Opening…

VII. Critical Notes 1-4 The Source of True Life, etc. 5-27 A Picture Drawn from Life

CHAPTER VIII. Critical Notes 1-3 The Nature of Wisdom's Call 4-9 God's Speech Meeting Man's Need 10, 11 Wisdom Better Than Wealth 12, 13 Wisdom and Prudence 14-16 The Source of True Power 17-21 The Reward of Earnest Seekers 22-31 The Personal Wisdom of God 32-36 Exhortation Founded on Human Obligations to Divine Wisdom

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IX. Critical Notes 1-12 Wisdom's Feast 13-18 The Feast of Folly

CHAPTER X. Critical Notes 1 Parental Grief and Gladness 2 The Comparative Value of Righteousness and Riches 3, 4 Divine and Human Providence 5 The Use and the Neglect of Opportunities 6, 7, & 11 The Way to Present Blessedness and Future Fame 8 The Doer and the Talker 9, 10 Opposite Characters 12 Love and Hatred 13, 14 Laying Up to Give Out 15, 16 A False and a True Estimate of Life 17 The Influence of Example 18 Three Degrees of Moral Foolishness 19-21 Speech and Silence 22 The Source of True Riches 23 A Touchstone of Character 24 The Inheritance of Fear and Desire 25 The Whirlwind and the Sure Foundation 26 The Vexatiousness of a Sluggish Servant 27 Long Life 28 Hopes Realized and Disappointed 29 God's Way, Destruction and Salvation 30 The Earth the Possession of the Righteous 31 Outlines and Suggestive Comments. 32 Acceptable Words

CHAPTER XI. Critical Notes 1 Just Weight 2 Pride and Humility 3 The Infallible Guide 4 See Homiletics on chap. x. 2 5, 6 Made or Marred by Desires 7 The Death of the Wicked 8 The Wicked Coming in the Stead of the Righteous 9 The Just Man Delivered from the Mouth of the Hypocrite 10, 11 The Reward of the Righteous Citizen or Ruler. The Fate of the Unrighteous One 12, 13 Contempt and Tale-Bearing 14 Helmsmanship 15 Outlines and Suggestive Comments. 16 A Gracious Woman 17 Mercy and Cruelty 18-20 Sowing and Reaping 21 Deliverance from a Confederated Opposition 22 Precious Things Possessed by Unworthy Owners 23 The Desire of the Righteous, and the Expectation of the Wicked 24-26 The Liberal and the Niggardly Man 27 Diligent Seekers 28 Trust in Riches, and Trust in God 29 Foolish Home Rulers 30 The Winner of Souls 31 The Recompense of the Righteous and the Wicked

CHAPTER XII. Critical Notes 1 The Love of Knowledge and the Proof of It 2 Outlines and Suggestive Comments. 3 A Right Desire and the Means of Its Attainment 4 A Husband's Crown 5-8 Thoughts and Words and Their Result 9 Show and Reality 10 Care for Animals and Cruelty to Men 11 Satisfaction from Tillage 12-14 The Desire of Wicked Men and the Fruit of Righteousness 15, 16 Two Examples of Foolishness and Wisdom 17-19 & 22 Wounding and Healing 20 Joy from Peace 21 All Working for the Good of the Righteous 23 The Concealment of Knowledge and the Proclamation of Foolishness 24 The Reward of Diligence 25 Heaviness of Heart and Its Cure 26 The Guide and the Seducer 27 The Loss of the Slothful, and the Gain of the Diligent 28 The Way of Life

CHAPTER XIII. Critical Notes 1 The Wise Son and the Scorner 2, 3 Keeping the Mouth 4 The Disappointment of the Sluggard's Desires 5 A Lawful Hatred 6 Overthrow by Sin 7, 8 The Law of Compensation 9 The Abiding Light 10 The Parent of Strife 11 The Ways of Growing Rich 12 Deferred and Accomplished Hope 13 Bound by Law 14 Living by Rule 15 A Bad Way and a Good Understanding 16 Dealing with Knowledge 17 A Social Link 18 The Way to Honour 19 The Abomination of the Fool 20 Companionship, Constructive or Destructive 21 Pursuit and Repayment 22 An Inheritance Incorruptible 23 Land and Its Tillers 24 The Child and the Rod 25 Want and Satisfaction

CHAPTER XIV. Critical Notes 1 The House Builder and the House Destroyer 2 Fearing and Despising the Lord 3 Speech a Rod 4 The Clean Crib 5 Outlines and Suggestive Comments. 6 Seeking, but Not Finding 7-9 The Fool and the Prudent Man 10 Secrets of the Heart 11 Outlines and Suggestive Comments. 12 What Seems to Be, and What Is 13 True and False Mirth 14 Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction 15-18 Revelations of Character 19 A Levelling Law 20, 21 An Aggravated Crime, a Questionable Virtue, and a Present Blessing 22 A Fatal Error and a Certain Good 23 The Profit of Labour 24 Wealth, with and without Wisdom 25 Deliverance by Truth 26 A Sure Refuge 27 Outlines and Suggestive Comments. 28 A King's True Glory 29 Great Understanding 30 A Sound Heart 31 The Oppressed and Their Oppressors 32 The Death of the Righteous and the Wicked 33 The Hidden Made Manifest 34 National Salvation 35 A Wise Servant

CHAPTER XV. Critical Notes 1, 2 The Use of Knowledge 3 Divine Intelligence 4, 5 Outlines and Suggestive Comments. 6 Like in Circumstances, but Unlike in Character 7 Outlines and Suggestive Comments. 8, 9 Praying and Living 10 Out of the Way 11 Two Worlds 12 Self-Destroyed 13 A Cheerful Face and a Broken Spirit 14 Outlines and Suggestive Comments. 15 The Continual Feast 16 A Treasure Without Trouble 17 Two Feasts 18 Outlines and Suggestive Comments. 19 The Way of the Slothful and the Righteous 20 Outlines and Suggestive Comments. 21 Opposite Tastes 22 Outlines and Suggestive Comments. 23 Joy from a Seasonable Word 24 The Upward and the Downward Path 25 Destruction and Establishment 26 Wicked Thoughts and Holy Words 27 The Curse of Covetousness 28 Studying to Answer 29 God Near and Far Off 30 Cheerfulness and Good Tidings 31-33 How to Give and Take Reproof

CHAPTER XVI. Critical Notes 1 The Heart and the Tongue 2 The Weigher of Spirits 3 The Establishment of Thoughts 4 All Things for God 5 Heart-Pride 6 The Purging of Iniquity 7 Pleasing God 8 Outlines and Suggestive Comments. 9 Man Proposes, God Disposes 10-15 Kings 16 Outlines and Suggestive Comments. 17 Soul-Preservation 18, 19 The End of Pride 20, 21 The Fruits of Trust in the Lord 22-24 An Unfailing Spring 25 Outlines and Suggestive Comments. 26 The Mainspring of Human Industry 27-30 Different Species of the Same Genus 31 A Crown of Glory 32 Taking a City and Ruling the Spirit 33 The Lot and Its Disposer

CHAPTER XVII. Critical Notes 1 See Homiletics on chap xv., 17 2 The Foolish Son and the Wise Servant 3 The Trier of Hearts 4 The Evil Speaker and the Listener 5 A Double Revelation 6 Father and Children 7 A Twofold Incongruity 8 The Power of Gifts 9 How to Make Friends and How to Separate Them 10 Correction Must be Adapted to the Character of the Offender 11-13 Phases of Evil 14 The Beginning of Strife 15 Inversion and Restitution 16 Neglected Opportunities 17, 18 True Friendship 19 Outlines and Suggestive Comments. 20, 21 See Homiletics on chap. x. 1, 13, 14, etc., and on verse 24 22 The Merry Heart 23 Bribery 24 The Eyes of a Fool and Those of a Wise Man 25 See Homiletics on chap. x. 1 26 Smiting the Just 27, 28 Two Badges of a Wise Man

CHAPTER XVIII. Critical Notes 1, 2 Solitude 3 The Short-lived Prosperity of Evil Men 4 A Good Man's Mouth 5 See Homiletics on chap. xvii. 15 and 26 6-8 Folly and Its Results 9 Twin-Brothers 10, 11 Two Citadels 12 See Homiletics on chap. xi. 2 and xvi. 18 13 Answering Before Hearing 14 Sickness of Body and Wounds of Soul 15 Prudence and Knowledge 16 The Influence of Talent 17 Cross-Examination 18 The Use of the Lot 19 Castle Bars 20, 21 The Power of the Little Member 22 A Twofold Good 23 Rich and Poor 24 The Obligations of Friendship

CHAPTER XIX. Critical Notes 1 The Better Part 2, 3 Ignorance Leading to Sin 4 Suggestive Comment. 5, 9 The End of a False Tongue 6, 7 Two Proofs of Human Selfishness 8, 9 See Homiletics on verses 2 and 5, and on chaps. viii. 36, and ix. 12 10 Incongruities 11, 12 Two Kings 13, 14, 18 Domestic Sorrow, and How to Avoid it 15 See Homiletics on chap. vi. 9, 10 16 A Double Keeping 17 The Best Investment 18-20 Relative Duties 21 Many Plans Working to One End 22 Poverty of Heart and Poverty of Circumstance 23 See Homiletics on chaps. x. 27, xiv. 26, xviii. 10 24 See Homiletics on chap. xxvi. 12-16 25, 29 See Homiletics on chap. xvii. 10 26-29 Possibilities of Human Depravity

CHAPTER XX. Critical Notes 1 Strong Drink 2, 3 See Homiletics on chaps. xiv. 29, xvi. 32, xix. 12 4 See Homiletics on chap. x. 4 5 Deep Sea Dredging 6-12 An Universal Challenge, a General Rule, and a Rare Virtue 10 For Homiletics see also chap. xi. 1 13 For Homiletics see chap. vi. 10, 11 14 Bargaining 15 See Homiletics on chaps. iii. 14, 15, viii. 11, xii. 14, xviii. 20, 21 16 Necessary Security 17 Bad Bread 18 Thought Before Action 19 See Homiletics on chaps. x. 19, xi. 13 20 An Unnatural Child and a Natural Law 21 See Homiletics, chaps. xiii. 11, xxi. 5, 7 22 The Recompenser of Evil 23 See Homiletics on chap. xi. 1 24 God over All 25 Religious Vows 26, 28 Pillars of Government 27 The Candle of the Lord 29 The Glory of Youth and Age 30 Pain as a Preventive of Pain

CHAPTER XXI. Critical Notes 1 The King of Kings 2 See Homiletics on chap. xvi. 2 3 The More Acceptable Sacrifice 4 The Ploughing of the Wicked 5-7, 17 Two Ways to Wealth 8 Two Ways 9, 19 An Angry Woman 10 The Desire of the Wicked 11 Instruction for Those Who Need It 12 God's Surveillance of the Wicked 13 The Cry of the Poor 14 The Pacification of Anger 15 The Joy of Righteousness 16 Like to Like 18 The Ransom of the Righteous 19, 20 See Homiletics on verses 5, 7, and 9 21 A Noble Pursuit and a Rich Prize 22 A Wise Man and a Mighty City 23 See Homiletics on chap. xiii. 2-3 24 A Name of Degrees 25, 26 The Sword of the Sluggard 27 The Sacrifice of the Wicked 28 Outlines and Suggestive Comments. 29 The Face and the Way 30, 31 Counsel Against the Lord

CHAPTER XXII. Critical Notes 1 Better Than Gold 2 Levelling Down and Levelling Up 3 See Homiletics on chap. xiv. 16 4 See Homiletics on chap. iii. 1-18 5, 6 A Hedged-Up Way 7 An Analogy Affirmed and a Contrast Suggested 8 A Worthless Seed and a Rotten Staff 9 The Bountiful Eye 10 A Man Who Ought to Dwell Alone 11 A Road to Royal Friendship 12 The Preservation of Knowledge 13 An Active Imagination 14 A Deep Pit 15 A Fact Stated and a Duty Inferred 16 Oppression and Servility 17-21 Trust from Knowledge, and Blessedness from Trust 22, 23 God the Spoiler of the Spoiler 24, 25 An Infectious and Dangerous Disease 26, 27 Suretyship and Its Dangers 28 See Homiletics on chap. xxiii. 10 29 The Destiny of the Diligent

CHAPTER XXIII. Critical Notes 1-3 The Temptations of the Table 4, 5 The Deceitfulness of Riches 6-8 Feigned Generosity 9 The Morally Incurable 10, 11 The Rights of Private Property 12-28 Parental Duties and Parental Joys 29-35 The Drunkard's Picture

CHAPTER XXIV. Critical Notes 1-6 House Building 7 A False Estimate and a True One 8, 9 See Homiletics on chap. vi. 12-19 10 The Day of Adversity 11, 12 Positive Punishment for a Negative Crime 13, 14 Honey and Wisdom 15, 16 A Social Ambush 17, 18 The Fall of an Enemy 19, 20 See Homiletics on verse 1, and on chap. xiii. 9 21, 22 Rule and Reverence 23-26 Impartiality of Truth 27 Plan and Patience 28, 29 An Uncalled-For Testimony 30-34 The Sluggard's Vineyard

CHAPTER XXV. Critical Notes 1-3 God's Mysteries and Man's Research 4, 5 See Homiletics on chap. xx. 26 and 28 6, 7 Self-promotion 8-11 Two Ways of Treating an Enemy 12 Giving and Taking 13 See Homiletics on chap. xiii. 17 14 Clouds Without Rain 15 Forbearance and Persuasiveness 16 Use and Abuse 17 Obtrusiveness 18 See Homiletics on chap xii. 18 19, 20 Misplaced Confidence and Unseasonable Songs 21, 22 A Blessed Recompense 23 The Way to Treat a Backbiter 24 See Homiletics on chap. xxi. 9 25 Cold Water and Good News 26 The Evil Result of Moral Cowardice 27 Too Much of a Good Thing 28 A Defenceless City

CHAPTER XXVI. Critical Notes 1 A Gift Wrongly Bestowed 2 The Causeless Curse 3-11 A Low Level 12-16 Self-Conceit and Indolence 17 Needless Interference 18-22 See Homiletics on chaps. xvii. 14, xviii. 6-8 23-28 Counterfeit Friendship

CHAPTER XXVII. Critical Notes 1 Divine Property 2 Self Praise 3, 4 Wrath and Envy 5, 6, 9-11, 14 Tests of Friendship 7 Want of Appetite 8 A Man and His Place 12 See Homiletics on chap. xiv. 15 13, 15, 16 See Homiletics on chaps. xix. 13, xx. 16 17 A Social Whetstone 18 The Reward of Service 19 A Correct Likeness 20 Insatiability 21 A Crucible for Character 22 See Homiletics on chaps. xvii. 10, and xix. 26-29 23-27 Moral Farming

CHAPTER XXVIII. Critical Notes 1 Cowardice and Courage 2 The Penalty of Revolt 3 The Most Inexcusable Oppressor 4, 5 Lawkeepers and Lawbreakers 6 See Homiletics on chap. xix. 1 7 See Homiletics on chap. x. 1 8 See Homiletics on chap. xiii. 22 9 See Homiletics on chap. xv. 8, 9 10 See Homiletics on chap. xxvi. 23-28 11 Wisdom in Wealth and Poverty 12 See Homiletics on chap. xi. 10-11 13 Confession and Forgiveness 14 See Homiletics on chaps. xii. 15, xiv. 15-18 15-17 Vice and Virtue in High Places 18 See Homiletics on chaps. x. 9-10, xi. 3 19 See Homiletics on chap. xii. 11 20, 22 See Homiletics on chaps. xiii. 11, xxi. 5 21 See Homiletics on chap. xvii. 23 23 See Homiletics on chap. xxvii. 5, 6 24 Robbing Parents 25a See Homiletics on chap. xiii. 10 25b, 26 Self-Confidence 27 See Homiletics on chaps. xi. 24-26, xiv.-31 28 See Homiletics on chap. xi. 10-11

CHAPTER XXIX. Critical Notes 1 Reproof and Destruction 2 See Homiletics on chap. xi. 10-11 3 See Homiletics on chaps. x. 1, v. 1-20 4 See Homiletics on chap. xvi. 10-15 5 See Homiletics on chap. xxvi. 23-28 6 A Snare and a Song 7 See Homiletics on chaps. xiv. 31, xxiv. 11, 12 8 The Citizen's Enemy and the Citizen's Friend 9 See Homiletics on chaps. xxiii. 9, xxvi. 3-11 10 Soul-Seekers and Soul-Haters 11 See Homiletics on chap. x. 19-21 12 A Moral Cancer in a King's Court 13 See Homiletics on chap. xxii. 22-23 14, 15 See Homiletics on chaps. xvi. 10-15, xiii. 24, xix. 13, 14, 18 16 Victory Not with the Majority 17 See Homiletics on chap. xix. 13, 14, 18 18 Divine Revelation and Human Obedience 19, 21 Masters and Servants 20, 22 See Homiletics on chap. xiv. 17 and 29 23 See Homiletics on chaps. xi. 2, xvi. 18-19 24 Criminal Partnerships 25, 26 Safety from a Snare 27 See Homiletics on chap. xxviii. 4

CHAPTER XXX. Critical Notes 1-9 The Sources of True Humility 5, 6 The Word of God 7-9 The Middle Way 10 See Homiletics on chap. xxiv. 28, 29 11-17 Four Manifestations of Ungodliness 18-20 Depths of Wickedness 21-23 Burdens Grievous to be Borne 24-28 Lowly Teachers 29-31 Kingly Qualities 32, 33 See Homiletics on chap. xvii. 14

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XXXI. Critical Notes 1-9 Divine Commands from a Mother's Lips 10-31 A Model Matron

HOMILETIC COMMENTARY ON PROVERBS

INTRODUCTION AND PREFACE.

The Hebrew word for proverb (mashal) means a comparison. Hence it includes more than we generally understand by the English word, viz., a pithy sentence expressing in a few words a well-known or obvious truth. When books were few it was most natural that observations on life and manners should be compressed into the smallest possible compass: hence proverbial teaching has been employed from the most remote antiquity. It is highly probable that all proverbial sayings were at first literally comparisons, as this would tend to fix them more indelibly upon the memory. But the word by degrees came to express that which we now understand it to signify.

Although a few more lengthy discourses are found in this book, it consists mainly of a few short proverbial sentences, often illustrated and enforced by most striking metaphors. It has been almost universally received by both Jewish and Christian writers as the inspired production of Solomon. The most convincing proof of its canonicity is the fact that the New Testament contains many quotations from it. Compare Prov. iii. 11, 12 with Heb. xii. 5, 6; Prov. iii. 34, with Jas. iv. 6; Prov. x. 12, with 1 Pet. iv. 8; Prov. xi. 31 (Sept.), with 1 Pet. iv. 18; Prov. xxii. 9 (Sept.), with 2 Cor. ix. 7; Prov. xxv. 21, 22, with Rom. xii. 20; Prov. xxvi. 11, with 2 Pet. ii. 22; Prov. xxvii. 1, with Jas. iv. 13, 14. But, were these wanting, its superiority to every other book of a similar character would constitute a most weighty internal evidence of its Divine inspiration. Moses Stuart says of it: "All the heathen moralists and proverbialists joined together cannot furnish us with one such book as that of the Proverbs." And Wordsworth remarks: "The Proverbs of Solomon come from above, and they also look upward. They teach that all true wisdom is the gift of God, and is grounded on the fear of the Lord. They dwell with the strongest emphasis on the necessity of careful vigilance over the heart, which is manifest only to God, and on the duty of acting, in all the daily business and social intercourse of life, with habitual reference to the only unerring standard of human practice, His will and Word. In this respect the Book of Proverbs prepared the way for the preaching of the Gospel, and we recognise in it an anticipation of the apostolic precept: 'Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as unto the Lord.'" Dr. Guthrie considered that "the high character which Scotsmen earned in by-gone years was mainly due to their early acquaintance with the Book of Proverbs." (Sunday Magazine, Oct., 1868, p. 15.)

Although the greater part of the book was doubtless compiled by Solomon during his life, chapters xxv.--xxix. were not copied out until the days of Hezekiah, and the last two chapters are assigned in the book itself to other authors, of whom we know nothing. It seems startling at first sight that a man whose character we know from other parts of the Holy Scripture to have been marred by so many serious defects, should be the author of an inspired book, but Dr. Arnot remarks on this point that "practical lessons on some subjects come better through the heart of the weary, repentant king than through a man who had tasted fewer pleasures, and led a more even life. . . . Not a line of Solomon's writings tends to palliate Solomon's sins. . . . The glaring imperfections of the man's life have been used as a dark ground to set off the lustre of that pure righteousness which the Spirit has spoken by his lips." It is evident from the most cursory study of its contents that this book is rather ethical than doctrinal. The following Commentary has for its main object the setting forth the great moral lessons contained in it in a homiletic form. It does not pretend to be a critical Commentary, although the latest and best criticisms have been quoted where they seemed to throw any new light upon the text. But the book of Proverbs is not easy to treat homiletically. Prof. Lockler, the author of the expositions on the works of Solomon in Dr. Lange's Commentary, says,--"A theological and homiletical exposition of the book of Proverbs has difficulties to contend with which exist, in an equal degree in but few books of the Old Testament, and in none in quite the same form. . . . To treat the book homiletically and practically, in so far as regards only brief passages, is rendered more difficult by the obscurity of many single sentences; and in so far as it attempts to embrace large sections, by the unquestionable lack of fixed order and methodical structure."

The main DIVISIONS of the Book of Proverbs are:--I. A series of discourses on the excellency and advantages of wisdom, and the destructive character of sin (ch. i.--ix.). II. A collection of unconnected maxims on various subjects (ch. x.--xxii. 16). III. Short discussions on a variety of subjects (ch. xxii. 17--xxiv. 22), with a brief appendix of maxims (ch. xxiv. 23, 24). IV. The collection of Solomon's proverbs made in the time of Hezekiah (ch. xxv.--xxix.). V. A supplement containing the words of Agur (ch. xxx.) and of King Lemuel (ch. xxxi.). [Annotated Paragraph Bible.]

