Teks -- Proverbs 9:1-18 (NET)

The Consequences of Accepting Wisdom or Folly

9:1 Wisdom has built her house; she has carved out its seven pillars. 9:2 She has prepared her meat, she has mixed her wine; she also has arranged her table. 9:3 She has sent out her female servants; she calls out on the highest places of the city. 9:4 “Whoever is naive, let him turn in here,” she says to those who lack understanding. 9:5 “Come, eat some of my food, and drink some of the wine I have mixed. 9:6 Abandon your foolish ways so that you may live, and proceed in the way of understanding.” 9:7 Whoever corrects a mocker is asking for insult; whoever reproves a wicked person receives abuse. 9:8 Do not reprove a mocker or he will hate you; reprove a wise person and he will love you. 9:9 Give instruction to a wise person, and he will become wiser still; teach a righteous person and he will add to his learning. 9:10 The beginning of wisdom is to fear the Lord, and acknowledging the Holy One is understanding. 9:11 For because of me your days will be many, and years will be added to your life. 9:12 If you are wise, you are wise to your own advantage, but if you are a mocker, you alone must bear it. 9:13 The woman called Folly is brash, she is naive and does not know anything. 9:14 So she sits at the door of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city, 9:15 calling out to those who are passing by her in the way, who go straight on their way. 9:16 “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here,” she says to those who lack understanding. 9:17 “Stolen waters are sweet, and food obtained in secret is pleasant!” 9:18 But they do not realize that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of the grave.

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per frasa)

Wesley: Pro 9:1 - Her house

For the reception of her guests.

Wesley: Pro 9:1 - Seven

Many pillars; whereby is intimated the beauty and stability of the church.

Wesley: Pro 9:1 - Pillars

Prophets, and apostles, and ministers.

Wesley: Pro 9:2 - Killed

Made provision for the guests.

Wesley: Pro 9:2 - Mingled

With water, as they used to do in those hot countries.

Wesley: Pro 9:2 - Furnished

With all necessaries, and now waits for the guests.

Wesley: Pro 9:3 - Maidens

Her servants to invite the guests, ministers of the word whom he calls maidens for the decency of the parable; for wisdom being compared to a great princess, was fit to be attended upon by maidens.

Wesley: Pro 9:3 - Highest places

From such high seats as those from which judges delivered their sentences, and officers made proclamations.

Wesley: Pro 9:4 - Simple

Ignorant, and weak.

Wesley: Pro 9:7 - A former

He shews whom he meant by the foolish, Pro 9:6, even scorners and wicked men, and presses his last advice of forsaking them because there was no good, but hurt to be got from them.

Wesley: Pro 9:8 - A scorner

An obstinate and incorrigible sinner.

Wesley: Pro 9:12 - For thyself

Thou dost not profit me but thyself.

Wesley: Pro 9:14 - At the door

Watching for occasions of sin.

Wesley: Pro 9:15 - Go right

Who are going innocently about their business.

Wesley: Pro 9:16 - Simple

This title is not given them by her, but by Solomon.

Wesley: Pro 9:17 - Sweet

From the difficulty of obtaining them; and because the very prohibition renders them more grateful to corrupt nature.

JFB: Pro 9:1

The commendation of wisdom is continued, under the figure of a liberal host, and its provisions under that of a feast (compare Luk 14:16-24). The character of those who are invited is followed by a contrasted description of the rejectors of good counsel; and with the invitations of wisdom are contrasted the allurement of the wicked woman. (Pro. 9:1-18)

JFB: Pro 9:1 - house

(compare Pro 8:34).

JFB: Pro 9:1 - her

Or, "its" (the house).

JFB: Pro 9:1 - seven pillars

The number seven for many, or a sufficiency (Pro 6:31).

JFB: Pro 9:2 - mingled

To enhance the flavor (Pro 23:30; Isa 5:22).

JFB: Pro 9:2 - furnished

Literally, "set out," "arranged."

JFB: Pro 9:3 - maidens

Servants to invite (compare Psa 68:11; Isa 40:9).

JFB: Pro 9:3 - highest places

Ridges of heights, conspicuous places.

JFB: Pro 9:4-6

(Compare Pro 1:4; Pro 6:32). Wisdom not only supplies right but forbids wrong principles.

JFB: Pro 9:7-8 - shame

(Compare Pro 3:35).

JFB: Pro 9:7-8 - a blot

Or, "stain on character." Both terms denote the evil done by others to one whose faithfulness secures a wise man's love.

JFB: Pro 9:9

The more a wise man learns, the more he loves wisdom.

JFB: Pro 9:10

(Compare Pro 1:7).

JFB: Pro 9:10 - of the holy

Literally, "holies," persons or things, or both. This knowledge gives right perception.

JFB: Pro 9:11

(Compare Pro 3:16-18; Pro 4:10).

JFB: Pro 9:12

You are mainly concerned in your own conduct.

JFB: Pro 9:13 - foolish woman

Or literally, "woman of folly," specially manifested by such as are described.

JFB: Pro 9:13 - clamorous

Or, "noisy" (Pro 7:11).

JFB: Pro 9:13 - knoweth nothing

Literally, "knoweth not what," that is, is right and proper.

JFB: Pro 9:14 - on a seat

Literally, "throne," takes a prominent place, impudently and haughtily.

JFB: Pro 9:15-16

To allure those who are right-minded, and who are addressed as in Pro 9:4, as

JFB: Pro 9:15-16 - simple

That is, easily led (Pro 1:4) and unsettled, though willing to do right.

JFB: Pro 9:17

The language of a proverb, meaning that forbidden delights are sweet and pleasant, as fruits of risk and danger.

JFB: Pro 9:18

(Compare Pro 2:18-19; Pro 7:27).

Clarke: Pro 9:1 - Wisdom hath builded her house

Wisdom hath builded her house - The eternal counsel of God has framed the universe

Clarke: Pro 9:1 - She hath hewn out her seven pillars

She hath hewn out her seven pillars - Every thing has been so constructed as to exhibit a scene of grandeur, stability, and durableness.

Clarke: Pro 9:2 - She hath killed her beasts

She hath killed her beasts - God has made the most ample provision for the innumerable tribes of animal and intellectual beings, which people the whole vortex of created nature.

Clarke: Pro 9:3 - She hath sent forth her maidens

She hath sent forth her maidens - The wisdom of God has made use of the most proper means to communicate Divine knowledge to the inhabitants of the earth; as a good and gracious Creator wills to teach them whence they came, how they are supported, whither they are going, and for what end they were formed. It is a custom to the present day, in Asiatic countries, to send their invitations to guests by a company of females, preceded by eunuchs: they go to the doors of the invited, and deliver their message.

Clarke: Pro 9:4 - Whoso is simple

Whoso is simple - Let the young, heedless, and giddy attend to my teaching

Clarke: Pro 9:4 - Him that wanteth understanding

Him that wanteth understanding - Literally, he that wanteth a heart; who is without couraye, is feeble and fickle, and easily drawn aside from the holy commandment.

Clarke: Pro 9:5 - Come, eat of my bread

Come, eat of my bread - Not only receive my instructions, but act according to my directions

Clarke: Pro 9:5 - Drink of the wine - I have mingled

Drink of the wine - I have mingled - Enter into my counsels; be not contented with superficial knowledge on any subject, where any thing deeper may be attained. Go by the streams to the fountain head. Look into the principles on which they were formed; investigate their nature, examine their properties, acquaint thyself with their relations, connections, influences, and various uses. See the skill power, and goodness of God in their creation. And when thou hast learned all within thy reach, know that thou knowest but little of the manifold wisdom of God. Let what thou hast learned humble thee, by showing thee how very little thou dost know. Thou hast drunk of the provided wine; but that wine was mingled with water, for God will hide pride from man. He dwells only on the surface of religious and philosophical learning, who does not perceive and feel that he is yet but a child in knowledge; that he see through a glass darkly; that he perceives men like trees walking; and that there are lengths, breadths, depths, and heights, in the works and ways of God, which it will require an eternity to fathom. Here below the pure wine is mingled with water: but this is God’ s work. Yet there is enough; do not therefore be contented with a little. To this subject the words of the poet may be well applied: -

A little learning is a dangerous thing; Drink deep

or taste not the Pierian spring

For scanty draughts intoxicate the brain

But drinking largely sobers us again

Pop

Among the ancient Jews, Greek, and Romans, wine was rarely drank without being mingled with water; and among ancient writers we find several ordinances for this. Some direct three parts of water to one of wine; some five parts; and Pliny mentions some wines that required twenty waters: but the most common proportions appear to have been three parts of water to two of wine. But probably the יין מסך yayin masach , mingled wine, was wine mingled, not with water, to make it weaker; but with spices and other ingredients to make it stronger. The ingredients were honey, myrrh, mandragora, opium, and such like, which gave it not only an intoxicating but stupifying quality also. Perhaps the mixed wine here may mean wine of the strongest and best quality, that which was good to cheer and refresh the heart of man

If we consider the mixed wine as meaning this strong wine, then the import of the metaphor will be, a thorough investigation of the works of God will invigorate the soul, strengthen all the mental powers, enlarge their capacity, and enable the mind to take the most exalted views of the wonders of God’ s skill manifested in the operations of his hand.

Clarke: Pro 9:6 - Forsake the foolish

Forsake the foolish - For the companion of fools must be a fool

Clarke: Pro 9:6 - And live

And live - Answer the end for which thou wert born.

Clarke: Pro 9:7 - He that reproveth a scorner

He that reproveth a scorner - לץ lets , the person who mocks at sacred things; the libertine, the infidel; who turns the most serious things into ridicule, and, by his wit, often succeeds in rendering the person who reproves him ridiculous. Wisdom seems here to intimate that it is vain to attempt by reproof to amend such: and yet we must not suffer sin upon our neighbor; at all hazards, we must deliver our own soul. But no reproof should be given to any, but in the spirit of love and deep concern; and when they contradict and blaspheme, leave them to God.

Clarke: Pro 9:9 - Give instruction to a wise man

Give instruction to a wise man - Literally give to the wise, and he will be wise. Whatever you give to such, they reap profit from it. They are like the bee, they extract honey from every flower.

Clarke: Pro 9:10 - The fear of the Lord

The fear of the Lord - See on Pro 1:7 (note). The knowledge of the holy; קדשים kedoshim , of the holy ones: Sanctorum, of the saints - Vulgate. boulh agiwn, the counsel of the holy persons.

Clarke: Pro 9:11 - For by me thy days shall be multiplied

For by me thy days shall be multiplied - Vice shortens human life, by a necessity of consequence: and by the same, righteousness lengthens it. There is a long addition here in the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate: "He who trusts in falsity feeds on the winds; and is like him who chases the fowls of heaven. He forsakes the way of his own vineyard, and errs from the paths of his own inheritance. He enters also into lonely and desert places, and into a land abandoned to thirst; and his hands collect that which yieldeth no fruit."

Clarke: Pro 9:12 - If thou be wise

If thou be wise - It is thy own interest to be religious. Though thy example may be very useful to thy neighbors and friends, yet the chief benefit is to thyself. But if thou scorn - refuse to receive - the doctrines of wisdom, and die in thy sins, thou alone shalt suffer the vengeance of an offended God.

Clarke: Pro 9:13 - A foolish woman is clamorous

A foolish woman is clamorous - Vain, empty women, are those that make most noise. And she that is full of clamor, has generally little or no sense. We have had this character already, see Pro 7:11. The translation of the Septuagint is very remarkable: Γυνη αφρων και θρασεια, ενδεης ψωμου γινεται, "A lewd and foolish woman shall be in need of a morsel of bread."

Clarke: Pro 9:14 - For she sitteth at the door of her house

For she sitteth at the door of her house - Her conduct here marks at once her folly, impudence, and poverty. See above on Pro 7:6 (note), etc., where the reader will find a similar character.

Clarke: Pro 9:16 - Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither

Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither - Folly or pleasure here personified, uses the very same expressions as employed by Wisdom, Pro 9:4. Wisdom says, "Let the simple turn in to me."No, says Folly, "Let the simple turn in to me."If he turn in to Wisdom, his folly shall be taken away and he shall become wise; if he turn in to Foliy, his darkness will be thickened, and his folly will remain

Wisdom sets up her school to instruct the ignorant

Folly sets her school up next door, to defeat the designs of Wisdom

Thus the saying of the satirist appears to be verified: -

"Wherever God erects a house of prayer

The devil surely builds a chapel there

And it is found upon examination

The latter has the larger congregation.

De Foe.

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Clarke: Pro 9:17 - Stolen waters are sweet

Stolen waters are sweet - I suppose this to be a proverbial mode of expression, importing that illicit pleasures are sweeter than those which are legal The meaning is easy to be discerned; and the conduct of multitudes shows that they are ruled by this adage. On it are built all the adulterous intercourses in the land.

Clarke: Pro 9:18 - But he knoweth not that the dead are there

But he knoweth not that the dead are there - See on Pro 2:18 (note). He does not know that it was in this way the first apostates from God and truth walked. רפאים rephaim ; gigantev, the Giants - Septuagint. The sons of men, the earth-born, to distinguish them from the sons of God, those who were born from above. See the notes on Gen 6:1, etc

Clarke: Pro 9:18 - Her guests are in the depths of hell

Her guests are in the depths of hell - Those who have been drawn out of the way of understanding by profligacy have in general lost their lives, if not their souls, by their folly. The Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic make a long addition to this verse: "But draw thou back, that thou mayest not die in this place; neither fix thy eyes upon her; so shalt thou pass by those strange waters. But abstain thou from strange waters, and drink not of another’ s fountain, that thou mayest live a long time, and that years may be added to thy life."Of this addition there is nothing in the Hebrew, the Chaldee, or the Vulgate, as now printed: but in the editio princeps are the following words: Qui enim applicabitur illi descendet ad inferos; nam qui abscesserit ab ea salvabitur . These words were in the copy from which my old MS. Bible has been made, as the following version proves: Who forsoth schal ben joyned to hir, schal falle doun on to hell: for whi he that goth awai fro hir, schal be saved. Three of my own MSS. have the same reading.

Defender: Pro 9:1 - her house

The house built by "wisdom" is described as having seven strong pillars. That built by Folly is seated in the high places of the city (Pro 9:14), the location of idol worship."

Defender: Pro 9:2 - seven pillars

The "seven pillars" of wisdom, on which the stable and beautiful house of true faith is established, probably are reflected in the seven attributes of heavenly wisdom listed in Jam 3:17."

Defender: Pro 9:10 - beginning of wisdom

Compare Pro 1:7."

Defender: Pro 9:18 - dead are there

In keeping with the figure, the spiritually dead frequent the house of folly, with its alien religion, and eventually descend into the depths of "hell" (Hebrew sheol, the place of the spirits of the unsaved dead)."

TSK: Pro 9:1 - Wisdom // builded // pillars

Wisdom : The infinite and eternal Wisdom of God, which has so framed the universe as to exhibit a scene of grandeur and stability, and made ample provision for the innumerable beings by which it is inhabited.

builded : Mat 16:18; 1Co 3:9-15; Eph 2:20-22; 1Ti 3:15; Heb 3:3-6; 1Pe 2:5, 1Pe 2:6

pillars : 1Ki 7:2, 1Ki 7:3, 1Ki 7:6, 1Ki 7:21; Gal 2:9; Rev 3:12

TSK: Pro 9:2 - killed // beasts // mingled

killed : Isa 25:6; Mat 22:3, Mat 22:4-14; 1Co 5:7, 1Co 5:8

beasts : Heb. killing, Gen 43:16

mingled : Pro 9:5, Pro 23:30; Luk 14:17

TSK: Pro 9:3 - sent // she crieth

sent : Mat 22:3, Mat 22:4, Mat 22:9; Luk 11:49, Luk 14:17, Luk 14:21-23; Rom 10:15; 2Co 5:20, 2Co 5:21

she crieth : Pro 9:14, Pro 1:20-23, Pro 8:1-3; Joh 7:37, Joh 18:20

TSK: Pro 9:4

Pro 9:16, Pro 1:22, Pro 6:32, Pro 8:5; Psa 19:7, Psa 119:130; Mat 11:25; Rev 3:17, Rev 3:18, Rev 22:17

TSK: Pro 9:5

Pro 9:2, Pro 9:17; Psa 22:26, Psa 22:29; Son 5:1; Isa 55:1-3; Jer 31:12-14; Mat 26:26-28; Joh 6:27, Joh 6:49-58

TSK: Pro 9:6 - Forsake // in

Forsake : Pro 4:14, Pro 4:15, Pro 13:20; Psa 26:4-6, Psa 45:10, Psa 119:115; Act 2:40; 2Co 6:17; Rev 18:4

in : Pro 4:11, Pro 10:17; Mat 7:13, Mat 7:14; Luk 13:24

TSK: Pro 9:7

Pro 15:12; Gen 19:8, Gen 19:9; 1Ki 18:17, 1Ki 21:20, 1Ki 22:24, 1Ki 22:27; 2Ch 24:20-22; 2Ch 25:15, 2Ch 25:16, 2Ch 36:16

TSK: Pro 9:8 - Reprove // rebuke

Reprove : Pro 23:9, Pro 29:1; Num 14:6-10; 1Ki 22:8; Mat 7:6, Mat 15:14; Heb 6:4-8

rebuke : Pro 13:18, Pro 28:23; Lev 19:17; 2Sa 12:7-14; 1Ki 1:23, 1Ki 1:32; Psa 141:5; Gal 2:11-14; 2Pe 3:15, 2Pe 3:16

TSK: Pro 9:9

Pro 1:5, Pro 25:12; Hos 6:3; Mat 13:11, Mat 13:12; 2Pe 3:18; 1Jo 2:20, 1Jo 2:21, 1Jo 5:13

TSK: Pro 9:10 - The fear // the knowledge

The fear : Pro 1:7; Job 28:28; Psa 111:10; Ecc 12:13

the knowledge : Pro 2:5, Pro 30:3; 1Ch 28:9; Mat 11:27; Joh 17:3; 1Jo 5:20

TSK: Pro 9:11

Pro 3:2, Pro 3:16, Pro 10:27; Deu 6:2

TSK: Pro 9:12

Pro 16:26; Job 22:2, Job 22:3, Job 22:21, Job 35:6, Job 35:7; Isa 28:22; Eze 18:20; 2Pe 3:3, 2Pe 3:4, 2Pe 3:16

TSK: Pro 9:13

Pro 7:11, Pro 21:9, Pro 21:19; 1Ti 6:4 *marg.

TSK: Pro 9:14 - she // in

she : Pro 7:10-12

in : Pro 9:3

TSK: Pro 9:15

Pro 7:13-15, Pro 7:25-27, Pro 23:27, Pro 23:28

TSK: Pro 9:16

Pro 9:4

TSK: Pro 9:17 - Stolen // eaten in secret

Stolen : Pro 20:17, Pro 23:31, Pro 23:32; Gen 3:6; Rom 7:8; Jam 1:14, Jam 1:15

eaten in secret : Heb. of secrecies, Pro 7:18-20, Pro 30:20; 2Ki 5:24-27; Eph 5:12

TSK: Pro 9:18 - he // the dead

he : Pro 1:7; Psa 82:5; 2Pe 3:5

the dead : Pro 2:18, Pro 2:19, Pro 5:5, Pro 6:26, Pro 7:27

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per Ayat)

Poole: Pro 9:1 - Hath builded her house // Seven

Hath builded her house for the reception and entertainment of her guests, as appears from the following passages. This house is opposed to the harlot’ s house, mentioned Pro 7:8 ; and it is to be understood, either,

1. Of the heavenly house, or the palace of glory; or rather,

2. Of the church, which Christ, the Wisdom of the Father, hath erected and established in the world, in which this following feast is made, which is called God’ s house , 1Ti 3:15 Heb 3:3,4 .

Seven i.e. many pillars; whereby is intimated both the beauty and the stability of the church. Pillars ; prophets, and apostles, and ministers of holy things, which in Scripture are called pillars, as Gal 2:9 , and elsewhere.

Poole: Pro 9:2 - Hath killed her beasts // Hath mingled her wine

Hath killed her beasts i.e. made provision for the guests; which is meant of the ordinances, gifts, graces, comforts, and eternal felicities which God doth offer and give to men in and by the church.

Hath mingled her wine either,

1. With spices, to make it strong and delightful, this mixed wine being mentioned as the best, Pro 23:29,30 . Or,

2. With water, as they used to do in those hot countries, partly for refreshment, and partly for wholesomeness; whereby also may be intimated that wisdom teacheth us temperance in the use of our comforts. Hath also furnished her table with all necessaries, and now waits for the guests.

Poole: Pro 9:3 - Her maidens // Upon the highest places

Her maidens her servants, to invite the guests; ministers of the word, whom he calls maidens, partly for the decency of the parable; for wisdom being compared to a great princess, was fit to be attended upon by maidens; and partly to show that God by his word did work sweetly, though strongly, and did allure and draw rather than drive sinners to repentance.

Upon the highest places: either upon the tops of the houses, which were flat; or rather, from such high seats as those from which judges delivered their sentences, and officers made proclamations, for the conveniency of the people’ s better hearing.

Poole: Pro 9:4 - Simple // Understanding

Simple ignorant, and weak, and subject to delusion, and willing to learn; to show that wisdom rejects those scholars who are proud and self-conceited.

Understanding Heb. heart , which signifies understanding, Jer 5:21 Hos 7:11 .

