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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Proverbs 4 Pulpit Commentary</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/proverbs/4.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/proverbs/4-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">Pulpit Commentary</a> > Proverbs 4</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../proverbs/3.htm" title="Proverbs 3">◄</a> Proverbs 4 <a href="../proverbs/5.htm" title="Proverbs 5">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Pulpit Commentary</div><div class="chap"><div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/4-1.htm">Proverbs 4:1</a></div><div class="verse">Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 1-27.</span> - 7. <span class="accented">Seventh admonitory discourse.</span> We here enter upon the second group of admonitory discourses, as is indicated by the opening address, "my children," and which occurs again in <a href="/proverbs/5-7.htm">Proverbs 5:7</a> and Proverbs 7:24. This group extends to the end of ch. 7. Its prevailing tone is that of warning rather than of positive exhortations, which have been the rule hitherto. The general aim of the discourse before us, as of those preceding, is to exalt Wisdom, to exhibit her as a subject worthy of all earnest endeavour and sacrifice, but it is noticeable that the teacher introduces a fresh feature into his teaching or mode of instruction, in order to procure attention to, and acceptance of, his precepts on the part of his hearers. He has already spoken in his own name and with his own authority; he has brought forward Wisdom personified as making her appeal; he now adduces the authority of his own father's advice to himself. But as the mode of emphasizing his admonitions varies, so Wisdom is many-sided, and the aspect under which she is now presented seems to be especially that of discipline and obedience. The keynote of the discourse seems to be struck in the word "instruction," <span class="accented">i.e.</span> discipline, in the original, <span class="accented">musar</span>, thus recalling the admonition in <a href="/proverbs/1-8.htm">Proverbs 1:8</a>, "My son, hear the instruction of thy father." Bohlius, in his 'Ethica Sacra,' disp. 6. p. 65, <span class="accented">sqq.</span>, assigns "discipline" (<span class="accented">musar</span>) to this chapter; and Melancthon describes the admonitions of the chapter before us as "adhortationes ad studium obedientiae." Discipline rising into obedience seems to be the predominant thought to which all others are made subordinate. The discourse is an enlargement or amplification of this aspect of Wisdom. In structure the discourse consists mainly of the father's advice (vers. 4-19), preceded and followed by the teacher's own admonitions in vers. 1-3 and 20-27. The chief topics touched upon are <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(1)</span> the supreme importance of Wisdom as being "the principal thing" to be obtained before everything else (vers. 7-9); <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(2)</span> the two ways that lie open to the choice of youth, distinguished respectively as the way of light and the way of darkness (vers. 14-19); and <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(3)</span> the guarding of the heart with all diligence, as being the seat of conscience and the fountain of life in its moral sense (vers. 23-27). The first part of the discourse is characterized by exhortations accompanied by promises; the latter part takes the form of warning, and warning of an alarming nature. The harmony which exists between the allusions in the discourse and the facts recorded in the historical books of Samuel and Chronicles serves to indicate that we have before us, in substance at least, the advice which David gave to Solomon, and that the discourse is Solomonic. Compare especially ver. 3 with <a href="/1_chronicles/28-5.htm">1 Chronicles 28:5</a> and 1 Chron 22:9, and ver. 18 with the last words of David in <a href="/2_samuel/23-4.htm">2 Samuel 23:4</a>. <span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 1.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father.</span> This exhortation is identical with that in <a href="/proverbs/1-8.htm">Proverbs 1:8</a>, except that the address, "ye children," indicating a new departure, is now used instead of "my son," which has been hitherto employed (see <a href="/proverbs/1-8.htm">Proverbs 1:8</a>; <a href="/proverbs/2-1.htm">Proverbs 2:1</a>; <a href="/proverbs/3-1.htm">Proverbs 3:1, 21</a>), and "of thy father" is altered to "of a father." The verb is the same, occurring here, of course, in the plural number. The appeal is evidently intended to rouse attention. Attention is especially necessary to secure a knowledge of Divine truth. <span class="accented">Ye children</span> (<span class="accented">bhanim</span>). This address occurs again twice in the second group of admonitory discourses - in <a href="/proverbs/5-7.htm">Proverbs 5:7</a> and Proverbs 7:24, and also in the appeal of Wisdom personified in <a href="/proverbs/8-32.htm">Proverbs 8:32</a>, and, with these exceptions, nowhere else in the Proverbs. It is used by David, and it is possible that when the teacher penned these words he had in mind <a href="/psalms/34-11.htm">Psalm 34:11</a>, "Come, ye children, hearken unto me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord." The similarity in the address serves to connect the teacher of wisdom with David, and thus to identify him with Solomon, while it also leads to the conclusion that the advice which follows in vers. 4-19 is in substance that which David had given his son. On "instruction," see ch. 1:8. <span class="accented">Of a father</span> (<span class="accented">av</span>). It is difficult, owing to the want of the pronominal suffix, to determine accurately whether the teacher is referring to himself or to his own father in the expression. The following verse <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(2)</span> would indicate that he is speaking of <span class="accented">himself</span> in his capacity as a teacher or instructor of youth. But it is quite possible that he may be referring to <span class="accented">his own father</span>, whose advice he had received, and which he is now about to lay before others in vers. 4-19. Though attention to paternal advice in general, <span class="accented">i.e.</span> instruction given by any father to his children, is not intended here, still the passage may be regarded as embodying the principle that attention to parental advice is incumbent on children, and a disregard of it is the mark of ingratitude and depravity. Rabbi Levi understands the phrase as referring to our heavenly Father. <span class="cmt_word">Attend</span> (<span class="accented">hakshivu</span>, hiph. imperative of <span class="accented">kashav</span>). On the force of this verb as signifying "earnest, absorbed attention," see <a href="/proverbs/1-24.htm">Proverbs 1:24</a>. <span class="cmt_word">To know understanding</span> (<span class="accented">ladaath bina</span>); <span class="accented">i.e.</span> in order that you may know or gain understanding. "The infinitive marks the design or object of the attention (cf. the Vulgate, <span class="accented">ut sciatis</span>). `The expression corresponds with <span class="accented">ladaath khokmah</span> in <a href="/proverbs/1-2.htm">Proverbs 1:2</a>, and just as this signifies "to appropriate to yourself wisdom," so the one before us has the same force, and signifies the gaining or appropriation of understanding, <span class="accented">i.e.</span> the faculty of discernment or discrimination. Hitzig renders, "to know with the understanding;" <span class="accented">i.e.</span> to know intelligently, but this does not seem to be the meaning of the phrase. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/4-2.htm">Proverbs 4:2</a></div><div class="verse">For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 2.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">For I give you good doctrine.</span> This, while stating the reason for the exhortation in the previous verse, signifies that what the teacher has given and is giving, he has received from his father. <span class="accented">I</span> <span class="accented">give</span>; <span class="accented">nathati</span>, literally, "I gave," is the kal perfect of <span class="accented">nathan</span>, "to give," but the perfect is here used for the present, as denoting not only a past action, but one that is still continuing (Gesenius, 'Hebrews Gram.,' § 126. 