Proverbs 8:30

Proverbs WISDOM AND CHRISTProverbs 8:30 - Proverbs 8:31 . There is a singular difference between the two portions of this Book of Proverbs. The bulk of it, beginning with Proverbs 10:1 - Proverbs 10:32 , contains a collection of isolated maxims which may be described as the product of sanctified common sense. They are shrewd and homely, but not remarkably spiritual or elevated. To these is prefixed this introductory portion, continuous, lofty in style, and in its personification of divine wisdom, rising to great sublimity both of thought and of expression. It seems as if the main body of the book had been fitted with an introduction by another hand than that of the compilers of the various sets of proverbial sayings. It is apparently due to an intellectual movement, perhaps not uninfluenced by Greek thought, and chronologically the latest of the elements composing the Old Testament scriptures. In place of the lyric fervour of prophets, and the devout intuition of psalmists, we have the praise of Wisdom. But that noble portrait is no copy of the Greek conception, but contains features peculiar to itself. She stands opposed to blatant, meretricious Folly, and seeks to draw men to herself by lofty motives and offering pure delights.

She is not a person, but she is a personification of an aspect of the divine nature, and seeing that she is held forth as willing to bestow herself on men, that queenly figure shadows the great truth of God’s self-communication as being the end and climax of all His revelation. We are on the wrong tack when we look for more or less complete resemblances between the ‘Wisdom’ of Proverbs and the ‘Sophia’ of Greek thinkers. It is much rather an anticipation, imperfect but real, of Jesus than a pale reflection of Greek thought. The way for the perfect revelation of God in the incarnation was prepared by prophet and psalmist. Was it not also prepared by this vision of a Wisdom which was always with God, and yet had its delights with the sons of men, and whilst ‘rejoicing always before Him,’ yet rejoiced in the habitable parts of the earth? Let us then look, however imperfect our gaze may be, at the self-revelation in Proverbs of the personified divine Wisdom, and compare it with the revelation of the incarnate divine Word. I. The Self-revelation of Wisdom. The words translated in Authorised Version, ‘As one brought up with him,’ are rendered in Revised Version, ‘as a master workman,’ and seem intended to represent Wisdom-that is, of course, the divine Wisdom-as having been God’s agent in the creative act.

Proverbs 8:30-31 . Then I was by him — Conversant with him, and united to him, as was said before; as one brought up with him — As one tenderly and dearly beloved by him. I was daily his delight — His elect; in whom his soul delighted, Isaiah 42:1 . Rejoicing always before him — In constant and most intimate communion with him. Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth — In the vast variety of creatures wherewith the earth was beautified and enriched; and my delights were with the sons of men — Made after the likeness of God, and capable of converse with him. Then I delighted to uphold them by my power and providence, to reveal myself, and my Father’s mind and will to them, from age to age, to assume their nature, and to redeem and save them. “The wisdom of God,” says Calmet, “communicated itself to men preferably to all other sensible creatures; having given to them alone intelligence, and souls capable of the illumination of prudence, and of the practice of virtue. The Son of God, the eternal wisdom, abundantly proved his delight to be with the sons of men, when for their instruction and salvation he took upon him a human form.”

(30) As one brought up with him— i.e. , his foster child; as Mordecai “brought up” Esther ( Esther 2:7 ). But the word may also bear the sense of “artificer.” It probably occurs in this meaning in Jeremiah 52:15 (though translated “multitude,” in accordance with 2Kings 25:11 ), and in a slightly different form, Song of Solomon 7:1 . This meaning is much more suitable, and harmonises with Psalm 104:24 ; Psalm 136:5 , and Hebrews 1:2 . I was daily his delight.—The pronoun “his” does not occur in the Hebrew, which is, literally, I was delights, i.e., all joy, delight, as Psalm 109:4 : “I am prayer,” i.e., give myself wholly to it. The words express the joy with which Wisdom carried out the work of God. Rejoicing always before him.—The same expression is used in 2Samuel 6:21 by David (there translated “play”), to describe his “leaping and dancing before the Lord.”