Proverbs 2 commentary

Those who earnestly seek heavenly wisdom, will never complain that they have lost their labour; and the freeness of the gift does not do away the necessity of our diligence, Joh 6:27 Let them seek, and they shall find it; let them ask, and it shall be given them. Observe who are thus favoured. They are the righteous, on whom the image of God is renewed, which consists in righteousness. If we depend upon God, and seek to him for wisdom, he will enable us to keep the paths of judgment.

If we are truly wise, we shall be careful to avoid all evil company and evil practices. When wisdom has dominion over us, then it not only fills the head, but enters into the heart, and will preserve, both against corruptions within and temptations without. The ways of sin are ways of darkness, uncomfortable and unsafe: what fools are those who leave the plain, pleasant, lightsome paths of uprightness, to walk in such ways! They take pleasure in sin; both in committing it, and in seeing others commit it. Every wise man will shun such company. True wisdom will also preserve from those who lead to fleshly lusts, which defile the body, that living temple, and war against the soul. These are evils which excite the sorrow of every serious mind, and cause every reflecting parent to look upon his children with anxiety, lest they should be entangled in such fatal snares. Let the sufferings of others be our warnings. Our Lord Jesus deters from sinful pleasures, by the everlasting torments which follow them. It is very rare that any who are caught in this snare of the devil, recover themselves; so much is the heart hardened, and the mind blinded, by the deceitfulness of this sin. Many think that this caution, besides the literal sense, is to be understood as a caution against idolatry, and subjecting the soul to the body, by seeking any forbidden object. The righteous must leave the earth as well as the wicked; but the earth is a very different thing to them. To the wicked it is all the heaven they ever shall have; to the righteous it is the place of preparation for heaven. And is it all one to us, whether we share with the wicked in the miseries of their latter end, or share those everlasting joys that shall crown believers?

CHAPTER 2

Pr 2:1-22. Men are invited to seek wisdom because it teaches those principles by which they may obtain God's guidance and avoid the society and influence of the wicked, whose pernicious courses are described.

1-5. Diligence in hearing and praying for instruction must be used to secure the great principle of godliness, the fear of God.

hide ... with thee--lay up in store (compare Pr 7:1).

6. For--God is ready (Jas 1:5; 4:8).

out of his mouth--by revelation from Him.

7. sound wisdom--literally, "substance," opposed to what is fictitious. According to the context, this may be assistance, as here corresponding with

buckler--or safety, or wisdom, which procures it (compare Pr 3:21; 8:14; 18:1; Job 6:13; 12:13).

layeth up--provides, ever ready.

8. keepeth ... way--God defends the right way, and those in it.

saints--objects of favor (compare Psa 4:3, &c.). He guides and guards them.

9. Then--emphatic, in such a case.

righteousness ... path--all parts of duty to God and man.

10-11. Idea of Pr 2:9, amplified; on terms, compare Pr 2:2 and Pr 2:4.

12-15. To deliver--as from great danger (Pr 6:5).

way ... man--(Psa 1:1).

froward things--perversity (Pr 6:14; 23:23), what is opposed to truth.

16-19. Deliverance from another danger.

the strange woman--This term is often used for harlot, or loose woman (Jud 11:1, 2), married (Pr 7:5, 19) or not (1Ki 11:1), so called, because such were, perhaps at first, foreigners, though "strange" may also denote whatever is opposed to right or proper, as "strange fire" (Nu 3:4); "strange incense" (Ex 30:9).

flattereth--literally, "smooths."

her words--(Psa 5:9).

20. That ... way of good--that is, Such is the object of these warnings.

21-22. (Compare Psa 37:3, 9, 22, 27).

My son - Here the tutor still continues to instruct his disciple.

Hide my commandments with theel Treasure them up in thy heart, and then act from them through the medium of thy affections. He who has the rule of his duty only in his Bible and in his head, is not likely to be a steady, consistent character; his heart is not engaged, and his obedience, in any case, can be only forced, or done from a sense of duty: it is not the obedience of a loving, dutiful child, to an affectionate father. But he who has the word of God in his heart, works from his heart; his heart goes with him in all things, and he delights to do the will of his heavenly Father, because his law is in his heart. See Pro 3:3.

If thou seekest her as silver - How do men seek money? What will they not do to get rich? Reader, seek the salvation of thy soul as earnestly as the covetous man seeks wealth; and be ashamed of thyself, if thou be less in earnest after the true riches than he is after perishing wealth.

Hid treasures - The original word signifies property of any kind concealed in the earth, in caves or such like; and may also mean treasures, such as the precious metals or precious stones, which are presumptively known to exist in such and such mines. And how are these sought? Learn from the following circumstance: In the Brazils slaves are employed to scrape up the soil from the bed of the Rio Janeiro, and wash it carefully, in order to find particles of gold and diamonds; and it is a law of the state, that he who finds a diamond of so many carats shall have his freedom. This causes the greatest ardor and diligence in searching, washing out the soil, picking, etc., in order to find such diamonds, and the greatest anxiety for success; so precious is liberty to the human heart. This method of searching for gold and precious stones is alluded to in Pro 3:13-15. In this way Solomon wishes men to seek for wisdom, knowledge, and understanding; and he who succeeds finds the liberty of the children of God, and is saved from the slavery of sin and the empire of death.

He layeth up sound wisdom - תושיה tushiyah. We have met with this word in Job; see Job 5:12; Job 6:13; Job 11:6; Job 12:16. See especially the note on Job 11:6 (note), where the different acceptations of the word are given.

Coverdale translates, "He preserveth the welfare of the righteous." It is difficult to find, in any language, a term proper to express the original meaning of the word; its seems to mean generally the essence or substance of a thing, The thing itself - that which is chief of its kind. He layeth up What Is Essential for the righteous.

Then shalt thou understand - He who is taught of God understands the whole law of justice, mercy, righteousness, and truth; God has written this on his heart. He who understands these things by books only is never likely to practice or profit by them.

Discretion shall preserve thee - מזמה mezimmah. See on Pro 1:4 (note). Here the word is taken in a good sense, a good device. The man invents purposes of good; and all his schemes, plans, and devices, have for their object God's glory and the good of man: he deviseth liberal things, and by liberal things he shall stand. Coverdale translates, "Then shall Counsel preserve thee." A very good translation, much better than the present.

The man that speaketh froward things - תהפכות tahpuchoth, things of subverston; from תפך taphach, to turn or change the course of a thing. Men who wish to subvert the state of things, whether civil or religious; who are seditious themselves, and wish to make others so. These speak much of liberty and oppression, deal greatly in broad assertions, and endeavor especially to corrupt the minds of youth.

The stranger which flattereth with her words - החליקה hechelikah, she that smooths with her words. The original intimates the glib, oily speeches of a prostitute. The English lick is supposed to be derived from the original word.

Which forsaketh the guide of her youth - Leaves her father's house and instructions, and abandons herself to the public.

The covenant of her God - Renounces the true religion, and mixes with idolaters; for among them prostitution was enormous. Or by the covenant may be meant the matrimonial contract, which is a covenant made in the presence of God between the contracting parties, in which they bind themselves to be faithful to each other.

For her house inclineth unto death - It is generally in by and secret places that such women establish themselves. They go out of the high road to get a residence; and every step that is taken towards their house is a step towards death. The path of sin is the path of ruin: the path of duty is the way of safety. For her paths incline unto the dead, רפאים repheim, the inhabitants of the invisible world. The woman who abandons herself to prostitution soon contracts, and generally communicates, that disease, which, above all others, signs the speediest and most effectual passport to the invisible world. Therefore it is said,

None that go unto her return again - There are very few instances of prostitutes ever returning to the paths of sobriety and truth; perhaps not one of such as become prostitutes through a natural propensity to debauchery. Among those who have been deceived, debauched, and abandoned, many have been reclaimed; and to such alone penitentiaries may be useful; to the others they may only be incentives to farther sinning. Rakes and debauchees are sometimes converted: but most of them never lay hold on the path of life; they have had their health destroyed, and never recover it. The original, חיים chaiyim, means lives; not only the health of the body is destroyed, but the soul is ruined. Thus the unhappy man may be said to be doubly slain.

That thou mayest mark - Therefore thou shalt walk.

Transgressors - בוגדים bogedim. The garment men, the hypocrites; those who act borrowed characters, who go under a eloak; dissemblers. All such shall be rooted out of the land; they shall not be blessed with posterity. In general it is so: and were it not so, one evil offspring succeeding another, adding their own to their predecessors' vices, the earth would become so exceedingly corrupt that a second flood, or a fire, would be necessary to purge it.

Hide - Lay them up in thy heart with care, as men do their choicest treasures.

Criest - To God, the only giver of it.

Seek her - With unwearied diligence and earnest desire and patient expectation.

Path of judgment - Righteous paths, judgment being here put for righteousness. And keeping of paths may be put for keeping them in their paths.

