Commentari biblici

My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:

My son, forget not. — We should be able to say to wisdom, as Coenis did to her Lady Antonia, Frustra, domina, iussisti: haec enim atque caetera omnia quae mihi imperas, ira semper in memoria habeo ut ex ea deleri non possint. Dio, in Respons. You need not, madam, bid me do your business, for I so remember your commands, as I need never be minded of them.

I am ready, to my power, to do your pleasure.

But let thine heart keep. — As the ark kept the two tables; as the pot kept the hidden manna.

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For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.

For length of days. — A sweet mercy, and generally desired. Psalms 34:12 Short life is reckoned as a curse, Psalms 89:47 yet in some cases it is a blessing. 1 Kings 14:13 Isaiah 57:1 Wκυμοροι οι θεοφιλεις - God taketh away his from the evil to come, Oν φιλει φεος, θνησκει νεος . - Dion. Prus. Orat. 28. as, when there is a fire in a house or town, men carry out their jewels; but then God makes them up in his cabinet. "They do enter into peace"; their souls go to heaven; "they rest in their beds"; Isaiah 57:2 their bodies rest sweetly and safely in the grave till the resurrection of the just. And is not this far better than the longest life here? Length of days may prove a curse, when it brings shame, sorrow, …, as it did to Cain, Ham, …

And peace shall they add to thee. — Without which to live is nothing else but to lie dying. Rebecca, for want of this, was weary of her life; so was Elijah when he sat under the juniper tree. "All the days of the afflicted are evil." Proverbs 15:15 Sυνοικουσι, ου συμβιουσι ; they dwell together; they do not live together, said Themistocles of married folk that agree not. Non ille diu vixit, sed diu fuit, said Seneca of one. And again, Non multum navigavit, sed multum iactatus est; He was tossed much up and down, but sailed not far, as being driven about by contrary winds.

Shall they add to thee. — Multiplicem pacem significat, saith one. "Peace, peace," as in Isaiah 26:3 ; that is, a multiplied peace; with God, with one’s self, with others; or a renewed continued peace, today, tomorrow, and every day; or a perfect, sheer, pure peace.

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Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:

Let not mercy and truth forsake thee, — That is, True mercy; not that which is natural or moral only, but that which is right, both quoad fontem, and quoad finem. They that do otherwise, as heathens and hypocrites, lay up their treasure in the eyes and ears of men, which is a chest that hath neither lock nor key to keep it.

Bind them. — That is, My commandments. He seems to allude to Deuteronomy 6:8 . See Trapp on " Deuteronomy 6:8 "

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So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.

So shalt thou find favour. — As did Joseph, Moses, David. He was a man after God’s own heart, and whatsoever he did pleased the people. It is God that gives credit; he fashioneth men’s opinions, and inclineth their hearts, as Ezra oft acknowledges with much thankfulness. Ezra 7:27-28

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Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

Trust in the Lord. — To trust in God is to be unbottomed of thyself, and of every creature, and so to lean upon God, that if he fail thee thou sinkest. Confidence is the least, and yet the best we can render to the Lord, for hereby we acknowledge his sovereignty, and set the crown upon his head, as it were. See Judges 9:15 .

And lean not to thine own understanding. — Which, because men do, hence it is, many times, that the fairest blossoms of their endeavours wither, and the unprobablest things do come to pass. God loves to confute men in their confidences, as he did the Philistines in their champion Goliath. We must not, therefore, trust - no, not trust itself - but God, on whom it relies, who is therefore called our trust. They trust not God at all that do it not alone. He that stands with one foot on a rock, and another foot upon a quicksand, will sink and perish as certainly as he that stands with both feet on a quicksand. "Lord, lead me to a rock that is higher than I," saith David. Whither, when he was once got, then he sat and sang, "The Lord is my rock and my salvation." Psalms 27:1 Surely, as one said of general councils, they seldom were successful, because men came with confidence, leaning to their own understanding, and seeking for victory rather than verity. So it holds as true in other like cases.

