Proverbschapter 8
36 verses · Solomon and others · 10th to 5th century BC · Wisdom and poetry
The LORD created me as His first course, before His works of old.
Introduction
Solomon and others, Wisdom and poetry, Proverbs Overview.
This chapter belongs to the opening section of Proverbs, which the book's heading gives to Solomon. Here the father steps aside and Wisdom herself speaks, calling out where the crowds of the town pass. It answers the scene of the chapter before, where another woman called a young man to his death. Listen for the claims Wisdom makes about kings and rulers, and then for her account of the time before the world was made. That second half has been read in more than one way through the history of the church. Read it as the book's fullest portrait of wisdom.
Context
- Who
- Ordinary townspeople and traders passing through the gate on business
- What
- A speech by Wisdom, pictured as a woman, calling to all people, describing her worth and her gifts and telling of her presence with the LORD before and during creation.
- Where
- The high places beside the roads, the crossroads and the entrances of the city gates where every traveller had to pass.
- When
- The reign of Solomon, about 970 to 931 BC, by the heading at Proverbs 1:1; the book reached its final form later, since Proverbs 25:1 names the men of Hezekiah as copyists.
- Why
- To show that wisdom is offered to everyone, that just rule depends on it, and that it belongs to the order God built into the world from the beginning.
Historical context
Wisdom takes the exact positions a public crier or a market trader would take: the top of the high places by the way, the meeting of the paths, the gates at the entry of the city. Those were the choke points where every traveller had to pass and where announcements were made. She is not hidden in a school; she is competing for attention with the grain sellers.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
The chapter then claims the language of government, counsel, sound wisdom, understanding, strength, and says "by me kings reign, and princes decree justice." In the ancient Near East the king's chief boast was that he ruled by divine wisdom; Hammurabi's law stele opens exactly that way. Here the claim is put in Wisdom's own mouth and traced back to God.
The creation section is built out of the world as an Israelite saw it: the deep, the fountains under the ground, the mountains settled, the sea given a boundary it does not cross, the dust of the earth. What Wisdom claims is that she was there before all of it, "or ever the earth was."
One line has been argued over for centuries. The Hebrew verb in "the LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way" can be read as possessed, acquired, or brought forth, and the Greek translation's "created" was used in the fourth-century debates over whether Christ was a creature. The traditional reading holds that this is Wisdom personified, the poem's own device, established two chapters earlier, and that the verse is not a statement about the origin of the Son.
Significance
Hearers were being told that the wisdom shouting at them from the gate is not a human invention that grew up with civilisation. It stood beside God before there was a gate, a road, or a city.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
That is why the chapter ends where it does: "whoso findeth me findeth life." If wisdom is woven into how the world was actually made, then living against it is not naughty, it is walking into the grain of reality the wrong way.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
No part of this chapter is read in the synagogue year. The site's own table in src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts printed parashot total 0 and haftarah uses total 0 for Proverbs, and no festival reading.
The chapter is met most often at the opening of Genesis. The corpus carries Bereshit Rabbah 1:1 under the twenty-second verse and Bereshit Rabbah 1:9 under the twenty-fourth, and Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Bereshit 10 under the twenty-seventh. It also carries Midrash Tanchuma, Tetzaveh 9:1 under the eighteenth verse. Bereshit and Tetzaveh stand in the site's table of portions.
How it is read
Rashi is the commentator on this chapter whose English the corpus carries, quoted here from The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, which Sefaria reports as CC-BY. He reads the wisdom who speaks through the whole chapter as the Torah. His first note turns the opening question around. "Does not the Torah announce for you the things mentioned below in this section?" (Rashi on Proverbs 8:1:1). She calls at the entrance where people sit, on the ceiling above the gate (Rashi on Proverbs 8:3:1).
Her speech he reads the same way. The cunning she dwells with is the good sense that enters a man once he has learned Torah (Rashi on Proverbs 8:12:1). The fear of the Lord that hates evil is the discipline wisdom announces to the people (Rashi on Proverbs 8:13:1). Kings reign by her because she teaches the judges and the judgments (Rashi on Proverbs 8:15:1).
The seventeenth verse carries a note on the written text. The word read as those who love me is written in a form that means those who love her. Rashi reports a teaching he heard from Rabbi Aaron in the name of Rabbi Nathan. God says that He will love those who love the Torah (Rashi on Proverbs 8:17:1). The difference between the written form and the form read aloud is where the teaching comes from.
