CINXE.COM

<!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 2 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> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-LR4HSKRP2H"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-LR4HSKRP2H'); </script><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/2.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/2-1.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 2</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/1.htm" title="Proverbs 1">◄</a> Proverbs 2 <a href="../proverbs/3.htm" title="Proverbs 3">►</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/2-1.htm">Proverbs 2:1</a></div><div class="verse">My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 1-22.</span> - 3. <span class="accented">Third admonitory discourse, pointing out the benefits which arise from a sincere, earnest, and persevering search after Wisdom.</span> This discourse divides itself into three parts. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(1)</span> Vers. 1-9: a statement of the conditions which, if fulfilled, result in the highest knowledge of Jehovah - the fear of Jehovah and the knowledge of God, who is the Source of wisdom and the Protection and Ensurer of safety to the righteous. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(2)</span> Vers. 10-19: the negatively beneficial results of Wisdom, in delivery from the paths of evil, from destructive lusts and passions, from the temptations of wicked men and wicked women. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(3)</span> Vers. 20-22: the epilogue, or conclusion, combining encouragement on the one hand, and warning on the other. <span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 1.</span> - The teacher here reverts to the original form of his address, as appears from the employment of the term, <span class="cmt_word">my son</span>. It seems clear that it is no longer Wisdom personified who is the speaker, from the fact that the words, "wisdom and understanding" in ver. 2 are used without the possessive pronoun "my," which would have been undoubtedly inserted if this address had been a continuation of the discourse in the preceding chapter. Some of the ideas of that address, however, are restated, as the crying and lifting up the voice after Wisdom, and the conclusion, wherein the respective destinies of the pious and wicked are portrayed. The particle "if" (<span class="hebrew">אֵם</span>) is conditional, and serves to introduce the series of clauses (vers. 1-4) which lay down the conditions upon which the promises depend, and which form the protasis to the double apodosis in vers. 5 and 9. De Wette, Meyer, and Delitzsch regard it as voluntative, as expressing a wish on the part of the teacher, and translate, "Oh that thou wouldst!" and <span class="hebrew">אִם</span>, "if," is used in this way in <a href="/psalms/139-19.htm">Psalm 139:19</a>; but the LXX. (<span class="greek">ἐάν</span>) and Vulgate (<span class="accented">si</span>) make it conditional. It is repeated in an emphatic form in ver. 3. <span class="cmt_word">Receive</span>. The verbs "receive" and "hide" show that the endeavour after Wisdom is to be candid and sincere. "To receive" (<span class="hebrew">לָקַה</span>) seems to be here used, like the LXX. <span class="greek">δεχέσθαι</span> in the sense of "to receive graciously," "to admit the words of Wisdom." It is noticeable that there is a gradation in emphasis in the various terms here used by the teacher. Just as "commandments" is stronger than "words," so "hide" is stronger than "receive." The emphasizing is carried on in the following verses in the same way, and at length culminates in ver. 4, which sums up the ardent spirit in which the search after Wisdom is to be prosecuted in presenting it to us in its strongest form. <span class="cmt_word">Hide</span>. The original (<span class="hebrew">צַפַן</span>, <span class="accented">tsaphan</span>) is here used in a different sense to that in which it occurs in <a href="/proverbs/1-11.htm">Proverbs 1:11</a> and 18. It here refers, as in <a href="/proverbs/7-1.htm">Proverbs 7:1</a>; <a href="/proverbs/10-14.htm">Proverbs 10:14</a>; and Proverbs 13:22, to the storing or laying up, as of treasure, in some secret repository, and means "to lay up." The Divine commands of the teacher are to be hidden in safe custody in the memory, in the understanding, in the conscience, and in the heart (cf. <a href="/proverbs/4-21.htm">Proverbs 4:21</a>; <a href="/proverbs/7-1.htm">Proverbs 7:1</a>). The psalmist expresses the same idea in <a href="/psalms/119-11.htm">Psalm 119:11</a>, "Thy words have I <span class="accented">hid</span> in my heart, that I might not sin against thee." </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/2-2.htm">Proverbs 2:2</a></div><div class="verse">So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, <i>and</i> apply thine heart to understanding;</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 2.</span> - This verse is dependent on the preceding. <span class="cmt_word">So that thou incline.</span> The literal translation is "to incline;" but the inclination of the ear and the application of the heart follow as a consequence upon the precepting ideas (cf. the Vulgate, <span class="accented">ut audiat sapientiam auris tua</span>). The root idea of the original (<span class="hebrew">קָשַׁב</span> <span class="accented">kashav</span>) is "to sharpen," viz. the ear as expressed, and so to give diligent attention to the precepts of Wisdom. In <a href="/proverbs/1-24.htm">Proverbs 1:24</a> it is rendered "to regard." <span class="cmt_word">To</span> <span class="cmt_word">apply thine heart</span> is to turn the heart with the whole scope of its powers, in the spirit of humility and eagerness, to understanding. As the ear represents the outward vehicle of communication, so the <span class="cmt_word">heart</span> (<span class="hebrew">לִב</span>, <span class="accented">lev</span>) represents the inward, the intellectual faculty, the mind, or it may mean the affections as suggested by the LXX. <span class="greek">καρδία</span> and Vulgate <span class="accented">cor</span>. <span class="cmt_word">Understanding</span> (<span class="hebrew">תְּבוּנָה</span>, <span class="accented">t'vunah</span>) is here interchanged with "wisdom," which must determine its meaning to some extent. The LXX. interpreters take it as <span class="greek">σύνεσις</span>, the faculty of comprehension." Like <span class="hebrew">בִינָה</span> (<span class="accented">vinah</span>) in <a href="/proverbs/1-2.htm">Proverbs 1:2</a>, the word describes the faculty of distinguishing or separating: but it does not appear to be here used as representing this "as a faculty of the soul, but as a Divine <span class="accented">power</span> which communicates itself as the gift of God" (Delitzsch). A second and perhaps simpler sense may be given to the sentence. It may mean the turning or applying of the heart in an affectionate and loving way, <span class="accented">i.e.</span> with full purpose, to the discrimination of what is right and what wrong. The ideas of wisdom and understanding seem to some extent to be brought forward as personifications. They are things outside of ourselves, to which we have to give attention. Religion appeals not only to the affections, but also to the intellect, as this satisfies all the yearnings of our nature. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/2-3.htm">Proverbs 2:3</a></div><div class="verse">Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, <i>and</i> liftest up thy voice for understanding;</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 3.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Yea, if thou criest after knowledge.</span> The endeavour after Wisdom is not only to be sincere, it is also to be earnest, as appears from the "yea, if," and the verbs "crying" and "lifting up the voice," both of which frequently occur in Scripture as indicating earnestness. This earnestness is the counterpart of that which Wisdom herself displays (see <a href="/proverbs/1-20.htm">Proverbs 1:20, 21</a>). <span class="accented">Knowledge</span>; <span class="accented">i.e.</span> insight. In the original there is practically little difference between "knowledge" and "understanding" (<span class="hebrew">בִּינָה</span> and <span class="hebrew">תְּבוּנָה</span>). They carry on the idea expressed in "understanding" in the preceding verse, and thus throw the emphasis on the verbs. The LXX. and Vulgate, however, take "knowledge" as equivalent to <span class="greek">σοφία</span>, <span class="accented">sapientia</span>, "wisdom." The reading of the Targum, "If thou tallest understanding thy mother," arises from reading <span class="hebrew">אִם</span> for <span class="hebrew">אֵם</span>, but is not to be preferred to the Masoretic text, as it destroys the parallelism. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/2-4.htm">Proverbs 2:4</a></div><div class="verse">If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as <i>for</i> hid treasures;</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 4.