3). <span class="accented">Good doctrine</span> (<span class="accented">lekakh tov</span>). The doctrine or instruction is "good," not only intrinsically, but as to the source from which it was derived, and in its effects. <span class="accented">Lekakh</span> is, according to its root <span class="accented">lakakh</span>, "something which is received or taken." From the standpoint of the teacher it is that instruction which he had received of his father. With respect to his hearers it is the instruction which is communicated to them, and which they receive (see on Proverbs 1:5). The LXX. renders, <span class="greek">δῶρον ἀγαθὸν</span>; similarly the Vulgate, <span class="accented">donum bonum</span>, "a good gift." <span class="cmt_word">Forsake ye not;</span> <span class="accented">al-taazovu</span>, from <span class="accented">azav</span>, "to leave, forsake" (compare the corresponding phrase, <span class="accented">al-tiltosh</span>, from <span class="accented">natash</span>, "to leave, forsake," in <a href="/proverbs/1-8.htm">Proverbs 1:8</a>). <span class="cmt_word">Law</span> (<span class="accented">torah</span>); as in <a href="/proverbs/1-8.htm">Proverbs 1:8</a>. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/4-3.htm">Proverbs 4:3</a></div><div class="verse">For I was my father's son, tender and only <i>beloved</i> in the sight of my mother.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 3.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">For I was my father's son.</span> This is more than the mere statement of a physical fact. It indicates that the teacher was in the highest degree an object of endearment to his father, just as he states in the second hemistich that he held a unique position in the affection of his mother. `The statement agrees with the historical record. Solomon would be more than ordinarily dear to his father, as being a child of promise, as "the beloved of the Lord," and as the son whom the Divine will had pointed as the successor to his throne, and the one on whom was to devolve the building of the temple (see <a href="/2_samuel/7-12.htm">2 Samuel 7:12, 13</a>; <a href="/2_samuel/12-24.htm">2 Samuel 12:24</a>; <a href="/1_chronicles/22-9.htm">1 Chronicles 22:9</a>). Bertheau explains, "I also once stood in the relation to my (actual) father in which you stand to me your paternal instructor," thus giving prominence rather to the consecution of the passage, and preparing the way for the reception of the father's advice which is to follow. But this rather loses sight of what appears an important element in the instruction, that not only was it "good," but that it was dictated by affection. The writer is fortifying and strengthening his instruction by the authority of his father, showing that what he was laying before others he had had placed before him; and as <span class="accented">his</span> father's advice was the outcome of affection, so he addresses his hearers in the same spirit. Dathe and others connect "tender" <span class="accented">rak</span>) with "son" (<span class="accented">ben</span>), and render, "I was a son dear to my father." So the LXX., which, however, understands "tender" in the sense of "tractable," "obedient:" "For I was an obedient son to my father" - a meaning which the word <span class="accented">rak</span> can only bear as indicating the susceptibility of the young to receive impressions. In general, <span class="accented">rak</span> means "tender," "soft," and has reference to the weakness and helplessness of the young; comp. <a href="/genesis/33-13.htm">Genesis 33:13</a>, "My lord knoweth that the children are tender (<span class="accented">rakkim</span>)." Combined with <span class="accented">yakhid</span>, which follows, it signifies, in the passage before us, that the teacher was an object of tender care or love. The Vulgate <span class="accented">tenellus</span>, the diminutive of <span class="accented">tener</span>, as signifying "somewhat tender or delicate," reproduces the idea of the Hebrew <span class="accented">rak.</span> In the word the teacher recalls his early lifo and the instruction in wisdom which he received in it. <span class="cmt_word">Only beloved;</span> literally, <span class="accented">only</span> (<span class="accented">yakhid</span>), as "beloved" does not occur in the original. The Vulgate renders, <span class="accented">unigenitus</span>; Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion, <span class="greek">μονογενής</span>, <span class="accented">i.e.</span> "only begotten:" but this was not literally the fact, as Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, had other sons (<a href="/2_samuel/5-14.htm">2 Samuel 5:14</a>; <a href="/1_chronicles/3-5.htm">1 Chronicles 3:5</a>). Both the Hebrew <span class="accented">yakhid</span>, "only," and the Vulgate <span class="accented">unigenitus</span>, "only begotten," consequently signify what is expressed by the LXX. <span class="greek">ἀγαπώμενος</span>, <span class="accented">i.e.</span> "beloved." Solomon was so beloved of his mother as if he were an only child. So <span class="accented">yakhid</span> is used of Isaac in <a href="/genesis/22-2.htm">Genesis 22:2, 12</a> in the same way, since at the time that Isaac was so designated, Ishmael, the other son of Abraham, was still living. The word <span class="accented">yakhid</span> occurs in <a href="/psalms/22-20.htm">Psalm 22:20</a>, where it is rendered "darling," and may possibly refer to Solomon. Jennings, in <a href="/psalms/22-20.htm">Psalm 22:20</a>, understands it, however, of the life besides which the psalmist has no other - <span class="accented">unicam meam, as</span> the Vulgate, <span class="accented">i.e.</span> "his only life" (cf. <a href="/psalms/35-17.htm">Psalm 35:17</a>; and for the word <span class="accented">yakhid</span>, see <a href="/jeremiah/5-26.htm">Jeremiah 5:26</a>; <a href="/amos/8-10.htm">Amos 8:10</a>; <a href="/zechariah/12-10.htm">Zechariah 12:10</a>). <span class="cmt_word">In the sight of my mother</span> (<span class="accented">liph'ne immi</span>); literally, <span class="accented">ad facies matris meae</span>, or, <span class="accented">before my mother</span>; Vulgate, <span class="accented">coram matre mea, i.e.</span> in her estimation (cf. <a href="/genesis/17-18.htm">Genesis 17:18</a>). The mention of the mother is probably introduced here for the sake of poetic parallelism; cf. <a href="/proverbs/1-8.htm">Proverbs 1:8</a> (Zockler). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/4-4.htm">Proverbs 4:4</a></div><div class="verse">He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 4.</span> - From this verse to ver. 19 inclusive, the teacher quotes the instruction which he had received of his father. His object in doing so is to show that his own teaching was in harmony with it, and therefore worthy of attention. His precepts, admonitions, and warnings are not his only, but those of his father. Other examples of David's instructions to Solomon are found in <a href="/1_kings/2-2.htm">1 Kings 2:2</a>; <a href="/1_chronicles/22-12.htm">1 Chronicles 22:12, 13</a>; <a href="/1_chronicles/28-9.htm">1 Chronicles 28:9</a>. <span class="cmt_word">And he taught;</span> <span class="accented">i.e.</span> his father, for <span class="accented">vayyoreni</span> is masculine. The LXX. renders, "They said and taught me (<span class="greek">οι{ ἔλεγον καὶ</span> <span class="greek">ἐδιδασκόν με</span>)," as if the precepts which follow were the combined teaching of David and Bathsheba. This variation is due to the mention of both parents in the preceding verse. <span class="cmt_word">Retain</span>; <span class="accented">yith'mok</span>, kal future, used imperatively, of <span class="accented">thamak</span>, "to take hold of," and metaphorically, as here, "to hold fast" (see <a href="/proverbs/3-18.htm">Proverbs 3:18</a>). The LXX. Renders <span class="greek">ἐρειδέτω</span>, imperative of <span class="greek">ἐρείδω</span>, "to fix firm." Symmachus has <span class="greek">κατεχέτω</span>, "give heed to." <span class="cmt_word">And live;</span> <span class="accented">i.e.</span> and thou shalt live, as the kal imperative, <span class="accented">kh'yeh</span>, from <span class="accented">khayah</span>, "to live," has here the force of the future (cf. Vulgate, <span class="accented">et vives</span>). The meaning is, "And thou shalt enjoy a long and happy life." Temporal life alone seems to be indicated, as in ver. 10 (cf. <a href="/proverbs/3-2.htm">Proverbs 3:2</a>). The Syriac addition, "And my law as the apple of thine eye," is probably borrowed from <a href="/proverbs/7-2.htm">Proverbs 7:2</a>, where we meet with the mine admonition. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/4-5.htm">Proverbs 4:5</a></div><div class="verse">Get wisdom, get understanding: forget <i>it</i> not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 5.</span> - After the general exhortation given above, the father's instruction becomes more specific, and deals with the acquirement of wisdom. This subject seems to be continued in ver. 13, where the second and concluding branch of the instruction begins, which consists mainly of warning, as the first part does with exhortation. We are thus furnished with an example how to teach. In our teaching it is not sufficient simply to point out what is to be done, but we must show what is to be avoided. <span class="cmt_word">Get wisdom, get understanding</span>. The father urges the acquirement of wisdom in the same way and with the same importunity as the trader or merchant presses his goods upon buyers. Wisdom and understanding are put forward as objects of merchandise; for the verb <span class="accented">kanah</span>, from which the imperative <span class="accented">k'neh</span>, signifies not only "to acquire for one's self," or "to possess," but especially "to buy." The verb occurs again in the same sense in ver. 7, "Get [<span class="accented">k'neh, i.e.