Bridges on Proverbs 7:1-5
 
 
Charles Bridges on Proverbs 7:1-5
 
 1-5 
 6-23 
 24-27 
 
1.  ¶ My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee. 2. Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye. 3. Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart. 4. Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman: 5. That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.
 
THE study of wisdom in the word of God is here commended to us with affectionate earnestness, and with a beautiful variety of imagery. Let us ponder these valuable rules for practical application.
Let the whole mind and heart be occupied with it. Keep it as the daily means of life. (Chapter 3:21, 22; 4:4, 13. Isaiah 55:2, 3. Jeremiah 22:15.) Sir Matthew Hale told his children — ‘If I omit reading a portion of Scripture in the morning, it never goes well with me through the day.’ Lay it up (Chapter 10:14. Deuteronomy 11:18. Luke 2:19, 51) carefully, not on our shelves, but on our hearts. Let the whole Word of God be our precious treasure. Receive the promises from his grace with simple affiance, and the commandments from his holiness with ready obedience. Stand with your eye in the land of promise; but with your feet “in the land of uprightness.” (Psalm 143:10.)
Maintain a jealous regard for the law. What care is necessary to keep the apple of the eye — that most tender part of the most tender member! (Deuteronomy 32:10. Psalm 17:8. Zechariah 2:8.) With the same care preserve the integrity of the law. Let every part of it have its full weight. To explain it away, or to lower its requirements, breaks down the barrier, and gives an easy entrance to temptation. The sensual sinner is often a covert infidel.
Let it be at hand for constant use. Bind them upon thy fingers (Chapter 3:3. Deuteronomy 6:8; 11:18); that, being always in sight, they may be always ready for the present moment. And for their practical influence, write them upon the table of thine heart. Oh! my God! this is thy Almighty work (Isaiah 26:12. 2 Corinthians 3:3.) But thou hast engaged to do it for thy people (Jeremiah 31:33.) I “take hold of thy covenant.” Lord! Seal thy promised grace.
Let it be the object of tender affection — as our sister — our kinswoman. It is her embrace that throws the harlot's beauty into the shade. Man must have his object of delight. If wisdom is not loved, lust will be indulged. The Bible therefore — not merely read, but the cherished object of familiar intercourse — proves a sacred exorcist to expel the power of evil. (Chapter 2:10, 16; 6:23, 24; 23:26, 27.)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Proverbs 3:21, 22
21 ¶ My son, let not them depart from thine eyes: keep sound wisdom and discretion: 22 So shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck.
 
Proverbs 4:4, 13
4 He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live. 13 Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life.
 
Isaiah 55:2, 3
2 Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. {spend: Heb. weigh} 3 Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
 
Jeremiah 22:15
15 Shalt thou reign, because thou closest thyself in cedar? did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with him?
 
 
Proverbs 10:14
14 ¶ Wise men lay up knowledge: but the mouth of the foolish is near destruction.
 
Deuteronomy 11:18
18 ¶ Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.
 
Luke 2:19, 51
19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. 51 And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.
 
 
Psalm 143:10
10 Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.
 
 
Deuteronomy 32:10
10 He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. {led: or, compassed}
 
Psalm 17:8
8 ¶ Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,
 
Zechariah 2:8
8 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.
 
 
Proverbs 3:3
3 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:
 
Deuteronomy 6:8
8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
 
Deuteronomy 11:18
18 ¶ Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.
 
 
Isaiah 26:12
12 ¶ LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us. {in us: or, for us}
 
2 Corinthians 3:3
3 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
 
 
Jeremiah 31:33
33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
 
 
Proverbs 2:10, 16
10 ¶ When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; 16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;
 
Proverbs 6:23, 24
23 For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life: {lamp: or, candle} 24 To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. {of the...: or, of the strange tongue}
 
Proverbs 23:26, 27
26 My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways. 27 For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.