Lectionary Calendar
Sunday, December 22nd, 2024
the Fourth Week of Advent
the Fourth Week of Advent
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Bible Commentaries
Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible Barnes' Notes
Copyright Statement
These files are public domain.
These files are public domain.
Bibliographical Information
Barnes, Albert. "Commentary on Proverbs 8". "Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/bnb/proverbs-8.html. 1870.
Barnes, Albert. "Commentary on Proverbs 8". "Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible". https://www.studylight.org/
Whole Bible (44)Old Testament (1)Individual Books (3)
Verse 1
A companion picture to that in Proverbs 7:0, and serving in some measure to generalize and idealize it. Wisdom also calls Proverbs 8:5 to the âsimpleâ and the âfools,â and they have to choose between her voice and that of the temptress.
Verses 2-3
The full enumeration of localities points to the publicity and openness of Wisdomâs teaching (see Proverbs 1:20 note), as contrasted with the stealth and secrecy and darkness which shroud the harlotâs enticements Proverbs 7:9.
Verse 4
Men ... sons of man - The two words are used, which, like viri and homines, describe the higher and the lower, the stronger and the weaker. Compare the Psalms 49:2 note.
Verse 6
Excellent - literally, âprincely things.â The word is not the same as in marginal reference, and is elsewhere always used of persons (compare âcaptainâ in 1 Samuel 9:16; 2 Samuel 5:2). The poetic style of this part of the book applies it here to the things taught, or to the character of the teaching.
Verses 8-9
Words of the ideal Wisdom, which find their highest fulfillment in that of the Incarnate Word. Compare Luke 4:22; Matthew 11:19.
Verse 12
Wisdom first speaks warnings (Proverbs 1:24 note), next promises (Proverbs 2:1 note); but here she neither promises nor threatens, but speaks of her own excellence. âPrudenceâ is the âsubtiltyâ (see the margin), the wiliness of the serpent Genesis 3:1, in itself neutral, but capable of being turned to good as well as evil. Wisdom, occupied with things heavenly and eternal, also âdwells withâ the practical tact and insight needed for the life of common men. âWitty inventionsâ are rather counsels. The truth intended is, that all special rules for the details of life spring out of the highest Wisdom as their source.
Verse 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 Proverbs 8:15-21 the teaching of 1 Kings 3:5-14. The word rendered âprincesâ Proverbs 8:15 is different from that in Proverbs 8:16; the first might, perhaps, be rendered ârulers.â
Verse 18
Durable riches - i. e., Treasure piled up for many years; ancient wealth.
Verse 19
Gold - The âchoice, fine goldâ of margin reference. The âfine goldâ in the second clause is a different word, and perhaps represents gold extracted from the ore.
Verse 22
A verse which has played an important part in the history of Christian dogma. Wisdom reveals herself as preceding all creation, stamped upon it all, one with God, yet in some way distinguishable from Him as the object of His love Proverbs 8:30. John declares that all which Wisdom here speaks of herself was true in its highest sense of the Word that became flesh John 1:1-14 : just as Apostles afterward applied Wisd. 7:22-30 to Christ (compare Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3).
Possessed - The word has acquired a special prominence in connection with the Arian controversy. The meaning which it usually bears is that of âgettingâ Genesis 4:1, âbuyingâ Genesis 47:22, âpossessingâ Jeremiah 32:15. In this sense one of the oldest divine names was that of âPossessor of heaven and earthâ Genesis 14:19, Genesis 14:22. But the idea of thus âgettingâ or âpossessingâ involved, as a divine act in relation to the universe, the idea of creation, and thus in one or two passages the word might be rendered, though not accurately, by âcreatedâ (e. g., Psalms 139:13). It would seem accordingly as if the Greek translators of the Old Testament oscillated between the two meanings; and in this passage we find the various renderings ΔÌÌÎșÏÎčÏΔ ektise âcreatedâ (Septuagint), and ΔÌÎșÏηÌÏαÏÎż ekteÌsato âpossessedâ (Aquila). The text with the former word naturally became one of the stock arguments of the Arians against the eternal co-existence of the Son, and the other translation was as vehemently defended by the orthodox fathers. Athanasius receiving ΔÌÌÎșÏÎčÏΔΜ ektisen, took it in the sense of appointing, and saw in the Septuagint a declaration that the Father had made the Son the âchief,â the âhead,â the âsovereign,â over all creation. There does not seem indeed any ground for the thought of creation either in the meaning of the root, or in the general usage of the word. What is meant in this passage is that we cannot think of God as ever having been without Wisdom. She is âas the beginning of His ways.â So far as the words bear upon Christian dogma, they accord with the words of John 1:1, âthe Word was with God.â The next words indeed assert priority to all the works of God, from the first starting point of time.
Verse 23
I was set up - Rather, âI was anointedâ (compare Psalms 2:6 margin: 2 Chronicles 28:15). The image is that of Wisdom anointed, as at her birth, with âthe oil of gladness.â
Or ever the earth was - literally, âfrom the times before the earth.â
Verse 24
Compare Genesis 1:0; Job 22:0; Job 26:1-14; Job 38:0: A world of waters, âgreat deepsâ lying in darkness, this was the picture of the remotest time of which man could form any conception, and yet the co-existence of the uncreated Wisdom with the eternal Yahweh was before that.
Verse 25
Compare Psalms 90:2. What the Psalmist said of Yahweh, the teacher here asserts of Wisdom; she was before the everlasting hills.
Verse 26
The highest part of the dust of the world - literally, âthe head of the dusts of the world;â an image of either:
(1) the dry land, habitable, fit for cultivation, as contrasted with the waters of the chaotic deep; or
(2) man himself. Compare Ecclesiastes 3:20.
Verse 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.
Verse 30
As one brought up with him - i. e., As his foster child. Others take the word in the original in another sense, âI was as his artificer,â a rendering which falls in best with the special point of the whole passage, the creative energy of Wisdom. Compare Wisdom Proverbs 7:21, Proverbs 7:22.
Daily - Heb. âday by day.â As the Creator rejoiced in His workmanship Genesis 1:4, Genesis 1:10, Genesis 1:12-13, so Wisdom rejoiced in the exuberance of her might and strength.
Verse 31
Wisdom rejoices yet more in the world as inhabited by Godâs rational creatures. (compare Isaiah 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 âhid all the treasures of Wisdom.â Compare the marginal reference: in Him the Father was well pleased; and yet His âjoy also is fulfilled,â not in the glory of the material universe, but in His work among the sons of men.
Verse 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.
Verse 34
The image is suggested probably by the Levites who guarded the doors of the sanctuary Psalms 134:1; Psalms 135:2. Not less blessed than theirs is the lot of those who wait upon Wisdom in the temple not made with hands.
Verse 35
Wisdom then is the only true life. The Word, the Light, is also the Life of man John 1:4. The eternal life is to know God and Christ John 17:3.