Proverbs 2:8

Proverbs 2 is one long appeal from a father to his son. In its first four verses the son is to receive his father’s words, hide his commandments, incline his ear to wisdom, apply his heart to understanding, cry after knowledge, and seek wisdom “as silver” and search for her “as for hid treasures” (Proverbs 2:1–4). Verses 5 to 11 are the answer to that search.

Two promises open with the same words, “Then shalt thou understand.” The first, in verse 5, is about God himself. The second, in verse 9, is about how to live. In between, verses 6 to 8 give the reason both promises hold: the LORD gives wisdom, stores it up for the upright and guards them on their way. At verse 10 the KJV marks a new paragraph, and the father describes wisdom coming into the heart and standing guard there, ready for the dangers that fill the rest of the chapter (Proverbs 2:12–22).

All of this grows from the motto of the book, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7). In Israel wisdom was a practical skill for living rightly and well, and Proverbs roots it in the LORD, the covenant God of Israel. A father teaching his son was the way families handed on what they knew of God and of right living. The father’s voice in Proverbs is traditionally Solomon’s, the king whose wisdom was famous among the kings of the earth (1 Kings 4:29–34).

The first reward of the search is God himself: “Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.” The word “then” (‘az) marks this as the sure result of the seeking that came before. To understand, bîyn, is to perceive and discern, to grasp a thing as it truly is.

The fear of the LORD, yirʼâh, is reverence. It is awe, respect and humble submission before God’s holiness, majesty and authority, and it shows itself in a desire to honour and obey him and to turn from evil. Proverbs says that this fear is the beginning of knowledge (Proverbs 1:7) and the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10), as the psalm does too (Psalm 111:10). Verse 5 shows where that beginning leads. The fear of the LORD is where a person starts with God and also the posture he keeps for life, and the one who seeks comes to understand it more and more deeply.

In the second half the seeker will “find” (matsâʼ), a word for discovering and gaining something, which fits the treasure of verse 4. What he finds is daʻath, knowledge, a word that includes skill and discernment, and here its object is God himself, daʻath Elohim, the knowledge of God. To have it is to know God, his character, his ways and his will, and that knowledge shapes the life of the one who has it. Jeremiah says that the only thing worth boasting in is knowing the LORD (Jeremiah 9:24), and Hosea calls God’s people to seek to know him (Hosea 6:3).

Verse 6 gives the reason the search succeeds: “For the LORD giveth wisdom.” The name here is Yᵉhôvâh, the covenant name of the God of Israel, the eternal and personal God who makes himself known to his people. Wisdom comes from a living Person, the God who acts. The verb nâthan is the ordinary Hebrew word for giving, used very widely, for putting, setting and making as well. With the LORD as the giver and wisdom as the thing given, it describes a gift, and so wisdom reaches us from his hand.

“Out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.” The mouth, peh, stands for speech. Knowledge and understanding come from what God says, in his commands, his law and the words of his prophets, so they are received where he speaks. The psalmist calls God’s word a lamp unto his feet (Psalm 119:105).

The verse names three gifts. Wisdom, chokmâh, is the skill of living well, the practical and moral discernment that applies God’s truth to real situations. Knowledge, daʻath, is knowing what is true, with the skill and discernment that go with it. Understanding, tâbûwn, is insight, the ability to discern, to tell right from wrong and to see how things connect. Together they make up all a person needs to live as God wills, and all three come from the same mouth.

Solomon prayed for wisdom (1 Kings 3:9), and James tells anyone who lacks wisdom to ask God, who gives it (James 1:5). Later in the book wisdom herself calls out to people in the streets and at the gates (Proverbs 8), a picture of wisdom as God’s own, reaching out to all who will hear.

“He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous.” To lay up, tsâphan, is to hide by covering over, to hoard or reserve, and so to protect. God keeps wisdom in store like a treasure, set aside for those it is meant for. The word for wisdom here is a different one, tûwshîyâh, rendered “sound wisdom”. It carries the ideas of support, ability, help and true understanding, and it means wisdom that works: sound counsel that holds up in practice and leads to good results.

The ones it is stored up for are “the righteous”, in Hebrew yâshâr, the straight or upright, those who are just in character and conduct. The second line calls them “them that walk uprightly”. To walk, hâlak, is the usual Hebrew way of speaking about how a person lives, and “uprightly” translates tôm, completeness or integrity.

“He is a buckler to them.” The word mâgên means a shield, and Scripture also uses it as a title for God, or for a king, as the protector of his people. The Psalms speak of God the same way. He is a shield to the one in danger (Psalm 3:3), a sun and shield to his people (Psalm 84:11), and a shield to all who trust in him (Psalm 18:30).

The two lines join provision and protection. God gives the upright the wisdom they need for the road, and he guards them while they walk it.

“He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.” Both verbs are words for guarding. To keep, nâtsar, is to guard, protect and maintain. To preserve, shâmar, is to hedge about and watch over with care. Paths, ‘ôrach, and way, derek, are Scripture’s common pictures of a person’s life: the conduct, the choices and the destination of a life.

Judgment, mishpâṭ, covers a verdict, a formal decree, law, justice and what is right. “The paths of judgment” are the ways of justice and right conduct, and God guards them so that they stay true and open to all who want to live justly. A psalm says the LORD loves justice and does not forsake his saints (Psalm 37:28).

