CRITICAL NOTES.--+Places of the paths+ "in the midst of the
highways." "These ways are roads, solitary paths, not streets in the
city, and the delineation proceeds in such an order as to exhibit
Wisdom; first, in verse 2, as a preacher in the open country, in
grove and field, on mountains and plains, and then in verse 3, to
describe her public harangues in the cities, and in the tumult of the
multitudes" (_Zöckler_). +3. At the entrance of its doors,+ _i.e._
"standing on the further side of the gateway" (_Zöckler_) "at the
entrance of the avenues" (_Stuart_). +4.+ The Hebrew words for men
are different in the two clauses, "the first signifies men of high
position, the second men of the common sort" (Psa. xlix. 2)
(_Fausset_). +5. Wisdom.+ This is a different word from the one used
in verse 1, and may be translated "subtilty," or "prudence," and
though it is here used in a good sense, may, when the context
requires it, be translated "artful cunning." +6. Excellent,+
literally "princely," generally rendered "plain," "evident,"
"obvious." +7. Mouth,+ lit. "palate." +Speak,+ literally "meditate;"
the word originally meant "mutter," and grew to mean "meditate,"
because what a man meditates deeply he generally mutters about
(_Miller_). +8. Froward,+ literally "distorted," or "crooked."
+9.+ "Right to the man of understanding, and plain to them that have
attained knowledge" (_Zöckler_). "To the men of understanding they
are all to the point" (_Delitzsch_). +11. Rubies,+ "pearls."
+12. Dwell with+ or "inhabit." +Witty inventions,+ "skilful plans"
(_Stuart_), "sagacious counsels" (_Zöckler_). +14. Sound wisdom,+ the
same word as in chap. ii. 7 (see note there). Stuart reads here, "As
for me, my might is understanding;" Delitzch, "Mine is counsel and
promotion." +17. Early,+ _i.e._, "earnestly" (see on ch. i. 28).
+18. Durable.+ Zöckler thinks this rather signifies "growing."
+21. Inherit substance,+ "abundance." +22. Jehovah possessed me.+ The
signification of this verb has been the subject of much discussion;
ancient expositors, believing Wisdom here to be the eternal Son of
God, deemed it necessary to reject the translation of the Septuagint,
etc., who rendered it _created_, as the text then became an argument
with Arians against the eternal co-existence of the Son. But most
modern commentators, whatever view they take of the signification of
"Wisdom," agree in rejecting the reading of the Authorised Version.
The majority render it, "created;" Delitzch reads, "brought me
forth;" Wordsworth and Miller, "got possession of," or "acquired."
Wordsworth says, "The word occurs about eighty times in the Old
Testament, and in only four places beside the present it is
translated 'possess;' viz., Gen. xiv. 19-22; Psa. cxxxix. 13; Jer.
xxxii. 15; Zech. xi. 5; in the last two it may well have the sense of
getting, and in the former of creating." +23. Set up,+ Stuart,
Miller, and early expositors render "anointed;" Delitzch and Zöckler
prefer the Authorised rendering. +26. Earth, etc.,+ "the land and the
plains, or the beginning of the dust of the earth." +27. Set a
compass, etc.,+ "marked out a circle," _i.e.,_ "when He fixed the
vault of heaven, which rests on the face of the ocean." +30. As one
brought up,+ "as director of His work," or, "as a builder at His
side." +36. Sinneth against,+ "misseth," so Stuart, Delitzsch, and
Miller.
NOTES ON THE PERSONIFICATION OF WISDOM.--There has been great
discussion among expositors as to who, or what, is to be understood
by this personification. Many modern and all ancient expositors
consider that it refers exclusively to the Divine Word, the Eternal
Son of God, others understand it as relating entirely to an attribute
of the Divine nature. There is a middle view, which is thus put by
Dr. John Harris in his sermon on verses 30-36: "Others, again reply
that it refers exclusively to neither--but partly to that wisdom
which begins in the fear of the Lord, partly to the Divine attribute
of wisdom, and partly to the Son of God, the second person in the
Godhead." We cannot do better than give the views of a few eminent
expositors and writers. Delitzsch thus comments on verse 22: "Wisdom
takes now a new departure in establishing her right to be heard and
to be obeyed and loved by men. As the Divine King in Psa. ii. opposes
to His adversaries the self-testimony: 'I will speak concerning a
decree! Jehovah said unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I
begotten Thee;' so Wisdom here unfolds her Divine patent of nobility;
she originates with God before all creatures, and it the object of
God's love and joy, as she also has the object of her love and joy on
God's earth, and especially among the sons of men. (See his
translation of the verb in this verse--Critical Notes). Wisdom is not
God, but is God's; she has personal existence in the Logos of the New
Testament, but is not herself the Logos; she is the world idea,
which, once projected, is objective to God, and not as a dead form,
but as a living spiritual image; she is the archetype of the world,
which originating from God, stands before God, the world of the idea
which forms the medium between the Godhead and the world of actual
existence, the communicated spiritual power in the origination and
the completion of the world as God designed it to be. This wisdom the
poet here personifies; he does not speak of the personal Logos, but
the further progress of the revelation points to her actual
personification in the Logos. And since to her the poet attributes an
existence preceding the creation of the world, he thereby declares
her to be eternal, for to be before the world is to be before time.
For if he places her at the head of the creatures, as the first of
them, so therewith he does not seek to make her a creature of this
world having its commencement in time; he connects her origination
with the origination of the creature only on this account, because
that _à priori_ refers and tends to the latter; the power which was
before heaven and earth were, and which operated at the creation of
the earth and of the heavens, cannot certainly fall under the
category of the creatures around and above us." Wordsworth, in
accordance with the principle of interpretation set forth in the note
at the beginning of chapter vii. says, "We should be taking a very
low, unworthy, and inadequate view of the present and following
magnificent and sublime chapters. . . . If we did not behold Him who
is essential wisdom, the co-eternal Son of God, and recognise here a
representation of His attributes and prerogative." The arguments in
favour of this view are thus summed up by Fausset: "Wisdom is here
personal Wisdom--the Son of God. For many personal predicates are
attributed to Him: thus, _subsistence by or with God,_ in verse 30;
just as John i. 1 saith, 'The Word was with God,' which cannot be
said of a mere attribute. Moreover, the mode of subsistence imparted
is _generation_, verse 22, 24, 25 (see CRITICAL NOTES). In verse 22
God is said to have _possessed_ or _acquired_ wisdom, not by
_creation_ (Psa. civ. 24), nor by adoption, as Deut. xxxii. 6, Psa.
lxxiv. 2, but by _generation._ The same verb is used by Eve of her
firstborn (Gen. iv. 1). Moreover, other attributes are assigned to
Wisdom, as if she were not an attribute but a person--'counsel,'
'strength,' etc. Also, she has the feelings of a person (verse 17):
'I love them that love me.' She does the acts of a person. She
enables kings to rule, and invests them with authority (verses 15,
16). She takes part in creation, as one brought up, or _nursed_, in
the bosom of the Father, as the only-begotten of His love (John
i. 18). She cries aloud as a person (verses 1-4), and her 'lips' and
'mouth' are mentioned (verses 6, 7). She is the _delight_ of the
Father, and she in turn delights in men (verses 30, 31), answering to
the rapturous delight into which the Father breaks forth concerning
Messiah (Isa. xliii. 1; Matt. iii. 17, xvii. 5; Eph. i. 6). She
builds a house, prepares a feast, and sends forth her maidens to
invite the guests (ch. ix. 1-3). All which admirably applies to
Messiah, who builds the Church, as His house, upon Himself the rock
(Matt. xvi. 8, etc.), and invites all to the Gospel feast (Luke
xiv. 16, etc.). He is Wisdom itself absolute, and as the Archetype,
from Him wisdom imparted flows to others. As such, He invites us to
learn wisdom from Him who is its source, 'counsel' and 'sound wisdom'
(ver. 14), are in Him as attributes are in their subject, and as
effects are in their cause. The parallel (ch. i. 20, 23), 'I will
pour out my spirit unto you' (see John vii. 38), conforms the
personal view. The same truth is confirmed by the reproof (ch.
i. 24), 'Because I have called,' etc., compared with Christ's own
words (Matt. xi. 28, etc.) So Christ is called the Wisdom of God
(Col. ii. 3). As Wisdom here saith 'I was set up,' or 'anointed from
everlasting,' so the Father saith of Messiah, 'I have set' or
'anointed my king' etc. (Psa. ii. 6). As in verse 24, Wisdom is said
to be 'brought forth' or _begotten_ by God before the world, and to
have been _by Him in creating all things_ (verses 27-30), so Messiah
is called the 'Son of God,' and is said to have been _with God in the
beginning_, and to have _made all things_ (John. i. 1-3) and to have
been begotten before every creature (Col. i. 15-17); and His _goings
forth_ are said, in Mic. v. 2, _to have been from of old, from
everlasting._" The argument for the opposite view is thus stated by
Dr. Wardlaw: "The objections to its meaning Christ, or the Word, are,
to my mind, quite insuperable. For example: (1) The passage is not so
applied in any part of the New Testament. I do not adduce this
consideration as any _direct objection_ to the interpretation in
question. I mean no more than this, that from its not being so
explained there, we are relieved from any _necessity_ of so
explaining it. Such necessity, then, being thus precluded, the direct
objections may be allowed to have their full force. Observe, then
(2), Wisdom here is a _female personage._ All along this is the case.
Now, under such a view, the Scripture nowhere else, in any of their
figurative representations of 'the Christ,' ever thus describe or
introduce Him. The application, on this account, appears to be
exceedingly unnatural. (3) Wisdom does not appear intended as a
_personal_ designation, inasmuch as it is associated with various
other terms, of synonymous, at least, of corresponding import (verse
1, chap. iii. 19, 20). Were it meant for a _personal_ designation,
like the _Logos_ or _Word_ in the beginning of John's Gospel, this
would hardly have been admissible. (4) That the whole is bold and
striking _personification_ of the attribute of Wisdom, as subsisting
in the Deity, appears further from what she is represented as saying
in verse 12: 'I, Wisdom, dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge
of witty inventions.' Here Wisdom is associated with prudence; and
the import of the association is, that Wisdom directs to the best
ends, and to the choice of the best means for their attainment; and
_prudence,_ or _discretion,_ teaches to shun whatever might, in any
way or degree, interfere with and impede, or mar their
accomplishment. This is precisely what wisdom, as an attribute or
quality, does. And it is worthy of remark, that this association of
wisdom with prudence, is introduced by the Apostle as characterising
the greatest of the Divine inventions and works--that of our
redemption. Wisdom was associated with prudence in framing and
perfecting that wonderful scheme (Ephes. i. 7, 8). (5) It is very
true that there are many things here, especially in the latter part
of the chapter--indeed through the whole--that are, in a very
interesting and striking manner, applicable to the Divine Messiah.