Poole: Pro 9:6 - The foolish // In the way of understanding

The foolish i.e. the wicked, and their courses and society: you must either forsake them or me, for we are irreconcilable enemies.

In the way of understanding which leads to it, and is prescribed by it.

Poole: Pro 9:7 - He that reproveth a scorner // Getteth to himself shame // A blot

He that reproveth a scorner: the connexion may be conceived thus, Having invited the simple, he forbids the invitation of scorners; or thus, He showeth who he meant by the foolish , Pro 9:6 , even scorners and wicked men, as they are here called; and he presseth his last advice of forsaking them, because there was no good, but hurt, to be got by conversation with them.

Getteth to himself shame partly from the scorner, who will revile and deride him; and partly from others, because he is frustrated in his design and hope, and by his imprudence hath brought an inconvenience upon himself.

A blot a censure or reproach.

Poole: Pro 9:8 - Reprove not a scorner // Lest he hate thee // Rebuke a wise man // He will love thee

Reprove not a scorner an obstinate and incorrigible sinner, who scornfully rejects and despiseth the means of amendment. Thus physicians deny physic to persons in 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 uncapable of doing him 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, howsoever they are thought by themselves or others to be witty or wise, yet in God’ s account, and in truth, are fools.

He will love thee both for that faithfulness and charity which he perceiveth in thee, and for that benefit which he receiveth from thee.

Poole: Pro 9:9 - Give instruction // A just man

Give instruction: in the Hebrew it is only give ; for as receiving is put for learning, Pro 1:3 , so giving is put for teaching , both in Scripture and in other authors; of which see my Latin Synopsis.

A just man called a wise man in the former branch, to intimate that good men are the only wise men.

Poole: Pro 9:10 - Of the holy // the fear of the Lord // Is understanding

Of the holy either,

1. Of holy men, whether such as all saints learn, or rather such as the holy men of God, the servants of this wisdom, teach from God’ s word; or rather,

2. Of holy things, the Hebrew word being here taken in the neuter gender, as it is Num 5:17 , and elsewhere; for this seems best to answer to

the fear of the Lord in the other branch.

Is understanding is the only true, and necessary, and useful knowledge.

Poole: Pro 9:12 - Thou shalt be wise for thyself // Thou alone shalt bear it

Thou shalt be wise for thyself thou dost not profit me, but thyself by it; I advise thee for thine own good.

Thou alone shalt bear it the blame and mischief of it falls wholly upon thee, not upon me, or my word, or ministers who have warned thee.

Poole: Pro 9:13 - A foolish woman // Is clamorous // Knoweth nothing

A foolish woman by which he understands, either,

1. Folly, which is opposite to that wisdom of which he hath been so long discoursing; and so it may include all wickedness, either in principle, as idolatry, heresy, &c., or in practice. Or,

2. The harlot; which, with submission, seems most probable to me, partly because all the following description exactly agrees to her, especially what is said Pro 9:17, as also Pro 9:18 , which in effect was said of the harlot before, Pro 2:18 5:5 ; and partly because such transitions from discoursing of wisdom, to a discourse of harlots, are frequent in Solomon, as we have seen, Pro 2:16 5:3 7:5 .

Is clamorous speaks loudly, that she may be heard; and vehemently, that persons might be moved by her persuasions.

Knoweth nothing to wit, aright, nothing that is good, nothing for her good, though she be subtle in little artifices for her own wicked ends.

Poole: Pro 9:14

Which notes her idleness and impudence, and diligence in watching for occasions of sin.

Poole: Pro 9:15

Who were going innocently and directly about their business without any unchaste design; for others needed none of those invitations or offers, but went to her of their own accord. And besides, such lewd persons take a greater pleasure in corrupting the innocent.

Poole: Pro 9:16 - Simple

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 the business, and thereby dissuade and deter those whom she invited.

Poole: Pro 9:17 - Stolen waters // Are sweet

Stolen waters by which he understandeth, either,

1. Idolatry, or other wickednesses, which in Solomon’ s time before his fall were publicly forbidden and punished, but privately practised; or rather,

2. Adultery.

Are sweet partly, from the difficulty of obtaining them; partly, from the art which men use in contriving such secret sins; and partly, because the very prohibition renders it more grateful to corrupt nature.

Poole: Pro 9:18 - Knoweth not

Knoweth not i.e. he doth not consider it seriously, whereby he proveth his folly.

Haydock: Pro 9:1 - House

House. The sacred humanity, (St. Ignatius; St. Augustine, City of God xvii. 20.) or the Church. (St. Gregory, Mor. xxxiii. 15.) ---

Here we may receive all instruction, the seven sacraments, and the gifts of the Holy Ghost. Pleasure had mentioned here attractions: now those of true wisdom are set before us. (Calmet) ---

God sent his pastors at all times, to invite people to embrace the latter. They are all included in the number seven, both before and under the law, as well as in the gospel, where St. Paul styles Sts. Peter, James, and John, pillars, Galatians ii. This is the literal sense, on which the mystical is grounded, and both are intended by the Holy Ghost, intimating that the uncreated wisdom took flesh of the blessed Virgin [Mary], prepared the table of bread and wine, as Priest according to the order of Melchisedec, and chose the weak of this world to confound the strong, as St. Augustine explain this passage. (Sup. and q. 51.) (Worthington)

Haydock: Pro 9:2 - Victims // Mingled

Victims. Moses ordered the blood to be poured out at the door of the tabernacle, and a part given to the priests, after which the rest might be taken away. The like was probably done at Jerusalem, Leviticus xvii. 4. These victims are contrasted with those of pleasure, chap. vii. 14. ---

Mingled. It was not customary for any but barbarians and the gods to take pure wine. Some mixed two, others three, five, or even twenty parts of water. But the scholiast of Aristophanes says, the best method was to have three parts water, and two of wine. Mercury complains that his wine was half water. (Arist. Plut. v. Sun. i.) ---

The Fathers often apply this text to the feast of Jesus Christ in the blessed Eucharist. (Calmet) ---

St. Cyprian (ep. iii.) citeth the whole passage of Christ's sacrifice in the forms of bread and wine. (Worthington)

Haydock: Pro 9:3 - Maids // To invite

Maids. Septuagint, "servant men," the pastors of the church, inviting all to piety in so public a manner, that none can plead ignorance. (St. Gregory) (Calmet) ---

To invite. Protestants, "she crieth upon the highest places of the city." (Haydock) ---

Christ enjoins his apostles to preach on the roofs, Matthew x. 37.

Haydock: Pro 9:4 - One

One. Simple, but not inconstant, like children, 1 Corinthians xiv. 20. Pleasure addresses the same, (chap. vii. 7.) but for their destruction. (Calmet)

Haydock: Pro 9:7 - Scorner

Scorner. This is the reason why wisdom speaks only to the simple. The conceited would only laugh at her instructions. These scoffers represent heretics and libertines, chap. i. 22. (Calmet) ---

Where there is no hope of amendment, prudence and charity require us to be silent, as our rebukes would only procure us enmity, and make the sinner worse. (Worthington) ---

Of such St. John was afraid, and therefore ceased from writing, 3 John 9. Yet St. Paul commands public reprehension, 1 Timothy v. 20. (Menochius) ---

When there is any prospect of good, all, particularly superiors, are bound to correct. (St. Augustine, City of God i. 9.; and St. Basil, reg. fus. 158.) (Worthington)

Haydock: Pro 9:9 - Occasion

Occasion. This word is found in Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic. We might supply instruction, (Calmet) with Protestants.

Haydock: Pro 9:10 - Prudence

Prudence. Or "prudence is the science of the saints," (Haydock) directing what to choose on all occasions to obtain heaven. (Calmet) ---

The knowledge contained in the holy Scriptures, and possessed by the saints, is superior to all other sciences. (Menochius)

Haydock: Pro 9:13 - And full

And full. Protestants, "she is simple and knoweth nothing." Septuagint, "is in want of a piece of bread." They have several verses before this, which are here omitted. (Haydock) ---

Wisdom and pleasure are opposed to each other. (Calmet)

Haydock: Pro 9:17 - Pleasant

Pleasant. Impure pleasures are more delightful (Calmet) to sensual men. (Haydock) ---

The prohibition increases appetite. (Menochius)

Haydock: Pro 9:18 - Giants

Giants. Who lived when all flesh had corrupted its ways, (Genesis vi. 12.) and were sentenced to hell, Job xxvi. 5., and Isaias xiv. 9. (Calmet)

Gill: Pro 9:1 - Wisdom hath builded her house // she hath hewn out her seven pillars

Wisdom hath builded her house,.... Or "Wisdoms": of which see Pro 1:20; Christ, the Wisdom of God, is meant, in whom and from whom all wisdom is. Various are the opinions concerning this house built by him. Some take it to be the whole circle of sciences, and the seven pillars to be the seven liberal ones, as Aben Ezra; though rather, as others, it may design the schools of the prophets, in which young men were trained up in the knowledge of divine and spiritual things. Some would have the whole universe to be meant, and the seven pillars to be the seven days of creation, as Jarchi; or the seven planets, as others: it is an odd notion of Grotius, that the human body is intended, with its five senses; and, to make up the number seven, adds the voice and memory: rather the human nature of Christ, which is a temple, a tabernacle, a house in which the Godhead dwells, is built by Wisdom, made without the hands of men; and then its seven pillars are the graces of the Spirit, by which it was supported and adorned; see Isa 11:2; Some understand it of the temple of a regenerate man's heart; in which God, Father, Son and Spirit, dwell. But there are two other senses, which bid fairest one of them to be right; either the heavenly glory, the house not made with hands, Christ's Father's house, in which are many mansions for his people; and which is a city whose builder and maker is God, and is prepared by Christ; and stands firm upon the promises of God, the person, blood, and righteousness of Christ, and the grace of the blessed Spirit: or rather the church of Christ on earth, the house of the living God, the pillar and ground of truth; this is built by Christ upon himself, the rock and foundation; the materials of it are true believers, precious and lively stones; built up a spiritual house, and a fit and suitable habitation for God through the Spirit. Such a house there was under the Old Testament, and such an one there is under the New; and which is continually building up by Christ by means of the word and ordinances, and will continue to the end of the world; see 1Ti 3:15;

she hath hewn out her seven pillars; ministers of the Gospel, compared to pillars for strength and stability, and for their being instrumental in supporting the interest and church of Christ; in allusion to the pillars in Solomon's temple, Jachin and Boaz; see Gal 2:9. These are said to be "hewn", being polished, beautified, and adorned with the gifts and graces of the Spirit by Christ, and thereby fitted for their work and service; and said to be "seven", because there is a complete and sufficient number of them, which Christ has provided, and always will provide for his churches, as long as they continue in the world. Though it may be these seven pillars may denote in general the firmness and solidity of this spiritual building, the church, and the continuance of it by the power of God; or they may have respect to the seven states of the church in so many periods of time, to last to the end of all things, signified by the seven churches in the book of the Revelation; so Cocceius ^c.

Gill: Pro 9:2 - She hath killed her beasts // she hath mingled her wine // she hath also furnished her table

She hath killed her beasts,.... Or, "her sacrifice" ^d: a crucified Christ, the principal of the provisions in Wisdom's house, or the church of Christ. The death of Christ was prefigured by the slaying of beasts for sacrifice under the old law; was foretold in prophecy, and is expressed by "killing" him in the New Testament; and which shows his death not to be natural, but violent. It is commonly ascribed to the Jews as a wicked action of theirs; but was not without the counsel and determination of God, and the will and consent of Christ; and this death was as a victim to justice, by way of sacrifice and satisfaction for sin, and was vicarious; was offered up in the room and stead of his people, to make atonement for their sins; and which is no other than himself, his soul and body, as in union with his divine person; a sacrifice voluntarily offered up by himself, exceeding acceptable, and well pleasing to God; effectual to the purposes for which it was offered, and so never to be repeated: and his death, being a sacrifice, becomes a feast; a crucified Christ is suitable food for faith, as he is the Lamb in the midst of the throne, as though he had been slain; he is evidently set forth in the Gospel as crucified, and as such is spiritual and savoury food to his people, nourishing and strengthening, quickening and comforting, and extremely satisfying: thus the Gospel feast, in which the slain Lamb of God makes the chiefest part, is expressed in the same language as here, "my oxen and my fatlings are killed", Mat 22:4;

she hath mingled her wine; which also makes a considerable part in a banquet or feast, Est 5:6; and the church is called a banqueting house, or a house of wine, Son 2:4. The love of Christ is compared to wine, Son 1:2; to old wine for the antiquity of it, being more ancient than ours to him, or than ourselves, even as old as eternity; to wine, on the lees well refined, for the purity of it, being free from all motives and conditions in the creature; to strong generous wine, which exhilarates and refreshes the weak, the weary, and distressed. The Gospel of Christ is also compared to wine, Son 7:9; to old wine, for the ancient doctrines of it; and to neat wine, for the purity of it; and to generous wine, for the pleasure, joy, and comfort it gives: the blessings of grace which it exhibits may be so called from their comforting and refreshing nature, which are had freely, Isa 55:1; and so are the joys of heaven, Mat 26:29. Now the "mingling" of this wine is in allusion to the mixture of wine, either with something richer, as spice, Son 8:2; or rather with water, as Jarchi observes, which was usual in those hot countries, to make it fit and suitable drink for the bodies of men: the mixture was no doubt according to the strength of the wine; the wine of Sharon, being strong wine, was mixed two parts water and one wine ^e; which, with the ancients ^f, before three parts water and two wine; though, according to Plutarch ^g, they had three ways of mixing, which they called by three different names; the one was three parts water and two wine, the other three parts water and one wine, the third was one wine and two water; the first of them was reckoned the best mixture ^h: one Cerassus is said to be the inventor of mixing wine with water ⁱ; others ascribe it to Melampus ^k, and others to Amphictyon. And this, spiritually understood, does not design any impurity or degeneracy, such as is complained of, Isa 1:22; for the love of Christ is pure and sovereign; the Gospel of Christ is free of all mixtures of human doctrines; the blessings of grace are all of free grace, without the mixture of men's works, and so is eternal life; salvation is all of free grace, and not by works of righteousness done by men mixed with it. But this may design the various displays of the love of Christ in the several acts of it, before time, in time, and now in heaven; or the joint display of the love of Father, Son, and Spirit, in the salvation of men, and the harmony and agreement of the divine perfections therein; and the publication of the Gospel, and the accommodation of the truths of it to the capacities of men: and perhaps some respect may be had to the blood and water that issued from the side of the slain Lamb of God, here prophetically and figuratively held forth;

she hath also furnished her table; which seems to design the ministration of the word, and the administration of ordinances in Gospel times; especially the ordinance of the supper, called the table of the Lord, 1Co 10:21; a well-furnished table has a variety of excellent provision upon it: and such is the ministry of the Gospel, which is signified by various sorts of food, as bread, meat, milk, honey, and delicious fruits; and Christ, who is the sum and substance of it, is expressed by several things that are eatable, as by a slain lamb, a fatted calf, the hidden manna, the bread of God and of life, whose flesh is meat indeed, and his blood drink indeed; and so is he held forth in the ordinances, particularly in the ordinance of the supper; the tame he sits at, and welcomes his guests; encourages them to eat and drink, and sups with them himself. Here his broken body, and his blood shed, are presented to the faith of his people, to be eaten and drank in a spiritual manner; a table richly furnished indeed!

Gill: Pro 9:3 - She hath sent forth her maidens // she crieth upon the high places of the city

She hath sent forth her maidens,.... Not moral virtues, or good works, which subserve the interest of Christ and religion, adorn the Gospel and its professors; nor the liberal arts and sciences, said to be handmaids to divinity; nor angels, ministering spirits to Christ; but the ministers of the Gospel, who being so called does not suppose or encourage women's preaching; but have the name to keep up the decency of the parable, and the propriety of the allegory: for since Wisdom is represented as a lady, a princess or queen, it is proper that her attendants should be maidens, or that she should employ such in inviting her guests; as Rebekah, Pharaoh's daughter, Esther, and others, are said to have their maidens to wait upon them: and besides, it very fitly expresses the character of Gospel ministers; as that they are the servants of Christ, followers of him, obsequious to him, humble and modest, incorrupt in doctrine, pure in conversation, and whose voice is soft, pleasant, and delightful: being not the rough voice of the law, but the still, small, musical voice of the Gospel; a voice of love, grace, and mercy; of peace, pardon, and righteousness, liberty, life, and salvation; very charming, alluring, and drawing. These Christ has a property in; he chooses and calls them, and fits them for his service; and they give up themselves to him, and willingly engage in it. And these he "sends forth": from him they have their mission and commission to preach the Gospel; to invite persons to the Gospel feast, to partake of the provisions he has made: he sends them forth publicly into the world, into all places where his people are, into the streets and lanes; yea, to the hedges and highways, to invite, and even to compel them to come in. And this supposes superiority in him, and authority given to them;

she crieth upon the high places of the city; this is to be understood of the preaching of the Gospel, both by Christ himself in person, in the city of Jerusalem, in the temple, and other public places; and by his ministers, and by him speaking in them there or elsewhere; and which is not a mere whisper, but a cry, a proclamation made aloud, and to be delivered with fervency and earnestness: the "city" may mean the church of God, and the "highest places" the ordinances thereof; and may in general denote the publicness of them; which are in the church, as the wings or pinnacles of the higher parts or buildings of a city are in that, as the word ^l signifies.

Gill: Pro 9:4 - Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither // as for him that wanteth understanding // she saith to him

Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither,.... Into Wisdom's house, so well built and furnished; the church of Christ, as a house of instruction; a school, where such who are "simple", weak, and foolish, may learn. Here are many instructors; saints instruct one another; ministers of the word are teachers; yea, Father, Son, and Spirit, here teach and instruct, and none teach like them. Here many lessons are to be learned concerning themselves, concerning Christ, and concerning their duty to God and men; all sorts of persons may learn here, such who know ever so much or ever so little. Or let him turn in here, as into an inn, into which passengers or travellers turn for accommodations; see Pro 9:15. The saints are travellers here, at a distance from their Father's house, and need refreshment by the way; the church of God is an inn of good accommodations; here is room enough to entertain them; here are good lodgings for rest and safety, and good provisions, and all of free cost. And now these are the words of Wisdom, or Christ, either in person, or by his maidens, his ministers, inviting such who are "simple" to turn in hither, and partake of the provisions in it; that is, not such who are quite stupid and insensible, sottish, incorrigible, and irreclaimable; but who are sensible of their folly and simplicity; who are but of weak capacities, apt to be credulous, and so easily imposed upon and deceived;

as for him that wanteth understanding; not the natural faculty of the understanding, nor an understanding of things natural and civil; but of things spiritual and evangelical, as of the grace of God; of salvation by Christ; of the work of the Spirit; of themselves and their state; of the Gospel, and the mysteries of it; and who are sensible of their ignorance and want of understanding; which is the first thing the Spirit of God convinces men of; or who are so in comparison of others, are weak in knowledge and experience. Now these Christ does not despise, but invites them into his house for instruction; and where can they be better? and who so fit and proper to be here, and be with Wisdom, than such as these?

she saith to him: as follows.

Gill: Pro 9:5 - Come, eat of my bread // and drink of the wine which I have mingled

Come, eat of my bread,.... Which stands for all the provisions of Christ's house; it designs the Gospel, which to a believer is more than his necessary food; and the ordinance of the supper, one of the symbols of which is bread; and more especially Christ himself, the bread of God, the living bread that came down from heaven, which is to be eaten by faith; and this only, for everything else is that which is not bread; and this daily, as the Israelites ate their manna; this is the believer's daily bread; and largely and freely, to which they are welcome by Christ; and with gladness and singleness of heart, joyfully and with sincerity;

and drink of the wine which I have mingled; of the love of Christ; or of the love of the Father, Son, and Spirit, which meet and mingle together: to "drink" of this is to partake of it by faith, and be persuaded of interest in it; this may be drank largely of, for there is enough, a river of it; and without danger, it is not intoxicating as wine, wherein is excess; and it may be had freely, without money and without price, Son 1:2.

Gill: Pro 9:6 - Forsake the foolish // and live // and go in the way of understanding

Forsake the foolish,.... Foolish men and their company; not men of weak abilities in things natural and civil, or who are reckoned foolish by the world; for so the saints are, whose company is not to be neglected and forsaken; but such who are wickedly foolish, who are ignorant of divine things, and make a mock at sin and at religion; such company is very unsuitable for Wisdom's guests; such as turn in to her house ought to forsake these; it is quite out of character for Wisdom's followers to be the companions of fools; it is very unprofitable to keep company with such vain men, yea, very pernicious and hurtful, and of very bad consequence; it corrupts good manners, and causes grief, and breaks peace, sooner or later; it is quite unbecoming them to converse with them; they are called out from among them by Christ, and should obey: and, besides, they have better company to attend unto: and they should also forsake "foolish" ^m things; the Septuagint version renders it, "foolishness"; and the Arabic version, "imprudence"; the Targum and Syriac version, "want of understanding", or "judgment"; foolish lusts, which are hurtful, and war against the soul, and which should be denied and abstained from; and all foolish ways, their own or others', which are dangerous and lead to ruin; and all foolish doctrines, such as are contrary to the Scriptures, to the doctrine of Christ and his apostles; that tend to degrade any of the Persons of the Trinity, to obscure or lessen the grace of God in man's salvation, or to exalt the creature; all such are to be forsaken, shunned, and avoided, and by no means countenanced and encouraged;

and live; which may be considered either as an exhortation, as the foregoing; live on the provisions of Wisdom's house, on her bread and her wine; live on Christ himself by faith; live not as the foolish do, but as the wise; live not to yourselves, nor to the lusts of men, but to the will and glory of God; live not in sin, but unto righteousness; live not to the flesh, nor after it, but to and after the spirit: or as a promise by way of encouragement, and as enforcing the preceding exhortation, "and ye shall live" ⁿ; honourably, and not scandalously, as they do that keep company with the foolish; comfortably and delightfully, as they do that turn into Wisdom's house, and are her guests; such live in communion with Christ, and with his people; they live a spiritual life now, and shall live an eternal one hereafter;

and go in the way of understanding; as such do that quit the conversation of foolish men, and become the guests of Wisdom; such are in, and go in the way of understanding, who frequently attend the throne of grace, and ask wisdom of the Father of lights; the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of divine things, which they that ask have; Solomon got all his wisdom and understanding this way: such are in the way of it, and go in the way of it, who constantly and carefully read the Scriptures, which are able to make a man wise unto salvation; who go up to the house of the Lord as often as they have opportunity, that they may be taught by trim; who sit under the ministry of Gospel preachers, that feed men with knowledge and understanding; who submit to Gospel ordinances, and keep the commandments of Christ; for such are said to have a good understanding; they show that they have, and by these means get and increase it; see Psa 111:10; and who also converse with knowing and experienced Christians; for "he that walketh with wise men shall be wise", Pro 13:20.