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Chapter I

CRITICAL NOTES.--+1. Proverbs.+ See Introduction. +2. Instruction,+ properly "chastisement," signifying moral training, admonition, then good habits, the practical side of wisdom. +3. Wisdom.+ A different word from that in ver. 2. It means "prudence." +Justice+ relates to a man's attitude in relation with God, and would be better translated "righteousness." +Judgment+ includes our duties to our fellow-man and should be rendered "justice." +Equity+ is "uprightness," "sincerity of purpose." +4. Subtlety,+ "prudence." +Simple,+ literally "the open," those easily persuaded. +5. Wise counsels,+ or "capability to guide," literally "helmsmanship." +7. Fools,+ derived from a word meaning to be gross and dull of understanding. Gesenius understands it to signify "one who turns away," the "perverse." +10. Entice thee,+ "lay thee open." Miller here reads, "if sinners would make a door of thy simplicity, afford thou no entrance." +17.+ Some interpret this verse as referring to the godly who escape the snares laid for them, others to the wicked, who, not so wise as the bird, plunge themselves into ruin by plotting against the good. Then the blood and lives of ver. 18 refer to the blood and life of the sinner. +20.+ The word wisdom is in the plural form in the Hebrew. +27. Desolation,+ or "tempest." +28.+ To seek early denotes "earnestly." See ch. viii. 17, Hos. v. 15. The person now changes from the second to the third, "as though wisdom were increasingly alienated." (Miller). +32.+ The +turning away+ of the simple, i.e., their rejection of wisdom. +Prosperity,+ "Security," "idle, easy rest."

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 1-4.

THE AUTHOR, HIS METHOD, AND HIS OBJECT.

+I. Four things connected with Solomon would tend to commend his proverbs to the Hebrew nation.+ 1. His remarkable antecedents. The influence of any man in this world depends very much upon his antecedents. If they happen to be such as are held in esteem by society, they form at once letters of commendation for him, and often prove stepping-stones to great positions. The question, "Whence art thou?" is more often asked than "What art thou?" Perhaps this was even more true of Hebrew society than it is of English. Solomon was the son of a king. The king whom he claimed as his father was the man whom God had honoured more than any other since the days of Moses. He was not only a king, but a prophet and a poet, who had no equal in the day in which he lived. He was more than this. His reputation as a warrior, more than anything else, endeared him to a people who looked upon him in this light as the best representative of their nation. The fact that Solomon was the "son of David," would ensure him the ear of the Jewish people throughout all their generations. 2. His personal position. He was not only the son of a king but a king himself--a king who had attained the highest pinnacle of royal greatness. 3. His practical wisdom. The instance of this narrated in 1 Kings iii. 16-28, proved to Israel that "the wisdom of God was in him to do judgment." Who so fit to utter proverbs concerning human life as a man who could thus so skilfully bring to light the hidden counsels of the heart? The Son of God Himself speaks of Solomon as a wise man (Matt. xii. 42). 4. The variety of his experience. Experience is always a good reason why men should speak their thoughts. Those are most fitted to counsel others who have travelled by the same path before them. Solomon's experience had been great and varied. He knew the real value of all that is held in estimation by men. See Eccles., chapters i. and ii. These considerations gave weight to his words in the day in which he lived and among his own people, and have done so in every succeeding age and in every nation in which his proverbs have been made known.

+II. The form in which Solomon communicates his thoughts.+ A proverb is a large amount of wisdom wrapped up in the fewest possible words. It is like a corn-seed which, though a tiny thing in itself, encloses that which may expand and increase until it furnishes food for millions. Even a child may carry a large sum of money when it is in the form of golden coin, although his strength would be quite unequal to the task if the same amount were in a baser metal. One diamond may constitute a small fortune, and may be easily carried and concealed upon the person, but its value in iron could only be lifted by the united strength of many. The proverb stands in the same relation to mental and moral wisdom as gold and diamonds do to copper and iron. It is so portable that it can be carried and retained by the weakest memory.

+III. The main object of the utterer of these proverbs.+ "To give subtilty to the simple." The man who has to travel a dangerous path may be ignorant of the way to arrive at his destination in safety. His simplicity arises from his ignorance. Anyone who has gone the same way before, and has thus experimentally gained the knowledge which he lacks, can make him wise upon this subject. Solomon has trodden the greater part of the path of human life, those who had not done so were the simple, or ignorant, to whom he here desires to impart the knowledge which might save them from moral ruin. There were those in the days of Solomon, as there are now, who would take advantage of simplicity to destroy character. Solomon desires to preserve and strengthen character by showing how to avoid and resist sin.

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS.

Verse 1. The Bible is not given to teach us philosophy, but religion: not to show us the way to science, but the way to holiness and heaven. Notwithstanding, therefore, the extent and variety of Solomon's knowledge in botany, in natural history, and other departments of science, we have in preservation none whatever of his discoveries or his speculations on such subjects.--Wardlaw.

The Queen of Sheba came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear Solomon's wisdom. Did she come so far upon uncertain reports, and shall not we receive with gladness his instructions, since he is come to us to be our teacher?--Lawson.

Verse 2. The general idea of wisdom is, that it consists in the choice of the best ends, and of the best means for their attainment. This definition admits of application both in a lower and higher department. In the first place it may be applied to the whole conduct of human life,--in all its daily intercourse and ordinary transactions, and amidst all its varying circumstances. . . . To accommodate our conduct to these variations--to suit to all of them the application of the great general principles and precepts of the Divine law, and "to guide our affairs with discretion in them all," requires "wisdom." And for enabling us to act our part rightly, creditably, and usefully, from day to day, there is in this book an immense fund of admirable counsel and salutary direction.

And then, secondly, the knowledge of wisdom may be taken in its higher application--to interests of a superior order, to spiritual duties, to all that regards true religion and the salvation of the soul. Wisdom, in this book, is generally understood in this its highest application, as might indeed be expected in a book of instructions from God. How important soever may be the successful and prudential regulation of our temporal affairs, yet in a Divine communication to man, as an immortal creature, we cannot conceive it to be the only, or the principal subject.--Wardlaw.

Verse 3. "To perceive the words of understanding" is a phrase which may be interpreted as meaning the power of justly distinguishing between good and evil counsel--between that which is right in its principle and salutary in its operations, and that which is unsound and pernicious.--Wardlaw.

All through Ecclesiastes and throughout the present book, the more mental aspects of sin are always made prominent--piety is called wisdom. The saints are the wise. The impenitent man is a fool. Nothing could be more natural than that just here there should be the broad assertion that knowledge is piety. Nothing could be more seminal. A new heart comes from a new light. If a man sees, he believes, he loves, he hopes, he serves, he repents, he rejoices; and this as but new forms of the one blessed illumination.--Miller.

Verse 4. There are none that need to be politicians more than they that desire to serve God because they have to deal with the most politic enemies. . . . No gift is worse taken, though never so well bestowed, than this is, where there is no feeling of the want of it. The simple seeth not his defects, the young man thinketh that he seeth great abundance of ability in himself.--Jermin.

The teacher offers to save the young and inexperienced from the slower and more painful process of learning by experience.--Plumptre.

Over the gates of Plato's school it was written: "Let no one who is not a geometrician enter." But very different is the inscription over these doors of Solomon: "Let the ignorant, simple, foolish, young, enter."--Cartwright.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 5, 6.

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A WISE MAN.

+I. He will hear.+ He shows that he values what he has already attained by giving heed to those who are able to add to his knowledge. Those who know the most are the most open to receive fresh knowledge. +II. The necessary consequence of this willingness to hear is a growth in knowledge.+ The wise man "will increase learning." There is an absolute promise in connection with spiritual wisdom. "Whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and whomsoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have" (Luke viii. 18). He who has wisdom to give heed shall have his wisdom increased by giving heed. To those who are willing to hear, that what was once dark and difficult becomes clear and plain. They "understand a proverb and the interpretation; the words of the wise and their dark sayings." This hearing implies more than a mere reception of sound. It includes a desire to translate precepts into deeds. Many who can understand the grammatical construction and literal meaning of the Divine oracles cannot apprehend their spiritual signification because they do not desire to submit to their guidance. This was the condition of many of the Scribes and Pharisees in the days of our Lord. They saw and yet were blind (Matt. xiii. 13; John ix. 39). "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine," etc. (John vii. 17). +III. This growth in knowledge gives a man a guide for his own life and enables him to guide others.+ (For "wise counsels," see Critical Notes). Such a man will not sound all the mysteries of life or of God, but enough will be made plain to give him a compass by which to steer; and he will be able to lead others. A diligent pupil will by-and-by be fit for a teacher. How fully was the truth of these verses exemplified in the history of the Apostles. What dull pupils they were at first, and even until after their Master's resurrection. (Luke xxiv. 25.) But their willingness to be disciples--learners--fitted them at length to "go and teach all nations." (Matt. xxviii. 19.) Continuing in Christ's Word, they came to "know the truth," according to His promise. (John viii. 31.)

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS.

Verse 5. True wisdom is never stationary, but always progressive; because it secures the ground behind it as a basis for further advances. "He who is not adding is wasting; he who is not increasing knowledge is losing from it," says Rabbi Hillel.--Fausset.

As long ago as the time of Melanchthon it was recognized as a significant fact that wisdom claims as her hearers and pupils, not only the simple, the young, and the untaught, but those who are already advanced in the knowledge of the truth, the wise and experienced. It is indeed Divine wisdom in regard to which these assertions are made, and it is precisely as it is within the department of the New Testament with the duty of faith, and of growth in believing knowledge, which duty in no stage of the Christian life in this world ever loses its validity and its binding power. Compare Luke xvii. 5; Eph. iv. 15, 16; Col. i. 11; ii. 19; 2 Thess. i. 3; 2 Pet. iii. 18.--Lange's Commentary.

Verse 6. If the law be dark to any, the fault is not in the lawgiver, but in those that should better understand it.--Trapp.

The sayings of the wise are but words (two or three words), and it is their shortness that maketh them to be dark. Now, David said: "I will incline mine ear unto a parable"--there is his study to understand; "I will open my dark saying upon the harp"--there is the interpretation. It is not David, but He who came from David, that there is spoken of, and who, despising inanimate instruments, having made this world and the little world man, and by His Holy Spirit having compacted his soul and body, doth praise the Lord by an instrument of many voices, and to this instrument man doth sing the knowledge of His truth. Wherefore to understand the words of His wise prophets and penmen, we must go to Him.--Jermin.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 7-9.

THE ROOT OF TRUE KNOWLEDGE AND THE MEANS OF ITS ATTAINMENT.

When the husbandman comes to examine a fruit-tree, he disregards everything in the way of leaf and branch; if he does not also find evidence of fruit in the appointed season, he considers that the end of the planting is not attained. God, the great Husbandman, here declares that all human wisdom and intelligence avail nothing unless they have for their basis that fear of Him which enables a man to attain the end for which he was created. +I. The fear of the Lord springs+ 1. from a practical recognition of His existence. God, to the vast majority of mankind, is but a name; they no more recognize the personality and moral character of the Divine Father than they recognize a personality and moral attributes in the wind or the sunlight. He has no influence upon their hearts; to them, practically, there is no God. There is no fear of God before their eyes, because there is no God. 2. From an experimental knowledge of His kindness. The mightiest being cannot be reverenced for his power; that may produce the "fear which hath torment," but not the "reverence and godly fear" which leads to willing obedience. When a king's character is such that his subjects taste of his kindness and feed upon his bounty, it begets a reverence which makes them fear to break his law. The "fear of the Lord" is synonymous with heart-religion, and must be born of a personal experience of Divine mercy. This fear says, "O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him" (Psa. xxxiv. 8). +II. The means by which this beginning of knowledge ought to be attained.+ The rule in creatures below man is, that they instruct their offspring as soon as they are capable of instruction. The eagle teaches her young to fly: she "stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth about her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings." (Deut. xxxii. 11.) And this is what God expects every parent to do in a moral sense. A child ought to get his first ideas of God from his parent, and his father's and mother's love ought to be the stepping-stones by which he rises to apprehend the love of his Father in heaven. This exhortation takes for granted that the parents will be possessors of this true knowledge, and will impart it to their children. +III. The reason given to the young for receiving and retaining parental instruction.+ The coronet on the brow of the noble proclaims his place in society--sets forth his high position. The necklace of pearls on the young and beautiful maiden proclaims the wealth of the wearer, and adds to her attractiveness. So the obedience of a good son to a true father proclaims him to belong to the noble in spirit--sets a crown upon his character. And a daughter's reverential love for a good mother is a true indication of moral wealth. That mother's words, treasured in the memory and translated into life, are so many precious pearls of soul-adornment, and are in the sight of God of great price.

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS.

Verse 7. This, "the fear of the Lord," comes as the motto of the book. The beginning of wisdom is found in the temper of reverence and awe. The fear of the finite in the presence of the Infinite--of the sinful in the presence of the Holy; self-abhorring, adoring, as in Job's confession (xliii. 5, 6), this for the Israelite was the starting point of all true wisdom. What the precept "Know thyself" was to the sage of Greece, that this law was for him. In the book of Job (xxviii. 28) it appears as an oracle accompanied by the noblest poetry. In Psa. cxi. 10, it comes as the choral close of a temple hymn. Here it is the watch-word of a true ethical education. This, and not love, is the beginning of "wisdom." Through successive stages, and by the discipline of life, love blends with it and makes it perfect.--Plumptre.

Why is this the only way that God hath pointed out for the attaining to wisdom? 1. One reason may be the falseness of man's spirit. The heart is deceitful above all things, and so God will not entrust it with such estimable treasures of durable wisdom before a trial hath been upon it. "To him will I look, even to him that is of a pure and contrite spirit, and trembleth at my words." 2. Here is another argument, viz., impossibility. "The natural man perceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God," &c. (1 Cor. ii. 14). "The eye sees not the sun, unless it bear the image of the sun in it;" nor could it receive that impression if it were covered with dirt and filth. So the necessary foundation of true wisdom is unfeigned righteousness and pureness. The purging of a man's soul takes away the main impediments to true knowledge,--such as self-admiration, anger, envy, impatience, desire of victory rather than of truth, blindness proceeding out of a love of riches and honour, the smothering of the active spark of reason by luxury and intemperance, &c.--Henry Moore.

Where God is, there is fear of God; and where the fear of God is, there are all things which God requireth.--Jermin.

The fear of the Lord consists, once for all, in a complete devotion to God--an unconditional subjection of one's own individuality to the beneficent will of God as revealed in the law (Deut. vi. 13; x. 20; xiii. 4; Psa. cxix. 63, &c.)

How, then, could they be regarded as fearing God who should keep only a part of the Divine commands, or who should undertake to fulfil them only according to their moral principles, and did not seek also to make the embodying letter of their formal requirements the standard of life.--Lange's Commentary.

Verse 8. The relation of the teacher to the taught is essentially fatherly.--Plumptre.

In Scripture and that Oriental speech framed to be its vehicle, narrow examples stand often for a universal class. "Honour thy father and mother," means--obey all superiors. "Thou shalt not steal," means--keep clear of every fraud. In those patriarchal countries, obedience to a father was the finest model of subordination. . . . Let the child take the first and obvious meaning; let the man look deeper. The earlier principles having been settled, the Proverbs have begun with a grand practical direction--that we are to listen to our teachers; that we are to begin at our firesides, and obey all the way up to God.--Miller.

Verse 9. The instruction and discipline of wisdom do at first seem difficult and hard, and are like fetters of iron restraining the corruption and rebellion of nature; but at length they are like chains of gold, worn like ornaments and no burden at all.--Jermin.

Nothing so beautifies as grace doth. Moses and Joseph were "fair to God," (Acts vii. 20) and favoured of all men.--Trapp.

As Christ prays, "Hallowed be thy name," as his first petition, so Solomon put first in his promises mere beauty, the mere prize of being right. The best thing in being pious is the mere comeliness of piety.--Miller.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 10-19.

ENTICEMENT TO SIN AND EXHORTATION AGAINST YIELDING TO IT.

+I. Youth will certainly be tempted.+ 1. Because he is in an evil world. In this world everything that possesses life is in danger of losing it. The tree is liable to have its root eaten by the worm, the smaller creatures in the animal world are beset with danger from those above them in size and strength, the fish in the sea is ever in danger of the hook and the net, the bird of the fowler's snare, the forest king of the hunter's gun. Man, in respect to his mere bodily existence, is surrounded by influences antagonistic to the preservation of his animal life. And this danger often presents itself in the form of enticement. The crumbs lure the bird into the trap, the bait tempts the fish to bite the hook. A smooth sea and light sunshine in the morning tempts the fisherman to the voyage upon the treacherous deep, which becomes his grave in the evening. Moral life is not excepted from this rule. Wherever the youth finds himself in the world he will be tempted, because he is everywhere surrounded by influences which war against his soul life. 2. Because it is an ordination of God. The Divine Ruler has ordained that men shall suffer temptation. There are things in this world which are the common lot of all men, from the highest to the lowest. Disease and death come alike to the proudest monarch and his meanest subject, to the man of highest intellect and to the most unlettered savage. And temptation is also an ordained heritage of man. Not even the "second Adam, the Lord from heaven," was exempted from this rule. 3. Because it is necessary for the formation of moral character. The seaman needs to come into conflict with the stormy winds and the rough waves of the ocean if he is to become a skilful mariner. The very effort which he puts forth to overcome them makes him more fit for his calling. So men must have temptation in order to test their powers of resistance; the struggle against sin, if successful, strengthens the moral character.

+II. The elements which form the strength of the temptation.+ 1. The secresy promised by the tempter. "Let us lay wait for blood," let us lurk privily for the innocent, etc. No one commits a crime against his fellow man, without an underlying hope that he will not be found out; he even persuades himself that it is hidden from God. "They say, how doth God know, and is there knowledge in the Most High?" (Ps. lxxiii. 11). 2. The hope of gain. Advantage of some kind is supposed to be the fruit of every sin. That which the tempter uses here is an increase of wealth. "We shall find all precious substance," etc. This temptation is most common. A man is persuaded that by a very slight risk he can make a large fortune, that the deed will never come to light, and these two persuasions have been the ruin of hundreds. 3. The number of the tempters. Here several are represented as tempting one. "Come with us." Numbers always influence us even when no persuasion is used. Men are naturally inclined to do what the many do, to go with the multitude. There is an undefined feeling that safety is with the majority, or, at least, that the being involved with many others lessens personal responsibility. This element of temptation is very powerful in a world where "the many" go in at the gate which leadeth to destruction, and "few" walk in the way which leadeth to life (Matt. vii. 13, 14).

+III. The way of escape from the tempter.+ 1. Calling to mind his filial relation. "My son." It is a great help to a youth who is in danger of being drawn away from his steadfastness in the path of virtue to call his parents to mind. His father's instructions and example, his mother's love and prayers, the grief that his fall would bring upon them will, if reflected on, be a means of escape from the tempter's snare. The thought that he is a son ought to be sufficient to keep him from straying. 2. A consideration of the certain end of sinners. Those who promise themselves and others secresy shall be taken openly. The bird will not be decoyed into the net if he sees it spread, the trap must be laid in secret if it is to be successful. But sinners go on in sin although they are forewarned by God, by their own consciences, by the law of human society, and by the experience of others what the end will be. "Be sure your sin will find you out," is written, not only in the book of God, but within us and around us. The young man is to bear in mind that they are fools who tell him there is gain to be had by sin. Those who seek to take life in order to enjoy the property of others, or in any way to wrong their fellows for their own fancied gain, shall themselves, like Haman, be hanged upon the gallows which they have made. Let the youth reflect upon the sad histories of those who now fill our convict-prisons, and he will feel that it is indeed true that evil-doers "lay wait for their own blood."

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS.

Verse 10. +I. A supposition implied,+ that sinners will entice. Sin is of so virulent and malignant a nature, that it tainteth the whole air about it and filleth it with infection, and there is no safety to be found within its neighbourhood without the blessed antidotes of piety and carefulness. And the sinner will take as much pains to pervert his companions, as the Jews did to make proselytes, and with the same fatal design and consequence, viz., to make them twofold more the children of hell than themselves. For since the good have all other advantages, and vastly outweigh them in intrinsic worth, they will endeavour to come as near a level as they can by making up in number what they want in value. Besides, it silences in some measure the loud alarms of their own consciences, when they join with them in their vicious performances, and the approbation of others, by complying with their practices, lulleth them to sleep in a dull security. +II. A caution subjoined,+ "Consent thou not." To which end--1. Consider the baseness and danger of consenting. We must sacrifice our reputation, render ourselves unfit for the company of men of worth, and exchange the glorious liberty of the children of God for that of vassals of iniquity. We must call in question the existence of God, and expose ourselves to that avenging hand which will lie heavy upon sinners to all eternity. 2. Take some plain and short directions to secure yourself against their enticements. Repel the first attempts upon your character. When that which is wrong is spoken or acted in your presence, do not suffer yourself to give it inward approbation. Withdraw from such society as soon as possible. Seek God's assistance.--Nicholas Brady, D.D.

This verse, in brief compass and transparent terms, reveals the foe and the fight. With a kindness and wisdom altogether parental, it warns the youth of the danger that assails him, and suggests the method of defence.--Arnot.

Carry a severe rebuke in thy countenance, as God doth (Psa. lxxx. 16). To rebuke them is the ready way to be rid of them.--Trapp.

Verses 11-13. Two unreasonable and insatiable lusts they propose to gratify. 1. Their cruelty. They thirst for blood, and hate those that are innocent, and never give them any provocation. Who could imagine that human nature should ever degenerate so far that it should ever be a pleasure to one man to destroy another? 2. Their covetousness. What, though we venture our necks, we shall fill our houses with spoil. See here (1) the idea they have of worldly wealth. They call that precious substance which is neither substance nor precious; it is a shadow and vanity, especially that which is gotten by robbery. It is the ruin of thousands, that they overvalue the wealth of this world. (2) The abundance which they promise themselves. Those who trade with sin promise themselves mighty bargains. But they only dream that they eat, the housefuls dwindle into scarcely a handful.--Henry.

