Holy Bible

Wisdom hath builded her house. Proverbs 9:1-6 Wisdom's invitation Gearge Smith, D. D The Bible is fully of mystery, not merely in its doctrines, but also in the manner and in the language by which the truths of revelation are brought before us. In the personification of this passage, Wisdom is seen sympathising with man, caring for man, loving man, diffusing abroad amongst men the benefits of harmony, and of purity, and of eternal life. I. THE PROVISION MADE BY HEAVENLY WISDOM FOR THE SPIRITUAL WANTS OF MEN. When Wisdom is here represented as having furnished her house, and built her dwelling, you have an idea, a correct conception of the Church of God. God is the builder of the Church, and the foundation is deep, broad, and wide, and altogether sufficient for the purposes of human salvation. Men are represented as living stones, quickened and animated, and hewn and fitted to occupy the position for which they are intended, cemented by Divine love, held in attraction to the foundation, and consequently held in relation to each other. In the passage the building is characterised by stability and durability. "Seven pillars." Pillars, in Scripture, are emblems of strength, beauty, and durability. The number seven is indicative of perfection. Every pillar, every buttress, every support that Christianity needs the wisdom of God has provided. In the passages is the further idea of a gracious and adequate provision. "She hath killed her killings." This is the idea of sacrifice. The idea of what is grateful and refreshing is likewise presented. "She hath mingled her wine." Easterns mingled their wines in order, by the power of spices, to make them more attractive, and to strengthen their flavour. Then the "table is furnished." Divine truth in its simplest and most complicated form — Divine truth that can guide, and purify, and train the spirit up for heaven — the truth that can make you free — the truth that can bless you with present happiness and eternal glory, is presented in the gospel. The provision of infinite love, then, is precisely adapted to your need. II. THE INVITATION PRESENTED TO MANKIND TO ACCEPT OF THIS PROVISION. 1. The parties employed to utter the invitation. When Wisdom, as the queen of heaven, spreads her table, she sends out her maidens. They are emblems of feebleness, purity, and attractiveness; and this is just the character of the messengers that were sent out by the Lord. 2. The persons to whom the invitation is directed. Here represented as being foolish, indiscreet, unwise, incompetent to guide their own affairs, incapable of obtaining that support and comfort which they need. Here is a correct idea of the ruined, the guilty, and the helpless condition of man. The gospel is preached to the ignorant, the guilty, and the wretched. 3. The scene of proclamation is described. It is made in the chief places of congress, at the opening of the gate, and the going in of the doors. This teaches us that the proclamation is to be made in the midst of large multitudes of people. III. THE CONSIDERATION BY WHICH THIS INVITATION IS ENFORCED AND PRESSED HOME UPON ATTENTION. There is not the mere announcement of provision, not the mere proclamation of the fact, but an entreaty on the part of those who go out with the messages. "Forsake the foolish and live." Life is valuable — all life is valuable. The life of religion, the life of God in the soul of man, is the highest form of life. There is an appeal in the text to the love of enjoyment. There is an appeal also to the love of wisdom. Have you obeyed the invitation? ( Gearge Smith, D. D ,) The rival banquets St. J. A. Frere, M.A. (with verses 13-18): — I. The RESEMBLANCES between them are set forth in a very striking manner. 1. It is the same class of men that is invited. They are in both cases "the simple," "the void of understanding." 2. The invitations are similar in — (1) Their universality; (2) their publicity (vers. 8 and 14); and (3) their urgency. Wisdom sends forth her messengers, and so, presumably, does Folly. II. But the DIFFERENCES are no less marked. 1. In the banquets themselves. Wisdom has built her grand, substantial palace or temple (ver. 1), in virtue of her share in creation ( Proverbs 8:30 ), and she has provided a satisfying, nourishing, and gladsome feast (ver. 2). Not so Folly. In consistency with her parasitic nature, it is not her own goods that she creates and prepares, but she invites to the abuse or illicit enjoyment of the goods God has already bestowed. Wisdom sits as a princess in her rightful home; Folly is hardly more than at the door of her house, which is not described. 2. In the inducements presented. These are not the feasts themselves, but additional commendations setting forth their relative advantages. In the one case satisfying and nourishing viands are offered, whose result is life; in the other, the thing presented is pleasure, and that which is to give it is only spoken of in a mysterious, allusive way. It is the illicit and secret enjoyment that is the charm. But if the Queen of Sheba declared that "the half had not been told her" of the true wisdom, how much of the truth is kept back in the promises and fair speeches of Folly! Those who are once within her house are to all intents and purposes dead men, and are as if they were already "in the depths of Sheol!" ( St. J. A. Frere, M.A. ) Wisdom's house S. Waller. I. WHAT PERSON IS ALLUDED TO BY THE DESIGNATION OF "WISDOM"? ( Proverbs 8:22-31 ). Here we have the eternity of Christ plainly set forth; His absolute Sovereignty saying, "By Me kings reign and princes decree justice." He also assures us of His love: "I love them that love Me, and those that seek Me early shall find Me." He also speaks of His extensive resources: "Riches and honour are with Me, yea durable riches and righteousness." II. THE HOUSE WHICH WISDOM HAS BUILT. 1. An indestructible house. He formed, in the counsels of eternity, by unerring wisdom, a plan which no finite mind could have ever suggested, and which can admit of no improvement. We are thankful for a good plan, when we reflect that the permanence of a building is often, in some measure at least, dependent upon it. This building rests on the securest foundation — the three persons in the ever-blessed Trinity, the perfections of God, and the all-sufficient righteousness of the incarnate One. It reposes, not on the yielding sand of human merit or mortal workmanship, but on the Rock of Ages, which time cannot crumble or change. Not only is the foundation quite safe and immovable, but the superstructure is equally strong. In fact, it is perfectly invincible. "She hath hewn her seven pillars." Pillars are used as the supports and ornaments of buildings, and the number seven is the symbol of perfection. We take the seven pillars to denote perfect strength and beauty. We next observe that Wisdom's house affords perfect security to its inhabitants. It is a fortress, a strong tower, a house of defence, a castle of safety, to those who enjoy the privilege of dwelling in it. 2. A house of instruction. It is emphatically the house of Wisdom. A school where the best lessons are taught, in the best possible mode of teaching, and by the best of all teachers. 3. A banqueting house (ver. 2). The Church of the living God is a banqueting-hall in which we have the gospel feast prepared and exhibited for all who have a spiritual appetite; and the invitation is freely and earnestly given to all, for there is plenty of room and an abundance of provisions. The entertainment is in reality a feast upon a sacrifice, and what is that sacrifice on which all who wish may feast but the sacrifice of Christ, "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world"? ( S. Waller. ) Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither. Proverbs 9:3, 4 The choice of wisdom A. Maclaren, D. D. Life is reduced to an alternative; there is clearly marked out for us all, at the beginning of our life, that all is one thing or the other, wisdom or folly. To these two voices, all the noise and tumult of life, and all the diverse voices in your own souls, may be reduced. They are all either the call of the wisdom of God, or they are the call of folly, sense, and sin. Let me counsel you, then — I. To CHOOSE. The curse of men — and of young people especially — is that they drift into passions and habits before they know where they are. But it is a low and discreditable thing for men, old or young, that they should be the creatures and sport of the mere circumstances around them. All your life should have in it the deliberation and the resolve of a calm, settled choice. Here is the manliness of manhood, that a man has a reason for what he does, and has a will in doing it. Be the masters and lords of the circumstances in which you stand. There are two courses in life. There are but two. The two are utterly irreconcilable and discordant. You cannot have them both. Then be men, and choose. II. CHOOSE WISDOM. 1. Look at these two personified claimants — Wisdom and Folly. Wisdom is closely connected with uprightness of heart. It is both an intellectual and a moral excellence. Wisdom has rectitude for an essential part of it, the fibre of its very being is righteousness and holiness. This wisdom is not only an attribute of the human soul. We rise to righteousness. If a man would be wise, it must be with a wisdom that was in God before it is in him. Our prayer should be, "In Thy wisdom make us wise." A further step has to be taken. Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. There, in that living person, is the highest embodiment of all wisdom. All which is not of God is the "foolish woman." All which does not inhere in Christ, and appeal to us through and from Him, is that clamorous and persistent voice which leads us all astray, if we listen to it. The world and sense — these are her grossest forms. But there are less offensive forms besetting us all. III. CHOOSE NOW. Wisdom appeals to conscience. Folly appeals only to the sense of pleasure and the desire for its gratification. Both ask for your decision now. There is a strange tendency to put off decision. But it is an awful risk for a man to run. Every day that you live makes it less likely that you will choose. Every day that you live makes it harder for you to choose aright. Every day that you live takes away some of the power of resolving, and takes away some motive to resolve. ( A. Maclaren, D. D. ) Come, eat of My bread. Proverbs 9:5 Wisdom's invitation J. R. Hibbard. I. THE INVITATION. He who invites is the Son of God — in the Proverbs represented as "Wisdom." Of His generous invitation we remark — 1. That its acceptance is open to every human being on the face of the earth. The God of the gospel is no respecter of persons. 2. This invitation is urged with affectionate earnestness. How are men to be "compelled"? Not by coercion or legal enactments — not by bribery or the civil power — but by the mercies of God, and the gentleness of Christ. 3. There is such a character in the invitations of the gospel as leaves those inexcusable who reject them. Some excuse themselves on the ground that a self-denial which is beyond them is required, others on the ground of previous engagements. Speculations, worldliness, even domestic relationships, are pleaded as excuses. II. INDUCEMENTS TO THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE INVITATION. What would be inducements to accept an invitation to a feast? 1. Rank of the person inviting. Who, then, is it invites to the feast of the gospel? 2. The guests whom you were to meet. This company is select. It is composed of the wise and the good of every name: all are on a level at the feast of salvation. 3. The occasion of the entertainment. This is intended to supply you with immortal food, and to feed you with the meat that endureth unto everlasting life. 4. The consequences that may result from a refusal. Refusing this, you risk the favour of God. ( J. R. Hibbard. ) The soul's diet F. Taylor, B.D. The verse, most of it, metaphorical, setting out Wisdom's instructions under the similitude of a feast, to which persons invited come and comfortably refresh themselves with meat and drink. I. THE SOUL'S DIET IS OF CHRIST'S PROVIDING. This was prefigured in the manna, and foreshadowed in the rock, that miraculously gave water to the people. 1. The Word is from Him which feeds the soul. 2. The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, whereby we are fed, was of His institution, yea, of His own administration the first time. 3. He hath authority from heaven to find diet for souls. 4. None but He can provide wholesome diet. II. MEN MUST COME WHERE CHRIST'S SPIRITUAL PROVISIONS ARE TO BE HAD. 1. We are invited to come, and it is discourtesy to refuse a friendly invitation. 2. We are commanded to come, and it is disobedience not to come. 3. The feast is prepared for us. 4. The benefits gotten by it may allure you to come for it. III. WE MUST MAKE USE OF WISDOM'S PROVISION AS WELL AS COME. Coming to a feast doth no good if men be sullen, and will not eat or drink. 1. Our profitable use of God's ordinances is required. 2. We are informed beforehand to what end we are invited. 3. The gift of this undeserved favour should make us ready to receive it. 4. No good will come to us by this spiritual food if we feed not on it. They who feed well get much good to their souls. ( F. Taylor, B.D. ) Wisdom's invitations T. De Witt Talmage. It seems to me as if this moment were throbbing with the invitations of an all-compassionate God. I have been told that the Cathedral of St. Mark's stands in a square in the centre of the city of Venice, and that when the clock strikes twelve at noon all the birds from the city and the regions round about the city fly to the square and settle down. It came in this wise: A large-hearted woman passing one noonday across the square saw some birds shivering in the cold, and she scattered some crumbs of bread among them, and so on from year to year until the day of her death. In her will she bequeathed a certain amount to keep up the same practice, and now, at the first stroke of the bell at noon, the birds begin to come here, and when the clock has struck twelve the square is covered with them. How beautifully suggestive! Christ comes out to feed thy soul to-day. The more hungry you feel yourselves to be, the better it is. It is noon, and the gospel clock strikes twelve. Come in flocks! Come as doves to the window! All the air is filled with the liquid chime: Come! come! come! ( T. De Witt Talmage. ) Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding. Proverbs 9:6 The foolish way forsaken The Christian Observer. True religion includes two particulars, called in Scripture ceasing to do evil, and learning to do well. I. WHAT ARE THE TWO WAYS MENTIONED IN OUR TEXT — namely, the way of the foolish and the way of understanding? 1. And with regard to the character of the foolish — whom and whose ways we are to forsake — how different is the estimate of the Word of God from the current opinions of mankind! The world usually account that man foolish who does not make the things of this life, in one or other of its aspects, the great object of his desires. The covetous man thinks him foolish who neglects the pursuit of riches, or is not skilful in obtaining them; the man of pleasure, him who does not endeavour to secure ease and amusement; the ambitious man, him who does not attain worldly honours. But, in the estimate of Scripture, though we had the worldly wisdom of each or all these classes of persons, and had not something infinitely above it, we should be numbered among the foolish. The rich man spoken of by our Lord, whose ground brought forth plentifully, was accounted a fool And why? Because he was laying up treasures for himself upon earth, and was not rich towards God; because he disregarded the great end and object of his being; because he made no preparation for death. In short, sin of every kind — irreligion, disobedience to God, and carelessness respecting our immortal interests — is called in Scripture foolishness. And can any folly be greater than sporting, as it were, upon the brink of eternity; calling down upon us the anger of our Almighty Creator; rejecting the means which He has provided for our pardon and reconciliation, or perverting the gospel of His mercy to our own destruction? 2. Such being the way of the foolish, we may easily infer what is the way of understanding. "Behold," said Job, "the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding." "The knowledge of the Holy," says Solomon, in the chapter from which our text is taken, "is understanding"; and "a good understanding," says the psalmist, "have all they who do His commandments." II. THE IMPORTANCE OF FORSAKING THE ONE AND GOING IN THE OTHER. "Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding." 1. And let us inquire why we must forsake the foolish, ungodly companions, ungodly practices, ungodly thoughts, ungodly books, everything that is ungodly. It might be sufficient to satisfy our reason to answer, that our Creator has commanded us to forsake them. But, in addition, He is pleased to appeal to our hopes and fears, by promises and threatenings. "Forsake the foolish, and live"; implying that the ways of the foolish are ways of death. Shall we not, then, forsake so dangerous a path, a path beset with thorns and snares. 2. But, in addition to the command to forsake the foolish, our text adds, "And go in the way of understanding." These two duties are indeed inseparable; for the first step out of the path of destruction is a step in the path of life; yet it is important that each should be particularly noticed, because we are too apt to content ourselves with a few feeble advances, a few superficial attainments in religion, as if the victory were complete when we are but girding on our armour for the warfare. It is not enough that we have learned that the ways of sin are ways of bitterness and folly; we must, in addition, learn what is the way of understanding: we must walk in the paths of righteousness. And infinitely important is it that we should go in this way of understanding; for by no other path can we arrive at the kingdom of heaven. The language of the text shows us that religion involves active and zealous exertion. There is one path to be forsaken, and another to be discovered and pursued. To forsake means more than careless indifference, or partial reformation, or a temporary suspension of our evil habits. It is a fixed and determined resolution. ( The Christian Observer. ) Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee. Proverbs 9:7-9 Reproof W. Arnot, D. D. How to give it, and how to take it. Reproofs are like sharp knives, very needful and very useful; but they should not be in the hands of children. Those who handle them rashly will wound themselves and their neighbours. Sometimes reproofs are unskilfully administered, and sometimes unfaithfully withheld. The scorner is the principal figure in the scene of the text. He is in a state of nature. He has no spiritual life or light. He is a blusterer. He is hollow-sounding brass. He magnifies himself. He laughs at the good and at goodness. Accustomed to exaggerate everything, he exaggerates even his own wickedness. He glories in his shame. If you reprove such a scorner, you will probably get to yourself shame. You have trampled on a snake, and it is his nature to spurt forth his venom on you. Your stroke has stirred up every motive within the scorner to redouble his blasphemy. If you could find the scorner alone, his courage would not be so great. Whisper softly into his ear your solemn reproof. Find a soft spot about him, or make one by deeds of kindness. H you gain a brother thus, it is a bloodless victory. The joy is of the purest kind that lies within our reach on earth. The second half of the lesson is, "Rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee." There is a double blessing; one to him who gets reproof, and one to him who gives it. It is the mark of wise man that he loves the reprover who tells him his fault. ( W. Arnot, D. D. ) Reproof David Thomas, D.D. I. AS INJURIOUSLY ADMINISTERED. A scorner is a man distinguished by self-ignorance, audacity, callousness, vanity, and irreverence. His grand aim is, by little sallies of wit and ridicule to raise the laugh against his superiors. To reprove these is injurious. It does them no service, but it brings pain to yourself. There are men beyond the reach of elevating influences, and it is worse than waste of labour to endeavour improving them. II. As USEFULLY ADMINISTERED. 