Wesley's Notes on the Bible My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; 2:1 Hide - Lay them up in thy heart with care, as men do their choicest treasures.
So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;
Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; 2:3 Criest - To God, the only giver of it.
If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; 2:4 Seek her - With unwearied diligence and earnest desire and patient expectation.
Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.
He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints. 2:8 Path of judgment - Righteous paths, judgment being here put for righteousness. And keeping of paths may be put for keeping them in their paths.
Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path. 2:9 Then - When God in answer to thy desires hath given thee wisdom. Equity - All the parts of thy duty to man, as well as the fear of God.
When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; 2:10 When - Thou dost truly love wisdom.
Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:
To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;
Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness; 2:13 Darkness - Of sin.
Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;
Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths: 2:15 Crooked - Who swerve from the straight way of God's law, and have windings and turnings, to escape conviction.
To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words; 2:16 Strange woman - From the adulteress or whore.
Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God. 2:17 Forsaketh - Her husband whom she took to be her guide and governor, in her youth. The covenant - The marriage covenant: so called because God is the author of that mutual obligation: and because God is called to be the witness and judge of that solemn promise and covenant.
For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. 2:18 For - Conversation with her (which was most usual in her own house) is the certain way to death, which it brings many ways, and undoubtedly, without repentance, to God's wrath and the second death.
None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.
That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous. 2:20 That - This depends upon ver.11, and is mentioned as another happy fruit of wisdom.
For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.
But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it. Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible by John Wesley [1754-65] Bible Hub |
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