Proverbs 8 - Introduction
_THE FAME, AND EVIDENCE OF WISDOM. THE EXCELLENCY, THE NATURE, THE POWER, THE RICHES, AND THE ETERNITY OF WISDOM. WISDOM IS TO BE DESIRED FOR THE BLESSEDNESS THAT IT BRINGETH._... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE FAME, AND EVIDENCE OF WISDOM. THE EXCELLENCY, THE NATURE, THE POWER, THE RICHES, AND THE ETERNITY OF WISDOM. WISDOM IS TO BE DESIRED FOR THE BLESSEDNESS THAT IT BRINGETH._... [ Continue Reading ]
DOTH NOT WISDOM CRY, &C.— We may consider this chapter as connected with the preceding, and making one continued discourse. The wise man has represented in what goes before, the dangerous seductions of pleasure, in the language of an adulterous woman. Here he describes wisdom inviting us to her love... [ Continue Reading ]
BY THE WAY, &C.— _Upon the way, within, or amidst the paths._ The LXX read, _She hath stood in the middle of the paths._... [ Continue Reading ]
RECEIVE MY INSTRUCTION, AND NOT SILVER— _Rather than silver;_ that is to say_, preferably to silver;_ or it may be, "Give not your heart to money, if you would possess wisdom." It is impossible to join these two things, the love of this world, and the love of wisdom.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND FIND OUT KNOWLEDGE OF WITTY INVENTIONS— _And penetrate the knowledge of right things._ Schultens; who observes, that the first clause contains a very splendid image, _"I wisdom inhabit prudence."_ So Jehovah is said to _inhabit eternity._ Calmet says, that the last clause, according to the Hebre... [ Continue Reading ]
COUNSEL IS MINE, AND SOUND WISDOM— _Good government:_ Houbigant; who renders the next clause, _Prudence is mine; mine is fortitude._... [ Continue Reading ]
BY ME KINGS REIGN— All authority and power come from God; and all those who are established over others have received from the author of this wisdom all their superiority. Whether God gives a prince in his anger, or in his mercy, it is he who hath established him; nor can they worthily exercise thei... [ Continue Reading ]
I LOVE THEM THAT LOVE ME— In order to seek for wisdom with the earnestness that she merits, we must know her, and love her: we must by our continual prayers seek for this excellent good, and intreat God to increase in us the love of wisdom, holiness, and virtue; because, in proportion as this love i... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD POSSESSED ME IN THE BEGINNING— All this, says Calmet, respects the Eternal Wisdom, the Word of the Father. This verse is very similar to John 1:1. The LXX render it, _He created me the beginning of his ways;_ which many interpreters refer to the Incarnate wisdom. The word which Calmet rende... [ Continue Reading ]
I WAS SET UP FROM EVERLASTING— According to the Hebrew, _I have been anointed from all eternity;_ which is particularly applicable to Jesus Christ, the anointed of the Father.... [ Continue Reading ]
HIGHEST PART— _Sum,_ or _first atom._ Schultens.... [ Continue Reading ]
AS ONE BROUGHT UP WITH HIM— The Hebrew signifies, _As one co-operating,_ or _working with him._ This sense is favoured by the LXX, who read, _I was harmonizing,_ or _disposing things together with him._ The French render it, _I was with him and regulated all things._ The expression in the next claus... [ Continue Reading ]
MY DELIGHTS WERE WITH THE SONS OF MEN— The wisdom of God communicated itself to men, preferably to all other sensible creatures here below; having given to them alone intelligence, and a soul capable of the illumination of prudence, and the practice of holiness and virtue. The Son of God, the Eterna... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SHALL OBTAIN FAVOUR— Wisdom is the salvation, the happiness, the life of men. All these attributes apply admirably to Jesus Christ. We observe from this chapter, that if it be at all to be understood of the Son of God, which the ancient Arians believed, and of which I have no doubt, then not onl... [ Continue Reading ]