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In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

In all thy ways acknowledge him. — Ask counsel at his mouth, aim at his glory, be evermore in the sense of his presence, and light of his countenance. It is reported of a worthy divine of Scotland, Zaccheus Convert. preface. that he did even eat and drink and sleep eternal life. This is to walk with God; this is to live by faith; this is to see him that is invisible (Moses’s optic); this is to go the upper way, even that "way of life that is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath." Proverbs 15:24 See Trapp on " Proverbs 15:24 "

And he shall direct thy paths. — As he carefully chose out the Israelites’ way in the wilderness; not the shortest, but yet the safest for them. So will God do for all that make him their guide. The Athenians had a conceit that their goddess Minerva turned all their evil counsels into good unto them. The Romans thought that their Vibilia (another heathenish deity) set them again in their right way, when at any time they were out. All this, and more than this, is undoubtedly done by the true God for all that commit their ways unto him, and depend upon him for direction and success. "Lo, this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death." Psalms 48:14

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Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.

Be not wise in thine own eyes. — Bis desipit qui sibi sapit. He is two fools that is wise in his own eyes. This δοκησισοφια mars all. Socrates’s Hoc scio quod nihil scio, got him the name of the wisest among men. Consilii satis in me mihi Arachne apud Ovid. Metamor, lib. vi. is the proud man’s posy. "He that would be wise, must be a fool, that he may be wise." 1 Corinthians 3:18 Intus existens prohibet alienum. A conceit of wisdom bars out wisdom.

Fear the Lord. — This makes a modest opinion of a man’s self. Joseph, a man famous for the fear of God, when Pharaoh expected from him an interpretation of his dream, as having heard much of his skill, "It is not in me," said he; "God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace." Genesis 41:16 Lo he extenuates his own gifts, and ascribes all to God. Wherefore suddenly after, as Joseph had said to Pharaoh, "Without me shall God make answer to Pharaoh," so Pharaoh is heard say to Joseph, "Without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt." Genesis 41:44 So that here was exemplified that holy proverb, "By humility and the fear of the Lord, are riches, and honour, and life." Proverbs 22:4 The original runs thus, By humility the fear of the Lord are riches, … There is no and in the Hebrew. Humility and the fear of the Lord are so near akin (this being the mother of that), as if the one were predicated of the other, as if they were one and the same grace.

And depart from evil. — Another effect of this "clean" fear of God, as David calleth it. Psalms 19:9 Cave, spectat Cato, was a watchword among the Romans. A reverend and religious man had these words following written before him in his study, Noli peccare: Nam Deus videt, Angeli astant, Diabolus accusabit, Conscientia testabitur, Infernus cruciabit. Take heed of sin, for God seeth thee, angels stand by thee, the devil will accuse thee, thy conscience will testify against thee, and hell will torture thee. But besides all this, "there is mercy with God that he may be feared"; Psalms 130:4 and "the children of Israel shall fear the Lord and his goodness." Hosea 3:5

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It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.

It shall be health to thy navel. — That is, Thou shalt be in good plight both for the outward and inward man: Thy bones full of marrow, thy breasts full of milk, thy spirit also lively and lifted up in the ways of the Lord. And as it is with children in the womb (for to these is the allusion here), that by the navel nourishment is ministered unto them, yea, even to the strengthening of the inward parts: so the godly in the Church are fed and bred by the faith and fear of God. And as without marrow in the bones, no part of man, no, not that which is of greatest value and force, is able to do any thing: Munster, Mercer, T. W., and others, in loc. so the strength that they have from God, is as the marrow which strengtheneth the bones, and maketh them apt to do good things. And as a man that hath his bones filled with marrow, and hath abundance of good blood and fresh spirits in his body, can endure to go with less clothes than another, because he is well lined within: so it is with a heart that hath a great deal of grace and peace; he will go through difficulties and troubles, though outward comforts fail him. It is recorded of Mr Saunders, martyr, Acts and Mon., fol. 1358. that himself should tell the party that lay in the same bed with him in prison, that even in the time of his examination before Stephen Gardiner, he was wonderfully comforted, not only in spirit, but also in body, he received a certain taste of that holy communion of saints, while a most pleasant refreshing did issue from every part and member of the body to the seat and place of the heart, and from thence did ebb and flow to and fro unto all the parts again.

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