THE first four verses would seem to justify the title given long since to this remarkable collection of sayings— “The Young Man’s Book.”
1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel:
2 To know wisdom and instruction;
To perceive the sayings of intelligence;
3 To receive the instruction of understanding,
Righteousness, and judgment, and equity;
4 To give prudence to the simple,
To the young man knowledge and discretion.
There are ten words used in this brief introductory portion, which, inasmuch as most of them recur again and again in the course of the book, should be well weighed in beginning its study. None are mere synonyms used pedantically, and therefore idly; but as “every word of God is pure,” so these terms throughout are employed with admirable precision.
The “wisdom” of verse 2 is “skillfulness” —the ability to use knowledge aright. It occurs thirty-seven times in this one book.
“Instruction” in the same verse, as also in the one following, is used to translate a Hebrew word which occurs twenty-six times in Proverbs, and is once rendered “chasteneth,” and once “chastening” (Prov. 13:24; 3:11). It is so translated in Job 5:17, and in Isaiah 26:16. The meaning is, “to teach by discipline.”
“Intelligence” in verse 2, rendered “understanding” in the A. V., has practically the meaning which in English we attach to the word “discernment.”
“Understanding” in the 3rd verse (“wisdom” in the A. V.) is a word seldom found in Scripture, and has the force of “to bereave,” or “to miscarry.” The “sayings of bereavement” might not exactly express the thought; but it conveys the idea of learning through the unhappy experiences of others, or of oneself.
“Righteousness” of verse 3 (“justice,” A. V.) refers to conduct, and might be rendered “right behavior.” “Judgment” is equivalent to “decisions.” It is the ability to “try the things that differ.”
“Equity” refers to principles, rather than conduct. It is uprightness, or moral integrity.
“Prudence” (“subtlety ,” A. V.) in verse 4 is in the original “craftiness.” As used here it conveys the ability to detect that in others “Wise as serpents” answers to it in the New Testament.
“Knowledge” is “information of a sound character.”
“Discretion” is “thoughtfulness,” a characteristic in which the young are generally lacking, but which becomes manifest in one who feeds upon the word of God.
In these ten words we have the description of a well-rounded character, and it is important to remember that the study and practice of God’s truth alone can produce it. To the young man this part of Holy Scripture especially appeals therefore, giving him needed furnishing for his path through the world.
5 A wise man will hear, and will increase learning;
And a man of intelligence shall attain unto wise counsels:
6 To understand a proverb, and the interpretation:
The words of the wise, and their dark sayings:
It is only the self-confident blusterer who considers himself superior to instruction. Readiness to learn is ever characteristic of the truly wise. That which is worthy of our contemplation is not always simply expressed; for God would have the senses exercised to discern both good and evil. It must be evident to any tyro that were it God’s desire but to impart information to His creatures concerning the way to heaven and Christian responsibility, He could have done so in a much simpler way than that through which He has chosen to give us His truth. But this would have done away with that exercise which is both for our blessing and for His glory. Hence the exhortation, “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). “Dark sayings” become luminous when the man of God studies them having eyes anointed with the eye-salve of the Spirit of truth.
7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge:
But fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Thus on the threshold of this treasure-house of wisdom we are presented with one of the sharp contrasts with which the book abounds. There is no true knowledge apart from the fear of the Lord. All that pretends to the name, and ignores Him, is but folly. It is well for “the young man” to bear this in mind when meeting the many pseudo-scientific theories now abroad. Philosophers and savants have cast to the winds the fear of the Lord, and ruled Him out of His own creation. “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.” Hence the abounding absurdities that are readily accepted by the ignorant as science and true philosophy.
Science means exact knowledge. To call by such a name the wild guesses of evolutionists and infidel biologists is but word-prostitution. Hypotheses, however original and erudite, are not science. There never has been, and never will be, a conflict between the Bible and science. The conflict comes in between the Bible and unbelievers’ vain theorizing; as, also, between religious notions unsupported by Scripture and scientific facts.
8 My son, hear the instruction of thy father,
And forsake not the law of thy mother:
9 For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head,
And chains about thy neck.