Verse 11. The warning, as such, is true for all times and countries, but has here a special application. The temptation against which the teacher seeks to guard his disciple is that of joining a band of highway robbers. At no period in its history has Palestine ever risen to the security of a well-ordered police system, and the wild license of the marauder's life attracted, we may well believe, many who were brought up in towns (Judges xi. 3; 1 Sam. xxii. 2), and the bands of robbers who infested every part of the country in the period of the New Testament, and against whom every Roman governor had to wage incessant war, show how deeply rooted the evil was there. The history of many countries (our own, e.g., in the popular Traditions of Robin Hood and Henry V.) presents like phenomena. The robber-life has attractions for the open-hearted and adventurous. No generation, perhaps no class, can afford to despise the warning against it. . . . Without cause may mean in vain, and receive its interpretation from the mocking question of the tempter: "Doth Job serve God for nought?" The evil-doers deride their victims as being righteous gratis, or in vain.--Plumptre.

If sinners have their "come," should not saints much more? Should we not incite, entice, whet, and provoke one another, rouse and stir up each other, to love and good works? (2 Pet. i. 13; Heb. x. 24; Isa. ii. 3; Zech. viii. 21.)--Trapp.

Verse 12. The force of the verse noteth the allurement of wickedness from the cleanly despatch of it, so that nothing appeareth of the doing of it.--Jermin.

We will be as Sheol, or Hades, as the great underworld of the dead, all-devouring, merciless. The destruction of those we attack shall be as sudden as that of those who go down quickly into Sheol. (Numb. xvi. 30, 33.)--Plumptre.

Verse 13. Wickedness has always been a very bragging boaster. These sinners make a brag like that which the devil made to Christ: "All these things will I give thee." Covetousness is a strong chain to draw men on to wickedness.--Jermin.

Verse 14. The first form of temptation is addressed to the simple lust of greed. The second, with more subtle skill, appeals to something in itself nobler, however easily perverted. The main attraction of the robber-life is its wild communism, the sense of equal hazards and equal hopes. To have "one purse," setting laws of property at nought among themselves, seems almost a set-off against their attacks on the property of others.--Plumptre.

Verse 15. "God will not take the wicked by the hand." (Job viii. 20.) Why, then, should we?--Trapp.

The affairs of this life are the highways of the King of Heaven; thou mayest walk in the ways of them, but not with the wicked. It is an argument of a wicked man but to company with the wicked. We judge evil accompanyings to be next to evil deeds.--Jermin.

Verse 16. They may talk of walking, of walking in pleasures and delights, to get thee to walk with them. But, though, from what thou findest at first, thou little thinkest what will be the end, yet let me tell thee that it is to evil the journey tendeth; to that it will quickly come, for their feet run unto it. What shame it is that evil should be so pursued after!--Jermin.

Verse 17. These men are plotting with their eyes wide open. The verse teaches the great doctrine of deliberateness to ruin. Men go to hell when they expect it; at least, they go when it is a trap to them, of which they know the setting. They go open-eyed on into the gin.--Miller.

The great net of God's judgments is spread out, open to the eyes of all, and yet evil-doers, wilfully blind, still rush into it.--Plumptre.

Verse 18. These couriers of hell, who carry the despatches of the devil, cannot run faster to the hurt of others than they do to their own mischief; they cannot make more haste to shed the blood of others than they do to shed their own blood.--Jermin.

Verse 19. These "ways" are certainly some of the worst. The persons described are of the baser sort; the crimes enumerated are gross and rank. Yet when these apples of Sodom are traced to their sustaining root, it turns out to be greed of gain. The love of money can bear all these. When this greed is generated, like a thirst in the soul, it imperiously demands satisfaction wherever it can most readily be found. In some countries of the world it still retains the old-fashioned iniquity which Solomon has described. In our country, though the same passion domineer in a man's heart, it will not adopt the same method, because it has cunning enough to know that it will not succeed. Dishonesty is diluted, and coloured, and moulded, to suit the taste of the times. But the ancient and modern evil-doers are reckoned brethren in iniquity, despite the difference in the costume of their crimes. . . . This greed, when full-grown, is coarse and cruel. It has no bowels. It marches right to its mark, trading on everything that lies in the way. If necessary "it taketh away the life of the owners thereof." Covetousness is idolatry. The idol delights in blood. He demands and gets a hecatomb of human sacrifices.--Arnot.

Midas, the Phrygian king, asked a favour of the gods, and they agreed to grant him whatever he should desire. The monarch, overjoyed, resolved to make the favour inexhaustible. He prayed that whatever he touched might be turned to gold. The prayer was granted, and bitter were the consequences. What the king touched did turn to gold. He laid his hand upon the rock and it became a huge mass of priceless value; he clutched his oaken staff, and it became in his hand a bar of virgin gold. At first the monarch's joy was unbounded, and he returned to his palace the most favoured of mortals. Alas for the shortsightedness of man! He sat at table, and all he touched turned to gold--pure solid gold. The conviction rushed upon him that he must perish from his grasping wish--die in the midst of plenty; and remembering the ominous saying he had heard, "The gods themselves cannot take back their gifts," he howled to the sternly smiling Dionysius to restore him to the coarsest, vilest food, and deliver him from the curse of gold.--Biblical Treasury.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 20-33.

THE CRY OF WISDOM.

+I. The wisdom of God is the voice of God.+ 1. The wisdom of God in nature, in the heavens which declare His glory and in the firmament which sheweth His handiwork is Divine speech which speaks loudly of eternal power and Godhead. 2. There is a voice of wisdom in the laws and economy of the old dispensation, although that voice gave sometimes but an indistinct sound concerning Divine mercy and judgment. 3. The wisdom of God as displayed in the plan of salvation by Christ is the loudest, the most persuasive and unmistakable voice of God.

+II. God's voice of Wisdom is an earnest voice.+ Wisdom crieth. The voice of the mother who thinks that her children are in danger rings upon the ear with no uncertain, theatrical sound. When the voice of Paul rang through the Philippian prison and fell upon the man who was about to destroy himself, it was a loud voice, because he was in earnest. God has to deal with his human children who are in danger, and therefore He speaks with earnestness when He says, "Do thyself no harm." The voice of God in the human conscience sometimes speaks as loudly as the trump of Sinai. He said by His prophets in the days of old, "Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways, for why will ye die, O house of Israel?" (Ezek. xxxiii. 11). The voice of Christ was an earnest voice. His death enforced the earnestness of the appeals which He uttered in His life. It proved the reality of His own and His Father's desire that "all should come to repentance." The voice of the Gospel ministry is an earnest voice. Those who have been baptised by the Spirit of God, beseech men to be reconciled to God (2 Cor. v. 20).

+III. God's voice of wisdom has been uttered where men could hear it.+ Wisdom uttereth her voice "in the streets," "in the chief places of concourse," "in the gates." The merchant brings his silks and diamonds to the crowded cities, because in them he is most likely to find purchasers. The vendors of goods seek the broad thoroughfares, because there they find streams of human beings to whom they offer their wares. God has observed this method in offering His Divine wisdom to the sons of men. The highest wisdom of God--the Gospel--was first proclaimed in the city of Jerusalem, at a time when there were gathered there men "out of every nation under heaven" (Acts ii. 5). The apostles of Christ preached in the chief cities of the civilised world, in Corinth, Athens, Antioch, Ephesus, and Rome. And now the voice of wisdom cried in the principal centres of the population of the world. The fishermen spread their nets where most fish congregate, and the fishers of men are attracted to the places where most human souls are gathered.

+IV. God's voice of wisdom addresses all classes of sinners.+ 1. The simple ones. The unwary and those easily misled. Some men sin through ignorance or through the influence of others. As the unwalled garden is open to the foot of every dog that passes by, so the man who has no principle of his own to defend him is liable to have his soul entered and taken possession of by the first tempter who passes by. 2. The scorner. He is a sinner of a deeper dye. The child who is indifferent to his good father's love and the attractions of his happy home is a sinner, but the son who mocks his parents and holds up their words to ridicule is certainly a greater sinner. The simple man denotes a sinner who is passive in the hands of evil, but the scorner is active against good. He is placed before us in Holy Scripture as one who has reached the climax of human iniquity (Psa. i. 1). 3. Fools are addressed. The man who would rather use means to increase his disease than seek to cure it, may very properly be called a fool. The blind man who chooses to remain blind when he might be healed is certainly a fool. And certainly this is an appropriate name for those who love moral darkness rather than light. He who hates the knowledge which would save him and prefers death to life is the most unwise man upon the face of God's earth.

+V. Although sinners may differ in degree, the same reproof and invitation are addressed to all.+ A rich man may be able to satisfy the wants of a hungry multitude, although all may not be equally hungry. If a physician possesses remedies which can heal men whose disease is deeply rooted, he will be able to cure those upon whom it has as yet a lighter hold. The voice of God to men offers but one way of satisfaction and soul-healing, viz., repentance. "Turn ye at my reproof." And the gift of His Spirit which accompanies repentance (Acts ii. 38) is powerful to change the greatest sinner into a saint.

+VI. The rejection of Wisdom's voice of invitation changes it to one of threatening.+ The refusal of the invitation to the Gospel feast shut out to retribution those who rejected it (Luke xiv. 16). The space given for repentance will not last for ever. A time is here foretold when God will not hear them who have refused to hear Him. Their cry for help will be treated as they once treated the earnest cry of wisdom. "I will mock when your fear cometh."

+VII. The blessed condition of those who accept Wisdom's invitation.+ The promises given under this Old Testament dispensation referred in a large degree to the present life. Dwelling safely here doubtless has its immediate reference to a home in Canaan, as in Isaiah i. 19. "If ye be willing, and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land." Yet the underlying principle is that God will take charge of the real interests of those who yield themselves to Him--who fall in with His plans for their real eternal good.

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS.

Verse 20. What was in the views of godly men, in Solomon's days, an abstraction, became concrete when Christ was manifested on earth. The manifold character of this Divine wisdom (Isa. xi. 2, 3), and the multiplicity of all messengers of this wisdom of God in all ages of the Church accord with the plural form. (See "Critical Notes.")--Fausset.

The Orientals used the plural form to denote the highest excellence. But wisdoms may be plural to denote wisdom in all forms, or all "wisdoms" in one; specially two forms of wisdom--wisdom in a worldly sense, and wisdom in the spiritual sense which the natural man does not discern. Wisdom in both these senses unites in piety. The pious man has spiritual wisdom of which the sinner knows nothing; and fleshly or natural wisdom to avoid hell and to secure heaven, to provide for death and get ready for an eternal world, to a degree altogether superior to a fleshly nature.--Miller.

After that Solomon hath brought in a godly father warning and instructing his sons, now he raiseth up, as it were, a matron or queen-mother provoking her children unto virtue.--Muffet

The words of men may be wise; but when God speaks, Wisdom itself addresses us.--Lawson

Perhaps some wide law of association connecting the purity and serenity of wisdom with the idea of womanhood, determines the character of the personification. Not in solitude, but in the haunts of men, through sages, lawgivers, and teachers, and yet more through life and its experiences, she preaches to mankind. Something of the same kind was present, we may believe, to Socrates when he said that the fields and the trees taught him nothing, but that he found the wisdom he was seeking in his converse with the men whom he met as he walked in the streets and agora of Athens. (Plato, "Phædrus," p. 230.)--Plumptre.

"In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying 'Come unto me and drink.'" (John vii. 37.)--Trapp.

In the Scriptures, Wisdom cried unto men. "They testify of me," said Jesus. The prophets all spake of His coming. The sacrifice offered year by year, continually proclaimed aloud to each generation the guilt of men, and the way of mercy. The history of Israel, all the days of old, was itself Wisdom's perennial articulate cry of warning to the rebellious. The plains of Egypt and the Red Sea, Sinai and the Jordan, each had a voice, and all proclaimed in concert the righteousness and mercy of God. And the things were not done in a corner. . . . But the wisdom of God is a manifold wisdom. While it centres bodily in Christ, it is reflected and re-echoed from every object and every event. There is a challenge in the prophets, "Oh earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord!" The receptive earth has taken in that word, and obediently repeats it from age to age. . . . He hath made all things for Himself. He serves Himself of criminals and their crimes. From many a ruined fortune, Wisdom cries, "Remember the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy." From many an outcast in his agonies, as when the eagles of the valley are picking out his eyes, Wisdom cries, "Honour thy father and mother, that thy days may be long." From many a gloomy scaffold Wisdom cries, "Thou shalt not kill."--Arnot.

Verse 21. Wisdom's walk through the streets. The Lord and His Spirit follow us everywhere with monition and reminder.--Lange's Commentary.

In verse 10 sin was represented as trying to get in. Here wisdom is represented as trying to reach out. Sin is harmless unless it can get into the conscience. Wisdom is utterly helpless unless it begins with the flesh. One strives to get in, the other yearns to reach out. "The natural man discerneth not the things of the Spirit." She must begin, therefore, without. The impenitent can only hear natural reasons. "The law is a schoolmaster." The terrors of death are applied by the Almighty to draw us nearer, within, and finally into the region that is spiritual. It is "out of doors," therefore, that Wisdom must life up her voice.--Miller.

The voice of wisdom is heard everywhere. It sounds from the pulpit. From every creature it is heard (Job xii. 7, 8). The word is in our very hearts, and conscience echoes the voice in our souls. Let us go where we will we must hear it, unless we wilfully shut our ears.--Lawson.

In the Temple she crieth for holiness and reverence, in the gates she crieth for justice and equity, in the city she crieth for honesty and charity. Or else by accommodation we may thus take the words, the head is the chief place of concourse in man, where all the faculties do meet and all affairs are handled: the openings of the gate are the outward fences, the city is the heart, to all which wisdom strongly applieth her instructions. In the head she crieth for a right understanding, in the outward fences for watchfulness, in the heart for upright sincerity.--Jermin.

Verse 22. Men are always going to be wise, and therefore, Wisdom plunges upon this very difficulty. You are going to repent; but when? And, as a still more imperative question, "How long first?" You are, perhaps, a grey old man, and your resolutions have been for fifty years.--Miller.

Lovers of simplicity and haters of knowledge are joined together; for where there is a love of simplicity, there is a hatred of knowledge, where there is a love of vice there is a hatred of virtue.--Jermin.

Scorners love scorning. The habit grows by indulgence. It becomes a second nature.--Arnot.

These simplicians are much better than scorners, and far beyond those fools who hate knowledge. All sins are not alike sinful, and wicked men grow worse and worse.--Trapp.

Verse 23. The two things mentioned here are to be taken in connection with each other. The latter is the result of the former--the former in order to the latter. There can be no plea, therefore, for continued ignorance. The Word of God is in possession, and the Spirit of God is in promise.--Wardlaw.

When it is said: "Turn," &c. could an essay to turn be without some influence of the Spirit? But that, complied with, tends to pouring forth a copious effusion not to be withstood.--J. Howe.

When we turn at His reproof, He will pour out His Spirit; when He pours out His Spirit, we will turn at His reproof: blessed circle for the saints to reason in.--Arnot.

Little as we might have expected it, the teaching of the Book of Proverbs anticipates the prophecy of Joel (ii. 28) and the promise of our Lord (John xiv. 26; xv. 26.) Not the Spirit alone, with no articulate expression of truths received or felt: nor words alone, spoken or written, without the Spirit to give them life.--Plumptre.

He that reproves and then directs not how to do better, is he that snuffs a lamp, but pours not in oil to maintain it.--Trapp.

There are no words that can make known Wisdom's words but her own, and there is no one that can make known Wisdom's words but herself. She can, and here she saith: "I will." And it is as she will, not as she can, and yet freely and fully too, whereof she saith: "I will pour out."--Jermin.

+I. The reproof God administers.+ God reproves (1) by the Scriptures; (2) by ministers; (3) by conscience; (4) by Providence. +II. The submission He requires.+ Turn (1) with penitent hearts; (2) with believing minds; (3) with prompt obedience. +III. The encouragements He imparts.+ The Spirit is (1) convincing; (2) quickening; (3) comforting; (4) sanctifying.--Sketches of Sermons.

Verse 24. It is an honour to be invited to the feast of an earthly prince; how much more to be bidden unto the banquet of the King of kings! And as the desiring of any to dinner or supper is a sign of love and goodwill in him that offereth this courtesy, so it is a point of great ungentleness and sullenness for a man, without just cause, to refuse so kind a proffer; for, in so doing, he sheweth that he maketh none account at all of him, who not only hath borne toward him a loving affection, but he made declaration thereof in some sort, and gone about to seal it by certain pledges of friendship; yea, that which is yet more, he causeth him to lose the cost which he hath bestowed about provisions and entertainment, and his messengers to lose their pains and their travail. Then, when those who are bidden to the kingdom of God (Luke xiv. 18) desire to be excused, how can this be but a great sin? but, when God shall not only call with His hand to a rebellious people, continuing His Word preached with all means pertaining thereunto; as the grace offered in this respect is doubled, so the sin of not profiting thereby is mightily increased.--Muffet.

God called for a famine on the land, and was not refused; God called for a drought upon the land, and was not refused; and, no doubt, should God call any other of His creatures, they would not refuse to come unto Him, seeing those things which are not, when they are called, do come to God. Only man refuseth. Surely hence it is that the prophets of God do so often speak unto insensible things, as: "Hear, O heavens; give ear, O earth." For it is not seldom that God calleth to men and is refused.--Jermin.

Verse 26. There is not in the Lord any such affection or disposition of mocking as in man; but when in the course of His providence He so worketh that He leaves the wicked to his misery, or maketh him a mocking stock to the world, He is said in the Scripture to scorn, or have them in derision (Ps. ii.), because He dealeth as a man which scorneth.--Muffet.

If God laugh, thou hast good cause to cry.--Trapp.

There is, as has been said, a Divine irony in the Nemesis of history. It is, however, significant that in the fuller revelation of the mind and will of the Father in the person of the Son, no such language meets us. Sadness, sternness, severity there may be, but from first to last no word of mere derision.--Plumptre.

Even I, not, "I also," I, who have warned you so often, so tenderly, so earnestly.--Stuart.

Verse 27. Cataline was wont to be afraid at any sudden noise, as being haunted with the furies of his own evil conscience. So was our Richard the Third after the murder of his two innocent nephews, and Charles the Ninth of France after the Parisian massacre. These tyrants became more terrible to themselves than ever they had been to others.--Trapp.

You cannot paint an angel upon light: so mercy could not be represented--mercy could not be, unless there were judgment without mercy, a ground of deep darkness lying beneath, to sustain and reveal it.--Arnot.

Here also the parallelism which we have traced before holds good. The "coming of the Son of Man" shall be as "the lightning" in its instantaneous flashing. And at that coming He will have to utter the same doom. "Many shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able."--Plumptre.

Verse 28. Does the sinner ever cry, and not get answered? Does he ever seek diligently, and God laugh at him? The passage is the profoundest Gospel. A man has two ways of seeking, before he becomes a Christian, and after he becomes a Christian. Before he becomes a Christian he seeks from natural motives, otherwise he would be already spiritual. We cannot say that natural seeking has no promise. We think it has. A man can only start outside the camp to get in. The man who out of a deep sense of terror flies toward the wicket-gate under that schoolmaster the law, will reach it if he keep on, and that by promise. If he begs God to make him spiritual and to give him the true motives of the kingdom with even a proper common spirit though it be under the terrors of escape, he draws nearer all the time to being spiritual. The light will at last break. If he keeps on in that way he will emerge some day into the light of the blessed. The action of common grace will merge into that which is saving. But if his motives are too carnal; if his state is mere terror; if his moral part has been so abused that it has passed the boundary which our text suggests; if there be the mere terror of the lost, and the mere selfishness, such as wakes up at the judgment day, we could easily understand that oceans of such tears would drift a man only further off. They are only a more insidious carnality. The sum of the doctrine is, that natural motives may become instruments of conversion if we seek God early, but if we sin away the day of grace, no terror, however selfishly and therefore passionately expressed, can become a saving prayer to bring us any nearer to the Redeemer.--Miller.

This was Saul's misery: "The Philistines are upon me, and God will not answer me." This was Moab's curse (Isa. xvi. 12). This was the case of David's enemies (Ps. xviii. 41). Even if God answer him at all, it is according to the idols of his heart (Ezek. xiv. 3, 4) with bitter answers, as in Judges x. 13, 14. Or, if better, it is but as He answered the Israelites for quails and afterwards for a king; better have been without. Giftless gifts God gives sometimes.--Trapp.

Verse 29. Those who do not choose the fear of the Lord are condemned no less than those who hate it. Not to choose is virtually to dislike, and ends in positive hatred. (Matt. xii. 30.) Men are free in choosing destruction, so that the blame rests wholly on themselves. "Ye judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life." (Acts xiii. 46.)--Fausset.

God will give them a reason of their punishment. No marvel if they who hate knowledge do not choose the fear of the Lord. For knowledge is the guide of election, and if the guide be bad the choice cannot be good. And to show the badness of the choice, there being many fears proposed to man's choice to which man's life is subject; to choose the fear of the Lord, freeth from all the rest; not to choose that, is to be a slave to all the rest.--Jermin.

Verse 30. There is not a word here of disability, it is all unwillingness. Point me to one passage in the Bible where sinners are represented as being condemned for not doing what they could not do. The blessed God is no such tantaliser. When, at any time inability is spoken of, it is inability all of a moral nature, and resolves itself into unwillingness.--Wardlaw.

Can it be that none of God's counsel should be followed? Can it be that all his reproof should be despised? Yes; not to have a care of following all God's counsel is to follow none: not to have a mind that regardeth all His reproof, is to despise all. . . . As the wings of the living creature which Ezekiel saw, were joined together, so is the joining together of God's commandments, our desire of yielding a general obedience unto them, that must carry us up to heaven.--Jermin.

