CRITICAL NOTES.--+2. Incline.+ To _sharpen_ or prick the ear, like an
animal. +5. God.+ _Elohim._ One of five instances in the book in
which God is thus designated, the appellation Jehovah occurring
nearly ninety times. In explaining the all but universal use of
_Jehovah_ as the name of God in the Proverbs, while it never occurs
in Ecclesiastes, Wordsworth says: "When Solomon wrote the book of
Proverbs he was in a state of favour and grace with Jehovah, the Lord
God of Israel; he was obedient to the law of Jehovah; and the special
design of that book is to enforce obedience to that law." +7. Sound
wisdom.+ Miller translates this word "_something stable_." It is used
but twelve times in Scripture; in Job v. 12, it is translated
"enterprise," but the rendering given here would well fit in the
context there; and so in every other case. +That walk uprightly,+
literally "the walkers of innocence." +8.+ (_Heb._) _so as that_ "He
may keep," or _protect_ the paths, etc., _i.e._ He manifests Himself
as a shield that He may cause the upright to keep the paths of
judgment (_Fausset_). +9. Righteousness,+ _etc._, the same three
words used in chap. i. 3 (see Notes). +Every+ or "the whole" path.
+10. When.+ Rather "if" or "because." This verse is antecedent to the
consequence expressed in ver. 11. +Heart,+ the "seat of desire, the
starting point for all personal self-determination" (_Lange_).
+12. Deliver,+ "snatch," as a brand out of fire. +Evil man,+ rather
"an evil way." +13.+ "Level" paths. +16. Strange,+ "unknown,"
"_wanton_" (see 1 Kings xi. 1-8). +17. Guide,+ or "companion,"
"confidant," her lawful husband. +18. House,+ in the East means
"interests;" a man's whole blended well-being (Ex. i. 21).--_Miller._
(On Vers. 16-18 See Note at the beginning of Chap. vii.)
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 1-5.
HUMAN UNDERSTANDING AND DIVINE KNOWLEDGE.
+I. Divine knowledge is within the reach of human understanding.+
When a physician has created an appetite in his patient, he sees that
he is provided with food that will satisfy his hunger. As God has
given the eye, so He has given light to meet its needs. God has
created man with a _need_, and with _capabilities_ of knowing Him,
and has therefore placed such knowledge within his reach. "The Word
is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart, etc." (Rom. x. 8).
+II. The conditions of its attainment.+ 1. _Attention_. In all
departments of knowledge we must begin by doing the easiest thing.
The first thing we have to do is to listen to what the teacher has to
say. Everybody can do that. This is the first thing to be done in
order to attain a knowledge of God. We can listen to His message. We
can "receive" His words, "incline our ear." "Faith cometh by
hearing." 2. _Retention_. The simple attention of the soul is not the
reclaiming power. The hearing will not bless us if we do not hold the
truth in our memory. "And some seed fell by the wayside, and the
fowls came and devoured them up" (Matt. xiii. 4). But the ploughed
earth receives the seed, and holds it, and hides it, and by
_retention_ comes seed to the sower and bread to the eater. We must
not only "receive" but "hide" the words of God. 3. _Reflection_. This
prevents forgetfulness; this is indispensable to retention. The rules
or grammar, or of arithmetic, must not only be received into the
memory, but meditated upon. We must "apply" our minds to them in
order to understand them. The soul which receives and holds Divine
truth must apply itself to the understanding of it.
4. _Supplication_. If the learner has not only the book, but the
author of the book at hand, he can turn to him and ask him to unfold
the meaning of the difficult passages, or to show him how to apply
the rules. We have not only the Divine Word of God, but we have the
Divine Spirit; not only the Book of Wisdom, but the Author of the
Book, the source of wisdom. And He has promised to give wisdom for
the asking. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that
giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be
given him" (Jas. i. 5). There must be an asking in order to receive.
"If thou criest after knowledge, etc." 5. _Perseverance._ Those who
find a few diamonds upon the surface of the ground do not then bring
their labours to a conclusion. They dig down beneath, and toil on for
months and years if the mine yields. They do not cease while they
think there is more to be gained. The Divine wisdom is a mine which
yields a little on the surface, but we must not stop there: we must
dig down deep, we must continue to hear, to remember, to meditate, to
cry for enlightenment,--we must ask, and seek, and knock, and never
cease to "search" for the hidden and exhaustless treasures of wisdom.
