The way of wisdom is next contrasted with that of the wicked; and here the exhortation is individualized.
“Hear, my son, and receive my sayings, and the years of thy life shall be multiplied. I will teach thee in the way of wisdom; I will lead thee in the paths of uprightness. When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble. Take fast hold of instruction, let her not go; keep her, for she is thy life. Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not into the way of evil [men]; avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away. For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause [some] to fall. For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence. But the path of the righteous is as the shining light going on and brightening to the perfect day. The way of the wicked [is] as darkness: they know not at what they stumble” (vers. 10-19).
It is not by the sight of the eyes nor by the activity of the mind, nor even by the cultivation of the affections, that the wisdom here commended comes. “Hear, and thy soul shall live,” said Isaiah; and so the apostle, “Faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” No doubt the coming of the Son of God brought this truth and every other into an evidence before unknown. But the principle ever applied. Whoever obtained a good report obtained it by faith, and faith rests on God's word, as Christ is the main object of it all, however much be corrective or disciplinary. Hence the word here is, “Hear, my son, and receive my sayings, and the years of thy life shall be multiplied.” Nor is there uncertainty when Jehovah furnishes the means “I will teach thee in the way of wisdom, I will lead thee in the paths of uprightness.” The happy result is assured to such as believe that it is from Him, and doubt not His interest in His people and their blessing. “When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble” Nevertheless earnestness of purpose is called for, and fidelity of heart. “Take fast hold of instruction, let her not go; keep her, for she is thy life.”
Only we have to add that now the door of mercy is opened to those who have weighed money for that which is not bread, and earnings for that which satisfieth not,-yea, have been children of folly and have wallowed in sin. Grace can meet the deepest need, and Christ brings to God the most dark and distant. See wisdom in Luke 7 justified of all her children, eminently in one who might have been deemed hopelessly corrupt. But is anything too hard for the Lord? He assuredly and openly vindicated the persistent soul who hid herself behind His love that owned hers coming by faith. Indeed it was faith which produced that love, and saved her; as He bade her go in peace, which His blood would make unfailing and unbreakable: all in due time.
But we have the opposite way not less clearly for warning; the way where one turns off from God and wanders anywhere else. “Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not into the way of evil [men]; avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.” How urgent and importunate the voice of divine goodness and love! And it is none too loud, but most requisite; for the calls, and ties, and snares are many and manifold. But the word is unmistakably plain and pointed. And what a picture follows of the zeal on the side of evil “For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause [some] to fall. For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.” It is their life, nourishment, and joy if joy it can be called, to mislead, injure, and destroy. But on the other hand, “the path of the righteous is as the shining light going on and brightening to the perfect day.” How we can bless God that Christ is this way; and there is but one in, but not of, this world, for He is the true light. “But the way of the wicked is as darkness,” and this so profound, and they so blind, that “they know not at what they stumble.” Grace alone calls and keeps by faith.