◄ Proverbs 9:5 ►














Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
Wisdom's Banquet; Or, The Call To Salvation
Proverbs 9:1-6
E. Johnson

I. THE FIGURATIVE REPRESENTATION. Wisdom was termed, in Proverbs 8:30, a "workmistress," in reference to the structure of the physical world. Here she whose delight is in men and human life is represented as the builder, i.e. the founder of moral and social order. The seven pillars denote grandeur, and, at the same time, sacredness. Her home is a temple. Religion is "the oldest and most sacred tradition of the race" (Herder); and it contains within it art, science, polity - all that makes human life stable, rich, and beautiful. Preparation has been made for a feast. The ox has been slain, the spiced wine has been mixed (Isaiah 5:22; Proverbs 23:30), the table set forth. Her servant has been sent forth, and her invitation has been freely made known on all the heights of the city. It is an invitation to the simple, the ignorant, the unintelligent, of every degree.

II. THE SPIRITUAL CONTENTS. These receive a richer unfolding in the gospel (Matthew 22:1-14; Luke 14:16-24). Instead of the practical personification of wisdom, we have the living presence of Christ, "the Wisdom of God." Instead of the abstract, the concrete; for an ideal conception, a real Example and a present Object of faith. Instead of the splendid palace temple, on the other hand, we have the thought of the kingdom of God, or the Church, resting on its foundations of apostolic truth. To the provisions of the table correspond the rich spiritual nourishment derivable from Christ, his Word and work - the true Bread sent down from heaven. To the invitation of Wisdom, the call to salvation by Christ.

1. The New Testament echoes the Old, and the gospel is essentially the same in every way.

2. The gospel of Christ is the unfolding, expansion, enrichment, of the ancient spiritual lore.

3. The relation of the Divine to the human remains constant; it is that of supply to want, knowledge to ignorance, love and light to sorrow and darkness.

4. The invitation to the kingdom of heaven is free and general, conditioned by nothing except the need of its blessings. - J.

Biblical Illustrator
Come, eat of My bread.
Proverbs 9:5
Wisdom's invitation
J. R. Hibbard.
I. THE INVITATION. He who invites is the Son of God — in the Proverbs represented as "Wisdom." Of His generous invitation we remark —

1. That its acceptance is open to every human being on the face of the earth. The God of the gospel is no respecter of persons.

2. This invitation is urged with affectionate earnestness. How are men to be "compelled"? Not by coercion or legal enactments — not by bribery or the civil power — but by the mercies of God, and the gentleness of Christ.

3. There is such a character in the invitations of the gospel as leaves those inexcusable who reject them. Some excuse themselves on the ground that a self-denial which is beyond them is required, others on the ground of previous engagements. Speculations, worldliness, even domestic relationships, are pleaded as excuses.

II. INDUCEMENTS TO THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE INVITATION. What would be inducements to accept an invitation to a feast?

1. Rank of the person inviting. Who, then, is it invites to the feast of the gospel?

2. The guests whom you were to meet. This company is select. It is composed of the wise and the good of every name: all are on a level at the feast of salvation.

3. The occasion of the entertainment. This is intended to supply you with immortal food, and to feed you with the meat that endureth unto everlasting life.

4. The consequences that may result from a refusal. Refusing this, you risk the favour of God.

(J. R. Hibbard.)

The soul's diet
F. Taylor, B.D.
The verse, most of it, metaphorical, setting out Wisdom's instructions under the similitude of a feast, to which persons invited come and comfortably refresh themselves with meat and drink.

I. THE SOUL'S DIET IS OF CHRIST'S PROVIDING. This was prefigured in the manna, and foreshadowed in the rock, that miraculously gave water to the people.

1. The Word is from Him which feeds the soul.

2. The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, whereby we are fed, was of His institution, yea, of His own administration the first time.

3. He hath authority from heaven to find diet for souls.

4. None but He can provide wholesome diet.

II. MEN MUST COME WHERE CHRIST'S SPIRITUAL PROVISIONS ARE TO BE HAD.

1. We are invited to come, and it is discourtesy to refuse a friendly invitation.

2. We are commanded to come, and it is disobedience not to come.

3. The feast is prepared for us.

4. The benefits gotten by it may allure you to come for it.

III. WE MUST MAKE USE OF WISDOM'S PROVISION AS WELL AS COME. Coming to a feast doth no good if men be sullen, and will not eat or drink.

1. Our profitable use of God's ordinances is required.

2. We are informed beforehand to what end we are invited.

3. The gift of this undeserved favour should make us ready to receive it.

4. No good will come to us by this spiritual food if we feed not on it. They who feed well get much good to their souls.

(F. Taylor, B.D.)

Wisdom's invitations
T. De Witt Talmage.
It seems to me as if this moment were throbbing with the invitations of an all-compassionate God. I have been told that the Cathedral of St. Mark's stands in a square in the centre of the city of Venice, and that when the clock strikes twelve at noon all the birds from the city and the regions round about the city fly to the square and settle down. It came in this wise: A large-hearted woman passing one noonday across the square saw some birds shivering in the cold, and she scattered some crumbs of bread among them, and so on from year to year until the day of her death. In her will she bequeathed a certain amount to keep up the same practice, and now, at the first stroke of the bell at noon, the birds begin to come here, and when the clock has struck twelve the square is covered with them. How beautifully suggestive! Christ comes out to feed thy soul to-day. The more hungry you feel yourselves to be, the better it is. It is noon, and the gospel clock strikes twelve. Come in flocks! Come as doves to the window! All the air is filled with the liquid chime: Come! come! come!