+III. The certainty of success if the conditions are fulfilled.+ Then
_shalt_ thou understand, etc. The mariner puts out to sea, and
fulfils all the conditions known to him for reaching the country to
which he is bound, but he may find a grave midway between his
starting-point and his goal. The husbandman sows the seed, and
fulfils all the conditions upon which a good harvest depends. But his
crop may fail notwithstanding: he may not reap the golden grain. But
no such disappointment ever befals the earnest seeker after the
knowledge of God.
_ILLUSTRATION OF VERSE_ 4.
"There are frequent allusions to hid treasure in the Bible. Even in
Job we read that the bitter in soul dig for death more earnestly than
for hid treasure. There is not another comparison within the whole
compass of human action so vivid as this. I have heard of diggers
actually fainting when they have come even upon a single coin. They
become positively frantic, dig all night with a desperate
earnestness, and continue to work until utterly exhausted. There are,
at this hour, hundreds of persons engaged in it all over the country.
Not a few spend their last farthing upon these ruinous efforts. . . .
It is not difficult to account for this hid treasure. The country has
always been subject to revolutions, invasions, and calamities of
different kinds. . . . Warriors and conquerors from every part of the
world sweep over the land, carrying everything away that falls into
their hand. Then, again, this country has ever been subject to
earthquakes, which bury everything beneath her ruined
cities."--_Thomson's "Land and the Book."_
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Verses 1 and 2. The sinner is here told how he may become serious. In
any conceivable path if thou wilt do that lowest conceivable
thing--just listen; and, that thy listening may not be a mere passing
flash, if thou wilt pause upon it, and attend. If a man just takes a
chair and thinks for a moment of death and judgment and eternity, his
heart begins to feel, and it will go on feeling to any length. It
required the Spirit, no doubt; but what is the Spirit but the Spirit
of the God of Nature? He will come in the track of thought just as
surely as a star is dragged after Him in the track of
gravitation.--_Miller._
The Word of God is a vital seed, but it will not germinate unless it
be hidden in a softened, receptive heart. It is here that Providence
so often strikes in with effect as an instrument in the work of the
Spirit. The place and use of providential visitations in the Divine
administration of Christ's kingdom is to break up the way of the word
through the incrustations of worldliness and vanity that encase a
human heart, and keep the word lying hard and dry upon the
surface.--_Arnot._
Angels, who are so much our superiors, apply themselves to the
learning of it: they are already supplied with the stories of truth,
and yet they desire to pry deeper into the mystery of it. Surely,
then, the wisest of us ought to apply our whole hearts.--_Lawson._
There are some who _do_ hear, or rather, _seem_ to hear. They profess
to be all attention; but it is mere pretence--the mere result of
politeness and courtesy to the speaker. This is worse than not
hearing at all, inasmuch as it is the reality of neglect, with all
the guilt of hypocrisy added to it.--_Wardlaw._
Verse 2. Lie low at God's feet and say,--"Speak, Lord, for thy
servant heareth." His saints "sit down at His feet, every one to
receive His word."--_Trapp._
Even as worldlings, when they hear of some good bargain, hearken very
diligently; or as they who think that one speaketh of them put their
ears near to him that speaketh.--_Muffet._
Verse 3. Earthly wisdom is gained by study; heavenly wisdom by
prayer. Study may form a biblical scholar; prayer puts the heart
under a heavenly pupilage, and therefore forms the wise and spiritual
Christian. But prayer must not stand in the stead of diligence. Let
it rather give life and energy to it.--_Bridges._
Knowledge is God's gift, and must be sought at His hand, since He is
the "Father of Lights," and sells us "eye-salve" (Rev.
iii. 17).--_Trapp._
It is not any longer a Nicodemus inclined towards Jesus, he cannot
tell how, and silently stealing into His presence under cloud of
night; it is the jailer of Philippi springing in and crying with a
loud voice: "What must I do to be saved?"--_Arnot._
Verse 4. The same image occurs in John v. 39: "_Search_ the
Scriptures." Not merely scrape the surface and get a few superficial
scraps of knowledge, but dig deep, and far, and wide. The "treasures"
are "hidden" by God, not in order to keep them back from us, but to
stimulate our faith and patient perseverance in seeking for
them.--_Fausset._
Men never prayed that way and were not answered. Men seek
money--(1) always; (2) as a matter of course; (3) against all
discomfitures; (4) under all uncertainties.--_Miller._
Will not the far-reaching plans, and heroic sacrifices, and
long-enduring toil of Californian and Australian gold-diggers rise up
and condemn us who have tasted and known the grace of God? Their zeal
is the standard by which the Lord stimulates us now, and will measure
us yet. Two things are required in our search--the right direction
and the sufficient impulse. The Scriptures point out the right way,
the avarice of mankind marks the quantum of forcefulness, wherewith
the seeker must press on.--_Arnot._
This intimates (1) a loss or want of something. Else men seek not for
it. (2) A knowledge of this want or loss. Else men sit still.
