My son, despise not the instruction of Jehovah, neither be weary of his chastisement;
Solomon has just promised plenty to those who honour the Lord with their wealth. Now he turns to a very different experience: the Lord's hand pressing on His own child. The verse takes for granted that God disciplines the people He blesses. It warns of two wrong ways to take it.
The opening words are not general advice to everyone. They set the verse inside a family bond, and that settles who God's correcting hand falls on:
Here the words are clearly spoken to someone in a known relationship, as the term "my son" plainly shows. The same is true in Hebrews 12, where this scripture is quoted, applied and expanded... This is how the Lord addresses those He has brought into relationship with Himself.
The word rendered "chastening" or "discipline" is wider than penalty. It covers the whole business of bringing a child up:
Chastening is not just punishment or chastisement. It is really child training, instruction and discipline. Every child of God must go through it from the Father who deals with us as sons (Heb. 12:7).
That changes how faith meets a hard season:
Faith will not despise the chastening of the Lord (v. 11), for faith recognises that we need chastening. This is not punishment, but training, which often involves what hurts us, but is always for our good. We are not to despise it — that is, to think lightly of it — for it has serious reasons. Nor are we to detest such correction, because in either case we are not receiving the benefits God intends by dealing with us this way.
This verse describes something closer than God's public ordering of the world:
As always, there is another and more intimate kind of divine government, and it does not depend at all on the public state of things. It was true when Solomon reigned and wrote. It is only more fully revealed and more deeply known under the gospel. There is always a government of souls, and here it is stated very simply.
The verse forbids two opposite reactions. Kelly calls both of them snares of the enemy: "either to make light of His training, or to sink under His reproof, as if He were treating us harshly." Which one catches you often depends on your temperament:
If we are naturally lighthearted and optimistic, we tend to ignore the troubles God may see fit to pass us through. We put on a bold face and laugh things off, and do not recognise the hand of God in them at all. In doing so we despise His chastening. If, on the other hand, we are pessimistic and easily depressed by nature, our spirits faint under quite small troubles. Our faith seems to fail us. This is the opposite extreme. But just as much as the other, it means losing all the profit our troubles were meant to lead us into.
Each half of the warning has its own answer. One points to us; the other points to God:
The word draws two conclusions from this truth that it is God's love. It will not be without a cause in me; it will never be without love in God. So I am not to despise it, for there is a cause in me which makes the Holy God of love act this way. I am not to faint, for it is His love which does it. It is correcting a son in whom his Father delights.
The pain has a destination, and God tells His children in advance what it is:
Many an earthly parent acts on a whim; our Father does not. Many a trainer of the young deals with them without telling them why. But if God puts His children to school, as He surely does, He graciously tells them the aim He has in view — that we should be partakers of His holiness.
This is why the verse leaves no room for despair. The hand that corrects is a Father's hand, and He delights in the son He corrects.
- Sonship first. The address "my son" fixes the setting: this is a father speaking inside a family, so correction is evidence of belonging, not of rejection.
- Training, not penalty. The word covers the whole upbringing of a child — instruction and discipline — so the real question is what God is teaching, not what we are paying for.
- Two snares, one loss. Shrugging it off and sinking under it look nothing alike, but both end the same way: you lose the profit the trouble was meant to bring.
- Two answers. Do not despise it — there is a cause in you. Do not faint under it — there is love in God. Neither one is ever missing.
- A named destination. God does not train His children in the dark. He tells them the aim beforehand — that they should be partakers of His holiness.
for whom Jehovah loveth he chasteneth, even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.
Solomon tells his son why God corrects him, and the reason changes everything. The hand that corrects is the hand that loves. Behind God's discipline stands a Father who delights in the son He is correcting. That raises two hard questions: why me, and does God still care?
The verse does not just say what God does. It says why. One writer notes that this reason rules out the idea that correction is always punishment for wrong done:
The reason given in our text, and quoted in the New Testament, fully bears out the love that present chastening flows from. "For the LORD reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights." But it is not always because of evil we have done. His chastening may be to guard us from evil. It may be preventive as well as corrective. Should we not, as children who trust Him, accept it with thanks? We have the distinct proof of His love. Let us never doubt, but believe and bow.
Older translations say "chastens" where the ESV says "reproves," which is why the writers quoted here speak of chastening.
