Proverbs 8

Chap. VIII. Ver. 1—36., Divine wisdom personified.—There are two ways in which Wisdom may be considered—as a quality conferred on man, and as an attribute inherent in the Divine Being. The wisdom personified in this chapter includes both. It must be the former which says, “I Wisdom dwell with Prudence, and find out the knowledge of witty (or, see to some, of all) inventions. By me kings reign,” &c. But when the description is carried higher, and this Wisdom is represented as the companion of the Eternal, even before the creation of the world, we are constrained to consider it as an attribute of the Divine Being. There is another view, however, in which Christian divines, of all ages, have explained this passage as referring to the Son of God himself, and as affording proof of his divinity; under this consideration, the chapter may be viewed in a light similar to the double sense of prophecy in David and in Isaiah; scripture as applicable to a divine attribute and a divine person, than in explaining the same text as an historical fact in reference to David, and a divine prediction as relating to David’s Son and Lord.

We would caution Christians against resting their faith in Christ on such disputable evidence, when they have far more clear and certain proofs in other parts of Scripture. It is highly probable, however, that the apostle John alluded to this passage in the introduction to his gospel, where he speaks of a divine Master, under the character of the Logos: which may be rendered either the Wisdom, the Reason, or the Word of God. If we were deeply imbued with the spirit of Christianity, we perceive primitive Christians pleased in every where finding, both in nature and grace, the same; at the same time we must confess with the inimitable Watts, ‘Nor earth, nor seas, nor sun, nor stars, Nor heaven, his full resemblance bears; His beauties we can never trace Till we behold him face to face.”

Notes on the verses

Ver. 6. My casement.—* Lattice work; the window of a Kiosk.—Park.

Ver. 10. The attire of a harlot.—Bishop Patrick explains this, “In a gaudy lascivious dress.”

Ver. 13. With an impudent face.—In the East, their ideas of decency forbid a virtuous woman to lay aside, or even to lift up her veil, in the presence of the other sex; and she who ventures to disregard this prohibition, inevitably ruins her character, and the act is regarded as a signal for intrigue. Pitts informs us, that in Barbary the courtezan appears in public without her veil; and the harlot here appears to have exposed herself in the same indecent manner. Bagster.

Ver. 14. I have peace-offerings.—The greater part of the peace-offerings, whether of the herd or flock, was returned to the offerer, to feast with his friends. (Deuteronomy 12:6-7). So Bishop Patrick.

Ver. 16. Decked my bed.—Similarly adorned was the bed described by the Baron Du Tott, which consisted of many mattresses of quilted cotton, laced one upon another, covered with a sheet of Indian linen, a coverlet of green satin, adorned with gold embroidery and embossed work; two pillows of crimson satin, covered with similar embroidery, and a profusion of gold, &c.

Ver. 20. At the day appointed.—See margin. Which was a public festival.

Ver. 22. As a fool to the correction of the stocks.—Dr. Grey, making slight alteration in the text, renders, ‘as a dog to the chain, and as a deer, till a dart strike through his liver;” and Dr. Hunt, “Or as a hart boundeth into the toils, till a dart strike through his liver.” The LXX. Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic concur in this interpretation. The circumstance of the dart, as applied to the deer, is beautiful and proper, which otherwise we are at a loss to dispose of; and this creature, of all others, was the most proper to be noticed on this occasion; for the usual representation which the Egyptians made of a man overthrown by flattery and fair speeches, was the picture of a hart captivated and ensnared by the sound of music.—Bagster. But Dr. Hodgson adheres to the present reading, which he translates, “Yea, like a fool he runneth on to punishment.”

Chap. VII. Ver. 11. Rubies.—(The ruby is a beautiful gem of a red colour, with a tinge of purple, generally in the form of a six-sided prism, and when perfect extremely valuable: it is a species of sapphire, to which it is equal in hardness; and is sometimes chatoyant in its appearance, i.e., has a curious kind of reflection, like a cat’s eye; and as this is particularly striking, and changes as you turn the stone, hence, perhaps, its name peninim, from panah, to turn, look. But the learned Bochart contends that it denotes pearls; and that hence are derived the Greek and Latin pinna, of the same import. The pearl is a hard, smooth, round body, of a sparkling white, formed of coats like an onion, and found in a shell-fish, like an oyster; a species of which Bruce mentions of the name of pinna, from which is obtained a most beautiful pearl, “tinged with an elegant blush of red.”)—Bagster.

Ver. 12. Witty inventions—‘Plans, or devices,” Gesenius. ‘There is no adjective answering to “witty,” and Dr. Boothroyd translates, “every inven-

Ver. 14. Counsel is mine, &c.—Heb. “With me is counsel and sound wisdom; with me, understanding and strength.” The word rendered sound wisdom, is quite different from “wisdom,” in ver. 12; and is the same used (Proverbs 3:21). It strictly signifies “substance,” or reality.

Ver. 22. In the beginning—“At the beginning,” Hodgson and Boothroyd; but there is no preposition in the original, which reads literally, “The Lord possessed me the beginning,” &c.; intimating that wisdom was the source of all God’s works.

Ver. 23, I was set up—Heb. “anointed.” Apply this to divine wisdom personified, it means that she was enthroned over all the works of God;

Ver. 26. The fields.—See margin. Perhaps the atmosphere.—The highest part—namely, the hills. See (Genesis 1:7, 10).

Ver. 29. His commandment—Heb. “‘His” (or “its”) mouth.” Applied to God, the pronoun means “his command;” to the sea, “its limits.” ——— Appointed the foundations.—[The principles on which it is constructed, and the irreversible laws by which all its motions are governed, especially its centrifugal and centripetal force; by the former of which, or its tendency to recede from its great centre, it has its annual motion round the sun, like the other planets, at the mean distance of 95,513,791 miles; and by the latter, or its tendency to its centre, all its particles are prevented from flying off, notwithstanding the great velocity of its motion round its own axis, which causes 1042 miles of its equator to pass under any given point of the heavens in a single hour!]—Bagster.

Ver. 30, As one brought up with him.—Bishop Loth, “As his offspring.” But this is a very difficult verse. Parkhurst thinks the Hebrew (Amon) should be rendered adverbially, “Then was I by him constantly.” Taking it for a noun, Dr. Hodgson renders it, “companion;” Boothroyd, “workman;” Holden, by the strange word “fabricator.” It cannot be denied that Amon is used for a skilful (perhaps trusty) artificer, or artist, Sol. Song, vii. 2. but Gesenius objects to its application of this to wisdom, as wanting a female termination. He inclines, therefore, to render Amon, (as being of the common gender) “a foster child,” which is the idea of our translators; “one brought up with him,” faithful and steady to his interests; which is not very different. Hear Lowth’s version, and in a case of so much difficulty, it may be wise to Holden, referring the latter verses, 22 to 30, to the Son of God, derives thence an argument for “eternal generation,” as some of the fathers did; but as we are arguing upon a mystical allegory, we do not wish to rest thereon a doctrine of such magnitude.