Verse 31. Their miserable end is the fruit--not of God's way, but of their own. His plan, His device for them, was a plan of salvation.--Wardlaw.

If a man plants and dresses a poisonous tree in his garden, it is just that he should be obliged to eat the fruit. If our vine is the vine of Sodom, and our clusters the clusters of bitterness, we must leave our complaint on ourselves, if we drink till we are drunken, and fall, and rise no more.--Lawson.

The sinner's sin is its own punishment (Isa. iii. 9-11.) Hell is not an arbitrary punishment, like human penalties, which have no necessary connection with the crimes, but a natural development of the seed and the bud (Isa. lix. 4; Gal. vi. 8). "Filled with their own devices"--i.e. filled even to loathing, which is the final result of the pleasures of sin. "They did eat, and were well filled; for He gave them their own desire; . . . but while the meat was yet in their mouths, the wrath of God came upon them" (Psa. lxxviii. 29). Men's own desires fulfilled are made their sorest plagues (Psa. cvi. 11).--Fausset.

Bad will it be for them that shall eat of it; and yet due will it be to them to eat of it, because it is their own. . . . It is not said they shall gather the fruit of their ways, which were some expression of their misery, but they shall eat it, it shall enter into them, and be made, as it were, their very substance. This it is that filleth up the misery, filling is of their own devices, that it is, that maketh it be pressed down.--Jermin.

Verse 32. When Jeshurun waxed fat, he kicked (Deut. xxxii. 15). Thus the objection is met, that sinners often prosper now. Yes, replies wisdom; but that very prosperity proves their curse, and accelerates the judgment of God. It is they who are "settled on their lees that say in their heart, The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil" (Zeph. i. 12).--Fausset.

Prosperity ever dangerous. 1. Because every foolish or vicious person is either ignorant or regardless of the proper ends and rules for which God designs the prosperity of those to whom He sends it. 2. Because prosperity, as the nature of man now stands, has a peculiar force and fitness to abate men's virtues and heighten their corruptions. 3. Because it directly indisposes them to the proper means of amendment and recovery.--South.

Because they are fools, they turn God's mercies to their own destruction; and because they prosper, they are confirmed in their folly.--Baxter.

When sinners are moved a little by wisdom and turn away, it is deadly; it is worse than if they had never listened. Prosperity or tranquillity (see "Critical Notes"). The mere doing nothing of impenitent men is carrying them downward.--Miller.

Bernard calls prosperity a mercy that he had no mind to. What good is there in having a fine suit with the plague in it? A man may miscarry upon the soft sands as soon as upon the hard rocks.--Trapp.

Not outward prosperity, but the temper which it too often produces; the easy going indifference to higher truths is that which destroys.--Plumptre.

Verse 33. He shall enjoy genuine security. His mind will enjoy unmoved tranquillity amidst all the turmoils and all the vicissitudes of this life (Phil. iv. 6, 7). And he shall be quiet from the fear of ultimate evil. The season of the impenitent sinner's last alarm shall be to him the season of peace, and hope, and joy.--Wardlaw.

Be it so, that some fits of fear, like grudgings of an ague, in the midst of fiery temptations, begin sometimes to cause the faithful to quake a little, yet the grace of God's Spirit will drive them out in time, and put them all to flight in such manner at the end, that instead of timorousness, stoutness; of unquietness, peace; of bashfulness, boldness; of shrinking, triumph will arise. O, the valiant courage and unterrified heart of the Christian knight and spiritual champion, who is furnished with the whole armour of God (Eph. vi.), and fighteth under the banner of Divine wisdom, his renowned lady and mistress!--Muffet.

1. Temporally. 2. Mentally. 3. Spiritually. 4. Externally. (Isa. xxvi. 3, xxxiii. 15, 16; Jer. xxiii. 6; Deut. xxxiii. 12, 28.)--Fausset.

His ark is pitched within and without; tossed, it may be, but not drowned: shaken, but not shivered.--Trapp.

Eternal life, secure in the world to come, casts a bright beam of hope across, sufficient to quiet the anxieties of a faint and fluttering heart in all the dangers of the journey through.--Arnot.

There is now dwelling but in heaven; hell is a prison; earth is a pilgrimage. In Heaven there be many mansions, wherein every room is the lodging of quietness, the walls whereof are safety, the gates security, and all fear of evil shut out for ever.--Jermin.

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Chapter II

CRITICAL NOTES.--+2. Incline.+ To sharpen or prick the ear, like an animal. +5. God.+ Elohim. One of five instances in the book in which God is thus designated, the appellation Jehovah occurring nearly ninety times. In explaining the all but universal use of Jehovah as the name of God in the Proverbs, while it never occurs in Ecclesiastes, Wordsworth says: "When Solomon wrote the book of Proverbs he was in a state of favour and grace with Jehovah, the Lord God of Israel; he was obedient to the law of Jehovah; and the special design of that book is to enforce obedience to that law." +7. Sound wisdom.+ Miller translates this word "something stable." It is used but twelve times in Scripture; in Job v. 12, it is translated "enterprise," but the rendering given here would well fit in the context there; and so in every other case. +That walk uprightly,+ literally "the walkers of innocence." +8.+ (Heb.) so as that "He may keep," or protect the paths, etc., i.e. He manifests Himself as a shield that He may cause the upright to keep the paths of judgment (Fausset). +9. Righteousness,+ etc., the same three words used in chap. i. 3 (see Notes). +Every+ or "the whole" path. +10. When.+ Rather "if" or "because." This verse is antecedent to the consequence expressed in ver. 11. +Heart,+ the "seat of desire, the starting point for all personal self-determination" (Lange). +12. Deliver,+ "snatch," as a brand out of fire. +Evil man,+ rather "an evil way." +13.+ "Level" paths. +16. Strange,+ "unknown," "wanton" (see 1 Kings xi. 1-8). +17. Guide,+ or "companion," "confidant," her lawful husband. +18. House,+ in the East means "interests;" a man's whole blended well-being (Ex. i. 21).--Miller. (On Vers. 16-18 See Note at the beginning of Chap. vii.)

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 1-5.

HUMAN UNDERSTANDING AND DIVINE KNOWLEDGE.

+I. Divine knowledge is within the reach of human understanding.+ When a physician has created an appetite in his patient, he sees that he is provided with food that will satisfy his hunger. As God has given the eye, so He has given light to meet its needs. God has created man with a need, and with capabilities of knowing Him, and has therefore placed such knowledge within his reach. "The Word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart, etc." (Rom. x. 8).

+II. The conditions of its attainment.+ 1. Attention. In all departments of knowledge we must begin by doing the easiest thing. The first thing we have to do is to listen to what the teacher has to say. Everybody can do that. This is the first thing to be done in order to attain a knowledge of God. We can listen to His message. We can "receive" His words, "incline our ear." "Faith cometh by hearing." 2. Retention. The simple attention of the soul is not the reclaiming power. The hearing will not bless us if we do not hold the truth in our memory. "And some seed fell by the wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them up" (Matt. xiii. 4). But the ploughed earth receives the seed, and holds it, and hides it, and by retention comes seed to the sower and bread to the eater. We must not only "receive" but "hide" the words of God. 3. Reflection. This prevents forgetfulness; this is indispensable to retention. The rules or grammar, or of arithmetic, must not only be received into the memory, but meditated upon. We must "apply" our minds to them in order to understand them. The soul which receives and holds Divine truth must apply itself to the understanding of it. 4. Supplication. If the learner has not only the book, but the author of the book at hand, he can turn to him and ask him to unfold the meaning of the difficult passages, or to show him how to apply the rules. We have not only the Divine Word of God, but we have the Divine Spirit; not only the Book of Wisdom, but the Author of the Book, the source of wisdom. And He has promised to give wisdom for the asking. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him" (Jas. i. 5). There must be an asking in order to receive. "If thou criest after knowledge, etc." 5. Perseverance. Those who find a few diamonds upon the surface of the ground do not then bring their labours to a conclusion. They dig down beneath, and toil on for months and years if the mine yields. They do not cease while they think there is more to be gained. The Divine wisdom is a mine which yields a little on the surface, but we must not stop there: we must dig down deep, we must continue to hear, to remember, to meditate, to cry for enlightenment,--we must ask, and seek, and knock, and never cease to "search" for the hidden and exhaustless treasures of wisdom.

+III. The certainty of success if the conditions are fulfilled.+ Then shalt thou understand, etc. The mariner puts out to sea, and fulfils all the conditions known to him for reaching the country to which he is bound, but he may find a grave midway between his starting-point and his goal. The husbandman sows the seed, and fulfils all the conditions upon which a good harvest depends. But his crop may fail notwithstanding: he may not reap the golden grain. But no such disappointment ever befals the earnest seeker after the knowledge of God.

ILLUSTRATION OF VERSE 4.

"There are frequent allusions to hid treasure in the Bible. Even in Job we read that the bitter in soul dig for death more earnestly than for hid treasure. There is not another comparison within the whole compass of human action so vivid as this. I have heard of diggers actually fainting when they have come even upon a single coin. They become positively frantic, dig all night with a desperate earnestness, and continue to work until utterly exhausted. There are, at this hour, hundreds of persons engaged in it all over the country. Not a few spend their last farthing upon these ruinous efforts. . . . It is not difficult to account for this hid treasure. The country has always been subject to revolutions, invasions, and calamities of different kinds. . . . Warriors and conquerors from every part of the world sweep over the land, carrying everything away that falls into their hand. Then, again, this country has ever been subject to earthquakes, which bury everything beneath her ruined cities."--Thomson's "Land and the Book."

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS.

Verses 1 and 2. The sinner is here told how he may become serious. In any conceivable path if thou wilt do that lowest conceivable thing--just listen; and, that thy listening may not be a mere passing flash, if thou wilt pause upon it, and attend. If a man just takes a chair and thinks for a moment of death and judgment and eternity, his heart begins to feel, and it will go on feeling to any length. It required the Spirit, no doubt; but what is the Spirit but the Spirit of the God of Nature? He will come in the track of thought just as surely as a star is dragged after Him in the track of gravitation.--Miller.

The Word of God is a vital seed, but it will not germinate unless it be hidden in a softened, receptive heart. It is here that Providence so often strikes in with effect as an instrument in the work of the Spirit. The place and use of providential visitations in the Divine administration of Christ's kingdom is to break up the way of the word through the incrustations of worldliness and vanity that encase a human heart, and keep the word lying hard and dry upon the surface.--Arnot.

Angels, who are so much our superiors, apply themselves to the learning of it: they are already supplied with the stories of truth, and yet they desire to pry deeper into the mystery of it. Surely, then, the wisest of us ought to apply our whole hearts.--Lawson.

There are some who do hear, or rather, seem to hear. They profess to be all attention; but it is mere pretence--the mere result of politeness and courtesy to the speaker. This is worse than not hearing at all, inasmuch as it is the reality of neglect, with all the guilt of hypocrisy added to it.--Wardlaw.

Verse 2. Lie low at God's feet and say,--"Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth." His saints "sit down at His feet, every one to receive His word."--Trapp.

Even as worldlings, when they hear of some good bargain, hearken very diligently; or as they who think that one speaketh of them put their ears near to him that speaketh.--Muffet.

Verse 3. Earthly wisdom is gained by study; heavenly wisdom by prayer. Study may form a biblical scholar; prayer puts the heart under a heavenly pupilage, and therefore forms the wise and spiritual Christian. But prayer must not stand in the stead of diligence. Let it rather give life and energy to it.--Bridges.

Knowledge is God's gift, and must be sought at His hand, since He is the "Father of Lights," and sells us "eye-salve" (Rev. iii. 17).--Trapp.

It is not any longer a Nicodemus inclined towards Jesus, he cannot tell how, and silently stealing into His presence under cloud of night; it is the jailer of Philippi springing in and crying with a loud voice: "What must I do to be saved?"--Arnot.

Verse 4. The same image occurs in John v. 39: "Search the Scriptures." Not merely scrape the surface and get a few superficial scraps of knowledge, but dig deep, and far, and wide. The "treasures" are "hidden" by God, not in order to keep them back from us, but to stimulate our faith and patient perseverance in seeking for them.--Fausset.

Men never prayed that way and were not answered. Men seek money--(1) always; (2) as a matter of course; (3) against all discomfitures; (4) under all uncertainties.--Miller.

Will not the far-reaching plans, and heroic sacrifices, and long-enduring toil of Californian and Australian gold-diggers rise up and condemn us who have tasted and known the grace of God? Their zeal is the standard by which the Lord stimulates us now, and will measure us yet. Two things are required in our search--the right direction and the sufficient impulse. The Scriptures point out the right way, the avarice of mankind marks the quantum of forcefulness, wherewith the seeker must press on.--Arnot.

This intimates (1) a loss or want of something. Else men seek not for it. (2) A knowledge of this want or loss. Else men sit still. (3) Some goodness indeed, or, in our own opinion, of the thing sought. Men are, or should be, content to lose what is evil. (4) Some benefit to ourselves in it. Else few will seek it, though good in itself. (5) An earnest desire to find it. Else men have no heart to seek it. (6) A constant inquiry after it, wheresoever there is any hope to find it. Else we seek in vain. So in seeking wisdom--we must want it, and know that we want it, and see good in it, and that to ourselves, and seek it earnestly and constantly, if we would find it.--Francis Taylor.

Verse 5. That which impels men to the pursuit is also the prize which rewards them. If any distinction between God (Elohim, see "Critical Notes") and the Lord (Jehovah) can be pressed here, it is that in the former the glory, in the latter the personality of the Divine nature is prominent.--Plumptre.

He understandeth the fear of the Lord, whose understanding feareth the Lord. The knowledge of God is found in all His creatures, but he findeth the knowledge of God who, being lost in his sins, is found by God in the acknowledgement of them. . . . And as fear advanceth to the knowledge of God, so the knowledge of God bringeth us to the fear of Him.--Jermin.

This knowledge of God is the first lesson of heavenly wisdom. On the right apprehension of this lesson all the rest necessarily depends. Wrong views of God will vitiate every other department of your knowledge. Without right views of God you can have no right views of His law. Without right views of His law you can have no right views of sin, either in its guilt or in its amount. Without right views of sin, you can have no right views of your own condition, and character, and prospects as sinners. Without right views of these you can have no right views of your need of a Saviour, or of the person, and the righteousness, and atonement of that Saviour. Without right views of these you can have no right views of your obligations to Divine grace, etc. . . . The fear of the Lord, founded on the knowledge of Him, is something to the right understanding of which experience is indispensable. To a man who had never tasted anything sweet, you would attempt in vain to convey, by description, a right conception of the sensation of sweetness. And what is true of the sensations is true also of the emotions. To a creature that had never felt fear you would hardly convey, by description, an idea of its nature; and equally in vain would it be to make love intelligible to one that had never experienced that affection. It is thus to a depraved creature with regard to holy and spiritual affections. "This fear of the Lord"--a fear springing from love and proportioned to it--such a creature cannot understand but by being brought to experience it.--Wardlaw.

The knowledge of God regulates the fear and prevents it from sinking into terror, or degenerating into superstition, but guides it to express its power in checking and subduing every corrupt affection and animating the soul to every instance of obedience.--Lawson.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 6-11.

GOD AS A GIVER AND MAN AS A RECEIVER.

+I. The fact stated+--that God gives. The nature of the good is to give. God is the best of all beings, therefore He is the greatest giver. 1. The kindness of God is manifested in the character of His gifts. 2. The resources of God are revealed in the abundance of His gifts. The character and disposition of men are made known by what they give and by how they give. God's gifts are "good and perfect," and are given ungrudgingly (Jas. i. 5-17). But men's resources are not always equal to their desires to give. But God is rich, not only in mercy, but in power; He has given up to Himself in the gift of His Son, in whom dwell all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and beyond whom the Father Himself cannot give.

+II. Some of His gifts enumerated.+ 1. Wisdom. Sound wisdom. Real wisdom as opposed to that which is only a sham (see "Critical Notes"). The serpent--the devil--possesses cunning, but not real wisdom. Our first parents were led astray by believing a lie--the fruit of following the tempter's guidance was unsoundness of body and soul. The results of this "wisdom of the serpent" proved its falsity. God gives the true wisdom. He gives men the truth. A knowledge of the truth about themselves, about Him (ver. 6), brings stability of character--leads men into the right way of life (ver. 9)--and thus tends to peace and blessedness of soul. 2. He gives protection by giving true wisdom. "He is a buckler," etc. (ver. 7). When Abraham undertook to deliver Lot from the hands of his enemies, the skill with which he planned and carried out the attack (Gen. xiv. 14) showed his wisdom. After the victory God came to him and said, "Fear not, Abraham. I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward" (Gen. xv. 1). How had God just proved Himself to be his shield? Not by sending a legion of angels to deliver him, but by giving him the wisdom by which he had defended himself. This is how He is a buckler to His children. He "preserveth the way of His saints" (ver. 8) by giving them wisdom and grace to "understand" and keep "every good path" (ver. 9).

+III. Man as a receiver of God's gifts.+ 1. This wisdom and protection is only given to those who fulfil certain conditions. Wisdom is for the righteous, the buckler for them that walk uprightly, preservation for his saints. These terms must be regarded as relative, as we shall see presently; but the fact that God has "laid up" His "wisdom," implies that it must be sought. God had laid up a store of wisdom of Joseph's guidance when Pharaoh summoned him from the prison, even as Joseph afterwards stored up corn for the needy people; but in both instances the gifts had to be sought for (Gen. xli. 16). Daniel had wisdom laid up for him, but he had to ask for the wisdom kept in store for him (Dan. ii. 18). 2. This best gift of God must be received into man's best place. The knowledge which God gives must enter the heart, the affections--thus it will be pleasant to the soul (ver. 10). He who holds the rudder guides the vessel. There may be many important positions in a fortified city, but he who holds the highest place commands all the rest. Understanding the word heart here to mean the affections, the heart commands the man. The will, and even the conscience to an extent, are wheeled about by the affections. They are the rudder of the man; they are the key to the position in the town of Man-soul. 3. Man, by thus receiving God's gifts, attains a relative perfection. The "understanding" of every good way implies a walking in them. Those who receive God's wisdom "walk uprightly"--are "saints." The man who has long followed any profession may be said to be a perfect master of his business, of his handicraft. This does not imply that he can go no further--can attain to nothing higher. The Apostle Paul speaks of an absolute and a relative perfection. He had attained to the last but not to the first (Phil. iii. 12-15). To know what we ought to strive after and to choose the right way, is the relative perfection, which leads on to that which is absolute and entire.

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS.

Verse 6. One may, indeed, by natural knowledge, very readily learn that God is a benevolent being; but how He becomes to a sinner the God of love, this can be learned only from the mouth of God in the Holy Scriptures.--Lange.

Verses 1 to 5 teach plainly that a man may get "light," and that there are steps to it like money-getting; and yet hardly have the words left his lips before Solomon guards them: "Jehovah gives wisdom"--and guards them in a striking way, for he says: "For," that is, the fact that it is the gift of God is the reason it can be proceeded so hopefully after by man.--Miller.

Solomon knew this by experience. The "for" gives the reason why he who is anxious to have wisdom should learn to know and worship God.--Fausset.

Every beam of reason in men is communicated from the wisdom of God (1 John i. 9). The simplest of the mechanical arts cannot be acquired unless men are taught of God. How, then can we be expected to understand the mystery of the Divine will without light from the Father of lights.--Lawson.

Verse 7. We are ill keepers of our own goodness and wisdom: God, therefore, is pleased to lay it up for us,--and that it may be safe, Himself is the buckler and safeguard of it. . . . In this life, he that walketh, although he walk uprightly, and seeing evil, shuns it, yet may receive hurt behind, where backbiters too frequently make their assaults. Wherefore, as he walketh to God before him, so God walketh after him, and even there, where they cannot help themselves, He will be a buckler to His servants. . . . But learn also that the buckler shows that they who will live uprightly must strive and fight.--Jermin.

Heb., substance, reality (see "Critical Notes"): that which hath a true being in opposition to that which hath not.--Trapp.

He layeth up that which is essential for the righteous.--A. Clarke.

The righteousness of our conduct contributes to the enlightenment of our creed. The wholesome reaction of the moral on the intellectual is clearly intimated here, inasmuch as it is to the righteous that God imparteth wisdom.--Chalmers.

"He lays up" or "hides away." 1. That the wicked may not find it. 2. That the righteous may have to dig to get it (the verb is the same as that from which "hid treasures" is derived in Verse 4). 3. That it may be safe from the evil one.--Miller.

He walks uprightly who lives with the fear of God as his principle, and the Word of God as his rule, and the glory of God as his end.--Wardlaw.

The most dreadful enemies of those who walk uprightly are those who endeavour to turn aside the way of their paths; but against these enemies God defends, for He keepeth the paths of wisdom and righteousness.--Lawson.

Verse 8. Well may they walk uprightly that are so strongly supported. God's hand is ever under his; they cannot fall beneath it.--Trapp.

"Paths of judgment" or "justice" are here, by the substitution of the abstract for the concrete expression, paths of the just, and therefore synonymous with "the way of His saints."--Lange's Commentary.

We have certain vicarious rights. One is, to come out all well at last. Another is, that all things shall work together for our good. Another is, that we shall grow up into Christ, increasing day by day. To realise each and all is required of God. The track this takes Him into for all is, as to each man, His path of judgment. Each such path He must walk in strictly. To do so, He must watch the saints.--Miller.

He is not the guardian of the broad way--the way of the world and of sin. That way Satan superintends, "the god of this world"--doing everything in his power, by all his various acts of enticement and intimidation, to keep his wretched subjects and victims from leaving it.--Wardlaw.

He preserveth the way of His saints both from being drawn out of that way, and from all evil while they walk in it.--Jackson.

If men will not keep their bounds, God will keep His. There is a right way for the saints to walk in. 1. Because else it were worse living in God's kingdom than in any other kingdom. For all kingdoms have rules of safety and of living. 2. God would be in a worse condition than the meanest master of a family. He would have no certain service.--Francis Taylor.

