Proverbs 7:1

7:1-5 We must lay up God's commandments safely. Not only, Keep them, and you shall live; but, Keep them as those that cannot live without them. Those that blame strict and careful walking as needless and too precise, consider not that the law is to be kept as the apple of the eye; indeed the law in the heart is the eye of the soul. Let the word of God dwell in us, and so be written where it will be always at hand to be read. Thus we shall be kept from the fatal effects of our own passions, and the snares of Satan. Let God's word confirm our dread of sin, and resolutions against it.

My son, keep my words,.... Doctrines and instructions; which, as a father to a son, or a master to his scholars, he had delivered; these he would have him observe and attend to; and lay up my commandments with thee: as a treasure in his heart, to be brought out upon occasion; to be kept as valuable, and made use of as an antidote against and a preservative from sinning; see Psalm 119:11. The Septuagint and Arabic versions add, what is not in the Hebrew text, "son, honour the Lord, and thou shalt be strong;'' the Arabic adds, "and he shall strengthen thee; and fear none besides him.''

1 . The LXX. add at the end of this verse, “My son, fear the Lord and thou shalt be strong, And beside him, fear none other.” Proverbs 7:1-4 ] Compare the similar exhortations Proverbs 1:8-9 , Proverbs 2:1-5 , Proverbs 3:1 ; Proverbs 3:3 ; Proverbs 3:21-22 , Proverbs 4:20-21 , Proverbs 6:20-23 .

CHAPTER 7 Pr 7:1-27. The subject continued, by a delineation of the arts of strange women, as a caution to the unwary. 1-4. Similar calls (Pr 3:1-3; 4:10, &c.).Solomon again persuadeth to keep his laws, and delight in wisdom, Proverbs 7:1-5. A young man void of understanding is insnared by a harlot, Proverbs 7:6-9. A description of a harlot, Proverbs 7:10,11, from her practice, Proverbs 7:12,13. Of her subtlety, Proverbs 7:14-20; by which she gained compliance to her desire, Proverbs 7:21,22. The danger of it, set forth under the similitude of a bird, Proverbs 7:23. He craveth their attention, Proverbs 7:24; and dehorteth from uncleanness, Proverbs 7:25-27. No text from Poole on this verse.

Verses 1-27. - 13. Thirteenth admonitory discourse , containing a warning against adultery, treated under a different aspect from previous exhortations, and strengthened by an example. In this chapter and the following a contrast is drawn between the adulteress and Wisdom. Verse 1. - My son, keep my words. The teacher enjoins his pupil, as in Proverbs 2:1 , to observe the rules which he gives. Lay up, as a precious treasure (see on Proverbs 2:1 and 7). The LXX. adds here a distich which is not in the Hebrew or in any other version, and is not germane to the context, however excellent in itself: "My son, honour the Lord, and thou shalt be strong, and beside him feat no other." With this we may compare Luke 12:5 and Isaiah 8:12, 13 . Proverbs 7:1

The introduction first counsels in general to a true appreciation of these well-considered life-rules of wisdom. 1 My son, keep my words, And treasure up my commandments with thee. 2 Keep my commandments, and thou shalt live; And my instruction as the apple of thine eye. 3 Wind them about thy fingers, Write them on the tablet of thy heart. The lxx has after Proverbs 7:1 another distich; but it here disturbs the connection. Regarding צפן, vid., at Proverbs 2:1; אתּך refers, as there, to the sphere of one's own character, and that subjectively. Regarding the imper. וחיה, which must here be translated according to its sense as a conclusion, because it comes in between the objects governed by שׁמר, vid., at Proverbs 4:4. There וחיה is punctuated with Silluk; here, according to Kimchi (Michlol 125a), with Segol-Athnach, וחיה, as in the Cod. Erfurt. 2 and 3, and in the editions of Athias and Clodius, so that the word belongs to the class פתחין באתנח (with short instead of long vowel by the pausal accent): no reason for this is to be perceived, especially as (Proverbs 4:4) the Tsere (ê from aj) which is characteristic of the imper. remains unchanged. Regarding אישׁון העין, Arab. insân el-'ain, the little man of the eye, i.e., the apple of the eye, named from the miniature portrait of him who looks into it being reflected from it, vid., at Psalm 17:8; the ending ôn is here diminutive, like Syr. achuno, little brother, beruno, little son, and the like.

