF GOD’S COMMANDMENTS
I. The natural desire of a moral instructor. Every teacher desires that his pupil should remember his instructions, and unless that which has been given is remembered it is useless to carry him any further on. Memory holds a very important place in the formation of moral character. “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the Gospel which I preached unto you; … by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you” (1Co_15:1-2). Paul likewise exhorts his son Timothy by means of his memory (2Ti_1:6). See also Heb_10:32; 2Pe_1:15; 2Pe_3:1, etc. Solomon knew that his son could only profit by his counsel so long as he remembered it.
II. When the memory does not retain moral teaching, it is a moral rather than an intellectual fault. “Let thine heart keep my commandments.” We find it difficult to forget where we love. If a child loves his father, he is not likely to forget his words. Christ reminded his disciples that they did not “remember” because their hearts were hardened (Mar_8:17-18).
III. When the heart keeps the Divine Word, mercy and truth will not forsake the character. Where God’s precepts find a place of abode, there will likewise be found a merciful disposition towards men, and a truthful and sincere piety before God. If a tree has its roots in the waters, we know that its greenness will not fail: “its leaf shall not wither.” The freshness and beauty of the foliage is the necessary outcome of its roots dwelling in the stream. The mercifulness and the truthfulness of a man’s character will be in proportion to his affection for, and consequent retention of, the words of God.
IV. The blessings which will accompany a remembrance of the Divine teaching.
1. Length of days. We may infer from this that, as a rule, long life is to be desired. The longer distance a pure river runs through a country, the greater the amount of blessing which it diffuses on its way to the ocean. The longer a man of “mercy and truth” lives, the more he is enabled to bless his fellow-creatures. A long life gives a man time to attain great knowledge of God, and thus enables him to glorify Him upon the earth. A long life is also to be desired because the peculiar experience of earth belongs to the present life only. When that is ended we have reason to believe that we shall enter upon an entirely new experience; that which belonged to earth will have passed away with our earthly life. It has often been remarked that a godly manner of life is favourable to “length of days.” Sin and anxious care tend to bring men to an early grave, while purity, and trust in a living and loving Father are promoters of bodily health.
2. Divine and human favour. The human ruler is favourable to those who make it their business to obey his commands. A wise and good father makes a difference in his treatment of those children who seek to please him and those who defy his authority. God is the Father, and consequently the rightful Ruler of men, and having made laws for the guidance of His children, it follows of necessity that those who seek to obey those laws must find favour with Him. He is in this sense a respecter of persons. He has respect to those who “have respect unto His commandments” (Psa_119:6). Favour in the sight of man is also promised. The value of a man’s favour depends upon a man’s character. To find favour with some men would be to be known as an enemy of God (Jas_4:4). It is written that Jesus increased “in favour with God and man” (Luk_2:52). But we know that He found little favour with the rulers of the Jews. Therefore, these words must be taken to refer to the favour of those whose favour is worth having.
3. Peace (Pro_3:2). Where the conscience and passions are at war there can be nothing but unrest, but when the conscience is reinforced by the Divine precepts, she rules, and the soul, as a consequence, enjoys peace. Peace must flow from the possession of Divine favour, and also from the consciousness of the good-will of good men.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro_3:1. Here we advance another step. Not only is it necessary to renounce and shun evil (Pro_1:10) and to listen to the voice of Wisdom and go in quest of her (Pro_1:20; Pro_2:1-4), but it is also requisite to hold her fast under trial and tribulation (Pro_3:11), and to practise her rules by love to God and man (Pro_3:9; Pro_3:27; Pro_3:30).—Wordsworth.
“My law.” He who made us knows what is good for us. Submission to His will is the best condition for humanity. Our own will leads to sin and misery. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.… Silently to forget God’s law is a much more common thing amongst us than blasphemously to reject it.—Arnot.
Where love makes the impression, care locks it up.… Philo saith, “Thou forgettest God’s law, because thou forgettest thyself.” For didst thou remember thine own condition, how very nothing thou art, thou couldst not forget His law whose excellency exceedeth all things; and therefore to fasten His law in our hearts, God saith no more than that it is my law, as if the strength of that reason were sufficient to strike them into us not to be forgotten.—Jermin.
We should be able to say to Wisdom as Cœnis did to her lady Antonia, “You need not, madame, bid me do your business, for I so remember your commands, as I need never be reminded of them.”—Trapp.
The mental faculties have a close relation and a mutual dependence upon each other. There are, without doubt, original diversities in the power of memory. But memory depends greatly on attention, and attention depends not less upon the interest which the mind feels on the subject. He who feels no interest will not attend, and he who does not attend will not remember.—Wardlaw.
Pro_3:2. Length of days is the promise to the righteous—whether for earth or for heaven as their Father deems fittest for them. It itself, the promise, as regards this life, has no charm.… But peace added forms the sunshine of the toilsomeway.—Bridges.
The original is “length of days and years of lives.” They are lives which religion promiseth, one on earth, another in heaven: here such a long life as short days can make up, but there days shall be years: there shall be but one day, lengthened into eternity.—Jermin.