Gill: Pro 9:7 - He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame // and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot

He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame,.... Intimating, that though the simple, and such as want understanding, and of whom there is hope of doing them good, are to be invited into Wisdom's house; yet not the haughty scorner, the abandoned sinner, the scoffer at all religion, who walks after his own lusts, and is quite irreclaimable; it is but casting pearls before swine, and giving that which is holy to dogs, to reprove and exhort such persons; though the Gospel is to be preached to every creature, yet when men despise it, and make a mock at it, they are to be turned from, and no more is to be said to them; as the Jews of old, they were the first invited to the Gospel feast, the same that is described in the context; they made light of it, contradicted and blasphemed the word, and so judged themselves unworthy of it; wherefore Wisdom's maidens, or Christ's ministers, were bid to turn from them, and go to the Gentiles, and preach it to them; for it is to no purpose to address such persons; "shame" is the sure consequence of it, because a man is disappointed of the end he has in view, which is doing good;

and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot; this shows who is meant by a scorner, a very profligate man, bent on his wicked ways, and quite incorrigible; to rebuke such an one is not only labour lost, and in vain, but the rebuker getteth himself an ill name, and is sure to have the dirt of reproach and scandal cast upon him; though this a man might patiently bear, if there was any hope of doing good.

Gill: Pro 9:8 - Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee // rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee

Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee,.... For wicked men are apt to hate those that publicly rebuke them, Amo 5:10. Hence minister's of the word are of all men most hated; though this also should be bore with, could it be thought, or there was any reason to believe, that the reproof would be of any service. The scorner here, and in the preceding verses, may not only design profane sinners, sensualists, and atheists, that despise all religion, and scoff at all that is good; but also proud scornful Pharisees, such who derided Christ himself, and trusted in themselves, and despised others, Christ and his apostles, and their ministrations, Luk 16:14; and such, as Christ came not to call them himself, so he bid his disciples let them alone, Mat 9:13;

rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee; as David did Nathan; and who was determined to take kindly the reproof of any righteous man, Psa 141:5. Such who are spiritually wise will be thankful for the reproof of Gospel ministers, and even of private Christians, and will love and esteem them for their faithfulness and uprightness, and for the good which they themselves receive hereby.

Gill: Pro 9:9 - Give instruction to a wise man // and he will be yet wiser // teach a just man // and he will increase in learning

Give instruction to a wise man,.... In the Hebrew text it is only "give to a wise man"; give him reproof, correction, chastisement, doctrine, or instruction, be it what it will, he will be the better for it. The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions, render it, "give occasion"; to him of showing his wisdom and of improving in it:

and he will be yet wiser; he will learn something by every him that is given him, whether it be by way of rebuke, or by way of instruction;

teach a just man; one that is truly so, that has seen the insufficiency of his own righteousness, and has renounced that, and does not trust in it; and who has learned Christ, as the Lord his righteousness; has seen the glory, fulness, and suitableness of his righteousness, and trusts unto it and depends upon it; and in consequence of this lives soberly, righteously, and godly; teach such a man the doctrines of the Gospel, and every lesson of obedience and duty,

and he will increase in learning; he will grow in grace, and in the knowledge of Christ and all divine things; see Mat 13:12.

Gill: Pro 9:10 - The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom // and the knowledge of the Holy is understanding

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,.... This shows who the wise men are, and in what true wisdom lies; no man is wise till he fears the Lord, and he that does so is a wise man, at least then he begins to be one; this is the principal part of wisdom, Pro 1:7; and is at the first of it; it is the beginning of grace; it is the first act of wisdom, or grace; or which appears as soon as a man is converted and caused to know wisdom in the hidden part; as repentance, faith, and love, quickly show themselves in one act or another, so does the fear of God; for the former are never without the latter; for fear is an awe and reverence of the divine Being, joined with love to him, trust in him, and a desire to serve and worship him in a right manner; no sooner is a man converted, but presently there is in him a fear of offending God, from a principle of love to him; for not a slavish but a filial fear is here intended;

and the knowledge of the Holy is understanding: either the knowledge of the Holy Ones, as the three divine Persons in the Godhead, who are so called, Jos 24:19; the knowledge of God the Father, who is holy in his nature and works; not a mere natural knowledge of him by the light of nature; nor a mere notional knowledge of him by revelation; not a legal knowledge of him as a lawgiver, and an offended Judge; but an evangelical knowledge of him in Christ, as his God and Father; and as the God of all grace in him; so as to have faith and hope in him, access unto him, and communion with him; this is right understanding: so the knowledge of Christ, God's Holy One; a knowledge of him in his person, offices, and grace; an inward knowledge of him, a spiritual acquaintance with him, so as to approve of him, believe in him, and appropriate him to one's self; this is to attain to a good degree of understanding: as likewise the knowledge of the Holy Spirit, the author of sanctification; of his person, and operations of grace; as a convincer and comforter; as a Spirit of illumination and faith, of regeneration and sanctification; and as the Spirit of adoption, and the earnest of glory; this is another branch of spiritual understanding. Moreover, such knowledge which holy men have, and which makes them so; and which holy men of God, moved by the Holy Ghost, have communicated in the sacred Scriptures, of which they are the penmen. The knowledge of holy things may also be meant; of the holy mysteries of religion, of the holy doctrines of the Gospel, which are all according to godliness, and teach men to live in a holy manner: the faith once delivered to the saints is a most holy faith, encourages and promotes holiness of heart and life; as the doctrines of God's everlasting love; eternal election; the unconditionality of the covenant of grace; redemption by Christ; conversion by efficacious grace; justification by Christ's righteousness; pardon by his blood; satisfaction by his sacrifice; and perseverance by his power: and now a knowledge of these things, not notional, but experimental, is understanding indeed; as well as a knowledge of holy and gracious experiences.

Gill: Pro 9:11 - For by me thy days shall be multiplied // and the years of thy life shall be increased

For by me thy days shall be multiplied,.... These are the words of Wisdom, and contain a reason and argument why her call and advice in the preceding verses should be listened unto, since she gives long life to her followers. She is a tree of life unto them, the author and giver of spiritual and eternal life; by means of her bread and her wine spiritual life is maintained, promoted, and preserved; and length of days, for ever and ever, is the gift of her right hand; see Pro 3:16. The Targum is,

"for by it thy days shall be multiplied;''

which seems to refer it to the fear of the Lord, the beginning of wisdom, in Pro 9:10, to which long life is attributed; see Pro 10:27;

and the years of thy life shall be increased; or, "they shall add years of life to thee" ^o; wisdom and understanding, the fear of the Lord, and the knowledge of the Holy; if not in this world, yet in the world to come, which will be without end.

Gill: Pro 9:12 - If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself // but if thou scornest, thou alone shall bear it

If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself,.... He is wise that harkens to Wisdom's advice, that obeys her call, turns in to her house, and becomes her guest; and such an one is wise for himself, it is for his own good, profit, and advantage; for the good of his soul, for his present peace and comfort, and for his future bliss and happiness. It is not for her own sake that Wisdom presses her exhortations, and is so urgent on men to take her counsel and advice; it is for their own good; their wisdom is not profitable to her, but to themselves; they, and they only, reap the advantage and usefulness of it; see Job 22:2. The Syriac and Arabic versions add, "and unto thy friends"; and the Septuagint version is, "if thou becomest wise to thyself, thou wilt be wise to neighbours"; they will receive some profit by it;

but if thou scornest, thou alone shall bear it; the evil, as the Vulgate Latin; the sin of scorning, and the punishment due unto it; it will bring no real hurt to Wisdom, or Christ, nor to his ministers, nor to his Gospel and ordinances, scoffed at; all the hurt will redound to the scoffer himself; and he alone shall bear it, and feel the smart of it, and all the dreadful consequences following upon it. The Septuagint version here adds the following clause,

"he that trusteth in lies, he feedeth on winds; the same pursues birds flying; for he forsakes the ways of his own vineyard; he wanders from the paths of his own husbandry; he passes through a desert without water, and a land destined to thirst, and he gathers unfruitfulness with his hands;''

and which are retained in the Syriac and Arabic version, but are not in the Hebrew text.

Gill: Pro 9:13 - A foolish woman is clamorous // she is simple, and knoweth nothing

A foolish woman is clamorous,.... Some by this woman understand folly itself, as opposed to wisdom; others blind reason, ignorant of divine things; others carnal sensual pleasure, which entices and draws men to that which is evil; others heresy and superstition; others the old serpent, the devil; she seems to be the same with the strange woman and harlot before described, Pro 2:16, &c. and being set in direct opposition to Wisdom, or Christ, seems to design antichrist, who is described in the book of the Revelation as the great whore; and all the characters here agree with the same. Antichrist is represented as a "woman", Rev 17:3; and is "foolish"; for whatever worldly cunning and craft, and wicked subtlety, there may be in the Romish antichrist, yet he is destitute of all spiritual wisdom and knowledge; and is "clamorous" and noisy, has a mouth speaking great swelling words of vanity and blasphemy, boasting of infallibility, works of supererogation, merits, miracles, wealth, and riches; and very pressing and importunate to gain proselytes to his religion; the priests and Jesuits are compared to noisy, clamorous, croaking frogs, Rev 16:13;

she is simple, and knoweth nothing; a woman of follies, extremely foolish and simple, and most grossly ignorant; knows nothing that is good, as the Targum; that is, spiritually good; knows not God aright; is without the fear and love of him, and faith in him; nor knows Christ, and the way of righteousness and life by him; nor the Spirit of God, and the operations of his grace upon the heart; nor the Gospel, and the doctrines of it; nor the ways, worship, and ordinances of God. The Septuagint and Arabic versions are, "she knows not shame"; but is bold and impudent, having a whore's forehead, and on it written, "Mystery, Babylon, the mother of harlots, and abominations of the earth", Rev 17:5.

Gill: Pro 9:14 - For she sitteth at the door of her house // on a seat // in the high places of the city

For she sitteth at the door of her house, Idle and inactive, looking out for her prey; not active and laborious, as Wisdom, building her house, killing her beasts, furnishing her table, and sending out her maidens to call in her guests; but exposing herself in the most public manner, and being at the utmost ease, sitting as a queen; see Rev 18:7; and as it follows,

on a seat, or "throne" ^p; the same seat, or throne, power, and authority, which the dragon gave to the beast, or antichrist, placed at Rome, where this woman reigns; see Rev 13:2;

in the high places of the city; the city of Rome, and its jurisdiction, the high places of which are their temples, or churches; where this foolish woman is noisy and clamorous, proclaims her folly, and endeavours to seduce and raw persons to her superstition and idolatry. "Merome", the word for "high places", has some affinity with Rome, and comes from the same root ^q.

Gill: Pro 9:15 - To call passengers who go right on their ways.

To call passengers who go right on their ways. Who have been religiously educated, and trained up in the principles of true Christianity; and who walk outwardly according to the rule of the divine word, and are in a fair way for heaven and eternal happiness. These she has her eye upon as they pass along, and calls unto them, and endeavours to turn them aside out of the way they are going, to make them proselytes to her antichristian religion; which, when she succeeds in, she glories and boasts of; just as harlots are very desirous of seducing and debauching chaste, innocent, and virtuous persons; see Rev 2:20. Saying as follows:

Gill: Pro 9:16 - Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither // and as for him that wanteth understanding // she saith to him

Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither,.... The harlot's house, Popish chapels and churches. She uses the same form of words that Wisdom does, Pro 9:4; having a form of godliness, a show of religion, but without the power of it; her priests are wolves in sheep's clothing, and speak lies in hypocrisy: and such that she fixes upon as proper persons to work on are the simple, the credulous and unwary; who are not on their guard, and are easily persuaded and imposed on;

and as for him that wanteth understanding; is not well grounded in the principles of Christianity he professes; has not a spiritual and experimental understanding of them:

she saith to him; addresses him in such language as follows:

Gill: Pro 9:17 - Stolen waters are sweet // and bread eaten in secret is pleasant

Stolen waters are sweet,.... Wells and fountains of waters in those hot countries were very valuable, and were the property of particular persons; about which there were sometimes great strife and contention; and they were sometimes sealed and kept from the use of others; see Gen 26:18; now waters got by stealth from such wells and fountains were sweeter than their own, or what might be had in common and without difficulty, to which the proverb alludes. By which in general is meant, that all prohibited unlawful lusts and pleasures are desirable to men, and sweet in the enjoyment of them; and the pleasure promised by them is what makes them so desirable, and the more so because forbidden: and particularly as adultery, which is a sort of theft ^r, and a drinking water out of another's cistern, Pro 5:15; being forbidden and unlawful, and secretly committed, is sweeter to an unclean person than a lawful enjoyment of his own wife; so false worship, superstition, and idolatry, the inventions of men, and obedience to their commands, which are no other than spiritual adultery, are more grateful and pleasing to a corrupt mind than the true and pure worship of God;

and bread eaten in secret is pleasant; or, "bread of secret places" ^s; hidden bread, as the Targum, Vulgate Latin, and Syriac versions; that which is stolen and is another's ^t, and is taken and hid in secret places, fetched out from thence, or eaten there: the sweet morsel of sin, rolled in the mouth, and kept under the tongue; secret lusts, private sins, particularly idolatry, to which men are secretly enticed, and which they privately commit, Deu 13:6; the same thing is designed by this clause as the forager.

Gill: Pro 9:18 - But he knoweth not that the dead are there // and that her guests are in the depths of hell

But he knoweth not that the dead are there,.... In the house of this foolish and wicked woman, into which she invites passengers to turn; the simple, that is persuaded by her, does not consider that there are none there to be his companions, but such who are dead in a moral or spiritual sense; that, though they live in pleasure, they are dead while they live. Aben Ezra refers this to "hell" in the next clause; where her guests are, and where those that are slain by her have their everlasting abode; and where the giants are, as the Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions; or the mighty ones she has cast down there, as the Targum; so the word "rephaim" sometimes signifies: and some think that reference is had to the giants of the old world, that corrupted their way on earth, and brought a deluge on it; see Pro 7:26;

and that her guests are in the depths of hell; not only in the way to it, and on the brink of it, but in the very midst of it: there are many in hell she has invited into her house, and persuaded to turn in there, and commit fornication with her; and all that worship the beast, or commit spiritual adultery with the whore of Rome, will go down to perdition with her, and have their portion in hell fire, in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone; which they do not consider that are drawn into her idolatrous practices, Rev 14:9.

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Ayat / Catatan Kaki

NET Notes: Pro 9:1

¹ sn Chapter 9 forms the conclusion of the lengthy introduction to the book. Both wisdom and folly will make their final appeals; and both appeal to the simpletons. Wisdom offers life with no mention of pleasure; folly offers pleasure with no mention of death. The first twelve verses concern accepting wisdom: the invitation of wisdom (1-6), the description of the responses (7-11), and the consequence (12). Verses 13-18 concern accepting folly: the invitation (13-17) and the consequence (18).

² sn Wisdom is personified as a wise woman. She has prepared a house and established it on seven pillars. This is a reference to the habitable world (e.g., 8:31). For the equation of the house and the world, e.g., 8:29; Job 38:6; and Psalm 104:5 (also G. Boström, Proverbiastudien [LUÅ], 1-14). The “seven pillars” have been variously interpreted, but since seven is a number for completeness and sacredness, the idea seems to be that wisdom produced a perfect world.

NET Notes: Pro 9:2

¹ tn Heb “she has killed her killing.” Cf. KJV “hath killed her beasts”; NAB “has dressed her meat”; NASB “has prepared her food.”

² sn Wisdom has prepared a sumptuous banquet in this house and sends out her maids to call the simple to come and eat (M. Lichtenstein, “The Banquet Motif in Keret and in Proverbs 9,” JANESCU 1 [1968/69]: 19-31). The figures of meat and wine represent the good teaching of wisdom that will be palatable and profitable (implied comparisons). Compare Isaiah 55:1-2 and John 6:51, 55 for similar uses of the figures. The idea of mixing wine could refer to the practice of mixing wine with spices or with water (as the LXX text assumes; e.g., Prov 23:30; Isa 5:22). Mixed wine was the most intoxicating; thus, her wisdom is attractive. All the imagery lets the simple know that what wisdom has to offer is marvelous.

NET Notes: Pro 9:3

¹ tn The text uses two synonymous terms in construct to express the superlative degree.

NET Notes: Pro 9:4

¹ tn Heb “lacking of heart she says to him.” The pronominal suffix is a resumptive pronoun, meaning, “she says to the lacking of heart.”

² tn Heb “him.”

³ tn Heb “heart”; cf. NIV “to those who lack judgment.”

NET Notes: Pro 9:5

¹ tn The construction features a cognate accusative (verb and noun from same root). The preposition בּ (bet) has the partitive use “some” (GKC 380 §119.m).

² tn The final verb actually stands in a relative clause although the relative pronoun is not present; it modifies “wine.”

sn The expressions “eat” and “drink” carry the implied comparison forward; they mean that the simple are to appropriate the teachings of wisdom.

NET Notes: Pro 9:6

¹ tn There are two ways to take this word: either as “fools” or as “foolish ways.” The spelling for “foolishness” in v. 13 differs from this spelling, and so some have taken that as an indicator that this should be “fools.” But this could still be an abstract plural here as in 1:22. Either the message is to forsake fools (i.e., bad company; cf. KJV, TEV) or forsake foolishness (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, NLT).

² tn The two imperatives are joined with vav; this is a volitive sequence in which result or consequence is expressed.

³ tn The verb means “go straight, go on, advance” or “go straight on in the way of understanding” (BDB 80 s.v. אָשַׁר).

NET Notes: Pro 9:7

¹ tn The active participle יֹסֵר (yoser) describes one who tries to correct by means of instruction and discipline; it is paralleled by the Hiphil participle which refers to someone who rebukes or reproves another. Anyone trying this on these types of people would be inviting trouble.

² tn Heb “receives for himself.”

³ tn The word means “dishonor” or “disgrace.” It is paralleled with מוּמוֹ (mumo), translated “abuse.” The latter term means “blemish,” although some would emend the text to read “reproach.” The MT is figurative but not impossible to interpret: Whoever tries to rebuke a wicked person will receive only insults and perhaps physical attack.

⁴ tn The verb “receives” is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity and smoothness.

NET Notes: Pro 9:8

¹ tn In view of the expected response for reproof, the text now uses a negated jussive to advise against the attempt. This is paralleled antithetically by the imperative in the second colon. This imperative is in an understood conditional clause: “if you reprove a wise person.”

² tn Heb “lest he hate you.” The particle פֶּן (pen, “lest”) expresses fear or precaution (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 79, §476). The antonyms “love” and “hate” suggest that the latter means “reject” and the former means “choosing and embracing.”

NET Notes: Pro 9:9

¹ tn The noun “instruction” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation.

² sn The parallelism shows what Proverbs will repeatedly stress, that the wise person is the righteous person.

³ tn The Hiphil verb normally means “to cause to know, make known”; but here the context suggests “to teach” (so many English versions).

⁴ tn The term “his” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for the sake of smoothness and clarity.

NET Notes: Pro 9:10

¹ sn The difference between תְּחִלַּת (tÿkhillat) here and רֵאשִׁית (re’shit) of 1:7, if there is any substantial difference, is that this term refers to the starting point of wisdom, and the earlier one indicates the primary place of wisdom (K&D 16:202).

² tn Heb “fear of the Lord.”

³ tn Heb “knowledge of the Holy One” (so ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

⁴ tn The word is in the plural in the Hebrew (literally “holy ones”; KJV “the holy”). It was translated “holy men” in Tg. Prov 9:10. But it probably was meant to signify the majestic nature of the Lord. As J. H. Greenstone says, he is “all-holy” (Proverbs, 94). This is an example of the plural of majesty, one of the honorific uses of the plural (see IBHS 122-23 §7.4.3b).

NET Notes: Pro 9:11

¹ tn The preposition בּ (bet) here may have the causal sense (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 45, §247), although it could also be means (Williams, 44, §243).

² tn The verb וְיוֹסִיפוּ (vÿyosifu) is the Hiphil imperfect, third masculine plural; but because there is no expressed subject the verb may be taken as a passive.