1. By rebuking a wise man you enlist his affection. Every true man will feel grateful for wise counsels. 2. By instructing a wise man you render him a benefit. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser. ( David Thomas, D.D. ) Godly admonitions received by the wise H. G. Salter. Iron, which is one of the baser metals, may be hammered, and subjected to the most intense heat of the furnace; but though you may soften it for the time, you can never make it ductile like the precious metals. But gold, which is the most excellent of all, is the most pliant and easily wrought on, being capable of being drawn out to a degree which exceeds belief. So the most excellent tempers are the most easily wrought on by spiritual counsel and godly admonitions, but the viler sort, like the iron, are stubborn, and cannot be made pliant. ( H. G. Salter. ) The scorner left alone R. F. Horton, D.D. The invitation of Wisdom is addressed only to the simple, not to the scorner. She lets the scorner pass by, because a word to him would recoil only in shame on herself, bringing a blush to her queenly face, and would add to the scorner's wickedness by increasing his hatred of her. Her reproof would not benefit him, but it would bring a blot upon herself: it would exhibit her as ineffectual and helpless. The bitter words of a scorner can make wisdom appear foolish, and cover virtue with a confusion which should belong only to vice. "Speak not in the hearing of a fool; for he will despise the wisdom of thy words." Indeed, there is no character so hopeless as that of the scorner; there proceeds from him, as it were, a fierce blast, which blows away all the reproaches which goodness makes to him. Reproof cannot come near him; he cannot find wisdom, though he seek it; and as a matter of fact, he never seeks it. If one attempts to punish him, it can only be with the hope that others may benefit by the example; it will have no effect upon him. To be rid of him must be the desire of every wise man, for he is an abomination to all, and with his departure contention disappears. They that scoff at things holy, and scorn the Divine Power, must be left to themselves until the beginnings of wisdom appear in them — the first sense of fear that there is a God who may not be mocked, the first recognition that there is a sanctity which they would do well at all events to reverence. ( R. F. Horton, D.D. ) Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser. Proverbs 9:9 The wise man rendered wiser by instruction Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons. It is an infallible mark of true wisdom, to profit by instruction. I. TAKE A MORE ACCURATE VIEW OF THE WISE MAN; AND INQUIRE WHO IT IS THAT MAY BE TAKEN FOR SUCH. 1. He who proposes to himself some end in what he does, and pursues that end in a rational and dexterous manner. 2. A truly wise man is the same as a good man. 3. He who to his resolution to make the attainment of moral goodness the great object of his existence adds a fixed and unalterable determination to pursue this according to Divine direction. II. INSTRUCTION MAY BE GIVEN EVEN TO THE ADVANTAGE OF THE WISE. 1. No truly wise man will account it impossible to make accessions to his wisdom. 2. Every wise man, whatever be the nature of his wisdom, will wish it to be increased as much as possible. 3. Whenever instruction is given to him which is adapted to his character and circumstances he will account himself happy in having it, and will be the better for it. III. WHEN INSTRUCTION IS GIVEN TO A WISE MAN, HE WILL YET BE WISER. 1. He will endeavour to find out the motive of the person giving it. 2. He will consider the nature and tendency of the instruction or advise given. 3. He will pray that God may give him to see what is most valuable, and that He may influence his heart to profit by what is good. ( Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons. ) The wise are willing to learn from any one President Lincoln once said that he was willing to learn from any one who could teach him anything. Dore seems to have had a like spirit. Some years ago, a clever young Englishwoman — something more than an amateur artist — was brought one day by some friends to Dore's studio. Unlike most Englishwomen, this was a very impulsive and irrepressible young person; and she offered the frankest criticism of all the works around. The picture on which Dore was then engaged occupied her attention particularly; and not content with recommending various improvements, she suddenly caught the brush from the artist's hand, and saying coolly, "Don't you think, Mr. Dore, that a touch of this kind would be an improvement there?" she actually altered the artist's work with her own audacious fingers. Her friends were rather astonished, and one of them afterwards took occasion to apologise to him for her impulsiveness. Dore seemed only surprised to find that any apology or explanation should be considered necessary. He thought there was some justice in the suggestion thus practically made, and it seemed to him quite natural that one artist should help another. It did not seem to have occurred to him that there was anything presumptuous in the volunteer effort of the young beginner to lend a helping hand to one of the most celebrated and successful artists of the day. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Proverbs 9:10 A just conception of God Thomas Sherlock, D. D. There are two things which sincere religion can never fail of attaining, one of which is the greatest ingredient — nay, the very foundation of all happiness in this world, and the other is the happiness and immortality which wait for us in the world to come. The latter we can only enjoy now through faith and hope; but the former is present with us, the certain consequence and necessary attendant upon a mind truly virtuous and religious. I mean, the ease and satisfaction of mind which flow from a due sense of God and religion, and the uprightness of our desires and intentions to serve Him. I. A JUST CONCEPTION OF GOD, OF HIS EXCELLENCES AND PERFECTIONS, IS THE TRUE FOUNDATION OF RELIGION. Fear is not a voluntary passion. We cannot be afraid or not afraid of things just as we please. We fear any being in proportion to the power and will which we conceive that being to have either to hurt or to protect us. The different kinds of fear are no otherwise distinguishable from one another than by considering the different conceptions or ideas of the things feared. The fear of a tyrant and the fear of a father are very different passions; but he that knows not the difference between a tyrant and a father will never be able to distinguish these passions. A right and due fear of God presupposes a right and due conception of God. If men misconceive concerning God, either as to His holiness and purity, or to His justice and mercy, their fear of Him will not produce wisdom. The proposition of the text is equivalent to this — a just notion and conception of God is the beginning of wisdom. We experience in ourselves different kinds and degrees of fear, which have very different effects and operations. The fear of the Lord is not an abject, slavish fear; since God is no tyrant. The properties of religious fear, as mentioned in Scripture, are various. It is clean. It is to hate evil. It is a fountain of life. In it is strong confidence. The fear of God signifies that frame and affection of soul which is the consequence of a just notion and conception of the Deity. It is called the fear of God because, as majesty and power are the principal parts of the idea of God, so fear and reverence are the main ingredients in the affection that arises from it. It follows that none should be void of the fear of God, but those who only want right notions of God. II. THE JUST CONCEPTION OF GOD IS THE RIGHT RULE TO FORM OUR JUDGMENTS BY, IN ALL PARTICULAR MATTERS OF RELIGION. Wisdom here means true religion. There is religion which is folly and superstition, that better suits with any other name than that of wisdom. If the fear of God only in a general way shows us the necessity of religion, and leaves us to take our chance in the great variety of forms and institutions that are to be found in the world, it may be our hap to learn folly as well as wisdom, upon the instigation of this principle. But the fear of God further teaches us wherein true religion consists. In natural religion this is evidently the case, because in that state there is no pretence to any other rule that can come into competition with this. It is from the notion of a God that men come to have any sense of religion. When we consider God as lord and governor of the world, we soon perceive ourselves to be in subjection, and that we stand obliged, both in interest and duty, to pay obedience to the Supreme. Take from the notion of God any of the moral perfections that belong to it, and you will