Proverbs 4:23

Keep thy heart with all diligence,.... The mind from vanity, the understanding from error, the will from perverseness, the conscience clear of guilt, the affections from being inordinate and set on

Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Keep thy heart with all [ mikaal (H3605)] diligence.

Thy heart; thy mind and thoughts, and especially the will and affections, which are the more immediate and effectual cause of all men’ s actions. Out of it are the issues of life; from thence proceed all the actions, as of the natural, so of the spiritual life, which lead to eternal life and happiness; as, on the contrary, all evil actions tending to death spring from thence, which is here implied.

Proverbs 4:23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it [are] the issues of life.Ver. 23. Keep thy heart.] Filth free, as much as may be; keep a constant counterguard against all inroads made by flesh, world, and devil. Keep the heart always supple and soluble, for else thou canst not be long in spiritual health. Quod sanitas in corpore, id sanctitas in corde. Keep it ever well in tune, and then all shall go well. If in a viol I find the treble string in tune, I make no question of the bass; that goes not out so easily. So here. For out of it are the issues of life.] That is, as of natural, so of spiritual actions, Hinc fons boni et peccandi origo, saith Jerome. It is the fountain; the root; the treasury or storehouse; the primum mobile; the great wheel; the Pharos that commands the haven; the chief monarch in this Isle of Man that gives laws to all the members. Keep it therefore with all custody, or with all caution; or if the devil cast poison into it (as he will), cleanse it after. It is in vain to purge the stream, where the spring is defiled; but if the spring be clear, the streaans will soon clear themselves.

(23) Keep thy heart with all diligence.—Rather, above all things that are to be guarded.For out of it are the issues of life.—That is, from it comes life (and also death). From it proceed “all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works,” signs of the life with God within the soul; or, “evil thoughts, murders,” &c. (Matthew 15:19), “the end of which things is death” (Romans 6:21).

Verse 23. Keep thy heart with all diligence] "Above all keeping," guard thy heart. He who knows any thing of himself, knows how apt his affections are to go astray. For out of it are the issues of life.] תוצאות חיים totseoth chaiyim, "the goings out of lives." Is not this a plain allusion to the arteries which carry the blood from the heart through the whole body, and to the utmost extremities? As long as the heart is capable of receiving and propelling the blood, so long life is continued. Now as the heart is the fountain whence all the streams of life proceed, care must be taken that the fountain be not stopped up nor injured. A double watch for its safety must be kept up. So in spiritual things: the heart is the seat of the Lord of life and glory; and the streams of spiritual life proceed from him to all the powers and faculties of the soul. Watch with all diligence, that this fountain be not sealed up, nor these streams of life be cut off. Therefore "put away from thee a froward mouth and perverse lips - and let thy eyes look straight on." Or, in other words, look inward - look onward - look upward. I know that the twenty-third verse is understood as principally referring to the evils which proceed from the heart, and which must be guarded against; and the good purposes that must be formed in it, from which life takes its colouring. The former should be opposed; the latter should be encouraged and strengthened. If the heart be pure and holy, all its purposes will be just and good. If it be impure and defiled, nothing will proceed from it but abomination. But though all this be true, I have preferred following what I believe to be the metaphor in the text.

23. with all diligence] Lit. above all keepings, that is bestowed on aught beside. πάσῃφυλακῇ, LXX. Omni custodia, Vulg. Others, with R.V. marg., above all that thou guardest; “prζ omnibus rebus custodiendis,” Maurer. “It is very strange that Judaism should ever have sunk into a formal religion of outward observance, when its own wisdom was so explicit on this point … ‘Keep them in the midst of thy heart … Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.’ The Greek version, which was very generally used in our Lord’s time, had a beautiful variation of this last clause. [It is really of Pro 4:21, where by a slight change in the Heb. punctuation they read ‘fountains’ for ‘eyes’]: ‘In order that thy fountains may not fail thee, guard them in the heart’ [ὅπωςμὴἐκλίπωσίσεαἱπηγαίσου, φύλασσεαὐτὰςἐνκαρδίᾳ, Proverbs 4:21, LXX.]. It was after all but a new emphasis on the old teaching of the Book of Proverbs, when Jesus taught the necessity of heart purity, and when He shewed that out of the heart came forth evil thoughts and all the things which defile a man (Matthew 15:19).” Horton.

Better, as in the margin, i. e., with more vigilance than men use over anything else. The words that follow carry on the same similitude. The fountains and wells of the East were watched over with special care.

23. Keep — Guard. Thy heart with all diligence — Literally, above all keeping or guarding. More than any thing else guard thy heart, for out of it are the issues (goings forth, or currents) of life.