NET Notes: Pro 9:12

¹ tn The text simply has the preposition לְ (lamed) with a suffix; but this will be the use of the preposition classified as “interest,” either for advantage or disadvantage (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 48-49, §271).

² tn The perfect tense is here in a conditional clause because of the conjunction following the first colon of the verse that begins with “if.” The perfect tense then lays down the antithetical condition – “if you mock,” or “if you are a mocker.”

³ tn The use of the imperfect tense here could be the simple future tense (cf. NASB, NRSV “you…will bear it”), but the obligatory nuance is more appropriate – “you must bear it.” These words anticipate James’ warnings that the words we speak will haunt us through life (e.g., James 3:1-12).

⁴ tc The LXX has an addition: “Forsake folly, that you may reign forever; and seek discretion and direct understanding in knowledge.”

NET Notes: Pro 9:13

¹ tn Heb “a woman of foolishness.” This could be translated as “foolish woman,” taking the genitive as attributive (cf. KJV, ASV, NRSV). But in view of the contrast with the personification of wisdom, this word probably also represents a personification and so can be taken as a genitive of apposition, the woman who is folly, or “the woman, Folly” (cf. NIV). For clarity and stylistic reasons the word “called” has been supplied in the translation.

² tn The meaning of the word comes close to “riotous.” W. McKane describes her as restless and rootless (Proverbs [OTL], 366).

³ tn The noun means “foolishness” (cf. KJV “simple”; NAB “inane”). Here it could be classified as a metonymy of adjunct, or as a predictive apposition (when a substantive is used in place of a noun; see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 15, §67).

⁴ tn The ignorance here in Proverbs must be moral ignorance. But see D. W. Thomas for the idea that the verb means “become still,” “be at rest,” yielding here the idea of restless (“A Note on בַל־יָדְעָה in Proverbs 9¹³,” JTS 4 [1953]: 23-24).

⁵ tc The text of v. 13 has been difficult for translators. The MT has, “The foolish woman is boisterous, simplicity, and knows not what.” The LXX reads, “A foolish and impudent woman comes to lack a morsel, she who knows not shame.” The Syriac has, “a woman lacking in discretion, seductive.” Tg. Prov 9:13 translates it, “a foolish woman and a gadabout, ignorant, and she knows not good.” The Vulgate has, “a woman foolish and noisy, and full of wiles, and knowing nothing at all.”

NET Notes: Pro 9:15

¹ tn The infinitive construct “calling out” functions epexegetically in the sentence, explaining how the previous action was accomplished.

² tn The term “her” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for the sake of clarity and smoothness.

³ tn The noun is a genitive of location after the construct participle. Its parallel word is also an adverbial accusative of location.

⁴ tn The participle modifies the participle in the first colon. To describe the passers-by in this context as those “who go straight” means that they are quiet and unwary.

NET Notes: Pro 9:16

¹ tn This expression is almost identical to v. 4, with the exception of the addition of conjunctions in the second colon: “and the lacking of understanding and she says to him.” The parallel is deliberate, of course, showing the competing appeals for those passing by.

NET Notes: Pro 9:17

¹ sn The offer is not wine and meat (which represented wisdom), but water that is stolen. The “water” will seem sweeter than wine because it is stolen – the idea of getting away with something exciting appeals to the baser instincts. In Proverbs the water imagery was introduced earlier in 5:15-19 as sexual activity with the adulteress, which would seem at the moment more enjoyable than learning wisdom. Likewise bread will be drawn into this analogy in 30:20. So the “calling out” is similar to that of wisdom, but what is being offered is very different.

² tn Heb “bread of secrecies.” It could mean “bread [eaten in] secret places,” a genitive of location; or it could mean “bread [gained through] secrets,” a genitive of source, the secrecies being metonymical for theft. The latter makes a better parallelism in this verse, for bread (= sexually immoral behavior) gained secretly would be like stolen water.

NET Notes: Pro 9:18

¹ tn Heb “he does not know.”

² sn The “dead” are the Rephaim, the “shades” or dead persons who lead a shadowy existence in Sheol (e.g., Prov 2:18-19; Job 3:13-19; Ps 88:5; Isa 14:9-11). This approximates an “as-if” motif of wisdom literature: The ones ensnared in folly are as good as in Hell. See also Ptah-hotep’s sayings (ANET 412-414).

³ tc The LXX adds to the end of v. 18: “But turn away, linger not in the place, neither set your eye on her: for thus will you go through alien water; but abstain from alien water, drink not from an alien fountain, that you may live long, that years of life may be added to you.”

sn The text has “in the depths of Sheol” (בְּעִמְקֵי שְׁאוֹל, bÿ’imqe shÿ’ol). The parallelism stresses that those who turn to this way of life are ignorant and doomed. It may signal a literal death lying ahead in the not too distant future, but it is more likely an analogy. The point is that the life of folly, a life of undisciplined, immoral, riotous living, runs counter to God’s appeal for wisdom and leads to ruin. That is the broad way that leads to destruction.

Geneva Bible: Pro 9:1

Wisdom hath built her ^{( a )} house, she hath hewn out her ^{( b )} seven pillars:

^{( a )} Christ has prepared him a Church.

^{( b )} That is, many chief supports and principal parts of his Church, as were the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, pastors and teachers.

Geneva Bible: Pro 9:2

She hath killed her beasts; she hath mixed her wine; she hath also ^{( c )} furnished her table.

^{( c )} He compares wisdom with great princes who keep open house for all who come.

Geneva Bible: Pro 9:3

She hath sent forth her ^{( d )} maidens: she crieth upon the highest places of the city,

^{( d )} Meaning, true preachers, who are not infected with man's wisdom.

Geneva Bible: Pro 9:4

Whoever [is] ^{( e )} simple, let him turn in here: [as for] him that lacketh understanding, she saith to him,

^{( e )} He who knows his own ignorance, and is void of malice.

Geneva Bible: Pro 9:5

Come, eat of my ^{( f )} bread, and drink of the wine [which] I have mixed.

^{( f )} By meat and drink is meant the word of God, and the ministration of the sacraments, by which God nourishes his servants in his house which is the Church.

Geneva Bible: Pro 9:7

He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame: and he that rebuketh a wicked [man getteth] himself a ^{( g )} blot.

^{( g )} For the wicked will contemn him and labour to defame him.

Geneva Bible: Pro 9:8

Reprove not a ^{( h )} scorner, lest he shall hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.

^{( h )} Meaning them who are incorrigible, which Christ calls dogs and swine: or he speaks this in comparison, not that the wicked should not be rebuked, but he shows their malice, and the small hope of the profit.

Geneva Bible: Pro 9:10

The fear of the LORD [is] the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the Holy One [is] ^{( i )} understanding.

^{( i )} He shows what true understanding is, to know the will of God in his word which is meant by holy things.

Geneva Bible: Pro 9:12

If thou art wise, thou shalt be wise for ^{( k )} thyself: but [if] thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear [it].

^{( k )} You will have the chief profit and convenience of it.

Geneva Bible: Pro 9:13

A ^{( l )} foolish woman [is] clamorous: [she is] simple, and knoweth nothing.

^{( l )} By the foolish woman, some understand the wicked preachers, who counterfeit the word of God: as appears in (Pro 9:16) which were the words of the true preachers as in (Pro 9:4) but their doctrine is as stolen waters: meaning that they are men's traditions, which are more pleasant to the flesh than the word of God, and therefore they themselves boast of it.

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Rentang Ayat

MHCC: Pro 9:1-12

Christ has prepared ordinances to which his people are admitted, and by which nourishment is given here to those that believe in him, as well as mansions in heaven hereafter. The ministers of the gospel go forth to invite the guests. The call is general, and shuts out none that do not shut out themselves. Our Saviour came, not to call the righteous, but sinners; not the wise in their own eyes, who say they see. We must keep from the company and foolish pleasures of the ungodly, or we never can enjoy the pleasures of a holy life. It is vain to seek the company of wicked men in the hope of doing them good; we are far more likely to be corrupted by them. It is not enough to forsake the foolish, we must join those that walk in wisdom. There is no true wisdom but in the way of religion, no true life but in the end of that way. Here is the happiness of those that embrace it. A man cannot be profitable to God; it is for our own good. Observe the shame and ruin of those who slight it. God is not the Author of sin: and Satan can only tempt, he cannot force. Thou shalt bear the loss of that which thou scornest: it will add to thy condemnation.

MHCC: Pro 9:13-18

How diligent the tempter is, to seduce unwary souls into sin! Carnal, sensual pleasure, stupifies conscience, and puts out the sparks of conviction. This tempter has no solid reason to offer; and where she gets dominion in a soul, all knowledge of holy things is lost and forgotten. She is very violent and pressing. We need to seek and pray for true wisdom, for Satan has many ways to withdraw our souls from Christ. Not only worldly lusts and abandoned seducers prove fatal to the souls of men; but false teachers, with doctrines that flatter pride and give liberty to lusts, destroy thousands. They especially draw off such as have received only partial serious impressions. The depths of Satan are depths of hell; and sin, without remorse, is ruin, ruin without remedy. Solomon shows the hook; those that believe him, will not meddle with the bait. Behold the wretched, empty, unsatisfying, deceitful, and stolen pleasure sin proposes; and may our souls be so desirous of the everlasting enjoyment of Christ, that on earth we may live to him, daily, by faith, and ere long be with him in glory.

Matthew Henry: Pro 9:1-12

Wisdom is here introduced as a magnificent and munificent queen, very great and very generous; that Word of God is this Wisdom in which God makes known his goodwill towards men; God the Word is this Wisdom, to whom the Father has committed all judgment. He who, in the chapter before, showed his grandeur and glory as the Creator of the world, here shows his grace and goodness as the Redeemer of it. The word is plural, Wisdoms; for in Christ are hid treasures of wisdom, and in his undertaking appears the manifold wisdom of God in a mystery. Now observe here,

I. The rich provision which Wisdom has made for the reception of all those that will be her disciples. This is represented under the similitude of a sumptuous feast, whence it is probable, our Saviour borrowed those parables in which he compared the kingdom of heaven to a great supper, Mat 22:2; Luk 14:16. And so it was prophesied of, Isa 25:6. It is such a feast as Ahasuerus made to show the riches of his glorious kingdom. The grace of the gospel is thus set before us in the ordinance of the Lord's supper. To bid her guests welcome, 1. Here is a stately palace provided, Pro 9:1. Wisdom, not finding a house capacious enough for all her guests, has built one on purpose, and, both to strengthen it and to beautify it, she has hewn out her seven pillars, which make it to be very firm, and look very great. Heaven is the house which Wisdom has built to entertain all her guests that are called to the marriage-supper of the Lamb; that is her Father's house, where there are many mansions, and whither she has gone to prepare places for us. She has hanged the earth upon nothing, there in it we have no continuing city; but heaven is a city that has foundations, has pillars. The church is Wisdom's house, to which she invites her guests, supported by the power and promise of God, as by seven pillars. Probably, Solomon refers to the temple which he himself had lately built for the service of religion, and to which he would persuade people to resort, both to worship God and to receive the instructions of Wisdom. Some reckon the schools of the prophets to be here intended. 2. Here is a splendid feast got ready (Pro 9:2): She has killed her beasts; she has mingled her wine; plenty of meat and drink are provided, and all of the best. She has killed her sacrifice (so the word is); it is a sumptuous, but a sacred feast, a feast upon a sacrifice. Christ has offered up himself a sacrifice for us, and it is his flesh that is meat indeed and his blood that is drink indeed. The Lord's supper is a feast of reconciliation and joy upon the sacrifice of atonement. The wine is mingled with something richer than itself, to give it a more than ordinary spirit and flavour. She has completely furnished her table with all the satisfactions that a soul can desire - righteousness and grace, peace and joy, the assurances of God's love, the consolations of the Spirit, and all the pledges and earnests of eternal life. Observe, It is all Wisdom's own doing; she has killed the beasts, she has mingled the wine, which denotes both the love of Christ, who makes the provision (he does not leave it to others, but takes the doing of it into his own hands), and the excellency of the preparation. That must needs be exactly fitted to answer the end which Wisdom herself has the fitting up of.

II. The gracious invitation she has given, not to some particular friends, but to all in general, to come and take part of these provisions. 1. She employs her servants to carry the invitation round about in the country: She has sent forth her maidens, Pro 9:3. The ministers of the gospel are commissioned and commanded to give notice of the preparations which God has made, in the everlasting covenant, for all those that are willing to come up to the terms of it; and they, with maiden purity, not corrupting themselves or the word of God, and with an exact observance of their orders, are to call upon all they meet with, even in the highways and hedges, to come and feast with Wisdom, for all things are now ready, Luk 14:23. 2. She herself cries upon the highest places of the city, as one earnestly desirous of the welfare of the children of men, and grieved to see them rejecting their own mercies for lying vanities. Our Lord Jesus was himself the publisher of his own gospel; when he had sent forth his disciples he followed them to confirm what they said; nay, it began to be spoken by the Lord, Heb 2:3. He stood, and cried, Come unto me. We see who invited; now let us observe,

(1.) To whom the invitation is given: Whoso is simple and wants understanding, Pro 9:4. If we were to make an entertainment, of all people we should not care for, much less court, the company of such, but rather of philosophers and learned men, that we might hear their wisdom, and whose table-talk would be improving. "Have I need of madmen?"But Wisdom invites such, because what she has to give is what they most need, and it is their welfare that she consults, and aims at, in the preparation and invitation. he that is simple is invited, that he may be made wise, and he that wants a heart (so the word is) let him come hither, and he shall have one. Her preparations are rather physic than food, designed for the most valuable and desirable cure, that of the mind. Whosoever he be, the invitation is general, and excludes none that do not exclude themselves; though they be ever so foolish, yet, [1.] They shall be welcome. [2.] They may be helped; they shall neither be despised nor despaired of. Our Saviour came, not to call the righteous, but sinners, not the wise in their own eyes, who say they see (Joh 9:41), but the simple, those who are sensible of their simplicity and ashamed of it, and him that is willing to become a fool, that he may be wise, 1Co 3:18.

(2.) What the invitation is. [1.] We are invited to Wisdom's house: Turn in hither. I say we are, for which of us is there that must not own the character of the invited, that are simple and want understanding? Wisdom's doors stand open to such, and she is desirous to have some conversation with them, one word for their good, nor has she any other design upon them. [2.] We are invited to her table (Pro 9:5): Come, eat of my bread, that is, taste of the true pleasures that are to be found in the knowledge and fear of God. By faith acted on the promises of the gospel, applying them to ourselves and taking the comfort of them, we feed, we feast, upon the provisions Christ has made for poor souls. What we eat and drink we make our own, we are nourished and refreshed by it, and so are our souls by the word of God; it has that in it which is meat and drink to those that have understanding.

(3.) What is required of those that may have the benefit of this invitation, Pro 9:6. [1.] They must break off from all bad company: " Forsake the foolish, converse not with them, conform not to their ways, have no fellowship with the works of darkness, or with those that deal in such works."The first step towards virtue is to shun vice, and therefore to shun the vicious. Depart from me, you evil-doers. [2.] They must awake and arise from the dead; they must live, not in pleasure (for those that do so are dead while they live), but in the service of God; for those only that do so live indeed, live to some purpose. "Live not a mere animal-life, as brutes, but now, at length, live the life of men. Live and you shall live; live spiritually, and you shall live eternally,"Eph 5:14. [3.] They must choose the paths of Wisdom, and keep to them: " Go in the way of understanding; govern thyself henceforward by the rules of religion and right reason."It is not enough to forsake the foolish, but we must join ourselves with those that walk in wisdom, and walk in the same spirit and steps.

III. The instructions which Wisdom gives to the maidens she sends to invite, to the ministers and others, who in their places are endeavouring tot serve her interests and designs. She tells them,

1. What their work must be, not only to tell in general what preparation is made for souls, and to give a general offer of it, but they must address themselves to particular persons, must tell them of their faults, reprove, rebuke, Pro 9:7, Pro 9:8. They must instruct them how to amend - teach, Pro 9:9. The word of God is intended, and therefore so is the ministry of that word, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness.

2. What different sorts of persons they would meet with, and what course they must take with them, and what success they might expect.

(1.) They would meet with some scorners and wicked men who would mock the messengers of the Lord, and misuse them, would laugh those to scorn that invite them to the feast of the Lord, as they did, 2Ch 30:10, would treat them spitefully, Mat 22:6. And, though they are not forbidden to invite those simple ones to Wisdom's house, yet they are advised not to pursue the invitation by reproving and rebuking them. Reprove not a scorner; cast not these pearls before swine, Mat 7:6. Thus Christ said of the Pharisees, Let them alone, Mat 15:14. "Do not reprove them."[1.] "In justice to them, for those have forfeited the favour of further means who scorn the means they have had. Those that are thus filthy, let them be filthy still; those that are joined to idols, let them alone; lo, we turn to the Gentiles. "[2.] "In prudence to yourselves; because, if you reprove them," First, "You lose your labour, and so get to yourselves shame for the disappointment." Secondly, "You exasperate them; do it ever so wisely and tenderly, if you do it faithfully, they will hate you, they will load you with reproaches, and say all the ill they can of you, and so you will get a blot; therefore you had better not meddle with them, for your reproofs will be likely to do more hurt than good."

(2.) They would meet with others, who are wise, and good, and just; thanks be to God, all are not scorners. We meet with some who are so wise for themselves, to just to themselves, as to be willing and glad to be taught; and when we meet with such, [1.] If there be occasion, we must reprove them; for wise men are not so perfectly wise but there is that in them which needs a reproof; and we must not connive at any man's faults because we have a veneration for his wisdom, nor must a wise man think that his wisdom exempts him from reproof when he says or does any thing foolishly; but the more wisdom a man has the more desirous he should be to have his weaknesses shown him, because a little folly is a great blemish to him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour. [2.] With our reproofs we must give them instruction, and must teach them, Pro 9:9. [3.] We may expect that our doing so will be taken as a kindness, Psa 141:5. A wise man will reckon those his friends who deal faithfully with him: "Rebuke such a one, and he will love thee for thy plain dealing, will thank thee, and desire thee to do him the same good turn another time, if there be occasion."It is as great an instance of wisdom to take a reproof well as to give it well, [4.] Being taken well, it will do good, and answer the intention. A wise man will be made wiser by the reproofs and instructions that are given him; he will increase in learning, will grow in knowledge, and so grow in grace. None must think themselves too wise to learn, nor so good that they need not be better and therefore need not be taught. We must still press forward, and follow on to know till we come to the perfect man. Give to a wise man (so it is in the original), give him advice, give him reproof, give him comfort, and he will be yet wiser; give him occasion (so the Septuagint), occasion to show his wisdom, and he will show it, and the acts of wisdom will strengthen the habits.

IV. The instructions she gives to those that are invited, which her maidens must inculcate upon them.

1. Let them know wherein true wisdom consists, and what will be their entertainment at Wisdom's table, Pro 9:10 (1.) The heart must be principled with the fear of God; that is the beginning of wisdom. A reverence of God's majesty, and a dread of his wrath, are that fear of him which is the beginning, the first step towards true religion, whence all other instances of it take rise. This fear may, at first, have torment, but love will, by degrees, cast out the torment of it. (2.) The head must be filled with the knowledge of the things of God. The knowledge of holy things (the word is plural) is understanding, the things pertaining to the service of God (those are called holy things ), that pertain to our own sanctification; reproof is called that which is holy, Mat 7:6. Or the knowledge which holy men have, which was taught by the holy prophets, of those things which holy men spoke as they were moved by the holy Ghost, this is understanding; it is the best and most useful understanding, will stand us in most stead and turn to the best account.

2. Let them know what will be advantages of this wisdom (Pro 9:11): " By me thy days shall be multiplied. It will contribute to the health of thy body, and so the years of thy life on earth shall be increased, while men's folly and intemperance shorten their days. It will bring thee to heaven, and there thy days shall be multiplied in infinitum - to infinity, and the years of thy life shall be increased without end. "There is no true wisdom but in the say of religion and no true life but in the end of that way.

3. Let them know what will be the consequence of their choosing or refusing this fair offer, Pro 9:12. Here is, (1.) The happiness of those that embrace it: " If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself; thou wilt be the gainer by it, not Wisdom."A man cannot be profitable to God. It is to our own good that we are thus courted. "Thou wilt not leave the gain to others"(as we do our worldly wealth when we die, which is therefore called another man's, Luk 16:12), "but thou shalt carry it with thee into another world."Those that are wise for their souls are wise for themselves, for the soul is the man; nor do any consult their own true interest but those that are truly religious. This recommends us to God, and recovers us from that which is our folly and degeneracy; it employs us in that which is most beneficial in this world, and entitles us to that which is much more so in the world to come. (2.) The shame and ruin of those that slight it: " If thou scornest Wisdom's proffer, thou alone shalt bar it. "[1.] "Thou shalt bear the blame of it."Those that are good must thank God, but those that are wicked may thank themselves; it is not owing to God (he is not the author of sin); Satan can only tempt, he cannot force; and wicked companions are but his instruments; so that all the fault must lie on the sinner himself. [2.] "Thou shalt bear the loss of that which thou scornest; it will be to thy own destruction; thy blood will be upon thy own head, and the consideration of this will aggravate thy condemnation. Son, remember, that thou hadst this fair offer made thee, and thou wouldst not accept it; thou stoodest fair for life, but didst choose death rather."

