INTRODUCTION TO PROVERBS 8 This chapter contains the instructions of Wisdom or Christ; showing the excellency of them, and the author of them, in opposition to the harlot and her allurements, in the preceding chapter. Christ, under the name of Wisdom, is represented as an herald, publishing the Gos... [ Continue Reading ]
DOTH NOT WISDOM CRY?.... Christ, who is the Wisdom of God; Proverbs 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. "Cr... [ Continue Reading ]
SHE STANDETH IN THE TOP OF HIGH PLACES,.... To be both seen and heard, for which reason Christ went up into a mountain and preached, Matthew 5:1; BY THE WAY; the roadside, to instruct and direct passengers as they go along, to show them the right way, and caution them against taking wrong ways; so... [ Continue Reading ]
SHE CRIETH AT THE GATES,.... Of the temple, or of the city, where the courts of judicature were, and persons met on civil accounts; and where people were continually passing and repassing; AT THE ENTRY OF THE CITY; meeting those that came out of the country to the city upon trade and business; AT... [ Continue Reading ]
UNTO YOU, O MEN, I CALL,.... Not angels, the fallen angels; for, as they had nothing to do with Christ, he had nothing to do with them, or say unto them, Matthew 8:29; nor the brutes, irrational creatures; for, though the Gospel is to be preached to every creature, yet only to rational ones, Mark 16... [ Continue Reading ]
O YE SIMPLE, UNDERSTAND WISDOM,.... The Gospel, the wisdom of God in a mystery, particularly the doctrine of salvation by Christ; it is the highest wisdom to know Christ and him crucified: and they are "the simple" who are weak and easy to be imposed upon, who are here called unto; and generally spe... [ Continue Reading ]
HEAR; FOR I WILL SPEAK OF EXCELLENT THINGS,.... Such are the things of the Gospel; they not only excel what the light of nature dictates and directs to, but even what the law of Moses commands and requires; the doctrines of the Gospel are excellent in their author, nature, and use; particularly thos... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR MY MOUTH SHALL SPEAK TRUTH,.... And nothing but the truth; and nothing more or less can be spoken by Wisdom, or Christ, who is truth itself; nothing else can come out of his mouth, or drop from his lips; all the doctrines of Christ are agreeable to the Scriptures of truth, and are what the Spiri... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL THE WORDS OF MY MOUTH [ARE] IN RIGHTEOUSNESS,.... Or "with righteousness" x; are connected with it, are agreeable to it; are righteous ones, consistent with righteousness, with the righteous nature, will, and law of God: or "are concerning righteousness" y the necessity of righteousness in order... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY [ARE] ALL PLAIN TO HIM THAT UNDERSTANDETH,.... Whose understanding is enlightened by the Spirit of God; who is a spiritual man, that has a discerning, and can judge of spiritual things: as for the carnal man, let him have what natural knowledge or wisdom he will, he cannot know these things; fo... [ Continue Reading ]
RECEIVE MY INSTRUCTION, AND NOT SILVER,.... Not but that silver may be desired, sought after and received, consistent with the instructions of wisdom; though an anxious, immoderate, sinful pursuit after it, hinders the reception of them; and when they are in competition, the one is to be preferred t... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR WISDOM [IS] BETTER THAN RUBIES,.... A sort of precious stones: or, "than precious stones" z in general; so the Targum and Septuagint, Arabic and Syriac versions; even than all of them, as the Vulgate Latin version; or, than "pearls" a, or "carbuncles" b: there are none equal to it, nor is it to... [ Continue Reading ]
I WISDOM DWELL WITH PRUDENCE,.... Here Wisdom begins to speak in her own person, and continues to do so unto the end of the chapter; or Christ describes himself, pencils out and draws his own picture, and a most lovely one it is. In this clause Christ is described by the habitation in which he dwell... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FEAR OF THE LORD [IS] TO HATE EVIL,.... All evil in general, evil thoughts, evil words, evil actions, evil company, evil worship, and evil doctrines; and by "the fear of the Lord", which shows itself in an hatred of evil, because of the loathsome nature of it, and being contrary to God and his w... [ Continue Reading ]
COUNSEL [IS] MINE, AND SOUND WISDOM,.... The words and sentiments in this and the following clause are the same with those in Job 12:13; and scent to be taken from thence, which are spoken of God; and being here applied to Wisdom, show that a divine Person is meant; and are very applicable to him w... [ Continue Reading ]
BY ME KINGS REIGN,.... Christ is the Prince of the kings of the earth, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; they are made kings by him, and are under him; he sets them up, and deposes them at pleasure; they have their kingdoms, crowns, and sceptres from him, and are accountable to him. The Syriac v... [ Continue Reading ]
BY ME PRINCES RULE,.... All governors of provinces and cities, who are under the king as supreme; the discharge of whose office in a right manner requires much wisdom, prudence, justice, and integrity; all which they have from Christ, as well as their power of ruling, that rule well; AND NOBLES, [E... [ Continue Reading ]
I LOVE THEM THAT LOVE ME,.... Those that love Christ are such who are born again, and have a spiritual and experimental knowledge of him; that believe in him, have seen his loveliness, have had his love shed abroad in their hearts, and a view of his fulness and suitableness; some comfortable apprehe... [ Continue Reading ]
RICHES AND HONOUR [ARE] WITH ME,.... By "riches" are meant not the riches of Christ's person, the perfections of his nature, his works, and his vast empire over all creatures, and the revenues arising from thence, which though durable, yet not communicable; not temporal riches, which, though with hi... [ Continue Reading ]
