Proverbs 2
An Admonitory Discourse,
Pointing Out the Benefits
Which Arise from a Sincere, Earnest, and Persevering Search after Wisdom.
This discourse divides itself into three parts:
highest knowledge of Jehovah — the fear of Jehovah and the
knowledge of
God, who is the Source of wisdom
and the Protection and Ensurer of
safety to the righteous.
from the paths of evil, from destructive lusts and passions,
from the
temptations of wicked men and wicked women.
the one hand, and warning on the other.
1 “My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments
with
thee;” - The
teacher here reverts to the original form of his address, as
appears from the employment of the term, my son. It seems
clear that it is
no
longer Wisdom personified who is the speaker, from the fact that the
words, “wisdom and
understanding” in v. 2 are used without the
possessive pronoun “my,”
which would have been undoubtedly inserted if
this address had been a continuation of the discourse in the preceding
chapter. Some of the ideas of that address, however, are restated,
as the
crying and lifting up the voice after Wisdom, and the conclusion,
wherein
the
respective destinies of the pious and wicked are portrayed. The particle
“if” (μae) is conditional, and serves to introduce the series of
clauses (vs.
1-4) which lay down the conditions upon which the promises
depend, and
which form the protasis to the double
apodosis in vs. 5 and 9. De Wette,
Meyer, and Delitzsch regard it as
voluntative, as expressing a wish on the
part of the teacher, and translate, “Oh that thou wouldst!” and אֵם, “if,” is
used in this way in Psalm 139:19; but the Septuagint (ἐάν – ean
- if) and
Vulgate (si) make it conditional. It is repeated in an emphatic form in
v. 3.
Receive. The verbs “receive”
and “hide” show that the endeavor
after Wisdom
is
to be candid
and
sincere. “To receive” (לָקַה) seems to be here used, like the
Septuagint - . δεχέσθαι
– dechesthai - in the sense of “to
receive graciously,”
“to admit the words of Wisdom.” It is noticeable that there is a gradation in
emphasis
in
the various terms here used by the teacher. Just as “commandments” is
stronger than “words” so “hide” is stronger than “receive. The
emphasizing is carried on in the following verses in the same way, and
at
length culminates in v. 4, which sums up the ardent spirit in
which the
search after Wisdom is to be prosecuted in presenting it to us in
its
strongest form. Hide.
The original (צַפַן, tsaphan) is here used in
a
different sense to that in which it occurs in ch.1:11 and 18. It
here refers, as in ch. 7:1; 10:14; and 13:22, to
the storing or
laying up, as of treasure, in some secret repository, and means “to lay up.”
The Divine commands of the teacher are to be hidden in
safe custody in the
memory, in the
understanding, in the conscience, and in the heart (compare
ch.
4:21; 7:1). The psalmist expresses the same idea in Psalm 119:11, “Thy
words
have I hid in my heart, that I
might not sin against thee.”
2 “So that
thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to
understanding;” This verse is dependent on the preceding. So that thou incline.
The literal translation is “to incline;” but the
inclination of the ear and the
application of the heart follow as a consequence upon the preceding
ideas
(cf. the Vulgate, ut audiat sapientiam auris tua). The root idea of
the
original (קָשַׁב, kashav) is “to sharpen,” viz. the ear as expressed, and so to
give diligent attention to the precepts of Wisdom. In ch.
1:24 it is
rendered “to regard.” To
apply thine
heart is to turn the heart with the
whole scope of its powers, in the spirit of humility and
eagerness, to
understanding. As the ear represents the outward vehicle of
communication, so the heart (לִב, lev) represents the
inward, the
intellectual faculty, the mind, or it may mean the affections as
suggested by
the
Septuagint - καρδία – kardia
– heart - and Vulgate cor. Understanding
(תְּבוּנָה, t’vunah) is here
interchanged with “wisdom,” which
must determine
its
meaning to some extent. The Septuagint interpreters take it as σύνεσις –
sunesis - the faculty of
comprehension.” Like בִינָה (vinah) in ch.1:2, the
word
describes the faculty of distinguishing or separating: but it does
not appear
to
be here used as representing this as a faculty of the soul, but as a
Divine power which communicates
itself as the gift of God. A
second and perhaps simpler sense may be given to the sentence. It
may
mean the turning or applying of the heart in an affectionate and loving way,
i.e. with full purpose,
to the discrimination of what is right and what
wrong. The ideas of wisdom and understanding seem to some extent
to be
brought forward as personifications. They
are things outside of ourselves,
to which
WE HAVE TO GIVE ATTENTION. Religion appeals not only
to the affections, but also
to the intellect, AS THIS SATISFIES ALL
THE YEARNINGS OF OUR NATURE.
3 “Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for
understanding;” Yea, if thou criest after knowledge. The endeavor after
Wisdom is not only to be sincere, it is also to be earnest,
as appears from
the “yea, if,” and
the verbs “crying” and “lifting up the voice,” both of
which frequently occur in
Scripture as indicating EARNESTNESS. This
earnestness is the counterpart of that which Wisdom herself displays
(see
ch.
1:20-21). Knowledge;
i.e. insight. In the original there is
practically little difference between “knowledge” and “understanding”
(בִּינָה
and תְּבוּנָה). They carry on
the idea expressed in “understanding” in
the
preceding verse, and thus throw the emphasis on the verbs. The Septuagint
and
Vulgate, however, take “knowledge” as equivalent to σοφία – sophia –
sapientia, “wisdom.” The reading
of the Targum, “If thou callest
understanding thy mother,” arises from reading אִם for
אֵם, but is not to be
preferred to the Masoretic text, as it
destroys the parallelism.
4 “If thou
seekest her as silver, and searchest
for her as for hid
treasures;” If thou seekest, etc. The climax in the series of conditions is
reached in this verse; and the imagery employed in both clauses
indicates
that the search after Wisdom is to BE PERSEVERING, UNRELAXING
and
DILIGENT, like the unremitting toil and
labor with which men
carry on mining operations. (I will try to relate the spirit from my own
experience in digging for Indian relics. We use to slave in moving rocks and dirt
to try to find something interesting to add to the collection. Often,
would someone remark, that they wouldn’t work this hard, except for
something they enjoy. Once I went to a professional dig at the
Olive Branch Site, on the Mississippi River in southern
for the day to observe. The leader required everyone to work from
7am-3pm. As the day wore on, it seemed to me that many were
tired and sluggish until 3 pm when a “second wind” was discovered
as they then were allowed to dig in dirt that had been comprised
in earlier times – each man for himself, and he could keep what he
found. Also it reminds me of Little League Baseball when the
tiny youth would stand laboriously in the hot sun and go through
the motions but when the game was over and someone yelled,
“Free Cokes to all” – there was a stampede to see who could be
first in line! These two revivals of energy are examples of
what
our attitudes should be when it comes “TO SEEKING
AFTER WISDOM.” - CY - 2013)
“To seek” (בָּקַשׁ, bakash) in the
original is properly “to seek diligently” (piel), and is
kindred to “to search”
(קָפַשׂ, khaphas), which again is equivalent
to “to dig” (חָפַר, khaphar),
the Vulgate effodere, “to dig out.”
Compare the expression in Job 3:21,
“And dig for it
more than for hid treasures.” We trace in these verbs the idea
in the mind of the teacher indicated above, which finds expression also in the
object of the search, the silver, in its crude state, and the hidden
treasures
(מַטְמֹנִים, mat’monim), i.e. the treasures of gold, silver, and precious
metal
concealed in the earth. The comparison here made between the search
for
Wisdom and the search for the hidden treasures of the earth was
not unfamiliar
to the Hebrew mind, as it is found worked out with great
beauty of detail in
the twenty-eighth chapter of Job. Again, the comparison of
Wisdom with
things most precious in the estimation of man is natural
and common, and
occurs in Psalm 119:72; Job 28:12-20. The same ideas and
comparisons here
used are presented to us in the New Testament teaching, in
our Lord’s parable
of the man who finds the hid treasure in the field (Matthew
13:44), and, in the
phraseology of Paul,
who speaks of “all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge,”
(Colossians 2:3) and of “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:8).
Divine knowledge is an inexhaustible mine of precious
ore. The language of the
Proverbs would receive additional force from the circumstances of
the reign of
Solomon, the most splendid and prosperous era in the annals
of the Jewish
national history, in the means taken to secure the
treasures of other and distant
countries; the wealth and the riches of that reign (see II Chronicles 9:20-22)
would help to bring out the idea of the superlative value of Wisdom. In no
era of the Jewish national history was there such abundance of riches, such
splendid prosperity, as in the reign of Solomon, whose ships of Tarshish brought
“gold and silver” (Ibid.), and this state of things would give point to the
comparisons which the teacher uses in our text.
5 “Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the
knowledge of God.” Then shalt
thou understand the fear of the Lord.
Then אָן), introducing the first apodosis, and answering to the
conditional
“if” of vs. 1, 3, 4. The
earnest endeavor after Wisdom meets with its reward,
and those that seek shall find (compare Matthew 7:7): and thus
an inducement is
held forth to listen to the admonition of the teacher. Understand implies
the power of discernment, but could have the further
meaning of
taking to one’s self as a spiritual possession, just as
“find” meaning
primarily “to arrive at” conveys the idea of getting
possession of.
The fear of
the Lord (יְרְאַת
יְחוָה, yir’ath y’hovah); “the
fear
of Jehovah,” as in ch. 1:7. As it
is the beginning, so it is the HIGHEST
FORM OF KNOWLEDGE AND THE GREATEST GOOD! Elsewhere
it is represented as a fountain of life (ch.14:27). All true wisdom
is
summed up in “THE FEAR
OF THE LORD.” It here means the
reverence
due to Him, and so comprises the whole range of the
religious affections and
feelings, which respond to various attributes of the Divine
character as they
are revealed, and which find their expression in holy
worship. The
knowledge of God (דַעַת
ךאלֹהִים, daath Elohim); literally, the knowledge
of Elohim. Not merely cognition, but knowledge in its wider sense. The
two ideas of “the fear of the
Lord” and “the
knowledge of God” act
reciprocally on each other. Just as WITHOUT REVERENCE FOR
GOD THERE CAN BE NO KNOWLEDGE IN ITS TRUEST SENSE
so THE KNOWLEDGE OF
GOD will increase and deepen the feeling
of reverence. But
it is noticeable that the teacher here, as in ch.
9:10, where,
however, it is “the knowledge
of the holy” (דַעַת
קְדשִׁים, daath k’doshim),
gives the chief place to reverence, and thus indicates that it is the basis of
knowledge, which is its fruit and result. The relation here suggested is
analogous to that which subsists between faith and knowledge, and recalls
the celebrated dictum of Anselm which defined God as “THAT
THAT
CAN NOTHING GREATER BE CONCEIVED! Elohim, here interchanged
with Jehovah, is not of frequent occurrence in
the Proverbs, as it is only found
therein five times, while the predominating word which is used to designate
the Deity is Jehovah. But it is difficult to
draw any distinction between them
here. Jehovah may refer more especially to the Personality of the Divine nature,
while Elohim may refer to
Christ’s glory (Plumptre).