Verse 9. Not as standing in speculation, but as a rule of life. Knowledge is either apprehensive only, or effective also. This differs from that as much as the light of the sun, wherein is the influence of an enlivening power, from the light of torches.--Trapp.

Not only does it enlarge our knowledge of God, but it brings us to a full understanding of every practical obligation.--Bridges.

Good signifies, 1. That which is just and right. 2. That which is profitable. 3. That which is pleasing. 4. That which is full and complete (Gen. xv. 15). . . . Men must grow from knowledge of some good duties to knowledge of others. They must go on till they know every good path.--Francis Taylor.

Verse 10. Another picture of the results of living unto the Lord. Not that only to which it leads a man, but that from which it saves him, must be brought into view. Here, as before, there is a gradation in the two clauses. It is one thing for wisdom to find entrance into the soul, another to be welcomed as a "pleasant guest."--Plumptre.

Spiritual joy mortifies sin. His mouth hankers not after homely provision that hath lately tasted of delicate sustenance. Pleasure there must be in the ways of God because therein men let out all their souls into God, the foundation of all good, hence they so infinitely distaste sin's tasteless fooleries.--Trapp.

It was to open thus thy heart for wisdom that Christ's heart was open upon the cross; it was to make an entrance for wisdom into thy heart that the spear entered into the heart of thy Saviour. And what though wisdom enter thy heart at a breach, a wound? It is this that must heal thee and make thee sound.--Jermin.

Here only has it any life or power. While it is only in the head it is dry, speculative, barren. . . . Before it was the object of our search; now, having found it, it is our pleasure.--Bridges.

It is pleasure that can compete with pleasure. It is joy and peace in believing that can overcome the pleasures of sin. . . . A human soul, by its very constitution, cannot be frightened into holiness. It is made for being won, and won it will be, by the drawing on this side or the drawing on that.--Arnot.

Verse 11. The man who has let knowledge come into his heart does but watch afterwards as he does in common walking: "discretion" or "reflection" will keep him straight.--Miller.

Men are subject to many dangers till they get wisdom. 1. Their reputation is in danger. 2. The goods and estates are in danger. 3. Their body and life are in danger. 4. The soul is in danger of eternal misery. Therefore sin is called folly, and wicked men that go to hell are chronicled as fools all over this book.--Francis Taylor.

Though the heart of man by nature be a rebellious fort, so that wisdom at first must enter it by a kind of force, yet, being entered, it makes itself pleasant, and keeps out and preserves the soul which kept her out.--Jermin.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 12-20.

THE CHARACTER OF THOSE FROM WHOM WISDOM PRESERVES.

+I. The evil man.+ 1. His speech is corrupt, verse 12. The closed grave contains death and holds within it the seeds of pestilence, but while it remains unopened the corrupt influence remains enclosed in its narrow walls. But should it be opened, and its foulness allowed to fill the air, it begins to set in motion that will strike men down to its own level. The mouth of the wicked man while kept shut is a closed grave, his iniquity is shut up within himself, but when he speaks out the thoughts of his heart his mouth is as an open sepulchre, and he spreads around him moral disease and death. 2. He is a man of progressive iniquity. "He walks in the ways of darkness." When a stone is set in motion, the momentum given to it, if no other law comes into operation to prevent it, will carry it to the lowest level in the direction in which it travels. The progress of wickedness is downhill, and walking in the ways of darkness implies a destination which in Scripture is called "outer darkness." 3. He delights in his downward progress. Sorry and joy are reveals of human hearts. The saint rejoices in whatever things are pure, lovely, and of good report, and in his increase of power to do the same. That which rejoices him reveals his heart. The sinner that "rejoices to do evil and delights in the frowardness of the wicked," brings to light the hidden things of darkness that are within him.

+II. The wicked woman.+ 1. She is, pre-eminently, a covenant-breaker. The ribs of a vessel hold and keep together the whole structure, and enable it to keep its cargo safe. If the ribs give way, all goes to pieces, and the precious things which have been stored up within the ship are lost in the ocean. Human society is belted together--kept from going to pieces--by covenants. They are the ribs which keep together the State. The marriage covenant holds the first place. The woman whose character is here depicted has broken the bonds of this most sacred covenant--to which God was a witness (the covenant of an institution of His own ordination)--and has taken to the "strange" way of the devil. Well may she be called a strange woman. That a woman should be guilty of such a crime--should choose such a course of life, so opposed to all that is pure and womanly--is indeed a mystery. 2. She is a destroyer, not only of herself, but of others. When the river has broken through its proper boundaries there is a present and continual destruction, of which the bursting of its banks was only the beginning. This woman in the past broke the moral boundaries of her life, and is now not content to go to ruin herself, but tries to take others with her. To this end are her false and flattering words, of which we shall hear more in chapter v. 3. She carries her victims beyond hope of recovery. There are no rules without exceptions. We know that there are those who have for a time been under the influence of such characters, and have returned to the paths of virtue and honour. But these are rare exceptions. In the main, it is, alas! true that "none that go unto her return again." A vessel founders at sea, and we say that the crew is lost, although one survivor may have been rescued. We speak of an army being destroyed if one escapes to tell the tale. Where one who has taken hold on her paths struggles back to life and purity, thousands go down with her to death, bodily, social, and spiritual.

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS.

Verse 12. To snatch (see "Critical Notes"). "The way of evil." The terms begin gently. It is only the gentle aspects that are dangerous at first. These are so fascinating that it requires us to be snatched to keep us out of the ways of darkness.--Miller.

Verse 13. Among the pests of men, none are such virulent pests of everything that is good as those that once made a profession of religion, but have left the way of uprightness. The stings of conscience which such persons experience, instead of reclaiming them, tend only to irritate their spirits, and inflame them into fierce enmity against religion.--Lawson.

Darkness, as thus set in contrast with uprightness, may be interpreted as descriptive both of the nature of the ways, and of their tendency and end. The man who walks in uprightness walks in light. His eye is "single." There is "none occasion of stumbling in him." He has but one principle; his "eyes look right on, his eyelids look straight before him." He is not always looking this way and that, for devious paths that may suit a present purpose, but presses on ever in the same course; and this all is light, all plain, all safe. "The ways of darkness" are the ways of concealment, evasion, cunning, tortuous policy and deceit. He who walks in them is ever groping; hiding himself among the subtleties of "fleshly wisdom": and being ways of false principle and sin, they are ways of danger, and shame, and ruin.--Wardlaw.

There is a strictly casual and reciprocal relation between unrighteous deeds and moral darkness. The doing of evil produces darkness, and darkness produces the evil doing. Indulged lusts put out the eye-sight of the conscience; and under the darkened conscience the lusts revel unchecked.--Arnot.

The light stands in the way of their wicked ways as the angel did in Balaam's way to his sin.--Trapp.

Verse 14. Though it be wormwood which they drink (Lam. iii. 15), yet being drunk with it, they perceive not the bitterness thereof, but like drunken men rejoice in their shame and misery.--Jermin.

Better is the sorrow of him that suffereth evil than the jollity of him that doeth evil, saith St. Augustine.--Trapp.

Here is a note of trial to discern our spiritual estate. Wicked men rejoice in sin; good men sorrow more for sin than for troubles. . . . Many triumph in their evil deeds because they have no good to boast of. And men are naturally proud and would boast of something.--Francis Taylor.

Verse 16. There is no viler object in nature than an adulteress. Though born and baptised in a Christian land, she is to be looked upon as a heathen woman and a stranger, and as self-made brutes are greater monsters than natural brute beasts, so baptised heathens are by far the worst of pagans.--Lawson.

This strange woman is an emblem of impenitence. The passage 16-19, means the seductiveness and yet the betraying wretchedness of impenitence. The woman who has left her husband has also left her God; and the nulla vestigia retrorsum witnessed in her dupes is the warning for the saint by which he keeps clear of her undoing. No man would err who would treat of adultery as having its lessons here. But no man would understand the passage who did not understand it further as a great picture of impenitence. The warnings are two: (1) the un-stopping-short character of sin; she who wrongs her husband will be seen universally wronging God: and (2) the unrecuperative history of the lost.--Miller

Twice Solomon uses a similar expression, "the strange woman (even) the stranger," to impress more forcibly on the young man the fact that her person belongs to another. The literal and spiritual adulteress are both meant. The spiritual gives to the world her person and her heart, which belong by right to God. In this sense the foreign women who subsequently drew aside Solomon himself, were "strange women," not so much in respect to their local distance from Israel, as in respect to being utterly alien to the worship of God. Lust and idolatry were the spiritual adultery into which they entrapped the once wise king. How striking that he should utter beforehand a warning which he himself afterwards disregarded.--Fausset.

We are not to forget that the accomplished seducer has herself perhaps been seduced. The fair and flattering words, the endless arts of allurement, are on both sides.--Wardlaw.

One who is as it were, a stranger to her own house and husband by faithlessness (Hitzig), and hence a type of anything that is false and seductive in doctrine or practice. . . . By God's goodness Solomon's words in this Divinely inspired book were an antidote to the poison of his own vicious example.--Wordsworth.

Verse 17. False doctrine and false worship are in Scripture compared to harlotry and adultery. (Numb. xiv. 33; Judges ii. 17; viii. 33; Psa. cvi. 39; Rev. xvii. 1, 2; xviii. 3.)--Wordsworth.

It is God that is the guide of her youth, whoever may be under Him; it is God's covenant that is made, whosoever may be the contractor in it. It is God who is first forsaken, then forgotten; forsaken in the beginning of wickedness, forgotten in the hardened practice of it. God hath appointed guides for youth--to stay the weakness of it, and to which, as unto God, youth ought to yield obedience. For elder years He hath appointed covenants as bonds and chains to hold them sure.--Jermin.

There is no trusting them that will fail God and their near friends. If they fail God, they will fail men for their advantage. If they fail friends--much more strangers.--Francis Taylor.

Verse 18. When you get into the company of the licentious, you are among the dead. They move about like men in outward appearance, but the best attributes of humanity have disappeared--the best affections of nature have been drained away from their hearts.--Arnot.

Her house is not a building reared up, but inclined and bowed down, and she who dwelleth in it will, by her life, bring thee to the dead. . . . Death is here twice mentioned to show that it is a double death, a temporal death, and an eternal death, to which she bringeth men.--Jermin.

Verse 19. Who would cast himself into a deep pit in the hopes of coming out alive, when almost all that fell into it were dashed in pieces.--Lawson.

It is as hard to restore a lustful person to chastity as it is to restore a dead person to life.--Chrysostom.

A sin which, I am verily persuaded, if there be another that slays her thousands, may with truth be affirmed to slay its ten thousands.--Wardlaw.

Verse 20. Here follows the whole ground of the exhibition: "That," for the very purpose that "thou mayest walk in the way of good men." This is a grand, pregnant doctrine. This bad life was abandoned to its worst partly as a lesson.--Miller.

It is not enough to shun the evil way, unless man walk in the good way.--Muffet.

He that walks in the way of good men shall meet with good men, and that shall keep him from the company of evil men and women. The paths of the righteous are too narrow for such: he shall not be troubled with them.--Jermin.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 21-22.

THE CONTRAST IN THE END FROM THE CONTRAST IN THE WAY.

If men walk in two directly opposite directions they cannot possibly arrive at the same goal. +I. The historic illustration of this truth.+ The first inhabitants of Canaan were allowed to dwell in the land until they defiled it to so great an extent by their sins that they were "rooted out," to be replaced by the Hebrew people. These, in their turn, became "transgressors" of God's law, and consequently forfeited their inheritance. +II. The reasonableness of this dealing.+ Uprightness leads to industry, and the land which is industriously cultivated fulfils the end for which God gave it to the children of men. Uprightness leads to the rightful dividing of the land or of its produce among all its inhabitants. It is God's will that none of his creatures should suffer bodily want: if all men were truly upright and godly, the poor and needy, if they did not cease out of the land (Deut. xv. 2) would have a much larger share of its good things than they at present enjoy. The Hebrew civil and social laws show us what God's intentions are in this matter. Therefore none ought to complain if they are deprived of a gift which they have mis-used. +III. The typical suggestion of the subject.+ Dwelling in the land of Canaan was typical of the eternal dwelling in the heavenly country. Some of the first inhabitants of that country have been "rooted out" because of sin (2 Pet. ii. 4), others have dwelt safely there for ages, because they are, literally, perfect. This is the destined home of all just men made perfect (Heb. xii. 23; xi. 13-16. Matt. xxii. 32).

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS.

Verse 21. The Israelite was, beyond the power of natural feeling, which makes home dear to every one, more closely bound to his ancestral soil by the whole form of the theocracy: torn from it he was in the inmost roots of his life itself, strained and broken.--Elster.

As surely as a righteous man hath this right unto temporal things which a wicked man hath not, that God doth account him to be worthy of them . . . . Wherefore it is observed, that in Scripture, although the wicked are said to possess the things of the earth, they are never said to inherit them; but the godly are said to inherit the good things of the earth as receiving them from the love of their heavenly Father.--Jermin.

Verse 22. The very earth casts out the wicked. . . . The whole has a typical meaning. This earth, many conjecture is to be restored as heaven. In that event, the old Canaan types will be very perfect.--Miller.

Must not the righteous leave the earth too? Yes; but the earth is a very different thing to the righteous and to the wicked. To the latter it is all the heaven they will ever have; to the righteous it is a place of preparation for heaven.--Lawson.

The event seemeth to be contrary to the promise here made, for the earth commonly is possessed by those who take evil ways, whilst in the mean season the godly are tossed up and down with many afflictions. But we must consider for our comfort that, the wicked wrongfully and unlawfully as usurpers, possess the earth and the goods of this world; and again, that by many troubles, and by death in the end, they are put out of possession at last. As for the godly, they, by right, inherit the earth, so that, as Abraham was the heir to the land of promise even when he had not a foot of ground therein, in like manner all the godly are heirs of this world, according to the saying of the apostle, that all things are theirs (1 Cor. iii. 22); howsoever often here they possess little or nothing. In right they are heirs, and in part possessors, looking for a new heaven and a new earth, wherein the just shall dwell (2 Pet. iii. 13).--Muffet.

Suddenly, when they have feathered their nests and set up their rest, the wicked may die sinning. The saints shall not die till the best time--not till the time when, if they were rightly informed, they would desire to die.--Trapp.

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Chapter III

CRITICAL NOTES.--+1. Keep.+ This word, says Miller primarily means to look hard at, and generally to keep watch over, as over a vineyard. +2. Length of days,+ properly "extension of days." +4. Good understanding,+ or "good success," "good reputation." Some read "good intelligence," i.e., thou shalt be esteemed before God and man as one of good understanding. +6. Acknowledge,+ "take notice of," "recognise" Him. +Direct,+ "make level" or "smooth." +8. Navel,+ "body" or "muscles." +Marrow,+ literally "refreshing," "moistening," in contrast to the condition described in Psa. xxxii. 3, 4. +11. Despise not,+ or "loathe not," "shrink not." The word, according to Miller, means "to melt." +Chastening,+ "discipline," "correction." +12.+ The latter clause of this verse should be read, "and holds him dear, or does him a favour, as a father does his son." +13. Gets,+ "draws out." +18. Lay hold,+ "grasp," from a Hebrew root strong. +Retaineth,+ "holds her fast." +20. Depths,+ &c., "were the floods divided" into rivers and streams for the blessing of man. +Dew,+ or "gentle rain," or else the clouds signify the lower regions of the atmosphere where the dew is formed. +21. Them,+ i.e. "sound wisdom and discretion;" +Sound wisdom,+ the same word as in chap ii. 7 (see notes there). Miller translates here as there, "something stable." +25. Desolation of the wicked.+ This is interpreted in two ways. 1. The desolation in which the wicked strive to overwhelm the good; or, 2. The destruction which will sweep away the wicked, leaving the godly unharmed. "A positive decision is probably not possible" (Lange's Commentary). Stuart, and most modern commentators, adopt the latter view. +26. Confidence.+ "Jehovah shall be as loins to thee" (Miller). +27. Withhold not, &c.,+ literally "hold not good back from its master," i.e., from him to whom it belongs. +31. Envy thou not, &c.,+ or "emulate not" (Vulg.) "Do not anxiously covet" (Stuart). +32. Secret.+ His "secret compact," "familiar intimacy." +34.+ "If," or "Seeing that He scorneth the scorners," &c. +35. The promotion,+ &c., literally "shame lifts up," i.e., in order to sweep away and destroy them; so Lange translates. Miller reads, "fools are each piling shame." Stuart says on this verse, "Glory means here honour or an exalted station. Ziegler and Ewald render the next clause, 'Shame shall elevate fools,' spoken sarcastically. I prefer the meaning sanctioned by Ezek. xxi. 23; Is. lvii. 14, viz., to take off, to sweep away, as the dust which is elevated by the wind and is swept off, as may be seen in Isa. xvii. 13. Compare Isa. xxix. 5; Psa. xxxv. 5. At least, the image understood in this way is very vivid. It stands thus: 'Fools are elevated like the light dust, and then are swept away in the same manner.'"

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 1-4.

BLESSINGS FROM THE REMEMBRANCE OF GOD'S COMMANDMENTS.

+I. The natural desire of a moral instructor.+ Every teacher desires that his pupil should remember his instructions, and unless that which has been given is remembered it is useless to carry him further on. Memory holds a very important place in the formation of moral character. "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the Gospel which I preached unto you; . . . by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you" (1 Cor. xv. 1 and 2). Paul likewise exhorts his son Timothy by means of his memory (2 Tim i. 6). See also Hebrews x. 32; 2 Pet. i. 15, iii. 1, etc. Solomon knew that his son could only profit by his counsel so long as he remembered it.

+II. When the memory does not retain moral teaching, it is a moral rather than an intellectual fault.+ "Let thine heart keep my commandments." We find it difficult to forget where we love. If a child loves his father, he is not likely to forget his words. Christ reminded his disciples that they did not "remember" because their hearts were hardened (Mark viii. 17, 18).

+III. When the heart keeps the Divine Word, mercy and truth will not forsake the character.+ Where God's precepts find a place of abode, there will likewise be found a merciful disposition towards men, and a truthful and sincere piety before God. If a tree has its roots in the waters, we know that its greenness will not fail: "its leaf shall not wither." The freshness and beauty of the foliage is the necessary outcome of its roots dwelling in the stream. The mercifulness and the truthfulness of a man's character will be in proportion to his affection for, and consequent retention of, the words of God.

+IV. The blessings which will accompany a remembrance of the Divine teaching.+ 1. Length of days. We may infer from this that, as a rule, long life is to be desired. The longer distance a pure river runs through a country, the greater the amount of blessing which it diffuses on its way to the ocean. The longer a man of "mercy and truth" lives, the more he is enabled to bless his fellow-creatures. A long life gives a man time to attain great knowledge of God, and thus enables him to glorify Him upon the earth. A long life is also to be desired because the peculiar experience of earth belongs to the present life only. When that is ended we have reason to believe that we shall enter upon an entirely new experience; that which belonged to earth will have passed away with our earthly life. It has often been remarked that a godly manner of life is favourable to "length of days." Sin and anxious care tend to bring men to an early grave, while purity, and trust in a living and loving Father are promoters of bodily health. 2. Divine and human favour. The human ruler is favourable to those who make it their business to obey his commands. A wise and good father makes a difference in his treatment of those children who seek to please him and those who defy his authority. God is the Father, and consequently the rightful Ruler of men, and having made laws for the guidance of His children, it follows of necessity that those who seek to obey those laws must find favour with Him. He is in this sense a respecter of persons. He has respect to those who "have respect unto his commandments" (Psa. cxix. 6). Favour in the sight of man is also promised. The value of a man's favour depends upon a man's character. To find favour with some men would be to be known as an enemy of God (James iv. 4). It is written that Jesus increased "in favour with God and man" (Luke ii. 52). But we know that He found little favour with the rulers of the Jews. Therefore, these words must be taken to refer to the favour of those whose favour is worth having. 3. Peace (Verse 2). Where the conscience and passions are at war there can be nothing but unrest, but when the conscience is reinforced by the Divine precepts, she rules, and the soul, as a consequence, enjoys peace. Peace must flow from the possession of Divine favour, and also from the consciousness of the good-will of good men.

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS.

Verse 1. Here we advance another step. Not only is it necessary to renounce and shun evil (i. 10) and to listen to the voice of Wisdom and go in quest of her (i. 20; ii. 1-4), but it is also requisite to hold her fast under trial and tribulation (ver. 11), and to practise her rules by love to God and man (verses 9, 27, 30).--Wordsworth.

"My law." He who made us knows what is good for us. Submission to His will is the best condition for humanity. Our own will leads to sin and misery. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. . . . Silently to forget God's law is a much more common thing amongst us than blasphemously to reject it.--Arnot.

Where love makes the impression, care locks it up. . . . Philo saith, "Thou forgettest God's law, because thou forgettest thyself." For didst thou remember thine own condition, how very nothing thou art, thou couldst not forget His law whose excellency exceedeth all things; and therefore to fasten His law in our hearts, God saith no more than that it is my law, as if the strength of that reason were sufficient to strike them into us not to be forgotten.--Jermin.

We should be able to say to Wisdom as Cœnis did to her lady Antonia, "You need not, madame, bid me do your business, for I so remember your commands, as I need never be reminded of them."--Trapp.

The mental faculties have a close relation and a mutual dependence upon each other. There are, without doubt, original diversities in the power of memory. But memory depends greatly on attention, and attention depends not less upon the interest which the mind feels on the subject. He who feels no interest will not attend, and he who does not attend will not remember.--Wardlaw.

Verse 2. Length of days is the promise to the righteous--whether for earth or for heaven as their Father deems fittest for them. In itself, the promise, as regards this life, has no charm. . . . But peace added forms the sunshine of the toilsome way.--Bridges.

