Proverbs 2

Notes

Ver. 1-5. And for your excitement and encouragement, know assuredly, my children, that if you entertain, receive, and lay up in your heart the instructions and directions which I now give you; if you earnestly study, and importunately pray for, the enjoyment of Jesus Christ, and of all true and spiritual wisdom and knowledge in him, as infinitely more precious, useful, and desirable than all the treasures on earth, then you shall, by the influences of the Holy Spirit, happily obtain your desire, and be enabled and directed to know, obey, fear, love, worship, and serve God in a proper and truly acceptable manner. 6-9. For as wisdom and every other blessing is the free gift of God, he in his Word hath revealed, and by his Spirit bestows it upon men, and gives them a true and spiritual knowledge of himself and his ways. He hath in store, and is always ready to bestow upon such as ask it, true, solid, and substantial wisdom. And while he instructs and directs, he, by his almighty providence, infallibly preserves from soul-ruining mischiefs such as walk in a sincere, candid, and upright manner. He guides and enables the lovers of holiness to persevere in their integrity according to the rules of his Word, and preserves them from being drawn aside from it or endangered in it. And in seeking wisdom from him, you shall come to understand his righteousness and wisdom in all his administrations, and be enabled to imitate him in everything truly holy and virtuous. 10. And if Jesus Christ, the spiritual knowledge of divine things, and the power of practical godliness, have once been admitted to your heart and into your affections, 11-15. These will tend to preserve you from the crafty and ruinous seduction, either of subtle men, who, having apostatized from everything good, walk and delight in the perplexed ways of vice, and in making others as wicked as themselves, drawing them aside, and entangling them in courses directly contrary to their own true interest, safety, conscience, or reason; 16. Or of light and lewd women, unworthy to be reckoned Israelites, who set themselves, by all the arts of flattery, to decoy such as you into whoredom; 17. Perfidiously alienating their affections and persons from their own husbands, and disregarding the solemn vows made to them at marriage; 18. And who really love no one, but promote the death and eternal damnation of all such as cultivate any familiarity with them. 19. Very few who are once ensnared into their impure embraces are ever, by the grace of God, recovered to a penitent, chaste, and virtuous life on earth, or to everlasting glory in heaven.—20-22. And, moreover, while you are preserved from the ruinous infection of these wicked seducers, you shall be enabled to follow the example of the holy patriarchs and prophets; and, in consequence of this, shall happily dwell in this promised land of Canaan, and inherit the spiritual and everlasting felicity prefigured by it.—While these wicked seducers and their followers shall, after a shortlived flourish of prosperity, be furiously driven from this land and earth, and cast into the woe and depths of hell.

Ver. 4. Pearls are brought up from the depths of the sea; gold is washed from the earth and sands; silver is dug from the deep and dark mine; gems are extricated from the solid rock; the relics of antiquity are separated from rubbish and ruins—and shall the unsearchable riches of Christ be expected on the surface, as the reward of the indolent, or the discovery of accident? No. The believer searches in study of the Word, in study of the ways of Providence, in study of his own heart, in the depths of sovereign grace and eternal love—and discovers those treasures that lie hid from the wise and prudent, but which God by his Spirit reveals unto babes. C.

Ver. 9. Understand righteousness. It should never be forgotten that there is but one righteousness that can ever be discovered, 'the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all them that believe,' Ro. 3. 10, 22. C.

Ver. 12. Men, evil in heart and froward in speech; for in the heart originate all evil things, and out of the abundance of an evil heart the mouth speaketh, Mat. 12. 34. C.

Ver. 17. A woman who has violated her marriage vow is here exhibited. Faithless to God, faithless to man—the perjured wanton is at once the original and the emblem of all that is most seductive, dangerous, and deadly. But to view the passage as a mere warning against a wicked woman, were to narrow it far within the limits of its full meaning. She is the emblem of that heathen idolatry by which the spirit is seduced from God, and immersed in sensuality; and she is the emblem of that seductive apostasy in the nominal Christian church which is called Babylon—with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and whose judgment, though it linger, will come in one hour, Re. 18. 9, 10. C.

Reflections.—With remarkable diligence should we attend to all the exercises of true religion. The Lord is ready to bless such as are diligent with great success; and usually bestows upon them remarkable instruction, satisfaction, and protection. There is need of real religion to season and rule our heart; and of God's special preservation and our utmost caution while we live in this world, where men of corrupt principles, and women of treacherous and corrupt practices, so greatly abound. In their sinful courses such are generally obstinate, active, and crafty. Ensnaring are their enticements, and dangerous and ordinarily ruinous their connections: and few, once entangled in their wickedness, ever seriously repent, or turn to Jesus Christ for life and salvation. Happy then are they who are delivered from them, and enabled to walk as truly pious and circumspect. Godliness has the promise of this life and of that which is to come. Even now the saints alone have a blessed portion on earth; and at last they only shall inhabit the new earth, into which no wicked person shall ever enter.