Then - When God in answer to thy desires hath given thee wisdom. Equity - All the parts of thy duty to man, as well as the fear of God.

When - Thou dost truly love wisdom.

Darkness - Of sin.

Crooked - Who swerve from the straight way of God's law, and have windings and turnings, to escape conviction.

Strange woman - From the adulteress or whore.

Forsaketh - Her husband whom she took to be her guide and governor, in her youth. The covenant - The marriage covenant: so called because God is the author of that mutual obligation: and because God is called to be the witness and judge of that solemn promise and covenant.

For - Conversation with her (which was most usual in her own house) is the certain way to death, which it brings many ways, and undoubtedly, without repentance, to God's wrath and the second death.

That - This depends upon ver.11, and is mentioned as another happy fruit of wisdom.

1. MY son , if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee ;

These words are spoken by Solomon, either, 1▪ in the name of wisdom, as before: or rather, 2. in his own name.

Lay them up in thy Mind and Heart with care, as men do their choicest Treasures.

Marginal references: Chap. 7. 1.

2. So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding :

Give thy self to the study of it with affection and diligence.

3. Yea, if thou criest after knowledg, and liftest up thy voice for understanding.

To wit, unto God, the onely giver of it, v. 6. Heb. If thou callest, invitest it to come unto thee, earnestly desirest its conduct.

Marginal references: Heb. givest [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word].

4. If thou seekest her as Silver, and searchest for her, as for hid treasures :

With the same unwearied diligence and earnest desire and patient expectation under all delays, disappointments, and difficulties, which Worldlings use in the purchase of Riches, or in digging in Mines of Silver.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word] ▪ 13▪ 44▪

5. Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD , and find the knowledge of God.

More perfectly and profitably; for that very seeking and searching after it, v. 4. supposed some understanding.

Which is the beginning of this Wisdom, Chap. 1. 7.

6. For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

Heb. will give, hath promised to give it, to wit, to those that so seek it. Whereby he also teacheth them not to ascribe any Wisdom which they may obtain unto their own Wit and industry, but onely unto God's favour and blessing.

From his Word or appointment and good will, as the Word of God is taken, Deut. 8. 3.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1+ letters]in. 3. 9, 12. [illegible: 1 word] ▪ 1. 5.; Heb. will [illegible: 1 word].

7. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.

Heb. Essence or substance, either 1. solid and true felicity, opposed to the vain enjoyments of this World, which are said to have no substance or being, Prov. 23. 5. or 2. true and substantial Wisdom, which is satisfactory and everlasting; opposed to worldly Wisdom, which is but an empty shadow of Wisdom, and perisheth with us.

To protect and save them from that mischief and ruine which shall befall all wicked men.

Marginal references: Ch. 30. 5.

8. He keepeth the paths of judgment , and preserveth the way of his Saints .

He guardeth and guideth the paths or ways, i. e. the counsels and actions, of good men, as the next Clause explains this, which are called Paths of Iudgment, or, righteous Paths, Iudgment being here put for Righteousness, as it is Psal. 99. 4. and oft elsewhere. And keeping of Paths may be put for keeping them in their Paths so as they shall neither swerve from them, nor stumble and fall in them.

The same thing repeated in other words.

Marginal references: Heb. to keep. S[illegible: 1+ letters] Gr.; Psal. 146. 9

9. Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity , yea, every good path .

When thou hast done thy part expressed, v. 1. 2, 3, &c. and God in answer to thy desires hath given thee Wisdom, v. 6. or when it is with thee, as it follows, v. 10.

All the parts of thy duty to Man, as well as the fear of God. v. 5. which contains all duties to God. These three words are used here, as also Chap. 1. 3. to signifie the same thing.

The practice of all Vertues and Graces.

10. When wisdom entreth into thine heart , and knowledge is pleasant unto thy Soul;

When thou dost truly love it and passionately desire it, and hide its Precepts in thy Heart, according to Psal. 119. 11.

11. Discretion shall preserve thee , understanding shall keep thee:

From wicked courses and the mischiefs which attend upon them, as is particularly expressed in the following Verses.

12. To deliver thee from the way of the evil man , from the man that speaketh froward things .

From following his counsel or example, which others for want of Wisdom commonly do.

With design to corrupt thy mind and entice thee to evil Principles or Practices.

13. Who leave the paths of uprightness , to walk in the ways of darkness :

The way of God's Precepts.

i. e. Of sin, which is oft called darkness, as Rom. 13. 12, &c. Eph. 5. 11. because it comes from darkness, ignorance and errour, and loves darkness and hates light, and leads to utter darkness.

14. Who rejoyce to do evil , and delight in the frowardness of the wicked .

Seeking and embracing occasions of sin with diligence and greediness, and pleasing themselves both in the practice and remembrance of sin, whereas upright men abhor and watch against all occasions of sin beforehand, and mourn bitterly for it afterwards.

Not onely in their own sins, but in the sins of other wicked men, which shews a greater malignity of mind and love to sin. See Rom. 1. 32.

15. Whose ways are crooked , and they froward in their paths.

Or, Who make their ways crooked, i. e. whose course of Life swerves from the right and straight way of God's Law.

Marginal references: Heb. who are crooked in their ways.

16. To deliver thee from the strange woman , even from the stranger which flattereth with her words .

From the Adulteress or Whore, called strange, partly because such Persons were commonly Heathens or are supposed to be such by reason of that severe Law against these practices in Israelitish women, Deut. 23. 17. or are justly reputed Heathens, as being degenerate Israelites, which are oft called Strangers, as hath been noted in the book of the Psalms: and partly because conversation with such Persons is forbidden to men, as those Israelites which were not Levites are called Strangers, Numb. 1. 51. in respect of the Holy things which they were prohibited to touch? and forbidden Fire is called strange fire, Num. 3. 4.

Which useth all arts and ways to allure men to unchast actions: one kind being put for all the rest.

Marginal references: Ch. 5. 3. & 6. 24 & 7. 5.

17. Which forsaketh the guide of her youth , and forgetteth the covenant of her God .

To wit, her Husband whom she took to be her guide and governour, and that in her youth; which circumstance is added to aggravate her sin and shame, because love is commonly most sincere and servent between an Husband and Wife of youth, as they are for that reason emphatically called, Prov. 5. 18. Isa. 54. 6. Ioel. 1. 8. Mal. 2. 14, 15.

i. e. Violateth or breaketh, as that word is commonly used in a practical sense.

The marriage Covenant, so called partly because God is the Author and Institutor of that society and mutual Obligation: and partly because God is called to be the witness and judge of that solemn Promise and Covenant, and the avenger of the transgression of it.

Marginal references: Jer. 3. 4.

18. For her house inclineth unto death , and her paths unto the dead .

Conversation with her (which was most free and usual in her own House) is the ready and certain way to Death, which it brings many ways, by wasting a Mans Vital spirits and shortning his life, by exposing him to many and dangerous Diseases, which Physicians have declared and proved to be the effects of inordinate lust, as also to the fury of jealous Husbands or Friends, and sometimes to the Sword of Civil Justice, and undoubtedly, without repentance, to God's wrath and the second Death. This is here mentioned as one great priviledge and blessed fruit of Wisdom.

Or, as the Chaldee and some others render it▪ unto the Giants, to wit, those rebellious Giants, Gen. 6. 4. or, as others, unto the damned, or, unto H[illegible: 1+ letters]ll. See for this word Iob 7. 9. Psal. 88. 11. Prov. 9. 18. & 21. 16.

19. None that go unto her , return again , neither take they hold of the paths of life .

Few or none. An hyperbolical expression used, Isa. 64. 7.

That go to her House, or that lie with her, as this Phrase is used, Gen. 16. 4. & 30. 4. Ios. 2. 3.

From her and from this wickedness unto God. Adulterers and Whoremongers are very rarely brought to repentance, but are generally hardned by the power and deceitfulness of that Lust, and by God's just judgment, peculiarly inflicted upon such Persons, Heb. 13. 4. He alludes to the nature of corporal death, from which no man can without a Miracle return to this life.

Of those courses which lead to true and eternal Life.

20. That thou mayest walk in the way of good men , and keep the path of the righteous.

This depends upon v. 11▪ and is mentioned as another happy fruit of Wisdom, the former being declared from v. 12. to this Verse.

Follow the counsels and examples of the godly. Whereby he intimates that it is not sufficient to abstain from evil company and practices, but that we must choose the conversation of good men.

21. For the upright shall dwell in the land , and the perfect shall remain in it.

Shall have a peaceable and comfortable abode in the Land o[illegible: 1+ letters] Canaan, which also is a type of their everlasting felicity. See Psal. 37. 3, 9, 18, 29.

Marginal references: Psal. 37. 29.