Throughout the Bible obedience to parents is coupled with subjection to God. Those expositors who see in the ten commandments four precepts Godward and six manward would seem, therefore, to have missed the mind of the Spirit. The view would appear unquestionably correct which gives five ordinances to each table. “Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee” is the last of the first series. It is the recognition of Divine authority and the subject place belonging to the creature.
Nor does responsibility as to this become less in the case of such as “are not under law, but under grace.” In Ephesians 6:1 we read, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.” And immediately attention is drawn to the preeminent character of this precept in the law. It is “the first commandment with promise.” Colossians 3:20 is similar: “Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.”
Believing children should be patterns of filial obedience, that thus they may adorn the doctrine of Christ. Young people professing allegiance to the Lord, who are impudent and insubject to those over them in the home are a sad reproach to the name of Him whom they are supposed to serve. To hear a father’s instruction and to cleave to a mother’s law; these are the choice ornaments that beautify the young saint.
Disobedience to parents the apostle classes among the evidences of the last-day apostasy (2 Tim. 3:1-5). It is the crying sin of the present lawless times, and presages the awful hour of doom soon to strike. The Scriptural “Children, obey your parents” has almost universally been superseded by “Parents, obey your children.” It is a sowing of the wind. The whirlwind will yet have to be reaped. The human will disdains being brooked in any way. Terrible will be the outcome when, having cast off all parental authority, men will throw aside every vestige of allegiance to Divine authority likewise, and will rush upon the thick bosses of the Almighty, as portrayed in the solemn chapters of the closing book of the Bible.
10 My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
11 If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood,
Let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:
12 Let us swallow them up alive as sheol;
And whole, as those that go down to the pit
13 We shall find all precious substance,
We shall fill our houses with spoil:
14 Cast in thy lot among us;
Let us all have one purse:
15 My son, walk not thou in the way with them;
Refrain thy foot from their path:
16 For their feet run to evil,
And make haste to shed blood.
17 Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.
18 And they lay wait for their own blood;
They lurk privily for their own lives.
19 So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain;
Which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
Two things the young man is solemnly warned against here: evil companionships and “covetousness, which is idolatry.”
The line of demarcation between the children of God and the children of wrath is sharply drawn in the inspired Word. “Come out from among them, and be ye separate,” is the command of the Lord. If sinners entice, appealing to the lust of the human heart, turn away from them. Their entreaties are only defiling. Nothing pleases them better than to have the young man cast in his lot with them, all having one purse; but it is an ungodly fellowship, in which the believer can have no part. “O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honor, be not thou united” (Gen. 49:6).
The only safe course is to part company at once. “Walk not thou in the way with them.” Clean-cut separation from the world in all its forms is the path of blessing. Many a young Christian makes shipwreck because of dallying with the world on the plea, perchance, of improving it. Such a course is folly, and a great mistake. “Refrain thy foot from their path: for their feet run to evil;” and if you venture first to “walk” in their way, you will soon be “running” with them.
Nor can you plead ignorance in the day of your spiritual and moral breakdown; for God’s word had cast a light on your way, disclosing the net spread now in plain sight, and warning you against the treacherous wiles of the devil.
In contrast to the entreaty of the wicked, the next section gives the voice of Wisdom, pleading that she be heard and heeded.
20 Wisdom crieth without;
She uttereth her voice in the streets:
21 She crieth in the chief place of concourse,
In the openings of the gates:
In the city she uttereth her sayings,
22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity?
And [ye] scorners delight in your scorning,
And [ye] fools hate knowledge?
23 Turn you at my reproof:
Behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you,
I will make known my words unto you.
Throughout this first division, including chapters 1 to 9, Wisdom is personified. She is ever seeking to turn the steps of the young man from the door of folly and ignorance to the temple of knowledge and blessing. Here she is presented as one crying in public places, eagerly seeking to attract the attention of the passers-by. In the marts of commerce, at the gates of justice, in the centers of population, among the idlers on the streets; everywhere she pleads and entreats, beseeching the simple to obey her voice. She is met by, not always positive refusal, but, what is far more common and equally as dangerous: procrastination. “Until when,” she cries, “ye simple ones, will ye cleave to your folly?” But there is no response.
