Proverbs 8:9

They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(9) They are all plain . . .—Because “the secret of the Lord is (only) with them that fear Him “(Psalm 25:14), and God reveals such things unto them by His Spirit (1Corinthians 2:10), while the “natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him” (ibid., Proverbs 8:14).

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

8:1-11 The will of God is made known by the works of creation, and by the consciences of men, but more clearly by Moses and the prophets. The chief difficulty is to get men to attend to instruction. Yet attention to the words of Christ, will guide the most ignorant into saving knowledge of the truth. Where there is an understanding heart, and willingness to receive the truth in love, wisdom is valued above silver and gold.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Words of the ideal Wisdom, which find their highest fulfillment in that of the Incarnate Word. Compare Luke 4:22; Matthew 11:19.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

9. plain … understandeth—easily seen by those who apply their minds.

that find—implying search.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Plain; evident and clear to their minds; or, right, just and good.

To him that understandeth; either to him who with an honest mind applies himself to the study of them in the diligent use of all the means appointed by God to that end; or to him whose mind God hath enlightened by his Spirit, though they seem otherwise to ignorant and carnal-minded men.

That find knowledge; that are truly wise and discerning persons, and taught of God.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

They are all plain to him that understandeth,.... Whose understanding is enlightened by the Spirit of God; who is a spiritual man, that has a discerning, and can judge of spiritual things: as for the carnal man, let him have what natural knowledge or wisdom he will, he cannot know these things; for they are spiritually discerned, and can only be discerned by spiritual men. The Bible is a sealed book to others, learned or unlearned; the mysteries or doctrines of the Gospel are hid in parables from such; but those to whom Christ has given an understanding to know him, these know them, and they are plain unto them: for though there are some things hard to he understood in the Scriptures, as in Paul's epistles, and some sublime truths in the Gospel; yet those which are necessary to salvation are easily understood; that faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save the chief of sinners, is a very plain one;

and right to them that find knowledge; a spiritual and experimental knowledge of Christ and his truths. The Targum is,

"to them who desire knowledge;''

and so the Syriac version; that seek for it heartily and diligently, in a right way, in the use of proper means, under the direction and by the assistance of the Spirit of God.

Geneva Study Bible

They are all {c} plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge.

(c) Meaning that the word of God is easy to all that have a desire for it and are not blinded by the prince of this world.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

9. Comp. Matthew 13:11; Matthew 13:16.

Proverbs 8:10-11. The treasures she offers.

In place of gold and silver and precious stones and whatever else men covet, wisdom offers “durable riches,” intellectual, moral, spiritual treasures, and offers them in and with herself in responsive love to all who love and seek her.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 9. - They are all plain to him that understandeth. The man who listens to and imbibes the teaching of Wisdom finds these words intelligible, and "to the point." Opening his heart to receive Divine instruction, he is rewarded by having his understanding enlightened; for while "the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God" (1 Corinthians 2:14), yet "the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him" (Psalm 25:14), and "mysteries are revealed unto the meek" (Ecclus. 3:19, Complutensian אָ). Right to them that find knowledge (ver. 10). They form an even path without stumbling blocks for those who have learned to discern right from wrong, and are seeking to direct their lives in accordance with high motives. Septuagint, "They are all present (ἐνώπια) to those that understand, and right (ὀρθὰ) to those that find knowledge." Proverbs 8:9

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The בּ of בּצדק is that of the close connection of a quality with an action or matter, which forms with a substantive adverbia as well as virtual adjectiva, as here: cum rectitudine (conjuncta i. e. vera) sunt omnia dicta oris mei (Fl.); it is the ב of the distinctive attribute (Hitzig), certainly related to the ב essentiae (Proverbs 3:26, according to which Schultens and Bertheau explain), which is connected with the abstract conception (e.g., Psalm 33:4), but also admits the article designating the gender (vid., at Psalm 29:4). The opposite of צדק (here in the sense of veracitas, which it means in Arab.) is נפתּל ועקּשׁ, dolosum ac perversum. עקּשׁ (cf. Gesen. 84, 9) is that which is violently bent and twisted, i.e., estranged from the truth, which is, so to speak, parodied or caricatured. Related to it in meaning, but proceeding from a somewhat different idea, is נפתל. פּתל, used primarily of threads, cords, ropes, and the like, means to twist them, to twine them over and into one another, whence פּתיל, a line or string made of several intertwisted threads (cf. Arab. ftı̂lt, a wick of a candle or lamp); Niph., to be twisted, specifically luctari, of the twisting of the limbs, and figuratively to bend and twist oneself, like the crafty (versutus) liars and deceivers, of words and thoughts which do not directly go forth, but by the crafty twistings of truth and rectitude, opp. ישׁר, נכון (Fl.). There is nothing of deception of error in the utterances of wisdom; much rather they are all נכצים, straight out from her (cf. Isaiah 57:2), going directly out, and without circumlocution directed to the right end for the intelligent, the knowing (cf. Nehemiah 10:29); and ישׁרים, straight or even, giving no occasion to stumble, removing the danger of erring for those who have obtained knowledge, i.e., of good and evil, and thus the ability of distinguishing between them (Gesen. 134, 1) - briefly, for those who know how to estimate them.