Length of days may prove a curse, when it brings shame, sorrow

For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee. (Prov. 3:2)

For length of days…

A sweet mercy, and generally desired. {What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good?, Ps 34:12} Short life is reckoned as a curse, {Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain?, Ps 89:47} yet in some cases it is a blessing. {And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him: for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam, 1Ki 14:13; The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come, Isa 57:1}

Lest any humbled sinners should despair

None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life. (Prov. 2:19)

None that go unto her return again. Some of the ancients have herehence concluded that adultery is an unpardonable sin; but “all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men,” saith our Saviour, “save only the sin against the Holy Ghost.” {#Mt 12:31}

Beautiful faces

For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. (Prov. 2:18)

And nothing hath so much enriched hell, saith one, as beautiful faces.

Marriage is a mixed covenant

Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God. (Prov. 2:17)

And forgetteth the covenant of her God.

Marriage is a mixed covenant, partly religious and partly civil: the parties tie themselves first to God, and then to one another. The bond is made to God, who also will be ready enough to take the forfeiture.

A dull suitor begs a denial

Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding. (Prov. 2:3)

2:3 And liftest up thy voice.

As resolved to “give God no rest” till thou hast it.

Choose the good

For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord. (Proverbs 1:29)

1:29 And did not choose.

Αρετη, quasi αιρετη: Αγαθον, quasi αγαν θεατον.

“Refuse the evil, and choose the good.” {#Isa 7:16}

“Choose the things that please God”; {#Isa 56:4}

“that wherein he delights.” {#Isa 65:12}

Anger may rush into a wise man’s bosom, not rest there

Proverbs 14: Ver. 29:

He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding:
but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly.

He that is slow to anger is of great understanding.

“The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable,” tractable.

Thunder, hail, tempest, neither trouble nor hurt celestial bodies.

Should we not incite, entice, whet, and “provoke one another”

Prov. 1:11 If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:

Come with me. If sinners have their “Come,” should not saints much more?

“Come, let us go up to the house of the Lord.” {#Isa 2:3}

“Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.” {#Isa 2:5}

“Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts; I will go also.” {#Zec 8:21}

 

Should we not incite, entice, whet, and “provoke one another,” {1} “sharpen” and extimulate, {2} rouse and “stir up” {b} each other to love and good works? {3}

But as the sunshine puts out fire, so did the fear of God the fire of lust

Prov. 1:10. My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.

If sinners entice thee. To an ill bargain; to a match of mischief, as Ahab did Jehoshaphat, as Potiphar’s wife would have done Joseph; and truly, that he yielded not, was no less a wonder, than that those three worthies burnt not in the midst of the fiery furnace.

But as the sunshine puts out fire, so did the fear of God the fire of lust.