For wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire compares with her. Sermons
She has nothing novel to say concerning her nature, value, and blessings. Preaching must in the main be repetition; the iteration of the old, not with dry and sterile monotony, but with that freshness which comparison with everyday facts and illustrations gives. New combinations of facts are ever arising in which to frame the old precepts and set them forth. Besides, love gives novelty to old truth, as the old song is enjoyed from the lips of the latest sweet singer. I. SHE APPEALS TO COMPARISON. (Vers, 10, 11.) By comparison we increase and strengthen our perceptions. In the knowledge of man, books, art, life, comparison is everything. We are to compare Wisdom with material objects of sense, such as gold and silver, that we may see her to be incomparable; and so each for ourselves repeat the choice of Solomon (comp. on Proverbs 3:14, 15). II. SHE APPEALS TO ASSOCIATION. (Ver. 12.) Wisdom dwells with prudence. In modern language, the general implies the particular. Wisdom is intelligence in general; prudence, the appreciation of it in particular cases. In the poetical mode of representation we should say that Piety and Prudence are sisters, and go hand-in-hand, daughters of the voice of God, as Wordsworth said of duty. So, too, Wisdom has insight into enigmas, dark sayings, and generally deep things of God (see on Proverbs 1:4). III. SHE UNFOLDS TEE CONTENTS OF HER MIND. (Vers. 18, 14.) One of her many aliases is the fear of Jehovah. And this is religion, which includes all wholesome aversions, viz. wickedness in general, and in particular assumption, arrogance, evil habits, perverted speech. In other words, her sympathies are all with lowliness, purity, love, and truth. Insight or sharp and deep perception is another of her attributes, and force (comp. on Proverbs 2:7). V. SHE CLAIMS SUPREME AUTHORITY. (Vers. 15, 16.) Kings, rulers, princes, potentates, judges, - all received those places and fulfil those functions through her and her alone. Authority in polities rests on consent or on force, or both. And these are traceable ultimately to reason, and reason is the "inspiration of the Almighty." Exceptions form no part of this representation. In modern language, we say that government, as a principle or institute, rests on an ultimate Divine basis. The text says tic less than this, nor does it say mort. V. SHE IS IN RECIPROCAL RELATION TO HER SUBJECTS. (Ver. 17.) Her love is conditioned by love; the winning of her by the wooing. The notion that we can be passive, whether in knowledge or goodness, is an entire illusion. Such an illusion once prevailed as the doctrine of "innate ideas" now exploded in philosophy. All that becomes the portion of head or heart implies, necessitates a previous spiritual activity in us. We are ignorant because we will not learn, unhappy because we will not love. VI. SHE COMMANDS WEALTH AND HONOUR AND THE AVENUES TO THEM. (Vers. 18-21.) Riches, honour, self-increasing goods, and righteous" (comp. on Proverbs 3:16). The righteous here is elucidated by the next two verses; she shows the right way to all earthly good. She is a tree of life, and yields incomparable fruit both for value and abundance (ver. 19). She guarantees possessions to her votaries. The connection between righteous and worldly wealth is insisted on. Not that it is always obvious. Nor again are we to expect notice of exceptions in teaching that is from first to last absolute in form. The stringency of the connection is what we have to recognize; the knowledge of its complete application to all cases opens the relations of eternity and demands the omniscience of God. - J. For wisdom is better than rubies. This jewel is called a sardius in two places in the Bible. The name comes from the Latin "Ruber," which means red, and this name is given to the ruby because of its colour. It is sometimes called a carbuncle. We may regard the ruby as representing love or charity. What is there about the ruby on account of which love or charity may be compared to it? What did people in olden times think the ruby could do? I. CURE SORROW. It was thought that a ruby had the power of driving away sadness from their hearts, or of curing their sorrows. That was not true, but this is true — if we have this ruby, a heart of love to Jesus, it will help to cure our own sorrows, and help us to cure other people. II. SHINE IN THE DARK. Stories used to be told of rubies and other jewels being employed, instead of lamps, in dark caverns, to give light, just as if they had power in themselves to shine like so many suns. But this was a mistake. It is only true of the Bible ruby. Real love to anybody, and especially the love of Jesus, will shine in the dark. And when we speak of love shining in the dark, we mean that it will give us help and comfort in trouble. It will make us able to do and suffer things that we never