Proverbs 8:1 Does not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice?… Whatever may have been the satisfaction experienced by devout minds in reading this chapter, as if it contained the words of Christ and evidence of His pre-existent Divinity, I dare not withhold what I believe to be the true principle of interpretation. The objections to its meaning Christ, or the Word, ere He became flesh, when "in the beginning He was with God, and was God," are to my mind quite insuperable. For example — 1. It should be noticed that the passage is not so applied in any part of the New Testament. Had any New Testament writer expressly applied any part of the chapter to the Son of God, this would have been a key which we could not have been at liberty to refuse. 2. Wisdom here is a female personage. All along this is the case. Now under such a view the Scriptures nowhere else, in any of their figurative representations of "the Christ," ever thus describe or introduce Him. 3. Wisdom does not appear intended as a personal designation, inasmuch as it is associated with various other terms, of synonymous, or at least of corresponding, import. 4. The whole is a bold and striking personification of the attribute of wisdom, as subsisting in Deity (see ver 12: "I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions"). 5. Things which are true of a Divine attribute would naturally be susceptible of application to a Divine person. (R. Wardlaw.) Parallel Verses KJV: Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice?WEB: Doesn't wisdom cry out? Doesn't understanding raise her voice? |
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