The preceding line warns against two opposite reactions, and both are traps set by the enemy:
God always governs souls, and here it is put in the simplest terms. What an affectionate call! "My son, do not despise the LORD's discipline or be weary of his reproof." These are the snares of the enemy — either to make light of His training, or to sink under His reproof, as if He were treating us harshly.
Each warning has its own answer. One comes from what is true of me, the other from what is true of God:
The LORD chastens those He loves. … The word draws two conclusions from this truth. … It will not be without a cause in me; it will never be without love in God. So I am not to despise it, because there is a cause in me that makes the holy God of love act this way. And I am not to lose heart, because it is His love that does it. It is correcting a son in whom his Father delights.
The words open with "my son," and that address is not decoration. It fixes who the verse is speaking to:
Here the words are clearly spoken to someone in a known relationship, as the term "my son" plainly shows. The same is true in Hebrews 12, where this scripture is quoted, applied, and expanded.
The one corrected is a son. So this correction is nothing like the anger that rests on unbelief:
But if, as God's child, I go against my Father, His fatherly government covers such a case, and I may have to suffer the present chastenings of His hand. … But how wide the contrast! The Father's chastenings flow from love, and He sends them so that we may "share his holiness" (Heb. 12:10). The "wrath" or "anger" that rests on unbelievers is another matter: from that we are delivered once and for all, when the eye rests in faith on Christ and on His precious blood.
Correction and love sound like opposites. Watch how a father treats his own son:
Does a whipping look like a welcome? Does correction look like love? In any other relationship, certainly not. But this is exactly what marks a father's love for his son. True, the Father's kisses of welcome came first; then the best clothes, then the ring and the sandals; then the fattened calf, and the music and dancing; and afterwards — the rod. The rod does not taste like the kiss, but the same love that gave the kiss wields the rod.
Hebrews 12 quotes these words and applies them to Christians now. It also shows where the pain is heading:
The letter to the Hebrews (Heb. 12:5-6) takes up this ancient order and applies it to the Christian now. It points to the love that acts without fail when we fail, as we too often do. The purpose the Father of spirits has toward us is no less blessed, for it yields peaceable fruit in those trained by it, though at the time it seems painful rather than joyful. So there is no ground in it for discouragement.
Readers who compare the two passages find the wording differs, and one writer explains why in a brief note: in Proverbs it reads "even as a father the son in whom he delights," while "the quotation in Hebrews is from the Septuagint" — the older Greek translation of the Old Testament.
- Loved — The correction begins in love, not displeasure; it is "the distinct proof of His love."
- Delighted in — The one under the rod is the son the Father delights in. The same love that gave the welcome home later lifts the rod.
- Addressed — "My son" names the reader. These words are for people already in a known relationship with God, not for those outside it.
- Guarded — Discipline may be preventive as well as corrective; it can keep from evil, not only answer it.
- Steadied — So neither despise it nor sink under it: there is a cause in me, and there is never anything but love in God.
Blessed is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.
Proverbs 3 has just spoken of God correcting the son He loves. Now it names the happy man, and two questions follow: what is this wisdom, and how does anyone find it?
Commentators read the wisdom of Proverbs not as a skill but as a person. One writer links the promise here to what the New Testament says Christ became for those who believe.
We will gladly respond to verse 13 if we remember that wisdom is personified in Christ (1 Cor. 1:24), and also that "Christ Jesus … became for us wisdom from God" (1 Cor. 1:30). No wealth compares with "her" — not rubies, not anything of earthly value. The feminine word is used here for wisdom as it is known inside us, that is, "Christ in you, the hope of glory."
Another writer puts the verse in one line, reading "blessed" as "happy".
The man who finds wisdom, that is, who knows the Lord, is happy.
The verse speaks of finding and getting, which sounds like effort. One writer answers that we get wisdom by asking, and points to Solomon, and then to Christ as man.
A later revelation tells us that God gives generously to all, and without reproach. Yet He will be asked for it. This is not because anyone adds to Him, or because He is in debt to man's hand. But He cannot deny Himself. That is what it would mean if someone found wisdom or got understanding somewhere else. The blessing comes through dependence on Him. Who among mankind knew this better than Solomon himself? Did not God say to him, "Because you have asked this — not long life, not riches, not the life of your enemies, but understanding to discern judgment — behold, I have done according to your word." There is no other way. And "blessed" indeed is the one who proves again that God is true and faithful, as He always is. Even the beloved Son, when in grace He became man, walked like this from His early years. Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man. He received all as man from His Father.