could do without it. III. KEEP THEM FROM HARM. People used to carry a ruby about them as a sort of charm. It is only the Bible ruby that can keep from danger. Loving and trusting God will be a true charm. The ruby heart will keep us from getting hurt. () What does Wisdom offer? She offers to surpass in value everything that men have yet honoured with their appreciation. She will put aside rubies, and things that are to be desired, and all gold, and she will stand alone, absolutely unique in worth. Gold may be lost, rubies may be stolen; desire may say, "I cannot pant and gasp any longer, I have been filled to satiety: let me die." Nor are these things to be ignored as to their temporary value and uses. He is a foolish man who despises gold and rubies and pearls and choice silver: he is more foolish still who thinks they can buy him anything that he can take into eternity with him. In death all these things leave the possessor. That is a mournful reality. May not a man take the family jewels with him? No, not one. Must he go into the other world empty-handed. Yes, empty-handed: he brought nothing into this world, and it is certain he can carry nothing out. Then we have only a life-right in them? Is there anything that will go with a man clear through to the other spaces? Yes: character will go with him. The man's character is the man himself. The wise man has the key of all the worlds. And the fool has the key of none of them. He who is without wisdom is without riches. He who has wisdom has all wealth. The wise man is never solitary. He has the thoughts of ages. He is a silent prophet; he will not write his prophecies but oh, how they make him glow, how they send a radiance into his vision, how they make him despise the charms, seductions, and blandishments of a lying world that rattles the bag of its emptiness to prove its treasure! () People SolomonPlaces JerusalemTopics Better, Can't, Comparable, Compare, Compared, Comparison, Delights, Desirable, Desire, Desired, Equal, Jewels, Nothing, Precious, Rubies, Wisdom, YeaOutline 1. the fame
6. and evidence of wisdom
10. The excellence
12. the nature
15. the power
18. the riches
22. and the eternity of wisdom
32. Wisdom is to be desired for the blessedness it brings
Dictionary of Bible Themes Proverbs 8:11 5974 value Proverbs 8:1-11 5707 male and female Proverbs 8:1-32 8365 wisdom, human Proverbs 8:10-11 4342 jewels
5413 money, attitudes
8367 wisdom, importance of Library Wisdom's Gift
'That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance.'--PROVERBS viii. 21. The word here rendered 'substance' is peculiar. Indeed, it is used in a unique construction in this passage. It means 'being' or 'existence,' and seems to have been laid hold of by the Hebrew thinkers, from whom the books commonly called 'the Wisdom Books' come, as one of their almost technical expressions. 'Substance' may be used in our translation in its philosophical meaning as the supposed reality underlying appearances, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy ScriptureWisdom and Christ
'Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him; 31. Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.'--PROVERBS viii. 30, 31. There is a singular difference between the two portions of this Book of Proverbs. The bulk of it, beginning with chapter x., contains a collection of isolated maxims which may be described as the product of sanctified common sense. They are shrewd and homely, but not remarkably …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture "But Whereunto Shall I Liken this Generation?"
Matth. xi. 16.--"But whereunto shall I liken this generation?" When our Lord Jesus, who had the tongue of the learned, and spoke as never man spake, did now and then find a difficulty to express the matter herein contained. "What shall we do?" The matter indeed is of great importance, a soul matter, and therefore of great moment, a mystery, and therefore not easily expressed. No doubt he knows how to paint out this to the life, that we might rather behold it with our eyes, than hear it with our …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning Fragrant Spices from the Mountains of Myrrh. "Thou Art all Fair, My Love; There is no Spot in Thee. " --Song of Solomon iv. 7.
FRAGRANT SPICES FROM THE MOUNTAINS OF MYRRH. HOW marvellous are these words! "Thou art all fair, My love; there is no spot in thee." The glorious Bridegroom is charmed with His spouse, and sings soft canticles of admiration. When the bride extols her Lord there is no wonder, for He deserves it well, and in Him there is room for praise without possibility of flattery. But does He who is wiser than Solomon condescend to praise this sunburnt Shulamite? Tis even so, for these are His own words, and were …
Charles Hadden Spurgeon—Till He Come Wisdom. Pr 8:22-31
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John Newton—Olney Hymns The Invitation of Wisdom. --Prov. viii.