find such alteration must influence religion likewise, which will degenerate in the same proportion as the notion of God is corrupted. The superstitious man, viewing God through the false perspectives of fear and suspicion, loses sight of His goodness, and sees only a dreadful spectre made up of anger and revenge. Hence religion becomes his torment. That only is true religion which is agreeable to the nature of God. Natural religion is the foundation upon which revelation stands, and therefore revelation can never supersede natural religion without destroying itself. The difference between these two is this: in natural religion nothing can be admitted that may not be proved and deduced from our natural notions. Everything must be admitted for some reason. But revelation introduces a new reason, the will of God, which has, and ought to have, the authority of a law with us. As God has authority to make laws, He may add to our duty and obligations as He sees fit. It is not therefore necessary that all parts of a revelation should be proved by natural reason: it is sufficient that they do not contradict it; for the will of God is a sufficient reason for our submission. The essentials of religion, even under revelation, must be tried and judged by the same principle. No revelation can dispense with virtue and holiness. All such doctrines and all such rites and ceremonies as tend to subvert true goodness and holiness are not of God's teaching or introducing. The way to keep ourselves stedfastly in the purity of the gospel is to keep our eye constantly on this rule. Could enthusiasm, or destructive zeal, ever have grown out of the gospel had men compared their practices with the natural sense they have of God? Could religion ever have degenerated into folly and superstition had the true notions of God been preserved, and all religious actions been examined in the light of them? Some, taking religion to be what it appears to be, reject all religion. Could men have judged thus perversely had they attended to the true rule, and formed their notions of religion from the nature and wisdom of God, and not from the follies and extravagances of men? How can the folly and perverseness of others affect your duty to God? How came you absolved from all religion, because others have corrupted theirs? Does the error or ignorance of others destroy the relation between you and God, and make it reasonable for you to throw off all obedience? The fear of God will teach you another sort of wisdom. ( Thomas Sherlock, D. D. ) The fear of the Lord W. Moodie, D. D. I. THIS PRINCIPLE WILL PREPARE YOU FOR DISCHARGING IN AN ACCEPTABLE MANNER THE DUTIES WHICH YOU OWE MORE IMMEDIATELY TO YOUR MAKER. It is the fear of the Lord alone that can inspire and animate your devotions. The sense of His glorious presence will inspire a higher tone of adoration, will give a deeper humility to your confessions, and add a double fervour to your prayers. II. THIS PRINCIPLE WILL HAVE A MOST SALUTARY INFLUENCE ON THE WHOLE TENOR OF YOUR CONDUCT. The dictates of reason and conscience, considered as the commands of God, acquire thereby the force of a law; the authority of the lawgiver is respecte

Benson Commentary Proverbs 9:1 Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars: Proverbs 9:1 . Wisdom, &c. — Wisdom here, under a most splendid allegory, is represented “as a queen, sitting in her royal palace, and inviting mortals to a banquet, plentifully furnished with the richest dainties, that they may be fed with celestial delights for a blessed immortality. Various have been the endeavours of commentators to apply every circumstance in this description; but it has been well observed, that whoever would do so, will find themselves in a great error, and quite ignorant of the nature of parabolical writings; for parables may be compared to history paintings, which are intended to convey a general idea, which is to be gathered from the collective body of images, not from any particular figure; the minute circumstances are to be considered only as heightenings of the piece; but the conclusion or general maxim is to be drawn from the scope and assemblage of the whole:” see Schultens and Dodd. Hath builded her house — For the reception and entertainment of her guests; she hath hewn out her seven pillars — That is, many pillars, the number seven being put for any perfect number. Hereby the beauty and stability of the building are signified. Or, perhaps, it is to be understood of the erection of a portico, in which the banquet was to be prepared. This house is opposed to the harlot’s house, mentioned Proverbs 7:8 , and was considered by many of the ancient fathers, as it has also been by many modern commentators, as representing the church, which Christ, the Wisdom of the Father, hath erected and established in the world, which is termed God’s house, ( 1 Timothy 3:15 ; Hebrews 3:3-4 ,) in which the prophets, apostles, and ministers of religion are pillars, ( Galatians 2:9 ,) and in which a feast of fat things is provided for all that will partake of it: see Isaiah 25:6 , and especially the parables, Matthew 22:1-14 , and Luke 14:16-24 , which greatly illustrate this allegory of Solomon. Proverbs 9:2 She hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her wine; she hath also furnished her table. Proverbs 9:2 . She hath killed her beasts — That is, made provision for her guests: namely, instruction in things the most important, satisfying, improving, and consolatory truths, declarations, and promises; refreshing, cheering, and exhilarating discoveries and communications. If applied to the church of Christ, it signifies the ordinances and means of edification appointed therein, with the gifts, graces, and comforts, and the spiritual and eternal blessings which God hath prepared for his true people, and which he offers to all mankind, to be accepted in the way of repentance, faith, and new obedience. Reader, they are free for thee. She hath mingled her wine — With spices, to make it cheering, invigorating, and delightful, this mixed wine being represented as the best, Proverbs 23:29-30 ; or, with water, as they used to do in those hot countries, both for refreshment and wholesomeness: whereby may be intimated to us, that wisdom teaches us temperance in the use of our comforts. She hath also furnished her table — With all necessaries, and now waits for guests. Proverbs 9:3 She hath sent forth her maidens: she crieth upon the highest places of the city, Proverbs 9:3 . She hath sent forth her maidens — Her servants, to invite the guests, namely, the ministers of the word of God, whom he calls maidens, for the decency of the parable; for Wisdom being compared to a great princess, it was fit she should be attended on by maidens. She crieth upon the highest places — Upon the tops of the houses, (which were flat,) conformably to what our Lord says, Matthew 10:7 , What ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. Or, from such high seats and places as those from which judges delivered their sentences, and officers made proclamations for the convenience of the people’s better hearing. Proverbs 9:4 Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, Proverbs 9:4-6 . Whoso is simple — Ignorant, weak, and liable to be deceived, but willing to learn; let him turn in hither — For there is no man so ignorant but he is welcome to come and receive instruction. By this manner of speaking, Wisdom shows that she rejects those scholars who are proud and self-conceited. As for him that wanteth understanding — Hebrew, that wanteth a heart, which is put for understanding, Jeremiah 5:21 ; Hosea 7:11 , and elsewhere. She saith to him, Come, eat of my bread — Partake of the provision which I have made; my nourishing and strengthening instructions; and drink of the wine which I have mingled — Receive my refreshing and invigorating comforts. Forsake the foolish — The ignorant and wicked; shun their company and their practices; converse not with them; conform not to their ways; have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, or with those that do such works. The first step toward virtue is to shun vice, and therefore to avoid the company of the vicious. And live — Arise from the dead and live indeed; not a mere animal life, such as brutes live, but now at length live the life of men, the life of Christians. Live a spiritual life, in union with God, and you shall live an eternal life in the enjoyment of him. And go in the way of understanding — Govern thyself by the rules of religion and right reason. It is not enough to forsake the foolish, but we must unite ourselves with those that walk in wisdom, and walk in the same spirit, and the same steps. Proverbs 9:5 Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled. Proverbs 9:6 Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding. Proverbs 9:7 He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame: and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot. Proverbs 9:7 . He that reproveth a scorner — “This and the following verse supply us with a reason for the conduct of wisdom, in addressing herself only to the simple. She invites not the pretendedly wise, those who think they are ignorant of nothing; to invite them to the feast of wisdom, would be to expose herself to their insults and censures. They would receive the invitation with disdain; they would despise the lessons of wisdom; they would reject with disgust her wine and her viands. The scorners admirably represent the genius of libertines and professed infidels.” — Dodd. But Solomon may also be considered as showing us, in these verses, whom he meant by the foolish, Proverbs 9:6 , even scorners and wicked men; and here he presses the advice last given of forsaking them, because there was no good, but hurt, to be got from them. He that reproves such a one, he says, getteth to himself shame — Namely, both from the scorner himself, who will revile and deride him; and from others, because he is frustrated in his design and hope, and hath, by his imprudence, brought an inconvenience upon himself. He that rebuketh a wicked man — A man wilfully, obstinately, and determinedly wicked; getteth himself a blot — Censure or reproach. Instead, probably, of convincing or reforming such a one by his reproofs, he will find himself accused of the same, or of similar iniquities, by the person whom he endeavours to amend. “A scorner,” says Lord Bacon, “only makes us lose our labour, but a wicked man (that is, one obstinately wicked) repays us with a stain of dishonour; when a man instructs a scorner, his time, indeed, which he thus employs, is thrown away, and others deride his pains as a labour ill placed; and the scorner himself also despises the knowledge which he is taught; thus a man is put to shame. But the matter is transacted with greater danger in the reprehension of the other; because he not only gives no ear to the advice, but turns his head against his reprehender, now made odious to him; whom he either wounds presently with contumelies before his face, or traduces afterward to others behind his back.” — Advancement of Learning, 50. 