The Search for Wisdom (vs. 1-5)
FOUND. It is true
that Wisdom cries aloud in the street and invites the
ignorant and simple to partake
of her stores. But the burden of her cry is to
bid us seek her.
It is the voice
of invitation, not that of revelation. The
latter is only audible to those who incline their ears purposely and
thoughtfully. The thoughtless are
satisfied with hasty impressions of the
moment; but the only religious
convictions worth considering are the
outcome of thought and prayer.
Still, it is to be observed that this wisdom
is not reserved for the
keen-sighted, the intellectual, the philosophical. It is
not ability, but industry, that
is required; not exceptional capacity to attain
knowledge, but diligence in
pursuing it. Laborious dullness can never
achieve the triumphs of the
brilliant scholar in secular studies. Industry
alone will not make a senior
wrangler. But the highest
knowledge, DIVINE
KNOWLEDGE, depends
so much more on moral
considerations which
ARE WITHIN REACH OF
ALL!
RECEPTIVE FAITH.
This wisdom is not innate; it is not attained by direct
observation; it is not the
result of self-sustained reasoning. It comes as
REVELATION, IN
THE VOICE OF GOD! Thus the soul’s first duty
is to hear. But the right attitude towards the Divine revelation is not merely
a state of receptivity. It is
one of faith and careful attention, receiving the words
and hiding them. All through the Bible this essential distinction
between
heavenly truth. and philosophy,
between the mere intellectual requisites of
the one and the faith and
obedience which lie at the root of the other, is
apparent. The first steps
towards receiving the wisdom of God are childlike
trust and that purity and
devoutness which bring the soul into communion
with God.
WITH INCREASING EARNESTNESS. The verses before us describe a
progressive intensity of
spiritual effort:
Ø
receiving,
Ø
hiding the commandment,
Ø
inclining the
ear,
Ø
applying the heart,
Ø
crying after,
lifting up the voice,
Ø
seeking, searching
as for hid treasure. The truth
may not be found
at once. But the earnest soul
will not desist at the first discouragement;
if his heart is in the pursuit, he will
only press on the more vigorously. It
is, moreover, the
characteristic of
Divine truth that
a little knowledge of it kindles the thirst
for deeper
draughts.
Thus we are led on to the most energetic search. Spirituality
does not discourage the eager energy with
which men seek worldly gain;
on the contrary, it bids us transfer this to higher pursuits, and seek
wisdom as men seek
for silver, and sink mines after hidden treasures.
Christ does not say, “Be anxious
for nothing;”
but, “Be
not anxious for
the morrow” (Matthew 6:34) — in order that we may transfer our
anxiety
to more important concerns, and “seek first the
His righteousness.” (Ibid. v.33)
Ø
THE SEARCH FOR DIVINE WISDOM WILL BE REWARDED
WITH SUCCESS. Some
question this, and, after weary pursuit, abandon
the quest in despair, or settle
down into indolent indifference. Perhaps they
lack patience — toiling in the
night and taking nothing, they cannot hold
on till the dawn, when the Master
will give them a rich draught; or they
seek wrongly, not in spiritual
faith, but in cold human reason; or they seek
a mistaken goal — the
explanation of mystery rather than practical wisdom
as the guide of life. This
wisdom is promised to those who truly seek, and
it is attainable. (Ibid. ch. 7-8)
6 “For the
LORD giveth wisdom: out of His mouth cometh knowledge
and understanding.” For the Lord giveth
wisdom. The Lord Jehovah
is
the only and true Source of wisdom. The truth stated here is also met with in
Daniel 2:21, “He giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them
that know understanding.” He “giveth,” or more properly,
“will give”
יִתֵּן yitten, future of נָתַן, nathan), wisdom; but the connection requires us to
understand that the assurance
applies only to those who seek after it
earnestly and
truly (compare James 1:5-7 – Through God’s grace, I have spent
over a half century praying this prayer - CY – 2013). The two coefficients to
our obtaining wisdom are our
efforts and GOD’S ASSISTANCE. Solomon
may be adduced as s striking exemplification of this; he
asked for “an
understanding
heart,” and God graciously granted his
request (see
I Kings 3:9, 12). Out
of His mouth (מִפִיו, mippiv); ex ore ejus; God is
here spoken of anthropologically. He is the true Teacher.
The meaning is that
God communicates wisdom through the medium of His
Word. The law
proceeds from His mouth (Job 22:22). His word is conveyed to us through
men divinely inspired, and hence Peter (II Peter 1:21) says
that “holy men
of old spake as they were moved
by the Holy Ghost.”
Wisdom a Gift of God (v. 6)
Prophets and apostles — teachers
of the highest truths — claim to be
delivering a message from heaven.
The greater the thoughts declared to us
in Scripture, the more emphatic
is the ascription of them to a superhuman
source. Surely this very fact —
this conjunction of unique value in the
thoughts with the confident
assertion that they are from God — should go
far in leading us to believe in
the inspiration of them. But it is also urged by
the men who bring these truths
to us that we can only receive them when
we are inspired by the Spirit of
God; and experience shows that they who
have most
spirituality of life are able to drink most deeply of the
FOUNTAINS OF
REVELATION. Further,
when once we admit this
much, it follows that, if we recognize the
constancy of God in all His methods
of action, it is reasonable for us to feel
that all truth must depend on a
Divine illumination for its manifestation, and that all wisdom must be
the outcome of some degree of inspiration.
Nevertheless, it is not to be
inferred that inspiration
dispenses with
natural channels of knowledge;
on the contrary, it opens the
eyes of men,
who must then use their eyes
to be seers of spiritual truth.
RELATIONS WITH GOD. If
inspiration is the source, the questions arise
— Who
are privileged to drink of this fountain? and how do they gain
access to it? (See Psalm
24:3-6). Now, it is much to be assured
that this is
not reserved to any select class
of men. Prophets have a special revelation to
convey a special message, and
apostles have a distinctive endowment for the
accomplishment of a particular
mission; but the inspiration of wisdom
generally is not thus limited.
On the contrary, it comes freely
to all who
rightly avail
themselves of it. What, then, are the
conditions for receiving
it?
Ø
Prayer. “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of
God, who
giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth
not; and it shall be given
him” (James 1:5).
Whosoever seeks shall find.
Ø
Purity. “The pure in heart shall see God” (Matthew 5:8), and the
highest wisdom is in the
beatific vision of him who dwells in the light
of eternal truth.
Ø
Obedience. As we submit our wills to God’s will, the channel is
is opened through which His Spirit enters into us, and by
fellowship illumines us!
STAMP OF DIVINE CHARACTERISTICS. It will differ from mere
human speculation; sometimes it
will be so much in conflict with that
speculation as to pass for
foolishness (see I Corinthians 1:18). It will
be distinctly opposed to the
wisdom that is purely carnal, i.e. to that which
takes account only of earthly
facts and ignores spiritual principles, the
wisdom of expediency, the
cleverness of men of the world. Such wisdom is
not only
earthly; its low maxims and immoral devices proclaim it to be
“sensual
devilish” (James 3:15). Divinely inspired wisdom, on the
contrary, is spiritual — taking
account of the facts and laws of the higher
order; pure — not ministering to
selfish greed and degraded pleasure;
wholesome — strengthening and
elevating the soul; “peaceable, gentle,
easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without variance,
without
hypocrisy” (Ibid. v.17).
7 “He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: He is a buckler
to
them that walk uprightly.” Wisdom which is the foundation of security and
safety, and hence is sound wisdom, is that which God treasures
up for the
righteous. The teacher
passes to another phase of the Divine character. God
is not only the Source of wisdom; He is also the Ensurer of safety, the Source
of salvation to those who act uprightly. It will be noted that
the use of the
word is confined to the Proverbs and Job, with the
exception of the two
passages in Isaiah and Micah. Buckler. Besides storing up the treasures of
sound wisdom, which the righteous may use and so obtain
security in their
uprightness, God is Himself a Buckler, or Shield (מָגֵן, magen), to those
who walk in innocence. This aspect of God’s directly
protecting power is
met with in other parts of Scripture. In Genesis 15:1 He
encourages
Abram with the assurance, “I am
thy Shield.” In Psalm 33:20; 84:11;
89:18; 144:2, Jehovah is called a Shield to His saints. He
renders them
security against the assaults of their enemies, and
especially against the
fiery darts of the wicked one. Again, in ch. 30:5, it is said, “God
is a Shield (magen) up to them that
walk uprightly.” It is incorrect to
take
מָגֵן
(magen)
either as an accusative after the verb or in apposition with
“sound wisdom.” To
them that walk uprightly; literally, to the walkers in
innocence (לְחֹלֵכֵי
תֹם, l’khol’key
thom). תֹם (thom)
is “integrity of
mind,” “moral faultlessness,” “innocence.” “To walk uprightly”
is to
maintain a course of life regulated by right principles,
and directed to right
ends. He walks uprightly who lives with:
The completeness of the moral and religious
character is involved in the
expression which is found also in ch.10:9 and Psalm
84:11. The Vulgate
translates the latter clause of the verse, proteget gradients simpliciter,
“He will
protect those who walk in simplicity;” compare II
Corinthians 1:12 in illustration
of the phrase. He layeth up; i.e. he
treasures up (Septuagint - θησαυρίζειν –
thaesaurizein -or preserves and
protects (custodire, Vulgate), as a person
does
treasure or
jewel, that it may not be stolen. The majority of commentators read
the
Keri (יִצפֹן, “He will treasure up,” future of צָפַן) in preference to the
Khetib (צָפַן, perfect of same verb, with prefix וְ, “and He treasured up”), and
this is the; reading adopted in the Authorized Version. The
Keri implies that
God does treasure up sound wisdom, while the Khetib observes that it has the
force of the aorist, and so represents the treasuring up as
an accomplished
fact. The same verb occurs in v.1, where it is translated
in the
Authorized Version by “hide,” and also in ch.7:1 and 10:14
by
“lay up.” The
laying up, or treasuring, points to the preciousness of that
which is treasured, “sound
wisdom.” Sound wisdom. A great variety of
opinions exists as to the true meaning of the word in the original,
תְוּשִׁיָה
(tvushiyyah),
of which “sound wisdom” is an interpretation. It has
variously been explained as “wisdom, reflection, as “advancement
and
promotion;” as “solid fortune;” as “aid.” The proper meaning of the word
seems to be “substance,” from the root יָשָׁה, “to be, to exist, to be firm.”
From the places in which it occurs, either wealth, thought,
or some such
sense it manifestly requires. It occurs:
·
in parallelism with ‘help Job 6:13,;’
·
in v.7, with a ‘shield;’
·
in Job 11:6, with ‘wisdom;’
·
in Ibid. ch.12:16, with
‘strength;’
·
in ch.