</span> buy] wisdom;" and in <a href="/proverbs/23-23.htm">Proverbs 23:23</a>, "Buy (<span class="accented">k'neh</span>) the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding" (cf. also <a href="/proverbs/15-22.htm">Proverbs 15:22</a>: 16:16; 19:9, where we also meet with the same verb). The reiteration of the word "get," as Umbreit remarks, is "an imitation of the exclamation of a merchant who is offering his wares." The importunity of the father measures the value he sets upon wisdom as an inestimable treasure, a pearl of great price (see <a href="/proverbs/3-14.htm">Proverbs 3:14</a>). <span class="cmt_word">Forget it not,</span> etc.; rather, <span class="accented">forget not, neither turn from the words of my mouth</span>, - so Zockler, Delitzsch, Hodg., and others; Vulgate, <span class="accented">ne obliviscaris, neque declines a verbis oris mei.</span> There is no need to supply "it" after the verb <span class="accented">al-tish'-kakh</span>, "forget not," as Holden states, and as appears in the Authorized Version, since <span class="accented">shakakh is</span> found with <span class="accented">min</span> (<span class="hebrew">מִן</span>), "of" or "from," in <a href="/psalms/12-4.htm">Psalm 12:4</a> (5), "I forgot to eat (<span class="accented">shakakh'ti meakol</span>)," and the same construction may obtain here. The two verbs, "forget" and "decline from," are not so very wide in meaning, since the former, <span class="accented">shakakh</span>, is to "leave" something from forgetfulness, and the latter, <span class="accented">natah</span>, rendered here "decline from," is "to turn away" from something. <span class="cmt_word">The words of my mouth</span> represent as it were the means by which wisdom may be purchased. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/4-6.htm">Proverbs 4:6</a></div><div class="verse">Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee.</div><div class="comm"></div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/4-7.htm">Proverbs 4:7</a></div><div class="verse">Wisdom <i>is</i> the principal thing; <i>therefore</i> get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 7.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom.</span> The older versions, such as the Alexandrian LXX. (the verse is omitted by the Vatican LXX.), Targum, and Syriac, agree in rendering this verse, "The beginning of wisdom is get wisdom," which is equivalent to saying that the beginning of wisdom consists in the acquisition of wisdom, or, as Umbreit explains, "in the resolution to get wisdom." That this rendering, which is adopted by Luther, Delitzsch, and Umbreit, may be correct appears from <a href="/proverbs/1-7.htm">Proverbs 1:7</a> and Proverbs 9:10, where we have the same construction, only in inverted order. Seneca's aphorism is conceived in much the same spirit: "Magna pars boni est velle fieri bonum" - "A large part of good is the wish to become good;" <span class="accented">i.e.</span> that the beginning of being good depends to a large extent upon the wish to become so. The objections to this rendering are: <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(1)</span> That it is difficult to see how the beginning of wisdom can be the acquisition of it. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(2)</span> That elsewhere, as in <a href="/proverbs/1-7.htm">Proverbs 1:7</a> and Proverbs 9:10, the beginning of wisdom is represented as the fear of the Lord. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(3)</span> That it does not fall in well with the context or with the aim of the father's teaching, which is to hold up wisdom as pre-eminently a blessing, as the most excellent and highest thing attainable. On the other hand, Hitzig, De Dieu, Doderlein, Zockler, render as in the Authorized Version, "Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom;" <span class="accented">i.e.</span> wisdom is the highest good, and therefore ought to be obtained. The word <span class="accented">reshith</span> is found with this signification in ch. 24:20; <a href="/1_samuel/2-29.htm">1 Samuel 2:29</a>; <a href="/job/40-19.htm">Job 40:19</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/49-35.htm">Jeremiah 49:35</a>; <a href="/amos/6-1.htm">Amos 6:1-6</a>. <span class="cmt_word">And with all thy getting get understanding</span>. This does not mean, as the Authorized Version seems to imply, that while you are acquiring other things, you are to acquire wisdom, but that wisdom is to be purchased with all you have acquired or gotten. "Getting" (<span class="accented">kin'yon</span>) is the purchase money. No price is too high to be paid for her, no sacrifice too great; cf. the parables of the hidden treasure and goodly pearl (<a href="/matthew/13-44.htm">Matthew 13:44</a>: <a href="/luke/10-42.htm">Luke 10:42</a>), in both of which the man sold "all that he had" to obtain the prize. There is a play upon the words in the original (<span class="accented">kin'yan'ki k'neh</span>), which is preserved in our translation. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/4-8.htm">Proverbs 4:8</a></div><div class="verse">Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 8</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Exalt her, and she shall promote thee.</span> The father here proceeds to point out some of the benefits which follow from the pursuit of Wisdom. <span class="accented">Exalt her</span> (<span class="accented">sal's'leah</span>); Vulgate, <span class="accented">arripe illam</span>; LXX., <span class="greek">περιχαράκωσον</span> <span class="greek">αὐτὴν</span>; Targum, <span class="accented">dilige eam</span>; Syriac, <span class="accented">blandire illi</span>; Arabic, <span class="accented">circumsepi eam.</span> The Hebrew, <span class="accented">sal's'leah</span>, is the pilpel imperative of <span class="accented">salal</span>, "to lift up, exalt." It is equivalent to the kal form. The pilpel form only occurs here, but the kal participle is met with in <a href="/proverbs/15-19.htm">Proverbs 15:19</a>, where it has the meaning of "to raise up as a causeway" (see marginal reading <span class="accented">in loc.</span>). Gesenius renders, "exalt her," <span class="accented">sc.</span> with praises. The meaning of the verb, as Delitzsch says, is to be determined, by the corresponding "she shall promote thee" (<span class="accented">th'rom'mek</span>), and this verb <span class="accented">romem</span> is <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(1)</span> to raise or make high; <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(2)</span> to exalt by bestowing honours upon one of low estate, <span class="accented">i.e.</span> raising them in general estimation; it is so used in <a href="/1_samuel/2-7.htm">1 Samuel 2:7</a> by Hannah, in her song of thankfulness, "He (Jehovah) bringeth low and lifteth up (<span class="accented">m'romem</span>);" <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(3)</span> to extol by praises, as in <a href="/psalms/30-2.htm">Psalm 30:2</a>. The radical meaning of <span class="accented">salal</span> seems to be "to heap up," as a road is prepared by embankments, and by the filling up of inequalities (cf. <a href="/isaiah/62-10.htm">Isaiah 62:10</a>). In this sense the passage before us is explained by Levi ben Gersom, "Prepare the way of Wisdom, and walk assiduously in it." But the context, wherein the idea of buying is evidently used. favours Bottcher's interpretation, "Hold it or her high in price, bid high for her as a purchaser who makes offer upon offer, to secure what he wants." So Pi, <span class="accented">in pretio habe.</span> The LXX. rendering, "Circumvallate her, enclose her with a wall or hedge," which is reproduced in the Arabic, <span class="accented">circumsepi eam</span>, "hedge her around," seems out of place with the context. The Talmudists understand the verb as signifying "to examine closely," "to scrutinize, meditate, or reflect" upon Wisdom constantly, just as the Roman, poet says, "Nocturna versate manu, versate diurna" - "We exalt Wisdom when we follow her precepts," <span class="accented">i.e.</span> when we esteem her - the idea which is presented to us in the Targum and Syriac cited above. The sentiment of the verse agrees with what Jehovah says in the message of the man of God to Eli, in <a href="/1_samuel/2-30.htm">1 Samuel 2:30</a>, "Them that honour me I will honour." <span class="cmt_word">She shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her.</span> The LXX. reverses the order of ideas, "Honour her in order that she may embrace thee." <span class="accented">Embrace her</span>; <span class="accented">i.e.