Matthew Henry on Proverbs 3:21-26
Solomon, having pronounced those happy who not only lay hold on wisdom, but retain her, here exhorts us therefore to retain her, assuring us that we ourselves shall have the comfort of doing so.
I. The exhortation is, to have religion's rules always in view and always at heart, Pro 3:21. 1. To have them always in view: "My son, let them not depart from thy eyes; let not thy eyes ever depart from them to wander after vanity. Have them always in mind, and do not forget them; be ever and anon thinking of them, and conversing with them, and never imagine that thou hast looked upon them long enough and that it is time now to lay them by; but, as long as thou livest, keep up and cultivate thy acqu…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 3:26
The reason; such as are objects of God's favor.
be thy confidence--literally, "in thy confidence," in the source of thy strength (compare Nah 3:9, for the same construction, Hebrew).
John Gill on Proverbs 3:26
For the Lord shall be thy confidence,.... The object of it, in whom thou shall put thy confidence, and be safe and secure from all fear and danger: or "the Lord shall be in thy confidence" (g); shall support thee in it, and maintain that, so that thou shalt not cast it away; the word used has sometimes the notion off oily in it, and Jarchi, from the Jerusalem Talmud, produces a sense agreeable to it;
"the Lord shall be in things in which thou art foolish;''
which, how absurd it may seem to be, will admit of a good interpretation; that the Lord will be with Wisdom's followers in things which may seem foolishness to the world; as Christ, the things of Christ, and the things of the Spirit of…
Read the whole note in the consoleKeil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 3:23-26
But more than this, wisdom makes its possessor in all situations of life confident in God:
23 Then shalt thou go thy way with confidence,
And thy foot shall not stumble.
24 When thou liest down, thou are not afraid,
But thou layest thyself down and hast sweet sleep.
25 Thou needest not be afraid of sudden alarm,
Nor for the storm of the wicked when it breaketh forth.
26 For Jahve will be thy confidence
And keep thy foot from the snare.
The לבטח (cf. our "bei guter Laune" = in good cheer), with ל of the condition, is of the same meaning as the conditional adverbial accusative בּטח, Pro 10:9; Pro 1:33. Pro 3:23 the lxx translate ὁ δὲ πούς σου οὐ μὴ προσκόψῃ, while, on the contrary, at P…
