Chapter 3

1An exhortation to obedience, 5to faith, 7to mortification, 9to devotion, 11to patience. 13The happy gain of wisdom. 19The power, 21and the benefits of wisdom. 27An exhortation to charitableness, 30peaceableness, 31and contentedness. 33The cursed state of the wicked.

1. Law. Heb. torah, most commonly rendered “law” in the OT. It comes from the root yarah, meaning “to throw,” “to shoot,” and in one form of the verb means “to teach,” “to instruct” (see Ex. 4:12; 24:12; Lev. 10:11; 1 Sam. 12:23). Hence torah means “teaching,” “instruction”; therefore the phrase is better rendered, “Forget not my instruction.” The LXX uses the word nomos here, meaning anything assigned, such as a custom, convention, or law. Nomos is the NT word for “law.” If the OT idea of instruction is applied to “law” throughout the Bible, it takes away from “law” the sense of blind compulsion and turns the commandments of God into guideposts on the road of life, warning against dangerous detours into paths of sin (see PK 179).

2. Length of days. Loving obedience to the teaching of God will result in an extension of the life span. Though this promise will be fulfilled for many in the attainment of a peaceful old age in this life, it will be true of all the righteous in the ever-rolling years of eternity.

3. Mercy and truth. Such traits are always pleasing to God and will win the favor of men. However friendly a man may be, he will fail to win friends if his promises cannot be relied upon.

4. Good understanding. That is, “good sense,” “prudence.”

5. Trust in the Lord. Entire trust in God is the only logical position for Christians to take. God has all knowledge and all power, and foresees and prepares against all the troubles that come upon man as sudden emergencies. For anyone to rely on his own understanding under such circumstances is foolish indeed. It is also folly to alternate between trust in self and trust in God.

To place little confidence in one’s own understanding does not mean that a man must lay aside intelligence and give up the power of choice. Intelligence is needed to determine from the Word of God and from God’s guiding providences what is the divine will. A will strengthened and cleansed by God is needed if one is to follow a true course through to the end.

6. He shall direct. Or, “it is He who will direct.” The Hebrew emphasizes that God Himself will make straight and plain the path of His servant, when His servant acknowledges Him in every phase of life’s many activities.

7. In thine own eyes. By pointing out the danger of self-trust, Solomon reinforces his previous counsel (v. 5). Many have started to walk the path of right with complete trust in the Saviour, but have later begun to take the credit to themselves for their achievements and have ended up in sinful rebellion against God. Such was the experience of Solomon himself, but he was fortunate to awake to his sad condition before it was too late (see 1 Kings 11:1–13; PK 75–86).

8. Navel. The LXX and the Syriac read “body.” Mental and physical health are closely connected one with another (ch. 17:22), and there is no greater stabilizer for nerves fretted by the rush and worry of life than the knowledge that God is an active partner in all that we do, an influence ensuring present contentment and ultimate victory (see Phil. 4:11–13; MH 241).

9. With thy substance. Or “with thy wealth.” Malachi cites as one reason why the giving of part of the riches gained leads to greater gain the fact that God will rebuke the devourer and make possible a greater increase (Mal. 3:8–12). A more important reason is that the cheerful giving of ever-increasing sums in tithe and offerings as wealth increases will prove a bulwark against the subtle temptations to selfishness and covetousness. God can entrust a man who is a faithful steward of His means with still more of the wealth of the world, for it will be rightly used (see 3T 544–551).

11. Chastening. Heb. musar (see on ch. 1:2). From the idea of prosperity, Solomon turns to that of adversity. Adversity is often used by God as a means of awakening a man to danger.

Be weary. Heb. maХas, primarily “to reject,” “to retract from,” hence “to feel a loathing,” “to feel an abhorrence,” “to feel a sickening dread.” Some people permit the troubles that come upon them to drive them farther away from God, because they think that He is cruel or indifferent. How far from the truth this is, the next verse shows.

12. Whom the Lord loveth. Paul points out in his enlargement upon this thought (Heb. 12:5–11) that we gave reverence to our earthly fathers when they disciplined us. Perhaps as children we dimly perceived that they were doing it because they loved us. The children of God should believe that all things are under the control of a heavenly Father who delights in them and who will work circumstances for their good if they submit cheerfully to the discipline and learn the lessons it was intended to teach.

