Ralph Wardlaw Lectures on Proverbs - Proverbs 2:10 - 2:22

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Ralph Wardlaw Lectures on Proverbs - Proverbs 2:10 - 2:22


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:



LECTURE VI.



Pro_2:10-22.



"When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: to deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things; who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness; who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked; whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths: to deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which nattereth with her words; which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God. For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life: that thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous. For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it. But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it."



Solomon here proceeds to show, that true religion,-the wisdom, of which he celebrates the excellence and recommends the cultivation,-not only has a positively, but also a negatively beneficial influence; inasmuch as, while it conducts in every "good path," it at the same time is a preservative from paths that are evil:-verses Pro_2:10-11. "When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee."



You can never be too frequently reminded of the distinction between the understanding of the meaning of divine discoveries, and the perception of their excellence and truth. The knowledge spoken of in Scripture, with which salvation is connected, must be considered as including the latter.



This proceeds upon a sufficiently simple principle. The knowledge of anything means the knowledge of its real and distinctive properties. Thus the knowledge of the natural historian, is the knowledge of the properties of different animals, by which they are distinguished from each other. The knowledge of the botanist, is the knowledge of the properties of the various plants in the vegetable kingdom. The knowledge of the chemist, is the knowledge of the properties of the materials with which he is conversant, considered in their elementary composition and relative affinities. The knowledge of the mental philosopher or metaphysician, is the knowledge of the properties and powers of mind, with their several appropriate uses and functions. None of these could with propriety be said to know the objects of their respective departments of inquiry, if they knew only their existence while they had no acquaintance with their qualities; if they knew only the fact of their being, without knowing what they were, in their distinguishing attributes. The same thing is true with regard to any proposition. You cannot be said to know it, if you merely hear it announced, and understand the meaning of its terms, while you know nothing of its properties, whether it be true or false, whether it has any important relations to other propositions, or any real use and capability of application to any purpose in moral or intellectual science. If a proposition is true, if truth be one of its properties, then to know it is to know it as true. If a proposition is of real value and excellence, and capability of useful application in the system of truth, to know it is to know it as thus excellent and valuable and suited to important ends. On such principles we at once explain such texts as 1Co_2:14-"But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." It is plain that in order to the "things of the Spirit of God" even appearing "foolishness to the natural man,"-in order to his scorning and rejecting them, he must have some understanding of their meaning. No man can disbelieve or despise a statement, without knowing it, in this sense. But to know the "things of the Spirit," evidently, from the very position which the word holds in the verse, signifies, so knowing them as that they shall no longer appear "foolishness;" it is to know them, that is, as possessing the divine attributes of truth and excellence, and appropriateness to the character of God and to the condition and exigencies of man. This is what the apostle calls spiritual discernment. It includes a spiritual taste for moral and spiritual beauties, just as the mere sight of a rich and varied landscape, or the mere hearing of the most perfect combination of sounds, can impart little or no pleasure, unless there be a taste for the beauties of scenery, and an ear for the charms of harmony. The man who has this taste and the man who lacks it, may both, with equal clearness and precision, so far as the mere picture on the retina of their respective eyes is concerned, see the very same objects, in the very same relative positions and combinations;-and the very same sounds may strike on the tympanum or drum of their respective ears; and the one be entranced in ecstasy, while the other is vacant and unmoved. Thus to the carnal eye-the eye of the "natural man," who is destitute of spiritual discernment, or spiritual taste, the Saviour appears "as a root out of a dry ground, having no form or comeliness, no beauty that he should be desired;" while to the eye of the spiritually enlightened, He stands forth " fairer than the children of men," "the chiefest among ten thousand," the "altogether lovely." The same things may be said of Him in the ears of the one and of the other. In the mind of the one the description awakens no sentiment but one of contempt and aversion, while it draws forth, in the bosom of the other, all the combined and delightfully blending emotions of admiration, reverence, and love. And thus it is with regard to divine truth generally. I need not say that there is much more meant than the mere speculative understanding of divine doctrines in the tenth verse. "Wisdom entering into the heart," is accordingly to be explained from previous statements-chap. Pro_1:7; chap. Pro_2:5. It clearly implies the spiritual illumination of the mind, and renovation of the heart by divine influence accompanying divine truth. This is the only way in which true wisdom ever finds entrance into the naturally foolish heart of man. And then it is, that "knowledge becomes pleasant unto the soul"-the knowledge before spoken of-the knowledge of God, and of the things of God, as revealed in his word. There are many kinds of knowledge which may be "pleasant unto the soul," while the understanding is darkened as to these things, and the heart enmity against them. What delight the man of science, in whichsoever of its various departments, derives from the knowledge acquired of any additional fact or additional principle, while yet he is stone-blind to the beauties of divine truth, and has no relish for the light and the love of the Godhead, or for the wonders of that gospel,-that scheme of redemption by grace and by blood, which is emphatically "the wisdom of God"-the most truly marvellous of all its displays! But when, by divine illumination, "the eyes of the understanding" are opened to the discernment of divine excellence in the discoveries of God's word, that word becomes "sweet unto the taste," "sweeter also than honey to the mouth." Such is the recorded experience-recorded in terms full of emphasis-of all God's people.*



* Psa_1:1; Psa_119:72; Psa_119:97; Psa_119:111; Psa_119:127; Psa_119:129-131; Psa_19:7-11; 1Pe_2:1-3.



