Proverbs 3:13-18

CRITICAL NOTES.—

Proverbs 3:13. Gets, “draws out.”

Proverbs 3:13. Lay hold, “grasp,” from a Hebrew root strong. Retaineth, “holds her fast.”

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Proverbs 3:13

WISDOM AND HER GIFTS

I. Wisdom is to be found. She does exist. Precious metals and choice stones are to be found. They have an existence, and they exist in regions which may be reached by the exercise of man’s intelligence and labour. Those who find them have to dig for them, to seek for them, to give time, and strength, and wealth to the search. So Wisdom, although she is within reach of man must be diligently sought after, must be drawn out (see “Critical Notes”) by painstaking diligence.

1. Wisdom is to be found in, and drawn out from affliction. The bee is said to suck honey from bitter herbs as well as from sweet flowers. The context to these words is closely connected with them, and declare him to be truly blessed who becomes by affliction a wiser and a better man. It is within the reach of intelligent faith in God thus to extract the honey of wisdom from the sorrow which to “the world worketh death” (2 Corinthians 7:10).

2. Wisdom is to be found by study of the Divine Word. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God—they are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 3:15). The record which God has given of His Son is a revelation of His highest wisdom. A crucified Christ is a manifestation of the wisdom of God, and by the study of Him as revealed in Holy Scripture, we may “draw out understanding” of how a man may be “just with God” (Job 9:2), and how a justified man may become a perfect man.

3. Wisdom is to be found in the practice of Divine precepts. “If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine” (John 7:17). He shall know the reality, the power, of the wisdom which cometh down from above by personal and blessed experience. Understanding in these matters is “drawn out” by doing.

4. Wisdom is found by communion with God. Those who talk much with men who are their superiors in goodness and intelligence, and live on friendly terms with them, must become wiser and better through the intercourse. The stronger soul will mould the weaker. The man who holds converse with the highest and best Intelligence, with the Fountain of Wisdom, must draw understanding out of this Living Spring.

5. Wisdom for special needs, the understanding how to act in emergencies, is drawn out from God by the confession of our ignorance and the pleading of God’s promises. Solomon was himself an example of this. By special prayer, by obeying his own precept (Proverbs 3:5), he obtained the gift of an understanding heart to judge the people (1 Kings 3:5).

II. Wisdom is beyond comparison with anything outside herself. She is better than wealth because she gives blessings which wealth cannot buy.

1. She gives real heart-satisfaction. Money will bring much ease and luxury to the bodily life, but mere material comfort cannot gladden the inner man or keep away old age and sickness. But Wisdom gives a joy which has its home in the heart, and which increases with the increase of years. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, because they are ways of holiness. Love, and joy, and peace, and all the graces which are the fruit of the Spirit of God are the very elements which in perfection constitute the blessedness of God Himself.

They are the fruits which His servants pluck from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God (Revelation 2:7). To be holy is to be happy in the true, deep sense of the word.

2. She introduces to better society. Wealth will do much in this way. Gold is a passport to honour in the world generally, often to the Church in the world. But the holy character which is born of heavenly wisdom is the only possession which will open the doors of the “Church of the firstborn,” which will admit to the society of God, His angels, and His redeemed ones. This is true honour.

3. Her gifts are for eternity. No matter how precious or how great the joy, the honour of earth passeth away (1 Corinthians 7:31). The gifts of Wisdom are for ever. The length of an eternity of days is in her hand.

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS

Proverbs 3:13. Never will this solid happiness be known without singleness of judgment and purpose. This inestimable blessing must have the throne. The waverer and half-seeker fall short. Determined perseverance wins the prize (Philippians 3:12).—Bridges.

If God loves a son, He corrects him; and then, “O the blessedness of the man!” It actually makes him wise. Let us not forget the doctrine that affliction—as, indeed, everything else—always benefits the Christian.—Miller.

The coherence between this verse and the one preceding it is not to be neglected. To persuade the more to patience under God’s afflicting hand, he tells us, it is one way to get wisdom and happiness. What though thou suffer chastisement, and that be bitter to thee! if thou get wisdom by it, thou art happy.—Francis Taylor.

Saving wisdom is to be “found” and “gotten.” It is not required that we create it. We could not plan, we could not execute, a way of righteous redemption for sinners.… This is God’s doing, and it is all done. All things are now ready.… But we are required to seek the salvation which has been provided and brought near.… Understanding is a thing to be gotten. It comes not in sparks from our own intellect in collision with other human minds. It is a light from heaven. Religion is not all and only an anxious, fearful seeking: it is a getting too, and a glad enjoying.—Arnot.

It was man who, by losing wisdom, became unhappy; and it is man who, by finding wisdom, or rather being found by the wisdom of God, is made happy again. It was man whose understanding was deceived by the subtle serpent; and it is man who, by getting understanding, deceiveth the serpent of his prey.—Jermin.