3:21, with ‘discretion;’
·
in ch.
8:14, with ‘counsel’ and
‘understanding;’
·
in Isaiah 28:29, with ‘counsel;’ and so in Job 26:3.
In Job 30:22 and Micah 6:9, ‘entirely’ or the like
seems to suit the context; see
also ch.18:1, and generally ‘excess,’ or ‘abundance,’
taken either in a good or
bad sense, and varied by other considerations, seems to
prevail in every case in
which this word is used” (Job 5:12). The parallelism of the
passage before us
seems to require that it should be understood in the sense
of security; and
transferring the idea to wisdom as the means of security.
This idea is reproduced
in
the Septuagint - σωτήρια – sotaeria – deliver; save - the Vulgate salus,
and the Targum incolumitas.
8 “He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth
the way of His
saints.” He keepeth the paths of judgment. This verse is explanatory
of the latter hemistich of v. 7, and points out more fully in what way God
is a Protector of His saints. Some connect the Hebrew infinitive לִנְצור
(lin’tsor), “to
watch or keep,” with “them that walk uprightly,” and
translate, “them that walk uprightly by keeping the paths
of judgment;” but
this is to transfer the idea of protection from God to such
persons. The
verb signifies specially “to defend, to preserve from
danger,” as in
ch.
22:12, “The eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge; i.e. defend
or protect it from danger.” It is God who “keepeth the paths of judgment,”
as HE ALONE HAS THE
POWER TO DO SO! He watches over all that
walk therein, guides, superintends, and protects them. The paths of judgment;
or
rather, justice, ךארְהות
מִשְׁפָט (at’khoth mishpat). The abstract is here used
for
the concrete, and the phrase means “the paths of the just,” i.e. the
paths in
which the just walk, or “those who walk justly”. This expression
corresponds with
“the way of His saints,” just as “keep” and “preserve” are synonymous verbs,
both meaning “to guard, keep safe, or protect.” He preserveth the way of His
saints. God does this:
to slip.” Compare Hannah’s
song, “He will keep the feet of his saints”
(I Samuel 2:9);
charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways.” The saints are
ever under
the watchful
care and mighty protection of Jehovah.
His saints (חֲסִידָו,
khasidav); i.e. the pious towards God, the godly, those in
whose hearts the
principles of sanctity have been
implanted, and who cherish earnest inward
love to God, and “walk
righteously” and “speak uprightly”
(Isaiah
33:15). It is remarkable that the
word saints only occurs once (in this
passage) in the Proverbs. During
the period of the Maccabaean Wars, a
party or sect, which aimed at
ceremonial purity, claimed for themselves the
title of Chasidim or Asidaeans
(Ἀσιδαῖοι), as expressive of their piety or
devotion. They are those whom
Moses called “men of holiness,”
Exodus 22:31 (ואֲנְשֵׁיאּקֹדֶשׁ, v’an’shev-kodesh);
compare Psalm 89:5,8;
149:1; Deuteronomy 33:3; Daniel
7:18, 21-22, 25. Under the
Christian dispensation, the
saints are those who are sanctified in Christ
Jesus (I Corinthians 1:2; I John
5:1), and who are holy in all
manner of conversation (I Peter 1:25)
9 “Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and
equity; yea,
every good path.” Then (אָז, az),
repeated from v. 5, introduces the second
apodosis. As the former referred to God, so this appears to
refer more
especially to man, and thus we have stated the whole
benefit, in its twofold
aspect, which Wisdom confers on those who diligently seek
her. It is not to
be affirmed, however, that righteousness and judgment and
equity refer
exclusively to man; they
must represent some aspects of our relationship to
God, both from
the meaning of the words themselves, and because
the law
which regulates our dealings and intercourse with man has
its seat in the
higher law of our relation to God. Righteousness, and judgment, and
equity. These three words
occur in the same collocation in ch.1:3, which see.
Yea, every good
path. “Yea”
does not occur in the original. The expression is
a summarizing of the three previous conceptions, as if the
teacher implied that all
good paths are embraced by and included in “righteousness,
and judgment,
and equity;” but
the term is also
comprehensive in the widest degree. The literal
translation is “every path of good” (כְּל־מַעְגֻּל־טוב, cal-ma’gal-tov),
i.e.
every course of action of which goodness is the
characteristic, or, as the
Authorized Version, “every good
path,” the sense in which it was understood by
Jerome, omnem orbitam bonam. The word here
used for “path” is מַעְגַּל
(ma’gal), “the
way in which the chariot rolls” (Delitzsch), and
metaphorically a course of action, as v.15; ch. 4:26.
The Conditions of Religious Knowledge
(vs. 1-9)
The previous chapter having shown us in a variety of
representations the
necessity and the worth of wisdom, the question is now dealt with — How
shall wisdom
be sought and attained?
·
CONDITIONS ON MAN’S SIDE. The enumeration is climactic,
proceeding from the less strong to the stronger expressions.
Ø Receptivity. The
open mind and heart, ever ready to “adopt” true
sentiments
and appropriate them as one’s own. The point is not to ask —
Who says this?
By what channel does it come to me? But — Is it sound?
is
it true?
If so, it is for me, and shall be made my own. Truth
is COMMON
PROPERTY!
Ø Attention, concentration, assimilation. “Keeping her commands with
us.” The thorough student finds it necessary to
exercise his memory, and to
help it
by the use of notebooks, where he hides his knowledge. So must we
hive
and store, arrange and digest, our religious impressions, which
otherwise
“go in at one ear and out at the other.”
Short germ sayings may
be
thus kept in the memory; they
will burst into fertility some day.
Ø Active application. In figurative language “bending the ear” and “turning
the heart” in the desired direction. The mind must not be passive in
religion. It is no process of “cramming,” but of:
o
personal,
o
original,
and
o
spiritual
activity
throughout.
Ø Passionate craving and prayerfulness. “Calling Sense to one’s side, and
raising
one’s voice to Prudence” — to give another rendering to v. 3. We
must
invoke the spirit of Wisdom for the needs of daily conduct; thus
placing ourselves
in living relation with what is our true nature.
o
Fra Angelico prayed before his easel;
o
Cromwell,
in his tent on the eve of battle.
o
So
must the thinker in his study,
o
the
preacher in his pulpit,
o
the
merchant at his desk,
if he
would have the true clearness of vision and the only genuine
success.
True prayer is always for the universal, not the private, good.
Ø Persevering and laborious exertion. Illustrated by the miner’s toil. The
passage
(Job 28.), of extraordinary picturesque power and interest,
describing
the miner’s operations, may help us to appreciate the
illustration. The pursuit of what is ideal is still more arduous than that of
the
material, as silver and gold. It
is often said that the perseverance of the
unholy
worker shames the sloth of the spiritual man. But
let us not ignore
the other
side. The toil in the spiritual region is not obvious to the eye like
the
other, but is not the less really practiced in silence by thousands of
faithful
souls. We should reflect
on the immense travail of soul it has cost
to
produce the book which stirs us like a new force, though it may appear
to flow
with consummate ease from the pen. Such are the conditions of
“understanding the fear of Jehovah,” or, in modern language, of
appropriating, making religion our own; “receiving the things of the Spirit
of God,” in the language of Paul (I Corinthians
2:14). It is the
highest
human possession, because permanent, inalienable, and
preservative
amidst life’s ills.
·
CONDITIONS ON THE SIDE OF GOD. If religion be the union or
identification of the soul with God, He
must be related to us in such a way
as makes this possible.
Ø He
is wisdom’s Source and Giver. He
not only contains in Himself that
knowledge
which, reflected in us, becomes prudence, sense, wisdom, piety;
He is an active
Will and a self-communicating Spirit. The ancients had a
glimpse
of this when they said that the gods were not of so grudging or
envious a
nature as not to reveal their good to men. God is self-revealing;
“freely gives of
His things” to us, that we may know, and in
knowing,
possess them.
Ø His wisdom is saving. “Sound wisdom” (v. 7) may be better rendered
soundness, or salvation,
or health, or saving health. It seems to come
from a
root signifying the essential or actual. Nothing is essential but
health
for sensuous enjoyment; nothing but health, in the larger sense, for
spiritual
enjoyment. Let us think of God as HIMSELF ABSOLUTE
HEALTH, and thus the Giver of all health and happiness to His creatures.
Ø He is Protector of the faithful. The Hebrew imagination, informed by
constant
scenes of war, delights to represent Him as the Buckler or Shield
of His
servants (Psalm 18:2; 33:20; 89:19). Those who “walk in
innocence” seem to bear a charmed life. They “fear no evil,” for
He is with
them. The vast sky is their tent roof. They may
be slain, but cannot be hurt.
To be snatched from this world is to be caught to His arms.
Ø He
is eternal JUSTIC E. Being this
in Himself, the “way of His saints,”
which is
synonymous with human rectitude, cannot be indifferent to Him.
RIGHT is the highest idea we can
associate with God! It is
exempt from
the
possible suspicion of weakness or misdirection which may cleave to the
mere idea
of goodness or kindness. It essentially includes MIGHT! Thus
the soul
finds shelter beneath this vast and majestic conception and faith of
its
God. These, then, are the conditions,
Divine and human, of religion. That
we may
realize it in ourselves, “understand right, justice, and equity”
— in a
word, “every good way” of life and thought, uniting
piety with morality —
the
conditions must be faithfully fulfilled. Perfect bodily health may not be
attainable;
some of its conditions lie without the sphere of freedom, and
within
that of necessary law. Spiritual health is attainable, for it lies within
the
sphere of freedom. Then God is realized; it is the ether of the soul,
and
the
region of love and light and blessedness.
The Course, the Goal, and the Prize
of Wisdom (vs. 1-9)
These are comprehensive verses; they include the three main
features of the
heavenly race.
·
THE COURSE OF THE WISDOM SEEKER. He who searches for
wisdom is a wise runner in a heavenly race; he is pursuing an end
which the
Divine Author of his being
distinctly and emphatically commends.
Ø
His
search for life-giving truth must be characterized by readiness to
receive. He must be wholly different in spirit from
those who are
disinclined
to learn; still more must he be far removed from those who
scornfully
reject; he must be a son who “will receive the words” of wisdom
— the words of the “only wise God” (Jude 1:25), of Him who is “the
Wisdom
of God” (I
Corinthians 1:24)
Ø
But
there must be not only readiness; there should be eagerness to
receive. He
must “incline
his ear” (v. 2). Not only be prepared to listen
when
Wisdom speaks, but make a distinct and positive effort to learn the
truth
which affects him and which will bless him.
Ø Beyond this, there must be carefulness
to retain. The student must not
let his
mind be a sieve through which knowledge passes and from which it
is
readily lost; he must make it a reservoir which will retain; he is
to “hide
God’s
commandments” within
him (v. 1). to take them down into the
deep places of the soul whence they will not
escape.
