Proverbs 8:20

Pro 8:20 I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment:

Ver. 20. I lead in the way of righteousness.] Which is to say, I got not my wealth per fas atque nefas, by right and wrong, by wrench and wile. My riches are not the riches of unrighteousness, "the mammon of iniquity"; {Luk 16:9} but are honestly come by, and are therefore like to be "durable," {Pro 8:18} or, as others render it, ancient. St Jerome somewhere saith, that most rich men are either themselves bad men, or heirs of those that have been bad. There is a profane proverb among us, Happy is that child whose father goes to the devil! It is reported of Nevessan the lawyer, that he should say, He that will not venture his body, shall never be valiant; he that will not venture his soul, never rich. But wisdom’s walk lies not any such way. God forbid, saith she, that I, or any of mine, should take of Satan, "from a thread even to a shoe latchet, lest he should say, I have made you rich." {Gen 14:23}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Pro_8:20

I lead in the way of righteousnses.

Substance the inheritance of the saints

I. Jesus leads in the way of righteousness--

1. By leading them into His holy, strict, and condemning law.

2. By implanting sincerity and uprightness.

II. Jesus leads in the midst of the paths of judgment. These paths of judgment are when He, with His holy eye, scrutinises the heart and brings to light its secret workings. He leads by setting up a court of judicature in the heart, arraigning the soul at its bar; not with vengeance, as punishing a criminal, but as a parent, after the child has been playing truant all day.

III. Jesus causes the soul to inherit substance. Something solid, weighty, powerful, real, and eternal. Power and life and feeling, and the blessed kingdom of God set up with authority in the soul. A substantial religion--something that is dropped into the soul from His own blessed self, something that comes out of Himself, and out of the fulness of His own loving heart, to make them rejoice and be glad. (J. C. Philpot.)

In the midst of the paths of Judgment.

The golden mean

In this country, if you walk in the middle of the street in the town, or in the middle of the road in the country, you are exposed to danger from horses and vehicles, for which that part of the road was reserved, and therefore side-paths and pavements have been provided, where you can take refuge from the traffic. It is different in the East. There the roads are so badly made, and so little frequented, that you are always safest in the middle. There is a rock, perhaps, on this side, and a precipice or a ditch on that, and the edges of the road are always so rugged and uneven that only the well-worn track in the middle is available for easy travelling. And from this condition of Eastern roads has arisen the moral lesson that the middle of the path of conduct is the safest and the best. The sentiment may be exemplified in everything moral and religious. The Greeks of old always spoke of the golden mean between two extremes, and were fond of proving that truth and safety always lay in the middle. The wise man speaks of the paths of judgment. These paths are oft either side of the way of righteousness, which is the middle; and they are called paths of judgment because, if you stray into them off the strait and narrow way of righteousness, you will meet with dangers and evils that will assuredly punish you. The virtues that yield the blessings of life are in the middle, between the vices that wreck and blight your life. A little too much on the one side or the other makes all the difference in the world; and so close to each other do the evils you have to avoid come, that narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. The side-path may, therefore, be smooth and pleasant, but it leads to danger. The middle of the road may be rough and difficult, but it is safe--the way of righteousness, between the paths of judgment. (H. Macmillan,D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Pro 8:20-21. I lead in the way of righteousness — In the way of truth, justice, and mercy, of holiness and happiness; the way in which God would have men to walk, and which will certainly bring them to the desired end. In the midst of the paths of judgment, keeping at an equal distance from both extremes, and from the very borders of them. That I may cause, &c., to inherit substance — Substantial, true, and satisfying happiness; which is here opposed to all worldly enjoyments, which are but mere shadows, and dreams of felicity, Pro 23:5.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For there can be no true justice or judgment, which is not rejected by this wisdom.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

The courses in which wisdom leads conduct to a true present prosperity (Pro 23:5).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 20. I lead in the way of righteousness] Nothing but the teaching that comes from God by his word and Spirit can do this.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(20) I lead in the way of righteousness.—Comp. Psa_37:23; also a prayer for such guidance, Psa_119:33; Psa_143:8; and a promise of it Isa_30:21

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I lead in the way of righteousness,.... As a king his subjects, a shepherd his flock; as a guide to persons that are ignorant and out of the way; as parents their children, teaching them to go; or as a master his scholars: and the way Wisdom, or Christ, leads his people in, is "the way of righteousness"; the doctrine of righteousness, or the way and manner of a sinner's justification in the sight of God; all men are out of the way of it, and are ignorant of the right way; Christ leads them into it: he leads them off of their own righteousness by showing that it does not deserve the name of one; that it is unacceptable to God, unprofitable to him, and insufficient to justify them before him; and he leads them to his own righteousness, which he has wrought out; and shows them that this is answerable to the demands of law and justice, is acceptable to God, and imputed by him without works; and this he does in his word and by his Spirit: and in this way of righteousness he leads them into his Father's presence with acceptance; to himself, in which he beholds them with pleasure; and to eternal glory, which gives them a title to it: he also leads into the practice of righteousness; he teaches them, and they learn of him works of righteousness; he goes before them by way of example, and he gives them his Spirit and grace to enable them to perform them; and which may more especially be intended in the next clause;

in the midst of the paths of judgment: of truth and holiness; in his commandments and ordinances; in all which they are led not against their wills but with them; and not only walk but run with the greatest cheerfulness in those ways and paths of his.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Keeping at an equal distance from both extremes, and from the very borders of them; which is called a

putting away iniquity far from us, Job 22:23.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

20, 21. I lead — אהלךְ, perhaps better, I move habitually; that is, as the leader and exemplar of my votaries: for the purpose stated in the next verse.

Righteousness — Rectitude.

Judgment — Judicial or administrative justice.

Substance — All real substantial good.

Treasures — Treasuries, storehouses. “That I may insure abundance to those who love me.” — Zockler. “So results a heritage to those who love me.” — Miller. Thus ends this head of the discourse of wisdom. How magnificent and substantial the blessings she holds out to her votaries! How great the contrast between her and the syren of voluptuous pleasure! The lovers of a short-lived, carnal indulgence plunge speedily into utter misery and ruin:

the lovers of heavenly wisdom secure to themselves and their posterity permanent good of the highest kind. It may positively be true, that in the mind of the writer these blessings did not go beyond the present life. But we, to whom life and immortality are fully brought to light by the Gospel, may extend and amplify the principles here laid down, to the laying hold of the spiritual and eternal. We may carry forward the promises and propositions of wisdom, so as to include “the life that is to come;” “an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” 1Pe_1:4-5.

The following verses are admired by all critics as a composition of wonderful excellence. The general subject is the same as the preceding; the personification is continued; but wisdom, instead of being regarded as a quality or attribute of man, is presented, in a bold prosopopoeia, as an attribute of God himself. The design is to show the claims of wisdom on the ground of her antiquity, her divine origin, and her sympathy with man.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I lead in the way (better, I walk in the way) of righteousness. I act always according to the rules of justice. In the midst of the paths of judgment. I swerve not to one side or the other. (Pro_4:27) So the psalmist prays, "Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end;" "Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk". (Psa_119:33 Psa_143:8) And the promise is given to the faithful in Isa_30:21, "Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left." Virtue, as Aristotle has taught us, is the mean between two extremes.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.