Proverbs 6:23

Since in היא the idea of wisdom and of wholesome doctrine lie in one another, the author can proceed with proof: For a lamp is the commandment, and instruction a light (Jerome et lex lux); And a way of life, disciplinary reproofs. That תורה has here not the positive, specifically Israelitish sense, but the generalized sense of instruction in conformity with truth regarding the will of God and the duty of man, vid., p. 42. This instruction mediated by man, but of divine origin, is אור, light, which enlightens the man who submits to it; and the commandment, מצוה, which directs men in every case to do what is right, and forbids that which is wrong (including the prohibition Lev 4:2), is נר, a lamp which, kindled at that light, enlightens all the darkness of ignorance with reference to human conduct and its consequences. אור and נר are related to each other as general and particular, primary and derivative. Lwenstein accentuates incorrectly תּורהו אור instead of תּורהו אור (as the Cod. 1294 and the 3 Erfurt Codd.); vid., on the retrogression of the tone, not existing here, under Pro 3:15. The gen. מוּסר denotes the object or character of the admonition: not disciplinary in the external sense of the word, but rather moral, having in view discipline in the sense of education, i.e., moral edification and elevation. Such corrections are דּרך חיּים, the way to true life, direction how to obtain it.

In this chapter we have, I. A caution against rash suretiship (Pro 6:1-5). II. A rebuke to slothfulness (Pro 6:6-11). III. The character and fate of a malicious mischievous man (Pro 6:12-15). IV. An account of seven things which God hates (Pro 6:16-19). V. An exhortation to make the word of God familiar to us (Pro 6:20-23). VI. A repeated warning of the pernicious consequences of the sin of whoredom (Pro 6:24-35). We are here dissuaded from sin very much by arguments borrowed from our secular interests, for it is not only represented as damning in the other world, but as impoverishing in this.