There is a rival kind of wisdom, and Scripture's first human story is the case study. One writer sets this passage directly against Eden.
The natural way is to follow our own will. It has been the natural way since Adam fell. To human eyes the bent of the will can look innocent or reasonable. Eve saw that "the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise." Our first parents wanted to be wise, but it was wisdom by their own will. They turned away from the tree of life, and that was God's wisdom. (Prov. 3:13-17.) Their will went to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and that was Satan's suggestion.
The choice is simple: "Two paths are before man — to trust God, or himself and his own wisdom for his happiness."
The verse calls the finder blessed. One writer describes what that blessing is like day by day.
In verses 14, 15, He compares her to earthly treasures. Blessing even in this world goes with it, but the blessing is more than outward. It is a path of quietness and peace of spirit, and cheerfulness of heart. There is nothing on the conscience, and the heart is able to enjoy. There are no unsatisfied desires, but free affections; no restless will, but the sense of divine favour.
The same writer notes that a later verse goes further. In verse 13 wisdom is "a sought treasure." Later she is "held fast as what the soul kept, valued, and was kept in."
Solomon wrote before Christ came. Kelly argues the blessing of this verse has only grown since.
The Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding to know Him who is true. If it was so with the Jew before Jehovah, is the blessedness less now? Is He less accessible, or less gracious, now that He is revealed as Christ's Father and our Father, His God and our God? … And if for the greatest things, does this kind of blessing fail for the least things day by day?
- Find — this wisdom is not a technique but a Person; to find wisdom is to know the Lord.
- Ask — wisdom is God's gift, not our achievement. He gives it to those who ask, as He gave it to Solomon.
- Refuse — the other road is Eden's: wanting to be wise by our own will. It turns away from the tree of life.
- Enjoy — the blessing is real now: a quiet spirit, a clear conscience, free affections, no restless will.
- Multiply — the Son has come and given us understanding to know Him. So the blessing is greater now, and it reaches the smallest things of daily life.
For the gain thereof is better than the gain of silver, and her revenue than fine gold.
The verse prices wisdom the way a merchant prices cargo — against silver, against fine gold — and the trade is one-sided. Two questions follow: what is this wisdom, and how does a person come to hold it?
The verse uses the language of buying, selling and profit. One story acts it out: the queen of Sheba came to Solomon to trade for wisdom.
She trafficked for wisdom, and the Lord's anointed king in Jerusalem was her merchant. With him, and for it, she bartered gold, and spice, and precious stones. In the spirit of her mind she was a true disciple of that word: "the merchandise of wisdom is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain from it than fine gold." Yet she knew nothing of it in the book of God. And the Lord will not be her debtor. He gives her far more than she had bargained for.
Older English translations call the verse's "gain" its "merchandise."
The verse calls wisdom "her." One writer reads that pronoun in the light of what the New Testament says about Christ:
We respond gladly to verse 13 when we remember that wisdom is personified in Christ (1 Corinthians 1:24), and that "Christ Jesus … became for us wisdom from God" (1 Corinthians 1:30). Wealth, including rubies or anything of earthly value, has no comparison to "her." The feminine word points to wisdom as it is in the believer — that is, "Christ in you, the hope of glory."
So how does a person get this profit? Not by earning it, but by asking God — and Solomon had proved that himself:
A later revelation tells us that God gives generously to all, without reproach. Yet we must ask Him for it — not that anyone adds to Him, or that He owes anything to a man's hand. But He cannot deny Himself. That is what it would mean if someone found wisdom or got understanding anywhere else. The blessing comes through dependence on Him. Who of mankind knew this better than Solomon himself? Did not God say to him, "Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life, or riches, or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, behold, I now do according to your word."
The same writer asks whether God is any less generous now, and whether this blessing reaches small daily matters too:
Is He less accessible, or less gracious, now that He is revealed as Christ's Father and our Father, His God and our God? Has He not poured out on us all wisdom and prudence, of the highest character and the largest hope? And if He gives for the greatest things, does such blessing fail for the least things day by day? How true it is that "the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold."
What is this wisdom, and what does holding it feel like day by day?
This is the Lord's mind. Happy is the man who finds it, with his thoughts ordered by understanding — that is, by what God communicates of His mind, and not by man's will. In verses 14 and 15 He compares her to earthly treasures, yet blessing even in this world goes with it. But it is more than outward blessing. It is a path of quietness and peace of spirit, and of cheerfulness of heart. Nothing lies on the conscience, and the heart is free to enjoy. There are no unsatisfied desires, but free affections; no restless will, but the sense of divine favour.