The verses on wisdom before the world he glosses briefly. At the beginning of His way means before the creation of the world (Rashi on Proverbs 8:22:1). The word for set up he reads through a word for princes in Ezekiel, and the next as a word for being created (Rashi on Proverbs 8:23:1 and 8:24:1). The corpus's own locators show where the fuller Jewish reading of these verses is found, which is the first chapter of Bereshit Rabbah. A Christian reader who knows the church's reading of this chapter should hear Rashi's reading as his, with the Torah as the wisdom that stood before creation.
The corpus carries ten further notes on this chapter without an English text, each marked linked because Sefaria holds no English version of the ref. Eight stand cited and unquoted at Ibn Ezra on Proverbs 8:4:1, 8:5:1, 8:9:1, 8:14:1, 8:16:1, 8:18:1, 8:19:1 and 8:20:1, and two at Metzudat David on Proverbs 8:2:1 and 8:7:1.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries forty rabbinic locators on this chapter and the text of none, so each is cited here rather than quoted. On the first verse it holds Midrash Mishlei 8:1, and on the second Avodah Zarah 19a:12. On the fourth it holds Ein Yaakov at Yoma 7:5 and the Glick Edition at Yoma 7:4. On the sixth it holds Ein Yaakov and the Glick Edition, both at Shabbat 9:14, and on the tenth the Glick Edition at Shabbat 9:15 with Midrash Tannaim on Deuteronomy 32:2:1. On the eleventh it holds Bereshit Rabbah 35:3 and Jerusalem Talmud Peah 1:1:35.
Wisdom's gifts draw the next run. On the twelfth verse the corpus holds Ein Yaakov at Sotah 3:6 and the Glick Edition at Sotah 3:4. On the fourteenth it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 10:4 and 12:4, and on the fifteenth Bamidbar Rabbah 11:3 with Avot DeRabbi Natan, Recension B 44:13. On the sixteenth it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 14:4, and on the seventeenth Bamidbar Rabbah 8:2. On the twentieth it holds Pesikta DeRav Kahana 12:8.
Wisdom before creation carries the rest. On the twenty-second verse the corpus holds Bereshit Rabbah 1:1, on the twenty-third Bamidbar Rabbah 2:10, and on the twenty-fourth Bereshit Rabbah 1:9. On the twenty-ninth it holds Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 5:1, and on the thirtieth Avot DeRabbi Natan 31:3. On the thirty-fifth it holds Bava Batra 10a:1, and on the thirty-sixth Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Megillah 4:3. What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Proverbs 8:1:1 to 8:24:1, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, reported CC-BY; Ibn Ezra, Ibn Ezra on Proverbs 8:4:1, 8:5:1, 8:9:1, 8:14:1, 8:16:1, 8:18:1, 8:19:1 and 8:20:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on Proverbs 8:2:1 and 8:7:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/proverbs/8.json, the 40 Talmud and Midrash locators of this chapter; The site's own files, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, printing no portion, no Haftarah and no festival reading for this book, with Bereshit and Tetzaveh in its PARASHOT table.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Wisdom Cries at the Gates: Better Than Rubies
Proverbs 8:1-5
Does not wisdom call out: Against the adulteress of chapter 7, wisdom calls from “the heights overlooking the road”: “To you, O men, I call out”. Sin whispers in private and wisdom calls in public. Her audience is named, “O simple ones” and “O fools,” the very ones chapter 7 watched walk into the trap.
Proverbs 8:1
“A companion picture to that in Prov. 7, and serving in some measure to generalize and idealize it. Wisdom also calls Pro 8:5 to the “simple” and the “fools,” and they have to choose between her voice and that of the temptress.”
at the crossroads she takes her stand: Clarke reads the crossroads as the house of the paths, where every road meets. She takes her stand on the heights overlooking the road. The whole city passes her.
Proverbs 8:2
“In the places of the paths - בית נתיבת נצבה beith nethiboth nitstsabah, “The constituted house of the paths.” Does not this mean the house of public worship? the tabernacle or temple, which stands a center to the surrounding villages, the paths from all the parts leading to and terminating at it? In such a place, where the holy word of God is read or preached, there in a particular manner does wisdom cry, and understanding lift up her voice.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Beside the gates to the city: The city gate was the place of judgment, where Wesley notes the people gathered. Wisdom speaks where elders decided cases and where travelers first entered. She meets them at the entrance.
