Proverbs Chapter 2
Proverbs
Chapter 2
Wisdom, having solemnly warned rebellious scoffers, now instructs her obedient children. The deep question previously asked, "Where can wisdom be found?" is now answered. It is set before us here as the fear of the Lord (verse 5). It is seen as the principle of practical godliness (verses 7-9), as preserving us from besetting temptations (verses 10-19), and as a guide into the right and safe path (verse 20). So its pupils are safe (verse 21), but the ungodly who despise it will definitely be ruined (verse 22).
The way to find wisdom is easy. If this way is carefully pondered and faithfully cultivated, it will give the key to understanding the whole of the Word of God.
1. Accept my words. They should be received by a good and honest heart (Luke 8:15), a heart that is prepared by God. Read God's Book like the person who sat at Jesus' feet and listened to him speaking (Luke 10:39). Be like the Bereans who were so keen to examine the Scriptures (Acts 17:11).
Store up my commands within you. Carry them around with you as your most prized treasure (Colossians 3:16; Matthew 13:44). Let your heart be the hiding-place for the treasure. Satan can never snatch it from there.
2. Oh, my God, let it be with me as with your beloved Son. In order that I may be under your grace, listen to me and come to me, so that my soul may live (Isaiah 55:3).
3. If you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding. We search for no other inspiration than divine grace to make God's Word clear. Every verse we read and meditate on gives material for prayer. David (Psalm 119:18) and his wise son (1 Kings 3:9-12) sought for this learning on their knees. The most mature Christian will continue to the end of his life to call out for insight and for more understanding.
4. But prayer must not be a substitute for diligent service. Rather, let it be a spur for it. Think of the miner's indefatigable efforts, his invincible resolution and untiring perseverance. This is the way we should search the sacred storehouse. To read instead of searching the Scriptures is to just skim the surface and collect a few superficial ideas. The secret of success in finding hidden treasure is to dig the entire field. If we do not find anything, we must dig again. We need to daily search the length and breadth and depth of our fruitful store until we are filled with God's fullness (Ephesians 3:18-19).
This habit of living in the element of Scripture is invaluable. To be filled from this divine treasury, to have large sections of the Word passing through the mind, enables us to grasp it more firmly and apply it to our lives. To benefit fully from this we must feed on our own. We may read the Scriptures with other people, but in order to search the Scriptures, we must be alone with God.
The church is harmed if this habit is neglected. All fundamental errors and heresies in the church may be traced to this source (Matthew 12:29). Such errors are usually based on partial or fragmentary statements about the truth. Truth separated from the Word becomes error.
5. But the mind that is prayerfully engaged in searching for divine truth will always discover the two great principles of godliness: the fear... and ... the knowledge of God.
6. This search will never end in disappointment. For the Lord gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. Nobody will search in vain (Job 32:8; Isaiah 48:17; 54:13; James 1:5, 17). Apostasy from the faith has never been linked with prayerful and diligent study of God's Word.
7. Vanity (Ecclesiastes 1:8) and "foolishness" (1 Corinthians 3:19) are hallmarks of the wisdom of this world. But here is wisdom that comes from God. It looks at things as they really are, and not as they appear to be. Bishop Hall has written, "To those who are true and upright in heart the Lord will in his own good time reveal true and saving knowledge, and that sound and spiritual wisdom that will make them eternally happy." Our faithful God is a shield to those whose walk is blameless. His wisdom protects us from subtle sophistry that seeks to destroy our treasure.
8. The way of the saints is full of danger and beset with temptation, but it is a safe way. The Lord guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. God's almighty power guards us even when we are at the edge of the enemy's ground.
9. Only the Lord's wisdom can guide our feet into every good path. In this way we will be equipped to do good deeds (2 Timothy 3:15-17). The gracious wisdom that saves the soul sanctifies the heart and life (Titus 2:11-12).
10. We have seen the good that wisdom brings us (verse 5). Now observe the evil that it preserves us from. Note where wisdom lives, in the heart. Only here has it any light, life, or power. Clear knowledge floating in the head is deep ignorance. If it only glitters in the understanding, it is dry, speculative, and barren. But should it enter your heart, light shines out, and all the affections are engaged. How pleasant it is to your soul. Religion is then no longer a lifeless idea. It is handled, tasted, enjoyed.
