Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible · Proverbs Chapter 8

Proverbs 8:1. Doth not wisdom cry, &c.— We may consider this chapter as connected with the preceding, and making one continued discourse. The wise man has represented in what goes before, the dangerous seductions of pleasure, in the language of an adulterous woman. Here he describes wisdom inviting us to her love, in a noble, grand, elevated discourse, and by magnificent promises of the most solid advantages. From the 1st verse to the 12th she commends her doctrine and precepts; from the 12th to the 32nd she extols her divine and excellent works; and from the 32nd to the end, she invites to the search of her by the view of the richest recompences. Some of the ancient fathers who have written against the Arians, and many of the most able and pious moderns, understand by this eternal wisdom the second person of the Divine Trinity; so as to apply some part of the attributes of this wisdom to the divinity, and some to the humanity of the Son of God. See Calmet.

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Proverbs 8:2. By the way, &c.— Upon the way, within, or amidst the paths. The LXX read, She hath stood in the middle of the paths.

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Proverbs 8:10. Receive my instruction, and not silver— Rather than silver; that is to say, preferably to silver; or it may be, "Give not your heart to money, if you would possess wisdom." It is impossible to join these two things, the love of this world, and the love of wisdom.

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Proverbs 8:12. And find out knowledge of witty inventions— And penetrate the knowledge of right things. Schultens; who observes, that the first clause contains a very splendid image, "I wisdom inhabit prudence." So Jehovah is said to inhabit eternity. Calmet says, that the last clause, according to the Hebrew, is, And have invented the knowledge of thoughts; or of prudence, of reflection, of the judicious attention of wise men. It is the eternal wisdom which speaks here. It is she from whom proceed all the lights, and all the knowledge of the wise; all that is true and useful in the understanding and inventions of the human spirit; but, above all, the sciences which tend to holiness and virtue, and which have God for their end.

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Proverbs 8:14. Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom— Good government: Houbigant; who renders the next clause, Prudence is mine; mine is fortitude.

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Proverbs 8:15. By me kings reign— All authority and power come from God; and all those who are established over others have received from the author of this wisdom all their superiority. Whether God gives a prince in his anger, or in his mercy, it is he who hath established him; nor can they worthily exercise their power without the succours and assistance of wisdom. A prince may be a prince without having wisdom; but without it, he can neither be a good nor a happy prince. Wisdom is the very first of royal qualities. "The best and most excellent present which God can give to men, is a just and virtuous prince, and one like himself:" Nullum est praestabilius et pulchrius Dei munus erga mortales, quam castus, sanctus, et Deo smillimus princeps, says Pliny in his Panegyric of Trajan.

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Proverbs 8:17. I love them that love me— In order to seek for wisdom with the earnestness that she merits, we must know her, and love her: we must by our continual prayers seek for this excellent good, and intreat God to increase in us the love of wisdom, holiness, and virtue; because, in proportion as this love increases, wisdom will more abundantly communicate herself to us; and the more early in life we begin this search, the more shall we engage the love, and consequently the encouragement, of this divine and blessed monitor.

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Proverbs 8:22. The Lord possessed me in the beginning— All this, says Calmet, respects the Eternal Wisdom, the Word of the Father. This verse is very similar to John 1:1. The LXX render it, He created me the beginning of his ways; which many interpreters refer to the Incarnate wisdom. The word which Calmet renders, from the LXX, created, is εκτισε, which may certainly as well signify, agreeably to the Hebrew and Aquila, He possessed, or established, or ordained, or created.

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Proverbs 8:23. I was set up from everlasting— According to the Hebrew, I have been anointed from all eternity; which is particularly applicable to Jesus Christ, the anointed of the Father.

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Proverbs 8:26. Highest part— Sum, or first atom. Schultens.

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Proverbs 8:30. As one brought up with him— The Hebrew signifies, As one co-operating, or working with him. This sense is favoured by the LXX, who read, I was harmonizing, or disposing things together with him. The French render it, I was with him and regulated all things. The expression in the next clause denotes the facility, the pleasure, the address of the Almighty work-master, and of Wisdom, by whom, and with whom he created all things; and the admirable variety of the works of nature, where the wisdom of the Creator appears to have rejoiced with so much order and beauty. See Calmet.

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Proverbs 8:31. My delights were with the sons of men— The wisdom of God communicated itself to men, preferably to all other sensible creatures here below; having given to them alone intelligence, and a soul capable of the illumination of prudence, and the practice of holiness and virtue. The Son of God, the Eternal Wisdom abundantly proved his delight to be with the sons of men, when for their instruction and salvation he took upon him a human form. See Bar 3:37. Calmet.

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