Proverbs 9:3

Pro 9:3 She hath sent forth her maidens: she crieth upon the highest places of the city,

Ver. 3. She hath sent forth her maidens.] So ministers are called - in prosecution of the allegory, for it is fit that this great lady should have suitable attendants - to teach them innocence, purity, and sedulity as maidens, keeping the word in sincerity, and not adulterating and corrupting it, as vintners oft do their wines, or hucksters their wares. Hence Isaiah also putteth the prophets and evangelists in the feminine gender, Mebashereth {Isa 52:7}

She crieth upon, &c.] She, together with her maids, crieth; she puts not off all the business to them, but hath a hand in it herself. We are workers together with God, saith Paul.

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_9:3-4

Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither.

The choice of wisdom

Life is reduced to an alternative; there is clearly marked out for us all, at the beginning of our life, that all is one thing or the other, wisdom or folly. To these two voices, all the noise and tumult of life, and all the diverse voices in your own souls, may be reduced. They are all either the call of the wisdom of God, or they are the call of folly, sense, and sin. Let me counsel you, then--

I. To choose. The curse of men--and of young people especially--is that they drift into passions and habits before they know where they are. But it is a low and discreditable thing for men, old or young, that they should be the creatures and sport of the mere circumstances around them. All your life should have in it the deliberation and the resolve of a calm, settled choice. Here is the manliness of manhood, that a man has a reason for what he does, and has a will in doing it. Be the masters and lords of the circumstances in which you stand. There are two courses in life. There are but two. The two are utterly irreconcilable and discordant. You cannot have them both. Then be men, and choose.

II. Choose wisdom.

1. Look at these two personified claimants--Wisdom and Folly. Wisdom is closely connected with uprightness of heart. It is both an intellectual and a moral excellence. Wisdom has rectitude for an essential part of it, the fibre of its very being is righteousness and holiness. This wisdom is not only an attribute of the human soul. We rise to righteousness. If a man would be wise, it must be with a wisdom that was in God before it is in him. Our prayer should be, In Thy wisdom make us wise. A further step has to be taken. Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. There, in that living person, is the highest embodiment of all wisdom. All which is not of God is the foolish woman. All which does not inhere in Christ, and appeal to us through and from Him, is that clamorous and persistent voice which leads us all astray, if we listen to it. The world and sense--these are her grossest forms. But there are less offensive forms besetting us all.

III. Choose now. Wisdom appeals to conscience. Folly appeals only to the sense of pleasure and the desire for its gratification. Both ask for your decision now. There is a strange tendency to put off decision. But it is an awful risk for a man to run. Every day that you live makes it less likely that you will choose. Every day that you live makes it harder for you to choose aright. Every day that you live takes away some of the power of resolving, and takes away some motive to resolve. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

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

Pro 9:3. She hath sent forth her maidens — Her servants, to invite the guests, namely, the ministers of the word of God, whom he calls maidens, for the decency of the parable; for Wisdom being compared to a great princess, it was fit she should be attended on by maidens. She crieth upon the highest places — Upon the tops of the houses, (which were flat,) conformably to what our Lord says, Mat 10:7, What ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. Or, from such high seats and places as those from which judges delivered their sentences, and officers made proclamations for the convenience of the people’s better hearing.

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

9:3 Throughout the ancient Near East, temples were built on the heights overlooking the city. A commitment to wisdom involves a commitment to the Lord (contrast 9:14).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Meaning, true preachers, which are not infected with man’s wisdom.

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

maidens--servants to invite (compare Psa 68:11; Isa 40:9).

highest places--ridges of heights, conspicuous places.

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 3. She hath sent forth her maidens] The wisdom of God has made use of the most proper means to communicate Divine knowledge to the inhabitants of the earth; as a good and gracious Creator wills to teach them whence they came, how they are supported, whither they are going, and for what end they were formed. It is a custom to the present day, in Asiatic countries, to send their invitations to guests by a company of females, preceded by eunuchs: they go to the doors of the invited, and deliver their message.

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

(3) She hath sent forth her maidens.—Wisdom being here described under the figure of a woman, is properly represented as attended by her maidens, whom she sends forth to summon the guests. But the King (Matthew 22) despatches His servants for the same work, viz., His prophets and wise men and scribes (Mat_23:34), whom from age to age He sends forth as His messengers.

She crieth upon the highest places of the city—so that all may hear. (Comp. our Lord’s command to proclaim His message “upon the housetops,” Mat_10:27).

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

She hath sent forth her maidens,.... Not moral virtues, or good works, which subserve the interest of Christ and religion, adorn the Gospel and its professors; nor the liberal arts and sciences, said to be handmaids to divinity; nor angels, ministering spirits to Christ; but the ministers of the Gospel, who being so called does not suppose or encourage women's preaching; but have the name to keep up the decency of the parable, and the propriety of the allegory: for since Wisdom is represented as a lady, a princess or queen, it is proper that her attendants should be maidens, or that she should employ such in inviting her guests; as Rebekah, Pharaoh's daughter, Esther, and others, are said to have their maidens to wait upon them: and besides, it very fitly expresses the character of Gospel ministers; as that they are the servants of Christ, followers of him, obsequious to him, humble and modest, incorrupt in doctrine, pure in conversation, and whose voice is soft, pleasant, and delightful: being not the rough voice of the law, but the still, small, musical voice of the Gospel; a voice of love, grace, and mercy; of peace, pardon, and righteousness, liberty, life, and salvation; very charming, alluring, and drawing. These Christ has a property in; he chooses and calls them, and fits them for his service; and they give up themselves to him, and willingly engage in it. And these he "sends forth": from him they have their mission and commission to preach the Gospel; to invite persons to the Gospel feast, to partake of the provisions he has made: he sends them forth publicly into the world, into all places where his people are, into the streets and lanes; yea, to the hedges and highways, to invite, and even to compel them to come in. And this supposes superiority in him, and authority given to them;

