Proverbs 3:8

It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones. IT SHALL BE HEALTH TO THY NAVEL, AND MARROW TO THY BONES - "it," namely, the obedient "fear of the Lord" just described (). Plasters and emollient ointments are often applied to the person for healing purposes. The navel is the channel of supplying nutriment to the infant in the womb. It also denotes the whole belly, with the intestines near it as the softer parts of the body. The bones, the harder part, follow. The two together represent the whole frame. The fear of the Lord nourishes alike the inner graces and powers of the spiritual life and its outer operations. "Marrow" - literally, moistening, in reference to the marrow, which is the vital moisture of the bones (, end; contrast...

7-12 There is not a greater enemy to the fear of the Lord in the heart, than self-conceit of our own wisdom. The prudence and sobriety which religion teaches, tend not only to the health of the soul, but to the health of the body. Worldly wealth is but poor substance, yet, such as it is, we must honour God with it; and those that do good with what they have, shall have more to do more good with. Should the Lord visit us with trials and sickness, let us not forget that the exhortation speaks to us as to children, for our good. We must not faint under an affliction, be it ever so heavy and long, not be driven to despair, or use wrong means for relief. The father corrects the son whom he loves, because he loves him, and desires that he may be wise and good. Afflictions are so far from doing God's children any hurt, that, by the grace of God, they promote their holiness....

Verse Proverbs 3:8. _IT SHALL BE HEALTH TO THY NAVEL_] We need not puzzle ourselves to find out what we may suppose to be a more _delicate_ meaning for the original word שר _shor_ than _navel_; for I am satisfied a more proper cannot be found. It is well known that it is by the _umbilical cord_ that the _fetus_ receives its nourishment all the time it is in the womb of the mother. It receives nothing by the _mouth_, nor by any other means: by _this_ alone all nourishment is received, and the circulation of the blood kept up. When, therefore, the wise man says, that "trusting in the Lord with the whole heart, and acknowledging him in all a man's ways, c., shall be health to the navel, and marrow to the bones" he in effect says, that this is as essential to the life of God in the soul of man, and to the continual growth in grace, as the umbilical cord...

NAVEL - The central region of the body is taken as the representative of all the vital organs. For “health” we should read healing, or, as in the marg. There is probably a reference to the local applications used by the surgery of the period as means of healing....

EXPOSITION PROVERBS 3:1 4. _Fourth admonitory discourse. _The third chapter introduces us to a group of admonitions, and the first of these (Proverbs 3:1) forms the fourth admonitory discourse of the teacher. To all intents and purposes this is a continuation of the discourse in the preceding chapter, for inasmuch as that described the benefits, spiritual and moral, which follow from the pursuit of Wisdom, in promoting godliness and providing safety from evil companions, so this in like manner depicts the gain flowing from Wisdom, the happiness of the man who finds Wisdom, and the favour which he meets with both with God and man. The discourse embraces exhortations to obedience ...

IT SHALL BE HEALTH TO THY NAVEL,.... That part of the body which is the knot of the intestines; and may be put for the bowels and inward parts, which being sound, the body is in health; and these may be put for the whole body: and so the Septuagint version renders it, "to thy body"; and this may be put for the whole person. And the sense is, either wisdom, as Jarchi; the doctrine of wisdom, the Gospel; which teaches men to trust in the Lord, and not in themselves, to apply to him for wisdom, and not lean to their own understanding; this contributes much to a man's spiritual health and welfare: or else the fear of the Lord is of this use to men, both in soul and body; since by it they depart from those sins which bring diseases upon the body; and are influenced by it to the exercise of such graces, and the discharge of such duties, as are the means of keeping the soul in good plight; AND...

CHAPTER 3 _ 1. The call and promise of wisdom (Proverbs 3:1)_ 2. Happy is the man that findeth wisdom (Proverbs 3:11) 3. Promise and instruction (Proverbs 3:21) Proverbs 3:1. The call to obedience is followed by promise. The promise is like all the promises to an earthly people “for length of days and long life”. Here are some blessed exhortations loved and cherished by all His people (Proverbs 3:5). How happier, and more fruitful the children of God would be if they obeyed constantly this instruction: “in all thy

FOURTH Discourse. The sage exhorts the young man to heed his oral instruction (_torah),_ and to trust in Yahweh, fear Him, and honour Him in the prescribed manner of firstfruits. It is interesting to find _torah_ used in its earlier prophetic sense of oral instruction, without reference to its later sense of the whole body of legislation represented by the Pentateuch. The torah of the wise man represents not his own individual authority, but the accumulated wisdom of experience. The torah of the prophet, although delivered in the name of Yahweh, represents ultimately the accumulated moral consciousness of the nation; while the torah of the priest in its later form at least represents the traditional and inherited ritual, the prescribed method of the cultus. Hence the primary idea of torah is the same in all three forms. (See pp. 121, 620, Deuteronomy 1:5 *, and for a fuller disc

HEALTH. healing. Occurs only here. NAVEL. Put by Figure of speech _Synecdoche_ (of Part) for the whole body (App-6). But Septuagint and Syriac, following. different spelling, read "body". MARROW. moistening....

Fourth Address. Chap. Proverbs 3:1-10 Be obedient to my instruction, so shalt thou live long and prosper (Proverbs 3:1). Trust, not in thyself, but in God (Proverbs 3:5). Seek His direction (Proverbs 3:5): render Him His due (Proverbs 3:9): and (see Proverbs 3:12, note) submit to His fatherly correction (Proverbs 3:11)....