Where is the consistency of promising long life to wisdom! Where is the truth of such an assurance? But certain grammatical endings give us immediate signs of another interpretation. The verb “add” is masculine; the words “law” and “commandments” are feminine. On the contrary, all are masculines among the nouns of the next clause. Unless there should be reason to do violence by an ungrammatical exception, the nouns should be the subjects rather than the objects of the verb. We translate therefore, “For length of days, and years of life, and prosperity, shall make thee greater.”—Miller.
Such declarations are certainly not to be interpreted as a promise of long life in this world in every instance, as the result of obedience to God’s commands. There are promises to Israel of their days being prolonged in the land which are greatly mistaken when interpreted of the life of individuals; and as pledging in every case its prolongation to all the good. Such passages relate to the continued possession of the land of promise by the people, if they, in their successive generations, continued to serve God.—Wardlaw.
Simple duration of life in itself to Jewish mind, a great gift of God. “Years of life,” i.e., of a life truly such, a life worth living, not the lingering struggle with pain and sickness (compare the use of “life” in Psa_30:5; Psa_42:8.—Plumptre.
Pro_3:3. There was such a similitude of nature between the twins of love that at once they wept, and at once they smiled; they fell sick together, and they recovered jointly. Such are these twins of grace. In policy, mercy without truth is a sweet shower dropping upon barren sands, quite spilt, and no blessing following it; truth without mercy is extreme right and extreme injury. Consider them toward God and heaven. A faith of mere protestation without good works, such is truth without mercy, and all the integrity of the heathen, all the goodness that Socrates could teach, such is mercy without truth.—Bishop Hacket.
The neck is, in Solomon’s writings, the organ and symbol of obedience. To bind God’s law about the neck is not only to do it, but to rejoice in doing it; to put it on and exult in it as the fairest ornament.—Wordsworth.
I. The matter to be recorded—mercy and truth. These two, meeting and kissing in the Mediator, constitute the revealed character of God Himself; and He desires to see, as it were, a miniature of His own likeness impressed upon His children.
II. The tablet for receiving it—the human heart. The reference is obviously to the tables of stone. The tables were intended to be not a book only, but a type. An impress should be taken on our own hearts, that we may always have the will of God hidden within us.—Arnot.
Let these graces be, as with God, in combination. The want of one buries the commendation of the other. “Such a one is merciful to the poor, but there is no truth in him.” “Such a one is very just in his dealings, but he is as hard as a flint.” Nor must these virtues be in occasional and temporary exercise. “Let them not forsake thee.”—Bridges.
Intimating—I. Their forsaking us is more than our forsaking them. Our forsaking them may come of our weakness, but their forsaking us comes of our wilfulness and hardness of heart in not entertaining them. II. It sets out the easiness of the loss of them through our corruption. III. It sets forth our great need of them. IV. It intimates our great care and pains needful for the retaining of them. They are easily lost, but hardly kept. A hawk must be well tamed before he is let fly, else he will return no more. These graces must be as carefully kept as providently gotten, like riches. And they must both be kept together, else mercy may lie to do good, and truth may reveal without cause what may do hurt. Therefore join both as God does (Psa_85:10).—Francis Taylor.
Mercy and truth are dear sisters, blessed companions in God, sweet companions in man. Mercy loveth truth, truth loveth mercy, God loveth both; and if man love himself, he will do so likewise.—Jermin.
These words correspond to the two tables of the law. Benevolence is at the bottom of the command, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour,” and what is right is that great glory which we are to love in God.—Miller.
Pro_3:4. In other words, “Thou shalt be favoured and truly prospered, God and man both bearing witness to thy well-directed efforts.”—Stuart.
He that shows mercy to men shall find mercy with God.… and men love to be dealt truly and mercifully with themselves, even though they deal not so with others; especially they that get good by our merciful and just dealing will favour us.—Francis Taylor.
This favour of God and men, i.e., not of all indiscriminately, but first and pre-eminently of the wise and devout, such as agree with God’s judgment, is evidently in the view of the poet the highest and most precious of the multiform blessings of wisdom which he enumerates. What, however, is this favour of God and men but the being a true child of God, the belonging to the fellowship of God and His people, the co-citizenship in the kingdom of truth and blessedness? We stand here manifestly at the point at which the Old Testament doctrine of retributions predominantly earthly begin to be transformed into the supersensual or spiritual realistic doctrine of the New Testament (Mat_5:10-12; Mat_19:28-30).—Lange’s Commentary.
This promise is all one with that of the Apostle Paul, when, speaking of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, he saith, “that he which in these things serveth Christ, pleaseth God and is acceptable to men” (Rom_14:18).
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.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 Pro 3:5-6
Pro 3:5-6
(with Pro 27:1)
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I. The precept, "Lean not unto thine own understanding" is one in which, with advancing years, we are well disposed to acquiesce. One who has grown older, and who has really profited by the experience of life, must often have found cause to revise his own judgments. In this world of change and sorrow experience soon teaches us the lesson, "Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth." Sudden reverses overtake the most prosperous; the most sagacious make blunders, through which their inferiors discover with pleased surprise that these wise men were, after all, not so much wiser than themselves.