Proverbs 3:14. Here, as in Proverbs 2:4, we have traces of the new commerce, the ships going to Ophir for gold, the sight of the bright treasures stimulating men’s minds to a new eagerness.—Plumptre.

Wisdom brings more profit than any worldly riches, because it brings better things than riches Song of Song of Solomon 1. It can quiet a man’s mind, which no wealth can do. Rich men have many cares—many griefs; crowns are crowns of thorns: nothing but wisdom can poise the soul in all tempests.

2. It affords a ladder to climb to eternal things, like Jacob’s ladder, that did reach from Bethel on earth, to Bethel (God’s house) in Heaven.—Francis Taylor.

One grain of grace is far beyond all the gold of Ophir, and one hour’s enjoyment of God to be much preferred before all the King of Spain’s annual entradoes. “Let me be put to any pain, any loss, so I get my Jesus,” said Ignatius. What is all the pomp and glory of the world but dung? (Philippians 3:7). “I esteem them no better” (surely) “that I may win Christ,” said Paul, that great trader by land and sea. This gold we cannot buy too dear, whatever we pay for it. The wise merchant sells all to purchase it (Matthew 13:44; Matthew 13:46).—Trapp.

The gain of fine gold weigheth very heavy in man’s account; but the gain of fine wisdom is better, for that weigheth heavy in the balance of God’s esteem. Tertullian, comforting the Christian martyrs, writes: “If you have lost some joys of this life, it is but a merchandise—to lose something to gain greater.”—Jermin.

Proverbs 3:16. As in the vision of Solomon at Gibeon, so here; Wisdom being chosen does not come alone, but brings with her the gifts which others who do not choose her choose in vain. The words are almost the echo of those in 1 Kings 3:11.—Plumptre.

It is certainly not a uniform experience that a man lives long in proportion as he lives well. Such a rule would obviously not be suitable to the present dispensation. It is true that all wickedness acts as a shortener of life, and all goodness as its lengthener; but other elements enter, and complicate the result, and slightly veil the interior law. If the law were according to a simple calculation in arithmetic, “the holiest liver, the longest liver,” and conversely, the moral government of God would be greatly impeded, if not altogether subverted. He will have men to choose goodness for His sake and its own, therefore a slight veil is cast over its present profitableness. Some power is allowed to the devil, to try them that are upon, the earth.—Arnot.

If God give his people a crown, he will not deny them a crust. If they have the good things of a throne, they shall be sure of the good things of the footstool.—Trapp.

St. Augustine telleth us that length of days is eternity, for whatsoever hath an end is short: but riches and honour, which by men are esteemed good things, they are in the left hand. It is not forbidden thee to enjoy the good things of this life, but do not put that in the right hand which should be in the left; do not prefer temporal things before eternal. Let us use the left hand for a time, but desire the right hand for eternity.—Jermin.

The right hand in the Bible everywhere means one’s highest instrumentality or agency (Revelation 2:1). We understand the text to mean, therefore, that wisdom is able to use long life as a splendid agency.—Miller.

It is eternity that filleth the right hand of Wisdom. Days for the clarity, length for the eternity. As the glory is clear for the countenance, so is it long for the continuance. The gift of the left hand is short and temporal.

I. Riches and honour are God’s gifts, therefore, in themselves, not evil. Saith Augustine: “That they may not be thought evil, they are given to good men; that they may not be thought the best good, they are given to evil men. Chrysostom remarks that Christ doth not say: “Ye cannot have God and mammon,” but, “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”

II. All are not so, but some; and therefore it is necessary for us to learn whether God gave us the riches and honour which we have. They come from God if

(1) they are honestly gotten,

(2) justly disposed,

(3) patiently lost.

III. Wealth and worship are, for the most part, companions; for both those gifts lie in one and the same hand. Riches are the stairs whereby men climb up into the height of dignity, the fortification that defends it, the food it lives upon, the oil that keeps the lamp of honour from going out.

IV. Though riches and honour are God’s gifts, yet they are but the gifts of His left hand. Therefore it follows that every wise man will seek the blessings of the right. Let us strive for the latter without condition; for the other, if they fall in our way, let us stoop to take them up.—Thomas Adams.

Verse

Proverbs 3:17.

I. The ways of religion are ways of pleasantness.

1. There is a pleasure in the duties relating immediately to God—in love, faith, reliance, hope, prayer, and thanksgiving.

2. There is a pleasure in those occupations in which a religious man will be frequently employed—in studying the works of God and the Holy Scriptures: in meditating on the perfections of the Almighty, etc.

3. There is a pleasure in that behaviour towards others, and that manner of prosecuting our worldly affairs, which ever accompany a religious disposition—in calm integrity, honest industry, and acts of beneficence.