8. chap. 2. par. 9. Proverbs 9:8 Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. Proverbs 9:8-9 . Reprove not a scorner — An incorrigible sinner, who despises and scornfully rejects the means of amendment. Thus physicians deny physic to persons in a desperate condition; lest he hate thee — Whereby thou wilt not only expose thyself, without necessity, to his malice and rage, but also make thyself utterly incapable of doing that good, which, possibly, thou mightest do by other more prudent and proper means. Rebuke a wise man — Who is opposed to the scorner, to intimate that scorners, however they are thought by themselves or others to be witty or wise, yet, in God’s account, and in truth, are fools; and he will love thee — Both for that faithfulness and charity which he perceives in thee, and for that benefit which he receives from thee. Give instruction to a wise man — In the Hebrew it is only give; for, as receiving is put for learning, ( Proverbs 1:3 ,) so giving is put for teaching. And he will be yet wiser — This is an undoubted maxim, that a man disposed to learn, who and has already hearkened to the instructions of wisdom, will grow wiser by reprehension; and the advice given to a just, or righteous man, one truly desirous of knowing and practising his duty, will make him yet better, and much improve him in every branch of piety and virtue. Proverbs 9:9 Give instruction to a wise man , and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man , and he will increase in learning. Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. Proverbs 9:10-12 . The fear of the Lord, &c. — The very first, and, indeed, the principal thing which is to be instilled into all men’s minds, (without which they will make no progress in true wisdom,) is a serious sense of the Divine Majesty, and an awful regard toward him. And next, that no knowledge deserves the name of understanding but that which disposes us to devote ourselves, in holy obedience, to God; or the knowledge and practice of true religion, and the duties of it: see notes on Job 28:28 ; Psalm 111:10 ; Proverbs 1:7 . If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself — Thou dost not profit me, but thyself by thy wisdom. I advise thee for thine own good. But if thou scornest — If thou despisest and deridest the advice which I give thee, thou alone shalt bear it — The blame and mischief of it will fall wholly upon thee, not upon me, or my word, or ministers, who have warned thee. Proverbs 9:11 For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased. Proverbs 9:12 If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it . Proverbs 9:13 A foolish woman is clamorous: she is simple, and knoweth nothing. Proverbs 9:13 . A foolish woman, &c. — “Here we have another allegorical picture, describing folly under the person of a harlot, who fascinates with her enticements, and offers also her dainties to her guests; but dainties tainted with the most subtle poison.” The Hebrew, ???? ?????? , is literally, the woman of folly, or folly herself compared to a woman, and bearing the character of a harlot. This is opposed to that wisdom of which he has been so long discoursing, and so may include all wickedness, whether in principle or practice. Is clamorous — Speaks loudly that she may be heard, and vehemently that persons may be moved by her persuasions. She is simple, and knoweth nothing — Namely, aright; nothing that is good, nothing for her good, though she be subtle in little artifices for her own wicked ends. Proverbs 9:14 For she sitteth at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city, Proverbs 9:14-15 . She sitteth at the door of her house — Which denotes her idleness and impudence, and her diligence in watching for occasions of sin. To call passengers — Who were going innocently and directly about their own business, without any unchaste design. Proverbs 9:15 To call passengers who go right on their ways: Proverbs 9:16 Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, Proverbs 9:16-18 . Whoso is simple — Which title is not given to them by her; for such a reproach would not have allured them, but driven them away; but by Solomon, who represents the matter of her invitation in his own words, that he might discover the truth of it, and thereby dissuade and deter those whom she invited. Stolen waters are sweet — A proverbial expression for unlawful pleasures, which are said to be sweet, partly from the difficulty of obtaining them, and partly because the very prohibition renders them more agreeable to man’s corrupt nature. But he knoweth not — He doth not consider it seriously, (whereby he proves his folly,) that the dead are there — The dead in sin, the spiritually dead, and those who are in the high road to be eternally dead. In other words, she invites him to his utter ruin, both of soul and body: for her guests are in the depths of hell — She sinks all those who accept of her invitation down to the very bottom of that pit from whence there is no redemption. “One of the profitable lessons to be learned from this chapter is, that there is nothing more inconsistent with wisdom than the service of those impure lusts which have been the ruin of all those who have been led by them; and therefore with this the wise man concludes his preface to the book of Proverbs, again repeating, Proverbs 9:10 , that first principle on which all religion is built, and wherewith he began this preface, that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Indeed there is no true wisdom but religion.” Proverbs 9:17 Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. Proverbs 9:18 But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell. 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Expositor's Bible Commentary Proverbs 9:1 Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars: CHAPTER 10 TWO VOICES IN THE HIGH PLACES OF THE CITY Proverbs 9:1-18 , Proverbs 20:14 with Proberbs 3, and Proverbs 20:16 with Proverbs 4:1-27 AFTER the lengthened contrast between the vicious woman and Wisdom in chapters 7 and 8, the introduction of the book closes with a little picture which is intended to repeat and sum up all that has gone before. It is a peroration, simple, graphic, and beautiful. There is a kind of competition between Wisdom and Folly, between Righteousness and Sin, between Virtue and Vice; and the allurements of the two are disposed in an intentional parallelism; the coloring and arrangement are of such a kind that it becomes incredible how any sensible person, or for that matter even the simple himself, could for a moment hesitate between the noble form of Wisdom and the meretricious attractions of Folly. The two voices are heard in the high places of the city; each of them invites the passers-by, especially the simple and unsophisticated-the one into her fair palace, the other into her foul and deadly house. The words of their invitation are very similar: "Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: as for him that is void of understanding, she saith to him:" but how different is the burden of the two messages! Wisdom offers life, but is silent about enjoyment; Folly offers enjoyment, but says nothing of the death which must surely ensue. First of all we will give our attention to the Palace of Wisdom and the voices which issue from it, and then we will note for the last time the features and the arts of Mistress Folly. The Palace of Wisdom is very attractive; well-built and well furnished, it rings with the sounds of hospitality; and, with its open colonnades, it seems of itself to invite all passers-by to enter in as guests. It is reared upon seven well-hewn marble pillars, in a quadrangular form, With the entrance side left wide open. This is no shifting tent or tottering hut, but an eternal mansion, that lacks nothing of stability, or completeness, or beauty. Through the spacious doorways may be seen the great courtyard, in which appear the preparations for a perpetual feast. The beasts are killed and dressed: the wine stands in tall flagons ready mixed for drinking: the tables are spread and decked. All is open, generous, large, a contrast to that unhallowed private supper to which the unwary youth was invited by his seducer. { Proverbs 7:14 } There are no secret chambers, no twilight suggestions and insinuations: the broad light shines over all; there is a promise of social joy; it seems that they will be blessed who sit down together at this board. And now the beautiful owner of the palace has sent forth her maidens into the public ways of the city: theirs