聖書注解書

Verses 1-36. - 14. Fourteenth admonitory discourse concerning Wisdom - her excellence, her origin, her gifts. She is contrasted with the strange woman of ch. 7, and the exceeding greatness of the blessings which she offers exhibits in the most marked manner the nothingness of the deceiver's gifts. One is reminded of the celebrated episode of the choice of Hercules, delineated by Xenophon, 'Memorab.,' 2:1. 21, etc. The chapter divides itself into four sections.

(1) Introductory (vers. 1-3); Wisdom calls on all to listen, and gives reasons for trusting to her (vers. 4-11).

(2) She displays her excellence (vers. 12-21).

(3) She discourses of her origin and action (vers. 22-31).

(4) She again inculcates the duty of hearkening to her instructions (vers. 32-36). Verse 1. - Doth not Wisdom cry? (see on Proverbs 1:20, and Introduction). The interrogative form, which expects an affirmative answer, is a mode of asserting a truth universally allowed. Wisdom is personified, though we are not so plainly confronted by an individual, as in the preceding case of the harlot. But it must be remembered that, whatever may have been the author's exact meaning, however worldly a view the original enunciation may have afforded, we, reading these chapters by the light cast upon them by later revelation, see m the description of Wisdom no mere ideal of practical prudence and good sense, no mere poetic personification of an abstract quality, but an adumbration of him who is the Wisdom of God, the coeternal Son of the Father. The open, bold, and public utterances of Wisdom are in happy contrast to the secret and stealthy enticements of Vice. So Christ, the true Wisdom, says, "I have spoken openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogues, and in the temple, where all the Jews come together; and in secret spake I nothing" (John 18:20). The Septuagint changes the subject of this verse, and makes the pupil addressed: "Thou shalt proclaim (κηρύξεις) wisdom, that understanding (φρόνησις) may obey thee;" which seems to mean that, if you wish to acquire wisdom, so that it may serve you practically, you must act as a herald or preacher, and make your desire generally known. St. Gregory has some remarks about wilful ignorance of what is right. "It is one thing," he says, "to be ignorant; another to have refused to learn. For not to know is only ignorance; to refuse to learn is pride. And they are the less able to plead ignorance in excuse, the more that knowledge is set before them, even against their will. We might, perhaps, be able to pass along the way of this present life in ignorance of this Wisdom, if she herself had not steed in the corners of the way" ('Moral.,' 25:29).

Verse 2. - She standeth in the top of high places, by the way. She takes her stand, not in thievish corners of the streets, like the harlot, but in the most open and elevated parts of the city, where she may be best seen and heard by all who pass by (see Proverbs 1:21, and note there). In the places of the paths; i.e. where many paths converge, and where people meet from different quarters.

Verse 3. - The expressions in the text indicate the position which she takes and its capabilities. At the hand of the gates (1 Samuel 19:3). She posts herself at the side of the city gates, under the archway pierced in the wall, where she is sure of an audience. At the mouth of the city, inside the gate, where people pass on their way to the country. At the coming in at the doors, by which persons enter the town. Thus she catches all comers, those who are entering, as well as those who are leaving the city. Here standing, as in the Agora or Forum, she crieth; she calls aloud, saying what follows (vers. 4-36). It is a fine picture of the comprehensiveness of the gospel, which is meant for high and low, prince and peasant; which is proclaimed everywhere, in the courts of kings, in the lanes of the country, in the hovels of the city; which sets forth the infinite love of God, who is not willing that any should perish, but would have all men come to the knowledge of the truth (2 Peter 3:9). Septuagint, "By the gates of the mighty she sits, in the entrances she sings aloud (ὑμνεῖται)."

Verses 4-11. - She summons various classes of persons to attend to her, showing how trustworthy she is, and how precious her instruction. Verse 4. - Unto you, O men, I call. "Men," ishim (אִישִׁים); equivalent to ἄνδρες, viri, men in the highest sense, who have some wisdom and experience, but need further enlightenment (Isaiah 53:3; Psalm 141:4). The sons of man; בְּנֵי אָדָם, "children of Adam;" equivalent to ἄνθρωποι, homines, the general kind of men, who are taken up with material interests. St. Gregory notes ('Moral ,' 27:6) that persons (heroines) of perfect life are in Scripture sometimes called "men" (viri). And again, "Scripture is wont to call those persons 'men' who follow the ways of the Lord with firm and steady steps. Whence Wisdom says in the Proverbs, 'Unto you, O men, I call.' As if she were saying openly, 'I do not speak to women, but to men; because they who are of an unstable mind cannot at all understand my words'" ('Moral.,' 28:12, Oxford transl.).

Verse 5. - O ye simple, understand wisdom. "The simple," those not yet perverted, but easily influenced for good or evil. See on Proverbs 1:4, where also is explained the word ormah, used here for "wisdom;" equivalent to calliditas in a good sense, or πανουργία, as sometimes employed in the Septuagint; so here: νοήσατε ἄκακοι πανουργίαν, "subtlety." Ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart. For "fools" (khesilim), the intellectually heavy and dull, see on Proverbs 1:22. The heart is considered the seat of the mind or understanding (comp. Proverbs 15:32; Proverbs 17:16, etc.). Septuagint, "Ye that are untaught, take in heart (ἔνθεσθε καρδίαν)." The call thus addressed to various classes of parsons is like the section in 1 John 2, "I write unto you. little children," etc.

Verse 6. - I will speak of excellent things; de rebus magnis, Vulgate; σεμνὰ γὰρ ἐρῶ, Septuagint. The Hebrew nagid is elsewhere used of persons; e.g. a prince, leader (1 Samuel 9:16; 1 Chronicles 26:24); so it may here be best translated "princely," "noble" - an epithet which the subject matter of Wisdom's discourse fully confirms (comp. Proverbs 22:20, though the word there is different). Hitzig and others, following the Syriac, prefer the meaning, "plain, evident truths" (comp. ver. 9); but the former interpretation is most suitable. The opening of my lips shall be right things. That which I announce when I open my mouth is just and right (Proverbs 23:16). Septuagint.

Verse 7. - Another coordinate reason for attention. My mouth; chek, "palate" (Proverbs 5:3, where see note); the organ of speech. Shall speak truth; emeth (see on Proverbs 3:3). The verb הָגָה (hagah) properly means "to speak with one's self," "to meditate;" and so the versions translate here, meditabitur, μελετήσει; but this idea is not appropriate to the word joined with it, "the palate," and it must be taken to signify to utter, as in Psalm 35:28; Psalm 37:30, etc. Wickedness is an abomination to my lips. Resha, "wickedness," is the contrary of moral truth and right. Septuagint, "False lips are abominable in my sight."

Verse 8. - In righteousness; i.e. joined with righteousness equivalent to "righteous." In Proverbs 3:16 the Septuagint has an addition which may perhaps be an echo of this passage: "Out of her mouth proceedeth righteousness, and she beareth upon her tongue law and mercy." But more probably it is derived partly from Isaiah 45:23, and partly from Proverbs 31:26. There is nothing froward or perverse in them. In the utterance of Wisdom there is nothing crooked, no distortion of the truth; all is straightforward and direct.