Proverbs 3:7-8

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Proverbs 3:7-12

We have here before us three exhortations, each of them enforced with a good reason:? I. We must live in a humble and dutiful subjection to God and his government (Prov. 3:7): ?Fear the Lord, as your sovereign Lord and Master; be ruled in every thing by your religion and subject to the divine will.? This must be, 1. A humble subjection: Be not wise in thy own eyes. Note, There is not a greater enemy to the power of religion, and the fear of God in the heart, than conceitedness of our own... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Proverbs 3:7

Be not wise in thine own eyes ,.... So as to act independently of God; not to trust in him, nor acknowledge him, nor seek to him for help and direction; nor ask nor take the advice of others; but, being conceited and self-sufficient, lean to thine own understanding, as being wise enough to conduct all affairs in life by thy own discretion; and in matters of religion wiser than thy teachers, and even than the Scriptures, being wise above that which is written; pleasing thyself with thine own... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Proverbs 3:8

It shall be health to thy navel ,.... That part of the body which is the knot of the intestines; and may be put for the bowels and inward parts, which being sound, the body is in health; and these may be put for the whole body: and so the Septuagint version renders it, "to thy body"; and this may be put for the whole person. And the sense is, either wisdom, as Jarchi; the doctrine of wisdom, the Gospel; which teaches men to trust in the Lord, and not in themselves, to apply to him for... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Proverbs 3:8

It shall be health to thy navel - We need not puzzle ourselves to find out what we may suppose to be a more delicate meaning for the original word שר shor than navel; for I am satisfied a more proper cannot be found. It is well known that it is by the umbilical cord that the fetus receives its nourishment all the time it is in the womb of the mother. It receives nothing by the mouth, nor by any other means: by this alone all nourishment is received, and the circulation of the blood kept... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Proverbs 3:1-10

Precepts and promises of wisdom I. THE CONNECTION OF PRECEPT AND PROMISE . 1 . Precept needs confirmation. We cannot but ask— Why should we pursue this or that line of conduct in preference to another? Why should men be God-fearing, honest, chaste? We are rational creatures, not "dumb driven cattle," to be forced along a given road. We must have reasons; and it is to reason in us that the Divine reason ever makes appeal. 2 . The confirmation is found in experience.... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Proverbs 3:1-18

4. Fourth admonitory discourse. The third chapter introduces us to a group of admonitions, and the first of these ( Proverbs 3:1-18 ) forms the fourth admonitory discourse of the teacher. To all intents and purposes this is a continuation of the discourse in the preceding chapter, for inasmuch as that described the benefits, spiritual and moral, which follow from the pursuit of Wisdom, in promoting godliness and providing safety from evil companions, so this in like manner depicts the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Proverbs 3:7

Be not wise in thine own eyes. This admonition carries on the thought from the preceding verses (5, 6), approaching it from a different direction. It is a protest against self-sufficiency, self-conceit, and self-reliance. It says, in effect, "Trust in the Lord, do not trust in yourself." Wisdom, as Michaelis remarks, is to trust in God; to trust in yourself and in your own wisdom is unwisdom. God denounces this spirit: "Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Proverbs 3:7

(second part), 8.— A three-linked chain. We have— I. PIETY . "Fear the Lord." It is the faculty which distinguishes the meanest man from the noblest brute, which raises our race immeasurably above the next below it. Man can fear God. He can II. MORALITY . "Depart from evil." The outcome of piety is morality. 1 . The morality which rests not on the basis of piety (the fear of the Lord) is on an insecure foundation. Change of circumstance, of friends, of fashions, may blow it... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Proverbs 3:8

It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones. A metaphorical expression, denoting the complete spiritual health which shall follow from fearing the Lord and departing from evil. Health, ( riph'uth ); properly, healing ; LXX ; ιἅσις ; Vulgate, sanitas ; so Syriac and Arabic. The Targum Jonathan has medicina, "medicine," as the margin. The root rapha is properly "to sew together," and the secondary meaning, "to heal," is taken from the healing of a wound by... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Proverbs 3:7-8

Proverbs 3:7-8. Be not wise in thine own eyes Be not puffed up with a vain conceit of thine own wisdom, as if that were sufficient for the conduct of all thine affairs, without direction and assistance from God, or without the advice of others. Fear the Lord, &c. This he adds, because reverence for, and a dread of, the Divine Majesty, will make a man, when he compares himself with God, little and vile in his own eyes. Reverence God’s wisdom, and despise thine own. It shall be health... read more

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