Ø Farther, there must be perseverance
in the search. He must “apply his
heart to understanding” (v 2). Not by “fits and starts” is the
goal to be
reached,
but by steady, patient, continuous search.
Ø And there must also be enthusiasm
in the endeavor (vs. 3). With
the
impassioned earnestness with which a man who is lost in the pathless
wood, or
is sinking under the whelming wave, “cries” and “lifts up his
voice,”
should the seeker after heavenly wisdom strive after the goal which
is before
him. With the untiring energy and inexhaustible ardor with which
men
toil for silver or dig for the buried treasure of which they believe
themselves
to have found the secret,
should the soul strive and search alter
the high
end to which God is calling it.
·
THE GOAL HE WILL SURELY REACH. He who thus seeks for
heavenly truth will attain that to which he is aspiring; “for
the Lord giveth
wisdom,” etc. (v. 6). There is no man
who desires to be led into the path
of that Divine wisdom which constitutes the life and joy of
the soul, and
who pursues that lofty and holy end in the spirit here
commended, who will
fail to reach the goal toward which he runs. That earnest and
patient runner
shall be HELPED OF GOD! Divine resources shall be supplied to him; he
shall run without weariness, he shall walk without fainting, till
the winning
post is clasped (see Matthew 5:6; 7:7-8).
Ø He
shall apprehend the essential elements of religion. “Thou shall
understand the fear of the Lord” (v. 5). He will be led into a spiritual
apprehension of that which constitutes the foundation and the essence of
all true
piety. He will be able to
distinguish between the substance and the
shadow,
the reality and the pretence of religion.
Ø
He
shall also — and this is a still greater thing — attain to a vital and
redeeming knowledge of God Himself. “Thou shall find the knowledge of
God” (v. 5). To know Him is ETERNAL LIFE! (John 17:3), But this
knowledge
must be — what in the case of the earnest disciple of heavenly
wisdom it
will become — a vital knowledge; it must be of the whole
spiritual
nature, and not only of the intellectual faculty. It must be a
knowledge
which
o
engages
the whole powers of the spirit;
o
which
brings joy to the soul;
o
which
leads to an honest effort after God-likeness.
·
THE PRIZE HE WILL WIN.
It may be truly said that the runner in
the race finds a deeper satisfaction in clasping the goal
while his
competitors are all behind him than in wearing the chaplet of honor on
his
brows. And it may be truly said that the most blessed guerdon
which the
heavenly runner wins is in that knowledge of God which is his
“goal”
rather than in the after honors which are his “prize.” Yet we may
well
covet with intense eagerness the prize which Wisdom holds in her
hand for
those who are victorious. It includes much.
Ø
Stores of deep
spiritual verities. “He layeth up sound wisdom,” etc.
(v.
7) — greater and deeper insight into the most profound and
precious truth.
Ø
Discernment of all
practical wisdom. “Thou shall understand
righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path” (v. 9).
Ø
Divine guardianship
along all the path of life. “He is a Buckler to them
that walk uprightly. He keepeth
the paths of judgment,” etc.
(vs. 7-8).
In vs. 10-19, we have a statement of the advantages which
result from the
possession of Wisdom, and specially as a safeguard against
evil men (vs. 12-15)
and evil women (vs 16-19).
10 “When
wisdom entereth into thine
heart, and knowledge is pleasant
unto thy soul;” When wisdom entereth into thine heart. There is practically
little difference as to the sense, whether we render the Hebrew כִּי by the
conditional “if” or by the temporal “when” as in the
Authorized Version.
The conditional force is adopted by the Septuagint - ἐάν – ean – if - and the
Vulgate si. In the
previous section of this address, the teacher has shown that the
search after Wisdom will result in possession.; now he
points out, when Wisdom
is secured, certain advantageous consequences follow. The
transition is
easy and natural. The form of construction is very similar
to that adopted
previously. There is first the hypothesis, if we give this
force to yKi, though
much shorter; and secondly the climax, also shorter and
branching off into
the statement of two special cases. Entereth;
or, shall enter (חָבוא, thavo)
in the sense of permanent residence in the heart. Wisdom is not only to
come in, but to rest there (compare ch.14:33). The expression is
illustrated by John 14:23 “If a man love me, he will keep
my words: and
my
Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our
abode
with him.”
The imagery of the verse is taken from the
reception and entertainment of a guest. As we receive a
welcome guest,
and find pleasure in his company, so is Wisdom to be dear to the heart and
soul. Into thine
heart (בְּלִבֶּך, b’libecha). The
heart (לֵב) concentrates in
itself the personal life of man in all its relations, the
conscious and the
unconscious, the voluntary and the involuntary, the
physical and the
spiritual impulses, the emotions and states. It is that in
which the נֶפֶשׁ,
(nephesh),
”soul,” manifests itself. The
heart is the center of the life of will and desire,
of the emotions, and of the moral life. Everywhere
in the Scriptures the heart
appears to belong more to the life of desire and feeling
than to the intellectual
activity of the soul.
But at the same time, it is to be noted that intelligent conception
is
attributed to the heart (ble); ch.14:10; 8:5; 16:9. The expression
seems to be put here for the moral side of man’s nature; and in
the
Hellenistic sense, καρδία – kardia – heart - the proper equivalent of לֵב
“heart,” involves all that stands
for νοῦς λόγος συνείδησις – nous
logos
suneidaesis –mind/intellect; word/work; understand/consider - and θυμός –
thumos – wrath - i.e. it includes,
besides other things, the intellectual faculty.
The word “soul” (vp,n,, nephesh) is here found
in combination with “heart.” The
other passages where they are mentioned together are
Deuteronomy 6:5; Psalm
13:2; Jeremiah 4:19; ch.24:12. The soul is primarily the
vital principle, but according
to the usus loquendi of Holy Scripture, it frequently denotes the entire inward
nature of man; IT IS THAT PART
WHICH IS THE OBJECT OF
REDEMPTION! The home of the soul IS THE HEART; as appears from
ch.14:10, “The heart knoweth his own bitterness [or, ‘the bitterness of his
soul,’
Hebrew].” While the “heart” (לֵב) is rendered by καρδία – kardia – heart - and
ψυχή - psuchae – soul - the only Greek equivalent to “soul” (וֶפֶשׁ)
is
ψυχή. The two expressions, “heart,” and “soul,” in the passage
before us
may be taken as designating both the moral and spiritual sides of man’s
nature. Wisdom is to be acceptable and pleasant to man in these
respects.
It may be remarked that an intellectual coloring is given
to the word
“heart” by the
Septuagint who render it by διανοία – dianoia
– thought;
mind;
imagination; understanding - as also
in Deuteronomy 6:5 and other
passages, evidently from the idea that prominence is given to the reflective faculty.
Classically, διανοία is equivalent to
“thought,” “faculty of thought,” “intellect.”
Knowledge
(Hebrew, דָעָת); literally, to know, as in ch.8:10 and 14:6; here
used synonymously with “wisdom.”
Knowledge, not merely as cognition,
but perception; i.e. not merely knowing a thing
with respect to its existence
and being, but as to its excellence and truth. Equivalent to the Septuagint
αἰσσησις – aissaesis - “perception,” and the Vulgate scientia.
Is pleasant
(Hebrew, יִנְעָם, yin’am);
literally, shall be pleasant; i.e. sweet, lovely, beautiful. The
same word is used impersonally in Jacob’s blessing of Issachar (Genesis 49:15,
“And he saw the
land that it was pleasant”), and also in
ch.24:25, “To those
that punish [i.e. the judges] there shall be delight.” “Knowledge” is masculine,
as in ch.8:10 and 14:6, and agrees with the masculine verb “is pleasant.” Knowledge
will be pleasant from the enjoyment and rest which it
yields. The Arabic presents the
idea of this enjoyment under a different aspect: “And
prudence shall be in thy soul the
most beautiful glory.”
11 “Discretion
shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:”
Discretion shall
preserve thee. Discretion (מְזַמָּת, m’zimoth),
as in ch.1:4, is the outward manifestation of wisdom; it tests what is uncertain,
and AVOIDS DANGER.
The word carries with it the idea of reflection or
consideration (see ch.3:21; 5:2; 8:12) The Septuagint reads, βουλὴ καλή -
boulae kalae - “good counsel;”
and the Vulgate, concilium.
Shall preserve thee. The
idea of protection and guarding, which is
predicated of Jehovah in v. 8, is here transferred to
discretion and
understanding, which to some extent are put forward as
personifications.
Understanding (תְבוּנָה, t’vunah) - the power of distinguishing and
separating, and, in the case of conflicting
interests, TO DECIDE ON THE
BEST! Shall keep; i.e. keep safe, or in
the sense of watching over or guarding. The
two
verbs “to preserve” (שָׁמַר, shamar) and “to keep” (נָצַר, natsar), Septuagint
–
τήρειν - taerein – keep - occur
together again in ch. 4:6.
The Antidote to Temptation (vs. 10-11)
trust to our own spiritual
health to throw off the poison. We are already
diseased with sin,
and have a predisposition to yield to temptation in
the corruption of
our own hearts. But if we were
immaculate, we should
still be liable to fall; the
power of temptation is so fearful that the purest,
strongest soul would be in
danger of succumbing. The tempter can choose
the moment of his attack. When
we are most off our guard, when we are
faint and weary, when we are
suffering from spiritual depression, the mine
may be suddenly sprung, and we
may be lost before we have fully realized
the situation. The tempter would destroy our spiritual life
with an atmosphere
of foul thoughts after more
tangible attacks have failed, were it not that we
have a supply of
grace outside ourselves, EQUAL TO OUR NEED!
(“There is no temptation taken you but such
as is common to man:
but God is faithful, who will not suffer you
to be tempted above
that ye are able; but will with the
temptation also make a way to
escape, that ye may be able to bear it” - I Corinthians 10:13). Even
Christ, when tempted, did not
rest on His own purity and power, but
appealed for support to the
sacred wisdom of Scripture. (Matthew
4:4,7,10).
POSITIVE GOOD. Fire
is quenched by water, not by opposing flames.
Evil must be
overcome with good (Romans 12:21). The way to keep
sin out of the heart is to fill
the heart with pure thoughts and affections till
there is no room for anything
else. The citadel entered most easily by the
tempter is an empty heart. (Have we not heard, “An idle mind is
the devil’s workshop!” – CY – 2013)
All knowledge tends in some
degree to preserve from evil. Light makes
for goodness. Both are from
God, and therefore they must harmonize.