Proverbs 8:3
“Gates - The places of judgment, and of the confluence of people. The entry - To invite passengers at their first coming and to conduct them to her house.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
my cry is to the sons of men: Clarke distinguishes the two words: the men are men of wealth and power, and the sons of men are all the descendants of Adam. Wisdom calls the great and the common alike. Her call leaves no one out.
Proverbs 8:4
“Unto you, O men - אישים ishim, men of wealth and power, will I call; and not to you alone, for my voice is אל בני אדם al beney Adam, “to all the descendants of Adam;” to the whole human race. As Jesus Christ tasted death for every man, so the Gospel proclaims salvation to all: to You - to every individual, my voice is addressed. Thou hast sinned; and thou must perish, if not saved by grace.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
learn to be shrewd: Clarke defines the simple as those deceived by flattering words and the fools as stubborn and senseless. Wisdom prescribes a cure for each. The shrewdness she offers is the prudence she dwells with in verse 12.
Proverbs 8:5
“O ye simple - פתאים pethaim, ye that are deceived, and with flattering words and fair speeches deluded and drawn away. Ye fools - כסילים kesilim, ye stupid, stiffnecked, senseless people. That preaching is never likely to do much good, that is not pointed; specifying and describing vices, and charging them home on the consciences of transgressors.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Proverbs 8:6-11
for I speak of noble things: Wisdom's credentials are moral before they are intellectual: “none are crooked or perverse”. “They are all plain to the discerning,” so any difficulty lies in the hearer. The price comparison, “my instruction instead of silver” and wisdom “more precious than rubies,” repeats the appraisal of 3:14-15.
my mouth will speak the truth: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that the Hebrew pictures the palate murmuring truth, the quiet speech of thought. Her mouth speaks what her mind already holds. The wickedness detestable to her lips is falsehood.
none are crooked or perverse: Clarke gives the two Hebrew words as twisted and distorted, the shapes of a path that bends away from its goal. Her words run straight. The worthless man of 6:12 walks with a perverse mouth.
They are all plain to the discerning: Clarke renders plain as straight ahead, set in front of every man and level to every capacity. The discerning see it at once. Those who find knowledge find her words upright.
Proverbs 8:9
“They are all plain - נכחים nechochim, straight forward, over against every man, level to every capacity. This is true of all that concerns the salvation of the soul. To them that find knowledge - When a man gets the knowledge of himself, then he sees all the threatenings of God to be right. When he obtains the knowledge of God in Christ, then he finds that all the promises of God are right - yea and amen.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Receive my instruction instead of silver: Basil read instruction as discipline and applied the verse to illness and trouble received patiently from God. Silver and pure gold are the rival offer. Wisdom tells the simple to receive instruction instead.
Proverbs 8:10
"Accept discipline, not silver," so that at a time of calamity or physical illness or domestic trouble, you would think nothing at all perverse of God, but accept the blows meted out by him with great patience as though you were being castigated for your sins. Thus, conscious of being disciplined, say, "I will bear the wrath of the Lord because I have sinned against him."
Basil of Caesarea · written before 379 · Homily on the Beginning of Proverbs 5patristic
wisdom is more precious than rubies: The line repeats Proverbs 3:15 almost word for word, now spoken by Wisdom herself. Earlier the father praised her to his son. Here Wisdom names her own price to the sons of men.
Proverbs 8:11
“Wisdom is better than rubies - See on Pro 3:15 (note).”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 8:11
“It is written that "wisdom is better than stones of costly price; and all precious things are not comparable to her." For the wisdom that comes from above, from God, is an incomparable blessing. When we attain to it by means of the holy Scripture, which is inspired of God, and gain the divine light to dwell in our minds, we then advance without wandering, and we come toward whatever is useful for our spiritual profit. Come, therefore, and let us now also scrupulously examine the meaning of the Gospel lessons.”
Cyril of Alexandria · written before 444 · Commentary on Luke, Homily 133patristic
By Me Kings Reign and Princes Decree Justice
Proverbs 8:12-16
I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence: Wisdom keeps company: prudence, counsel, understanding, strength. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil plants the book's motto inside her self-description. By me kings reign, which Henry applies in both directions: rulers rule well by her, and rule at all by God's providence.
