to loosen · verb, qal jussive, 2nd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
preserve
וְתִשְׁמְרֶ֑ךָּve.tish.me.Re.ka
H8104
properly · conjunction + verb, qal, 3rd person feminine singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
love
אֱהָבֶ֥הָ'e.ha.Ve.ha
H157
to have affection for (sexually or otherwise) · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
keep
וְתִצְּרֶֽךָּve.ti.tze.Re.ka
H5341
to guard · conjunction + verb, qal, 3rd person feminine singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
2 Thessalonians 2:10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be save…
Proverbs 4:21-22 Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.
Ephesians 3:17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
Proverbs 2:10-12 When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Proverbs 4:1-13
Here we have,
I. The invitation which Solomon gives to his children to come and receive instruction from him (Pro 4:1, Pro 4:2): Hear, you children, the instruction of a father. That is, 1. "Let my own children, in the first place, receive and give good heed to those instructions which I set down for the use of others also." Note, Magistrates and ministers, who are entrusted with the direction of larger societies, are concerned to take a more than ordinary care for the good instruction of their own families; from this duty their public work will by no means excuse them. This charity must begin at home, though it must not end there; for he that has not his children in subjection with all grav…
Not only accept but love wisdom, who will keep thee from evil, and evil from thee.
John Gill on Proverbs 4:6
Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee,.... That is, Wisdom, or Christ. Men may be said to forsake Christ when they forsake the assembly of his church and people, which are his other self; when they forsake his ministers, his ambassadors, and representatives; when they forsake his word and ordinances; when they drop the doctrines of the Gospel, or depart from them; when they quit the profession they have formerly made. Nominal believers and formal professors may forsake him finally and totally; true believers only partially and for a time, through the weakness of the flesh, the temptations of Satan, the snares of the world, and the prevalence of corruption; and therefore such an exhort…
The exhortation of the father now specializes itself:
5 Get wisdom, get understanding;
Forget not and turn not from the words of my mouth.
6 Forsake her not, so shall she preserve thee;
Love her, so shall she keep thee.
Wisdom and understanding are (5a) thought of as objects of merchandise (cf. Pro 23:23; Pro 3:14), like the one pearl of great price, Mat 13:46, and the words of fatherly instruction (5b), accordingly, as offering this precious possession, or helping to the acquisition of it. One cannot indeed say correctly אל־תשׁכח מאמרי־פי, but אל־תשׁכח משּׁמר אמרי־פי (Psa 102:5); and in this sense אל־תּשׁכּח goes before, or also the accus. object, which in אל־תשכח the author has in his mind…
The Church Fathers
Just as taste and sight are different perceptions so far as the body is concerned, so, in accordance with the divine perceptions mentioned by Solomon, the visual and contemplative power of the soul is one thing, but that which is capable of tasting and apprehending the quality of spiritual foods is another.And … the Lord is capable of being tasted, being food for the soul, insofar as he is the bread of life which came down from heaven, and is capable of being seen, insofar as he is wisdom, of whose beauty he confesses to be a lover who says, "I became a lover of her beauty," and he commands us, "Love her, and she will preserve you.," For this reason it is said in the Psalms, "Taste and see that the Lord is good."
And so both in these passages, and in many other places, you will find that divine Scripture has shunned the word "love" (amor) and has put "charity" and "affection" (dilectio) instead. Sometimes, though rarely, it does name love by its proper word, and it invites and incites souls toward it, as when it says in Proverbs concerning wisdom: "Love her, and she will keep you; surround her, and she will exalt you; honor her, and she will embrace you." But also in that little book which is called the Wisdom of Solomon, it is written thus concerning wisdom itself: "I became a lover of her beauty." And I think that only where no occasion of stumbling seemed to appear did it insert the very name of love … For if it had said that Isaac fell in love with Rebecca, or Jacob with Rachel, some unseemly passion might well have been understood through these words with regard to the holy men of God, especially among those who do not know how to ascend from the letter to the spirit.
If a man is going to carry out the advice of Solomon and take for helpmate and life-companion that true Wisdom of which he says, "Love her, and she shall keep thee," "honour her, that she may embrace thee," then he will prepare himself in a manner worthy of such a love, so as to feast with all the joyous wedding guests in spotless raiment, and not be cast forth, while claiming to sit at that feast, for not having put on the wedding garment. It is plain moreover that the argument applies equally to men and women, to move them towards such a marriage. "There is neither male nor female," the Apostle says; "Christ is all, and in all"; and so it is equally reasonable that he who is enamoured of wisdom should hold the Object of his passionate desire, Who is the True Wisdom; and that the soul which cleaves to the undying Bridegroom should have the fruition of her love for the true Wisdom, which is God. We have now sufficiently revealed the nature of the spiritual union, and the Object of the pure and heavenly Love.
Dictionary and topics
Wisdom · .UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO — .UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO
Young Men · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