is a gracious errand; they are not to chide with sour and censorious rebukes, but they are to invite with winning friendliness; they are to offer this rare repast, which is now ready, to all those who are willing to acknowledge their need of it. "Come, eat ye of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled." { Proverbs 9:5 } We were led to inquire in the last chapter how far our Lord identified Himself with the hypostatic Wisdom who was speaking there, and we were left in some doubt whether He ever consciously admitted the identity; but it is hardly a matter of doubt that this passage was before His mind when He spoke His parable of the Wedding Feast. And the connection is still more apparent when we look at the Greek version of the LXX, and notice that the clause "sent forth her bond-servants" is precisely the same in Proverbs 9:3 and in Matthew 22:3 . Here, at any rate, Jesus, who describes Himself as "a certain king," quite definitely occupies the place of the ancient Wisdom in the book of Proverbs, and the language which in this passage she employs He, as we shall see, in many slight particulars made His own. Yes, our Lord, the Wisdom Incarnate, has glorious ideas of hospitality; He keeps open house; His purpose is to call mankind to a great feast; the "bread and the wine" are prepared; the sacrifice which furnishes the meat is slain. His messengers are not commissioned with a mournful or a condemnatory proclamation, but with good tidings which they are to publish in the high places. His word is always, Come. His desire is that men should live, and therefore He calls them into the way of understanding. { Proverbs 9:6 } If a man lacks wisdom, if he recognizes his ignorance, his frailty, his folly, if he is at any rate wise enough to know that he is foolish, well enough to know that he is sick, righteous enough to know that he is sinful, let him approach this noble mansion with its lordly feast. Here is bread which is meat indeed; here is wine which is life-giving, the fruit of the Vine which God has planted. But now we are to note that the invitation of Wisdom is addressed only to the simple, not to the scorner. { Proverbs 9:7 } She lets the scorner pass by, because a word to him would recoil only in shame on herself, bringing a blush to her queenly face, and would add to the scorner’s wickedness by increasing his hatred of her. Her reproof would not benefit him, but it would bring a blot upon herself, it would exhibit her as ineffectual and helpless. The bitter words of a scorner can make wisdom appear foolish, and cover virtue with a confusion which should belong only to vice. "Speak not in the hearing of a fool; for he will despise the wisdom of thy words." { Proverbs 23:9 } Indeed, there is no character so hopeless as that of the scorner; there proceeds from him, as it were, a fierce blast, which blows away all the approaches which goodness makes to him. Reproof cannot come near him; { Proverbs 13:1 } he cannot find wisdom, though he seek it; { Proverbs 14:6 } and as a matter of fact, he never seeks it. { Proverbs 15:12 } If one attempts to punish him it can only be with the hope that others may benefit by the example; it will have no effect upon him. { Proverbs 19:25 } To be rid of him must be the desire of every wise man, for he is an abomination to all, { Proverbs 24:9 } and with his departure contention disappears. { Proverbs 22:10 } They that scoff at things holy, and scorn the Divine Power, must be left to themselves until the beginnings of wisdom appear in them-the first sense of fear that there is a God who may not be mocked, the first recognition that there is a sanctity which they would do well at all events to reverence. There must be a little wisdom in the heart before a man can enter the Palace of Wisdom; there must be a humbling, a self-mistrust, a diffident misgiving before the scorner will give heed to her invitation. There is an echo of this solemn truth in more than one saying of the Lord’s. He too cautioned His disciples against casting their pearls before swine, lest they should trample the pearls under their feet, and turn to rend those who were foolish enough to offer them such treasure. { Matthew 7:6 } Men must often be taught in the stern school of Experience, before they can matriculate in the reasonable college of Wisdom. It is not good to give that which is holy to dogs, nor to display the sanctities of religion to those who will only put them to an open shame. Where we follow our own way instead of the Lord’s, and insist on offering the treasures of the kingdom to the scorners, we are not acting according to the dictates of Wisdom, we get a blot for that goodness which we so rashly offer, and often are needlessly rent by those whom we meant to save. It is evident that this is only one side of a truth, and our Lord presented with equal fullness the other side; it was from Him we learnt how the scorner himself, who cannot be won by reproof, can sometimes be won by love; but our Lord thought it worthwhile to state this side of the truth, and so far to make this utterance of the ancient Wisdom His own. Again, how constantly He insisted on the mysterious fact that to him that hath shall be given, and from him that hath not shall be taken what he hath, precisely in the spirit of this saying: "Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning." The entrance into the kingdom, as into the house of Wisdom, is by humility. Except a man turn, and become as a little child, he cannot enter. Wisdom is only justified of her children: until the heart is humble it cannot even begin to be wise; although it may seem to possess a great deal, all must be taken away, and a new beginning must be made-that beginning which is found in the fear of the Lord, and in the knowledge of the Holy. { Proverbs 9:10 } The closing words in the invitation of Wisdom are entirely appropriate in the lips of Jesus, and, indeed, only in His lips could they be accepted in their fullest signification. There is a limited sense in which all wisdom is favorable to long life, as we saw in chapter 3, but it is an obvious remark, too, that the wise perish even as the fool; one event happens to them both, and there appears to be no difference. But the Incarnate Wisdom, Jesus Christ, was able to say with a broad literalness, "By Me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased." With Him the outlook widened; He could speak of a new life, of raising men up at the last day; He could for the first time give a solution to that constant enigma which has puzzled men from the beginning, How is it that Wisdom promises life, and yet often requires that her children should die? How is it that the best and wisest have often chosen death, and so to all appearance have robbed the world of their goodness and their wisdom? He could give the answer in the glorious truth of the Resurrection; and so, in calling men to die for Him, as He often does, He can in the very moment of their death say to them with a fullness of meaning, "By Me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased." And then how entirely is it in harmony with all His teaching to emphasize to the utmost the individual choice and the individual responsibility. "If thou art wise, thou art wise for thyself: and if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it." There can be no progress, indeed no beginning, in the spiritual life, until this attitude of personal isolation is understood. It is the last result of true religion that we live in others; but it is the first that we live in ourselves: and until we have learnt to live in ourselves we can be of no use by living in others. Until the individual soul is dealt with, until.it has understood the demands which are made upon it, and met them, it is in no position to take its rightful place as a lively stone in the temple of God, or as a living member in the body of Christ. Yes, realize this searching assurance of Wisdom, let us say, rather, of Christ: if you are like the wise virgins in the parable, it is for your own everlasting good, you shall enter into the hall with the Bridegroom; but if you are like the foolish virgins, no wisdom of the wise can avail you, no vicarious light will serve for your lamps; for you there must be the personal humiliation and sorrow of the Lord’s "I know you not." If with scornful indifference to your high trust as a servant of the Master you hide your talent, and justify your conduct to yourself by pleading that the Master is a hard man, that scorn must recoil upon your own head; so far from the enlarged wealth of the others coming to meet your deficiencies, the misused trifle which you still retain will be taken from you and given to them. Men have sometimes favored the notion that it is possible to spend a life of scornful indifference to God and all His holy commandments, a life of arrogant self-seeking and bitter contempt for all His other creatures, and yet to find oneself at the end entirely purged of one’s contempt, and on precisely equal terms with all pious and humble hearts; but against this notion Wisdom loudly exclaims; it is the notion of Folly, and so far from redeeming the folly, it is Folly’s worst condemnation: for surely Conscience and Reason, the heart and the head, might tell us that it is false; and all that is sanest and wisest in us concurs in the direct and simple assurance, "If thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it." Such is the invitation, and such the warning of Wisdom; such is the invitation, and such the warning, of Christ. Leave off, ye simple ones, and live. After all, most of us are not scorners, but only very foolish, easily dazzled with false lights, easily misled with smooth utterances which happen to chime in with our own ignorant prejudices, easily seduced into by-paths which in quiet moments we readily