Proverbs 7:3

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.

Bind them upon thy fingers,.... Let the above words and doctrines be as ready and familiar as if they were at the fingers' ends; or let them be always fresh in memory, as a piece of thread is tied about the fingers, to put in mind of anything to be done; or let them be as rings upon the fingers, both memorial and ornamental: or put into practice the things taught and commanded; the fingers being the instruments of action, and especially of doing things nicely and accurately; write them upon the table of thine heart; that they may be strong in the memory, deep in the affection, and abiding in the understanding and will; see Proverbs 3:3.

3 . upon thy fingers ] like some precious, engraved ring, at once an ornament and a memento. The reference to the phylactery “placed at the bend of the left arm,” the thong of which “was wound about the arm in a spiral line, which ended at the top of the middle finger” (Smith’s Dict. of Bible , Frontlets ) is less probable; though the Pharisee might no doubt read into such a passage as this a sanction of his broad phylactery.

Verse 3. - Bind them upon thy fingers. Wear my precepts like a ring on thy finger, so that they may go with thee, whatever thou takest in hand. Others think that the so called tephillin , or phylacteries, are meant. These were worn both on the hand and the forehead, and consisted of a leather box containing strips of parchment, on which were written four texts, viz. Exodus 13:1-10 ; Exodus 11-16 ; Deuteronomy 6:4-9 ; Deuteronomy 11:13-21 . The box was attached to a leather strap wound seven times round the arm three times round the middle finger, and the remainder passed round the hand (see ( Exodus 13:9, 16 ; Jeremiah 22:24 ). Write them upon the table of thine heart (see on Proverbs 3:3 and Proverbs 6:21; and comp. Deuteronomy 6:9 ). Vers. 4 and 5 contain earnest admonitions to the pursuit of Wisdom, which is worthy of the purest love. Proverbs 7:3

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.)

[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