II. The result of such experience might seem to be general distrust of the powers of the human intellect, but happily the exigencies of life save us from the danger of any unreasonable scepticism. We must act, and it is continually necessary for us to decide between different courses of action. As experience convinces us of the weakness of our understanding, our liability to go wrong notwithstanding all the light it gives us, we should all be glad if there could be supplied us any way of arriving at our belief which we might safely trust without the necessity of leaning on our own understanding. It is thus that the claim of the Roman Catholic Church to infallibility has been willingly admitted by multitudes.
III. When we want to know what is meant by wisdom and understanding in the Book of Proverbs we can find no better commentary than the saying in the Book of Job: "The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding." This, then, is what the writer of this part of the Book of Proverbs means to say in the words of the text. Be not deceived by any suggestions of the human heart which would lead you to fancy that God’s precepts are not wise, and that you can find happiness in any ways which are not the ways of holiness. The words of the text convey no injunction to us to put out the candle of the Lord within us, that reason which supplies the light whereby we must walk; but only an injunction to us to hold fast the best conclusion which true wisdom furnishes—namely, the conviction that it must be a vain search to look for happiness in any way but this.
IV. The truth that we know not what a day may bring forth seems to give a most disheartening view of human life. We have the burden cast on us of directing our own way while yet the light by which to guide it is denied us. This is the truth which removes all sadness from the reflection that we know not what shall be on the morrow, that while a man’s heart deviseth his way, it is the Lord who directeth his steps. Though the path which we tread may be dark and gloomy, we can walk it with courage if we feel that we have our Father and our Saviour with us. The Psalmist found it so long since when he said, "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me."
G. Salmon, Non-Miraculous Christianity, p. 153.
References: Pro 3:5.—R. M. McCheyne, Additional Remains, p. 142; Preacher’s Monthly, vol., i., p. 102; W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 116. Pro 3:5, Pro 3:6.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xii., p. 33.
Pro 3:6
A characteristic of the Old Testament Scriptures, which results from the genius of the Hebrew language, is specially observable in the Book of Proverbs. Instead of the copious, versatile, precise, and in so many respects unrivalled, instrument which the Greek wields when expressing his thought, the Hebrew writer has at command a language possessing by comparison only a few and simple words. But of these, many are words of the widest range and applicability. They are words containing depth below depth of meaning. The text furnishes us with a sample of this almost untranslatable pregnancy and power of Hebrew speech. The English word "acknowledge" represents only one of the many meanings which are to be found, upon reflection, in the original word. This word, originally identical with εἰδεῖν and videre, came to signify that which results from sight, unless the sense be imperfect or the understanding impaired, namely, knowledge. It exhibits knowledge at all its stages of growth. As used in the passage before us it describes nothing less comprehensive than the whole action of man’s spiritual being when face to face with the eternal God. It is irresistibly implied that to know God truly, to have a full sight of God before the soul, is something more than mere head-knowledge, that it is knowledge in act. It is, in short, to be out of heart with self, to distrust self, to abase and crush and forget self; we are sensible of the presence of a Being who discovers to self its insignificance or its pollution. The text thus includes, besides much else, such specific exhortations as that of St. Peter, "Be clothed with humility."
I. Not long since the question was discussed, whether a virtue can ever die. Certainly particular relative excellences do characterise particular races, epochs, stages of social progress. They appear; they shine forth; they wane and fall back into obscurity; they vanish outright. Doubtless there are forms of virtuous action suited to human life at one stage of its development which do not fully express or answer to its wants and aspirations at another. But the question does not concern the mere modification of the outward expression of a virtue; if practical applications may vary imperishable principles must live. The opinion which views intellectual submission as a dead virtue, could hardly ascribe any strong vitality to the grace of humility. If humility is dying out, this is because the idea of God has been impoverished or impaired in the thought of our day. Humility is but the sincere acknowledgment in thought, in language, in action, of the first and most commanding of all facts; it is the sincere acknowledgment of God.
II. Theoretically speaking, humility must of course be right. But look, you say, to its practical effect. Does it interfere more or less with activity and success in life? Is it secretly hostile to the claims and efforts of vigorous and cultivated intellect? After all, what is humility? Humility is not a μικροψυχία. On the contrary, the Christian is the genuine μεγαλόψῦχος; he is pre-eminently the man of large soul and noble instincts. Humility is not a want of enterprise, a subtle resource of idleness. The force which is apparently forfeited by the destruction of self-reliance in the character is more than recovered when the soul rests in perfect trustfulness on the strong arm of God. The Christian’s humility is in reality the cause of his mental energy.
III. Humility is indispensable to the true life of the soul. No man ever went to heaven without learning humility on this side of the grave. (1) Without humility—that is to say, the victory of truth in the soul—no soul ever really turned to God. (2) Without humility religious progress is impossible. (3) Without humility no soul that was turned to God, and is learning to serve Him, is for a moment safe.
H. P. Liddon, University Sermons, 1st series, p. 139.
I. You can acknowledge God in your play, by recognising that it is He who gives it, by thanking Him for it, and by remembering that He is near you when you are at it. It would not make you less happy to remember this, but far more happy. Only, it would repress many a wicked word, many an angry thought, many an ungentle and ungenerous deed. If all children remembered it a new sunshine would fall on the pavement, and a new joy ring in the voices there.