Matthew Henry: Pro 9:13-18

We have heard what Christ has to say, to engage our affections to God and godliness, and one would think the whole world should go after him; but here we are told how industrious the tempter is to seduce unwary souls into the paths of sin, and with the most he gains his point, and Wisdom's courtship is not effectual. Now observe,

I. Who is the tempter - a foolish woman, Folly herself, in opposition to Wisdom. Carnal sensual pleasure I take to be especially meant by this foolish woman (Pro 9:13); for that is the great enemy to virtue and inlet to vice; that defiles and debauches the mind, stupefies conscience, and puts out the sparks of conviction, more than any thing else. This tempter is here described to be, 1. Very ignorant: She is simple and knows nothing, that is, she has no sufficient solid reason to offer; where she gets dominion in a soul she works out all the knowledge of holy things; they are lost and forgotten. Whoredom, and wine, and new wine, take away the heart; they besot men, and make fools of them. (2.) Very importunate. The less she has to offer that is rational the more violent and pressing she is, and carries the day often by dint of impudence. She is clamorous and noisy (Pro 9:13), continually haunting young people with her enticements. She sits at the door of her house (Pro 9:14), watching for a prey; not as Abraham at his tent-door, seeking an opportunity to do good. She sits on a seat ( on a throne, so the word signifies) in the high places of the city, as if she had authority to give law, and we were all debtors to the flesh, to live after the flesh, and as if she had reputation, and were in honour, and thought worthy of the high places of the city; and perhaps she gains upon many more by pretending to be fashionable than by pretending to be agreeable. "Do not all persons of rank and figure in the world"(says she) "give themselves a greater liberty than the strict laws of virtue allow; and why shouldst thou humble thyself so far as to be cramped by them?"Thus the tempter affects to seem both kind and great.

II. Who are the tempted - young people who have been well educated; these she will triumph most in being the ruin of. Observe, 1. What their real character is; they are passengers that go right on their ways (Pro 9:15), that have been trained up in the paths of religion and virtue and set out very hopefully and well, that seemed determined and designed for good, and are not (as that young man, Pro 7:8) going the way to her house. Such as these she has a design upon, and lays snares for, and uses all her arts, all her charms, to pervert them; if they go right on, and will not look towards her, she will call after them, so urgent are these temptations. (2.) How she represents them. She calls them simple and wanting understanding, and therefore courts them to her school, that they may be cured of the restraints and formalities of their religion. This is the method of the stage (which is too close an exposition of this paragraph), where the sober young man, that has been virtuously educated, is the fool in the play, and the plot is to make him seven times more a child of hell than his profane companions, under colour of polishing and refining him, and setting him up for a wit and a beau. What is justly charged upon sin and impiety (Pro 9:4), that it is folly, is here very unjustly retorted upon the ways of virtue; but the day will declare who are the fools.

III. What the temptation is (Pro 9:17): Stolen waters are sweet. It is to water and bread, whereas Wisdom invites to the beasts she has killed and the wine she has mingled; however, bread and water are acceptable enough to those that are hungry and thirsty; and this is pretended to be more sweet and pleasant than common, for it is stolen water and bread eaten in secret, with a fear of being discovered. The pleasures of prohibited lusts are boasted of as more relishing than those of prescribed love; and dishonest gain is preferred to that which is justly gotten. Now this argues, not only a bold contempt, but an impudent defiance, 1. Of God's law, in that the waters are the sweeter for being stolen and come at by breaking through the hedge of the divine command. Nitimur in vetitum - We are prone to what is forbidden. This spirit of contradiction we have from our first parents, who thought the forbidden tree of all others a tree to be desired. 2. Of God's curse. The bread is eaten in secret, for fear of discovery and punishment, and the sinner takes a pride in having so far baffled his convictions, and triumphed over them, that, notwithstanding that fear, he dares commit the sin, and can make himself believe that, being eaten in secret, it shall never be discovered or reckoned for. Sweetness and pleasantness constitute the bait; but, by the tempter's own showing, even that is so absurd, and has such allays, that it is a wonder how it can have any influence upon men that pretend to reason.

IV. An effectual antidote against the temptation, in a few words, Pro 9:18. He that so far wants understanding as to be drawn aside by these enticements is led on, ignorantly, to his own inevitable ruin: He knows not, will not believe, does not consider, the tempter will not let him know, that the dead are there, that those who live in pleasure are dead while they live, dead in trespasses and sins. Terrors attend these pleasures like the terrors of death itself. The giants are there - Rephaim. It was this that ruined the sinners of the old world, the giants that were in the earth in those days. Her guests, that are treated with those stolen waters, are not only in the highway to hell and at the brink of it, but they are already in the depths of hell, under the power of sin, led captive by Satan at his will, and ever and anon lashed by the terrors of their own consciences, which are a hell upon earth The depths of Satan are the depths of hell. Remorseless sin is remediless ruin; it is the bottomless pit already. Thus does Solomon show the hook; those that believe him will not meddle with the bait.

Keil-Delitzsch: Pro 9:1-3

The preceding discourse pronounces those happy who, having taken their stand at the portal of Wisdom, wait for her appearance and her invitation. There is thus a house of Wisdom as there is a house of God, Psa 84:11; and if now the discourse is of a house of Wisdom, and of an invitation to a banquet therein (like that in the parable, Matt 22, of the invitation to the marriage feast of the king's son), it is not given without preparation:

1 Wisdom hath builded for herself an house,

Hewn out her seven pillars;

2 Hath slaughtered her beasts, mingled her wine;

Hath also spread her table;

3 Hath sent out her maidens; she waiteth

On the highest points of the city.

Pro 9:1

Regarding חכמות , vid ., at Pro 1:20. It is a plur. excellentiae , which is a variety of the plur. extensivus . Because it is the expression of a plural unity, it stands connected (as for the most part also אלהים , Deus ) with the sing. of the predicate. The perfects enumerate all that Wisdom has done to prepare for her invitation. If we had a parable before us, the perf. would have run into the historical ותּשׁלח ; but it is, as the תקרא shows, an allegorical picture of the arrangement and carrying out of a present reality. Instead of בּנתה לּהּ בּית there is בּנתה בּיתהּ , for the house is already in its origin represented as hers, and 1b is to be translated: she has hewn out her seven pillars (Hitzig); more correctly: her pillars, viz., seven (after the scheme דבּתם רעה , Gen 37:2); but the construction is closer. שׁבעה is, altogether like Exo 25:37, the accusative of the second object, or of the predicate after the species of verba , with the idea: to make something, turn into something, which take to themselves a double accusative, Gesen. §139, 2: excidit columnas suas ita ut septem essent . Since the figure is allegorical, we may not dispense with the interpretation of the number seven by the remark, "No emphasis lies in the number"(Bertheau). First, we must contemplate architecturally the house with seven pillars: "They are,"as Hitzig rightly remarks, "the pillars of the מסדּרון (porch) [ vid . Bachmann under Jdg 3:23, and Wetstein under Psa 144:12, where חטב is used of the cutting out and hewing of wood, as חצב of the cutting out and hewing of stone] in the inner court, which bore up the gallery of the first (and second) floors: four of these in the corners and three in the middle of three sides; through the midst of these the way led into the court of the house-floor the area."But we cannot agree with Hitzig in maintaining that, with the seven pillars of chap. 8 and 9, the author looks back to the first seven chapters (Arab. âbwab , gates) of this book; we think otherwise of the component members of this Introduction to the Book of Proverbs; and to call the sections of a book "gates, שׁערים ,"is a late Arabico-Jewish custom, of which there is found no trace whatever in the O.T. To regard them also, with Heidenheim (cf. Dante's Prose Writings, translated by Streckfuss, p. 77), as representing the seven liberal arts ( שׁבע חכמות ) is impracticable; for this division of the artes liberales into seven, consisting of the Trivium (Grammar, Rhetoric, and Dialectics) and Quadrivium (Music, Arithmetic, Geometry, and Astronomy), is not to be looked for within the old Israelitish territory, and besides, these were the sciences of this world which were so divided; but wisdom, to which the discourse here refers, is wholly a religious-moral subject. The Midrash thinks of the seven heavens ( שׁבעה רקיעים ), or the seven climates or parts of the earth ( שׁבעה ארצות ), as represented by them; but both references require artificial combinations, and have, as also the reference to the seven church-eras (Vitringa and Chr. Ben. Michaelis), this against them, that they are rendered probable neither from these introductory proverbial discourses, nor generally from the O.T. writings. The patristic and middle-age reference to the seven sacraments of the church passes sentence against itself; but the old interpretation is on the right path, when it suggests that the seven pillars are the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost. The seven-foldness of the manifestation of the Spirit, already brought near by the seven lamps of the sacred candelabra (the מנורה ), is established by Isa 11:2 ( vid ., l.c .); and that Wisdom is the possessor and dispenser of the Spirit she herself testifies, Pro 1:23. Her Spirit is the "Spirit of wisdom;"but at the same time, since, born of God, she is mediatrix between God and the world, also the "Spirit of Jahve,"He is the "spirit of understanding,"the "spirit of counsel,"and the "spirit of might"(Isa 11:2); for she says, Pro 8:14, "Counsel is mine, and reflection; I am understanding, I have strength."He is also the "spirit of knowledge,"and the "spirit of the fear of the Lord"(Isa 11:2); for fear and the knowledge of Jahve are, according to Pro 9:14, the beginning of wisdom, and essentially wisdom itself.

Pro 9:2

If thus the house of Wisdom is the place of her fellowship with those who honour her, the system of arrangements made by her, so as to disclose and communicate to her disciples the fulness of her strength and her gifts, then it is appropriate to understand by the seven pillars the seven virtues of her nature communicating themselves (apocalyptically expressed, the ἑπτὰ πνεύματα ), which bear up and adorn the dwelling which she establishes among men. Flesh and wine are figures of the nourishment for the mind and the heart which is found with wisdom, and, without asking what the flesh and the wine specially mean, are figures of the manifold enjoyment which makes at once strong and happy. The segolate n. verbale טבח , which Pro 7:22 denoted the slaughtering or the being slaughtered, signifies here, in the concrete sense, the slaughtered ox; Michaelis rightly remarks that טבח , in contradistinction to זבח , is the usual word for mactatio extrasacrificialis . Regarding מסך יין , vid ., under Isa 5:22; it is not meant of the mingling of wine with sweet scents and spices, but with water (warm or cold), and signifies simply to make the wine palatable (as κεραννύναι , temperare ); the lxx ἐκέρασεν εἰς κρατῆρα, κρατήρ is the name of the vessel in which the mixing takes place; they drank not ἄκρατον , but κεκερασμένον ἄκρατον , Rev 14:10. The frequently occurring phrase ערך שׁלחן signifies to prepare the table (from שׁלּח , properly the unrolled and outspread leather cover), viz., by the placing out of the dishes ( vid ., regarding ערך , under Gen 22:9).

Pro 9:3

The verb קרא , when a feast is spoken of, means to invite; קראים , Pro 9:18 (cf. 1Sa 9:13, etc.), are the guests. נערותיה the lxx translates τοὺς ἑαυτῆς δούλους , but certainly here the disciples are meant who already are in the service of Wisdom; but that those who are invited to Wisdom are thought of as feminine, arises from the tasteful execution of the picture. The invitation goes forth to be known to all far and wide, so that in her servants Wisdom takes her stand in the high places of the city. Instead of בּראשׁ , Pro 8:2; Pro 1:21, there is used here the expression על־גּפּי . We must distinguish the Semitic גּף (= ganf ), wings, from גנף = כנף , to cover, and גּף (= gaff or ganf ), the bark, which is derived either from גּפף or גּנף , Arab. jnf , convexus, incurvus et extrinsecus gibber fuit , hence originally any surface bent outwards or become crooked (cf. the roots cap , caf , קב כף גף גב , etc.), here the summit of a height (Fl.); thus not super alis (after the analogy of πτερύγιον , after Suidas = ἀκρωτήριον ), but super dorsis (as in Lat. we say δορσυμ μοντις , and also viae ).

Keil-Delitzsch: Pro 9:4-6

Now follows the street-sermon of Wisdom inviting to her banquet:

4 Who is simple? let him come hither!"

Whoso wanteth understanding, to him she saith:

5 "Come, eat of my bread,

And drink of the wine which I have mingled!

6 Cease, ye simple, and live,

And walk straight on in the way of understanding."

The question מי פּתי (thus with Munach , not with Makkeph , it is to be written here and at Pro 9:16; vid ., Baer's Torath Emeth , p. 40), quis est imperitus , is, as Psa 25:12, only a more animated expression for quisquis est . The retiring into the background of the נערות (servants), and the immediate appearance of Wisdom herself, together with the interruption, as was to be expected, of her connected discourses by the אמרה לּו , are signs that the pure execution of the allegorical representation is her at an end. Hitzig seeks, by the rejection of Pro 9:4, Pro 9:5, Pro 9:7-10, to bring in a logical sequence; but these interpolations which he cuts out are yet far more inconceivable than the proverbial discourses in the mouth of Wisdom, abandoning the figure of a banquet, which besides are wholly in the spirit of the author of this book. That Folly invites to her, Pro 9:16, in the same words as are used by Wisdom, Pro 9:4, is not strange; both address themselves to the simple ( vid ., on פּתי at Pro 1:4) and those devoid of understanding (as the youth, Pro 7:7), and seek to bring to their side those who are accessible to evil as to good, and do not dully distinguish between them, which the emulating devertat huc of both imports. The fourth verse points partly backwards, and partly forwards; 4a has its introduction in the תקרא of Pro 9:3; on the contrary, 4b is itself the introduction of what follows. The setting forth of the nom. absolutus חסר־לב is conditioned by the form of 4a; the מי (cf. 4a) is continued (in 4b) without its needing to be supplied: excors (= si quis est excors ) dicit ei (not dixit , because syntactically subordinating itself to the תקרא ). It is a nominal clause, whose virtual predicate (the devoid of understanding is thus and thus addressed by her) as in Pro 9:16.

Pro 9:5

The plur. of the address shows that the simple (inexperienced) and the devoid of understanding are regarded as essentially one and the same class of men. The בּ after לחם and שׁתה proceeds neither from the idea of eating into (hewing into) anything, nor from the eating with anything, i.e. , inasmuch as one makes use of it, nor of pampering oneself with anything (as ראה ב ); Michaelis at last makes a right decision (cf. Lev 22:11; Jdg 13:16; Job 21:25, and particularly לחם בּ , Psa 141:4): communicationem et participationem in re fruenda denotat ; the lxx φάγετε τῶν ἐμῶν ἄρτων . The attributive מסכתּי stands with backward reference briefly for מסכתּיו . That Wisdom, Pro 9:2, offers flesh and wine, but here presents bread and wine, is no contradiction, which would lead us, with Hitzig, critically to reject Pro 9:4 and Pro 9:5 as spurious; לחם is the most common, all-comprehensive name for nourishment. Bertheau suitably compares Jahve's invitation, Isa 55:1, and that of Jesus, Joh 6:35.

Pro 9:6

That פתאים is a plur. with abstract signification (according to which the four Greek and the two Aramaean translations render it; the Graec. Venet. , however, renders τοὺς νηπίους ) is improbable; the author forms the abstr. Pro 9:13 otherwise, and the expression here would be doubtful. For פתאים is here to be rendered as the object-accus.: leave the simple, i.e. , forsake this class of men (Ahron b. Joseph; Umbreit, Zöckler); or also, which we prefer (since it is always a singular thought that the "simple"should leave the "simple"), as the vocative, and so that עזבוּ means not absolutely "leave off"(Hitzig), but so that the object to be thought of is to be taken from פתאים : give up, leave off, viz., the simple (Immanuel and others; on the contrary, Rashi, Meîri, and others, as Ewald, Bertheau, decide in favour of פתאים as n. abstr .). Regarding וחיוּ , for et vivetis, vid ., Pro 4:4. The lxx, paraphrasing: ἵνα εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα βασιλεύσητε . אשׁר is related to אשׁוּר ( אשׁוּר ) is דּרך to דּרך ; the Piel , not in its intrans. ( vid ., Pro 4:14) but in its trans. sense (Isa 1:17; Isa 3:12, etc.), shows that the idea of going straight out and forwards connects itself therewith. The peculiarity of the פתי is just the absence of character.

Keil-Delitzsch: Pro 9:7-9

In what now follows the discourse of Wisdom is continued; wherefore she directs her invitation to the simple, i.e. , those who have not yet decided, and are perhaps susceptible of that which is better:

7 "He who correcteth a scorner draweth upon himself insult;

And he who communicateth instruction to a scorner, it is a dishonour to him.

8 Instruct not a scorner, lest he hate thee;

Give instruction to the wise, so he will love thee.

9 Give to the wise, and he becomes yet wiser;

Give knowledge to the upright, and he gains in knowledge."

Zöckler thinks that herewith the reason for the summons to the "simple"to forsake the fellowship of men of their own sort, is assigned (he explains 6a as Ahron b. Joseph: הפרדו מן הפתאים ); but his remark, that, under the term "simple,"mockers and wicked persons are comprehended as belonging to the same category, confounds two sharply distinguished classes of men. לץ is the freethinker who mocks at religion and virtue ( vid ., Pro 1:22), and רשׁע the godless who shuns restraint by God and gives himself up to the unbridled impulse to evil. The course of thought in Pro 9:7 and onwards shows why Wisdom, turning from the wise, who already are hers, directs herself only to the simple, and those who are devoid of understanding: she must pass over the לץ and רשׁע dna , because she can there hope for no receptivity for her invitation; she would, contrary to Mat 7:6, "give that which is holy to the dogs, and cast her pearls before swine." יסר , παιδεύειν (with the prevailing idea of the bitter lesson of reproof and punishment), and הוכיח , ἐλέγχειν , are interchangeable conceptions, Psa 94:10; the ל is here exponent of the object (to bring an accusation against any one), as Pro 9:8, Pro 15:12 (otherwise as Isa 2:4; Isa 11:4, where it is the dat. commodi : to bring unrighteousness to light, in favour of the injured). יסר לץ is pointed with Mahpach of the penultima, and thus with the tone thrown back. The Pasek , placed in some editions between the two words, is masoretically inaccurate. He who reads the moral to the mocker brings disgrace to himself; the incorrigible replies to the goodwill with insult. Similar to the לקח לו here, is מרים tollit = reportat , Pro 3:25; Pro 4:27. In 7b מוּמו is by no means the object governed by וּמוכיח : and he who shows to the godless his fault (Meîri, Arama, Löwenstein: מומו = על־מומו , and thus also the Graec. Venet. μῶμον ἑαυτῷ , scil . λαμβάνει ); plainly מומו is parallel with קלון . But מומו does not also subordinate itself to לקח as to the object. parallel קלון : maculam sibimet scil . acquirit ; for, to be so understood, the author ought at least to have written לו מוּם . Much rather מומו is here, as at Deu 32:5, appos., thus pred. (Hitzig), without needing anything to be supplied: his blot it is, viz., this proceeding, which is equivalent to מוּמא הוּא ליהּ (Targ.), opprobrio ipsi est . Zöckler not incorrectly compares Psa 115:7 and Ecc 5:16, but the expression ( macula ejus = ipsi ) lies here less remote from our form of expression. In other words: Whoever correcteth the mockers has only to expect hatred ( אל־תוכח with the tone thrown back, according to rule; cf. on the contrary, Jdg 18:25), but on the other hand, love from the wise.

Pro 9:8

The ו in ויאהבך is that of consequence ( apodosis imperativi ): so he will love thee (as also Ewald now translates), not: that he may love thee (Syr., Targ.), for the author speaks here only of the consequence, not of something else, as an object kept in view. The exhortation influences the mocker less than nothing, so much the more it bears fruit with the wise. Thus the proverb is confirmed habenti dabitur , Mat 13:12; Mat 25:29.

Pro 9:9

If anything is to be supplied to תּן , it is לקח (Pro 4:2); but תן , tradere , παραδιδόναι , is of itself correlat. of לקח , accipere (post-bibl. קבּל ), παραλαμβάνειν , e.g. , Gal 1:9. הודיע ל = to communicate knowledge, דעת , follows the analogy of הוכיח ל , to impart instruction, תוכחת . Regarding the jussive form ויוסף in the apod. imper ., vid ., Gesen. §128, 2. Observe in this verse the interchange of חכם and צדיק ! Wisdom is not merely an intellectual power, it is a moral quality; in this is founded her receptivity of instruction, her embracing of every opportunity for self-improvement. She is humble; for, without self-will and self-sufficiency, she makes God's will her highest and absolutely binding rule (Pro 3:7).

Keil-Delitzsch: Pro 9:10

These words naturally follow:

10 "The beginning of wisdom is the fear of Jahve,

And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."

This is the highest principle of the Chokma , which stands (Pro 1:7) as a motto at the beginning of the Book of Proverbs. The lxx translate ראשׁית there (Pro 1:7), and תּחלּת here, by ἀρχή . Gusset distinguishes the two synonyms as pars optima and primus actus ; but the former denotes the fear of God as that which stands in the uppermost place, to which all that Wisdom accomplishes subordinates itself; the latter as that which begins wisdom, that which it proposes to itself in its course. With יהוה is interchanged, Pro 2:5, אלהים , as here קדושׁים , as the internally multiplicative plur. (Dietrich, Abhandlungen , pp. 12, 45), as Pro 30:3, Jos 24:9; Hos 12:1, of God, the "Holy, holy, holy"(Isa 6:3), i.e. , Him who is absolutely Holy. Michaelis inaccurately, following the ancients, who understood not this non-numerical plur.: cognitio quae sanctos facit et sanctis propria est . The דּעת , parallel with יראת , is meant of lively practical operative knowledge, which subordinates itself to this All-holy God as the normative but unapproachable pattern.

