20 In a path of righteousness I cause to walk, In midst of paths of judgment,
`And ye have observed to do as Jehovah your God hath commanded you, ye turn not aside -- right or left;
according as I said to you: My sheep my voice do hear, and I know them, and they follow me, and life age-during I give to them, and they shall not perish -- to the age, and no one shall pluck them out of my hand;
Thy ways, O Jehovah, cause me to know, Thy paths teach Thou me. Cause me to tread in Thy truth, and teach me, For Thou `art' the God of my salvation, Near Thee I have waited all the day.
I cause thee to act wisely, And direct thee in the way that thou goest, I cause mine eye to take counsel concerning thee.
In a way of wisdom I have directed thee, I have caused thee to tread in paths of uprightness. In thy walking thy step is not straitened, And if thou runnest, thou stumblest not.
Thine eyes do look straightforward, And thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder thou the path of thy feet, And all thy ways `are' established. Incline not `to' the right or to the left, Turn aside thy foot from evil!
And gone have many peoples and said, `Come, and we go up unto the mount of Jehovah, Unto the house of the God of Jacob, And He doth teach us of His ways, And we walk in His paths, For from Zion goeth forth a law, And a word of Jehovah from Jerusalem.
They do not hunger, nor thirst, Nor smite them doth mirage and sun, For He who is pitying them doth lead them, And by fountains of waters doth tend them.
to this one the doorkeeper doth open, and the sheep hear his voice, and his own sheep he doth call by name, and doth lead them forth;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Proverbs 8
Commentary on Proverbs 8 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 8
The word of God is two-fold, and, in both senses, is wisdom; for a word without wisdom is of little value, and wisdom without a word is of little use. Now,
Pro 8:1-11
The will of God revealed to us for our salvation is here largely represented to us as easy to be known and understood, that none may have an excuse for their ignorance or error, and as worthy to be embraced, that none may have an excuse for their carelessness and unbelief.
Pro 8:12-21
Wisdom here is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; it is Christ in the word and Christ in the heart, not only Christ revealed to us, but Christ revealed in us. It is the word of God, the whole compass of divine revelation; it is God the Word, in whom all divine revelation centres; it is the soul formed by the word; it is Christ formed in the soul; it is religion in the purity and power of it. Glorious things are here spoken of this excellent person, this excellent thing.
Pro 8:22-31
That it is an intelligent and divine person that here speaks seems very plain, and that it is not meant of a mere essential property of the divine nature, for Wisdom here has personal properties and actions; and that intelligent divine person can be no other than the Son of God himself, to whom the principal things here spoken of wisdom are attributed in other scriptures, and we must explain scripture by itself. If Solomon himself designed only the praise of wisdom as it is an attribute of God, by which he made the world and governs it, so to recommend to men the study of that wisdom which belongs to them, yet the Spirit of God, who indited what he wrote, carried him, as David often, to such expressions as could agree to no other than the Son of God, and would lead us into the knowledge of great things concerning him. All divine revelation is the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, and here we are told who and what he is, as God, designed in the eternal counsels to be the Mediator between God and man. The best exposition of these verses we have in the first four verses of St. John's gospel. In the beginning was the Word, etc. Concerning the Son of God observe here,
Pro 8:32-36
We have here the application of Wisdom's discourse; the design and tendency of it is to bring us all into an entire subjection to the laws of religion, to make us wise and good, not to fill our heads with speculations, or our tongues with disputes, but to rectify what is amiss in our hearts and lives. In order to this, here is,