Doesn’t wisdom cry out? Doesn’t understanding raise her voice?
On the top of high places by the way, where the paths meet, she stands.
Beside the gates, at the entry of the city, at the entry doors, she cries aloud:
“I call to you men! I send my voice to the sons of mankind.
You simple, understand prudence! You fools, be of an understanding heart!
Hear, for I will speak excellent things. The opening of my lips is for right things.
For my mouth speaks truth. Wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
All the words of my mouth are in righteousness. There is nothing crooked or perverse in them.
They are all plain to him who understands, right to those who find knowledge.
Receive my instruction rather than silver, knowledge rather than choice gold.
For wisdom is better than rubies. All the things that may be desired can’t be compared to it.
“I, wisdom, have made prudence my dwelling. Find out knowledge and discretion.
The fear of Yahweh is to hate evil. I hate pride, arrogance, the evil way, and the perverse mouth.
Counsel and sound knowledge are mine. I have understanding and power.
By me kings reign, and princes decree justice.
By me princes rule, nobles, and all the righteous rulers of the earth.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 9, 12, 13, 15 Solomon declareth that man is cause of his own…
Solomon declareth that man is cause of his own perdition, and that he can pretend no ignorance, forasmuch as God calleth to all men by his word, and by his works to follow virtue, and to flee from vice.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–16 Pro 8:1 Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put…
Pro 8:1 Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice?
Ver. 1. Doth not wisdom cry?] And shall a harlot be sooner heard than she? Shall men prefer dross before gold, acorns before wheat, a swinesty before a sanctuary, dirty delights and sensual pleasures before peace that passeth all understanding, joy unspeakable and full of glory? Heathen stories {a} tell how Hercules, when he was young, was courted by Virtue on the one hand, and Pleasure on the other; but Pleasure lost her sweet words upon him; he hearkened to Virtue rather. Shall not we to Wisdom?
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Put forth her voice.] In her ministers, who are criers by office, and must be earnest. {Isa 58:1} See an instance in holy Bradford. "I beseech you," saith he, "I pray you, I desire you, I crave at your hands with all my very heart, I ask of you with hand, pen, tongue, and mind, in Christ, through Christ, for Christ, for his name, blood, mercy, power, and truth’s sake, my most entirely beloved, that you admit no doubting of God’s final mercies toward you," &c. {b} Here was a lusty crier indeed. And such another was Mr Perkins, of whom it is said, that in expounding the commandments, when he was catechist of Christ’s College, he applied them so home to his hearers, that he made their very hearts fall down, and their hairs stand upright. {c}
{a} Xenophon.
{b} Acts and Mon., 1490.
{c} Mr Fuller’s Holy State, p. 90.
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, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15 Put forth her voice; clearly and audibly instruct men…
Put forth her voice; clearly and audibly instruct men how to avoid those fleshly lusts. He opposeth the inviting words of wisdom to the seducing speeches of the harlot.
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 vv1, 12 The will of God revealed to us for our…
The will of God revealed to us for our salvation is here largely represented to us as easy to be known and understood, that none may have an excuse for their ignorance or error, and as worthy to be embraced, that none may have an excuse for their carelessness and unbelief.
I. The things revealed are easy to be known, for they belong to us and to our children (Deu 29:29), and we need not soar up to heaven, or dive into the depths, to get the knowledge of them (Deu 30:11), for they are published and proclaimed in some measure by the works of the creation (Psa 19:1), more fully by the consciences of men and the eternal reasons and rules of good and evil, but most clearly by Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. The precepts of wisdom may easily be known; for, 1. They are proclaimed aloud (Pro 8:1): Does not Wisdom cry? Yes, she cries aloud, and does not spare (Isa 58:1); she puts forth her voice, as one in earnest and desirous to be heard. Jesus stood and cried, Joh 7:37. The curses and blessings were read with a loud voice by the Levites, Deu 27:14. And men's own hearts sometimes speak aloud to them; there are clamours of conscience, as well as whispers. 2. They are proclaimed from on high (Pro 8:2): She stands in the top of high places; it was from the top of Mount Sinai that the law was given, and Christ expounded it in a sermon upon the mount. Nay, if we slight divine revelation, we turn away from him that speaks from heaven, a high place indeed, Heb 12:25. The adulterous woman spoke in secret, the oracles of the heathen muttered, but Wisdom speaks openly; truth seeks no corners, but gladly appeals to the light. 3. They are proclaimed in the places of concourse, where multitudes are gathered together, the more the better. Jesus spoke in the synagogues and in the temple, whither the Jews always resorted, Joh 18:20. Every man that passes by on the road, of what rank or condition soever, may know what is good, and what the Lord requires of him, if it be not his own fault. There is no speech nor language where Wisdom's voice is not heard; her discoveries and directions are given to all promiscuously. He that has ears to hear, let him hear. 4. They are proclaimed where they are most needed. They are intended for the guide of our way, and therefore are published in the places of the paths, where many ways meet, that travellers may be shown, if they will but ask, which is the right way, just then when they are at a loss; thou shalt then hear the word behind thee, saying, This is the way, Isa 30:21. The foolish man known not how to go to the city (Ecc 10:15), and therefore Wisdom stands ready to direct him, stands at the gates, at the entry of the city, ready to tell him where the seer's house is, Sa1 9:18. Nay, she follows men to their own houses, and cries to them at the coming in at the doors, saying, Peace be to this house; and, if the son of peace be there, it shall certainly abide upon it. God's ministers are appointed to testify to people both publicly and from house to house. Their own consciences follow them with admonitions wherever they go, which they cannot be out of the hearing of while they carry their own heads and hearts about with them, which are a law unto themselves. 5. They are directed to the children of men. We attend to that discourse in which we hear ourselves named, though otherwise we should have neglected it; therefore Wisdom speaks to us: "Unto you, O men! I call (Pro 8:4), not to angels (they need not these instructions), not to devils (they are past them), not to the brute-creatures (they are not capable of them), but to you, O men! who are taught more than the beasts of the earth and made wiser than the fowls of heaven. To you is this law given, to you is the word of this invitation, this exhortation sent. My voice is to the sons of men, who are concerned to receive instruction, and to whom, one would think, it should be very welcome. It is not, to you, O Jews! only, that Wisdom cries, nor to you, O gentlemen! not to you, O scholars! but to you, O men! O sons of men! even the meanest." 6. They are designed to make them wise (Pro 8:5); they are calculated not only for men that are capable of wisdom, but for sinful men, fallen men, foolish men, that need it, and are undone without it: "O you simple ones! understand wisdom. Though you are ever so simple, Wisdom will take you for her scholars, and not only so, but, if you will be ruled by her, will undertake to give you an understanding heart." When sinners leave their sins, and become truly religious, then the simple understand wisdom.
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II. The things revealed are worthy to be known, well worthy of all acceptation. We are concerned to hear; for, 1. They are of inestimable value. They are excellent things (Pro 8:6), princely things, so the word is. Though they are level to the capacity of the meanest, yet there is that in them which will be entertainment for the greatest. They are divine and heavenly things, so excellent that, in comparison with them, all other learning is but children's play. Things which relate to an eternal God, an immortal soul, and an everlasting state, must needs be excellent things. 2. They are of incontestable equity, and carry along with them the evidence of their own goodness. They are right things (Pro 8:6), all in righteousness (Pro 8:8), and nothing froward or perverse in them. All the dictates and directions of revealed religion are consonant to, and perfective of, the light and law of nature, and there is nothing in them that puts any hardship upon us, that lays us under any undue restraints, unbecoming the dignity and liberty of the human nature, nothing that we have reason to complain of. All God's precepts concerning all things are right. 3. They are of unquestionable truth. Wisdom's doctrines, upon which her laws are founded, are such as we may venture our immortal souls upon: My mouth shall speak truth (Pro 8:7), the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, for it is a testimony to the world. Every word of God is true; there are not so much as pious frauds in it, nor are we imposed upon in that which is told us for our good. Christ is a faithful witness, is the truth itself; wickedness (that is, lying) is an abomination to his lips. Note, Lying is wickedness, and we should not only refrain from it, but it should be an abomination to us, and as far from what we say as from what God says to us. His word to us is yea, and amen; never then let ours be yea and nay. 4. They are wonderfully acceptable and agreeable to those who take them aright, who understand themselves aright, who have not their judgments blinded and biassed by the world and the flesh, are not under the power of prejudice, are taught of God, and whose understanding he has opened, who impartially seek knowledge, take pains for it, and have found it in the enquiries they have hitherto made. To them, (1.) They are all plain, and not hard to be understood. If the book is sealed, it is to those who are willingly ignorant. If our gospel is hidden, it is hidden to those who are lost; but to those who depart from evil, which is understanding, who have that good understanding which those have who do the commandments, to them they are all plain and there is nothing difficult in them. The way of religion is a highway, and the way-faring men, though fools, shall not err therein, Isa 35:8. Those therefore do a great wrong to the common people who deny them the use of the scripture under pretence that they cannot understand it, whereas it is plain for plain people. (2.) They are all right, and not hard to be submitted to. Those who discern things that differ, who know good and evil, readily subscribe to the rectitude of all Wisdom's dictates, and therefore, without murmuring or disputing, govern themselves by them.
III. From all this he infers that the right knowledge of those things, such as transforms us into the image of them, is to be preferred before all the wealth of this world (Pro 8:10, Pro 8:11): Receive my instruction, and not silver. Instruction must not only be heard, but received. We must bid it welcome, receive the impressions of it, and submit to the command of it; and this rather than choice gold, that is, 1. We must prefer religion before riches, and look upon it that, if we have the knowledge and fear of God in our hearts, we are really more happy and better provided for every condition of life than if we had ever so much silver and gold. Wisdom is in itself, and therefore must be in our account, better than rubies. It will bring us in a better price, be to us a better portion; show it forth, and it will be a better ornament than jewels and precious stones of the greatest value. Whatever we can sit down and wish for of the wealth of this world would, if we had it, be unworthy to be compared with the advantages that attend serious godliness. 2. We must be dead to the wealth of this world, that we may the more closely and earnestly apply ourselves to the business of religion. We must receive instruction as the main matter, and then be indifferent whether we receive silver or no; nay, we must not receive it as our portion and reward, as the rich man in his life-time received his good things.
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 vv1–16 Doth not wisdom cry?.... Christ, who is the Wisdom…
Doth not wisdom cry?.... Christ, who is the Wisdom of God; See Gill on Pro 1:20; and which clearly appears from his subsistence with the Father, his eternal existence, and from many personal properties, characters, and actions ascribed to him throughout the whole of this chapter, and in the following. "Crying" is here attributed to him, which signifies proclaiming, publishing, preaching the everlasting Gospel, which directs men in the right way of enjoying peace, comfort, honour, and eternal happiness; the allusion is to an herald that this up his voice aloud at noon day in the public streets when he proclaims; and is opposed to the whispers of a harlot, at night, in a corner; truth seeks no corner, its voice is heard at noon day, it will bear the light. Now, "does not" or "shall not Wisdom cry", or Christ preach; verily he does or will, in his word, by his prophets under the former dispensation; in his own person, and by his apostles and ministers, under the present; who then would hearken to the alluring voice of a harlot, or hear Jezebel the wicked prophetess teach, when Christ himself preaches, or however by his faithful ministers?
and understanding put forth her voice? the same with Wisdom, or Christ, see Pro 8:14; by whose voice the Gospel is meant, which is the voice of Christ, which is heard and followed by the sheep of Christ, and not the voice of a stranger; and "putting it forth", giving or uttering it, signifies the publication of it.
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, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15 A recommendation of Divine wisdom, ver. 1-21. The praise…
A recommendation of Divine wisdom, ver. 1-21. The praise of the Son of God, the eternal Wisdom of the Father, ver. 22-31. An exhortation to hearken to him, ver. 32-36.
Wisdom - It is a great question what this wisdom is. Some understand it of the Divine wisdom; others of the second person in the Godhead: and it cannot be denied that some passages best agree to the former, and others to the latter opinion. Possibly both may be joined together, and the chapter may be understood of Christ considered partly in his personal capacity, and partly in regard of his office, which was to impart the mind and will of God to mankind.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1–15 The fame and excellence of wisdom, and its manner…
CHAPTER VIII
The fame and excellence of wisdom, and its manner of teaching,
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1-4;
the matter of its exhortations, 5-12;
its influence among men, 13-21;
its antiquity, 22-31;
the blessedness of attending to its counsels, 32-35;
the misery of those who do not, 36.
NOTES ON CHAP. VIII.
Verse 1. Doth not wisdom cry?] Here wisdom is again personified; but the prosopopoeia is carried on to a greater length than before, and with much more variety. It is represented in this chapter in a twofold point of view:
1. Wisdom, the power of judging rightly, implying the knowledge of Divine and human things.
2. As an attribute of God, particularly displayed in the various and astonishing works of creation.
Nor has it any other meaning in this whole chapter, whatever some of the fathers may have dreamed, who find allegorical meanings every where. The wise man seems as if suddenly awakened from the distressful contemplation which he had before him,-of the ruin of young persons in both worlds by means of debauchery,-by the voice of wisdom, who has lifted up her voice in the most public places, where was the greatest concourse of the people, to warn the yet unsnared, that they might avoid the way of seduction and sin; and cause those who love her to inherit substance, and to have their treasuries filled with durable riches.
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 vv1, 2, 7, 12, 13, 14 Pro 8:1. Doth not wisdom cry — It is…
Pro 8:1. Doth not wisdom cry — It is a great question what this wisdom is, of which Solomon discourses so largely and profoundly in this chapter. Some understand it of that attribute or perfection of the divine nature which is called wisdom, whereby God perfectly knows all things, and makes known to men what he judges it necessary or expedient for them to know. This is Bishop Patrick’s opinion, who says, “I take wisdom here, as it signifies in other places of this book, and hath been hitherto described; which Solomon now celebrates for her most venerable antiquity, and introduces like a most beautiful person, no less than a queen, or rather some divine being, who, having finished her own praises, concludes with an earnest invitation unto all to become acquainted with her instructions, if they mean to be happy, and to avoid the greatest miseries. Others, however, understand it of the Son of God, who is called the wisdom of God, Luk 11:49. And it cannot fairly be denied that some passages do best agree to the former, and others to the latter opinion. “Possibly,” says Poole, “both may be joined together, and the chapter may be understood of Christ, considered partly in his personal capacity, and partly in regard to his office, which was to impart the mind and will of God to mankind.” This he did, 1st, By revealing it to, and writing it upon, the mind of man at his first creation, Joh 1:1-4, &c. 2d, By publishing it unto the patriarchs in the time of the Old Testament, 1Pe 1:11; and 1Pe 3:18-20. 3d, By declaring it from his own mouth, and by his apostles and ministers under the gospel.
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 vv1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 15 A companion picture to that in Prov. 7, and…
A companion picture to that in Prov. 7, and serving in some measure to generalize and idealize it. Wisdom also calls Pro 8:5 to the “simple” and the “fools,” and they have to choose between her voice and that of the temptress.
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, 5, 12, 13, 14, 15 LISTEN we now to the calls of heavenly Wisdom…
LISTEN we now to the calls of heavenly Wisdom — to the voice of the Son of God.†1 Careless soul! shall thy Divine call be slighted, when the allurements of sin and vanity have had power to arrest thine ear?†2 Can ignorance be pleaded? Doth not wisdom cry? and that — not in the hour of darkness, and in the secret corners, but in the high places — the paths of the city — the doors of thy house? Has she not followed thee to thy places of business — of diversion — of sin? Has she not put forth her voice in the Bible — in the family — in the preached word? The loudness — the perseverance of the cry betokens earnestness in thy friend, and danger in thy condition. For would she have cried so loud, or continued so long, if she had not loved thy soul; if she had not known the wrath that was hanging over thee — the hell that was before thee?
The call is unfettered; not to devils, but to men: not to the righteous, but to the sons of men. Every child, therefore, of guilty Adam has his name in the warrant. It is the proclamation of the Gospel "to every creature." (Mar 16:15 .) Wherever the word reaches, the offer is made. Wherever a lost sinner be found on this side of the grave, the free welcome of the Gospel meets him. If he be not saved, he is more lost than ever. His ruin lies at his own door. (Mat 23:37 .)
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Footnotes:
†1 We assume the speaker to be personal — essential Wisdom. Apart from the general reasons before given (Notes on Pro 1:20-21, Pro 1:24 ), this description could not without unnatural force apply to an attribute. It set out, I. Personal existence — brought forth — brought up — in conjunction with Deity — by Him (Pro 8:24, Pro 8:30 .) II. Personal properties (1.) set up (anointed, Heb.) from everlasting, for distinct office (Pro 8:23 ), (2.) The efficient cause in the work of creation (Pro 8:27-30 ), (3.) Having wisdom (Pro 8:14 ) which, as an attribute itself, could not be the property of an attribute; and strength (Pro 8:14 ) an independent quality, not a property of wisdom, (4.) Personal authority (Pro 8:15-16 ), (5.) Leading into the ways of truth (Pro 8:19-20 ), (6.) Causing to inherit. (Pro 8:21 .) III. Personal affections — hatred (Pro 8:13 ), love (Pro 8:17 ), joy. (Pro 8:30-31 .) IV. Giving personal promises. (Pro 8:21 .) V. Commanding obedience as a matter of life and death. (Pro 8:32-36 .) Whether Solomon fully understood his own words, may be a question. 1Pe 1:10-11 . But receiving the words as from God; weighing their natural force; comparing them with Scripture parallels, we doubt not that they describe — not an attribute, but a Person — Eternal — Omniscient — in the most endearing relation to man — his Creator — Mediator — Savior.
