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Proverbs 3:1-4. My son, forget not my law — My doctrine or counsel; but let thy heart keep, &c. — By diligent meditation and hearty affection. For length of days, &c. — God will add these blessings which he hath promised to the obedient, Deuteronomy 8:18; Deuteronomy 30:20; 1 Timothy 4:8. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee — That mercy and truth, which are man’s duty. Mercy denotes all benignity, charity, and readiness to do good to others; truth, or faithfulness, respects all those duties which we owe to God or man, on the principles of justice, and to which we are laid under special obligations by the rules of it. Bind them about thy neck — Like a chain, wherewith persons were wont to adorn their necks. Write them upon the table, &c. — In thy mind and heart, in which all God’s commands are to be received and engraven. So shalt thou find favour — That is, obtain acceptance, and good understanding — Whereby to know thy duty, and to discern between good and evil; in the sight of God and man — Grace or favour with God, and that understanding which is good in his sight, that is, which is really and truly good, and which will be acknowledged as such by all truly wise and good men.

Proverbs 3:5-6. Trust in the Lord with all thy heart — Wholly and securely rely upon God’s wisdom, power, and goodness, and upon his providence and promises, for direction and help in all thine affairs and dangers. Lean not to thine own understanding — Think not to accomplish thy designs by the strength of thine own understanding, without God’s blessing. Under this one kind of carnal confidence he understands all other kinds, such as confidence in bodily strength, wealth, or friends. In all thy ways — Designs and undertakings, both respecting the things of this life and those of the life to come; acknowledge him — Hebrew, דעהו, know him, namely, practically; or own him, his wisdom, by following his counsels; his power and goodness, by expecting success from him; his sovereignty, by managing all thy affairs in such a manner as to please and glorify him; and he shall direct thy steps — So that thy ways shall be safe and good, and at last have a happy issue.

Proverbs 3:7-8. Be not wise in thine own eyes — Be not puffed up with a vain conceit of thine own wisdom, as if that were sufficient for the conduct of all thine affairs, without direction and assistance from God, or without the advice of others. Fear the Lord, &c. — This he adds, because reverence for, and a dread of, the Divine Majesty, will make a man, when he compares himself with God, little and vile in his own eyes. Reverence God’s wisdom, and despise thine own. It shall be health to thy navel — To thy body, which is signified by one important part of it; and marrow to thy bones — Which is the nourishment and strength of the bones, and a great preserver and prolonger of life, as the decay of it is a chief cause of the weakness, dryness, and decay of the body. The sense of the verse is, This fear of God, or true religion, is not only necessary to the salvation of the soul, but is also calculated to promote the health of the body. For, as it prevents those diseases which are often occasioned by sinful lusts and passion, so it teaches that prudence, temperance, and sobriety, that calmness and composure of mind, that good government of the appetites and passions, which must, in the nature of things, tend to produce a good habit of body; and at the same time it gives us an interest in God’s promises, and places us under the care of his special providence.

Proverbs 3:9-10. Honour the Lord with thy substance — Lay out thy estate, not to please thyself, but to glorify God; and with the first-fruits of all thy increase — Or, with the chief, or best; which answers to the first-fruits under the law. So shall thy barns be filled with plenty — This is not the way to diminish thy estate, as covetous and profane persons allege, but rather to increase it.

Proverbs 3:11-12. My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord — Either by making light of it, or not being duly affected with it, or by accounting it an unnecessary thing; but rather esteem it a privilege and favour from God. Neither be weary of his correction — Neither think it tedious or hard, but endure it with patience and cheerfulness. For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth — Afflictions are not calamities, but benefits and comforts, because they are testimonies of God’s love, which is infinitely more desirable than any evil can be terrible. They show God’s design, desire, and care to purge us from our sins, and make us fit for his presence and kingdom. These two verses seem to be here inserted in the midst of his commendations of wisdom, to remove an objection against the excellence and happiness of wise or pious men, taken from those many afflictions to which such persons are frequently exposed, the reason of which he here gives.

