Proverbs 1:33

33. So Wisdom invites, admonishes, threatens. But she will not close her discourse with an unpleasant word. She kindly returns to the rewards of the wise and good.

Whose Even of these beguiled and misled ones, shall now, from this time forth, hearken unto me, ceasing to do evil, and learning to do well, shall hereafter dwell securely indeed, and be delivered from the dread of impending evil. This applies in its lower sense to this life and temporal things; in its higher, to the spiritual life and eternal retributions. The principle is the same for both. The spirit of the Hhokmah (Wisdom) is truly evangelical, a type of the gospel dispensation. She calls, she urges, she entreats, she follows the wayward and wicked to their places of resort. She promises, she threatens, she is instant in season and out of season, wooing, beseeching, persuading. Comp. Matthew 11:19; Luke 11:49.

EXCURSUS No. I.

Wisdom, in the Holy Scriptures, is a very comprehensive term; and, as it is of such frequent occurrence in this book, we may at the beginning, once for all, treat it somewhat at large.

חכמה , ( Hhokhmah,) wisdom, is put for intelligence, sagacity, common sense in a high degree; judiciousness or discrimination, and sound and acute judgment in human affairs; great intellectual attainments; skill, ingenuity, and expertness in various arts; also superior knowledge in divine things, or in matters of religion. It is likewise used for craftiness, cunning, artfulness, and hence applied to magicians or enchanters. The fundamental idea is, superior mental endowments or attainments; hence, it may be used either in a good or a bad sense, as these endowments are applied to a good or a bad end. But it is mostly used in a good sense, and therefore stands for high intelligence, right reason, sound judgment, and all intellectual excellences. In the minds of the devout Hebrew writers these qualities were never disjoined from a knowledge of God and reverence for his character and law. Hence, as they rightly regarded this species of knowledge as by far the most important, so they considered the “fear of God,” piety or religion to be the first and most important part of wisdom. No man was really wise in their estimation who did not know and reverence God. Even he who was comparatively unlearned in other matters, but who possessed this essential attainment, was divinely wise; while the most learned sinner was a fool. It was thus that wisdom came to be regarded as almost synonymous with piety. The wisdom of which the royal sage treats in this book, so far as it belongs to man, includes and presupposes the knowledge of God, of our relations to him, and of the obligations growing out of those relations. Hence it so far corresponds to, and is identical with, godliness or piety; which also, as it exists in the emotions or is carried out in the life, rests upon this theoretical basis of the knowledge of God. In its adjective form, חכם , ( hhakham,) it is often joined with נבון , ( nabhon,) discriminating, discerning, discreet, attentive, intelligent. It is also opposed to נבל , ( nabhal,) stupid, foolish, wicked, abandoned, impious. The idea implied in the root of the latter word is that of wilting, fading, and falling away, and is transferred to folly and wickedness as a falling away from wisdom, virtue, and God; hence, becoming worthless, vile, and contemptible. This is the Piel, or intensive signification of the verb. Hhakham is also opposed to אויל , ( evil,) gross, stupid, sottish, foolish.

This word implies the stupidity or insensibility which is induced by sensuality and vicious habits.

The wide circle of virtues and mental endowments which the Hebrews comprised under the words hhakham and hhokhmah is best learned from the history and character of those whose wisdom became proverbial: for instance, Solomon, the author of this book, (see Introduction,) Daniel, (see Ezekiel 28:3, and book of Daniel,) and the Egyptians. (Acts 7:22.) The wisdom of Solomon was manifested in his acute judgment, (1 Kings 3:16;) in his ability to solve difficult questions and to explain abstruse subjects; in his knowledge of very many objects of nature, (1 Kings 4:33, etc.;) in the multitude of verses, sentences, or aphorisms which he composed, (1 Kings 4:32;) in the skill and taste which he displayed in his works of architecture; in the magnitude and success of his public and private enterprises; in the administrative ability with which he managed and enlarged his empire, and made it prosperous and respected; and in the excellence of his moral and religious teachings. (1 Kings 4:29-34.) The Egyptians were famous for their science, literature, and arts. In Acts 7:22 it is said that Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. Comp. Job 28:12, etc. The wisdom of Daniel was exhibited in his prudent statesmanship, and also in his faculty of prophesying, and interpreting dreams. Daniel 5:11-12. With hhokhmah is also associated מוסר , ( musar,) instruction, the radical idea of which is restraint, discipline, correction. Comp. Proverbs 13:18; Proverbs 13:24; Proverbs 22:1; 2 Timothy 3:16. The human mind, left to itself that is, to the impulses of appetite and passion, unrestrained, undisciplined, untamed, and self-willed runs wild in folly and wickedness. It needs checks, restraints, and corrections; and thus only attains to a chastened and cultivated intellectuality. The difference between a savage and a civilized and enlightened Christian, is largely due to the restraints and corrections which civilization, Christian principles, and Christian education, have thrown around the latter, but which are wanting to the former. The word musar is, therefore, equivalent to mental, moral, and religious cultivation. It embraces the idea of the great Teacher of the Christian dispensation, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me.” Matthew 11:29.