Secular knowledge is
morally useful. Historically, a very
large proportion of the
criminals in our jails can
neither read nor write. Ignorant of wiser courses,
they are led aside to the
lowest pursuits. Sound intelligence and good
information introduce men
at least to the social conscience. But the
professor is not the saviour
of the world. Higher wisdom is needed to
be the
successful antidote to sin — that wisdom which, in
the Book of
Proverbs, is
almost SYNONYMOUS WITH RELIGION — the
knowledge of God and His laws, and the
practical discernment of the
application of this
knowledge to conduct. We must know God’s will and
the way of the Christian life,
the beauty of holiness and how to attain it, if
we are to have a good safeguard
against sin. Christ, the Wisdom of God,
dwelling in our
hearts, is the great security against temptation.
WISDOM MUST BE RECEIVED WITH DELIGHT. Knowledge
must be “pleasant.” We are most
influenced by that which we love most.
There is a
strength in the DIVINE JOY! So long as religious truths
are accepted in cold
intellectual conviction, or submitted to through hard
compulsions of duty, they will
have little power over us. But happily
GOD HAS JOINED
THE HIGHEST TRUTH TO THE
PUREST
GLADNESS! Wisdom is a pleasure to those who welcome
it to their hearts. The acquisition of all knowledge is
pleasurable, THE
KNOWLEDGE OF GOD is joined with peculiar spiritual delights!
In rejoicing in this and in love to the
incarnation of this wisdom in Christ,
we have the strongest safeguard
against temptation.
12 “To
deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that
speaketh froward
things;” To deliver thee
from the way of the evil man.
The first special advantage resulting from the protecting guardianship of discretion
and understanding.
From the way of the evil man; properly, from an evil
way; Hebrew, מִדֶּרֶך
רָע (midarek ra), not necessarily, though by
implication, connected with man, as in the Authorized
Version. רָע (ra),
“evil,” “wicked,” in an ethical sense, is an adjective, as
in Jeremiah 3:16
(לֵב
רָע, lev ra), “an evil heart;” compare the Septuagint’s ἀπὸ ὁδοῦ κακῆς
- apo hodou
kakaes - the Vulgate, Targum,
and Arabic, a vid mala, and
the Syriac,
a viis pravis. “Way,”
is here used in the sense of “conduct,” and the evil way is a
line of conduct or action which is essentially wicked or
evil. The teacher has
already warned youth against the temptations and dangers of
the way of
evil men in ch.1:10-15; he now shows that discretion, arising
from wisdom being resident in the heart, will be a
sufficient safeguard
against its allurements. From the man that speaketh
froward things.
Perverse utterances are here brought in contradistinction
to the evil way or
froward conduct. Man (אִשׁ, ish) is here used generically, as the
representative of the whole class of base and wicked men,
since all the
following verbs are in the plural, Froward
things. The word תַּהְפֻכוֹּת
(tah’pucoth), here
translated “froward
things,” is derived from the root
צּצּצּ (haphak), “to
turn,” “to pervert,” and should be translated
“perverseness.” Perverseness is THE WILLFUL MISREPRESENTATION
OF THAT WHICH IS GOOD AND TRUE. The
utterances are of a distorted
and tortuous character. The word, only found in the plural,
is abstract in form, and is
of frequent, though not of exclusive, occurrence in the
Proverbs. It is attributed to the
Israelites in Deuteronomy 32:20. It is met with again in
such expressions as
“the mouth of perverseness,” Authorized Version “forward
mouth” (Proverbs 8:13);
“the tongue of perverseness,” “froward tongue,” Authorized
Version (ch.10:31);
“the man of perverseness,” “froward man,” Authorized
Version (ch.16:28).
What is here said of wicked men is attributed to drunkards
in ch.23:33,
“Thine heart shall utter perverse things.” The expression finds its
explanation in ch.6:13-14. The spirit which indulges in this
perverseness is stubborn,
scornful, self-willed, and rebellious, and it is from such a spirit that DISCRETION
IS A PRESERVATIVE. In Job 5:13
it is said that “the counsel of the froward
is
carried headlong” (see also II Samuel 22:27; Psalm 18:26; 101:4). The Septuagint
rendering of this word is μηδὲν πιστόν
– maeden piston
- “nothing
trustworthy,”
which is amplified in the Arabic, quod
nullam in se continet
veritatem, “that which
contains in itself no truth.”
13 “Who
leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;”
Who leave the
paths of uprightness. Between vs. 13 and 15 the teacher proceeds
to give a more detailed description of those who speak
perversely. Who leave
(הַעֹזְבִים, haoz’vim); literally, forsaking, but the present participle
has the force
of the preterite, as appears from
the context. The men alluded to have already
forsaken or deserted the paths of uprightness (see previous
note on the word “man.”
The paths of uprightness
(אָרְחות
יֹשֶׁר, ar’khoth
yosher); the
same as the
“right paths” of ch. 4:11. The strict meaning
of the Hebrew word translated
“uprightness” is “straightness,” and hence it stands opposed to
“perverseness”
in the previous verse. Uprightness is integrity, rectitude,
honest dealing. The Septuagint translators represent the
forsaking of the paths
of uprightness as a
consequence resulting from walking in the ways of
darkness, “O ye who have left the right ways by
departing [τοῦ πορεύεσβαι
– tou poreuesbai - equivalent
to abeundo] into the ways of
darkness.” Again, the ways of darkness (דַרְכֵי
חשֶׁך, dar’chey kkoshek)
are opposed to the “paths
of uprightness” which rejoice in the
light. Darkness
includes the ideas of:
To walk in the ways of darkness, then, is to persist in a
course of willful
ignorance, to reject deliberately the light of knowledge,
and to work
wickedness, by performing “the
works of darkness (τὰ ἔργα τοῦ σκύτους
–
ta erga tou skutous),” which Paul
exhorted the Church at
away (Romans 13:12), and by having fellowship with “the unfruitful works
of darkness” (τὰ ἔργα τὰ ἀκάρπα
τοῦ σκότους - ta erga ta akarpa
tou skotous ), against
which the same apostle warned the
Ephesians (Ephesians
5:11). They are ways of darkness, because they endeavor to hide themselves
from God (Isaiah 29:15) and from man (Job 24:15; 38:13,
15). But
in their
tendency and end
they lead to THE BLACKNESS OF
DARKNESS
FOR
EVER. (1:13). In Scripture darkness is associated
with evil, just as
light is with uprightness (see John 3:19-20).
14 “Who
rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of
the
wicked;”
Who rejoice to do evil. Another element is here brought
forward, and the description increases in intensity. The wicked not only
rejoice to do evil themselves, but they exult when they hear of
evil in others
(compare Romans 1:32). Such may be the interpretation,
though the latter
part, of the verse is capable of a different and more general
rendering as
signifying exultation in evil generally, whether it appears
in themselves or
others. The expression rendered in the Authorized Version, in the
frowardness of the wicked, is in the original בְּתַחְפֻכות
רַע,
b’thah’pucoth ra), in the perverseness of evil, or in evil
perverseness,
where the combination of the two nouns serves to give force
to the main
idea, which is that of perverseness. This rendering is
adopted in the Septuagint,
ἐπὶ διαστροφῇ
κακῇ - epi diastrophae
kakae - “in evil distortion;”
in
the Vulgate, in pessimis rebus;
in the Targum, Syriac, and
Arabic, in
conversatione
mala, “in a bad course of conduct;” and in the Targum,
in malitiae perversione,
“in
the perversion of wickedness.” It is not
perverseness in its simple and common form that
these men exult in. but in its
worst and most vicious form (for a similar construction, see ch.
6:24; 15:26;
and 28:5). How widely
different is the conduct of charity, which “rejoiceth
not in iniquity” (I
Corinthians 13:6)!
Rejoicing to Do Evil (v. 14)
We often insist upon the fact that goodness is the secret
of true happiness,
and invite men to rejoice in the service of God; but we are
here reminded
of an opposite kind of joy which some find in the course of
wickedness.
There is a sense of freedom in sin. There is more room to range at large
over the broad way than in the narrow path of
righteousness. The sinner
has burst the shackles of law, and he revels in the license
of self-will.
Ø
At first it is painful to sin. The poor, weak soul
gives way to
temptation, but the very act of
sinning is accompanied with a
sense of uneasiness
and humiliation.
Ø
A further stage is reached when sin is committed with
indifference.
This is indeed a
state of moral degradation,
for conscience is now practically dead, and the sinner is
as willing to have his
pleasure by lawless means as in an
innocent manner.
Ø The lowest depth
is reached when there is a positive
pleasure in doing
wrong. Evil
is then chosen on its own
account, and not as the
disagreeable or the
indifferent means
for reaching some ulterior
end. When two courses
are open, the bad one is
deliberately selected as the more pleasant
on its own account. A
malignant joy lights up the countenance of the
abandoned sinner at the
mere prospect of some new villainy. This is
SATANIC
WICKEDNESS. . The abandoned sinner can
now exclaim
with
“Evil, be thou my good!”
Ø
It is shallow. Though it may be excited into a diabolical ecstasy, it has
no
heart-satisfying qualities. Beneath it
there is profound unrest.
The peace which accompanies the joy of
holiness, and which is the
sweetest ingredient in the
cup of the good man, is quite wanting here.
There are shooting
pangs, dark misgivings, and dread sinkings of
heart in the midst of this monstrous delight.
Ø
It will not endure. The pleasures of sin
do but endure for a season. The
sweet morsels soon turn to
dust and ashes. After the wild orgie there
follows deep depression or
dread despair, or at best a sense of listless
weariness. The appetite is
soon exhausted. New and more piquant forms
of wickedness must be
invented to stimulate the jaded palate. At length
the awful consequences must
come, and anguish of soul follow the
delights of sin WHEN GOD’S JUDGMENT TAKES EFFECT!
15 “Whose
ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:”
Whose ways are
crooked; better, perhaps, who as to their
ways are crooked. Crooked (עִקְּשִׁים, ik’shim); i.e. tortuous, perverse,
not
straightforward, (σκολιαὶ, - skoliai - Septuagint).
Symmachus translates
the
original by σκαμβαί, - skambai - i.e. “bent.” Theodotion,
by στριβλαί -
striblai - twisted, crooked? Sinners, in their perverseness, are ever winding
about, turning in every direction, and changing from
purpose to purpose,
as wayward caprice or shifting inclination, the alternations of evil
propensity, happen to
dictate. . (For the expressions “crooked ways,” see
Psalm 125:5.) And they froward in their paths; i.e. perverse in their paths.
The root idea of
the Hebrew niph. participle וּנְלוזִים (vun’lozim), translated
“and they froward,” is “to bend aside,” “to turn away.” They are turned
aside to the right
hand and to the left in their walk. The niph. participle נָלוז
(naloz) only occurs four times in the Scriptures — here; ch. 3:32; 14:2;
and Isaiah 30:12. This is the last feature in their
wickedness.
The Course of Sin and the Strength
of Righteousness (vs. 10-15)
We have here portrayed for us:
·
THE SHOCKING COURSE OF SIN.