(3) Some goodness indeed, or, in our own opinion, of the thing
sought. Men are, or should be, content to lose what is evil. (4) Some
benefit to ourselves in it. Else few will seek it, though good in
itself. (5) An earnest desire to find it. Else men have no heart to
seek it. (6) A constant inquiry after it, wheresoever there is any
hope to find it. Else we seek in vain. So in seeking wisdom--we must
want it, and know that we want it, and see good in it, and that to
ourselves, and seek it earnestly and constantly, if we would find
it.--_Francis Taylor._
Verse 5. That which impels men to the pursuit is also the prize which
rewards them. If any distinction between God (Elohim, see "Critical
Notes") and the Lord (Jehovah) can be pressed here, it is that in the
former the glory, in the latter the personality of the Divine nature
is prominent.--_Plumptre._
He understandeth the fear of the Lord, whose understanding feareth
the Lord. The knowledge of God is found in all His creatures, but he
findeth the knowledge of God who, being lost in his sins, is found by
God in the acknowledgement of them. . . . And as fear advanceth to
the knowledge of God, so the knowledge of God bringeth us to the fear
of Him.--_Jermin._
This knowledge of God is the first lesson of heavenly wisdom. On the
right apprehension of this lesson all the rest necessarily depends.
Wrong views of God will vitiate every other department of your
knowledge. Without right views of God you can have no right views of
His law. Without right views of His law you can have no right views
of sin, either in its guilt or in its amount. Without right views of
sin, you can have no right views of your own condition, and
character, and prospects as sinners. Without right views of these you
can have no right views of your need of a Saviour, or of the person,
and the righteousness, and atonement of that Saviour. Without right
views of these you can have no right views of your obligations to
Divine grace, etc. . . . The fear of the Lord, founded on the
knowledge of Him, is something to the right understanding of which
experience is indispensable. To a man who had never tasted anything
sweet, you would attempt in vain to convey, by description, a right
conception of the sensation of sweetness. And what is true of the
sensations is true also of the emotions. To a creature that had never
felt _fear_ you would hardly convey, by description, an idea of its
nature; and equally in vain would it be to make love intelligible to
one that had never experienced that affection. It is thus to a
depraved creature with regard to holy and spiritual affections. "This
fear of the Lord"--a fear springing from love and proportioned to
it--such a creature cannot _understand_ but by being brought to
experience it.--_Wardlaw._
The knowledge of God regulates the fear and prevents it from sinking
into terror, or degenerating into superstition, but guides it to
express its power in checking and subduing every corrupt affection
and animating the soul to every instance of obedience.--_Lawson._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 6-11.
GOD AS A GIVER AND MAN AS A RECEIVER.
+I. The fact stated+--_that God gives._ The nature of the good is to
give. God is the best of all beings, therefore He is the greatest
giver. 1. The _kindness_ of God is manifested in the character of His
gifts. 2. The _resources_ of God are revealed in the abundance of His
gifts. The character and disposition of men are made known by _what_
they give and by _how_ they give. God's gifts are "good and perfect,"
and are given ungrudgingly (Jas. i. 5-17). But men's resources are
not always equal to their desires to give. But God is rich, not only
in mercy, but in power; He has given _up to Himself_ in the gift of
His Son, in whom dwell all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and
beyond whom the Father Himself cannot give.
+II. Some of His gifts enumerated.+ 1. _Wisdom. Sound wisdom._ Real
wisdom as opposed to that which is only a sham (see "Critical
Notes"). The serpent--the devil--possesses _cunning_, but not real
wisdom. Our first parents were led astray by believing a _lie_--the
fruit of following the tempter's guidance was unsoundness of body and
soul. The results of this "wisdom of the serpent" proved its falsity.