Pro 2:1-2

The first אם, with that which it introduces, Pro 2:1, Pro 2:2, is to be interpreted as an exclamation, “O that!” (O si), and then as an optative, as Psa 81:9; Psa 139:19. אז ...כּי, Pro 2:3-5, with the inserted connecting clauses, would then be confirmatory, “for then.” But since this poet loves to unfold one and the same thought in ever new forms, one has perhaps to begin the conditional premisses with Pro 2:1, and to regard כּי אם as a new commencement. Hitzig takes this כי אם in the sense of imo: “much more if thou goest to meet her, e.g., by curious inquiry, not merely permittest her quietly to come to thee.” אם would then preserve its conditional meaning; and כּי as in Job 31:18; Psa 130:4, since it implies an intentional negative, would receive the meaning of imo. But the sentences ranged together with אם are too closely related in meaning to admit such a negative between them. כּי will thus be confirmatory, not mediately, but immediately; it is the “for = yes” of confirmation of the preceding conditions, and takes them up again (Ewald, §356, b, cf. 330 b) after the form of the conditional clause was given up. The צפן, which in Pro 1:11, Pro 1:18, is the synonym of צפה, speculari, presents itself here, 1b, 7a, as the synonym of טמן, whence מטמנים, synon. of צפוּנים, recondita; the group of sounds, צף, צם, טם (cf. also דף, in Arab. dafan, whence dafynat, treasure), express shades of the root representation of pressing together. The inf. of the conclusion להקשׁיב, to incline (Gr. Venet. ὡς ἀκροῷτο), is followed by the accus. of the object אזנך, thine ear, for הקשׁיב properly means to stiffen (not to purge, as Schultens, nor to sharpen, as Gesenius thinks); cf. under Psa 10:17. With חכמה are interchanged בּינה, which properly means that which is distinguished or separated, and תּבוּנה, which means the distinguishing, separating, appellations of the capacity of distinguishing in definite cases and in general; but it does not represent this as a faculty of the soul, but as a divine power which communicates itself as the gift of God (charisma).

Pro 2:3-8

Instead of כּי אם there is an old אל תקריRegarding this formula, see Strack’s Prolegomena, pp. 66-70. (read not so, but thus), כי אם (if thou callest understanding mother), which supposes the phrase כי אם (lxx) as traditional. If אם were intended (according to which the Targ. in the Bibl. rabbinica, but not in Norzi’s text, translates), then 3b would correspond; vid., Pro 7:4, cf. Job 17:14. Thus: Yea, if thou callest for understanding, i.e., callest her to thee (Pro 18:6), invitest her to thee (Pro 9:15). The ק of בּקּשׁ is, with the exception of the imper. (e.g., בּקּשׁוּ), always without the Dagesh. Pro 2:4 belongs to the ideas in the Book of Job found in these introductory discourses, cf. Job 3:21, as at Pro 2:14, Job 3:22 (Ewald, Sprüche, p. 49). חפשׂ (חפּשׂ), scrutari, proceeds, as חפס shows, from the primary meaning of a ditch, and is thus in its root-idea related to חפר (to dig, search out). In the principal clause of Pro 2:5 the 'יראת ה, as Psa 19:10, is the fear of Jahve as it ought to be, thus the reverence which is due to Him, the worshipping of Him as revealed. 'ה and אלהים are interchanged as קדשׁים and 'ה at Pro 9:10. דּעת is knowledge proceeding from practice and experience, and thus not merely cognition (Kenntnis), but knowledge (Erkenntnis). The thoughts revolve in a circle only apparently. He who strives after wisdom earnestly and really, reaches in this way fellowship with God; for just as He gives wisdom, it is nowhere else than with Him, and it never comes from any other source than from Him. It comes (Pro 2:6) מפּיו (lxx erroneously מפּניו ylsuoe), i.e., it is communicated through the medium of His word, Job 22:22, or also (for λὀγος and πνεῦμα lie here undistinguished from one another) it is His breath (Book of Wisdom 7:25: ἀτμὶς τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ δυνάμεως καὶ ἀπόῤῥοια τῆς τοῦ παντοκράτορος δόξης εἰλικρινής); the inspiration (נשׁמת) of the Almighty (according to Job 32:8) gives men understanding. In Pro 2:7, whether וצפן (Chethı̂b) or יצפּן (Kerı̂) is read, the meaning is the same. The former is the expression of the completed fact, as ἡτοίμασεν, 1Co 2:9, and is rightly preferred by lxx and Syr., for one reluctantly misses the copula (since the thought is new in comparison with Pro 2:6). לישׁרם should be written with the accent Dechî. The Chokma-word (besides in Proverbs and Job, found only in Mic 6:9 and Isa 28:29) תּוּשׁיּה is a Hiphil formation (with the passing over of ô into û, as in תּוּגה) from הושׁה (whence the pr. names יושׁה and יושׁויה) = (Arab.) wasy and âsy, to re-establish, to advance, Hiph. of ישׁה = ושׁה, to stand, and thus means furtherance, i.e., the power or the gift to further, and concretely that which furthers and profits, particularly true wisdom and true fortune.I was formerly in error in regarding the word as a Hophal formation, and in assigning to it the primary signification of being in a state of realized existence, of reality, in contradistinction to appearance only. The objection of J. D. Michaelis, Supplem. p. 1167, Non placent in linguis ejusmodi etyma metaphysica, etc., does not apply here, since the word is a new one coined by the Chokma, but all the shades of meaning are naturally derived from the fundamental signification “furtherance” (cf. Seneca, Deus stator stabilitorque est). “תושׁיה, from Arab. âsy and wasy, to further by word and deed, to assist by counsel and act, to render help, whence the meanings auxilium, salus, and prudens consilium, sapientia, easily follow; cf. Ali’s Arab. proverb, “He furthers thee, who does not trouble himself about thee.”

The derivation from ישׁ (Pro 8:21) is to be rejected, because “the formation would be wholly without analogy, so much the more because the י of this word does not represent the place of the ו, as is seen from the Arab. l-ys and the Syr. lyt” (Fl.);The Arab. ‛aysa (almost only in the negative la-ysa = לא ישׁ), of the same signification as ישׁ, with which the Aram. אית (איתי) is associated, presupposes an ‛âsa (= ‛âssa), to be founded, to found, and is rightly regarded by the Arabs as an old segolate noun in which the verbal force was comprehended. and the derivation of ושׁה = שׁוה, to be smooth (Hitzig), passes over without any difficulty into another system of roots.The Arab. wsy and swy are confounded in common usage (Wetstein, Deutsch. Morgenl. Zeitschr. xxii. 19), but the roots וש and שו are different; וש and אש, on the contrary, are modifications of one root.

In the passage under consideration (Pro 2:7), תּוּשׁיּה signifies advancement in the sense of true prosperity. The parallel passage 7a clothes itself in the form of an apposition: (He) a shield (מגן, n. instr. of גּנן, to cover) for הלכי תּם, pilgrims of innocence (Fl.), i.e., such as walk in the way (the object-accus., as Pro 6:12, for which in Pro 10:9 בּ) of innocence. תּם is whole, full submission, moral faultlessness, which chooses God with the whole heart, seeks good without exception: a similar thought is found in Psa 84:12. לנצר, 8a, is such an inf. of consequence as להקשׁיב (Pro 2:2), and here, as there, is continued in the finite. The “paths of justice” are understood with reference to those who enter them and keep in them; parallel, “the way of His saints” (חסיד, he who cherishes חסד, earnest inward love to God), for that is just ארח־צדקה (Pro 12:28): they are הלכי צדקות (Isa 33:15). Instead of the Mugrash, the conjunctive Tarcha is to be given to ודרך.

Pro 2:9-11

With the אז repeated, the promises encouraging to the endeavour after wisdom take a new departure: 9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and justice,    And uprightness; every way of good. 10 For wisdom will enter into thine heart,    And knowledge will do good to thy soul; 11 Discretion will keep watch over thee,    Understanding will keep thee.

