CRITICAL NOTES.—
Proverbs 8:36. Sinneth against, “misseth,” so Stuart, Delitzsch, and Miller.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH— Proverbs 8:32-36
EXHORTATION FOUNDED ON HUMAN OBLIGATIONS TO DIVINE WISDOM
I. Because Christ, the Eternal Wisdom, has manifested His sympathy with man, we are under obligations to come into sympathy with Him. A man who has manifested his sympathy with, and delight in, another’s welfare by most substantial acts of benevolence and self-denial, has taken the most reasonable method of awakening an answering sympathy in the breast of him whom he has thus regarded. And the obligation on the part of the recipient is increased in proportion to the amount of self-sacrifice undergone on his behalf. If such a benefactor desires and asks for the friendship of him whom he has befriended, it would seem impossible that such an appeal could be made in vain. The eternal wisdom of God has gone to the utmost of even His infinite capacity of self-denial to show His delight in, and regard for the human race. This, coupled with His eternal existence and His almighty power, is here made the basis of an exhortation to men to listen to His words, “Now, therefore, hearken unto me, O ye children!”
II. Those who are thus drawn into sympathy with Eternal Wisdom come under conditions of life. Here is a repetition of an oft-repeated truth of revelation, that life and God’s favour are inseparable—identical (Proverbs 8:35). We can see shadows of this truth in the intercourse of men with their fellow-creatures. If a poor outcast child, surrounded by influences of evil to which he must yield if left to fight them single-handed, is lifted out of his degradation into a godly home, the favour of the friend who thus raises him changes his miserable existence into something worth calling life in comparison. The child who, by wilfulness, has forfeited the favour of a good parent, feels his entire existence clouded, but forgiveness through reconciliation brings light and life back to his spirit. The favour, therefore, of a fellow-creature is sometimes, by comparison, life. How much more is it so when we come into sympathy with Christ by hearkening to His voice and taking His yoke, and are by Him lifted out of a life of bondage to sin into the glorious liberty of the sons of God.
III. Those who refuse thus to come into sympathy with Eternal Wisdom are self-destroyers, because they are God-haters. He who refuses to drink of the Fountain of Life, must, of necessity, be left to soul-death. There is nothing that gives more sorrow to a human being than to know that the evil from which he is suffering is self-inflicted. If a man loses his sight through a wound which he receives from another, although he feels his blindness to be a terrible calamity, it lacks the element of bitterness which would be added to it if it had been brought about by his own wilfulness. The man who loses a limb in lawful battle looks upon his loss as an honour, because it was inevitable. But his feeling would be very different if he knew that he had been crippled for life by his own folly. It will be the main ingredient in the bitter cup of those who disregard the invitations of Divine Wisdom that they are moral suicides. The consciousness of this is a perpetual hell to the human spirit. And the mere neglect is sufficient to give the death-blow. It is not necessary to be in positive opposition to God and goodness. Not to listen is to refuse. Not to wait on God is to sin against Him—is to despise the provisions of His mercy.
ILLUSTRATION OF Proverbs 8:34
Hovering about the avenues of a royal residence, there are in Eastern as well as in other countries, always to be seen groups of people, some of whom are attracted by the impulse of curiosity, others by the hope of obtaining some mark of royal favour. The assiduity and perseverance requisite for succeding in their suit, and waiting the propitious moment of presenting themselves in the presence of their sovereign, is not, as may be easily supposed, at all times consistent with personal ease and convenience, and, accordingly, here and there may be observed individuals seated upon a stone, or reclining upon the grass, in anxious expectation for the appearance of the sovereign on his way to daily exercise. To sit at the gates of a king is a custom of great antiquity.—Paxton’s Illustrations of Scripture.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Proverbs 8:32. O sweet courtesy! as if it were but a small matter that the Eternal Wisdom should become our Master, and teach us as His scholars; or that, being our Lord, He should teach us as His servants; or that, being God, He should teach us as men; yet greater is His love, and, as a Father, He teacheth us as His children. And well may He call us His children, for it is He that teacheth us who, by adoption, hath made us to be His children, which by hearkening unto Him we show ourselves to be.—Jermin.
Proverbs 8:34. Uriah watched at David’s gate as a token of service (2 Samuel 11:9). Lazarus watched at Dives’ gate as a token of dependence (Luke 16:20). Courtiers at royal entrances for smiles of favour. Let the sinner do all these things.—Miller.
Not watching awhile, and then going away if they be not let in presently, but waiting patiently till they be let in. Not only taking occasion of learning offered, but waiting to find occasions, as petitioners wait on great men till their causes be ended.—Francis Taylor.