(Note to e-Sword users: while many insightful commentators hold to a "personal wisdom" interpretation of this chapter (i.e., Christ), prayerfully take into consideration the repeated feminines of these opening verses ["her", "she" "she"]. It is this "she" that continues to speak throughout the whole chapter. Note also that the chapter follows immediately after the "she" "she" "she" of Chapter 7. Could it be that Solomon, by way of contrast, sets forth this better "woman" to persue, as one of the means by which his son would be delivered from the aforementioned adultress(?). See a similar contrast in Chapter 5 ("My son, avoid this adulterous woman,,," [ Pro 5:1-14 ] ,,, by "rejoicing with the wife of thy youth" [ Pro 5:15-19 ]. Likewise 1Co 7:2 .) See how this "she-wisdom" continues to speak through the first six verses of the next chapter: Pro 9:1-6 .
†2 Proverbs 7. ’Imagination cannot form to itself a more exquisite and affecting piece of scenery, than that exhibited by Solomon in the Book of Proverbs. In his seventh chapter he introduces the world, by its meretricious blandishments alluring the unwary to the chambers of destruction. In the succeeding chapter, by way of perfect contrast, appears in the beauty and majesty of holiness, the Son of the Father, the true and eternal Wisdom of God, with all the tender love and affectionate concern of a parent, inviting men to the substantial joys and enduring pleasures of immortality, in the house of salvation.’ — Bishop Horne’s Sermon on the Tree of Knowledge.
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, 3, 10, 12, 15 Voice. Men are wanting to themselves: they cannot plead…
Voice. Men are wanting to themselves: they cannot plead ignorance. (Calmet) --- Wisdom stands on high in the Catholic Church inviting all to virtue and happiness. (Worthington) --- Some explain this of the light which is communicated to men; but the Fathers apply it to Jesus Christ, some of the expressions regarding his divinity, and others his human nature, Ecclesiasticus xxiv.
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 Third Group of Admonitory or Proverbial Discourses
Third Group of Admonitory or Proverbial Discourses
Pro_8:1 to Pro_9:18
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14. A second public discourse of wisdom personified
Pro_8:1-36
a) The richness of her gifts
(Pro_8:1-21)
1 Doth not wisdom cry aloud,
and understanding lift up her voice?
2 Upon the top of the high places, by the way,
in the midst of the way she placeth herself.
3 By the side of the gates, at the exit from the city,
at the entrance to its doors she calleth aloud:
4 “To you, ye men, I call,
and my voice is to the sons of men!
5 Learn wisdom, O ye simple ones,
and ye fools, be of an understanding heart!
6 Hear, for I speak plain things,
and the utterances of my lips are right things;
7 for my mouth meditateth truth,
and wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
8 All the words of my mouth are right,
there is nothing crooked or false in them;
9 they are all right to the man of understanding,
and plain to them that have attained knowledge.
10 Receive my instruction and not silver,
and knowledge rather than choice gold!
11 For wisdom is better than pearls,
and no precious things equal her.
12 I, wisdom, dwell with prudence,
and find out knowledge of sagacious counsels.
13 The fear of Jehovah is to hate evil,
pride, arrogance and an evil way,
and a deceitful mouth do I hate.
14 Counsel is mine, and reflection;
I am understanding; I have strength.
15 By me kings reign
and rulers govern justly.
16 By me princes rule
and nobles, all the judges of the earth.
17 I love them that love me,
and they that seek me find me.
18 Riches and honour are with me,
increasing riches and righteousness.
19 Better is my fruit than the purest, finest gold,
and my revenue than choice silver.
20 In the way of righteousness do I walk,
in the midst of the paths of justice,
21 to ensure abundance to those that love me,
and to fill their treasuries.
b) The origin of her nature in God
(Pro_8:22-31)
22 Jehovah created me as beginning of his way,
before his works of old.
23 From everlasting was I set up,
from the beginning, before the foundation of the earth.
24 When there were as yet no floods was I brought forth,
when there were no fountains abounding with water.
25 Before the mountains were settled,
before the hills was I brought forth;
26 while as yet he had not made land and plains
and the first clods of the earth.
27 When he prepared the heavens I was there,
when he stretched out the firmament over the deep;
28 when he established the clouds above,
when the fountains of the deep raged loudly;
29 when he set to the sea its bounds,
that the waters should not pass its border;
when he settled the foundation pillars of the earth;
30 then was I at his side as director of the work,
and was delighted day by day,
rejoicing before him continually,
31 rejoicing in his earth,
and my delight did I find in the sons of men.
c) The blessing that flows from the possession of her
(Pro_8:32-36)
32 And now, ye children, hearken unto me:
Blessed are they that keep my ways!
33 Hear instruction, and be wise,
and be not rebellious.
34 Blessed is the man that heareth me,
watching daily at my gates,
waiting at the posts of my doors!
35 For whosoever findeth me findeth life
and obtaineth favor from Jehovah;
36 and whosoever sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul:
all they that hate me love death.”
GRAMMATICAL AND CRITICAL
Pro_8:2. בֵּין=בֵּית, in the midst, is an Aramaic idiom, occurring also in Eze_41:9.—A.
Pro_8:3. As to the form תָּרֹנָּה comp. Pro_1:20. [Bött. 929, δ.—A.]
Pro_8:5. Instead of הָבִינוּ לֵב [understand ye in heart, “be ye of an understanding heart,” E. V.], we should probably read with the LXX [ἔνθεσθε καρδίαν ], Vulg., Arnoldi and Hitzig הָכִינוּ לֵב, direct your heart, i.e., exert your understanding, applicate animum. Comp. לֵב נָכוֹן, Psa_57:8; and also 1Sa_7:3; Job_11:13; and to illustrate the use of לֵב in the sense of the understanding the reason, comp. several other passages in the Proverbs, especially Pro_15:32; Pro_17:16; Pro_19:8.
Pro_8:6. נְגִירִים. [An illustration of the principle that “single adjectives describing what is pre-eminent or striking appear in the more elevated style, raised as it were to personality, and are therefore put in the masc. plural;” see Böttcher, § 707, 2—A.]
Pro_8:13. שְׂנֹאת, [an infinitive of a verb לא having the feminine termination of the verbs לה; see Bött., § 1083, 13.—A.].
אֵהָב [regularly אֶאֶהַכ,—after the rejection of one of the weak consonants, the vowel is “assimilated” from the initial vowel of the neighboring form אֹהֲבַי; for examples of the normal modification, אֹהַב, with and without suffixes,, see Mal_1:2; Hos_11:1; Hos_14:5 : Psa_119:167.—Bött., § 425, h.—A.]
יִמְצָאֻֽנְנִי, [an example of the retention of the fuller form of the plural ending with weakened vowel and toneless suffix; see Bött., § 1047, f.—A.]
Pro_8:24. מַעְיָנוֹת. With this fem. plural form there occurs in an isolated instance, Psa_104:10 [together with four others of construct and suffix forms], the masculine מַעְינִָים; for which reason the masc. of the adjective נִכְבַּדֵּי is the less striking (Bertheau).
Pro_8:25. [Perfect tense with טֶרֶם in the sense of a Pluperfect. Bött., § 947, c.—A.]
Pro_8:29. [וְלֹא יַעַבְרוּ. Imperfect with וְלֹא in sense of an lmperf. Subj., “so that,” etc. Bött., § 949, δ, 2.—A.]
Pro_8:29. בְּחוּקוֹ stands either for בְּחֻקּוֹ, or as Hitzig perhaps more correctly assumes for the Poal form בְּחוֹקְקוֹ. [Böttcher prefers the first of these explanations, citing this as an example of usage varying in certain words, and suggesting as a reason for the adoption of the fuller form in this case, correspondence with בְּשׂוּמוֹ in the first clause. See §§ 766, η, and 1147.—A.]
EXEGETICAL
1. Preliminary Remark. From the preceding larger group of admonitory discourses (chap. 4–7), that now before us, comprising only chap. 8 and 9, is distinguished chiefly by the fact that it returns to the representation, which has already been made in chapters 1–3 of Wisdom as a person. And this is so done that the two features of the representation which there appeared separately; the exhibition of Wisdom as a public preacher (Pro_1:20-33), and as a divine agent in the creation of the world (Pro_3:19-26), are now combined in one whole. Here Wisdom appearing as a preacher herself testifies to the aid which she rendered God at the creation (Pro_8:22 sq.). Besides this point of contact with the first main group, we may also direct attention to the mention of the fear of God as a disposition in the most intimate alliance, and even identical with wisdom (Pro_8:13); this also is common to the division before us and the first; for only in chapters 1–3 (see Pro_1:7; Pro_1:29; Pro_2:5; Pro_3:7) was any express utterance given to this form of the Hhokmah doctrine. The middle group (chap. 4–7) nowhere contains the expression “the fear of Jehovah.” There are however continually coming to view many connections between the second and third groups; especially the plural address “ye children,” repeated in the discourse of the personal Wisdom (Pro_8:32) from Pro_4:1; Pro_5:7; Pro_7:24 (see above, p. 95). Observe also the representation of Folly personified, as a counterpart to Wisdom (Pro_9:13-18), appearing as an adulteress of mien and bearing quite like the adulterous woman of chap. 7 who is as it were exhibited here, “developed into a more comprehensive character” (comp. Hitzig, p. 69).—Furthermore this last section of the first main division of the Book of Proverbs consists of only two discourses of unequal length, chapters 8 and 9 each of which, however, in turn includes several subdivisions clearly distinguishable,—chap. 8, comprising the three that have been given above, and chap. 9 the two parallel delineations of the personal Wisdom (Pro_8:1-12) and Folly personified (Pro_8:13-18).—The unequal length of the two discourses Hitzig seeks to a certain extent to remove by striking out from chap. 8 a large number of verses, sixteen, and from chap. 9 a smaller number, six, as spurious additions by a later hand. His grounds of distrust are, however, here again of a purely subjective kind, and do not present for a single one of the passages in question any reliable evidence of their spurious character, as we shall hereafter have occasion to show in detail.
2. Pro_8:1-3. Doth not wisdom cry aloud? This form of interrogation (with הֲלֹא) which expects as its answer an assenting and emphatic “Yes, truly!” points to the fact clearly brought to view in all that has preceded, that wisdom bears an unceasing witness in her own behalf in the life of men.
Pro_8:2. Upon the top of the high places by the way, in order that those who pass along by the way may observe her. In the midst of the way. This Aramaic idiom gives no occasion for pronouncing the passage spurious (contrary to the view of Hitzig, who furthermore takes exception to the allusion to “high places” in the 1st clause, and therefore summarily pronounces the entire 2d verse interpolated). Umbreit translates “at the house where roads cross,” and interprets, not indeed of an inn located at cross-roads (as Döderlein does), but still of a house situated at the junction of several streets. But these “ways” are roads, solitary paths, not streets in the city, and the delineation proceeds in such an order as to exhibit Wisdom first, in Pro_8:2, as a preacher in the open country, in grove and field, on mountains and plains, and then in Pro_8:3 to describe her public harangues in the cities, and in the tumult of the multitudes. The condition therefore is unlike both to that presented in Pro_1:20-21, and to that in Pro_9:13, where in both cases the interior of a city alone furnishes the scene for Wisdom’s activity as a preacher.
Pro_8:3. At the exit from the city, literally “towards the mouth of the city,” i.e., standing at the gate and facing the streets which centre there.—At the entrance to its doors, (comp. Pro_1:21), i.e., standing on the farther (outer) side of the gateway.
3. Pro_8:4-11. This more general introduction to Wisdom’s discourse, with the addition of Pro_8:12, Hitzig declares spurious, partly on account of the alleged tautological nature of Pro_8:6-9, giving no genuine progress to the thought,—partly because Pro_8:10 is almost identical with Pro_8:19, and Pro_8:11 with Pro_3:15,—and lastly, partly because of the peculiar form אִישִׁים in Pro_8:4, which is said to betray a later date. Yet this very form is found also in Isa_53:3, and Psa_141:4, for both of which passages the later origin (in the exile, or even after the exile) is in like manner yet to be established. And as respects the alleged tautologies and repetitions, similar ones occur throughout the entire Book of Proverbs (comp. Introd. § 12). The codices and old versions, however, know nothing whatever of the absence from the text of even a single one of these verses.
Pro_8:5. Learn wisdom, O ye simple ones. Comp. Pro_1:4.—Ye fools, show understanding, see critical note, above.
Pro_8:6. I speak plain things. The word here translated “plain” might, it is true, designate “noble, princely things,” (comp. the σεμνά of the LXX, the “res magnæ” of the Vulg., etc.); [So Wordsw., Holden, N. and M.], the parallelism however renders more natural the signification “plain, evident” (clara, manifesta); [So Stuart]; comp. a similar term in Pro_8:9. This only appropriate sense we find already given in the Chaldee and Syriac versions.
Pro_8:7. For my mouth meditateth truth, literally, “my palate,” comp. Song Son_5:16; Job_31:30. The function of speech does not appear to be here immediately associated with the palate, but, as the antithesis in the 2d clause shows, rather the inward moulding of the word as yet unspoken, by the silent working of the spirit,—the reflective consideration which precedes speech.
Pro_8:8. Right, literally, “in righteousness.” For this use of thE preposition employed to introduce the predicate, and forming as it were the transition to the בְּ essentiæ, compare passages like Pro_24:5; Psa_29:4, and Ewald, § 217 f.
Pro_8:9. Right to the man of understanding…plain to them that have attained knowledge. Straight and plain stand contrasted with the crooked and false of the preceding verse. [Trapp: “Plain in things necessary to salvation; for as all duties so all truths do not concern all men. God doth not expect or require that every man should be a doctor in the chair; but those points that direct to duty here and salvation hereafter, are clear, express and obvious to them that desire to understand them.”]
The “man of understanding” is he who is so wise as not to despise the words of wisdom, who rather duly takes them to heart. “They that have attained knowledge,” literally “the finders of knowledge,” are those who have made progress in the sphere of ethical knowledge, the “knowing,” the mature and experienced. Umbreit incorrectly interprets “to them that wish to find knowledge;” the participle is here to be taken in a preteritive sense; comp. Gen_19:14; Neh_10:29. [Other examples may be found cited by Büttcher, § 997, 2, II.]
Pro_8:10. Receive my instruction and not silver, i.e., when you have the choice prefer my instruction to silver. There is therefore here a comparison like that in the 2d clause, only somewhat otherwise expressed.—Rather than choice gold. Hitzig, following the LXX and Chald., “than tried gold.” But נִבְחָר means “selected, chosen,” and we have no trace elsewhere of the use of the partic. נִבְחָן, which is indeed similar in form and easily substituted, for the designation of tried gold (χρυσίον δεδοκιμασμένον). Comp. besides Pro_8:19, and in the foregoing, Pro_3:14; with Pro_8:11 comp. Pro_3:15.
4. Pro_8:12-21. I, Wisdom, dwell with prudence. That Wisdom who is speaking here emphatically calls herself by name is doubtless to be explained by the fact that only just before, in Pro_8:11, she had spoken of herself in the 3d person. Very unwarrantably Hitzig infers from this circumstance the spuriousness of this verse also.—The “dwelling” of wisdom “with prudence “expresses a confidential or friendly relation,—the same idea which is elsewhere indicated by the Hiphil of the closely related verb סכן; comp. Psa_139:3; Job_22:21. Inasmuch as the verb stands here with the simple accusative of the noun, without the prepositions ordinarily signifying “with” (for this construction comp. e.g., Psa_5:5) many translated “I inhabit prudence” and so conceive of prudence either as the sheltering roof (as e.g., Umbreit explains), or as a property subject to the disposal of prudence (thus Bertheau); but both are alike harsh and inapposite. The correct view is found in Ewald, Hitzig, Elster, the last of whom illustrates the relation of wisdom to prudence by the remark, “prudence (עָרְמָה) denotes here right knowledge in special cases, in contrast with the more comprehensive idea of intelligence in general; the practical realization of the higher principle of knowledge found in wisdom (חָכְמָה).”—And find out knowledge of sagacious counsels. “To find out knowledge” here stands for “to know” (comp. Job_32:13); the expression as a whole would therefore find its equivalent in the simpler “and know sagacious counsels” (וָאֵרַע מְזִמּוֹת). Comp. furthermore the notes on Pro_1:14.
Pro_8:13. The fear of Jehovah is to hate evil. Only thus far is the 1st member of this ver. to be carried; the following expressions, “pride,” “arrogance,” and “an evil way” (literally, “way of evil”) are, in spite of the present accentuation, to be regarded as prefixed objects to the verb “I hate,” so that the meaning of the entire verse is substantially this; “Inasmuch as the fear of God, this beginning of all wisdom (see Pro_1:7; Pro_9:10) comprises within itself as a distinguishing characteristic the hatred of evil, I, wisdom, accordingly hate everything proud, wicked and crafty.” (Comp. Hitzig on this passage). The general proposition forming the first member of the ver., which naturally gives us no exhaustive definition of the fear of God, but only a description of it by one of its chief characteristics (comp. Heb_11:1), is therefore, as it were, the major premise, from which the conclusion is drawn that forms the 2d and 3d members. The minor premise, however, which might have had some such form as the first clause of Pro_9:10, is omitted; the reasoning, as it here stands, taking the form of a lemma. In opposition to the diverse methods of punctuating and interpreting, such as are found in Umbreit, Bertheau, and most of the earlier commentators, comp. Hitzig and Elster on this passage.—For the expression “mouth of deceit” or “crafty mouth” comp. Pro_2:12; Pro_10:31.