But this is no more than might have been anticipated, that things
which are true of a _Divine attribute_ should be susceptible of
application to a _Divine person._" We quote, in conclusion, the
remarks of Dr. Aiken, the American editor and translator of this
portion of Lange's Commentary: "The error in our English exegetical
and theological literature with respect to our passage has been, we
think, the attempt to force upon it more of distinctness and
precision in the revelation of the mysteries of the Divine Nature
than is disclosed by a fair exegesis. . . . If it be not unworthy of
the Holy Spirit to employ a bold and graphic personification, many
things in this chapter may be said of and by the personified Wisdom
which these authors regard as triumphantly proving that we have here
the pre-existent Christ, the Son of God. . . . We can, to say the
least, go no farther than our author has done in discovering here the
foreshadowings of the doctrine of the Logos. We are inclined to
prefer the still more guarded statements, _e.g.,_ of Dr. Pye Smyth
(_Scripture Testimony to the Messiah_), that this beautiful picture
cannot be satisfactorily proved to be a designed description of the
Saviour's person; or that of Dr. John Harris (Sermon on chap.
viii. 30-36): 'At all events, while, on the one hand, none can
_demonstrate_ that Christ is here directly intended, on the other,
none can prove that He is not contemplated; and perhaps both will
admit that, under certain conditions, language such as that in our
text may be justifiably applied to Him. One of these conditions is,
that the language be not employed _argumentatively,_ or in _proof_ of
anything related to Christ, but only for the purpose of illustration;
and another is, that when so employed, it be only adduced to
illustrate such views of the Son of God as are already established by
such other parts of Scripture as are admitted by the parties
addressed.'"
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 1-3.
THE NATURE OF WISDOM'S CALL.
Even if we reject the direct Messianic interpretation of this
chapter, and understand Wisdom here to be only a poetical
personification of an abstract attribute of God, it would be
impossible, we think, for any minister of the New Testament to teach
from it, and not find his way to Him who was "in the beginning with
God" (John i. 2), to the Christ who is the "Wisdom of God" (1 Cor.
i. 24), "in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge"
(Col. ii. 3). To say the least, the language is admirably adapted to
set forth the Incarnate Son, the Saviour of the world. The
introductory paragraph reveals _the intense desire of Wisdom to win
disciples._
+I. From her taking the initiative.+ Wisdom addresses man first. When
two persons have become estranged by the wrong-doing of one, he who
is in the wrong will be slow to find his way back to the other to
acknowledge his fault. Because he is in the wrong he may conclude,
and in many cases would rightly conclude, that an advance on his side
would be useless. But an advance from him who is in the right would
be more likely to be successful; such a course of conduct on his part
would carry with it a powerful magnetic force to draw the offender
back, and would be a most convincing proof of the desire of him who
had been rightly offended to effect a reconciliation. And if the
offence had been committed, not once, but many times, the reluctance
of the offender to face his offended friend would be increased in
proportion to the number of times the act had been repeated, and if,
notwithstanding these repeated offences, advances should continue to
be made from the other side, the desire for reconciliation would be
made more and more manifest. Wisdom is here represented in this
light, and God in Christ did take the initiative in "reconciling the
world unto Himself" (1 Cor. v. 19). The Incarnate Wisdom _came_ to
men because men would not, and could not, by reason of their moral
inability, come to Him first. In proportion to the distance men
wander from God do they feel the impossibility of returning to Him
unless they can receive from Him some encouragement to do so. This
encouragement they have in the fact that "the Son of Man came to seek
and save that which was lost" (Matt. xviii. 11), that, "while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. v. 8).
+II. From the variety of places where Wisdom's voice is heard+
(verses 2 and 3). If a man has goods to sell, he seeks those places
where he will be most likely to find buyers; if he has thoughts which
he wishes to make public, he goes where he will find the most
hearers. The pilot has wisdom which he wants to sell the less
experienced ship-master, and he runs his cutter out into the highway
of the channel. He is found at "the entrance of the gates" of the
water-ways, at the mouths of the rivers; he places himself in the way
of those who need his wisdom, and who will pay a good price for his
skill. In proportion to a man's earnestness to obtain a market, or a
hearing, will be his endeavour to seek out the places where he will
most likely succeed. Wisdom is here represented as frequenting the
most conspicuous places, the most crowded thoroughfares, to find
buyers for that spiritual instruction which is to be had "without
money and without price" (Isa. lv. 1). Christ was found imparting the
treasures of His wisdom wherever men would listen to His words. He
"went up into a mountain and taught" (Matt. v. 1). He was found in
the streets of the cities, in the temple, at the publican's feast
(Luke v. 27), in a boat on the shore of the lake. When multitudes
were gathered at Jerusalem at the feasts, He was among them (John
vii. 14 and 37). At other times "He went about all the cities and
villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the Gospel of
the kingdom" (Matt. ix. 35). And thus He revealed His intense desire
to give unto men those words which He declares to be "spirit and
life" (John vi. 63).
+III. From the earnest tone of her call.+ "Doth not Wisdom _cry._"
When the voice of Christ was heard upon earth it was in no
indifferent tone He addressed His hearers. He was "moved with
compassion" towards the multitudes who followed Him (Matt. xiv. 14).
On the "great day of the feast He stood and _cried_, saying, If any
man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink" (John vii. 37). With what
earnestness must He have uttered His lament over Jerusalem: "If thou
hadst known, even thou, in this thy day, the things which belong unto
thy peace" (Luke xix. 42). A man's tone is more or less earnest to us
in proportion as he gives proof that he is willing to follow up words
by deeds. Judged in this light, how earnest must the call of Christ
to men sound when they consider that He was willing to face
Gethsemane and Calvary to give effect to His words. On this subject
see also Homiletics on chap. i. 20, 21.
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Verse 1. She crieth by the written word, by ministers, and by the
dealings of Providence. Instead of the clandestine whisper of the
adulteress in the dark, Wisdom "puts forth her voice" openly in the
day, and in a style suitable to every capacity, so that all are left
without excuse if they reject her, preferring darkness to
light.--_Fausset._
The eternal Son of God gathers, plants, builds His church by a voice
_i.e.,_ His Word. All true teachers of the Word are crying voices
through which Christ calls. Out of Christ's school is no true wisdom.
So long as Christ's wisdom is still speaking outside thee it avails
thee nothing; but when thou allowest it to dwell in thee it is thy
light and life.--_Egard._
We cannot promulgate as doctrine, but we think the last day will show
that wisdom plied every art; that what was, "all things working
together for good" in behalf of the believer, was something analogous
in tendency in the instance of the sinner; that if the sinner thought
his lot defeated repentance, he was mistaken; or that, could he have
fared otherwise, his chances would have been improved: all this was
largely error; moreover, that he will be held accountable at last for
quite the opposite, and punished for a life singularly favoured and
frequently adapted as the very best to lead him to
salvation.--_Miller._
In her ministers, who are criers by office, and must be earnest (Isa.
lviii. 1). See an instance in holy Bradford. "I beseech you," saith
he, "I pray you with hand, pen, tongue, and mind, in Christ, through
Christ, for Christ, for His name, blood, mercy, power, and truth's
sake, my most entirely beloved that you admit no doubting of God's
final mercies towards you." Here was a lusty crier indeed.--_Trapp._
This form of interrogation, which expects as its answer an assenting
and emphatic "yes, truly," points to the fact clearly brought to view
in all that has preceded, that Wisdom bears an unceasing witness in
her own behalf in the life of men.--_Zöckler._
Verse 2. "Standeth" implies assiduous perseverance. Instead of taking
her stand in dark places, in a corner, like the harlot (chap.
vii. 9), she "standeth" in the top of high places.--_Fausset._
Wisdom is representing as haunting all human paths. Folly lives upon
them, too. Wisdom does not claim them as her own; Folly does. Wisdom
has but one path. And she haunts every other to turn men out of such
diverse journeyings into the one great track of holiness and
truth.--_Miller._
Verse 3. Thereby intending (1) to reach the whole concourse of the
lost, and (2) to make human life at these great rallying places of
men, speak its own lessons, and utter the loudest warnings against
the soul's impenitence.--_Miller._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 4-9.
GOD'S SPEECH MEETING MAN'S NEED.
+I. Divine Wisdom has spoken because God's silence would be human
death.+ When a man is lying in prison awaiting the execution of the
extreme penalty of the law, after he has petitioned the monarch for a
reprieve, the silence of the monarch is a permission that the
sentence is to be carried out. His silence is a death-knell to the
criminal who has asked for pardon. It is an anticipation of the steel
of the executioner, of the rope of the hangman. He longs for the word
that would bring pardon. There is _death_ in the _silence._ In the
history of men's lives there are many other instances when the
silence of those whom they desire to speak embitters their life.
There are many who keep silence whose speech would fall upon the
heart of those who long for it, as the dew and gentle rain falls upon
the parched earth. A word or a letter would be like a new lease of
life, but the silence brings a sorrow which is akin to death, which
perchance is the death of all that makes life to be desired. A parent
who has no word from his absent son goes down in sorrow to the grave.
Jacob was thus going down mourning when the words of Joseph reached
him. Then "his spirit revived" (Gen. xlv. 27), and the aged,
sorrowful patriarch renewed his youth. The life of man--all that is
worth calling life--depends upon God's breaking the silence between
earth and heaven. His silence is that which is most dreaded by those
who have heard His voice. Hence their prayer is, "Be not _silent_
unto me; let, if Thou be silent unto me, I become _like them that go
down into the pit_" (Psa. xxviii. 1). If a man had been left without
any communication from God, he must have remained spiritually dead
throughout his term of probation. For he is by nature what is called
in Scripture, "carnally-minded," which "is death" (Rom. viii. 5).
Every man, if left to himself, forms habits of thinking and of acting
that cause him "to be tied and bound with the chain of his sins." And
if God had not spoken he must have remained in this condition, which
is spiritual death. Therefore, God has broken this silence with an
"Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead" (Ephes. v. 14).
The nations were walking in the darkness and the shadow of death when
the "light shined" upon them (Luke i. 79), in the person of Him who
is the Word and the Wisdom of God, who, Himself, declared "_The words
that I speak unto_ you, they are spirit, and they are _life;_" "I am
come that they might have life, and that they might have it more
abundantly" (John vi. 63, x. 10).
+II. Human nature needs the voice of Divine Wisdom because the soul
cannot rest upon uncertainties+ (verses 6-8). If a man is in the dark
upon any subject, he is in a condition of unrest; there is a desire
within him to rise from the state of probability to one of certainty.
If a boy works a sum and does not know how to prove that it is right,
he does not feel that satisfaction at having completed his task that
he would do if he could demonstrate that the answer was correct.