The original is "length of days and years of lives." They are lives which religion promiseth, one on earth, another in heaven: here such a long life as short days can make up, but there days shall be years: there shall be but one day, lengthened into eternity.--Jermin.

Where is the consistency of promising long life to wisdom? Where is the truth of such an assurance? But certain grammatical endings give us immediate signs of another interpretation. The verb "add" is masculine; the words "law" and "commandments" are feminine. On the contrary, all are masculines among the nouns of the next clause. Unless there should be reason to do violence by an ungrammatical exception, the nouns should be the subjects rather than the objects of the verb. We translate therefore, "For length of days, and years of life, and prosperity, shall make thee greater."--Miller.

Such declarations are certainly not to be interpreted as a promise of long life in this world in every instance, as the result of obedience to God's commands. There are promises to Israel of their days being prolonged in the land which are greatly mistaken when interpreted of the life of individuals; and as pledging in every case its prolongation to all the good. Such passages relate to the continued possession of the land of promise by the people, if they, in their successive generations, continued to serve God.--Wardlaw.

Simple duration of life in itself to Jewish mind, a great gift of God. "Years of life," i.e., of a life truly such, a life worth living, not the lingering struggle with pain and sickness (compare the use of "life" in Psalm xxx. 5, xliii. 8).--Plumptre.

Verse 3. There was such a similitude of nature between the twins of love that at once they wept, and at once they smiled; they fell sick together, and they recovered jointly. Such are these twins of grace. In policy, mercy without truth is a sweet shower dropping upon barren sands, quite spilt, and no blessing following it; truth without mercy is extreme right and extreme injury. Consider them toward God and heaven. A faith of mere protestation without good works, such as truth without mercy, and all the integrity of the heathen, all the goodness that Socrates could teach, such is mercy without truth.--Bishop Hacket.

The neck is, in Solomon's writings, the organ and symbol of obedience. To bind God's law about the neck is not only to do it, but to rejoice in doing it; to put it on and exult in it as the fairest ornament.--Wordsworth.

+I. The matter to be recorded+--mercy and truth. These two, meeting and kissing in the Mediator, constitute the revealed character of God Himself; and He desires to see, as it were, a miniature of His own likeness impressed upon His children. +II. The tablet for receiving it+--the human heart. The reference is obviously to the tables of stone. The tables were intended to be not a book only, but a type. An impress should be taken on our own hearts, that we may always have the will of God hidden within us.--Arnot.

Let these graces be, as with God, in combination. The want of one buries the commendation of the other. "Such a one is merciful to the poor, but there is no truth in him." "Such a one is very just in his dealings, but he is as hard as a flint." Nor must these virtues be in occasional and temporary exercise. "Let them not forsake thee."--Bridges.

Intimating--I. Their forsaking us is more than our forsaking them. Our forsaking them may come of our weakness, but their forsaking us comes of our wilfulness and hardness of heart in not entertaining them. II. It sets out the easiness of the loss of them through our corruption. III. It sets forth our great need of them. IV. It intimates our great care and pains needful for the retaining of them. They are easily lost, but hardly kept. A hawk must be well tamed before he is let fly, else he will return no more. These graces must be as carefully kept as providently gotten, like riches. And they must both be kept together, else mercy may lie to do good, and truth may reveal without cause what may do hurt. Therefore join both as God does (Ps. lxxxv. 10).--Francis Taylor.

Mercy and truth are dear sisters, blessed companions in God, sweet companions in man. Mercy loveth truth, truth loveth mercy, God loveth both; and if man love himself, he will do so likewise.--Jermin.

These words correspond to the two tables of the law. Benevolence is at the bottom of the command, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour," and what is right is that great glory which we are to love in God.--Miller.

Verse 4. In other words, "Thou shalt be favoured and truly prospered, God and man both bearing witness to thy well-directed efforts."--Stuart.

He that shows mercy to men shall find mercy with God . . . and men love to be dealt truly and mercifully with themselves, even though they deal not so with others; especially they that get good by our merciful and just dealing will favour us.--Francis Taylor.

This favour of God and man, i.e., not of all indiscriminately, but first and pre-eminently of the wise and devout, such as agree with God's judgment, is evidently in the view of the poet the highest and most precious of the multiform blessings of wisdom which he enumerates. What, however, is this favour of God and man but the being a true child of God, the belonging to the fellowship of God and His people, the co-citizenship in the kingdom of truth and blessedness? We stand here manifestly at the point at which the Old Testament doctrine of retributions predominantly earthly begin to be transformed into the supersensual or spiritual realistic doctrine of the New Testament (Matt. v. 10-12; xix. 28-30).--Lange's Commentary.

The promise is all one with that of the Apostle Paul, when, speaking of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, he saith, "that he which in these things serveth Christ, pleaseth God and is acceptable to men" (Rom. xiv. 18).

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 5 and 6.

EXHORTATION TO CONFIDENCE IN GOD.

Man is so constituted that, in some respects, he must have objects outside of himself to lean upon. As a child, he leans upon a wisdom and strength which is superior to his own, and few men are so self-sufficient as entirely to lay aside this habit in after life. In many things we must, whether we will or not, depend upon the guidance and help of others. Every man, in common with the lower creatures, must of necessity lean upon a power greater than his own. "The eyes of all wait upon Thee" (Psa. cxlv. 15). But this is a leaning which needs no exhortation: it springs from necessity. The exhortation of the text implies that in some things men have to choose whether they will lean upon God or not.

+I. What is necessary in order to comply with the exhortation.+ 1. A knowledge of God. We cannot place entire trust in any person of whose character we have no knowledge; or, if we do so, we show our want of discretion. If a traveller across Central Africa were to give himself up to the guidance of the first native whom he met, he would probably find that his confidence had been misplaced. The youth who trusts in the first companion who offers his friendship is like a blind man placing his hand in that of any stranger who may offer him guidance. All lasting trust is based upon knowledge. "They that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee" (Psa. ix. 10). The confidence of a wise man is born of knowledge of character. God can be known. His only-begotten Son hath declared Him (Luke x. 22; John i. 18, xvii. 3). 2. Love to God. The character must be known, and, being known, must be loved, if there is to be a lasting confidence. We shall not lean with much weight where we do not love. The trust of a Christian will be in proportion to his love to his Lord. The more intimate the knowledge, the deeper will be the love; the deeper the love, the more entire the trust. Our Lord Jesus Christ knew His Father (John xvii. 25) as no creature could know Him, and His love being based upon this profound knowledge, His trust was entire and His obedience perfect, even in His darkest hours. "But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do." "Arise let us go hence" (John xiv. 31). We cannot do better than write after this copy.

+II. The necessary effect of such a confidence.+ We shall acknowledge God in all our ways. This must mean--1. A practical recognition of His presence. We may be in the presence of a superior, and know that we are in his presence, without acknowledging it by showing him the respect that is due to him. If this is the case, we virtually ignore his existence. A child whose behaviour is not deferential to his parent practically ignores him. Acknowledging God in all our ways implies a reverent attitude of soul towards Him. 2. A belief in God's care for the individual life. God makes himself known as the God of the individual man. The care of the individual is his self-imposed task. "I am the Lord God of Abraham, thy father, and the God of Isaac, . . . and behold I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest" (Gen. xxviii. 13, 15). 3. The reference of all our affairs to His guidance, and a submission of our will to His. This will be easy and natural in proportion to our knowledge, and love, and conviction that God will not think any of our concerns beneath His notice. Our submission will be in the ratio of our confidence--our confidence in the ratio of our knowledge.

+III. The promise of direction guaranteed to compliance with the exhortation.+ 1. Men have many ways in life. Man's many ways spring from his many needs. He has a living to earn in the world. His hunger must be satisfied--his body must be clothed and fed. His social wants must be met--he must have companions, form relationships. His mind must have food as well as his body. The aspirations of his spirit form another way, and demand direction and enlightenment. But one way--the way of acknowledging God--is needful to make any and all the other ways profitable and pleasant. 2. The certainty of right guidance from the foreknowledge and power of the guide. An Alpine guide, who has traversed a road many times, knows from memory what is at the end of the journey. He sees the end while he is on the way. God's foreknowledge answers to our memory. He sees the end to which He is bringing us while we are on the way. And His power makes the accomplishment of His plans certain. He can speak of them as finished before the means are set in motion to bring them to pass. He said to Joshua: "Behold, I have given into thine hand Jericho" (Josh. vi. 2), before any steps had been taken to overthrow it. His guidance makes it certain that His designs will be accomplished, whatever becomes of our plans.

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS.

Verses 5 and 6. The heart, the seat of the affections, and also, in Hebrew psychology, the conscience, which is not a sure guide unless it is regulated by the Lord's will and Word.--Wordsworth.

Once, indeed, man's understanding gave clear, unclouded light, as man's high prerogative--created in the image of God. But now--degraded by the fall, and darkened by the corruption of the heart--it must prove a false guide. Even in a renewed man--a prophet of God--it proved a mistaken counsellor (2 Sam. vii. 2, 5). Yet throw it not away; cultivate it; use it actively; but lean not to it.--Bridges.

"He shall Himself," i.e., by His own Spirit. There is an emphatic pronoun. When we walk, it is not we that walk, but God.--Miller.

"Leaning to our own understanding" is, as far as it prevails, a kind of practical atheism. To form and prosecute our plans in this spirit of self-confidence, is to act as if there were no God--as if the fool's thought, or the fool's wish, were true.--Wardlaw.

+I. The duty enjoined.+ 1. Entire. 2. Exclusive. 3. Uniform. +II. The blessing promised--Direction.+ Necessary on account of--1. Our fallibility. 2. The hazards of the way. 3. False guides. Promised. 1. By the pointings of Providence. 2. By the lessons of the Bible. 3. By the influences of the Holy Spirit.--Outlines by Rev. G. Brooks.

The fundamental principle of all religion, consisting in an entire self-commitment to the grace and truth of God, with the abandonment of every attempt to attain blessedness by one's own strength or wisdom.--Lange's Commentary.

The distant and unconfiding will come on occasion of State formalities to the sovereign; but the dear child will leap forward with everything. The Queen of England is the mother of a family. At one time her ministers of State came gravely into her presence to converse on the policy of nations; at another, her infant runs to her arms for protection, frightened at the buzzing of a fly. Will she love this last appeal because it is a little thing? We have had fathers of our flesh who delighted when we came to them with our minutest ailments. How much more should we bring all our ways to the Father of our spirits, and live by simple faith on Him.--Arnot.

We may be led for the exercise of our faith into a way of disappointment, or even of mistake. But no step well prayed over will ever bring ultimate regret.--Bridges.

Every enlightened believer trusts in a Divine power enlightening the understanding; he therefore follows the dictates of the understanding more religiously than any other man.--M. Cheyne.

The moralist, in preaching this trust in God, anticipates the teaching that man is justified by faith.--Plumptre.

See your confidence be not divided, part on God and part on man. Such a confidence may keep you from the lions (2 Kings xvii. 25) but it cannot keep you out of hell. A house built partly on firm ground, partly on sand, will fall. To trust in God is so to lean upon Him that if He fail thee thou sinkest.--Francis Taylor.

He shall direct, as He carefully chose out the Israelites' way in the wilderness; not the shortest, but the safest way.--Trapp.

1. That our reliance may be rational we should know what it is that God has promised, and what we may expect from Him; else we may be disappointed in all our hopes. 2. Reliance must be accompanied with obedience, with a purpose, and endeavour to do the things that are pleasing to God. 3. Reliance must also be connected with particular supplications to Him to bless us. 4. It must be accompanied with diligence and prudence in our worldly affairs. 5. It excludes immoderate cares, vain desires, fretful discontent. 6. Although reliance be so advantageous to us, even for the present, that it ought to be considered rather as a privilege than a duty, yet it is a noble virtue and a disposition of mind most agreeable to God. It is the greatest honour we can pay to Him. By it we show our belief in His wisdom, power, equity, and goodness.--Jortin.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 7-12.

THE WAY (1) TO HEALTH, (2) TO WEALTH, (3) TO ENDURANCE.

Three exhortations are here given, to each of which is attached a promise on reason to induce the young man to obey. +I. An exhortation to humility.+ (Verses 7 and 8.) Its peculiar appropriateness and importance will be seen if we consider--1. The person to whom the exhortation is addressed. "My son" (ver. 1). Lack of experience has a great tendency to breed self-conceit. As a rule, those who have lived the longest and have most acquaintance with men and things are the least disposed to be "wise in their own eyes." Ignorance is the mother of self-conceit. These words are addressed to a young man, because his youth would render him very liable to this fault. 2. That self-conceit does not end with oneself but is dangerous to others. The man who insists upon the correctness of his knowledge of a dangerous way, and will not listen to the experience of those who are better acquainted with it, is sure to find some who believe in him and follow his guidance. Thus he may not only lose his own life, but be the murderer of others. 3. It shuts a man up to his ignorance. The only way to become wise is to feel we are ignorant. As a lunatic must be shut up with others in a like condition while his madness is upon him, so a self-conceited man must be imprisoned with the fools of the universe while he remains in that condition. 4. The Divine woes which are levelled against such an one. All the woes pronounced by our Lord against the Scribes and Pharisees were against sins born of this sin. The charge against them was that they were wise in their own eyes. "For judgment am I come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with him said, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth" (John ix. 39-41). "Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight" (Isa. v. 21). +II. The remedy against self-conceit.+ "Fear the Lord," etc. When those who are wise in their own eyes begin to reverence those who are much wiser than they are, they will begin to depart from this evil which is the root of many evils. Esteem for those who deserve esteem will lessen their esteem for themselves. A knowledge of the character and wisdom of God will produce reverence. When a man renders to God the reverence which is due unto Him, and which is born of a right appreciation of what God is, the scales of self-conceit will fall from his own eyes. As the sun melts the hoar-frost from the windows and leaves a clear medium for the rays of the sun to enter the chamber, so the contact of God with the human soul will melt away the self-esteem which shut Him out. How entrenched was Saul of Tarsus in his own opinions before he met the Lord on the road to Damascus. How high an estimate he had of himself, but how great was the change which acquaintance with Christ wrought. When Job got an insight into God's greatness, he said, "I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes" (Job xlii. 6). Self-conceit cannot live where there are right views of God. +III. The promise here given to those who walk reverently before God.+ Certain it is that such a mode of life leads to bodily health. Those who walk in the fear of the Lord live lives of purity, of temperance, of freedom from the consuming passions and corroding cares of the ungodly. Other things being equal, or anything like equal, godliness has the promise of the life that now is in this respect as in others. But if we understand the words in this narrow sense only, they seem to express only a small part, and the inferior part, of the blessing that comes to a man from the "fear of the Lord." The bones here, as in Psalm xxxii. 3, xxxv. 10, are put for the whole man. And as the Psalmist, in the first-mentioned psalm, expresses his sad condition of soul as well as body when he says, "My moisture is turned to the drought of summer," so the "marrow," or "moisture," of the bones here expresses a vigour of the entire man. Sin breaks the bones of a man's spirit; the consciousness of the Divine favour which will flow from a reverential walk with God makes them "to rejoice" (Ps. li. 8).

Verses 9 and 10 contain--+I. An exhortation to a right use of temporal riches.+ 1. Those who honour God with their gifts honour Him who has first honoured them with their stewardship. The man who is entrusted with the property of others, has an honour put upon him by the trust. Potiphar put a great honour upon Joseph when he committed all that he had into his hand, and Joseph felt that it was so. This of itself should be a motive to a strict integrity and to devotion to the interests of One who has thus honoured us with confidence. All temporal, material blessings are given to men as stewards of God's property (Luke xvi. 1-12), and in this light they ought to regard themselves. 2. If men honour God with their substance, they turn what would otherwise be a snare into a blessing. The tendency of wealth is doubtless to make men god-forgetting, self-confident, selfish (Mark x. 23; Luke xii. 16; Jas. v. 1). But those who use it for the advancement of God's kingdom--for the alleviation of human suffering--make a friend of this "mammon of unrighteousness" (Luke xvi. 9). 3. God cannot be honoured with our substance unless we first give ourselves to Him. The great desire of a true father in relation to his children is to secure their love. Having that, everything else that is theirs will be his. Without that, no offering, no service, can be acceptable. God must have the man before He will accept his wealth.

+II. The promise annexed to this exhortation.+ This cannot be the motive, but it is the consequence. Any man who gave his wealth because he believed it was a good investment in this sense, would not be honouring God with it. We must give, as we are commanded to lend, hoping for nothing again (Luke vi. 35). And, although the material rewards which are appended to a certain line of conduct under the old dispensation do not invariably follow it in the new and more spiritual one, there is probably no Old Testament promise of earthly reward which is, and ever has been, fulfilled with so few exceptions.

Verses 11 and 12. +I. An exhortation to patient endurance of affliction.+ 1. From the constitution of our nature we can but dislike or loathe (despise, see "Critical Notes") affliction itself. There has never been one of the human kind who has welcomed affliction for its own sake; nay, more, there has never been one who has not shrunk from it, considered by itself. No man can do other than grieve for the death of his friend when he considers his own loss merely. No child of God can love pain or loss. The man who is under the knife of the surgeon must groan in the unnatural condition in which he is placed. Even Christ Himself, though He delighted to do the will of His Father (Psa. xl. 8), shrank from the bitter cup of suffering. If, then, pain--probably mental pain--was felt to be bitter by the Sinless Man, how much more will a sinful man find it hard to bear. 2. The pain itself is that which renders us unable to see the connection between it and the benefit it is to work out. While a man is suffering pain of body or mind, his feelings, more or less, overpower his reason. Although we know that it is to work good in the future, we fail often to realise the fact--feeling holds us down to the present.

+II. Four considerations to help us in times of affliction.+ 1. Its individuality. "My son, despise not thou," which implies that God chastises men as individuals--that he distinguishes between them. There may be many sons and daughters in a human home; no two are exactly alike, therefore a wise discrimination must be exercised with regard to the chastisement or the discipline administered. So God discerns the needs of His children. No son or daughter need think that another cross would suit them better; they may be assured that the one they bear is the one that has been especially prepared for them and is therefore peculiarly adapted for them. 2. Its end. It is educational. It is correction, not destruction. Even if it is rebuke, or punishment for a particular sin, it is designed to eradicate that sin, and thus add to the character; and we are assured, on the highest authority, that tribulation worketh patience, experience, and hope--all of which graces go to form a higher type of man (Rom. v. 2, 3). 3. Its signification. It means son-ship, adoption. It means that God has taken us in hand; that He is Himself presiding over our education; that He loves us and desires our spiritual growth. 4. Its Author. "The Lord." We accept that from one who we know, which we would not from a stranger. If we can be sure that a man's motives are pure, we judge of his conduct accordingly. The consideration that affliction comes from the "righteous Father," the King who cannot wrong any of His subjects, ought to help us to take the rebuke with meekness,--to bear the pain, although we cannot now see the profit.

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS.

Verse 7. This warning against self-confidence is closely connected with the preceding verse. The wise in his own eyes is he that leans to his own understanding. How striking is this connection between the fear of the Lord and the fear of sin (ch. xiv. 27; xvi. 6. Gen. xxxix. 9-10; Neh. v. 15).--Bridges.

Get all the wisdom thou canst. That is the very burden of these Proverbs. But as thou gettest it if thou seemest wise, be sure that thou art weighed down with folly. Gabriel, who has never sinned, is foolish because he knows not the end from the beginning, and we are foolish from a further cause, that our wisdom has remains with it that are corrupt.--Miller.

The greatest hindrance to all true wisdom is the thought that we have already attained it.--Plumptre.

Fear God, and fear evil; fear God to go to Him, fear evil to depart from it. The wings of fear to carry thee to God are love and care, the wings of fear to carry thee from evil are shame and sorrow.--Jermin.

Verse 8. The constant, steadfast, self-diffident operation of the religious principle is beneficial alike to body and soul. It preserves the mind in tranquility and peace (Isa. xxvi. 3), and this is in a high degree conducive to the health and vigour of the bodily frame.--Wardlaw.

Two sadnesses flow from not fearing Jehovah--worn muscles and dried bones (see "Critical Notes"). The two are perfectly distinct. One means "aching labour," the other, "horrible despondency." The fear of God delivers from both.--Miller.

All God's laws come from one source and conspire for one end. They favour righteousness and frown on sin. The law set in nature runs parallel as far is it goes to the law written in the Word. Vice saps the health both of body and mind.--Arnot.

Verse 9. Works of piety and charity are evidently included.--Wardlaw.

Who art thou, that thou shouldest be able to honour Him, who is Himself of infinite honour? Who would not in this respect employ his substance in God's fear, seeing thereby thou dost honour Him, whom to serve is a high honour to the highest angels.--Jermin.

To devote a portion of our substance directly to the worship of God, and the good of men, is a duty plainly enjoined in the Scriptures. It is not a thing that a man may do, or may not do, as he pleases. There is this difference, however, between it and the common relative duties of life. For the neglect of it no infliction comes from a human hand. God will not have the dregs that are squeezed out by pressure poured into His treasury. He loveth a cheerful giver. He can work without our wealth, but He does not work without our willing service.--Arnot.

Verse 10. At first sight the motive may be regarded as a selfish one. But second thoughts give another view. It is a trial of faith. And it is a trial than which few are found more difficult. It is hard to persuade a man that giving away will make him rich. We look with new confidence to bank interest, or the still better interest of a vested loan, than to a return of profit from what is wholly given away.--Wardlaw.

Men take care how to use their money to the best advantage by sea, by buying land or cattle, or by usury, an easy trade; thy best trade will be to maintain God's worship.--Jermin.

The consecration of substance, as the seed-corn for the harvest, is as strange to the world as would be the casting of the seed in the earth to an untutored savage. Yet is the result secure in both cases: only with the difference, the temper of the earthly sower has no influence on the harvest; whereas the fruitfulness of the spiritual harvest mainly depends on the principles of the work. Most important is that we honour the Lord--not ourselves.--Bridges.

