The Pulpit Commentary - Proverbs 8:4
Unto you, O men, I call. "Men," ishim ( אִישִׁים ); equivalent to ἄνδρες , viri, men in the highest sense, who have some wisdom and experience, but need further enlightenment ( Isaiah 53:3 ; Psalms 141:4 ). The sons of man; בְּנֵי אָדָם , "children of Adam;" equivalent to ἄνθρωποι , homines, the general kind of men, who are taken up with material interests. St. Gregory notes ('Moral ,' 27.6) that persons ( heroines ) of perfect life are in Scripture... read more
The Pulpit Commentary - Proverbs 8:1-36
14. Fourteenth admonitory discourse concerning Wisdom—her excellence, her origin, her gifts. She is contrasted with the strange woman of Proverbs 7:1-27 ; and the exceeding greatness of the blessings which she offers exhibits in the most marked manner the nothingness of the deceiver's gifts. One is reminded of the celebrated episode of the choice of Hercules, delineated by Xenophon, 'Memorab.,' 2.1. 21, etc. The chapter divides itself into four sections. read more