II. Do you acknowledge God in your work? He expects you to do so. How is He to be acknowledged? (1) By recognising that He has given you your work to do, and expects you to do it well; (2) by praying about your lessons, asking God to assist you to overcome your defects.
III. Boys and girls always have companions. Friendship will be one of the largest as well as sweetest parts of your life. There can be none in which it is more important to acknowledge God, that He may direct your paths.
IV. Thoughts of the future. Without God, however brave and strong you be, you will stumble and fall. Is Christ your Saviour and your Friend? He comes to you now, and at the outset of your career offers to accompany you. Will you not welcome Him and clasp Him to your heart with bands of triple steel? "In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths."
J. Stalker, The New Song, p. 118.
References: Pro 3:6.—J. M. Charlton, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xvii., p. 324; New Manual of Sunday School Addresses, p. 5.
Pro 3:7-8
I. The text may be paraphrased and expanded thus: God has taught you by various ways—by your own experience and that of others; above all, by the warnings of conscience and the voice of revelation—what is right and what is wrong. Do not set yourself above this teaching, or think to be wiser than your Maker. Presume neither to cavil at nor neglect those unchanging laws by which the Almighty has separated good from evil, and appointed to each their just recompense of reward. Fear the Lord, for that is the beginning of true wisdom, and not this fancied enlightenment on which you pride yourself,—fear the Lord and depart from evil.
II. Notice some familiar instances of the temptation which we incur to be wise in our own eyes, and of the evil into which we fall if we yield to it. (1) On many things the stamp of good or evil is so indelibly planted that no sane man can presume to question it. Who could think murder praiseworthy, or prayer a vice? But there are other things on which the mark, though visible to a faithful scrutiny, is not so patent; or, to vary the figure, between the acknowledged territories of the two principles is a borderland which needs wary walking, lest we pass over before we know it to the enemy. The humble man will avoid that doubtful district if he can; if compelled to enter it, he will walk circumspectly, trusting very little to his own discernment, and greatly anxious to be guided in the right path. Not so he that is wise in his own eyes. This borderland is his favourite resort. (2) It is a common delusion that we can become good and religious when we will. There is a law which is written in the history of a thousand misguided lives, that when habits of sin are once formed they are not lightly broken through; and that, instead of its being an easy thing to turn from the world to God, every added year, aye week, of rebellion, makes it more difficult, till at last, long before we are called to our account, it becomes with some men, humanly speaking, impossible. (3) The devil has his proverbs as well as Solomon, and among the devil’s proverbs there is none perhaps more common or more wicked than this, that—"young men must sow their wild oats." Facts are clean against this vile assertion, for four-fifths of the men who have been pure and holy in later years have been holy and pure in their youth; and the law that "evil communications" are not a preliminary of sanctity, but "corrupt good manners," is a law of the moral world which this proverb wilfully ignores.
E. H. Bradby, Sermons at Haileybury, p. 232.
References: Pro 3:7, Pro 3:8.—W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 121. Pro 3:9.—J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes, 2nd series, p. 98; W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 123.
Pro 3:11
I. Affliction acts as a dyke against the overflow of evil; it incessantly restrains and thrusts it back. Sin finds its limit in suffering; passion strikes against pain as a fatal bourne, where it perishes; lust is quenched in disgust; and death is there to say to the raging waves of our dissolute passions, "Thus far shall ye go and no farther." Thus far; namely, to that gravestone against which evil always dashes itself at last.
II. Suffering is not a blessing simply because it acts as a restraint; but also, and especially, because it acts as a preparative. It is a bridle, but also a spur, urging us towards the Cross, (1) An infinite suffering, an unlimited obedience,—such was the Cross. At this cost heaven and earth were reconciled, and salvation was consummated. But it was in our name that the great work of that hour of atonement was performed, and we can derive benefit from it only as we ratify it. He only will be saved who unites himself to Christ, not with a view of offering again a sacrifice which was perfected in itself, but in order to make it his own by an earnest acceptance and a living faith. Grace employs every means to bring us to this, and of all conceivable means none can be more efficacious than suffering. Hence the important part which it plays in the work of our personal redemption. (2) Thus suffering, under the influence of grace, fills up the infinite distance between man and the Cross. Through the direct action of grace, suffering had prepared the way for Christ in the old world, by attacking not merely the individual but also the lost race of men, whom it had mercilessly and unceasingly pursued from religion to religion, from illusion to illusion; and it was through a wasted world, reduced to the condition of a desert, that the road was made which was to lead to Him. Ever since the Redeemer came among men, and called to them from His Cross, suffering has been His great prophet and forerunner; but suffering modified, mingled with blessing, as befits a pardoned world, but yet traversing the earth with the axe of John the Baptist. We must recognise even in its most distressing manifestations the infinite love which seeks to save our souls at all costs.
E. De Pressense. The Mystery of Suffering, p. 34.
References: Pro 3:11, Pro 3:12.— J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes, 2nd series, p. 86; W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 126; R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. i., p. 88.
Pro 3:12
(with 1Co 15:55)
In the case of a saint, his afflictions and death fall to be considered: (1) as they have a respect to himself, and (2) as they have a respect to his neighbours and friends.