The saints, châçîyd, are the godly, the faithful, those loyal to God and his covenant. The word is related to chesed, God’s steadfast love, and it describes people marked by that same faithfulness. God watches over their whole way, the life they live day by day and the place where it ends. The LORD keeps his people from all evil, going out and coming in (Psalm 121:7–8), and he makes the path of the just level (Isaiah 26:7). This stands against the way of sinners that the father has already warned his son to refuse (Proverbs 1:10–19). The path of integrity can be hard going, and verse 8 promises that God himself keeps it safe.

Verse 9 opens with the words of verse 5, “Then shalt thou understand”, and the verb is bîyn both times. Verse 5 promised understanding of God, and verse 9 promises understanding of how to live before him.

The verse names three things. Righteousness, tsedeq, is what is right and just, in conduct, in judgment, in speech, and even in honest weights at the market. Judgment, mishpâṭ, the same word as in verse 8, is justice put into practice, deciding rightly in a particular case and telling right from wrong. Equity, mêyshâr, means evenness or straightness, and so uprightness and fairness, dealing with everyone on the same level and keeping self-interest out of it. God’s own justice and fairness are the pattern for all three.

“Yea, every good path.” The Hebrew word for path here is ma’gal. The seeker learns the principles and also the roads themselves: every course of action, in every part of life, that is good and pleases God. Paul prays for the same discernment in believers, that they may approve what is excellent (Philippians 1:9–10). The good path stands against the paths of darkness and the crooked ways that the father warns of next (Proverbs 2:12–15).

“When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul.” Wisdom, chokmâh, the same word as in verse 6, now comes inside. The heart, lêb, is the whole inner life in Scripture, mind, feelings and will together, the centre of a person. Wisdom that enters the heart shapes what a person thinks, what he wants and what he decides, and it becomes part of who he is.

The soul (nephesh) is the whole living person, with all his desires and appetites. Knowledge, daʻath, becomes pleasant to it, and the word for pleasant, nâʻêm, means agreeable and delightful. God’s truth, once received, satisfies the one who receives it with a lasting contentment, and his ways bring life and joy. The law of the LORD is perfect and delightful (Psalm 19:7–11), Jeremiah found God’s words a joy to his heart (Jeremiah 15:16), and Proverbs counts the one who finds wisdom blessed (Proverbs 3:13–18).

“Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee.” Discretion, mᵉzimmâh, comes from a root meaning to plan or devise. The word can describe an evil scheme, and here it is the good use of the same power: thinking ahead, weighing consequences and choosing a course wisely. Understanding, tâbûwn, the same word as in verse 6, is the insight that sees what things really are and tells good from evil and truth from falsehood. Understanding gives the insight, and discretion turns it into wise action.

The two verbs are the two of verse 8, shâmar (preserve) and nâtsar (keep). There God guards the way of his saints. Here the discretion and understanding he gives stand watch over the one who has them, and this is one of the ways God keeps his people. Proverbs says the same of wisdom elsewhere, that the one who loves her will be preserved and kept by her (Proverbs 4:6).

The next verses name what wisdom guards against: the way of evil men (Proverbs 2:12–15) and the strange woman (Proverbs 2:16–19). They also name its goal, that the son may walk in the way of good men and keep the paths of the righteous (Proverbs 2:20). The guard reaches a person’s character, reputation, family and walk with God, along with his safety. In daily life it shows in moral guidance away from wicked people and temptation, in sound decisions about money, relationships and work, and in a steady spirit through trouble.

The New Testament shows where all this wisdom is found. Christ is “the power of God, and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24), the one “In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3). The hidden treasure of verse 4 and the knowledge of verse 5 meet in him. Jesus said that only the Son knows the Father, and those to whom the Son reveals him (Matthew 11:27), and he called eternal life the knowing of the only true God and of himself (John 17:3). To fear the LORD now is to reverence God as he has shown himself in Christ and to submit to him as Lord.

The mouth from which knowledge comes in verse 6 speaks in the Word who was with God and was God (John 1:1), and God has spoken to us by his Son (Hebrews 1:1–2). “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30). So the sound wisdom laid up for the righteous is given in Christ, who lived the righteous life and fulfilled the law (Matthew 5:17), and whose righteousness is counted to those who believe (2 Corinthians 5:21). He is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6), the good path of verse 9.

Christ is also his people’s shield. By his death he shields them from God’s wrath against sin and from the rule of sin and death, and he gives them the shield of faith, “wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked” (Ephesians 6:16). He preserves the way of his saints, the name the New Testament gives to all believers (Ephesians 1:1), by interceding for them (Hebrews 7:25) and by holding them in his hand, from which no one can pluck them (John 10:28–29).

The Holy Spirit guides believers into all truth (John 16:13) and renews their minds (Romans 12:2), so that they walk after the Spirit (Romans 8:4), in newness of life (Romans 6:4), as children of light (Ephesians 5:8–9). The wisdom he gives is “first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits” (James 3:17). Christ, the bread of life (John 6:35), is the one in whom knowledge becomes pleasant to the soul, and the God who began this good work in his people will finish it “until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).

These verses show us who God is toward those who seek wisdom. He gives it, and it comes out of his own mouth. He stores it up before anyone comes looking. He stands as a shield beside the upright, guards the paths of justice, and watches the whole way of his saints until they arrive.

They also show what wisdom does when it comes. It brings us to reverence and to knowing God himself. It teaches what is right and fair and which paths are good. It becomes a pleasure to the soul, and from inside the heart it stands guard. The LORD who gives wisdom is the God of whom James says that anyone who lacks wisdom may ask him for it (James 1:5), and the search that verse 4 compares to digging for treasure ends in his open hand.