Proverbs 4:8

The meaning of the ἁπ. γεγρ. סלסל is determined by רומם in the parallel clause; סלל signifies to raise, exalt, as a way or dam by heaping up; the Pilpel, here tropical: to value or estimate highly. Bttcher interprets well: hold it high in price, raise it (as a purchaser) always higher, make offer for it upon offer. The lxx (approved by Bertheau), περιχαράκωσον αὐτήν, circumvallate it, i.e., surround it with a wall (סללה) - a strange and here unsuitable figure. Hold it high, says the author, and so it will reward (Note: Lwenstein has rightly ותרוממך, vid., my preface to Baer's Genesis, p. vii.) thee with a high place, and (with chiastic transposition of the performance and the consequence) she will honour (Note: We read תכבּדך, not תכבּרך (Hahn) or תכבּדך (Lwenstein); the tone lies on the penult., and the tone-syllable has the point Tsere, as in ויגּדך, Deu 32:7; vid., Michlol 66b.) thee if (ἐάν) thou lovingly embracest her. חבּק is used of embracing in the pressure of tender love, as in Sol 2:6; Sol 8:3; the Piel is related to the Kal as amplexari to amplecti. Wisdom exalts her admirers, honours her lovers, and makes a man's appearance pleasant, causing him to be reverenced when he approaches. Regarding לוית־חן, vid., Pro 1:9. מגּן, to deliver up (Gen 14:20), to give up (Hos 11:8), is connected in the free poetic manner with two accusatives, instead of with an accus. and dat. lxx has ὑπερασπίσῃ, but one does not defend himself (as with a shield) by a wreath or crown.

When the things of God are to be taught precept must be upon precept, and line upon line, not only because the things themselves are of great worth and weight, but because men's minds, at the best, are unapt to admit them and commonly prejudiced against them; and therefore Solomon, in this chapter, with a great variety of expression and a pleasant powerful flood of divine eloquence, inculcates the same things that he had pressed upon us in the foregoing chapters. Here is, I. An earnest exhortation to the study of wisdom, that is, of true religion and godliness, borrowed from the good instructions which his father gave him, and enforced with many considerable arguments (Pro 4:1-13). II. A necessary caution against bad company and all fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness (Pro 4:14-19). III. Particular directions for the attaining and preserving of wisdom, and bringing forth the fruits of it (Pro 4:20-27). So plainly, so pressingly, is the case laid before us, that we shall be for ever inexcusable if we perish in our folly.