Bridges on Proverbs 3:7-8
 
 
Charles Bridges on Proverbs 3:7-8
 
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7.†  ¶ Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.  8.  It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones. {health: Heb. medicine} {marrow: Heb. watering, or, moistening}
 
This warning against self-confidence is closely connected with the preceding verse. The wise in his own eyes is he, that leans to his own understanding.† Such wisdom is folly and self-delusion.† Put it away, and let it be thy wisdom to fear the LORD, and depart from evil. How striking is this connexion between the fear of God and the fear of sin. (Chapter 14:27; 16:6. Genesis 39:9, 10. Nehemiah 5:15. Job 28:28.) Where God is honoured, sin is hated, loathed, and resisted. (Romans 7:18-24.) It lives indeed; but it is condemned to die. (Ibid. 6:6.) It cleaves to the child of God. But his heart departs from it. Often is it the cause of the sickness of the body:† always of the soul. (Hosea 7:9.) The departure from it in the exercise of self-denial and godly discipline, is health to the body. (Verses 1, 2.) The soul, drooping under the baneful influence of spiritual disease, revives in fruitfulness. (Hosea 14:5-7.) The man that feareth the LORD, under “the healing beams of the Sun of Righteousness, goeth forth” (Malachi 4:2), as from his sick chamber, full of life and Christian energy. “The joy of the LORD is his strength.” (Nehemiah 8:10.)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Footnote:
Verse 5. Compare 23:4. Romans 12:3-16. See the mind of God expressed in that solemn woe. (Isaiah 5:21.)
 
 
Proverbs 3:5
5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
 
Proverbs 23:4
4 ¶ Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.
 
Romans 12:3-16
3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. {soberly: Gr. to sobriety} 4 For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: 5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; 7 Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; 8 Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness. {giveth: or, imparteth} {with simplicity: or, liberally} 9 Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. 10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; {with...: or, in the love of the brethren} 11 Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; 12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; 13 Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality. 14 Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. 15 Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. 16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. {condescend...: or, be contented with mean things}
 
Isaiah 5:21
21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! {in their own sight: Heb. before their face}
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Footnote:
Even a heathen could remark — ‘I suppose that many might have attained to wisdom, had they not thought they had already attained it.’ Seneca, de Ira,, Lib. iii. c. 36. Compare 1 Corinthians 8:2; Galatians 6:3. ‘Our knowledge should hold the light before us, and help us for the better discovery of our ignorance, and so dispose us to humility, not pride.’ — Bp. Sanderson's Sermon on Romans 14:3.
 
 
1 Corinthians 8:2
2 And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.
 
Galatians 6:3
3 For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.
 
Romans 14:3
3 Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Proverbs 14:27
27 The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.
 
Proverbs 16:6
6 ¶ By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.
 
Genesis 39:9, 10
9 There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God? 10 And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her.
 
Nehemiah 5:15
15 But the former governors that had been before me were chargeable unto the people, and had taken of them bread and wine, beside forty shekels of silver; yea, even their servants bare rule over the people: but so did not I, because of the fear of God.
 
Job 28:28
28 And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Romans 7:18-24
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. 19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? {the body...: or, this body of death}
 
 
Romans 6:6
6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
 
 
Footnote:
In sensual indulgence — Chapter 5:8-11. Intemperance — 23:29, 30. As a judicial infliction — Psalm 32:3, 4; Psalm 38:1-8. 1 Corinthians 11:30.
 
 
In sensual indulgence —
Proverbs 5:8-11
8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house: 9 Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel: 10 Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger; {thy wealth: Heb. thy strength} 11 And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
 
Intemperance —
Proverbs 23:29, 30
29 ¶ Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? 30 They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.
 
As a judicial infliction —
Psalm 32:3, 4
3 When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. 4 For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.
 
Psalm 38:1-8
1 ¶ {A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance.} O LORD, rebuke me not in thy wrath: neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. 2 For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore. 3 There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin. {rest: Heb. peace, or, health} 4 For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me. 5 My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness. 6 I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long. {troubled: Heb. wried} 7 For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease: and there is no soundness in my flesh. 8 I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart.
 
1 Corinthians 11:30
30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Hosea 7:9
9 Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not. {here...: Heb. sprinkled}
 
 
Proverbs 3:1, 2
1 ¶ My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: 2 For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee. {long...: Heb. years of life}
 
 
Hosea 14:5-7
5 I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. {grow: or, blossom} {cast...: Heb. strike} 6 His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. {spread: Heb. go} 7 They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon. {grow: or, blossom} {scent: or, memorial}
 
 
Malachi 4:2
2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
 
 
Nehemiah 8:10
10 Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.