</span> in a loving and affectionate manner, as a husband does his wife, or a son his mother. (For the verb <span class="accented">khavak</span>, see <a href="/proverbs/5-20.htm">Proverbs 5:20</a>: <a href="/songs/2-6.htm">Song of Solomon 2:6</a>; <a href="/songs/8-3.htm">Song of Solomon 8:3</a>.) There are only three other instances where this verb occurs in the pilel form, <span class="accented">khibbek.</span> Esteem and honour, the confidence of others, elevation to offices of trust and consequence, are some of the rewards with which Wisdom repays those who esteem and love her. Others follow in the next verse. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/4-9.htm">Proverbs 4:9</a></div><div class="verse">She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 9.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">An ornament of grace</span> (<span class="accented">liv'yath khen</span>). (On this, see <a href="/proverbs/1-9.htm">Proverbs 1:9</a>.) <span class="cmt_word">A crown of glory shall she deliver to thee;</span> or, as margin, <span class="accented">she shall compass thee with a crown of glory. Deliver.</span> The verb <span class="accented">miggen</span>, piel, since the kal, <span class="accented">magan, is</span> not used. is, however, properly, "to give, or deliver," as in <a href="/genesis/14-20.htm">Genesis 14:20</a>; <a href="/hosea/11-8.htm">Hosea 11:8</a>. That this is the meaning is clear from the corresponding "she shall give" (<span class="accented">titten</span>, but cf. <span class="accented">nathan</span>, "to give"). It is commonly found with an accusative and dative, but here takes two accusatives. Both the LXX. and the Vulgate render, "With a crown of glory or delights shall she protect (<span class="greek">ὑπερασπίση</span>, <span class="accented">proteget</span>) thee:" as if it were connected with <span class="accented">magen</span>, "a shield," but a crown is not usually associated with protection or defence. "A crown of glory," in the New Testament, is always associated with the everlasting honours of heaven, as in <a href="/hebrews/2-9.htm">Hebrews 2:9</a>; <a href="/2_timothy/4-8.htm">2 Timothy 4:8</a>; <a href="/1_peter/4-4.htm">1 Peter 4:4</a>; <a href="/revelation/2-20.htm">Revelation 2:20</a>. The meaning is here, "Wisdom shall confer on thee true dignity." </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/4-10.htm">Proverbs 4:10</a></div><div class="verse">Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 10.</span> - Many commentators, <span class="accented">e.g.</span> Jerome, Bede, Ewald, Bertheau, and Hitzig, suppose that the father's instruction closes in the preceding verse, but it seems more appropriate to consider the father as here passing to another branch of his instruction, which is to point out the way of wisdom, and so to prepare for his warnings which follow from ver. 14 to ver. 19. <span class="cmt_word">Receive</span>; <span class="accented">kakh</span>, from <span class="accented">lakah</span>, "to receive" (on the force of this verb, see ch. 1:3). He who shows a delighter willingness in admitting the words of Wisdom - for such a character the father claims for his teaching, as we see from, the next verse - shall receive a blessing. It is a sign of grace when any even show themselves open to listen to instruction; but it is a greater sign when this instruction is received with readiness and pleasure (Muffet). <span class="cmt_word">The years of thy life</span> (<span class="accented">sh'noth khayyim</span>); literally, <span class="accented">years of thy lives.</span> The plural "lives" expresses the idea of life in the abstract. There is no absolute statement of a <span class="accented">future</span> life here, though by the Christian this idea may be indulged in on the ground of a fuller revelation. The promise is one that not only implies the prolongation of life, but also a life of prosperity and enjoyment. <span class="cmt_word">Shall be many;</span> literally, <span class="accented">shall be multiplied.</span> </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/4-11.htm">Proverbs 4:11</a></div><div class="verse">I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right paths.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 11.</span> - The perfects, <span class="cmt_word">I have taught and I have led,</span> in the original seem to have here the absolute signification of the past. The father recalls the instruction which he has given in times past. So Delitzsch. But Gejerus gives them the combined force of the past and future, "I have taught and I will more fully teach," and so with the other verb. The Vulgate renders, <span class="accented">monstrabo</span>, "I will show," and <span class="accented">ducam</span>, "<span class="accented">I</span> will lead." <span class="cmt_word">In the way of wisdom</span> (<span class="accented">b'derek khok'mah</span>) may mean "in the way that leads <span class="accented">to</span>, or by which you come to Wisdom; I have taught you the manner in which Wisdom may be attained;" or "the way in which Wisdom walks" (Zockler). The ways of Wisdom are described in <a href="/proverbs/3-17.htm">Proverbs 3:17</a> as "<span class="accented">ways</span> of pleasantness." The next clause seems to indicate that the latter explanation is to be preferred. The (<span class="accented">b</span>) indicates the subject in which instruction has been given. <span class="cmt_word">In right paths</span> (<span class="accented">b'ma'g'le yosher</span>); literally, <span class="accented">in the paths of rectitude</span>; <span class="accented">i.e.</span> of straightness, paths of which the characteristic is uprightness. (On "paths," as signifying a carriageway, see <a href="/proverbs/2-9.htm">Proverbs 2:9</a>.) <span class="accented">Instruction</span> and <span class="accented">direction</span> have formed the two elements in the father's teaching. These present us with a model of education. "To teach <span class="accented">duty</span> without <span class="accented">truth</span> is to teach <span class="accented">practice</span> without <span class="accented">motive</span>; to teach <span class="accented">truth</span> without <span class="accented">duty</span> is to teach motive without the practice to which it should lead" (Wardlaw). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/4-12.htm">Proverbs 4:12</a></div><div class="verse">When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 12.</span> - In this verse the father depicts the benefits and advantages which shall follow from "receiving his words" (ver. 10), <span class="accented">i.e.</span> from attending to his counsels and imbibing the principles of wisdom. The whole course of life shall be freed from obstacles or impediments, from anxiety, perplexity, or difficulty, or from vacillation. <span class="cmt_word">When thou goest</span> may refer to the daily walk, to the common and ordinary events or circumstances incidental to life, just as the corresponding <span class="cmt_word">when thou runnest</span> may refer to cases of emergency when promptness and decisive action are called for. In both cases Wisdom, by inspiring unity of principle, gives freedom of movement; in ordinary cases it removes embarrassment and perplexity arising from conflicting interests drawing now in one direction, now in another, and in extraordinary cases it supplies a rule of conduct which prevents our falling into mistakes and errors. Or the verse may refer to the prosperity which shall attend all the undertakings of those who are in Wisdom's ways, whether they advance slowly or rush forward with the impetuosity of youth, whether they act with deliberation or with haste. <span class="cmt_word">Shall not be straitened</span> (<span class="accented">lo-yetsar</span>); <span class="accented">i.e.</span> shall not be narrowed or confined; Vulgate, <span class="accented">non arctabuntur</span>; LXX., <span class="greek">οὑ συγκλεισθήσεται</span>, The future <span class="accented">yetsar</span> only occurs four times in the Scriptures - here, and <a href="/job/18-7.htm">Job 18:7</a>; <a href="/job/20-22.htm">Job 20:22</a>; <a href="/isaiah/49-19.htm">Isaiah 49:19</a>. It is usually derived from the root <span class="accented">yatsar</span>, which, however, is not found, cognate with <span class="accented">tsur</span>, "to straiten," "to be narrow." <span class="accented">Yetsar</span>, however, always occurs in the passive sense, though an active signification is given it by the Rabbi Nathan ben Jechiel, quoted by Delitzsch, <span class="accented">in loc.