Proverbs 8:22

The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. THE LORD POSSESSED ME IN THE BEGINNING OF HIS WAY, BEFORE HIS WORKS OF OLD. "Possessed me" [ qaanaaniy (H7069)]. The Septuagint translates it 'created me' [ektise me]: so the Chaldaic, Arabic, and Syriac. This has been made an argument by Arians to prove that Christ is but a creature. But the Vulgate supports the English version. The Christian fathers generally understand this passage of the humanity of Christ. The Lord created me, in respect to my humanity (i:e., in His predestined purpose), in the beginning of His way - i:e., of His work of creation: Christ's predestined humanity was the meritorious cause, the archetype, and final cause of all God's works. But the parallel (John 1:1) makes it more...

22-31 The Son of God declares himself to have been engaged in the creation of the world. How able, how fit is the Son of God to be the Saviour of the world, who was the Creator of it! The Son of God was ordained, before the world, to that great work. Does he delight in saving wretched sinners, and shall not we delight in his salvation?...

Verse Proverbs 8:22. _THE LORD POSSESSED ME IN THE BEGINNING OF HIS WAY_] Wisdom is not _acquired_ by the Divine Being; _man_, and even _angels,_ _learn it_ by _slow_ and _progressive_ degrees; but in God it is as eternally inherent as any other essential attribute of his nature. The _Targum_ makes this wisdom a _creature_, by thus translating the passage: אלהא בראני בריש בריתיה _Elaha barani bereish biriteiah_, "God created me in the beginning of his creatures." The _Syriac_ is the same. This is as absurd and heretical as some modern glosses on the same passage....

A verse which has played an important part in the history of Christian dogma. Wisdom reveals herself as preceding all creation, stamped upon it all, one with God, yet in some way distinguishable from Him as the object of His love Proverbs 8:30. John declares that all which Wisdom here speaks of herself was true in its highest sense of the Word that became flesh John 1:1 : just as Apostles afterward applied Wisd. 7:22-30 to Christ (compare Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3). POSSESSED - The word has acquired a special prominence in connection with the Arian controversy. The meaning w

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 ...

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 like nature with himself, in some moment or period of eternity; and by whom he made all others: the Word, or Wisdom of God is never said to be created; and if as such he was created, God must have been without his Wisdom before he was created; besides, Christ, as the Word and Wisdom of God, is the Creator of all things, and not created, John 1:1; but this possession is not in right of creation, as the word is sometimes used, Genesis 4:1; it might be more truly rendered, "the Lord begat me", as the word is translated by the Septua

THE LORD POSSESSED ME That wisdom is more than the personification of an attribute of God, or of the will of God as best for man, but is a distinct adumbration of Christ, is sure to the devout mind. (Proverbs 8:22); (John 1:1); (Colossians 1:17) can refer to nothing less than the Eternal Son of God....

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

_possessed_ So also R.V. text: marg., "or, _formed_." ἔκτισεν, LXX.; ἐκτήσατο, Aquila; possedit, Vulg. 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" (1 Timothy 1:17), and therefore is like Him "from everlasting to everlasting" (Psalms 90:1). The Heb. word seems properly to mean, _to acquire_, and so _to possess_, (comparavit, emit, acquisivit, acquisitum possedit," Buxtorf, _ad verb_.), without defining the method of acquisition. Thus Eve