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">If thou seekest,</span> etc. The climax in the series of conditions is reached in this verse; and the imagery employed in both clauses indicates that the search after Wisdom is to be <span class="accented">persevering</span>, unrelaxing, and diligent, like the unremitting toil and labour with which men carry on mining operations. "To seek" (<span class="hebrew">בָּקַשׁ</span>, <span class="accented">bakash</span>) in the original is properly "to seek diligently" (piel), and is kindred to "to search" (<span class="hebrew">קָפַשׂ</span>, <span class="accented">khaphas</span>), which again is equivalent to "to dig" (<span class="hebrew">חָפַר</span>, <span class="accented">khaphar</span>), the Vulgate <span class="accented">effodere</span>, "to dig out." Compare the expression in <a href="/job/3-21.htm">Job 3:21</a>, "And dig for it more than for hid treasures." We trace in these verbs the idea in the mind of the teacher indicated above, which finds expression also in the object of the search, the silver, in its crude state, and the hidden treasures (<span class="hebrew">מַטְמֹנִים</span> <span class="accented">mat'monim</span>)<span class="accented">, i.e.</span> the treasures of gold, silver, and precious metal concealed in the earth. The comparison here made between the search for Wisdom and the search for the hidden treasures of the earth was not unfamiliar to the Hebrew mind, as it is found worked out with great beauty of detail in the twenty-eighth chapter of Job. Again, the comparison of Wisdom with things most precious in the estimation of man is natural and common, and occurs in <a href="/psalms/119-72.htm">Psalm 119:72</a>; <a href="/job/28-15.htm">Job 28:15-19</a>. The same ideas and comparisons here used are presented to us in the New Testament teaching, in our Lord's parable of the man who finds the hid treasure in the field, and, in the phraseology of St. Paul, who speaks of "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," and of "the unsearchable riches of Christ." "Divine knowledge is an inexhaustible mine of precious ore" (Wardlaw). The language of the Proverbs would receive additional three from the circumstances of the reign of Solomon, the most splendid and prosperous era in the annals of the Jewish national history, in the means taken to secure the treasures of other and distant countries; the wealth and the riches of that reign (see <a href="/2_chronicles/9-20.htm">2 Chronicles 9:20-22</a>) would help to bring out the idea of the superlative value of Wisdom. In no era of the Jewish national history was there such abundance of riches, such splendid prosperity, as in the reign of Solomon, whose ships of Tarshish brought "gold and silver" (see <a href="/2_chronicles/9-20.htm">2 Chronicles 9:20-22</a>), and this state of things would give point to the comparisons which the teacher uses in our text. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/2-5.htm">Proverbs 2:5</a></div><div class="verse">Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 5.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord.</span> <span class="accented">Then</span> (<span class="hebrew">אָן</span>), introducing the first apodosis, and answering to the conditional "if" of vers. 1, 3, 4. The earnest endeavour after Wisdom meets with its reward, and those that seek shall find (cf. <a href="/matthew/7-7.htm">Matthew 7:7</a>): and thus an inducement is held forth to listen to the admonition of the teacher. <span class="accented">Understand</span> implies the power of discernment, but Zockler gives it the further moaning of taking to one's self as a spiritual possession, just as "find" meaning primarily "to arrive at" conveys the idea of getting possession of (Mercerus). <span class="accented">The fear of the Lord</span> (<span class="hebrew">יְרְאַת יְחוָה</span>, <span class="accented">yir'ath y'hovah</span>); "the fear of Jehovah," as in <a href="/proverbs/1-7.htm">Proverbs 1:7</a>. As it is the beginning, so it is the highest form of knowledge and the greatest good. Elsewhere it is represented as a fountain of life (<a href="/proverbs/15-27.htm">Proverbs 15:27</a>). All true wisdom is summed up in "the fear of the Lord." It here means the reverence due to him, and so comprises the whole range of the religious affections and feelings, which respond to various attributes of the Divine character as they are revealed, and which find their expression in holy worship. <span class="cmt_word">The knowledge of God</span> (<span class="hebrew">דַעַת ךאלֹהִים</span>, <span class="accented">daath Elohim</span>); literally, <span class="accented">the knowledge of Elohim.</span> Not merely cognition, but knowledge in its wider sense. The two ideas of "the fear of the Lord" and "the knowledge of God" act reciprocally on each other. Just as without reverence of God there can be no knowledge of him in its true sense, so the knowledge of God will increase and deepen the feeling of reverence. But it is noticeable that the teacher here, as in <a href="/proverbs/9-10.htm">Proverbs 9:10</a>, where, however, it is "the knowledge of the holy" (<span class="hebrew">דַעַת קְדשִׁים</span>, <span class="accented">daath k'doshim</span>), gives the chief place to reverence, and thus indicates that it is the basis of knowledge, which is its fruit and result. The relation here suggested is analogous to that which subsists between faith and knowledge, and recalls the celebrated dictum of Anselm: "Neque enim quaero intelligere ut credam; sed credo, ut intelligam." <span class="accented">Elohim</span>, here interchanged with <span class="accented">Jehovah</span>, is not of frequent occurrence in the Proverbs, as it is only found therein five times, while the predominating word which is used to designate the Deity is <span class="accented">Jehovah.</span> But it is difficult to draw any distinction between them here. <span class="accented">Jehovah</span> may refer more especially to the Personality of the Divine nature, while <span class="accented">Elohim</span> may refer to Christ's glory (Plumptre). Bishop Wordsworth thinks that a distinction is made between the knowledge of Elohim and the knowledge of man which is of little worth. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/2-6.htm">Proverbs 2:6</a></div><div class="verse">For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth <i>cometh</i> knowledge and understanding.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 6.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">For the Lord giveth wisdom.</span> The Lord Jehovah is the only and true Source of wisdom. The truth stated here is also met with in <a href="/daniel/2-21.htm">Daniel 2:21</a>, "He giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding." He "giveth," or more properly, "will give" (<span class="hebrew">יִתֵּן</span> <span class="accented">yitten</span>, future of <span class="hebrew">נָתַן</span>, <span class="accented">nathan</span>), wisdom; but the connection requires us to understand that the assurance applies only to those who seek after it earnestly and truly (cf. <a href="/james/1-5.htm">James 1:5-7</a>). The two coefficients to our obtaining wisdom are our efforts and God's assistance. Solomon may be adduced as s striking exemplification of this; he asked for "an understanding heart," and God graciously granted his request (see <a href="/1_kings/3-9.htm">1 Kings 3:9, 12</a>). <span class="cmt_word">Out of his mouth</span> (<span class="hebrew">מִפִיו</span>, <span class="accented">mippiv</span>); <span class="accented">ex ore ejus</span>; God is here spoken of anthropologically. He is the true Teacher. The meaning is that God communicates wisdom through the medium of his Word (Delitzsch. Pi.). The law proceeds from his mouth (<a href="/job/22-22.htm">Job 22:22</a>). In the Book of Wisdom (7:25), "Wisdom is the breath of the power of God." His word is conveyed to us through men divinely inspired, and hence St. Peter (<a href="/2_peter/1-21.htm">2 Peter 1:21</a>) says that "holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/2-7.htm">Proverbs 2:7</a></div><div class="verse">He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: <i>he is</i> a buckler to them that walk uprightly.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 7.