To receive the instruction of wisdom. This verse carries on the statement of the design of the Proverbs. To receive; Hebrew, לְקַחַת (lakakhath), not the same word as "to know" ( לָדַּעַת), in verse 2, though regarded as synonymous with it by Delitzsch.
Its meaning is well represented by the LXX. δέξασθαι, and the Authorized Version "to receive." The Hebrew, לָקַחַת, is infinitive, and means properly "to take, or lay hold of," hence "to receive," Greek, δέχομαι, No doubt it conveys the idea of intellectual reception (cf.
Proverbs 2:1). The instruction of wisdom; Hebrew, מוּסַר הַשְׂכֵּל (musar hasekel); i.e. the discipline or moral training which leads on to reason, intelligence, or wisdom (as Hitzig, Fuerst, Zockler); or discipline full of insight, discernment, or thoughtfulness (as Umbreit, Ewald, Delitzsch).
The phrase does not mean the wisdom which instruction imparts. The word musar occurs here in a slightly different sense from its use in verse 2; there it is objective, here its meaning as a medium for the attainment of wisdom is more distinctly brought out.
Wisdom (haskel) is properly "thoughtfulness" (so Umbreit. Ewald, Delitzsch, Plumptre). It is strictly the infinitive absolute of שָׂכַל (sakal), "to entwine or involve," and as a substantive it stands for the thinking through of a subject, so "thoughtfulness."
The LXX. renders this sentence, δέξασθαί τε στροφὰς, which St. Jerome understands as "versutias sermonum et solutiones aenigmatum" ("the cunning or craftiness of words and the explication of enigmas").
Justice, and judgment, and equity. These words seem to be the unfolding of the meaning contained in the expression, "the instruction of wisdom." Holden regards the last four words as objective genitives dependent on "instruction," but wrongly.
Cornelius a Laplde states that "justice and judgment and equity" indicate the same thing in different aspects. "Justice stands for the thing itself—that which is just; judgment in respect of right reason, which says it is just; and equity in respect of its being agreeable to the Law of God."
Justice; Hebrew, צֶדֶק (tsedek), from the root צָדַק (tsadak), "to be right, or straight;" in a moral sense it means "rectitude," "right," as in Isaiah 15:2 (Gesenius). The underlying idea is that of straightness.
Heidenheim, quoted by Delitzsch, maintains that in tsedek the conception of the justum prevails; but the latter enlarges its meaning, and holds that it also has the idea of a mode of thought and action regulated, not by the letter of the Law, but by love, as in Isaiah 41:2; Isaiah 42:6.
Plumptre thinks "righteousness" would be a better translation of the word, on the ground that the Hebrew includes the ideas of truth and beneficence. Compare with this the LXX. δικαιοσύνη. Zockler also renders "righteousness," i.
e. "that which is in accord with the will and ordinances of God as Supreme Judge." In the Authorized Version, in Proverbs 2:9, where we have the same collocation of words, tsedek is translated "righteousness;" cf.
Proverbs 12:17, "He who utters truth shows forth righteousness (tsedek)." Judgment; Hebrew, מְשְׁפָּט (mishepat), from the root שָׁפַּט (shapat), "to adjust, judge," corresponds with the Hebrew in meaning; it is the delivery of a correct judgment on human actions.
Compare the LXX. κρίμα κατευθύνειν. Equity; i.e. rectitude in thought and action (Delitzsch), or integrity (Zockler). This quality expresses upright demeanour or honoumble action on one's own part individually, while "judgment" has regard both to our own and the actions of others.
The Hebrew, mesharim ( מֵשָׁרִים), used only in the plural, is from the root יָשַׁר (yashar), "to be straight or even," and is equal to "uprightness." The plural form is reproduced in the marginal reading "equities;" comp.
Psalms 17:2, "Let thine eyes beheld the things that are equal (mesharim)." The Vulgate reads aequitas and the Syriac rectitudo. The two ideas in judgment and equity appear to be expressed in the LXX.
by the phrase. κρίμα κατευθύνειν.