AN
EXPOSITION,
W I T H P R A C T I C A L O B S E R V A T I O N
S,
OF THE
P R O V E R B S
We have now before us, I. A
new author, or penman rather, or pen (if you will) made use of by the Holy
Ghost for making known the mind of God to us, writing as moved by the finger
of God (so the Spirit of God is called), and that is Solomon; through his
hand came this book of Scripture and the two that follow it, Ecclesiastes and
Canticles, a sermon and a song. Some think he wrote Canticles when he was very
young, Proverbs in the midst of his days, and Ecclesiastes when he was old. In
the title of his song he only writes himself Solomon, perhaps because
he wrote it before his accession to the throne, being filled with the Holy
Ghost when he was young. In the title of his Proverbs he writes himself the
son of David, king of Israel, for then he ruled over all Israel. In the
title of his Ecclesiastes he writes himself the son of David, king of
Jerusalem, because then perhaps his influence had grown less upon the
distant tribes, and he confined himself very much in Jerusalem. Concerning
this author we may observe, 1. That he was a king, and a king's son. The
penmen of scripture, hitherto, were most of them men of the first rank in the
world, as Moses and Joshua, Samuel and David, and now Solomon; but, after him,
the inspired writers were generally poor prophets, men of no figure in the
world, because that dispensation was approaching in the which God would choose
the weak and foolish things of the world to confound the wise and mighty
and the poor should be employed to evangelize. Solomon was a very rich king,
and his dominions were very large, a king of the first magnitude, and yet he
addicted himself to the study of divine things, and was a prophet and a
prophet's son. It is no disparagement to the greatest princes and potentates
in the world to instruct those about them in religion and the laws of it. 2.
That he was one whom God endued with extraordinary measures of wisdom and
knowledge, in answer to his prayers at his accession to the throne. His prayer
was exemplary: Give me a wise and an understanding heart; the answer to
it was encouraging: he had what he desired and all other things were added
to him. Now here we find what good use he made of the wisdom God gave him;
he not only governed himself and his kingdom with it, but he gave rules of
wisdom to others also, and transmitted them to posterity. Thus must we trade
with the talents with which we are entrusted, according as they are. 3. That
he was one who had his faults, and in his latter end turned aside from those
good ways of God which in this book he had directed others in. We have the
story of it 1 Kings xi., and a sad story it is, that the penman of such a book
as this should apostatize as he did. Tell it not in Gath. But let those
who are most eminently useful take warning by this not to be proud or secure;
and let us all learn not to think the worse of good instructions though we
have them from those who do not themselves altogether live up to them.
II. A new way of writing, in which divine wisdom is taught us by Proverbs, or
short sentences, which contain their whole design within themselves and are
not connected with one another. We have had divine laws, histories, and
songs, and now divine proverbs; such various methods has
Infinite Wisdom used for our instruction, that, no stone being left unturned
to do us good, we may be inexcusable if we perish in our folly. Teaching by
proverbs was, 1. An ancient way of teaching. It was the most ancient way among
the Greeks; each of the seven wise men of Greece had some one saying that he
valued himself upon, and that made him famous. These sentences were inscribed
on pillars, and had in great veneration as that which was said to come down
from heaven. A cœlo descendit,
gnwqi seauton--Know
thyself is a precept which came down from heaven. 2. It was a plain and
easy way of teaching, which cost neither the teachers nor the learners much
pains, nor put their understandings nor their memories to the stretch. Long
periods, and arguments far-fetched, must be laboured both by him that frames
them and by him that would understand them, while a proverb, which carries
both its sense and its evidence in a little compass, is quickly apprehended
and subscribed to, and is easily retained. Both David's devotions and
Solomon's instructions are sententious, which may recommend that way of
expression to those who minister about holy things, both in praying and
preaching. 3. It was a very profitable way of teaching, and served admirably
well to answer the end. The word Mashal, here used for a proverb, comes
from a word that signifies to rule or have dominion, because of
the commanding power and influence which wise and weighty sayings have upon
the children of men; he that teaches by them dominatur in concionibus--rules
his auditory. It is easy to observe how the world is governed by proverbs.
As saith the proverb of the ancients (1 Sam. xxiv. 13), or (as we
commonly express it) As the old saying is, goes very far with most men
in forming their notions and fixing their resolves. Much of the wisdom of the
ancients has been handed down to posterity by proverbs; and some think we may
judge of the temper and character of a nation by the complexion of its vulgar
proverbs. Proverbs in conversation are like axioms in philosophy, maxims in
law, and postulata in the mathematics, which nobody disputes, but every one
endeavours to expound so as to have them on his side. Yet there are many
corrupt proverbs, which tend to debauch men's minds and harden them in sin.
The devil has his proverbs, and the world and the flesh have their proverbs,
which reflect reproach on God and religion (as Ezek. xii. 22; xviii. 2), to
guard us against the corrupt influences of which God has his proverbs, which
are all wise and good, and tend to make us so. These proverbs of Solomon were
not merely a collection of the wise sayings that had been formerly delivered,
as some have imagined, but were the dictates of the Spirit of God in Solomon.
The very first of them (ch. i. 7) agrees with what God said to man in
the beginning (Job xxviii. 28, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom);
so that though Solomon was great, and his name may serve as much as any man's
to recommend his writings, yet, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
It is God, by Solomon, that here speaks to us: I say, to us; for these
proverbs were written for our learning, and, when Solomon speaks to his
son, the exhortation is said to speak to us as unto children, Heb. xii.
5. And, as we have no book so useful to us in our devotions as David's psalms,
so have we none so serviceable to us, for the right ordering of our
conversations, as Solomon's proverbs, which as David says of the commandments,
are exceedingly broad, containing, in a little compass, a complete body
of divine ethics, politics, and economics, exposing every vice, recommending
every virtue, and suggesting rules for the government of ourselves in every
relation and condition, and every turn of the conversation. The learned bishop
Hall has drawn up a system of moral philosophy out of Solomon's Proverbs and
Ecclesiastes. The first nine chapters of this book are reckoned as a preface,
by way of exhortation to the study and practice of wisdom's rules, and caution
against those things that would hinder therein. We have then the first volume
of Solomon's proverbs (ch. x.-xxiv.); after that a second volume (ch.
xxv.-xxix.); and then Agur's prophecy (ch. xxx.), and Lemuel's (ch.
xxxi.). The scope of all is one and the same, to direct us so to order our
conversation aright as that in the end we may see the salvation of the Lord.
The best comment on these rules is to be ruled by them.
Contents
|
Next
Section