The invitation of Wisdom.--Prov. viii. To us the voice of Wisdom cries, Hearken, ye children, and be wise; Better than gold the fruit I bear, Rubies to me may not compare, Happy the man who daily waits To hear me, watching at my gates; Wretched is he who scorns my voice, Death and destruction are his choice. To them that love me I am kind; And those who seek me early find; My Son, give me thine heart,--and learn Wisdom from folly to discern. The Lord possess'd me, ere of old, His hand the firmament …
James Montgomery—Sacred Poems and Hymns Having Said This, when they had Kissed Him...
92. Having said this, when they had kissed him, he lifted up his feet, and as though he saw friends coming to him and was glad because of them--for as he lay his countenance appeared joyful--he died and was gathered to the fathers. And they afterward, according to his commandment, wrapped him up and buried him, hiding his body underground. And no one knows to this day where it was buried, save those two only. But each of those who received the sheepskin of the blessed Antony and the garment worn …
Athanasius—Select Works and Letters or Athanasius Introduction to Proverbs viii. 22 Continued. Absurdity of Supposing a Son or Word Created in Order to the Creation of Other Creatures; as to the Creation
Chapter XVII.--Introduction to Proverbs viii. 22 continued. Absurdity of supposing a Son or Word created in order to the creation of other creatures; as to the creation being unable to bear God's immediate hand, God condescends to the lowest. Moreover, if the Son a creature, He too could not bear God's hand, and an infinite series of media will be necessary. Objected, that, as Moses who led out the Israelites was a man, so our Lord; but Moses was not the Agent in creation:--again, that unity is found …
Athanasius—Select Works and Letters or Athanasius Introduction to Proverbs viii. 22 Continued. Contrast Between the Father's Operations Immediately and Naturally in the Son...
Chapter XVIII.--Introduction to Proverbs viii. 22 continued. Contrast between the Father's operations immediately and naturally in the Son, instrumentally by the creatures; Scripture terms illustrative of this. Explanation of these illustrations; which should be interpreted by the doctrine of the Church; perverse sense put on them by the Arians, refuted. Mystery of Divine Generation. Contrast between God's Word and man's word drawn out at length. Asterius betrayed into holding two Unoriginates; his …
Athanasius—Select Works and Letters or Athanasius Texts Explained; Sixthly...
Chapter XIX.--Texts explained; Sixthly, Proverbs viii. 22. Proverbs are of a figurative nature, and must be interpreted as such. We must interpret them, and in particular this passage, by the Regula Fidei. He created me' not equivalent to I am a creature.' Wisdom a creature so far forth as Its human body. Again, if He is a creature, it is as a beginning of ways,' an office which, though not an attribute, is a consequence, of a higher and divine nature. And it is for the works,' which implied the …
Athanasius—Select Works and Letters or Athanasius Texts Explained; Sixthly...
Chapter XXI.--Texts Explained; Sixthly, Proverbs viii. 22, Continued. Our Lord not said in Scripture to be created,' or the works to be begotten.' In the beginning' means in the case of the works from the beginning.' Scripture passages explained. We are made by God first, begotten next; creatures by nature, sons by grace. Christ begotten first, made or created afterwards. Sense of First-born of the dead;' of First-born among many brethren;' of First-born of all creation,' contrasted with Only-begotten.' …
Athanasius—Select Works and Letters or Athanasius Of the Council of Antioch and what was done There against the Holy Meletius.
At this time, [586] Constantius was residing at Antioch. The Persian war was over; there had been a time of peace, and he once again gathered bishops together with the object of making them all deny both the formula "of one substance" and also the formula "of different substance." On the death of Leontius, Eudoxius had seized the see of Antioch, but on his expulsion and illegal establishment, after many synods, at Constantinople, the church of Antioch had been left without a shepherd. Accordingly …
Theodoret—The Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret A String of Pearls
'Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. 2. The fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion: whoso provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul. 3. It is an honour for a man to cease from strife: but every fool will be meddling. 4. The sluggard will not plough by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing. 5. Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out. 6. Most men will …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture Voluntary Suffering
I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. T hat which often passes amongst men for resolution, and the proof of a noble, courageous spirit, is, in reality, the effect of a weak and little mind. At least, it is chiefly owing to the presence of certain circumstances, which have a greater influence upon the conduct, than any inherent principle. Thus may persons who appear to set death and danger at defiance in the hour …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1 The Glorious Master and the Swooning Disciple
If our conceptions of the Lord Jesus are very enlarged, they will only be his due. We cannot exaggerate here. He deserves higher praise than we can ever render to him. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high is be above our loftiest conceptions. Even when the angels strike their loudest notes, and chant his praises most exultingly on their highest festal days, the music falls far short of his excellence. He is higher than a seraph's most soaring thought! Rise then, my brethren, as on …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 18: 1872 His Name --The Counsellor
We shall now enter upon the discussion of this title which is given to Christ, a title peculiar to our Redeemer; and you will see why it should be given to him and why there was a necessity for such a Counsellor. Now, our Lord Jesus Christ is a Counsellor in a three-fold sense. First, he is God's Counsellor; he sits in the cabinet council of the King of heaven; he has admittance into the privy chamber, and is the Counsellor with God. In the second place, Christ is a Counsellor in the sense which …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 4: 1858 Of the Decrees of God.
