Now therefore; seeing I have such a true love to you, and seeing I am so thoroughly acquainted with my Father’s mind, and so excellently qualified to be your Counsellor and Ruler. read more
Or, do not make it void or unprofitable to you by your own sloth or wilfulness. read more
As servants, and clients, and others wait at the doors of princes or persons of eminency for place, or power, or wisdom, that they may be admitted to speak or converse with them. read more
He that sinneth against me, by the neglect or contempt of or rebellion against my commands, wrongeth his own soul; is guilty of self-murder and of soul-murder. They that hate me, i.e. who reject and disobey my counsels, and live wickedly, which in God’s account is a hating of him, as is here implied and elsewhere, as Exodus 20:5; Deuteronomy 7:10; Deuteronomy 32:41. Love death; not directly or intentionally, but by consequence, because they love those practices which they know will bring... read more
CRITICAL NOTES.—Places of the paths “in the midst of the highways.” “These ways are roads, solitary paths, not streets in the city, and the delineation proceeds in such an order as to exhibit Wisdom; first, in Proverbs 8:2, as a preacher in the open country, in grove and field, on mountains and plains, and then in Proverbs 8:3, to describe her public harangues in the cities, and in the tumult of the multitudes” (Zöckler). Proverbs 8:3. At the entrance of its doors, i.e., “standing on the... read more
CRITICAL NOTES.—Proverbs 8:5. Wisdom. This is a different word from the one used in Proverbs 8:1, and may be translated “subtilty,” or “prudence,” and though it is here used in a good sense, may, when the context requires it, be translated “artful cunning.” Proverbs 8:6. Excellent, literally “princely,” generally rendered “plain,” “evident,” “obvious.” Proverbs 8:7. Mouth, lit. “palate.” Speak, literally, “meditate;” the word originally meant “mutter,” and grew to mean “meditate,” because what... read more
CRITICAL NOTES.—Proverbs 8:11. Rubies, “pearls.” MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH—Proverbs 8:10-11WISDOM BETTER THAN WEALTHI. Wisdom is to be preferred to wealth because it belongs to a higher sphere. The wisdom by which men succeed in finding gold and silver reveals the superiority of mind over matter. The apparatus of the miner or digger reveals that his thought, by which he is enabled to find the precious metal, is more than the metal itself. The precious stones which the merchant gains by... read more
CRITICAL NOTES.—Proverbs 8:12. Dwell with or “inhabit.” Witty inventions, “skilful plans” (Stuart), “sagacious counsels” (Zöckler) Proverbs 8:14. Sound wisdom, the same word as in chap. Proverbs 2:7 (see note there). Stuart reads here, “As for me, my might is understanding;” Delitzsch, “Mine is counsel and promotion.” MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH—Proverbs 8:12-13WISDOM AND PRUDENCEI. Wisdom and prudence are here represented as dwelling together to express unity of action. Elster remarks... read more
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Proverbs 8:14-16THE SOURCE OF TRUE POWERI. Moral wisdom is the strength of kings. “I have strength; by me kings rule.” There is a kind of strength in all wisdom. The serpent’s strength is in his subtlety. The strength of the kingdom of darkness consists in a kind of wisdom of which our Lord speaks, when He says, “The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light” (Luke 16:8). Many kingdoms have been founded and governed upon... read more
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Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible - Proverbs 8:31
Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; in contemplating the wonderful wisdom and goodness of God in the making and ordering of all his creatures, and of man especially. My delights were with the sons of men, to uphold them by my power and providence, to reveal myself and my Father’s mind and will to them from age to age, to assume their nature, and to redeem and save them, which I would not do for the fallen angels. read more