Proverbs 8:22

The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way,.... Not "created me", as the Targum and the Septuagint version; which version Arius following gave birth to his pernicious doctrine; who from hence

The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. "Possessed me" [ qaanaaniy (H7069)].

Possessed me, as his Son by eternal generation, who was from eternity with him, as is said, ; and in him, as he also was in me, . In the beginning; yea, and before the beginning, as it is largely expressed in the following verses. Of his way; either, 1. Of his counsels or decrees. Or rather, 2. Of his works of creation, as it follows.

Proverbs 8:22 The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.Ver. 22. The Lord possessed me.] Not created me, as the Arians out of the Septuagint pressed it, to prove Christ a creature. Before his works of old.] Heb., Ante opera sua, ante tunc; id est, priusquam quis dicere potest tunc; before there was any either now or then; before all time, therefore from all eternity. For whatsoever was before the world and time, that was created with the world, must needs be eternal. εκτησεεκτισε.

(22) The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way.—The Hebrew word translated” possessed” in this passage (qβnah) seems originally to have signified to” set up” or “establish,” and is applied (1) to the “forming” of the heavens (Genesis 14:19) and the “begetting” of a son, (Deuteronomy 32:6); next it signifies (2) to “acquire” (Genesis 4:1), (3) to “purchase” (Genesis 25:10), and (4) to “own,” as in Isaiah 1:3. From the fact that “set up” and “brought forth” are used just after as synonyms to it, it is most likely that (1) is the proper meaning of the word here, and that the sense of the passage is that Wisdom was “formed” or “begotten” before the Creation, comp. Psalms 104:24. This agrees with the rendering of the most important Greek translation, the Septuagint (έκτισε). When in Christian times it was observed how well the description of Wisdom in Job and Proverbs harmonised with that of God the Son in the New Testament, such passages as this were universally applied to Him, and the present one was rightly interpreted as describing His eternal generation from the Father. Such was the view, for instance, of Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Tertullian. But when the Arian controversy arose, this phrase was seized upon by the opponents of our Lord’s Divinity, and claimed as teaching that He was, though the highest of created beings, still only a creature. The Catholics then changed their ground, some standing up for the rendering of Aquila, ἐκτήσατο (“acquired” or “possessed”), others applying the term έκτισε to Christ’s Incarnation (comp. “first-begotten among many brethren,” Romans 8:29), or to His being appointed to be the first principle or efficient cause of His creatures, the “beginning of the creation of God” (Revelation 3:14). For references to the Fathers see Bishop Wordsworth’s note, and, for a like variation in the rendering of “first-begotten of every creature,” comp. Bishop Lightfoot’s note on Colossians 1:15. In the beginning of his way.—That is, His way of acting, His activity in the Creation. But the preposition “in” does not occur in this passage, and from a comparison of Job 40:19, where behemoth (the hippopotamus) is termed the “beginning of the ways of God,” i.e., chief of His works, it is probable that this verse should be translated, “He brought me forth as the beginning of His way, as the earliest of His works from of old,” i.e., before the depths, and mountains, and hills, &c

Verse 22. The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way] Wisdom is not acquired by the Divine Being; man, and even angels, learn it by slow and progressive degrees; but in God it is as eternally inherent as any other essential attribute of his nature. The Targum makes this wisdom a creature, by thus translating the passage: אלהא בראני בריש בריתיה Elaha barani bereish biriteiah, "God created me in the beginning of his creatures." The Syriac is the same. This is as absurd and heretical as some modern glosses on the same passage.

22. possessed] So also R.V. text: marg., “or, formed.” ἔκτισεν, LXX.; ἐκτήσατο, Aquila; possedit, Vulg. This word has been a battleground of controversy since the days of the Arian heresy. But it is well to remember that, all theological questions apart, it is impossible to understand the word, whatever rendering of it we adopt, as indicating that Wisdom ever had a beginning, or was ever properly speaking created. Wisdom is inseparable from any worthy conception of Him who is “the only wise God” (1 Timothy 1:17), and therefore is like Him “from everlasting to everlasting” (Psalms 90:1). The Heb. word seems properly to mean, to acquire, and so to possess, (comparavit, emit, acquisivit, acquisitum possedit,” Buxtorf, ad verb.), without defining the method of acquisition. Thus Eve says on the birth of Cain, whom she named accordingly, “I have gotten a man with the help of Jehovah” (Genesis 4:1). Almighty God is called “the possessor of heaven and earth” (Genesis 14:19; Genesis 14:22) which He created; land is said to be acquired, which is bought (Genesis 47:22-23); and a son to be bought (A.V. and R.V. text, or possessed or gotten, R.V. marg.) by his father (Deuteronomy 32:6; comp. Psalms 139:13, “Thou hast possessed my reins,” A.V. and R.V. text, “or formed,” R.V. marg.). And so again it is used of an owner (Isaiah 1:3). The rendering, Jehovah possessed me, would seem therefore most accurately to represent the original, while the idea contained in the word lends itself readily in the higher reference of the passage, to the Catholic doctrine of the Eternal Generation of the Son. in the beginning] There is no preposition in the Hebrew. We might therefore render, with R.V. marg., as the beginning (lit. the beginning, ἔκτισέμεἀρχὴνὁδῶναὐτοῦ, LXX.). And so the same Heb. word is rendered in the next verse, or ever the earth was, lit. from the beginning of the earth. But the rendering of A.V. and R.V. text is preferable. before] Or, the first of, R.V. marg. The ambiguity in the Heb. is similar to that mentioned in the preceding note. But the considerations urged in the first note on this verse are decisive for the rendering, before. Comp. πρωτότοκοςπάσηςκτίσεως, Coloss. Proverbs 1:15, which “declares the absolute pre-existence of the Son,” Bp Lightfoot ad loc.

A verse which has played an important part in the history of Christian dogma.

ORIGIN OF WISDOM, Proverbs 8:22-31. 22. Possessed me… of old — Literally, from then, since. Great controversies have been held over this word. Great theological questions have been supposed involved.