MY FRUIT [IS] BETTER THAN GOLD, YEA, THAN FINE GOLD,.... This is said in allusion to the fruit that grows on trees, Wisdom, or Christ, being a tree of life, Proverbs 3:18; and so he is compared to other trees, Song of Solomon 2:3. His "fruit" are the blessings of grace, such as redemption, reconcili... [ Continue Reading ]
I LEAD IN THE WAY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS,.... As a king his subjects, a shepherd his flock; as a guide to persons that are ignorant and out of the way; as parents their children, teaching them to go; or as a master his scholars: and the way Wisdom, or Christ, leads his people in, is "the way of righteousn... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT I MAY CAUSE THOSE THAT LOVE ME TO INHERIT SUBSTANCE,.... Substantial blessings, blessings indeed, as all spiritual ones are; and substantial grace, as every grace is; and substantial communion with God and Christ, which is a real thing, and had in the way of righteousness; also substantial happ... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD POSSESSED ME IN THE BEGINNING OF HIS WAY,.... Not "created me", as the Targum and the Septuagint version; which version Arius following gave birth to his pernicious doctrine; who from hence concluded Christ is a creature, and was the first creature that God made, not of the same but of a li... [ Continue Reading ]
I WAS SET UP FROM EVERLASTING,.... I, a person, and not a quality; a person, and not a nature; the person of Christ as the Son of God, and not the human nature of Christ, which then did not exist; this phrase designs the ordination and constitution of Christ in his office as Mediator. So the Vulgate... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN [THERE WERE] NO DEPTHS, I WAS BROUGHT FORTH,.... Not only in the decree of God, as the head of the elect; foreordained to be the Redeemer of them, and to be the propitiation for their sins; and appointed the Judge of the world, and heir of all things; but "was begotten", as the Targum and Syria... [ Continue Reading ]
BEFORE THE MOUNTAINS WERE SETTLED,.... "Plunged" l, or fixed in the earth; and which was done by the great strength of the Lord, upon their proper bases, Psalms 65:6; and which were "aborigine", or from the beginning of the world, and therefore called the ancient mountains, Deuteronomy 33:15; to be... [ Continue Reading ]
WHILE AS YET HE HAD NOT MADE THE EARTH,.... That is, the Lord, who possessed Wisdom, or Christ, and by whom he was set up; he as yet had not made the earth, when this was done; this shows that the earth had a beginning, contrary to those philosophers who asserted the eternity of it; that Christ was... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN HE PREPARED THE HEAVENS, I [WAS] THERE,.... Made, beautified, and adorned them; when he gave them their form, figure, magnitude, and motion; when he garnished them with the sun, moon, and stars; then was Christ present, not as a mere spectator, but as a co-worker; see Hebrews 1:10; and even the... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN HE ESTABLISHED THE CLOUDS ABOVE,.... In which the waters are bound, and yet are not rent under them; and where, in the thin air, they hang heavy with them; where they are weighed by measure, and a decree made for them when they shall fall; and when they do, the Lord makes small the drops of wat... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN HE GAVE TO THE SEA HIS DECREE, THAT THE WATERS SHOULD NOT PASS HIS COMMANDMENT,.... A perpetual decree, which never has been altered nor never will: he has placed the sand for the bounds of the sea everywhere, which it cannot pass, though its waves toss, foam, and roar; this is his decreed plac... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN I WAS BY HIM, [AS] ONE BROUGHT UP [WITH HIM],.... He was then, and from all eternity, "by him", or "with him" q; which denotes his co-existence with God, and his relation to him as his Father; his nearness to him, his equality with him, and his distinction from him: he was by him when the names... [ Continue Reading ]
REJOICING IN THE HABITABLE PART OF HIS EARTH,.... In that part of the earth which is habitable; in filling it with inhabitants; in preserving and sustaining it in being, and the inhabitants of it; in governing it, and ordering all things in it for the best, according to his infinite wisdom and the c... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW THEREFORE HEARKEN UNTO ME, O YE CHILDREN,.... Children of his and his Father, with whom his delights were; predestinated to the adoption of children; children of the covenant and promise, given to him as such in the covenant; for whom he became man, suffered and died, to gather together regenera... [ Continue Reading ]
HEAR INSTRUCTION,.... The instruction of wisdom, the Gospel of Christ; which instructs men in things relating to God the Father; as that he is the God and Father of his people, the God of all grace, the giver and sender of Christ, and all good things by him; in things respecting Christ, his person,... [ Continue Reading ]
BLESSED [IS] THE MAN THAT HEARETH ME,.... Christ in his Gospel, as speaking by his ministers; for hearing them is hearing him, Luke 10:16; they have their commission from him; are his ambassadors, and represent him; receive their gifts from him; speak according to his mind and will, revealed in his... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR WHOSO FINDETH ME FINDETH LIFE,.... Of finding Christ, Proverbs 3:13. Such that find Christ find "life" or "lives" z, life spiritual and eternal; till they are found of Christ, and find him in effectual calling, they are dead; but, when called by his grace and converted, they live a life of just... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT HE THAT SINNETH AGAINST ME,.... Or misses the mark, as the word b signifies; and which is observed by Aben Ezra; see Judges 20:16. Christ is the mark and scope of the counsels of God; of the covenant of grace; of the Scriptures; of the Gospel, the truths and promises of it; of the graces of the... [ Continue Reading ]