One last gain. Time spent thinking about Christ pays now and for ever:
We waste no time when thinking of Jesus, for every thought of Him yields present delight and is of eternal value. All the wisdom that the minds of men can produce will pass like smoke. But every thought of Him given by the Holy Spirit will remain a priceless possession for ever. It is the understanding of Him which "is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain from it than fine gold."
- The currency — The verse talks trade. Weigh wisdom against silver and fine gold, and wisdom wins.
- The merchant — Sheba brought her gold to Solomon and left with more than she bargained for. God will not stay in anyone's debt.
- The price — You ask for it; you cannot buy it. Solomon asked for understanding, not riches, and the blessing came through depending on God.
- The dividend — God pays the return now: quietness, peace of spirit, a clear conscience, no restless will.
- The maturity — Human wisdom passes like smoke. Every thought of Christ the Spirit gives stays a priceless possession for ever.
She is more precious than rubies; and all the things thou canst desire are not equal unto her.
This verse weighs wisdom against precious jewels. Then it goes further and weighs wisdom against everything a person could want. Commentators ask two questions here. What is this "wisdom" that is worth so much? And why does nothing else come close?
One writer takes the jewels as the highest value on earth. Then he names what is worth more — God's own favour:
How true that "the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold." We can say that the wisdom that comes down from above is more precious than jewels. Nothing a person can desire equals the rich gift of God's favour.
The "her" in this verse is not just a quality. Writers link the wisdom of Proverbs to a person — and to that person living inside the believer:
Verse 13 says, "Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding." We will gladly agree if we remember two things. Wisdom is pictured as a person in Christ (1 Cor. 1:24). And "Christ Jesus … became to us wisdom from God" (1 Cor. 1:30). Of course, "the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold" (v. 14). No wealth — jewels or anything else of value on earth — compares with "her." Proverbs speaks of wisdom as "she" to show wisdom at work inside a person, that is, "Christ in you, the hope of glory."
Gold and jewels have real value. But that value does not last. One writer sets what passes against what remains:
We waste no time when thinking of Jesus, for every thought of Him yields present delight and is of eternal value. All the wisdom that human minds can produce will pass like smoke. But every thought of Him that the Holy Spirit gives will remain a priceless possession forever. Understanding Him is what "is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her" (Prov. 3:14-15).
The second half of the verse says more than "wisdom is worth more." It says that wanting anything else falls away. One writer describes the settled state of a person who walks with God:
In verses 14 and 15, He compares her to treasures on earth. Blessing in this world goes with her. But it is more than outward blessing. It is a path of quietness, peace of spirit, and cheerfulness of heart. Nothing weighs on the conscience, and the heart is free to enjoy. There are no unsatisfied desires, but free affections. There is no restless will, but the sense of God's favour.
The same writer compares this verse with the one before it:
The two words used here go further than verse 13. There she was a treasure that people searched for. Here she is held fast — what the soul keeps, values, and is kept in.
If wisdom is worth more than jewels, it deserves the effort people give to getting rich. One writer also says where wisdom comes from:
The search always calls for steadiness, endurance, and firm resolve. From that the Holy Spirit draws a lesson that can never disappoint. "If you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God." This turns man's dream of education upside down. Man is proud of his own acquisitions. "For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth [not from man's mind or heart] come knowledge and understanding." Where do we find what His mouth gives, if not in His Word?
Applied to the wealth people actually chase, the same conclusion holds in plain terms:
Natural wealth, such as gold and silver (v. 16) is considered by men to be of supreme importance, so that they strive to make themselves more wealthy than others, and wisdom is forgotten.
- Priced. Jewels mark the top of what money can buy. This verse puts wisdom above that ceiling — and above everything desire can name.
- Named. Commentators link the wisdom pictured here with Christ. So the treasure on the scales is a person, not a skill.
- Lasting. Silver and gold pass away. Thoughts of Him stay a priceless possession forever.
- Satisfying. Wisdom brings peace of spirit, a clear conscience, free affections, and no unsatisfied desires. That is why nothing else is wanted.
- Sought. Search for wisdom with the drive people put into making money. But expect to receive it as a gift from God through His Word, not as your own achievement.
Length of days is in her right hand; in her left hand riches and honour.
