Blog - Proverbs 2:7

If you like this blog, then you will like Get Wisdom, Get Understanding which is Pastor Wagner's commentary on Proverbs chapter 1 which is available on Amazon in paperback or Kindle. Find out more here. For all the blogs in this series, click here: Proverbs Commentary. Proverbs 2:7 "He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly." (Pro 2:7)

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Herein we discover that the LORD has a depository of wisdom from which He dispenses to the diligent who ask and seek for it. Our heavenly Father lays up wisdom which is "to deposit or put away in a place for safety; to store up (goods, provisions); to put by" (OED). Even with infinite resources at His disposal, the LORD is nevertheless a saver, laying up wisdom for the time to come. As a good leader, the Almighty leads by example in teaching His children the importance and necessity of saving, a principle that is taught throughout the Bible: "there is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise; but a foolish man spendeth it up" (Pro 21:20). While it's prudent to under-consume to put away physical wealth for the future, how much more so is it incumbent upon a Christian to "lay up for [himself] treasures in heaven" (Mat 6:20). The LORD repeatedly admonishes His people to follow His lead and lay up spiritual treasures, not in their houses, but in their hearts.

Deu 11:18 - 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.
Job 22:22 - Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart.
Pro 7:1 - My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.
Pro 10:14 - Wise men lay up knowledge: but the mouth of the foolish is near destruction.
Pro 23:23 - Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.

He layeth up sound wisdom. The LORD lays not up "the wisdom of the Egyptians" (Act 7:22), nor "the wisdom of words" (1Co 1:17), nor "the wisdom of the wise" (1Co 1:19), nor "the wisdom of men" (1Co 2:5), nor "the wisdom of this world" (1Co 1:20; 1Co 2:6) which "is foolishness with God" (1Co 3:19); but rather, He lays up "the wisdom of God" (1Co 1:24) -- sound wisdom -- wisdom which is "in full accordance with fact, reason, or good sense; founded on true or well-established grounds; free from error, fallacy, or logical defect; good, strong, valid" (OED). The wisdom of God, which He lays up for His righteous children, is the truth which conforms to reality and is in agreement with fact and reason. It is reliable and cannot be gainsaid. It therefore can be trusted unreservedly, and blessed shall be the man who does so; yea, "blessed is that man that maketh the LORD his trust" (Psa 40:4). He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous. The sound wisdom which the LORD lays up is not for the natural man, for He "give[s] not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast[s] [His] pearls before swine" (Mat 7:6). Instead of dispensing sound wisdom to sinners, God rather "shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie" because "they received not the love of the truth" (2Th 2:10-11). The LORD's sound wisdom is instead laid up for the righteous who are "just, upright, virtuous; guiltless, sinless; conforming to the standard of the divine or the moral law; acting rightly or justly" (OED). The righteous are such because God made them so by taking their sins away through the atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ, "for he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (2Co 5:21). Having Christ's righteousness imputed unto them, the elect can then work out the salvation that God worked into them (Phi 2:12-13) and live a just, upright, virtuous life which conforms to the standard of the divine law; and when they do, the LORD will open His storehouse of wisdom and pour it out to them, showering them with blessings.

Psa 11:7 - For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright.
Psa 34:15 - The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.
Psa 146:8 - The LORD openeth the eyes of the blind: the LORD raiseth them that are bowed down: the LORD loveth the righteous:
Pro 10:24 - The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him: but the desire of the righteous shall be granted.
Pro 15:29 - The LORD is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous.

The righteous have not far to look to find the sound wisdom which God has laid up for them, for the LORD has hidden it in one readily accessible repository: His holy word. The scripture is the one place where sound (true) wisdom is found, for it alone "is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever" (Psa 119:160). As the psalmist wrote, "all thy commandments are truth" (Psa 119:151), which sentiment the Lord Jesus Christ affirmed when He said "thy word is truth" (Joh 17:17). He is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. To those who walk uprightly (in a just or upright manner; with strict observance of justice, honesty, or rectitude; sincerely, justly - OED), the LORD is a buckler which is "a small round shield; fig. a means of defence; protection, protector" (OED). In other words, God is the protector and defender of the righteous, which He accomplishes by two means: directly and indirectly. The Almighty directly, through His sovereign control of all things, hedges His children about, keeping the devil and the evil of this world from them.

Psa 5:12 - For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield.
Psa 91:4-10 - He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. 5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; 6 Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. 7 A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. 8 Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. 9 Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; 10 There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.

In addition to His direct protection, the LORD indirectly safeguards His obedient children by giving them wisdom through His word which enables them to make wise decisions to avoid the snares and traps of the wicked.

Pro 2:10-12,16 - When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; 11 Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: 12 To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things; 16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;

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