Keil-Delitzsch: Pro 9:11

The singular reason for this proverb of Wisdom is now given:

"For by me will thy days become many,

And the years of thy life will be increased."

Incorrectly Hitzig: "and years of life will increase to thee;" הוסיף is always and everywhere ( e.g. , also Job 38:11) transitive. In the similar passage, Pro 3:2, יוסיפו had as its subject the doctrine of Wisdom; here חכמה and בינה it is not practicable to interpret as subj., since 11a Wisdom is the subject discoursing - the expression follows the scheme, dicunt eos = dicuntur , as e.g. , Job 7:3; Gesen. §137 - a concealing of the operative cause, which lies near, where, as Pro 2:22, the discourse is of severe judgment, thus: they (viz., the heavenly Powers) will grant to thee years of life ( חיּים in a pregnant sense, as Pro 3:2) in rich measure, so that constantly one span comes after another. But in what connection of consequence does this stand with the contents of the proverb, Pro 9:10? The ancients say that the clause with כי refers back to Pro 9:5. The Pro 9:7-10 (according also to Fl.) are, as it were, parenthetic. Hitzig rejects these verses as an interpolation, but the connection of Pro 9:11 with 5f. retains also something that is unsuitable: "steps forward on the way of knowledge, for by me shall thy days become many;"and if, as Hitzig supposes, Pro 9:12 is undoubtedly genuine, whose connection with Pro 9:11 is in no way obvious, then also will the difficulty of the connection of Pro 9:7-10 with the preceding and the succeeding be no decisive mark of the want of genuineness of this course of thought. We have seen how the progress of Pro 9:6 to 7 is mediated: the invitation of Wisdom goes forth to the receptive, with the exclusion of the irrecoverable. And Pro 9:11 is related to Pro 9:10, as the proof of the cause from the effect. It is the fear of God with which Wisdom begins, the knowledge of God in which above all it consists, for by it is fulfilled the promise of life which is given to the fear of God, Pro 10:27; Pro 14:27; Pro 19:23, cf. Deu 4:40, and to humility, which is bound up with it. Pro 10:17.

Keil-Delitzsch: Pro 9:12

This wisdom, resting on the fear of God, is itself a blessing to the wise:

"If thou art wise, thou art wise for thyself;

And if thou mockest, thou alone shalt bear it."

The lxx, with the Syr., mangle the thought of 12a, for they translate: if thou art wise for thyself, so also thou wilt be wise for thy neighbour. The dat. commodi לך means that it is for the personal advantage of the wise to be wise. The contrast expressed by Job 22:2.: not profitable to God, but to thyself (Hitzig), is scarcely intended, although, so far as the accentuation is antithetic, it is the nearest. The perf. ולצתּ is the hypothetical; Gesen. §126, 1. To bear anything, viz., anything sinful ( חטא or עון ), is equivalent to, to atone for it, Job 34:2, cf. Num 9:13; Eze 23:35. Also 12b is a contrast scarcely aimed at. Wisdom is its own profit to man; libertinism is its own disgrace. Man decides, whenever he prefers to be wise, or to be a mocker of religion and of virtue, regarding his own weal and woe. With this nota bene the discourse of Wisdom closes.

Keil-Delitzsch: Pro 9:13-15

The poet now brings before us another figure, for he personifies Folly working in opposition to Wisdom, and gives her a feminine name, as the contrast to Wisdom required, and thereby to indicate that the seduction, as the 13th proverbial discourse (chap. 7) has shown, appears especially in the form of degraded womanhood:

13 The woman Folly [steplang7 Frau Thorheit ] conducts herself boisterously,

Wantonness, and not knowing anything at all;

14 And hath seated herself at the door of her house,

On a seat high up in the city,

15 To call to those who walk in the way,

Who go straight on their path.

The connection of אשת כּסילוּת is genitival, and the genitive is not, as in אשׁת רע , Pro 6:24, specifying, but appositional, as in בת־ציון ( vid ., under Isa 1:8). הומיּה [boisterous] is pred., as Pro 7:11 : her object is sensual, and therefore her appearance excites passionately, overcoming the resistance of the mind by boisterousness. In 13b it is further said who and how she is. פּתיּוּת she is called as wantonness personified. This abstract פּתיּוּת , derived from פּתי , must be vocalized as אכזריּוּת ; Hitzig thinks it is written with a on account of the following u sound, but this formation always ends in ijjûth , not ajjûth . But as from חזה as well חזּיון = חזיון as חזון is formed, so from פּתה as well פּתוּת like חזוּת or פּתוּת like לזוּת , רעוּת , as פּתיוּת (instead of which פּתיּוּת is preferred) can be formed; Kimchi rightly ( Michlol 181a) presents the word under the form פּעלוּת . With וּבל (Pro 14:7) poetic, and stronger than לאו , the designation of the subject is continued; the words וּבל־ידעה מּה (thus with Mercha and without Makkeph following, ידעה is to be written, after Codd. and old editions) have the value of an adjective: and not knowing anything at all ( מה = τὶ , as Num 23:3; Job 13:13, and here in the negative clause, as in prose מאוּמה ), i.e. , devoid of all knowledge. The Targ. translates explanatorily: not recognising טבתּא , the good; and the lxx substitutes: she knows not shame, which, according to Hitzig, supposes the word כּלמּה , approved of by him; but כלמה means always pudefactio , not pudor . To know no כלמה would be equivalent to, to let no shaming from without influence one; for shamelessness the poet would have made use of the expression ובל־ידעה בּשׁת . In וישׁבה the declaration regarding the subject beginning with הומיה is continued: Folly also has a house in which works of folly are carried one, and has set herself down by the door ( לפּתח as לפי , Pro 8:3) of this house; she sits there על־כּסּא . Most interpreters here think on a throne (lxx ἐπὶ δίφρου , used especially of the sella curulis ); and Zöckler, as Umbreit, Hitzig, and others, connecting genitiv. therewith מרמי קרת , changes in 14b the scene, for he removes the "high throne of the city"from the door of the house to some place elsewhere. But the sitting is in contrast to the standing and going on the part of Wisdom on the streets preaching (Evagrius well renders: in molli ignavaque sella ); and if כסא and house-door are named along with each other, the former is a seat before the latter, and the accentuation rightly separates by Mugrash כסא from מרמי קרת . "According to the accents and the meaning, מרמי קרת is the acc. loci : on the high places of the city, as Pro 8:2."(Fl.). They are the high points of the city, to which, as Wisdom, Pro 9:3, Pro 8:2, so also Folly, her rival (wherefore Ecc 10:6 does not appertain to this place), invites followers to herself. She sits before her door to call לעברי דרך (with Munach , as in Cod. 1294 and old editions, without the Makkeph ), those who go along the way (genitive connection with the supposition of the accusative construction, transire viam , as Pro 2:7), to call (invite) המישּׁרים (to be pointed with מ raphatum and Gaja going before, according to Ben-Asher's rule; vid ., Methegsetz . §20), those who make straight their path, i.e. , who go straight on, directly before them (cf. Isa 57:2). The participial construction (the schemes amans Dei and amans Deum ), as well as that of the verb קרא (first with the dat. and then with the accus.), interchange.

Keil-Delitzsch: Pro 9:16-17

The woman, who in her own person serves as a sign to her house, addresses those who pass by in their innocence ( לתמּם , 2Sa 15:11):

16 "Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither!"

And if any one is devoid of understanding, she saith to him:

17 "Stolen waters taste sweet,

And the bread of secrecy is pleasant."

פּתי (folly, simplicity) has a side accessible to good and its contrary: Wisdom is connected with the one side, and Folly with the other. And as the חסר־לב offers a vacuum to Wisdom which may perhaps be filled with the right contents, so is this vacuum welcome to Folly, because it meets there no resistance. In this sense, Pro 9:16 is like Pro 9:4 (excepting the addition of a connecting and of a concluding ו : et si quis excors, tum dicit ei ); the word is the same in both, but the meaning, according to the two speakers, is different. That to which they both invite is the pleasure of her fellowship, under the symbol of eating and drinking; in the one case it is intellectual and spiritual enjoyment, in the other sensual. That Wisdom offers (Pro 9:5) bread and wine, and Folly water and bread, has its reason in this, that the particular pleasure to which the latter invites is of a sensual kind; for to drink water out of his own or out of another fountain is (Pro 3:15-20) the symbol of intercourse in married life, or of intercourse between the unmarried, particularly of adulterous intercourse. מים גּנוּבים (correct texts have it thus, without the Makkeph ) is sexual intercourse which is stolen from him who has a right thereto, thus carnal intercourse with אושׁת אישׁ ; and לחם סתרים fleshly lust, which, because it is contrary to the law, must seek (cf. furtum , secret love intrigue) concealment ( סתרים , extensive plur., as מעמקּים ; Böttcher, §694). Just such pleasure, after which one wipes his mouth as if he had done nothing (Pro 30:20), is for men who are without wisdom sweet ( מתק , Job 20:12) and pleasant; the prohibition of it gives to such pleasure attraction, and the secrecy adds seasoning; and just such enjoyments the כסילות , personified carnality, offers. But woe to him who, befooled, enters her house!

Keil-Delitzsch: Pro 9:18

He goes within:

18 And he knows not that the dead are there;

In the depths of Hades, her guests.

How near to one another the house of the adulteress and Hades are, so that a man passes through the one into the other, is already stated in Pro 2:18; Pro 7:27. Here, in the concluding words of the introduction to the Book of Proverbs, addressed to youth, and for the most part containing warning against sinful pleasure, these two further declarations are advanced: the company assembled in the house of lewdness consists of רפאים , i.e. , (cf. p. 83) the old, worn-out, who are only in appearance living, who have gone down to the seeming life of the shadowy existence of the kingdom of the dead; her ( כסילות ) invited ones (cf. Pro 7:26, her slaughtered ones) are in the depths of Hades (not in the valleys, as Umbreit, Löwenstein, and Ewald translate, but in the depths, Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, ἐπὶ τοῖς βαθέσι ; for עמקי is not only plur. to עמק , but also per metaplasmum to עמק , Pro 25:3, as אמרי to אמר ), thus in שׁאול תּחתּית (Deu 32:22); they have forsaken the fellowship of the life and of the love of God, and have sunk into the deepest destruction. The house of infamy into which Folly allures does not only lead to hell, it is hell itself; and they who permit themselves to be thus befooled are like wandering corpses, and already on this side of death are in the realm of wrath and of the curse.

(Note: The lxx has considerable additions introduced after Pro 9:18, as also after Pro 9:12, of which we shall elsewhere speak.)

Constable: Pro 1:1--9:18

I. DISCOURSES ON WISDOM chs. 1--9

Verse one introduces both the book as a whole and chapters 1-9 in particular. The Book of Proverbs is a collection of at least five separate groups of proverbs. There are those that Solomon spoke and or wrote (possibly chs. 1-9 and definitely 10:1-22:16) and those that unknown sages produced (22:17-24:34). Next come proverbs of Solomon that King Hezekiah's men compiled (chs. 25-29), those that Agur spoke and or wrote (ch. 30), and finally those that King Lemuel spoke and or wrote (ch. 31).

"We're living in the information age,' but we certainly aren't living in the age of wisdom.' Many people who are wizards with their computers seem to be amateurs when it comes to making a success out of their lives. Computers can store data and obey signals, but they can't give us the ability to use that knowledge wisely. What's needed today is wisdom.

"The Book of Proverbs is about godly wisdom, how to get it and how to use it. It's about priorities and principles, not get-rich-quick schemes or success formulas. It tells you, not how to make a living, but how to be skillful in the lost art of making a life."¹¹

Since the sum total of human information now doubles approximately every year and a half, T. S. Eliot's questions are more apropos today than when he wrote them:

"Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?"¹²

Constable: Pro 8:1--9:18

C. The Value of Wisdom and Wise Conduct chs. 8-9

Solomon explained the value of wisdom in many ways already in Proverbs. Now he put wisdom at center stage to emphasize its function.

Constable: Pro 9:1-18

2. Wisdom and folly contrasted ch. 9

This chapter contrasts wisdom and folly in a very symmetrical structure. Verses 1-6 correspond to verses 13-18 remarkably. This chiastic form of presentation sets off the central verses (vv. 7-12) as the most important in the chapter.

Constable: Pro 9:1-6

Wisdom's feast 9:1-6

The parallel between wisdom's invitation and the one Jesus Christ extended to everyone to come to His feast shows the similarity between wisdom and responding positively to God's Word (Matt. 22:1-14; Luke 14:15-24). The "seven pillars" (v. 1) may represent a typical banquet pavilion, or they may be an allusion to the cosmos (cf. 8:22-31) that God made in seven days. Some of the ancients envisioned the world as resting on seven pillars. Possibly the seven pillars refer to seven sections of text in chapters 2-7.⁸⁹ "Seven" to the Jews indicated perfection. Wisdom's invitation (v. 5) sounds like a gospel invitation (cf. John 6:51, 55). Again note the parallel between wisdom and walking in God's ways.

Constable: Pro 9:7-12

The open or closed mind 9:7-12

People do not live or die because of only one decision usually. They develop a pattern of life that ends in either death or life. This section helps us see the outcome of these styles of life. If a person is open to God and teachable he will become wise, but if he does not accept this instruction and closes his mind he becomes a fool.

The person who tries to help a fool by correcting him will get no honor from the fool. The fool's folly has closed his mind to correction (vv. 7-8; cf. Matt. 13:12-16). A wise man will continue learning from God all his life (v. 9; cf. 2 Pet. 3:18). Verse 10 restates 1:7. The wise life is the righteous life (vv. 9-11). Verse 12 is a strong statement of individual responsibility. It stresses that the person himself or herself is the ultimate loser or gainer in his or her decision to choose wisdom or folly (v. 12).⁹⁰

"Verse 12 reminds us that the Lord wants to build godly character into our lives, and we can't borrow character from others or give our character to them. This is an individual matter that involves individual decisions. Belonging to a fine family, attending a faithful church, or studying in an excellent school can't guarantee the building of our character. Character is built on decisions, and bad decisions will create bad character."⁹¹

Constable: Pro 9:13-18

Folly's feast 9:13-18

Verses 1-6 personify wisdom in the figure of a lady preparing a feast and issuing invitations. Verses 13-18 personify folly in the guise of a harlot doing the same thing. The contrasts between these sections are full of nuances. Verses 4 and 16 are almost identical invitations.

In view of what God has revealed so far about wisdom, any person can determine just how wise or how foolish he or she may be. This is not a mystery. It has little to do with intelligence but everything to do with commitment. If a person recognizes divine revelation as such and decides to understand it, submits to it, and lives by it the best he can, he is wise. On the other hand if he rejects God's Word and decides to live his life with no regard to what God has said, he is a fool.

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Lainnya

Evidence: Pro 9:17

Will a sinner go to hell because he doesn’t trust in Jesus? See Joh 16:9 footnote.

Our sinful hearts are so perverse that sin promises excitement. Despite the claim of modern evangelism that we can’t find happiness until we come to Jesus, sin is indeed enticing and pleasurable, and can make a man or woman happy. See Jer 12:1 and Heb 11:25 .

Pendahuluan / Garis Besar

JFB: Proverbs (Pendahuluan Kitab)

THE NATURE AND USE OF PROVERBS.--A proverb is a pithy sentence, concisely expressing some well-established truth susceptible of various illustrations and applications. The word is of Latin derivation, literally meaning for a word, speech, or discourse; that is, one expression for many. The Hebrew word for "proverb" (mashal) means a "comparison." Many suppose it was used, because the form or matter of the proverb, or both, involved the idea of comparison. Most of the proverbs are in couplets or triplets, or some modifications of them, the members of which correspond in structure and length, as if arranged to be compared one with another. They illustrate the varieties of parallelism, a distinguishing feature of Hebrew poetry. Compare Introduction to Poetical Books. Many also clearly involve the idea of comparison in the sentiments expressed (compare Pro 12:1-10; Pro 25:10-15; Pro 26:1-9). Sometimes, however, the designed omission of one member of the comparison, exercising the reader's sagacity or study for its supply, presents the proverb as a "riddle" or "dark saying" (compare Pro. 30:15-33; Pro 1:6; Psa 49:4). The sententious form of expression, which thus became a marked feature of the proverbial style, was also adopted for continuous discourse, even when not always preserving traces of comparison, either in form or matter (compare Pro. 1:1-9:18). In Eze 17:1; Eze 24:3, we find the same word properly translated "parable," to designate an illustrative discourse. Then the Greek translators have used a word, parabola ("parable"), which the gospel writers (except John) employ for our Lord's discourses of the same character, and which also seems to involve the idea of comparison, though that may not be its primary meaning. It might seem, therefore, that the proverbial and parabolic styles of writing were originally and essentially the same. The proverb is a "concentrated parable, and the parable an extension of the proverb by a full illustration." The proverb is thus the moral or theme of a parable, which sometimes precedes it, as in Mat 19:30 (compare Pro 20:1); or succeeds it, as in Mat. 22:1-16; Luk 15:1-10. The style being poetical, and adapted to the expression of a high order of poetical sentiment, such as prophecy, we find the same term used to designate such compositions (compare Num 23:7; Mic 2:4; Hab 2:6).

Though the Hebrews used the same term for proverb and parable, the Greek employs two, though the sacred writers have not always appeared to recognize a distinction. The term for proverb is, paroimia, which the Greek translators employ for the title of this book, evidently with special reference to the later definition of a proverb, as a trite, sententious form of speech, which appears to be the best meaning of the term. John uses the same term to designate our Saviour's instructions, in view of their characteristic obscurity (compare Pro 16:25-29, Greek), and even for his illustrative discourses (Pro 10:6), whose sense was not at once obvious to all his hearers. This form of instruction was well adapted to aid the learner. The parallel structure of sentences, the repetition, contrast, or comparison of thought, were all calculated to facilitate the efforts of memory; and precepts of practical wisdom which, extended into logical discourses, might have failed to make abiding impressions by reason of their length or complicated character, were thus compressed into pithy, and, for the most part, very plain statements. Such a mode of instruction has distinguished the written or traditional literature of all nations, and was, and still is, peculiarly current in the East.

In this book, however, we are supplied with a proverbial wisdom commended by the seal of divine inspiration. God has condescended to become our teacher on the practical affairs belonging to all the relations of life. He has adapted His instruction to the plain and unlettered, and presented, in this striking and impressive method, the great principles of duty to Him and to our fellow men. To the prime motive of all right conduct, the fear of God, are added all lawful and subordinate incentives, such as honor, interest, love, fear, and natural affection. Besides the terror excited by an apprehension of God's justly provoked judgments, we are warned against evil-doing by the exhibition of the inevitable temporal results of impiety, injustice, profligacy, idleness, laziness, indolence, drunkenness, and debauchery. To the rewards of true piety which follow in eternity, are promised the peace, security, love, and approbation of the good, and the comforts of a clear conscience, which render this life truly happy.

INSPIRATION AND AUTHORSHIP.--With no important exception, Jewish and Christian writers have received this book as the inspired production of Solomon. It is the first book of the Bible prefaced by the name of the author. The New Testament abounds with citations from the Proverbs. Its intrinsic excellence commends it to us as the production of a higher authority than the apocryphal writings, such as Wisdom or Ecclesiasticus. Solomon lived five hundred years before the "seven wise men" of Greece, and seven hundred before the age of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. It is thus very evident, whatever theory of his sources of knowledge be adopted, that he did not draw upon any heathen repositories with which we are acquainted. It is far more probable, that by the various migrations, captivities, and dispersions of the Jews, heathen philosophers drew from this inspired fountain many of those streams which continue to refresh mankind amid the otherwise barren and parched deserts of profane literature.

As, however, the Psalms are ascribed to David, because he was the leading author, so the ascription of this book to Solomon is entirely consistent with the titles of the thirtieth and thirty-first chapters, which assign those chapters to Agur and Lemuel respectively. Of these persons we know nothing. This is not the place for discussing the various speculations respecting them. By a slight change of reading some propose to translate Pro 30:1 : "The words of Agur, the son of her who was obeyed Massa," that is, "the queen of Massa"; and Pro 31:1 : "The words of Lemuel, king of Massa"; but to this the earliest versions are contradictory, and nothing other than the strongest exegetical necessity ought to be allowed to justify a departure from a well-established reading and version when nothing useful to our knowledge is gained. It is better to confess ignorance than indulge in useless conjectures.

It is probable that out of the "three thousand proverbs" (1Ki 4:32) which Solomon spoke, he selected and edited Pro. 1:1-24:34 during his life. Pro. 25:1-29:27 were also of his production, and copied out in the days of Hezekiah, by his "men," perhaps the prophets Isaiah, Hosea, and Micah. Such a work was evidently in the spirit of this pious monarch, who set his heart so fully on a reformation of God's worship. Learned men have endeavored to establish the theory that Solomon himself was only a collector; or that the other parts of the book, as these chapters, were also selections by later hands; but the reasons adduced to maintain these views have never appeared so satisfactory as to change the usual opinions on the subject, which have the sanction of the most ancient and reliable authorities.

DIVISIONS OF THE BOOK.--Such a work is, of course, not susceptible of any logical analysis. There are, however, some well-defined marks of division, so that very generally the book is divided into five or six parts.

