Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

2:1-4 The protasis (the if-clause of the conditional) is set out in these verses and calls upon the listener or reader to seek wisdom diligently. Where Wisdom is pictured calling out in the streets in 1:20-21, these verses indicate that wisdom is something to be sought after (if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, 2:3).

2:5-8 The first result of heeding wisdom is that one will understand the fear of the Lord (v. 5). This knowledge is possible only because the Lord gives it to the upright (vv. 6, 7). Thus, while wisdom is to be sought diligently and cultivated in practice, it is not something merited by the actions of an individual. (On wisdom's foundation in God's gracious covenant, see Introduction: Purpose, Occasion, and Background.) Verse 8 states that the purpose of the gift of wisdom is to protect the paths of the saints.

2:9-11 The second result of heeding wisdom is that one gains an understanding of righteousness and justice and equity (v. 9) because wisdom takes root in the heart and acts to protect the person who embraces it (vv. 10, 11). There is a reversing sequence between v. 8 and v. 11 (v. 8, "guarding," "watching"; v. 11, watch, guard) that links the then-clause in vv. 5-8 with the then-clause in vv. 9-11 and indicates that the means by which the Lord will be "watching over the way of his saints" (v. 8) is through the wisdom and understanding he will give them (v. 11).

2:12-20 Following the description of the wisdom that the Lord grants (vv. 9-11), this section gives three statements of its purpose: it delivers from the deception of those on the evil path (vv. 12-15), it delivers from being flattered into unfaithfulness (vv. 16-19), and it directs one instead to walk in the way that is both true and good (v. 20).

2:12-15 Those who walk the wicked path are described as men of perverted speech (v. 12) who rejoice in what is ultimately harmful (v. 14) and thus deceive themselves while seeking to entrap others (see 1:10-19).

2:16-19 Like those who walk the crooked path in the preceding description (vv. 12-15), a woman who seeks to entice a man to adultery both practices deception (she flatters with smooth words, v. 16) and is herself deceived (for her house sinks down to death, v. 18).

2:16-17 The ESV footnote indicates that forbidden woman is lit., "strange woman" and adulteress is lit., "foreign woman." "Strange" is likely used here in the sense of "forbidden" or "unauthorized" (cf. the use of the same word in a different context in Lev. 10:1) since the description that follows in Prov. 2:17 refers to someone who has forsaken another relationship. Likewise, "foreign" is probably used not in the sense of being a member of another nation but rather of being a member of another household. The parallel description of forgetting the covenant of her God along with forsaking the companion of her youth indicates that the covenant being referred to here is her marriage vow (see Gen. 2:24; Mal. 2:14).

2:21-22 As vv. 18-19 refer to the paths of death and life to indicate where these paths ultimately lead, the upright will inhabit the land also looks not simply to the possibility of long life on earth but to the inheritance to which the path is headed (and this is contrasted with the wicked being cut off from the land). For a similar reference to the "land" used in the context of wisdom language referring to the way of the wicked and the righteous, see note on Ps. 37:11.