Proverbs 8:23 - Exposition

I was set up from everlasting. The verb used here is remarkable. It is נָסַךְ ( nasak ) , in niph.; and it is found in Psalms 2:6 , "I have set my King upon my holy hill." Both here and there it has been translated "anointed," which would make a noteworthy reference to Christ. But there seems no proof that the word has this meaning. It signifies properly "to pour forth" (as of molten metal), then "to put down," "to appoint or establish." The versions recognize this. Thus the Septuagint, "he established ( ἐθεμελίωσε ) me;" Vulgate, ordinata sum ; Aquila, κατεστάθην ; Symmachus, προεχείρισμαι ; Venetian, κέχυμαι (comp. Ecclesiastes 1:9 ). So what is here said is that Wisdom was from everlasting exalted as ruler and disposer of all things. To express eternal relation, three synonymous terms are used. From everlasting ; πρὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος , Septuagint, as Delitzsch notes, points back to infinite distance. From the beginning; i.e. before the world was begun to be made; as St. John says ( John 1:1 ), "In the beginning was the Word;" and Christ prays, "Glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was" ( John 17:5 ). Or ever the earth was . This looks to the most remote time after the actual creation, while the earth was being formed and adapted.