After all his labour he has only arrived at a may-be. So the result
of all efforts of man's unaided reasonings concerning himself and his
destiny was but a sum unproved. There was no certainty after ages of
labourious conjecture. There might be a future life and immortality,
but it could not be positively affirmed. Although the sum _might be
right_ there was a possibility that it was wrong. The world by wisdom
arrived at no certain conclusions in relation to the Divine character
and the chief end of man, and uttered but an uncertain sound on the
life beyond the grave. "How can man be just with God?" "If a man die
shall he live again?" were never fully and triumphantly answered
until the Incarnate Word stood by His own empty grave and said, "I
ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God"
(John xx. 17). He brought "rest" to the weary and heavy laden (Matt.
xi. 28), because His words were truth, and plainness, and certainty
(see verses 6-8); before they had been only error, or obscurity, or
conjecture.
+III. The wisdom of God is appreciated by those who have realised its
adaptation to human needs.+ (Ver. 9.) There is a twofold knowledge,
or "understanding," of Divine truth, as there is of much else with
which we are acquainted. There is an acquaintance with the general
facts of Divine revelation--a theoretical understanding of its
suitableness to the needs of men, and there is a knowledge which
arises from an experience of its adaptation to our personal need--a
practical understanding which springs from having received a personal
benefit. The chemist knows that a certain drug possesses qualities
adapted to cure a particular malady, but if he comes to experience
its efficacy in the cure of the disease in his own body, he has a
knowledge which far surpasses the merely theoretical. It is then
"plain" to him from an experimental understanding. The wisdom of God
in the abstract, or in the personal Logos, is allowed by many to be
adapted to the spiritual needs of the human race. They see the
philosophy of the plan of salvation in the general, but its wonderful
adaptation and "rightness" is only fully revealed when they have
"found" the "knowledge" by an experimental reception of Christ into
their own hearts. To him that thus "understands" all is "plain."
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Verse 4. Christ offers Himself as a Saviour to all the human race.
+I. The most awakening truth in all the Bible.+ It is commonly
thought that preaching the holy law is the most awakening truth in
the Bible, and, indeed, I believe this is the most ordinary means
which God makes use of. And yet to me there is something far more
awakening in the sight of a Divine Saviour freely offering Himself to
every one of the human race. . . . Does it not show that all men are
lost--that a dreadful hell is before them? Would the Saviour call so
loud and so long if there was no hell? +II. The most comforting truth
in the Bible.+ If there were no other text in the whole Bible to
encourage sinners to come freely to Christ, this one alone might
persuade them. Christ speaks to the human race. Instead of writing
down every name He puts all together in one word, which includes
every man, woman, and child. +III. The most condemning truth in all
the Bible.+ If Christ be freely offered to all men, then it is plain
that those who live and die without accepting Christ shall meet with
the doom of those who refuse the Son of God.--_McCheyne._
They are called to repentance, they are called to the remission of
their sins; they may and must repent, and they, by repentance, are
sure of pardon for all their sins. The good angels have not sinned,
the bad angels cannot repent; it is _man_ that hath done the one, it
is _man_ that must do the other.--_Jermin._
"O men." Some render it, "O ye eminent men," (see Critical Notes),
whether for greatness of birth, wealth, or learning. But "the world
by wisdom knows not God" (1 Cor. i. 21); and "not many wise men, not
many mighty, not many noble, are called" (verse 26). And yet they
shall not want for calling, if that would do it. But all to little
purpose, for most part. They that lay their heads upon down pillows
cannot so easily hear noises. "The sons of men," _i.e.,_ to the
meaner sorts of people. These, usually, like little fishes, bite more
than bigger. "The poor are gospelised," saith our Saviour. Smyrna was
the poorest, but the best of the seven churches.--_Trapp._
_Several ways whereby God addresses Himself to men._ How different
the method which God uses towards the _rational_ from that which He
uses towards the _material_ world. In the world of matter God has not
only fixed and prescribed certain laws according to which the course
of nature shall proceed, but He is Himself the sole and immediate
executor of those laws. . . . It is to Himself that He has set those
laws, and it is by Himself that they are executed. But He does not
deal so with the world of _spirits._ He does not here execute the
laws of _love,_ as He does there the laws of _motion._ He contents
Himself to prescribe laws, to make rational applications, to _speak_
to spirits. He speaks to them because they are _rational,_ and can
understand what He says, and He does _but_ speak to them because they
are _free._ And this He does in several ways. 1. _By the natural and
necessary order and connection of things._ God, as being the Author
of nature, is also the author of that connection that results from it
between some actions and that good and evil that follows upon them,
and which must therefore not be considered as mere natural
consequences, but as a kind of rewards and punishments annexed to
them by the Supreme Lawgiver, God having declared by them, as by a
natural sanction, that 'tis His will and pleasure that those actions
which are attended with good consequences should be done, and that
those which are attended with evil consequences should be avoided.
Not that the law has its obligation from the _sanction,_ but these
natural sanctions are _signs_ and _declarations_ of the will of God.
2. _By sensible pleasure and pain._ A thing which everybody feels,
but which few reflect upon, yet there is a voice of God in it. For
does not God, by the frequent and daily return of these impressions,
continually put us in mind of the nature and capacity of our souls,
that we are thinking beings, and beings capable of happiness and
misery, which because we actually feel in several degrees, and in
several kinds, we may justly think ourselves capable of in more,
though how far, and in what variety, it be past our comprehension
exactly to define. 3. _By that inward joy which attends the good, and
by that inward trouble and uneasiness which attends the bad state of
the soul._ This is a matter of universal experience. It is God that
raineth this pleasure or this pain in us, and that thus differently
rewards or punishes the souls of men, and thus, out of His infinite
love, is pleased to do the office of a private monitor to every
particular man, by smiling upon him when he does well, and by
frowning upon him when he does ill, that so he may have a mark to
_discern,_ and an encouragement to _do_ his duty.--_John Norris._
Verse 5. A man may be acutely shrewd and yet be a fool, and that in
the very highest sense. Nor is this a mere mystic sense. He must be a
fool actually, and of the very plainest kind, who gives the whole
labour of a life, for example, to increase his eternal
agonies.--_Miller._
The _heart_ is frequently used, simply for the mind or seat of
intellect as well as for the affections; so that "an understanding
heart" might mean nothing different from an _intelligent_ mind. At
the same time, since the state of the heart affects to such a degree
the exercise of the judgment, "an understanding heart" may signify a
heart freed from the influence of those corrupt affections and
passions by which the understanding is perverted, and its vision
marred and destroyed.--_Wardlaw._
Verse 6. The discoveries of Wisdom relate to things of the highest
possible _excellence_; such as the existence, character, works, and
ways of God; the soul; eternity; the way of salvation--the means of
eternal life. And they are, on all subjects, "_right._" They could
not, indeed, be excellent themselves, how excellent soever in dignity
and importance the subjects to which they are related, unless they
were "right." But all her instructions are so. They are _true_ in
what regards _doctrine,_ and "holy, just, and good" in what regards
_conduct_ or _duty._ There is truth without any mixture of error, and
rectitude without any alloy of evil.--_Wardlaw._
Right for each man's purposes and occasions. The Scriptures are so
penned that every man may think they speak of him and his affairs. In
all God's commands there is so much rectitude and good reason, could
we but see it, that if God did not command them, yet it were our best
way to practise them.--_Trapp._
The teaching is not _trifling,_ though addressed to _triflers._
"Right things"--things which are calculated to correct your false
notions, and set straight your crooked ways.--_Adam Clarke._
Verse 9. If aught in God's Word does not seem to us right, it is
because we, so far, have not found true knowledge. "To those who have
bloodshot eyes, white seems red" (Lyra). He who would have the sealed
book opened to him must ask it of the Lamb who opens the book (Rev.
v. 4-9).--_Fausset._
The first part of this verse wears very much the aspect of a
_truism._ But it is not said, "They are plain to him that
understandeth _them;_" but simply to him that "_understandeth._" It
seems to signify, who has the understanding necessary to the
apprehension of Divine truth--spiritual discernment. "He who is
spiritual _discerneth all things._" "They are all plain" to him who
_thus_ understandeth. It may further be observed, how very much
depends, in the prosecution of any science, for correct and easy
apprehension of its progressive development to the mind, on the clear
comprehension of its _elementary principles._ The very clearest and
plainest demonstrations, in any department of philosophy, will fail
to be followed and to carry conviction--will leave the mind only in
wonder and bewildering confusion, unless there is a full and correct
acquaintance with principles or elements, or a willingness to apply
the mind to its attainment. So in Divine science. There are, in
regard to the discoveries of the Divine Word, certain primary
principles, which all who are taught of God know, and which they hold
as principles of explanation for all that the Word reveals. They who
_are_ thus "taught of God," perceive with increasing fulness the
truth, the rectitude, the unalloyed excellence of all the dictates of
Divine wisdom. All is "plain"--all "right." The darkness that brooded
over the mind is dissipated. They "have an unction from the Holy One,
and know all things" (1 John ii. 20).--_Wardlaw._
When a man gets the knowledge of himself, then he sees all the
_threatenings_ of God to be _right_. When he obtains the knowledge of
God in Christ, then he finds that all the _promises_ of God are
_right_--yea and amen.--_Adam Clarke._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 10, 11.
WISDOM BETTER THAN WEALTH.
+I. Wisdom is to be preferred to wealth because it belongs to a
higher sphere.+ The wisdom by which men succeed in finding gold and
silver reveals the superiority of mind over matter. The apparatus of
the miner or digger reveals that his thought, by which he is enabled
to find the precious metal, is more than the metal itself. The
precious stones which the merchant gains by trading are inferior to
the wisdom he puts in operation to gain them, even though it is a
wisdom which is only devoted to gaining money. The mental power which
he puts forth shows that he is possessed of intelligence, which,
belonging to the region of mind, belongs to a higher sphere than
material wealth. When the wisdom is that spoken of in the text, the
wisdom which springs from the very Fountain of goodness, it is not
only preferable because it is the offspring of mind, but because it
belongs to the higher region of spiritual purity.
+II. Wisdom is to be preferred to wealth, because it had an existence
before wealth.+ The world, with all its precious stones, and rich
mines of gold and silver, is but of yesterday compared with wisdom.
The mental and spiritual wealth of God was before matter; upon that
wisdom--as we learn in this chapter--depended the existence of the
material (vers. 22-32; chap. iii. 19, 20). Mental wealth is eternal,
material wealth belongs only to time. Gold had a beginning, because
the earth had a birthday, but wisdom is as old as God.
+III. Wisdom is to be preferred to wealth, because it is an absolute
necessity to man's well-being, which gold is not.+ The first man, in
his state of sinlessness, had no need of what men now call wealth,
but wisdom--spiritual wisdom--was absolutely necessary to his
continuation in a state of blessedness. Men need worldly,
intellectual wisdom, even to make money. Many who inherit wealth lose
it because they lack wisdom to use it rightly. But they can be blest
without wealth, but not without the wisdom which leads to holiness.
