Wisdom as guide 8:1-5By personifying wisdom Solomon was able to illustrate two things about it in these verses, both of which concern the guidance that is available in wisdom (understanding, insight). Wisdom is available everywhere (Proverbs 8:2-3) and to anyone (Proverbs 8:5). It does not take a superior intellect to be wise in the biblical sense. read more
13. The function of wisdom ch. 8Chapter 8 is an apology (defense) of wisdom. The argument of this section develops as follows. Wisdom would be every person’s guide (Proverbs 8:1-5; cf. Galatians 5:18; Galatians 5:22-23). She is morality’s partner (Proverbs 8:6-13), the key to success (Proverbs 8:14-21), the principle of creation (Proverbs 8:22-31), and the one essential necessity of life (Proverbs 8:32-36). Chapter 8 contains the longest sustained personification in the Bible. [Note: Merrill,... read more
Wisdom’s CryWisdom now reappears as a preacher, holding forth in all the places where men most do congregate. After expounding in varied ways the excellence of the gifts which she can bestow, she asserts that she was the first of all God’s creatures, who stood at His side when He formed our world, and took part in His work as a master workman, whose delight has always been in the lives and affairs of men. In Proverbs 8:1-21 we find only the ordinary kind of personification, in which a quality... read more
(2) She standeth in the top of high places.—i.e., in the higher parts of the city, where her voice will best be heard.By the way . . .—She goes everywhere where she may find the greatest concourse of people, “God not being willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). So the apostles made large centres of population such as Antioch, Ephesus, or Corinth, the headquarters of their missionary enterprise. read more
(4) O men—i.e., “great ones;” “sons of man” are those of inferior rank; comp. the Hebrew of Isaiah 2:9, where the same words are translated “great man,” and “mean man.” Comp. the generality of the invitation of Psalms 49:2. read more
Supreme Acquisitions Proverbs 8:35-36 This striking contrast expresses the twofold universal classification of men those who find and those who miss true wisdom in life. I. Looking first at the darker side of the contrast we see sin revealed as being both a missing of the Divine purpose and also a process of self-destruction. For to miss Christ either by reason of engaging the heart's attention with other things, by the fatal power of careless inattention, or by engrossment in the search after... read more
CHAPTER 9THE FIRST-BORN OF THE CREATOR"Doth not Wisdom cry?"- Proverbs 8:1In the last chapter a dark and revolting picture of Vice was drawn. This chapter contains a lovely and living picture of Wisdom. In this contrast, as we have already seen, Vice can be presented as a vicious woman, because it is unhappily only too easy to find such an incarnation in actual experience: Wisdom, on the other hand, cannot be presented as an actual person, but only as a personification, because there was, as... read more
CHAPTER 8 1. The call and appeal of wisdom (Proverbs 8:1-11 ) 2. What wisdom is and what wisdom gives (Proverbs 8:12-21 ) 3. Wisdom; the Person, who He is (Proverbs 8:22-31 ) 4. The renewed appeal (Proverbs 8:32-36 ) Proverbs 8:1-11 . This is one of the most interesting chapters in the entire book. It begins with a call and appeal of wisdom, much like the call and appeal of the first chapter. If wisdom calls, has a voice, then wisdom must also be a person. Who personified wisdom is we... read more
8:3 She crieth at {b} the gates, at the entry of the city, at the entrance of the doors.(b) Where the people resorted most and which was the place of justice. read more
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Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Proverbs 8:2
Proverbs 8:2. By the way, &c.— Upon the way, within, or amidst the paths. The LXX read, She hath stood in the middle of the paths. read more