Ø It begins in departure from rectitude. Evil men first manifest their error
by “leaving
the paths of uprightness.” They were once under the
wholesome
restraints of righteousness. Parental control, the influences of
the
sanctuary and of virtuous society, held them in check, but these are
thrown
off; they have become irksome, and they are rebelled against and
abandoned.
The old and wise principles which were received and cherished
are one by one discarded, and they stand unshielded, unguided, ready to
wander in forbidden paths.
Ø It
continues in the practice of evil. Having thrown off old restraints, they
“walk in the ways of darkness” (v. 13); they proceed to do, habitually,
those
things which the unenlightened do — those things which shun the
light and
love the darkness; deeds of error and of shame.
(John 3:19-20)
Ø It
resorts to despicable shifts. “Whose ways are crooked” (v. 15). Sin
cannot
walk straight on; it would be soon overtaken by penalty, or fall over
the
precipice. It is like men pursued of justice, who have to turn and double
that they
may elude those who are behind. The course of sin is twisted and
tortuous; it resorts to cunning and craftiness. All manliness is
eaten out of
it; it
has the spirit and habit of a slave (see Romans 6:16).
Ø It
hardens into utter perversity. They “are froward in their paths”
(v. 15); they “speak froward
things” (v. 12), i.e. they sink down into
complete
hardihood and spiritual stubbornness; their hearts are turned
aside
from all that is devout, pure, wise, and they have gone utterly after
that which is
profane and base.
Ø It culminates in a hateful and hurtful propagandism. They “rejoice to do
evil, and delight in the frowardness
of the wicked” (v.
14). Sin can go no
further
in enormity, no deeper in abasement, than when, rejoicing in
iniquity,
it seeks to lead others into
the same guilt and vileness with itself.
(Mimiking Satan to the core. CY
– 2020) What a
pitiful zealotry is this —
the
anxiety and pertinacity of sin in winning from the paths of rectitude the
children
of innocence and truth! What a saddening thought that thousands
of our fellow
men are actively occupied in this diabolical pursuit!
·
THE PERIL OF PIETY AND VIRTUE. Here, on earth, the purest
virtue must walk side by side with the worst depravity. Sin sits
down at the
same hearth with goodness; profanity with piety. And thus
brought into
close contact, it is open to one to win or to seduce the other.
We rejoice
that godliness is seeking to gain impiety for God, but we mourn
and
tremble as we see sin seeking to pervert purity and goodness from “the
right ways of the Lord.” We
are all open to human influence. The heart of
man is responsive to human entreaty and example. But especially so
is the
heart of youth: that is tender, impressionable, plastic. Perhaps never a day
passes but the sun looks down, in every land, on some
young heart
detached from truth, led into the path of evil, stained with sin, through the
snares and wiles of guilty men. Who does not sigh with some
feeling of
solicitude as he sees the young man go forth from the shelter of the
godly
home into the world where the wicked wait, “rejoicing to do evil,”
and
taking pride in the destruction they produce?
·
THE STRENGTH AND SECURITY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. When
wisdom enters the heart and knowledge is pleasant to the soul,
then
discretion will preserve, and understanding will keep us (vs. 10-11).
In
other words, the cordial acceptance of the truth of God is the one
security
against sin. Delighting
to do God’s will, His Law being in the heart as well
as in the understanding
(Psalm 40:8), this will prove an effectual
breakwater against the tides of evil. He that can say,” O
Lord, how love I
thy Law!” (Psalm 119)
will never have to utter words of bitter remorse and
black despair. Would youth know the certain path of victory, and pursue
that way which leads, not down to shame, but on
and up to heavenly glory?
Ø
Let it regard with
earnest gaze him who is the Wisdom of God in fullest
revelation to the sons of men.
Ø
Yield to Him its
early, unbounded love.
Ø
Then will it find
unfading joy in the Divine truth which flowed from his
lips, and which shone in his holy life. Whoso believes in Him
shall
never be confounded.
Crooked Ways (v. 15)
PATHS OF MORAL SIMPLICITY. The man of high character is simple
in conduct. Great complexity of
motive is generally a sign of moral laxity.
The way of right is straight
because it makes for its goal without any
considerations of expediency,
danger, or]pleasure. To be turned aside from
the steep Hill of Difficulty, or
into By-path Meadows is to forsake the right
for selfish ease. When men allow
considerations of momentary advantage
to guide their actions, they
will be perpetually swayed from side to side till
their track is marked by an
irregular “zigzag.” (One should never
sacrifice principle for
temporary gain! – CY – 2013)
Principles are like the rails on
which the train runs, keeping it in a direct
course and facilitating its
speed. The unprincipled man is off the rails, and
the result is confusion. Like a
ship without compass, rudder, or chart, the
unprincipled man drifts with
wind and tide, and so leaves behind him a
crooked track. The security for
straightforward conduct is the guidance of
a deep-seated principle of
righteousness. (Don’t get “derailed” in
life –
CY – 2013)
The lane which is made, bit by
bit, from farm to farm, is likely to wind
about; but the old Roman high
road that connects two distant cities runs as
directly as possible. The
ploughman who looks no further than his horses’
heads will make a crooked
furrow; to go straight he must fix his eyes on
the end of the field. He who
regards only present circumstances will
wander aimlessly. To go right we must look out of self to Christ;
beyond present
expediency to the full purpose and end of life;
above all earthly pursuits to the goal of the life eternal.
to go straight towards their
evil aims lest they shall be discovered. They
beat about the bush. The
assassin avoids the high road and slinks along
under a hedge, that he may come
upon his victim unawares. The thief
breaks into the house by the
back door. Honesty is direct; dishonesty is
circuitous. Crooked ways tend to
become deceitful, if they are not so of set
purpose. A man may wander in them till he has lost account of the
points of the
compass, AND KNOWS NOT WHITHER HE IS
GOING; most elementary notions of right and wrong are then
confused. This is the common
issue of casuistic
and disingenuous
conduct; it results in SELF-DECEPTION.
to “turn to the right, and keep
straight on.” The road that leads to
destruction is broad, admitting
of much irregularity of motion from one
side to the other. It is the straight and narrow way that leads to life.
(Matthew 7:14)
16 “To
deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger
which flattereth
with her words;” To deliver thee from the strange woman.
This is the second form of temptation against which wisdom (discretion) is a
preservative, and the great and especial dangers arising
from it to youth,
owing to its
seductive allurements, afford the
reason why the teacher is so
strong in his warnings on this subject. Two terms are employed to
designate the
source of this evil:
and both undoubtedly, in the passage before us, mean
a meretricious person,
one who indulges in illicit intercourse. The former term is invariably employed in
this sense in the Proverbs (ch.5:2, 20; 7:5; 22:14; 23:33) of the adulteress
(זָרִים,
zarim), and Jeremiah 2:25. The participle זָר (zar), from the
verb זוּר
(zur),
of
which זָרָה (zarah) is the feminine
form, is, however, used in a
wider sense, as signifying:
Thus:
presence;” but in
Exodus 30:33 “the stranger” is one
not the high priest.
opposed to the holy fire (<031001>Leviticus 10:1);
But the idea of foreign origin implied in the word is more
strongly brought
out
in the next term, נָכְרִיָה
(nok’riyah),
on which Delitzsch remarks that
it scarcely ever divests itself of a strange, foreign
origin. This word is used to
designate those “strange women” whom Solomon loved in his old age,
and who turned his heart aside to worship false gods (I Kings 11:1-8),
“outlandish women,” as they
are termed in Nehemiah 13:26; it
designates “the strange
wives” of Ezra 10, and Nehemiah 13:27; and is
applied to Ruth the Moabitess (Ruth 2:10).
Again, it has to be further observed
that the laws of the
Mosaic code against prostitution were of a most
stringent nature (Leviticus 19:29; 21:9; Deuteronomy 23:17), and no
doubt served to maintain a higher standard of morality among Israelitish
women than that observed among the Midianites,
Syrians, and other nations.
(Once upon a time it also could be said of American women
in general –
CY – 2013). Strong prohibitions were directed against
the intermarriage
of Israelites with the women of the surrounding
nations; but the
example set
by Solomon would serve to weaken the force of these
prohibitions,
and would lead to a large influx of women of a different nationality.
The conclusion we arrive at is that the class mentioned in the text, though
not Israelitish by birth, were
yet so by
adoption, as the context clearly
indicates (v. 17) the fact of marriage and the acceptance of certain religious
observances. Such women, after
a temporary restraint, would eventually
set all moral and religious obligations at defiance. and would become
the source of temptation to others. Which flattereth with her
words;
literally, who has made smooth her words, the hiph. perfect being used
of
חָלַק
(khalak),
“to make smooth,” or “flattering.” The preterite
shows
what her habitual
practice is, and is used of an
action still continuing,
and so may be fitly rendered by the present, as in
the Authorized Version:
“She has acquired
the art of enticing by flattering words, and it is her
study to employ
them;” compare the Vulgate, quae
mollit sermones suos,
“who softens her words;” and the Syriac, quae subvertit verba sua,
“who subverts her words,” i.e. “uses deceit.” The expression occurs
again in ch. 5:3; 6:24; 7:5.
17 “Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth
the covenant
of her God.” The guide of her youth (נְעוּרֶיהָ
אַלּוּפ, alluph n’ureyah);
properly, the associate or companion of her
youth. The Hebrew, אָלּוּפ
(alluph),
being derived from the root אָלַפ, (alaph), “to accustom
one’s
self to,” or “to be accustomed to”
or “familiar
with” anyone. The word
is rendered as “friend”
in ch.17:9; Micah 7:5. The idea
of guidance, which is adopted in the Authorized Version,
and appears also
in the Vulgate dux. and Targum
ducatus, is a secondary idea, and is
derived probably from the relation in which the husband
stands to his wife.
Various interpretations have been given to the expression.
It occurs again
in Jeremiah 3:4, where Jehovah applies it to himself, and
says, through
his prophet, to the religiously adulterous
time cry unto me, My Father, thou art the Guide of my youth
(אַלּוּפ
נְעֻרי, alluph n’ura)?” It has
also been understood as referring
to the woman’s parents, her father and mother, who were her
natural
guardians. But the context seems to require that it should
be taken as
designating her husband. It will then be the
correlative of “the wife of
thy youth” of Malachi 2:14. The
covenant of her God; i.e. the marriage
covenant, called “the
covenant of her God,” because entered into
in His
presence. (I know I was married in that context! – CY –
2013). The
forsaking of the guide of her youth is essentially bound up
with a
forgetfulness of the
solemn covenant which she had entered into in the
presence of God. No specific mention is made in the Pentateuch of any
religious ceremony at marriage; yet we may infer, from
Malachi 2:14-15,
where God is spoken of as “a
Witness” between the husband and
“the wife of his youth,” “the wife
of thy covenant,” that THE
MARRIAGE CONTRACT WAS SOLEMNIZED WITH SACRED
RITES! The Proverbs thus give a high and sacred character to
marriage, and so carry on the original idea of the
institution
which, under the gospel dispensation, developed late the
principle
of the indissolubility of the marriage tie. It is no objection to this view
that the monogamic principle was infringed, and polygamy countenanced. The
reason of this latter departure is given in Deuteronomy
22:28-29 and Exodus
22:16. The morality of
the Proverbs always represents monogamy as
the rule, it
deprecates illicit intercourse, and discountenances
divorce. It is in
entire accordance with the seventh commandment. The
woman who commits adultery offends, not only against her
husband, but
against her God.