Regarding the ethical triad מישׁרים [righteousness, rightness], משׁפּט [judgment], and צדק [rectitude], vid., Pro 1:3. Seb. Schmid is wrong in his rendering, et omnis via qua bonum aditur erit tibi plana, which in comparison with Isa 26:7 would be feebly expressed. J. H. Michaelis rightly interprets all these four conceptions as object-accusatives; the fourth is the summarizing asyndeton (cf. Psa 8:7) breaking off the enumeration: omnem denique orbitam boni; Jerome, bonam: in this case, however, טוב would be genitive (vid., Pro 17:2). מעגּל is the way in which the chariot rolls along; in עגל there are united the root-conceptions of that which is found (גל) and rolling (גל). Whether כּי, Pro 2:10, is the argumentative “because” (according to the versions and most interpreters) or “for” (“denn,” J. H. Michaelis, Ewald, and others), is a question. That with כּי = “for” the subject would precede the verb, as at Pro 2:6, Pro 2:21, and Pro 1:32 (Hitzig), determines nothing, as Pro 2:18 shows. On the one hand, the opinion that כּי = “because” is opposed by the analogy of the כּי, Pro 2:6, following אז, Pro 2:5; the inequality between Pro 2:5-8 and Pro 2:9. if the new commencement, Pro 2:9, at once gives place to another, Pro 2:10; the relationship of the subject ideas in Pro 2:10, Pro 2:11, which makes Pro 2:11 unsuitable to be a conclusion from Pro 2:10. On the contrary, the promise not only of intellectual, but at the same time also of practical, insight into the right and the good, according to their whole compass and in their manifoldness, can be established or explained quite well as we thus read Pro 2:10, Pro 2:11 : For wisdom will enter (namely, to make it a dwelling-place, Pro 14:33; cf. Joh 14:23) into thine heart, and knowledge will do good to thy soul (namely, by the enjoyment which arises from the possession of knowledge, and the rest which its certainty yields). דּעת, γνῶσις, is elsewhere fem. (Psa 139:6), but here, as at Pro 8:10; Pro 14:6, in the sense of τὸ γνῶναι, is masc. In Pro 2:11 the contents of the אז תבין (Pro 2:9) are further explained. שׁמר על, of watching (for Job 16:16 is to be interpreted differently), is used only by our poet (here and at Pro 6:22). Discretion, i.e., the capacity of well-considered action, will hold watch over thee, take thee under protection; understanding, i.e., the capacity in the case of opposing rules to make the right choice, and in the matter of extremes to choose the right medium, will be bestowed upon thee. In תּנצרכּה, as in Psa 61:8; Psa 140:2, Psa 140:5; Deu 33:9, etc., the first stem letter is not assimilated, in order that the word may have a fuller sound; the writing  כּה for  ך is meant to affect the eye.For the right succession of the accents here, see Torath Emeth, p. 49, § 5; Accentuationssystem, xviii. § 3.

Pro 2:12-15

As in Pro 2:10, Pro 2:11, the אז תּבּין (“then shalt thou understand,” Pro 2:5) is expanded, so now the watching, preserving, is separately placed in view: 12 To deliver thee from an evil way,      From the man who speaks falsehood; 13 (From those) who forsake the ways of honesty      To walk in ways of darkness, 14 Who rejoice to accomplish evil,      Delight in malignant falsehood - 15 They are crooked in their paths,      And perverse in their ways.

That דּרך רע is not genitival, via mali, but adjectival, via mala, is evident from דרך לא־טוב, Pro 16:29. From the evil way, i.e., conduct, stands opposed to the false words represented in the person of the deceiver; from both kinds of contagium wisdom delivers. תּהפּכות (like the similarly formed תּחבּות, occurring only as plur.) means misrepresentations, viz., of the good and the true, and that for the purpose of deceiving (Pro 17:20), fallaciae, i.e., intrigues in conduct, and lies and deceit in words. Fl. compares Arab. ifk, a lie, and affak, a liar. להצּילך has Munach, the constant servant of Dechî, instead of Metheg, according to rule (Accentssystem, vii. §2). העזבים (Pro 2:13) is connected with the collective אישׁ (cf. Jdg 9:55); we have in the translation separated it into a relative clause with the abstract present. The vocalization of the article fluctuates, yet the expression העזבים, like Pro 2:17 העזבת, is the better established (Michlol 53b); העזבים is one of the three words which retain their Metheg, and yet add to it a Munach in the tone-syllable (vid., the two others, Job 22:4; Job 39:26). To the “ways of honesty” (Geradheit) (cf. the adj. expression, Jer 31:9), which does not shun to come to the light, stand opposed the “ways of darkness,” the ἔργα τοῦ σκότους, Rom 13:12, which designedly conceal themselves from God (Isa 29:15) and men (Job 24:15; Job 38:13, Job 38:15).

Pro 2:16

With the resumption of להצּילך, the watchful protection which wisdom affords to its possessors is further specified in these verses: 16 To save thee from the strange woman,      From the stranger who useth smooth words;

The subject here continued is the fourfold wisdom named in Pro 2:10, Pro 2:11. זר signifies alienus, which may also be equivalent to alius populi, but of a much wider compass - him who does not belong to a certain class (e.g., the non-priestly or the laity), the person or thing not belonging to me, or also some other than I designate; on the other hand, נכרי, peregrinus, scarcely anywhere divests itself of the essential mark of a strange foreign origin. While thus אשּׁה זרה is the non-married wife, נכריּה designates her as non-Israelitish. Prostitution was partly sanctioned in the cultus of the Midianites, Syrians, and other nations neighbouring to Israel, and thus was regarded as nothing less than customary. In Israel, on the contrary, the law (Deu 23:18.) forbade it under a penalty, and therefore it was chiefly practised by foreign women (Pro 23:27, and cf. the exception, Rth 2:10),In Talmudic Heb. ארמית (Aramean) has this meaning for the Biblical נכריּה. an inveterate vice, which spread itself particularly from the latter days of Solomon, along with general ungodliness, and excusing itself under the polygamy sanctioned by the law, brought ruin on the state. The Chokma contends against this, and throughout presents monogamy as alone corresponding to the institution and the idea of the relation. Designating marriage as the “covenant of God,” it condemns not only adulterous but generally promiscuous intercourse of the sexes, because unhallowed and thus unjustifiable, and likewise arbitrary divorce. Regarding the ancient ceremonies connected with the celebration of marriage we are not specially informed; but from Pro 2:17, Mal 2:14 (Ewald, Bertheau, Hitzig, but not Köhler), it appears that the celebration of marriage was a religious act, and that they who were joined together in marriage called God to witness and ratify the vows they took upon themselves. The perf. in the attributive clause אמריה החליקה proceeds on the routine acquired in cajoling and dissembling: who has smoothed her words, i.e., learned to entice by flattering words (Fl.).

Pro 2:17-19 7 Who forsakes the companion of her youth,      And forgets the covenant of her God; 18 For she sinks down to death together with her house,      And to the shadow of Hades her paths - 19 All they who go to her return not again,      And reach not the paths of life אלּוּף, as here used, has nothing to do with the phylarch-name, similar in sound, which is a denom. of אלף; but it comes immediately from אלף, to accustom oneself to a person or cause, to be familiar therewith (while the Aram. אלף, ילף, to learn, Pa. to teach), and thus means, as the synon. of רע, the companion or familiar associate (vid., Schultens). Parallels such as Jer 3:4 suggested to the old interpreters the allegorical explanation of the adulteress as the personification of the apostasy or of heresy. Pro 2:18 the lxx translate: ἔθετο γὰρ παρὰ τῷ θανάτῳ τὸν οἶκον αὐτῆς: she (the dissolute wife) has placed her house beside death (the abyss of death). This שׁחה [ἔθετο] is perhaps the original, for the text as it lies before us is doubtful, though, rightly understood, admissible. The accentuation marks בּיתהּ as the subject, but בּית is elsewhere always masc., and does not, like the rarer ארח, Pro 2:15, admit in usage a double gender; also, if the fem. usage were here introduced (Bertheau, Hitzig), then the predicate, even though ביתה were regarded as fem., might be, in conformity with rule, שׁח, as e.g., Isa 2:17. שׁחה is, as in Psa 44:26, 3rd pr. of שׁוּח, Arab. sâkh, to go down, to sink; the emendation שׁחה (Joseph Kimchi) does not recommend itself on this account, that שׁחה and שׁחח mean, according to usage, to stoop or to bend down; and to interpret (Ralbag, השׁפילה) שׁחה transitively is inadmissible. For that reason Aben Ezra interprets ביתה as in apposition: to death, to its house; but then the poet in that case should say אל־שׁאול, for death is not a house. On the other hand, we cannot perceive in ביתה an accus. of the nearer definition (J. H. Michaelis, Fl.); the expression would here, as 15a, be refined without purpose. Böttcher has recognised ביתה as permutative, the personal subject: for she sinks down to death, her house, i.e., she herself, together with all that belongs to her; cf. the permutative of the subject, Job 29:3; Isa 29:23 (vid., comm. l.c.), and the more particularly statement of the object, Exo 2:6, etc. Regarding רפאים, shadows of the under-world (from רפה, synon. חלה, weakened, or to become powerless), a word common to the Solomonic writings, vid., Comment. on Isaiah, p. 206. What Pro 2:18 says of the person of the adulteress, Pro 2:19 says of those who live with her ביתה, her house-companions. בּאיה, “those entering in to her,” is equivalent to בּאים אליה; the participle of verbs eundi et veniendi takes the accusative object of the finite as gen. in st. constr., as e.g., Pro 1:12; Pro 2:7; Gen 23:18; Gen 9:10 (cf. Jer 10:20). The ישׁוּבוּן, with the tone on the ult., is a protestation: there is no return for those who practise fornication, (Note: One is here reminded of the expression in the Aeneid, vi. 127-129:Revocare gradum superasque evadere ad auras,Hoc opes, hoc labor est.

