Matthew Poole and continuators on Proverbs 20:27

27 The spirit of a man is the candle of the LORD , searching all the inward parts of the belly .

i. e. The reasonable Soul.

Is a clear and glorious light set up in Man for his information and direction.

So called partly because it comes from God in a more immediate and peculiar manner than the Body doth, Eccles. 12. 7. and partly because it is in Gods stead to observe and judge all a Man's actions.

Discerning not onely his outward actions, which are visible to others, but his most inward and secret thoughts and affections, which no other Man can see, 1 Cor. 2. 11. The Belly is here put for the Heart, as it is frequently. The Soul can reflect upon and judge of its own dispositions and actions. Which plainly sheweth that the Heart is not so deceitful, but that a Man by diligent study of it, and the use of the means appointed by God, may arrive at a certain knowledge of its state and condition, in reference to God, and to Salvation.

Marginal references: Or, lamp.