she crieth upon the high places of the city; this is to be understood of the preaching of the Gospel, both by Christ himself in person, in the city of Jerusalem, in the temple, and other public places; and by his ministers, and by him speaking in them there or elsewhere; and which is not a mere whisper, but a cry, a proclamation made aloud, and to be delivered with fervency and earnestness: the "city" may mean the church of God, and the "highest places" the ordinances thereof; and may in general denote the publicness of them; which are in the church, as the wings or pinnacles of the higher parts or buildings of a city are in that, as the word (l) signifies.

(l) "super alas"; Montanus, so Ben Melech; "super pinnis", Piscator, Amama; "in pinnnaculis": Cocceius; "super convexitatibas", Schultens.

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

Wisdom and the “foolish woman” Pro 9:13 speak from the same places and to the same class - the simple, undecided, wavering, standing at the diverging point of the two paths that lead to life or death.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Maids. Septuagint, "servant men," the pastors of the church, inviting all to piety in so public a manner, that none can plead ignorance. (St. Gregory) (Calmet) --- To invite. Protestants, "she crieth upon the highest places of the city." (Haydock) --- Christ enjoins his apostles to preach on the roofs, Matthew x. 37.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Her maidens; her servants, to invite the guests; ministers of the word, whom he calls maidens, partly for the decency of the parable; for wisdom being compared to a great princess, was fit to be attended upon by maidens; and partly to show that God by his word did work sweetly, though strongly, and did allure and draw rather than drive sinners to repentance.

Upon the highest places: either upon the tops of the houses, which were flat; or rather, from such high seats as those from which judges delivered their sentences, and officers made proclamations, for the conveniency of the people’s better hearing.

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

3. Sent forth her maidens — נערתיה, her young women. Wisdom being personified as a woman, a queen, it is fitting that her attendants should also be women.

She crieth — That is, by her maidens. Hasselquist says, that at Alexandria (Egypt) he saw, on one occasion, ten or twelve women going about the city inviting people to a banquet by a peculiar cry or noise. The office of announcing and celebrating glad tidings among the Hebrews, says Bishop Lowth, belonged peculiarly to the women. On occasion of any great victory or other joyful event, the women went forth with music song, and dance, to celebrate the occurrence. So did Miriam and “all the women,” after the passage of the Red Sea. Exo_15:20-21. So Jephthah’s daughter. Jdg_11:34. So, after David’s victory over Goliath, it is said “that the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of music; and the women answered one another as they played, [in alternate chorus:] —

“Saul has slain his thousands,

And David his ten thousands.”

In Psa_68:11, the word rendered “those publishing it,” המבשׂרות, (hambhasseroth,) is a feminine plural participle, and might be translated, female heralds of good news. The same word in the singular is also used.

Isa_40:9, is rendered by Lowth, “O daughter, that bringest glad tidings.” All these passages recognise the fact that to women belonged, by custom, the proclamation of joyful news. To women, also, was it first given to proclaim the gospel of the resurrection. Luk_24:1, seq.; Joh_20:17-18.

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

She hath sent forth her maidens, as in Mat_22:3, to call them that were bidden to the feast. The Septuagint has toulouv , "her servants," but the Authorized Version is correct, and feminine attendants are in strict harmony with the rest of the apologue. By them are represented the apostles and preachers and ministers, who go forth to win souls for Christ. St. Gregory sees in their being called "maidens" an intimation that they are in themselves weak and abject, and are only useful and honoured as being the mouthpiece of their Lord ("Moral.," 33:33). She crieth upon the highest places of the city, where her voice could best be heard, as in Pro_8:2 Mat_10:27. She is not satisfied with delegating her message to others; she delivers it herself. Septuagint, "calling with a loud proclamation to the cup (epi krathra) ;" Vulgate, Misit ancillas suas ut vocarent ad arcem et ad moenia civitatis, "She has sent her handmaids to invite to the citadel, and to the wails of the town." On which rendering St. Gregory comments, "In that while they tell of the interior life, they lift us up to the high walls of the city above, which same walls, surely, except any be humble, they do not ascend" ("Moral.," 17:43).

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

Maidens - Her servants to invite the guests, ministers of the word whom he calls maidens for the decency of the parable; for wisdom being compared to a great princess, was fit to be attended upon by maidens. Highest places - From such high seats as those from which Judges delivered their sentences, and officers made proclamations.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

General Information:

These verses begin to give the message of Wisdom, who is personified as a woman. (See: Personification)

She has sent out her maids

These maids went out and invited people to come to the feast that Wisdom had prepared.

her maids

Young women or girls who are in the service of a respectable, adult woman, such as Wisdom.

she calls out

"she proclaims" or "she summons" AT: "she loudly recites her invitation"

the highest points of the city

The invitation is shouted from the highest points so that it will be best heard by all the people.

Who is naive? Let ... the one lacking good sense

These two phrases describe the same group of people, those who need more wisdom in their lives. Here the question is addressed to all such people. AT: "Anyone who is naive, let ... anyone lacking good sense"

is naive

"is inexperienced or immature"

turn aside here

"leave his path and come into my house"

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

She has sent her maidens Adam and Eve.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.