Wealth may bring pleasure with it, but to do so it must be united to
true wisdom. Many who roll in riches have no pleasure in them;
sometimes their very wealth adds to their unhappiness. Mental wealth
enables men to extract some enjoyment from material wealth, but the
riches of goodness makes gold and silver a means of increasing men's
happiness.
+IV. Wisdom is to be preferred to wealth, because the latter may be
destructive to character, and the former is its constructive power.+
Many men have been morally destroyed by their riches. But true wisdom
is that by which a holy character is formed, the sustenance of the
spiritual life. Riches may ruin; the wisdom which God gives to those
who seek it at His hand can but bless.
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Verse 10. Thou canst not make as thy chief aim the acquisition of
silver and that of true wisdom at one and the same time, for those
aims mutually conflict, and each claims the whole man (Matt. vi. 24).
To accept the one involves the rejection of the other as the chief
portion. He who lives for money is void of wisdom (Luke xii. 16, 20),
and is called in Scripture a "fool."--_Fausset._
Had it been said, Receive silver, who would not have held out his
hand to receive it? Had it been said, Receive gold, who would not
have been forward and glad with both his hands to have taken it? But
it is instruction and not silver, wherein, lest a worldly heart be
afraid that the taking of silver were forbidden him, the next words
show the meaning, that is but instruction _rather_ than silver, as it
is knowledge _rather_ than gold. . . . He that seeketh gold and
silver diggeth up much earth, but finds little of them, but he that
receiveth instruction and knowledge, which are, indeed, of a golden
nature, even in a little shall get and find much. Wherefore Clemens
Alexandrinus saith, "It is in the soul that riches are, and they
alone are riches whereof the soul alone is the treasure."--_Jermin._
The first warning uttered by this wisdom from above is the repetition
of a former word. The repetition is not vain. Another stroke so soon
on the same place indicates that he who strikes feels a peculiar
hardness there. The love of money is a root of evil against which the
Bible mercifully deals many a blow. There lies one of our deepest
sores. Thanks be to God for touching it with "line upon line" of His
healing Word. . . . A ship bearing a hundred emigrants has been
driven from her course and wrecked on a desert island, far from the
tracks of men. The passengers get safe ashore with all their stores.
There is no way of escape, but there are means of subsistence. An
ocean unvisited by ordinary voyagers circles round their prison, but
they have seed, with a rich soil to receive, and a genial climate to
ripen it. Ere any plan has been laid, or any operation begun, an
exploring party returns to head quarters reporting the discovery of a
gold mine. Thither instantly the whole company resort to dig. They
acquire and accumulate heaps of gold. The people are quickly becoming
rich. But the spring is past, and not a field has been cleared, not a
grain of seed has been committed to the ground. The summer comes, and
their wealth increases, but the store of food is small. In harvest
they begin to discover that their stores of gold are worthless. A
cart-load of it cannot satisfy a hungry child. When famine stares
them in the face a suspicion shoots across their fainting hearts that
their gold has cheated them. They loathe the bright betrayer. They
rush to the woods, fell the trees, till the ground, and sow the seed.
Alas! it is too late! Winter has come, and their seed rots in the
soil. They die of want in the midst of their treasures. This earth is
a little isle--eternity the ocean round it. On this shore we have
been cast, like shipwrecked sailors. There is a living seed; there is
an auspicious spring time; the sower may eat and live. But gold mines
attract us; we spend our spring there--our summer there: winter
overtakes us toiling there, with heaps of hoarded dust, but destitute
of the bread of life.--_Arnot._
Verse 11. First, because everything else without it is a curse, and
with it just what is needed; second, because it is necessary to all
beings, and even to God himself, as the spring of action; third,
because it is glory and wealth in its very nature.--_Miller._
Surely he that thinketh himself adorned with precious stones, showeth
himself to be of less price than the stones are. To whom Clemens well
applieth that saying of Apelles, who, when one of his scholars had
painted Helena set out with much gold, said unto him, "Alas, poor
young man, when thou could'st not draw her fair thou hast made her
rich." for so, when many have neglected the jewel of the soul they
seek to prank out the body with jewels.--_Jermin._
The wisdom of goodness, or virtue. 1. _Is absolutely and without any
limitation good, absolutely and without any limitation useful and
desirable._ It alone can never be misapplied, can never be criminal.
This we cannot pronounce of any other good. Riches may be a snare,
honours a burden, even the endowments of the mind may be a snare to
us. 2. _It is far more unchangeable than the value of all other goods
and endowments._ The value of riches is regulated by our wants and
the wants of the society in which we live. The value of honour
changes according to the opinions, the usages, the political
institutions of mankind. The value of sensual pleasure depends much
on our constitution, age, and health. Even the value of mental
endowments is subjection to vicissitudes. The value of true wisdom
alone is invariably the same. 3. _It is much more independent of
station than any other good._ Riches would cease to be riches if all
men lived in abundance. Honour would lose much of its value if it
gave us no precedence over others. A great proportion of the value of
sensual and mental pleasures would be reduced to nothing if every man
possessed them, and each in the same degree. But no man loses
anything if another be virtuous likewise, but if all were virtuous
all would infinitely profit thereby. 4. _It has a pre-eminent value,
by the effects it produces in us._ It renders us: (1) much better,
(2) more useful, (3) more happy. 5. _It alone fits us for a better
life._ It passes for as much in heaven as it does upon earth, and
much more. It alone assimilates us with God. What we call riches,
power, and knowledge, are poverty, weakness, and darkness, with
Him.--_Zollikofer._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 12, 13.
WISDOM AND PRUDENCE.
+I. Wisdom and prudence are here represented as dwelling together in
express unity of action.+ Elster remarks upon this passage: "Prudence
denotes here right knowledge in special cases, in contrast with the
more comprehensive idea of intelligence in general; the practical
realisation of the higher principle of knowledge found in wisdom."
Prudence is as necessary to wisdom, as the hand is to the will.
Prudence asks what is the best time, the best place, and the best
manner in which to carry out what wisdom has designed. It has
therefore been defined as "wisdom applied to practice." Wisdom
decrees that a certain word is to be spoken. Prudence decides upon
the best time, place, and manner in which to say it. Prudence must
always dwell with wisdom, if the designs of a wise man are to be
brought to a successful issue. In all God's plans both are always in
operation. Consider their manifestation in the plan of redemption.
The wisdom of God is manifested in the conception of plan. His
prudence was shown in the choice of the _time,_ _place,_ and _manner_
of the manifestation. 1. The _time_ was "the fulness of time" (Gal.
iv. 4), when all the streams of human wisdom and greatness which had
been flowing through the world for ages, had converged into one head
and were seen to be powerless to accomplish the regeneration of the
world. Then "God sent forth His Son." 2. The _place_ of the
manifestation. When the wisdom of a commander has decided that a
battle must be fought, his prudence is called in to decide where it
must take place, where all lawful advantage will be upon his side.
Our world was chosen by Divine prudence as the scene of the battle
between the powers of Good and Evil because, seeing that here the
human race had been most shamefully defeated by the devil, it was
most fitting that here the Prince of Darkness should be defeated by
One in human form--that the victory should be won where the defeat
had been sustained. 3. _The manner in which, or the means by which,
man's redemption was accomplished._ The life of the Incarnate Son of
God was adapted to influence the hearts of men. His death for their
sins was calculated as probably no other event could have been, to
beget within them a love which is powerful enough to make them new
creatures. The fact that millions of men and women have been thus
born to a new life through the cross of Christ is a revelation of its
adaptation to human needs, and a manifestation that Divine wisdom
dwelt with Divine prudence in the plan of redemption; that in this,
as in all His other workings, there is no exhibition of "sagacious
counsels" (see Critical Notes).
+II. Divine wisdom and prudence act in union for the promotion of
moral ends+ (verse 13). There is a wisdom and prudence which do not
act in concert for this purpose, but for the very opposite. There is
a manifestation of prudence choosing the best time, place, and method
in which to work out an evil design. The plan of the tempter to ruin
our first parents was a great display of united wisdom and prudence.
The _time,_ the _place,_ the _means_ chosen were all calculated to
effect the purpose. But the wisdom and prudence of God unite to put
down sin, to banish its evil influence from the universe. As we see
the combination of wisdom and prudence in the Father's plan of
redemption, so we see them combined in every act and word of the Son
of God while He was manifest in the flesh. The means He used to
silence His enemies, to instruct His disciples, to enlighten the
ignorant multitude, were all revelations of His Divine wisdom and
prudence.
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Verse 12. That is, this spiritual light, which the very first proverb
(ch. i. 2, 3) says is holiness; takes possession of any _intellect;
dwells in it;_ nay, _makes a dwelling in it;_ for holiness can dwell
in nothing else; and that intellect, though it may be the very mind
of God, is stirred up by nothing else to _do_ all that is grand in
its total history (verses 22-30). Satan, with such splendid
intellect, what is he but the universe's insanest fool? He toils for
worse wages than anybody in the whole creation. But could wisdom get
a lodging in that peerless intellect, what different results! She
gets a lodging in our earthly faculties, and turns us about from
sowing to our death, to a splendid harvest of eternal
favour.--_Miller._
Wisdom, in the most comprehensive aspect, is to be regarded as giving
origin to all arts and sciences, by which human life is improved and
adorned; as by her inventive skill developing all the varied
appliances for the external comfort and well-being of mankind; as
planning the "wondrous frame" of universal creation, which, with all
its varied beauty, fills us, in the view with astonishment and
delight; and conceiving, in the depths of eternity, the glorious
scheme--a scheme "dark with brightness all along"--which secures the
happiness of man for ever, and in which she appears in her noblest
and most attractive display, the whole, from first to last,
discovering "the manifold wisdom of God."--_Wardlaw._
In the first address of Wisdom (ch. i. 22-33), her words were stern
and terrible. The first step in the Divine education is to proclaim
"the terrors of the Lord," but here she neither promises nor
threatens, but, as if lost in contemplation, speaks of her own
excellence. "Prudence." The subtilty of the serpent, in itself
neutral, but capable of being turned to good as well as evil. Wisdom,
high and lofty, occupied with things heavenly and eternal, does not
exclude, yea, rather, "dwells with" the practical tact and insight
needed for the common life of men.--_Plumptre._
Wisdom here beginneth to draw her own picture, and with her own
pencil. . . . The force of the verse is, that Wisdom is there where
there is a fitness of worth to entertain her.--_Jermin._
I draw all into practice, and teach man to prove by their own
experience, what is "that good, and holy, and acceptable will of God"
(Rom. xii. 2).--_Trapp._
All arts among men are the rays of Divine wisdom falling upon them.