Pro_8:14 Hitzig pronounces an addition growing out of the similar passage Job_12:13, as he also explains the two following verses as “founded upon the reading of Isa_32:1,” and condemns them. But the accordance with these other passages is far too remote and partial to permit us to think of a derivation from them. In the case of Pro_8:14 and Job_12:13 we might more readily think of the converse relation of dependence, in case one must at all maintain any such relation as existing, which seems hardly necessary. For as respects the expressions “wisdom,” “counsel,” “understanding,” and “strength,” which are brought into combination in these verses, they are found, with the exception of the second, combined elsewhere, especially in Isa_11:2, where they are adduced quite as they are here, as attributes of the true ruler. The instances of paronomasia, however, in Pro_8:15-16, (“kings are kings,” and “rulers rulers”), were of themselves so natural, and suggested themselves so obviously, that neither for the author of our verses was there need of any reading of Isa_32:1, nor for Isaiah of any recollection of Pro_8:15-16, to give occasion for the employment of this trope.—[Wordsw.: Sound wisdom, the very essence of things, whence they derive their soundness and strength].—I am understanding, I have (lit. “mine is”) strength. This change in the pronouns is certainly not undesigned: “understanding” is to be exhibited as one with wisdom, “strength” however (i.e., true efficiency or energy), as a possession, or more precisely a result of wisdom, just as previously in the first clause “counsel” and “reflection” (comp. with respect to them Pro_2:17) are named as constant products, possessions, or attributes of wisdom.
Pro_8:16. And nobles, all Judges upon earth. These two subjects, attached without any copula to the “princes” of the 1st clause, are plainly intended to signify that all possible diverse classes of princes or rulers derive their power from the celestial wisdom of God (comp. the similar enumerations in Eph_1:21; Col_1:16, etc.). The idea that this proposition can hold only of just rulers, owes its origin doubtless to the old reading “judges of righteousness” (צֶדֶק) instead of “judges of the earth” (אֶרֶץ), (found in Syr., Chald., Vulg., R. Norzi, and still preferred by Bertheau). See objections to this and arguments in support of the Masoretic text in Hitzig.
Pro_8:17. I love them that love me. This conforms to the pointed text (אֹהֲבַי). The written text (אֹהֲבֶיהָ), “them that love her (Wisdom)” is not in keeping with the context, seems to have been occasioned by a wandering of the transcriber’s eye to the form of the verb following [which although a peculiar form of the 1st person—see critical note above—might, unpointed, be mistaken for a form of the 3d person], and has therefore with abundant reason been rejected by all the old versions, several MSS., and by most of the recent interpreters (Umbreit, Ewald, Elster, and Hitzig).—With the 2d clause of Pro_8:17, comp. Pro_1:28.
Pro_8:18. Comp. Pro_3:16.—Increasing riches. This is probably the meaning which, with Hitzig, we should adopt (growing means, “wachsend Vermögen”); for the common rendering, “old” or “durable” riches, seems less appropriate, since the old is by no means necessarily the sound and permanent. Comp. rather, with reference to the idea of a steadily growing or accumulating wealth, Psa_62:10.—And righteousness. What this here signifies is more fully explained in the first clause of Pro_8:20.
Pro_8:19. Better is my fruit, comp. the representation of wisdom as the tree of life in Pro_3:18, and to illustrate the “purest, finest gold” (in Hebrew properly two synonymous expressions for the idea of “fine gold,” comp. Psa_19:11; Psa_21:4; Song Son_5:11) compare Pro_3:14.
Pro_8:21. To ensure abundance to those that love me. The word here translated “abundance” (יֵשׁ) must here necessarily be a substantive, of similar import with a derived form (תּוּשִׁיָה) occurring in Pro_2:7, and substantially equivalent to the ὕπαρξις of the LXX and the οὐσία of the Venetian version. For the verb “to ensure” plainly requires an object, and the position of this noun at the end of the clause shows that this is precisely the object governed by the verb. Moreover, if Hitzig’s conception of the expression as an impersonal verb in the sense of præsto est, it is at my command, (“I have it”) were correct, we ought rather to have a pronominal object (יֵשׁ לִי, “there is to me”). The verse as a whole, therefore, forms a conclusion to the preceding, setting forth the object of Wisdom’s walking in paths of righteousness as described in Pro_8:20; in other words, what result follows from such a course to her friends and attendants. Comp. Bertheau on this passage. After Pro_8:21 the LXX has the words, “If I declare to you the things that occur day by day, I will remember to enumerate the things that are from eternity” [ἐὰν ἀναγγείλω ὑμῖν τὰ καθ’ ἡμέραν γινόμενα, μνημονεύσω τὰ ἐξ αἰῶνος ἀριθμῆσαι]. This addition is evidently designed to prepare the way for the subsequent description of the antemundane origin and working of Wisdom; it appears, however, as ill adapted to this as to any possible place either at the beginning of the chapter, such as Jaeger proposes to assign it (Observatt., p. 63), or again before Pro_8:10, where Hitzig would be disposed to transfer it.
5. Pro_8:22-26. In this delineation of the divine origin of the personal Wisdom, the first half directs attention first to her existence before time, or her creation as the first of all created things.—Jehovah created me as the beginning of his course. Thus versions as old as the LXX (ἔκτισε), Chald., Syriac, with most of the modern commentators;—while the exegesis of the ancient church from the time of the Arian controversy judged itself compelled to render the verb in the sense of possedit me (Vulg.), or ἐκτήσατο (thus the Vers. Venet. and even Aquila); and this turn of expression was given, that the idea of a creation of eternal Wisdom, or what was equivalent, of the personal Word of God, might be excluded. But against the rendering, “Jehovah possessed me,” may be adduced, 1) the fact that the verb (קָנָה) does not signify simply “to possess,” but “to attain to the possession,” “to acquire,” which latter signification would find here a poor application; 2) the fact that the adjunct of the verb (רֵאשִׁית דַּרְכּוֹ) agrees better with the idea of creating than that of possessing; 3) that the double mention of Wisdom’s “being born,” in Pro_8:24-25, and not less the expression in Pro_8:23, “I was set up” (“or wrought out”), corresponds better with the idea of a creation than with that of possessing or having; and 4) that the parallel passages, Sir_1:4; Sir_1:9; Sir_24:8, which are evidently formed on the model of that before us, also employ the verb κτίζειν (create), and not some such as ἔχειν or κέκτησθαι (have or possess). Even though accordingly the personal Wisdom is represented as one created at the beginning of the divine activity, not begotten, as a κτίσμα, οὐ γέννημα, still we may by no means draw from this the conclusion of the correctness of the well-known Arian dogma that the Son of God is the first creation of God. For the delineations of the whole passage before us are of a poetical nature, and are not adapted to a direct application in forming dogmatic conceptions; and the personal Wisdom of our didactic poem is by no means simply identical with the Logos, or the Son of God. Comp. the Doctrinal notes.—“The beginning of His way” is a second accusative depending on the verb; “as beginning or first fruit of His way,” i.e. His activity, His creative efficiency, His self-revelation. Instead of the singular, “His way,” we ought perhaps, with the LXX, the Vulgate, and many recent expositors, especially Hitzig, to read in the plural “His ways” (דְּרָבָו); the parallel expression “before His works” seems to speak decidedly for this reading.—Before his works. The word here translated “works” (מִפְעָלִים) occurs only here; yet Comp. the corresponding feminine form in Psa_46:9 (מִפְעָלוֹת). The word translated “before” (קֶדֶם) Hitzig regards as also a substantive, synonymous with “beginning” (רֵאשִׁית), and therefore translates “as foremost of His works.” Yet the conception of it as a preposition is favored by the usage of the O. T. elsewhere.—Of old (מֵאָז), long ago, literally, “from long ago,” comp. Psa_93:2.
Pro_8:23. From eternity. It seems necessary, with the expositors of the early church and many of recent times, such as Umbreit, Bertheau, Elster, etc., to regard this difficult verb which follows as a Niphal from נָסַךְ, and therefore to translate it “I was anointed,” i.e. consecrated to a priestly royalty; comp. the ordinata sum of the Vulgate. But the verb is not elsewhere used in this conjugation; and the parallelism with Pro_8:22, as well as with those following, calls for a verb having some such meaning as “establish, create, call into being.” It seems therefore needful to read with the LXX, “I was established” (נוֹסַרתִי = “ἐθεμελίωσέν με”), or, which would be better advised, so to interpret the form in the text as to give the idea of a being created, or something equivalent. To this end we may either translate, with the Versio Veneta, comparing Ecclesiastic. Pro_1:9 (ἐξἑχεεν αὐτὴν), κέχυμαι, “I was poured forth,” or which is on the whole to be preferred, with Hitzig we may vary the punctuation (נְסַכֹּתִי), so that the expression shall stand as Perfect Niphal, of the verb סָכַךְ, and have the signification “I was woven or wrought;” with this may be compared Psa_139:15; Isa_38:12.—From the beginning, from the foundation of the earth. “From the beginning,” as in Isa_48:16. “The foundation of the earth,” an expression like that occurring in Isa_23:7 (קַרְמַת אֶרֶץ), denoting the earliest primæval period, the time of the beginning, the origin of the earth. How this establishment or production of Wisdom “from the foundation of the earth” is to be understood, namely, in the sense of an existence of Wisdom even prior to the earth (comp. Psa_90:2), appears from the three following verses.
Pro_8:24. When there were as yet no floods. Hitzig regards the mention of the waters before the mountains as inappropriate, and therefore conjectures that the verse is spurious. As though in Psa_104:6 and Job_38:8 the seas were not mentioned immediately before the earth as a whole, and also before the mountains!—Fountains abounding with water. The meaning is, doubtless, the springs from which the floods or the deep broke forth; comp. Gen_7:11, and below, Pro_8:28.
Pro_8:25. Before the mountains were as yet settled, with their “roots” (Job_28:9) in the pliant earth; comp. Job_38:6, where mention is made of the settling even of the pillars of the earth (in the infinite space of the heavens). With the second clause comp. Psa_90:2.—Land and plains. The LXX had in their day correctly rendered חוּצוֹת by ἀοικήτους [uninhabitable places]; these are “unoccupied commons or plains,” regions lying outside the occasionally occupied land (comp. Job_5:10).—The first clods of the earth. Thus, with Hitzig, are we to understand this expression, and not “the sum or mass of the clods of the earth” (Cocceius, Schultens, Bertheau, Elster, etc.); and still less “the first men” (Jarchi), or even “man as born of the earth” (Umbreit); these last interpretations are plainly too far-fetched.
6. Pro_8:27-31. From the antemundane existence of Wisdom the poet now passes over to the description of her active coöperation in the creation of the world. The same progress from the pre-existence to the world-creating activity of the divine Logos is found in several passages of the N. T., especially in Joh_1:1-3, Col_1:15-16.—When he stretched out the firmament over the deep, i.e. when He fixed the vault of heaven, the arch of heaven (comp. Gen_1:8; Job_22:14), over the waters of the earth, as a barrier between the upper and lower waters (Gen_1:6; Job_26:10). Over the deep, in the Hebrew literally “upon the surface of the deep,” comp. Gen_1:2.
Pro_8:28. When he fixed the clouds above. Literally, “when He made firm, made strong” (בְּאַמְּצוֹ); i.e. the clouds are, as in Job_26:8; Job_38:37, conceived of as bags, which only in case they are suitably secured and do not burst, prevent the mighty outpouring of the upper waters upon the earth.—When the fountains of the deep (see Pro_8:24 above) raged violently. This is the interpretation to be given, with Umbreit, Winer, Hitzig, etc.; for the verb here unquestionably has the intransitive meaning, invalescere, vehementer agitari (comp. in Isa_43:16 the “mighty waters”). The transitive signification, “when He made firm, i.e. restrained, bound up” (LXX; most of the other versions, and recent interpreters like Elster) is inadmissible from the absence of the suffix with the infinitive.
Pro_8:29. When he set to the sea its bounds. “Bound” here in its local sense, limit, barrier, as in Jer_5:22; substantially the same as “its border” (פִּיו) in the 2d member. For this expression (פִּי הַיָּם) mouth or shore of the sea, instead of the phrase, elsewhere usual, “lip of the sea” (שְׂפַת הַיָם), as in Gen_41:3; comp. Isa_19:7; and for the description of the separation between the sea and the land in general, see Gen_1:9-10; Psa_94:9.—When he settled the foundation pillars of the earth; end of the description of the earth’s creation, comp. Job_38:6.
Pro_8:30. Then was I at his side as directress of the work. This noun, derived from a verb (אָמַן) signifying to be firm, true, reliable (and also kindred to יָמִין, dexter, “the right hand,” yet not to be regarded as Hoffmann takes it, Schriftbew., I. 95; as an infinitive absolute used adverbially, but necessarily as a substantive), denotes like the parallel form found in Song Son_7:2, “artifex, artist, master of the work.” [So Wordsw., Hold., Muensch., Noyes; Stuart translates “confidant.”—A.] Comp. the description, undoubtedly based on the passage before us, found in Wis_7:21 : ἠ τῶν πάντων τεχνῖτις σοφία (“wisdom which is the worker of all things”); comp. the epithet ἁρμόζουσα (adapting) in the LXX, and the cuncta componens of the Vulgate, in our passage. In opposition to the rendering of אָמוֹן by “foster-child, alumnus, nutricius” (Aquila, Schultens, Rosenmueller, Elster) may be urged first, that then in accordance with Lam_4:5 we ought to point אָמוּן, [which pointing Böttcher favors, see § 660, 6 and n. 1], and then, that this form could hardly have stood in the text as a substantive without some adjunct defining it more closely. The verb should be rendered, not “then became I” (Bertheau), but “then was I.” For the existence of wisdom before the world’s creation and at the time of the world’s creation formed the principal subject of the preceding description, and not, e.g., her passing from previous rest to more active relations.—And was delighted day by day. Literally, “I was delight day by day.” This abstract noun plainly stands in the predicate quite as appropriately as the parallel term in the 3d clause (the participle מְשַׂחֵקֶת) and aims like this expression to indicate that wisdom enjoyed and delighted in her creative activity. For the idiomatic use of this abstract noun comp. e.g., Psa_109:4 (“but I am prayer”); also notes on Pro_7:10 above.—The verse following then declares that this her delight and exultation relates particularly to the manifold creatures of the earth, chiefly to man. The creative agency and control of the wisdom of God in the origin of the earth and its inhabitants, is therefore here represented as attended and sustained by the heartiest satisfaction in the natures that are created, especially in man, the personal image of God; and this is quite in harmony with the “God saw that it was good” of the six days of creation (Gen_1:10; Gen_1:12; Gen_1:18; Gen_1:31); comp. also Wis_7:22; Wis_7:27; Wis_7:29 sq. A reference of these expressions in Pro_8:31 to any period subsequent to the creation (Umbreit: “In his earth do I now delight and am the joy of the children of men,” comp. Mercerus and many of the elder interpreters, and also Luther), is suggested by nothing in the context, and is rather decidedly at variance with the connection. Not before Pro_8:32 does the author with “and now” return from the past to the present. When Hitzig feels constrained to strike out as spurious the second clause of Pro_8:30 (“and I was in joy of heart day by day”), and also the 1st clause of Pro_8:31 (“sporting in His earth”), this results from the fact that he has wholly missed the progressive character of the description, which gradually descends from God and His seat in the heavens to earth, and more specifically to the human race; just as, in his representation which shows throughout a peculiarly external and mechanical conception of the nature of wisdom, he maintains, “The 1st clause of Pro_8:31 comes into contradiction with the first of Pro_8:30; for if wisdom is near Jehovah she cannot appropriately be at the same time disporting herself on the earth!” A mere hasty glance at the later representations of the nature and activity of the hypostatic Wisdom, like Wis_7:8; Sirach 24, etc., might have convinced Hitzig of the superficial and untenable nature of such a view. Yet this is in truth nothing more than the necessary fruit of his entire rationalistic view of God and the world.
7. Pro_8:32-36. Concluding admonition and promise, based on Pro_8:22-31 as well as Pro_8:1-21.
Pro_8:33. Hear instruction, etc. Hitzig would have this whole verse stricken out “because it has no rhythm,” and because it comes in only as a disturbing clement between the benedictions in Pro_8:32; Pro_8:2 d clause, and Pro_8:34. But the lack of rhythm that is asserted rests on the conception of the subjective taste: and the position between two benedictions produces no distraction whatever; all the more since to the first and shorter of these two sentences beginning with “Blessed,” a corresponding admonition had been prefixed, Pro_8:32; Pro_8:1 st clause.—And be not rebellious. Thus with Umbreit, Elster, etc., must we understand the prohibition without a grammatical object (וְאַל תִּפְרָעוּ). To supply from the 1st clause the idea “instruction” is unnecessary, especially since the intransitive “and be wise” had been interposed as the immediate antithesis to the verb “refuse, or rebel.” For the etymology and signification of this verb (פָוַע) see, furthermore, notes on Pro_1:25.
Pro_8:34. That hearkeneth to me, watching, etc. The expression, “so that he watch” (לִשְׁקֹד) like the following phrase “so that he keep,” expresses not so much the design as the result of hearkening to wisdom; these expressions give, as it were, the manner of this hearkening, and thus correspond with the ablative of the gerund in Latin, or with the pres. participle (LXX: ἀγρυπνῶν—τηρῶν).—For whosoever findeth me, findeth life. This is in accordance with the K’ri. The K’thibh is somewhat more artificial, “for the finders of me are finders of life,” i.e., those who find me, they find life. One may choose between the two readings which in import do not differ. [Ruetschi proposes (Stud. u. Krit., Jan. 1868, p. 134) to solve the difficulty in another way, retaining the consonants of the K’thibh, but modifying the punctuation, so that the two forms will be singular and apparently identical (מֹצְאִי), the second being a form artificially constructed with ־י as a “union vowel,”(Ewald, § 211, b, 1), so as to secure the juxtaposition of two forms apparently the same.—A.].—And obtain favor from Jehovah. Literally “and draws forth,” i.e., gains for himself, harvests, bears away.