Wisdom stands here with both hands full. One hand holds a long life; the other holds wealth and standing. Two questions follow: who is this figure, and how far do her gifts reach?
Proverbs keeps its feet on the ground. It describes how a person walks through daily life. Yet one writer shows where that practical path finally leads.
The Proverbs show us the practical path of a man here below. He is guided by the moral intelligence which the fear of God and the divine word will give him. This is what true wisdom will teach him. But the book does show that this wisdom is from God and cannot truly be without Him. So, though not plainly, it leads us on to Him who is the wisdom of God and the power of God.
The man who wrote this had it happen to him. He asked God for one thing, and God answered by naming the very items this verse holds out — showing that they come as God's gift, not as a prize a person secures for himself.
A later revelation tells us that God gives generously to all, and without reproach. Yet we must ask Him for it… The blessing comes through dependence on Him. Who of mankind knew this better than Solomon himself? Did not God say to him, "Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches … but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, behold, I now do according to your word."
Long life and riches sound like a strange reward for wisdom until you see what kind of book this is. These verses belong to God's ordering of life on earth, and commentators point out that this ordering has not been switched off.
I know Christians have much higher objects in hope, and God calls them by those objects. But here we are on the ground of God's government of the earth. He carries that government on now, though not in the direct way He once did in Israel, a people of His own… Where God governs in this world and for it, as wisdom's place, such a path leads to blessing and prosperity. Suffering in a hostile world may be more our portion now, though it has been there ever since Abel. Still, such a government exists, and God has not let go of the reins.
The phrase invites a question, and one writer answers it by measuring wisdom's days rather than ours. He also warns against reading the promise as a guarantee of an easy road.
How long are wisdom's days?
answer: The answer is "eternal life." And the riches and honour that come with it have no end either. Meanwhile, even on earth, "her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace" (v. 17). This does not mean that wisdom will keep us from trials of faith. But wisdom ("Christ in you") will give pleasantness and peace even in times of such trial.
The gifts in wisdom's hands are real and worth receiving. Yet one writer sets something greater beside them.
Willingly do we bow to Jehovah's promise of wisdom to the Israelite, of "long life" to be in her right hand, and of "riches and honor" in her left hand. But He who died and rose again has brought us deeper grace, and has shown us a still better way. So the things that were gain, we have in our measure counted loss for Christ… we count them rubbish, so that we may win Him and be found in Him in that heavenly glory where He is.
The same writer had already asked whether this kind of blessing shrinks now that God is known as Father. His answer stretches it in both directions.
And if for the greatest things, does this kind of blessing fail for the least things day by day? How true that the gain of it is better than the gain of silver, and the revenue than fine gold.
- Asked — Solomon did not ask for long life or riches. He asked for understanding to discern what is right, and God answered him.
- Given — the blessing comes by depending on God. He gives generously to all, and without reproach.
- Governed — the promise sits inside God's ordering of life on earth. He still holds the reins, though suffering is more our portion now.
- Lengthened — wisdom's days run to eternal life, and her riches and honour have no end either.
- Surpassed — both hands are worth bowing to. Yet Christ Himself is the greater gain, and beside Him old gains count as loss.
Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.
Just before this verse, wisdom is compared with earthly treasures. Verse 17 turns from what wisdom gives to where she walks: her road is pleasant, and peace marks every step of it.
Wisdom is spoken of here as a person. One writer takes that person to be the Lord Jesus Christ, and reads the verse about Him.
Verses 11-12 are quoted in Hebrews 12. The man who finds wisdom, that is, who knows the Lord, is happy. If we look on wisdom as personified in the Lord Jesus Christ we can read, "His ways are pleasantness, and all His paths are peace. He is a tree of life to those who lay hold of Him, and happy is everyone who keeps hold of Him" (17-18).
Outward blessing is not the whole of it. One writer describes what this path is like inside — in the conscience, the heart, the desires and the will.
In verses 14 and 15, He compares her to earthly treasures. Blessing even in this world goes with her. But it is more than outward blessing. It is a path of quietness and peace of spirit, and of cheerfulness of heart. There is nothing on the conscience, and the heart is able to enjoy. There are no unsatisfied desires, but free affections. There is no restless will, but the sense of divine favour.
This path is not free of trouble. The peace comes inside the trouble.
