THE PROTECTIVE POWER OF WISDOM
“The ‘alphabetic’ poem is a single sentence consisting of 22 verses, matching the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet, probably to suggest its completeness.”
-Bruce Waltke
Proverbs 2 King James Version (KJV)
“My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: He is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints. Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path. When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things; Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness; Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked; Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words; Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God. For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life. That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous. For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it. But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.”
-Psalm 2 (KJV)
“My son, if thou wilt receive my words,” In the first chapter of Proverbs Solomon began to speak to his son, instructing him in the ways of wisdom. Here he continues the teaching, appealing to his son to “receive my words” and to “hide my commandments.” Wisdom can never benefit if it is not received and treasured.
“The search, strenuous as it must be, is not unguided. Its starting-point is revelation—specific (words) and practical (commandments); its method is not one of free speculation, but of treasuring and exploring received teachings so as to penetrate to their principles.”
-A. Kidner
“‘Accept’ [receive] is paralleled with ‘store up’ [hide], a figure that implies that most teaching cannot be used immediately but that some time will pass before education’s effects are felt.”
-D. Ross
“Hide my commandments with thee.”
“God’s intention is that you and I make His wisdom our own. We are to learn it from the Bible. Nobody is to know it in our stead. Pastors are charged by God with helping us to grow, but we must make His Word ours, so as to keep it ‘with’ us.”
-K. Philipps
“Hide my commandments with thee.”
“He who has the rule of his duty only in his Bible and in his head, is not likely to be a steady, consistent character; his heart is not engaged, and his obedience, in any case, can be only forced, or done from a sense of duty: it is not the obedience of a loving, dutiful child, to an affectionate father. But he who has the word of God in his heart, works from his heart; his heart goes with him in all things, and he delights to do the will of his heavenly Father, because his law is in his heart.”
-A.C. Clarke
“And apply thine heart to understanding.” This implies effort. The heart must be applied to understanding. It won’t happen by accident. This wisdom, discernment, and understanding must be sought out as if it were silver and “hid treasures.”
In these few verses Solomon described many ways that we must seek after wisdom. The one who pursues wisdom in this way will not be disappointed.
“But this search must be serious, strenuous. The way of wisdom is never revealed to triflers.”
J.P. -Morgan
“There must be willingness and desire to know. To this must be added diligence. The illuminative phrases are ‘cry,’ ‘lift up thy voice,’ ‘seek,’ ‘search.’ All indicate desire, expressing itself in devotion.”
J. P. Morgan
“Apply thine heart to understanding.”
“Attention of body, intention of mind, and retention of memory, are indispensably desired of all wisdom’s scholars; such as King Edward VI, who constantly stood up at the hearing of the word, took notes, which he afterwards diligently perused, and wrought the sermon upon his affections by meditation.”
-V. Trapp
“Seekest her as silver:
“Refers to silver as mined and smelted, not as a precious metal in its native state.”
-W. Waltke
“If you seekest her as silver.”
“With the same unwearied diligence, and earnest desire, and patient expectation under all delays, disappointments, and difficulties, which worldlings use in the purchase of riches, or in digging in mines of silver.”
-D. Poole
“How do men seek money? What will they not do to get rich? Reader, seek the salvation of thy soul as earnestly as the covetous man seeks wealth; and be ashamed of thyself, if thou be less in earnest after the true riches than he is after perishing wealth.”
-A.C. Clarke
Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord.” Solomon established the principle that the “fear of the Lord” is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom.. Here he teaches us that without the effort to seek out wisdom, we will lack in our “fear of the Lord” and “knowledge of God.”
“The knowledge of God.” In short, “knowledge of God” refers to personal intimacy with Him through obedience to His word as we see in The First Book of Samuel:
“Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed unto him.”
-1 Samuel 3:7 (KJV)
“For the Lord giveth wisdom.” This explains why the “fear of the Lord” is the foundation of wisdom, and an essential aspect of the pursuit of wisdom. True wisdom is found in Him, and He giveth it.
“Out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.” The most significant way God gives wisdom is from the words of “His mouth.” His word reveals “knowledge and understanding.” In His word “He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous.”
“He is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.” God not only gives wisdom in His word; He actively works to defend, guard and preserve those who walk in His ways.
“Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity.” The sense is that we need this defense from God to gain this proper understanding. There are so many wrong ideas about in the world that we will never hold on to what is wise and true without being defended against the false and foolish.
“He who is taught of God understands the whole law of justice, mercy, righteousness, and truth; God has written this on his heart. He who understands these things by books only is never likely to practise or profit by them.”
-A.C. Clarke
“When wisdom entereth into thine heart.” Solomon mentioned the idea of protection relevant to wisdom. Now he explains that something happens when we gain wisdom, when we value God’s knowledge, it is “pleasant unto thy soul.”
“Wisdom gives both pleasure and surefootedness in life. The more wisdom one learns, the more one desires and enjoys it. The protection wisdom gives, moreover, is that it keeps its follower from making decisions that will later bring only regret.”
-A. Garrett
“Spiritual joy mortifies sin. His mouth hankers not after homely provision that hath lately tasted of delicate sustenance. Pleasure there must be in the ways of God, because therein men let out their souls into God, that is the fountain of all good; hence they so infinitely distaste sin’s tasteless fooleries.”