Pro_8:36. And whosoever sinneth against me. Literally “who misseth me” in contrast with “who findeth me” in Pro_8:35. Comp. Job_5:24; Jdg_20:16.—All they that hate me love death. Comp. Pro_4:13; Pro_4:22; Pro_7:27, and also Eze_18:31.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. For a correct understanding of the section before us two things in general are to be observed: 1) that the entire discourse is poetical, and that therefore the personification of Wisdom which forms its chief subject is also to be regarded as essentially, and in the first instance, the product of a bold poetical sweep of thought, and of a vivid oriental imagery; 2) that, however, because of the solemn earnestness and profoundly religious character of the discourse, its figurative element cannot possibly be viewed as the mere play of fancy; or an empty ringing of phrases, but must rather every where stand in more or less exact harmony with the supersensuous truth that is to be set forth. Wisdom, which here appears personified, as the principle of the world’s creation, as well as of its preservation and government, having sprung from God himself, and being absolutely supernatural, is no unsubstantial phantom, no unreal fiction of the fancy, no poetic creation without an underlying higher reality. It is rather a result of the profoundest religious and ethical inquiry, an object of the purest and most genuine knowledge of divine things, nay a product of divine revelation—only that this revelation has here passed through the medium of a poetic conception and representation, and for that very reason appears in its formal relations partially reflected, broken, or inaccurately exhibited. It is really the free poetic form, ideal in its portraiture, to which must be charged whatever in the statements before us is partially inadequate, inconsistent, and not directly applicable in the formation of dogmatic ideas. The substance, which is easily separable from this form, bears the impress of the most genuine divinely revealed truth, and forms one of the most important and strongest of the foundation pillars of Old Testament theology, on which the theology and Christology of the New Testament is reared, the doctrine of the Trinity in the ancient church, and indeed the whole glorious structure of Christian dogmatics.—Comp. Staudenmaier, Die Lehre von der Idee, pp. 31 sq., and particularly Nitzsch, Ueber die wesentl. Dreieinfffkeit Gottes (Letter to Lucke, in the Stud. und Krit. 1841, ii; especially pp. 310 sq.).
2. In the picture of wisdom drawn in our chapter the two conceptions of the divine wisdom, and the wisdom of the creature, or of the celestial type of the Hhokmah and its earthly and human counterpart, are plainly so combined that they more or less flow into each other, and without a clear discrimination of their difference interchange, (as in the shorter description of the protection and blessing going forth from God’s creative wisdom for those who honor it,—Pro_3:19-26). That wisdom is at the outset introduced as teaching and preaching (Pro_8:1 sq.), shows at once that she is regarded essentially as a self-conscious personal being, as a reflection therefore of the absolute personality, or the Godhead. And even within the first section (Pro_8:4-21), which refers in the first instance only to her manifestations in the moral and religious life of man, several features suggest the supernatural in her nature and relations. Thus especially the predicates “counsel, understanding, strength,” (in Pro_8:14) with which she is endowed as the Messiah is in Isa_11:2. So also the allusion to the fact that she imparts to and preserves for the kings, rulers, princes, and judges of the earth, all their power (Pro_8:15-16); and finally, with no less plainness, the declaration that she “loves them that love her,” and accordingly shows herself to be the dispenser of all benefits and blessings to her faithful ones (Pro_8:16-21). Of a purely earthly and creature principle all this could not be asserted. It is plainly not an abstract conception of moral philosophy, or any definition pertaining to the moral and intellectual conduct of men, that is thus described, but something higher, a nature fundamentally identical with the divine providence, the activity of God in preserving and ruling the world,—a personal principle belonging to God’s revelation of Himself, which is not essentially different from the Logos of the New Testament or the Son of God.
This conception of the idea of a superhuman wisdom, which determines and controls with absolute power and knowledge the destinies of our race, conducts, however, immediately to the proper and hypostatic representation of Wisdom as an emanation from God’s eternal nature, as the partaker and mediator in His absolutely creative activity. From the description of Wisdom as the mediating principle in divine Providence (Pro_8:14-21), the poet passes to the exhibition of her mediating participation in the creation of the world, and in this connection he reveals in the same act the deepest sources and beginnings of her nature (Pro_8:22-31). Wisdom is, it is true, also a creation of God, but one coming into being before all other creatures, a “first born” (πρωτόκτιστον) a “beginning of the creation of God” (ἀρχὴ τῆς κτίσεως τοῦ θεοῦ), comp. Rev_3:14. And for that very reason she took part in His work of creation; she was not merely witness, but helper in the revelation of His power in the primitive creation that called His heavens and earth into being. She manifested herself as the regulative and formative principle, who in those mighty acts of creation “rejoiced before Him,” i.e., developed before Him in free, happy action, as it were in joyous sport and play, her infinitely rich life, and thus produced an infinite number and variety of creature forms. This creative activity of wisdom found however its end and its completion in the creation of men in whom she has her delight in an altogether pre-eminent degree (Pro_8:31) for they are called to be her conscious recipients, and under her enlightening influence to grow up into a walk in holy fellowship with God. Precisely for this reason the possession of wisdom, i.e., in the first instance that comparative, creative wisdom which is identical with the fear of God and righteousness, is the sum of all that can be recommended to man as the means to the attainment of the highest temporal and eternal welfare. For this relative wisdom is in fact nothing but the reflection and emanation of that which is absolute. It is the absolute divine wisdom as this has found its individual reflection in the life of individual man,—the eternal wisdom of God entering into the subjective conditions of man, and so becoming creatural. When the concluding verses of the chapter (Pro_8:32-36) emphatically advise the obtaining of this wisdom which has thus become mundane and human, and point to the blessed consequences of its possession, they seize again upon that which was the starting-point in the whole admonition, and show how the secondary wisdom is derived from the primitive and conducts again to it, how the same holy life-power infinite in its perfection, which was active in the first creation of the world and of man, must also be efficient in their moral recreation and their perfecting after God’s likeness. Comp. Staudenmaier, as cited above, p. Pro 38: “The eminence of man consists not merely in the fact that wisdom comes in him to self-consciousness, but also in the fact that by the Creator there has been conferred upon him in the gift of freedom the power to become as it were the second creator of his own life according to the innate divine idea. This idea appears therefore now a practical one: the impulse to become practical existed already in its living energy, or was this very energy; and with this it is at the same time clear that man with his freedom has pre-eminently a practical religious and moral problem set before him. Since however by this very freedom he also has it in his power not to follow his destination, and even to resist it, Wisdom appeals to him to hear her voice, and does this as she speaks to him both from within and from without,—from within by ideas (through the voice of reason and conscience), from without, through divine revelation in which absolute wisdom dwells.”
3. This representation of wisdom as a personal principle mediating between God and man, existing in God as the prototype, in man in the antitype, plainly stands in the closest relationship to the doctrine of the Logos in the New Testament.1
The connection, it is true, with a right exegesis of the main points involved (see notes on Pro_8:22-23; Pro_8:30, above), does not reach so far that wisdom is described outright as a child of God, be gotten in eternity and “anointed,” i.e., solemnly consecrated and sealed,—and so is attended by those characteristic predicates with which Christ describes His absolutely unique metaphysical relation as Son to God (Joh_10:36; Joh_5:26; Joh_17:5; comp. Pro_1:1; Pro_1:18). And yet when she also is declared to have been created as beginning of the ways of God, there are surely not wanting emphatic intimations that her character is absolutely above that of creatures in both respects, that which concerns her coming into being before all creatures, and also her intimate fellowship of essence and of life with God. While furthermore the primæval consecration to be a ruler over all things, to the ranks of a priestly regal mediatorship between God and His creation is not to be found among the points expressly emphasized in the description of Wisdom, yet the way in which she is described in Pro_8:14-16, as possessor and dispenser of all sovereign power and wisdom, reminds us distinctly enough of the omnipotence in heaven and earth that is given to the Son, and of His being endowed with the undivided fulness of the Divine Messiah-Spirit,—which Isaiah in his day pronounces a spirit of all wisdom and understanding, all counsel, all strength, knowledge, and holy fear (Isa_11:2; comp. Joh_3:34; Mat_28:18). And although, finally, the name “son” or “child” is not given to her, and the “exultation” in the presence of God at the time of His creative activity, cannot fitly be conceived of as the intimation of a relation in any way like that existing between a sportive favorite child and his father, still the appellation “directress of the work” characterizes this being distinctly enough as a personal emanation from the very nature of God. And a mediatorial participation not only in the creative, but also in the redemptive and sanctifying activity of God is suggested, if only in gentle intimation, by what is said of her “delight in the sons of men.” To these points of correspondence which are presented in the chief individual features of the picture in Pro_8:22 sq., there may be added several unmistakable allusions to our chapter found in the New Testament. Among these the essential identity of the creative wisdom of God that is here described, with the Logos or the pre-existent Christ stands out most distinctly. When our Lord in Mat_11:19 (Luk_7:35) and probably also in Luk_11:49 (comp. Van Oosterzee on this passage) designates himself as the “Wisdom of God,” and at the same time speaks of “children of this wisdom,” meaning by this the men who are subject to her revealing and enlightening influence, especially the Jews, as having been Divinely influenced by law and prophecy, He can have chosen this mode of designating Himself only with His eye upon the Biblical delineations that were familiar to His hearers; and to these, beside Sirach 24 and Wisdom 7-9, etc., the passage before us would pre-eminently belong. When John ascribes to the Divine Logos both alike, the acting as medium of the activity of God in the creation of the world, and the accomplishment of His enlightening and saving efficiency on the world,—when he in doing this distinctly characterizes the Logos not as a mere attribute or impersonal reason of God, but as a hypostasis self-conscious and freely coming forth from the absolute ground of the Divine essence, as a Divine personality seeking incarnation (Joh_1:1-18), the harmony of this description of his with Solomon’s praise of the Divine Wisdom cannot have continued to be merely unconscious. And this is all the less possible, from the consideration that this wisdom had already before his time and in manifold instances been designated by the name Λόγος, e.g., Sir_1:4 (comp. Pro_24:3), Wis_9:1. When Paul in numerous passages asserts the same of his pre-existent Christ (especially 1Co_8:6; Col_1:15 sq.; Php_2:5 sq.), among the passages from the Old Testament lying at the foundation of his views in this matter, Pro_8:22 sq., cannot have been wanting. And furthermore his designation of the Son as the “Wisdom of God” (1Co_1:24; 1Co_1:30; comp. Rom. 13:27; Col_2:3) cannot have developed itself on any other basis. The same holds finally also of the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews (see Heb_1:2 sq.), as well as of the writer of the Apocalypse, who, by his emphatic use of the name of the Logos (Rev_19:13), shows himself plainly enough to be no other than the Evangelist John. His peculiar designation of Christ, already adduced above, as “the beginning of the creation of God” (Pro_3:14) may perhaps be viewed outright as a literal allusion to verse 22 of our chapter.2
If this were the case, the idea of a “beginning of the creation of God” would by no means for that reason require to be interpreted in the Arian sense. For in an author who elsewhere adopts the doctrine of the Logos the representation of Christ as the first creature of God would palpably be a monstrosity. John can in this expression intend to designate the Lord only as the active principle in the creation (comp. Duesterdieck on this passage). In just this active sense shall we be obliged to interpret the expression which possibly suggested John’s language,—the “beginning of the ways of Jehovah” in our chapter, i.e., as relating to that activity of the eternal Wisdom of God which commenced His manifestation of Himself in creation, its mediating coöperation in God’s world-creating act (see remarks on this passage above).
4. The only noteworthy difference between the idea of the Logos in the New Testament, and the hypostatic Wisdom of our passage consists, therefore, in the decidedly created character ascribed to the latter by the expression “Jehovah created me” in Pro_8:22, and the parallel expression in Pro_8:23. Our teacher of wisdom in the Old Testament, near as he may have come to the idea, was therefore unable to rise to an altogether clear discernment of the relation existing between God and His eternal Word, who in all His likeness of nature is yet personally distinct, and while appearing as the “first-born of every creature,” still on the other hand appears also as the only begotten Son of the living God, or as eternal personal emanation from the Divine essence. The hypostatic Hhokmah of our author (and also the Σοφία of the Apocrypha, which differs from it in no essential characteristic) appears accordingly as an imperfect introduction and preparation for the idea of the Logos in the New Testament, the conception not having yet reached a full symmetrical development. So also the “Spirit of God” in the prophetic literature of the O. T. shows itself to be the prototype, the germinal basis for the πνεῦμα ἅγιον of the N. T., this distinctly personal third Divine agent in salvation, with the Father and the Song of Solomon 3
In any event, however, this conception stands much nearer to the idea of the Logos or the Son in the New Testament, and contributed more directly to its development, than that personification of the creative “word of Jehovah” which appears here and there in Psalmists and prophets (e.g., Psa_33:6; Psa_147:15; Isa_55:11, etc.). For this last expression has, after all, no other value than poetic figures in general, hastily thrown out. The Hhokmah of our passage, however, is, notwithstanding the poetic character of its drapery, a conception developed with the greatest care, a fruit of profound and consecrated speculation, a bright ray of Divine revelation, which, among the Messianic prophecies of the O. T. that relate to the Divine side of the Redeemer’s nature, holds one of the most conspicuous places. Comp. Nitzsch, as above cited, pp. 319, 320.
[5. The error in our English exegetical and theological literature with respect to our passage has been, we think, the attempt to force upon it more of distinctness and precision in the revelation of the mysteries of the Divine nature than is disclosed by a fair exegesis. Sometimes it is the doctrine of the Logos that is made to stand out with all the clearness of the New Testament announcement; sometimes it is “the eternal generation of the Son” that Solomon is made, as the Spirit’s mouthpiece, to reveal. Owen’s elaborate arguments (Comm. on the Epistle to tho Hebrews, Exercitation 27), and Holden’s extended and learned comments (Comm. in loc.), appear to us very plainly to err in this excess. If it be not unworthy of the Holy Spirit to employ a bold and graphic personification, many things in this chapter may be said of and by the personified Wisdom, which these and other similar authors regard as triumphantly proving that we have here the pre-existent Christ, the Son of God. How weak would that personification be which did not ascribe to the imagined person hate, love, power, etc. (see Holden) ! Why cannot a personified attribute, if the personification be at all successful, be represented as being born, as being by or near the Deity, as rejoicing in His sight, etc. (see Holden again)? And yet we need not go so far as Owen and say, “A personal transaction before the creation of the world, between the Father and the Son, acting materially by their One Spirit, concerning the state and condition of mankind, with respect to Divine love and favor, is that which we inquire after, and which is here fully expressed.” Wordsworth not agreeing with Gesenius, etc., in regard to the primary meaning of the much debated קָנָה4 admitting that it originally signifies acquire, nevertheless agrees with Gesen., Hupfeld (?), Noyes, Stuart and others in here rendering it “created,” because he wants an “eternal generation” as the product of his exegesis,—a product far enough from the thoughts of most of those who agree with him in his rendering. We can, to say the least, go no farther than our author has done in discovering here the foreshadowings of the doctrine of the Logos. We are inclined to prefer the still more guarded statements, e.g., of Dr. J. Pye Smith (Scripture Testimony to the Messiah, I., 352), that this beautiful picture “cannot be satisfactorily proved to be a designed description of the Saviour’s person;” or that of Dr. John Harris (Sermon on Pro_8:30-36). “At all events, while, on the one hand, none can demonstrate that Christ is here directly intended,—on the other, none can prove that He is not contemplated; and perhaps both will admit that under certain conditions language such as that in our text may be justifiably applied to Him. One of these conditions is, that the language be not employed argumentatively, or in proof of any thing relating to Christ, but only for the purpose of illustration; and another is that when so employed, it be only adduced to illustrate such views of the Son of God as are already established by such other parts of Scripture as are admitted by the parties addressed.”—A.]
HOMILETIC AND PRACTICAL
Homily on the entire chapter. See the translation above, and comp. Stöcker: The heavenly Wisdom which is the word of God is urgently commended to us: 1) by the good opportunity which we have to study it (Pro_8:1-5); 2) by the rich blessing that it brings us (Pro_8:6-21); 3) by the eminence and majesty of the teacher who teaches it, and who is no other than Christ, the eternal Son of God (Pro_8:22-36).—Starke: The true Wisdom’s invitation of all men to the Kingdom of God: 1) the invitation itself (Pro_8:1-10); 2) the inducements to give heed to it, namely: a) the inestimable value of wisdom (Pro_8:11-12); b) the blessings of those who accept her invitation to the Kingdom of God (Pro_8:13-36).—Calwer Handbuch: Wisdom commends herself: 1) in general (Pro_8:1-5); 2) by her truthfulness (Pro_8:6-9); 3) by the prudence, understanding, honor and power that she imparts to her followers (Pro_8:10-21); 4) by her eternal existence, her participation in the creation, her delight in the sons of men (Pro_8:22-36).—Wohlfarth: Wisdom the truest and best friend of men, her doors (Pro_8:34) standing open day by day to every one that needs and desires her.
