Proverbs 22:17-21 - Homilies By E. Johnson

The words of the wise to be taken to heart

I. THEY YIELD DIVINE PLEASURE ( Proverbs 22:18 .) And all the pleasure of the world is not to be weighed against it. Let those who have "tasted of the good Word of God" bear their witness. The human soul is made for truth, and delights in it. There is pleasure in grasping a mathematical demonstration or a scientific law; and the successful inquirer may shout his "Eureka!" with joy over every fresh discovery. But above all, "how charming is Divine philosophy!"—that which traces the clear path of virtue, warns against vice, shows the eternal reward of the former and the doom of the latter, Received with the appetite of faith, Divine truth is food most sweet.

II. THEY LEAD US ON TO CONFIDENCE IN GOD . ( Proverbs 22:19 .) And this is our true foundation. He is Jehovah, the Eternal One. He is the Constant One. His Name is the expression of mercy, of truth, and of justice. To love and to trust him is to be in living intercourse with all that is true and beautiful and good.

III. THEY ARE RICH IN MANIFOLD INSTRUCTION . ( Proverbs 22:20 .) They are "princely words," i.e. of the highest and noblest dignity. Prone to sink into the commonplace, the mean, the impure, they lift us to high views of our calling, our duty, and oar destiny.

IV. THEY PRODUCE , JUSTICE OF THOUGHT AND SOUNDNESS OF SPEECH . ( Proverbs 22:21 .) Thought and speech together form the garment of the soul. It is only the living sap of God's truth within us which can impart greenness and beauty, blossom and fruit, to the life. As water rises to the level from which it descended, so does all truth received into the soul go back in some form to the imparter, in thanks and in blessing.—J.