Whatsoever wisdom there is in the world, it is but a shadow of the
wisdom of God.--_Charnock._
Prudence is defined, _wisdom applied to practice;_ so, wherever true
wisdom is, it will lead to action. . . . The farther wisdom proceeds
in man the more practical knowledge it gains, and, finding out the
nature and properties of things, and the general course of
Providence, it can contrive by new combinations to produce new
results.--_Adam Clarke._
Verse 13. To fear retribution is not to hate sin. In most cases it is
to love it with the whole heart. It is a solemn suggestion that even
the _religion_ of dark, unrenewed men is in its essence a love of
their own sins. Instead of hating sin themselves, their grand regret
is, that God hates it. If they could be convinced that the Judge
would regard it as lightly as the culprit, the fear would collapse
like steam under cold water, and all the religious machinery which it
drove would stand still.--_Arnot._
The godly avoid evil and do good--not merely from habit, education,
the hope of reward, or the fear of punishment, but from hatred of
evil and love of goodness.--_Cartwright._
The affection of hatred as having sin for its object is spoken of in
Scripture as no inconsiderable part of true religion. It is spoken of
as that by which true religion may be known and distinguished.--_Jon.
Edwards._
Wisdom having shown where she dwelleth, she showeth likewise where
she dwelleth not. . . . He that saith, "The fear of the Lord is to
hate evil," is Himself the Lord that hateth evil. And, doubtless,
every one should hate that which He hateth, whom all must love. Now,
in an evil way, there be some ringleaders, and such are "pride,
arrogancy, and the froward mouth," for these draw many other after
them. . . . And as for the Eternal Wisdom, how much He hateth them,
His little regard of Himself showeth plainly and fully. For it was
His hatred of Satan's pride, reigning in wickedness, as well as His
love to man captivated by it, that made Him to become man; yea, a
worm, and no man, and by His humility to destroy pride, which He so
greatly hated.--_Jermin._
It is not only Divine _holiness,_ observe, that "hates evil," it is
Divine _wisdom._ This conveys to us the important lesson that the
will of God, along with his abhorrence of all that is opposed it, is
founded in the _best of reasons._ All that is evil is contrary to His
own necessary perfection, and, consequently, to "the eternal fitness
of things."--_Wardlaw._
As it is impossible to hate evil without loving good; and as hatred
to evil will lead a man to abandon the evil way, and love to goodness
will lead him to do what is right in the sight of God, under the
influence of that Spirit which has given the hatred to evil, and the
love to goodness; this implies the sum and substance of true
religion, which is here termed the fear of the Lord.--_Adam Clarke._
God's people partake of the Divine nature, and so have God-like
sympathies and antipathies (Rev. ii. 6). They not only leave sin, but
loathe it, and are at deadly feud with it. They purge themselves--by
this clean fear of God (Psa. xix. 7)--from all pollutions, not of
flesh only, worldly lusts, and gross evils, but of spirit also, that
lie more up in the heart of the country, as pride, arrogancy,
etc.--_Trapp._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 14-16.
THE SOURCE OF TRUE POWER.
+I. Moral wisdom is the strength of kings.+ "I have strength; by me
kings rule." There is a kind of strength in all wisdom. The serpent's
strength is in his subtlety. The strength of the kingdom of darkness
consists in a kind of wisdom of which our Lord speaks, when He says,
"The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the
children of light" (Luke xvi. 8). Many kingdoms have been founded and
governed upon the basis of merely human sagacity. But in all such
government there are elements of weakness. The foundation of all
lasting, true government is to be found only in moral wisdom, in
other words, in holiness. That king or ruler will in the long-run
have the firmest hold upon his subjects who is himself ruled by
Divine wisdom. His strength will be found in the fact, that he rules
himself before he attempts to rule others. His personal character
will be his chief strength. Christ Himself is strong to rule, because
He is pre-eminently the "Holy One."
+II. Without moral wisdom there can be no righteous government.+ "By
me princes decree justice." A man's laws will be the outcome of his
character. He will not make righteous laws unless he has himself
submitted to moral rule. We are assured that all God's decrees in
relation to all His creatures are righteous, because we know Him to
be altogether righteous. He was been declared by Him who knows Him
best to be the "righteous Father" (John xvii. 25), therefore we know
that only righteous laws can be decreed by Him. And it is only in
proportion as rulers are influenced by Him, and partake of His
character, that they rule in righteousness.
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Verse 14. Wisdom's life is a thing of system. It has an assured
result. It is the card-building of the spirit. One card supports
another. It builds out with a declared dependence to the very
end.--_Miller._
The Son of God is a counsellor, as Isaiah calleth Him; for He is both
of the privy council of His Father, and the adviser of His Church.
Moreover, He hath strength in Him, being the arm of God to conquer
sin, with hell and Satan, and is able to do whatsoever He will.
Substance (sound wisdom, see Critical Notes), or the being of things,
is likewise His, for He causeth all creatures to be and
subsist.--_Muffet._
Direction how to act in all circumstances and on all occasions must
come from wisdom: the foolish man can give no counsel, cannot show
another how he is to act in the various changes and chances of life.
The wise man alone can give this counsel, and he can give it only as
continually receiving instruction from God: for this Divine Wisdom
can say, substance, reality, essence, (see Critical Notes on Sound
Wisdom), all belong to me: I am the fountain whence all are derived.
Man may be wise, and good, and prudent, and ingenious; but these he
derives from me, and they are _dependently_ in him. But in me all
these are independently and essentially inherent.--_Adam Clarke._
Many things are done, but not having _counsel_ for the foundation of
them, are weak and rotten and fall again to nothing. Many have
_understanding_ what is to be done, and how to do it, but have not
_strength_ to effect it: again many have _strength_ of effecting, but
have not _understanding_ how to go about it. But the eternal wisdom
hath all. It is no strength which by His strength is not supported,
no understanding which by His understanding is not enlightened, no
counsel which by His counsel is not guided.--_Jermin._
"Knowledge is power," and knowledge in union with wisdom--the ability
to use knowledge aright--multiplies the power. In proportion as there
is "understanding" and "wisdom," is there "strength"--moral and
spiritual strength--strength to act and to suffer, to _do_ and to
_bear._--_Wardlaw._
Verses 15, 16. The chief monarchs of the world come unto their
sceptres by the power and permission of the Son of God. Lawgivers and
counsellors, by His direction and inspiration, give advice and invent
politic laws. Inferior rulers keep their places, countenance, and
authority by His assistance, whereunto they also rise by His secret
disposing of matters. Finally, judges and justices who used to keep
courts and sit on benches, do by Him, from Him, and for Him,
pronounce sentence, handle matters of state, execute laws, and
finally determine all cases.--_Muffet._
Here is a Divine prophecy concerning Him who said, "All power is
given unto me in heaven and in earth" (Matt. xxiii. 18), and who has
"on His head many crowns" (Rev. xix. 12), and "on his vesture and on
His thigh a name written, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords" (Rev.
xix. 16), and of whom it is written, "that by Him were all things
created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and
invisible, and He is before all things, and by Him all things
consist" (Col. i. 16, 17).--_Wordsworth._
Kings are kings only as they are wise, that is, wise in the sense of
holiness. It does not mean holiness as altogether distinct from
virtue, but holiness as that moral right which belongs to all ranks
of moral intelligences. The virtue that belongs to God, and the
virtue that belongs to Gabriel, and the virtue that remains in man,
and the virtue that is wrecked in hell, are not all different
qualities of moral right, but are all identically the same. One moral
quality inheres in all. Government being a moral work, the man that
governs must have a moral heart. And, as there are no two sorts of
virtue, he truly exercises his kingship just in proportion as he is
holy, _i.e.,_ in the language of this inspired book, just in
proportion as he is spiritually wise.--_Miller._
Every kingdom is a province of the universal empire of the "King of
Kings." Men may mix their own pride, folly, and self-will with this
appointment. But God's providential counter-working preserves the
substantial blessing.--_Bridges._
This language may be considered as implying 1. That human government,
in all its branches, is the appointment of Divine wisdom. 2. That all
who sustain positions of authority and power should set habitually
under the influence of Divine wisdom. 3. That no authority can be
rightly exercised, and no judicial process successfully carried out,
without the direction of Wisdom. 4. That Divine wisdom exercises
control over all human agents in the administration of public
affairs.--_Wardlaw._
"By me kings reign," not as if men did behold that book, and
accordingly frame their laws, but because it worketh in them when the
laws which they make are righteous.--_Hooker._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 17-21.
THE REWARD OF EARNEST SEEKERS.
+I. The mutual love which exists between Wisdom and her children.+
There is always a mutual love between a true teacher and a diligent,
receptive pupil, and the love on each side has a reflex influence on
both master and pupil, and renders it more pleasant to teach, and
more easy to learn. When a child loves his parent, and the parent is
teaching the child, love oils the wheels of the intellectual powers,
and furnishes a motive power to conquer the lesson. And when the
parent feels that he is loved by his child and pupil, the love is a
present reward. There is such a love between Christ and His
disciples. Peter appealed to Christ's consciousness of being loved by
him when he said, "Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I
love Thee" (John xxi. 17). And Christ loves His pupils. "Greater love
hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
"As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you" (John xv. 9, 13).
This mutual love imparts patience on the one side and perseverance on
the other. It was Christ's "first love to us" that gave Him patience
to "endure the cross and despise the shame" (Heb. xii. 2). And it is
the responsive love of the disciple that enables Him to endure unto
the end. It is the love that is born of the consciousness of being
loved that stirs up to the _diligent seeking_ of the latter clause of
the verse, which expresses--
+II. A certain success to the seekers of wisdom.+ In Holy Scripture
earnest seeking and finding are complements of each other. The one
does not exist without the other. Seeking ensures finding. Finding
implies seeking. "If any man lack _wisdom,_ let him ask of God, who
giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not" (Jas. i. 5). God's
promise is absolute. It can only fail on one of three suppositions.
1. That when God made the promise He had no intention of keeping it,
or--2. That unforeseen circumstances have since arisen which render
Him unable to fulfil His word, or--3. That the conditions have not
been fulfilled on the part of the seeker. We know that God's holiness
and omnipotence render the first two impossible, and therefore,
whenever there is no finding, we are certain that there has been no
real, earnest seeking. For the promise is limited by the condition,
"they that seek me early, or earnestly." If a traveller has a long
journey to perform and many difficulties to overcome in the way, he
shows his determination to arrive safely at his destination by
setting out at early dawn. Those who are anxious to make a name, or a
fortune, show their anxiety by rising early and sitting up late.
There are degrees of earnestness in seekers after Divine wisdom as in
all other seekers. But those whose seeking is the most earnest will
receive the most abundant reward. The Syro-Phœnician woman who
besought Christ to heal her daughter was a type of earnest seekers.
She redoubled her efforts as the apparent difficulties increased. She
_asked,_ she _sought,_ she _knocked._ And she received not only what
she sought, but a commendation from the Lord for her earnest seeking
(Matt. xv. 28).
