Proverbs (Part 101) - Pro 8:34-35

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34. Pro 8:34 - "Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors." A. Blessed is the man that heareth me, i. Wisdom is speaking (Pro 8:1, 12). ii. The man that hears wisdom is blessed. a. Hear v. - 1. a. intr. To perceive, or have the sensation of, sound; to possess or exercise the faculty of audition, of which the specific organ is the ear. 4. To exercise the auditory function intentionally; to give ear, hearken, listen. b. trans. To listen to (a person or thing) with more or less attention or understanding; to give ear to, hearken to; to give audience to. b. Blessed adj - 1. Consecrated, hallowed, holy; consecrated by a religious rite or ceremony. 3. a. Enjoying supreme felicity; happy, fortunate. 4. a. Bringing, or accompanied by, blessing or happiness; pleasurable, joyful, blissful. iii. Those who hear wisdom are happy (blessed) (1Ki 10:8). iv. Those who hear wisdom are fortunate for being able to do so and will experience happiness and joy as a result (Pro 3:13). v. Wisdom's ways are ways of pleasantness and peace (Pro 3:17). vi. A faithful man who hears and obeys wisdom's words will abound with blessings (Pro 28:20). B. watching daily at my gates, i. The man who will hear wisdom and be blessed has be looking for it. a. Watch v. - 1. a. To be or remain awake. 2. a. To remain awake for purposes of devotion; to keep vigil. 4. a. To be on the look out; to keep a person or thing in sight, so as to be aware of any movement or change. b. Wise men will seek wisdom and will attain unto wise counsels (Pro 1:5). c. There is wisdom to be learned from wise men if you seek them out (Pro 18:15) and draw their wisdom out of them (Pro 18:4; Pro 20:5). ii. If you want to hear wisdom's words, you need to be seeking them continually and habitually. a. Daily adv. - Every day, day by day. Often in a looser sense: Constantly, always, habitually. b. Be like the Bereans who searched the scriptures daily (Act 17:11). c. Wisdom exhorts us daily through wise men (Heb 3:13). d. We just need to be willing to hear and receive it. iii. If you want to hear wisdom's words, you have to go to where wisdom speaks, which is at the gates. a. Wisdom cries at the gates of the city where people congregate (Pro 8:3). (i) Gate n. - 1. An opening in a wall, made for the purpose of entrance and exit, and capable of being closed by a movable barrier, the existence of which is usually implied; said with reference to a city or other enclosure, or the enclosure-wall of a large building, formerly also to the bulding itself, where door or doors is now commonly employed. 2. In Biblical phraseology, after Hebrew; ellipt. for gate(s) of the city as a place of judicial assembly. (ii) "The gateways of walled cities, as well as the open spaces near them, were popular places to resort, being vaulted and cool, and convenient for the meeting of friends, or for a view of strangers, since all who went in or out must pass that way. They often resembled large stone halls, and had sufficient area to accommodate large assemblages. There the people assembled at the close of the day to tell the news, and to discuss various topics of interest." (James M. Freeman, Manners and Customs of the Bible, p. 20) b. Wisdom doesn't whisper in secret, but cries openly (Pro 8:1-2). (i) You don't have to go to a secluded mountaintop or a monastery to find wisdom. (ii) Wisdom cries from the pulpit in church every Sunday and at Bible studies every Wednesday. (iii) There are enough sermons on the internet to hear wisdom crying daily. c. Wisdom is easy to find if you want to find it. (i) It is found in God's word (Pro 2:6). (ii) It is found in wise men whom God sends out to His people (Mat 23:34). (iii) If you walk with wise men, you will learn wisdom and be wise (Pro 13:20). C. waiting at the posts of my doors. i. Hearing wisdom requires waiting patiently. ii. Wait v. - 1. a. trans. To watch with hostile intent; to spy upon; to lie in wait for. Obs. 7. intr. or absol. a. To remain in a place, defer one's departure until something happens. 9. a. To be in readiness to receive orders; hence, to be in attendance as a servant; to attend as a servant does to the requirements of a superior. iii. If we wait on God, He will teach us His truth (Psa 25:5). iv. Wisdom is acquired over time as one studies the scriptures, lives and gains experience, and finds wise men to learn from. v. It doesn't come over night. vi. To make a hyper-literal application of this verse (Pro 8:34), you may literally have to wait at a wise counselor's door for him to be ready to see you and give you advice. 35. Pro 8:35 - "For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD." A. For whoso findeth me findeth life, i. Wisdom is speaking (Pro 8:1, 12). ii. The word for connects this verse with the previous ones. a. For conj. - B. conj. 1. Introducing the cause of a fact, the statement of which precedes or follows: Because. 2. a. Introducing the ground or reason for something previously said: Seeing that, since. b. The reason why children of God are blessed when they hear and keep wisdom's ways is because those that do so find life and obtain favour of the LORD (Pro 8:32-34). iii. Whoso finds wisdom finds life. a. Whoso pron. - 1. = whoever 1: Any (one) who. b. Whoever pron. - I. 1. As compound relative, or with correlative in principal clause, which usually follows but occas. precedes; in generalized or indefinite sense: Whatever person or persons; any one who, or any who. c. Wisdom is stating that anyone who finds her finds life. d. Of course this is a qualified whoso because only those who seek wisdom will find her (Mat 7:7). iv. Whoso finds wisdom finds life. a. The previous verses explain how to find wisdom (Pro 8:33-34). b. Finding wisdom requires hearing instruction, not refusing it, and watching and waiting for opportunities to gain wisdom. c. Those who find wisdom are those who earnestly apply their hearts to it, cry after it, and seek it as it were hid treasure (Pro 2:1-6). v. Whoso finds wisdom finds life. a. Life n. - 1. a. Primarily, the condition, quality, or fact of being a living person or animal. 2. fig. Used to designate a condition of power, activity, or happiness, in contrast to a condition conceived hyperbolically or metaphorically as ‘death’. b. Wisdom is life to the soul (Pro 3:22; Pro 4:22; Pro 16:22). c. Living in wisdom makes one enjoy the best that life has to offer. B. and shall obtain favour of the LORD. i. Favour n. - 1. a. Propitious or friendly regard, goodwill, esp. on the part of a superior or a multitude. to find favour in the eyes of (orig. a Hebraism): to gain the goodwill of. Formerly also with a and pl.: A liking, preference. to have a favour to: to have a liking or regard for. ii. In other words, those who find wisdom will be a friend of God, and He will have friendly regard and goodwill toward them. iii. Jesus told His disciples that they were His friends if they did whatever He commanded them (Joh 15:14). iv. Those that keep wisdom's ways (Pro 8:32) are the friends of God like Abraham (Jam 2:23). v. A man who seeks and finds wisdom is a good man who obtains favour of the LORD (Pro 3:4; Pro 12:2). vi. One of the ways that God displays his favour towards a good man who seeks and finds wisdom by giving him a godly wife (Pro 18:22).