Proverbs 8:4 To you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man. Wisdom shows herself to be truly wise by recognising the different capacities and qualities of men: "Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man." Children who are at school are accustomed to distinguish between viri and homines — between the strong and the weak. "Unto you, O men, I call" — strong, virile, massive — "and my voice is to the sons of man" — the lesser, the weaker, the more limited in capacity, but men still — and I will accommodate my speech to the capacity of every one, for I have come to bring the world to the temple of understanding. Then there is further discrimination; we read of the "simple" and of the "fools." "Simple" is a word which, as we have often seen, has been abused. There ought to be few lovelier words than "simple" — without fold, or duplicity, or complexity, or involution: such ought to be the meaning of simple and simplicity. Wisdom comes to fools, and says she will work miracles. Could a man say, "I am too far gone for Wisdom to make anything of me," he would by his very confession prove that he was still within the range of salvation. "To know one's self diseased is half the cure": to know one's self to be ignorant is to have taken several steps on the way to the sanctuary of wisdom. This might be Christ speaking; yea, there are men who have not hesitated to say that by "Wisdom" in this chapter is meant the Wisdom of God in history, the Loges, the eternal Son of God. Certainly, the wisdom of this chapter seems to follow the very course which Jesus Christ Himself pursued: He will call all men to Himself — the simple, and the foolish, and the far away; He will make room for all. A wonderful house is God's house in that way, so flexible, so expansive; there is always room for the man who is not yet in. So Wisdom will have men, and sons of man; simple men, foolish men. By this universality of the offer judge the Divinity of the origin. (J. Parker, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man.WEB: "To you men, I call! I send my voice to the sons of mankind. |
    |