Proverbs 8:12
“I wisdom dwell with prudence - Prudence is defined, wisdom applied to practice; so wherever true wisdom is, it will lead to action, and its activity will be always in reference to the accomplishment of the best ends by the use of the most appropriate means.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 8:12
“The connection of "wisdom" and "prudence" is that of the dictates of sound wisdom and its application. find . . . inventions--or, "devices," "discreet ways" (Pr 1:4).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
To fear the LORD is to hate evil: Henry puts it in one line: where there is an awe of God there is a dread of sin. The things Wisdom hates here, arrogant pride and perverse speech, echo the list of things the LORD hates at 6:16 to 19. Her hatred matches His.
Proverbs 8:13
“True religion, consisting in the fear of the Lord, which is the wisdom before recommended, teaches men, 1. To hate all sin, as displeasing to God and destructive to the soul: The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, the evil way, to hate sin as sin, and therefore to hate every false way. Wherever there is an awe of God there is a dread of sin, as an evil, as only evil.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Counsel and sound judgment are mine: Gill hears the words of Job 12:13, where wisdom, strength, counsel and understanding belong to God, and he takes Wisdom here as a divine Person. Verses 15 and 16 show her goods at work in rulers. Kings borrow them.
Proverbs 8:14
“It also gives the elements of good character in counsel. sound wisdom-- (Pr 2:7). I . . . strength--or, "As for me, understanding is strength to me," the source of power (Ec 9:16); good judgment gives more efficiency to actions; 15, 16. of which a wisely conducted government is an example.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 8:14
“Counsel is mine - Direction how to act in all circumstances and on all occasions must come from wisdom: the foolish man can give no counsel, cannot show another how he is to act in the various changes and chances of life. The wise man alone can give this counsel; and he can give it only as continually receiving instruction from God: for this Divine wisdom can say, תושיה Tushiyah, substance, reality, essence, all belong to me: I am the Fountain whence all are derived.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
By me kings reign: Barnes sets this verse beside 1 Kings 3:5 to 14, where the young Solomon asks God for an understanding heart and receives it. The book opens under his name. Just laws come from her.
Proverbs 8:15
“By me kings reign,.... Christ is the Prince of the kings of the earth, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; they are made kings by him, and are under him; he sets them up, and deposes them at pleasure; they have their kingdoms, crowns, and sceptres from him, and are accountable to him. The Syriac version renders it, "for me"; it is for the sake of Christ they reign; and they ought to seek his glory, and the good of his kingdom and interest.”
2 more voices on this verse
Proverbs 8:15
Not only the common life of common men, but the exercise of the highest sovereignty, must have this Wisdom as its ground. Compare with this passage Pro 8:15-21 the teaching of 1Ki 3:5-14. The word rendered “princes” Pro 8:15 is different from that in Pro 8:16; the first might, perhaps, be rendered “rulers.”
Proverbs 8:15
“Civil government is a divine institution, and those that are entrusted with the administration of it have their commission from Christ; it is a branch of his kingly office that by him kings reign; from him to whom all judgment is committed their power is derived.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
all nobles who govern justly: Gill notes that the word for nobles describes men of a free and generous spirit, the kind called benefactors at Luke 22:25. Wisdom makes greatness generous. Princes and nobles rule justly by her.
Proverbs 8:16
“By me princes rule,.... All governors of provinces and cities, who are under the king as supreme; the discharge of whose office in a right manner requires much wisdom, prudence, justice, and integrity; all which they have from Christ, as well as their power of ruling, that rule well; and nobles, even all the judges of the earth; the word (e) for nobles signifies persons of a "free" spirit, generous, bountiful men; such as are called "benefactors", Luk 22:25; so one of the Ptolemys, king of Egypt, was called Evergetes.”
Proverbs 8:17-21
those who seek me early shall find me: “I love those who love me, and those who seek me early shall find me” gives wisdom a covenant shape. Her riches are qualified twice, “enduring wealth and righteousness” and “better than gold,” set against the warning about wealth that “makes wings for itself” (23:5).
enduring wealth and righteousness: Clarke observes that the wise often gain riches and honor, and sometimes they go without. The wealth that endures is righteousness, which Clarke calls the treasure God places in earthen vessels. Honor comes with it.