13. Happy is the man. Having been chastened by the Father, the child has found the way of blessing and is now continuing to draw out understanding from the rich stores of heavenly knowledge. All blessings are available to the man who has begun with the fear of the Lord, has progressed to wisdom, and is now drinking from a spring of ever-flowing water of life (see John 4:14).

14. Merchandise of silver. Solomon compares the value of wisdom to that of other precious things. He draws some of his figures from his commerce in gold and in silver (see 1 Kings 10:21–23). He well knew the profits to be gained by trading in these precious metals. Nevertheless, he realized that the income from trading in wisdom was greater and more lasting. When the love of money comes between a man and the increase of his holdings in true wisdom, his material riches have become a snare (see 1 Tim. 6:9, 10). If the choice must be made, it is better to trade in understanding and be poor in gold and silver than to reap a harvest of earthly riches and be poor in wisdom and other eternal treasures.

15. Rubies. The word here translated “rubies” is not used in the Bible in a context that makes its precise meaning clear. Some translate it “pearls”; others, “precious stones of all kinds”; still others, “coral,” because a similar Arabic word means “branching.” This much is clear from v. 14, that the word signifies something very precious, perhaps even more so than “fine gold,” for Solomon seems to be building up to a climax of value. Wisdom is so much to be desired that there is nothing a man may wish for that can surpass it in value. The LXX reads, “precious stones.”

16. Length of days. Wisdom never comes alone. When Solomon chose to ask the Lord for wisdom, he was promised long life, riches, and honor (1 Kings 3:5–14). He here pictures wisdom as bringing these other gifts in her hands. In the enumeration of gifts in the book of Kings, long life is last, and conditional upon obedience to God’s commands. In the Proverbs, Solomon puts it first and in the right hand—the place of great honor in the East (see Ps. 110:1)—and riches and honor in the left hand.

While this promise may be regarded as applying today largely to the eternal reward of the righteous, it is still true that prudence and sagacity will do much to ensure long life and prosperity in this world. Many are suffering the ill effects of eating and drinking things that are harmful and of carrying out other unhealthful practices. It is the part of wisdom to study the relationship between diet and health, and to endeavor to live in harmony with the plan of the Creator. While the wise man today may not always attain to great wealth, he will find that godliness with contentment is still great gain and that good men will always honor wisdom (1 Tim. 6:6).

17. Ways of pleasantness. Many feel that trifling amusements and unproductive activities are the ways of pleasure, but true joy and lasting satisfaction are found only in following wisdom. Solomon emphasizes the serenity and blessedness of walking in the unfrequented paths of wisdom instead of following the multitude in search of the fleeting and unrewarding pleasures of the senses.

18. Tree of life. Because our first parents rejected wisdom as a guide and followed Satan, none of us has been privileged to taste of the tree of life. Divine wisdom will lead us into a way of life that will have much the same result. It will give us a fuller and longer life in this world, and gain for us access to the tree of life itself in the world to come (Rev. 22:14).

19. Founded the earth. Solomon presents wisdom as the divine power of God, creating the heavens and protecting those who put their confidence in Him. Some have taken “wisdom” here to refer to the second person of the Godhead, by whom all things were created (Col. 1:16; John 1:1–3). Such an application may be made in parts of Prov. 8, but the use of wisdom, understanding, and knowledge in parallel couplets suggests that no such thought was in Solomon’s mind when he wrote this passage.

20. Broken up. Literally, “cleft,” or “divided.” Some have thought that this might refer to the separation of the waters under the heavens from the waters above the heavens (Gen. 1:6–8), so that the dew could distill from above. Others see in the words a reference to the bursting forth from the earth of the great rivers. Divine wisdom was required to devise and execute a system that watered the earth without rain and erosion and also served to equalize the temperature over the whole of the globe (see on Gen. 1:6).

This system was completely changed at the Flood, so that the rain replaced the heavy dew, the rivers became drains, and the equalizing influence of the water below the firmament and above the firmament was lost. Yet the earth remained habitable over a large part of its area. These facts are a further demonstration of the wisdom and foreknowledge of the Creator.