-V Trapp
“Discretion shall preserve thee.” We need God’s protection to gain wisdom, but wisdom also protects us. “Understanding shall keep thee” from many foolish and harmful consequences in life.
“To deliver thee from the way of the evil man.” Wisdom will keep us from going evil ways, and from associating with “the man that speaketh froward things.” Our fallen nature may be attracted to perverse things, but wisdom will guard us from leaving that path: “who leave the paths of uprightness.”
“The promised protection is first defined as deliverance from apostate men who have opted for dark and crooked paths instead of the father’s bright and straight ways.”
-W. Waltke
“Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked.” Fallen nature is not only attracted to what is evil and perverse, it rejoices and delights in it. Shame is cast away and what is wrong and twisted is celebrated. This celebration of perversity is no unique to our time, but it certainly marks our present age.
“They rejoice, the outward parallel of their joy within, expresses exuberant, enthusiastic, spontaneous shouts of joy, like those heard in bawdy theaters and bloody stadiums.”
-W. Waltke
“Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths.” Wisdom protects us from these evil men. If not protected by wisdom, their crooked ways will come to harm us, and we will suffer from their devious character.
“To deliver thee from the strange woman.” Here Solomon especially spoke to his son, who could be easily deceived and trapped by “the strange woman.” Wisdom could protect him from her.
The Bible’s wisdom is much more sophisticated than much of popular thinking in today’s world. Today there is the tendency to view things without nuance; for example, to think of all women as victims to all men. This rejects the idea of “the strange woman,” thinking that if there is a sexual liaison between a man and a woman, he must be the perpetrator and she must be the victim. The Bible recognizes that human beings and human relationships are far more complicated than that.
“The stranger which flattereth with her words.” Before Solomon described this immoral woman in any other way, he wrote of her as a seductress who uses words to seduce. The Song of Solomon shows us that King Solomon knew the power of the female form, but there is also great power in the flattering words of the seductress.
“The subtlety of the appeal comes from flattering speech. The adulteress talks smoothly; an example of such talk is found in Proverbs 7:
“ I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows. Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee. I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves. For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey: He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed.”
-Proverbs 7:14-20 (KJV)
“Which forsaketh the guide of her youth.” The immoral woman Solomon had in mind had a past record of disloyalty and unfaithfulness. This was evident not only among men; “the guide of her youth,” but even more importantly in relation to God (and forgetteth the covenant of her God).
“Marriage is a mixed covenant, partly religious and partly civil: the parties tie themselves first to God, and then to one another. The bond is made to God, who also will be ready enough to take the forfeiture.”
-V. Trapp
“For her house inclineth unto death.” This is an important part of wisdom’s protection, to see where a path leads. Time with the flattering seductress seems wonderful, but wisdom helps us to understand where it leads, and that is “unto death.”
Matthew Poole wrote of many ways that “her house inclineth unto death.”
“By wasting a man’s vital spirits, and shortening his life; by exposing him to many and dangerous diseases, which physicians have declared and proved to be the effects of inordinate lust; as also to the fury of jealous husbands or friends, and sometimes to the sword of civil justice, and undoubtedly, without repentance, to God’s wrath and the second death.”
-M. Poole
“The woman who abandons herself to prostitution soon contracts, and generally communicates, that disease, which, above all others, signs the speediest and most effectual passport to the invisible world.”
-A.C. Clarke
“Her paths unto the dead.”
“Those who enter the house of the immoral woman, on the other hand, find only the ghosts of those who preceded them and discover too late that there is no exit.”
-M. Garrett
“None that go unto her return again.” As with many statements in the Proverbs, this is not only an absolute promise, but also a true principle. Solomon had seen many go down the path of death with an immoral woman, never to return to the way of wisdom.
“That go unto her,” is also seen thusly in The Book of Genesis:
“And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.”
-Genesis 16:2 (KJV)
“There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.”
-Genesis 6:4 (KJV)
specifically referring to sexual intercourse.
A life early given to promiscuity and sexual sin is much more difficult to reclaim. It is far better to never go down such paths. That is why Solomon warned, “none that go unto her return again.”
“Adulterers and whoremongers are very rarely brought to repentance, but are generally hardened by the power and deceitfulness of that lust, and by God’s just judgment, peculiarly inflicted upon such persons.”
-M. Poole
“The transgressors shall be rooted out of it.” Solomon reminded his son of the consequences of the path of the seductress. It invites the discipline or the judgment of God, who according to His covenant with Israel promised that “the upright shall dwell in the land,” but “the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.” These consequences give us a clear choice; one or the other.
“There’s a price to pay if we would gain spiritual wisdom, but there’s an even greater price to pay if we don’t gain it. We must walk with God through the study of His Word.”
-W. Wiersbe
“For the upright shall dwell in the land.” Here the wise man speaks after the manner of Moses’ law, under which he lived as we see in The Book of Deuteronomy:
“Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I command you this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, whither ye go to possess it.”
-Deuteronomy 11:8 (KJV)
“Here the wicked will be cut off because they defile the earth and threaten the relationship of the righteous with their God.”
-W. Waltke
-God bless!
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