</span> - Wisdom which is the foundation of security and safety, and hence is <span class="accented">sound wisdom</span>, is that which God treasures up for the righteous. The teacher passes to another phase of the Divine character. God is not only the Source of wisdom; he is also the Ensurer of safety, the Source of salvation to those who act uprightly. It will be noted that the use of the word is confined to the Proverbs and Job, with the exception of the two passages in Isaiah and Micah. <span class="cmt_word">Buckler</span>. Besides storing up the treasures of sound wisdom, which the righteous may use and so obtain security in their uprightness, God is himself a <span class="accented">Buckler</span>, or <span class="accented">Shield</span> (<span class="hebrew">מָגֵן</span>, <span class="accented">magen</span>), to those who walk in innocence. This aspect of God's directly protecting power is met with in other parts of Scripture. In <a href="/genesis/15-1.htm">Genesis 15:1</a> he encourages Abram with the assurance, "I am thy Shield." In <a href="/psalms/33-20.htm">Psalm 33:20</a>; <a href="/psalms/84-11.htm">Psalm 84:11</a>; <a href="/psalms/89-18.htm">Psalm 89:18</a>; <a href="/psalms/144-2.htm">Psalm 144:2</a>, Jehovah is called a Shield to his saints. He renders them security against the assaults of their enemies, and especially against the fiery darts of the wicked one. Again, in <a href="/proverbs/30-5.htm">Proverbs 30:5</a>, it is said, "God is a Shield (<span class="accented">magen</span>) up to them that walk uprightly." It is incorrect to take <span class="hebrew">מָגֵן</span> (<span class="accented">magen</span>) either as an accusative after the verb or in apposition with "sound wisdom." <span class="cmt_word">To them that walk uprightly;</span> literally, <span class="accented">to the walkers in innocence</span> (<span class="hebrew">לְחֹלֵכֵי תֹם</span>, <span class="accented">l'khol'key thom</span>). <span class="hebrew">תֹם</span> (<span class="accented">thom</span>) is "integrity of mind," "moral faultlessness," "innocence." "To walk uprightly" is to maintain a course of life regulated by right principles, and directed to right ends. He "walks uprightly who lives with the fear of God as his principle, the Word of God as his rule, and the glory of God as his end" (Wardlaw). The <span class="accented">completeness</span> of the moral and religious character is involved in the expression which is found also in <a href="/proverbs/10-9.htm">Proverbs 10:9</a> and <a href="/psalms/84-11.htm">Psalm 84:11</a>. The Vulgate translates the latter clause of the verse, <span class="accented">proteget gradientes simpliciter</span>, "he will protect those who walk in simplicity;" cf. <a href="/2_corinthians/1-12.htm">2 Corinthians 1:12</a> in illustration of the phrase. <span class="cmt_word">He layeth up;</span> <span class="accented">i.e.</span> he treasures up (LXX., <span class="greek">θησαυρίζειν</span>), or preserves and protects (<span class="accented">custodire</span>, Vulgate), as a person does "treasure or jewel, that it may not be stolen" (Zockler). The majority of commentators read the Keri (<span class="hebrew">יִצפֹן</span>, "he will treasure up," future of <span class="hebrew">צָפַן</span>) in preference to the Khetib (<span class="hebrew">צָפַן</span>, perfect of same verb, with prefix <span class="hebrew">וְ</span>, "and he treasured up"), and this is the; reading adopted in the Authorized Version. The Keri implies that God does treasure up sound wisdom, while the Khetib, as Delitzsch observes, has the force of the aorist, and so represents the treasuring up as an accomplished fact. The same verb occurs in <a href="/proverbs/2-1.htm">Proverbs 2:1</a>, where it is translated in the Authorized Version by "hide," and also in <a href="/proverbs/7-1.htm">Proverbs 7:1</a> and Proverbs 10:14 by "lay up." The laying up, or treasuring, points to the preciousness of that which is treasured, "sound wisdom." <span class="cmt_word">Sound wisdom</span>. A great variety of opinions exists as to the true meaning of the word in the original, <span class="hebrew">תְוּשִׁיָה</span> (<span class="accented">tvushiyyah</span>), of which "sound wisdom" is an interpretation. Zockler explains it as "wisdom, reflection;" Delitzsch, as "advancement and promotion;" Dathe, as "solid fortune;" Gesenius, as "aid." The proper meaning of the word seems to he "substance," from the root <span class="hebrew">יָשָׁה</span>, "to be, to exist, to be firm." Professor Lee remarks on the word, "From the places in which it occurs, either wealth, thought, or some such sense it manifestly requires. It occurs in <a href="/job/6-13.htm">Job 6:13</a>, in parallelism with 'help;' in <a href="/proverbs/2-7.htm">Proverbs 2:7</a>, with a 'shield;' in <a href="/job/1-6.htm">Job 1:6</a>, with 'wisdom;' in <a href="/job/12-16.htm">Job 12:16</a>, with 'strength;' in <a href="/proverbs/3-21.htm">Proverbs 3:21</a>, with 'discretion;' in <a href="/proverbs/8-14.htm">Proverbs 8:14</a>, with 'counsel' and 'understanding;' in <a href="/isaiah/28-29.htm">Isaiah 28:29</a>, with 'counsel;' and so in <a href="/job/26-3.htm">Job 26:3</a>. In <a href="/job/30-22.htm">Job 30:22</a> and <a href="/micah/6-9.htm">Micah 6:9</a>, 'entirely' or the like seems to suit the context; see also <a href="/proverbs/18-1.htm">Proverbs 18:1</a>, and generally 'excess,' or 'abundance,' taken either in a good or bad sense, and varied by other considerations, seems to prevail in every case in which this word is used" (see Professor Lee, on <a href="/job/5-12.htm">Job 5:12</a>). The parallelism of the passage before us seems to require that it should be understood in the sense of <span class="accented">security</span>; and transferring the idea to wisdom as the means of security. This idea is reproduced in the LXX. <span class="greek">σωτήρια</span>, the Vulgate <span class="accented">salus</span>, and the Targum <span class="accented">incolumitas.</span> </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/2-8.htm">Proverbs 2:8</a></div><div class="verse">He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 8.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">He keepeth the paths of judgment.</span> This verse is explanatory of the latter hemistich of ver. 7, and points out more fully in what way God is a Protector of his saints. Some connect the Hebrew infinitive <span class="hebrew">לִנְצור</span> (<span class="accented">lin'tsor</span>), "to watch or keep," with "them that walk uprightly," and translate, "them that walk uprightly by keeping the paths of judgment;" but this is to transfer the idea of protection from God to such persons. The verb signifies specially "to defend, to preserve from danger," as in <a href="/proverbs/22-12.htm">Proverbs 22:12</a>, "The eyes of the Lind preserve knowledge; <span class="accented">i.e.</span> defend or protect it from danger." It is God who "keepeth the paths of judgment," as he alone has the power to do so. He watches over all that walk therein, guides, superin. tends, and protects them. <span class="accented">The paths of judgment</span>; or rather, <span class="accented">justice</span>, <span class="hebrew">ךארְהות מִשְׁפָט</span> (<span class="accented">at'khoth mishpat</span>). The abstract is here used for the concrete, and the phrase means "the paths of the just," <span class="accented">i.e.</span> the paths in which the just walk, or "those who walk justly" (Mercerus). This expression corresponds with "the way of his saints," just as "keep" and "preserve" are synonymous verbs, both meaning "to guard, keep safe, or protect." <span class="cmt_word">He preserveth the way of his saints.</span> God does this <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(1)</span> by his preventing grace, as in <a href="/psalms/66-9.htm">Psalm 66:9</a>, "He suffereth not our feet to slip." Cf. Hannah's song, "He will keep the feet of his saints" (<a href="/1_samuel/2-9.htm">1 Samuel 2:9</a>); <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(2)</span> by angelic agency, as in <a href="/psalms/91-11.htm">Psalm 91:11</a>, "He shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways." The saints are ever under the watchful care and mighty protection of Jehovah. <span class="accented">His saints</span> (<span class="hebrew">חֲסִידָו</span> <span class="accented">khasidav</span>); <span class="accented">i.e.</span> the pious towards God, the godly, those in whose hearts the principles of sanctity have been implanted, and who cherish earnest inward love to God, and "walk righteously" and "speak uprightly" (<a href="/isaiah/33-15.htm">Isaiah 33:15</a>). It is remarkable that the word saints only occurs once (in this passage) in the Proverbs. During the period of the Maccabaean Wars, a party or sect, which aimed at ceremonial purity, claimed for themselves the title of <span class="accented">Chasidim</span> or <span class="accented">Asidaeans</span> (<span class="greek">Ἀσιδαῖοι</span>), as expressive of their piety or devotion. They are those whom Moses called "men of holiness," <a href="/exodus/22-31.htm">Exodus 22:31</a> (<span class="hebrew">ואֲנְשֵׁיאּקֹדֶשׁ</span>, <span class="accented">v'an'shev-kodesh</span>); cf. <a href="/psalms/89-5.htm">Psalm 89:5</a>; <a href="/psalms/149-1.htm">Psalm 149:1</a>; <a href="/psalms/89-8.htm">Psalm 89:8</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/33-3.htm">Deuteronomy 33:3</a>; <a href="/daniel/7-18.htm">Daniel 7:18, 22, 22, 25</a>. Under the Christian dispensation, the saints are those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus (<a href="/1_corinthians/1-2.htm">1 Corinthians 1:2</a>; <a href="/1_john/5-1.htm">1 John 5:1</a>), and who are holy in all manner of conversation (<a href="/1_peter/1-25.htm">1 Peter 1:25</a>; 1 Macc. 2:42 1 Macc. 7:13; 2 Macc. 14:6); see Bishop Lightfoot, 'Colossians and Philemon,' diss. 2, p. 355. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/2-9.htm">Proverbs 2:9</a></div><div class="verse">Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; <i>yea</i>, every good path.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 9.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Then</span> (<span class="hebrew">אָז</span>, <span class="accented">az</span>), repeated from ver. 5, introduces the second apodosis. As the former referred to God, so this appears to refer more especially to man, and thus we have stated the whole benefit, in its twofold aspect, which Wisdom confers on those who diligently seek her. It is not to be affirmed, however, that righteousness and judgment and equity refer exclusively to man; they must represent some aspects of our relationship to God, both from the meaning of the words themselves, and because the law which regulates our dealings and intercourse with man has its seat in the higher law of our relation to God. <span class="cmt_word">Righteousness, and judgment, and equity.