Proverbs 2

General context

The whole chapter is a single address to "My son". It opens with a long conditional: if the son receives the speaker's words, hides his commandments, inclines his ear to wisdom, cries after knowledge and seeks her as silver and as hid treasure, then he will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. The speaker says the Lord gives wisdom, lays up sound wisdom for the righteous, is a buckler to the upright and preserves the way of his saints. When wisdom enters the son's heart, discretion and understanding will keep him. Two deliverances follow. The first is from the evil man who speaks froward things, from those who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in darkness, who rejoice to do evil and whose ways are crooked. The second is from the strange woman, the stranger who flatters with her words, who has forsaken the guide of her youth and forgotten the covenant of her God; her house inclines to death and none who go to her return. The purpose is stated: that the son may walk in the way of good men and keep the paths of the righteous. The chapter ends with a contrast: the upright will dwell in the land and the perfect remain in it, but the wicked will be cut off and the transgressors rooted out.

Cited passages: Proverbs 2:1, Proverbs 2:2, Proverbs 2:3, Proverbs 2:4, Proverbs 2:5, Proverbs 2:6, Proverbs 2:7, Proverbs 2:8, Proverbs 2:10, Proverbs 2:11, Proverbs 2:12, Proverbs 2:13, Proverbs 2:14, Proverbs 2:15, Proverbs 2:16, Proverbs 2:17, Proverbs 2:18, Proverbs 2:19, Proverbs 2:20, Proverbs 2:21, Proverbs 2:22

Proverbs 2 (KJV)

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Historical context

The speaker is not named; the address "My son" continues the pattern begun in chapter 1, and the words are the speaker's own ("my words", "my commandments"). Wisdom is referred to as "her" in verse 4 without any renewed introduction, so the personification from chapter 1 is assumed. The "strange woman" is described only by what she does: she flatters with her words, has forsaken the guide of her youth and forgotten the covenant of her God. The text does not say who the "guide of her youth" is, nor does it name her, her city or her people; the word "stranger" is used alongside "strange woman" without explanation. The "evil man" is likewise a type, defined by froward speech and crooked ways, not an individual. The promise that the upright "shall dwell in the land" and the wicked "shall be cut off from the earth" names no particular land. The chapter asserts that the Lord gives wisdom and preserves the way of his saints, but it does not describe any event; it is instruction, not narrative.

Cited passages: Proverbs 2:1, Proverbs 2:4, Proverbs 2:16, Proverbs 2:17, Proverbs 2:12, Proverbs 2:21, Proverbs 2:6

Literary context

The chapter is one extended sentence of condition and result. Three "if" clauses (verses 1, 3 and 4) build toward two "Then" clauses (verses 5 and 9), and the reasons are supplied by "For" (verse 6). The middle of the chapter turns on the phrase "To deliver thee", used twice to introduce the two dangers, the evil man and the strange woman, which are laid out in parallel: each is defined by speech ("speaketh froward things", "flattereth with her words") and by a path ("ways of darkness", "her paths unto the dead"). The imagery of the way runs through the whole chapter: paths of judgment, paths of uprightness, crooked ways, paths of life, the way of good men, the paths of the righteous. The search for wisdom is compared to a search for silver and hid treasures, valuing wisdom in the terms of a merchant. The close is a two-line antithesis, "the upright shall dwell in the land" against "the wicked shall be cut off", which resolves the conditional structure into a plain outcome. The strange woman is introduced here for the first time and will return in chapters 5, 6 and 7.

Cited passages: Proverbs 2:1, Proverbs 2:5, Proverbs 2:9, Proverbs 2:12, Proverbs 2:16, Proverbs 2:13, Proverbs 2:18, Proverbs 2:4, Proverbs 2:19, Proverbs 2:22

Key moments

1. If thou wilt receive my words (Proverbs 2:1). The address opens with the condition that the son receive and hide the speaker's words.
2. Seek her as silver (Proverbs 2:4). The son is told to seek wisdom as silver and search for her as for hidden treasure.
3. The Lord gives wisdom (Proverbs 2:6). The speaker says wisdom, knowledge and understanding come from the Lord's mouth.
4. Delivered from the evil man (Proverbs 2:12). Understanding is said to deliver the son from the man who speaks froward things.
5. Delivered from the strange woman (Proverbs 2:16). The strange woman who flatters with her words is named as the second danger.
6. None who go to her return (Proverbs 2:19). The speaker says her house inclines to death and none who go to her return.
7. The upright dwell, the wicked cut off (Proverbs 2:21). The chapter closes by contrasting the upright who remain in the land with the wicked who are rooted out.

For reflection

The speaker says wisdom must be sought as silver and searched for as hid treasure, yet also that the Lord gives it. How do the effort of the seeker and the gift of the giver sit together in this chapter?