Prov. 3 Solomon exhorteth his son to obedience, Prov. 3:1–4. To faith, Prov. 3:5–6, and trust in God; the benefits that they shall receive thereby, Prov. 3:7–8. To honour God with our estates, Prov. 3:9. The advantage in so doing, Prov. 3:10. To patience under God’s chastisements, Prov. 3:11.

My law; my doctrine or counsel; or the law of God, which might be called his law, as the gospel is called Paul’s gospel, 2 Thess. 2:8, because delivered by him. Keep my commandments, by diligent meditation and hearty affection.

God will add these blessings which he hath promised to the obedient, Deut. 8:18, Deut. 30:20, 1 Tim. 4:8.

Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: either, 1. God’s mercy and truth. So it is a promise, God’s mercy and truth shall not forsake thee. Or rather, 2. That mercy and truth which is man’s duty.

Find favour, i.e. obtain acceptance, or be gracious and amiable to them. Good understanding; whereby to know thy duty, and to discern between good and evil.

Trust in the Lord; wholly and securely rely upon God’s promises and providence for help and relief in all thine affairs and dangers. Lean not unto thine own understanding; think not to accomplish thy designs by the strength of thine own wit without God’s blessing.

Ways; designs and undertakings for the things of this life or of the next. Acknowledge him, Heb. know him, to wit, practically; or, own him; his wisdom, in following his counsels; his power and goodness, in expecting success from him; his sovereignty, in managing all thy affairs so as to please and…

Be not wise in thine own eyes; be not puffed up with vain conceit of thine own wisdom, as if that were sufficient for the conduct of all thine affairs without direction or assistance from God, or without the advice of others.

To thy navel, i.e. to thy body, which is signified by the navel, which is a noble and useful part of the body, by which the infant receives nourishment in the womb, and which is the ligament or bond by which the bowels, a principal part of the body, are united together and preserved.

With thy substance; or, with thy riches. Lay out thy estate not only to please and advance thyself or family, but also to glorify God; which is done by the payment of all those offerings and dues which God hath required; by giving according to thy abilities whatsoever is necessary for the support…

This is not the way to diminish thy estate, as covetous and profane persons allege, but rather to increase it. Shall burst out; shall be so filled, that they would burst out, if not carefully prevented.

Despise not the chastening of the Lord; either, 1. By making light of it, or not being duly affected with if; and so this is one extreme opposed to the other in the next clause. Or rather, 2.

Afflictions are not infelicities, but benefits and comforts, because their are testimonies of God’s love, which is infinitely more desirable than any evil can be terrible. They show God’s purpose, and desire, and care to purge us from our sins, and to make us fit for his presence and kingdom.

Happy is the man, notwithstanding all his afflictions, that findeth wisdom; which supposeth his diligent searching for it, expressed Prov. 3:4. That getteth, Heb. that draweth out; which expression implies two things: 1.

It is more necessary and advantageous, because it is so, not only for this short life, but also to the future and everlasting life, in which gold and silver bear no price.

For true worth and usefulness.

Wisdom is here represented as a great and generous princess distributing gifts to her subjects. She giveth them long life, &c., unless when she foresees that these things would prove snares and mischiefs to them, as they very frequently do to others.

Are ways of pleasantness; are exceedingly delightful, to wit, to those who know them and walk in them; whose judgment is certainly to be preferred before the contrary opinion of ungodly men, who are grossly ignorant of them, and professed enemies to them.

She is a tree of life; she is a certain pledge and mean of everlasting life and happiness. He alludes to that tree of life, Gen. 2:9, Gen. 3:22; which if eaten by man in Paradise before his fall, should have perpetually preserved him in life, and health, and rigour; and intimates that this is the…

By wisdom; either, 1. By Christ, the co-essential and co-eternal Wisdom of God the Father. Or, 2. By that Divine perfection of wisdom, which is the fountain of that wisdom that is in man, which Solomon hath hitherto commended; and therefore the commendation of that wisdom tends to the commendation…

The depths are broken up; that great abyss or depth of waters, which was mixed with and contained in the bowels of the earth, did break forth into fountains and rivers for the use of men and beasts; which is justly remembered here as an illustrious effect of God’s wisdom, by which the earth was…

Them, to wit, wisdom and discretion; of which he hath hitherto discoursed, and which are expressed in the end of this verse, and may be referred hither by a figure called trajection; and the words may be put into this order, let not sound wisdom and discretion depart from thine eyes, but keep them…

Unto thy soul; either, 1. To thee or thy person. They shall prolong and perpetuate thy life, and make it life indeed, to wit, pleasant and happy; whereas a miserable life is reputed a kind of death, and is oft so called. Or, to thy soul, properly so called.

Walk in thy way; manage all thy employments and concerns. Safely, or securely, or confidently, without danger or fear; casting thy care upon God in the discharge of thy duty. Shall not stumble at those stumbling-blocks and temptations at which heedless sinners commonly stumble and fall.

Free from distracting cares and terrors, which ofttimes haunt sinners even in their sleep, because thy mind shall be composed and serene through the sense of God’s favour and providence, and the conscience of thine own integrity.

Be not afraid, i.e. thou shalt not be afraid. For that it is a promise, seems most probable from the context; only it is for greater emphasis delivered in the form of a precept; I allow thee and require thee not to be afraid, which is both thy duty and privilege.

Thy confidence; a sufficient and sure ground of confidence to thee. From being taken, in the snares either of sin or of mischief.

Withhold not good; do not deny it, but readily and cheerfully impart it, which is implied in the contrary, as above, Prov. 3:11, and oft in this book, as we shall see. Good; any thing which is good; either spiritually, as counsel, comfort, reproof, &c.

The former verse forbade the denial, and this forbids the delay of this duty. Unto thy neighbour; unto any man, as the word neighbor is commonly used in Scripture, as hath been oft proved.

Devise not evil; any thing injurious or hurtful. Having commanded doing of good, Prov. 3:27–28, he here forbids doing or designing any evil. Dwelleth securely by thee; relying upon thine integrity: do not therefore betray thy trust, which is hateful even to heathens.

Strive not; either by words before the magistrate; or otherwise by thine actions. Without cause; without just and necessary cause. If he have done thee no harm; whereby he clearly implies that in case of injury a man may by all lawful means defend himself.

Envy thou not the oppressor, for his impunity and success in his wicked designs, and the wealth which he gains by his unrighteous practices. Choose none of his ways; for what men envy in others they seek to obtain for themselves.

The froward; or, perverse, who walketh in crooked or sinful paths, as the oppressor last mentioned; opposed to the upright man, who is called right or straight, as Deut. 32:4, Prov. 29:27.

In the house of the wicked; not only upon his own person, but also upon his posterity, and upon all his domestical concerns.

He scorneth, he will expose to scorn and contempt, the scorners; proud and insolent sinners, who make a mock at sin, Prov. 14:9, and at God and religion also, and despise all counsels and means of amendment. Compare Ps. 1:1, Prov. 1:22.

Shall inherit glory; shall enjoy it not only for a season, as wicked men ofttimes do, but as an inheritance, constantly, and to perpetuity. Shame shall be the promotion of fools; instead of that glory which they greedily seek, they shall meet with nothing but ignominy.