(2) To know.--That is, they are written that one may know. The writer in this and the following verses heaps up synonyms with which to bring out the wide purpose of the instruction he offers.

Wisdom (chokhmah).--The original meaning of this word is "firmness," "solidity," having an opinion based upon sound reasons; the opposite state of mind to being "carried about with every wind of doctrine" (Ephesians 4:14).

Instruction (m-s?r).--Or rather, discipline, the knowledge how to keep oneself under control. (Comp. 2Peter 1:6 : "Add to your knowledge temperance," or self-control.)

To perceive the words of understanding.--Comp. Hebrews 5:14 : "To have the senses exercised to discern both good and evil." (Comp. also Philippians 1:10.) The opposite condition to this is having the heart made "fat" (Isaiah 6:10) by continuance in evil, so that it can no longer understand.

Verse 2. - To know wisdom and instruction. In this verse we have a statement of the first general aim or object of the Proverbs. "To know" (לָדַעַת, ladaath) is somewhat indefinite in the Authorized Version, and might be more accurately rendered. "from which men may know" (De Wette, Noyes); cf. unde scias (Munsterus). The ל which is here prefixed to the infinitive, as in vers. 2, 8, and 6, gives the clause a final character, and thus points out the object which the teaching of the Proverbs has in view. The teaching is viewed from the standpoint of the learner, and hence what is indicated here is not the imparting of knowledge, but the reception or aprrspriation thereof on the part of the laemer. Schultens states that the radical meaning of דָּעַת (daath) is the reception of knowledge into one's self. Wisdom. It will be necessary to go rather fully into this word here on its first appearance in the text. The Hebrew is חָכְמָה (khokhmah). Wisdom is mentioned first, because it is the end to which all knowledge and instruction tend. The fundamental conception of the word is variously represented as either

(1) the "power of judging," derived from צּצּצּ, "to be wise," from the Arabic, "to judge" (Oesenlus); or

(2) "the fixing of a thing for cognition," derived from the Arabic equivalent of the Hebrew חָכַם, as before, which signifies "to fasten" (Zockler), or "compactness," from the same root as before, "to be firm, or closed." It is also variously defined

(1) as "insight into that upright dealing which pleases God - a knowledge of the right way which is to be followed before God, and of the wrong one which is to be shunned" (Zockler);

(2) as "piety towards God," as in Job 28:28 (Gesenius);

(3) as "the knowledge of things in their being and in the reality of their existence" (Delitzsch), The word is translated in the LXX. by σοφία, and in the Vulgate by sapientia. The Hebrew khokhmah and the Greek σοφία so far agree as philosophical terms in that the end of each is the same, viz. the striving after objective wisdom, the moral fitness of things; but the character of the former differs from that of the latter in being distinctly religious. The beginning and the end of the khokhmah, wisdom, is God (cf. ver. 7). Wisdom, then, is not the merely scientific knowledge, or moral philosophy, but knowledge κατ ἐξοχήν, i.e. religious knowledge or piety towards God; i.e. an appreciation of what God requires of us and what we conversely owe to God. "Sapientia est de divinis" (Lyra). Wisdom will, of course, carry with it the notions of knowledge and insight. Instruction. As the preceding word represents wisdom in its intellectual conception, and has rather a theoretical character, so "instruction," Hebrew, מְוּסָר (musar), represents it on its practical side, and as such is its practical complement. The Hebrew musar signifies properly "chastisement," from the root yasar (יָסַר), "to correct," or "chastise," and hence education, moral training; and hence in the LXX. it is rendered by παιδεῖα, which means both the process of education (cf. Plato, 'Repub.,' 376, E.; Arist., 'Pol.,' 8, 3) and its result as learning (Plato, 'Prob.,' 327, D.). The Vulgate has disciplina. In relation to wisdom, it is antecedent to it; i.e. to know wisdom truly we must first become acquainted with instruction, and hence it is a preparatory step to the knowledge of wisdom, though here it is stated rather objectively. The words, "wisdom and instruction," are found in exactly the same collocation in Proverbs 4:13 and Proverbs 23:23. In its strictly disciplinary sense, "instruction" occurs in Proverbs 3:11, with which comp. Hebrews 12:5. Holden takes this word as "moral discipline" in the highest sense. To perceive the words of understanding; literally, to discern the words of discernment; i.e. "to comprehend the utterances which proceed from intelligence, and give expression to it" (Delitzsch). Understanding; Hebrew, vinah (בִינָה), connected with the hiph. (לְהָבִין l'havin), properly "to distinguish," hence "to discern," of the same clause, signifies the capability of discerning the true from the false, good front bad, etc. With this agrees Cornelius a Lapide, who says, "Unde prudenter discernas inter bonum et malum, licitum et illicitum, utile et noxium, verum et falsum," and from which you are enabled to know what to do in any circumstances, and what not to do. The LXX. renders the word by φρόμησις, the Vulgate by prudentia. Φρόνησις, in Plato and Aristotle, is the virtue concerned in the government of men, manage-merit of affairs, and the like (see Plato, 'Sym.,' 209, A.; Arist.,' Eth.,' N. 6, 5 and 8), and means practical wisdom, prudence, or moral wisdom. Van Ess, Allioli, Holden, translate "prudence."

Parallel Commentaries ...


To know
לָדַ֣עַת (lā·ḏa·‘aṯ)
Preposition-l | Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct
Strong's Hebrew 3045: To know

wisdom
חָכְמָ֣ה (ḥāḵ·māh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's Hebrew 2451: Wisdom

and discipline,
וּמוּסָ֑ר (ū·mū·sār)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's Hebrew 4148: Chastisement, reproof, warning, instruction, restraint

to comprehend
לְ֝הָבִ֗ין (lə·hā·ḇîn)
Preposition-l | Verb - Hifil - Infinitive construct
Strong's Hebrew 995: To separate mentally, understand

the words
אִמְרֵ֥י (’im·rê)
Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's Hebrew 561: Something said

of insight,
בִינָֽה׃ (ḇî·nāh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's Hebrew 998: An understanding


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OT Poetry: Proverbs 1:2 To know wisdom and instruction (Prov. Pro Pr)