God gives the true wisdom. He gives men the _truth_. A knowledge of
the truth about themselves, about Him (ver. 6), brings stability of
character--leads men into the right way of life (ver. 9)--and thus
tends to peace and blessedness of soul. 2. He gives _protection_ by
giving true wisdom. "He is a _buckler_," etc. (ver. 7). When Abraham
undertook to deliver Lot from the hands of his enemies, the skill
with which he planned and carried out the attack (Gen. xiv. 14)
showed his wisdom. After the victory God came to him and said, "Fear
not, Abraham. I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward" (Gen.
xv. 1). How had God just proved Himself to be his shield? Not by
sending a legion of angels to deliver him, but by giving him the
wisdom by which he had defended himself. This is how He is a buckler
to His children. He "preserveth the way of His saints" (ver. 8) by
giving them wisdom and grace to "understand" and keep "every good
path" (ver. 9).
+III. Man as a receiver of God's gifts.+ 1. This wisdom and
protection is only given to those who fulfil certain conditions.
_Wisdom_ is for the _righteous_, the _buckler_ for them that _walk
uprightly, preservation_ for his _saints_. These terms must be
regarded as relative, as we shall see presently; but the fact that
God has "laid up" His "wisdom," implies that it must be sought. God
had laid up a store of wisdom of Joseph's guidance when Pharaoh
summoned him from the prison, even as Joseph afterwards stored up
corn for the needy people; but in both instances the gifts had to be
sought for (Gen. xli. 16). Daniel had wisdom laid up for him, but he
had to ask for the wisdom kept in store for him (Dan. ii. 18).
2. _This best gift of God must be received into man's best place._
The knowledge which God gives must enter the _heart_, the
affections--thus it will be _pleasant_ to the soul (ver. 10). He who
holds the rudder guides the vessel. There may be many important
positions in a fortified city, but he who holds the highest place
commands all the rest. Understanding the word _heart_ here to mean
the affections, the heart commands the man. The will, and even the
conscience to an extent, are wheeled about by the affections. They
are the rudder of the man; they are the key to the position in the
town of Man-soul. 3. _Man, by thus receiving God's gifts, attains a
relative perfection._ The "understanding" of every good way implies a
walking in them. Those who receive God's wisdom "walk uprightly"--are
"saints." The man who has long followed any profession may be said to
be a perfect master of his business, of his handicraft. This does not
imply that he can go no further--can attain to nothing higher. The
Apostle Paul speaks of an absolute and a relative perfection. He had
attained to the last but not to the first (Phil. iii. 12-15). To know
what we ought to strive after and to choose the right way, is the
relative perfection, which leads on to that which is absolute and
entire.
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Verse 6. One may, indeed, by natural knowledge, very readily learn
that God is a benevolent being; but how He becomes to a sinner the
God of love, this can be learned only from the mouth of God in the
Holy Scriptures.--_Lange._
Verses 1 to 5 teach plainly that a man may get "light," and that
there are steps to it like money-getting; and yet hardly have the
words left his lips before Solomon guards them: "_Jehovah gives
wisdom_"--and guards them in a striking way, for he says: "For," that
is, the fact that it is the gift of God is the reason it can be
proceeded so hopefully after by man.--_Miller._
Solomon knew this by experience. The "for" gives the reason why he
who is anxious to have wisdom should learn to know and worship
God.--_Fausset._
Every beam of reason in men is communicated from the wisdom of God
(1 John i. 9). The simplest of the mechanical arts cannot be acquired
unless men are taught of God. How, then can we be expected to
understand the mystery of the Divine will without light from the
Father of lights.--_Lawson._
Verse 7. We are ill keepers of our own goodness and wisdom: God,
therefore, is pleased to lay it up for us,--and that it may be safe,
Himself is the buckler and safeguard of it. . . . In this life, he
that walketh, although he walk uprightly, and seeing evil, shuns it,
yet may receive hurt behind, where backbiters too frequently make
their assaults. Wherefore, as he walketh to God before him, so God
walketh after him, and even there, where they cannot help themselves,
He will be a _buckler_ to His servants. . . . But learn also that the
buckler shows that they who will live uprightly must strive and
fight.--_Jermin._
Heb., substance, reality (see "Critical Notes"): that which hath a
true being in opposition to that which hath not.--_Trapp._
He layeth up _that which is essential_ for the righteous.--_A.
