Proverbs
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Introduction[i]
The
Book of Proverbs gives us the application of that wisdom which created the
heavens and the earth to the details of life in this world of confusion and evil.
This thought brings out the immensity of grace unfolded here. God deigns to
apply His wisdom to the circumstances of our practical life, and to shew us,
with His own intelligence, the consequences of all the ways in which man may
walk. For it is often in the way of knowledge, not of precept, that the
statements made in the Book of Proverbs are presented. It is a great blessing
to be provided for in the labyrinth of this world, in which a false step may
lead to such bitter consequences, with a book that sets forth the path of
prudence and of life; and that in connection with a wisdom which comes from
God.
It
is well to remember that the Book of Proverbs treats of this world, and of
God's government, according to which man reaps that which he has sown. This is
always true, whatever may be the sovereign grace that bestows on us things
beyond and infinitely above this world.
Solomon
was filled with wisdom from above, but which had its exercise in this world,
and its application to it; that is to say, which applied to it God's way of
viewing all things, discerning the truth of all that, day by day, is developed
in it. We have here the ways of God, the divine path of human conduct, the
discernment of that which the heart of man produces, and of its consequences;
and also-for one who is subject to the word-the means of avoiding the path of
his own will and of his own foolish heart (which is unable to understand the
bearing of a multitude of actions that it suggests to him), and this, not by
bringing him back to moral perfection-for that is not the object of the
Proverbs; but to that wisdom and prudence which enable him to avoid many
errors, and to maintain a serious walk before God, and an habitual submission
to His mind. The precepts of this book establish practical happiness in this
world by maintaining earthly relationships in their integrity according to God.
Now it is not human prudence and sagacity that are enjoined. The fear of the
Lord, [See Note #1]
which is the beginning of wisdom, is the subject here.
Note #1:
I have
left "Lord" here as an expression of general application, but Jehovah
is always His name in Israel, and that of government, save in a few cases where
Adonai (Lord, in the proper appellative use of it) is employed. But it is to be
noted that Jehovah is used in Proverbs, because it is authoritatively
instructive in known relationship; never in Ecclesiastes, where it is God in
contrast with man, having his own experience as such on earth. "God"
abstractedly is only once used in Proverbs (Pro_25:2).
We have "her God" in Pro_2:17.
Summary[ii]
This collection of
sententious sayings is divine wisdom applied to the earthly conditions of the
people of God. That the Proverbs were Solomon's (Pro_1:1)
implies no more than that he gathered into orderly arrangement sayings already
current amongst the people, the wisdom of the Spirit, perhaps through many
centuries (Ecc_12:9). Chapters 25-29
were current in Hezekiah's time (Ecc_25:1).
Chapters 30 and 31 are by Agur and Lemuel.
The book is in six parts:
1. To sons (Proverbs 1-7).
2. The praise of wisdom (Proverbs 8-9).
3. The folly of sin (Proverbs 10-19).
4. Warnings and instructions (Proverbs 20-29).
5. The words of Agur (Proverbs 30).
6. The words of King Lemuel (Proverbs 31).