1. The first contains nine chapters, in which are discussed and enforced by illustration, admonition, and encouragement the principles and blessings of wisdom, and the pernicious schemes and practices of sinful persons. These chapters are introductory. With few specimens of the proper proverb, they are distinguished by its conciseness and terseness. The sentences follow very strictly the form of parallelism, and generally of the synonymous species, only forty of the synthetic and four (Pro 3:32-35) of the antithetic appearing. The style is ornate, the figures bolder and fuller, and the illustrations more striking and extended.

2. The antithetic and synthetic parallelism to the exclusion of the synonymous distinguish Pro. 10:1-22:16, and the verses are entirely unconnected, each containing a complete sense in itself.

3. Pro. 22:16-24:34 present a series of admonitions as if addressed to a pupil, and generally each topic occupies two or more verses.

4. Pro. 25:1-29:27 are entitled to be regarded as a distinct portion, for the reason given above as to its origin. The style is very much mixed; of the peculiarities, compare parts two and three.

5. Pro. 30:1-33 is peculiar not only for its authorship, but as a specimen of the kind of proverb which has been described as "dark sayings" or "riddles."

6. To a few pregnant but concise admonitions, suitable for a king, is added a most inimitable portraiture of female character. In both parts five and six the distinctive peculiarity of the original proverbial style gives place to the modifications already mentioned as marking a later composition, though both retain the concise and nervous method of stating truth, equally valuable for its deep impression and permanent retention by the memory.

TSK: Proverbs (Pendahuluan Kitab)

The wisdom of all ages, from the highest antiquity, has chosen to compress and communicate its lessons in short, compendious sentences, and in poetic language, which were readily conceived and easily retained, and circulated in society as useful principles, to be unfolded as occasion required. Indeed, such short maxims, comprehending much instruction in a few words, and carrying their own evidence with them, are admirably adapted to direct the conduct, without overburdening the memory, or perplexing the mind with abstract reasonings; and hence there are, in all countries and in all languages, old proverbs, or common sayings, which have great authority and influence on the opinions and actions of mankind. Such maxims, however, want their proper basis, the sanction of a Divine Original; and being generally the mere result of worldly prudence, are often calculated to impose on the judgment, and to mislead those who are directed by them. But the proverbs in this book not only are far more ancient than any others extant in the world, and infinitely surpass all the ethical sayings of the ancient sages; but have also received a Divine imprimatur, and are infallible rules to direct our conduct in every circumstance of human life. They are so justly founded on the principles of human nature, and so adapted to the permanent interests of man, that they agree with the manners of every age; and are adapted to every period, condition, or rank in life, however varied in its complexion or diversified by circumstance. Kings and subjects, rich and poor, wise and foolish, old and young, fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, sons and daughters, masters and servants, may here learn their respective duties, and read lessons of instruction for the regulation of their conduct in their various circumstances; while the most powerful motives, derived from honour, interest, love, fear, natural affection, and piety, are exhibited to inspire an ardent love of wisdom and virtue, and the greatest detestation of ignorance and vice. These maxims are laid down so clearly, copiously, impressively, and in such variety, that every man who wishes to be instructed may take what he chooses, and, among multitudes, those which he likes best. " He is wise," say St. Basil, " not only who hath arrived at a complete habit of wisdom, but who hath made some progress towards it; nay, who doth as yet but love it, or desire it, and listen to it. Such as these, by reading this book, shall be made wiser; for they shall be instructed in much divine, and in no less human learning....It bridles the injurious tongue, corrects the wanton eye, and ties the unjust hand in chains. It persecutes sloth, chastises all absurd desires, teaches prudence, raises man’s courage, and represents temperance and chastity after such a fashion that one cannot but have them in veneration."

TSK: Proverbs 9 (Pendahuluan Pasal)

Overview

Pro 9:1, The discipline, Pro 9:4, and doctrine of wisdom; Pro 9:13, The custom, Pro 9:16, and error of folly.

Poole: Proverbs 9 (Pendahuluan Pasal)

CHAPTER 9

Wisdom’ s call to her people unto blessed communion and fellowship with herself, set out under a similitude of making a feast, Pro 9:1 . Her preparation, Pro 9:2 , and invitation, Pro 9:3-5 . She dehorteth from evil company, Pro 9:6 . Her counsel concerning reproof and instruction, Pro 9:7-9 . A description of the fear of God, Pro 9:10 , with the benefits thereof, Pro 9:11,12 . The nature of a foolish woman, Pro 9:13-15 . Her invitation, Pro 9:16 , and arguments to insnare the simple, Pro 9:17 . The miserable state of them that are deceived by her, Pro 9:18 .

MHCC: Proverbs (Pendahuluan Kitab)

The subject of this book may be thus stated by an enlargement on the opening verses. 1. The Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel. 2. Which treat of the knowledge of wisdom, of piety towards God, of instruction and moral discipline, of the understanding wise and prudent counsels. 3. Which treat of the attainment of instruction in wisdom, which wisdom is to be shown in the conduct of life, and consists in righteousness with regard to our fellow-creatures. 4. Which treat of the giving to the simple sagacity to discover what is right, by supplying them with just principles, and correct views of virtue and vice; and to the young man knowledge, so that he need not err through ignorance; and discretion, so that by pondering well these precepts, he may not err through obstinacy. Take the proverbs of other nations, and we shall find great numbers founded upon selfishness, cunning, pride, injustice, national contempt, and animosities. The principles of the Proverbs of Solomon are piety, charity, justice, benevolence, and true prudence. Their universal purity proves that they are the word of God.

MHCC: Proverbs 9 (Pendahuluan Pasal)

(Pro 9:1-12) The invitations of Wisdom.

(Pro 9:13-18) The invitations of folly.

Matthew Henry: Proverbs (Pendahuluan Kitab)

An Exposition, With Practical Observations, of The Proverbs

We have now before us, I. A new author, or penman rather, or pen (if you will) made use of by the Holy Ghost for making known the mind of God to us, writing as moved by the finger of God (so the Spirit of God is called), and that is Solomon; through his hand came this book of Scripture and the two that follow it, Ecclesiastes and Canticles, a sermon and a song. Some think he wrote Canticles when he was very young, Proverbs in the midst of his days, and Ecclesiastes when he was old. In the title of his song he only writes himself Solomon, perhaps because he wrote it before his accession to the throne, being filled with the Holy Ghost when he was young. In the title of his Proverbs he writes himself the son of David, king of Israel, for then he ruled over all Israel. In the title of his Ecclesiastes he writes himself the son of David, king of Jerusalem, because then perhaps his influence had grown less upon the distant tribes, and he confined himself very much in Jerusalem. Concerning this author we may observe, 1. That he was a king, and a king's son. The penmen of scripture, hitherto, were most of them men of the first rank in the world, as Moses and Joshua, Samuel and David, and now Solomon; but, after him, the inspired writers were generally poor prophets, men of no figure in the world, because that dispensation was approaching in the which God would choose the weak and foolish things of the world to confound the wise and mighty and the poor should be employed to evangelize. Solomon was a very rich king, and his dominions were very large, a king of the first magnitude, and yet he addicted himself to the study of divine things, and was a prophet and a prophet's son. It is no disparagement to the greatest princes and potentates in the world to instruct those about them in religion and the laws of it. 2. That he was one whom God endued with extraordinary measures of wisdom and knowledge, in answer to his prayers at his accession to the throne. His prayer was exemplary: Give me a wise and an understanding heart; the answer to it was encouraging: he had what he desired and all other things were added to him. Now here we find what good use he made of the wisdom God gave him; he not only governed himself and his kingdom with it, but he gave rules of wisdom to others also, and transmitted them to posterity. Thus must we trade with the talents with which we are entrusted, according as they are. 3. That he was one who had his faults, and in his latter end turned aside from those good ways of God which in this book he had directed others in. We have the story of it 1 Kings 11, and a sad story it is, that the penman of such a book as this should apostatize as he did. Tell it not in Gath. But let those who are most eminently useful take warning by this not to be proud or secure; and let us all learn not to think the worse of good instructions though we have them from those who do not themselves altogether live up to them.

II. A new way of writing, in which divine wisdom is taught us by Proverbs, or short sentences, which contain their whole design within themselves and are not connected with one another. We have had divine laws, histories, and songs, and how divine proverbs; such various methods has Infinite Wisdom used for our instruction, that, no stone being left unturned to do us good, we may be inexcusable if we perish in our folly. Teaching by proverbs was, 1. An ancient way of teaching. It was the most ancient way among the Greeks; each of the seven wise men of Greece had some one saying that he valued himself upon, and that made him famous. These sentences were inscribed on pillars, and had in great veneration as that which was said to come down from heaven. A coelo descendit, Gnōthi seauton - Know thyself is a precept which came down from heaven. 2. It was a plain and easy way of teaching, which cost neither the teachers nor the learners much pains, nor put their understandings nor their memories to the stretch. Long periods, and arguments far-fetched, must be laboured both by him that frames them and by him that would understand them, while a proverb, which carries both its sense and its evidence in a little compass, is quickly apprehended and subscribed to, and is easily retained. Both David's devotions and Solomon's instructions are sententious, which may recommend that way of expression to those who minister about holy things, both in praying and preaching. 3. It was a very profitable way of teaching, and served admirably well to answer the end. The word Mashal, here used for a proverb, comes from a word that signifies to rule or have dominion, because of the commanding power and influence which wise and weighty sayings have upon the children of men; he that teaches by them dominatur in concionibus - rules his auditory. It is easy to observe how the world is governed by proverbs. As saith the proverb of the ancients (1Sa 24:13), or (as we commonly express it) As the old saying is, goes very far with most men in forming their notions and fixing their resolves. Much of the wisdom of the ancients has been handed down to posterity by proverbs; and some think we may judge of the temper and character of a nation by the complexion of its vulgar proverbs. Proverbs in conversation are like axious in philosophy, maxims in law, and postulata in the mathematics, which nobody disputes, but every one endeavours to expound so as to have them on his side. Yet there are many corrupt proverbs, which tend to debauch men's minds and harden them in sin. The devil has his proverbs, and the world and the flesh have their proverbs, which reflect reproach on God and religion (as Eze 12:22; Eze 18:2), to guard us against the corrupt influences of which God has his proverbs, which are all wise and good, and tend to make us so. These proverbs of Solomon were not merely a collection of the wise sayings that had been formerly delivered, as some have imagined, but were the dictates of the Spirit of God in Solomon. The very first of them (Pro 1:7) agrees with what God said to man in the beginning (Job 28:28, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom ); so that though Solomon was great, and his name may serve as much as any man's to recommend his writings, yet, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. It is God, by Solomon, that here speaks to us: I say, to us; for these proverbs were written for our learning, and, when Solomon speaks to his son, the exhortation is said to speak to us as unto children, Heb 12:5. And, as we have no book so useful to us in our devotions as David's psalms, so have we none so serviceable to us, for the right ordering of our conversations, as Solomon's proverbs, which as David says of the commandments, are exceedingly broad, containing, in a little compass, a complete body of divine ethics, politics, and economics, exposing every vice, recommending every virtue, and suggesting rules for the government of ourselves in every relation and condition, and every turn of the conversation. The learned bishop Hall has drawn up a system of moral philosophy out of Solomon's Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. The first nine chapters of this book are reckoned as a preface, by way of exhortation to the study and practice of wisdom's rules, and caution against those things that would hinder therein. We have then the first volume of Solomon's proverbs (ch. 10-24); after that a second volume (ch. 25-29); and then Agur's prophecy (ch. 30), and Lemuel's (ch. 31). The scope of all is one and the same, to direct us so to order our conversation aright as that in the end we may see the salvation of the Lord. The best comment on these rules is to be ruled by them.

Topical Index of Proverbs

Twenty chapters of the book of Proverbs (beginning with ch. 10 and ending with ch. 29), consisting mostly of entire sentences in each verse, could not well be reduced to proper heads, and the contents of them gathered; I have therefore here put the contents of all these chapters together, which perhaps may be of some use to those who desire to see at once all that is said of any one head in these chapters. Some of the verses, perhaps, I have not put under the same heads that another would have put them under, but the most of them fall (I hope) naturally enough to the places I have assigned them.

1. Of the comfort, or grief, parents have in their children, according as they are wise or foolish, godly or ungodly, Pro 10:1; Pro 15:20; Pro 17:21, Pro 17:25; Pro 19:13, Pro 19:26; Pro 23:15, Pro 23:16, Pro 23:24, Pro 23:25; Pro 27:11; Pro 29:3

2. Of the world's insufficiency, and religion's sufficiency, to make us happy (Pro 10:2, Pro 10:3; Pro 11:4) and the preference to be therefore given to the gains of virtue above those of this world, Pro 15:16, Pro 15:17; Pro 16:8, Pro 16:16; Pro 17:1; Pro 19:1; Pro 28:6, Pro 28:11

3. Of slothfulness and diligence, Pro 10:4, Pro 10:26; Pro 12:11, Pro 12:24, Pro 12:27; Pro 13:4, Pro 13:23; Pro 15:19; Pro 16:26; Pro 18:9; Pro 19:15, Pro 19:24; Pro 20:4, Pro 20:13; Pro 21:5, Pro 21:25, Pro 21:26; Pro 22:13, Pro 22:29; Pro 24:30-34; Pro 26:13-16; Pro 27:18, Pro 27:23, Pro 27:27; Pro 28:19. Particularly the improving or neglecting opportunities, Pro 6:6; Pro 10:5

4. The happiness of the righteous, and the misery of the wicked, Pro 10:6, Pro 10:9, Pro 10:16, Pro 10:24, Pro 10:25, Pro 10:27-30; Pro 11:3, Pro 11:5-8, Pro 11:18-21, Pro 11:31; Pro 12:2, Pro 12:3, Pro 12:7, Pro 12:13, Pro 12:14, Pro 12:21, Pro 12:26, Pro 12:28; Pro 13:6, Pro 13:9, Pro 13:14 15, 21, 22, 25; Pro 14:11, Pro 14:14, Pro 14:19, Pro 14:32; Pro 15:6, Pro 15:8, Pro 15:9, Pro 15:24, Pro 15:26, Pro 15:29; Pro 20:7; Pro 21:12, Pro 21:15, Pro 21:16, Pro 21:18, Pro 21:21; Pro 22:12; Pro 28:10, Pro 28:18; Pro 29:6

5. Of honour and dishonour, Pro 10:7; Pro 12:8, Pro 12:9; Pro 18:3; Pro 26:1; Pro 27:21. And of vain-glory, Pro 25:14, Pro 25:27; Pro 27:2

6. The wisdom of obedience, and folly of disobedience, Pro 10:8, Pro 10:17; Pro 12:1, Pro 12:15; Pro 13:1, Pro 13:13, Pro 13:18; Pro 15:5, Pro 15:10, Pro 15:12, Pro 15:31, Pro 15:32; Pro 19:16; Pro 28:4, Pro 28:7, Pro 28:9

7. Of mischievousness and usefulness, Pro 10:10, Pro 10:23; Pro 11:9-11, Pro 11:23, Pro 11:27; Pro 12:5, Pro 12:6, Pro 12:12, Pro 12:18, Pro 12:20; Pro 13:2; Pro 14:22; Pro 16:29, Pro 16:30; Pro 17:11; Pro 21:10; Pro 24:8; Pro 26:23, Pro 26:27

8. The praise of wise and good discourse, and the hurt and shame of an ungoverned tongue, Pro 10:11, Pro 10:13, Pro 10:14, Pro 10:20, Pro 10:21, Pro 10:31, Pro 10:32; Pro 11:30; Pro 14:3; Pro 15:2, Pro 15:4, Pro 15:7, Pro 15:23, Pro 15:28; Pro 16:20, Pro 16:23, Pro 16:24; Pro 17:7; Pro 18:4, Pro 18:7, Pro 18:20, Pro 18:21; Pro 20:15; Pro 21:23; Pro 23:9; Pro 24:26; Pro 25:11

9. Of love and hatred, peaceableness and contention, Pro 10:12; Pro 15:17; Pro 17:1, Pro 17:9, Pro 17:14, Pro 17:19; Pro 18:6, Pro 18:17-19; Pro 20:3; Pro 25:8; Pro 26:17, Pro 26:21; Pro 29:9

10. Of the rich and poor, Pro 10:5, Pro 10:22; Pro 11:28; Pro 13:7, Pro 13:8; Pro 14:20, Pro 14:24; Pro 18:11, Pro 18:23; Pro 19:1, Pro 19:4, Pro 19:7, Pro 19:22; Pro 22:2, Pro 22:7; Pro 28:6, Pro 28:11; Pro 29:13

11. Of lying, fraud, and dissimulation, and of truth and sincerity, Pro 10:18; Pro 12:17, Pro 12:19, Pro 12:22; Pro 13:5; Pro 17:4; Pro 20:14, Pro 20:17; Pro 26:18, Pro 26:19, Pro 26:24-26, Pro 26:28

12. Of slandering, Pro 10:18; Pro 16:27; Pro 25:23

13. Of talkativeness and silence, Pro 10:19; Pro 11:12; Pro 12:23; Pro 13:3; Pro 17:27, Pro 17:28; Pro 29:11, Pro 29:20

14. Of justice and injustice, Pro 11:1; Pro 13:16; Pro 16:8, Pro 16:11; Pro 17:15, Pro 17:26; Pro 18:5; Pro 20:10, Pro 20:23; Pro 22:28; Pro 23:10, Pro 23:11; Pro 29:24

15. Of pride and humility, Pro 11:2; Pro 13:10; Pro 15:25, Pro 15:33; Pro 16:5, Pro 16:18, Pro 16:19; Pro 18:12; Pro 21:4; Pro 25:6, Pro 25:7; Pro 28:25; Pro 29:23

16. Of despising and respecting others, Pro 11:12; Pro 14:21

17. Of tale-bearing, Pro 11:13; Pro 16:28; Pro 18:8; Pro 20:19; Pro 26:20, Pro 26:22

18. Of rashness and deliberation, Pro 11:14; Pro 15:22; Pro 18:13; Pro 19:2; Pro 20:5, Pro 20:18; Pro 21:29; Pro 22:3; Pro 25:8-10

19. Of suretiship, Pro 11:15; Pro 17:18; Pro 20:16; Pro 22:26, Pro 22:27; Pro 27:13

20. Of good and bad women, or wives, Pro 11:16, Pro 11:22; Pro 12:4; Pro 14:1; Pro 18:22; Pro 19:13, Pro 19:14; Pro 21:9, Pro 21:19; Pro 25:24; Pro 27:15, Pro 27:16

21. Of mercifulness and unmercifulness, Pro 11:17; Pro 12:10; Pro 14:21; Pro 19:17; Pro 21:13

22. Of charity to the poor, and uncharitableness, Pro 11:24-26; Pro 14:31; Pro 17:5; Pro 22:9, Pro 22:16, Pro 22:22, Pro 22:23; Pro 28:27; Pro 29:7

23. Of covetousness and contentment, Pro 11:29; Pro 15:16, Pro 15:17, Pro 15:27; Pro 23:4, Pro 23:5

24. Of anger and meekness, Pro 12:16; Pro 14:17, Pro 14:29; Pro 15:1, Pro 15:18; Pro 16:32; Pro 17:12, Pro 17:26; Pro 19:11, Pro 19:19; Pro 22:24, Pro 22:25; Pro 25:15, Pro 25:28; Pro 26:21; Pro 29:22

25. Of melancholy and cheerfulness, Pro 12:25; Pro 14:10, Pro 14:13; Pro 15:13, Pro 15:15; Pro 17:22; Pro 18:14; Pro 25:20, Pro 25:25

26. Of hope and expectation, Pro 13:12, Pro 13:19

27. Of prudence and foolishness, Pro 13:16; Pro 14:8, Pro 14:18, Pro 14:33; Pro 15:14, Pro 15:21; Pro 16:21, Pro 16:22; Pro 17:24; Pro 18:2, Pro 18:15; Pro 24:3-7; Pro 7:27; Pro 26:6-11; Pro 28:5

28. Of treachery and fidelity, Pro 13:17; Pro 25:13, Pro 25:19

29. Of good and bad company, Pro 13:20; Pro 14:7; Pro 28:7; Pro 29:3

30. Of the education of children, Pro 13:24; Pro 19:18; Pro 20:11; Pro 22:6, Pro 22:15; Pro 23:12; Pro 14:14; Pro 29:15, Pro 29:17

31. Of the fear of the Lord, Pro 14:2, Pro 14:26, Pro 14:27; Pro 15:16, Pro 15:33; Pro 16:6; Pro 19:23; Pro 22:4; Pro 23:17, Pro 23:18

32. Of true and false witness-bearing, Pro 14:5, Pro 14:25; Pro 19:5, Pro 19:9, Pro 19:28; Pro 21:28; Pro 24:28; Pro 25:18

33. Of scorners, Pro 14:6, Pro 14:9; Pro 21:24; Pro 22:10; Pro 24:9; Pro 29:9

34. Of credulity and caution, Pro 14:15, Pro 14:16; Pro 27:12

35. Of kings and their subjects, Pro 14:28, Pro 14:34, Pro 14:35; Pro 16:10, Pro 16:12-15; Pro 19:6, Pro 19:12; Pro 20:2, Pro 20:8, Pro 20:26, Pro 20:28; Pro 22:11; Pro 24:23-25; Pro 30:2-5; Pro 28:2, Pro 28:3, Pro 28:15, Pro 28:16; Pro 29:5, Pro 29:12, Pro 29:14, Pro 29:26