(Not to mention against her/his ownself – ch. 6:32-33)
18 “For
her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto
the dead.”
For her house inclineth unto death; rather, she sinks down
to death together with her house. The objection to the Authorized Version
is that it does not follow the construction of the
original, the verb “sinks down”
(שָׁחָה, shakhah) being feminine,
while “house” (בָיִת, bayith) is invariably
masculine. Aben Ezra translates,
“She sinks down to death, (which is to be) her
house;” but it seems better to regard “her house” as an
adjunct of the strange
woman. Her house includes all who belong to her. She and they are involved
in the same fate. The
Authorized Version is evidently influenced by the
Vulgate, Inclinata est enim ad mortem domus ejus, “For her house is
inclined
to death.” The Septuagint gives a different rendering, Ἕθετο γὰρ παρὰ
τῷ
θανάτῳ τὸν οϊκον
αὐτῆς – etheto gar para
tothanato ton oikon
autaes - “For she hath placed her house beside death.” So the
Arabic. The “for” (כִּי, ki) refers back to v.16,
and indicates how great is
the deliverance effected by wisdom. The meaning of the passage is aptly
illustrated by ch.7:27, “Her house is the way to hell,
going down
to the chambers of death.” And her paths unto the dead. The dead
(רְפָאִים, r’phaim) are properly
the quiet, or the feeble. They are the
shadowy inhabitants or shades of Hades, the inferi of the Vulgate, and are
here put for Sheol itself. The word occurs again in ch.
9:18; 21:16; and in
Psalm 88:11; Isaiah 26:14, 19; Job 26:5.
19 “None that
go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the
paths of life.” None that go unto her return
again. The fate of the
companions of the strange woman is described as irrevocable. All who
visit
her shall not return again. The Targum
reads, “They shall not return in
peace.” The difficulty which they who give themselves up to the
indulgence
of lust and passion encounter in extricating themselves makes the
statement
of the teacher an
almost universal truth. Hence St.Chrysostom says, “It is
as difficult to bring back a libidinous person to chastity
as a dead man to
life.” This passage led some of the Fathers to declare that
the sin of
adultery was unpardonable. Fornication was classed by the
scholastic
divines among the seven deadly sins, and it has this
character given to it in
the Litany: “From fornication, and all other deadly sin.”
Paul says, “No
whoremonger nor unclean person…hath any inheritance in the
kingdom of Christ and of God” (Ephesians 5:5; compare I Corinthians 6:9;
Revelation 22:15). The sin which they commit who have
dealings with
the strange woman is deadly and leads on to death, and from
death there is
no
return, nor laying hold of or regaining the paths of life (see Job 7:9-10).
The Way of Sin: A Sermon
to Young Men (vs. 16-19)
Reference is made here to one particular sin. While the
words of the
teacher are specially appropriate to it, they will also apply to
all sin; they
show the way it takes. Let us see:
·
THAT SIN IS THE CONTRADICTION OF THE DIVINE
THOUGHT. It is a “strange” thing (v. 16). The painted
harlot is “the
strange woman.” And while
the prostitution of a human being, meant to be
a helpmeet for man in all his highest and holiest pursuits to a mere
ministress to his unlawful lusts, is the very saddest departure from the
Divine ideal, and amply
justifies the use of the word “strange
woman,” we
may remember that ALL SIN IS A STRANGE THING in the universe of God.
How it ever entered there is the
problem which can never be solved. But meeting
with it here. in whatever form, we
say, “This is the contrary of the thought
of the Supreme,” “This
is the exact opposite of His design,” “This is
something alien, unnatural, intrusive: cannot we cast it out?”
·
THAT SIN MUST STOOP TO FALSEHOOD IF IT WILL WIN ITS
WAY. It “flattereth with its words” (v. 16). Flattery is
only another name
for a sweet falsehood. The
woman that is a sinner uses flattery to
accomplish her ends. So sin
cannot live without lying. That may be said of
sin which was said of a great European usurper, that it “has
deliberately
taken falsehood into its service.” But the most effective and
destructive
form of it is flattery. Let the young take earnest heed to
their danger. When
the lips of beauty speak soft and gratifying things, let purity
beware; it is
only too likely that temptation in its most seductive form is
nigh, and that
character and reputation are being insidiously assailed.
·
THAT SIN SINKS TO ITS DARKEST DEPTHS THROUGH
VARIOUS VIOLATIONS. (v. 17.) It is uncertain whether
by the “guide
of her youth” is to
be understood her husband (see Malachi 2:14-15),
her parents, or her God. The second clause clearly refers to
the marriage
covenant, which is regarded as a sacred bond. Whichever be the
correct
view of the former clause, it is certain that the sinner of the
text could only
descend to her shameless depth by violating every promise she has
made,
by breaking through
every fence which once stood between
her and guilt.
This is the inevitable course of
sin. It
violates first one vow, then another,
until all sacred promises are broken.
Ø
Deliberate
resolutions,
Ø
solemn assurances,
Ø
formal vows;
all are infringed.
·
THAT SIN LEADS STRAIGHT TO THE DOORWAY OF DEATH.
(vs.
18-19.) It leads:
Ø To
physical death. Vice carries with it a penalty in the body;
it robs of
health and
strength; it enfeebles; it sows seeds of sickness and death. The
“graves of lust” are in every cemetery and churchyard in the land.
Ø To
spiritual death. “None
that go unto her return again” as they went.
Men come away from every unlawful indulgence
other than they go —
weaker and
worse in soul. Alas for the
morrow of incontinence, of
whatever
kind it be!
o
The
soul is injured;
o
its
self-respect is slain,
o
its
force is lessened;
o
it is
on the incline which slopes to death, and
o
one step
nearer to the foot of it.
“Her
house inclineth unto death.”
Ø TO ETERNAL
DEATH! They who resort to forbidden pleasure are fast
on their way to
the final condemnation; they have wandered long leagues
from “the paths of life.” We conclude
with two admonitions:
o
Keep carefully away from the beginnings of
evil. Shun not only the
“strange woman’s” door, but the evil glance, the doubtful company,
the impure
book, the meretricious paper.
o
The way of escape is immediate and total
abandonment of sin.
Such resolution made at once, seeking God’s
strength and grace,
will
permit the wanderer to “return again.” (One needs to
have his
mind made up on what to do before he ever gets into
the wrong situation!
CY – 2020)
20 “That
thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the
paths
of the righteous.” That (Hebrew, לְמַעַן (l’maan); in order that (Vulgate, ut),
carries us back properly to v. 11. The protecting power of wisdom is
developed in a positive direction. Negatively, it delivers
from the evil man
and from the strange woman, but it does more — “it shall keep
thee in
order that thou mayest walk in a good way,” etc. The Hebrew לְמַעַן
(l’maan) is
coordinate with “to deliver thee,” but it serves to bring the
discourse to a conclusion, therefore walk - In
the way of good men (בְּדֶרֶך
טובִים,
b’derek tovim); i.e. in the way of the good, in an ethical sense,
i.e. the
upright, as in Isaiah 5:20. The Vulgate renders, in via
bona, “in the
good way.” “The way of good men”
is the way of God’s commandments,
the way of obedience. Keep. The Hebrew verb שָׁמַר
(shamar)
is here used
in the sense of “to observe,” “to attend to,” but in a
different sense from
Psalm 17:4, “I have observed the ways of the violent man,” i.e.
that I
might avoid them. To keep the paths of the righteous is to
carefully attend
to the life of
obedience which they follow. The
Septuagint closely connects this
verse with the preceding, and renders, “For if they had
walked in good
ways, they would have
found the paths of righteousness light.”
21 “For
the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect
shall remain
in it.”
For the upright shall dwell in the land. Much the same
language is met with in Psalm 37:29, “The righteous shall inherit the
land, and dwell
therein forever.” It is the secure and
peaceful dwelling in
the land which is intended (compare ch.10:30). To dwell in
the land
was always put forward as the reward of obedience to God’s
commandments (see Exodus 20:12; Leviticus 25:18; 26:5), and
the
phrase conveyed to the Hebrew mind the idea of one of the
greatest, if not
the greatest, of all temporal blessings. The love of
country was a
predominant characteristic of the race. Elster,
quoted by Zockler, remarks,
“The Israelite was beyond the power of natural feeling,
which makes home
dear to every one, more closely bound to the ancestral soil
by the whole
form of the theocracy; torn kern it, he was in the inmost
roots of life
strained and broken. Especially from psalms belonging to
the period of the
exile this patriotic feeling is breathed out in the fullest
glow and intensity.”
The land (אָרֶצ, arets) was the promised land, the
word is not used here in the wider sense in which it occurs
in Matthew
5:5, “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit
the earth.” And the
perfect shall
remain in it; i.e. they shall not,
as Rabbi Levi remarks, be
driven thence nor caused to migrate. The perfect (תְמִימִים, th’mimim), the
holy (Septuagint, ὅσιοι - hosioi – perfect; holy ), the spotless (immaeulati,
Targum), those without a
stain (qui sine
Vulgate). Shall
remain; יִוָּתְרוּ
(yivrath’ru),
niph. future of יָתַר
(yathar),
properly “to be redundant,” and in the niph.
form, “to be left,” or “to remain.”
Septuagint, ὑπολειφθήσαντι – hupoleiphthaesanti - “shall remain;”
permanebunt, Vulgate.
22 “But
the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors
shall be rooted out of it.” But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth. The
punishment of the wicked is contrasted with the blessings
that are promised
to the upright. Shall be cut off; יִפָרֵתוּ (yikkarethu), niph. future of כָרַת
(karath),
“to cut off, or destroy.” Septuagint, ὀλοῦνται - olountai - Vulgate,
perdentur.; The expression is
used to convey the idea of extermination, as
in Psalm 37:9 (compare Job 18:17; Psalm 37:28; 104:35). The
verb is
found also in Genesis 17:14; Exodus 12:15. The earth;
properly,
the land. The same
word (אַרֶצ, arets) is used as in v. 21. The
transgressors (בּוגְדִים, bog’dim); here
employed synonymously with “the
wicked” (יְשָׁעִים, y’shaim), “the
impious.” The primary meaning of the
verb from which it is derived (בָגַד, bagad) is “to cover,”
“to deal
treacherously,” and hence the word signifies those who act
treacherously
or perfidiously,
the faithless. They are those who
perfidiously depart from
God, and break away from the covenant with Jehovah.