</span>, who renders, "Thou shall not need to bind together, or hedge up thy way." The roots <span class="accented">yatsar</span> and <span class="accented">tsur</span> partake more or less of the idea of binding up, oppressing, putting into narrow and confined circumstances and limits. By the expression that "the steps are straitened" we may understand, therefore, that there is a want of freedom for their movements, and consequently that they are impeded or cramped. The Arabic expression. "to contract the feet," signifies the diminishing of good fortune. Compare the similar expression in <a href="/job/18-7.htm">Job 18:7</a>, "The steps of his strength shall be straitened." The psalmist presents the idea of the verse under a different form, "Thou hast <span class="accented">enlarged</span> my steps under me, so that my feet did not slip" (Psalm 17:36). <span class="cmt_word">Thou shalt not stumble;</span> <span class="accented">lo-thik-kashel</span>, hiph. future. The niph. <span class="accented">nikshal</span>, equivalent to the kal <span class="accented">kadshal</span>, signifies properly "to totter," "to sink down," used of one about to fall. The primary idea, however, usually disregarded, of <span class="accented">kashal</span>, is "to totter in the ankles," equivalent to the Latin <span class="accented">talipedare.</span> It occurs again in <a href="/proverbs/4-16.htm">Proverbs 4:16</a>, and is a different verb from "stumble" in <a href="/proverbs/3-23.htm">Proverbs 3:23</a> (which see). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/4-13.htm">Proverbs 4:13</a></div><div class="verse">Take fast hold of instruction; let <i>her</i> not go: keep her; for she <i>is</i> thy life.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 13.</span> - The short but urgent admonitions in this verse may be explained by the knowledge which the father has of the temptations to which youth is exposed and the liability of youth to fall into them, as well as by the fact that Instruction, or Wisdom, is the bestower of life. This latter conviction is the reason why he urges "taking fast hold" of Wisdom. The tenacious grasp with which the shipwrecked sinking sailor lays hold on any spar or plank floating near will illustrate the kind of grasp with which Wisdom is to be held. It is no less a virtue to keep and hold fast a good thing than to get it at the first beginning (Muffet). <span class="cmt_word">Instruction</span> (<span class="accented">musar</span>), usually of a disciplinary nature (see <a href="/proverbs/1-3.htm">Proverbs 1:3</a>), here more particularly the instruction of the father, but in a wider sense wisdom generally, with which it is synonymous, as appears from the feminine, "let <span class="accented">her</span> not go, keep <span class="accented">her</span>," <span class="accented">musar</span> being masculine; or the feminines may refer back to "Wisdom" in ver. 11. So Mercerus and Buxtorf. <span class="cmt_word">For she is thy life</span> (<span class="accented">ki hi khayyeka</span>); <span class="accented">i.e.</span> she brings life to thee. Wisdom is represented as the bestower of long life, in <a href="/proverbs/3-2.htm">Proverbs 3:2, 16, 18</a>. Just in proportion as Wisdom is retained and guarded, so is life secured, and so far as the hold upon her is lost, so are the hopes of life diminished. Life depends upon the observance of her precepts. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/4-14.htm">Proverbs 4:14</a></div><div class="verse">Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil <i>men</i>.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 14.</span> - From admonition the father passes to warning. The connection with the preceding section is obvious. There are two ways diametrically opposite - the way of wisdom and the way of evil; the one the way of life, the other fraught with death, because a way of darkness and violence. As the father has dealt with the former, so now he deals with the latter. With these warnings we may also comp. <a href="/proverbs/1-10.htm">Proverbs 1:10-15</a> and Proverbs 2:10-15, where much the same warning is given, and the way of the wicked is described in almost the same terms. The warning of the father takes a threefold form: <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(1)</span> enter not; <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(2)</span> go not; <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(3)</span> avoid. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>In effect he says this is the only course to be adopted in order to keep a firm hold of Wisdom which he has counselled in the preceding verse (13). <span class="cmt_word">Enter not;</span> <span class="accented">al-tavo</span>, from <span class="accented">bo</span>. "to come in," "to enter," <span class="accented">i.e.</span> do not even enter. The Vulgate renders, "Delight not in," evidently from reading <span class="accented">tove</span>, which occurs in <a href="/proverbs/1-10.htm">Proverbs 1:10</a>. But our reading is to be preferred, as <span class="accented">avah</span>, "to acquiesce in," from which <span class="accented">tov'e</span>, is not used with <span class="hebrew">בִּ</span>, here denoting place, but with <span class="hebrew">לִ</span>. Go not (<span class="accented">al-t'ashsher</span>); <span class="accented">i.e.</span> do not walk in. The two verbs "to enter" (<span class="accented">bo</span>) and "to go" (<span class="accented">ishsher</span>) stand in the relation of <span class="accented">entering</span> and <span class="accented">going on</span> - <span class="accented">ingressus</span> and <span class="accented">progressus.</span> So Gejerus and Delitzsch. The piel <span class="accented">ishsher</span>, here used, is properly "to go straight on," like the kal <span class="accented">ashar</span>, of which it is an intensive (cf. <a href="/proverbs/9-6.htm">Proverbs 9:6</a>). It is the bold, presumptuous walk, the stepping straight out of the evil, which is here indicated, and against this the father warns his son. The sense is, "If you have entered the way of the wicked, do not continue or persevere in it." The other meanings of the verb <span class="accented">ashar</span>, viz. "to guide straight" (<a href="/proverbs/23-19.htm">Proverbs 23:19</a>), "to esteem happy and prosperous" (<a href="/proverbs/31-28.htm">Proverbs 31:28</a>), are not in place here, as they destroy the parallelism of thought, and on the same ground the LXX. and Syriac renderings, "envy not" and <span class="greek">μηδὲ</span> <span class="greek">ζηλώσῆς</span>, are to be rejected. <span class="cmt_word">The wicked</span> (<span class="accented">ishaim</span>)<span class="accented">, i.e.</span> the godless (cf, <a href="/psalms/1-1.htm">Psalm 1:1</a>), is parallel with "evil men" (<span class="accented">raim</span>)<span class="accented">, i.e.</span> the habitually wicked. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/4-15.htm">Proverbs 4:15</a></div><div class="verse">Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 15.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Avoid it;</span> <span class="accented">p'raehu</span>, the kal imperative of <span class="accented">para</span>, properly, "to let go," hence "to reject, or abhor." (On the verb, see <a href="/proverbs/1-25.htm">Proverbs 1:25</a>, where it is rendered, "set at naught.") The same verb also occurs in <a href="/proverbs/8-33.htm">Proverbs 8:33</a>; <a href="/proverbs/13-18.htm">Proverbs 13:18</a>; <a href="/proverbs/15-32.htm">Proverbs 15:32</a>. <span class="accented">It</span>; <span class="accented">i.e.</span> the way. The suffix of the verb in the original is feminine, "avoid <span class="accented">her</span>;" <span class="accented">derek</span>, "the way," being common. Turn from it (<span class="accented">s'teh mealayv</span>). The original is a pregnant expression equivalent to "turn aside from it, so that you do not come to stand upon it." The word <span class="accented">mealayv</span>, equivalent to the Latin <span class="accented">desuper ea</span>, has much the same force as the French <span class="accented">de dessus</span> and the Italian <span class="accented">di sopra</span> (Delitzsch). The verb <span class="accented">satah is</span>, as in the Authorized Version, "to turn, or go aside." <span class="cmt_word">Pass away;</span> <span class="accented">avor</span>, kal imperative of <span class="accented">avar</span>, "to pass over," equivalent to Latin <span class="accented">transire</span>, here means "to pass on, or along," "to go beyond," like the German <span class="accented">Ger weiter gehn.</span> The counsel of the father is not only "turn aside from," but "put the greatest possible distance between you and it." The injunction, so absolutely stated, to have nothing to do with sin, is required, if not indeed prompted, by the knowledge of the fact that youth, confident in its own power of resistance, frequently indulges in the fatal mistake of imagining that it can dally with sin with impunity. The only course compatible with safety is to entirely avoid it. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/4-16.htm">Proverbs 4:16</a></div><div class="verse">For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause <i>some</i> to fall.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 16.