Proverbs 7:4

4 Say to wisdom, "you are my sister," and you shall call insight, "{intimate friend}."

Proverbs 7:4 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 7:4

Say unto wisdom, Thou art [my] sister
Intimately acquainted, greatly beloved, and highly delighted in: this may be understood both of the Gospel, the wisdom of God in a mystery, which men should be conversant with, be strongly affected to, and take delight and pleasure in; and of Christ, the essential Wisdom of God, and who stands in the relation of a brother to his people, and should be respected as such; and call understanding [thy] kinswoman;
or "kinsman" F1; such Christ is in our nature, our "goel", our near kinsman, partaker of the same flesh and blood, and therefore is not ashamed to call us brethren, nor should we be ashamed to call him kinsman: moreover, his Word and Gospel, and the understanding of it, should be familiar to us; it should be well "known" F2 by us, as the word used signifies, and dwell richly in us.


FOOTNOTES:

F1 (edm) "cognatum", Piscator.
F2 "Notam", Montanus, Michaelis.

Proverbs 7:4 In-Context

2 Keep my commands and live, and my teaching like [the] {apple of your eye}.
3 Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Say to wisdom, "you are my sister," and you shall call insight, "{intimate friend}."
5 [In order] to guard yourself from {an adulteress}, from the foreigner who {makes her words smooth}.
6 For at the window of my house, through my lattice, I looked down.

Footnotes 3

  • [a]. Hebrew "the wisdom"
  • [b]. Hebrew "the insight"
  • [c]. Literally "one who is known." To "know" is often a euphemism for intercourse. Therefore "intimate friend" may also be read "lover."
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.