Pro_8:1-11. Egard:—The Eternal Son of God gathers, plants, builds His Church by a voice, i.e., His word. All true teachers of the word are crying voices through which Christ calls.—Out of Christ’s school is no true wisdom; they who deem themselves wise and shrewd are unfitted to learn of Him.—So long as Christ’s wisdom is still speaking outside of thee it avails thee nothing; but when thou allowest it to dwell in thee it is thy light and thy life.—Thou shouldst have one heart and one mouth with Christ; if false and perverse things are found in thy mouth thou art still far from Christ.—Silver and gold is mere vanity and nothingness; what can it help in the day of wrath and judgment? Let God’s word be thy highest and best treasure.—Berleb. Bible: Wisdom (who speaks to us not only through the word written and preached, but also inwardly, as God’s voice in our hearts) is so far from keeping silence, that although we stop our ears, we yet hear her correction within at the entrances and doors of the heart; and although we will not understand her, we must nevertheless feel her. And this is a testimony how desirous God is of our blessedness.
Pro_8:12-21. Melanchthon (on Pro_8:14 sq.): Those counsels are just which agree with the word of God; and these counsels will at length have joyful issues, with the aid of the Son of God, who wills to aid those that continue in the word which He has given, and who call upon Him.—Luther (marginal comment on Pro_8:15-16): “Princes should act, speak, work, honorably and praiseworthily, that men may glory in and follow their example; and not as the tyrants, the foul, the cyclops,” etc.—Hasius: When true wisdom is taken into counsel in every thing, then in all ranks that will occur which each one’s purpose demands according to a perfect ideal. Kings, princes, nobles, counsellors will act in conformity with the aim of their calling (2Ch_19:6-7).—Things would stand much better in the world if men exercised their spirit more after holiness, and strove with greater zeal for wisdom, Mat_6:33.—Berleburg Bible: No one can rightfully take to himself the name of a Christian ruler, but he who subjects himself in spirit and truth, in humble obedience to the control of the Almighty, lays himself at His feet and allows himself to be wholly ruled by Him. Others exercise a rude, violent and tyrannical control, and an assumed authority over the person of men.—Von Gerlach: The wisdom who here announces herself is the very wisdom of God, and is therefore also, as all good can be from God alone, the soul of all good laws and ordinances (Pro_8:14-17), and must, as every thing earthly is ruled, disposed and rightly distributed among men by God, necessarily reward her disciples with welfare, honor and riches (Pro_8:18-21). [Pro_8:12. Charnock: All arts among men are the rays of Divine wisdom shining upon them. Whatsoever wisdom there is in the world, it is but a shadow of the wisdom of God.
Pro_8:13. Arnot: To fear retribution is not to hate sin; in most cases it is to love it with the whole heart. It is when sin is forgiven that a sinner can hate it. Then he is on God’s side. Instead of hating God for his holiness, the forgiven man instinctively loathes the evil of his own heart.—Jona. Edwards: “The affection of hatred as having sin for its object is spoken of in Scripture as no inconsiderable part of true religion. It is spoken of as that by which true religion may be known and distinguished.”
Pro_8:15. Bp. Sanderson: On the efficient cause and consequent obligation of human law.—Hooker: “By me kings reign,” etc. Not as if men did behold that book and accordingly frame their laws; but because it worketh in them, because it discovereth and (as it were) readeth itself to the world by them, when the laws which they make are righteous.
Pro_8:18. Arnot: The riches which the King of saints imparts along with the patent of nobility to support its dignity withal, are linked to righteousness and last forever. Handfuls are gotten on the ground, but a soulful is not to be had except in Christ.]
Pro_8:22-31. Geier:—From this delineation there follows: 1) the personal difference of the Son from the Father; 2) the essential likeness of the Son to the Father, as partaker .of the Divine activity in creation; 3) the unutterable love of the Father to the Son (Pro_8:30); 4) the deep and grateful love which we in turn owe to this Divinely loved director and mediator in creation and redemption.—Zeltner: All the works of God’s omnipotence and wisdom thou shouldst contemplate with holy joy and wonder, praise the Creator for them, and with them strengthen thyself in faith in His paternal providence.—As an essential and indescribable fellowship exists between the Father and the Son, so does there exist between God and the believer a gracious spiritual union, on which the Christian must be most intent.—Starke: All things have had their beginning except the Son of God regarded in His Divine nature. He is with the Father and the Holy Ghost true God from everlasting to everlasting. All that this Eternal Wisdom does in the kingdom of nature, as well as in that of grace, she does with gladness and delight: yea, there is in this work so lovely and wise an alternation and manifoldness, that we must in reason wonder at it (comp. Eph_3:10, “the manifold wisdom of God”).—Von Gerlach:—That “play” of wisdom in which the Lord takes pleasure, and her joyousness on the earth, in which she finds her joy among men, points to the childlike gladness of the love that ruled in creation, and to the confidential relation into which the children of wisdom on earth (Mat_11:19) enter, to her the very wisdom of God; comp. Pro_10:23. In this passage there is a most clearly prophetic gleam of the light of the New Testament; God’s eternal wisdom comes forth from Him that He may delight Himself in her activity; His own eternal nature the Father for his own blessedness contemplates in the Son. And it is in a love most intimately blended with wisdom that the Father created the world, to His own blessedness and that of His creatures.
Pro_8:32-36. Geier: The true fruits of obedience should follow the hearing of the word. To these belong: 1) walking the prescribed way; 2) willing reception of the Divine correction; 3) the extirpation of all inner opposition; 4) zealous and persistent seeking after salvation; 5) thankful enjoyment of the true wisdom when found.—Von Gerlach (on Pro_8:34 sq.): Wisdom here appears as a sovereign, separate and secluded in the style of Oriental monarchs, so that only those know any thing of her who diligently keep watch at her doors. Wisdom, who is universal in her call and invitation (Pro_8:1-3), yet in the course of communication, in order to test the fidelity of her admirers, veils herself at times in a mysterious darkness, and reveals herself only to those who never intermit their search (Mat_7:7).—[John Howe: There ought to be an expectation raised in us that the vital savor diffused in and by the word may reach us; and many are ruined for not expecting it, not waiting at the posts of wisdom’s door.—Trapp: Hear, etc. This way wisdom enters into the soul. Hear, therefore, for else there is no hope; hear, howsoever.—Flavel: It is good to lie in the path of the Spirit.]
Footnotes:
[1]Comp. Nitzsch as cited above: “Do you see here no trace of a divine process, a germ of an ontological self-distinction in God? For this Wisdom is indeed at first God’s communication localized in the world, particularly in man, and still more especially in Israel. Yet it will be understood as no mere creature like others, no angel, no dependent power or effect: it claims to be known and honored in its divinity. Without exhausting the idea of divinity it claims to be God of God—“Jehovah created me”—a creation which according to the connection gives no natural, creaturely being, but has a significance plainly transcending these bounds, etc.”—The truth of this representation holds also as against that which Von Hofmann (Schriftbew., I. pp. 95 sq.) has brought forward in support of the opposite view, i.e., that which denies the hypostatic nature of wisdom in our passage.
[2]We here presuppose the spurious character of the ἐκκλησίας (which, besides, was early expunged by the correctors of the text) standing in the place of κτίσεως in the God. Sin. If this remarkable reading were genuine, the meaning of the expression would certainly be altogether different. But the assumption can hardly be avoided that there is here an attempted emendation in the interest of the Anti-monarchians or Anti-arians.
[3]Comp. also subsequent notes on Pro_30:3 sq.
[4][For a very full and candid discussion of this with other related points, see an article by Prof. E. P. Barrows, Biblioth. Sacra, April, 1858; also, Liddon’s Bamp. Lectures, pp. 60, 61.—A.]
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 vv5–15 wisdom--literally, "subtilty" in a good sense, or, "prudence."
wisdom--literally, "subtilty" in a good sense, or, "prudence."
fools--as Pro 1:22.
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, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15 THE CALL OF Wisdom , vv1-4.
THE CALL OF Wisdom , vv1-4.
In striking contrast with the solicitations of sinful pleasure, presented in the last chapter under the type of an alluring but dissolute woman, the instructor now presents the strongest motives to the pursuit and acquisition of wisdom, which he again personifies and represents under the character of a pure, lovely, benevolent, discreet, and affectionate woman, who earnestly seeks, by all suitable means, to attract to herself the sincere affection of human hearts for a high and noble object, that of conferring all manner of good. Unlike the base character of the preceding chapter, she seeks no covert of darkness and secrecy, but gives her invitations publicly, and in the most frequented places, expostulating with the erring, and setting forth the value of the instruction she imparts, both because of its own intrinsic worth and of the heavenly source whence it emanates.
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1. Doth not wisdom cry — Call aloud. The negative form of the question implies an affirmative answer. It is a forcible way of saying that she does these things. The implied answer is dilated in Pro_8:2-3 : compare Pro_1:20.
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, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 Pro_8:1-3. The call of Wisdom. Comp. Pro_1:20-21.
Pro_8:1-3. The call of Wisdom. Comp. Pro_1:20-21.
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 vv1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 (n). Fourteenth Discourse:—The Praise of Wisdom (Proverbs 8)
VIII.
(n). Fourteenth Discourse:—The Praise of Wisdom (Proverbs 8)
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(1) Doth not wisdom cry?—See above on Pro_1:20. In contrast with the secret allurements of Vice under the cover of night, is here represented the open invitation of Wisdom. (Comp. Joh_18:20 : “I spake openly to the world . . . and in secret have I said nothing.”)
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 vv1–16 Vers. 1-36. Fourteenth admonitory discourse concerning Wisdom her excellence,…
Vers. 1-36. Fourteenth admonitory discourse concerning Wisdom her excellence, her origin, her gifts. She is contrasted with the strange woman of Pr 7, and the exceeding greatness of the blessings which she offers exhibits in the most marked manner the nothingness of the deceiver"s gifts. One is reminded of the celebrated episode of the choice of Hercules, delineated by Xenophon, "Memorab.," 2:1. 21, etc. The chapter divides itself into four sections.
(1) Introductory (vers. 1-3); Wisdom calls on all to listen, and gives reasons for trusting to her (vers. 4-11).
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(2) She displays her excellence (vers. 12-21).
(3) She discourses of her origin and action (vers. 22-31).
(4) She again inculcates the duty of hearkening to her instructions (vers. 32-36).
Doth not Wisdom cry? (see on Pro_1:20, and Introduction) The interrogative form, which expects an affirmative answer, is a mode of asserting a truth universally allowed. Wisdom is personified, though we are not so plainly confronted by an individual, as in the preceding case of the harlot. But it must be remembered that, whatever may have been the author"s exact meaning, however worldly a view the original enunciation may have afforded, we, reading these chapters by the light cast upon them by later revelation, see m the description of Wisdom no mere ideal of practical prudence and good sense, no mere poetic personification of an abstract quality, but an adumbration of him who is the Wisdom of God, the coeternal Son of the Father. The open, bold, and public utterances of Wisdom are in happy contrast to the secret and stealthy enticements of Vice. So Christ, the true Wisdom, says, "I have spoken openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogues, and in the temple, where all the Jews come together; and in secret spake I nothing". (Joh_18:20) The Septuagint changes the subject of this verse, and makes the pupil addressed: "Thou shalt proclaim (khruxeiv ) wisdom, that understanding (fronhsiv ) may obey thee;" which seems to mean that, if you wish to acquire wisdom, so that it may serve you practically, you must act as a herald or preacher, and make your desire generally known. St. Gregory has some remarks about wilful ignorance of what is right. "It is one thing," he says, "to be ignorant; another to have refused to learn. For not to know is only ignorance; to refuse to learn is pride. And they are the less able to plead ignorance in excuse, the more that knowledge is set before them, even against their will. We might, perhaps, be able to pass along the way of this present life in ignorance of this Wisdom, if she herself had not steed in the corners of the way" ("Moral.," 25:29).
HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON Vers. 1-9. Wisdom"s proclamation.
Again it is a poetical personification of truth, of God"s Word, of religion, morality, sense, prudence; for all these are included in the comprehensive conception of wisdom that is placed before us.
I THE PROCLAMATION OF TRUTH HAS NEVER FAILED IN THE WORLD. The cry is coeval with the world, with the conscience of man. The preacher has an institution second to none in antiquity and in honour.
II THE PREACHER MUST RE CONSPICUOUS TO AND AUDIBLE BY ALL. (Vers. 2, 3) On raised ground, in lonely paths (ver. 2), in the open air, in the field and forest; and. (ver. 3) in the towns and cities, at the places of public resort and traffic, at the gates in the Orient, in the centre of Western cities, the preacher"s voice has been beard. All eminent teachers in books are truly agents of Wisdom, and heralds of the kingdom of God.
III THE SUBSTANCE OF TRUE PREACHING MUST BE THE SAME IN EVERY AGE.
1. It is human (ver. 3), and therefore intelligible, rational, practical.
2. It is especially addressed to inexperience to the foolish and the thoughtless. (see on Pro_1:4)
3. It deals with clear and manifest truth (see Hitzig"s reading of ver. 6), and so commends itself to every man"s conscience in the sight of God.
4. It is disinterested, free from sophistry and compromise (ver. 7).
5. It is just correct and accurate in knowledge of human nature and of Divine things (ver. 8). And thus it is:
6. Acceptable and irresistible by the "honest and good heart" (ver. 9). J.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON Vers. 1-21. The excellency of Divine wisdom: No. 1.
In these verses we have portrayed to us the surpassing excellency of the wisdom of God.
I IT IS AUDIBLE TO EVERY ONE. "Doth not Wisdom cry," etc.? (ver. 1; see homily on Pro_1:20-23)
II IT IS URGENT AND IMPORTUNATE. (Vers. 2-4; see homily on Pro_1:20-23)
III IT MAKES ITS APPEAL TO UNIVERSAL MAN. (Vers. 4, 5) "Unto you, O men, I call," etc. There is nothing exclusive or partial in its address. Its sympathies are wide as the human soul. It draws no lines of latitude or longitude in any kingdom, beyond which it does not pass. It appeals to man Jew and Gentile, male and female, bond and free, learned and ignorant, wise and foolish (simple), moral and immoral (fools).
IV IT IS IN FULL HARMONY WITH ALL THAT IS BEST WITHIN US. Some voices that address us make their appeal to that which is lower or even lowest in our nature. Divine wisdom appeals to that which is highest and best.
1. To our sense of what is right and good (vers. 6, 7).
2. To our love of that which is true (ver. 7).
V IT IS AN APPRECIABLE THING. (Ver. 9) Through it takes high ground, not rooting itself in anything base, but making its appeal to that which is purest and noblest in our nature, it is still appreciable by all who can estimate anything at its true worth. To "him that understandeth," to the man who is capable of any discernment, the words of heavenly wisdom will be plain they will "receive them gladly;" while to those who have reached any height in attainment, the teaching of wisdom will be recognized as the excellent thing it is. The students of law will find in it the illustration of all true order; the disciples of ethics will perceive in it all that is morally sound and satisfying to the conscience; those who admire "the beautiful" will recognize that which is exquisite, admirable, sublime. The teaching of Divine wisdom is "right to them that find knowledge.
VI IT IS INTIMATELY ASSOCIATED WITH INTELLIGENT OBSERVATION. It consequently results in useful contrivances (ver. 12). So far from heavenly wisdom being confined, in its principles and its results, to the realm of the abstract and unseen, it is most closely allied with, and is constantly found in the company of, simple, homely discretion, the careful, intelligent observation of all surrounding objects and passing incidents. It issues, therefore, in "witty inventions.
VII IT ISSUES IN, AND IS ILLUSTRATED BY, MORAL AND SPIRITUAL WORTH. (Ver. 13) "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom," and the fear of the Lord is so intimately and essentially bound up with the hatred of evil, that they may be practically identified; we may say that "the fear of the Lord is to hate evil evil in all its forms, "pride, arrogancy," etc. C.
Vers. 1-21 (continued). The excellency of Divine wisdom: No. 2.
We have also these features of the wisdom of God
I IT ENDOWS WITH THE WEALTH WHICH IS THE PRODUCT OF VIRTUE. (Vers. 20, 21) It leads in that "way of righteousness" and those "paths of judgment" which result in "inheriting substance," and being "filled with treasures." It places in the hand of its followers all that measure of earthly good which they can regard with holy satisfaction and enjoy with a good conscience.
II IT IS A SOURCE OF STRENGTH AND INFLUENCE IN HUMAN SOCIETY. (Vers. 14-16) It is attended with that breadth of understanding, that knowledge of affairs, that insight into "men and things," which gives sagacity to statesmen and stability to thrones.
III IT RECIPROCATES AN ATTACHMENT. (Ver. 17) The more we know, the more attractive does knowledge become to our admiring spirit. The further we advance into its domain, the firmer becomes our footing and the brighter becomes the light. Moreover, the highest peaks attainable by man are only reached by those who begin to climb in the days of their youth (vide homily infra).
IV IT IS OF INCOMPARABLE VALUE TO THE HUMAN SOUL. (Vers. 10, 11, 18, 19) If the choice should lie between wealth and wisdom, it is better far to choose the latter; for:
1. While wealth will not buy wisdom, wisdom will lead to wealth, later if not sooner, of one kind if not of another.
2. Wisdom itself is wealth; it is the possession of the mind, it is the inheritance of the soul, it is "durable riches and righteousness.
The excellency of Divine wisdom: No. 3 (see below). C.
Vers. 1-21. "Christ the Wisdom of God:" No. 1.
Though it is not to be supposed that Jesus Christ was in the mind of the writer of this passage, yet as he does personify wisdom, and as wisdom was incarnated in that Son of man who was the Son of God, we should expect to find that the words of the wise man in the text would apply, in large measure, to the Lord Jesus Christ. They do so, and suggest to us
I THE MANNER OF HIS TEACHING. (Vers. 1-3) He "spake openly to the world, ... taught in the synagogue, and in the temple," etc.. (Joh_18:20; see Luk_4:15 Joh_7:14, Joh_7:26, 28 Mar_6:34 Mat_5:1, Mat_5:2)
II HIS APPEAL TO ALL CLASSES AND CONDITIONS OF MEN. (Vers. 4, 5) He came unto the world at large, to "draw all men unto him." None were, none are, so poor. or so rich, so ignorant or so learned, so simple or so subtle, so degraded or so refined, so spiritually destitute or so privileged, as to be out of range of his heavenly voice. All need his message; all are welcome to his kingdom.