</span> - This verse exhibits the extreme depravity and debasement into which "the wicked" (<span class="accented">r'shaim</span>) and "the evil" (<span class="accented">raim</span>) of ver. 14 have fallen. Their sins are not sins of frailty, but arise from premeditation and from their insatiable desire to commit wickedness. Sin has become to them a kind of second nature, and, unless they indulge in it, sleep is banished from their eyes. <span class="cmt_word">They sleep not;</span> <span class="accented">lo-yish'nu</span>, future of <span class="accented">yashan</span>, "to fall asleep;" the future here being used for the present, as is frequently the case in the Proverbs, and denoting a permanent condition or habit. <span class="cmt_word">Unless they cause some to fall;</span> <span class="accented">i.e.</span> "unless they have betrayed others into sin," taking the verb in an ethical sense (Zockler), or, which is preferable, owing to ver. 16<span class="accented">a</span>, unless they have done them some injury (Mercerus); Vulgate, <span class="accented">nisi supplantaverint.</span> For the Khetib <span class="accented">yik'shulu</span>, kal, which would mean "unless they have stumbled or fallen," the Keri substitutes the hiph. <span class="accented">yak'shihi</span> "unless they have caused some to fall." The hiph. is found without any object, as here, in <a href="/2_chronicles/25-8.htm">2 Chronicles 25:8</a>). (On the verb <span class="accented">khasal</span>, from which it is derived, see ch. 4:12.) With the statement of the verse we may compare David's complaint of the persistent persecution of his enemies (<a href="/psalms/59-15.htm">Psalm 59:15</a>), "If they be not satisfied, then will they stay all night" (margin). A similar construction to the one before us occurs in Virgil: "Et si non aliqua nocuisses, mortuus esses" - "And had you not, by some means or other done him an injury, you would have died" ('Eclog.,' 3:15); cf. also Juvenal: "Ergo non aliter poterit dormire; quibusdam somnum rixa facit" - "Therefore, not otherwise, would he have slept; contention to some produces sleep." Hitzig rejects vers. 16 and 17 against all manuscript authority. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/4-17.htm">Proverbs 4:17</a></div><div class="verse">For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 17.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">For</span> (<span class="accented">ki</span>, equivalent to the Greek <span class="greek">γὰρ</span>) is here explanatory. It serves not so much to introduce another independent statement, as one which accounts for the statement made in the preceding verse, that the wicked sleep not unless they have done mischief, <span class="accented">i.e.</span> it states the reason why they are so conditioned. There is no comparison expressed in the original, as the rendering adopted by Schultens and others implies, "For wickedness do they eat as bread, and violence do they drink as wine," which is evidently based on <a href="/job/15-16.htm">Job 15:16</a>, "Which drinketh up iniquity like water," and <a href="/job/34-7.htm">Job 34:7</a>, "Who drinketh up scorning like water." The literal rendering is, <span class="accented">for they eat the bread of wickedness, and the wine of violence do they drink. <span class="cmt_word"></span>The bread of wickedness</span> (<span class="accented">lekhem resha</span>) is not bread which consists in wickedness, but bread which is obtained by wickedness, just as the wine of violence (<span class="accented">yiyin khamasim</span>) is not the wine which produces violence, but the wine that is procured by violent dee,is. Their support, what they eat and drink, is obtained by wickedness and injustice. They live by wrong. For such expressions as "the bread of wickedness" and "the wine of violence," cf. <a href="/deuteronomy/16-3.htm">Deuteronomy 16:3</a>, "the bread of affliction;" <a href="/psalms/127-2.htm">Psalm 127:2</a>, "the bread of sorrows;" and <a href="/amos/2-8.htm">Amos 2:8</a>, "the wine of the condemned." There is a charade of tense in the verbs, the first being perfect, "they have eaten," and the second future, "they shall drink," which Delitzsch explains as representing the twofold act - first eating the bread, and then washing it down with wine. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/4-18.htm">Proverbs 4:18</a></div><div class="verse">But the path of the just <i>is</i> as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 18.</span> - A contrast is drawn in this and the following verse between the path of the just and the way of the wicked. The former is, by an extremely beautiful image, likened to the light at dawn, which goes on increasing in brightness and intensity as the day advances, until at length it reaches its meridian splendour and glory. An exactly similar figure is found in David's last words (<a href="/2_samuel/23-4.htm">2 Samuel 23:4</a>). <span class="cmt_word">The path of the just;</span> <span class="accented">i.e.</span> their moral course. <span class="cmt_word">As the shining light</span> (<span class="accented">k'or nogah</span>); <span class="accented">i.e.</span> as the light of dawn. The word <span class="accented">nogah</span>, from <span class="accented">nagah</span>, "to shine," is a noun, and properly signifies "brightness," "shining." "splendour." It is used also to designate the dawn, the light of the sun when it first mounts the horizon, and sheds its beams over the landscape, as in <a href="/isaiah/9-3.htm">Isaiah 9:3</a>, "Kings (shall come) to the brightness (<span class="accented">nogah</span>) of thy rising;" and <a href="/isaiah/62-1.htm">Isaiah 62:1</a>, "Until the righteousness thereof go forth as the brightness (<span class="accented">nogah</span>)" (cf. <a href="/2_samuel/23-4.htm">2 Samuel 23:4</a>, where the same word also occurs). Michaelis and Schultens refer <span class="accented">nogah</span> to "the path," and render, "The path of the just is splendid as the light." So Dathe and others; and in this sense it was understood by the LXX., "The path of the just shall shine as the light shines." The Vulgate renders, <span class="accented">quasi lux splendens. <span class="cmt_word"></span>That shineth more and more</span> (<span class="accented">holek vaor</span>); literally, <span class="accented">going and shining</span> - a common Hebrew idiom denoting progression or increase. The construction of the participle <span class="accented">holek</span>, from <span class="accented">halak</span>, "to go," with the participle of another verb, is found in <a href="/1_samuel/17-41.htm">1 Samuel 17:41</a>, "The Philistine came nearer and nearer (<span class="accented">holek v'karev</span>);" <a href="/1_samuel/2-26.htm">1 Samuel 2:26</a>. "The child Samuel grew on more and more (<span class="accented">holek v'hadel</span>)" (cf. <a href="/2_chronicles/17-12.htm">2 Chronicles 17:12</a>; <a href="/jonah/1-11.htm">Jonah 1:11</a>). <span class="cmt_word">Unto the perfect day</span> (<span class="accented">ad-n'kon hayyom</span>); Vulgate, <span class="accented">usque ad perfectam diem.</span> The Hebrew, <span class="accented">n'kon hayyom</span>, corresponds to the Greek, <span class="greek">ἡ σταθερὰ</span>, equivalent to "the high noon," when the sun seems <span class="accented">to stand still</span> in the heavens. The figure, as Fleiseher remarks, is probably derived from the balance, the tongue of the balance of day, which before or after is inclined either to the right or the left, being at midday perfectly upright, and as it were firm. So <span class="accented">kun</span>, the unused kal, from which <span class="accented">n'kon</span>, the niph. participle, is derived, is "to stand upright," and in hiph. "to be set," "to stand firm," "to be established," and hence the expression might be rendered, "until the steady, or established day," which, however, refers to the midday, or noon, and not to that point when day succeeds dawn, as Rosenmuller and Schultens on <a href="/hosea/6-3.htm">Hosea 6:3</a> maintain. The comparison is not extended beyond the midday, because the wish of the father was to indicate the full knowledge which the just attain in God, and which can knew of no decline. A similar figure of gradual development is found in our Lord's parable of the seed growing secretly (<a href="/mark/4-28.htm">Mark 4:28</a>), and is visible in <a href="/psalms/84-7.htm">Psalm 84:7</a>, "They grow from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God." The verse illustrates the gradual growth and increase of the righteous in knowledge, holiness, and joy, all of which are inseparably connected in the career of such. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/4-19.htm">Proverbs 4:19</a></div><div class="verse">The way of the wicked <i>is</i> as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 19.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">The way of the wicked is as darkness.</span> In contrast with the path of the just is the way of the wicked, which is described as darkness itself: <span class="accented">i.e.