I. As they have a respect to himself. (1) The design of a saint’s afflictions may be to rebuke him for backsliding, and not seldom for spiritual sloth and dulness of heart, with a view of recalling him from his wanderings, or arousing him from his lethargy. (2) A saint may be making commendable progress and yet be visited with affliction, that his graces may be advanced to a higher degree of excellence—the Lord designing for His servant a station of peculiar glory in His heavenly kingdom. (3) Affliction and death are frequently commissioned as preventives of evil. (4) That which often strikes us as mysterious is, perhaps, resolvable on the principle that God removes some of His saints when their graces are most vigorous, and shine with the brightest lustre, before they decline; so that His government may be justified in advancing them to a higher place of honour in the kingdom, than it would have been fit to assign them, had they entered eternity in a state of declension.
II. It is frequently the interests of his friends even more than the interests of the saint himself, which the Lord designs to advance by the particular time and manner of his death. He may be a spiritually prosperous saint, cultivating his talents and opportunities with assiduity and zeal; but they may need correction and quickening, preservation from evil; and the requisite and most suitable discipline is dispensed to them by means of his afflictions.
III. Practical reflections. (1) Let us be thankful for death. (2) In reference to afflictions which do not proceed the length of death, as we would be saved their infliction, let us submit to the more gentle discipline of the remonstrances of the Spirit of God, excited within our consciences. (3) As we fear the death of our friends, let us be careful of our own ways. (4) As we desire that our own lives be prosperous and prolonged, let us be earnest and faithful in the training of our children, and in the admonition of our friends. (5) Let us diligently prepare for the death of our friends. (6) Let us prepare ourselves for our own death. (7) Let us examine ourselves of the improvement which we have made or are making of the death of our friends, and prepare to give them a satisfactory account of it.
W. Anderson, Discourses, 2nd series, p. 40.
References: Pro 3:13.—W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 134. Pro 3:13-20.—R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. i., p. 101. Pro 3:14, Pro 3:15.—W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, p. 136. Pro 3:16.—Ibid., p. 139.
Pro 3:17
(with Joh 16:33)
I. Religion, regarded as a theory of a perfect state, is right in pronouncing itself a way of pleasantness and a path of peace. If a man could but walk perfectly in the way of religion he would be perfectly happy. But man is not born into an ideal state, into a perfect state even; on the contrary, he is born further from his nature than any other creature on earth. God did not make men perfect. He made them pilgrims after perfection.
II. Men are born with all the faculties of reason, but not with knowledge. That they are to find. Men are born with social natures, but not with social loves and refinements of experience. These they are to work out. Men are born with moral sense, but not with knowledge of its fruits, its inspirations, its various experiences. It is the business of their life to find out these things. To teach all this vast lore of experience God has established five schools: (1) the school of the family; (2) the school of the material world; (3) the school of civil society; (4) the school of business; (5) the school of the Church.
III. It is in the light of such a development that we can see the relation between joy and sorrow in the Christian scheme. Sorrow is that conflict which every person experiences as he is endeavouring to learn. It is the incident of growth from a lower to a higher state. Suffering is God’s regent of the universe, saying, "The way is a way of pleasantness, and all its paths are peace:" and therefore when you suffer it is because you are out of the way.
If this be so, I remark: (1) The search for the origin of evil is a mistaken search in the direction in which men are looking for it. Evil is nothing in the world but a part of the Divine system by which we are to be unfolded. (2) We see the true and proper meaning of self-denial. It is a higher faculty, making a lower one keep down and know its place. (3) We see the foreshadowings of the Cross in human life. (4) We see love suffering in life. (5) There is but one way out of suffering, and that way is upward. All other ways are adjourning it, or preparing for its recurrence in even greater measure.
H. W. Beecher, Sermons, 2nd series, p. 271.
Pro 3:17
There is a certain exclusiveness about this expression which stands out into a necessary emphasis; strong in the first, stronger in the second, clause of the sentence. For of many things it may be said, that some of their "ways" are "pleasant," though some be bitter; and of a very few things indeed, perhaps, it might be said that their "paths" are sometimes "peace." But of nothing in the whole world save one—the life of a real child of God—could it ever be spoken so broadly, so universally, so absolutely.
I. In this high peace, then, notice that there is a distinction drawn which is not without its special signification. It is the ways which are pleasant, and the paths which are peace. Now the way is always larger and broader than the path. And the meaning may be this: The more general and public things in religion—things which all see and know—these are pleasant; but the things which retire back and are most unfrequented, and which very few either see or guess, all these are "peace."
II. Wisdom’s way is: (1) a high way. It is always reaching up out of littlenesses; it ranges at loftier levels, it has the world at its feet. (2) Wisdom’s way always has one fixed mark. For that it steers. It throws lesser things aside as it goes, and it goes straight and earnest to a goal, and that goal is the glory of God. (3) Wisdom’s way is a way of usefulness. It always puts usefulness first—before pleasure, before profit. (4) To go in wisdom’s way is to go in sweet fellowship. They who walk there walk hand in hand. It is full of sympathies, it is a road which lies in the communion of all saints, and all love all in wisdom’s way. (5) Above all, Christ is there. They walk with Jesus, they lean on Jesus, they are satisfied with Jesus, and they shall travel on and reign with Jesus, in that city where they go.
