CHAPTER II

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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