Matthew Henry on Proverbs 6:20–end
Here is, I. A general exhortation faithfully to adhere to the word of God and to take it for our guide in all our actions.
1. We must look upon the word of God both as a light (Pro 6:23) and as a law, Pro 6:20, Pro 6:23. (1.) By its arguments it is a light, which our understandings must subscribe to; it is a lamp to our eyes for discovery, and so to our feet for direction. The word of God reveals to us truths of eternal certainty, and is built upon the highest reason. Scripture-light is the sure light. (2.) By its authority it is a law, which our wills must submit to. As never such a light shone out of the schools of the philosophers, so never such a law issued from the throne of any prince,…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 6:24
A specimen of its benefit. By appreciating truth, men are not affected by lying flattery.
John Gill on Proverbs 6:24
To keep thee from the evil woman,.... This is one use of the profit arising from attending to the instructions of parents, and to the law of God, as taught by them; to preserve from fornication and adultery, one of its precepts expressly forbidding adultery and all corporeal uncleanness; and the whole of it directing to an observance of all duties respecting God and our neighbour, which requires diligence and industry, and prevents idleness, that inlet to all sin, and especially to uncleanness (k);
from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman; the same with the evil woman, the lewd and adulterous one; see Proverbs 2:16. Jarchi interprets this of idolatry; the character well agrees wit…
Read the whole note in the consoleKeil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 6:24
The section thus closes:
To keep thee from the vile woman,
From the flattery of the strange tongue.
Regarding the genitive connection אושׁת רע, a woman of a wicked character, vid., under Pro 2:14; and regarding the adjectival connection לשׁון נכריה, under Pro 6:17; the strange tongue is the tongue (לשׁון) of the strange (foreign) woman (vid., p. 81), alluring with smooth words (Pro 2:16). Ewald, Bertheau: from her of a smooth tongue, the stranger, as Symm., Theod., ἀπὸ λειογλώσσου ξένης; but חלקת is a substantive (Gen 27:16), and as a fem. adject. form is without an example. Rather חלקת לשׁון is to be regarded as the first member and נכריה as the second of the st. constr., for the former…