III. Let us leave the wider track, and go down to one or two of the more secluded "paths." (1) There is a going out in a man’s heart from its deepest places to Christ. He tells Jesus something which has long been a hidden burden in his mind. And in the little path of that secret confession there is a peace which no words can tell. (2) It is a very small path that faith takes, but the "peace passeth understanding." (3) Shame, sorrow, parting, death, lie in the same wisdom’s path. Jesus’ path lay just the same, through shame, through death. And wisdom’s path and Jesus’ path are both one; and both are peace.
J. Vaughan, Sermons, 1867, p. 77.
References: Pro 3:17.—J. Vaughan, Children’s Sermons, 1875, p. 278; W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 142. Pro 3:19, Pro 3:20.—Ibid., p. 144. Pro 3:21-35.—R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. i., p. 113. Pro 3:26.—W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, p. 147. Pro 3:27, Pro 3:28.—Ibid., p. 152.
Pro 3:32
I. Consider the intimacy between God and man implied in this promise. To whom is it that we open our confidence, and explain our most secret purposes and objects? It is not to the stranger, of whom perhaps we know nothing but his mere name and title; not to those who have already slighted and injured us; not to the passing acquaintance, between whom and ourselves there is no bond closer than that of a formal courtesy; but to those we love and who love us; those with whom we have had long and familiar acquaintance, and in whom, through constant intercourse, we have learned to place confidence. Thus it is in regard to God and the soul. He gives milk for babes; broad simple truths, conveyed in His Holy Word, as clearly as human language can express them; and when these are received, then He leads the believer on to a further and higher knowledge. Thus there arises a personal, familiar intercourse, a spiritual intimacy, an individual knowledge of experience between the soul and God. Not little is the dignity, nor poor the communion, nor scant the privilege, contained in this promise, "His secret is with the righteous."
II. Look at the nature and blessedness of the secret revealed. (2) It includes a clear knowledge of God’s being and of the revelation of His will. (2) The secret of God includes the full saving comprehension of the Gospel of His dear Son. (3) Another secret of God is the sweetness of His comforting peace.
E. Garbett, The Soul’s Life, p. 16.
References: Pro 3:33.—W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 158. Pro 3:33-35.—E. Johnson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. x., p. 40. Pro 3:34.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. iii., p. 10. 3—Parker, Pulpit Analyst, vol. i., pp. 421, 481. Pro 4:1-13.—R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. i., p. 126. Pro 4:2.—New Manual of Sunday School Addresses, p. 142. Pro 4:3, Pro 4:4.—E. H. Bradby, Sermons at Haileybury, p. 150.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v1 Pro 3:1 - Pro 3:10.
Proverbs
THE SECRET OF WELL-BEING
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Pro 3:1 - Pro 3:10.
The first ten verses of this passage form a series of five couplets, which enforce on the young various phases of goodness by their tendency to secure happiness or blessedness of various sorts. The underlying axiom is that, in a world ruled by a good Being, obedience must lead to well-being; but while that is in the general true, exceptions do occur, and good men do encounter evil times. Therefore the glowing promises of these verses are followed by two verses which deal with the explanation of good men’s afflictions, as being results and tokens of God’s fatherly love.
The first couplet is general in character. It inculcates obedience to the precepts of the teacher, and gives as reason the assurance that thereby long life and peace will be secured. True to the Old Testament conception of revelation as a law, the teacher sets obedience in the forefront. He is sure that his teaching contains the sufficient guide for conduct, and coincides with the divine will. He calls, in the first instance, for inward willing acceptance of His commandments; for it is the heart, not primarily the hands, which he desires should ‘keep’ them. The mother of all graces of conduct is the bowing of the will to divine authority. The will is the man, and where it ceases to lift itself up in self-sacrificing and self-determining rebellion, and dissolves into running waters of submission, these will flow through the life and make it pure. To obey self is sin, to obey God is righteousness. The issues of such obedience are ‘length of days . . . and peace.’
Even if we allow for the difference between the Old and the New Testaments, it remains true that a life conformed to God’s will tends to longevity, and that many forms of sin do shorten men’s days. Passion and indulged appetites eat away the very flesh, and many a man’s ‘bones are full of the sin of his youth.’ The profligate has usually ‘a short life,’ whether he succeeds in making it ‘merry’ or not.
‘Peace’ is a wide word, including all well-being. Ease-loving Orientals, especially when living in warlike times, naturally used the phrase as a shorthand expression for all good. Busy Westerns, torn by the distractions and rapid movement of modern life, echo the sigh for repose which breathes in the word. ‘There is no joy but calm,’ and the sure way to deepest peace is to give up self-will and live in obedience.
The second couplet deals with our relations to one another, and puts forward the two virtues of ‘loving-kindness and truth’-that is truth, or faithfulness-as all-inclusive. They are the two which are often jointly ascribed to God, especially in the Psalms. Our attitude to one another should be moulded in God’s to us all. The tiniest crystal has the same facets and angles as the largest. The giant hexagonal pillars of basalt, like our Scottish Staffa, are identical in form with the microscopic crystals of the same substance. God is our Pattern; goodness is likeness to Him.