Septuagint, παράνομοι
- paranomoi – law breakers - (compare ch. 11:3, 6; 13:2, 25; 22:12;
Psalm 25:3; 59:5; Isaiah 33:1). Shall
be rooted out (יסֶּחוּ,
yiss’khu). This
word is taken by Davidson as the future kal of נסַה
(nasah),
“to pluck up,”
and hence is equivalent to “they shall pluck up,” or,
passively, “they stroll be
plucked up.” Delitzsch remarks
that it is as at ch.15:25 and Psalm 52:7, active,
“they shall pluck
up,” and this with the subject remaining
indefinite is equivalent to the passive form, “they shall
be plucked up.” This
indefinite “they” can be used of God, as also in Job 7:3. The
expression has been understood as referring to being driven
into exile, and
this view would be amply justified by the fate which
overtook the apostate
nation when both the kingdoms of
the
Septuagint’s ἐξωθήσονται – exothaesontai - they shall be rooted out;
they shall be
driven out). It also derives color from
the language of the preceding
verse, but the imagery appears to be derived from the
cutting down and rooting up
of trees. The destruction of
the wicked and transgressors will be complete.
THEY SHALL BE EXTERMINATED.
The Profit of Religious Knowledge
(vs. 10-22)
It is preservative amidst the influences of evil example
and of sensuous
solicitation.
·
THE WAY IN WHICH IT ACTS AS A PRESERVATIVE.
Ø By
taking up a central place in the consciousness. “When wisdom
enters thy heart, and knowledge is dear to thy
soul.” Not as a
stranger or
mere
guest, but a beloved and confidential intimate. The heart denotes
here, as
elsewhere, “the center and organic basis of the collective life of the
soul, the
seat of sentiment, the starting point of personal self-determination.”
The soul, as
used by Hebrew writers, denotes the entire
assemblage
of the passive and active principles of the inner life. Delitzsch
terms the
heart, as used in the Bible, “the
birthplace of thought;”
and this is
true,
because thought springs out of the dim chaos of feeling as the defined
crystals
from the chemical mixture.
Ø By
counteractive force. If the
inmost thing we know and feel be a sense
of right
and a sense of God, a pure sentiment and a lofty idea, this must
exclude
the baser feelings, and displace
the images of pleasure and objects
of desire which are unlawful and undivine. There is watch and ward in the
fortress
of Man-soul against the enemy and the intruder. The “expulsive
force of
a new affection” operates. It is the occupied heart that
alone is
temptation proof. “Discretion shall watch over thee, prudence
guard thee.”
(v. 11) The mind, directed
to what is without, and feeling for its course
among uncertainties, thus appears forearmed against dangers.
·
THE DANGERS FROM WHICH IT
PRESERVES. Social dangers. In
society lies our field of full moral development, both in sympathy
with the
good and in antipathy to the evil. Two dangers are particularized.
Ø The influence of the bad man. We know men by their talk and by their
actions —
their habit in both; their “style,” their “form,” in the expressive
language
of the day.
o
His talk is of “froward things,” or “perversities” — cunning, crafty,
malicious
in spirit (v. 12). Literally it is crooked talk, which is a
relative
term — the direct opposite of the “straightness” of v. 9 being
meant.
Our moral intuitions appear in the mind under the analogy of
relations
in space, and are thus designated probably in all languages.
The right line
and the curve or zigzag represent what
we feel about
good and evil in conduct. The
speech of evil insinuation, covert
suggestion, bad tone, generally
may be meant; or perhaps, rather,
guilty
topics of conversation. The East is more leisurely in its habits
than are
we; and the warning has peculiar adaptation to the unfilled
hours of an easy life, and which bad talk so
often wastes and corrupts.
(...pride, fullness of bread and abundance of
idleness...” were
characteristics of
o
His habit
of life. He
forsakes the “straight
paths” to walk in “dark
ways,” such as those alluded to by Paul (Romans 13:13; Ephesians 5:11;
I Thessalonians
5:5). In the like sense that darkness is antipathetic to us,
is moral
evil (hence its appropriateness as an emblem); we may
overcome
the feeling partially, but only by doing ourselves a violence.
It is a step
further in self-perversion to “take
pleasure in the execution
of evil, and
to make merry over wickedness.”
Human nature demands
sympathy;
the most depraved cannot do without it or the semblance
of it. We
are always craving the sight of that which reflects us; hence
the sight of evil gives joy to the bad man, the sight of good enrages
him. For HE IS A DEFORMITY! His
ways are crooked, twisted
all his
mode of mind and life; A
MORAL DEFORMITY! The
conscience,
armed with the healthy perception of the true, beautiful,
and good,
sees all this in the bad man, recognizes him for what he
is, and
so is proof against him. (What was Cain’s problem with
Abel? “...his own works were evil, and his
brother’s righteous.”
I John 3:12 –
CY – 2020) One great lesson of Goethe’s ‘Faust’
is that the
tempted man does not see the devil in human shape,
because
his moral temper has been first unstrung, and so his
vision
vitiated.
Ø The solicitations of the bad woman. The expressions, “strange, foreign”
(v. 16), appear
to designate her as the wife of another, an adulteress
(compare ch. 6:26; but the sense is
disputed). To allegorize the
passage
is to weaken its force; for the
actual dangers of youth are clearly
indicated. She is depicted in the strongest light of reality. This is
what she
is in the
view of the inspired conscience.
o
Her infidelity to her husband and
her God (v. 17). For marriage is a
bond,
not
only between two human beings, but between each and God.
Affiance (pledge of marriage; betroth) is the glory of womanhood;
to break her
plighted troth is to wreck all her true charm and beauty.
“Companion
of her youth” is a
beautiful designation of the husband
(Jeremiah 3:4;
Psalm 55:14).
o
Her dangerous arts. Oh, what can replace a youth defiled? or what
more
dangerous influence can there be than that of her whose “hatred
is goaded by shame” — hatred against the virtue which
confronts to
reproach her? Her smooth tongue, flattering her
victim with simulated
admiration, and
with the “hypocrisy of passion,” is more deadly than
the sword.
o
Her deadly seductions. Death, the kingdom of the shades, the ghosts
who lead,
according to the view of the ancient world, a faint and
bloodless
existence below, is the end of her and the partakers of her
sins. To Sheol, to Hades, the bourne whence no traveler returns, the
steps
of all her visitors tend. Her house seems ever to be tottering
over the
dark abyss. The truth held in this
tragic picture is too obvious
to need
further illustration. Fatal to health of body, to peace of soul,
to the
very life itself, is the
zymotic (fermentation)
disease of lust.
To the
religious conscience thus the harlot appears; stripped of her
paint and
finery, her hypocrisy exposed, the poison of her being detected.
It is THE SHADOW OF A LIFE and ends in emptiness, darkness,
and ghostly gibbering.
The Principle of Moral Stability (vs. 20-22)
This may be regarded as the epilogue or summary of the
whole chapter.
The object of all Wisdom’s exhortations and warnings is the
direction of
youth to the good way, and that they may hold on the path
of the just. For:
A “dwelling in the land”
(v. 21); the homeland; a sound dear to an
Israelitish ear. The form in
which the happy future shall be realized may
be first material, but
only to pass into the spiritual. For ages
promise under the image of
material prosperity; afterwards, in the purification
and enlightenment of her
conscience by the gospel, she looked for a “better
country, that is,
an heavenly” (Hebrews 11:14-16). Both senses may
be included. The
enlightened spirit knows how to idealize every material
content, and will leave
much undefined in the prospect. Enough to say of all
the seekers of God’s
kingdom and righteousness,
“They have a future
before them.” The soul
itself suffices to itself for the scene of bliss, and
converts the rich
harvests of good.
sense par excellence. Their
doom is to be rooted out and cast forth from
the land. What lies behind the
material figure, who can say? To conceive it
transcends the bounds of human
thought. There is no travelling out of the
analogies of experience
possible. We reach at last a negative conception in
the case both of future bliss
and future woe. The Buddhists aim as their
highest goal at the Nirvana, which
is the negation of finite existence with
its defects and evils. What
must be the Nirvana of the
wicked? The
negation of the Infinite must
mean confinement in self, and this is DEATH
INDEED! They
who have persistently said “No” to God and the good in
their life will be confronted
by AN EVERLASTING “NO”! And thus
again the wheel comes
full circle, and they reap as they sow (compare
Matthew 7:24-27).
Recompense and Retribution
(vs. 20-22)
It ought to be enough for us that wisdom is the supremely
excellent thing;
that the service of God is the one right thing. We should hasten to do that
which commends itself to our conscience as that which is
obligatory. But
God knows that, in our weakness and frailty, we have need
of other
inducements than a sense of duty; He has, therefore, given us others. He
has made wisdom and
righteousness to be immeasurably remunerative; he
has
made folly and sin to be utterly destructive to us. We look at:
·
THE REWARD OF WISDOM.
(vs. 20-21.)
Ø The man who pursues wisdom, who seeks
conformity to the will of the
God,
will have holy companionship for the path of life. He will walk
in the
way in which good and righteous men walk. Instead of being “the
companion of fools,” he will be “the friend of the wise.”
Those whose
hearts
are pure, whose minds are stored with heavenly treasure, and whose
lives are
admirable, will be about him, making
his whole path fragrant with
the flowers of virtue, rich with the fruits
of goodness.
Ø He
will be upheld in personal integrity. Walking in the way of the good,
and
keeping the paths of the righteous, he himself will be preserved in his
integrity,
and be set before God’s face forever (see Psalm 41:12). His
feet will
not slip; he will not wander into forbidden ways; he will keep “the
King’s highway of holiness;” his face will be ever set toward the
heavenly
Ø He
will dwell in the land of plenty (v. 21). To “dwell in the land,” to
“remain” in the land of promise, was to abide in that country where all
things in
rich abundance waited for the possession and enjoyment of the
people of
God (Exodus 3:8). Those who are the children of wisdom
now dwell
in a region which is full of blessing. If outward prosperity be not
always
their portion, yet is there provided by God
o
everything
needful for temporal well being;
o
fullness
of spiritual privilege;
o
the
abiding presence and favor of the
eternal Father, the
unfailing Friend, the Divine Comforter.
·
THE FATE OF FOLLY. (v.
22.) Those who were the children of
folly in the wilderness period were shut out of the land of promise;
they did
not enter into rest. The threat of the Holy One to those who had inherited
the land was deportation and distance from their
inheritance — being “cut
off” and “rooted
out.” The evils which foolish and stubborn souls have
now to dread, as the just penalty of their folly and their frowardness, are:
Ø
EXCLUSION from the “
Ø
EXILE from the
Such impenitent and unbelieving
ones, by their own folly, cut themselves
off from that “eternal life” which begins in a blessed and holy union with
the Lord of glory here, and which is CONSUMATED and PERPETUATED
in the nearer fellowship and more perfect bliss of heaven.
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