Clarke._
The righteousness of our conduct contributes to the enlightenment of
our creed. The wholesome reaction of the moral on the intellectual is
clearly intimated here, inasmuch as it is to the righteous that God
imparteth wisdom.--_Chalmers._
"He lays up" or "hides away." 1. That the wicked may not find it.
2. That the righteous may have to dig to get it (the verb is the same
as that from which "hid treasures" is derived in Verse 4). 3. That it
may be safe from the evil one.--_Miller._
He walks uprightly who lives with the fear of God as his principle,
and the Word of God as his rule, and the glory of God as his
end.--_Wardlaw._
The most dreadful enemies of those who walk uprightly are those who
endeavour to turn aside the way of their paths; but against these
enemies God defends, for He keepeth the paths of wisdom and
righteousness.--_Lawson._
Verse 8. Well may they walk uprightly that are so strongly supported.
God's hand is ever under his; they cannot fall beneath it.--_Trapp._
"Paths of judgment" or "justice" are here, by the substitution of the
abstract for the concrete expression, paths of the just, and
therefore synonymous with "the way of His saints."--_Lange's
Commentary._
We have certain vicarious rights. One is, to come out all well at
last. Another is, that all things shall work together for our good.
Another is, that we shall grow up into Christ, increasing day by day.
To realise each and all is required of God. The track this takes Him
into for all is, as to each man, His path of judgment. Each such path
He must walk in strictly. To do so, He must watch the
saints.--_Miller._
He is not the guardian of the broad way--the way of the world and of
sin. _That_ way Satan superintends, "the god of this world"--doing
everything in his power, by all his various acts of enticement and
intimidation, to keep his wretched subjects and victims from leaving
it.--_Wardlaw._
He preserveth the way of His saints both from being drawn out of that
way, and from all evil while they walk in it.--_Jackson._
If men will not keep their bounds, God will keep His. There is a
right way for the saints to walk in. 1. Because else it were worse
living in God's kingdom than in any other kingdom. For all kingdoms
have rules of safety and of living. 2. God would be in a worse
condition than the meanest master of a family. He would have no
certain service.--_Francis Taylor._
Verse 9. Not as standing in speculation, but as a rule of life.
Knowledge is either apprehensive only, or effective also. This
differs from that as much as the light of the sun, wherein is the
influence of an enlivening power, from the light of torches.--_Trapp._
Not only does it enlarge our _knowledge_ of God, but it brings us to
a full _understanding_ of every practical obligation.--_Bridges._
Good signifies, 1. That which is just and right. 2. That which is
profitable. 3. That which is pleasing. 4. That which is full and
complete (Gen. xv. 15). . . . Men must grow from knowledge of some
good duties to knowledge of others. They must go on till they know
every good path.--_Francis Taylor._
Verse 10. Another picture of the results of living unto the Lord. Not
that only to which it leads a man, but that from which it saves him,
must be brought into view. Here, as before, there is a gradation in
the two clauses. It is one thing for wisdom to find entrance into the
soul, another to be welcomed as a "pleasant guest."--_Plumptre._
Spiritual joy mortifies sin. His mouth hankers not after homely
provision that hath lately tasted of delicate sustenance. Pleasure
there must be in the ways of God because therein men let out all
their souls into God, the foundation of all good, hence they so
infinitely distaste sin's tasteless fooleries.--_Trapp._
It was to open thus thy heart for wisdom that Christ's heart was open
upon the cross; it was to make an entrance for wisdom into thy heart
that the spear entered into the heart of thy Saviour. And what though
wisdom enter thy heart at a breach, a wound? It is this that must
heal thee and make thee sound.--_Jermin._
Here only has it any life or power. While it is only in the head it
is dry, speculative, barren. . . . Before it was the object of our
search; now, having found it, it is our pleasure.--_Bridges._
It is pleasure that can compete with pleasure. It is joy and peace in
believing that can overcome the pleasures of sin. . . . A human soul,
by its very constitution, cannot be frightened into holiness. It is
made for being won, and won it will be, by the drawing on this side
or the drawing on that.--_Arnot._
Verse 11. The man who has let knowledge come into his heart does but
watch afterwards as he does in common walking: "discretion" or
"reflection" will keep him straight.--_Miller._
Men are subject to many dangers till they get wisdom. 1. Their
reputation is in danger. 2. The goods and estates are in danger.