These graces are to be bound about the neck, perhaps as an ornament, but more probably as a yoke by which the harnessed ox draws its burden. If we have them, they will fit us to bear one another’s burdens, and will lead to all human duties to our fellows.
These graces are also to be written on the ‘table of the heart’; that is, are to be objects of habitual meditation with aspiration. If so, they will come to sight in life. He who practises them will ‘find favour with God and man,’ for God looks with complacency on those who display the right attitude to men; and men for the most part treat us as we treat them. There are surly natures which are not won by kindness, like black tarns among the hills, that are gloomy even in sunshine, and requite evil for good; but the most of men reflect our feelings to them.
‘Good understanding’ is another result. It is ‘found’ when it is attributed to us, so that the expression substantially means that the possessors of these graces will win the reputation of being really wise, not only in the fallible judgment of men, but before the pure eyes of the all-seeing God. Really wise policy coincides with loving-kindness and truth.
The remaining couplets refer to our relations to God. The New Testament is significantly anticipated in the pre-eminence given to trust; that is, faith. Nor less significant and profound is the association of self-distrust with trust in the Lord. The two things are inseparable. They are but the under and upper sides of one thing, or like the two growths that come from a seed-one striking downwards becomes the root; one piercing upwards becomes the stalk. The double attitude of trust and distrust finds expression in acknowledging Him in all our ways; that is, ordering our conduct under a constant consciousness of His presence, in accordance with His will, and in dependence on His help.
Such a relation to God will certainly, and with no exceptions, issue in His ‘directing our paths,’ by which is meant that He will be not only our Guide, but also our Roadmaker, showing us the way and clearing obstacles from it. Calm certitude follows on willingness to accept God’s will, and whoever seeks only to go where God sends him will neither be left doubtful whither he should go, nor find his road blocked.
The fourth couplet is, in its first part, in inverted parallelism with the third; for it begins with self-distrust, and proceeds thence to ‘fear of the Lord,’ which corresponds to, and is, in fact, but one phase of, trust in Him. It is the reverent awe which has no torment, and is then purest when faith is strongest. It necessarily leads to departing from evil. Morality has its roots in religion. There is no such magnet to draw men from sin as the happy fear of God, which is likewise faith. Whoever separates devoutness from purity of life, this teacher does not. He knows nothing of religion which permits association with iniquity. Such conduct will tend to physical well-being, and in a deeper sense will secure soundness of life. Godlessness is the true sickness. He only is healthy who has a healthy, because healed, soul.
The fifth couplet appears at first as being a drop to a lower region. A regulation of the Mosaic law may strike some as out of place here. But it is to be remembered that our modern distinction of ceremonial and moral law was non-existent for Israel, and that the command has a wider application than to Jewish tithes. To ‘honour God with our substance’ is not necessarily to give it away for religious purposes, but to use it devoutly and as He approves.
Christianity has more to say about the distribution, as well as the acquisition, of wealth, than professing Christians, especially in commercial communities, practically recognise. This precept grips us tight, and is much more than a ceremonial regulation. Many causes besides the devout use of property tend to wealth in our highly artificial state of society. The world tries to get it by shrewdness, unscrupulousness, and by many other vices which are elevated to the rank of virtues; but he who honours the Lord in getting and spending will generally have as much as his true needs and regulated desires require.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 The Blessings of Obedience and of Chastisement
The Blessings of Obedience and of Chastisement
The first and third divisions, 1-10, 21-35, are exhortations to good conduct and promises of consequent blessing. The second, 11-20, declares the profitableness of divine chastening and the value of wisdom.
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1. Law] or 'direction.' The teacher speaks as one having authority.
3. Mercy] RM 'kindness.' He is to retain kindness and faithfulness, as he would the signet-ring which hangs from his neck by a cord (Gen_38:18; Son_8:6), or as the phylacteries on arm and forehead: cp. Exo_13:9; Deu_6:8; Deu_11:18.
5. We are easily misled by passion and sin. 'Thanks to our wisdom, we should, once for all, refrain from being clever.'
8. For navel read 'flesh,' as at Pro_4:22. This change only requires the addition of a single letter, and it gives us the pair,' flesh and bones,' which in biblical language make up the body (Gen_29:14; 2Sa_5:1, etc.). The drying up of the bones is a figure of extreme distress (Pro_17:22; Psa_32:3-4): hence the word 'moistening' (RM) here.
9. To honour is to pay the dues (Isa_43:28; Dan_11:38; 1Ti_5:7).
10. Presses] i.e. 'vats.'
11, 12. Bp. Andrewes prayed: 'From Thine anger, and yet more from Thy ceasing to be angry, good Lord, deliver us.'
15. Rubies] here, and at Pro_20:15; Pro_31:10, more probably, 'red coral.' The finest red coral has always been very costly.
18. A tree of life] a figure derived from Genesis 3 : see also Eze_47:12; Pro_11:30; Pro_13:12; Pro_15:4.
19. It is an additional reason for esteeming her, that creation could not have been accomplished without her.
20. The depths, etc.] i.e. the subterranean storehouses from which fountains and rivers were supposed to be derived.
24. Not affrighted by horrible dreams (Job_7:14).
29. Securely] i.e. without suspicion.
32. Secret] 'counsel' or 'friendship' (RM): they belong to His 'Privy Council' (Gen_18:17; Job_19:19; Job_29:4; Psa_25:14; Psa_55:14; Amo_3:7).