See also an impure but dreadful Talmudic story about a dissolute Rabbi, b. Aboda zara, 17a.) and they do not reach the paths of life from which they have so widely strayed.In correct texts ולא־ישיגו has the Makkeph. Vid., Torath Emeth, p. 41; Accentuationssystem, xx. §2.

Pro 2:20-22

With למען there commences a new section, coordinating itself with the להצּילך (“to deliver thee”) of Pro 2:12, Pro 2:16, unfolding that which wisdom accomplishes as a preserver and guide: 20 So that thou walkest in the good way,      And keepest the right paths. 21 For the upright shall inhabit the land,      And the innocent shall remain in it. 22 But the godless are cut off out the land,      And the faithless are rooted out of it.

Wisdom - thus the connection - will keep thee, so that thou shalt not fall under the seductions of man or of woman; keep, in order that thou... למען (from מען = מענה, tendency, purpose) refers to the intention and object of the protecting wisdom. To the two negative designations of design there follows, as the third and last, a positive one. טובים (contrast to רעים, Pro 14:19) is here used in a general ethical sense: the good (Guten, not Gütigen, the kind). שׁמר, with the object of the way, may in another connection also mean to keep oneself from, cavere ab (Psa 17:4); here it means: carefully to keep in it. The promise of Pro 2:21 is the same as in the Mashal Psa 37:9, Psa 37:11, Psa 37:22; cf. Pro 10:30. ארץ is Canaan, or the land which God promised to the patriarchs, and in which He planted Israel, whom He had brought out of Egypt; not the earth, as Mat 5:5, according to the extended, unlimited N.T. circle of vision. יוּתרוּ (Milel) is erroneously explained by Schultens: funiculis bene firmis irroborabunt in terra. The verb יתר, Arab. watar, signifies to yoke (whence יתר, a cord, rope), then intrans. to be stretched out in length, to be hanging over (vid., Fleischer on Job 30:11); whence יתר, residue, Zep 2:9, and after which the lxx here renders ὑπολειφθήσονται, and Jerome permanebunt. In 22b the old translators render יסּחוּ as the fut. of the pass. נסּח, Deu 28:63; but in this case it would be ינּסחוּ. The form יסּחוּ, pointed יסּחוּ, might be the Niph. of סחח, but סחח can neither be taken as one with נסח, of the same meaning, nor with Hitzig is it to be vocalized יסּחוּ (Hoph. of נסח); nor, with Böttcher (§1100, p. 453), is יסּחוּ to be regarded as a veritable fut. Niph. יסּחוּ is, as at Pro 15:25; Psa 52:7, active: evellant; and this, with the subj. remaining indefinite (for which J. H. Michaelis refers to Hos 12:9), is equivalent to evellentur. This indefinite “they” or “one” (“man”), Fleischer remarks, can even be used of God, as here and Job 7:3 - a thing which is common in Persian, where e.g., the expression rendered hominem ex pulvere fecerunt is used instead of the fuller form, which would be rendered homo a Deo ex pulvere factus est. בּוגדים bears (as בּגד proves) the primary meaning of concealed, i.e., malicious (treacherous and rapacious, Isa 33:1), and then faithless men.Similar is the relation in Arab. of labbasa to libâs (לבוּשׁ); it means to make a thing unknown by covering it; whence telbı̂s, deceit, mulebbis, a falsifier.

The Search after Wisdom Encouraged.

1 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; 2 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; 3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; 4 If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; 5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord , and find the knowledge of God. 6 For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. 7 He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. 8 He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints. 9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.

Job had asked, long before this, Where shall wisdom be found? Whence cometh wisdom? (Job xxviii. 12, 20) and he had given this general answer (v. 23), God knoweth the place of it; but Solomon here goes further, and tells us both where we may find it and how we may get it. We are here told,

I. What means we must use that we may obtain wisdom.

1. We must closely attend to the word of God, for that is the word of wisdom, which is able to make us wise unto salvation, v. 1, 2. (1.) We must be convinced that the words of God are the fountain and standard of wisdom and understanding, and that we need not desire to be wiser than they will make us. We must incline our ear and apply our hearts to them, as to wisdom or understanding itself. Many wise things may be found in human compositions, but divine revelation, and true religion built upon it, are all wisdom. (2.) We must, accordingly, receive the word of God with all readiness of mind, and bid it welcome, even the commandments as well as the promises, without murmuring or disputing. Speak, Lord, for thy servant hears. (3.) We must hide them with us, as we do our treasures, which we are afraid of being robbed of. We must not only receive, but retain, the word of God, and lodge it in our hearts, that it may be always ready to us. (4.) We must incline our ear to them; we must lay hold on all opportunities of hearing the word of God, and listen to it with attention and seriousness, as those that are afraid of letting it slip. (5.) We must apply our hearts to them, else inclining the ear to them will stand us in no stead.

2. We must be much in prayer, v. 3. We must cry after knowledge, as one that is ready to perish for hunger begs hard for bread. Faint desires will not prevail; we must be importunate, as those that know the worth of knowledge and our own want of it. We must cry, as new-born babes, after the sincere milk of the word. 1 Pet. ii. 2. We must lift our voice for understanding lift it up to heaven; thence these good and perfect gifts must be expected, Jam. i. 17; Job xxxviii. 34. We must give our voice to understanding (so the word is), speak for it, vote for it, submit the tongue to the command of wisdom. We must consecrate our voice to it; having applied our heart to it, we must employ our voice in seeking for it. Solomon could write probatum est—a tried remedy, upon this method; he prayed for wisdom and so obtained it.

3. We must be willing to take pains (v. 4); we must seek it as silver, preferring it far before all the wealth of this world, and labouring in search of it as those who dig in the mines, who undergo great toil and run great hazards, with indefatigable industry and invincible constancy and resolution, in pursuit of the ore; or as those who will be rich rise up early, and sit up late, and turn every stone to get money and fill their treasures. Thus diligent must we be in the use of the means of knowledge, following on to know the Lord.

II. What success we may hope for in the use of these means. Our labour shall not be in vain; for, 1. We shall know how to maintain our acquaintance and communion with God: "Thou shalt understand the fear of the Lord (v. 5), that is, thou shalt know how to worship him aright, shalt be led into the meaning and mystery of every ordinance, and be enabled to answer the end of its institution." Thou shalt find the knowledge of God, which is necessary to our fearing him aright. It concerns us to understand how much it is our interest to know God, and to evidence it by agreeable affections towards him and adorations of him. 2. We shall know how to conduct ourselves aright towards all men (v. 9): "Thou shalt understand, by the word of God, righteousness, and judgment, and equity, shalt learn those principles of justice, and charity, and fair dealing, which shall guide and govern thee in the whole course of thy conversation, shall make thee fit for every relation, every business, and faithful to every trust. It shall give thee not only a right notion of justice, but a disposition to practise it, and to render to all their due; for those that do not do justly do not rightly understand it." This will lead them in every good path, for the scripture will make the man of God perfect. Note, Those have the best knowledge who know their duty, Ps. cxi. 10.

III. What ground we have to hope for this success in our pursuits of wisdom; we must take our encouragement herein from God only, v. 6-8.

1. God has wisdom to bestow, v. 6. The Lord not only is wise himself, but he gives wisdom, and that is more than the wisest men in the world can do, for it is God's prerogative to open the understanding. All the wisdom that is in any creature is his gift, his free gift, and he gives it liberally (Jam. i. 5), has given it to many, and is still giving it; to him therefore let us apply for it.

2. He has blessed the world with a revelation of his will. Out of his mouth, by the law and the prophets, by the written word and by his ministers, both which are his mouth to the children of men, come knowledge and understanding, such a discovery of truth and good as, if we admit and receive the impressions of it, will make us truly knowing and intelligent. It is both an engagement and encouragement to search after wisdom that we have the scriptures to search, in which we may find it if we seek it diligently.

3. He has particularly provided that good men, who are sincerely disposed to do his will, shall have that knowledge and that understanding which are necessary for them, John vii. 17. Let them seek wisdom, and they shall find it; let them ask, and it shall be given them, v. 7, 8. Observe here, (1.) Who those are that are thus favoured. They are the righteous, on whom the image of God is renewed, which consists in righteousness, and those who walk uprightly, who are honest in their dealings both with God and man and make conscience of doing their duty as far as they know it. They are his saints, devoted to his honour, and set apart for his service. (2.) What it is that is provided for them. [1.] Instruction. The means of wisdom are given to all, but wisdom itself, sound wisdom, is laid up for the righteous, laid up in Christ their head, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and who is made of God to us wisdom. The same that is the Spirit of revelation in the word is a Spirit of wisdom in the souls of those that are sanctified, that wisdom of the prudent which is to understand his way; and it is sound wisdom, its foundations firm, its principles solid, and its products of lasting advantage. [2.] Satisfaction. Some read it, He lays up substance for the righteous, not only substantial knowledge, but substantial happiness and comfort, Prov. viii. 21. Riches are things that are not, and those that have them only fancy themselves happy; but what is laid up in the promises and in heaven for the righteous will make them truly, thoroughly, and eternally happy. [3.] Protection. Even those who walk uprightly may be brought into danger for the trial of their faith, but God is, and will be, a buckler to them, so that nothing that happens to them shall do them any real hurt, or possess them with any terrific apprehensions; they are safe, and they shall think themselves so. Fear not, Abraham; I am thy shield. It is their way, the paths of judgment in which they walk, that the Lord knows, and owns, and takes care of. [4.] Grace to persevere to the end. If we depend upon God, and seek to him for wisdom, he will uphold us in our integrity, will enable us to keep the paths of judgment, however we may be tempted to turn aside out of them; for he preserves the way of his saints, that it be not perverted, and so preserves them in it safe and blameless to his heavenly kingdom. The assurances God has given us of his grace, if duly improved, will excite and quicken our endeavours in doing our duty. Work out your salvation, for God works in you.