Proverbs 8:18
“Riches and honor are with me - Often the wise, prudent, and discreet man arrives literally to riches and honor; but this is not always the case. But there are other riches of which he never fails; and these seem to be what Solomon has particularly in view, durable riches and righteousness; the treasure deposited by God in earthen vessels.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
My fruit is better than gold: Gill hears the fruit of a tree and ties it to Proverbs 3:18, where wisdom is a tree of life to those who embrace her. The harvest is weighed against pure gold and choice silver. The tree outlasts the treasury.
Proverbs 8:19
“Gold - The “choice, fine gold” of margin reference. The “fine gold” in the second clause is a different word, and perhaps represents gold extracted from the ore.”
I walk in the way of righteousness: Wisdom walks the way of righteousness and the paths of justice, the opposite road to the paths of the adulteress in 7:25. Barnes calls this chapter a companion picture to chapter 7, a choice between two voices. The gifts of verse 21 lie along her road.
Proverbs 8:20
“This is that fruit of wisdom which is better than gold, than fine gold, it leads us in the way of righteousness, shows us that way and goes before us in it, the way that God would have us walk in and which will certainly bring us to our desired end. It leads in the midst of the paths of judgment, and saves us from deviating on either hand.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 8:20
“I lead in the way of righteousness - Nothing but the teaching that comes from God by his word and Spirit can do this.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
making their treasuries full: Henry reads the inheritance of this verse as substance, a weight of glory to come. Hebrews 10:34 speaks of a better and permanent possession. Love of Wisdom is the one condition.
Proverbs 8:21
“Joy in God is substantial joy, solid and well-grounded. The promises are their bonds, Christ is their surety, and both substantial. They inherit substance; that is, their inheritance hereafter is substantial; it is a weight of glory; it is substance, Heb. x.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Before the Mountains: I Was Daily His Delight
Proverbs 8:22-26
The LORD created me as His first course: The argument turns on the Hebrew qanah, which the King James renders possessed and the Septuagint created. On that Greek reading the Arians called the Son a creature. One reading takes wisdom as God's personified attribute, and another reads toward Christ “the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24).
Proverbs 8:22
“But it is written, say they, 'The Lord created me in the beginning of His ways for His works.' O untaught and insensate that ye are! He is called also in the Scriptures, 'servant,' and 'son of a handmaid,' and 'lamb,' and 'sheep,' and it is said that He suffered toil, and thirst, and was beaten, and has suffered pain.”
Athanasius of Alexandria · written before 373 · Letter to the Bishops of Egypt 17patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Proverbs 8:22
“The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way - Wisdom is not acquired by the Divine Being; man, and even angels, learn it by slow and progressive degrees; but in God it is as eternally inherent as any other essential attribute of his nature. The Targum makes this wisdom a creature, by thus translating the passage: אלהא בראני בריש בריתיה Elaha barani bereish biriteiah, “God created me in the beginning of his creatures.” The Syriac is the same. This is as absurd and heretical as some modern glosses on the same passage.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Proverbs 8:22
“Strictly, God's attributes are part of Himself. Yet, to the poetical structure of the whole passage, this commendation of wisdom is entirely consonant. In order of time all His attributes are coincident and eternal as Himself.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
From everlasting I was established: Barnes renders established as anointed, and he compares Psalm 2:6, where God installs His King on Zion. He pictures Wisdom anointed at her birth. From everlasting and from the beginning reach back before the earth began.
Proverbs 8:23
“Since the heretics, reading the next verse, take a perverse view of that also, because it is written, "He founded me before the world," namely, that this is said of the Godhead of the Word and not of his incarnate presence, it is necessary, explaining this verse also, to show their error.It is written, "The Lord in Wisdom founded the earth; if then by wisdom the earth is founded, how can he who founds be founded?”
Athanasius of Alexandria · written before 373 · Discourses Against the Arians 2.22.72-74patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Proverbs 8:23
“I was set up from everlasting,.... I, a person, and not a quality; a person, and not a nature; the person of Christ as the Son of God, and not the human nature of Christ, which then did not exist; this phrase designs the ordination and constitution of Christ in his office as Mediator. So the Vulgate Latin version renders it, "I was ordained"; Christ was foreordained to be the Redeemer and Saviour of men, to be the propitiation for their sins, to be the head of the church, and the Judge of the world.”
Proverbs 8:23
I was set up - Rather, “I was anointed” (compare Psa 2:6 margin: 2Ch 28:15). The image is that of Wisdom anointed, as at her birth, with “the oil of gladness.” Or ever the earth was - literally, “from the times before the earth.”