Wisdom here appears as a sovereign, separate and secluded, in the style of Oriental monarchs, so that only those know anything of her who diligently keep watch at her doors. Wisdom, who is universal in her call and invitation (Proverbs 8:1-3), yet, in the course of communication, in order to test the fidelity of her admirers, veils herself at times in a mysterious darkness, and reveals herself only to those who never intermit their search (Matthew 7:7).—Von Gerlach, in Lange’s Commentary.
There ought to be an expectation raised in us that the vital savour diffused in and by the Word may reach us; and many are ruined for not expecting it—not waiting at the posts of Wisdom’s door.—John Howe.
1. Natural life is found by it, not in regard of the beginning of it, but in regard of the comfort and continuance.
2. Spiritual life, or the life of grace. Wisdom is the life of the soul, and what were the world worth if there were no light?
3. Eternal life, or the life of glory. This is indeed the life that Christ, the wisdom of God, died to purchase for us, and lived among us to show us the way to it.—Francis Taylor.
Proverbs 8:36. Doing without is a stupid misery; but hating wisdom is an insane marvel.—Miller.
Not to love and earnestly seek Wisdom is to sin against her. To disregard her is to hate her, and is virtually, though unconsciously, to love death: for it is loving things, which as being opposed to wisdom, bring with them death.—Fausset.
What meaneth this all, where one would think there could be none? Can there be an all to hate Him who loveth all that is? But if it were not so, why do so many resist His holy will, despise His heavenly laws, rebel against His sacred pleasure? Are not these effects of hatred? Besides, so doth He challenge the all of our affection, as not to hate all things for His sake, is to hate Him. Now they that hate Him, what can they love? Surely it must needs be death, because in all things else He is. But that is the fruit of sin, and they that love the tree must needs love the fruit also. But to whom do we speak these things, or why do we speak them? Where shall we find open ears, or seeing eyes, when now almost men care not whom they look after, so that they do not look after themselves?—Jermin.
A child or an idiot may kindle a fire which all the city cannot quench. In spite of their utmost efforts, it might destroy both the homes of the poor and the palaces of majesty. So a sinner, though he cannot do the least good, can do the greatest evil. The Almighty only can save him, but he can destroy himself.—Arnot.
Sin a self-injury. There are three facts implied in these words: Firstly, That man is capable of sinning. This capability distinguishes man from the brute, and belongs to all moral beings.… It is our glory that we can sin; it is our disgrace and ruin that we do. Secondly, That sin is something directed against God. All the laws of man’s being—physical, organic, intellectual, and moral—are God’s laws, and violation of them is rebellion against heaven. Thirdly, That sin against God is a wrong done to our nature. This is true of all sin, physical as well as spiritual. We cannot violate the laws of physical health, without losing at the same time something of the life, elasticity, and vigour of the mind. That sin injures the soul admits of no debate: it is a patent fact written on every page of history, and proclaimed by the deep consciousness of humanity. From this unquestionable fact we may fairly deduce three general truths. I. That God’s laws are essentially connected with the constitution of man. From this fact two things follow.
(1.) That all sin is unnatural.
(2.) That an evasion of the penalties of sin is beyond the power of the creature. II. That God’s laws are the expression of benevolence. We wrong our souls by not keeping God’s laws. Obedience to them is happiness. The voice of all Divine prohibitions is, “Do thyself no harm,” the voice of all Divine injunctions is, “Rejoice evermore.” We infer from this fact—III. That God’s laws should be studiously obeyed.
(1.) Right requires it. All God’s laws are righteously binding upon the subject, and disobedience is a crime.
(2.) Expediency requires it. A life of sin is a life of folly, for it must ever be a life of misery.—Dr. David Thomas.
Proverbs 8:30-36. I. From the beginning the welfare of man engaged the complacent regard of God our Saviour. He derived delight from the material creation because it was to be subservient to man. II. We may therefore expect that all His communications and intercourse with us would be made to harmonise with our welfare also. We are warranted in expecting that all His communications with us will harmonise with the wants of our nature—that the means will be adapted to the end. Accordingly Proverbs 8:35-36 imply that so perfect is the adaptation between the provisions of mercy and the necessity of man, that he who rejects them wrongs his own soul, that who receives them receives life. III. May we not infer that, even of this habitable part, He would rejoice in some spots more than in others, especially in such as are set apart for the diffusion of His truth and the promotion of His designs.—Dr. J. Harris.