Bible Commentaries
Proverbs 8

Verses 1-36

In these chapters we have a public discourse of Wisdom (personified) (chap. 8), and what Lange describes as an allegorical exhibition of the call of men to a choice of wisdom of folly (chap. 9).

It is really our Lord Jesus Christ putting forth this voice (Proverbs 8:1 ), and crying unto men at the gates of the city (Proverbs 8:4-5 ). It is He who speaks the excellent things (Proverbs 8:6 ), and on whose lips wickedness is an abomination (Proverbs 8:7 ). Of Him alone can it be predicted that there is nothing crooked (froward) in His mouth (Proverbs 8:8 ), or to be desired in comparison with Him (Proverbs 8:10-18 ). It is He whose fruit is better than gold and who fills our treasuries (Proverbs 8:19-21 ). Were there any doubt of this identify would it not be removed by the remainder of the chapter? Who was set up from everlasting (Proverbs 8:23 )? Or, who was daily God’s delight (Proverbs 8:30 )? And of whom can it be said that to find Him finds life (Proverbs 8:35 )?

THE REDEEMER ANTICIPATING REDEMPTION

The heading of this paragraph expresses Arnot’s view of the latter part of the chapter. He says that “if the terms are not applied to Christ they must be strained at every turn.” Of course in a book written by Solomon it could not be said that Jesus was born in Bethlehem and died upon the cross, but if the Holy Spirit wished to make known something of the personal history of Christ before His coming, how could He have done so in plainer terms?

Quoting Arnot on Proverbs 8:30-31 :

These three things are set in the order of the everlasting covenant: (1) the Father well pleased with His Beloved, “I was daily His delight”; (2) the Son delighting in the Father’s presence, “rejoicing always before Him”; (3) the Son looking with prospective delight to the scene and subjects of His redemptive work, “rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.”

THE MARRIAGE SUPPER IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

Arnot gives the foregoing title to the opening verses of chapter 9, where Wisdom, personifying the Son of God, has now come nigh unto men, having his habitation among them. Here we have the house, the prepared feast, the messengers, the invited guests, and the argument by which the invitation is supported. The positive side of that argument is: “Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled.” The negative is: “Forsake the foolish, and live.”

The chapter closing exhibits Christ’s great rival standing in the same wide thoroughfare of the world and bidding for the youth who thronged it. All that is contrary to Christ and dangerous to souls, is gathered up and individualized in the person of an abandoned woman lying in wait for unwary passengers, baiting her hook with sin and dragging her victims down to hell.

QUESTIONS

1. What have we in these chapters?

2. Who really is speaking here?

3. What proves it?

4. Analyze Proverbs 8:30-31 from the New Testament point of view.

5. What parable of Christ is suggested in chapter 9?