+III. What those find who find God.+ The reward promised to those who
seek God is God Himself. In finding Him they find 1. _The lasting
riches of righteousness_ (vers. 18, 19). This a wealth which will
_last._ However great the satisfaction, however many the blessings
which may flow from the riches of the earth, "passing away" is
written upon all. Yea, long before the end of life the riches may
"make themselves wings" (chap. xxiii. 5). Among many other qualities
that make moral wealth incomparably superior to material wealth, not
the least is its _durability._ (See on vers. 10, 11; also chap.
iii. 15, 16.) 2. _Guidance,_ ver. 20. (See on chap. iii. 6, etc.)
3. _Reality in opposition to shadow,_ ver. 21. The hungry man who
dreams that he is feasting experiences a kind of pleasure. But the
feast is only in vision. There is no power in it to appease his
hunger, or nourish his frame. But, if on awaking, he finds a table
really spread with food, he then has the substance of that of which
in his dreams he had only the shadow. Worldly men walk, the Psalmist
tells us, in a "vain show," _i.e.,_ in an "image," an "unreality"
(Psa. xxxix. 6). "They walk," says Spurgeon on this verse, "as if the
mocking images were substantial, like travellers in a mirage, soon to
be filled with disappointment and despair." There are many who dream
that they are being satisfied while they are morally asleep. But by
and by they awake and find that they have been feeding on visions of
the night, that they have been spending their money for "that which
was not bread, and their labour for that which satisfieth not" (Isa.
lv. 2). To all who are conscious of this soul-hunger, eternal wisdom
here offers substantial heart satisfaction, "a well of water
springing up into everlasting life."
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Verse 17. The philosopher could say, that if moral virtue could be
seen with mortal eyes, she would stir up wonderful loves of herself
in the hearts of the beholders. How much more, then, would "the
wisdom of God in a mystery!" (1 Cor. ii. 7), that essential wisdom of
God especially, the Lord Jesus, who is "altogether lovely," "the
desire of all nations." "My love was crucified," said Ignatius, who
"loved not His life unto the death" (Rev. xii. 11). Neither was there
any love lost, or can be, for "I love them that love me." Men do not
always reciprocate, or return love for love. David lost his love upon
Absalom; Paul upon the Corinthians; but here is no such
danger.--_Trapp._
+The characters whom Christ loves.+ _Christ loves those who love
Him._ (1) _Because He has done and suffered so much for their
salvation._ We naturally prize any object in proportion to the labour
and expense which it cost us to obtain it. How highly, then, must
Christ prize, how ineffably must He love His people. For this, among
other reasons, His love for them must be greater in degree, and of a
different kind from that which He entertains for the angels of light.
(2) _Because they are united to Him by strong and indissoluble ties._
The expressions used to describe this union are the strongest that
language can afford. The people of Christ are not only His brethren,
His sisters, His bride, but His members, His body, and He
consequently loves them as we love our members, as our souls love our
bodies. (3) _Because they possess His Spirit, and bear His image._
Similarity of character tends to produce affection, and hence every
being in the universe loves his own image when he discovers it.
Especially does Christ love His own image in His creatures, because
it essentially consists in holiness, which is of all things most
pleasing to His Father and Himself. (4) _Because they rejoice in and
return His affection._ It is the natural tendency of love to produce
and increase love. Even those whom we have long loved become
incomparably more dear when they begin to prize our love and to
return it. If Christ so loved His people before they existed, and
even while they were His enemies, as to lay down His life for their
redemption, how inexpressibly dear must they be to Him after they
become His friends.--_Payson._
Seeking wisdom early implies 1. That it engages our first concern and
endeavour, while matters of an inferior consideration are postponed.
2. The constant use of the proper means to obtain it. If we see one
continually practising any art, we judge that it is his intention to
be master of it. 3. The using them with spirt and vigour. The
superficial and spiritless performance of duty is as faulty as the
total omission.--_Abernathy._
All fancy that they love God. But those who either do not seek God at
all, or seek Him coldly, whilst they eagerly seek the vanities of the
world, make it plain that they are led by the love of the world more
than by the love of God.--_Fausset._
It is His love to us that makes us to love Him; and, doubtless, He
that loves us so as to make us to love Him, cannot but love us when
we do love Him.--_Jermin._
Seek early, as the Israelites went early in the morning to seek for
manna (Exod. xvi. 21), and as students rise early in the morning and
sit close to it to get knowledge. To seek the Lord early is to seek
the Lord (1) _firstly;_ (2) _opportunely._ There is a season wherein
God may be found (Isa. lv. 6), and if you let this season slip, you
may seek and miss Him. (3) _Affectionately, earnestly_ (Isa.
xxvi. 6). That prayer that sets the whole man a-work will work
wonders in Heaven, in the heart, and in the earth. Earnest prayer,
like Saul's sword and Jonathan's bow, never returns empty.--_Brooks._
Verse 18. Spiritual riches are durable. 1. Because they are gotten
without wronging any man. Temporal riches are often gotten by fraud
and violence, and, therefore, are not lasting. The parties wronged
use all means to recover their own, and God punishes unjust persons.
Spiritual riches no man can challenge from us. 2. They are
everlasting riches, and therefore durable. That must needs last long
which lasts ever. These are true, not transitory riches, which often
change their masters. They will swim out of the sea of this world
with us, out of the shipwreck of death. Neither fire nor sword can
take them from us.--_Francis Taylor._
In the matters of rank and riches, the two strong cords by which the
ambitious are led, the two reciprocally supporting rails on which the
train of ambition ever runs,--even in these matters, that seem the
peculiar province of an earthly crown, the Prince of Peace comes
forth with long challenge and conspicuous rivalry. Titles of honour!
their real glory depends on the height and purity of the foundation
whence they flow. They have often been the gift of profligate
princes, and the rewards of successful crime. And the best the
fountain is low and muddy: the streams, if looked at in the light of
day, are tinged and sluggish. Thus saith the Lord, "Honour is with
me." He who saith it is the King of Glory. To be adopted into the
family of God,--to be the son or daughter of the Lord Almighty,--this
is honour. High born! We are all low-born until we are _born_ again,
and then we are the children of a King.--_Arnot._
Verse 20. Christ guides infallibly by--1. _His Word._ It is all
truth. 2. _His Spirit._ Men mistake and think they are guided by
God's Spirit when they are guided by their own, or by a worse spirit.
But certainly when Christ's Spirit guides He guides aright. 3. _His
example._ All other men have their failings, and must be followed no
further than they follow Christ. He is the original copy; others are
but blurred abstracts.--_Francis Taylor._
"I lead in the way of righteousness," which is to say, I got not my
wealth by right and wrong, by wrench and wiles. My riches are not the
riches of unrighteousness, the "mammon of iniquity" (Luke xvi. 9);
but are honestly come by, and are therefore like to be "durable"
(ver. 18). St. Jerome somewhere saith, that most rich men are either
themselves bad men or the heirs of those that have been bad. It is
reported of Nevessan, the lawyer, that he should say, "He that will
not venture his body shall never be valiant; he that will not venture
his soul never rich." But Wisdom's walk lies not any such way. God
forbid, saith she, that I, or any of mine, should take of Satan,
"from a thread even to a shoelatchet, lest he should say, I have made
you rich" (Gen. xiv. 23).--_Trapp._
Verse 21. The great "I AM" (Exod. iii. 14) is the only substantial
reality to satisfy the disciples of Wisdom.--_Fausset._
The followers of Christ shall be no losers by Him. They shall not
inherit the wind, nor possess for their portion those unsubstantial
things, of which it is said, _they are not_ (chap. xxiii. 5), because
they are not the true riches. It is not for want of riches to bestow,
nor for want of love to His people, that He does not bestow upon
every one of them crowns of gold and mines of precious
metals.--_Lawson._
Here is no yawning vacuum, but a grand object to give interest to
life, to fill up every vacancy in the heart--perfect happiness. All
that we could add from the world would only make us poorer, by
diminishing that enjoyment of God for the loss of which there is no
compensation. There is one point--only one--in the universe where we
can look up and cry with the saintly Martyn, "With Thee there is no
disappointment."--_Bridges._
"I will fill their treasures." This is a great promise. It is made in
a kingly style. There is no limit. It will take much to fill these
treasures, for the capacity of the human spirit is very large. God
moulded man after His own image, and when the creature is empty,
nothing short of His Maker will fill him again. Although a man should
gain the whole world, his appetite should not be perceptibly
diminished. The void would be as great and the craving as keen as
ever. Handfuls are gotten on the ground, but a soulful is not to be
had except in Christ. "In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead
bodily, and ye are complete (_i.e.,_ full) in Him."--_Arnot._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 22-31.
THE PERSONAL WISDOM OF GOD.
+I. The antiquity of the Personal Wisdom of God.+ Wisdom in the
abstract must have existed before the creation of the world, because
the world bears marks of wisdom. There must have been in Solomon the
wisdom to design the temple before it took the form of beauty which
made it so famous. There is skill hidden in the artist's mind before
it is manifested upon his canvas--the very existence of the picture
proves the pre-existent skill. The world is a temple of large
proportions, the beauty of which man can but copy afar off, and its
existence proves the pre-existence of wisdom resident in a
pre-existent person. As the world bears evident marks of great
antiquity it proclaims an All-wise Cause which must necessarily be
older still. There is no person known to the human race who claimed
to have an existence before the world except Jesus Christ. He
claimed--and it is claimed for Him by those who bore witness to
Him--to have been before the world was, and to have been conscious of
His divinity before the foundation of the world. He claims to have
been possessor of "a glory with the Father before the world was"
(John xvii. 5), a glory which included intellectual and moral wisdom.
And the claim of His apostle concerning the pre-existence of the
"Word of God" is most unmistakable (John i. 3). The existence of
other and inferior "sons of God" before the creation of this world is
implied in Scripture (Job. xxxviii. 7), but we have no direct
revelation concerning them. We feel that we could not apply to them,
or to any creature, the words of the text, "The Lord possessed me in
the beginning of His way," etc. But, in the light of the New
Testament revelation, if we give them a personal application, we must
apply them to the Son of God, the Eternal Word, and to Him alone. The
words point to an existence _distinct from_ God. "I was by Him," and
"I was with Him." And yet the intimate relationship and fellowship
described does not express _inferiority,_ but finds its fulfilment
only in Him who not only "was in the beginning with God," but who
"was God." (On this subject see note.)
+II. The Personal Wisdom of God the delight of the Eternal Father.+
"I was daily His delight" (verse 30). (1) Likeness in character is a
foundation of delight. A man who is godly delights to see his own
godly character reflected in his son. The recognition of moral
likeness in the uncreated Son gave delight to the Eternal Father.