On Proverbs 7:3, vid., at Proverbs 6:21; Proverbs 3:3. The תפילין שׁל יד (Note: תפילין, prayer-fillets, phylacteries.) were wound seven times round the left arm and seven times round the middle finger. The writing on the table of the heart may be regarded as referring to Deuteronomy 6:9 (the Mezuzoth). (Note: equals the door-posts, afterwards used by the Jews to denote the passages of Scripture written on the door-posts.)

inite majesty deserves to be praised. Psalms 150:3 No text from Poole on this verse. Psalms 150:4 No text from Poole on this verse. Psalms 150:5 No text from Poole on this verse. ## Psalms 150:6 Every thing that hath breath; every living creature in heaven and in earth, Rev_5:13, according to their several capabilities, some objectively, others actively, as was noted before. ## Proverbs ## THE PROVERBS The penman of this book is expressed in the title, Solomon, who was famous for his proverbs, of which he spoke three thousand, as it is recorded, #1 Kings 4:32, the most eminent and useful of them being doubtless collected in this book. And that the greatest part of this book was composed by Solomon doth sufficiently appear, beca use that part of it which was collected and com posed by other hands is so plainly distinguishe d from the foregoing part, #Proverbs 25:1. The nine first chapters contain a preface or introd uction to the book, or an exhortation to true wisdom; and all the following chapters contain the precepts of wisdom called proverbs; wherein we are not to expect that order and coherence which is in many other books of Scripture. ## Proverbs 1:1 PROVERBS CHAPTER 1 ## The use of the proverbs, Pro_1:1-6. An exhortation to fear God, and believe his word, Pro_1:7. The glory of those ch ildren that obey the instruction of their parents, Pro_1:8 ,9 . A caution against yielding to ent

[Reformed Biblical] CHAP. VII. 1-5. 67 miseries,* flowing from the breach of God's holy commandment. ‘Oh! how great iniquity'—exclaimed the godly Augustine—'is this adul- tery! How great a perverseness! The soul, redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, is thus for the pleasures of an hour given to the devil; a thing much to be lamented and bewailed; when that which delighteth is soon gone, that which tormenteth remaineth without end.'† And shall not this fearful picture of sin and its consequences (which Solomon, alas! was too well fitted to draw) teach us to avoid every- thing that may be temptation; to be sensitive to the first intimations of its becoming so; to close every avenue of sense to the entrance of this seductive poison; to shun all communications that taint the purity of taste, that familiarise the mind with impurity, that give a vivid interest to associations from which a chaste imagination recoils with disgust? Let us learn to seek Divine strength to "watch and pray" continually; and, while we "think we stand, to take heed lest we fall." (1 Cor. x. 12 ) CHAPTER VII. 1. My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee. 2. Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye. 3. Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart. 4. Say unto wisdom—'Thou art my sister,' and call under- standing thy kinswoman: 5. That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger that flattereth with her words

[Reformed Biblical] 68 EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. member! (Deut. xxxii. 10. Ps. xvii. 8. Zech. ii. 8.) With the same care preserve the integrity of the law. Let every part of it have its full weight. To explain it away, or to lower its requirements, breaks down the barrier, and gives an easy entrance to temptation. The sen- sual sinner is often a covert infidel. Let it be at hand for constant use. Bind them upon thy fingers (Chap. iii. 3. Deut. vi. 8; xi. 18); that, being always in sight, they may be always ready for the present moment. And for their practical influ- ence, write them upon the table of thine heart . Oh! my God! this is thy Almighty work. (Isa. xxvi. 12. 2 Cor. iii. 3.) But thou hast engaged to do it for thy people. (Jer. xxxi. 33.) I "take hold of thy covenant." Lord! seal thy promised grace. Let it be the object of tender affection—as our sister--our kinswoman. It is her embrace that throws the harlot's beauty into the shade. Man must have his object of delight. If wisdom is not loved, lust will be indulged. The Bible therefore—not merely read, but the cherished object of familiar intercourse—proves a sacred exorcist to expel the power of evil. (Chap. ii. 10, 16; vi. 23, 24; xxiii. 26, 27.) 6. For at the window of my house I looked through my casement, 7. And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths a young man void of understanding, 8. Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house, 9. In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night: 10