My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee. Ver. 1. _My son, keep my words._] Aristotle hath observed, and daily experience makes it good, that man shows his weakness no way more than about moderating the pleasure ef his tasting and touching, forasmuch as they belong to him, not as... [ Continue Reading ]
Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye. Ver. 2. _Keep my commandments, and live._] "Live," _i.e., _ live happily. I am the Lord that teacheth thee to profit, therefore keep my commandments; Isa 48:17 as if God should say, It is for thy profit that I command thee, and n... [ Continue Reading ]
Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart. Ver. 3. _Bind them upon thy fingers._] That thou mayest have them always in sight, as God hath his people: "Behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands: thy walls are continually before me." Isa 49:16 The Hebrews here re... [ Continue Reading ]
Say unto wisdom, Thou [art] my sister; and call understanding [thy] kinswoman: Ver. 4. _Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister,_] _q.d., _ If thou must needs have a lady to set thy love upon, let me commend a mistress to thee more amiable and affable than any that thou canst meet with, and that is hea... [ Continue Reading ]
That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger [which] flattereth with her words. Ver. 5. _That they may keep thee._] The "wisdom from above" can and will preserve a man from hankering after strange flesh. The world's wizards have been most of them tacked and tainted with this vi... [ Continue Reading ]
For at the window of my house I looked through my casement, Ver. 6. _I looked through my casement._] Little did this young fool think whose eye was upon him, less did he heed the all-seeing eye of Heaven. Solomon was observing his subjects' carriages, and found a miscarriage. Magistrates, as they h... [ Continue Reading ]
And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding, Ver. 7. _Among the simple ones._] The word signifieth such a one as may be soon persuaded, easily drawn any way _a_ by a twined thread with a wet finger; _fatuellus,_ such as whom it is no hard matter... [ Continue Reading ]
Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house, Ver. 8. _Near her corner._] Which he should have balked, according to Proverbs 5:8. _See Trapp on "_ Pro 5:8 _"_ Men's own inconsideration, security, and dallying with the beginnings of sin, or with the occasion, doth usu... [ Continue Reading ]
In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night: Ver. 9. _In the black and dark night._] Thinking to obscure himself; but Solomon saw him, how much more God, _cui obscura patent, muta respondent, silentium confitetur,_ before whom night will convert itself into noon, and silence prove... [ Continue Reading ]
And, behold, there met him a woman [with] the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart. Ver. 10. _And behold there met him a woman._] Fit lettuce for such lips, a fit handle for such a hatchet. Every corner is full of such dust heaps, the land is even darkened with them, as Egypt once was with the... [ Continue Reading ]
Proverbs 7:11 (She [is] loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house: Ver. 11. _Her feet abide not in her house._] As the modest woman's do, Tit 2:5 who is therefore called _domiporta,_ set forth by the snail, which carries her house on her back, and compared to the vine, that grows by the ho... [ Continue Reading ]
_Now [is she] without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.)_ Ver. 12. _Now she is without._] _See Trapp on "_ Pro 7:11 _"_ Further observe, that the former faults - loudness of language, stubbornness against a husband's lawful commands and restraints, and this of gadding up and d... [ Continue Reading ]
So she caught him, and kissed him, [and] with an impudent face said unto him, Ver. 13. _So she caught him, and kissed him._] Strange impudence in this "strange woman," who hath not her name for nought. Potiphar's wife was such a beast; so was Messalina the empress, wife to Claudius, Joan, queen of... [ Continue Reading ]
Proverbs 7:14 [I have] peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows. Ver. 14. _I have peace offerings._] _Sacris abutitur, ut sceleratis mos est; _ _a_ she pretends religion to her filthy practices. So did those wicked women that lay with Eli's sons at the door of the tabernacle. 1Sa 2:22... [ Continue Reading ]
Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee. Ver. 15. _Therefore came I forth._] As having much good cheer at home, as at all peace offerings they had. Gluttony is the gallery that lustfulness walks through. _a_ Diligently to seek thy face.] Or, Thy pers... [ Continue Reading ]
I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved [works], with fine linen of Egypt. Ver. 16. _I have decked my bed._] Lest haply by being abroad so late he should question where to have a bed, she assures him of a dainty one, with curious curtains.... [ Continue Reading ]
I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Ver. 17. _With myrrh, aloes, &c._] This might have minded the young man that he was going to his grave; for the bodies of the dead were so perfumed. Such a meditation would have much rebated his edge, cooled his courage. Jerusalem's filthiness... [ Continue Reading ]
_Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves._ Ver. 18. _Until the morning._] But what if death draw the curtains, and look in the while? If death do not, yet guilt will. And here beasts are more happy in carnal contentments than sensual voluptaries; for... [ Continue Reading ]
For the goodman [is] not at home, he is gone a long journey: Ver. 19. _For the goodman is not at home._] Heb., _The_ man, - not _my_ man, or _my_ husband, &c. The very mention (how much more the presence!) of such a man might have marred the mirth.... [ Continue Reading ]
He hath taken a bag of money with him, [and] will come home at the day appointed. Ver. 20. _He hath taken a bag of money._] And so will not return in haste. Let not the children of this world be wiser than we: "Lay up treasure in heaven; provide yourselves bags that wax not old" Luk 12:33 Do as mer... [ Continue Reading ]
With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him. Ver. 21. _With much fair speech._] Fair words make fools fain. This Circe so enchanted the younker _a_ with her fine language, that now she may do what she will with him, for he is wholly at her devot... [ Continue Reading ]
He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; Ver. 22. _He goeth after her straightway._] Without any consideration of the sad consequences. Lust had blinded and besotted him, and even transformed him into a brute. _Nos animas etiam i... [ Continue Reading ]
_Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it [is] for his life._ Ver. 23. _Till a dart strike through his liver,_] _i.e,_ Filthy lust, that fiery dart of the devil, pointed and poisoned (as the Scythian darts are said to be) with the gall of asps an... [ Continue Reading ]
Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth. Ver. 24. _Hearken now therefore._] Call up the ears of thy mind Luk 8:18 to the ears of thy body, that one sound may pierce both. Solomon knew well how hard it was to get ground of a raging lust, even as hard as to g... [ Continue Reading ]
Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths. Ver. 25. _Let not thine heart._] Think not of her, lust not after her. Thoughts and affections are _sibi mutuo causae._ "While I mused the fire burned," Psa 39:3 so that thoughts kindle affections, and these cause thoughts to boil... [ Continue Reading ]
For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong [men] have been slain by her. Ver. 26. _For she hath cast down many._] That have let in death at those windows of wickedness, those loop holes of lust; that have died of the wound in the eye. _Aliorum perditio tua sit cautio_ - Seest thou anothe... [ Continue Reading ]
_Her house [is] the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death._ Ver. 27. _Her house is the way to Hell._] The shortest cut to utter destruction. This, if well believed, would make the young man stop or step back, as if he had trod upon a serpent. “ _Sed vivunt homines tanquam mors nulla seq... [ Continue Reading ]