11. Religion now gives discretion and understanding and directs all your behavior. It does not just become an external rule; it will protect and guard you, just as an army guard keeps a monarch safe. Education and high moral principles are at best only partially effective in helping people. External wickedness may be exchanged for decent formality. The foolishness of pride may be resisted, but pride in one of its many other forms may be cherished. In all these examples the principle is left unchanged. The forsaken sin only makes way for a more plausible sin, which is no less deadly a passion. The heart molded by the Gospel is the only protection from attacks that imperceptibly, yet fatally, cut us off from God.
12. The various traps that are set for the young are about to be detailed. This passage furnishes us with a frightening picture of the temptations to which our children are exposed. It should make us cry to God for their deep and complete conversion. We should pray that they may know the Gospel, not only in the conviction of their consciences and in the excitement of their feelings, but in the complete renewal of their hearts before God. This, and nothing less, will keep them safe from the traps that have been laid by their cruel enemy. Every town and village swarms with his servants, who are first of all initiated into the mysteries of his art and then become skilled teachers and instruct others in his evil work. We have been warned about one of his traps in 1:10-14. Another such warning is given here. The character of the tempter is seen from what the writer says. His words are perverse. They are like a polluted spring that sends out contaminated streams. How quickly the disease spreads.
13. Such people do not sin in ignorance. They have been trained to walk in dark ways. Once they come into contact with wicked men, they become infectious and quickly spread the disease. They are more than ready to leave the straight paths that they never really loved and to walk in dark ways that they really do love. Poisoned themselves, they now poison everyone around them.
14. They rejoice, like Satan himself, in doing wrong and so draw their fellow sinners into the net.
15. They revel in following crooked and devious ... ways. Thus they fall deeper and deeper into sin as they follow the crooked path that leads to eternal ruin. Is this not an accurate picture of many children of godly parents who have been lovingly looked after but who become hardened through the deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 3:13)? They now deserve to be abandoned by God, whom they have abandoned so callously. Young man, shun such friends. They have become hardened in their devotion to their master's work. If only misguided sinners could see sin in all its horrid deformity and certain end! But their devious ... ways hide this end from their sight. Satan presents the bait, palliates the sin, closes the eyes, and conceals the definite end of everything—hell. Wicked men cannot, will not, turn back from their crooked paths.
16-19. Another trap is here graphically portrayed. As before, wisdom is the most effective deliverer. The adulteress (verse 16) is described as one who has ignored the covenant she made before God (verse 17). It is little wonder that she therefore uses seductive words (verse 16). Her house is in the land of death (5:5). Eternal doom waits for her (Galatians 5:19-21; Ephesians 5:5; Revelation 21:8; 22:15). Few people who visit her return, for her house leads down to death (verse 18) and none who go to her return or attain the paths of life.
20. Wisdom guides us to the paths of the righteous. Clothed with this divine armor, you will have the courage Joseph had and will be able to turn your face away from the lure of sin (Genesis 39:9-10).
21. In this way you will be able to live in the land as its original inheritor (Psalm 37:9,11,22, 29, 34; Matthew 5:5). You will have the best inheritance on earth and an infinitely better inheritance in heaven.
22. The wicked, however, will be cut off from the land. They may enjoy the pleasures of sin for a time, but they will ultimately be torn from the land and will end up in everlasting ruin (Matthew 3:10).
Can anyone who has read this chapter seriously fail to value the privilege of being enlisted under the banner of the cross from an early age? Parents and teachers, ponder your great responsibility. Never stop praying for special grace and wisdom. Do not gloss over sins. What wisdom is needed to guide, to curb, to develop and improve the minds, energies, and feelings of young people!
Take care, young people. Do not imagine, even for one minute, that God will turn a blind eye on your sinful desires or that he will excuse them as the foibles of youth. Such ropes of sin will bind you for eternity if they are not broken by the power of God's grace. Shun the company of evil people as you would avoid the plague. Keep your distance from them as you would from the pit of destruction. Fill your mind with heavenly wisdom. Cultivate the taste for purer pleasures.