3. Their body and life are in danger. 4. The soul is in danger of
eternal misery. Therefore sin is called folly, and wicked men that go
to hell are chronicled as fools all over this book.--_Francis Taylor._
Though the heart of man by nature be a rebellious fort, so that
wisdom at first must enter it by a kind of force, yet, being entered,
it makes itself pleasant, and keeps out and preserves the soul which
kept her out.--_Jermin._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 12-20.
THE CHARACTER OF THOSE FROM WHOM WISDOM PRESERVES.
+I. The evil man.+ 1. _His speech is corrupt_, verse 12. The closed
grave contains death and holds within it the seeds of pestilence, but
while it remains unopened the corrupt influence remains enclosed in
its narrow walls. But should it be opened, and its foulness allowed
to fill the air, it begins to set in motion that will strike men down
to its own level. The mouth of the wicked man while kept shut is a
closed grave, his iniquity is shut up within himself, but when he
speaks out the thoughts of his heart his mouth is as an open
sepulchre, and he spreads around him moral disease and death. 2. _He
is a man of progressive iniquity._ "He walks in the ways of
darkness." When a stone is set in motion, the momentum given to it,
if no other law comes into operation to prevent it, will carry it to
the lowest level in the direction in which it travels. The progress
of wickedness is downhill, and walking in the ways of darkness
implies a destination which in Scripture is called "outer darkness."
3. _He delights in his downward progress._ Sorry and joy are reveals
of human hearts. The saint rejoices in whatever things are pure,
lovely, and of good report, and in his increase of power to do the
same. That which rejoices him reveals his heart. The sinner that
"rejoices to do evil and delights in the frowardness of the wicked,"
brings to light the hidden things of darkness that are within him.
+II. The wicked woman.+ 1. _She is, pre-eminently, a
covenant-breaker._ The ribs of a vessel hold and keep together the
whole structure, and enable it to keep its cargo safe. If the ribs
give way, all goes to pieces, and the precious things which have been
stored up within the ship are lost in the ocean. Human society is
belted together--kept from going to pieces--by covenants. They are
the ribs which keep together the State. The marriage covenant holds
the first place. The woman whose character is here depicted has
broken the bonds of this most sacred covenant--to which God was a
witness (the covenant of an institution of His own ordination)--and
has taken to the "strange" way of the devil. Well may she be called a
_strange_ woman. That a woman should be guilty of such a
crime--should choose such a course of life, so opposed to all that is
pure and womanly--is indeed a mystery. 2. _She is a destroyer, not
only of herself, but of others._ When the river has broken through
its proper boundaries there is a _present_ and _continual_
destruction, of which the bursting of its banks was only the
beginning. This woman in the past broke the moral boundaries of her
life, and is now not content to go to ruin herself, but tries to take
others with her. To this end are her false and flattering words, of
which we shall hear more in chapter v. 3. _She carries her victims
beyond hope of recovery._ There are no rules without exceptions. We
know that there are those who have for a time been under the
influence of such characters, and have returned to the paths of
virtue and honour. But these are rare exceptions. In the main, it is,
alas! true that "none that go unto her return again." A vessel
founders at sea, and we say that the crew is lost, although one
survivor may have been rescued. We speak of an army being destroyed
if one escapes to tell the tale. Where one who has taken hold on her
paths struggles back to life and purity, thousands go down with her
to death, bodily, social, and spiritual.
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Verse 12. To _snatch_ (see "Critical Notes"). "The way of evil." The
terms begin gently. It is only the gentle aspects that are dangerous
at first. These are so fascinating that it requires us to be
_snatched_ to keep us out of the ways of darkness.--_Miller._
Verse 13. Among the pests of men, none are such virulent pests of
everything that is good as those that once made a profession of
religion, but have _left the way of uprightness._ The stings of
conscience which such persons experience, instead of reclaiming them,
tend only to irritate their spirits, and inflame them into fierce
enmity against religion.--_Lawson._
Darkness, as thus set in contrast with uprightness, may be
interpreted as descriptive both of the _nature_ of the ways, and of
their _tendency_ and _end_. The man who walks in uprightness walks in
light. His eye is "single." There is "none occasion of stumbling in
him." He has but _one_ principle; his "eyes look right on, his
eyelids look straight before him." He is not always looking this way
and that, for devious paths that may suit a present purpose, but
presses on ever in the same course; and this all is light, all plain,
all safe. "The ways of darkness" are the ways of concealment,
evasion, cunning, tortuous policy and deceit. He who walks in them is
ever groping; hiding himself among the subtleties of "fleshly
wisdom": and being ways of false principle and sin, they are ways of
danger, and shame, and ruin.--_Wardlaw._
There is a strictly casual and reciprocal relation between
unrighteous deeds and moral darkness. The doing of evil produces
darkness, and darkness produces the evil doing. Indulged lusts put
out the eye-sight of the conscience; and under the darkened
conscience the lusts revel unchecked.--_Arnot._
The light stands in the way of their wicked ways as the angel did in
Balaam's way to his sin.--_Trapp._
Verse 14. Though it be wormwood which they drink (Lam. iii. 15), yet
being drunk with it, they perceive not the bitterness thereof, but
like drunken men rejoice in their shame and misery.--_Jermin._
Better is the sorrow of him that suffereth evil than the jollity of
him that doeth evil, saith St. Augustine.--_Trapp._
Here is a note of trial to discern our spiritual estate. Wicked men
rejoice in sin; good men sorrow more for sin than for troubles. . . .