35. Joseph, Daniel, Ezra, Mordecai are examples.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 1. The call and promise of wisdom (Pro 3:1-10)
CHAPTER 3
1. The call and promise of wisdom (Pro 3:1-10)
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2. Happy is the man that findeth wisdom (Pro 3:11-20)
3. Promise and instruction (Pro 3:21-25)
Pro 3:1-10. The call to obedience is followed by promise. The promise is like all the promises to an earthly people “for length of days and long life”. Here are some blessed exhortations loved and cherished by all His people (Pro 3:5-7). How happier, and more fruitful the children of God would be if they obeyed constantly this instruction: “in all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.”
Pro 3:11-20. Pro 3:1-12 are quoted in Heb 12:1-29. The man who findeth wisdom, that is, who knows the Lord, is happy. If we look upon wisdom as personified in the Lord Jesus Christ we can read “His ways are pleasantness, and all His paths are peace. He is a tree of life to them that lay hold on Him, and happy is every one that retaineth Him” (Pro 3:17-18).
Pro 3:21-34. The words of the Lord kept are life to the soul, grace to the neck; they insure safety; they protect and keep by day and by night. Each verse has a blessed meaning. This chapter ends with the promise that the wise shall inherit glory while the promotion of fools will be shame.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 Obedience, Faith, and Liberality Urged
Obedience, Faith, and Liberality Urged
v. 1. My son, forget not my law, the teaching of wisdom; but let thine heart keep my commandments, sincerely observing all instructions of God’s Word;
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v. 2. for length of days and long life and peace, literally, "years of life and peace," shall they add to thee, earthly prosperity and happiness following the application of knowledge gained from the divine Law.
v. 3. Let not mercy and truth, both on the part of men and on the part of God, forsake thee, loving sympathy and companionship being one of the prime factors in our moral life; bind them about thy neck, like a costly chain or necklace, from which was suspended tile seal-ring; write them upon the table of thine heart, the emphasis being both upon the inward motives and upon tile outward expression and adornment in the way of virtues.
v. 4. So shalt thou find favor, gracious acceptance, and good understanding, good reputation, good success, in the sight of God and man, the good opinion on the part of men corresponding to the favorable judgment on the part of God, and both serving for the success of the believer. This being a gracious gift on the part of God, the godly person is warned:
v. 5. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, committing oneself entirely to the grace and faithfulness of Jehovah, and lean not unto thine own understanding, in false and blameworthy self-confidence.
v. 6. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, by reposing one’s trust in Him and relying entirely upon His wisdom, and He shall direct thy paths, for the benefit and well-being of His child.
v. 7. Be not wise in thine own eyes, puffed up with an imagined superiority on account of possible greater learning, since the wisdom of this world is not essential before God; fear the Lord, such reverence for Jehovah serving to set aside one’s own wisdom, and depart from evil, this course being natural in the case of a child of God, to whom all wickedness is undesirable and loathsome.
v. 8. It shall be health to thy navel, considered as the center of the entire body, and marrow to thy bones, refreshing the entire organism with vigor and strength; for such is the effect of a good conscience and of an honest endeavor to serve the Lord in faith.
v. 9. Honor the Lord with thy substance, with the riches which one enjoys as His blessing, repaying Him from tile gifts granted by Him, and with the first-fruits of all thine increase, the yield of one’s work and the harvest of one’s land, for mere lip-service is not sufficient, the Lord demanding tangible evidence of the faith which His children profess to possess;
v. 10. so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, as a reward of God’s gracious favor and fatherly kindness, and thy presses, rather, the vats where the wine was stored, shall burst out with new wine, overflowing with rich abundance by the blessing of God, with which He would acknowledge the willingness of His children. But the opposite also holds true: As we should not forget the Lord in days of plenty, so we should not be estranged from Him in evil days.
v. 11. My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, the correction which He deals out in the school of life; neither be weary of His correction, regarding it with loathing and aversion;
v. 12. for whom the Lord loveth He correcteth, and so the person subject to His discipline thereby receives a proof of His love; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth, or, "holds him dear as a father his son, in whose case tile lack of discipline is rightly referred to a want of fatherly love. Cf Job 5:17; Heb 12:5-6.
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 vv1, 3 General Information:
General Information:
The writer speaks as a father teaching his child using poetry. (See: Parallelism)
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do not forget my commands
The word "commands" can be translated as a verb. AT: "do not forget what I command you" (See: Abstract Nouns)
keep my teachings in your heart
This phrase says in positive terms what the previous phrase says in negative terms. Here the word "heart" represents the mind. The word "teachings" can be translated as a verb. AT: "always remember what I teach you" (See: Parallelism and Metonymy and Abstract Nouns)
length of days and years of life
These two phrases share similar meanings and refer to living a long life. AT: "a long life" (See: Doublet)
translationWords
command
heart
life
peace
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 vv1–3 3:1-12 The Lord blesses those who trust him and…
3:1-12 The Lord blesses those who trust him and seek his will. His correction benefits those who follow him.
3:1 To store God’s commands in your heart means not just memorizing them but making them an integral part of life and acting on them.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.