The Benefits Conferred by Wisdom.

10 When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; 11 Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: 12 To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things; 13 Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness; 14 Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked; 15 Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths: 16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words; 17 Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God. 18 For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. 19 None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life. 20 That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous. 21 For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it. 22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.

The scope of these verses is to show, 1. What great advantage true wisdom will be of to us; it will keep us from the paths of sin, which lead to ruin, and will therein do us a greater kindness than if it enriched us with all the wealth of the world. 2. What good use we should make of the wisdom God gives us; we must use it for our own guidance in the paths of virtue, and for the arming of us against temptations of every kind. 3. By what rules we may try ourselves whether we have this wisdom or no. This tree will be known by its fruits; if we be truly wise, it will appear by our care to avoid all evil company and evil practices.

This wisdom will be of use to us,

I. For our preservation from evil, from the evil of sin, and, consequently, from the evil of trouble that attends it.

1. In general (v. 10, 11), "When wisdom has entire possession of thee, it will keep thee." And when has it an entire possession of us? (1.) When it has dominion over us. When it not only fills the head with notions, but enters into the heart and has a commanding power and influence upon that,—when it is upon the throne there, and gives law to the affections and passions,—when it enters into the heart as the leaven into the dough, to diffuse its relish there, and to change it into its own image—then it is likely to do us good. (2.) When we have delight in it, when knowledge becomes pleasant to the soul: "When thou beginnest to relish it as the most agreeable entertainment, and art subject to its rules, of choice, and with satisfaction,—when thou callest the practice of virtue, not a slavery and a task, but liberty and pleasure, and a life of serious godliness the most comfortable life a man can live in this world,—then thou wilt find the benefit of it." Though its restraints should be in some respects unpleasant to the body, yet even those must be pleasant to the soul. When it has come to this, with us, discretion shall preserve us and keep us. God keeps the way of his saints (v. 8), by giving them discretion to keep out of harm's way, to keep themselves that the wicked one touch them not. Note, A principle of grace reigning in the heart will be a powerful preservative both against corruptions within and temptations without, Eccl. ix. 16, 18.

2. More particularly, wisdom will preserve us,

(1.) From men of corrupt principles, atheistical profane men, who make it their business to debauch young men's judgments, and instil into their minds prejudices against religion and arguments for vice: "It will deliver thee from the way of the evil man (v. 12), and a blessed deliverance it will be, as from the very jaws of death, from the way in which he walks, and in which he would persuade thee to walk." The enemy is spoken of as one (v. 12), an evil man, but afterwards as many (v. 13); there is a club, a gang of them, that are in confederacy against religion, and join hand in hand for the support of the devil's kingdom and the interests of it. [1.] They have a spirit of contradiction to that which is good: They speak froward things; they say all they can against religion, both to show their own enmity to it and to dissuade others from it. They are advocates for Satan; they plead for Baal, and pervert the right ways of the Lord. How peevishly will profane wits argue for sin, and with what frowardness will they carp at the word of God! Wisdom will keep us either from conversing with such men or at least from being ensnared by them. [2.] They are themselves apostates from that which is good, and such are commonly the most malicious and dangerous enemies religion has, witness Julian (v. 13): They leave the paths of uprightness, which they were trained up in and had set out in, shake off the influences of their education, and break off the thread of their hopeful beginnings, to walk in the ways of darkness, in those wicked ways which hate the light, in which men are led blindfold by ignorance and error, and which lead men into utter darkness. The ways of sin are ways of darkness, uncomfortable and unsafe; what fools are those that leave the plain, pleasant, lightsome paths of uprightness, to walk in those ways! Ps. lxxxii. 5; 1 John ii. 11. [3.] They take a pleasure in sin, both in committing it themselves and in seeing others commit it (v. 14): They rejoice in an opportunity to do evil, and in the accomplishment and success of any wicked project. It is sport to fools to do mischief; nor is any sight more grateful to them than to see the frowardness of the wicked, to see those that are hopeful drawn into the ways of sin, and then to see them hardened and confirmed in those ways. They are pleased if they can discern that the devil's kingdom gets ground (see Rom. i. 32), such a height of impiety have they arrived at. [4.] They are resolute in sin (v. 15): Their ways are crooked, a great many windings and turnings to escape the pursuit of their convictions and break the force of them; some sly excuse, some subtle evasion or other, their deceitful hearts furnish them with, for the strengthening of their hands in their wickedness; and in the crooked mazes of that labyrinth they secure themselves from the arrests of God's word and their own consciences; for they are froward in their paths, that is, they are resolved to go on in them, whatever is said against it. Every wise man will shun the company of such as these.

(2.) From women of corrupt practices. The former lead to spiritual wickednesses, the lusts of the unsanctified mind; these lead to fleshly lusts, which defile the body, that living temple, but withal war against the soul. The adulteress is here called the strange woman, because no man that has any wisdom or goodness in him will have any acquaintance with her; she is to be shunned by every Israelite as if she were a heathen, and a stranger to that sacred commonwealth. A strange woman indeed! utterly estranged from all principles of reason, virtue, and honour. It is a great mercy to be delivered from the allurements of the adulteress, considering, [1.] How false she is. Who will have any dealings with those that are made up of treachery? She is a strange woman; for, First, She is false to him whom she entices. She speaks fair, tells him how much she admires him above any man, and what a kindness she has for him; but she flatters with her words; she has no true affection for him, nor any desire of his welfare, any more than Delilah had of Samson's. All she designs is to pick his pocket and gratify a base lust of her own. Secondly, She is false to her husband, and violates the sacred obligation she lies under to him. He was the guide of her youth; by marrying him she chose him to be so, and submitted herself to his guidance, with a promise to attend him only, and forsake all others. But she has forsaken him, and therefore it cannot be thought that she should be faithful to any one else; and whoever entertains her is partaker with her in her falsehood. Thirdly, She is false to God himself: She forgets the covenant of her God, the marriage-covenant (v. 17), to which God is not only a witness, but a party, for, he having instituted the ordinance, both sides vow to him to be true to each other. It is not her husband only that she sins against, but her God, who will judge whoremongers and adulterers because they despise the oath and break the covenant, Ezek. xvii. 18; Mal. ii. 14. [2.] How fatal it will prove to those that fall in league with her, v. 18, 19. Let the sufferings of others be our warnings. Take heed of the sin of whoredom; for, First, The ruin of those who are guilty of it is certain and unavoidable, if they do not repent. It is a sin that has a direct tendency to the killing of the soul, the extinguishing of all good affections and dispositions in it, and the exposing of it to the wrath and curse of God and the sword of his justice. Those that live in forbidden pleasures are dead while they live. Let discretion preserve every man, not only from the evil woman, but from the evil house, for the house inclines to death; it is in the road that leads directly to eternal death; and her paths unto Rephaim, to the giants (so some read it), the sinners of the old world, who, living in luxury and excess of riot, were cut down out of time, and their foundation was overthrown with a flood. Our Lord Jesus deters us from sinful pleasures with the consideration of everlasting torments which follow them. Where the worm dies not, nor is the fire quenched. See Matt. v. 28, 29. Secondly, Their repentance and recovery are extremely hazardous: None, or next to none, that go unto her, return again. It is very rare that any who are caught in this snare of the devil recover themselves, so much is the heart hardened, and the mind blinded, by the deceitfulness of this sin. Having once lost their hold of the paths of life, they know not how to take hold of them again, but are perfectly besotted and bewitched with those base lusts. Many learned interpreters think that this caution against the strange woman, besides the literal sense, is to be understood figuratively, as a caution, 1. Against idolatry, which is spiritual whoredom. Wisdom will keep thee from all familiarity with the worshippers of images, and all inclination to join with them, which had for many ages been of such pernicious consequence to Israel and proved so to Solomon himself. 2. Against the debauching of the intellectual powers and faculties of the soul by the lusts and appetites of the body. Wisdom will keep thee from being captivated by the carnal mind, and from subjecting the spirit to the dominion of the flesh, that notorious adulteress which forsakes its guide, violates the covenant of our God, which inclines to death, and which, when it has got an undisturbed dominion, makes the case of the soul desperate.

