Proverbs 31:3 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Give not thy strength, &c.— David had admonished his son, chap. Proverbs 6:20, &c. to keep the commandment of his father, and not forsake the law of his mother; for the commandment, said he, is a lamp, and reproofs of instruction are the ways of life, to keep thee from the evil woman: and can there be a greater uniformity than betwixt that monition and this, Give not thy strength unto women, &c.? And may not the reproofs which follow be justly intitled, proofs of instruction? When these reproofs of instruction are recited, then follows, Proverbs 31:10 a regular poem in praise of an accomplished woman; each verse beginning with a different letter, in the series of the alphabet; and certainly nothing can be more natural than the judgment of the best critics upon it, that Lemuel characterises his mother in a poem written in honour of her. See Delaney as above. We may just remark, that as the first nine Chapter s of the proverbs are considered as a preface to what is commonly called the Book of Proverbs; the attentive reader will find all the precepts from the beginning of the 4th chapter to the end of the ninth, to be only recitals of David's instruction to his son Solomon.