image. Proverbs make clear that the Almighty, not by his hands and strength of arm, but by wisdom founded the earth and by understanding established the heavens; and then it is pointed out that God created the mind and purpose, all the higher of Proverbs. faculties of man, wherein man most resembles The Teaching his creator and shares his nature,-a lamp of Jehovah is man's spirit. This point, made explicit, shows how necessarily man's faculties and ways lie within the compass of Jehovah's purpose, and cannot, because linked with that infinite purpose, be fully understood by man himself; man's goings are of Jehovah, how can man understand his way? But Jehovah comprehends it. Sheol and destruction are clear in Jehovah's sight; how much more the hearts of men.' Wisdom is God's plan; the spirit of wisdom in the heart of man is that which enables him to observe God's way and fall in with it. Those who fear him listen while Wisdom declares his plan and will. She stands and cries in the city-gates, ready to pour out her spirit, the spirit of God's truth, on man.' "Unto you, O men, I call, And my voice is to the sons of men. For my mouth shall utter truth; And wickedness is an abomination to my lips. All the words of my mouth are righteousness. Receive my instruction, and not silver; Wisdom, God's Plan. And all things that may be desired are not to be compared with her. 1 iii, 19. 2 xx, 27, cf. xx, 12. 3 xx, 24, cf. xxi, I. 'i, 20, etc. The fear of Jehovah is to hate evil : And princes decree justice. I love them that love me, And those that seek me diligently shall find me. Durable riches and righteousness. Jehovah formed' me in the beginning of his way When he established the heavens, I was there; When the fountains of the deep became strong, When he gave to the sea its bound, That the waters should not transgress his commandment; When he appointed the foundations of the earth; Then I was by him, as a master-workman, And I was daily his delight, Rejoicing always before him, Rejoicing in his habitable earth : And my delight was with the sons of men. Now therefore, my sons, hearken unto me; For blessed are they that keep my ways. And refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, Watching daily at my gates, Waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso findeth me findeth life, And shall obtain favor of Jehovah ; The rendering of the margin of the Revised Version. Ewald also renders "schuf." But he that misseth me wrongeth his own soul, The thought-sequence of this chapter is plain: Listen and understand, ye sons of men; my mouth utters truth, utters righteousness, utters that which stands and shall stand in and by the fear of Jehovah; counsel is mine; by me kings reign; seek me and ye shall find me and wealth and honor; I walk in paths of justice that I may bless those who love me,-the righteous. I am Jehovah's righteous plan, which he devised first, in accord with which he created all things. I am still his master-workman. Men are my chief care; blessed is he that heareth me; he shall obtain life, favor of Jehovah; those who reject me perish. For man, Wisdom is Jehovah's plan of all creation. wisdom means reverent submission to Jeho- Wisdom is vah, striving to follow his will; it is the fear of Fear of the Jehovah : "My son, if thou wilt receive my words, Lord and Righteous Then shalt thou understand the fear of Jehovah, ness. Search diligently for wisdom, and thou shalt gain that reverent apprehension of God's way and conformity to his will by which a man lives best. Only those who hunger and thirst shall be filled; only those desiring wisdom can get it.' The fool despiseth rebuke; but he is in the way of life that heedeth instruction. There is an arrogance and froward self-sufficiency which keeps a man from perceiving truth, even though such an one may seem to himself to seek it: a scorner seeketh wisdom and 1 viii. 3 xviii, 15; see i, 5; x, 8, xv, 14. ? ii, 1-5. 4x, 17; xv, 32; xvii, 10. findeth it not.' Only the humble-minded, those who are wise to see that there is much beyond them, and over all a God almighty in righteousness, can learn anything; certainly only such can learn that deepest wisdom which recognizes the highest power working out its truth. No evil man, arrogant, self-wise, brutishly hating reproof,' can understand good, righteousness, eternal verity, God: "Evil men understand not judgment; ' But they that seek Jehovah understand all things." For all of which there is a deeper reason; men are God's creatures; man is in God's image, his spirit has its source in Him. A human soul, which turns away from its source, cannot retain its vital strength, its power to learn and know, its power to apprehend the righteous ways of its maker, or any power even to live, for life must be conformity to the creator's plan. Such a soul has made itself negative, repelling and repelled by all life's principles. And so long as this rebel state continues, the soul must be repelled by what is true and good, and repel itself from knowledge, wisdom, fear of God,-from life. Such a man's heart is made fat, so that it understands not, and the man hears not with his ears nor sees with his eyes. This state is Jehovah's retribution, the very opposite of the state of him to whom " all things work together for good." Throughout the Proverbs it is evident that for man wisdom and the fear of Jehovah are identical in essence and in the results they bring of prosperity, honor, life." Again, wisdom and fear of Jehovah are righteousness viewed from the standpoint of understanding, and the results of righteousness are the same as theirs.' More 1 xiv, 6; cf. xxvi, 12. 2 xii, I. Cf. Isaiah vi, 9, 10. Ewald, Einleitung, p. 16, 6 This is the general teaching of the Proverbs; cf. * Cf. i, 7; ix, 10; x, 27; xv, 33: xix, 23; xxii, 4; and Proverbs passim. 'See xiii, 6; xxi, 21; cf. xii, 28; x, 2; iv, 18; cf. xv, 24. explicitly, righteousness, wisdom, fear of Jehovah, is to shun what Jehovah hates, and follow what he loves;-to hate haughtiness and lies, wicked devices, and the shedding of innocent blood, bearing false witness, sowing discord,' cheating, unhallowed revenge,' and exulting over fallen enemies,' fornication and adultery,' and the oppression of the fatherless and poor;' to act with prudence and humility, which is more acceptable to Jehovah than sacrifice,' to love mercy and truth: " "He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth to Jehovah, If thine enemy hunger, give him bread to eat; For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, The Book of Proverbs knows retribution to be a law which cannot fail in a world created and governed by a righteous God: He that soweth iniquity shall reap calamity." The adulterer is a fool, stubbornly ignorant of God's righteous law; stolen waters are sweet; in merry ignorance he enters, and makes one with the guests of death;" as an ox he goeth to the slaughter." It is the righteous law of cause and effect: But is there no help for the sinner? Can he not turn from his course of destruction? Let him turn from scorning to the love of instruction, and be no longer 1 vi, 16-19. 2 xiv, 31; xxiv, 29; cf. Job xxxi, 29. 3 xxiv, 17. 4 vi, 24, etc. 8 xvi, 6. 9 xix, 17. 10 xxv, 21, 22; cf. x, 29; iii, 33-3511 xxii, 8. Б xxii, 22; xxiii, 10; xiv, 31 ; xvii, 5. 19 ix, 13-18. 6 See xxv, 6, 7, 17. ↑ xxi, 3. 13 vii, 22. 14 vi, 27. |