Nothing gives God so much joy as _goodness_. Hence His joy in His
only-begotten Son. (2) Equality of nature is a source of delight to
the good and true. Fellowship with an equal gives joy. Christ, when
on earth, ever claimed this equality with the Father. He claimed an
_eternity of being._ "Before Abraham was, I am" (Exod. iii. 14; John
viii. 58). _Omniscience_ is claimed for Him, and He gave evidence
that He possessed it. "He knew what was in man" (John ii. 25). "And
Jesus knowing their thoughts," etc. (Matt. ix. 4). _Divine energy._
"My Father worketh hitherto and I work" (John v. 17). _Independent
existence._ "As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to
the Son to have life in Himself" (John v. 26). _Holiness._ "Which of
you convinceth me of sin?" (John viii. 46). _Almighty power._ "All
power is given unto me in heaven and in earth" (Matt. xxviii. 18). In
the eternal ages, before the creation of the world, the Father looked
upon this "brightness of His glory and express image of His person"
(Heb. i. 3), and this Divine Equal gave joy to the uncreated God
(Isa. xlii. 1).
+III. The delight of the Personal Wisdom of God in the creation of
the home of man.+ "Rejoicing in the habitable parts of the earth"
(verse 31). The artist has joy in the thought of his completed work
while it is in progress. He joys in that which _is not_ as yet in
outward form, but which _is,_ in the completeness within his mind.
The architect, who sees day by day the building being reared which he
knows will be the wonder of coming ages and the means of yielding
comfort to thousands, rejoices in the thought of the blessing that is
to come out of his work. He experiences an emotion, with which a
stranger cannot intermeddle (Prov. xiv. 10). And so Eternal Wisdom is
here represented as regarding the future home of man. He saw its
adaptability to the wants of the creatures who were to inhabit
it--its inexhaustible resources for the supply of all man's physical
and many of his intellectual wants, and the thought of the missions
to whose happiness the earth's riches and beauties would minister
throughout the ages gave Him joy. The best natures among human-kind
delight when they are able to produce what will increase the
happiness of their fellow-creatures. The poet rejoices when he feels
that his thought will cheer the hearts of other men. The inventor is
glad when he has made a discovery which he knows will be a boon to
his race. And so the Eternal Wisdom of God looked with joy upon the
earth which He had called into being for the habitation of the race
whom He was about to create. The joy that would be theirs gave Him
joy when He looked upon creation with their eyes.
+IV. The special delight of Personal Wisdom in man himself.+ "My
delights were with the sons of men." 1. _His delight in man would
arise from the fact that he was a creature different from all
pre-existing creatures._ Man is a link between mind and matter. He is
a compound of the animal and the angel, of the dust of the earth and
the breath of God. The material creation was called into being before
man. The angelic and spiritual creatures existed before man. Man was,
as it were, the clasp which united the two, and his unique character,
we may well believe, made him a special object of interest to his
Creator. New combinations give joy to those who, by combining forces,
or material, or thoughts for the first time, bring about a new thing
in the earth. They create a power or an idea which would not have
existed if these elements had remained separate. Man, as he came
originally from the hand of God, was such a perfectly balanced
compound of mind and matter, of body and spirit, that his Creator had
joy in the contemplation of His work, and declared it to be "very
good" (Gen. i. 31). If we apply the words of the text to the second
person of the Godhead, we know, from Scripture testimony, that He was
the Creator of man, for "without Him was not anything made that was
made." He is as rich in invention as He is in goodness. 2. _The
delight of Christ would be especially with men, because in His own
nature God and man would meet in an eternal combination._ The
commander who can pluck victory out of the jaws of defeat, by the
combination of certain forces not yet brought upon the field with
others which have been already defeated, is allowed to give evidence
of the highest military skill. The statesman who, anticipating the
defeat of one measure, reserved another method of tactics in the
background which he knew would ensure an ultimate success, and who
used the very means by which he had been defeated as a lever to
establish a better law and a more lasting benefit, would be
considered to display ability of the first degree, and to be a
benefactor of his race. And the contemplation of such a victory
beforehand must be an occupation of the deepest interest to the mind
which originates the plan and carries it into action. Christ is,
beyond all comparison, the leader of men. He saw beforehand that
human nature would be defeated in its first conflict with evil. He
knew that Satan would enter in and spoil this new principality of
God. But He had already made preparation for this defeat, and He
purposed, by means of the very human nature which would be thus
defeated, in combination with His own divinity, to spoil the spoiler
and lead captivity captive. By the eternal union of His own nature
with the human He purposed to place man on a firmer standing ground,
and gain for him the power of an endless life. Christ becoming the
head of the race has defeated sin in the human nature that was itself
defeated, and the grace which He has thus imparted to man has lifted
him to a higher level than that in which he was created. And if the
first edition of man, which was "of the earth, earthy" (1 Cor.
xv. 47), gave joy to his Creator, how much more must He have rejoiced
in the prospect of that second edition which was to be made after His
own likeness, and to be the reward of "the travail of His soul" (Isa.
liii. 11), although even then He knew at what a cost this work would
be accomplished (1 Pet. i. 20).
NOTE ON THE RELATION OF THE SON OF GOD TO THE FATHER. (Verses 22-30,
John i. 1). On this subject Dr. John Brown says, "That the Son is
essentially and eternally related to the Father, in some real sense,
as Father and Son; but that while _distinct_ in person (for 'the Word
was with God'), He is neither _posterior_ to Him in time (for 'in the
beginning was the Word'), nor _inferior_ to Him in nature (for 'the
Word was God'), nor _separate_ from Him in being (for 'the same was
in the beginning with God'), but _One Godhead_ with the Father;" this
would seem to come as near to the full testimony of Scripture on this
mysterious subject as can be reached by our finite understanding,
without darkening counsel with words without knowledge.
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Verse 22. "The beginning of His way" evidently means the commencement
of creation, when Jehovah set out in His course of creative and
consequently of providential manifestation of His eternal
perfections. _When_ this was we cannot tell. We may know the age of
our own world, at least according to its present constitution. But
_when_ the universe was brought into being, and whether by one
omnipotent _fiat,_ or at successive and widely varying periods, it is
beyond our power to ascertain. One thing we know for a certainly
revealed fact, that there were angelic creatures in existence
previous to the reduction of our globe to order and to the creation
of man upon it. These holy intelligences contemplated the six days of
work of Divine wisdom and power in this part of the universe with
benevolent transport. "The morning stars sang together, and all the
sons of God shouted for joy." How many other creatures, and of what
descriptions--how many other worlds, and how peopled, might have
existed before man and his earthly residence we are unable to affirm.
When men, indeed, begin to talk of its being absurd to suppose the
universe so recent as to have been only coeval with our own globe, or
our own system, they forget themselves. They do not speak
considerately nor philosophically. There is no lapse of ages or any
point of measurement in eternity. . . . Beginning is as inconsistent
with the idea of eternity as termination is. Go as far back as
imagination, or as numbers heaped on numbers, can carry you, there
still remains the previous eternity, during which our speculative and
presumptuous minds may wonder that Divine power had not been put
forth.--_Wardlaw._
Verse 23. It was in the last times, that the Eternal Wisdom was set
forth unto us, but it was _from everlasting,_ that He was set up to
be a king over us. It was in the fulness of time that He offered
Himself for us, but it was from the beginning that He was anointed to
be priest unto us. It was upon the earth that His gracious lips
taught us, but it was before the earth was that He was ordained to be
a prophet for us. It is in Him that all are chosen who come unto
eternity, and He Himself was chosen from eternity. From everlasting
he was set up our King, to set us up an everlasting kingdom. From the
beginning was He anointed our priest, to anoint us in a priesthood
that shall never end. Before the earth was, He was ordained our
prophet, to order our feet in that way which shall bring us from
earth to heaven; He was chosen that we might be the chosen people of
God.--_Jermin._
Verse 24. The order of creation corresponds to that which we find in
Genesis i. Still more striking is the resemblance with the thoughts
and language of the book of Job, chap. xxii., xxvi., xxxviii. A world
of waters, "great deeps" lying in darkness--this was the picture of
the remotest time of which man could form any conception, and yet the
co-existence of the uncreated wisdom with the eternal Jehovah was
before that.--_Plumptre._
At the period referred to here, creation was not yet actually framed
and executed, it was only framed and planned; the whole being at
once, in all its magnificence and in all its minuteness, before the
eye of the omniscient mind, in its almost _infinite_ complexity,
extent, and variety, yet without the slightest approach to confusion!
All there, in one vast and complicated, yet simple idea!--_Wardlaw._
Verse 27. God's "setting a compass upon the face of the deep" seems
to refer to His circumscribing the earth when in its fluid state,
assigning to it its spherical form, and fixing the laws by which that
form should be constantly maintained. I think it probable that this
refers to the earth in the state in which it is described previous to
the beginning of the six days' work, by which it was reduced to
order, and fitted for and stocked with inhabitants. How was the fluid
element held together in the spherical form? The answer is, God "set
a compass upon the face of the deep, saying, This be thy just
circumference, O World!" By the power of gravitation, affecting every
particle, drawing it to the common centre, the equilibrium was
maintained, the globular form effected and kept; which may here be
meant by the poetical conception of sweeping a circle from the
centre, and defining the spherical limits of the world of
waters.--_Wardlaw._
Verse 29. Though great be the noise of the roaring of the sea, great
the inconstancy of the tumbling waves, great the looseness of the
flowing waters; yet the voice of God's decree is easily heard by
them, constant is their obedience unto God's commandment, firmly do
they keep the bounds of His law. But in the noise of our disorders,
little is God's Word heard by us, in the lightness of our hearts,
much is the will of God slighted, in the looseness of our lives every
way doth a careless regard of God's law spread itself, which could
not but drown us in a sea of God's wrath, did not He who was when the
bounds of the sea were decreed, purchase by the red sea of His blood
a gracious pardon for us. . . . Fitly is God said to appoint the
foundations of the earth only; for that alone founded the whole
earth, no more was needful for it. But how little doth God's
appointment prevail with man, a little piece of earth. How often are
God's purposes in the means of salvation disappointed by him. To lay
firm the foundations of grace in man's heart, the Eternal Wisdom, who
was when the foundations of the earth were appointed, came down from
Heaven, and here was pleased to work out His life thereby to
accomplish the work of our redemption. And shall not this, then, make
us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling?--_Jermin._
Verse 30. To Wisdom the work was no laborious task. She "sported," as
it were, in the exuberance of her strength and might.--_Plumptre._
Verse 31. What was it that here attracted His interest? Man had been
created in the image of God--free to stand or fall. This freedom was
the perfection of his nature. His fall was permitted as the
mysterious means of his higher elevation. His ruin was overruled for
his greater security. This _habitable earth_ was to be the grand
theatre of the work that should fill the whole creation with wonder
and joy. Here the serpent's head was to be visibly bruised, the
kingdom of Satan to be destroyed, "precious spoil to be divided with
the strong" (Isa. liii. 12). Here was the Church to be framed, as the
manifestation of His glory, the mirror of His Divine perfections
(Ephes. iii. 10, 21). Considering the infinite cost at which He was
to accomplish this work, the wonder is that He should have _endured_
it; a greater wonder that, ere one atom of the creation was
formed--ere the first blossom had been put forth in Paradise, he
should have _rejoiced_ in it.--_Bridges._
Of all earthly creatures, Christ delights most in men. 1. Because man
is the chief of God's creatures upon earth, made after God's image,
and for whom all the rest were made. 2. Because He took on Him the
nature of men, and not of angels (Heb. ii. 16). 3. He conversed most
familiarly with men when He was incarnate. Men only had reason and
wisdom to delight in Christ's company, and to give Him occasion to
delight in theirs. 4. Because He gave His life for them, that they
might live with Him for ever. It seems, then, that He took great
delight in them, and means to do so for ever.--_Francis Taylor._
Did our Saviour, before His incarnation, rejoice in the habitable
parts of the earth, and delight in visiting and blessing the sons of
men? Then we may be certain that He still does so; for He is,
yesterday, to-day, and for ever, the same. Still, He prefers earth to
heaven; still, His chief delights are with the sons of men; and
while, as man, He intercedes for them in Heaven, He still, as God,
visits our world, to meet with and bless His people. . . . And how
great will be our Saviour's happiness after the final consummation of
all things! . . . If He loved, and rejoiced, and delighted in them
before they knew and loved Him, how will He love and rejoice in them,
when He sees them surrounding His throne, perfectly resembling
Himself in body and soul, loving Him with unutterable love,
contemplating Him with ineffable delight, and praising Him as their
deliverer from sin, and death, and hell, as the author of all their
everlasting glory and felicity.--_Payson._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 32-36.