Pro_2:11. "Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee."



"Discretion" and "understanding," may well be regarded, in such a connection, as meaning especially self-jealousy arising from self-knowledge. The knowledge of ourselves includes the knowledge, theoretical and experimental, of the unlimited deceitfulness of our own hearts. And this, connected with a right knowledge of the sources of temptation as they exist in such abundance and variety around us, will inspire and maintain "discretion." The man whom God has enlightened knows his own remaining corruption, and is deeply conscious of his own weakness to withstand its tendencies. With these impressions he will be ever vigilant. He will "watch unto prayer;" "keep his heart with all diligence, out of which are the issues of life;" and "ponder the path of his feet," in every single step of his walk through life. Nor will he trust to his own discretion; but, while he keeps all the powers and energies of his mind, all his foresight, all his resources of observation and caution, ever on the alert, will still look upward and say-" O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps," Jer_10:23. Diffidence of himself and confidence in God may be considered, in combination, as constituting the "discretion" of the spiritual man. It is a part of his prudence to take the best counsel, to have it always at hand, to be ever asking it-" in all his ways acknowledging God, that he may direct his paths."



From the twelfth to the nineteenth verse, the wise man dwells, specifically, on two sources of temptation. And he may be considered as addressing himself, with a peculiarity of interest and of emphasis, to Youth. These two sources of temptation are-wicked men, and wicked women:-



Verses Pro_2:12-17. "To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things; who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness; who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked; whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths: to deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words; which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God."



Against "the way of the evil man," with the temptations and dangers attending it, he had already affectionately and strongly warned the young-Pro_1:10-15. The paths of irreligion, vanity, and vice, while they are all devious and downward, are at the same time exceedingly various; and they have all their peculiar enticements, by which those who themselves walk in them; endeavour to allure others into them. And he who has the "discretion" spoken of in the eleventh verse will, amongst other exercises of it, seek to be duly aware of his own most easily-besetting sin-of the evil desire which he is most prone to indulge, or the evil temper to which he is most apt to give way; and will keep a double guard over that particular point of assault and temptation.



The "evil man" is here described as "the man that speaketh froward things:" that is, the words of perverse rebellion,-of a spirit stubborn, refractory, scornful, self-willed.* And such "froward things," having the sound and appearance of freedom and independence, are apt to work with a most seductive and perilous influence on youthful minds of a particular temperament. O the fondness of poor fallen humanity for independence! It extends it even to God and vainly says of Jehovah and his Anointed-"Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us." From the influence of such vain boastings, let "discretion preserve thee;" let "understanding keep thee!"



* Comp. Psa_12:1-4.



Minute analyses of the different parts of the description are unnecessary, especially after the illustration of former passages.-We may remark on the thirteenth verse, "Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness"-that darkness, as thus set in contrast with uprightness, may be interpreted as descriptive both of the nature of the ways, and of their tendency and end. The man who walks in "uprightness," walks in light. His eye is "single." There is "none occasion of stumbling in him." He has but one principle;-his "eyes look right on, his eyelids look straight before him." He is not always looking this way and that, for devious paths that may suit a present purpose; but presses onward ever in the same course; and thus all is light, all plain, all safe. "The ways of darkness," are the ways of concealment, evasion, cunning, tortuous policy, and deceit. He who walks in them is ever groping; hiding himself among the subtleties of " fleshly wisdom:" and being ways of false principle and sin, they are ways of danger, and shame, and ruin. They are dark; and they lead to darkness-"the blackness of darkness for ever."



"What a wretched kind of "delight" and "joy" is that in verso fourteenth! The happiness of God is his perfect holiness. He "rejoices to do good." He "delights" in true virtue-the virtue that has its basis in godliness-in the fear and love of himself; "and that which He delights in must be happy." What a fearful account, then, of any moral and accountable agents, that they "rejoice to do evil,"-rejoice in that which is the very opposite of all that God is, and of all that God approves and loves!



There is a correspondence between their ways and themselves-"Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths."-"Crooked ways," is a designation, not unusual in Scripture, for the ways of sin and the world; and it is very appropriate.* The ways of sin are not like "the way of holiness." It is a straight and direct way-an even, uniform, unbending course. God has marked it out; and his people have but to follow it, never swerving to the right hand or to the left. The ways of evil are the reverse-"crooked ways," in which sinners, in their frowardness, are ever winding about; turning in every direction; and changing from purpose to purpose, as wayward caprice or shifting inclination, the alternations of evil propensity, happen to 'dictate. O forget not that these ways all terminate at the gates of the eternal prison! "Avoid them; pass not by them; turn from them, and pass away."



* See Psa_125:5.