III HIS MANIFESTATION OF THE TRUTH. (Vers. 6-8) He came "to bear witness unto the truth". (Joh_18:37) He came to be the living Truth himself, (Joh_14:6) so that the more we know of him and grow up into him, the more of Divine truth do we receive into our souls.
IV THE APPRECIABLENESS OF HIS MESSAGE. (Ver. 9) When he spake with his own lips, men received his words, wondering at his wisdom and his grace. (see Luk_2:47 Luk_4:22, 32 Mat_7:28, Mat_7:29) "Never man spake like this Man," said the officers to the chief priests. (Joh_7:46) "The common people heard him gladly". (Mar_12:37) And now that he speaks to mankind from heaven, his message of truth and love is comprehensible to all who care to know his mind. To those who earnestly seek, the way becomes plain; to those who have "spiritual discernment," the deeper things of God are intelligible; to those who "know him," his dealings are seen to be right and true.
V HIS RESPONSIVENESS. (Ver. 17) (See succeeding homily)
VI HIS INCOMPARABLE WORTH. (Vers. 10, 11) Jewels, compared with him, are empty toys; gold, compared with him, is sordid dust. So great is his worth to the hungering heart, to the suffering spirit, to living, dying man, that all forms of earthly good are not to be named or counted in comparison.
VII HIS SERVICE ISSUES IN THE BEST OF ALL POSSIBLE RECOMPENSE. (Vers. 18-21) The fruit of the service of Christ is honour, joy (including peace), righteousness (ver. 20), the "inheritance which is incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away". (ver. 21; 1Pe_1:4) 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, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 Doth not Wisdom cry
Pro_8:1
Doth not Wisdom cry
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The personification of Wisdom
Whatever may have been the satisfaction experienced by devout minds in reading this chapter, as if it contained the words of Christ and evidence of His pre-existent Divinity, I dare not withhold what I believe to be the true principle of interpretation.
The objections to its meaning Christ, or the Word, ere He became flesh, when in the beginning He was with God, and was God, are to my mind quite insuperable. For example--
1. It should be noticed that the passage is not so applied in any part of the New Testament. Had any New Testament writer expressly applied any part of the chapter to the Son of God, this would have been a key which we could not have been at liberty to refuse.
2. Wisdom here is a female personage. All along this is the case. Now under such a view the Scriptures nowhere else, in any of their figurative representations of the Christ, ever thus describe or introduce Him.
3. Wisdom does not appear intended as a personal designation, inasmuch as it is associated with various other terms, of synonymous, or at least of corresponding, import.
4. The whole is a bold and striking personification of the attribute of wisdom, as subsisting in Deity (see verse12: I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions).
5. Things which are true of a Divine attribute would naturally be susceptible of application to a Divine person. (R. Wardlaw.)
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 "Doth not Wisdom cry?"- Pro_8:1
CHAPTER 9
THE FIRST-BORN OF THE CREATOR
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"Doth not Wisdom cry?"- Pro_8:1
In the last chapter a dark and revolting picture of Vice was drawn. This chapter contains a lovely and living picture of Wisdom. In this contrast, as we have already seen, Vice can be presented as a vicious woman, because it is unhappily only too easy to find such an incarnation in actual experience: Wisdom, on the other hand, cannot be presented as an actual person, but only as a personification, because there was, as yet, no Incarnation of Wisdom; far from it, Solomon, the wisest of men, the framer of many wise proverbs, had been in practical conduct an incarnation of folly rather than of wisdom, had himself become a proverb for a wise and understanding heart in combination with a dark and vicious life. Yet how could the teacher fail to feel that someday there must be an Incarnate Wisdom, a contrast to the Incarnate Vice, a conqueror and destroyer of it? In describing Wisdom personified, and in following out her sweet and high-souled utterance, the teacher unconsciously to himself becomes a prophet, and presents, as we shalt see, a faint and wavering image of Him who of God was to be made unto men Wisdom, of Him who was actually to live a concrete human life embodying the Divine Wisdom as completely as many poor stained human lives have embodied the undivine folly of vice. The description, then, is an adumbration of something as yet not seen or fully understood; we must be careful not to spoil its meaning by representing it as more, and by attempting to press the details in explanation of the being and the work of Christ. We shall do wisely to look at the whole picture as it formed itself before the eye of the writer, and to abstain from introducing into it colors or shades of our own. Our first task must be to follow the movement of the chapter as carefully as possible. Wisdom, unlike the vicious woman who lurks in the twilight at the corner of the street which contains her lair, stands in the open places; she makes herself as manifest as may be by occupying some elevated position, from which her ringing voice may be heard down the streets and up the cross-ways, and may attract the attention of those who are entering the city gates or the doors of the houses. As her voice is strong and clear, so her words are full and rounded; there is no whispering, no muttering, no dark hint, no subtle incitement to secret pleasures; her tone is breezy and stirring as the dawn; there is something about it which makes one involuntarily think of the open air, and the wide sky, and the great works of God. {Pro_8:1-6} There is the beauty of goodness in all that she says; there are the charming directness and openness of truth; she abhors tortuous and obscure ways; and if some of her sayings seem paradoxes or enigmas, a little difficult to understand, that is the fault of the hearer; to a tortuous mind straight things appear crooked; to the ignorant and uninstructed mind the eternal laws of God appear foolishness; but all that she says is plain to one who understands, and right to those who find knowledge. {Pro_8:7-9} She walks always in a certain and undeviating course-it is the way of righteousness and judgment-and only those who tread the same path can expect to perceive the meaning of what she says, or to appreciate the soundness of all her counsels. {Pro_8:20} And now she proclaims the grounds on which she demands the attention of men, in a noble appeal, which rises to a passionate eloquence and deepens in spiritual significance as it advances. Roughly speaking, this appeal seems to fall into two parts: from verse 10 to verse 21 (Pro_8:10-21) the obvious advantages of obeying her voice are declared, but at verse 22 (Pro_8:22) the discourse reaches a higher level, and she claims obedience because of her essential nature and her eternal place in the universe of created things.
In the first part Wisdom solemnly states her own value, as compared with the valuables which men usually covet-silver, and gold, and precious stones. That she is of more account than these appears from the fact that they are but parts of her gifts. In her train come riches; but they differ from ordinary riches in being durable; her faithful followers obtain substantial wealth, and their treasuries insensibly fill. {Pro_8:8-9} To riches she adds honor, a crown which worldly riches seldom bring, and, what is better still, the honor which she confers is associated with righteousness, while the spurious honor which is commonly rendered to riches, being conferred without any moral implication, is devoid of any moral appreciation. {Pro_8:18} But after all, she herself is her own best reward; the prosperity which accompanies her seems trivial compared with the desirableness of her own person. Her queenly dwelling is prudence, and at her touch all the charmed regions of knowledge and discovery fly open; they who dwell with her and are admitted to share her secrets find the fruit and the increase of the intellectual life incomparably better than fine gold or choice silver. And that gives to her endowments their peculiar completeness is that she requires a moral culture to go hand in hand with mental development; and leading her disciples to hate evil, and to avoid the arrogance and the pride of the intellect, she rescues knowledge from becoming a mere barren accumulation of facts, and keeps it always in contact with the humanities and with life. Indeed, she finds it one great part of her mighty task to instruct the rulers of men, and to fit them for the fulfillment of their high functions. Her queenly prerogative she shares with all her faithful followers. Since Wisdom is the actual arbiter of human life, the wise man is, as the Stoics would have said, a king: nor can any king be recognized or tolerated who is not wise. {Pro_8:10-16}
And all these advantages of wealth and honor, of knowledge, and power, and righteousness, are put within the reach of every one. Wisdom, is no churl in loving: she loves all who love her. She does not seek to withdraw herself from men: rather she chooses the places and the ways in which she can best attract them. Queenly as she is, she condescends to woo them. Her invitations are general, even universal. And therefore if any do not find her, it is because they do not seek her: if any do not share in her rich gifts and graces, it is because they will not take the trouble to claim them. {Pro_8:17}
But now we pass on to the second ground of appeal. Wisdom unveils herself, discloses her origin, shows her heart, stands for a moment on her high celestial throne, that she may make her claims upon the sons of men more irresistible. She was the first creation of God. Before the earth issued out of nothingness she was there. In joyous activity, daily full of delight, she was beside God, an architect, in the forming of the world. She saw the great earth shaped and clothed for the first time in the mantle of its floods, and made musical with the sound of its fountains. She saw the mountains and the hills built up from their foundations. She saw the formation of the dry land, and of the atoms of dust which go to make the ground. {Pro_8:26} She saw the sky spread out as a firm vault to cover the earth; and she saw God when
"in His hand He took the golden compasses, prepared
In Gods eternal store, to circumscribe
This universe and all created things."
She saw the mighty tides of the ocean restricted to their appointed cisterns, and the firm outlines of the land fixed as their impassable barriers.
And this very Wisdom, who thus presided over the formation of land, and sea, and sky, is she who still sports with Gods fruitful earth-yes, sports, for the great characteristic of Wisdom is her exultant cheerfulness, and it must by no means be supposed that the foolish and the wicked have all the gaiety and mirth as their own. This Wisdom is she who too finds her peculiar delight with the sons of men. {Pro_8:23-31}
Is it not obvious, then, that men, who are her sons, ought to give ear to her counsels? What could establish a stronger claim for attention than this ancient origin, this honorable part in laying the very foundations of the earth, and this special interest in human life from the beginning. Raised to this high level, where we command so wide a prospect, are we not forced to see that it is our duty, our interest, our joy, to come as humble suitors to the gates of Wisdom and there to watch, and wait, and seek until we may obtain admission? Must we not search after her, when in finding her we find life and obtain favor of the Lord? Can we not perceive that to miss her is to miss life, to wrong our own souls-to hate her is to love death? Evidently her eagerness to win us is entirely disinterested; though she delights in us, she could easily dispense with us; on the other hand, though we do not delight in her, though we constantly turn a deaf ear to her, and refuse to walk in her ways, she is indispensable to us.
Such a passage as this gives rise to many reflections, and the longer we meditate upon it the more rich and suggestive it appears. Let us try to follow out some of the thoughts which readily present themselves, and especially such as are suggested by the verses which may be described as a poem of creation.
First of all, here is the noble idea which overturns at a touch all mythological speculations about the origin of things-an idea which is in deep harmony with all the best knowledge of our own time-that there is nothing fortuitous in the creation of the world; the Creator is not a blind Force, but an Intelligent Being whose first creation is wisdom. He is the origin of a Law by which He means to bind Himself; arbitrariness finds no place in His counsels; accident has no part in His works; in Wisdom hath He formed them all. In all heathen conceptions of creation caprice is supreme, law has no place, blind force works in this way or that, either by the compulsion of a Necessity which is stronger than the gods, or by freaks and whims of the gods which would be contemptible even in men. But here is the clear recognition of the principle that Gods Law is a law also to Himself, and that His law is wisdom. He creates the world as an outcome of His own wise and holy design, so that "nothing walks with aimless feet." It is on this theological conception that the possibility of science depends. Until the universe is recognized as an ordered and intelligible system the ordered and intelligent study of it cannot begin. As long as the arbitrary and fortuitous are supposed to hold sway inquiry is paralyzed at its starting-point.
It may, however, be suggested that the doctrine of Evolution, which scientific men are almost unanimous in accepting, is inconsistent with this idea of Creation. By this doctrine our attention is directed to the apparently disordered collision of forces, and the struggle for existence out of which the order and progress of life are educed, and it is hastily assumed that a Wise Intelligence would not work in this way, but would exhibit more economy of resources, more simplicity and directness of method, and more inevitableness of result. But may we not say that the apparent fortuitousness with which the results are achieved is the clearest evidence of the wise purpose which orders and directs the process? For about the results there can be no question; order, beauty, fitness everywhere prevail; life emerges from the inorganic, thought from life, morality and religion from thought. The more our attention is called to the apparently accidental steps by which these results are reached, the more persuaded must we become that a great and a wise law was at work, that by the side of the Creator, as a master workman, was Wisdom from the beginning. Such a passage as this, then, prepares the way for all science, and furnishes the true conceptions without which science would be sterile. It takes us at a step out of a pagan into a truly religious mode of thinking; it leads us out of the misty regions of superstition to the luminous threshold of the House of Knowledge. It may be said with truth that many scientific facts which are known to us were not known to the writer; and this may raise a prejudice against our book in those minds which can tolerate no thought except that of the present generation, and appreciate no knowledge which is not, as it were, brought up to date; but the fruitful conception is here, here is the right way of regarding the universe, here the preparation of all science.
And now to advance to another idea which is implied in the passage, the idea that in the very conception of the universe human life was contemplated, and regarded with a peculiar delight by the Wisdom of God. The place which Man occupies in creation has been variously estimated in different religious systems and by different religious thinkers. Sometimes he has been regarded as the center of all things, the creature for whom all things exist. Then a reaction has set in, and he has been treated as a very insignificant and possibly transient phenomenon in the order of things. It is characteristic of the Bible that it presents a balanced view of this question, avoiding extremes in both directions. On the one hand, it very clearly recognizes that man is a part of the creation, that he belongs to it because he springs out of it, and rules over it only in so far as he conforms to it; on the other hand, it clearly insists on that relation between man and his Creator which is hinted at here. Man is always implicitly connected with God by some half-divine mediator. The Wisdom of God watches with an unmoved heart the growth of the physical world, but into her contemplation of mankind there enters a peculiar delight. There is that in man which can listen to her appeals, can listen and respond. He is capable of rising to the point of view from which she looks out upon the world, and can ever see himself in the light in which she sees him. In a word, man, with all his insignificance, has a sublime possibility in him, the possibility of becoming like God; in this he stands quite alone among created things; it is this which gives him his pre-eminence. Thus our passage, while it does not for a moment imply that the material universe was made for the sake of man, or that man in himself can claim a superiority over the other creatures of the earth-and so far takes a view which is very popular with scientific men-yet parts company with the philosophy of materialism in claiming for man a place altogether unique, because he has within him the possibility of being linked to God by means of the Wisdom of God.
And now we may notice another implication of the passage. While Wisdom celebrates her high prerogative as the first-born of the Creator and the instrument of the creation, and urges upon men as parts of the creation the observance of the Moral Law, she is implicitly teaching the great truth which men have been so slow to grasp, that the law of practical righteousness is of a piece with the very laws of creation. To put it in another form, the rules of right conduct are really the rules of the universe applied to human life. Laws of nature, as they are called, and laws of morality have their origin in one and the same Being, and are interpreted to us by one and the same Wisdom. It would be well for us all if we could understand how far-reaching this great truth is, and an intelligent study of this passage certainly helps us to understand it. None of us, in our wildest moments, think of pitting ourselves against the laws of nature. We do not murmur against the law of gravitation; we scrupulously conform to it so far as we can, knowing that if we do not it will be the worse for us. When heavy seas are breaking, and the spirit of the winds is let loose, we do not venture on the waves in a small, open boat, or if we do, we accept the consequences without complaint. But when we come to deal with the moral law we entertain some idea that it is elastic and uncertain, that its requirements may be complied with or not at pleasure, and that we may violate its eternal principles without any serious loss or injury. But the truth is, the Law is one. The only difference arises from the fact that while the natural laws, applying to inanimate objects or to creatures which enjoy no freedom of moral life, are necessarily obeyed, the moral rules apply to conscious reasoning creatures, who, possessed of freedom, are able to choose whether they will obey the law or not. Yes, the Law is one, and breaches of the Law are punished inevitably both in the natural and in the moral sphere. This same Wisdom, to which "wickedness is an abomination," and which therefore exhorts the sons of men to walk in the ways of righteousness, is the great principle which ordered the physical universe and stamped upon it those laws of uniformity and inevitableness which Science delights to record and to illustrate.
But when we notice how the Wisdom who is here speaking is at once the mouthpiece of the laws which underlie the whole creation and of the laws which govern the moral life, it is easy to perceive how this passage becomes a foreshadowing of that wonderful Being who of God is made unto us Wisdom as well as Righteousness. Or, to put it in a slightly different way, we are able to perceive how this passage is a faint and imperfect glimpse into the nature and the work of Him whom in New Testament phraseology we call the Son of God-faint and imperfect, because this Wisdom, although represented as speaking, is still only an abstraction, a personification, and her relation both to God and to man is described in very vague and indefinite language; and yet, though faint and imperfect, very true as far as it goes, for it recognizes with wonderful distinctness the three truths which we have just been considering, truths that have become luminous for us in Christ; it recognizes, firstly, that the world was the creation of Wisdom, of Reason, or, if we may use the New Testament term, of the Word; it recognizes, secondly, that the thought of Man was contained in the very thought of creation, and that man was related in a direct and unique way with the Creator; lastly, it recognizes that goodness lies at the very root of creation, and that therefore natural law when applied to human life is a demand for righteousness.
