Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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Proverbs
Book: Proverbs
Chapter: 2
Overview:
Promises to those who seek
Wisdom.
(1-9) The advantages of
Wisdom.
(10-22)
1-9 Those who earnestly seek heavenly
Wisdom, will never
complain that they have lost their labour; and the freeness of
the
Gift does not do away the necessity of our diligence, Joh
6:27. Let them seek, and they shall find it; let them ask, and
it shall be given them. Observe who are thus favoured. They are
the righteous,
On whom the image of
God is renewed, which
consists in
Righteousness. If we depend upon
God, and seek to
him for
Wisdom, he will enable us to keep the paths of
Judgment.
10-22 If we are truly
Wise, we shall be careful to avoid all
evil company and evil practices. When
Wisdom has dominion over
us, then it not only fills the head, but enters into the
Heart,
and will preserve, both against corruptions within and
temptations without. The ways of
Sin are ways of
Darkness,
uncomfortable and unsafe: what fools are those who leave the
Plain, pleasant, lightsome paths of uprightness, to walk in such
ways! They take pleasure in
Sin; both in committing it, and in
seeing others commit it. Every
Wise Man will shun such company.
True
Wisdom will also preserve from those who lead to fleshly
lusts, which defile the body, that living
Temple, and
War
against the soul. These are evils which excite the sorrow of
every serious mind, and cause every reflecting parent to look
upon his children with anxiety, lest they should be entangled in
such fatal snares. Let the sufferings of others be our warnings.
Our
Lord Jesus deters from sinful pleasures,
By the
Everlasting
torments which follow them. It is very rare that any who are
caught in this
Snare of the
Devil, recover themselves;
So much
is the
Heart hardened, and the mind blinded,
By the
deceitfulness of this
Sin. Many think that this caution, besides
the literal sense, is to be understood as a caution against
Idolatry, and subjecting the soul to the body,
By seeking any
forbidden object. The righteous must leave the
Earth as
Well as
the wicked; but the
Earth is a very different thing to them. To
the wicked it is all the
Heaven they ever shall have; to the
righteous it is the place of preparation for
Heaven. And is it
all one to us, whether we share with the wicked in the miseries
of their latter
End, or share those
Everlasting joys that shall
Crown believers?