21. Let not them depart. There is no clearly evident antecedent for “them.” Some have assumed that it refers to “wisdom” and “discretion” in the next clause. However, both of these words are feminine, whereas “them” is masculine. In spite of this difficulty the text becomes clear only as these are made the antecedent.

22. Soul. Heb. nephesh. It is thus translated more than 400 times in the OT. In the majority of these instances nephesh means no more than “self” and is a synonym for the personal pronoun or for a person. For example, “if a soul shall sin” (Lev. 4:2) is equivalent to saying “if someone sin”; “against that soul” (Lev. 17:10) simply means “against that person”; “all that thy soul desireth” is equivalent to “all that you desire.” In the verse under consideration “unto thy soul” simply means “unto thee.” The sentence would then read, “so shall they be life unto thee.”

Jesus came to give His sheep more abundant life (John 10:10), and all who seek to serve God acceptably will receive fresh supplies of physical strength as well as mental and spiritual power (MH 159).

23. Walk in thy way safely. Those who thus serve God walk in confidence and security, because they are walking in the way of wisdom, in which there are no stumbling blocks to cause them to fall. Those who turn to the right hand or to the left in search of amusement or selfish gain find themselves stumbling over unexpected obstacles and falling into sin and sorrow.

24. Thy sleep. Sleep is a relinquishing of the vigilance of waking hours, leaving the sleeper at the mercy of his enemies and in an unconscious state resembling death. He who is obedient to the counsel of the Lord can lie down in full awareness of the possibilities of danger and death, yet drift off like a weary child into quiet and untroubled sleep.

25. Sudden fear. It is hard to remain fearless in the face of sudden and unexpected danger. Only those who have built up a firm and enduring faith in the working together of all things for good (Rom. 8:28) can meet such an emergency with steady pulse and calm demeanor. The people of God should not dwell upon the time of trouble before them, and thus have a time of trouble beforehand. They should rather meet each day’s problems in the strength of the Lord. They should expect the Lord to lead them into circumstances that will build up their faith so that they may be prepared to meet greater troubles ahead. If they will be among those translated, they must be prepared to stand without a mediator in a world that is racked by the strife of men and the mad raging of the unrestrained elements of nature themselves (see 4T 251; PK 513).

26. Keep thy foot. Compare Ps. 121:3.

27. Withhold not good. The wise man turns suddenly to practical matters and begins each of the next five verses with a statement of prohibition. There is a timeliness about deeds of kindness that multiplies their value. To withhold good that is within one’s power to perform is to rob God as well as man. The Son of man upon the throne of judgment regards those who neglect the least of His brethren as neglecting the Master Himself (Matt. 25:45).

If we delay the payment of a lawful debt when we are well able to settle the account, we are defrauding our creditor of the use of his own money, and we may seriously inconvenience him. In the same way the withholding of assistance from one in need aggravates unnecessarily his trouble. We may find, when eventually setting about to offer the help so much required, that it is too late. The evil may already have overtaken the unfortunate one, or some less dilatory benefactor may have gained the blessing we were too slow to secure.

28. Go, and come again. With many it is customary to put off the one who is seeking help. Whether it is the payment of a debt or the giving of a donation, some men seem to take delight in forcing the recipient to return again and again before the sum is finally paid. The motive for the delay may be merely to make themselves appear important, or to demonstrate their power over others. Solomon points out that such conduct is unbecoming to a servant of God. It shows a lack of the unselfish love of God in the heart. Without such love, none can claim to be a true follower of Christ.

29. Devise not evil. A warning against insincerity or against deliberate deception in dealing with a trusting neighbor. If true wisdom brings the reward of eternal happiness amid the riches of the new earth, what foolishness it is to jeopardize that future by petty wrongs committed against an unsuspecting friend! So deceptive is the human heart that some who thus plunder their neighbors convince themselves that they do no wrong (see Jer. 17:9).

30. Strive not. The third of this series of “don’ts” refers to contention without cause. Today, as then, there are those who go to law about imagined wrongs. Unless a man has done us harm that is both real and reparable, we should not stir up trouble or take action against him.