Verse 11. Two things are forbidden here. 1. Do not make light of (despise) the Lord's chastening, as if thou couldst easily cast it off--in insensibility to it, not recognising the Lord's hand in it, and not humbling thyself under it. 2. Do not, on the contrary through pusillanimity, be weary, and impatient, and despondent under the burden.--Cartwright.

Not to feel thy evils would be inhuman; not to bear them, unmanly.--Seneca

Fainting and wearying may take place in two ways. The heart may be overwhelmed by sudden trials, giving an effect so stunning and overpowering that the spirit sinks into a temporary stupefaction, and, as the Apostle has it, "we faint." Or it may become wearied out and exhausted by the long continuance of the same trial, or by a rapid succession of different strokes of the rod.--Wardlaw.

Having stated the blessings of wisdom, it is logical to consider the apparent exceptions.--Miller.

For if God did despise thee, He would not chasten thee, if He was weary of thee, He would not correct thee.--Jermin.

Some think it a goodly thing to bear out a cross by head and shoulders, and wear it out as they may, never improving it. As a man that, coming out of a shower of rain, dries again, and all is as before.--Trapp.

Prosperity and adversity, in their wise mixture and proportion, for our present condition. Each is equally fruitful and honouring the Lord; in prosperity, by a wise consecration of our substance; in adversity, by a humble and cheerful submission. . . . It is correction, this is for your humbling; it is only correction, this is your consolation. It is the declared test of our legitimacy (Heb. xii. 7, 8). His discipline is that of the family, not of the school, much less of the prison.--Bridges.

Solomon here anticipates a covert objection, if all the favour in the sight of God and man, and the health which have been attributed to the fearers of the Lord (ver. 1-10) really be theirs, how is it that we see them so often sorely afflicted? The reason is, the Lord sends these afflictions, not for evil, but for good to His people.--Fausset.

Consider the afflictions we meet with in the character which the text assigns to them, viz., as corrections. What reasons have we for viewing them in this light? 1. They are of God, and God takes no pleasure in the misery of His creatures. By some other demonstrations than the dark demonstrations of sorrow, we know the benevolence of God; and as afflictions are from Him, we have reason to deem them a part of the discipline of His love. 2. The rule or order of human afflictions indicates their corrective intent. All do not come under this principle, but many do. It is manifest that many miseries of life are the results of sin, and if we could see further, it is extremely probable that we should attribute many human miseries to human sin which we now attribute to the naked sovereignty of God. 3. There is every reason to believe that a state of innocence would have kept the world from all suffering. Evils that extend so far, or are of such a nature that our reformation could not shun them, are instructive monitors that sin strikes deep, and requires for its cure the hand that rules the world. 4. Our afflictions have many alleviations. If they were intended as mere punishments they would have been made more destructive.--Dr. Spencer.

The first distinct utterance of a truth which has been so full of comfort to many thousands, the summing up of all controversies, like those of Job's friends (Job v. 17) or our Lord's disciples (John ix. 2) as to the mystery of suffering. It was the lesson which the book of Job had proclaimed as the issue of so many perplexities. Here it enters into the education of every Jewish child taught to acknowledge a Father in heaven chastening him even as he had been chastened by an earthly father. The Apostle writing to the Hebrews can find no stronger comfort.--Plumptre.

Especially the well-beloved Son, who (ver. 12) was made "perfect through sufferings."--Wordsworth.

God's strokes are better than Satan's kiss and love; God smites for life, Satan caresses for death.--Egard.

The kingdom of God in this world is a kingdom of the cross; but all suffering tends evermore to the testing and confirmation of faith (1 Pet. i. 6-7).--Lange.

God's chastenings and corrections are no signs of anger, but of love; they are the pains which our healing and cure demand. Those who lie under the cross are often more acceptable to God than those who taste and experience His dainties. He finds pleasure in our crosses and sufferings for this reason, because these are His remembrance and renewal of the sufferings of His Son. His honour is also involved in such a perpetuation of the cross in His members (Eph. iii. 13; Col. i. 24, etc.), and it is this that causes Him this peculiar joy.--Berleburg Bible.

God loveth not thy correction, but thee He loveth.--Jermin.

He that escapes affliction may well suspect his adoption.--Trapp.

The same stroke may fall on two men, and be in the one case judgment, in the other love. "In vain have I smitten your children, they received no correction" (Jer. ii. 30). All were "smitten," but they only obtained paternal correction who, in the spirit of adoption, "received" it as such. You may prune branches lying withered on the ground, and also branches living in the vine. In the two cases, the operation and the instrument are precisely alike; but the operation on this branch has no result, and the operation on that branch produces fruitfulness, because of a difference in the place and condition of the branches operated upon.--Arnot.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 13-18.

WISDOM AND HER GIFTS.

+I. Wisdom is to be found.+ She does exist. Precious metals and choice stones are to be found. They have an existence, and they exist in regions which may be reached by the exercise of man's intelligence and labour. Those who find them have to dig for them, to seek for them, to give time, and strength, and wealth to the search. So Wisdom, although she is within reach of man must be diligently sought after, must be drawn out (see "Critical Notes") by painstaking diligence. 1. Wisdom is to be found in, and drawn out from affliction. The bee is said to suck honey from bitter herbs as well as from sweet flowers. The context to these words is closely connected with them, and declare him to be truly blessed who becomes by affliction a wiser and a better man. It is within the reach of intelligent faith in God thus to extract the honey of wisdom from the sorrow which to "the world worketh death" (2 Cor. vii. 10). 2. Wisdom is to be found by study of the Divine Word. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God--they are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus (2 Tim. iii. 15-16). The record which God has given of His Son is a revelation of His highest wisdom. A crucified Christ is a manifestation of the wisdom of God, and by the study of Him as revealed in Holy Scripture, we may "draw out understanding" of how a man may be "just with God" (Job ix. 2), and how a justified man may become a perfect man. 3. Wisdom is to be found in the practice of Divine precepts. "If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine" (John vii. 17). He shall know the reality, the power, of the wisdom which cometh down from above by personal and blessed experience. Understanding in these matters is "drawn out" by doing. 4. Wisdom is found by communion with God. Those who talk much with men who are their superiors in goodness and intelligence, and live on friendly terms with them, must become wiser and better through the intercourse. The stronger soul will mould the weaker. The man who holds converse with the highest and best Intelligence, with the Fountain of Wisdom, must draw understanding out of this Living Spring. 5. Wisdom for special needs, the understanding how to act in emergencies, is drawn out from God by the confession of our ignorance and the pleading of God's promises. Solomon was himself an example of this. By special prayer, by obeying his own precept (verses 5-6), he obtained the gift of an understanding heart to judge the people (1 Kings iii. 5-12). +II. Wisdom is beyond comparison with anything outside herself.+ She is better than wealth because she gives blessings which wealth cannot buy. 1. She gives real heart-satisfaction. Money will bring much ease and luxury to the bodily life, but mere material comfort cannot gladden the inner man or keep away old age and sickness. But Wisdom gives a joy which has its home in the heart, and which increases with the increase of years. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, because they are ways of holiness. Love, and joy, and peace, and all the graces which are the fruit of the Spirit of God are the very elements which in perfection constitute the blessedness of God Himself. They are the fruits which His servants pluck from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God (Rev. ii. 7). To be holy is to be happy in the true, deep sense of the word. 2. She introduces to better society. Wealth will do much in this way. Gold is a passport to honour in the world generally, often to the Church in the world. But the holy character which is born of heavenly wisdom is the only possession which will open the doors of the "Church of the firstborn," which will admit to the society of God, His angels, and His redeemed ones. This is the true honour. 3. Her gifts are for eternity. No matter how precious or how great the joy, the honour of earth passeth away (1 Cor. vii. 31). The gifts of Wisdom are for ever. The length of an eternity of days is in her hand.

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS.

Verse 13. Never will this solid happiness be known without singleness of judgment and purpose. The inestimable blessing must have the throne. The waverer and half-seeker fall short. Determined perseverance wins the prize (Phil. iii. 12-14).--Bridges.

If God loves a son, He corrects him; and then, "O the blessedness of the man!" It actually makes us wise. Let us not forget the doctrine that affliction--as, indeed, everything--always benefits the Christian.--Miller.

The coherence between this verse and the one preceding it is not to be neglected. To persuade the more to patience under God's afflicting hand, he tells us, it is one way to get wisdom and happiness. What though thou suffer chastisement, and that be bitter to thee! if thou get wisdom by it, thou art happy.--Francis Taylor.

Saving wisdom is to be "found" and "gotten." It is not required that we create it. We could not plan, we could not execute, a way of righteous redemption for sinners. . . . This is God's doing, and it is all done. All things are now ready. . . . But we are required to seek the salvation which has been provided and brought near. . . . Understanding is a thing to be gotten. It comes not in sparks from our own intellect in collision with other human minds. It is a light from heaven. Religion is not all and only an anxious, fearful seeking: it is a getting too, and a glad enjoying.--Arnot.

It was man who, by losing wisdom, became unhappy; and it is man who, by finding wisdom, or rather being found by the wisdom of God, is made happy again. It was man whose understanding was deceived by the subtle serpent: and it is man who, by getting understanding, deceiveth the serpent of his prey.--Jermin.

Verse 14. Here as in ii. 4, we have traces of the new commerce, the ships going to Ophir for gold, the sight of the bright treasures stimulating men's minds to a new eagerness.--Plumptre.

Wisdom brings more profit than any worldly riches, because it brings better things than riches can. 1. It can quiet a man's mind, which no wealth can do. Rich men have many cares--many griefs; crowns are crowns of thorns: nothing but wisdom can poise the soul in all tempests. 2. It affords a ladder to climb to eternal things, like Jacob's ladder, that did reach from Bethel on earth, to Bethel (God's house) in Heaven.--Francis Taylor.

One grain of grace is far beyond all the gold of Ophir, and one hour's enjoyment of God to be much preferred before all the King of Spain's annual entradas. "Let me be put to any pain, any loss, so I get my Jesus," said Ignatius. What is all the pomp and glory of the world but dung? (Phil. iii. 7, 8). "I esteem them no better" (surely) "that I may win Christ," said Paul, that great trader by land and sea. This gold we cannot buy too dear, whatever we pay for it. The wise merchant sells all to purchase it (Matt. xiii. 44, 46).--Trapp.

The gain of fine gold weigheth very heavy in man's account; but the gain of fine wisdom is better, for that weigheth heavy in the balance of God's esteem. Tertullian, comforting the Christian martyrs, writes: "If you have lost some joys of this life, it is but a merchandise--to lose something to gain greater."--Jermin.

Verse 16. As in the vision of Solomon at Gibeon, so here; Wisdom being chosen does not come alone, but brings with her the gifts which others who do not choose her choose in vain. The words are almost the echo of those in 1 Kings iii. 11-13.--Plumptre.

It is certainly not a uniform experience that a man lives long in proportion as he lives well. Such a rule would obviously not be suitable to the present dispensation. It is true that all wickedness acts as a shortener of life, and all goodness as its lengthener; but other elements enter, and complicate the result, and slightly veil the interior law. If the law were according to a simple calculation in arithmetic, "the holiest liver, the longest liver," and conversely, the moral government of God would be greatly impeded, if not altogether subverted. He will have men to choose goodness for His sake and its own, therefore a slight veil is cast over its present profitableness. Some power is allowed to the devil, to try them that are upon the earth.--Arnot.

If God give his people a crown, he will not deny them a crust. If they have the good things of a throne, they shall be sure of the good things of the footstool.--Trapp.

St. Augustine telleth us that length of days is eternity, for whatsoever hath an end is short: but riches and honour, which by men are esteemed good things, they are in the left hand. It is not forbidden thee to enjoy the good things of this life, but do not put that in the right hand which should be in the left; do not prefer temporal things before eternal. Let us use the left hand for a time, but desire the right hand for eternity.--Jermin.

The right hand in the Bible everywhere means one's highest instrumentality or agency (Rev. ii. 1). We understand the text to mean, therefore, that wisdom is able to use long life as a splendid agency.--Miller.

It is eternity that filleth the right hand of Wisdom. Days for the clarity, length for the eternity. As the glory is clear for the countenance, so is it long for the continuance. The gift of the left hand is short and temporal. +I. Riches and honour are God's gifts, therefore, in themselves, not evil.+ Saint Augustine: "That they may not be thought evil, they are given to good men; that they may not be thought the best good, they are given to evil men." Chrysostom remarks that Christ doth not say: "Ye cannot have God and mammon," but, "Ye cannot serve God and mammon." +II. All are not so, but some; and therefore it is necessary for us to learn whether God gave us the riches and honour which we have.+ They came from God if (1) they are honestly gotten, (2) justly disposed, (3) patiently lost. +III. Wealth and worship are, for the most part, companions; for both those gifts lie in one and the same hand.+ Riches are the stairs whereby men climb up into the height of dignity, the fortification that defends it, the food it lives upon, the oil that keeps the lamp of honour from going out. +IV. Though riches and honour are God's gifts, yet they are but the gifts of His left hand.+ Therefore it follows that every wise man will seek the blessings of the right. Let us strive for the latter without condition; for the other, if they fall in our way, let us stoop to take them up.--Thomas Adams.

Verse 17. +I. The ways of religion are ways of pleasantness.+ 1. There is a pleasure in the duties relating immediately to God--in love, faith, reliance, hope, prayer, and thanksgiving. 2. There is a pleasure in those occupations in which a religious man will be frequently employed--in studying the works of God and the Holy Scriptures: in meditating on the perfections of the Almighty, etc. 3. There is a pleasure in that behaviour towards others, and that manner of prosecuting our worldly affairs, which ever accompany a religious disposition--in calm integrity, honest industry, and acts of beneficence. 4. There is a pleasure in performing our duty to ourselves--in temperance and control of the passions. +II. The ways of sin are not ways of pleasantness.+ 1. No man can be happy who acts against his conscience. 2. If men persuade themselves that there is no future life, the expectation of perishing utterly presents no agreeable prospect to the soul, which has a natural desire of immortality. 3. Every act contrary to reason and religion is, if not always, for the most part, hurtful, even in this life.--Jortin.

The excellency of the pleasure found in Wisdom's ways appears--+I. In that it is the pleasure of the mind. II. That it never satiates nor wearies. III. That it is in nobody's power, but only in his that has it.+--South.

I am confident that the true Christian hath more true pleasure in suffering for Christ, or in one act of mortification, or victory over one lust, than the highest earthly potentate hath in all the honour that is done him, or good things enjoyed by him all his days.--Swinnock.

+I. Wisdom of itself is satisfactory, as it implies a revelation of truth, and a detection of error to us.+ We are all naturally endowed with a strong appetite to know, to see, to pursue truth; and with an abhorrency of being deceived and entangled in mistake. +II. In its consequences it is pleasant and peaceable.+ 1. It assures us we take the best course and proceed as we ought. He that knows his way and is satisfied it is the true one, goes on merrily and carelessly, not doubting he shall in good time arrive at his destined journey's end. Wisdom therefore frees us from the company of anxious doubt in our actions, and the consequence of bitter repentance; for no man can doubt of what he is sure, nor repent of what he knows good. 2. It begets in us a hope of success in our actions, and is usually attended therewith. What is more delicious than hope? What more satisfactory than success? And well-grounded hope confirms resolution and quickens activity, which mainly conduce to the prosperous issue of designs. 3. Wisdom prevents discouragement from the possibility of ill success, yea, and makes disappointment itself tolerable. For we have reason to hope that the All-wise Goodness reserves a better reward for us, and will some time recompense us, not only the good purposes we unhappily pursued, but also the unexpected disappointment we patiently endured. 4. Wisdom makes all the troubles of life easy and supportable, by rightly valuing the importance and moderating the influence of them. . . . If sin vex and discompose us, yet this trouble Wisdom, by representing the Divine Goodness and His tender mercies in our ever-blessed Redeemer, doth presently allay. And for all other adversities it abates their noxious power by showing us they are either merely imaginary or very short and temporary: that they admit of remedy, or at most do not exclude comfort. 5. Wisdom hath always a good conscience attending it, that purest delight and richest cordial of the soul; that brazen wall and impregnable fortress against both external assaults and internal commotions.--Barrow.

Some degree of comfort follows every good action, as heat accompanies fire, as beams and influences issue from the sun. Thus, saith one, is a fore-reward of well-doing. "In doing thereof (not only for doing) there is great reward" (Psa. xix. 11).--Trapp.

The paths of wisdom bring us to the peace of reconciliation with God; to the peace of society and friendship with the angels of God: to the peace of comfort and quietness in our own hearts.--Jermin.

They must be "ways of pleasantness" because "Thus saith the Lord." And if we feel them not to be so, we know them not.--Bridges.

Her ways are sometimes on hot coals and to burning stakes. If there is anything unpleasant in her way, it is to promote wisdom and so to promote more "pleasantness" another time. All her paths peace, or "prosperity." More thoroughly "all" of them than in the case of pleasantness. While the happiness of a Christian may flag in this world, his "prosperity" never stops a moment. His "way" is prosperous, i.e., he gains by every inch.--Miller.

Both the way and the end to which the way leads is peace. There are many ways in the world pleasant but not safe; others safe but not pleasant.--Fausset.

Verse 18. Like that planted in Paradise and promised by Christ to all that overcome.--Wordsworth.

It is remarkable that this and other references in Proverbs xi. 30, xiii. 12, xv. 4, are the only allusions in any book of the Old Testament, after Genesis, to the "tree" itself, or to its spiritual significance. . . . The tree of life which Adam was not to taste lies open to his children. No cherubim with flaming swords bar the approach. Wisdom is the tree of life giving true immortality.--Plumptre.

Wisdom beareth not her fruit for everyone. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold of her, not to them that touch her with a light hand, that seek after her in a perfunctory manner, that think a little wisdom, a little godliness, to be sufficient for them.--Jermin.

The tree of life was the means ordained of God for the preservation of lasting life, and continual vigour and health, before man sinned. So true wisdom maintains man in the spiritual life of God's grace, and the communion of His Spirit.--Diodati.

One view of man's true dignity arises from the amount of his susceptibilities of enjoyment on the one hand, of suffering on the other. Think of what man was, of what he is, of what he is capable of becoming. His capabilities are such that nothing beneath God Himself can satisfy them. His soul can be filled from no created fountain. Wisdom provides for him a portion adequate to his most unbounded desires, to his most expanded capabilities.--Wardlaw.

As the tree of life in Paradise, which was a sign of God's favour, or the tree which sweetened the waters of Marah, or the tree seen in the Revelation, or any living or good tree which bringeth forth fruit whereby men live.--Muffet.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 19, 20.

ONE OF THE PROOFS OF GOD'S WISDOM.

+I. God had a personal existence before the world.+ If we say that a man founded an institution--built a house--we imply that he existed before the institution or the house, and that he exists as a separate entity from that which he has built or founded.

+II. The world did not come by chance+--it is not an orphan; it had a Creator, a Father. The world is not eternal. The Lord founded it. He "laid the foundations of the earth" (Job xxxviii. 4).

+III. That the world which God has made bears the impress of Infinite Wisdom.+ Scientific investigation and discovery bear out the assertion of Solomon, that the Lord "by wisdom founded the earth." The discoveries of astronomers reveal to us more and more the "understanding" which "established the heavens." Solomon here selects one example of the wisdom of God, as displayed in relation to the earth, viz., the process by which it is watered--by which God "maketh it soft with showers, and thus blesseth the springing thereof" (Psa. lxv. 10), and so gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater. This "philosophy of rain," as it has been called, is one which illustrates creative wisdom in a remarkable manner. Dr. Ure says, "To understand the philosophy of the beautiful and often sublime phenomenon, so often witnessed since the creation of the world, and essential to the very existence of plants and animals, a few facts derived from observation and a long train of experiments must be remembered. (1) Were the atmosphere everywhere at all times of a uniform temperature we should never have rain, or hail, or snow; the water absorbed by it in evaporation from the sea and the earth's surface would descend in an imperceptible vapour, or cease to be absorbed by the air when it was once fully saturated. (2) The absorbing power of the atmosphere, and consequently its capability to retain humidity, is proportionately greater in warmer than in cold air. (3) The air near the surface of the earth is warmer than it is in the region of the clouds. The higher we ascend from the earth, the colder do we find the atmosphere. Hence the perpetual snow on very high mountains in the hottest climate. Now, when from continued evaporation the air is highly saturated with vapour, though it be invisible and the sky cloudless,--if its temperature be suddenly reduced by cold currents descending from above, or rushing from a higher to a lower latitude, its capacity to retain moisture is diminished, clouds are formed, and the result is rain. Air condenses as it cools, and, like a sponge filled with water and compressed, pours out the water which it cannot hold. How singular, yet how simple, the philosophy of rain. Who but Omniscience could have devised such an admirable arrangement for watering the earth?" Solomon could not have known how the earth was watered, but he knew enough to awaken his admiration of Providential love and skill.

+IV. The exhibition of God's wisdom in creation is intended to lead men to listen to his Word of Revelation.+ To this end the subject is introduced here by the preacher. When such a Being speaks, it must be worth men's while to listen and obey. The heavens and earth have a speech or language (Psa. xix. 1, 2). They counsel us to seek Him "who hath measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure,"--Him "whose word shall stand for ever" (Isa. xl.).

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS.

Verse 19. Hitherto Wisdom has been thought of in relation to men. Now the question comes: What is she in relation to God? and the answer is: That the creative act implies a Divine wisdom, through which the Divine will acts. We have, as it were, the first link of the chain which connects this wisdom with the Divine Word, the Logos of St. John's Gospel (John i. 3).--Plumptre.

