38 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
My fruit [is] better than gold, yea, than fine gold,.... This is said in allusion to the fruit that grows on trees, Wisdom, or Christ, being a tree of life, [See comments on Proverbs 3:18]; and so he is compared to other trees, So 2:3. His "fruit" are the blessings of grace, such as redemption, reconciliation, pardon, justification, adoption, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I lead in the way of righteousness,.... As a king his subjects, a shepherd his flock; as a guide to persons that are ignorant and out of the way; as parents their children, teaching them to go; or as a master his scholars: and the way Wisdom, or Christ, leads his people in, is "the way of righteousness"; the doctrine of righteousness, or the way...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance,.... Substantial blessings, blessings indeed, as all spiritual ones are; and substantial grace, as every grace is; and substantial communion with God and Christ, which is a real thing, and had in the way of righteousness; also substantial happiness hereafter, as eternal life is; which being...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way,.... Not "created me", as the Targum and the Septuagint version; which version Arius following gave birth to his pernicious doctrine; who from hence concluded Christ is a creature, and was the first creature that God made, not of the same but of a like nature with himself, in some moment or period...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I was set up from everlasting,.... I, a person, and not a quality; a person, and not a nature; the person of Christ as the Son of God, and not the human nature of Christ, which then did not exist; this phrase designs the ordination and constitution of Christ in his office as Mediator. So the Vulgate Latin version renders it, "I was ordained";...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
When [there were] no depths, I was brought forth,.... Not only in the decree of God, as the head of the elect; foreordained to be the Redeemer of them, and to be the propitiation for their sins; and appointed the Judge of the world, and heir of all things; but "was begotten", as the Targum and Syriac version; the Septuagint is, "he begot me"; and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Before the mountains were settled,.... "Plunged" (l), or fixed in the earth; and which was done by the great strength of the Lord, upon their proper bases, Psalms 65:6; and which were "aborigine", or from the beginning of the world, and therefore called the ancient mountains, Deuteronomy 33:15; to be before the mountains is a periphrasis of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
While as yet he had not made the earth,.... That is, the Lord, who possessed Wisdom, or Christ, and by whom he was set up; he as yet had not made the earth, when this was done; this shows that the earth had a beginning, contrary to those philosophers who asserted the eternity of it; that Christ was before that was, for it was made by him; and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
When he prepared the heavens, I [was] there,.... Made, beautified, and adorned them; when he gave them their form, figure, magnitude, and motion; when he garnished them with the sun, moon, and stars; then was Christ present, not as a mere spectator, but as a co-worker; see Hebrews 1:10; and even the third heaven, the place and state of glorified...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
When he established the clouds above,.... In which the waters are bound, and yet are not rent under them; and where, in the thin air, they hang heavy with them; where they are weighed by measure, and a decree made for them when they shall fall; and when they do, the Lord makes small the drops of water, which the clouds do drop and distil on men...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment,.... A perpetual decree, which never has been altered nor never will: he has placed the sand for the bounds of the sea everywhere, which it cannot pass, though its waves toss, foam, and roar; this is his decreed place, with which he has shut it up, as with doors,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then I was by him, [as] one brought up [with him],.... He was then, and from all eternity, "by him", or "with him" (q); which denotes his co-existence with God, and his relation to him as his Father; his nearness to him, his equality with him, and his distinction from him: he was by him when the names of God's elect were put down in the book of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth,.... In that part of the earth which is habitable; in filling it with inhabitants; in preserving and sustaining it in being, and the inhabitants of it; in governing it, and ordering all things in it for the best, according to his infinite wisdom and the counsel of his will; in bestowing the bounties of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children,.... Children of his and his Father, with whom his delights were; predestinated to the adoption of children; children of the covenant and promise, given to him as such in the covenant; for whom he became man, suffered and died, to gather together regenerated ones, by which they appear to be the children...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Hear instruction,.... The instruction of wisdom, the Gospel of Christ; which instructs men in things relating to God the Father; as that he is the God and Father of his people, the God of all grace, the giver and sender of Christ, and all good things by him; in things respecting Christ, his person, office, grace, and righteousness; in things that...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Blessed [is] the man that heareth me,.... Christ in his Gospel, as speaking by his ministers; for hearing them is hearing him, Lu 10:16; they have their commission from him; are his ambassadors, and represent him; receive their gifts from him; speak according to his mind and will, revealed in his word, and preach him himself. This shows with what...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For whoso findeth me findeth life,.... Of finding Christ, [See comments on Proverbs 3:13]. Such that find Christ find "life" or "lives" (z), life spiritual and eternal; till they are found of Christ, and find him in effectual calling, they are dead; but, when called by his grace and converted, they live a life of justification and sanctification;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But he that sinneth against me,.... Or misses the mark, as the word (b) signifies; and which is observed by Aben Ezra; see Judges 20:16. Christ is the mark and scope of the counsels of God; of the covenant of grace; of the Scriptures; of the Gospel, the truths and promises of it; of the graces of the Spirit, and of all spiritual duties and...