The same admonition applies, with special emphasis, to the way of "the strange woman," with her seductive wiles. This was one of the principal occasions of Solomon's own awful departure from God; by which he brought his soul into such jeopardy of perdition. No wonder he dwells upon it so often and so earnestly as he does. He knew the danger of youth, not only from his own experience,-an experience recorded by himself with shame, but from extensive observation, in regard to the prevalence and the fatal results of this sin;-a sin which, I am verily persuaded, if there be another that slays its thousands, may with truth be affirmed to slay its ten thousands. I must not, by a false and overfastidious delicacy, be prevented from faithfully, affectionately, and vehemently warning youth against its awfully seductive blandishments. Of these Solomon here speaks as if they were chiefly on one side,-on the part of the unprincipled female seducer, with her fair and flattering words, her endless arts of allurement, and silken toils of fascination. But they are on both sides. We are not to forget that that accomplished seducer has herself perhaps been seduced. By "studied, sly, ensnaring art" it may have been, that she has been tempted to "forsake the guide of her youth, and forget the covenant of her God."-The "guide of her youth" may either mean God himself-who by Jeremiah says to his wandering people, "Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My Father, thou art the guide of my youth;"-or her earthly father or mother, the natural guardians and guides of their youthful offspring; or, according to the more general, although I am far from sure of its being the more reasonable interpretation, her husband, whom it was incumbent on her to hear, and love, and obey, as the "guide" assigned her in her youth by a gracious Providence.



"Forgetting the covenant of her God," may either have reference to the marriage compact, made in God's name; or, more generally, to the law and commandments of God: according to a very common phraseology in the Old Testament Scriptures-as in Psa_103:17-18. The circumstance of the case subsequently detailed by Solomon in its particulars of seduction, being that of a faithless and perfidious wife, gives the greater likelihood; it is admitted, to this interpretation. No matter. It is the general lesson and the general warning we are anxious to impress. Many a time had this wise observer of mankind had occasion to see the havoc wrought among the principles and characters, the rising interests, and the prospects for time and eternity, of the young and the unstable, by this particular sin. "Many strong men "-strong to all appearance in moral and even religious principle-he had seen "cast down by it." From a "heart that had known its own bitterness," he admonishes youth to beware. O let me, young friends, reiterate and urge the admonition. Mark the rocks on which vessels like your own, full of promise, have struck and gone to pieces, and avoid them. Take the warning. Guard against first steps in this path of imminent hazard-nay, according to Solomon, of almost inevitable ruin:-verses Pro_2:18-19. "For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.



"Death"-to which her paths "incline "-is the death both of body and soul, but especially "the second death;" and "the dead" are the miserable victims of that never-dying death. Ah! How many a poor infatuated deluded youth has been led on, step by step, the downward road to "the chambers of death!"-led on, by soft and silken bonds,-amidst "the pleasures of sin for a season,"-to "adamantine chains and penal fire!" To every youth, then, now hearing me, I say, with all the earnestness of affection,-the earnestness of a father to his children,-Shut thine ear to the syren voice of pleasure! Escape for thy life!



Opposed to the way of evil men is the way in which Solomon was desirous those with whom he pleads should walk:-verse Pro_2:20. "That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous."



The "way of good men" is the way of God's commandments,-of faith and love and active obedience;-and "the paths of the righteous" may mean all the varieties of that obedience, in the different departments of life and service.



The chapter closes with encouragement on the one hand and repeated warning on the other:-verses Pro_2:21-22. "For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it. But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it."



The continued possession of the land of promise was often by Moses connected with obedience, as in Deu_4:40. And so also was it by the prophets, Isa_1:19-20. This obedience was the obedience of faith. Such obedience was always what Jehovah required of his people; and the promise expressed his delight in it. It was on account of the true Israelites-the spiritual seed of Abraham-by whom this obedience of faith was rendered, that the land continued to be possessed by the nation at large: but abounding unbelief, and the wickedness produced by, and indicating it, were ultimately to be the cause of entire dispossession:-"Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you: know for a certainty that the Lord your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given you. "When ye have transgressed the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed yourselves to them; then shall the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and ye shall perish quickly from off the good land which he hath given unto you," Jos_23:12-13; Jos_23:16.



By such assurances the Israelites were reminded of the original terms of God's covenant with them; of his unceasing, unabating, uncompromising, and universal detestation of all sin, by whomsoever committed, especially by those who called themselves his people, and of his determination to visit it with merited vengeance. He ever, from the beginning, made a difference between the righteous and the wicked. He could not but make this difference. The saying has always been, and must always be, a truth-"The ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish," Psa_1:5-6.



Even in this world, the good man, with the love of God, the pardon of sin, a new heart, and a good hope for eternity-has the best of it,-a goodly heritage. And when he leaves this world, he has the animating anticipation of a better country-"a land of pure delight"-the heavenly Canaan-"the inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away." Whereas, when the wicked are removed from the earth, instead of being taken they are driven-not to God, but from God,-"driven away in their wickedness." They are "rooted out," finally and for ever. The wheat is gathered safely into the barn, while the tares, bundled together, are cast into the "unquenchable fire."



Would you escape this fearful end? There is but one way-the way of Faith and Holiness: faith to unite you with Christ; and holiness to prove its reality.