Proverbs 8:32

Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(32) Now therefore hearken—i.e., now that ye know how great my power is, and what love I have to you, in that I rejoice in you, and call you my sons. (Comp. 1John 3:1.)

Benson Commentary

Proverbs 8:32-35. Now therefore hearken, &c. — Seeing I have a true love to you, and seeing I am so thoroughly acquainted with my Father’s mind, and so excellently qualified to be your Counsellor and Ruler; hear instruction and be wise — Hearken, I beseech you, and yield to the voice of your own reason, and of God’s holy word; and refuse not — Hebrew, ואל תפרעו, et non abstrahite vos, and do not withdraw yourselves: be so wise and considerate as not to decline hearing, receiving, and obeying it; do not, in any way, reject or slight it. But rather invite such instructions, by giving them thankful entertainment, and going thither where you may meet with them. For blessed is the man that heareth me — Who not only hearkens obediently when he is told his duty, but makes it his business to be rightly informed; watching daily at my gates — Neglecting no opportunity, but constantly and diligently attending there where he may be taught how he ought to live; waiting at the posts of my doors — As servants, and clients, and others wait at the doors of princes, or persons eminent for place, power, or wisdom, that they may be admitted to speak to, or converse with them. Whoso findeth me findeth life — The wisdom here intended, when attained, is the life, salvation, and happiness of men. Christ, the Wisdom and Word of God incarnate, to whom all these attributes agree perfectly, is peculiarly so. But he must be found; that is, known, believed in, loved, and obeyed; he must be revealed to and in us.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

8:32-36 Surely we should hearken to Christ's voice with the readiness of children. Let us all be wise, and not refuse such mercy. Blessed are those who hear the Saviour's voice, and wait on him with daily reading, meditation, and prayer. The children of the world find time for vain amusements, without neglecting what they deem the one thing needful. Does it not show contempt of Wisdom's instructions, when people professing godliness, seek excuses for neglecting the means of grace? Christ is Wisdom, and he is Life to all believers; nor can we obtain God's favour, unless we find Christ, and are found in him. Those who offend Christ deceive themselves; sin is a wrong to the soul. Sinners die because they will die, which justifies God when he judges.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

32-36. Such an attribute men are urged to seek.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Now therefore; seeing I have such a true love to you, and seeing I am so thoroughly acquainted with my Father’s mind, and so excellently qualified to be your Counsellor and Ruler.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children,.... Children of his and his Father, with whom his delights were; predestinated to the adoption of children; children of the covenant and promise, given to him as such in the covenant; for whom he became man, suffered and died, to gather together regenerated ones, by which they appear to be the children of God: these Wisdom here addresses in the most affectionate manner; Christ, having finished the account and description of himself, reassumes his former exhortation, Proverbs 8:5; and enforces it by the several particulars in the above description. From the consideration of his wisdom, riches, eternity, nearness to God, and his delights with men, he exhorts them to "hearken" to him, to his voice in the Gospel, and to what he says there; such who see themselves lost and perishing, the hungry and thirsty, the naked and weary, the disconsolate and afflicted, the poor and indigent; and also to his voice in his precepts and commands, to embrace his doctrines, and submit to his ordinances;

for blessed are they that keep my ways; it is a happiness to be in the ways of Christ, to be kept in them, and to keep them; Christ has promised and does vouchsafe his presence in them; there is a pleasure enjoyed in observing them; and though not for keeping, yet in keeping Christ's commands, there is great reward, Psalm 19:11.

Geneva Study Bible

Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Proverbs 8:32-36. The consequent Appeal of Wisdom

32. Now, therefore] Because I give, and am, all this; and because in and from their first creation my delight was and is with the sons of men.

O ye children] Rather, my sons, R.V.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 32-36. - Wisdom renews the exhortation before given (Proverbs 5:7; Proverbs 7:20, but now on higher, and not merely moral or social grounds. She deduces, from her Divine origin and her care for man, the lesson that she is to be sought and prized and obeyed above all things. Verse 32. - Now therefore - having regard. to what I have revealed of myself - hearken unto me, O ye children; Septuagint, "Hear me, my son." Blessed are they that keep my ways. The expression is interjectional: "Blessings on the man! salvation to the man!" as in Proverbs 3:13. For the ways of Wisdom, see. ch. 3:17. Proverbs 8:32

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

After that Wisdom has shown in Proverbs 8:22-31 how worthy her fellowship is of being an object of desire from her mediating place between God and the world, she begins with this verse (as Proverbs 7:24; Proverbs 5:7) the hortatory (parnetische) concluding part of her discourse:

"And now, ye sons, hearken unto me,

And salvation to those who keep my ways!"

The lxx omits Proverbs 8:33, and obviates the disturbing element of ואשׁרי, 32b, arising from its ו, by a transposition of the stichs. But this ואשרי is the same as the καὶ μακάριος, Matthew 11:6; the organic connection lies hid, as Schleiermacher (Hermeneutik, p. 73) well expresses it, in the mere sequence; the clause containing the proof is connected by ו with that for which proof is to be assigned, instead of subordinating itself to it with כּי. Such an exclamatory clause has already been met with in Proverbs 3:13, there אדם follows as the governed genitive, here a complete sentence (instead of the usual participial construction, שׁמרי דרכי) forms this genitive, Gesen. 123, 3, Anm. 1.