</span> These three words occur in the same collocation in <a href="/proverbs/1-3.htm">Proverbs 1:3</a>, which see. <span class="cmt_word">Yea, every good path.</span> "Yea" does not occur in the original. The expression is a summarizing of the three previous conceptions, as if the teacher implied that all good paths are embraced by and included in "righteousness, and judgment, and equity;" but the term is also comprehensive in the widest degree. The literal translation is "every path of good" (<span class="hebrew">כְּל־מַעְגֻּל־טוב</span>, <span class="accented">cal-ma'gal-tov</span>)<span class="accented">, i.e.</span> every course of action of which goodness is the characteristic, or, as the Authorized Version, "every good path," the sense in which it was understood by St. Jerome, <span class="accented">omnem orbitam bonam.</span> The word here used for "path" is <span class="hebrew">מַעְגַּל</span> (<span class="accented">ma'gal</span>), "the way in which the chariot rolls" (Delitzsch), and metaphorically a course of action, as in <a href="/proverbs/2-15.htm">Proverbs 2:15</a>; <a href="/proverbs/4-26.htm">Proverbs 4:26</a>. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/2-10.htm">Proverbs 2:10</a></div><div class="verse">When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 10-19.</span> - Statement of the advantages which result from the possession of Wisdom, and specially as a safeguard against evil men (vers. 12-15) and evil women (vers 16-19). <span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 10.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">When wisdom entereth into thine heart.</span> There is practically little difference as to the sense, whether we render the Hebrew <span class="hebrew">כִּי</span>by the conditional "if" or by the temporal "when" as in the Authorized Version. The conditional force is adopted by the LXX. <span class="greek">ἐάν</span> and the Vulgate <span class="accented">si.</span> In the previous section of this address, the teacher has shown that the search after Wisdom will result in possession.; now he points out, when Wisdom is secured, certain advantageous consequences follow. The transition is easy and natural. The form of construction is very similar to that adopted previously. There is first the hypothesis, if we give this force to <span class="hebrew">כִּי</span>, though much shorter; and secondly the climax, also shorter and branching off into the statement of two special cases. <span class="accented">Entereth</span>; or, <span class="accented">shall enter</span> (<span class="hebrew">חָבוא</span> <span class="accented">thavo</span>) in the sense of permanent residence in the heart. Wisdom is not only to come in, but to rest there (cf. <a href="/proverbs/14-33.htm">Proverbs 14:33</a>). The expression is illustrated by <a href="/john/14-23.htm">John 14:23</a>. The imagery of the verse is taken from the reception and entertainment of a guest. As we receive a welcome guest, and find pleasure in his company, so is Wisdom to be dear to the heart and soul. <span class="accented">Into thine heart</span> (<span class="hebrew">בְּלִבֶּך</span>, <span class="accented">b'libecha</span>). The heart (<span class="hebrew">לֵב</span>) "concentrates in it. self the personal life of man in all its relations, the conscious and the unconscious, the voluntary and the involuntary, the physical and the spiritual impulses, the emotions and states" (Cremer, 'Bib. Theol. Lex.,' <span class="accented">sub voce</span> <span class="greek">καρδία</span>). It is that in which the <span class="hebrew">נֶפֶשׁ</span> (<span class="accented">nephesh</span>),"soul," manifests itself. It is the centre of the life of will and desire, of the emotions, and of the moral life. Rudloff ('Lehre von Menscher,' p. 59, <span class="accented">sqq.</span>, apud Zockler) remarks that everywhere in the Scriptures the heart appears to belong more to the life of desire and feeling than to the intellectual activity of the soul. But at the same time, it is to be noted that intelligent conception is attributed to the heart (<span class="hebrew">לֵב</span>); <a href="/proverbs/14-10.htm">Proverbs 14:10</a>; <a href="/proverbs/8-5.htm">Proverbs 8:5</a>; <a href="/proverbs/16-9.htm">Proverbs 16:9</a>. The expression seems to be put here for the moral side of man's nature; and in the Hellenistic sense, <span class="greek">καρδία</span>, the proper equivalent of <span class="hebrew">לֵב</span> "heart," involves all that stands for <span class="greek">νοῦς λόγος συνείδησις</span>, and <span class="greek">θυμός</span>; <span class="accented">i.e.</span> it includes, besides other things, the intellectual faculty. The word "soul" (<span class="hebrew">נֶפֶשׁ</span>, <span class="accented">nephesh</span>) is here found in combination with "heart." The other passages where they are mentioned together are <a href="/deuteronomy/6-5.htm">Deuteronomy 6:5</a>; <a href="/psalms/13-2.htm">Psalm 13:2</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/4-19.htm">Jeremiah 4:19</a>; <a href="/proverbs/24-12.htm">Proverbs 24:12</a>. The soul is primarily the vital principle, but according to the <span class="accented">usus loquendi</span> of Holy Scripture, it frequently denotes the entire inward nature of man; it is that part which is the object of the work of redemption. The homo of the soul is the heart, as appears from <a href="/proverbs/14-10.htm">Proverbs 14:10</a>, "The heart knoweth his own bitterness [or, 'the bitterness of his soul,' Hebrew]." While the "heart" (<span class="hebrew">לֵב</span>) is rendered by <span class="greek">καρδία</span> and <span class="greek">ψυχή</span>, the only Greek equivalent to "soul" (<span class="hebrew">וֶפֶשׁ</span>) is <span class="greek">ψυχή</span>. The two expressions, "heart," and "soul," in the passage before us may be taken as designating both the moral and spiritual sides of man's nature. Wisdom is to be acceptable and pleasant to man in these respects. It may be remarked that an intellectual colouring is given to the word "heart" by the LXX., who render it by <span class="greek">διανοία</span>, as also in <a href="/deuteronomy/6-5.htm">Deuteronomy 6:5</a> and other passages, evidently from the idea that prominence is given to the reflective faculty. Classically, <span class="greek">διανοία ισ</span> equivalent to "thought," "faculty of thought," "intellect." <span class="cmt_word">Knowledge</span> (Hebrew, <span class="hebrew">דָעָת</span>); literally, <span class="accented">to know</span>, as in <a href="/proverbs/8-10.htm">Proverbs 8:10</a> and Proverbs 14:6; here used synonymously with "wisdom." Knowledge, not merely as cognition, but perception; <span class="accented">i.e.</span> not merely knowing a thing with respect to its existence and being, but as to its excellence and truth. Equivalent to the LXX. <span class="greek">αἰσσησις</span>, "perception," and the Vulgate <span class="accented">scientia. <span class="cmt_word"></span>Is pleasant</span> (Hebrew, <span class="hebrew">יִנְעָם</span>, <span class="accented">yin'am</span>); literally, <span class="accented">shall be pleasant</span>; <span class="accented">i.e.</span> sweet, lovely, beautiful. The same word is used impersonally in Jacob's blessing of Issachar (<a href="/genesis/49-15.htm">Genesis 49:15</a>, "And he saw the land that it was pleasant"), and also in <a href="/proverbs/24-25.htm">Proverbs 24:25</a>, "To those that punish [<span class="accented">i.e.</span> the judges] there shall be delight." And this usage has led Dunn to take knowledge as an accusative of reference, and to translate, "There is pleasure to thy soul in respect of knowledge;" but the Authorized Version may be accepted as correct. "Knowledge" is masculine, as in <a href="/proverbs/8-10.htm">Proverbs 8:10</a> and Proverbs 14:6, and agrees with the masculine verb "is pleasant." Knowledge will be pleasant from the enjoyment and rest which it yields. The Arabic presents the idea of this enjoyment under a different aspect: "And prudence shall be in thy soul the most beautiful glory." </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/2-11.htm">Proverbs 2:11</a></div><div class="verse">Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 11.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Discretion shall preserve thee.</span> <span class="accented">Discretion</span> (<span class="hebrew">מְזַמָּת</span> <span class="accented">m'zimoth</span>), as in <a href="/proverbs/1-4.htm">Proverbs 1:4</a>, is the outward manifestation of wisdom; it tests what is uncertain, and avoids danger (Hitzig). The word carries with it the idea of reflection or consideration (see <a href="/proverbs/3-21.htm">Proverbs 3:21</a>; <a href="/proverbs/5-2.htm">Proverbs 5:2</a>; <a href="/proverbs/8-12.htm">Proverbs 8:12</a>) The LXX. reads, <span class="greek">βουλὴ καλή</span>, "good counsel;" and the Vulgate, <span class="accented">concilium. Shall preserve thee.