36. Of envy, especially envying sinners, Pro 14:30; Pro 23:17, Pro 23:18; Pro 24:1, Pro 24:2, Pro 24:19, Pro 24:20; Pro 27:4

37. Of God's omniscience, and his universal providence, Pro 15:3, Pro 15:11; Pro 16:1, Pro 16:4, Pro 16:9, Pro 16:33; Pro 17:3; Pro 19:21; Pro 20:12, Pro 20:24; Pro 21:1, Pro 21:30, Pro 21:31; Pro 29:26

38. Of a good and ill name, Pro 15:30; Pro 22:1

39. Of men's good opinion of themselves, Pro 14:12; Pro 16:2, Pro 16:25; Pro 20:6; Pro 21:2; Pro 26:12; Pro 28:26

40. Of devotion towards God, and dependence on him, Pro 16:3; Pro 18:10; Pro 23:26; Pro 27:1; Pro 28:25; Pro 29:25

41. Of the happiness of God's favour, Pro 16:7; Pro 29:26

42. Excitements to get wisdom, Pro 16:16; Pro 18:1; Pro 19:8, Pro 19:20; Pro 22:17-21; Pro 23:15, Pro 23:16, Pro 23:22-25; Pro 24:13, Pro 24:14; Pro 27:11

43. Cautions against temptations, Pro 16:17; Pro 29:27

44. Of old age and youth, Pro 16:31; Pro 17:6; Pro 20:29

45. Of servants, Pro 17:2; Pro 19:10; Pro 29:19, Pro 29:21

46. Of bribery, Pro 17:8, Pro 17:23; Pro 18:16; Pro 21:14; Pro 28:21

47. Of reproof and correction, Pro 17:10; Pro 19:25, Pro 19:29; Pro 20:30; Pro 21:11; Pro 25:12; Pro 26:3; Pro 27:5, Pro 27:6, Pro 27:22; Pro 28:23; Pro 29:1

48. Of ingratitude, Pro 17:13

49. Of friendship, Pro 17:17; Pro 18:24; Pro 27:9, Pro 27:10, Pro 27:14, Pro 27:17

50. Of sensual pleasures, Pro 21:17; Pro 23:1-3, Pro 23:6-8, Pro 23:19-21; Pro 27:7

51. Of drunkenness, Pro 20:1; Pro 23:23, Pro 23:29-35

52. Of the universal corruption of nature, Pro 20:9

53. Of flattery, Pro 20:19; Pro 26:28; Pro 28:23; Pro 29:5

54. Of undutiful children, Pro 20:20; Pro 28:24

55. Of the short continuance of what is ill-gotten, Pro 20:21; Pro 21:6, Pro 21:7; Pro 22:8; Pro 28:8

56. Of revenge, Pro 20:22; Pro 24:17, Pro 24:18, Pro 24:29

57. Of sacrilege, Pro 20:25

58. Of conscience, Pro 20:27; Pro 27:19

59. Of the preference of moral duties before ceremonial, Pro 15:8; Pro 21:3, Pro 21:27

60. Of prodigality and wastefulness, Pro 21:20

61. The triumphs of wisdom and godliness, Pro 21:22; Pro 24:15, Pro 24:16

62. Of frowardness and tractableness, Pro 22:5

63. Of uncleanness, Pro 22:14; Pro 23:27, Pro 23:28

64. Of fainting in affliction, Pro 24:10

65. Of helping the distressed, Pro 14:11, Pro 14:12

66. Of loyalty to the government, Pro 24:21, Pro 24:22

67. Of forgiving enemies, Pro 25:21, Pro 25:22

68. Of causeless curse, Pro 26:2

69. Of answering fools, Pro 26:4, Pro 26:5

70. Of unsettledness and unsatisfiedness, Pro 27:8, Pro 27:20

71. Of cowardliness and courage, Pro 28:1

72. The people's interest in the character of their rulers, Pro 28:12, Pro 28:28; Pro 29:2, Pro 29:16; Pro 11:10, Pro 11:11

73. The benefit of repentance and holy fear, Pro 28:13, Pro 28:14

74. The punishment of murder, Pro 28:17

75. Of hastening to be rich, Pro 28:20, Pro 28:22

76. The enmity of the wicked against the godly, Pro 29:10, Pro 29:27

77. The necessity of the means of grace, Pro 29:18

Matthew Henry: Proverbs 9 (Pendahuluan Pasal)

Christ and sin are rivals for the soul of man, and here we are told how they both make their court to it, to have the innermost and uppermost place in it. The design of this representation is to set before us life and death, good and evil; and there needs no more than a fair stating of the case to determine us which of those to choose, and surrender our hearts to. They are both brought in making entertainment for the soul, and inviting it to accept of the entertainment; concerning both we are told what the issue will be; and, the matter being thus laid before us, let us consider, take advice, and speak our minds. And we are therefore concerned to put a value upon our own souls, because we see there is such striving for them. I. Christ, under the name of Wisdom, invites us to accept of his entertainment, and so to enter into acquaintance and communion with him (Pro 9:1-6). And having foretold the different success of his invitation (Pro 9:7-9) he shows, in short, what he requires from us (Pro 9:10). and what he designs for us (Pro 9:11), and then leaves it to our choice what we will do (Pro 9:12). II. Sin, under the character of a foolish woman, courts us to accept of her entertainment, and (Pro 9:13-16) pretends it is very charming (Pro 9:17). But Solomon tells us what the reckoning will be (Pro 9:18). And now choose you, this day, whom you will close with.

Constable: Proverbs (Pendahuluan Kitab)

Introduction

Title

The title of this book in the Hebrew Bible is "The Proverbs of Solomon, the Son of David, King in Israel" (cf. 1:1). The Greek Septuagint called this book "Proverbs of Solomon." The Latin Vulgate named it "The Book of Proverbs."

There is some debate about whether 1:1 is the title of the whole book or just the title of the first section (chs. 1-9). The first view has in its favor the fact that the Hebrew Bible took the verse as the title of the book. According to this view the references to Solomon in 1:1 are an indication that he was the primary author of the proverbs in the book.¹

The second view is that 1:1 simply introduces the first major section of the book. The support for this view is that some succeeding sections begin with a similar caption (cf. 10:1; 24:23; 25:1; 30:1; 31:1).²

In either case the book got its title from the proverbs it contains. The whole book is a book of proverbs so the title is appropriate.

"To read straight through a few chapters of Proverbs is like trying to have a conversation with someone who always replies with a one-liner."³

Writer

Proverbs claims to be a compendium of the wise sayings of several different individuals.⁴ Solomon originated some of them (10:1-22:16 and chs. 25-29 definitely, and probably chs. 1-9 as well).⁵ Unnamed wise men (sages) wrote other parts (22:17-24:34 definitely, and possibly chs. 1-9). Hezekiah's men copied some of Solomon's proverbs and added them to this collection (chs. 25-29). Agur and King Lemuel produced chapters 30 and 31 respectively.

We do not know who the sages were who wrote 22:17-24:34 nor do we know the names of the men whom King Hezekiah instructed to compile some of Solomon's sayings. Agur and Lemuel are unknown to us also, though Lemuel seems to have been a non-Israelite monarch.⁶

Some of the proverbs appear to have been copied from, or at least influenced by, earlier Mesopotamian and Egyptian books of wisdom.⁷

". . . whatever the Spirit of God inspired the ancient writers to include became a part of the Word of the Lord. Such inclusions then took on a new and greater meaning when they formed part of Scripture; in a word, they became authoritative and binding, part of the communication of the divine will."⁸

Date

Solomon reigned from 971 to 931 B.C. and Hezekiah from 715 to 686 B.C.⁹ We do not know when the sages, Agur, or Lemuel lived.

The earliest the Book of Proverbs could have been in its final form was in Hezekiah's day, but it may have reached this stage later than that. We have no way to tell.

The contents of the book could have been in existence in Solomon's lifetime though not assembled into the collection we know as the Book of Proverbs.

Message¹⁰

The Book of Proverbs contains no history. It is purely didactic. It is a book of explicit instruction. Like the other Old Testament wisdom books, Job and Ecclesiastes, it does not contain references to Israel's laws, rituals, sacrifices, or ceremonies. It deals with philosophy primarily. A philosopher is by definition a lover of wisdom. Proverbs is a book that focuses primarily on wisdom, as do Job and Ecclesiastes. In this sense these books are philosophical.

There is a fundamental difference between the philosophy we find in these books and all other philosophy. Other philosophies begin with a question. Hebrew philosophy begins with an affirmation. Its basic affirmation is that God exists. Therefore we can know ultimate truth only by divine revelation.

To many people the Book of Proverbs seems to be a grab bag of wise sayings that lacks any system or order. Nevertheless in a sense this is the most carefully organized of all the books of the Old Testament.

The first verse is its title page. Verses 2-7 are its preface that contains an explanation of the purpose of the book, the method of the Author, and the fundamental affirmation of the book (in v. 7). Then follow three parts of the body of the book. First, there are discourses in defense and application of the fundamental affirmation (1:8--ch. 9). Then we have proverbs Solomon collected and arranged to provide wisdom (chs. 10-24). Next there are additional wise words from Solomon that other people collected after Solomon died (chs. 25-29). An appendix that contains specific words of wisdom by two other sages, Agur and Lemuel, concludes the book (chs. 30-31).

Proverbs is one of the most timeless Old Testament books. The reader needs very little knowledge of ancient Hebrew life and culture to understand and appreciate it. We can understand the contents fairly easily and can apply them directly to modern life.

Let's look first at the fundamental affirmation and then observe how the application of that declaration unfolds in the chapters that follow.

The fundamental affirmation is the deepest insight in Hebrew philosophy (1:7).

There is a presupposition in this statement. It is that God is all wise. We can only find wisdom in God ultimately. This presupposition underlies all of what we read in Job and Ecclesiastes as well as in Proverbs. Furthermore the Hebrews assumed that God expressed His wisdom in all His works and in all His ways. They believed that all natural phenomena revealed God's wisdom. Wherever they looked, they saw God: on land, at sea, in the earth, or in the sky. We can see that viewpoint clearly in Genesis 1:1 (cf. John 14:6).

This fundamental affirmation also contains an inevitable deduction: if wisdom is perfect in God, then wisdom in man consists in the fear of God. A person is wise to the extent that he or she apprehends and fears God. The "fear" of God does not mean a dread that results in hiding from God. It is rather an emotional recognition of God. It is not fear that He may hurt me but fear that I may hurt Him. That is the kind of fear that produces holy character and righteous conduct. Intellectual apprehension of God precedes this emotional recognition, and volitional submission to God's will follows it. When a person comes to this emotional recognition of God he or she comes to the condition for being wise, not that in so doing he or she becomes wise (1:7). We can begin to be wise only when we come into proper relation to God as ultimate Wisdom.

Beginning with 1:8 and continuing to the end of the book, what we have is the application of that affirmation to the various situations and circumstances of life.

I would like to consider what God revealed here in the three spheres of life dealt with in the book: the home, friendship, and the world. In the home, the child must learn wisdom. In friendship, the youth must apply wisdom. In the world, the adult must demonstrate wisdom.

The first sphere is that of the home (1:8-9). God did not teach the responsibility of the father and mother here but took for granted that they would instruct their children. The child needs to hear parental instruction to live in the fear of the Lord. Young children cannot grasp abstract concepts. For them God is incarnate in father and mother. Fathers and mothers reflect the image of God to their children. Both parents are necessary to reveal God to the child fully. Children see some of God's character in the mother's attitudes and actions (cf. Matt. 23:37). They see other aspects of God's character in the father. You do not have to try to teach your young child systematic theology. Just live in the fear of God yourself, and your child will learn what he or she needs to learn about God, for that stage in life, just by observing you. I do not mean to exclude verbal instruction. My point is that young children learn wisdom by observing their parents as well as by listening to them.

The second sphere of life is friendship (1:10-19). The day must come when the child, in the natural process of development, moves out into a wider circle of experience.

Personally I believe the Bible presents two duties that children have to their parents.

When the child's sphere of life is his home, he is to obey his parents. However, that duty does not continue forever. When he moves into the larger sphere of life outside the home, his duty is to honor his parents. This duty does continue forever.

When a child enters this second sphere of life, guided at first by parental council but then finally on its own, wisdom gives important instruction (1:10). He should avoid certain friendships. He should beware of people who seek to make friends with him because they have selfish interests and unscrupulous methods. We have many warnings in Proverbs against people who are not true friends. There is no more important stage in a young person's development than when he or she begins to choose companions. Then, and from then on, he or she must follow the wisdom that comes from the fear of the Lord. The youth must submit to the Lord's wisdom, having learned that in the sphere of the home, to succeed in the larger arenas of life. The choice of a mate is one of these companion decisions.

The third sphere of life is the world, symbolized in Proverbs by the street, the gates, and the city (1:20-33; cf. chs. 2-9).

The first word of warning to the youth who leaves home to enter the world on his own is this. Beware of the evil way of those who do not fear the Lord (1:20-32). There is also a gracious promise (1:33). Wisdom does not say withdraw from the world. Wisdom says remember the fate of those who forget God. Wisdom promises that those who live in the fear of the Lord will be quiet and safe even in the turmoil of the world. Do you see how important preparation for living in this sphere of life is? Children must learn to take God into account in the home, and then in their friendships, before they launch out into the world. This instruction is what really prepares them for life.

The series of discourses beginning, "My son," represents the voice of home sounding in the youth's ears who has left home and is living in the world (chs. 2-7). The father tells his son how his father instructed him in wisdom and how this enabled him to live successfully in the world. Then specific warnings follow concerning impurity, laziness, bad companions, and adultery. As the young man climbs toward a higher position in life, wisdom comes to him again with instruction concerning how he can avoid the pitfalls of that stage of his life (ch. 8). The discourses close with a contrast in which Solomon personified wisdom and folly as two women (ch. 9). One is a woman of virtue and beauty, and the other is a woman of vice and ugliness. Solomon contrasted the value and victory of wisdom with the disaster and defeat of folly. He contrasted the wisdom of fearing God with the folly of forgetting God.

I would summarize the message of Proverbs this way. The person who learns the fear of God (an emotional recognition of God) in every sphere of life will be successful, but those who forget God will fail. By an emotional recognition of God I mean taking God into account, being aware of His reality and presence, making decisions in view of His existence and revelation. This is what fearing God means.

The precepts urging a life of wisdom center on 3:1-10. This passage concentrates on that subject. Proverbs 3:5-6 is some of the best advice anyone ever gave.

The practice of wisdom centers on 8:32-36.

The power for living a life of wisdom centers on 1:8 (cf. James 1:5; 3:37; Col. 2:3).

Constable: Proverbs (Garis Besar)

Outline

I. Discourses on wisdom chs. 1-9

A. Introduction to the book 1:1-7

1. The title of the book 1:1

2. The purpose of the book 1:2-6

3. The thesis of the book 1:7

B. Instruction for young people 1:8-7:27

1. Warning against consorting with sinners 1:8-19

2. Wisdom's appeal 1:20-33

3. Wisdom as a treasure chs. 2-3

4. Encouragements to obey these instructions ch. 4

5. Warnings against unfaithfulness in marriage ch. 5

6. Other dangerous temptations 6:1-19

7. Further warnings against adultery 6:20-7:27

C. The value of wisdom and wise conduct chs. 8-9

1. The function of wisdom ch. 8

2. Wisdom and folly contrasted ch. 9

II. Couplets expressing wisdom 10:1-22:16

A. The marks of wise living chs. 10-15

1. Things that produce profit 10:1-14

2. Things of true value 10:15-32

3. Wise living in various contexts 11:1-15

4. Wise investments 11:16-31

5. The value of righteousness 12:1-12

6. Avoiding trouble 12:13-28

7. Fruits of wise living ch. 13

8. Further advice for wise living chs. 14-15

B. How to please God 16:1-22:16

1. Trusting God ch. 16

2. Peacemakers and troublemakers ch. 17

3. Friendship and folly ch. 18

4. Further advice for pleasing God 19:1-22:16

III. Wise sayings 22:17-24:34

A. Thirty sayings of the wise 22:17-24:22

1. The first group 22:17-23:11

2. The second group 23:12-24:22

B. Six more sayings of the wise 24:23-34

IV. Maxims expressing wisdom chs. 25-29

A. Instructive analogies 25:1-27:22

1. Wise and foolish conduct ch. 25

2. Fools and folly ch. 26

3. Virtues and vices 27:1-22

B. A discourse on prudence 27:23-27

C. Instructive contrasts chs. 28-29

V. Two discourses by other wise men chs. 30-31

A. The wisdom of Agur ch. 30

1. The introduction of Agur 30:1

2. Wisdom about God 30:2-9

3. Wisdom about life 30:10-33

B. The wisdom of Lemuel ch. 31

1. The introduction of Lemuel 31:1

2. The wise king 31:2-9

3. The wise woman 31:10-31

Constable: Proverbs

Proverbs

Bibliography

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Copyright 2003 by Thomas L. Constable

Haydock: Proverbs (Pendahuluan Kitab)

THE BOOK OF PROVERBS.

INTRODUCTION.

This book is so called, because it consists of wise and weighty sentences, regulating the morals of men; and directing them to wisdom and virtue. And these sentences are also called Parables, because great truths are often couched in them under certain figures and similitudes. (Challoner) --- Wisdom is introduced speaking in the nine first chapters. Then to chap. xxv. more particular precepts are given. (Worthington) --- Ezechias caused to be collected (Haydock) what comes in the five next chapters, and in the two last. Some other, or rather Solomon himself, under (Worthington) different titles, gives us Agur's and his mother's instructions, and his own commendations of a valiant woman, (Haydock) which is prophetical of the Catholic Church. He also wrote the two next works, besides many other things, which have been lost. This is the first of those five, which are called "sapiential," giving instructions how to direct our lives, by the dictates of sound reason. (Worthington) --- It is the most important of Solomon's works, though collected by different authors. (Calmet) --- T. Paine treats Solomon as a witty jester. But his jests are of a very serious nature, and no one had before heard of his wit. (Watson)

Gill: Proverbs (Pendahuluan Kitab)

INTRODUCTION TO PROVERBS

This book is called, in some printed Hebrew copies, "Sepher Mishle", the Book of Proverbs; the title of it in the Vulgate Latin version is,

"the Book of Proverbs, which the Hebrews call "Misle":''

in the Septuagint version it has the name of the writer, the Proverbs of Solomon; and so in the Syriac version, with the addition of his titles,

"the son of David, king of Israel.''

This and Ecclesiastes are both of them by the Jews ^a called Books of Wisdom: and it is common with the ancient Christian writers ^b to call the book of Proverbs by the names of "Wisdom" and "Panaretos"; names they give also to the apocryphal books of Ecclesiasticus and the Wisdom of Solomon; and therefore this is to be carefully distinguished from them. The author of this book was King Solomon, as the "first" verse, which contains the inscription of it, shows; for he was not a collector of these proverbs, as Grotius is of opinion, but the author of them, at least of the far greater part; and not only the author, but the writer of them: the Jews ^c say that Hezekiah and this men wrote them; it is true indeed the men of Hezekiah copied some, Pro 25:1; but even those were written by Solomon. R. Gedaliah ^d would have it that Isaiah the prophet wrote this book; but without any foundation. At what time it was written is not certain; the Jewish writers generally say ^e it was written by Solomon, as were the books of Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs, in his old age, when near the time of his death; though some think it was written before his fall: and it may be it was not written all at once, but at certain times, when these proverbs occurred unto him and were spoken by him, and as occasion served: however, it is not to he doubted but that they were written under the inspiration of God. The Jews once thought to have made this book of Proverbs an apocryphal one, because of some seeming contradictions in it; but finding that these were capable of a reconciliation, changed their minds, as became them ^f. Among Christians, Theodore of Mopsuest, in the sixth century, denied the divine authority of this book, and attributed it merely to human wisdom; which opinion of his was condemned in the second council at Constantinople: and in later times it has been treated with contempt by the Socinians, and particularly by Father Simon and Le Clerc; but the authority of it is confirmed by the writers of the New Testament, who have cited passages out of it; see Rom 12:20 from Pro 25:21. The book consists of "five" parts; "first", a preface or introduction, which takes up the first "nine" chapters; the "second", the proverbs of Solomon, put together by himself, beginning at the tenth chapter to the twenty-fifth; the "third", the proverbs of Solomon, copied by the men of Hezekiah, beginning at the twenty-fifth chapter to the thirtieth; the "fourth", the words of Agur, the thirtieth chapter, the "fifth", the instruction of Solomon's mother, Bathsheba, the thirty-first chapter.

Gill: Proverbs 9 (Pendahuluan Pasal)

INTRODUCTION TO PROVERBS 9

In this chapter, Wisdom, or Christ, is represented as having built a stately house or palace for the entertainment of his guests, Pro 9:1; as having made large and suitable provisions for them, Pro 9:2; and as having sent his servants to invite them to come and partake of them, and quit all other company but his, Pro 9:3; When it is observed who are and who are not to be reproved, with the reasons of it, Pro 9:7; and what is the sum and substance of true wisdom; and what the advantages of it both here and hereafter, Pro 9:10; And the chapter is concluded with the description of the foolish woman, the opposite of Wisdom; who is represented as clamorous, simple, and ignorant, Pro 9:13; and plying passengers that go by her door, and inviting them in to partake of her provisions, Pro 9:14; the consequence of which is sure and certain death and destruction to her guests, Pro 9:18.