acknowledge to be sinful and hurtful. The scorners are but a few; the simple ones are many. Here is this gracious voice appealing to the simple ones, and with a winsome liberality inviting them to the feast of Wisdom. At the close of verse 12 ( Proverbs 9:12 ) the LXX give a very interesting addition, which was probably translated from a Hebrew original. It seems to have been before our Lord’s mind when He drew the description of the unclean spirit walking through waterless places, seeking rest and finding none. { Matthew 12:43 } The passage is a figurative delineation of the evils which result from making shams and insincerities the support of life, in place of the unfailing sureness and available strength of wisdom; it may be rendered thus: "He who makes falsehood his support shepherds the winds, and will find himself pursuing birds on the wing; for it means leaving the paths of his own vineyard, and wandering over the borders of his own husbandry; it means walking through a waterless wilderness, over land which is the portion of the thirsty; he gathers in his hands fruitlessness." What a contrast to the spacious halls and the bountiful fare of Wisdom! A life based upon everlasting verities may seem for the time cold and desolate, but it is founded upon a rock, and not a barren rock either, for it sends forth in due course corn, and wine, and oil. The children in that house have bread enough and to spare. But when a man prefers make-believe to reality, and follows the apparently pleasant, instead of the actually good, what a clutching of winds it is! What a chase after swift-vanishing birds of joy! The wholesome ways, fruitful, responsive to toil, are left far behind; and here soon is the actual desert, without a drop of water to cool the lips, or a single fruit of the earth which a man can eat. The deluded soul consumes his substance with harlots, and he gathers the wind. The ways of vice are terrible; they produce a thirst which they cannot quench; and they fill the imagination with torturing images of well-being which are farther removed from reality by every step we take. Wisdom bids us to make truth our stay, for after all the Truth is the Way and the Life, and there is no other way, no other life. And now comes the brief closing picture of Folly, to which again the LXX give a short addition. Folly is loud, empty-headed as her victims, whom she invites to herself, not as Wisdom invites them, to leave off their simplicity, but rather as like to like, that their ignorance may be confirmed into vice, and their simplicity into brutishness. She has had the effrontery to build her house in the most prominent and lofty place of the city, where by good rights only Wisdom should dwell. Her allurements are specially directed to those who seem to be going right on in their wholesome ways, as if she found her chief delight, not in gratifying the vicious, but in making vicious the innocent. Her charms are: poor and tawdry enough; seen in the broad sun-light, and with the wholesome air all round her, she would be revolting to every uncorrupted nature; her clamorous voice would sound strident, and her shameless brow would create a blush of shame in others; she naturally therefore seeks to throw a veil over herself and a glamour over her proposals; she suggests that secrecy and illicitness will lend a charm to what in itself is a sorry delight. It is clandestine, therefore it is to be sweet; it is forbidden, therefore it is to be pleasant. Could anything be more sophistical? That which owes its attraction to the shadows of the night must obviously be intrinsically unattractive. It is an argument fit only for the shades of the lost, and not for those who breathe the sweet air and behold the sun. Her house is indeed haunted with ghosts, and when a man enters her portal he already has his foot in hell. Well may the LXX add the vehement warning, "Spring away from her clutches; do not linger in the place; let her not have thy name, for thou wilt traverse another’s waters; from another’s waters hold aloof, from another’s fountains do not drink, in order that thou mayest live long, and add to thy years of life." And now, before leaving this subject, we must briefly remark the great change and advance which Christ has brought into our thought of the relation between the two sexes. This Book of Wisdom is a fair illustration of the contempt in which woman was held by the wise men of Israel. One would suppose that she is the temptress, and man is the victim. The teacher never dreams of going a step backward, and asking whose fault it was that the temptress fell into her vicious ways. He takes no note of the fact that women are first led astray before they lead others. Nor does he care to inquire how the men of his day ruined their women by refusing to them all mental training, all wholesome interest and occupation, shutting them up in the corrupting atmosphere of the seraglio, and teaching them to regard the domestic sphere, and that only in its narrowest sense, as the proper limit of their thought and affection. It was reserved for the Great Teacher, the Incarnate Wisdom Himself, to redress this age-long injustice to woman, by sternly holding up to men the mirror of truth in which they might see their own guilty hearts. It was reserved for him to touch the conscience of a city woman who was a sinner, and to bring her from her clamorous and seductive ways to the sweetness of penitential tears, and the rapturous love which forgiveness kindles. It is He, and not the ancient Wisdom, who has turned the current of men’s thoughts into juster and kindlier ways on this great question. And thus it is that the great Christian poet represents the archangel correcting the faulty judgment of man. Adam, speaking with the usual virtuous indignation of the stronger sex in contemplation of the soft vision of frail women presented to his eyes, says:- "O pity and shame, that they, who to live well Entered so fair, should turn aside to tread Paths indirect, or in the midway faint! But still I see the tenor of man’s woe Holds on the same, from woman to begin." The correction is the correction of Christ, though Michael is the speaker:- "From man’s effeminate slackness it begins," Said the angel, "who should better hold his place, By wisdom and superior gifts received." Our Lord draws no such pictures as these in the book of proverbs; they have their value; it is necessary to warn young men against the seductions which the vices of other men have created in woman’s form; but He prefers always to go to the root of the matter; He speaks to men themselves; He bids them restrain the wandering eye, and keep pure the fountains of the heart. To that censorious Wisdom which judges without any perception that woman is more sinned against than sinning He would oppose His severe command to be rid of the beam in one’s own eye, before making an attempt to remove the mote from another’s. It is in this way that He in so many varied fields of thought and action has turned a half-truth into a whole truth by going a little deeper, and unveiling the secrets of the heart; and in this way He has enabled us to use the half-truth, setting it in its right relation to the whole. Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. 33 CHAPTER 2 THE BEGINNING OF WISDOM "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge."- Proverbs 1:7 "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."- Proverbs 9:10 "To fear the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and it was created with the faithful in the womb"- Sir 1:14 ; also Psalm 111:10 THE book of Proverbs belongs to a group of works in the Hebrew literature the subject of which is Wisdom. It is probably the earliest of them all, and may be regarded as the stem, of which they are the branches. Without attempting to determine the relative ages of these compositions, the ordinary reader can see the points of contact between Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, and a little careful study reveals that the book of Job, though fuller, and richer in every respect, belongs to the same order. Outside the canon of Holy Scripture we possess two works which avowedly owe their suggestion and inspiration to our book, viz., "The Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach," commonly called Ecclesiasticus, a genuinely Hebrew product, and "The Wisdom of Solomon," commonly called the Book of Wisdom, of much later origin, and exhibiting that fusion of Hebrew religious conceptions with Greek speculation which prevailed in the Jewish schools of Alexandria. Now, the question at once occurs, What are we to understand by the Wisdom which gives a subject and a title to this extensive field of literature? and in what relation does it stand to the Law and the Prophets, which form the great bulk of the Old Testament Scriptures? Broadly speaking, the Wisdom of the Hebrews covers the whole domain of what we should call Science and Philosophy. It is the consistent effort of the human mind to know, to understand, and to explain all that exists. It is, to use the modern phrase, the search for truth. The "wise men" were not, like Moses and the Prophets, inspired legislators and heralds of God’s immediate messages to mankind; but rather, like the wise men among the earlier Greeks, Thales, Solon, Anaximenes, or like the Sophists among the later Greeks, Socrates and his successors, they brought all their faculties to bear in observing the facts of the world and of life, and in seeking to interpret them, and then in the public streets or in appointed schools endeavored to communicate their knowledge to the young. Nothing was too high for their inquiry: "That which is far off, and exceeding deep; who can find it out?" { Ecclesiastes 7:24 } yet they tried to discover and to explain that which is. Nothing was too lowly for