Proverbs 3:13-15. Happy is the man — Notwithstanding all his afflictions; that findeth wisdom — Which supposes his diligent searching for it, expressed Proverbs 2:4. And the man that getteth — Hebrew, יפיק, that draweth out, understanding — Which expression implies two things: 1st, That man hath it not naturally in himself, but must have it from another, even from God and his word; 2d, That men should labour for it as those labour that dig and draw forth metals out of the earth. For the merchandise of it, &c. — It is more necessary and advantageous, because it is so, not only for this short life, but also for the future and everlasting life, in which gold and silver bear no price. All the things thou canst desire are not to be compared to her — For true worth and usefulness.

Proverbs 3:16-18. Length of days is in her right hand — Wisdom is here represented as a great and generous princess, distributing gifts to her subjects. She holds forth in her right hand the great blessing of health and length of days unto all those who will walk in the way to which she points; and it was but just to place this in her right hand, that is, to give it the precedence, because it was the chief promise of the law, and, indeed, unless when affliction is necessary for our chastisement, trial, or purification, the most desirable of all earthly blessings. After this follow wealth and reputation, which he places in her left hand, as inferior blessings, but which proceed also from her gift. Spiritually considered, these blessings refer to eternity, and the glories of heaven. Her ways are ways of pleasantness — Are exceeding delightful, namely, to those who know them and walk in them; whose judgment is certainly to be preferred before the contrary opinion of ungodly men, who are grossly ignorant of them, and professed enemies to them. Observe, reader, the enjoyments and entertainments of sense are not to be compared to the pleasures which gracious souls have in communion with God and doing good. And all her paths are peace — Produce a blessed tranquillity in a man’s mind and conscience, with confidence and cheerfulness in all conditions, and the joy which arises from a full persuasion that all things shall work for good here, and from a lively hope of eternal rest with God hereafter. There is not only peace in the end, but peace in the way; and not only in the way of religion in general, but in all the particular paths of that way; in all the several acts, instances, and duties of it: one does not imbitter what another sweetens, as it is with the allays of this world; but they are all peace; not only sweet, but safe, and full of quietness, assurance, and consolation, Isaiah 32:17. She is a tree of life — She is a certain pledge and means of everlasting life and happiness; to them that lay hold upon her — That eagerly pursue after her, and, when they overtake her, gladly apprehend and embrace her, as the Hebrew word here used signifies. He alludes to the tree of life in paradise, mentioned Genesis 2:9; Genesis 3:22, all right to eat of which was lost by the fall, and he here intimates that the wisdom of which he speaks is the only thing that can restore the life to us then lost. Happy is every one that retaineth her — That holds her fast, and is constantly resolved not to forsake her.

Proverbs 3:19-20. The Lord by wisdom, &c. — From human wisdom, or wisdom attainable by man, of which Solomon had hitherto treated, he now digresses to divine; thereby insinuating that it ought not to seem strange that he had said so much in praise of wisdom, and had so vehemently exhorted men to seek it, since all the works of God are effected by it; and that his readers might understand that he did not call them to the imitation of men, subject to errors and vices like themselves, but to the imitation of the divine wisdom. Although Christ be the wisdom of God, and the power of God, 1 Corinthians 1:24; and although all things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made, yet it does not appear that Solomon speaks of him here, but rather of that divine perfection of wisdom which is the fountain of wisdom in man. Observe, reader, the effects which we call natural, are the productions of the Creator’s sovereign wisdom, who formed at the beginning, and who hath preserved ever since, the universe of things, with that connected chain of causes and effects with which we are surrounded. By his knowledge the depths are broken up — The great abyss of waters mixed with, and contained in, the bowels of the earth, breaks forth into fountains and rivers for the use of men and beasts: which is justly remembered here as an illustrious effect of divine wisdom, by which the earth was made habitable and the waters serviceable. And the clouds drop down dew — Under which rain is comprehended, as being of the same nature and use.