It is interesting to observe that this glimpse, this adumbration of a great truth, which was only to become quite clear in Christ Jesus our Lord, was advanced a little in clearness and completeness by a book which is not generally considered to be inspired, the so-called book of Wisdom, in a passage which must be quoted. "For she [i.e., Wisdom] is a breath of the power of God, and a pure influence flowing from the glory of the Almighty; therefore can no defiled thing fall into her. For she is the brightness of the everlasting light, the unspotted mirror of the power of God, and the image of His goodness. And being but one, she can do all things; and remaining in herself, she maketh all things new; and in all ages entering into holy souls, she maketh them friends of God and prophets. For God loveth none but him that dwelleth with Wisdom. For she is more beautiful than the sun, and above all the order of stars; being compared with the light, she is found before it."
In this passage Wisdom is still a mere impersonation, but the language employed is evidently very near to that which the New Testament applies to Christ. When Philo came to treat of the idea, and wished to describe this intermediate being between God and man, he employed another term; changing the feminine into the masculine, he spoke of it as the Logos. And this expression is adopted by the Fourth Gospel in describing the Eternal Son before He became flesh; the Word of the fuller revelation is the Wisdom of the Proverbs.
How far Christ recognized in this impersonation of our book a description or representation of Himself it is impossible to say. It is certain that on one occasion, in defending His action against the charges of the Pharisees, He declared, "Wisdom is justified of her children," {Luk_7:35 Mat_11:19} a defense which can be most simply explained by supposing that Wisdom stands for Himself. It is certain, too, that He spoke of His own preexistence, {Joh_8:58} and that the Evangelist assigns to Him in that life before the Incarnation a position not unlike that which is attributed to Wisdom in our passage: "All things were made by Him: and without Him was not anything made that hath been made. No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." {Joh_1:3; Joh_1:18} But whether our Lord expressly acknowledged the forecast of Himself which is contained in the passage or not, we cannot fail to mark with joy and wonder how strikingly all that is best in the utterance and in the delineation of Wisdom is produced, concrete, tangible, real, in Him.
He, like Wisdom in the book of Proverbs, appears in the busy haunts of man, appeals to them, invites them with large, open-armed generosity, His voice is to the sons of men. He, like Wisdom, can say with absolute truth, "All the words of My mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing crooked or perverse in them." He too could speak of His teaching as "plain and right," and could with simple literalness declare that His words were more precious than gold, while obedience to Him would cause men "to inherit substance." With what force He might claim that even kings rule by Him we shall only know when the kingdoms of the world have become His in their integrity: but we can see at once how appropriate in His lips is the beautiful saying. "I love them that love Me, and those that seek Me early shall find Me."
With equal suitability might He the First-born of all creation, the beginning of the creation of God, use the sublime language which follows. And He too could say that His delight was with the sons of men. Yes, how much that means to us! If His delight had not been with us, how could ours ever have been with Him? What a new meaning irradiates every human being when we realize that with him with her, is the delight of the Son of God! What a revelation lies in the fact, a revelation of what man was by his origin, made in the image of God, and of what he may be in the last event, brought to "the fullness of the measure of the stature of Christ." We must not speak as if He delights in us because He has redeemed us; no, He redeemed us because He delighted in us. Is not this a ground on which He may appeal to us, "Now, therefore, my sons hearken unto Me; for blessed are they that keep My ways?" And can we not say to Him with a fervor which the cold abstraction of Wisdom could not possibly excite. "We would watch daily at Thy gates, waiting at the posts of Thy doors. For when we find Thee we find life and obtain favor of the Lord. When we sin against Thee we wrong our own souls: when we hate Thee we love death?"
Yes, in place of this ancient Wisdom which, stately and lovely as she is, remains always a little intangible and unapproachable, Christ is made unto us Wisdom, and He speaks to us the old words with a deeper meaning, and new words which none but He could ever speak.
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 vv1, 4, 10, 12, 14 Places of the paths “in the midst of the…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Places of the paths “in the midst of the highways.” “These ways are roads, solitary paths, not streets in the city, and the delineation proceeds in such an order as to exhibit Wisdom; first, in Pro_8:2, as a preacher in the open country, in grove and field, on mountains and plains, and then in Pro_8:3, to describe her public harangues in the cities, and in the tumult of the multitudes” (Zöckler).
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Pro_8:3. At the entrance of its doors, i.e., “standing on the further side of the gateway” (Zöckler) “at the entrance of the avenues” (Stuart).
Pro_8:4. The Hebrew words for men are different in the two clauses, “the first signifies men of high position, the second men of the common sort” (Psa_49:2.) (Fausset).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH—Pro_8:1-3
THE NATURE OF WISDOM’S CALL
Even if we reject the direct Messianic interpretation of this chapter, and understand Wisdom here to be only a poetical personification of an abstract attribute of God, it would be impossible, we think, for any minister of the New Testament to teach from it, and not find his way to Him who was “in the beginning with God” (Joh_1:2), to the Christ who is the “Wisdom of God” (1Co_1:24), “in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col_2:3). To say the least, the language is admirably adapted to set forth the Incarnate Son, the Saviour of the world. The introductory paragraph reveals the intense desire of Wisdom to win disciples.
I. From her taking the initiative. Wisdom addresses man first. When two persons have become estranged by the wrong-doing of one, he who is in the wrong will be slow to find his way back to the other to acknowledge his fault. Because he is in the wrong he may conclude, and in many cases would rightly conclude, that an advance on his side would be useless. But an advance from him who is in the right would be more likely to be successful; such a course of conduct on his part would carry with it a powerful magnetic force to draw the offender back, and would be a most convincing proof of the desire of him who had been rightly offended to effect a reconciliation. And if the offence had been committed, not once, but many times, the reluctance of the offender to face his offended friend would be increased in proportion to the number of times the act had been repeated, and if, notwithstanding these repeated offences, advances should continue to be made from the other side, the desire for reconciliation would be made more and more manifest. Wisdom is here represented in this light, and God in Christ did take the initiative in “reconciling the world unto Himself” (2Co_5:19). The Incarnate Wisdom came to men because men would not, and could not, by reason of their moral inability, come to Him first. In proportion to the distance men wander from God do they feel the impossibility of returning to Him unless they can receive from Him some encouragement to do so. This encouragement they have in the fact that “the Son of Man came to seek and save that which was lost (Mat_18:11), that, “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom_5:8).
II. From the variety of places where Wisdom’s voice is heard (Pro_8:2-3). If a man has goods to sell, he seeks those places where he will be most likely to find buyers; if he has thoughts which he wishes to make public, he goes where he will find the most hearers. The pilot has wisdom which he wants to sell to the less experienced ship-master, and he runs his cutter out into the highway of the channel. He is found at “the entrance of the gates” of the water-ways, at the mouths of the rivers; he places himself in the way of those who need his wisdom, and who will pay a good price for his skill. In proportion to a man’s earnestness to obtain a market, or a hearing, will be his endeavour to seek out the places where he will most likely succeed. Wisdom is here represented as frequenting the most conspicuous places, the most crowded thoroughfares, to find buyers for that spiritual instruction which is to be had “without money and without price” (Isa_55:1). Christ was found imparting the treasures of His wisdom wherever men would listen to His words. He “went up into a mountain and taught” (Mat_5:1). He was found in the streets of the cities, in the temple, at the publican’s feast (Luk_5:27), in a boat on the shore of the lake. When multitudes were gathered at Jerusalem at the feasts, He was among them (Joh_7:14; Joh_7:37). At other times “He went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the Gospel of the kingdom” (Mat_9:35). And thus He revealed His intense desire to give unto men those words which He declares to be “spirit and life” (Joh_6:63).
III. From the earnest tone of her call. “Doth not Wisdom cry.” When the voice of Christ was heard upon earth it was in no indifferent tone He addressed His hearers. He was “moved with compassion” towards the multitudes who followed Him (Mat_14:14). On the “great day of the feast He stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let Him come unto Me and drink” (Joh_7:37). With what earnestness must He have uttered His lament over Jerusalem: “If thou hadst known, even thou, in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace” (Luk_19:42). A man’s tone is more or less earnest to us in proportion as he gives proof that he is willing to follow up words by deeds. Judged in this light, how earnest must the call of Christ to men sound when they consider that He was willing to face Gethsemane and Calvary to give effect to His words. On this subject see also Homiletics on chap. Pro_1:20-21.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro_8:1. She crieth by the written word, by ministers, and by the dealings of Providence. Instead of the clandestine whisper of the adulteress in the dark, Wisdom “puts forth her voice” openly in the day, and in a style suitable to every capacity, so that all are left without excuse if they reject her, preferring darkness to light.—Fausset.
The eternal Son of God gathers, plants, builds His Church by a voice, i.e., His word. All true teachers of the Word are crying voices through which Christ calls. Out of Christ’s school is no true wisdom. So long as Christ’s wisdom is still speaking outside thee it avails thee nothing; but when thou allowest it to dwell in thee it is thy light and life.—Egard.
We cannot promulgate as doctrine, but we think the last day will show that wisdom plied every art; that what was “all things working together for good” in behalf of the believer, was something analagous in tendency in the instance of the sinner; that if the sinner thought his lot defeated repentance, he was mistaken; or that, could he have fared otherwise, his chances would have been improved: all this was largely error; moreover, that he will be held accountable at last for quite the opposite, and punished for a life singularly favoured and frequently adapted as the very best to lead him to salvation.—Miller.
In her ministers, who are criers by office, and must be earnest (Isa_58:1). See an instance in holy Bradford. “I beseech you,” saith he, “I pray you, I desire you, I crave at your hands with all my very heart, I ask of you with hand, pen, tongue, and mind, in Christ, through Christ, for Christ, for His name, blood, mercy, power, and truth’s sake, my most entirely beloved that you admit no doubting of God’s final mercies towards you.” Here was a lusty crier indeed.—Trapp.
This form of interrogation, which expects as its answer an assenting and emphatic “yes, truly,” points to the fact clearly brought to view in all that has preceded, that Wisdom bears an unceasing witness in her own behalf in the life of men.—Zöckler.
Pro_8:2. “Standeth” implies assiduous perseverance. Instead of taking her stand in dark places, in a corner, like the harlot (chap. Pro_7:9), she “standeth” in the top of high places.—Fausset.
Wisdom is representing as haunting all human paths. Folly lives upon them, too. Wisdom does not claim them as her own; Folly does. Wisdom has but one path. And she haunts every other to turn men out of such diverse journeyings into the one great track of holiness and truth.—Miller.
Pro_8:3. Thereby intending
(1) to reach the whole concourse of the lost, and
(2) to make human life at these great rallying places of men, speak its own lessons, and utter the loudest warnings against the soul’s impenitence.—Miller.
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 Consider (1) the self-assertion of Christ; (2) the bearing…
Pro 8:14
Consider (1) the self-assertion of Christ; (2) the bearing of that self-assertion on certain difficulties of our day.
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I. The self-assertion of Christ is exhibited in three ways: (1) Christ claims a boundless power of satisfying human wants. He knows sin and sorrow through and through. Yet He never doubts His capacity of giving pardon and peace. (2) Christ claims for Himself the most transcendent ideals. The sun is not too glorious for Him: "I am the Light of the world. The morning star seen by the seer over the Grecian hills is not too fresh and lovely: "I am the Bright and Morning Star." (3) Christ claims the possession of absolute truth by the very form and mode as well as by the substance of His teaching. He does not speak as a technical philosopher. He does not laboriously draw conclusions from syllogisms. He is at the centre of truth. Thus very much of His teaching is conveyed in an oracular form. It is divinely epigrammatic.
II. Consider the bearing of this on the difficulty which seems to be felt with distressing poignancy by many just at present. I mean the tone of much of the record in the Old Testament. (1) The Old Testament is a progressive system. When we are confronted with such objections, we should ask ourselves whether the things objected to form part of that progressive system, taken at a point short of its completion. (2) The Old Testament contains the pathology and diagnosis of sin. Its therapeutics are in the Gospel. Do the things excepted to form part of this pathology? If so, they are necessarily there and necessarily revolting. The Bible if divine, is yet "divine with the imperfections of our life." Its pages are blistered with tears, and dripped with blood. Nay, they are sometimes splashed with mud. For sin is vulgar as well as awful. If it towers at times until it covers us with majestic shadows from awful heights, there are seasons when it grovels upon the dust in its meanness. (3) After all, it is chiefly to the thought of the text that we turn for confirmation. The great self-assertion of the "Amen" is our stay. We take the book as it is from the hand of Him who says, "I am understanding."
Bishop Alexander, The Great Question, p. 45.
Reference: Pro 8:15.— J. Andrew, Dundee Pulpit, p. 169.
Pro 8:17
I. "I love them that love Me." It might be inferred from such words as these, that man must love God as a preliminary to or condition of God’s loving man. But the truth is that our love to God is nothing else but the reflection of God’s love to us; in no way an earthly production, but is heavenly every way—birth, nurture, end, and aim. God must first love us, so as not merely to surround us with mercies, not merely to make arrangements which render possible our salvation; but so as to enter into our souls, and there re-impress His own image, producing what we naturally have not—a sense of His love by generating our love in return. As we breathe because God hath breathed into us the breath of life, we love because God hath kindled in us a flame of affection; so that there can be no genuine love except as the result of a renewal of nature. When we answer to God’s love, becoming new creatures through obeying the motions of His Spirit, and therefore having affections purified and sanctified so that they may fasten themselves once more on the Infinite and Invisible; then, as though He had not loved us before, so entire is the relationship into which we are brought, He speaks in the language of our text, "I love them that love Me."
II. "Those that seek Me early shall find Me." We do not argue from this that, if God have not been sought early it is in vain to seek Him at all. But, nevertheless, the explicit promise is to them that seek God early; and we may not, therefore, doubt that there are advantages to those who begin in their youth, which will always widely remove their case from that of others who give their first years to the world. Consider the motives which should urge the young to seek God early. (1) There is the acknowledged though practically forgotten fact, that the life of the young is as uncertain as that of the old—that health and strength are no security against the speedy approach of death. (2) If the text does not exclude those from finding who only seek at the last, it distinctly implies that they will have much greater difficulty than had they sought early. (3) As men grow older they gradually lose a relish for those enjoyments which have fascinated them in youth; so that they outlive the pleasures for which they have been content to peril their immortality. Is it not to insult God to offer Him the miserable remnant of life which you have kept from Him so long as it was possible to devote it to His enemies? You must seek God early, while there is a sacrifice to be made, while there are passions that may be mortified, advantages which may be resigned, pleasures which may be abandoned.
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 1684.
I. "I love them that love Me." Consider what a blessed thing it must be to be loved by Jesus Christ,—by the Son of God Himself. (1) Jesus Christ is very great. (2) Jesus Christ is very rich. (3) Jesus Christ is very good. (4) He pardons the sins of those whom He loves. (5) He gives them power to become good. (6) He takes care that none whom He loves shall be lost. (7) He is getting ready a place in heaven for those whom He loves.
II. Let us see who are those that Jesus Christ loves. "I love them that love Me." (1) Those who love Jesus Christ believe whatever He says in the Bible. (2) Those who love Jesus Christ try to please Him.
III. How are we to seek Jesus Christ? (1) We must seek Him in His own Book. (2) We must seek Him in His own House. (3) We must seek Him on our knees in prayer.
IV. "They shall find Me." You will find the Lord’s presence in your own hearts and minds.
V. "Early." (1) Seeking early is the safest way. (2) Seeking early is the happiest way. (3) Seeking early is the easiest way.
Bishop Ryle, Boys and Girls Playing, p. 19.
Consider the advantages of seeking early after God.
I. There is an incalculable advantage in beginning in season a work which we know to be long and difficult.
II. Another advantage of serving God in our youth is the defence which is thus set up against the encroachments of vice.
III. A third benefit is the promotion of happiness in the family circle, and the beneficent influence thus exerted upon companions and friends.
IV. Another blessing is the indescribable satisfaction which is afforded to parents and friends.
V. A fifth advantage of seeking God in youth is the ready access which it affords to a throne of grace.
VI. Another advantage is that we are thus prepared to meet with a smile the dark frowns of adversity.
VII. We are thus enabled to await, with calm and holy resignation, the coming of death.
J. N. Norton, Golden Truths, p. 319.
References: Pro 8:17.—F. Tholuck, Hours of Devotion, p. 189. Pro 8:18-21.—W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 202. Pro 8:22-31.—Ibid., p. 205. Pro 8:22-36.—R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs, vol. i., p. 195.
Pro 8:22-30
This is a description of the original solitude of God by a witness, His only-begotten and well-beloved Son.
I. This solitude was serene and happy. Even among men solitude is not always desolation. To make solitude happy two elements are required: first, that the mind be at ease and satisfied with itself; secondly, that it be employed also in some object out of itself. The serenity of God was, so to speak, composed of three elements: perfect self-satisfaction, profound self-contemplation, and the prescience, and in a sense the presence, of all created history, for "known unto God were all His works, from the foundation of the world."
II. But there was society also with God. "I was by Him as one brought up by Him; I was daily His delight," says the Logos. This shows a certain mysterious fellowship subsisting between the various Persons in the Godhead. From the glimpse given in the text of this communion, we gather that it was (1) familiar; (2) had always existed; (3) was incessant; (4) was unspeakably delightful.
III. Let us marvel especially at one part of the Divine employment throughout eternity. That is revealed to have been thinking of, nay, rejoicing in, man. How it elevates our conception of man to think of him forming one of the principal subjects of thought to God in His own serene eternity! And yet, how it humbles us to remember that God then thought of us as fallen, miserable, guilty beings, whom He must redeem from the horrible pit and the miry clay!
IV. Let us remember that while there is a sense in which we are always, there is a sense in which we are never, alone. Every soul is a Juan Fernandez—a solitary island with only one inhabitant; but that inhabitant is God. We must all one day meet this sole and silent one. The "lonely soul must flee to the lonely God."