This does not mean that this wisdom will keep us from trials of faith. But wisdom ("Christ in you") will give pleasantness and peace even in times of such trial. In fact, even when passing through the valley of Baca (weeping), the believer makes it a spring (Ps. 84:6). So sorrows become occasions of refreshment for soul and spirit.
One writer sees two kinds of wisdom here: the general kind for life on earth, and the higher kind known in Christ. The verse holds for both. The Lord Himself suffered more than anyone, and still called His portion pleasant.
Still, whether the wisdom is the general kind for the earth, or the higher and heavenly kind which we now know in Christ, we can truly say that "her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." Our Lord tasted rejection and sufferings. He was the Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief beyond all. Yet it was still His to say, "The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance"!
There are two roads, and the other one has its own certain end.
The path of self-will is sure to be a path of darkness and misery. It cannot be otherwise. The path of obedience, on the other hand, is a path of peace, a path of light, a path of blessing. On it the beams of divine favour are always poured in living brightness. It may, to the human eye, seem narrow, rough and lonely; but the obedient soul finds it to be the path of life, peace, and moral security.
Peace also shows in how a believer treats other people. A quarrelsome spirit leaves him defenceless.
Of wisdom it was written long ago, "Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." This is the path for the Christian: peace is to mark all his steps. The Gospel brings good news of peace made by the blood of the cross, and of peace with God for those who are justified by faith. It also urges us, as far as possible, to live at peace with all people. Will a quarrelsome Christian, caught up in fleshly disputes, be able to meet the subtle foe? His disputes are no match for the enemy, and that state of heart leaves room for the burning darts of the wicked one.
These ways are not only for individuals now. A day is coming when a whole world will walk them.
But the day is surely coming when the mercy of God will have delivered people on the earth from the judgment coming upon it. Then they will say, "Come, and let us go to the house of the Lord, and He will teach us of His law." If they learn of Him they will become like Him. They will walk in His ways, and these are ways of pleasantness and peace. He is the Prince of Peace. He will stamp His character on His kingdom, and men will learn war no more.
- Person — Wisdom personified points to Christ. The verse then becomes personal: His ways, His paths, and happiness for whoever keeps hold of Him.
- Pleasantness — A clear conscience, a free heart, satisfied desires, no restless will. That is the sweetness promised. It is not easy circumstances.
- Proof — Wisdom does not cancel trials. It gives peace inside them. The Man of sorrows could still call His portion pleasant.
- Path — There are only two roads. Self-will leads into darkness and misery. Obedience may look narrow and lonely, but it is the road of life and peace.
- Practice — Peace has to show in your steps. A quarrelsome believer has left the path and stands unarmed against the enemy. One day the Prince of Peace will make these ways the world's ways.
She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her; and happy is he that retaineth her.
Proverbs 3 has been describing wisdom as a treasure worth hunting for. Now the picture changes from treasure to a tree. Two questions follow. What is this wisdom that we lay hold of and hold fast? And why does the verse reach back to the one tree Eden lost?
Commentators read this wisdom not as a quality but as a Person. One writer swaps the pronoun and reads the verse of Christ:
The man who finds wisdom, that is, who knows the Lord, is happy. If we look on wisdom as personified in the Lord Jesus Christ we can read, "His ways are pleasantness, and all His paths are peace. He is a tree of life to those who lay hold on Him, and happy is everyone who retains Him."
The verse uses two actions — laying hold, and holding fast. One commentator says both go further than the finding of verse 13:
Through this fellowship with God, "she is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her." The two words used here go farther than verse 13. There she was a treasure being sought. Here she is held fast — what the soul kept, valued, and was kept in. It is the settled and deliberate mind of the soul, the mind that cleaves to the Lord with purpose of heart. The knowledge of this wisdom (there fully, for it was Christ, and Christ in glory) had taken possession of the apostle, so that the rest counted as nothing. He held fast and retained it.
Notice the reversal in that comment: wisdom keeps the one who keeps her.
If wisdom is a tree, the way to grasp it is to eat from it. One writer links the verse to the Lord's own path of rejection, and then to what feeds us:
When our Lord tasted rejection and suffering — the Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief beyond all — He could still say, "The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance"! It is ours to follow Him in this, living because of Him as He lived because of the Father. But this can only be by making Him our constant food (John 6:57). So here wisdom is called "a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed." How much more can we boast of what He is to our souls by faith!
And a tree, unlike a treasure chest, keeps producing:
This is a living tree, continually bearing fruit. May we truly take hold of her, and retain her consistently.
