Proverbs 1:6

The words of the wise and their dark sayings.

The words of the wise

Nothing can give a deeper insight into the character and genius of people than their household words--those current maxims and sayings which influence their everyday life, the popular proverbs which pass from mouth to mouth. These are the expression of a people’s inward life. It does not belong to a high state of civilisation to originate proverbs. One of our most homely maxims or proverbial sayings, will stir the soul to its very centre and depth, and do more to regulate the life and manners, than all the enactments in all the statute books of the world. In the Book of Proverbs we have nothing but the lessons of practical wisdom. They rest on great principles as their basis--those principles which enter into the eternal reason of things, and which are as unchangeable as God Himself. It follows that the maxims of this book are adapted to all time, all countries, and all people. Humanity is one. The writers, whoever they were, had a profound knowledge of men and things; and we have here the results of no narrow experience. Principles are stated with great clearness; the rule of conduct is laid down with consummate skill and precision, and the lofty aim of the whole is to allure men, and especially the young and inexperienced, into the way of happiness and peace.

1. Some maxims concern the relations which subsist between the young and the old. The young are to take part in the progress and development of the race. They are not only to be the fathers and mothers of a future generation, but also their teachers, and their models. To prepare and qualify them for this, they must have in them the elements of knowledge and of goodness. Youth is the period of acquisition. The present is always more or less dependent on the past. We cannot sever ourselves from those who have gone before us, nor break the bond which connects us with those who are coming after us. The young are to give the impression of their own intellectual and moral life to the generations following.

2. These maxims, though not set forth as coming immediately from the mind or spirit of God, are in harmony with Infinite Wisdom. They have in them nothing of a merely individual character. They contemplate man as man, independently of all outward arrangements and institutions, and deal with that which is common to the race. The Book of Proverbs stands unequalled among all the writings which the world has ever produced. They are human sayings, but possessed of Divine authority; and they have in them all those principles which can ennoble and dignify the character of man, clothing him with true greatness in this world, and in the world to come crowning him with glory everlasting.

The following findings seem to come as near as may be to the end or object of the writer:--

1. That a certain degree of instruction and knowledge is essential to intercourse with the more intelligent and better-informed classes.

2. That discretion, uprightness, and unyielding attachment to justice, are qualities of which youth stands most in need, and which enter into all integrity of character.

3. That youth being the period of greater simplicity and inexperience, it needs increased reflection and sagacity to lead to the apprehension and discovery of approaching temptation and danger, and of the best means of escape.

4. That even the wisest and best informed of men have ever something new to learn, and may by listening to the great oracle of truth, increase their knowledge and power of perception without limit.

5. That true wisdom has its basis in true piety, and that there can be no greater folly than to reject this highest form of knowledge. (R. Ferguson, LL.D.)

The dark sayings of the wise

Dark sayings mean properly enigmas or riddles. These were used of old as one of the methods of conveying instruction. It was conceived that by giving exercise to the understanding in finding out the solution of the enigma, it was calculated to deepen on the mind the impression of the lesson which was wrapt up in it. This was not done for mere amusement, but for imparting serious instruction; although, to the young, there might in some instances be the blending of an intellectual attainment with the conveyance of useful information, or salutary counsel. (R. Wardlaw, D. D.)