Others definitely refuse to listen to her voice. Scornfully rejecting her testimony, they delight in their fancied independence of mind, and manifest their true character by their hatred of knowledge.
To all such she addresses a warning of coming calamity, when it will be too late to heed her gracious invitation.
24 Because I have called, and ye refused;
I have stretched out my hand, and no man attended;
25 But ye have set at naught all my counsel,
And would none of my reproof:
26 I also will laugh at your calamity,
I will mock when your fear cometh;
27 When your fear cometh as a tempest,
And your destruction cometh as a whirlwind;
When distress and anguish cometh upon you.
28 Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer;
They shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
29 For that they hated knowledge,
And did not choose the fear of Jehovah:
30 They would none of my counsel:
They despised all my reproof.
31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way,
And be filled with their own devices.
32 For the turning away of the simple shall slay them,
And the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
33 But whoso harkeneth unto me shall dwell safely,
And shall be quiet from fear of evil.
It must be evident to all how like this is to the gospel call, with its attendant warning of coming judgment if despised. On the face of it, it is the Old Testament way of saying, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” (Gal. 6:7, 8). The principle abides whether applied to sinners or saints. But surely in Wisdom’s cry the “ministry of reconciliation” may be readily recognized. It is
“God beseeching, man refusing
To be made forever glad.”
And what must the inevitable result be?
Ah, dear, unsaved reader, if into the hands of such a one these pages fall, remember there is not only a world in which you can say “No” to God, the God of all grace; there is also a world in which He will say “No” to you, if you meet Him as the God of judgment. There is not only a scene in which Wisdom’s cry can be despised; there is also a scene where your cry shall be despised if you enter it a rejecter of the message of grace. There is not only a place where you, in your folly and carelessness of heart, can laugh at the entreaties of Wisdom; a day comes on apace when Wisdom shall laugh at your calamity and mock your bitter anguish.
Mark well; it is not God as such who will ever laugh at the grief of one of His creatures, however abandoned and iniquitous: it is Wisdom who speaks. That Wisdom which you now despise will then mock your hopeless wails.
What can be worse for a lost soul than to have to remember, in the abyss of woe, gospel messages once indifferently listened to, the Word of God once treated as a subject unfit for serious consideration; and then to have to cry in despair, “Jesus died, yet I’m in hell! He gave Himself for sinners. He provided a way of salvation for me, but, like the fool that I was, I spurned His grace till grace was withdrawn, the door of mercy was closed, and now I am to be on the wrong side of that closed door forever!” Thus will Wisdom laugh at your calamity, if you go out into eternity in your sin.
Nor can any blame God that it has fared so ill with them. All shall own that it was because they hated knowledge and chose not Jehovah’s fear. Turning away with the simple, they are slain; prospering in their folly, they are destroyed. So shall it be with all who despise Wisdom and ignore her entreaties.
But all who harken shall dwell safely. forever quiet from fear of evil. “Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about” (Psa. 32:10).
Nor must we think only of the warning to the unconverted. Even to those who are secure for eternity an apostle had to write, “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is” (Eph. 5:15, 17). It is true of saints as of sinners that we reap as we sow. The believer cannot take his own way with impunity. If he turns away from the house of Wisdom, to pursue the path of folly, he too must hear the mocking laugh at last of that Wisdom which he had dared to despise. The chastisement of the Lord must invariably follow departure from the ways that be in Christ. It is important to remember that the moment a poor sinner trusts the Lord Jesus as his Saviour, his responsibility as a criminal having to do with the Judge is over forever. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). But, that very moment, his responsibility as a child having to do with his Father begins; and that Father, “without respect of persons, judgeth according to every man’s work” (1 Pet, 1:17).
His new responsibility springs from his new relationship. Henceforth he is to “reckon himself dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:11). If he fails to do this, and allows himself to become indifferent to the will of God, he must know the rod of His discipline.
“The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished” (2 Pet. 2:9). It is in this world that the Christian is dealt with for his failures. The unjust will be dealt with in that day of wrath; though even here sin brings suffering in their case as well.
Let us remember, then, that “the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that know not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” (1 Pet. 4:17, 18).