</span> The idea of protection and guarding, which is predicated of Jehovah in ver. 8, is here transferred to discretion and understanding, which to some extent are put forward as personifications. <span class="cmt_word">Understanding</span> (<span class="hebrew">תְבוּנָה</span>, <span class="accented">t'vunah</span>), as in <a href="/proverbs/2-11.htm">Proverbs 2:11</a>; the power of distinguishing and separating, and, in the case of conflicting interests, to decide on the best. <span class="cmt_word">Shall keep;</span> <span class="accented">i.e.</span> keep safe, or in the sense of watching over or guarding. The two verbs "to preserve" (<span class="hebrew">שָׁמַר</span> <span class="accented">shamar</span>) and "to keep" (<span class="hebrew">נָצַר</span>, <span class="accented">natsar</span>), LXX. <span class="greek">τήρειν</span>, occur together again in <a href="/proverbs/4-6.htm">Proverbs 4:6</a>. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/2-12.htm">Proverbs 2:12</a></div><div class="verse">To deliver thee from the way of the evil <i>man</i>, from the man that speaketh froward things;</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 12.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">To deliver thee from the way of the evil man.</span> The first special advantage resulting from the protecting guardianship of discretion and understanding. <span class="accented">From the way of the evil man</span>; properly, <span class="accented">from an evil way</span>; Hebrew, <span class="hebrew">מִדֶּרֶך רָע</span> (<span class="accented">midarek ra</span>), not necessarily, though by implication, connected with man, as in the Authorized Version. <span class="hebrew">רָע</span> (<span class="accented">ra</span>), "evil," "wicked," in an ethical sense, is an adjective, as in <a href="/jeremiah/3-16.htm">Jeremiah 3:16</a> (<span class="hebrew">לֵב רָע</span>, <span class="accented">lev ra</span>), "an evil heart;" cf. the LXX., <span class="greek">ἀπὸ ὁδοῦ κακῆς</span>; the Vulgate, Targum, and Arabic, <span class="accented">a vid mala</span>, and the Syriac, <span class="accented">a viis pravis.</span> "Way," is here used in the sense of "conduct," and the evil way is a line of conduct or action which is essentially wicked or evil. The teacher has already Warned youth against the temptations and dangers of the way of evil men in <a href="/proverbs/1-10.htm">Proverbs 1:10-15</a>; he now shows that discretion, arising from wisdom being resident in the heart, will be a sufficient safeguard against its allurements. <span class="cmt_word">From the man that speaketh froward things.</span> Perverse utterances are here brought in contradistinction to the evil way or froward conduct. <span class="accented">Man</span> (<span class="hebrew">אִשׁ</span> <span class="accented">ish</span>) is here used generically, as the representative of the whole class of base and wicked men, since all the following verbs are in the plural, <span class="accented">Froward things.</span> The word <span class="hebrew">תַּהְפֻכוֹּת</span> (<span class="accented">tah'pucoth</span>), here translated "froward things," is derived from the root <span class="hebrew">צּצּצּ</span> (<span class="accented">haphak</span>), "to turn," "to pervert," and should be translated "perverseness." Perverseness is the wilful misrepresentation of that which is good and true. The utterances are of a distorted and tortuous character. The word, only found in the plural, is abstract in form, and is of frequent, though not of exclusive, occurrence in the Proverbs. It is attributed to the Israelites in <a href="/deuteronomy/32-20.htm">Deuteronomy 32:20</a>. It is met with again in such expressions as "the mouth of perverseness," Authorized Version "froward mouth" (<a href="/proverbs/8-13.htm">Proverbs 8:13</a>); "the tongue of perverseness," "froward tongue," Authorized Version (<a href="/proverbs/10-31.htm">Proverbs 10:31</a>); "the man of perverseness," "froward man," Authorized Version (<a href="/proverbs/16-28.htm">Proverbs 16:28</a>). What is here said of wicked men is attributed to drunkards in <a href="/proverbs/23-33.htm">Proverbs 23:33</a>, "Thine heart shall utter perverse things." The expression finds its explanation in <a href="/proverbs/6-13.htm">Proverbs 6:13, 14</a>. The spirit which indulges in this perverseness is stubborn, scornful, self-willed, and rebellious, and it is from such a spirit that discretion is a preservative. In <a href="/job/5-13.htm">Job 5:13</a> it is said that "the counsel of the froward is carried headlong" (see also <a href="/2_samuel/22-27.htm">2 Samuel 22:27</a>; <a href="/psalms/18-26.htm">Psalm 18:26</a>; <a href="/psalms/101-4.htm">Psalm 101:4</a>). The LXX. rendering of this word is <span class="greek">μηδὲν πιστόν</span>, "nothing trustworthy," which is amplified in the Arabic, <span class="accented">quod nullam in se continet veritatem</span>, "that which contains in itself no truth." </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/2-13.htm">Proverbs 2:13</a></div><div class="verse">Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 13.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Who leave the paths of uprightness.</span> Between vers. 13 and 15 the teacher proceeds to give a more detailed description of those who speak perversely. <span class="accented">Who leave</span> (<span class="hebrew">הַעֹזְבִים</span> <span class="accented">haoz'vim</span>); literally, <span class="accented">forsaking</span>, but the present participle has the force of the preterite, as appears from the context. The men alluded to have already forsaken or deserted the paths of uprightness (see previous note on the word "man." <span class="accented">The paths of uprightness</span> (<span class="hebrew">אָרְחות יֹשֶׁר</span> <span class="accented">ar'khoth yosher</span>); the same as the "right paths" of ch. 4:11. The strict meaning of the Hebrew word translated "uprightness" is "straightness," and hence it stands opposed to "perverseness" in the previous verse. Uprightness is integrity, rectitude, honest dealing. The LXX. translators represent the forsaking of the paths of uprightness as a consequence resulting from walking in the ways of darkness, "O ye who have left the right ways by departing [<span class="greek">τοῦ πορεύεσβαι</span>, equivalent to <span class="accented">abeundo</span>] into the ways of darkness." Again, <span class="cmt_word">the ways of darkness</span> (<span class="hebrew">דַרְכֵי חשֶׁך</span>, <span class="accented">dar'chey kkoshek</span>) are opposed to the "paths of uprightness" which rejoice in the light. Darkness includes the two ideas of <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(1)</span> ignorance and error (<a href="/isaiah/9-2.htm">Isaiah 9:2</a>; <a href="/ephesians/5-8.htm">Ephesians 5:8</a>), and <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(2)</span> evil deeds. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>To walk in the ways of darkness, then, is to persist in a course of wilful ignorance, to reject deliberately the light of knowledge, and to work wickedness, by performing "the works of darkness (<span class="greek">τὰ ἔργα τοῦ</span> <span class="greek">σκύτους</span>)," which St. Paul exhorted the Church at Rome to east away (<a href="/romans/13-12.htm">Romans 13:12</a>), and by having fellowship with "the unfruitful works of darkness (<span class="greek">τὰ ἔργα τὰ ἀκάρπα τοῦ</span> <span class="greek">σκότους</span>)," against which the same apostle warned the Ephesians (<a href="/ephesians/5-11.htm">Ephesians 5:11</a>). They are ways of darkness, because they endeavour to hide themselves from God (<a href="/isaiah/29-15.htm">Isaiah 29:15</a>) and from man (<a href="/job/24-15.htm">Job 24:15</a>; <a href="/job/38-13.htm">Job 38:13, 15</a>). In their tendency and end they lead to the blackness of darkness forever. In Scripture darkness is associated with evil, just as light is with uprightness (see <a href="/john/3-19.htm">John 3:19, 20</a>). The same association of ideas is discoverable in the dualism of the Persian system, as formulated by Zoroaster - Ormuzd, the good principle, presides over the kingdom of light, while Ahriman, the principle of evil, is the ruler of the kingdom of darkness. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/2-14.htm">Proverbs 2:14</a></div><div class="verse">Who rejoice to do evil, <i>and</i> delight in the frowardness of the wicked;</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 14.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Who rejoice to do evil.