Many triumph in their evil deeds because they have no good to boast
of. And men are naturally proud and would boast of
something.--_Francis Taylor._
Verse 16. There is no viler object in nature than an adulteress.
Though born and baptised in a Christian land, she is to be looked
upon as a heathen woman and a stranger, and as self-made brutes are
greater monsters than natural brute beasts, so baptised heathens are
by far the worst of pagans.--_Lawson._
This strange woman is an emblem of impenitence. The passage 16-19,
means the seductiveness and yet the betraying wretchedness of
impenitence. The woman who has left her husband has also left her
God; and the _nulla vestigia retrorsum_ witnessed in her dupes is the
warning for the saint by which he keeps clear of her undoing. No man
would err who would treat of adultery as having its lessons here. But
no man would understand the passage who did not understand it further
as a great picture of impenitence. The warnings are two: (1) the
un-stopping-short character of sin; she who wrongs her husband will
be seen universally wronging God: and (2) the unrecuperative history
of the lost.--_Miller_
Twice Solomon uses a similar expression, "the strange woman (even)
the stranger," to impress more forcibly on the young man the fact
_that her person belongs to another._ The literal and spiritual
adulteress are both meant. The spiritual gives to the world her
person and her heart, which belong by right to God. In this sense the
foreign women who subsequently drew aside Solomon himself, were
"strange women," not so much in respect to their local distance from
Israel, as in respect to being utterly _alien to the worship of God._
Lust and idolatry were the spiritual adultery into which they
entrapped the once wise king. How striking that he should utter
beforehand a warning which he himself afterwards
disregarded.--_Fausset._
We are not to forget that the accomplished seducer has herself
perhaps been seduced. The fair and flattering words, the endless arts
of allurement, are on both sides.--_Wardlaw._
One who is as it were, a stranger to her own house and husband by
faithlessness (Hitzig), and hence a type of anything that is false
and seductive in doctrine or practice. . . . By God's goodness
Solomon's words in this Divinely inspired book were an antidote to
the poison of his own vicious example.--_Wordsworth._
Verse 17. False doctrine and false worship are in Scripture compared
to harlotry and adultery. (Numb. xiv. 33; Judges ii. 17; viii. 33;
Psa. cvi. 39; Rev. xvii. 1, 2; xviii. 3.)--_Wordsworth._
It is God that is the guide of her youth, whoever may be under Him;
it is God's covenant that is made, whosoever may be the contractor in
it. It is God who is first _forsaken,_ then _forgotten;_ forsaken in
the beginning of wickedness, forgotten in the hardened practice of
it. God hath appointed guides for youth--to stay the weakness of it,
and to which, as unto God, youth ought to yield obedience. For elder
years He hath appointed covenants as bonds and chains to hold them
sure.--_Jermin._
There is no trusting them that will fail God and their near friends.