The wisdom, so spiritual as to belong only to the pious, nevertheless has its reachings into all wisdom, as we saw in chap. i. 20, where it is called "wisdoms," as embracing all forms of it. Creative wisdom, therefore, is part of the broad array. But now, as a more important teaching, creative wisdom must include the spiritual. God could not found the heavens without that holy character that makes the system possible. Its enormous intricacies could not be kept up without the harmonising influences of holiness. Government, of course, is built upon it; justice, of course, is part of it; and the whole world would be an unmeaning mass unless Jehovah, by wisdom, shaped it, viz., in those Diviner forms in which He is the governor as well as the builder and original schemer of the universe. God would not have built the world without holiness, and therefore, in the very strictest sense, "by wisdom He founded" the heavens, because only that holy light, which is the light of love, could be the inspiring motive for building the habitations of His creatures. We are to understand this verse as meaning, therefore, first, that creative light merges into all light, as one grand omniscience; but, second, that creative light would be nothing without spiritual light; that God's love and justice were the very spring and harmonious law whereon all are builded.--Miller.

The spirit of the recommendation seems to be that, as it is "the Lord which giveth wisdom," that which comes from such a source must be worthy the desire and the solicitation. Think of what Wisdom, as it exists in Deity, has done!--the wonders it hath wrought! This will recommend God's lessons.--Wardlaw.

The river and the fountain are both of one nature, and when pure water hath been looked on in the stream, it is a pleasant thing to behold it in the conduit head.--Muffet.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 21-26.

GOD'S KEEPING, THE REWARD OF MAN'S KEEPING.

Here as we have the keeping of the Divine commands resulting in a being kept by Divine power and love.

+I. There is a possibility of losing what has been attained.+ The injunction here given is not, as in chap. ii. 10, to seek wisdom, but as in verse 18 of this chapter, to keep a hold upon what has been already gotten. The Scriptures abound in such exhortations. Barnabas exhorted the Church at Antioch to "cleave unto the Lord," and he and Paul, when in Pisidian Antioch, persuaded the disciples "to continue in the grace of God" (Acts xi. 23; xiii. 43). The word of Our Lord to the Church at Thyatira was "That which ye have hold fast till I come" (Rev. ii. 25). There is no safety but in continual watchfulness and in constant study of Divine precepts. "My son, let them not depart from thine eyes." A mariner may set out on his voyage with his vessel's head pointing in the right direction, but if he does not hourly keep consulting the compass, it will not avail him much that he started right. The Apostle speaks of men having "made shipwreck of faith and a good conscience" (1 Tim. i. 19). The world, the flesh, and the devil are cross currents and contrary winds which can only be met and overcome by constant, watchful reference to chart and compass.

+II. The blessing which will result from "keeping wisdom," viz., Soul-life.+ As food and an observance of physical laws are the means by which the body is enabled to perform the functions which are natural to it, so a constant receiving of God's thoughts and an observance of God's laws will enable the soul--the spiritual man--to fulfil the end for which it was created--to glorify and enjoy God. Such a man has the assurance that he is under the special guardianship of God. All the subjects of this realm are under the protection of the monarch, but she has a special and personal care for her own children. So God is the "Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe" (1 Timothy iv. 10). This particular regard of God for those who have become His children, by falling in with His method of making the right with themselves and with Him, is guaranteed.--1. In the ordinary events of life. As the heirs of the monarch are always accompanied by those who count it an honour to serve them and, if needful, to protect them, so the heirs of salvation are ever attended by their body-guard, the angels who are "ministering spirits to the heirs of salvation" (Heb. i. 14). In the night not only do they encamp round about them that fear God (Psa. xxxiv. 7), but the Lord Himself is said to be their keeper (Psa. cxxi. 5). His peace "keeps (lit. garrisons) the heart" (Phil. iv. 7) and gives the sweet sleep promised in verse 24, even although outward circumstances may be apparently adverse (see illustration). This was the experience of David in the night of his adversity, even although he had brought it upon himself (Psa. iii. and iv). And the certain guidance which is promised in verse 6 insures an avoidance of all real danger (ver. 23). 2. In times of special visitation (ver. 25). There was a "desolation of the wicked" in the days of Noah, but he and his house were "shut in" the ark by God Himself (Gen. vii. 16). In the day when the Lord "rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah He delivered just Lot" (2 Pet. ii. 6). When the "abomination of desolation stood in the holy place" at Jerusalem as foretold by our Lord (Matt. xxiv. 15), those who obeyed His command and fled to the mountains escaped the terrible fate of those who remained in the city. (This is recorded by Eusebius). This assurance of constant guardianship and guidance is "life" to the soul (Psa. xxx. 5). Fear of the future paralyses a man's energies, but confidence in an over-ruling personal God gives him strength for action.

ILLUSTRATION OF VERSE 24.

THE LAST HOURS OF THE NINTH EARL OF ARGYLE, EXECUTED BY JAMES II.

So effectually had religious faith and hope, co-operating with natural courage and equanimity, composed his spirits that, on the very day on which he was to die, he dined with appetite, conversed with gaiety at table, and, after his last meal, lay down, as he was wont, to take a short slumber, in order that his body and mind might be in full vigour when he should mount the scaffold. At this time one of the Lords of the Council, who had probably been bred a Presbyterian, and had been seduced by interest to join in oppressing the Church of which he had once been a member, came to the castle with a message from his brethren, and demanded admittance to the Earl. It was answered that the Earl was asleep. The Privy Councillor thought that this was a subterfuge, and insisted on entering. The door of the cell was softly opened, and there lay Argyle on the bed, sleeping, in his irons, the placid sleep of infancy. The conscience of the renegade smote him. He turned away, sick at heart, ran out of the castle, and took refuge in the dwelling of a lady of his family, who lived hard by. There he flung himself upon a couch, and gave himself up to an agony of remorse and shame. His kinswoman, alarmed by his looks and groans, thought that he had been taken with sudden illness, and begged him to drink a cup of sack. "No, no," he said, "that will do me no good." She prayed him to tell her what had disturbed him. "I have been," he said, "to Argyle's prison. I have seen him within an hour of eternity sleeping as sweetly as ever man did. But as for me----."--Macaulay.

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS.

Verse 21. Simply attend to them. "Watch" like a sentinel, intently eyeing. Solomon enjoins the voluntary, and promises the involuntary. The voluntary we can do, save only for that grand helplessness, an aversion of the will itself. The involuntary we cannot do, save only mediately through obedient acts. Attention is within our power if God gives grace to the will. This is the drift of the promise: You do your part and God will do His.--Miller.

Eye these things as the steersman doth the load-star, as the archer doth the mark he shoots at, or as the passenger doth mark his way, which he finds hard to hit and dangerous to miss.--Trapp.

Verse 22. Wisdom reveals the righteousness of God, whereby a believer lives before God. Without this the man is dead in sins (Heb. ii. 4, Eph. ii. 1).--Fausset.

There is no life in the soul till knowledge come into it. There was no living creature in the world till light was made. God clears the understanding before He rectifies the will and affections; He keeps the same method in the little world that He did in the great world.--Francis Taylor.

Verse 23. This promise has a direction embodied with it, "Thou shalt walk in thy way." We are required to keep the way of the Lord, and in the affairs of life to attend to our own concerns, shunning the character of busybodies by not meddling in the affairs of others.--Lawson.

Good success in the way may be crossed again; what is crowned with good success in the end can never by crossed.--Francis Taylor.

There shall be no cause to make thee stumble. For he that is blind or weak may stumble, though he be never so careful; and he may stumble that is careless, though he be never so well able to walk safely. But wisdom shall take away thy blindness, thy weakness, thy carelessness.--Jermin.

Thou shalt ever go under a double guard, the peace of God within thee and the power of God about thee.--Trapp.

Verse 24. Peter in prison, in chains, between two soldiers, on the eve of his probable execution, when there seemed but a "step between him and death." Yet in such a place, in such company, at such a moment, did he lie down so fearlessly and sleep so sweetly, that even the shining light failed to disturb him, and an angel's stroke was needed to awaken him.--Bridges.

Surely the way to sleep quietly in this world is to be asleep to the world; his sleep is sweetest, when he is asleep, who, when he is awake, doth sweetly sleep in a neglect of worldly crosses or contentments.--Jermin.

Verse 25. So safe will all thy ways be that to fear will be a sin.--Plumptre.

From the terms before used, respecting the final destruction of the wicked, it is most likely that to it the reference is in this verse.--Wardlaw.

"Be not afraid" is at once a precept and a promise to the godly. They shall have no cause to fear evil tidings, therefore it is their privilege that they are not to fear them (Psa. cxii. 7; xci. 5).--Fausset.

The Christian is threatened by the sinners in all their ills, whether for them or by them. Sin breeds the whole of them; and the wise man would magnify the grace by saying that they are all equally indifferent. "Let cares, like a wild deluge come."--Miller.

Let a David "walk through the vale of the shadow of death" he will not fear, no, though he should go back the same way; "for Thou art with me," saith he. He had God by the hand, and so long he feared no colours.--Trapp.

Verse 26. Beware of mistakes here. Do not say God is your confidence, if He be only your dread. An appalling amount of hypocrisy exists in Christendom, and passes current for devotion. He who is himself most worthy is often more disliked than any other being, and, as if this ingratitude were not enough, men double the sin by professing that they have confidence in Him. I have observed that sea-going ships do not trust to themselves in the windings of a river. Where they are hemmed in between rock and quicksand, grazing now on the one and now the other, they take care to have a steam-tug, both to bear them forward and to guide them aright. They hang implicitly upon its power. They make no attempt at independent action. But as soon as they get clear of the narrows--as soon as they have attained a good offing and an open sea--they heave off and hoist their own sails. They never want a steamer till they come into narrow waters again. Such is the trust in God which the unreconciled experience. In distress they are fain to lean upon the Almighty. While they are in the narrows they would hang on the help of a Deliverer. . . . The line of their dependence seems ever tight by their constant leaning. But when they begin to creep out of these shoals of life they heave off and throw themselves upon their own resources. . . . This is not to have confidence in God.--Arnot.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 27-29.

DOING JUSTICE AND LOVING MERCY.

True wisdom in the heart will show itself in right dealing between man and man. He who holds back any good thing by which it is in his power to bless another man is a thief. The withholding is a crime for which God will visit. This is true in relation not only to debts of justice (Jas. v. 4) but to so-called debts of mercy. When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, there will be some against whom He will bring the charge--"I was an hungered, and ye gave Me no meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me no drink; I was a stranger, and ye took Me not in; naked, and ye clothed Me not; sick and in prison, and ye visited Me not" (Matt. xxv. 42, 43). There are five reasons against the postponement of any act of justice or mercy until the morrow. 1. The person who is in need to-day may be beyond your reach to-morrow. Death may remove him from your reach, and he may go into eternity your creditor. Men and women have been saved from taking a step which would have been their ruin, by a kindly word or act which would have come too late on the morrow. 2. If your needy friend does live to be helped on the morrow, you may not live to give him help, and you will then enter the presence of God a debtor to your brother. To-morrow is God's property, to-day is man's. 3. If your brother is not beyond your reach to-morrow, his need has been increased by the delay. If a man's condition calls for medical aid to-day, and it is withholden, the disease will have a firmer hold to-morrow and will be harder to cure. What physician would say to a sick man in such a case, "Go, and come again?" Human need is a disease that is increased by delay in dealing with it. It is a weed that grows apace. What is only a seed to-day will be a sapling soon. If you delay the moral and intellectual training of the ignorant, the chains that bind them will be harder to break to-morrow than they are to-day. So that delay makes the demand greater, and the debt which might have been easily paid when it was due becomes hard to meet by withholding. 4. To do the good to-morrow which might be done to-day is not to be an imitator of God. The Divine Father makes His sun to shine to-day upon the evil and the good. He does not say, "To-morrow I will give thee," but, "now is the accepted time." 5. The postponement of that which is due is "a devising of evil in the heart against thy neighbour" (ver. 29). Our Lord, in his parable of the good Samaritan, has answered for us the question, Who is my neighbour? (Luke x.). It is the man who is in need, and whose need we can relieve. It is not merely a negative, but a positive sin to withhold help to such a one--it is a violation of that rule of life which Christ Himself declares "is the law and the prophets" (Matt. vii. 12).

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS.

Verse 27. The borrower is then to repay his debt to the lender; the finder to restore that which he hath taken up to the loser; he which hath received anything into his custody, is to bring it forth to him who reposed trust in him; the master is to pay the servant his wages. Finally, everyone is to practise that precept of the Apostle (Rom. xiii. 8).--Muffet.

This practical injunction may be applied: 1. To all lawful debts, for articles purchased or work performed. 2. To government taxes, which ought to be regarded as debts due to the community. 3. To debts of charity and benevolence. For such debts there are. They cannot indeed be claimed; they cannot be made good in law. But they are due--due on the principle of the "royal law" (Matt. vii. 12).--Wardlaw.

Here Solomon passes from general recommendations of wisdom to particular precepts of it. He reverts to instances of "mercy and truth" (ver. 3). He who is in need has a claim of ownership upon our property by the law of love, which is the law of God. Need makes the poor the owner, and God makes thee the dispenser of the goods which thou hast and which he needs: so such benefits are called "righteousness," i.e., a righteous debt or obligation (2 Cor. ix. 9; Matt. vi. 1, "alms;" Greek, "righteousness"). The same principle applies in the case of spiritual knowledge which thou hast and thy neighbour has not.--Fausset.

With the luxuries of grace, the wise man mixes in its conditions. They are rugged like those of the Apostle (1 Cor. xiii). If we enjoy the good of the Gospel, we are to render again according to the benefits shown us.--Miller.

It is the hungry man's bread which we hoard up in our own barns. It is his meat on which we glut, and his drink which we guzzle: it is the naked man's apparel which we shut up in our presses, or which we exorbitantly ruffle and flaunt in: it is the needy person's gold and silver which we closely hide in our chests, or spend idly, or put out to useless use. We are, in thus holding, or thus spending, not only covetous, but wrongful, or havers of more than our own, against the will of the rightful owners.--Barrow.

1. They who have had much experience in the world may be of infinite use by giving salutary advice. 2. If we are afraid of being thought meddling, we can benefit others by a good example. 3. By vindicating the characters of those who have been unjustly defamed. 4. By not only giving alms, but attention, care, and friendship to the needy. 5. By recommending our brethren to God in prayer.--Bishop Porteous.

Verse 28. This conduct is too common. It may arise--1. From an avaricious reluctance to part with the money. The avaricious man is so loath to part with the object of his idolatry that even a day's delay pleases him. 2. From indolent listlessness. The man is not in a mood to be troubled. He is occupied about something else, or he is not disposed to be occupied at all. 3. From insolent superciliousness. This is often discovered towards inferiors, or towards persons against whom there exists a grudge. It is the vice of little minds--ungenerous, unjust, unmanly.--Wardlaw.

He gives twice to one in need who gives at once.--Publius Syrus.

Keep as few good intentions hovering about as possible. They are like ghosts haunting a dwelling. The way to lay them is to find bodies for them.--Arnot.

Verse 29. This evil may be practised in a great variety of ways. As, for instance--A man in business does what he can to obtain another's confidence; or, whether he acts from this view or not, he knows that he has that confidence, and he takes advantage of it to obtain large quantities of goods from him, when aware that his own affairs are precarious and his credit sinking. There are not wanting cases in which the most nefarious crimes have been perpetrated through the medium of unsuspecting confidence. The wife of a man's bosom, or the child of his paternal love, has been seduced by the unwitting confidence he has reposed in a seeming friend. It is the very sin by which "the devil beguiled Eve through his subtilty.". . . All therefore who act such a part are of "their father the devil."--Wardlaw.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE 30.

UNLAWFUL STRIFE FORBIDDEN.

+I. Strife is unlawful when no good can come from striving.+ The purpose or end of the strife must be the test as to whether it is right or wrong. Mere assertion of our rights or material gain is not the highest good. If Abraham had pushed the quarrel between his herdsmen and those of Lot there can be no doubt that Abraham could have established a lawful claim to a choice of the land. But the good to be gained by striving was not worthy to be compared with the harm that would have been done, and therefore Abraham nobly forbore to insist on his rights.

+II. Causeless strife is a self-infliction.+ A man can hardly be involved in lawful strife without mental agitation, how much more when he strives without cause. When the four winds of heaven seem to meet upon the sea, the waters foam and toss in ceaseless agitation. The winds must cease to strive before the calm can come. A man involved in an unlawful quarrel is like such a troubled sea. Reason and passion, heaven and hell, contend within him for the mastery, and while the battle lasts he must be miserable.

+III. Strife rarely ends with those who begin it.+ Man's relationship to his fellow renders it impossible for the results of his good or evil deeds to remain with himself alone. If the head of a family enters into a quarrel, the children will probably imbibe the spirit and suffer from the consequences. If kings and rulers involve a nation in unnecessary war, they bring needless suffering upon thousands of innocent people. This consideration alone ought to make men beware of entering into a quarrel.

+IV. Causeless strife in the children of God gives a false representation of their Father's character.+ They are God's representatives upon earth, they are expected to fashion their lives upon the Divine model (Matt. v. 48). God is a God of peace (1 Thess. v. 23). His contention is only with sin, and its end is the establishment of peace upon earth by righteousness.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses 31-35.

THE OPPRESSOR NOT TO BE ENVIED.

The children of Wisdom are strongly tempted sometimes to do this. Like Asaph (Psalm lxxiii.), they see the prosperity of the wicked encompassed with pride, and clothed, as it were, with violence (verse 6), and they are tempted to say: "Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency."

Such a state of mind is--+I. Dangerous.+ It is the first step to becoming like him. Envy of the oppressor may result in "choosing his ways." A conviction that there is anything belonging to the oppressor that can be envied may lead to becoming oppressors ourselves.

+II. Unwise.+ 1. Because the oppressor is held in universal abhorrence by men. True it is that he possesses power, or he could not oppress, but sooner or later the power will be transferred to the hands of those whose rights he has trampled on, and the outburst of rejoicing at his overthrow is the revelation of the hidden hatred of which he has all along been the subject. 2. Because he is an abomination to the Most High (verse 32). As there is in the noblest of human kind an intense loathing of those who use their power to the injury of others, so this feeling exists more strongly in the mind of God in proportion as his goodness and benevolence exceeds that of the most perfect man. This is not only declared in revelation, but is manifested in the retributions of Providence. Since Pharaoh and his hosts were overthrown in the Red Sea, God has been slaying "mighty kings" who have followed in Pharaoh's footsteps, because "He is good, and His mercy endureth for ever" (Psa. cxxxvi). 3. Because of the contrast in the character, and in the present and future reward of the oppressor and the child of Wisdom. The oppressor is "froward." He will not submit to the voice of instruction or correction, but will be his own absolute lord and master. His actions, if not his words, say: "Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice?" The righteous are submissive to the Divine will--they are the "lowly," who are willing to learn of Him who was meek and lowly in heart (Matt. xi. 29). Such opposite characters must necessarily meet with opposite dealing from a righteous Ruler. It is a righteous law that "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" (Gal. vi. 7). With the froward Thou wilt show Thyself froward--with the merciful Thou wilt show Thyself merciful--are the curse and the blessing which rest respectively upon, not only the froward and lowly man, but upon those to whom they belong--their house--those who are bound to them in family relation. The scorn of the froward man reaps a harvest of scorn, but "grace" is the reward of lowliness and humility (verse 34). The contrast in the future inheritance is still greater. The present curse and blessing may not be always evident to onlookers, but the future glory and shame will be manifest to the universe (Matt. xxv. 31-36).

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS.

Verse 32. The Lord will freely reveal to the righteous what He keeps from others--the truths and promises, the blessings and joys of His covenant of peace, secret to the soul that possesses them, intransferable, "passing all understanding," "unspeakable and full of glory."--Wardlaw.

There is no less a secret of godliness than there is of any other trade or profession. Many profess an art or a trade, but thrive not by it because they possess not the secret or mystery of it, and many profess godliness but are little the better for it, because they have not the true secret of it. He hath that with whom God is in secret in his heart, and he that is righteous in secret where no man sees him, he is the righteous man with whom the secret of the Lord is.--Jernim.

They shall be of His cabinet council who choose rather to lie in the dust than to rise by evil arts, by wicked principles.--Trapp.

Verse 33. Whatever cost be there, there can be no true cheer, for God's curse mars all; this will either rot the timber, and pull it down, or undermine the foundation, and blow it up. Possibly there may be in thy house a loving wife, loving children, many servants, stately rooms, costly furniture, dainty fare, great earthly delights; but, man, the curse of God is there. A spoonful of this, like copperas, will turn all thy wine into ink; thy sea of honey into gall and wormwood. How can thy sweetest dish be savoury, when the curse of God is thy sauce: Or thy finest raiment delight thee when in every suit there is the curse of God like a plague-sore? or how can thy most beautiful building content thee, when this curse of God on thee for thy wickedness turns it into a prison to keep thee, who art in the bond of iniquity, till the hour of death, the time of thine execution?--Swinnock.

The houses of the wicked are of two kinds, some dwell in their merits, others in their vices. The Pharisees of the world dwell in the lofty houses of their own meritorious holiness. But as St. Bernard saith, What more foolish than to dwell in a house yet hardly begun? The debauched people of the world dwell in the dirty houses of their wicked lives, and cannot be gotten out of them. But the curse of God is upon both. The righteous dwell in God's mercy which covereth them from the anger of His justice. . . . The rich glutton may keep out Lazarus, but he keeps in God's curse.--Jermin.

Here are the gods--could the philosopher say of his poor habitation, meaning his heathenish household gods--whatever else is wanting to me. How much more may the saint say so of his God.--Trapp.

Verse 35. They shall be promoted, indeed, but their exaltation shall be like that of Haman, who was exalted when he was hung upon a gallows fifty cubits high.--Lawson.

This last contrast carries us forward to the coming day when all shall "discern" in the full delight of eternity (Mal. iii. 18). The wise--the heirs of glory--are identified with the lowly (verse 34)--the heirs of grace. Self-knowledge--the principle of lowliness--is the very substance of wisdom. Their inheritance also is one--grace and glory (Psa. lxxxiv. 11). For what higher glory can there be than the grace which hath redeemed a worm of the earth and made him a king and priest unto God?--Bridges.

Humility is both a grace and a vessel to receive grace.--Trapp.

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