Proverbs 3:1

3:1-6 In the way of believing obedience to God's commandments health and peace may commonly be enjoyed; and though our days may not be long upon earth, we shall live for ever in heaven. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee; God's mercy in promising, and his truth in performing: live up to them, keep up thine interest in them, and take the comfort of them. We must trust in the Lord with all our hearts, believing he is able and wise to do what is best. Those who know themselves, find their own understandings a broken reed, which, if they lean upon, will fail. Do not design any thing but what is lawful, and beg God to direct thee in every case, though it may seem quite plain. In all our ways that prove pleasant, in which we gain our point, we must acknowledge God with thankfulness. In all our ways that prove uncomfortable, and that are hedged up with thorns, we must acknowledge him with submission. It is promised, He shall direct thy paths; so that thy way shall be safe and good, and happy at last.

Proverbs THE SECRET OF WELL-BEINGProverbs 3:1 - Proverbs 3:10 . The first ten verses of this passage form a series of five couplets, which enforce on the young various phases of goodness by their tendency to secure happiness or blessedness of various sorts. The underlying axiom is that, in a world ruled by a good Being, obedience must lead to well-being; but while that is in the general true, exceptions do occur, and good men do encounter evil times. Therefore the glowing promises of these verses are followed by two verses which deal with the explanation of good men’s afflictions, as being results and tokens of God’s fatherly love. The first couplet is general in character. It inculcates obedience to the precepts of the teacher, and gives as reason the assurance that thereby long life and peace will be secured. True to the Old Testament conception of revelation as a law, the teacher sets obedience in the forefront. He is sure that his teaching contains the sufficient guide for conduct, and coincides with the divine will. He calls, in the first instance, for inward willing acceptance of His commandments; for it is the heart, not primarily the hands, which he desires should ‘keep’ them. The mother of all graces of conduct is the bowing of the will to divine authority. The will is the man, and where it ceases to lift itself up in self-sacrificing and self-determining rebellion, and dissolves into running waters of submission, these will flow through the life and make it pure.

To obey self is sin, to obey God is righteousness. The issues of such obedience are ‘length of days . . . and peace.’ Even if we allow for the difference between the Old and the New Testaments, it remains true that a life conformed to God’s will tends to longevity, and that many forms of sin do shorten men’s days. Passion and indulged appetites eat away the very flesh, and many a man’s ‘bones are full of the sin of his youth.’ The profligate has usually ‘a short life,’ whether he succeeds in making it ‘merry’ or not. ‘Peace’ is a wide word, including all well-being. Ease-loving Orientals, especially when living in warlike times, naturally used the phrase as a shorthand expression for all good. Busy Westerns, torn by the distractions and rapid movement of modern life, echo the sigh for repose which breathes in the word. ‘There is no joy but calm,’ and the sure way to deepest peace is to give up self-will and live in obedience. The second couplet deals with our relations to one another, and puts forward the two virtues of ‘loving-kindness and truth’-that is truth, or faithfulness-as all-inclusive. They are the two which are often jointly ascribed to God, especially in the Psalms. Our attitude to one another should be moulded in God’s to us all. The tiniest crystal has the same facets and angles as the largest. The giant hexagonal pillars of basalt, like our Scottish Staffa, are identical in form with the microscopic crystals of the same substance.

Proverbs 3:1-4 . My son, forget not my law — My doctrine or counsel; but let thy heart keep, &c. — By diligent meditation and hearty affection. For length of days, &c. — God will add these blessings which he hath promised to the obedient, Deuteronomy 8:18 ; Deuteronomy 30:20 ; 1 Timothy 4:8 . Let not mercy and truth forsake thee — That mercy and truth, which are man’s duty. Mercy denotes all benignity, charity, and readiness to do good to others; truth, or faithfulness, respects all those duties which we owe to God or man, on the principles of justice, and to which we are laid under special obligations by the rules of it. Bind them about thy neck — Like a chain, wherewith persons were wont to adorn their necks. Write them upon the table, &c. — In thy mind and heart, in which all God’s commands are to be received and engraven. So shalt thou find favour — That is, obtain acceptance, and good understanding — Whereby to know thy duty, and to discern between good and evil; in the sight of God and man — Grace or favour with God, and that understanding which is good in his sight, that is, which is really and truly good, and which will be acknowledged as such by all truly wise and good men.