It may be thought that this advice permits litigation against those who have done us harm and thus contradicts the advice given by Paul (1 Cor. 6:1–7); but a comparison of the two passages shows complete harmony. Paul is speaking to the Corinthians about brother going to law with brother. It is better to suffer loss than to take a brother to court and so give publicity to the evil that a fellow believer has done us. God is well able to make up to us the loss. But the protection of the law is open to all who have been harmed by the actions of others, and the believer is free to seek protection against the malice of unbelievers (Rom. 13:3, 4).

31. The oppressor. Literally, “the man of violence”. The man who victimizes others may seem to prosper, and the honest man, who fails to reap as rich a harvest, may be tempted to feel a tinge of envy.

32. The froward. A self-willed person who turns from the way of righteousness. For his actions God can have nothing but abhorrence. If he continues in his perverse way, there is nothing for him but judgment and eventual destruction (ch. 14:12).

Secret. Heb. sod, “counsel,” “familiar converse,” “intimacy”. The counsel may be secret, as in Amos 3:7. God’s secret is the revelation of Himself in His Word, in nature, and in His providences. While the most prosperous unbeliever looks to a vague and uncertain future and trembles at the thought of death, the man who follows in the ways of God has an understanding of the workings of providence that enables him to face wealth or woe, life or death, with the same calm certainty.

33. The curse of the Lord. God’s curses are not like the curses of men. Men curse others because they hate or fear them and wish them harm. Balaam was called to curse Israel because Balak believed that Balaam could cause affliction to an innocent people by maledictions (Num. 22–24). God’s curses are not due to hate or to a sudden loss of temper. Some of the worst curses in the Bible are found in Deut. 28, and many of them are obviously pronouncements of the natural consequences of disobedience to God’s commands.

The coming of the Babylonians to capture Jerusalem was in part the result of Hezekiah’s failure to teach the visitors from that city of the true God, whose healing power brought restored health (Isa. 39), but the destruction of the city could still have been averted in Jeremiah’s day had the descendants of Hezekiah turned to the Lord and made it possible for God to intervene in their behalf (Jer. 17:19–27). The Babylonians never forgot the treasures they had seen, and were glad of the excuse to come and plunder Israel.

A study of all the curses in the Bible shows that many of them are prophecies of the natural and inevitable outcome of rebellion against God. “The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked” because the sinner’s self-willed course has prevented the God of love from bringing him into harmony with the eternal laws of life and happiness.

That the blessing of God is upon the habitation of the righteous is equally true. The loving God enters into every heart and every home that is open to Him, and wherever He enters He brings peace and blessing (see Rev. 3:20).

34. He giveth grace. While the Lord pays back the scorners in their own coin by permitting them to reap the fruits of their own ways, He brings mercy and saving power to the humble. The statement in James 4:6 is a quotation from the LXX of this passage.

35. Shall inherit glory. The parallelism suggests that the lowly of v. 34 are the wise, and the scorners are the fools. This is in harmony with Solomon’s whole argument concerning the value of true wisdom. The humble servant of God has been reborn into the family of heaven and inherits glory by the right of sonship. The appearance of exaltation that the proud, willful sinner sometimes gains is but a prelude to the shame that he will feel when the plan of salvation and the history of each sinner are opened before the assembled universe for inspection (Prov. 16:18; 2 Cor. 5:10; GC 666).

Ellen G. White comments

1, 2 Ed 197; MH 286

1–4CT 63, 127; DA 89

5     CSW 13; ML 185; MM 36; 4T 333, 335, 361, 538, 541; 5T 291, 427

5, 6 FE 110; GW 79; MH 417

6     CT 369; FE 414; MH 479; 2T 281; 4T 502

9     AH 389; CS 72, 81; 4T 474, 477; 5T 271, 481

9, 10    AA 345; CS 49, 65; Ed 140; 1T 325; 2T 331; 6T 307; 9T 253

13   GC 602; ML 159; 4T 414

13–154T 644; 5T 544

13–18PK 34; 6T 218

14   GC 312

14, 15  CT 50

17   AH 498; CH 222, 627; Ed 206; LS 293; MB 201; MYP 368; PP 600; Te 212; 1T 503; 4T 502, 626

18   MH 456

21   CH 295; 5T 146

21–23ML 109

23   3T 108

23–26MH 286