II. This wisdom will be of use to guide and direct us in that which is good (v. 20): That thou mayest walk in the way of good men. We must avoid the way of the evil man, and the strange woman, in order that we may walk in good ways; we must cease to do evil, in order that we may learn to do well. Note, 1. There is a way which is peculiarly the way of good men, the way in which good men, as such, and as far as they have really been such, have always walked. 2. It will be our wisdom to walk in that way, to ask for the good old way and walk therein, Jer. vi. 16; Heb. vi. 12; xii. 1. And we must not only walk in that way awhile, but we must keep it, keep in it, and never turn aside out of it: The paths of the righteous are the paths of life, which all that are wise, having taken hold of, will keep their hold of. "That thou mayest imitate those excellent persons, the patriarchs and prophets (so bishop Patrick paraphrases it), and be preserved in the paths of those righteous men who followed after them." We must not only choose our way in general by the good examples of the saints, but must also take directions from them in the choice of our particular paths; observe the track, and go forth by the footsteps of the flock. Two reasons are here given why we should thus choose:—(1.) Because men's integrity will be their establishment, v. 21. It will be the establishment, [1.] Of their persons: The upright shall dwell in the land, peaceably and quietly, as long as they live; and their uprightness will contribute to it, as it settles their minds, guides their counsels, gains them the good-will of their neighbours, and entitles them to God's special favour. [2.] Of their families: The perfect, in their posterity, shall remain in it. They shall dwell and remain for ever in the heavenly Canaan, of which the earthly one was but a type. (2.) Because men's iniquity will be their destruction, v. 22. See what becomes of the wicked, who choose the way of the evil man; they shall be cut off, not only from heaven hereafter and all hopes of that, but from the earth now, on which they set their affections, and in which they lay up their treasure. They think to take root in it, but they and their families shall be rooted out of it, in judgment to them, but in mercy to the earth. There is a day coming which shall leave them neither root nor branch, Mal. iv. 1. Let that wisdom then enter into our hearts, and be pleasant to our souls, which will keep us out of a way that will end thus.

CHAP. II. Verſe 1. My Son]

FAtherly and filial affection ought to bee betwixt Teacher and hearers. But who is their Father? 1 Sam. 10.12. O my Father, my Father, ſaid hee to the dying Prophet, 2 King. 13.14. Dwell with mee, and bee unto mee a Father and a Priest, ſaid that Idolatrous Micah to the wandring Levite, Judg. 17.10.Spec. Europ. Popiſh Novices do ſo obſerve their Patres (as they call them) that though they command them a voyage to China or Peru, without diſpute or delay they preſently ſet forward. Tu & Aſinus unum eſt[illegible: 1 letter]te (ſaid one once to a young Novice, that being to enter into a Monaſtery, asked his counſel how hee ſhould carry himſelf?) Come Children, hearken unto mee, I will teach you the fear of the Lord▪ Pſal. 34.11.

Verſ. 2. So that thou encline thine [illegible: 1 letter]ar] Lie low at Gods feet, and ſay, Speak Lord, for thy Servant heareth. His Saints ſit down at his feet, every one to receive his word, Deut. 33.3. they are compared to a Garden of Cucumbers, Iſa. 1.8. which when ripe, lie on the ground. Surely as waters meet and reſt in low valleys, ſo do Gods graces in lowly hearts.

And apply thy heart] Attention of body, intention of mind, and retention of memory are indiſpenſibly deſired of all wiſdomes Scholars;Act. & Men. ſuch as King Edward the ſixth, who conſtantly ſtood up at the hearing of the Word, took notes, which hee afterwards diligently peruſed, and wrought the Sermon upon his affections by meditation.

Verſ. 3. If thou cryeſt after knowledge] Bene oraſſe eſt bene ſtuduiſſe, James 1.17 ſaid Luther. Knowledge is Gods gift, James 1.5. and muſt be ſought at his hand, fith hee is the Father of lights, and ſells us eye-ſalve, Rev. 3.17.

And lifteſt up thy voice] As reſolved to give God no reſt till thou haſt it. A dull ſuitor begs a denial. Then ſhall men know if they follow on to know the Lord, Hoſ. 6.3. Teach mee, teach mee, ſaith David often. Lord ſhew mee thy glory, ſaid Moſes newly come from the Mount.

Verſ. 4. If thou ſeekeſt her as ſilver] Opulentiſſima metalla quorum in alta latent vena, ſaith Seneca, your richeſt metals lie loweſt.Sen. Epiſt. 23. Viſcera terrae extrahimus, ut digito geſtetur gemma, quam petimus, ſaith Pliny: Wee draw out the very bowels of the earth, that wee may get the gem that wee deſire. Lib. 2. c. 65. Shall wee not do as much for this pearl of price, the knowledge of God and his Will, of our ſelves, and our duties? Beg wee muſt, verſ. 3. but withall wee muſt dig too, verſ. 4. and continue to do ſo, ſearching for her, as for hid treaſures. Ora & labora; for elſe, the talk of the lip onely brings want, Prov. 14.23. What man finding a rich Mine of Gold or Silver, is content with the firſt Oar that offers it ſelf to his view, and doth not dig deeper and deeper till hee become owner of the whole treaſure? So here, Then ſhall yee know if yee follow on to know the Lord, Hoſ. 6.3. if yee ceaſe not till yee get all the dimenſions of knowledge mentioned by the Apoſtle, Epheſ. 3.18. till yee ſee that bliſsful ſight, Epheſ. 1.18, 19.

Verſ. 5. Then ſhalt thou underſtand] Then ſhalt thou bee as thoſe noble Romans were, chap. 15.14. full of goodneſs, filled with all knowledge, able alſo to admoniſh others; in fine, a well-accompliſht Chriſtian, that hath Chriſtian for his name, and Catholick for his ſirname. Such a Catholick as Auſtin deſcribeth, when hee ſaith, [illegible: 1 letter]oni Catholici ſunt, qui & fidem integram ſequuntur, & bonos mores. Thoſe bee good Catholicks, that beleeve well, and live well. Theſe bee not thoſe antient Roman-Catholicks.

Verſ. 6. Out of his mouth cometh knowledge] If it could bee ſaid by the divine Chronologer,Bucholc. Ex Adami ſapientiſſimi doctoris ore pr[illegible: 1 letter]manavit, tanquam ex ſo[illegible: 2 letters]e quicquid in mundo eſt utilium doctrinarum, diſciplinarum, ſcientiae & ſapientiae, Out of Adams mouth (even after the Fall) as out of a fountain ſlowed all the profitable knowledge, skill, and wiſdome in the world: how much better may the ſame bee ſaid of the onely wiſe God, who is wonderful in Counſel, and excellent in working, Iſa. 28.29. Platonici lumen mentium eſſe dixerant ad diſcenda omnia, eundem ipſum Deum â quo facta font omnia. The Platoniſts ſaid,Aug. de civ. Dei. that God the Maker of all was that light of the mind whereby wee learn all.

Verſ. 7. Hee layeth up ſound wiſdome] Hebrew Subſtance, reality, that which hath a true being, in oppoſition to that which is not; ſo riches are deſcribed, Prov. 23.5. Heaven onely hath a foundation, earth hath none,Heb. 11. Job 26.7. but is hanged upon nothing. Grace hath ſolid ſubſtance in it and true worth: whereas opinion onely ſets the price upon all outwards things. The Prophet Amos complains of the Epicures of his time, that they are the Lambs out of the flock, and the Calves out of the midſt of the ſtall, they drank Wine in bowls, and chanted to the ſound of Viols, &c. Amos 6.4, 5, 6. This to ſome might ſeem brave and deſirable. But verſ. 13. the Prophet in true judgement thus ſpeaks to them. Yee which rejoyce in a thing of nought, &c. yee imbrace a ſhadow, yee purſue after things that profit not, but periſh in the uſe:1 Cor. 6.13. for Meats for the belly, and the belly for Meats; but God will deſtroy both it and them.

Some ſenſe the Text thus: The Lord ſaies up ſound wiſdome for the righteous, &c. when hee is in diſtreſs, then hee hath ſuch quietneſs of ſpirit, ſoundneſs and preſence of mind, that in the muſt of his ſtraits hee is in a ſufficiency Not ſo the wicked, Job 20.22.

Hee is a buckler to them] The body cannot bee wounded, but through the buckler, if skilfully handled: Happy art than O Iſrael; who is like unto thee, Deut. 33.29. O people ſaved by the Lord, the ſhield of thy help? &c.

Verſ. 8. Hee keepeth the paths of judgement] Well may they walk uprightly that are ſo ſtrongly ſupported. Gods hand is ever under his; they cannot fall beneath it. Hee keepeth the feet of his Saints, 1 Sam. 2.9.

