Proverbs 8:17

I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me. I LOVE THEM THAT LOVE ME: AND THOSE THAT SEEK ME EARLY SHALL FIND ME. So the Qeri' or Hebrew margin reads ( 'ohabay (H157)); but the Kethibh or text has: 'I love them that love her,' making it the Word of the Lord concerning them that love Wisdom. In either case the Word of God identifies loving her with loving God Himself. She cannot be a mere attribute, but a person (if she be the speaker, as she is in the Qeri' reading) - namely, the Divine Son of God (cf. Exodus 20:6, "Showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me"). Wisdom had kindled the desire after her with various promises; now she suggests the mode in which she is to be obtained-namely, by love-a mode most calculated to attract men to her....

12-21 Wisdom, here is Christ, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; it is Christ in the word, and Christ in the heart; not only Christ revealed to us, but Christ revealed in us. All prudence and skill are from the Lord. Through the redemption of Christ's precious blood, the riches of his grace abound in all wisdom and prudence. Man found out many inventions for ruin; God found one for our recovery. He hates pride and arrogance, evil ways and froward conversation; these render men unwilling to hear his humbling, awakening, holy instructions. True religion gives men the best counsel in all difficult cases, and helps to make their way plain. His wisdom makes all truly happy who receive it in the love of Christ Jesus. Seek him early, seek him earnestly, seek him before any thing else. Christ never said, Seek in vain. Those who love Christ, are such as have seen his loveline...

Verse Proverbs 8:17. _I LOVE THEM THAT LOVE ME_] Wisdom shows itself; teaches man the knowledge of himself; shows him also the will of God concerning him; manifests the snares and dangers of life, the allurements and unsatisfactory nature of all sensual and sinful pleasures, the blessedness of true religion, and the solid happiness which an upright soul derives from the peace and approbation of its Maker. If, then, the heart embraces this wisdom, follows this Divine teaching, and gives itself to God, his love will be shed abroad in it by the influence of the Holy Spirit. Thus we love God because he hath first loved us and the more we love him, the more we shall feel of his love, which will enable us to love him _yet more and more_; and thus we may go on increasing to eternity. Blessed be God! _AND THOSE THAT SEEK ME EARLY SHALL FIND ME._] Not merely...

EXPOSITION PROVERBS 8:1 14. _Fourteenth admonitory discourse _concerning Wisdom—her excellence, her origin, her gifts. She is contrasted with the strange woman of Proverbs 7:1; 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 (Proverbs 7:1); Wisdom calls on all to listen, and gives reasons for trusting to her ...

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 apprehensions of their relation to him, and interest in him, and are indulged with communion with him: the love with which such souls love Christ springs from their very hearts, is cordial and sincere; it gives him the preference to all objects, to all creatures, angels or men, and to all creature enjoyments; it is drawn out to all of Christ, and to all that belong to him, or are his; and though it may be lost, become remiss and abate in its fervency, it cannot be lost; and is what is very acceptable to Christ, and highly esteemed of by him: it shows itself by a high veneration for the truths and doc...

CHAPTER 8 _ 1. The call and appeal of wisdom (Proverbs 8:1)_ 2. What wisdom is and what wisdom gives (Proverbs 8:12) 3. Wisdom; the Person, who He is (Proverbs 8:22) 4. The renewed appeal (Proverbs 8:32) Proverbs 8:1. This is one of the most interesting Chapter s 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 chapt

PROVERBS 8. WISDOM SPEAKS IN HER OWN PERSON. This chapter forms at once the nucleus and the climax of this section of the book. The series of addresses on practical wisdom is fitly closed by a profounder presentation of wisdom as the moving principle in the ways of God. It reinforces the practical maxims of Proverbs 8:1 with the fundamental principle that the wise man is in harmony with God. Its date probably fixes the date of the whole section (see Introduction, and for a fuller discussion especially Cheyne, _Job and Solomon,_ pp. 156f.). The relation of the conception of Wisdom personified to the Stoic Logos and to Greek philosophy in general cannot be discussed here. (See _Wisdom Literature_ in HDB, and especially the excellent introduction by Holmes to the Book of Wisdom in Charles-' _Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha._) The two main lines of development of this conception in H

THAT LOVE ME. Illustrations: Joseph (Genesis 37:2 :; Genesis 37:13; Genesis 37:16. Pro 39:3, Pro 39:9. Pro 41:38); Samuel (1 Samuel 2:26; 1 Samuel 7:3. compare Jeremiah 15:1); David (1 Samuel 17:37; 1 Samuel 17:45;...

_early_ Rather DILIGENTLY, R.V. text, though R.V. marg. retains, early. See Proverbs 1:28, _note_. Wisdom is as accessible as she is desirable....

DISCOURSE: 769 ADDRESS PREPARATORY TO CONFIRMATION Proverbs 8:17. _I love them that love me; and those that seek me early, shall find me_. THESE are the words of our blessed Lord [Note: ver. 22–31.], who, under the name of Widom, addresses himself to the children of men [Note: ver. 4, 5.], and urges them to receive instruction from him [Note: ver. 32, 33.]. But to the _young_ they are more particularly directed: and it is for their encouragement more especially that I have selected them for our consideration at this time. Two things they declare to us most explicitly; I. Who they are that already enjoy God’s favour— God in some respects may be said to love the whole world, even in their present degenerate state: for “he so loved them, that he gave his only-begotten Son for them.” But there are some who are more particularly the objects of his favou