I was brought forth: Clarke renders the verb as produced by the pains of labor, a birth image. The watery depths and springs are the deep of Genesis 1:2, the first thing named in the creation account. Wisdom is older than the deep.
Proverbs 8:24
“When there were no depths - תהמות tehomoth, before the original chaotic mass was formed. See Gen 1:2. I was brought forth - חוללתי cholalti, “I was produced as by laboring throes.” Mr. Parkhurst thinks that the heathen poets derived their idea of Minerva’s (wisdom’s) being born of Jupiter’s brain, from some such high poetic personification as that in the text.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Before the mountains were settled: Barnes compares Psalm 90:2, where the mountains are born after the LORD, who is from everlasting to everlasting. The teacher here says the same of Wisdom. The oldest hills are younger than she is.
Proverbs 8:25
“Eliphaz, to convince Job of his inability to judge of the divine counsels, asks him ( Job xv. 7 ), Wast thou made before the hills? But before the hills was the eternal Word brought forth.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 8:25
“Whether he is eternally begotten or not, I do not yet say, until I have looked into the statement, "Before all the hills he begets me" more accurately. But I cannot see the necessity of their conclusion. For if, as they say, everything that is to come to an end had also a beginning, then surely that which has no end had no beginning. What, then, will they decide concerning the soul or the angelic nature?”
Gregory of Nazianzus · written before 390 · On the Son, Theological Oration 3 (29).13patristic
any of the dust of the earth: Clarke renders the dust of the earth as the first particle of matter. Wisdom is older than the smallest grain. The list has come down from depths and mountains to fields and dust.
Proverbs 8:26
“The highest part of the dust of the world - ראש עפרות תבל rosh aphroth tebel, “the first particle of matter.” The prima materia, the primitive atom. All these verses (verses 3-29) are a periphrasis for I existed before creation, consequently before time was. I dwelt in God as a principle which might be communicated in its influences to intellectual beings when formed.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Proverbs 8:27-31
when He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep: Wisdom is present at “a boundary for the sea,” which Job 38:11 states: “You may come this far, but no farther”. The words “His delight day by day, rejoicing always in His presence” are familial, and the Hebrew amon, craftsman or nursling, is left unsettled.
Proverbs 8:27
“A compass - Better as in the margin and Job 22:14 (see the note), i. e., the great vault of heaven stretched over the deep seas.”
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 8:27
“Learn also that the Father was with him, and he with the Father, when all things were being made. Wisdom says, "When he was preparing the heavens I was with him, when he was making the fountains of waters." And in the Old Testament the Father … showed that the Son was to be worshiped with himself as the maker of all things.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · On the Holy Spirit 3.11.85patristic
when the fountains of the deep gushed forth: Wesley read the older rendering, strengthened, as God shutting the springs in the earth as with a strong band. The Berean reads the fountains gushing forth. All the fountains of the great deep burst forth again in the flood of Genesis 7:11.
Proverbs 8:28
“The clouds above - שחקים shechakim, “the ethereal regions,” taking in the whole of the atmosphere, with all its meteors, clouds, vapours, etc.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 8:28
“Strengthened - When he shut up the fountains in the cavities of the earth, and kept them there as it were by a strong band. The deep - Which have their original from the deep, either from the sea, or from the abyss of waters in the bowels of the earth.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
when He set a boundary for the sea: Clarke reads the boundary as the measure of the sea, its saltness and the size of its surface set against the rain it must supply. The foundations of the earth are marked out like a builder's lines. Wisdom watched both.
Proverbs 8:29
“When he gave to the sea his decree - When he assigned its limits, adjusted its saltness, and proportioned the extent of the surface to the quantity of vapors to be raised from it, for the irrigation of the terrene surface.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
a skilled craftsman at His side: Clarke pictures Wisdom as a small child near its parent, glad to watch him work and playing in his presence. The Berean reads a skilled craftsman at His side. The delight runs both ways.
Proverbs 8:30
“Then I was with him, as one brought up - אמון amon, a nursling, a darling child. Wisdom continues its parable, says Calmet; and represents itself as a new-born child which is ever near its parent, and takes pleasure to see him act, and to sport in his presence.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
delighting together in the sons of men: Barnes reads the step from the whole world to the sons of men as a rise in joy, and compares Isaiah 45:18. He hears a prophecy fulfilled in the Word, whose joy is in His work among men. The sons of men were her audience in verse 4.