G. Gilfillan, Alpha and Omega, vol. i., p. 1.
Pro 8:23-25
Wisdom meant more to the Jews than to us, who have lost the sense of man’s unity by subdividing his faculties. It embraced to the Jew the mental and material range of the spiritual life: the ministers and magicians of Pharaoh are wise; so are Solomon and the angels; but also, "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom," and the wise man is the ideally good man in Pro 16:21, Pro 16:23.
I. Wisdom is ever at work in the world. Civilisation is nature inspired by man’s wisdom. The Book of Proverbs does little else than honour continuously the victorious mind of man.
II. We find that man is not final—original. A source of wisdom behind is suggested; our partial and fitful intellect points back. God is the fountain; we are the channels. God’s wisdom touched the gross chaos with intention, and its epic is the first chapter of Genesis. The only beautiful thing in mechanical and other processes is the reflection of God’s wisdom in ours. What a great hoard of humility we should have if this were recognised!
III. We need our beliefs for ordinary life; sorrow is inevitable, and the ghastly thing about it is, that we feel as if it were preordained when we are in it. It is like the mountain shadow, or the crouching lion awaiting the weary pilgrim on the plain. Wisdom has something to say: "I am older than sorrow." She bears testimony to God’s plan, to His love, justice, and thoughtfulness. And so in temptation, when the world seems to be spinning a net round us, wisdom soothes us. She is before temptation. This Wisdom is Christ, the "Word" of St. John. What wonder, since "Word" is the utterance of Wisdom! In the Atonement Christ is peculiarly the Wisdom of the world; He conquers a lower obstacle; God’s love, before confined, pours into the sinner over a broken barrier.
Phillips Brooks, Oxford Magazine, June 3rd, 1885.
Pro 8:29-30
I. It is in the active service of life, in the work of the marketplace, in the interchange of thought and the collision of minds differently constituted, that wisdom speaks to us. She comes as with an evangel, which she proclaims to all, which shuts out none but those who shut it out, seeking in her infinite compassion the ignorant and the foolish.
II. Wisdom yearns, as it were, for human sympathy, and the wide spaces of the universe would seem dark and cold to her if man were not there. She "rejoices in the inhabited parts of the earth; "her" delights are with the sons of men."
III. Wisdom and the Eternal Word are one. Christ, who is made unto us sanctification and redemption, is also made unto us Wisdom. This truth suggests counsels, warnings, hopes, encouragements. (1) To many among us who make it their work to be observers of the facts and students of the laws of nature, the truth which is thus revealed gives a new ground for thankfulness and hope. The place whereon they stand is holy ground. All traces of design, order, development, the unfolding of the higher from the lower,—what are these but marks of the Eternal Wisdom manifesting Itself according to Its own determinate counsel and foreknowledge? (3) But it must not be forgotten that the Eternal Word reveals Himself as One whose delights are with the sons of men. It is an evil and hateful thing in His sight when truth is divorced from love; when the dreamer, or the theorist, or the observer, lives in his own lordly pleasure-house of knowledge or of beauty, and shuts out all sympathy with human suffering and human weakness. (3) The identity of the Wisdom of the Book of Proverbs with the Word made flesh tells us of yet another path to win that treasure which is far above rubies—via crucis, via lucis. The path that leads to light and truth and wisdom is no path of pleasantness and ease. "The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord." Those who follow Him as witnesses to the truth may well be contented to bear His reproach.
E. H. Plumptre, Theology and Life, p. 161.
References: Pro 8:31.—J. Keble, Sermons from Christmas to Epiphany, p. 127. Pro 8:32.—J. Wells, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. xv., p. 41.
Pro 8:36
Who is the "Me"? It is Wisdom. Who is the Wisdom? It is Christ; Christ is the Wisdom of God. What is the particular truth of the text? It is this, that sin is not only an offence to God, whom no man hath seen or can see, but it is a distinct and irreparable injury to the man, the sinner himself. It may be difficult to show men that they ought not to sin against a being whom they have never seen, or against spiritual, moral laws which they had no share in determining. Man may, under these circumstances, get up a kind of metaphysical defence against such obedience; but this unhappy possibility is met and overruled by the unalterable and appalling fact that not to obey is to suffer, to sin is to decline and perish, to go away from truth and purity and honour is to go into darkness and shame and intolerable torment. That is the tremendous hold which God has over you.
I. You have a strong emotional nature; you allow that. My question is, What are you going to make of it? Suppress it? Then you will wrong your own soul. Turn it towards low objects? Then you will debase one of the highest gifts of your nature. You must use it. Christ’s great appeal is to our feeling, our emotion, our homage, our loyalty. "He that sinneth against Me wrongeth his own soul;" tears the stops out of the great organ of his being.
II. You have a great imaginative nature. What are you going to do with it? He that sinneth against that wrongeth his own soul. The whole material universe is a bird’s small cage compared with the infinite resources of Him who fainteth not, neither is weary, and of whose understanding there is no searching. Whoso sinneth against Me wrongeth his own soul, belittles himself, trivializes his own nature, wastes his powers, shuts himself up in a cell, when he might be enjoying the liberty of an ever-expanding firmament.
III. You have a profound moral nature. What are you going to make of it? The Lord brings us to practical judgments, to distinct personal consequences of our action, and we who would shrink from any merely metaphysical divinity, from any philosophical conception of right, are bound to feel in our own flesh and blood and bones that we have done wrong. What are you going to do? The good man makes the best of his powers; the Christian man gets the best out of himself; righteousness makes a man realise the grandest of his powers, the widest of his capacities, and imparts to him as he goes along such instalments of heaven as are harmonisable with a life on earth.
Parker, Fountain, Oct. 18th, 1877.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 Wisdom's Cry
Wisdom's Cry
Wisdom now reappears as a preacher, holding forth in all the places where men most do congregate. After expounding in varied ways the excellence of the gifts which she can bestow, she asserts that she was the first of all God's creatures, who stood at His side when He formed our world, and took part in His work as a master workman, whose delight has always been in the lives and affairs of men. In Pro_8:1-21 we find only the ordinary kind of personification, in which a quality is spoken of as though it were a living individual. In Pro_8:22-31, however, it is almost as though Wisdom were an actual person, distinct from God. No one can wonder that in the 4th cent, of our era theologians of diverse schools made considerable use of this chapter in the controversies respecting the Second Person in the Holy Trinity. But there is no convincing force in the arguments which either side derived from this source. The object of the writer was to recommend that wisdom which is his constant theme, which manifests itself in the right conduct of life, by showing that it is exhibited and exemplified in the wonders of Nature and the Creation of the world. There is also a trace here of the idea which at a later time asserted itself very strongly, that a medium was required to bridge over the distance betwixt the Spiritual Creator and the material universe. Job 28, 38; Sir_1:1-21; Sirach 24; Wisd 7:8-8:21 should be read along with this c.
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2. The high places are the walls and towers, vantage-points for a speaker.
5. Wisdom] rather, 'prudence' or 'sagacity.'
12. Read, 'I, Wisdom, have made prudence my dwelling,' i.e. I am complete master of it.
14-16. There is no genuine statesmanship apart from wisdom.
22-31. This account of creation reminds us of Genesis 1 Job 38. God makes a vault, the firmament, which rests on the surrounding waters (Pro_8:27). He settles the mountains (Pro_8:25) on foundations which are at the level of the floor of the sea (Psa_104:8; Jon_2:6). He firmly encloses the fountains of the deep, so that they cannot break through (Pro_8:28).
22. Read, 'The Lord formed me as the beginning of his creation': cp. Col_1:15; Rev_3:14.
23. Or] i.e. ere, before.
30. As one brought up with hint] as a nursling or foster-child; RY 'as a master workman. 'I was daily his delight] lit. 'I was delight daily day'; my whole existence was delight: cp. Psa_120:7, 'I am peace,' all peace, nothing else.
34. A king or great man would every morning find a crowd of clients waiting to pay their court and receive his bounties. Happy the client at Wisdom's door.
36. He who misses wisdom wrongs himself.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv1, 13 Heb. "Sheol," (See Scofield "Hab 2:5")
hell
Heb. "Sheol," (See Scofield "Hab 2:5")
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 1. The call and appeal of wisdom (Pro 8:1-11)
CHAPTER 8
1. The call and appeal of wisdom (Pro 8:1-11)
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2. What wisdom is and what wisdom gives (Pro 8:12-21)
3. Wisdom; the Person, who He is (Pro 8:22-31)
4. The renewed appeal (Pro 8:32-36)
Pro 8:1-11. This is one of the most interesting chapters in the entire book. It begins with a call and appeal of wisdom, much like the call and appeal of the first chapter. If wisdom calls, has a voice, then wisdom must also be a person. Who personified wisdom is we learn most blessedly in this chapter. Wisdom calls to the sons of men; wisdom speaks of plain and excellent things; she speaks the truth; her words are the words of righteousness; wisdom is better than rubies.
Pro 8:12-21. This section may well be looked on as an introduction to the sublime revelation in Pro 8:22-31. Wisdom is a person and what wisdom gives, the power wisdom has, makes it clear that wisdom is a divine person. Kings and princes rule by that person, as well as the nobles and judges of the earth. The powers that be are ordained by this wisdom. And that person says:
I love them that love Me
And those that seek Me early shall find Me.
This wisdom has riches and honor to bestow; has durable riches and righteousness; the fruit of it is better than fine gold; those that love the wisdom will receive an inheritance. In the next place we hear who that person is.
Pro 8:22-31. The Wisdom is the Son of God. The personification of wisdom is found in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. This wonderful passage is a great prelude to the incarnation and the subsequent redemption work of the Son of God. Here Solomon beheld the highest of all; he had a vision of the Messiah of Israel, the Son of David, whose wisdom, peace and kingdom of peace and glory he but faintly foreshadowed. The critical school must of course deny this application to our Lord. “The passage played a great role in subsequent thought, for it lies at the back of much of the speculation of Philo, and at a subsequent period was greatly employed by Christian theologians in support of their doctrine of the person of Christ through their identification of wisdom in this passage with Logos (the Word) of the fourth Gospel” (New Century Bible).
Wisdom was possessed by the Lord in the beginning of His ways, before His works of old. But that is the beginning without a beginning.
In the beginning was the Word; and because the Word, the Son of God, is God, He like God has no beginning. The word “possessed” has also the meaning of “formed”. “This word has been a battleground of controversy since the days of the Arian heresy. But it is well to remember that, all theological questions apart, it is impossible to understand the word, whatever rendering of it we adopt, as indicating that wisdom ever had a beginning, or was ever properly speaking created. Wisdom is inseparable from any worthy conception of Him who is “the only wise God” (1Ti 1:17), and therefore is like Him “from everlasting to everlasting” (Perowne). Wisdom, the Son of God, was always with God from everlasting. Before there ever was anything created, before the mountains were settled, or even the earth had been made, He was. And when creation began He was there. He, the Son, was by Him, as one brought up with Him. From the greater revelation in the New Testament we learn that all things were created not only for Him, but also by Him (Col 1:16). Wisdom speaks: “And I was continually His delight, rejoicing always before Him.” This can only be true of God the Son. And furthermore He says: “Rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth; and My delight was with the sons of men.” His delight was so great, that He laid by His glory, and left His eternal dwelling place to become man and redeem man by the death of the cross.
It is interesting to observe that this glimpse, this adumbration of a great truth, which was only to become fully clear in Christ Jesus our Lord, was advanced a tittle in clearness and completeness by a book which is not considered to be inspired, the so-called Book of Wisdom, in a passage which must be quoted: “For she (i.e., Wisdom) is a breath of the power of God, and a pure influence flowing from the glory of the Almighty; therefore can no defiled thing fall into her. For she is the brightness of the everlasting light, the unspotted mirror of the power of God and the image of His goodness. And being but one, she can do all things; and remaining in herself, she maketh all things new; and in all ages entering into holy souls, she maketh them friends of God and prophets. For God loveth none but him that dwelleth with Wisdom. For she is more beautiful than the sun, and above all the order of stars; being compared with the light, she is found before it.”
Pro 8:32-36. Then follows the renewed appeal. Wisdom says, “Whosoever findeth me findeth life.” How true of our Lord; in Him we find and have life. note the two occurrences of “blessed” in this paragraph.
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 Of the Messiah, the Personal Wisdom.
Of the Messiah, the Personal Wisdom.
The Richness of Wisdom’s Gifts. —
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v. 1. Doth not Wisdom cry, calling aloud to men to hear, and understanding put forth her voice, in an effort to reach all men?
v. 2. She standeth in the top of high places, on the top of high places along the way, easily to be seen by all who pass by, by the way in the places of the paths, at the cross-roads.
v. 3. She crieth at the gates, standing where the roads converge and many people come together, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors, at the outside of the gateway, where multitudes were wont to assemble.
v. 4. Unto you, O men, I call, and My voice is to the sons of man, the implication being that not one human being is excepted from the message herewith proclaimed. The sum of the proclamation is now offered:
v. 5. O ye simple, understand wisdom, in order to be able to apply it properly, and ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart, using prudence and discrimination in all situations of life.
v. 6. Hear; for I will speak of excellent things, stated in plain terms, but with noble and princely contents, and the opening of My lips shall be right things, uprightness in every respect.
v. 7. For My mouth shall speak truth, literally, "My palate meditateth truth," reflecting upon it, considering it always, and wickedness is an abomination to My lips.
v. 8. All the words of My mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them, nothing twisted or distorted, such as might lead men astray.
v. 9. They are all plain to him that understandeth, so that the way of salvation is clear, and right to them that find knowledge, teaching them the duties of sanctification.
v. 10. Receive My instruction and not silver, for true wisdom is to be preferred above the greatest wealth of this world, and knowledge rather than choice gold.
v. 11. For wisdom is better than rubies, the finest coral jewelry, and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it. cf Pro 3:14-15. This entire section clearly speaks of the divine wisdom in a most peculiar sense, as personified in the person of the Word of God, Jesus Christ, for He it is who, in His revealed Word, teaches all men the true understanding of His person and office and the way to salvation.
v. 12. I, Wisdom, dwell with prudence, skill in making use of every situation in life in the proper manner is His constant companion, and find out knowledge of witty inventions, of sagacious counsels, He Himself having this ability by virtue of His essential Godhead and teaching it in His Word.
v. 13. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, or "the fear of Jehovah hates wickedness," that being the result and outflow of faith; pride and arrogancy, a proud and supercilious behavior, and the evil way, wickedness in any form, and the froward mouth, crafty and malicious speech, do I hate.
v. 14. Counsel is Mine, that basic knowledge, the essential wisdom, which is able to give real advice, and sound wisdom, that is, penetration, which goes to the bottom of things and tests them for their soundness and strength; I am Understanding; I have strength, that is, the energy necessary to put wisdom in action.
v. 15. By Me kings reign, making use of wisdom in their rule, and princes decree justice, for its full and proper administration is possible only by means of the knowledge from on high.
v. 16. By Me princes rule and nobles, even all the judges of the earth, the officials of the government of every degree.
v. 17. I love them that love Me, exercising this love in all the circumstances of life, and those that seek Me early, as they do for the first evidences of the dawn in the East after a dark night, shall find Me, Joh 5:39.
v. 18. Riches and honor, of the true and lasting kind, are with Me; yea, durable, that is, increasing, riches and righteousness, the latter especially being the lasting possession of those who cling to the personal Wisdom in true faith.
v. 19. My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold, the riches which the believers obtain from Christ exceeding the wealth of Croesus in desirability, and My revenue than choice silver, exceeding it in costliness and real worth.
v. 20. I lead in the way of righteousness, literally, "I am walking," that being the standard of His conduct, in the midst of the paths of judgment, all His dealings being in agreement with the demands of divine justice,
v. 21. that I may cause those that love Me to inherit substance, true and lasting blessings; and I will fill their treasures, giving them possessions which outlast this world, the happiness of those who are united with Christ by the bonds of love, who receive the fullness of His merciful gifts and the blessings of His grace in His Word, which teaches true wisdom. Having thus spoken of His work, of His office, Christ next gives information concerning His person.
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, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 General Information:
General Information:
In chapter 8 wisdom is spoken of as a woman who teaches people how to be wise. (See: Personification)
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General Information:
Many verses in chapter 8 have parallelisms. (See: Parallelism)
Does not Wisdom call out?
This question is used to remind the readers of something they should already know. AT: "Wisdom calls out" (See: Rhetorical Question)
Does not Wisdom call out?
Here wisdom is imagined as a woman. If a language does not allow this kind of metaphor, other possible translations are: 1) "Is not wisdom like a woman who calls out?" 2) "Does not a woman named Wisdom call out?" (See: Personification)
Does not Understanding raise her voice?
Here "Understanding" means the same as "Wisdom." (See: Rhetorical Question)
raise her voice
"speak"
the gates at the entrance into the city
In ancient times, cities usually had outer walls with gates in them.
she calls out
This continues to refer to Wisdom, personified as a woman. (See: Personification)
translationWords
wise
gate
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, 2, 3, 6, 10, 12, 13, 15 8:1–9:18 The first part of Proverbs climaxes when the…
8:1–9:18 The first part of Proverbs climaxes when the son encounters two women. Both invite the young man, and the reader with him, into an intimate relationship. The young man and the reader must decide between the woman named Wisdom, personifying the true wisdom of God (8:1–9:6), and the woman named Folly (9:13-18), representing the wisdom of the world (1 Cor 1:18–2:16). Both women’s houses are on “the heights overlooking the city” (Prov 9:3, 14), suggesting ancient temples; the choice is thus between the true God and false gods.
8:1-2 Wisdom calls out openly and publicly, appealing to all and offering them her gift of wisdom. Like a prophet, she wants all to respond to her words.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.