Proverbs 2
Irwin1. And hide. Or, “and lay up,” as a valuable possession.
3 if thou criest after knowledge. This and the following metaphors represent an earnest and laborious search: cp. ver. 3 with Matt. vii. 7, and ver. 4 with the description of the miner’s hardships and perils in Job xxviii., where also wisdom is defined as “the fear of Jehovah,” and declared to be His gift. For the parallel to “hid treasure,” see Matt. xiii. 44.
12 from the way of the evil man. Either “perverse,” or “false things”; the sophisms of error, and the seductions of vice: and so in ver. 14.
16 the stranger. Though the term here translated “stranger” generally signifies a “foreigner,” yet ver. 17 shows that the writer does not refer particularly to such persons, but to any one not a lawful wife.
17 the guide of her youth. Or, “the companion of her youth” (see Psa. lv. 13; the husband to whom in youth she had been united, with all the sanctions of religion, according to the ordinance, or “the covenant of her God.”
18 inclineth. Or, “sinketh down.”
19. Neither take they hold of the paths of life. Unchastity often shortens life. But there is here probably a further reference to its destructive effects upon the moral nature. As the dead return not to life, so the licentious are rarely restored to purity. For this sin, more rapidly and certainly than any other, pollutes the imagination, deadens moral sensibility, paralyses conscience, and destroys all that conviction might effectually fasten upon.
21 the upright shall dwell in the land. A long life in the land of Canaan was one of the chief earthly blessings promised to the faithful Israelite: see Exod. xx. 12. Hence it was used to represent the highest good, as in Matt. v. 5.
22 the earth. Rather, “the land,” as in the previous verse.