</span> so deeply enveloped in gloom that the wicked are not able even to see the obstacles and impediments against which they stumble, and which are the cause of their ruin. It is a way dark throughout - a <span class="accented">via tenebrosa</span> (Vulgate) - terminating at length in "the blackness of darkness." As light is emblematical of knowledge, holiness, and joy, so darkness represents ignorance, unholiness, and misery (see <a href="/isaiah/8-22.htm">Isaiah 8:22</a>). <span class="accented">Darkness</span> (<span class="accented">aphelah</span>); strictly, <span class="accented">thick darkness</span>, midnight gloom, the entire absence of light. It is the word used of the plague of "thick darkness" that settled over all the land of Egypt, even a darkness that "might be felt," when the Egyptians "saw not one another, nor any arose from his place for three days" (<a href="/exodus/10-21.htm">Exodus 10:21-23</a>). It occurs again in ch. 7:9, "in the black and <span class="accented">dark</span> night." In this darkness the wicked cannot help but stumble. Compare our Lord's teaching, "But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him" (<a href="/john/11-10.htm">John 11:10</a>; cf. 12:36). The expression, <span class="cmt_word">they know not at what they stumble,</span> carries with it the idea that they are so ignorant that they neither know wickedness as wickedness, nor do they apprehend the destruction which it involves. "Sins, however great and detestable they may be, are looked upon as trivial, or as not sins at all, when men get accustomed to them" (St. Augustine, 'Enchiridion,' cap. 80). On "stumble" (<span class="accented">kashal</span>), see ver. 12; and on the destruction of the wicked implied in the stumbling, see <a href="/proverbs/1-27.htm">Proverbs 1:27</a>, <span class="accented">seq.</span>, 2:18-22; 3:35. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/4-20.htm">Proverbs 4:20</a></div><div class="verse">My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 20.</span> - The teacher here resumes his admonitions after thus citing the example of his father's teaching, and showing how it resembled the tenor of his own precepts, which, upon such a consideration, were most worthy of attention. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/4-21.htm">Proverbs 4:21</a></div><div class="verse">Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 21.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Let them not depart from thine eyes;</span> <span class="accented">i.e.</span> keep them constantly in view as the guide of the whole conduct. These words are a repetition of <a href="/proverbs/3-21.htm">Proverbs 3:21</a>, just as the latter part of the verse reproduces the thought of <a href="/proverbs/2-1.htm">Proverbs 2:1</a>. <span class="accented">Depart.</span> The hiph. <span class="accented">yallizu</span> is here used instead of the kal <span class="accented">yaluzu</span> of <a href="/proverbs/3-21.htm">Proverbs 3:21</a>, but has the same force. <span class="cmt_word">In the midst of thine heart;</span> <span class="accented">i.e.</span> in its inmost recesses; there the words and sayings are to be guarded as a man guards a treasure stowed away in the inmost chambers of a house. The expression implies cherishing them with an internal affection. The terms of the verse may be illustrated by <a href="/deuteronomy/6-6.htm">Deuteronomy 6:6, 8</a>, "And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontiers between thine eyes." </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/4-22.htm">Proverbs 4:22</a></div><div class="verse">For they <i>are</i> life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 22.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">They are life;</span> <span class="accented">i.e.</span> they bring life (<span class="accented">khayyim</span>; the plural, as usual). <span class="cmt_word">Unto those that find them;</span> <span class="accented">i.e.</span> to those who by effort get possession of and procure them; the verb <span class="accented">matsa</span>, to find, embodying the idea of activity. <span class="cmt_word">Health</span>; <span class="accented">mar'pe</span>, derived from the root <span class="accented">rapha</span>, "to heal" (like <span class="accented">riph'uth</span> of <a href="/proverbs/3-8.htm">Proverbs 3:8</a>, which see), and hence rather "the means of health" than "health," "healing," or, as margin, "medicine," "that which restores to health;" LXX., <span class="greek">ἴασις</span>; Vulgate, <span class="accented">sanitas.</span> The moral condition is regarded as enfeebled by sickness, from which it may be restored to health and soundness by the words of wisdom. The effect of these, however, is not only to restore to health, but to maintain in health. Their tendency is to promote "a sound mind in a sound body." <span class="cmt_word">To their flesh;</span> literally, <span class="accented">to his flesh</span>; the singular, <span class="accented">b'saro</span>, being used instead of the plural, which we should have expected, because what is said applies to each one of those who receive the precepts of wisdom. The all implies the completeness of the restoration; it is not confined to one part, but pervades the whole body. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/4-23.htm">Proverbs 4:23</a></div><div class="verse">Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it <i>are</i> the issues of life.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 23</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Keep thy heart with all diligence;</span> properly, <span class="accented">above all things that have to be guarded, keep or guard thy heart.</span> So Mercerus, Gescnius, Delitzsch, Zockler. This seems to be the right meaning of the phrase, <span class="accented">mikkol-mish'mar</span>, rendered in the Authorized Version "with all diligence," <span class="accented">mish'mar</span>, from <span class="accented">shamar</span>, "to guard," being the object of guarding; that which is to be guarded. It is as if the teacher said, "Guard riches, property, health, body, everything, in short, in which you have a legitimate interest, or which is advantageous; but before and above everything else, keep a guard on your heart." The rabbins Jarehi, Ben Ezra, Rashi, however, give a different rendering, "From everything which is to be avoided (<span class="accented">ab omni re cavenda</span>) guard thy heart;" but the objection to this is that it ignores the radical meaning of the verb <span class="accented">shamar</span>, from which <span class="accented">mish'mar</span> is derived, as stated above, which is not that of <span class="accented">avoiding</span>, but of <span class="accented">guarding.</span> A third rendering is," Keep thy heart with all keeping;" so the Vulgate, <span class="accented">omni custodia serva cor tuum</span>; and the LXX., <span class="greek">πασὴ φυλακῇ τήρει σὴν καρδίαν</span>; on which the Authorized Version seems to be based. Another rendering, similar to the first, except that it gives <span class="accented">mish'mar</span> the active signification of guarding instead of the passive one of being kept or guarded, is, "Keep thy heart more than any other keeping (<span class="accented">prae omni custodia</span>)." Origen, 'Hex.;' Field. Again, Aquila and Theodotion render, "Keep thy heart by reason of every commandment (<span class="greek">ἀπὸ παντὸς φυλάγματος</span>)," thus bringing into prominence the occasion and the obligation of keeping the heart, which is that we are so commanded. <span class="accented">Heart</span> (<span class="accented">lev</span>); here the affections and the moral consciousness. <span class="cmt_word">For out of it are the issues of life.</span> The conjunction "for" introduces the reason. The fact here stated is that the moral conduct of life, its actions and proceedings, are determined by the condition of the heart. If the heart is pure, the life will be pure; if the heart is corrupt, the life will be corrupt. The heart is here compared with a fountain. The same idea which is affixed to it in its physical sense is also assigned to it in its ethical or moral sense. Physically, it is the central organ of the body; morally, it is the seat of the affections and the centre of the moral consciousness. From this moral centre flow forth "the issues of life;" <span class="accented">i.e.</span> the currents of the moral life take their rise in and flow forth from it, just as from the heart, physically considered, the blood is propelled and flows forth into the arterial system, by which it is conveyed to the remotest extremities of the body. And as the bodily health depends on the healthy action of the heart, so the moral health depends on and is influenced by the state in which this spring of all action is preserved. <span class="accented">Issues</span>; <span class="accented">tots'aoth</span>, from <span class="accented">yatsar</span>, "to go forth," are the place from which anything goes forth, and hence a fountain. For "the issues of life," the LXX. reads, <span class="greek">ἔξοδοι ζωῆς</span>, the Vulgate., <span class="accented">exitus vitae.</span> With this passage compare our Lord's teaching (<a href="/matthew/15-19.htm">Matthew 15:19</a>; <a href="/mark/7-21.htm">Mark 7:21-23</a>; <a href="/luke/6-43.htm">Luke 6:43-45</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/4-24.htm">Proverbs 4:24</a></div><div class="verse">Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 24.