Proverbs 8:31
“Wisdom rejoices yet more in the world as inhabited by God’s rational creatures. (compare Isa 45:18). Giving joy and delight to God, she finds her delight among the sons of men. These words, like the rest, are as an unconscious prophecy fulfilled in the Divine Word, in whom were “hid all the treasures of Wisdom.” Compare the marginal reference: in Him the Father was well pleased; and yet His “joy also is fulfilled,” not in the glory of the material universe, but in His work among the sons of men.”
Whoso Findeth Me Findeth Life
Proverbs 8:32-36
Now therefore, my sons, listen to me: The poem turns back into the father's appeal. “For whoever finds me finds life and obtains the favor of the LORD” gathers the chapter's promise into one line. The alternative is stated plainly: “he who fails to find me harms himself; all who hate me love death”.
Proverbs 8:32
“Now therefore - Since I delight so much in conveying instruction; since I have the happiness of the children of Adam so much at heart, hearken unto me; and this is for your own interest, for blessed are they who keep my ways.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
Proverbs 8:32
“Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children,.... Children of his and his Father, with whom his delights were; predestinated to the adoption of children; children of the covenant and promise, given to him as such in the covenant; for whom he became man, suffered and died, to gather together regenerated ones, by which they appear to be the children of God: these Wisdom here addresses in the most affectionate manner; Christ, having finished the account and description of himself, reassumes his former exhortation, Pro 8:5; and enforces it by the several particulars in the above description.”
Proverbs 8:32
"Read the word written, sit under the word preached, bless God for both, and hear him in both speaking to you." Let children age, and what they hearken to then, it is likely, they will be so seasoned by as to be governed by all their days. Let Wisdom's children justify Wisdom by hearkening to her and show themselves to be indeed her children.
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Proverbs 8:32
“The old exhortation with a new force. The counsels are no longer those of prudence and human experience, but of a Wisdom eternal as Yahweh, ordering all things.”
Listen to instruction and be wise: The same command to become wise was given to the slacker at 6:6. The instruction here is the discipline Wisdom set above silver in verse 10. The warning is against letting it go.
watching daily at my doors: The young man of 7:8 walked down the road to the adulteress's house. This man waits at Wisdom's doorway every day. Gill applies the hearing to those who hear Christ through His ministers, as at Luke 10:16.
Proverbs 8:34
“Watching daily at my gates - Wisdom is represented as having a school for the instruction of men; and seems to point out some of the most forward of her scholars coming, through their intense desire to learn, even before the gates were opened, and waiting there for admission, that they might hear every word that was uttered, and not lose one accent of the heavenly teaching. Blessed are such.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 8:34
“Blessed is the man that heareth me,.... Christ in his Gospel, as speaking by his ministers; for hearing them is hearing him, Luk 10:16; they have their commission from him; are his ambassadors, and represent him; receive their gifts from him; speak according to his mind and will, revealed in his word, and preach him himself.”
whoever finds me finds life: The same favor from the LORD returns at 18:22 for the man who finds a wife. Here the one found is Wisdom herself. Barnes calls her the only true life.
Proverbs 8:35
“Wisdom then is the only true life. The Word, the Light, is also the Life of man Joh 1:4. The eternal life is to know God and Christ Joh 17:3.”
he who fails to find me harms himself: The King James reads sinneth, and Gill notes that the verb means to miss the mark, as the slingers of Judges 20:16 hit a hair. The man who misses Wisdom harms himself. Missing her is choosing death.
Proverbs 8:36
“Wrongeth his own soul - It is not Satan, it is not sin, properly speaking, that hurts him; it is himself. If he received the teaching of God, sin would have no dominion over him; if he resisted the devil, the devil would flee from him. Love death - They do it in effect, if not in fact, for as they love sin, that leads to death, so they may be justly said to love death, the wages of sin.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 8:36
“Their crime is very great; they sin against Wisdom, rebel against its light and laws, thwart its designs, and by their folly offend it. They sin against Christ; they act in contempt of his authority, and in contradiction to all the purposes of his life and death. This is construed into hating Wisdom, hating Christ; they are his enemies, who will not have him to reign over them.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Keep studying
Studies5
Words12
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Basil of Caesarea, HOMILY ON THE BEGINNING OF PROVERBS 5; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.