</span> Another element is here brought forward, and the description increases in intensity. The wicked not only rejoice to do evil themselves, but they exult when they hear of evil in others (cf. <a href="/romans/1-32.htm">Romans 1:32</a>). Such may be the interpretation, though the latter part, of the verse is capable of a different and more general rendering as signifying exultation in evil generally, whether it appears in themselves or others. The expression rendered in the Authorized Version, <span class="cmt_word">in the frowardness of the wicked,</span> is in the original (<span class="hebrew">בְּתַחְפֻכות רַע</span> <span class="accented">b'thah'pucoth ra</span>), <span class="accented">in the perverseness of evil</span>, or in evil perverseness, where the combination of the two nouns serves to give force to the main idea, which is that of perverseness. This rendering is adopted in the LXX., <span class="greek">ἐπὶ διαστροφῇ κακῇ</span>, "in evil distortion;" in the Vulgate, <span class="accented">in pessimis rebus</span>; in the Targum, Syriac, and Arabic, <span class="accented">in conversatione mala</span>, "in a bad course of conduct;" and in the Targum, <span class="accented">in malitiae perversione</span>, "in the perversion of wickedness." It is not perverseness in its simple and common form that these men exult in. but in its worst and most vicious form (for a similar construction, see <a href="/proverbs/6-24.htm">Proverbs 6:24</a>; <a href="/proverbs/15-26.htm">Proverbs 15:26</a>; and Proverbs 28:5). How widely different is the conduct of charity, which "rejoiceth not in iniquity" (<a href="/1_corinthians/13-6.htm">1 Corinthians 13:6</a>)! </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/2-15.htm">Proverbs 2:15</a></div><div class="verse">Whose ways <i>are</i> crooked, and <i>they</i> froward in their paths:</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 15.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Whose ways are crooked;</span> better, perhaps, <span class="accented">who as to their ways are crooked.</span> This is the construction adopted by Fleischer, Berthean, Zockler, and others, though it may be remarked that the substantive <span class="hebrew">אֹרַח</span> (<span class="accented">orakh</span>), "way," is common gender, and may thin; agree with the adjective <span class="hebrew">עֵקֵשׁ</span> (<span class="accented">ikesh</span>), "perverse," which is masculine. The Targum, LXX., Vulgate, Syriac, and Arabic, all make "crooked" agree with "ways," do that, grammatically, the Authorized Version may be regarded as not incorrect. <span class="accented">Crooked</span> (<span class="hebrew">עִקְּשִׁים</span> <span class="accented">ik'shim</span>); <span class="accented">i.e.</span> tortuous, perverse, not straightforward, (<span class="greek">σκολιαὶ</span>, LXX.). Symmachus translates the original by <span class="greek">σκαμβαί</span>, <span class="accented">i.e.</span> "bent." Theodotion, by <span class="greek">στριβλαί</span>, "twisted, crookt? Sinners, in their perverseness, are ever winding about, turning in every direction, and changing from purpose to purpose, as wayward caprice or shifting inclination, the alternations of evil propensity, happen to dictate (Wardlaw). (For the expressions "crooked ways," see <a href="/psalms/125-5.htm">Psalm 125:5</a>.) <span class="cmt_word">And</span> they <span class="cmt_word">froward in their paths;</span> <span class="accented">i.e.</span> perverse in their paths. The root idea of the Hebrew niph. participle <span class="hebrew">וּנְלוזִים</span> (<span class="accented">vun'lozim</span>), translated "and they froward," is "to bend aside," "to turn away." They are turned aside to the right hand and to the left in their walk. The niph. participle <span class="hebrew">נָלוז</span> (<span class="accented">naloz</span>) only occurs four times in the Scriptures - here; <a href="/proverbs/3-32.htm">Proverbs 3:32</a>; <a href="/proverbs/14-2.htm">Proverbs 14:2</a>; and <a href="/isaiah/30-12.htm">Isaiah 30:12</a>. This is the last feature in their wickedness. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/2-16.htm">Proverbs 2:16</a></div><div class="verse">To deliver thee from the strange woman, <i>even</i> from the stranger <i>which</i> flattereth with her words;</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 16.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">To deliver thee from the strange woman.</span> This is the second form of temptation against which <span class="accented">wisdom</span> (discretion) is a preservative, and the great and especial dangers arising from it to youth, owing to its seductive allurements, afford the reason why the teacher is so strong in his warnings on this subject. Two terms are employed to designate the source of this evil - "the strange woman" (<span class="hebrew">אִָשה זָרָה</span>, <span class="accented">ishshah zara</span>), and "the stranger" (<span class="hebrew">נָכְרִיָה</span>, <span class="accented">nok'riyah</span>) - and both undoubtedly, in the passage before us, mean a meretricious person, one who indulges in illicit intercourse. The former term is invariably employed in this sense in the Proverbs (<a href="/proverbs/5-2.htm">Proverbs 5:2, 20</a>; <a href="/proverbs/7-5.htm">Proverbs 7:5</a>; <a href="/proverbs/22-14.htm">Proverbs 22:14</a>; <a href="/proverbs/23-33.htm">Proverbs 23:33</a>) of the adulteress (<span class="hebrew">זָרִים</span>, <span class="accented">zarim</span>), and <a href="/jeremiah/2-25.htm">Jeremiah 2:25</a>. The participle <span class="hebrew">זָר</span> (<span class="accented">zar</span>)<span class="accented">, from</span> the verb <span class="hebrew">זוּר</span> (<span class="accented">zur</span>), of which <span class="hebrew">זָרָה</span> (<span class="accented">zarah</span>) is the feminine form, is, however, used in a wider sense, as signifying <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(1)</span> one of another nation, or one of another family; <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(2)</span> or some one different from one's self; <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(3)</span> or strange. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>Thus: <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(1)</span> in <a href="/isaiah/1-7.htm">Isaiah 1:7</a> we have "Strangers devour it (your land) in your presence;" but in <a href="/exodus/30-33.htm">Exodus 30:33</a> "the stranger" is one not the high priest. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(2)</span> The "stranger" is another (<a href="/proverbs/11-15.htm">Proverbs 11:15</a>; <a href="/proverbs/14-10.htm">Proverbs 14:10</a>; <a href="/proverbs/20-16.htm">Proverbs 20:16</a>; <a href="/proverbs/27-2.htm">Proverbs 27:2, 13</a>). <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="note_emph">(3)</span> The "strange fire" (<span class="hebrew">אֵשׁ זָרָה</span>, <span class="accented">esh zarah</span>) <span class="accented">is</span> the unlawful fire as opposed to the holy fire (<a href="/leviticus/10-1.htm">Leviticus 10:1</a>); the "strange god" (<span class="hebrew">אֵל זָר</span>, <span class="accented">el zar</span>) is the foreign god (<a href="/psalms/81-9.htm">Psalm 81:9</a>). But the idea of foreign origin implied in the word is more strongly brought out in the next term, <span class="hebrew">נָכְרִיָה</span> (<span class="accented">nok'riyah</span>), on which Delitzsch remarks that it scarcely ever divests itself of a strange, foreign origin. This word is used to designate those "strange women" whom Solomon loved in his old age, and who turned his heart aside to worship false gods (<a href="/1_kings/11-1.htm">1 Kings 11:1-8</a>), "outlandish women," as they are termed in <a href="/nehemiah/13-26.htm">Nehemiah 13:26</a>; it designates "the strange wives" of <a href="/ezra/10.htm">Ezra 10</a>, and <a href="/nehemiah/13-27.htm">Nehemiah 13:27</a>; and is applied to Ruth the Moabitess (<a href="/ruth/2-10.htm">Ruth 2:10</a>). Again, it has to be further observed that the laws of the Mosaic code against prostitution were of a most stringent nature (<a href="/leviticus/19-29.htm">Leviticus 19:29</a>; <a href="/leviticus/21-9.htm">Leviticus 21:9</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/23-17.htm">Deuteronomy 23:17</a>), and no doubt served to maintain a higher standard of morality among Israelitish women than that observed among the Midianites, Syrians, and other nations. Strong prohibitions were directed against the intermarriage of Israelites with the women of the surrounding nations; but the example set by Solomon would serve to weaken the force of these prohibitions, and would lead to a large influx of women of a different nationality. The conclusion we arrive at is that the class mentioned in the text, though not Israelitish by birth, were yet so by adoption, as the context clearly indicates (ver. 17) the fact of marriage and the acceptance of certain religious observances. Such women, after a temporary restraint, would eventually set all moral and religious obligations at defiance. and would become the source of temptation to others. The allegorical interpretation given to this passage by the LXX. is to be rejected on the ground that the previous section (vers. 12-15) speaks of perverse men. Which <span class="cmt_word">flattereth with her words;</span> literally, <span class="accented">who has made smooth her words</span>, the hiph. perfect being used of <span class="hebrew">חָלַק</span> (<span class="accented">khalak</span>), "to make smooth," or "flattering." The preterite shows what her habitual practice is, and is used of an action still continuing, and so may be fitly rendered by the present, as in the Authorized Version: "She has acquired the art of enticing by flattering words, and it is her study to employ them;" cf. the Vulgate, <span class="accented">quae mollit sermones suos</span>, "who softens her words;" and the Syriac, <span class="accented">quae subvertit verba sua</span>, "who subverts her words," <span class="accented">i.e.</span> "uses deceit." The expression occurs again in <a href="/proverbs/5-3.htm">Proverbs 5:3</a>; <a href="/proverbs/6-24.htm">Proverbs 6:24</a>; <a href="/proverbs/7-5.htm">Proverbs 7:5</a>. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/2-17.htm">Proverbs 2:17</a></div><div class="verse">Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 17.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">The guide of her youth</span> (<span class="hebrew">נְעוּרֶיהָ אַלּוּפ</span>, <span class="accented">alluph n'ureyah</span>); properly, <span class="accented">the associate</span> or <span class="accented">companion of her youth.</span> The Hebrew, <span class="hebrew">אָלּוּפ</span> (<span class="accented">alluph</span>), being derived from the root <span class="hebrew">אָלַפ</span>, (<span class="accented">alaph</span>), "to accustom one's self to," or "to be accustomed to" or "familiar with" anyone. The word is rendered as "friend" in <a href="/proverbs/17-9.htm">Proverbs 17:9</a>; <a href="/proverbs/16-28.htm">Proverbs 16:28</a>; <a href="/micah/7-5.htm">Micah 7:5</a>. The idea of guidance, which is adopted in the Authorized Version, and appears also in the Vulgate <span class="accented">dux.</span> and Targum <span class="accented">ducatus</span>, is a secondary idea, and is derived probably from the relation in which the husband stands to his wife. Various interpretations have been given to the expression. It occurs again in <a href="/jeremiah/3-4.htm">Jeremiah 3:4</a>, where Jehovah applies it to himself, and says, through his prophet, to the religiously adulterous Judah, "Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My Father, thou art the Guide of my youth (<span class="hebrew">אַלּוּפ נְעֻרי</span>, <span class="accented">alluph n'ura</span>)?" It has also been understood as referring to the woman's parents, her father and mother, who were her natural guardians. But the context seems to require that it should be taken as designating her <span class="accented">husband.</span> It will then be the correlative of "the wife of thy youth" of <a href="/malachi/2-14.htm">Malachi 2:14</a>. <span class="cmt_word">The covenant of her God</span>; <span class="accented">i.e.</span> the marriage covenant, called "the covenant of her God," because entered into in his presence. The forsaking of the guide of her youth is essentially bound up with a forgetfulness of the solemn covenant which she had entered into in the presence of God. No specific mention is made in the Pentateuch of any religious ceremony at marriage; yet we may infer, from <a href="/malachi/2-14.htm">Malachi 2:14, 15</a>, where God is spoken of as "a Witness" between the husband and "the wife of his youth," "the wife of thy covenant," that the marriage contract was solemnized with sacred rites. The Proverbs thus give a high and sacred character to marriage, and so carry on the original idea of the institution which, under the gospel dispensation, developed late the principle of the indissolubility of the marriage tie. It is no objection to this view that the monogamic principle was infringed, and polygamy countenanced. The reason of this latter departure is given in <a href="/deuteronomy/22-28.htm">Deuteronomy 22:28</a> and <a href="/exodus/22-16.htm">Exodus 22:16</a>. The morality of the Proverbs always represents monogamy as the rule, it deprecates illicit intercourse, and discountenances divorce. It is in entire accordance with the seventh commandment. The woman who commits adultery offends, not only against her husband, but against her God. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/2-18.htm">Proverbs 2:18</a></div><div class="verse">For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 18.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">For her house inclineth unto death;</span> rather, <span class="accented">she sinks down to death together with her house</span> (Bottcher, Delitzsch). The objection to the Authorized Version is that it does not tbllow the construction of the original, the verb "sinks down" (<span class="hebrew">שָׁחָה</span>, <span class="accented">shakhah</span>) being feminine, while "house" (<span class="hebrew">בָיִת</span>, <span class="accented">bayith</span>) is invariably masculine. Aben Ezra translates, "She sinks down to death, (which is to be) her house;" but it seems better to regard "her house" as an adjunct of the strange woman. Her house includes all who belong to her. She and they are involved in the same fate. The Authorized Version is evidently influenced by the Vulgate, <span class="accented">Inclinata est enim ad mortem domus ejus</span>, "For her house is inclined to death." The LXX. gives a different rendering, <span class="greek">Ἕθετο γὰρ παρὰ τῷ</span> <span class="greek">θανάτῳ τὸν οϊκον αὐτῆς</span>, "For she hath placed her house beside death." So the Arabic. The "for" (<span class="hebrew">כִּי</span>, <span class="accented">ki</span>) refers back to ver. 16, and indicates how great is the deliverance effected by wisdom. The meaning of the passage is aptly illustrated by <a href="/proverbs/7-27.htm">Proverbs 7:27</a>, "Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death." <span class="cmt_word">And her paths unto the dead.</span> <span class="accented">The dead</span> (<span class="hebrew">רְפָאִים</span>, <span class="accented">r'phaim</span>) are properly the quiet, or the feeble. They are the shadowy inhabitants or shades of Hades, the <span class="accented">inferi</span> of the Vulgate, and are here put for Sheol itself. Compare the <span class="greek">ἔδωλα καμνόντων</span> of Homer, and the <span class="accented">umbrae</span>, "shades," of Virgil. The word occurs again in <a href="/proverbs/9-18.htm">Proverbs 9:18</a>; <a href="/proverbs/21-16.htm">Proverbs 21:16</a>; and in <a href="/psalms/88-11.htm">Psalm 88:11</a>; <a href="/isaiah/26-14.htm">Isaiah 26:14, 19</a>; <a href="/job/26-5.htm">Job 26:5</a>. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/2-19.htm">Proverbs 2:19</a></div><div class="verse">None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 19.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">None that go unto her return again.</span> The fate of the companions of the strange woman is described as irrevocable. All who visit her shall not return again. The Targum reads, "They shall not return in peace." The difficulty which they who give themselves up to the indulgence of lust and passion encounter in extricating themselves makes the statement of the teacher an almost universal truth. Hence St. Chrysostom says, "It is as difficult to bring back a libidinous person to chastity as a dead man to life." This passage led some of the Fathers to declare that the sin of adultery was unpardonable. Fornication was classed by the scholastic divines among the seven deadly sins, and it has this character given to it in the Litany: "From fornication, and all other deadly sin." St. Paul says, "No whoremonger nor unclean person...hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God" (<a href="/ephesians/5-5.htm">Ephesians 5:5</a>; cf. <a href="/1_corinthians/6-9.htm">1 Corinthians 6:9</a>; <a href="/revelation/22-15.htm">Revelation 22:15</a>). The sin which they commit who have dealings with the strange woman is deadly and leads on to death, and from death there is no return, nor laying hold of or regaining the paths of life (see <a href="/job/7-9.htm">Job 7:9, 10</a>). Compare the words with which Deiphobe, the Cumaean sibyl, addresses AEneas - <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="accented">"Tros Anchysiade, facilis descensus Averno<br />Sed revocare gradum superasque evadere ad auras,<br />Hoc opus, hic labor est."</span><br /><br />(<span class="note_acc">Virgil, 'AEneid,' 6:126-129.</span>) O Trojan, son of Anchyses, easy is the path that leads to hell. But to retrace one's steps, and escape to the upper regions, this is a work, this is a task. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/2-20.htm">Proverbs 2:20</a></div><div class="verse">That thou mayest walk in the way of good <i>men</i>, and keep the paths of the righteous.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 20-22.</span> - Conclusion of the discourse in which are antithetically stated the respective destinies of the good and the bad, the upright and the wicked. <span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 20.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">That</span> (Hebrew, <span class="hebrew">לְמַעַן</span> <span class="accented">l'maan</span>); <span class="accented">in order that</span> (Vulgate, <span class="accented">ut</span>), carries us back properly to ver. 11. The protecting power of wisdom is developed in a positive direction. Negatively, it delivers from the evil man and from the strange woman, but it does more - "it shall keep thee in order that thou mayest walk in a good way," etc. The Hebrew <span class="hebrew">לְמַעַן</span> (<span class="accented">l'maan</span>) is coordinate with "to deliver thee," but it serves to bring the discourse to a conclusion. Umbreit renders it "therefore," thus making what follows an inference from the preceding discourse. So the Syriac, <span class="accented">ambula igitur</span>, "therefore walk." <span class="cmt_word">In the way of good men</span> (<span class="hebrew">בְּדֶרֶך טובִים</span>, <span class="accented">b'derek tovim</span>); <span class="accented">i.e.</span> in the way of the good, in an ethical sense, <span class="accented">i.e.