</span> - The following admonitions of this chapter bear reference to the outward conduct of life. They continue the subject of ver. 23 by showing how the guarding of the heart is to be done. There is the most; intimate connection between the heart as the fountain of the moral life and of the conduct of life, which, though determined by the condition of the heart, in its turn reacts upon the heart as the moral centre, and keeps it pure. Thus the subject is treated from its two sides. On vers. 24 and 25 Hitzig remarks that they "warn against an arbitrary perverting of the moral judgment into which evil passions so easily betray, and admonish not to give misdirection to thought within the department of morality." <span class="cmt_word">A froward mouth, and perverse lips;</span> literally, <span class="accented">perverseness of mouth and waywardness of lips</span> (<span class="accented">ikk'shuth peh vulzuth s'phathayim</span>). "Perversity of mouth" is fraudulent, deceitful speech; that which twists, distorts, perverts, or misrepresents what is true, and hence falsehood (<a href="/proverbs/4-24.htm">Proverbs 4:24</a>; <a href="/proverbs/6-12.htm">Proverbs 6:12</a>; <a href="/proverbs/19-1.htm">Proverbs 19:1</a>). The <span class="greek">σκολιὸν στόμα</span> of the LXX., <span class="accented">i.e.</span> the "tortuous mouth," in a metaphorical sense. The phrase is very similar in meaning with the parallel "waywardness of lips," which means speech which turns aside from what is true and right, the noun <span class="accented">lazuth</span> being derived from <span class="accented">lazah</span>, or <span class="accented">luz</span>, "to bend aside." The tongue is the unruly member (<a href="/james/3-2.htm">James 3:2</a>). Speech is the index of the mind (Lapide). Vigilance over the heart is vigilance over the mouth, inasmuch as "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh" (<a href="/matthew/12-34.htm">Matthew 12:34</a>). The admonition may have a twofold application, and may mean either do not indulge in this kind of speech yourself, exercise an unremitting jealousy over every propensity to it; or have no dealings with those who are guilty of it, as in <a href="/psalms/101-5.htm">Psalm 101:5</a>. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/4-25.htm">Proverbs 4:25</a></div><div class="verse">Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 25</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids lock straight before thee.</span> "To look <span class="accented">right on"</span> and "to look straight <span class="accented">before</span> one" is to fix the eyes steadily and unswervingly upon an object before them, not to allow the gaze to deflect either to the right hand or to the left. As a noun, the word <span class="accented">nokakh</span>, rendered "right on," signifies what is straight in front of one; adverbially, it has the same meaning as that given in the Authorized Version. The corresponding "before" (<span class="accented">neged</span>) is substantively the side of any object which is opposite one, and as a preposition is equivalent to "before," "in the presence of," like the Latin <span class="accented">coram.</span> The versions (LXX., Syriac, Targum) take <span class="accented">nokakh</span> in the sense of "right things:" "Let thine eyes look at right things;" contemplate them, aim at justice and equity. This meaning is given to the cognate adjective <span class="accented">nakoakh</span> in <a href="/proverbs/8-9.htm">Proverbs 8:9</a>; <a href="/proverbs/24-26.htm">Proverbs 24:26</a>; <a href="/isaiah/26-10.htm">Isaiah 26:10</a>; <a href="/isaiah/30-10.htm">Isaiah 30:10</a>; <a href="/isaiah/59-14.htm">Isaiah 59:14</a>; but in the Proverbs the word <span class="accented">nokakh</span> only occurs twice (here and ver. 21), either as an adverb, "right on," "straightforwardly," or as a preposition, "before." <span class="accented">Look straight.</span> Gesenius takes this verb <span class="accented">yashar</span> in hiph., "to make straight," as used elliptically: "Let thine eyelids <span class="accented">direct</span> a way before thee;" but the meaning is the same as "Let them look straight before thee." The Syriac, Gejerus, and Holden render, "Let thine eyelids direct thy way before thee;" <span class="accented">i.e.</span> do nothing rashly, but everything with premeditation; examine thy conduct, and see that it is right. The verb <span class="accented">yashar</span> has this meaning, "to direct," in <a href="/proverbs/3-6.htm">Proverbs 3:6</a>; <a href="/proverbs/11-5.htm">Proverbs 11:5</a>, but it is here used intransitively (Mercerus). <span class="accented">Eyelids</span> (<span class="accented">aph'appim</span>); so called from their fluttering, rapid motion, here used by way of poetic parallelism with "eyes." What the command inculcates is simplicity of aim or principle, singleness of motive. The moral gaze is to be steadily fixed, because if it wanders indolently, lasciviously, aimlessly, it imperils the purity of the soul. This verse may be understood, as Zockler, as containing a command levelled against dishonest practices. The man who intends to cheat his neighbour looks this way and that how he may deceive him. Such an interpretation may be maintained on the ground that the former verse is directed against falsehood in <span class="accented">speech</span>; this against falsehood in <span class="accented">action.</span> But the former view is preferable. If you wish to keep the heart, you must be guided by simplicity of aim; look not aside either to the one hand or to the other, lest you may be led astray by the seductions and temptations which imperil the onward and upward progress of the soul. The passage reminds us of the "single eye" (<span class="greek">ἄπλους</span>), "simple," <span class="accented">i.e.</span> intent on heaven and God, of <a href="/matthew/6-22.htm">Matthew 6:22</a>. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/4-26.htm">Proverbs 4:26</a></div><div class="verse">Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 26.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Ponder the path of thy feet;</span> properly, <span class="accented">make straight or level the path of thy feet.</span> The command carries on the idea of the previous verse. Simplicity of aim in the moral life is to be accompanied by attention to the moral conduct. The sense is, remove every obstacle which may impede or render insecure the way of moral life, and thus avoid every false step. The meaning "to ponder," <span class="accented">i.e.</span> "to weigh," seems to be given to the verb <span class="accented">palles</span>, piel of the unused <span class="accented">palas</span> here used only in <a href="/psalms/58-3.htm">Psalm 58:3</a> and possibly in <a href="/proverbs/5-21.htm">Proverbs 5:21</a>. Its ordinary signification is "to make level, or even," as in <a href="/isaiah/26-7.htm">Isaiah 26:7</a>; <a href="/isaiah/40-12.htm">Isaiah 40:12</a>; and <a href="/proverbs/5-6.htm">Proverbs 5:6</a>. The LXX. keeps this in view in rendering, "Make straight paths for thy feet" (cf. <a href="/hebrews/12-13.htm">Hebrews 12:13</a>). The Authorized Version would mean, "Weigh your conduct as in a balance; before acting, consider the consequences and nature of the act." The second clause, <span class="cmt_word">and let all thy ways be established,</span> is in effect only a repetition of the preceding thought, since it signifies, "See that thy conduct is correct; let all thy ways be definite and fixed." The marginal reading. "And all thy ways shall be ordered aright." gives the literal rendering to the tense; <span class="accented">yikkonu</span> being the future hiph. of <span class="accented">kun</span>, "to be established," "to stand firm." This would express the <span class="accented">result</span> of giving heed to one's conduct. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/4-27.htm">Proverbs 4:27</a></div><div class="verse">Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 27.</span> - This verse, with which the teacher closes this discourse, is very closely connected with ver. 26, which it more fully explains. The command is the parallel of ver. 25. As in ver. 25, the gaze is to be concentrated. So here the feet are not to deflect nor turn aside to byways. Nothing is to be permitted to draw one off from the right way, neither adversity, nor prosperity, nor anything which can possess the power of temptation (Bayne and Wardlaw). <span class="cmt_word">Remove thy foot from evil.</span> A fuller expression than "depart from evil," of <a href="/proverbs/3-7.htm">Proverbs 3:7</a>. Both the LXX. and the Vulgate add, "For the Lord knows the ways which are on thy right hand; but they are perverse which are on thy left. He shall make thy paths straight, and shall advance thy ways in peace." <span class="p"><br /><br /></span> <span class="p"><br /><br /></span> </div></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">The Pulpit Commentary, Electronic Database. 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