4. There is a pleasure in performing our duty to ourselves—in temperance and control of the passions.

II. The ways of sin are not ways of pleasantness.

1. No man can be happy who acts against his conscience.
2. If men persuade themselves that there is no future life, the expectation of perishing utterly presents no agreeable prospect to the soul, which has a natural desire of immortality.
3. Every act contrary to reason and religion is, if not always, for the most part, hurtful, even in this life.—Jortin.

The excellency of the pleasure found in Wisdom’s ways appears—

I. In that it is the pleasure of the mind.
II. That it never satiates nor wearies.
III. That it is in nobody’s power, but only in his that has it.—South.

I am confident that the true Christian hath more true pleasure in suffering for Christ, or in one act of mortification, or victory over one lust, than the highest earthly potentate hath in all the honour that is done him, or good things enjoyed by him all his days.—Swinnock.

I. Wisdom of itself is satisfactory, as it implies a revelation of truth, and a detection of error to us. We are all naturally endowed with a strong appetite to know, to see, to pursue truth; and with an abhorrency of being deceived and entangled in mistake.

II. In its consequences it is pleasant and peaceable.

1. It assures us we take the best course and proceed as we ought. He that knows his way and is satisfied it is the true one, goes on merrily and carelessly, not doubting he shall in good time arrive at his destined journey’s end. Wisdom therefore frees us from the company of anxious doubt in our actions, and the consequence of bitter repentance; for no man can doubt of what he is sure, nor repent of what he knows good.
2. It begets in us a hope of success in our actions, and is usually attended therewith. What is more delicious than hope? What more satisfactory than success? And well-grounded hope confirms resolution and quickens activity, which mainly conduce to the prosperous issue of designs.
3. Wisdom prevents discouragement from the possibility of ill success, yea, and makes disappointment itself tolerable. For we have reason to hope that the All-wise Goodness reserves a better reward for us, and will some time recompense us, not only the good purposes we unhappily pursued, but also the unexpected disappointment we patiently endured.
4. Wisdom makes all the troubles of life easy and supportable, by rightly valuing the importance and moderating the influence of them.… If sin vex and discompose us, yet this trouble Wisdom, by representing the Divine Goodness and His tender mercies in our ever-blessed Redeemer, doth presently allay. And for all other adversities it abates their noxious power by showing us they are either merely imaginary or very short and temporary: that they admit of remedy, or at most do not exclude comfort.
5. Wisdom hath always a good conscience attending it, that purest delight and richest cordial of the soul; that brazen wall and impregnable fortress against both external assaults and internal commotions.—Barrow.

Some degree of comfort follows every good action, as heat accompanies fire, as beams and influences issue from the sun. This, saith one, is a fore-reward of well-doing. “In doing thereof (not only for doing) there is great reward” (Psalms 19:11).—Trapp.

The paths of wisdom bring us to the peace of reconciliation with God; to the peace of society and friendship with the angels of God; to the peace of comfort and quietness in our own hearts.—Jermin.

They must be “ways of pleasantness” because “Thus saith the Lord.” And if we feel them not to be so, we know them not.—Bridges.

Her ways are sometimes on hot coals and to burning stakes. If there is anything unpleasant in her way, it is to promote wisdom and so to promote more “pleasantness” another time. All her paths peace, or “prosperity.” More thoroughly “all” of them than in the case of pleasantness. While the happiness of a Christian may flag in this world, his “prosperity” never stops a moment. His “way” is prosperous, i.e., he gains by every inch.—Miller.

Both the way and the end to which the way leads is peace. There are many ways in the world pleasant but not safe; others safe but not pleasant.—Fausset.

Proverbs 3:18. Like that planted in Paradise and promised by Christ to all that overcome.—Wordsworth.

It is remarkable that this and other references in Proverbs 11:30; Proverbs 13:12; Proverbs 15:4, are the only allusions in any book of the Old Testament, after Genesis, to the “tree” itself, or to its spiritual significance.… The tree of life which Adam was not to taste lies open to his children. No cherubim with flaming swords bar the approach. Wisdom is the tree of life giving true immortality.—Plumptre.

Wisdom beareth not her fruit for everyone. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold of her, not to them that touch her with a light hand, that seek after her in a perfunctory manner, that think a little wisdom, a little godliness, to be sufficient for them.—Jermin.

The tree of life was the means ordained of God for the preservation of lasting life, and continual vigour and health, before man sinned. So true wisdom maintains man in the spiritual life of God’s grace, and the communion of His Spirit.—Diodati.

One view of man’s true dignity arises from the amount of his susceptibilities of enjoyment on the one hand, of suffering on the other. Think of what man was, of what he is, of what he is capable of becoming. His capabilities are such that nothing beneath God Himself can satisfy them. His soul can be filled from no created fountain. Wisdom provides for him a portion adequate to his most unbounded desires, to his most expanded capacities.—Wardlaw.

As the tree of life in Paradise, which was a sign of God’s favour, or the tree which sweetened the waters of Marah, or the tree seen in the Revelation, or any living or good tree which bringeth forth fruit whereby men live.—Muffet.