If they fail God, they will fail men for their advantage. If they
fail friends--much more strangers.--_Francis Taylor._
Verse 18. When you get into the company of the licentious, you are
among the dead. They move about like men in outward appearance, but
the best attributes of humanity have disappeared--the best affections
of nature have been drained away from their hearts.--_Arnot._
Her house is not a building reared up, but inclined and bowed down,
and she who dwelleth in it will, by her life, bring thee to the
dead. . . . Death is here twice mentioned to show that it is a double
death, a temporal death, and an eternal death, to which she bringeth
men.--_Jermin._
Verse 19. Who would cast himself into a deep pit in the hopes of
coming out alive, when almost all that fell into it were dashed in
pieces.--_Lawson._
It is as hard to restore a lustful person to chastity as it is to
restore a dead person to life.--_Chrysostom._
A sin which, I am verily persuaded, if there be another that slays
her thousands, may with truth be affirmed to slay its _ten_
thousands.--_Wardlaw._
Verse 20. Here follows the whole ground of the exhibition: "That,"
_for the very purpose_ that "_thou_ mayest walk in the way of good
men." This is a grand, pregnant doctrine. This bad life was abandoned
to its worst partly as a lesson.--_Miller._
It is not enough to shun the evil way, unless man walk in the good
way.--_Muffet._
He that walks in the way of good men shall meet with good men, and
that shall keep him from the company of evil men and women. The paths
of the righteous are too narrow for such: he shall not be troubled
with them.--_Jermin._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 21-22.
THE CONTRAST IN THE END FROM THE CONTRAST IN THE WAY.
If men walk in two directly opposite directions they cannot possibly
arrive at the same goal. +I. The historic illustration of this
truth.+ The first inhabitants of Canaan were allowed to dwell in the
land until they defiled it to so great an extent by their sins that
they were "rooted out," to be replaced by the Hebrew people. These,
in their turn, became "transgressors" of God's law, and consequently
forfeited their inheritance. +II. The reasonableness of this
dealing.+ Uprightness leads to industry, and the land which is
industriously cultivated fulfils the end for which God gave it to the
children of men. Uprightness leads to the rightful dividing of the
land or of its produce among all its inhabitants. It is God's will
that none of his creatures should suffer bodily want: if all men were
truly upright and godly, the poor and needy, if they did not cease
out of the land (Deut. xv. 2) would have a much larger share of its
good things than they at present enjoy. The Hebrew civil and social
laws show us what God's intentions are in this matter. Therefore none
ought to complain if they are deprived of a gift which they have
mis-used. +III. The typical suggestion of the subject.+ Dwelling in
the land of Canaan was typical of the eternal dwelling in the
heavenly country. Some of the first inhabitants of _that_ country
have been "rooted out" because of sin (2 Pet. ii. 4), others have
dwelt safely there for ages, because they are, literally, _perfect_.
This is the destined home of all just men made perfect (Heb. xii. 23;
xi. 13-16. Matt. xxii. 32).
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Verse 21. The Israelite was, beyond the power of natural feeling,
which makes home dear to every one, more closely bound to his
ancestral soil by the whole form of the theocracy: torn from it he
was in the inmost roots of his life itself, strained and
broken.--_Elster._
As surely as a righteous man hath this right unto temporal things
which a wicked man hath not, that God doth account him to be worthy
of them . . . . Wherefore it is observed, that in Scripture, although
the wicked are said to possess the things of the earth, they are
never said to inherit them; but the godly are said to inherit the
good things of the earth as receiving them from the love of their
heavenly Father.--_Jermin._
Verse 22. The very earth casts out the wicked. . . . The whole has a
typical meaning. This earth, many conjecture is to be restored as
heaven. In that event, the old Canaan types will be very
perfect.--_Miller._
Must not the righteous leave the earth too? Yes; but the earth is a
very different thing to the righteous and to the wicked. To the
latter it is all the heaven they will ever have; to the righteous it
is a place of preparation for heaven.--_Lawson._
The event seemeth to be contrary to the promise here made, for the
earth commonly is possessed by those who take evil ways, whilst in
the mean season the godly are tossed up and down with many
afflictions. But we must consider for our comfort that, the wicked
wrongfully and unlawfully as usurpers, possess the earth and the
goods of this world; and again, that by many troubles, and by death
in the end, they are put out of possession at last. As for the godly,
they, by right, inherit the earth, so that, as Abraham was the heir
to the land of promise even when he had not a foot of ground therein,
in like manner all the godly are heirs of this world, according to
the saying of the apostle, that all things are theirs (1 Cor.
iii. 22); howsoever often here they possess little or nothing. In
right they are heirs, and in part possessors, looking for a new
heaven and a new earth, wherein the just shall dwell (2 Pet.
iii. 13).--_Muffet._
Suddenly, when they have feathered their nests and set up their rest,
the wicked may die sinning. The saints shall not die till the best
time--not till the time when, if they were rightly informed, they
would desire to die.--_Trapp._
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