1 . law ] or, teaching , R.V. marg. This is the primary meaning of the Heb. word Torah (see Proverbs 1:8 note, Proverbs 4:2 , Proverbs 7:2 ), which is the common designation of the Law , in its Biblical sense. Fourth Address. Chap. Proverbs 3:1-10 Be obedient to my instruction, so shalt thou live long and prosper ( Proverbs 3:1-4 ). Trust, not in thyself, but in God ( Proverbs 3:5 ). Seek His direction ( Proverbs 3:5-8 ): render Him His due ( Proverbs 3:9-10 ): and (see Proverbs 3:12 , note) submit to His fatherly correction ( Proverbs 3:11-12 ).

Noticeable here is the Hebrew love of home and love of country. To "dwell in the land" is (compare Exodus 20:12 ; Leviticus 25:18 , etc.) the highest blessing for the whole people and for individual men. contrast with it is the life of the sinner cut off from the land (not "earth") of his fathers.

CHAPTER 3 Pr 3:1-35. The study of truth commended. God must be feared, honored, and trusted, and filial submission, under chastisement, exhibited. The excellence of wisdom urged and illustrated by its place in the divine counsels. Piety enforced by a contrast of the destiny of the righteous and the wicked. 1. law [and] commandments—all divine instructions (see on [641]Ps 119:1 and [642]Ps 119:4). let thine heart keep—or sincerely observe (Pr 4:13; 5:2).Solomon exhorteth his son to obedience, Proverbs 3:1-4. To faith, Proverbs 3:5,6, and trust in God; the benefits that they shall receive thereby, Proverbs 3:7,8. To honour God with our estates, Proverbs 3:9. The advantage in so doing, Proverbs 3:10. To patience under God’s chastisements, Proverbs 3:11. A reason for it, Proverbs 3:12. The happiness of him that findeth wisdom, Proverbs 3:13. Wisdom set out, with the benefits that attend her, Proverbs 3:14-18. The effects, Proverbs 3:19,20. Another exhortation to perform our duty, Proverbs 3:21-27. To charitableness, Proverbs 3:28. To avoid strife, Proverbs 3:29,30. Against envy, Proverbs 3:31. The misery of the wicked, and blessings of the just, Proverbs 3:32-35. My law; my doctrine or counsel; or the law of God, which might be called his law, as the gospel is called Paul’s gospel, 2 Thessalonians 2:8, because delivered by him. Keep my commandments, by diligent meditation and hearty affection.

Verses 1-18. - 4. Fourth admonitory discourse. The third chapter introduces us to a group of admonitions, and the first of these (vers. 1-18) forms the fourth admonitory discourse of the teacher. To all intents and purposes this is a continuation of the discourse in the preceding chapter, for inasmuch as that described the benefits, spiritual and moral, which follow from the pursuit of Wisdom, in promoting godliness and providing safety from evil companions, so this in like manner depicts the gain flowing from Wisdom, the happiness of the man who finds Wisdom, and the favour which he meets with both with God and man. The discourse embraces exhortations to obedience (vers. 1-4), to reliance on God (vers. 5, 6) against self-sufficiency and self-dependence (vers. 7, 8), to self-sacrificing devotion to God (vers. 9, 10), to patient submission to God's afflictive dispensations (vers. 11, 12), and concludes with pointing out the happy gain of Wisdom, her incomparable value, and wherein that value consists (vers. 13-18). It is noticeable that in each case the exhortation is accompanied with a corresponding promise of reward (vers, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10), and these promises are brought forward with the view to encourage the observance of the duties recommended or enjoined. Jehovah is the central point to which all the exhortations converge.