The image goes back to Eden, where a flaming sword kept man from the tree of life. That way had to open before anyone could lay hold:
The cherubim with the turning sword, blazing in every direction, closed the way to the tree of life... There could be no way to the tree of life for man in his sinful state. For Christ to become the Tree of life for us, He must meet the whole responsibility of the first man. This He did, blessed be His name, upon the cross. The grain of wheat, unless it died, remained alone. There was life in Him, but to bring us into it, He must die.
Another writer follows that shut door through to where it now leads:
But if in the earliest chapters of the Bible we find man shut out from the tree of life in the middle of a paradise of innocence, in the closing chapters we find him redeemed through Christ's precious blood, and in the paradise of God — the paradise of holiness. There he eats of the Tree of Life, in a higher sphere and condition than before, in a realm of life and love and holiness, where sin can never come.
Verse 18 sits inside a list of wisdom's returns — long days, riches, honour, pleasant ways. One commentator follows those promises to their end, then adds a warning:
How long are wisdom's days? The answer is "eternal life." The riches and honour that come with it are also without end... This does not mean that wisdom keeps us from trials of faith. But wisdom ("Christ in you") will give pleasantness and peace even in times of such trial.
- The Tree — Read wisdom as personified in the Lord Jesus, and the verse says He is the tree of life to all who lay hold of Him.
- Barred — Cherubim and a flaming sword fenced off Eden's tree of life. No sinful man could reach it.
- Opened — Christ met the full responsibility of the first man at the cross, and so became the Tree of life for us.
- Grasped — The two verbs go beyond finding. Laying hold and holding fast describe a settled purpose of heart: you keep Him, and He keeps you.
- Fed — It is a living tree, always bearing fruit. Hold it by making Him our constant food. That brings peace even in trial, and ends in eating in the paradise of God.
Jehovah by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding he established the heavens.
This verse lifts the reader's eyes from daily advice to the sky and the ground. It names the largest thing wisdom ever did, and it raises a question: what could that same wisdom do with one ordinary life?
The proof offered is not an argument but a world. Commentators read the verse as pointing to the structure of nature itself, at every scale.
God showed this wisdom in the structure of natural creation (v. 19). Yet you cannot separate one part of it from His whole purpose... In creation the mightiest things and the smallest are alike the fruit of that wisdom. The earth itself, the mighty deep, the bursting open of its springs, and the small dew that refreshes the tender grass all come from His hand. All are the fruit of His wisdom.
The word "founded" rules out anything careless in how the world came to be.
By wisdom He founded the earth. It was the thoughtful plan of ordered wisdom. Everything stood in its place, and it expressed His mind and will, His own thoughts. Our work can come from a careless will, or at least from a will that does not know the end from the beginning. This was the perfect ordering of One who did know the end from the beginning, and who ordered it all for the purposes of His wisdom.
Commentators connect wisdom in this chapter to Christ. Read that way, the verse tells us who was at work, not just how.
Since wisdom is personified in Christ, this verse highlights His power as Creator. So the earth, the heavens, the waters in the depths and the waters above are all under His perfect control (v. 20).
If wisdom made the world, wisdom was there before the world. Nothing in the world can add to it. That cuts against a common picture of a God who learns as He goes.
The Creator can learn nothing from His creation. The universe came out of His infinite mind, and He cannot receive any instruction from it... Some suppose that from the start He has been doing the best He can: fighting back the advance of evil, meeting the opposing power as well as He is able, and always improving on the past as intelligence grows. He has not.
Creation is not a change of subject here. It links the making of the universe to the way you walk through it.
In the passage we have quoted from Proverbs, God holds out wisdom to us to keep us going right on our ways. In this wonderful chapter we also see that wisdom at work in the creation of the universe. It is the same wisdom that is offered to us here. The One who ordered creation rightly for God's pleasure gives us that same wisdom, so that we might walk rightly in that creation for His pleasure.
God does not hand us the whole plan. Obedience puts us inside a design we could never map.
When we obey and walk in the mind and word of God, He sets us in the path that this infinite, all-embracing wisdom has arranged. No creature without a will ever leaves that path; only a will departs from it. God does not lay the plan out for our minds to take in, because then we would not be in our proper place in it. Simply receiving His word gives us our place and our duty, in line with the perfect wisdom that has ordered it all and understands it all.
The wisdom this book teaches is real, and it is for life on earth. Yet one writer points beyond it.