</span> the upright, as in <a href="/isaiah/5-20.htm">Isaiah 5:20</a>. The Vulgate renders, <span class="accented">in via bona</span>, "in the good way." "The way of good men" is the way of God's commandments, the way of obedience. <span class="cmt_word">Keep</span>. The Hebrew verb <span class="hebrew">שָׁמַר</span> (<span class="accented">shamar</span>) is here used in the sense of "to observe," "to attend to," but in a different sense from <a href="/psalms/17-4.htm">Psalm 17:4</a>, "I have observed the ways of the violent man," <span class="accented">i.e.</span> that I might avoid them. To keep the paths of the righteous is to carefully attend to the life of obedience which they follow. The LXX. closely connects this verse with the preceding, and renders, "For if they had walked in good ways, they would have found the paths of righteousness light." </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/2-21.htm">Proverbs 2:21</a></div><div class="verse">For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 21.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">For the upright shall dwell in the land.</span> Much the same language is met with in <a href="/psalms/37-29.htm">Psalm 37:29</a>, "The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein forever." It is the secure and peaceful dwelling in the land which is intended (cf. <a href="/proverbs/10-30.htm">Proverbs 10:30</a>). To dwell in the land was always put forward as the reward of obedience to God's commandments (see <a href="/exodus/20-12.htm">Exodus 20:12</a>; <a href="/leviticus/25-18.htm">Leviticus 25:18</a>; <a href="/leviticus/26-5.htm">Leviticus 26:5</a>), and the phrase conveyed to the Hebrew mind the idea of one of the greatest, if not the greatest, of all temporal blessings. The love of country was a predominant characteristic of the race. Elster, quoted by Zockler, remarks, "The Israelite was beyond the power of natural feeling, which makes home dear to every one, more closely bound to the ancestral soil by the whole form of the theocracy; torn kern it, he was in the inmost roots of life strained and broken. Especially from psalms belonging to the period of the exile this patriotic feeling is breathed out in the fullest glow and intensity." <span class="accented">The land</span> (<span class="hebrew">אָרֶצ</span> <span class="accented">arets</span>) was the promised land, the land of Canaan. The word is not used here in the wider sense in which it occurs in <a href="/matthew/5-5.htm">Matthew 5:5</a>, "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth." <span class="cmt_word">And the perfect shall remain in it;</span> <span class="accented">i.e.</span> they shall not, as Rabbi Levi remarks, be driven thence nor caused to migrate. The <span class="accented">perfect</span> (<span class="hebrew">תְמִימִים</span> <span class="accented">th'mimim</span>), the holy (LXX., <span class="greek">ὅσιοι</span>), the spotless (<span class="accented">immaeulati</span>, Targum), those without a staid (<span class="accented">qui sine labe</span>, Syriae), the guileless (<span class="accented">simplices</span>, Vulgate). <span class="accented">Shall remain</span>; <span class="hebrew">יִוָּתְרוּ</span> (<span class="accented">yivrath'ru</span>), niph. future of <span class="hebrew">יָתַר</span> (<span class="accented">yathar</span>), properly "to be redundant," and in the niph. form, "to be left," or "to remain." LXX., <span class="greek">ὑπολειφθήσαντι</span> "shall remain;" <span class="accented">permanebunt</span>, Vulgate. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/proverbs/2-22.htm">Proverbs 2:22</a></div><div class="verse">But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 22.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth.</span> The punishment of the wicked is contrasted with the blessings that are promised to the upright. <span class="accented">Shall be cut off</span>; <span class="hebrew">יִפָרֵתוּ</span> (<span class="accented">yikkarethu</span>), niph. future of <span class="hebrew">כָרַת</span> (<span class="accented">karath</span>), "to cut off, or destroy." LXX., <span class="greek">ὀλοῦνται</span>; Vulgate, <span class="accented">perdentur.</span>;The expression is used to convey the idea of extermination, as in <a href="/psalms/37-9.htm">Psalm 37:9</a> (cf. <a href="/job/18-17.htm">Job 18:17</a>; <a href="/psalms/37-28.htm">Psalm 37:28</a>; <a href="/psalms/104-35.htm">Psalm 104:35</a>). The verb is found also in <a href="/genesis/17-14.htm">Genesis 17:14</a>; <a href="/exodus/12-15.htm">Exodus 12:15</a>. <span class="accented">The earth</span>; properly, <span class="accented">the land.</span> The same word (<span class="hebrew">אַרֶצ</span> <span class="accented">arets</span>) is used as in ver. 21. <span class="cmt_word">The transgressors</span> (<span class="hebrew">בּוגְדִים</span>, <span class="accented">bog'dim</span>); here employed synonymously with "the wicked" (<span class="hebrew">יְשָׁעִים</span>, <span class="accented">y'shaim</span>), "the impious." The primary meaning of the verb from which it is derived (<span class="hebrew">בָגַד</span>, <span class="accented">bagad</span>) is "to cover," "to deal treacherously," and hence the word signifies those who act treacherously or perfidiously, the faithless. They are those who perfidiously depart from God, and break away from the covenant with Jehovah. LXX., <span class="greek">παράνομοι</span> (cf. <a href="/proverbs/11-3.htm">Proverbs 11:3, 6</a>; <a href="/proverbs/13-2.htm">Proverbs 13:2, 25</a>; <a href="/proverbs/22-12.htm">Proverbs 22:12</a>; <a href="/psalms/25-3.htm">Psalm 25:3</a>; <a href="/psalms/59-5.htm">Psalm 59:5</a>; <a href="/isaiah/33-1.htm">Isaiah 33:1</a>). Shall be rooted out (<span class="hebrew">יסֶּחוּ</span>, <span class="accented">yiss'khu</span>). This word is taken by Davidson as the future kal of <span class="hebrew">נסַה</span> (<span class="accented">nasah</span>), "to pluck up," and hence is equivalent to "they shall pluck up," or, passively, "they stroll be plucked up." Delitzsch remarks that it is as at <a href="/proverbs/15-25.htm">Proverbs 15:25</a> and <a href="/psalms/52-7.htm">Psalm 52:7</a>, active, "they shall pluck up," and this with the subject remaining indefinite is equivalent to the passive form, "they shall be plucked up." This indefinite "they" can be used of God, as also in <a href="/job/7-3.htm">Job 7:3</a> (Fleischer). The expression has been understood as referring to being driven into exile (Gesenius), and this view would be amply justified by the fate which overtook the apostate nation when both the kingdoms of Israel and Judah suffered this fate (cf. LXX. <span class="greek">ἐξωθήσονται</span>, "they shall be driven out"). It also derives colour from the language of the preceding verse, but the imagery appears to be derived from the cutting down and rooting up of trees. The destruction of the wicked and transgressors will be complete. They shall be exterminated (cf. Targum, <span class="accented">eradicabuntur</span>; Syriac <span class="accented">evellentur</span>; and Arabic, <span class="accented">exterminabuntur</span>). <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. Copyright © 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2010 by <a href="//biblesoft.com">BibleSoft, inc.</a>, Used by permission<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/">Bible Hub</a></div></div></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="left"><a href="../proverbs/1.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="Proverbs 1"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="Proverbs 1" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="../proverbs/3.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="Proverbs 3"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="Proverbs 3" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="rightbox"><div class="padright"><div id="pic"><iframe width="100%" height="860" scrolling="no" src="//biblescan.com/mpc/proverbs/2-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></div></div><div id="rightbox4"><div class="padright2"><div id="spons1"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><td class="sp1"><br /><br /></td></tr></table></div></div></div> <div id="bot"><div align="center"> <script id="3d27ed63fc4348d5b062c4527ae09445"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=51ce25d5-1a8c-424a-8695-4bd48c750f35&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script> <script id="b817b7107f1d4a7997da1b3c33457e03"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=cb0edd8b-b416-47eb-8c6d-3cc96561f7e8&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-2'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-0' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-3'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-1' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div align="center" id='div-gpt-ad-1531425649696-0'> </div><br /><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:200px;height:200px" data-ad-client="ca-pub-3753401421161123" data-ad-slot="3592799687"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script> <br /><br /> </div><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="/botmenubhpar.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></body></html>