Verſ. 9. Then ſhalt thou underſtand righteouſneſs] Not as cognoſcitiva ſtanding in ſpeculation; But as directiva vitae, a rule of life. Knowledge is either Apprehenſive onely, or Affective alſo. This differs from that, as much as the light of the Sun (wherein is the influence of an inlivening power) from the light of Torches.

Verſ. 10. Is pleaſant to thy ſoul] Spiritual joy mortifies ſin: His mouth hankers not after homely proviſion, that hath lately taſted of delicate ſuſtenance: Pleaſure there muſt bee in the wayes of God, becauſe therein men let out their ſouls into God, that is the fountain of all good, hence they ſo infinitely diſtaſte ſins taſteleſs fooleries: Crede mihi res ſevera eſt verum gandium, ſaith Seneca. True joy is a ſolid buſineſs.

Becman. [non-Latin text not transcribed].Verſ. 11. Diſcretion] Hebr. Thoughtfulneſs, or good adviſement. Cogito quaſi coagito. Notat ſercitatem, ſuch as is that of the wife to pleaſe her husband, 1 Cor. 7.34. caſting this way and that way how to give beſt content: Or that of the good huſwife to build her houſe,Prov. 14.1. ſtudying in every buſineſs how to ſet every thing in order: As the Carpenter ſtudies how to ſet every part of the frame in joynt.

[non-Latin text not transcribed] Verſ. 12. That ſpeaketh froward things] As if his mouth were diſtorted, or the upper-lip ſtood where the nether ſhould. See Act. 20.30.

Verſ. 13. To walk in the wayes of darkneſs] As Theeves, Drunkards, Dicers, and our other Solifugae that abuſe even Goſpel-light, that put not light under a buſhel, but under a dunghil, that when they have walked themſelves aweary in theſe by-wayes (high wayes to hell) ſit down in darkneſs, and in the ſhadow of death, Luke 1.79. which poſture imports, 1. Continuance there. [illegible: 1 letter]. Content, as well a paid of their ſcat. Theſe hate the light becauſe their wayes are evil: Jo[illegible: 1 letter]. 3. The light ſtands in the light of their wicked wayes, as the Angel did in Balaams way to his ſin.

Verſ. 14. Who rejoyce to do evil] It is their meat, drink, ſport. Prov. 4.27▪ and 10.23. they cannot bee merry unleſs the Devil bee their play-fellow. This is reckoned as an aggravation of Jeruſalems ſin, Jer. 11.15. Melior eſt triſtitia iniqua patientis quam latitia iniqua facie[illegible: 1 letter]tis. When thou doſt evil, then thou rejoyceſt. But better is the ſorrow of him that ſuffereth evil, than the jollity of him that doth evil, ſaith Auſtin.

Verſ. 15. Whoſe wayes are crooked] How juſtly may God ſay to ſuch, as the Crab in the Fable did to the Serpent when hee had given him his deaths wound for his crooked conditions, and then ſaw him ſtretch himſelf out ſtreight, At opo[illegible: 1 letter] tuit ſic vixiſſe: It is too late now, you ſhould have lived ſo.

And they froward] Abſurd, 2. Theſſ. 3.2. Men made up of meer incongruities, ſolaciſing in opinion, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. ſpeeches, actions, all.

Verſ. 16. From the ſtrange woman] Forbidden thee by God, as ſtrange fire, ſtrange Gods, &c.

Which flattereth with her lips] Whoſe lips are nets, whoſe hands are bands, whoſe words are cords to draw a man in as a Fool to the ſtocks, or an Oxe to the ſlaughter.

Verſ. 17. Which forſaketh the guide of her youth] That is, Her Husband, as Helena, Becman. Herodias, Bernice, Act. 25.13. and other odious Harlots. Adulterium quaſi ad alterum, vel ad alterius torum. This Wanton never wants one though her Husband bee ever ſo near.

And forgetteth the Covenant of her God] Marriage is a mixt Covenant, partly Religious, and partly Civil: The parties tye themſelves firſt to God▪ and then to one another. The bond is made to God, who alſo will bee ready enough to take the forfeiture. For Whores and Adultereſſes God will judge, H[illegible: 1 letter]b. 13.3.

Verſ. 18. For her houſe inclineth unto death] Terence calleth Harlots Cruces, quia juvenes macerent & affligant. Venery is deaths beſt Harbinger: Venus ab antiquis [non-Latin text not transcribed] dicta. Jacob. Re[illegible: 1 letter]ias. Shee provideth, ſaith one, not for thoſe that are already born, but for thoſe that ſhall bee born. Of Pope Paul the fourth (that old Goat) it went for a by word, Eum per candem partem animam profudiſſe, per quam acceperat. Pope John the twelfth being taken with an Adultereſs, was ſtabbed to death by her Husband. Alexander the Great, and Oth[illegible: 1 letter] the third,Barns. loſt their lives by their luſts. But how many (alas) by this means have loſt their ſouls! Fleſhly luſts (by a ſpecialty) fight againſt the ſoul, 1 Pet. 2.12. And nothing hath ſo much inriched hell (ſaith one) as beautiful faces.

And her paths unto the dead] Hebrew, El Rhephaim to the Giants: [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Sept. [non-Latin text not transcribed] projecti ſunt. To that part of hell where thoſe damned monſters are, together with thoſe ſenſual Sodomites, who giving themſelves over to fornication, and going after ſtrange fleſh, are thrown forth for an example, ſuffering the vengeance of eternal fire, Jude 7.

Verſ. 19. None that go unto her return again] Some of the Antients have here hence concluded, that Adultery is an unpardonable ſin: But all manner of ſin, and blaſphemy ſhall bee forgiven unto men (ſaith our Saviour) ſave onely the ſin againſt the Holy Ghoſt, Matth. 12.31. True it is, that a Whore is a deep ditch, and a ſtrange woman is a narrow pit. Prov. 23.27. That Whoredome, and Wine, and new Wine, take away the heart, Hoſ. 4.11. That ſuch are ſaid to bee deſtitute of underſtanding, and to have loſt, even the light of nature, Prov. 6.32. Rom. 1.28. to bee paſt feeling, and given up to a dead and dedolent diſpoſition, Eph. 4.18, 19. to bee impudent, Jer. 2, 3. (wherefore alſo they are compared to dogs, Deut. 23.18. 2 Sam. 3.8.) and for moſt part impenitent, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Hom. Eccleſ. 7.28. Grace (as One well obſerveth) is ſeated in the powers of Nature. Now carnal ſins diſable nature, and ſo ſet us in a greater diſtance from grace, as taking away the heart, &c. Howbeit all things are poſſible with God, Mark. 9.26, 27. And though few have awakened out of this ſnare of the Devil, yet ſome have, as David, and that woman Luke 7.37, 50. leſt any humbled ſinners ſhould deſpair.

Verſ. 20. That thou mayeſt walk in the way] This is another work of wiſdome, as to keep us from bad company, ſo to put us into good, where much good may be learned. Dr. Taylor, Martyr, rejoyced that ever he came in priſon,Act. & Mon. there to bee acquainted with that Angel of God, John Bradford (ſo hee called him.) Latimer and Ridley (while they lived) kept up Cra[illegible: 1 letter]mer by intercourſe of Letters, and otherwiſe, from entertaining counſels of revolt.Ibid. A childe having been brought up with Plato, returned home to his Fathers houſe, Sen. de ira lib. 3 cap. 11. and hearing his Father to chide, and exclaim furiouſly in his anger, uſed theſe ſpeeches to his Father, I have never ſeen the like with Plato.

Verſ. 21. For the upright ſhall dwell in the land] Of Canaan, a type of Heaven; for by theſe outward and corporal things, inward, ſpiritual, and eternal are underſtood. Here the Wiſe-man ſpeaks after the manner of Moſes Law under which hee lived, Deut. 11. And howſoever upright men ſuffer hardſhip and hunger here, yet they enjoy great tranquillity and felicity, as ſeeing God in all, and depending wholly upon him for help. Well for the preſent, and it will bee better hereafter; This is the upright mans Motto. Heaven (thinks hee) will make amends for all. Hee that ſees viſions of glory, will not matter with St. Stephen a ſhower of ſtones; how much leſs will hee think much though the Lord give him the bread of adverſity, and water of affliction? Iſa. 30.20.

Verſ. 22. But the wicked ſhall bee cut off] Certainly, ſuddenly, utterly, cum maxime velint vivere, when they have feathered their neſts, and ſet up their reſt, and reckon upon long life, as the fool in the Goſpel: God will ſhoot at them with an arrow ſuddenly, and fetch them off when they leaſt look for it. The wicked may dye ſinning: The Saints ſhall not dye till the beſt time; not till that time when, if they were but rightly informed, they would even deſire to dye.

Shall bee rooted out] Heb. plucked up, as degenerate plants, Ex[illegible: 1 letter]rientur, ſed exurentur; God ſhall likewiſe deſtroy thee for ever, hee ſhall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the land of the living, S[illegible: 1 letter]lah. Pſal. 52.5.