Not only does it enlarge our knowledge of God, but it brings us to a full understanding of every practical obligation.—Bridges.
Good signifies, 1. That which is just and right. 2. That which is profitable. 3. That which is pleasing. 4. That which is full and complete (Gen. xv. 15). . . . Men must grow from knowledge of some good duties to knowledge of others. They must go on till they know every good path.—Francis Taylor.
Verse 10. Another picture of the results of living unto the Lord. Not that only to which it leads a man, but that from which it saves him, must be brought into view. Here, as before, there is a gradation in the two clauses. It is one thing for wisdom to find entrance into the soul, another to be welcomed as a “pleasant guest.”—Plumptre.
Spiritual joy mortifies sin. His mouth hankers not after homely provision that hath lately tasted of delicate sustenance. Pleasure there must be in the ways of God because therein men let out all their souls into God, the foundation of all good, hence they so infinitely distaste sin’s tasteless fooleries.—Trapp.
It was to open thus thy heart for wisdom that Christ’s heart was open upon the cross; it was to make an entrance for wisdom into thy heart that the spear entered into the heart of thy Saviour. And what though wisdom enter thy heart at a breach, a wound? It is this that must heal thee and make thee sound.—Jermin.
Here only has it any life or power. While it is only in the head it is dry, speculative, barren. . . . Before it was the object of our search; now, having found it, it is our pleasure.—Bridges.
It is pleasure that can compete with pleasure. It is joy and peace in believing that can overcome the pleasures of sin. . . . A human soul, by its very constitution, cannot be frightened into holiness. It is made for being won, and won it will be, by the drawing on this side or the drawing on that.—Arnot.
Verse 11. The man who has let knowledge come into his heart does but watch afterwards as he does in common walking: “discretion” or “reflection” will keep him straight.—Miller.
Men are subject to many dangers till they get wisdom. 1. Their reputation is in danger. 2. The goods and estates are in danger. 3. Their body and life are in danger. 4. The soul is in danger of eternal misery. Therefore sin is called folly, and wicked men that go to hell are chronicled as fools all over this book.—Francis Taylor.
Though the heart of man by nature be a rebellious fort, so that wisdom at first must enter it by a kind of force, yet, being entered, it makes itself pleasant, and keeps out and preserves the soul which kept her out.—Jermin.