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My son, if you will receive my words, and store up my commandments within you,
Verse 1. If. This proves free will. To become truly wise, we must desire it with the same avidity as a miser seeks for riches. Worthington.—We must also pray, (verse 3) with humility (verse 2) to God, the giver of wisdom. verse 6. Every science which has not Him for the beginning and end, is vain and dangerous. Calmet.
so as to turn your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding;
yes, if you call out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding;
if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures;
then you will understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
The Hebrew word rendered “God” is “אֱלֹהִ֑ים” (Elohim).
For the LORD gives wisdom. Out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.
He lays up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk in integrity,
Verse 7. Salvation. Prot. “sound wisdom.” Tushiya ( Bible.) often occurs in this book, and is very comprehensive, ( Calmet.) denoting the substance ( Bible.) of goodness, virtue, and so forth Job 5:12.
that he may guard the paths of justice, and preserve the way of his saints.
Verse 8. Justice. In his servants. Calmet.—God gives them grace to follow virtue, ( Bible.) and protects them from every danger. Calmet.
Then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity and every good path.
For wisdom will enter into your heart. Knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
Discretion will watch over you. Understanding will keep you,
to deliver you from the way of evil, from the men who speak perverse things,
Verse 12. Things. The danger of such company for young people is very great, as the heart is misled by the understanding, ( Calmet.) if it do not itself shew the way to error. Bible.—We all possess a fund of corruption. Calmet.
who forsake the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness,
who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the perverseness of evil,
Verse 14. Evil. These signs prove whom we ought to shun. Saint Augustine depicts his own conduct before his conversion in the darkest colours. Calmet.
who are crooked in their ways, and wayward in their paths,
to deliver you from the strange woman, even from the foreigner who flatters with her words,
Verse 16. Strange. Idolatress, (Grot.) or rather the abandoned woman, whether married or not. Calmet.—This description, as well as the former, guards us against heretics, who leave the right way of the Catholic Church, (verse 13) and devise perverse doctrines of rebellion against princes, and so forth as if faith alone were sufficient. By this faith, Prot. do not mean any article which all must believe, but only that each one must be convinced that he himself is just, and will be saved. Like the strange woman, they preach a comfortable doctrine, and use sweet speeches. Romans 16:18. Their conversion is a very difficult matter, (verse 19) because they are condemned by their own judgment, (Titus 3:11) and will not admit of the ordinary means of instruction in the Church. Worthington.
who forsakes the friend of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God;
Verse 17. Youth. Her husband, whom she married young when love is more lasting. This increases her guilt. It may also signify her father, or preceptor.
for her house leads down to death, her paths to the departed spirits.
Verse 18. God. The law forbids adultery, and all impurities. Deuteronomy 23:17. Leviticus 20:10. Both the parties, guilty of adultery, were punished with death. Calmet.
None who go to her return again, neither do they attain to the paths of life.
Verse 19. Life. A sincere conversion is so rare among people once addicted to impurity, ( Bible.) which resembles a deep pit. Calmet.—This illness is hardly removed. Menochius.
Therefore walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.
For the upright will dwell in the land. The perfect will remain in it.
Verse 21. Earth. Happily. This was the wish of the carnal Jews. But the more enlightened raise their thoughts to heaven.
But the wicked will be cut off from the land. The treacherous will be rooted out of it.