Eph. i. 11.--"Who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will."--Job xxiii. 13. "He is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth." Having spoken something before of God, in his nature and being and properties, we come, in the next place, to consider his glorious majesty, as he stands in some nearer relation to his creatures, the work of his hands. For we must conceive the first rise of all things in the world to be in this self-being, the first conception …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning The Synagogue at Nazareth - Synagogue-Worship and Arrangements.
The stay in Cana, though we have no means of determining its length, was probably of only short duration. Perhaps the Sabbath of the same week already found Jesus in the Synagogue of Nazareth. We will not seek irreverently to lift the veil of sacred silence, which here, as elsewhere, the Gospel-narratives have laid over the Sanctuary of His inner Life. That silence is itself theopneustic, of Divine breathing and inspiration; it is more eloquent than any eloquence, a guarantee of the truthfulness …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah Organic and Individual.
"Where is He that put His Holy Spirit among them?" --Isa. lxiii. 11. The subsequent activity of the Holy Spirit lies in the realm of grace. In nature the Spirit of God appears as creating, in grace as re-creating. We call it re-creation, because God's grace creates not something inherently new, but a new life in an old and degraded nature. But this must not be understood as tho grace restored only what sin had destroyed. For then the child of God, born anew and sanctified, must be as Adam was in …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit The Trinity
Q-6. HOW MANY PERSONS ARE THERE IN THE GODHEAD? A: Three persons, yet but one God. 'There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one.' I John 5:5. God is but one, yet are there three distinct persons subsisting in one Godhead. This is a sacred mystery, which the light within man could never have discovered. As the two natures in Christ, yet but one person, is a wonder; so three persons, yet but one Godhead. Here is a great deep, the Father …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity The Third Exile, 356-362.
The third exile of Athanasius marks the summit of his achievement. Its commencement is the triumph, its conclusion the collapse of Arianism. It is true that after the death of Constantius the battle went on with variations of fortune for twenty years, mostly under the reign of an ardently Arian Emperor (364-378). But by 362 the utter lack of inner coherence in the Arian ranks was manifest to all; the issue of the fight might be postponed by circumstances but could not be in doubt. The break-up of …
Athanasius—Select Works and Letters or Athanasius An Explanation of Acts ii. ...
An explanation of Acts ii. 36 and Proverbs viii. 22, which are shown to refer properly to Christ's manhood alone. 95. To no purpose, then, is the heretics' customary citation of the Scripture, that "God made Him both Lord and Christ." Let these ignorant persons read the whole passage, and understand it. For thus it is written. "God made this Jesus, Whom ye crucified, both Lord and Christ." [1843] It was not the Godhead, but the flesh, that was crucified. This, indeed, was possible, because the flesh …
St. Ambrose—Works and Letters of St. Ambrose Covenanting Provided for in the Everlasting Covenant.
The duty of Covenanting is founded on the law of nature; but it also stands among the arrangements of Divine mercy made from everlasting. The promulgation of the law, enjoining it on man in innocence as a duty, was due to God's necessary dominion over the creatures of his power. The revelation of it as a service obligatory on men in a state of sin, arose from his unmerited grace. In the one display, we contemplate the authority of the righteous moral Governor of the universe; in the other, we see …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting Covenanting According to the Purposes of God.
Since every revealed purpose of God, implying that obedience to his law will be given, is a demand of that obedience, the announcement of his Covenant, as in his sovereignty decreed, claims, not less effectively than an explicit law, the fulfilment of its duties. A representation of a system of things pre-determined in order that the obligations of the Covenant might be discharged; various exhibitions of the Covenant as ordained; and a description of the children of the Covenant as predestinated …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting Links Proverbs 8:11 NIV
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