926 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Wisdom crieth without,.... Here the person instructing throughout this whole book is represented under the name of "Wisdom"; by which we are to understand not the attribute of divine wisdom displayed in the works of creation; nor the light of nature in man; nor the law of Moses given to the Israelites; nor the revelation of the divine will in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
She crieth in the chief place of concourse,.... Where a multitude of people meet together; the Targum is, "on the top of palaces;'' but rather it is to be understood of the synagogues of the Jews, where Christ frequently preached; and which, from hence, they build in the highest part of the city (c); and best of all the temple, whither the tribes...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity?.... Simple foolish things, agreeably to their character, being weak simple men, men of weak capacities and shallow understandings; and such were the first persons that were called by Christ through the ministry of the word, even effectually; they were babes and sucklings in comparison of others,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Turn ye at my reproof,.... Or rather "to my reproof", for the words are not an exhortation to the conversion of the heart, or to him repentance; but to an attendance to the external ministry of the word preached, which reproves of sin, righteousness, and judgment; and does not design the turning of the heart to it, which is God's work, but the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Because I have called, and ye refused,.... This is to be understood not of the internal call of Wisdom, or Christ, which is by the special grace of his Spirit; is according to an eternal purpose, the fruit of everlasting love, peculiar to God's elect, and by a divine power; and is also a call to special blessings of grace, and to eternal glory;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But ye have set at nought all my counsel,.... The same with "the counsel of God", Acts 20:27. The whole Gospel, and all the truths of it; the entire scheme of salvation by Jesus Christ, which is the produce of divine wisdom, and is according to the counsel of the divine will, and his eternal purpose in Christ Jesus; this the Jews set at nought,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I also will laugh at your calamity,.... By way of retaliation, measuring measure for measure; even as they scorned him, and delighted in their scorning, now he in his turn will "laugh" at them and their distress; which act is ascribed to the Lord by an anthropopathy; see Psalms 2:4; signifying that he should not at all pity them, show no...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
When your fear cometh as desolation,.... When such will be the calamity that will occasion this fear, that it shall be like some desolating judgment, as famine, sword, and pestilence, which lays all waste: and such was the destruction of the Jews by the Romans; it not only laid Jerusalem and the temple waste, but the whole country of Judea. These...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer,.... As he called them, and they refused to answer to his call, Proverbs 1:24; so it was just in him to return no answer to them, when they called on him to deliver them from the Romans, and save them from ruin: for this was what they called out for, and what they expected, that the Messiah would...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For that they hated knowledge,.... Spiritual and evangelical; the knowledge of the Scriptures, of the promises and prophecies of them respecting the Messiah, though they were called upon and exhorted to "search" them; the knowledge of the Messiah, his person, offices, and grace; the knowledge of his Gospel, and the doctrines of it; see Proverbs...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
They would none of my counsel,.... Neither his doctrines nor his ordinances; nor would they attend to the wholesome counsel and advice he gave them in his sermons upon the mount, and in other discourses of his at other times and places; they despised all my reproof; for their hypocrisy, uncleanness, covetousness, and other sins they were addicted...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way,.... Their evil ways; be punished according to their deserts, and receive the just reward of their iniquities; see Isaiah 3:10; and be filled with their own devices; or "counsels" (g): their device and counsel was to put Christ to death; to deliver him to the Roman governor, that he might be...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them,.... Or be the cause of their being slain; even their turning away from Christ, their aversion to him; their turning their backs on him, and a deaf ear to him; their turning away from his Gospel, and putting it from them, thereby judging themselves unworthy of everlasting life: in all which they...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But whoso hearkeneth unto me,.... To Wisdom, or Christ; to the cry and call above; to the voice of his Gospel, not only externally, but internally; so as spiritually and experimentally to understand it, to distinguish it from the voice of a stranger; so as to approve of it, and receive it in the love of it, and to delight and take pleasure in it;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Proverbs 2 This chapter directs to the means of attaining to the knowledge of divine things, and shows the profit and advantage arising from thence. The means are, embracing the doctrines of the Gospel, and retaining in memory and affection the ordinances of it, Proverbs 2:1; and an inclination of the ear and an application of the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
My son,.... These are either the continuation of the words of Solomon to his son Rehoboam; or to anyone that came to him for instruction, or was within the reach of being taught by him; whom he addresses in this tender and affectionate manner, in order to gain his attention to what he was about to say: or else they are the words of Wisdom, or...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So that thou incline thine ear unto Wisdom,.... Hearken to Wisdom, that is, Christ; or rather to the instruction of Wisdom, which is the Gospel; so called, because it is the produce of divine wisdom, what the wisdom of man could never have devised, and which it opposes; and in which there is a most glorious display of the wisdom of God, in the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Yea, if thou criest after knowledge,.... Of God, Christ, and the Gospel; not only bow the ear and bend the mind to these things, but importunately and fervently pray for them; not only attend the ministry of the word by men, but cry to God to give the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of divine and spiritual things; which supposes...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
If thou seekest her as silver,.... That is, wisdom, knowledge, and understanding; which all signify and relate unto one and the same thing, expressed here by "her": namely, the doctrine of wisdom, or Christ; that is, the Gospel, and a spiritual and experimental knowledge and understanding of it, and the truths thereof; which are as desirable and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord,.... The grace of fear, and the exercise of it: which is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge, and is a treasure itself, Proverbs 1:7. By means of the Gospel the Lord works it in the hearts of his people by his Spirit; and by the same leads them into the riches of his special grace and "goodness",...