EXHORTATION FOUNDED ON HUMAN OBLIGATIONS TO DIVINE WISDOM.
+I. Because Christ, the Eternal Wisdom, has manifested His sympathy
with man, we are under obligations to come into sympathy with Him.+ A
man who has manifested his sympathy with, and delight in, another's
welfare by most substantial acts of benevolence and self-denial, has
taken the most reasonable method of awakening an answering sympathy
in the breast of him whom he has thus regarded. And the obligation on
the part of the recipient is increased in proportion to the amount of
self-sacrifice undergone on his behalf. If such a benefactor desires
and asks for the friendship of him whom he has befriended, it would
seem impossible that such an appeal could be made in vain. The
eternal wisdom of God has gone to the utmost of even His infinite
capacity of self-denial to show His delight in, and regard for the
human race. This, coupled with His eternal existence and His almighty
power, is here made the basis for an exhortation to men to listen to
His words, "Now, therefore, hearken unto me, O ye children!"
+II. Those who are thus drawn into sympathy with Eternal Wisdom come
under conditions of life.+ Here is a repetition of an oft-repeated
truth of revelation, that life and God's favour are
inseparable--identical (ver. 35). We can see shadows of this truth in
the intercourse of men with their fellow-creatures. If a poor outcast
child, surrounded by influences of evil to which he must yield if
left to fight them single-handed, is lifted out of his degradation
into a godly home, the favour of the friend who thus raises him
changes his miserable existence into something worth calling life in
comparison. The child who, by wilfulness, has forfeited the favour of
a good parent, feels his entire existence clouded, but forgiveness
through reconciliation brings light and life back to his life. How
much more is it so when we come into sympathy with Christ by
hearkening to His voice and taking His yoke, and are by Him lifted
out of a life of bondage to sin into the glorious liberty of the sons
of God.
+III. Those who refuse thus to come into sympathy with Eternal Wisdom
are self-destroyers, because they are God-haters.+ He who refuses to
drink of the Fountain of Life, must, of necessity, be left to
soul-death. There is nothing that gives more sorrow to a human being
than to know that the evil from which he is suffering is
self-inflicted. If a man loses his sight through a wound which he
receives from another, although he feels his blindness to be a
terrible calamity, it lacks the element of bitterness which would be
added to it if it had been brought about by his own wilfulness. The
man who loses a limb in lawful battle looks upon his loss as an
honour, because it was inevitable. But his feeling would be very
different if he knew that he had been crippled for life by his own
folly. It will be the main ingredient in the bitter cup of those who
disregard the invitations of Divine Wisdom that they are moral
suicides. The consciousness of this is a perpetual hell to the human
spirit. And the mere neglect is sufficient to give the death-blow. It
is not necessary to be in positive opposition to God and goodness.
Not to listen is to refuse. Not to wait on God is to sin against
Him--is to despise the provisions of His mercy.
_ILLUSTRATION OF VERSE_ 34.
Hovering about the avenues of a royal residence, there are in Eastern
as well as in other countries, always to be seen groups of people,
some of whom are attracted by the impulse of curiosity, others by the
hope of obtaining some mark of royal favour. The assiduity and
perseverance requisite for succeeding in their suit, and waiting the
propitious moment of presenting themselves in the presence of their
sovereign, is not, as may be easily supposed, at all times consistent
with personal ease and convenience, and, accordingly, here and there
may be observed individuals seated upon a stone, or reclining upon
the grass, in anxious expectation for the appearance of the sovereign
on his way to daily exercise. To sit at the gates of a king is a
custom of great antiquity.--_Paxton's Illustrations of Scripture._
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Verse 32. O sweet courtesy! as if it were but a small matter that the
Eternal Wisdom should become our Master, and teach us as His
scholars; or that, being our Lord, He should teach us as His
servants; or that, being God, He should teach us as men; yet greater
is His love, and, as a Father He teacheth us as His children. And
well may He call us His children, for it is He that teacheth us who,
by adoption, hath made us to be His children, which by hearkening
unto Him we show ourselves to be.--_Jermin._
Verse 34. Uriah watched at David's gate as a token of service (2 Sam.
xi. 9). Lazarus watched at Dives' gate as a token of dependence (Luke
xvi. 20). Courtiers at royal entrances for smiles of favour. Let the
sinner do all these things.--_Miller._
Not watching awhile, and then going away if they be not let in
presently, but waiting patiently till they be let in. Not only taking
occasion of learning offered, but waiting to find occasions, as
petitioners wait on great men till their causes be ended.--_Francis
Taylor._
Wisdom here appears as a sovereign, separate and secluded, in the
style of Oriental monarchs, so that only those know anything of her
who diligently keep watch at her doors. Wisdom, who is universal in
her call and invitation (verses 1-3), yet, in the course of
communication in order to test the fidelity of her admirers, veils
herself at times in a mysterious darknesss, and reveals herself only
to those who never intermit their search (Matt. vii. 7).--_Von
Gerlach, in Lange's Commentary._
There ought to be an expectation raised in us that the vital savour
diffused in and by the Word may reach us; and many are ruined for not
expecting it--not waiting at the posts of Wisdom's door.--_John Howe._
Verse 35. 1. _Natural life_ is found by it, not in regard to the
beginning of it, but in regard of the comfort and continuance.
2. _Spiritual life,_ or the life of grace. Wisdom is the life of the
soul, and what were the world worth if there were no light?
3. _Eternal life,_ or the life of glory. This is indeed the life that
Christ, the wisdom of God, died to purchase for us, and lived among
us to show us the way to it.--_Francis Taylor._
Verse 36. Doing without is a stupid misery; but hating wisdom is an
insane marvel.--_Miller._
Not to love and earnestly seek Wisdom is to _sin against her._ To
disregard her is to _hate_ her, and is virtually, though
unconsciously, to love death; for it is loving things, which as being
opposed to wisdom, bring with them death.--_Fausset._
What meaneth this _all_ where one would think there could be none?
Can there be an all to hate Him who loveth all that is? But if it
were not so, why do so many resist His holy will, despise His
heavenly laws, rebel against His sacred pleasure? Are not these
effects of hatred? Besides, so doth He challenge the _all_ of our
affection, as not to hate all things for His sake, is to hate Him.
Now they that hate Him, which can they love? Surely it must needs be
_death,_ because in all things else He is. But that is the fruit of
sin, and they that love the tree must needs love the fruit also. But
to whom do we speak these things, or why do we speak them? Where
shall we find open ears, or seeing eyes, when now almost men care not
whom they look after, so that they do not look after
themselves?--_Jermin._
A child or an idiot may kindle a fire which all the city cannot
quench. In spite of their utmost efforts, it might destroy both the
homes of the poor and the palaces of majesty. So a sinner, though he
cannot do the least good, can do the greatest evil. The Almighty only
can save him, but he can destroy himself.--_Arnot._
_Sin is a self-injury._ There are three facts implied in these words:
Firstly, _That man is capable of sinning._ This capability
distinguishes man from the brute, and belongs to all moral
beings. . . . It is our glory that we _can_ sin; it is our disgrace
and ruin that we do so. Secondly, _That sin is something directed
against God._ All the laws of man's being--physical, organic,
intellectual, and moral--are God's laws, and violating of them is
rebellion against heaven. Thirdly, _That sin against God is a wrong
done to our nature._ This is true of all sin, physical as well as
spiritual. We cannot violate the laws of physical health, without
losing at the same time something of the life, elasticity, and vigour
of the mind. That sin injures the soul admits of no debate: it is a
patent fact written on every page of history, and proclaimed by the
deep consciousness of humanity. From this unquestionable fact we may
fairly deduce three general truths. I. _That God's laws are
essentially connected with the constitution of man._ From this fact
two things follow. (1.) That all sin is unnatural. (2.) That an
evasion of the penalties of sin is beyond the power of the creature.
II. _That God's laws are the expression of benevolence._ We wrong our
souls by not keeping God's laws. Obedience to them is happiness. The
voice of all Divine prohibitions is, "Do thyself no harm," the voice
of all Divine injunctions is, "Rejoice evermore." We infer from this
_fact_--III. _That God's laws should be studiously obeyed._
(1.) Right requires it. All God's laws are righteously binding upon
the subject, and disobedience is a crime. (2.) Expediency requires
it. A life of sin is a life of folly, for it must ever be a life of
misery.--_Dr. David Thomas._
Verses 30-36. I. From the beginning, the welfare of man engaged the
complacent regard of God our Saviour. He derived delight from the
_material_ creation because it was to be subservient to man. II. We
may therefore expect that all His communications and intercourse with
us would be made to harmonise with our welfare also. We are warranted
in expecting that all His communication with us will harmonise with
the wants of our nature--that the means will be adapted to the end.
Accordingly verses 35 and 36 imply that so perfect is that adaptation
between the provisions of mercy and the necessity of man, that he who
rejects them wrongs his own soul, that who receives them receives
life. III. May we not infer that, even of this habitable part, He
would rejoice in some spots more than in others, especially in such
as are set apart for the diffusion of His truth and the promotion of
His designs.--_Dr. J. Harris._
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