their attention; wisdom "reaches from one end to another mightily, and sweetly orders all things." {RAPC Wis 8:1 } Their purpose finds expression in the words of Ecclesiastes, "I turned about, and my heart was set to know and to search out, and to seek wisdom and the reason of things." { Ecclesiastes 7:25 } But by Wisdom is meant not merely the search, but also the discovery; not merely a desire to know, but also a certain body of conceptions ascertained and sufficiently formulated. To the Hebrew mind it would have seemed meaningless to assert that Agnosticism was wisdom. It was saved from this paradoxical conclusion by its firmly rooted faith in God. Mystery might hang over the details, but one thing was plain: the whole universe was an intelligent plan of God; the mind might be baffled in understanding His ways, but all that existence is of His choosing and His ordering was taken as the axiom with which all thought must start. Thus there is a unity in the Hebrew Wisdom; the unity is found in the thought of the Creator; all the facts of the physical world, all the problems of human life, are referred to His mind; objective Wisdom is God’s Being, which includes in its circle everything; and subjective wisdom, wisdom in the human mind, consists in becoming acquainted with His Being and all that is contained in it, and meanwhile in constantly admitting that He is, and yielding to Him the rightful place in our thought. But while Wisdom embraces in her wide survey all things in heaven and in earth, there is one part of the vast field which makes a special demand upon human interest. The proper study of mankind is man. Very naturally the earliest subject to occupy human thought was human life, human conduct, human society. Or, to say the same thing in the language of this book, while Wisdom was occupied with the whole creation, she specially rejoiced in the habitable earth, and her delight was with the sons of men. Theoretically embracing all subjects of human knowledge and reflection, the Wisdom of the Hebrew literature practically touches but little on what we should now call Science, and even where attention was turned to the facts and laws of the material world, it was mainly in order to borrow similitudes or illustrations for moral and religious purposes. King Solomon "spake of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes." { 1 Kings 4:33 } But the Proverbs which have actually come down to us under his name refer almost exclusively to principles of conduct or observation of life, and seldom remind us of the earth, the sea, and the sky, except as the dwelling-place of men, the house covered with paintings for his delight or filled with imagery for his instruction. But there is a further distinction to be drawn, and in attempting to make it plain we may determine the place of the Proverbs in the general scheme of the inspired writings. Human life is a sufficiently large theme; it includes not only social and political questions, but the searchings and speculations of philosophy, the truths and revelations of religion. From one point of view, therefore, wisdom may be said to embrace the Law and the Prophets, and in a beautiful passage of Ecclesiasticus the whole covenant of Jehovah with Israel is treated as an emanation of wisdom from the mouth of the Most High. Wisdom was the inspiration of those who shaped the law and built the Holy House, of those who ministered in the courts of the Temple, and of those who were moved by the Holy One to chide the faults of the people, to call them to repentance, to denounce the doom of their sin, and proclaim the glad promise of deliverance. Again, from this large point of view Wisdom could be regarded as the Divine Philosophy, the system of thought and the body of beliefs which would furnish the explanation of life, and would root all the decisions of ethics in eternal principles of truth. And this function of Wisdom is presented with singular beauty and power in the eighth chapter of our book, where, as we shall see, the mouth of Wisdom shows that her concern with men is derived from her relation with the Creator and from her comprehension of His great architectural design in the construction of the world. Now, the wisdom which finds expression in the bulk of the Proverbs must be clearly distinguished from wisdom in this exalted sense. It is not the wisdom of the Law and the Prophets; it moves in a much lower plane. It is not the wisdom of chapter 8, a philosophy which harmonizes human life with the laws of nature by constantly connecting both with God. The wisdom of the Proverbs differs from the wisdom of the Prophets in this, that it is derived not directly, but immediately from God. No special mind is directed to shape these sayings; they grow up in the common mind of the people, and they derive their inspiration from those general qualities which made the whole nation in the midst of which they had their birth an inspired nation, and gave to all the literature of the nation a peculiar and inimitable tone. The wisdom of the Proverbs differs, too, from the wisdom of these introductory chapters in much the same way; it is a difference which might be expressed by a familiar use of words; it is a distinction between Philosophy and Proverbial Philosophy, a distinction, let us say, between Divine Philosophy and Proverbial Philosophy. The Proverbs are often shrewd, often edifying, sometimes almost evangelical in their sharp ethical insight; but we shall constantly be reminded that they do not come with the overbearing authority of the prophetic "Thus saith the Lord." And still more shall we be reminded how far they lag behind the standard of life and the principles of conduct which are presented to us in Christ Jesus. What has just been said seems to be a necessary preliminary to the study of the Proverbs, and it is only by bearing it in mind that we shall be able to appreciate the difference in tone between the nine introductory chapters and the main body of the book; nor should we venture, perhaps, apart from the consideration which has been urged, to exercise our critical sense in the study of particular sayings, and to insist at all points on bringing the teaching of the wise men of old to the standard and test of Him who is Himself made unto us Wisdom. But now to turn to our text. We must think of wisdom in the largest possible sense, as including not only ethics, but philosophy, and not only philosophy, but religion; yes, and as embracing in her vast survey the whole field of natural science, when it is said that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; we must think of knowledge in its fullest and-most liberal extent when we read that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. In this pregnant truth we may distinguish three ideas: first, fear, or, as we should probably say, reverence, is the pre-requisite of all scientific, philosophical, or religious truth; second, no real knowledge or wisdom can be attained which does not start with the recognition of God; and then, thirdly, the expression is not only "the fear of God," which might refer only to the Being that is presupposed in any intelligent explanation of phenomena but the "fear of the Lord," i.e., of Javeh, the self-existent One, who has revealed Himself in a special way to men as "I AM WHAT I AM"; and it is therefore hinted that no satisfactory philosophy of human life and history can be constructed which does not build upon the fact of revelation. We may proceed to dwell upon these three thoughts in order. 1. Most religious people are willing to admit that "the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death." { Proverbs 14:27 } But what is not always observed is that the same attitude is necessary in the intellectual sphere. And yet the truth may be illustrated in a quarter which to some of us may be surprising. It is a notable fact that Modern Science had its origin in two deeply religious minds. Bacon and Descartes were both stirred to their investigation of physical facts by their belief in the Divine Being who was behind them. To mention only our great English thinker, Bacon’s " Novum Organum " is the most reverent of works, and no one ever realized more keenly than he that, as Coleridge used to say, "there is no chance of truth at the goal where there is not a childlike humility at the starting-point." It is sometimes said that this note of reverence is wanting in the great scientific investigators of our day. So far as this is true, it is probable that their conclusions will be vitiated, and we are often impressed by the feeling that the unmannerly self-assertion and overweening self-confidence of many scientific writers augur ill for the truth of their assertions. But, on the other hand, it must be remembered that the greatest men of science in our own, as in all other ages, are distinguished by a singular simplicity, and by a reverence which communicates itself to their readers. What could be more reverent than Darwin’s way of studying the coral-insect or the earthworm? He bestowed on these humble creatures of the ocean and of the earth the most patient and loving observation. And his success in understanding and explaining them was in proportion to the respect which he showed to them. The coral-diver has no reverence for the insect; he is bent only on gain, and he consequently can tell us nothing of the coral reef and its growth. The gardener has no reverence for the worm; he cuts it ruthlessly with his spade, and flings it carelessly aside; accordingly he is not able to tell us of its lowly ministries and of the part it plays in the fertilization of the soil. It was Darwin’s reverence which proved to be the beginning of knowledge in these departments of investigation; and if it was only the reverence of the naturalist, the truth is illustrated all the better, for hi