The wisdom and the understanding this book deals with remain always for man on the earth. Jehovah will surely bless His people in this way when they look to Him for these good gifts in the day of power and glory. But man's evil has given God occasion to bring in something better in every way. We see the basis, the substance and the pattern of that better thing in Christ crucified, risen, and set in the highest glory, far above all Old Testament expectations.
- Wisdom built. The earth and the heavens are the visible output of God's wisdom — the vast deep and the small dew alike.
- Wisdom planned. "Founded" points to a thoughtful, ordered plan, not a careless act. He knew the end from the beginning.
- Wisdom is a Person. Commentators see wisdom personified in Christ. The verse shows His creating power and His control over earth, heavens and waters.
- Wisdom learns nothing. The universe came out of His infinite mind; He is not doing His best and improving as He goes.
- Wisdom is offered. God holds out the same wisdom that ordered creation to keep us walking right. Simply receiving His word places us in the path it arranged.
By his knowledge the deeps were broken up, and the skies drop down the dew.
Proverbs 3 has been urging its reader to value wisdom above silver and gold. Then it lifts the eyes from personal gain to the universe itself — so why does a chapter of practical advice stop to say how God made the world?
This verse is the third line of a three-part statement. God founded the earth and established the heavens; now He handles the waters. One writer reads the two halves of this verse as two very different acts of the same knowledge.
"By His knowledge the deeps broke open, and the clouds drop down the dew" — a blessed witness of His many-sided wisdom and unlimited understanding. His knowledge directed the destruction of the flood, and it orders the kind refreshment of a peaceful night.
The same knowledge that broke open the deep in the flood also lays down the dew night after night.
Does "by His knowledge" mean God's own knowledge, or someone's knowledge of God? One writer compared the exact Hebrew form with the only other place it appears.
Looking the word up in a Hebrew concordance, I find that this exact Hebrew form occurs in only one other place besides Isaiah 53:11: "by His knowledge the deeps broke open" (Proverbs 3:20). In Proverbs it clearly means God's own knowledge. In Isaiah I take it to be Christ's knowledge of God.
Because the knowledge is God's own, the world holds no information He picked up along the way. One writer sets this against the idea of a God who improves as He goes.
The Creator can learn nothing from His creation. The universe came out of His infinite mind, and He cannot receive any instruction from it… He has not, as some suppose, been doing the best He can from the start. He is not fighting off the advance of evil as well as He is able, and always improving on the past as His understanding grows.
Commentators link the wisdom of these verses to Christ. Read that way, the verse names not only the act but the Person behind it.
"The Lord by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding He established the heavens" (v. 19). Since wisdom is personified in Christ, this verse emphasizes His power as Creator. So the earth, the heavens, the waters in the depths and the waters above are all under His perfect control (v. 20).
The verse ends with its gentlest image. Dew carries a settled meaning across Scripture.
Scripture constantly uses dew as a picture of blessing and refreshment coming down from heaven. So Moses says, "My speech will fall like the dew"; and in Hosea we read, "I will be like the dew to Israel."
Dew also works without drawing attention to itself, and that quality is worth copying.
How sweet to think of the dew as a picture of the refreshment we may be to others! It is not obvious; it does not call attention to itself; but it is there, and you know it is there by the effect it produces. Think of people you have known who were neither great preachers, nor gifted teachers, nor noticeable workers. It was impossible to be near them without feeling the sweetness of the presence of Christ. Why? Because, without thinking about the effect on others, their own souls were enjoying the presence of the One who is as the dew to His own.
The creation lines are not a digression. They are the reason to keep seeking wisdom from God for your own small affairs.
The Lord showed wisdom, understanding, and knowledge in creation — in its smallest things as well as its greatest. So how foolish it is for anyone to give up the search, or to give up the means open to them from heaven!
- Knowledge. The wisdom that built the world is God's own; the Hebrew wording points to His knowledge, not our knowledge of Him.
- Complete. God learned nothing from the world He made. It came out of His own infinite mind, and He is not slowly improving on His past.
- Person. Commentators link this wisdom to Christ. The deeps below and the clouds above are under His control.
- Range. One knowledge covers both extremes. It opened the deep in the flood, and it lays down the dew each night — the quiet refreshment we can also be to others.
- Ask. God showed His wisdom in the smallest parts of creation as well as the greatest. So it is foolish to stop seeking that wisdom when He offers it from heaven.