(T. De Witt Talmage.)

People
Solomon
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Bread, Drink, Eat, Mingled, Mixed, Wine
Outline
1. The discipline
4. and the doctrine of wisdom
13. The custom
16. and error of folly

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Proverbs 9:1-6

     4478   meat
     5312   feasting
     8365   wisdom, human

Library
The Temple of Wisdom
(Preached at Wellington College, All Saints' Day, 1866.) PROVERBS ix. 1-5. Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars: she hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her wine; she hath also furnished her table. She hath sent forth her maidens; she crieth upon the highest places of the city, Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: and to him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled. This allegory has been …
Charles Kingsley—Discipline and Other Sermons

The Dryness of Preachers, and the Various Evils which Arise from their Failing to Teach Heart-Prayer --Exhortation to Pastors to Lead People Towards this Form Of
If all those who are working for the conquest of souls sought to win them by the heart, leading them first of all to prayer and to the inner life, they would see many and lasting conversions. But so long as they only address themselves to the outside, and instead of drawing people to Christ by occupying their hearts with Him, they only give them a thousand precepts for outward observances, they will see but little fruit, and that will not be lasting. When once the heart is won, other defects are …
Jeanne Marie Bouvières—A Short Method Of Prayer And Spiritual Torrents

Letter xxi (Circa A. D. 1128) to the Abbot of S. John at Chartres
To the Abbot of S. John at Chartres Bernard dissuades him from resigning his charge, and undertaking a Pilgrimage to Jerusalem. 1. As regards the matters about which you were so good as to consult so humble a person as myself, I had at first determined not to reply. Not because I had any doubt what to say, but because it seemed to me unnecessary or even presumptuous to give counsel to a man of sense and wisdom. But considering that it usually happens that the greater number of persons of sense--or …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

To Pastors and Teachers
To Pastors and Teachers If all who laboured for the conversion of others were to introduce them immediately into Prayer and the Interior Life, and make it their main design to gain and win over the heart, numberless as well as permanent conversions would certainly ensue. On the contrary, few and transient fruits must attend that labour which is confined to outward matters; such as burdening the disciple with a thousand precepts for external exercises, instead of leaving the soul to Christ by the …
Madame Guyon—A Short and Easy Method of Prayer

From his Entrance on the Ministry in 1815, to his Commission to Reside in Germany in 1820
1815.--After the long season of depression through which John Yeardley passed, as described in the last chapter, the new year of 1815 dawned with brightness upon his mind. He now at length saw his spiritual bonds loosed; and the extracts which follow describe his first offerings in the ministry in a simple and affecting manner. 1 mo. 5.--The subject of the prophet's going down to the potter's house opened so clearly on my mind in meeting this morning that I thought I could almost have publicly …
John Yeardley—Memoir and Diary of John Yeardley, Minister of the Gospel

The Authority and Utility of the Scriptures
2 Tim. iii. 16.--"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." We told you that there was nothing more necessary to know than what our end is, and what the way is that leads to that end. We see the most part of men walking at random,--running an uncertain race,--because they do not propose unto themselves a certain scope to aim at, and whither to direct their whole course. According to men's particular …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

An Analysis of Augustin's Writings against the Donatists.
The object of this chapter is to present a rudimentary outline and summary of all that Augustin penned or spoke against those traditional North African Christians whom he was pleased to regard as schismatics. It will be arranged, so far as may be, in chronological order, following the dates suggested by the Benedictine edition. The necessary brevity precludes anything but a very meagre treatment of so considerable a theme. The writer takes no responsibility for the ecclesiological tenets of the …
St. Augustine—writings in connection with the donatist controversy.

The Gospel Feast
"When Jesus then lifted up His eyes, and saw a great company come unto Him, He saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat?"--John vi. 5. After these words the Evangelist adds, "And this He said to prove him, for He Himself knew what He would do." Thus, you see, our Lord had secret meanings when He spoke, and did not bring forth openly all His divine sense at once. He knew what He was about to do from the first, but He wished to lead forward His disciples, and to arrest and …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VII

Proverbs
Many specimens of the so-called Wisdom Literature are preserved for us in the book of Proverbs, for its contents are by no means confined to what we call proverbs. The first nine chapters constitute a continuous discourse, almost in the manner of a sermon; and of the last two chapters, ch. xxx. is largely made up of enigmas, and xxxi. is in part a description of the good housewife. All, however, are rightly subsumed under the idea of wisdom, which to the Hebrew had always moral relations. The Hebrew …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

Links
Proverbs 9:5 NIV
Proverbs 9:5 NLT
Proverbs 9:5 ESV
Proverbs 9:5 NASB
Proverbs 9:5 KJV

Proverbs 9:5 Bible Apps
Proverbs 9:5 Parallel
Proverbs 9:5 Biblia Paralela
Proverbs 9:5 Chinese Bible
Proverbs 9:5 French Bible
Proverbs 9:5 German Bible

Proverbs 9:5 Commentaries

Bible Hub
Proverbs 9:4
Top of Page
Top of Page