Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 3.djvu/644

636 the vulgar express it, As the old saying is, goes very far with most men in forming their notions and fixing their resolves. Much of the wisdom of the ancients had been handed down to posterity by proverbs; and some think we may judge of the temper and character of a nation by the complexion of its vulgar proverbs. Proverbs in conversation are like axioms in philosophy, maxims in law, and postulata in the mathematics, which nobody disputes, but every one endeavours to expound, so as to have them on his side. Yet there are many corrupt proverbs, which tend to debauch men's minds and harden them in sin. The Devil has his proverbs, and the world and the flesh have their proverbs, which reflect reproach on God and religion, (as Ezek. xii. 22.—xviii. 2.) to guard us against the corrupt influences of which, God has his proverbs, which are all wise and good, and tend to make us so. These proverbs of Solomon were not merely a collection of the wise sayings that had been formerly delivered, as some have imagined, but were the dictates of the Spirit of God in Solomon. The very first of them, (ch. i. 7.) agrees with what God said to man in the beginning, (Job xxviii. 28.) Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; so that, though Solomon was great, and his name may serve as much as any man's to recommend his writings, yet behold, a greater than Solomon is here. It is God, by Solomon, that here speaks to us; I say, to us; for these proverbs were written for our learning, and when Solomon speaks to his son, the exhortation is said to speak to us as children, Heb. xii. 5. And as we have no book so useful to us in our devotions as David's psalms, so have we none so serviceable to us, for the right ordering of our conversations, as Solomon's proverbs, which, as David says of the commandments, are exceeding broad, containing, in a little compass, a complete body of divine ethics, politics, and economics, exposing every vice, recommending every virtue, and suggesting rules for the government of ourselves in every relation and condition, and every turn of conversation. The learned Bishop Hall has drawn up a system of moral philosophy out of Solomon's Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. The nine first chapters of this book are reckoned as a preface by way of exhortation to the study and practice of wisdom's rules, and caution against those things that would hinder therein. We have then the first volume of Solomon's proverbs; (ch. x··xxiv.) after that, a second volume; (ch. xxv··xxix.) and then Agur's prophecy, (ch. xxx.) and Lemuel's, ch. xxxi. The scope of all is one and the same, to direct us so to order our conversation aright, as that in the end we may see the salvation of the Lord. The best comment on those rules is to be ruled by them.

PROVERBS, I.

CHAP. I. Those who read David's psalms, especially those toward the latter end, would be tempted to think that religion is all rapture, and consists in nothing but the ecstacies and transports of devotion; and doubtless there is a time for them, and, if there be a heaven upon earth, it is in them; but, while we are on earth, we cannot be wholly taken up with them, we have a life to live in the flesh, must have a conversation in the world, and into that we must now be taught to carry our religion, which is a rational thing, and very serviceable to the conduct of human life, and tends as much to make us discreet as to make us devout, to make the face shine before men in a prudent, honest, useful, conversation, as to make the heart burn toward God in holy and pious affections. In this chapter, we have, I. The title of the book, showing the general scope and design of it, v. 1..6. II. The first principle of it recommended to our serious consideration, v. 7..9. III. A necessary caution against bad company, v. 10..19. IV. A faithful and lively representation of wisdom's reasonings with the children of men, and the certain ruin of those who turn a deaf ear to those reasonings, v. 20..33.

HE proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel; 2. To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; 3. To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity; 4. To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. 5. A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels; 6. To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.

We have here an introduction to this book, which some think was prefixed by the collector and publisher, as Ezra; but it is rather supposed to have been penned by Solomon himself, who, in the beginning of his book, proposes his end in writing it, that he might keep to his business, and closely pursue that end. We are here told,

I. Who wrote these wise sayings; (v. 1.) they are the proverbs of Solomon. 1. His name signifies peaceable, and the character both of his spirit and of his reign answered to it; both were peaceable. David, whose life was full of troubles, wrote a book of devotion; for, ''Is any afflicted? Let him pray. Solomon, who lived quietly, wrote a book of instruction, for when the churches had rest, they were edified''. In times of peace, we should learn ourselves, and teach others, that which, in troublous times, both they and we must practise. 2. He was the son of David; it was his honour to stand related to that good man, and he reckoned it so with good reason, for he fared the better for it, 1 Kings xi. 12. He had been blessed with a good education, and many a good prayer had been put up for him, (Ps. lxxii. 1.) the effect of both which appeared in his wisdom and usefulness. The generation of the upright are sometimes thus blessed, that they are made blessings, eminent blessings, in their day. Christ is often called the Son of David, and Solomon was a type of him in this, as in other things, that he opened his mouth in parables or proverbs. 3. He was king of Israel; a king, and yet it was no disparagement to him to be an instructor of the ignorant, and a teacher of babes; king of Israel, that people among whom God was known, and his name was great; among them he learned wisdom; and to them he communicated it. All the earth sought to Solomon to hear his wisdom, which excelled all men's; (1 Kings iv. 30.—x. 24.) it was an honour to Israel, that their king was such a dictator, such an oracle. Solomon was famous for apophthegms; every word he said had weight in it, and something that was surprising and edifying; his servants, who attended him, and heard his wisdom, had, among them, collected 3000 proverbs of his, which they wrote in their day-books, but these were of his own writing, and do not amount to near a thousand; in these, he was divinely inspired. Some think, that, out of those other proverbs of his, which were not so inspired, the apocryphal books of Ecclesiasticus, and the Wisdom of Solomon were compiled, in which are many excellent sayings, and of great use; but, take all together, they are far short of this book.